WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 42: Pastor Go of Gangnam Holy Temple Church (2)

──────

Pastor Go Jincheol.

He had been the pastor in charge of my high school youth group, and I'd known him for about ten years.

Everyone had always known he took exercise seriously, but who would've guessed he was an exorcist?

"Honestly, I was a little surprised. I thought you were the most likely candidate, though."

"I never expected Yohan to enter this line of work either."

I asked before getting into Pastor Go's car in the hospital ward's underground parking lot.

"Should I drive?"

"No, I'm completely better now. There's no problem."

I'd been worried when the vampires got him, but he apparently hadn't been seriously hurt.

They'd advised him to stay in the hospital a few more days, but he said he was fine and checked out anyway.

Something about needing to prepare for Sunday service.

"So... when did it start?"

"Well, that's a long story."

I explained everything that had happened.

What happened after my parents died.

Meeting Gari, stopping the magicians' plot.

I gave him a suitably condensed version of what I'd experienced while working as an exorcist.

"The Book of Enoch... Pastor Kim once went to Ethiopia. Back then, he and the remnants of the Nazis..."

...The remnants of the Nazis?

There were still Nazis around?

"Anyway, that man stole... excavated things like that too. I never imagined it would end up with you, Yohan."

The original Book of Enoch, an apocryphal text Pastor Kim had given me. It had vanished without a trace after Gari appeared.

"Could it be connected to Gari?"

"Hmm..."

Pastor Go looked out the window through his spiritual sight glasses.

Gari, Eight-Foot Sister, and Gugu's flock were following us.

"That's quite a crowd."

The glasses Pastor Go wore apparently let him see spirit bodies, because he kept sneaking glances at Gari.

"The Book of Enoch is closely connected to angels. It is also a story about angels and fallen angels."

Was it? I'd only read the canon, so I didn't know much about the Book of Enoch. I hadn't known it was related to angels.

"You should ask Pastor Park for the details. Pastor Kim wouldn't have given it to you for no reason."

We soon arrived at the commercial district of Seongsu-dong.

"Huh? Pastor, you live here?"

"Not exactly my home... it's more like a hideout."

Seongsu, the holy ground of pop-up stores.

I heard it had originally been an area packed with printing shops and metalworking factories.

Only recently had old factories been remodeled into cafes and pop-up stores. It used to be a quiet neighborhood.

Whirrrrr!

Sewing machines rattled loudly.

Clothes hung everywhere, as if this was a factory that made pastor's robes and choir gowns.

"Pastor, you're here."

"Elder Cheon."

Elder Cheon?

He was the person who sat beside Pastor Park on the platform at our church.

Which meant he was one of the people with real power there.

I'd heard that elders at a megachurch like Gangnam Holy Temple Church were incredibly wealthy, but he made choir robes too?

"And this young man is..."

"I'm Yohan. Baek Yohan..."

"The son of Deacon Baek and his wife?"

Elder Cheon recognized me, apparently because he knew my parents.

"Ah, please come inside first. I've sent everyone else away."

Following Elder Cheon, we headed for an office deeper inside the factory.

Then Elder Cheon opened a wardrobe cabinet, and what do you know? A path leading underground appeared.

"Wow... a secret base."

"It has been here since my great-grandfather's time, so that isn't wrong."

With Elder Cheon in front, Pastor Go and I followed the path downstairs.

"What exactly is this place?"

"When Christian faith first took root in this land, exorcists also emerged to drive out strange spirits and monsters."

When Christianity first took root... during the Joseon era?

"Pastor Park Sunja of Millal Holy Temple Church, the predecessor of Gangnam Holy Temple Church, was Korea's first vampire hunter. She hunted vampires alongside the head of the Lincoln Family, who entered the country disguised as a missionary, and the priest of the Joseon Diocese Holy Office."

The Holy Office priest was a foreign missionary named Antoine Corbeil.

But Lincoln...

"You mean that Lincoln?"

"The descendants of President Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves during the Civil War."

"He was a great president and vampire hunter who defeated the vampire plantation owners rampant in the South at the time and saved America from the hands of vampires."

What the hell had happened in American history?

Anyway, I got the point. Gangnam Holy Temple Church had been an exorcist group protecting Korean soil since before the Republic of Korea even existed.

"Pastor Park Sunja established an armory to produce equipment for exorcists back then. This place carries on that legacy."

We soon reached the end of the underground passage.

When we stood before an iron door, a faint scent drifted through the gap beneath it.

The smell of oil and metal, along with a faint trace of incense.

Only one line in Latin was engraved on the iron door.

《Lux in Tenebris.》

It meant Light in Darkness.

The moment the door opened, a massive space came into view.

It was a workshop that had expanded constantly over the years, like a blend of a medieval monastery and a modern workshop.

Steel beams crossed the ceiling, while swords, axes, crossbows, and even guns hung from the walls.

The sound of hammers and welding sparks mingled with machine noise and prayers.

Clergy in black cassocks recited Latin prayers, while artisans in welding masks melted silver to make bullets.

"Welcome. This is the headquarters of exorcists who stand against the strange. The Grand Holy Temple Armory."

The Grand Holy Temple Armory.

A place where Holy Temple Church made equipment and performed consecrations for battles against the strange.

"For your information, the holy armor coat and rowan rosary you're wearing were made here too. The location has changed several times, but this armory has existed for over a hundred years."

"Wow..."

It felt like I'd walked into the armory of some secret organization from a movie.

Well, it really was one, but it felt like the line between reality and film had collapsed.

"Pastor Go, I don't believe Yohan has received direct instruction from Pastor Park. Bringing him here means..."

"It is Yohan's choice where he belongs from now on, but he saved my life. I brought him here to repay that debt."

"I see. Then I'll be on my way."

Elder Cheon nodded at Pastor Go's words, showed us where to sit, then left.

"He has devoted himself to Holy Temple Church's exorcisms for a long time. Elder Cheon's father worked with Pastor Kim."

"Pastor Kim?"

"Yes. Both of them have passed away, but they were people I remain grateful to."

Pastor Go looked bitter as he remembered the two men.

"Anyway, the Book of Enoch Pastor Kim gave you must have had an angel sealed inside it. There had been rumors that Pastor Kim obtained God's Chariot, but I never imagined it would be something like this."

"He said he swiped it in Ethiopia."

"He swiped... no, that isn't exactly wrong... no, no, can a clergyman say that... never mind."

Pastor Go seemed to remember something and added, "You have a Gutenberg Bible too. Did Pastor Kim give you that as well?"

"Oh, the Association gave me this as a reward because I did a good job. I caught some dream demons recently."

"...I see. The Association had quite a few items from the Pastor Kim Collection too."

"Speaking of the Pastor Kim Collection, there seems to be a surprising amount of it. Even our Eight-Foot Sister uses something from it."

【Devour~】

Eight-Foot Sister hugged Musashibo Benkei's Iron Staff.

Pastor Go let out a deep sigh when he saw it.

"That's only the tip of the iceberg. The real stuff hasn't even been discovered yet. There's a reason people call it a real-life One Piece."

"What on earth did he do?"

"He was a legendary relic thief... no, that isn't important. What matters is why Pastor Kim gave you the original Book of Enoch."

That seemed pretty important.

It seemed incredibly important to the history of human literature.

"You said you suddenly started seeing ghosts after you stopped going to church?"

"Yes. It probably has something to do with the church, right?"

"Yes. You appear to be an innate spiritual medium, born with spirituality."

An innate spiritual medium.

In other words, someone whose spiritual sight had opened.

Wolryeong Bodhisattva had explained it to me before.

People who could perceive and interfere with spiritual beings without any restrictions were extremely rare.

"There are few people with spiritual sight, but they do exist. Across the country, there are probably around a hundred."

"That's more than I expected."

"But most are killed quickly. Some people seek their spirituality, but usually ghosts or yokai devour them."

People born with spirituality were like the finest elixir to spiritual beings.

That was why Pastor Go said it was difficult for them to survive childhood.

"Most serve a god. Spiritually gifted male shamans are cases like that."

"Spirit descent... I think I've heard of that."

"But yours seems to be an even more special kind of spirituality. If your parents came to our church, and Pastor Kim got involved too... your spiritual sight must be extraordinary even among those with spiritual sight."

Wolryeong Bodhisattva had said the same thing.

"I heard that Pastor Kim could see the color of souls."

"That is a famous story. Pastor Kim's eyes could see past spirituality and into a being's very essence. I do not think your spirituality is inferior to Pastor Kim's."

Pastor Go added that this was probably why I had been in even greater danger.

"Your parents seem to have suppressed your spirituality through the church. Pastor Park and Pastor Kim also seem to have been involved."

Pastor Go looked at Gari.

Gari's appearance was so terrifying that sweat beaded on his forehead, but he gave a polite nod anyway.

"Gari... I mean, the angel was likely a safeguard Pastor Kim prepared for when your spirituality awakened."

"I think we'd know for sure if we asked Pastor Park."

"Hmm... Pastor Park is difficult to contact right now."

"What? I heard he went to Italy. Is he still there?"

At that, Pastor Go told me shocking news that ordinary church members could not have known.

"Now that you've entered this world, I suppose I can tell you. Pastor Park is in 'Bermuda.'"

Bermuda?

Wasn't that in the Atlantic Ocean?

"Ah, to be precise, he is meeting a senior in the Bermuda Triangle."

"???"

* * *

Deep in the Atlantic Ocean, past the Caribbean, lies the Bermuda region, where calm waves roll across the sea.

It had once been one of the most famous cases of mysterious disappearances at the forefront of conspiracy theories.

A cursed triangle where ships and aircraft vanished without a trace, commonly known as the Bermuda Triangle.

In modern times, people explained it away as natural accidents caused by heavy traffic, but that was a fabricated story.

This was truly a cursed triangle.

A Demon Sea where legendary sea monsters roamed, and a region haunted by the Flying Dutchman, which guided those who died at sea into the afterlife.

Countless things that had vanished across different eras drifted through this place.

An abandoned container ship weighing hundreds of thousands of tons was no exception.

An elderly gentleman climbed aboard the enormous derelict ship after it surfaced from the sea.

"Oh dear, this place is still as dreary as ever. Don't you get bored, Senior?"

"Get to the point, Junior."

Another old man greeted the elderly gentleman.

He wore the outfit of an old pirate captain, with a thick beard and a sinister impression.

Pastor Park spoke to him.

"It has been a long time. You could at least welcome me properly, Davy Jones. No, Senior Jonah."

Pastor Park, leader of Gangnam Holy Temple Church, smiled broadly at the legend of the sea.

* * *

"I brought you here to give you a gift."

"A gift?"

"Where you belong from now on is your own choice, but you saved my life."

Pastor Go took me on a tour of the Grand Holy Temple Armory.

"Wow..."

The armory truly had everything.

There were spears, armor, and censers that looked like they belonged in the Roman era, as well as modern muskets and machine guns.

"For your information, I made the modern equipment here."

"You did, Pastor Go?"

"Yes. I'm an exorcist, but I'm also a blacksmith."

Pastor Go showed me the rows of equipment.

Swords, spears, bayonets, axes, crossbows, and guns.

"Pick whatever you want. It's a gift from your pastor."

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried