Chapter 38: Hello Cult (1)
The wisteria tree located behind the Baekseok Police Station building.
A space usually used as a resting area for police officers.
Yoo jin and the kids were there.
“It isn't cold even at night now.”
Colorful glass bottles approached along with a voice in front of Yoo jin sitting on the bench.
“You didn't have to do all this.”
Yoo jin received the juice and shared it with Jin-ho and Ye-na next to him.
The kids bowed their heads toward Corporal Yoon Byeol.
Corporal Yoon Byeol, showing a small smile silently, sat opposite Yoo jin.
“Where should I start talking…….”
Yoon Byeol's gaze headed toward the stems and leaves stretched out instead of the ceiling.
“It feels somewhat difficult. Because I never imagined a day would come when I would talk about Seong-hyeon with someone.”
Silence followed behind her low voice.
It was sincere.
A quite long time.
Because during that time close to a year, that child was alone.
Corporal Yoon Byeol's gaze lingered somewhere between the present and the past.
“Do it comfortably. I came to hear my student's story, not to interrogate.”
At that voice, Corporal Yoon Byeol's gaze moved.
A face contrasting with the heavy situation.
A face brighter than the moonlight was captured in her view.
“Look at your clothes. The police is you, not me.”
Although he was speaking in a joking tone, the thoughtfulness contained within was conveyed intact.
A faint smile spread on Yoon Byeol's face, where a heavy expression had settled.
“You really are a teacher, right?”
“Does it not suit me that much? It's been a month, but I've heard that over a hundred times already.”
Even the way he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head was tinged with playfulness.
Perhaps because of that.
The knot of the introduction that seemed only bleak was untied naturally.
“Maybe it was needed, a person like you for Seong-hyeon.”
A clearly changed expression and atmosphere.
It seemed as if a heavy stone pressing down on Yoon Byeol's face and shoulders had disappeared.
Yoo jin, confirming the slightly more comfortable expression, drank the juice with a faint smile.
“The first time I met Seong-hyeon was last year. Not around this time, but June…… when summer was just starting.”
“Almost a year.”
“Yes. You said it earlier, right? That you call Seong-hyeon familiarly. Because I watched him for close to a year. That child fighting alone.”
Jin-ho and Ye-na, who were a little distance away, made surprised expressions at the meaningful words.
“…….”
Yoo jin put down the bottle he was holding silently.
“When Seong-hyeon first came to the police station, his whole body was covered in wounds. As if he had been attacked by someone and ran away. His breathing was rough and he looked like he had no energy, but only his voice was clear.”
As if recalling the memory of that time, Yoon Byeol's eyes closed.
“Help me. Something precious was stolen…… he said.”
“Something precious?”
The eyes of Jin-ho and Ye-na, who were listening quietly, met.
“Yes. Something precious……. So after listening to Seong-hyeon, I immediately requested backup and went to the Heavenly Mandate Holy Order with the suppression team.”
At the word Heavenly Mandate Holy Order, the situation from a few days ago came to Yoo jin's mind.
‘Do you know the Heavenly Mandate Holy Order?’
‘I don't know.’
The last conversation shared with Seong-hyeon in the classroom.
Actually, he knew even then that he was telling a lie.
Because he had already noticed on the day he brought Seong-hyeon out from the police station.
“But…….”
“Seems nothing came out.”
“Yes. Even though we searched the entire sanctuary they spoke of, we couldn't find it. Because Hunters even came as backup in addition to the suppression team just in case…….”
“Did he become the boy who cried wolf?”
Yoon Byeol nodded.
“Even if you didn't find it, there were wounds on Seong-hyeon's body.”
“Yes. So we proceeded with the investigation for a few more days. But no matter what we did, we couldn't find the place Seong-hyeon spoke of, and conversely, consistent statements came out from the religious group that Seong-hyeon trespassed and caused a disturbance in the sanctuary. That the wounds occurred in the process of inevitably chasing him out.”
“You believed that right away?”
“No. I left the possibility open, but proceeded with the investigation without concluding anything. However, although he is a student, he has the status of an A-Rank Awakener. And because of Seong-hyeon's repeated actions after that…….”
“Hmm……. Like mutual negligence or something?”
“Yes. There was no evidence, so no one believed him. So he repeated trespassing several times. Since the investigation was even closed, he eventually even went against the police…….”
“It's a case where the victim and perpetrator were switched.”
Yoo jin let out a sigh like cigarette smoke.
“So he became unable to trust after that. The police, adults, no…….”
People.
Seong-hyeon's face came to mind.
Looking out the window as if uninterested in anything in the world.
Although in the classroom, a child with dead eyes who seemed to be alone in a different space…….
Human distrust.
And adding to that, now he probably doesn't want to be caught.
“Probably……. He thinks there is not a single person on his side in the world.”
Corporal Yoon Byeol bit her lip.
Yellow moonlight flowed down between the stems and leaves.
“Not a single person on his side…….”
The laptop video he saw last came to Yoo jin's mind.
[Examinee 1922 Jo Seong-hyeon Family Interview.]
The expression Seong-hyeon was making at that time.
Yoo jin couldn't forget it.
Thud.
Yoo jin suddenly stood up from his seat.
“This is enough. I heard well.”
At Yoo jin's appearance taking a step, Jin-ho and Ye-na hurriedly stood up from their seats.
“Where are you going?”
To Corporal Yoon Byeol's voice, Yoo jin answered without stopping his steps.
“Where else would I go. It's obvious.”
“But there is nothing there…….”
“Still, I have to go. Because I am a teacher.”
“…….”
In the darkness.
Only Yoo jin's back receiving the moonlight shone brightly.
“Just because he's a teacher……. Even though I am a police officer, I couldn't do anything…….”
When Corporal Yoon Byeol's muttering was getting buried in the darkness.
Yoo jin's legs, which were taking steps, suddenly stopped.
“Oh right! I didn't say this. Don't speak formally to me, I am speaking informally so why are you the only one speaking formally.”
At the unexpected remark, a faint smile spread on Yoon Byeol's face again.
“Well, are you saying we should be close as fellow public servants?”
“What are you talking about. Not because you are a public servant, but because you are a good person.”
Corporal Yoon Byeol's eyes shook.
“Thank you for not giving up and holding onto Seong-hyeon well until I came.”
The documents of the Heavenly Mandate Holy Order filling Corporal Yoon Byeol's desk.
Yoo jin knew.
Although she herself probably didn't know, that Corporal Yoon Byeol hadn't given up on Seong-hyeon.
Grin.
“Wait. I will get you a special promotion of two ranks.”
He didn't know the rank system, but it would probably happen like that.
***
Yoo jin was standing where the splendid sanctuary was visible before he knew it.
[Heavenly Mandate Holy Order]
Although captured in their view, Yoo jin and the kids were standing a bit far away.
With their gazes, several people entering the entrance of the sanctuary were seen.
“Quite a few people are entering even though it's night.”
“Yeah, it's Friday. Isn't church originally only for Sundays?”
“Even churches have evening services. Well, not this many people though.”
“Coming to the sanctuary even on Fire Friday, they must be very devout.”
“What devout, it's a cult.”
Yoo jin, who clicked his tongue, moved his gaze.
Above the sanctuary building, a large photo of the pastor was attached.
“For a cult, the showing off is severe.”
At Yoo jin's voice, Jin-ho and Ye-na who were beside him nodded.
“I heard they have a huge amount of money.”
“I heard there are many famous people among the believers here.”
“Well, they certainly look like they have a lot of money.”
Yoo jin muttered while looking at the shining sanctuary.
The church was bigger than most buildings.
Like a famous building that would exist somewhere in Italy.
A huge sanctuary where the top couldn't be seen even if you tilted your neck back.
They call it a sanctuary, but at this level, one would believe it even if they said it was a conglomerate's office building.
“It's not at the level of sucking blood. Do they receive offering money in 24k pure gold or something?”
When Yoo jin shook his head from side to side, Jin-ho and Ye-na spoke.
“Ey, to that extent…….”
“No. I also heard it somewhere, but they said there are people who offer items too.”
“Really? Scary, cults…….”
The kids became wide-eyed.
Yoo jin, who was watching that, clicked his tongue.
“Geez. No matter if religion is freedom, for guys who do business using people's hearts to pretend to be clergymen……. I don't like it.”
A photo hanging on the sanctuary entered the view of Yoo jin stroking his chin.
A bald head wearing a white gown and making a benevolent expression.
Probably that guy is the pastor here?
No, that would be rude to the million pastors nationwide.
Cult leader, in other words, the big boss.
“A gentleman with good abilities, seems he couldn't do anything about his own head.”
The kids' gazes headed to the photo.
Whoosh―.
The bald head shone.
“Seems he sent only his hair to heaven first.”
“Ye-na…… heaven you say. It's probably hell. He's a bad person.”
Yoo jin let out a laugh at the mischievous appearance of the kids.
“Hell……. The way I see it, that mister can't even go to hell. Because I won't send him that easily.”
Yoo jin's eyes narrowed.
“Now, then shall we try moving…….”
Yoo jin's lips, which were spitting out words, stopped.
Jin-ho and Ye-na who were beside him looked at each other and gathered their gazes on their master.
“Teacher, why are you like that?”
“Did you see a ghost or something?”
“…….”
Even at the kids' voices, Yoo jin didn't show any reaction.
Just.
Only blinking his eyes continuously and hardened like a stone.
“What on earth did you see for you to be like that?”
The kids moved their eyes to where Yoo jin's gaze had stopped.
Then a familiar back was seen.
Right next to the sanctuary.
Trees planted for landscaping.
A back melting into the darkness while hiding its body behind one of those tree trunks.
“Uh…… That…….”
The kids also realized who he was.
They couldn't not know.
Because there is only one human who wears sunglasses at night.
The kids who made the same expression as Yoo jin.
Perhaps because three gazes were directed at him.
The man in a suit hiding behind the tree seemed to have felt the gazes directed at him and started looking around.
And…….
“…….”
“…….”
His eyes met with Yoo jin.
Although the eyes weren't visible because of the sunglasses, one could know he was surprised just by looking at the expression below.
The man who was looking around moved quickly and approached Yoo jin.
“Why are you here?”
Crackle.
“That's what I want to say? Instead of doing the tailing you were told to do, you are playing.”
“Playing. Isn't the one playing obviously the Retur, no, Teacher Yoo jin?”
Lee Si-wang's eyes captured the kids beside Yoo jin.
“Did you come for a moon viewing or something holding hands with the kids? At this late night.”
“Shut up. Why are you here? Are you playing hooky because it's the last day?”
“Ah, really. Playing hooky. In front of the kids. I am A-Rank No. 1, you know? There is no way my finishing would be sloppy, right?”
“So, why are you here without doing that finishing.”
“I am still tailing right now?”
“What?”
Lee Si-wang turned his body and pointed somewhere with his hand.
Yoo jin's gaze moved there.
“My…….”
Into Yoo jin's view came Lee Si-wang's target, the man wearing red glasses.
Teacher Lee's appearance was seen.
As a bonus.
The man with the balding head.
The Heavenly Mandate Holy Order's leader was also together.
The leader who was receiving believers gauged the mood, asked the other remaining people to welcome the believers, and entered the entrance with Teacher Lee.
“Seems the head is a more incredible guy than I thought.”
Yoo jin's brow furrowed.