episode_0151

Freedom of Religion (4) ― Neutral Powers ‘Train’ VIP Cabin

“It’s frozen harder than I thought.”

“… … .”

At first glance, the cabin on the train looks luxurious.

Ha Chae-kyung quietly stared at the back of her pure white hand, where all the blood had disappeared.

“I was considerate of others, but I guess I felt it was a huge burden.”

“… … No.”

With a firm resolve, I straightened my stiff back.

“Thank you for paying on my behalf. Thanks to you, I can move around comfortably.”

With a forced smile on his face, he faced Han Gu-won, who was sitting right next to him.

“I guess he looked tired because we had a long conversation until dawn.”

“… … I guess I know.”

Guwon Han shook his head slightly and smiled.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off you even the moment I got on the train.”

The awakened people of the Republic of Korea who were glaring at themselves with all kinds of negative emotions.

“If I could kill someone with my eyes, I would have died at least 5 times.”

He muttered and turned his head out the window.

The scenery of the Republic of Korea passing by quickly.

I could feel the eyes of the awakened people of the Republic of Korea staring at the train until the end.

“Their and your eyes speak openly to me.”

I turned my head again and made eye contact with Ha Chae-kyung.

“I was determined to overcome anything.”

A whisper as if he knew everything.

Naturally, the fist resting on my thigh was shaking.

“It’s so obvious what you’re thinking. You are being taken as a hostage. The destination is the home of the much-reviled pseudo-religion.”

Paradise.

Han Gu-won laughed as if he was dumbfounded and continued.

“A hell that only looks glamorous on the outside. A place where it is not strange at all that human sacrifice, infanticide, and mass orgies occur frequently.”

Isn’t that the paradise you think of?

“… … .”

Ha Chae-kyung kept her mouth shut in response to Han Gu-won’s question.

“I understand your perception. It’s an image planted by the media that prefers only provocative things.”

I don’t think you’ll change your mind just because I say this.

A beautiful voice interrupts Han Gu-won’s jokes.

“… … I had already prepared myself and boarded the VIP cabin.”

“What?”

“You know.”

Ha Chae-kyung’s voice was filled with deep humiliation.

She spoke to him with a loud, trembling gaze.

“You can’t take anything from me except momentary pleasure.”

“… … .”

He stared into her eyes without saying a word for a while.

“… … There is a strange confidence in your tone.”

“Isn’t it?”

“It seems like my doctor has nothing to do with it. The important thing is that you are already thinking that way.”

I’ve always felt this, but you have a strange stubbornness.

“You could call it obsession. The obsession that your thoughts must be right.”

I have a guess as to why.

It was a soft voice that did not fit the frozen atmosphere.

“What were you before the disaster happened?”

“… … Yes?”

Naturally, I had no choice but to ask back because the question was so unexpected.

Guwon Han pointed to himself and spoke in a light voice.

“I was a part-time worker at a convenience store.”

“… … .”

Why is he willing to talk about his past?

My eyes narrowed at the unknown intention.

Han Gu-won said nothing, as if waiting for his own answer.

“… … I was a nurse.”

“Oh, the moment you hear about the job, a colorful story immediately comes to mind.”

It was definitely as he said.

A burning hospital greets you when you suddenly lose consciousness and open your eyes.

Ha Chae-kyung’s journey began by instinctively caring for the people around her.

Who would have imagined that the journey would lead this far?

Ha Chae-kyung responded with a bitter smile.

“I can’t even imagine how you became the leader of the Salvation Church.”

Han Gu-won smiled and nodded in agreement.

“A lot of things happened.”

He spoke repeatedly in a distant voice that recalled the past.

“I also had similar but different types of obsessions like you. I-”

He chuckled again and continued speaking again.

“I had to do everything high and fast. The moment I saw anything that wasn’t like that, I screamed like a crazy person. It’s funny when I think about it now, but at the time I was extremely serious and sincere.”

Ha Chae-kyung imagined Han Gu-won screaming loudly.

The scene was awkward and did not fit my current image at all.

“I think I was able to get this far thanks to my efforts and making a fuss, but no matter how much I think about it, the troubles of those times—”

I felt Han Gu-won’s deep gaze as he paused for a moment.

“I was just a childish person who felt like everything would go wrong if I didn’t follow that path.”

“Are you saying I am like that now?”

“That’s what we did.”

He smiled softly and thought again.

“Maybe we have become what we have to become, not what we want to be.”

A being who has to lose a lot if he does not follow the path he has chosen.

If you give up like this, you will be dishonoring those who sacrificed everything for you.

What you want to become and what you have to become.

The conversation she had with the old man replayed in Ha Chae-kyung’s mind.

Not Wonder Woman, who does anything, but a tyrant who goes crazy with prohibitions.

“Drug you, manipulate your mind, or let me rape you.”

Indifferent words flowing from him as he looks out the window.

“Nothing you prepared for will happen.”

Ha Chae-kyung stared at the profile of Han Gu-won quietly looking out the window.

“Don’t you honestly know this too? That I am sincerely persuading you.”

The window they were looking at showed the scenery of paradise past the protective shield.

A wonderfully beautiful combination of white and green.

I felt the train slow down to stop at the platform.

A cloud of people had already gathered under the platform.

Han Gu-won muttered lightly as he looked at the believers waving their hands enthusiastically toward the train.

“I told you not to come out like that, but you still came.”

Han Gu-won wakes up with a small smile.

Accordingly, a smiling face was brought to Ha Chae-kyung, who suddenly woke up.

“This is a place to clear up your misunderstandings, but I, who am so wary, shouldn’t be there. I will guide you to the accommodation where you will stay.”

Ha Chae-kyung blinked her wide, round eyes.

It was a completely different development from the situation we had been concerned about.

Han Gu-won walked down the hallway, leaving the embarrassed woman behind.

Han Gu-won’s voice is heard by Ha Chae-kyung, who belatedly follows him.

“To put it bluntly, think of it as a short homestay in paradise. Or maybe you think I gave you the vacation as a reconciliation gift.”

Anyway, don’t worry, we’ve made arrangements so you can freely travel to paradise.

“Master—! The religious leader has arrived!”

“Ahh! The religious leader has returned to paradise!”

The believers are thrilled by Han Gu-won, who appears outside the train.

As he waved his hand at the believers, thunderous cheers rang out even louder.

Ahhh! I’m a teacher! Kyojuniiim—!

Han Gu-won opened his mouth, looking at Ha Chae-kyung, who had not yet escaped the confusion.

“Enjoy your freedom. Not as a mother, but as Ha Chae-kyung.”

“Chaekyung!”

She looked blankly at the back of Han Gu-won, who was looking at the believers again, and turned her head to where she heard the shout.

Inari smiled broadly and gestured to her.

“I told you not to bother gathering, but you still gathered!”

“How could we do that! Kyojuniiim—!”

Gu-Won Han seems to have finished saying everything he wanted to say, and is talking to the believers on the platform.

Ha Chae-kyung slowly walked to Inari.

“It feels so new to see your face in paradise! Come along, I’ll guide you to the believer’s house where Chae-kyung will stay!”

Following Inari’s guidance, I exited the platform where everyone’s eyes were focused on Han Gu-won.

Areas of paradise that are much more developed than the Republic of Korea branch of the Salvation Church.

In particular, the rest areas neatly placed along the way sparkled green in Ha Chae-kyung’s eyes.

“This is it! Let’s go inside!”

Inari pointed to a high-rise apartment in what appeared to be a residential area.

The first house in the hallway that greets you after taking the elevator up 30 floors.

This house was where he would stay in paradise.

“Everything has been discussed with the believers, so just open the door and go in! You probably didn’t even lock the door!”

Ha Chae-kyung nodded and hurriedly caught Inari who turned around.

“… … It’s me!”

“Yes?”

“… … Until when.”

Even if I ignored everything else, I had to know this exactly.

“How long can I stay?”

“Ah! I didn’t tell you the most important thing!”

Inari, who came back, smiled brightly and answered.

“You can leave at any time starting tomorrow.”

“… … Really?”

“Yes!”

Is it okay to bring him here and go back tomorrow?

I couldn’t understand their intentions at all.

Inari lowered her head again with an innocent expression that had nothing to do with Ha Chae-kyung’s confusion.

“Well, have a nice vacation, Chaekyung!”

Ha Chae-kyung, who was watching Inari disappear while jumping, turned her gaze forward again.

An unfamiliar door greets her before her eyes.

When I looked closely, I saw that it was already slightly open and waiting for me.

It’s a profit –

The cozy interior is visible as soon as you carefully open the door.

From what appeared to be the kitchen, the sound of bubbling stew and the delicious smell of soybean paste wafted in.

“Ah! Welcome, Chaekyung!”

A woman appears from the kitchen as if she heard footsteps.

Ha Chae-kyung’s face was colored with surprise as she quietly took off her shoes.

“Wait a minute—! I’ll take off my apron.”

Back in the kitchen, the woman took off her apron and approached me with a bright smile.

And the face she approached was one that Ha Chae-kyung was also quite familiar with.

“Mr. Younghee Kim?”

“I think I became a celebrity unintentionally. Chaekyung, you look just like I saw on TV.”

Kim Young-hee extends her hand with her unique soft smile.

Ha Chae-kyung suddenly took her hand and shook it.

“I heard the story. You don’t have to worry about Chaekyung’s meals or a place to sleep while she stays in paradise.”

“Now this… … .”

What on earth are you thinking?

Kim Young-hee looks closely at the confused face of Ha Chae-kyung.

“Why are you frowning like that? When I look at it up close like this, it looks a little thin.”

Kim Young-hee, who was scanning Ha Chae-kyung’s face with worried eyes, smiled softly.

“I was preparing a meal at the right time. Soybean paste stew―”

“What is it? Why is the door open?”

Someone came in through the door I opened.

When Ha Chae-kyung and Kim Young-hee looked there, a high school girl in a white school uniform was taking off her shoes noisily.

“And why wasn’t Mom at the park today without saying anything! For a while I-”

The high school girl who had been spitting out words closed her mouth.

Ha Chae-kyung, who made eye contact, smiled slightly with a troubled expression.

“… … Who are you?”

“Ha- Sumi. Mom said that a citizen from Minguk will be staying with us today. The person who appeared on the broadcast.”

“Ah – That’s right! That’s why I said I couldn’t pick you up at the park!”

The high school girl nodded as if she finally understood.

“This is my daughter. ”

I nodded to Kim Young-hee’s words in a low whisper.

“Wow! You are so pretty, sister! Oh, aren’t you a sister yet?”

Hehehe-

A high school girl who approaches with a cheerfulness that seems perfect for her age.

Ha Chae-kyung looked at the name tag on her white school uniform and smiled.

“Sumi Lee. You are as pretty as your name. You look exactly like your mother.”

“Hehe― Huh? That’s a bit… … .”

“This bitch has customers and doesn’t even recognize the best compliment in the world!”

“Evil—! Ah – it hurts! It hurts, mommy-!”

Kim Young-hee slaps her daughter on the back with a humorous smile, unlike what you see on TV.

And Lee Soo-mi, who quickly dodges her hand strikes.

However, Ha Chae-kyung could not join in their happy picture and only smiled awkwardly.

I can’t figure out Han Gu-won’s intention.

Do you want to show me this happy family and tell me I was wrong?

“Ahh! evil-! Wait a minute, wait a minute—Mom!”

Lee Soo-mi, holding Kim Young-hee’s arms, asked Ha Chae-kyung with a bright smile.

“So, when is Chae-kyung going to pass away?”

Ha Chae-kyung smiled awkwardly and answered immediately.

“Tomorrow.”