WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 53: Father's Dwelling (3)

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The old ghost, Old Man Choi, had owned this house before the previous owner.

He had been a wealthy man who expanded the fortune his family had built over generations. When his son and daughter-in-law, who had already moved out, demanded their inheritance early, he refused and was murdered.

【It was my own lack of virtue. I only wanted them to overcome hardship and grow, but... I never imagined my own son and daughter-in-law would kill me.】

“Those worthless bastards never need much of a reason to kill someone.”

They killed their father over money. They were unquestionably the worst kind of scum.

【Right after my son and daughter-in-law threw me into the well, I became an evil spirit and took revenge. The two I killed also became evil spirits bound to this well.】

Over the past few days, though, the evil spirit couple had been banished by Eight-Foot Sister and Gari.

Then the well, which had been the Ghost Residence of those evil spirits, had been purified by the Holy Nail. At last, the old man's soul had been freed.

“Still, why the well? Because there was a body in it?”

If they had thrown the body onto the bottom of the well, we should have at least found bones. But there had been nothing.

“I think I can explain that.”

“Pastor Go?”

Pastor Go explained what he had realized from the situation.

“I believe this land is where dragon veins converge.”

“Dragon veins?”

“You realized spiritual energy flows through the land when we fought the magicians, didn't you?”

That had been the scheme of Demon Decarabia's followers.

They had driven stakes into the land's spiritual energy, turned it into an Ill-Omened Site, and used that wicked art to raise evil spirits.

“Dragon veins contain dragon nodes where spiritual energy gathers. Depending on how they're used, they can become beneficial nodes or Ghost Veins.”

In short, the energy here was good.

It could be abused for bad purposes, too.

Was it like a mana spring in a game?

【That explains it... My grandfather and great-grandfather always emphasized that we must not leave this land and should drink water from the well...】

“It was likely so you could receive the energy of the dragon node. If you spent your entire life drinking well water saturated with its spiritual energy, you would have absorbed an aura that drove away ghosts and brought good fortune in all things.”

Then the son and daughter-in-law who had left the house came back and polluted it.

They killed their father, threw his body into the well, and his resentful bones seeped into the dragon node's energy, turning him into an evil spirit bound to the well.

The son and daughter-in-law, killed by that evil spirit, had become evil spirits as well.

“That's tragic. Still, at least you were able to let go of your resentment... No, he was still your biological son... I'm sorry.”

The evil spirit I had destroyed with cannon fire on the first day was probably the daughter-in-law. The one Gari devoured on the second day had probably been the son.

No matter how hateful a child was, it was basically like killing his own son...

【Thank you for taking revenge on that worthless bastard!】

...Guess not.

Hmm. Who said revenge was empty?

Grandpa looked pretty damn satisfied.

“Uh, well... if things worked out, then have a safe trip?”

【Yes, thank you so much.】

The old man's soul faded away.

He had released his resentment, so I supposed passage to the afterlife was only right.

“So it really was as the prophecy said.”

“Oh, right. The prophecy.”

Only now did I think I understood Gari's prophecy through Second Kings.

The land called cursed. The place where blood flows and lamentations linger. Yet make that place a holy dwelling and cause springs of life to gush forth.

“The springs of life must be the land's spiritual energy and dragon veins. Nobody missed that pillar of light just now, right?”

“Oh my, I saw it and immediately started praying.”

“God, Jesus, Father, amen~”

The church members prayed with reverent expressions.

They all wore bronze glasses and repeatedly bowed toward Gari.

Clackclack!

“There’s something important. The prophecy said springs of life, plural.”

“So there isn't just one?”

“Right. It means we need to find more places where dragon nodes gather.”

Pastor Go said he knew more places like that.

“I found six more sites with similar conditions. Let's start making the rounds tomorrow.”

“I’m fine with that, but aren't you busy, Pastor Go?”

“This is work directed by the Spirit of God. I have to put everything else aside and help. Right, everyone?”

“Of course!”

“If you let us come by sometimes to drink well water and pray...”

This was... the power of an organization!

Things would get much easier with such enthusiastic helpers.

* * *

We practically went on a tour of the candidate sites.

Places with ominous rumors.

We listened to the stories of actual victims and quickly checked the areas where dragon nodes might be located.

“At this point... there's almost a one hundred percent chance of evil spirits.”

“We used the Association's information too, so we should usually hit the mark. The question is whether dragon nodes actually gather there...”

We visited five places, but only one had a dragon node.

It was an abandoned factory. Before it closed, the factory had apparently dumped wastewater into the dragon node.

While submerged beneath the contaminated water, I drove in the Holy Nail, and a pillar of light rose just like before.

“This feels worth the trouble. It’s pretty rewarding too.”

“Yohan, if you have spare money, buy this land too. Whatever you end up doing with it later, handling things will be easier if it's registered under your name.”

Buying the abandoned factory site wasn't difficult.

It was zoned for industrial use, so the price per pyeong was low.

The plot was about one hundred pyeong, and I won it for 500 million won when it was worth 1.2 billion.

“Later, let's build a business site under the church's name. Just collecting rent every month should bring in a decent amount, and we can handle taxes through it too.”

“Come to think of it, someone did advise me to make a business for tax evasion... I mean, tax savings.”

The energy of the land was good, so anything built here would probably do well.

They said the factory had been thriving before it dumped wastewater.

“As for the other dragon nodes... well, they all have owners.”

“They have owners?”

“Yeah. Dragon veins are land where spiritual energy passes through, so there are quite a lot of them.”

Apparently, the Five Great Lineages and the Association had claimed most land with decent dragon nodes.

The places we found were vacant only because their owners had died horrible deaths.

“There is one more area that shares those traits. Cursed land, dragon nodes, and blood...”

“Oh, where is it?”

“Do you know Yurim Hotel?”

“Is it famous?”

“It used to be.”

It had closed down, but it was once a successful hot spring hotel.

During development on land in Seoul, hot spring water had burst from the ground, so they built a hot spring hotel right there.

“It was huge. A hot spring with natural thermal water pouring out.”

I searched for it and found it had been a medium-sized hotel with over a hundred rooms.

It also operated an underground sauna, and it had been famous for its good water.

“But it went bankrupt, right? Was the hot spring water contaminated?”

“Thinking about it now, the dragon node must have been contaminated.”

“Then let's go purify it right away.”

Pastor Go scratched his head as if troubled by my suggestion.

“That place... has an owner.”

“Of course it has an owner... Ah, someone from the Five Great Lineages or the Association?”

When I caught on right away, Pastor Go nodded with a pleased smile.

“Moon Hakjeong, the Great Unification Church Leader. He acquired the hotel after it went under.”

“Ah...”

Why did it have to be that guy?

* * *

The Great Unification Church was a cult that had existed for less than seventy years.

Its uniquely fanatical faith was what had allowed it to rapidly expand and enter the Five Great Lineages in such a short time.

Fanatical loyalty toward their leader, the living second coming of Jesus.

They threw away their lives at his command, and under teachings that encouraged large families, they willingly married partners selected for them by the church.

Even in modern South Korea, where the birth rate had plummeted to its worst level, the church's astonishing average of 3.7 children per family had prompted jokes that South Korea's state religion should be changed to the Great Unification Church to save the country from extinction.

At the pinnacle of those fanatical believers, Moon Hakjeong, the second leader of the Great Unification Church, looked at the young man who had come to see him.

“Welcome, Gari Bodhisattva. Shepherd of our believers.”

As the Great Unification Church Leader welcomed him, a beautiful female secretary brought over a cup of coffee.

When she bowed, she deliberately pulled open the front of her blouse, offering a subtle display of cleavage. Yohan turned his eyes away as if he had nowhere to look.

“I don't know what that means, but I never said I'd do it.”

“Ha ha, your rescue of our believers from the vampires was the guidance of the True Parents. Therefore, Gari Bodhisattva truly is their shepherd.”

So that was how they interpreted goodwill.

Yohan immediately sensed that the man before him would not be easy to deal with.

“I see... I thought you would be someone from the Christian world, but Pastor Go already has you with him?”

“...Well, he's a member of our church.”

Pastor Go had come along to the meeting with the Great Unification Church Leader.

It was an unspoken warning not to try claiming Yohan, but the leader paid it no mind.

“Are you in a contractual relationship with Holy Temple Church, Gari Bodhisattva?”

“No, I'm just a layperson.”

Yohan answered honestly.

He could have hidden that information, but as a religious person, he was the type to avoid lying whenever possible.

“Good. We will offer you an annual salary of ten billion won. Please accept a position in our church.”

“Leader Moon!”

Pastor Go shot to his feet, but the Great Unification Church Leader did not even look at him.

His eyes never left Yohan.

“Are you trying to buy me with money?”

“I can offer you things worth more than money. For example... beautiful and obedient wives.”

“Oh.”

【Devour!】

Eight-Foot Sister suddenly got angry.

Yohan had no idea why, but she was probably offended by the sexual commodification.

“A person's heart isn't something you can win over that easily.”

“Ha ha, if they are believers of our church, they will not hesitate to offer their bodies and hearts to their shepherd.”

Yohan was reminded once again of the Great Unification Church's characteristics.

There were stories of them renting entire stadiums for mass weddings of ten thousand couples. There were also urban legends that believers who made large donations were granted beautiful women as wives.

Moon Hakjeong, standing before him, was probably someone capable of making such things happen.

“Are ten billion won and wives not enough? Naturally, we will also take care of performance bonuses separately. Your salary too... yes, we can offer more. How does thirty billion won sound?”

“Th-that's way too much money...”

“Ha ha! A wise decision. Shall we draw up the contract immediately?”

“No. I was making a joke...”

“Hmm?”

Moon Hakjeong furrowed his brow, while Yohan felt awkward in his own way.

I just made a joke, and he actually believed it.

Pastor Go was the one who was truly horrified.

A joke like that in this situation?

“Anyway, I’m not interested. I don't think my friend is either.”

“...?”

Moon Hakjeong could not see the angel drifting outside the window, as though they hated even being in the same space as him.

The angel yawned as they ignored Moon Hakjeong's very existence, looking as though they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

All humans were sons and daughters beloved by the Father, but even angels had people they disliked.

“That silver badge? Token? I came to use that.”

Yohan took out the silver badge from inside his clothes.

It was the silver badge he had received after saving Great Unification Church believers from the vampires last time.

“You said you'd help me with anything if I showed you this, right? I don't want anything major. I just want to investigate a piece of land.”

“...”

After Yohan left, Moon Hakjeong silently watched outside the window.

The followers at his side tried to flatter their leader, who maintained an ominous silence.

“He is an arrogant bastard. How dare he reject the Leader's generosity?”

“He's young, so he must not understand how the world works. Teach him a lesson, and he'll change his mind.”

“Heh heh. Will he?”

Even after being promised tens of billions of won and a life of beautiful women, Yohan had not wavered in the slightest.

He must have seen the beautiful women stationed around the building on his way in.

He must have understood that accepting the offer would make them his.

“Anyway, those Holy Temple Church people are all so inflexible. Other pastors aren't like that.”

An exorcist could not become one through talent alone.

It was work that required faith and a sense of duty.

That was why they were not easily swayed and possessed faith stronger than that of ordinary clergy.

Gari Bodhisattva... Baek Yohan was likely one of those people as well.

“By the way, did you say Yurim Hotel?”

“Yes, Leader. It is the abandoned hotel we purchased about a year ago.”

It was the hotel that had struck it rich after a hot spring emerged there.

But at some point, the hot spring water became contaminated, victims began to appear, and the hotel eventually closed with massive debt.

Moon Hakjeong was the one who bought it.

He knew what slept there.

“Um... Leader.”

“What is it, Evangelist Park Minhong?”

Park Minhong had led the Great Unification Church hunters during the vampire hunt.

After that failure, he had practically been on the verge of demotion. Still, he was a fairly capable instructor, so he had barely managed to keep his position.

“Are you really... planning to send Gari Bodhisattva into that hotel to banish it?”

“That was our agreement. If he banishes the hotel's ‘evil spirit,’ we will sell him the hotel at a low price.”

Only ten billion won.

They had even signed a contract stating that if he paid a deposit of one billion won, the remainder would be sold at virtually no interest.

The leader had joked that the hotel was discounted by twenty billion won below its purchase price because that was the value of the believers' lives.

“B-but what is sleeping there...”

“Evangelist Park Minhong.”

At the leader's words, Evangelist Park Minhong tightly shut his mouth.

He could feel the eyes around him.

Who was this failure to keep objecting to the leader's words so arrogantly...?

“If it cannot become mine, it would be better for it to disappear. Don't you agree?”

“...Yes.”

Park Minhong lowered his head deeply, as if submitting to the leader's words.

But he remembered.

The young man who had willingly risked his life to save others without asking for compensation or gain.

Footnotes:

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