episode_0135

Nostalgia (5) ― ‘Minguk’ public rest area

“One Mind Salvation Church?”

Everyone’s curiosity came out through Kang San’s mouth.

He narrowed his eyes and continued to watch the broadcast.

[How was your first day?]

A serious question from a man not shown on screen.

Park Yuna appeared on the screen again and waved her hand exaggeratedly.

[and! Everything was a series of shocks. While I was completely distracted by the breaking news, the noisy KakaoTalk message, and the internet going crazy, I closed my eyes and suddenly saw people wearing white clothes smiling at me!]

Park Yuna’s unspoiled voice spread brightly.

[At first, I thought I had been kidnapped and was crying and making a fuss, but the sisters kindly comforted me and guided me to the learning center. I met many people like me there.]

The screen showed Lee Jeong-wook again.

[Honestly, I was happy about everything at first. It literally means that I have become a superhero from the movies. I wasn’t able to raise my stats much, but I also held my toothbrush weakly for no reason. … … yes. That’s it.]

After Lee Jeong-wook’s harsh words, Kim Young-hee enters the screen again.

[Everything was a mess. My husband, who was at work, didn’t answer the phone, and my daughter, who I thought had gone to school, came home crying. My daughter said, ‘Some crazy guy bit his arm.’ I was talking gibberish. I quickly called the police, but they didn’t answer.]

“… … This is a real broadcast.”

A cry uttered by someone in a public rest area.

Kang San sympathized with the absurdity contained in those words.

People with their own unique colors who are absorbed in the quick transitions and interviews that take place so there is no time to get bored.

A modern video that had not been seen for a long time was being played in Seoul.

[So how is life at Salvation Church these days?]

A lively voice rang out again in response to the man’s question.

[It’s so good! You can eat whatever you want, a house too large for you to stay alone, and plenty of free time. ah! Of course, there is time to say a prayer of thanks, but it is not that long—huh! Please edit this, this!]

Park Yu-na moves her hands left and right around her neck as if to mean ‘edit’ with a puzzled expression.

[Sorry, but that might be a bit difficult.]

[Do you see this video, too? … … Ahhh-!]

The tone of speech is too high-tension compared to the gesture of despair and holding one’s head.

[I don’t even know how the day passes by when I say a prayer of thanks. ah! And I heard that there will be a Salvation Church campus soon! I’m so excited to enjoy college life again!]

The voice suddenly became more serious, and it flew up again, unable to hold back.

After Park Yu-na, who playfully bit her lip, Lee Jeong-wook opened his mouth.

[Our vigilante group trains every single day to ensure the safety of Salvation Church and the citizens who have not yet been rescued]

Lee Jeong-wook, who was reading a textbook with a stiff posture, paused for a moment.

[Brother Jeongwook Lee. This is not a vigilante promotional video, so feel free to speak freely.]

[ah, … … yes.]

Lee Jeong-wook nodded slightly and quietly stared at the screen.

A man asks as the silence continues for quite a long time.

[…] … end?]

[yes.]

Lee Jeong-wook nods his head confidently.

[well. Since my daughter goes back to school, I often spend my days reading in the park.]

Kim Young-hee’s calm voice is broadcast again.

[As I chat with the sisters I met at the park and watch the children play in the park after school, my daughter comes to visit me.]

She smiles slightly as if reliving those days.

[It’s our daily routine these days to say evening prayers together and then go home.]

After the calm voice ends, Park Yuna’s bright smiling face appears again.

[What would you say if you became a publicity ambassador for the Church of Salvation?]

[and-! So, am I now a promotional ambassador for Salvation Church?!]

[…] … no. If you can. What would you say if you could?]

[ah… … . That’s too bad.]

She lowered her head for a moment in a dejected voice, then raised her head again.

Park Yuna, who was touching her chin with a serious expression, pointed out her fingers and said.

[You can do sports or hobbies you want to do with your brothers and sisters. They say they hold competitions all the time, but I haven’t been able to do it yet. hmm… And you can eat whatever you want, and stay at home… ah. This is what I said earlier… .]

She bit her lip slightly again, looked at the screen, and shrugged her shoulders.

[Isn’t this just perfect?]

Her question reaches everyone who is staring blankly at the screen.

[Now there is no safer place than ‘Paradise’.]

[…] … It’s over, right?]

[yes.]

After Lee Jeong-wook’s brief publicity, Kim Young-hee’s face appears again.

[I would like to tell you that when people who are injured physically and mentally come, there are many people they can rely on. There is nothing more to do for the mind, but also for the body, because there are many brothers and sisters who are doctors.]

Now, as everyone watching expected, Park Yuna’s face is reflected again.

[So, I think I’ve only talked about the good points so far, but what are the difficulties? Even if it is in a slightly broader sense, it doesn’t matter.]

Park Yuna’s smile diminished slightly at the man’s question.

She smiled slightly and spoke in an unusually low tone.

[It’s a feeling of disparity. I just closed my eyes and the world was ruined. Like Alice in Wonderland, when I go down the rabbit hole, a very strange world welcomes me.]

Her words resonate with everyone rescued in Seoul.

[A city completely changed, people who have changed, a past that can no longer be recovered. No matter how much I deny it, I am the strangest person here. I am the only one who is the same, and I am the only one who is abnormal.]

She smiled bitterly as she looked at the screen.

[Still, when I watch videos of the cult leader killing zombies, I realize how lucky I am. So far, I haven’t won the lottery or anything good has happened, but I guess I did it to be rescued by the Salvation Church. Is this the ‘Salvation Church’?]

She smiles slightly and immediately asks the next question.

[What is the One Mind Salvation Church to Yuna Park?]

[Peace.]

She said a word that was very unsuitable for Seoul.

[It may have changed a bit in form, but to me, the peace that will surely come tomorrow is the Church of Salvation!]

After Park Yoo-na, who nodded vigorously, Lee Jeong-wook opened his mouth.

[That’s what awakening is like. Your body becomes a superhero, but your mind doesn’t. Every night, the faces of the zombies I killed appear in my dreams. I break out in a cold sweat because of the nightmare of being killed by a mutant I’ve never seen before. I realize it so naturally.]

Lee Jeong-wook spoke to all the awakened people in Seoul.

[I am not Superman and Batman.]

Inari’s eyes were shaking slightly.

[…] … Is this the end?]

[no. I haven’t told you the exact difficulty yet.]

Lee Jeong-wook shook his head and opened his mouth again.

[Sometimes the burden of responsibility is too heavy for an ordinary student to bear.]

[What is One Mind Salvation Church to Lee Jeong-wook?]

Lee Jeong-wook answered the question without delay.

[It is faith.]

A voice that reaches everyone without wavering.

[The belief that the sweat I am currently shedding is not in vain. The belief that it will ultimately make everyone smile and that it is contributing to peace.]

Inari, who was watching the broadcast, did not feel that her hands were shaking.

Next to Lee Jeong-wook’s strong face, a noble middle-aged woman opened her mouth.

[It’s probably a scar left by a past wound. I still vividly remember that day. That was when my daughter went into the bathroom to wipe the blood on her right arm and started crying strangely.]

[People were being shown on the news crying the same strange cries that my daughter was making. They attack people and run wild, killing people… I was eating.]

After seeing the cruel scene broadcast on the news without filtering, Kim Young-hee recklessly hung up the phone call she had been making to her husband.

intuition.

Her intuition was always telling her that bad things were right.

[I quietly went to the kitchen and picked up a kitchen knife. And I quietly put my ear to the bathroom door.]

‘Keeek—!’

My daughter’s howling still resonates clearly in my mind.

The news was still emphasizing the danger of things called ‘zombies’.

[Human survival instincts are sometimes so cold-hearted. The news emphasized quarantine, but I knew. Words flowed endlessly from my head.]

‘You have to kill that thing so you can live.’

[I grabbed the kitchen knife and put my hand on the doorknob. I kept repeating that it wasn’t my daughter, but something that needed to be killed, but the sound of something crying in the bathroom was definitely – my daughter’s… That was my daughter.]

Everyone could see that her arms were shaking as she calmly continued speaking.

[When I sat down in front of the bathroom door again, something wandering around the bathroom started crying. I think she’s my daughter, but no matter how much I think about it… It was something that was not my daughter.]

An extreme dilemma that I have experienced for the first time in my life.

Unable to choose anything, she spent a long time in front of the door.

The TV turns off and the chaos of cars and people screaming outside ends.

When the sound of the soldiers’ loudspeakers that used to ring occasionally stopped ringing.

[Still, he put something in his mouth to survive. Every time there was a loud noise outside, the bathroom made a loud noise. Then I put down the food and grab the kitchen knife that was next to me. I looked at the kitchen knife closely and realized this.]

She muttered quietly as she looked at the screen.

[Humans are only alive because they have more reasons to live. I was just a mother who had more reasons to live.]

But now.

[There was no reason to be more persistent in surviving the hell of losing my husband and daughter. I held the kitchen knife in the opposite direction from how I had been holding it.]

Kim Young-hee looks at the kitchen knife heading towards her with trembling hands.

at that time.

Grumble!

The sound of the front door being crushed and-

Tap- tap- tap-

I heard someone walking.

A very white man reflected in Kim Young-hee’s pupils.

He said nothing as he watched Kim Young-hee attempt suicide with a kitchen knife.

He quietly raised his hand and opened the bathroom door from a distance.

“Kkisss—!”

Something and a daughter that immediately rush towards the man.

However, as soon as it came out of the bathroom, a white bottle flew towards it as it stopped.

Squeak!

A shiny liquid gently flowing into its mouth.

“Kiss, Kkiss—”

A bright beam of light emanated from the daughter’s body along with a helpless howl.

Paaa!

She opened her eyes after squinting for a moment and was quietly shocked.

“… … Mom?”

The reason to live that he had lost was calling to him.

Tuk!

A kitchen knife stabbing shallowly into the floor with a dull sound.

She covered her mouth with both trembling hands and turned her gaze from her daughter to the side again.

The white man, no, he gently extended his hand to the mother and daughter.

A very kind smile blooming from the corner of his mouth.

[What is One Mind Salvation Church to Younghee Kim?]

She smiled brightly at that question.

She, blooming like a white magnolia, whispered with a happy face.

[…] … Salvation.]

As soon as she finishes speaking, the screen goes dark.

A soft piano melody spreads, and a different location is shown on the broadcast.

A dark city night with the stars and moon shining softly.

In the center of a large square, a woman stands up slowly, holding a microphone.

[To all those who have forgotten the reason to live-]

[To them-]

A beautiful voice that gently embraces a woman’s high tone.

The man on the other side, who stood up with her, sang the chorus.

[To everyone who needs love and peace-]

[To them-]

A man and a woman singing while looking at each other with bright smiles.

[We who want the restoration of the whole world-]

[we-]

Everyone’s eyes widened as they looked at the screen that reflected them.

A screen that looks like it was taken from top to bottom.

Thousands of people were sitting on chairs in one space.

The male believer, who continued to decorate the last verse of the female believer one beat late, took a breath at the same time.

The tone that spreads from them smiling brightly while looking at each other.

[Give you the light of salvation-]

A man and a woman gesturing behind each other with a long final note.

At the same time, brightly shining waves from the end began to light up the square.

Waves of light gently moving from end to end.

The pupils of everyone watching the broadcast fluttered in rainbow colors.

People holding their own colors and smiling brightly at the camera.

The rainbow-colored cheering sticks that filled the screen swayed left and right like waves rolling around.

People gently waved light sticks to the melody of the piano playing in the background.

The camera that was beaming at the square from a distance slowly moves forward.

Believers all wave their hands at the approaching camera.

A male believer holding a child holding a light stick.

And the female believer continues to hit the arm of the male believer while watching with anxious eyes.

The child didn’t know anything and was smiling at the screen.

A man and woman who appear to be a couple are holding hands and waving light sticks with their opposite hands.

What appears to be a large family is smiling brightly and waving light sticks.

The camera cutting through the waves broadcasts the happiness of paradise.

While the short performance continued, everyone watching the broadcast could not take their eyes off the screen.

The past that was thought to be gone now was there.

A festival with light sticks that light up the darkness and countless people.

The sound of their laughter is transmitted to the screen through the camera there.

The performance ends with the camera that was freely filming One Mind Salvation Bridge as if flying in the sky, landing in someone’s hand.

“… … .”

A time when no one could open their mouths.

[♩~ ♪~ ♬]

The sound of the performance began to echo through the broadcast again.

Those who listened to the familiar yet disparate melody were soon able to notice it.

The sound of rewinding music that was playing softly.

The video, which is naturally rewound, is broadcast through broadcasting.

The camera that had landed in someone’s hand flew into the sky again.

The happy Salvation Church festival slowly rewound.

A male believer placing a child on the ground.

The rainbow-colored waves that colored the entire area reach the end and stop again.

The female believer who was singing quietly sat down.

Afterwards, during the rehearsal, a female believer lightly tapped her head as if she had made a mistake in the lyrics, and the believers around her were laughing.

As the video rewinds, the believers who were sitting in their seats stand up.

They were returning to the festival booth they had enjoyed with bright smiles.

[♩~ ♪~ ♬]

The small fireworks that decorated the sky are captured in the child’s firecracker heading towards the sky again.

People walking to the square while eating snacks walk behind them.

A paradise where the softly shining stars and moon set and the sun rises again.

Busy cars coming and going and believers praying in the evening.

Believers walking and exercising in the evening walk backwards.

The lights on the towering buildings in paradise turn off, and the lights on the cars leading to the red beam turn off.

Children wearing white school uniforms return to school.

The clock in the clean school building was running fast in reverse.

The sunlight in paradise is getting brighter and the children are walking back from school.

The arms of the children who were smiling and hugging their friends lowered.

The children walk back to their cozy homes.

The screen that was showing the well-maintained residential area began to fly again.

[♩~ ♪~ ♬]

A beautiful white city and a huge stone statue overlooking the city from the mountainside.

After passing a tower that was taller than most buildings, the camera moved to the train platform.

When the camera returned to the platform, it showed believers already bowing politely.

As the train stopped at the platform moved backwards, the believers who had been bowing also looked up.

A familiar face in the center of the brightly smiling believers.

Kim Young-hee looks at the screen with a smile blooming like a white magnolia.

[Abundant salvation.]

[To all those who have exhausted their reason to live.]

A quiet voice flows from the screen showing her smile.

[One Mind Salvation Church.]

After the broadcast ended, the electronic display board returned to a black screen.

‘Daehan’ and ‘Minguk’.

And everyone in Seoul who watched the broadcast said nothing.

The video from just before still doesn’t feel real, as if it’s a mirage or an oasis.

Sooo!

Among them, the sound of a train arriving that breaks the silence of ‘Minguk’.

A strange excitement burned as everyone looked at the train stopped on the platform.

[Abundant salvation.]

[To all those who have exhausted their reason to live.]

The voice of the video rewinding in their heads.

They whispered quietly, reflecting on Kim Young-hee’s smile.

“One Mind Salvation Church.”