WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 41: Pastor Go of Gangnam Holy Temple Church

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Gangnam Holy Temple Church was one of South Korea's top five exorcist groups.

Exorcists, I guess?

Anyway, the hidden truth behind the church I'd attended all my life was that it played the role of those cathedrals in stories that drove out demons and hunted vampires.

Naturally, I intended to tell them that I'd awakened spiritual powers and started working as an exorcist.

I'd been going to that church since birth, and since it was supposedly such a famous faction, I figured they could help me too.

The question was who the real exorcists were.

Pastor Park, the church's senior pastor, was definitely an exorcist.

Gangnam Holy Temple Church was plainly listed as an exorcist faction. It would've been strange if Pastor Park, the man at its head, wasn't one.

The real question was which of the associate pastors were exorcists...

Come to think of it, there had been suspicious signs.

Our church was one of the country's leading megachurches, so it often held overseas missions.

The pastors there also frequently went abroad for missionary work, but now that I thought about it, those trips probably hadn't been purely missionary work.

Wasn't that strange?

Protestantism and Catholicism had been separate denominations for a long time, even if both were Christian.

Yet our church somehow communicated directly with the Vatican, sent people there on business, and even received visits from the Pope when His Holiness came to Korea.

If Gangnam Holy Temple Church was one of Korea's leading exorcist groups, it all made sense.

And there was a good chance the associate pastors who frequently went abroad were exorcists.

Pastor Go.

In other words, Pastor Go Jincheol was one of the pastors who often went on overseas missions.

He went to the Vatican for training and even arranged Rome tours for church members through his connections there.

More than anything, he was famous around church for being built like a tank. Not the puffed-up muscles of a bodybuilder, but the combat muscles of a special forces soldier.

Since exorcists had to be ready for physical confrontations, Pastor Go had been a very likely candidate.

“Pastor Go. Pastor Go.”

“Mmm...”

When I grabbed his shoulders and shook him, he slowly came to.

“Gasp!”

“Oh, you're awake. I thought something terrible had happened.”

“Yohan?”

Pastor Go recognized me.

He'd been the pastor in charge of my high school group, but it was impressive that he still remembered me.

Church people could have amazing memories sometimes.

“Yohan, what are you doing here? Don't tell me?”

“Yeah, well... that's what happened.”

“How on earth?”

“It's kind of a long story.”

I glanced around the busy hospital.

Mystic Association employees had arrived and were in the middle of handling corpses and transporting the injured.

The situation had been resolved, but I'd wondered how they would deal with the aftermath. Apparently, the Association handled everything.

“Is Pastor Go awake?”

Kang Gihan, who seemed to have just arrived, approached us.

“Pastor, I think we should have you examined here first. You should get a thorough examination and rest.”

“Whew... Yes, all right. By the way...”

Pastor Go glanced at me.

“Yohan, when you're discharged, let's have a talk.”

“Yes. I was actually planning to go see Pastor Park anyway.”

Now it was confirmed that Pastor Park and Pastor Go were exorcists.

It was time to pay them a visit.

As I watched Pastor Go being carried away, Park Minhong approached me.

“What is it?”

When I asked, Park Minhong held out his phone. He was on a call with someone.

“...It's the leader.”

The Great Unification Church leader?

Feeling bewildered, I took the phone.

“This is Yohan.”

[Are you Gari Bodhisattva?]

“Yes, well...”

[I am Moon Hakjeong, head of the Great Unification Church.]

Wow, it really was the Great Unification Church leader.

Someone I'd only seen in Netflix documentaries about cults was calling me personally.

[First, I would like to thank you for saving our followers. You accomplished something remarkable.]

The unexpected praise left me a little flustered.

“Uh... I wasn't fighting alone or anything.”

[Hehe, you're humble.]

Leader Moon paused for a moment before continuing.

[We should arrange a meeting soon. Now that we have encountered a shepherd like Gari Bodhisattva, perhaps this too is the guidance of the True Parents.]

I could understand calling me a shepherd, but who were the True Parents? Was he talking about the founding leader?

“Evangelist Park Minhong.”

“Yes, Leader.”

[Give the shepherd the token of grace.]

“...!”

Park Minhong looked surprised. After bowing several times, he came over and handed me something.

“What’s this?”

“A token proving that you are a shepherd of our Great Unification Church.”

It was a gold medal.

A man's face was engraved on it, and... wasn't that the face of the Great Unification Church's founding leader I'd seen on Netflix?

“Um... I'm a Christian, so something like this is a little...”

“Please accept it. With that token, you can exercise command authority at any branch under the Great Unification Church.”

They were giving something like that to me?

“You'll be contacted soon.”

“...”

Should I accept this?

They were giving me a reward for helping their followers, so it felt awkward to refuse.

Then Park Minhong bowed deeply.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to survive.”

“No, we did this together.”

“That is not true. Without Gari Bodhisattva, we would've been wiped out. Um... I apologize for treating you disrespectfully.”

Park Minhong kept bowing.

A few Great Unification Church followers who saw him gave me small bows too.

Once the Great Unification Church hunters had left, Kang Gihan came over.

“You worked hard, Gari Bodhisattva.”

“It's not like I did it alone.”

There had been over a hundred ghouls and three high-ranking vampires.

I really was glad I hadn't gone in alone.

Even Gari couldn't be invincible against that many enemies.

“By the way, you defeated three high-ranking vampires in a single night. I heard you also caught three ordinary vampires?”

“Apparently, there isn't any evidence except for the high-ranking vampires. The shikigami ate them all...”

A lot of the ghouls had also burned up from silver bullets.

I'd taken photos, but I wasn't sure if those would be enough.

“I believe you.”

“You can do that? There won't be any evidence.”

“You don't seem like the kind of person who'd make a false report, Gari Bodhisattva. I'll report three high-ranking vampires, three ordinary vampires, and one hundred fifty ghouls.”

Was that really okay?

I thought they might cut the numbers down, but just like with the dream demon, they were generous with their assessment.

“I'll need to discuss this with Pastor Go as well, but the Great Unification Church leader said he would yield all rewards to Gari Bodhisattva.”

“The Great Unification Church leader did?”

“Yes. Unless something unusual happens, all rewards will go to Gari Bodhisattva.”

What was this? Wasn't that a huge deal?

I did the math, and it was already overwhelming.

“Did you find the Gutenberg Bible useful?”

“Yes. Thanks to it, I trapped all the vampires and didn't let a single one escape.”

More importantly, the barrier could block entry and exit from outside too.

Apparently, there had been another fifty ghouls above the third floor where I'd set up the barrier with the Bible.

The reinforcements who arrived dealt with them, but if those fifty had swarmed down too, it would've been a real headache.

Of course, I'd spotted them beforehand with Jjaekjjaeki and stopped them.

Either way, the Gutenberg Bible had been a huge help.

I still hadn't tried every use listed in the instructions Pastor Kim left behind, but I could practice those gradually.

“By the way... did the Great Unification Church leader say he would contact you separately?”

“Yes. He said he wants to provide a separate reward.”

“I see...”

Kang Gihan's expression darkened. He looked around at the Great Unification Church followers, then spoke to me in a whisper.

“Be careful of Leader Moon. He gives the impression of being a good person, but he's cunning.”

I already knew that from Netflix.

Kang Gihan seemed worried that I would be drawn into the Great Unification Church.

It wasn't exactly a neutral thing for a civil servant to say, but he was probably saying it because he was concerned.

“Then you've worked hard tonight as well. I'll take you home.”

It was almost morning already.

Looks like I'd be sleeping through another morning.

* * *

A few days later, the Association deposited a hefty reward into my account.

The ghouls were valued at five million won each, for a total of 154 bodies and 770 million won.

The dracul were valued at one hundred million won each, for another three hundred million.

Lu Xincheng and Xiaolan, the high-ranking vampires, were worth five hundred million won each.

Finally, Dang Hoyeon, who had stolen the blood of a Clan Lord, was worth one billion won.

I was supposed to split this with the Great Unification Church followers and Pastor Go, but as promised, the Great Unification Church leader yielded every reward to me.

Pastor Go, who was in the hospital, also said he would give me his share, so I ended up receiving all of it.

Over three billion won in reward money had been deposited into my account.

And I didn't even have to pay taxes on it.

[By the way, what do you plan to do with the vampire blood?]

I almost failed to collect that too.

Vampire corpses vaporized after death, and I'd been too busy fighting to think about drawing their blood.

The three vampires we'd dealt with earlier were inside Gari's mouth, so I'd saved their blood. But I hadn't been in any state of mind to think about the high-ranking vampires.

Fortunately, the Association employees who arrived had drawn their blood for me. Otherwise, I might have lost the high-ranking vampires' blood too.

Though one of them had been blown away by a bomb.

“I don't know. I heard it's valuable, so I'm holding onto it, but I'm not sure what to do with it.”

[The simplest option is to put it on the market. It will probably sell for an enormous sum, especially Dang Hoyeon's blood.]

It was supposedly the blood of a Clan Lord.

The blood that had let Dang Hoyeon, once an ordinary clan member, fly around so freely.

Apparently, it was pureblood blood very close to that of the Romanian count, progenitor of all vampires.

“Would it really sell for that much at auction?”

[Ten billion won... no, more than that. Vampires from other clans will get involved too.]

“Uh...”

Other vampires would get involved?

[It is blood close to a progenitor's pureblood. With that blood alone, someone could establish or strengthen their own clan. They will come after it with everything they have.]

“Hmm...”

Then if I put the blood up for auction, a new vampire lord might be born.

“I'd better not sell it.”

[...You made the right choice. It would cause trouble.]

I could see Kang Gihan relax.

He probably couldn't stop me if I put it up for auction, but he'd hoped I wouldn't.

[Another option is to process it yourself. Vampire blood is useful in many ways, as medicine... or as an enhancement agent. And the experts in that field are Gangnam Holy Temple Church.]

Gangnam Holy Temple Church had come up again.

[Gangnam Holy Temple Church is famous for vampire hunting in Korea... no, around the world. Its standing has faded these days, but until seventeen years ago, it stood shoulder to shoulder with Lincoln and the Helsing Family. They even drove a stake through the progenitor's heart.]

Lincoln? Like the American president Lincoln?

And wasn't Helsing the name of a manga?

[Meet Pastor Go and ask for advice. Holy Temple Church was called the natural enemy of vampires. They will know better than anyone else in Korea how to make use of that blood.]

After finishing my call with Kang Gihan, I felt strangely unsettled.

There were no taxes on this reward money, and aside from Dang Hoyeon's blood, I could probably sell the blood from the other five vampires.

The Association had promised not to tax that either.

“I really need to move.”

Tap tap!

【Devour!】

Chirp!

Gugu!

Hoot!

There were too many extra mouths to feed now. I needed to look into getting a detached house.

Before that, though, I had two things to deal with.

First was meeting the Great Unification Church leader.

He had suggested setting a date soon, but I'd put it off.

I decided it was more important to meet Pastor Go or Pastor Park before seeing him.

Second was Pastor Go...

The Special Trauma Ward affiliated with the National Medical Center.

The Mystic Association had referred hunters injured during this vampire hunt to that ward.

From what I heard, people injured in supernatural incidents were treated there.

It felt like I'd uncovered another one of the government's secret secrets.

“Patient Go Jincheol is in Room 801 of Trauma Ward Three.”

There were many unusual people in the hospital.

Shamans in colorful traditional clothes, priests and nuns walking about, and Buddhist monks chanting sutras.

When I saw armed people being stopped at the entrance, I was certain this was no ordinary hospital.

I arrived at Room 801.

It was supposed to be a private room, and when I opened the door, I found a fairly spacious space inside.

“Huff! Hup! Huff! Hup!”

“Pastor?”

Instead of lying in bed, Pastor Go was doing squats in the middle of the spacious private room.

The sharply defined muscles of his bare upper body were incredibly striking.

“Oh? Yohan, you came?”

“You're a patient. Is it okay for you to exercise?”

“I'm fine now. I lost muscle while I was here, so I need to make up for it.”

Was that really something a guy who got a concussion from being hit by a vampire should say?

Pastor Go wiped away his sweat with a towel, then sat down.

“Have a seat. We have a lot to talk about, don't we?”

Footnotes:

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