Chapter 237: Ch 237: Their True Nature
The underground bunker of the cult.
Dinner time, with all the converts sitting together.
A voice cut through the silence.
"Wow."
...
"Wow, amazing."
One of the Church of the Luminous Unknown’s ghost stories was looking
straight at me.
"Only the dragon came?"
Smiling brightly, eyes flicking to the two empty seats beside me.
"The fox and Grandma Kim Bokja didn’t come. Just the dragon."
...
"Hey. Why do you think those two couldn’t make it?"
Hypothesis : Mild forgetfulness
Reason : Natural aging
"Are you teasing the fox for being older than you? Hahaha!"
Laughter rippled through the dining hall.
"Don’t worry! They’re fine. Looked like they wanted to go sightseeing, so
we let them."
Sightseeing.
[Oh dear, I suppose we’ve been found out.]
Probably.
I tried not to let my imagination wander too far into ’too vivid’ scenarios
about what could have happened to the two of them.
But then.
"So. You want to keep eating, or go see them?"
...Ha.
Rule : Breakfast and dinner are eaten together by everyone.
"Right! But you’re not a convert, are you? So you’re an exception."
...
"Come on, follow us! We’ll show you. Everyone else can keep eating."
"Yes."
The others nodded and smiled, chatting happily again with the usual ’Let us
share happiness’ and ’Ireum-nim’s gaze’. It was as if nothing were odd.
I rose, pulling my smoke in tight around me, and followed the twins out...
numbering off worst-case scenarios in my head.
’As long as the assistant manager isn’t dead.’
And as long as Ho Yoowon didn’t just ditch me and run. Anything’s fine.
Those chances were slim. Keep that in mind...
The twins left the east side’s dining hall, walking down a dim cement-
finished corridor toward the place I’d already guessed.
The great central chamber.
The site of the rituals.
And...
"Here it is."
They pointed behind one coffin leaned against the wall.
"Want to go in?"
The older sister smiling, the younger brother expressionless.
Their obvious yet unsettling faces.
I sent a thick stream of smoke ahead into the dark space behind the coffin
first.
Inside—
"Ah. You’re here."
...Ho Yoowon, perfectly fine, and Assistant Manager Eun Haje still
disguised as Grandma Kim Bokja, leaning casually against the wall.
Both intact.
’Huu...’
I caught Eun Haje’s subtle glance and stepped fully inside.
And.
’...Industrial equipment?’
It looked like a kind of facility.
Its size wasn’t as overwhelming as the main hall, but it was spacious
enough and looked a bit larger than the dining hall. There were pipes
running everywhere, and the low hum of machinery echoed through the air.
Like a tiny old factory compressed underground.
[Indeed! A bunker with production facilities.]
[Preppers sometimes build for long-term habitation, not just short-term
shelter! This must be one such case.]
Steam hissed from pipes. I caught a sharp medicinal tang in the air...
"Impressive, right?"
I turned.
At some point, the twins had joined us inside.
Both were smiling now, wide and easy.
"Curious what we’re making?"
...
"Ask. Go on. The fox who came before you already saw."
I looked to Ho Yoowon.
He glanced at the machinery, smiled faintly, and answered.
"They’re brewing liquor."
...
...!!
"Correct. Ding!"
The twins stepped aside, revealing what they’d been blocking from view...
A massive container.
Tall as two grown adults, broad and square.
Not ceramic. It looked like cheap plastic, a giant industrial water tank.
And I realized.
That smell in the air wasn’t disinfectant.
It was alcohol.
Raw spirit was coming from that tank.
"What do you think? Cool, huh?"
Right here, beneath where Jisan Village’s guardian shrine once stood...
They’d rebuilt the brewing vat.
Exactly as before.
"Right in this very place. Long ago, there was a festival where they drank
liquor brewed by the Mimicry sect using the Church’s centipede. They say
everyone there heard Ireum-nim’s voice and saw their happy ending."
...
"But someone stole all the liquor. Even took the centipede. So someone’s
gotta fill it up again, right? We’re giving it a try!"
Wait.
Then what are they planning to put in there instead of the centipede...?
"We were thinking maybe dragon liquor or fox liquor."
...!
"But hey, you two aren’t converts, are you? Then no can do."
That’s.
"To make the liquor truly awaken Ireum-nim... you have to steep it with the
Church of the Luminous Unknown’s faithful, potent Authority."
Authority.
The Church of the Luminous Unknown’s own word for ghost stories.
"So we prepared Authority. Ah, and here come the participants."
Footsteps behind us.
Bootfalls rolling through the vast hollow chamber, dozens of them.
"Congratulations on completing initiation!"
...
I turned my head.
Beyond the entrance.
The new converts who had finished dinner were standing there.
Those at the front, lined up before the coffins, stood perfectly still.
Not a word, just smiling as if they already knew everything, gazing inward.
A strange, shared unity.
I scanned their faces and...
...
Wait.
Question :
"Mm? Roe Deer-nim, I’ve told you repeatedly, it’s not your turn to ask..."
Question : Restriction release status for Entity 130666’s facial recognition
impairment (mosaic)
"...What an odd thing to bring up."
Ho Yoowon’s voice rang clear.
"I’ve never tampered with your binding, you know..."
...
Then.
Why can I see everyone’s faces clearly now?
From day one in this underground bunker, none of their faces had ever been
mosaicked or melted.
I had simply accepted it as it was. Because I was briefly outside the
Daydream Inc., because I was moving with Director Ho, and because of
that ’gain a little freedom’ line.
I just accepted it naturally.
This was what I was facing now.
And so I’d missed the truth.
"Let us spread happiness!"
The converts’ mouths opened, reciting the fixed phrase.
I looked inside.
Inside their mouths.
What moved there when they shaped the sounds...
It was not a tongue, but something else.
"Let us share happiness."
Bugs.
Red, fleshy, wormlike things, replacing the tongue. Smooth, skillful
movements, but at the tip a mouth opened and tiny teeth showed.
"Oh, did you see that? Cool, right? That Authority, they say it’s a fear
derived from a fish parasite. It latches onto the root of the tongue, gradually
devours it, and then takes its place. And..."
The Happy Ending Sect whispered on.
"It spreads fast. ...Just talking during meals is enough."
And I understood.
That offhand, almost snide question I’d thrown before.
How arrogant I had been.
Reality isn’t a wiki.
Just because the entries look childish doesn’t mean the situation lacks
coherence.
I had only been seeing the surface.
Reality always has mechanisms, reasons, a foundation.
Just because I didn’t know them doesn’t mean they’re not there.
– I mean, how are they even forming unity?
They were there.
It existed.
’Ghost story.’
Every convert here was contaminated by the same ghost story. That’s why I
could see their faces.
And that ghost story is...
"Fascinating, isn’t it?"
...unknown to me.
– The little details that should make this unreasonable situation possible – Some small symbol that only they share
I know almost nothing about what ghost stories the Happy Ending Sect uses
as Authority. Only the big, famous, wiki-registered ones.
...Would it even help reading it out now?
To try and analyze while all around me, tongues have been replaced with
parasites, and these parasites are probably controlling their hosts’ cognition
and thought...
[Oh, Friend. You’ve overlooked one obvious angle.]
What?
[If it’s every convert, there’s one person you haven’t checked yet, isn’t
there?]
’...!’
My neck stiffened as I turned.
Assistant Manager Eun Haje.
Her face was perfectly clear. No mosaic, no blur... Just as on the first day.
...
Smoke curled up around me.
Recommendation : Tongue inspection
But.
"Ah. No need. Ms. Falcon’s tongue is fine."
Ah.
"Miss Falcon is already infected. Nothing else can get in."
Wait.
I met Ho Yoowon’s eyes, but there was no time to argue.
Because.
"Done with the talking? Then... the initiation’s over. Time to work."
The twins raised both hands high.
"Everyone, take your places!"
The converts moved.
Without hesitation, in their neat lines, they flowed into the facility.
They brushed past me lightly and advanced deeper in.
Onto the pipes and walkways of the equipment, climbing upward as if on a
conveyor belt...
And then they jumped.
Splash, splash, splash!
People started plunging into the potent liquor.
’...!!’
Clear, almost cheerful sounds as bodies slipped under, vanishing into the
huge white plastic tanks. Splash after splash after splash—crisp, clean,
horrifying.
"A fine drink, don’t you think?"
Dozens of people, contaminated by ghost stories, no longer human, were
being brewed into liquor.
...Not centipedes this time, but the initiates themselves as the ingredient.
That was the true purpose of this initiation, the reason this underground
bunker was built here.
"Isn’t it cool?"
...
Goosebumps crawled up my back.
"When it’s finished, you should drink it too. Drink, and come to know
Ireum-nim."
And then I realized a feeling had returned to me, something sharp,
undeniable.
Already known entity : Ireum-nim
Revulsion.
"Hmm?"
Doctrine of the Church of the Luminous Unknown:
This world belongs to Ireum-nim. Only Ireum-nim’s will and choices have
meaning.
"Yes! That’s it!"
That’s it?
But they must not know.
They can’t really know the absurd truth behind this doctrine.
Because the truth is.
Ireum-nim
An entity worshiped by the Church of the Luminous
Unknown, a pseudo-religious group appearing in <Dark
Exploration Records>. According to the cult’s doctrine,
only this being’s will and choices hold meaning in the
world.
But in reality is [spoiler].
Click the spoiler and you’d see this.
the wiki’s author(s).
When the wiki started, it copied the format of ordinary websites. When you
submitted an entry, there was a [Name] box.
But because anonymity was the rule, people left it untouched.
So if a poster submitted without changing it... it would say.
Author : Name
Every wiki page ended up labeled that way, with ’Author: Name’.
The Church of the Luminous Unknown began as a tiny meta-ghost-story
built on this joke.
It was just a playful, creepy concept about breaking the fourth wall, for the
characters to become aware of their author.
(Ireum)
But as more people contributed, the idea spiraled and grew, feeding on itself
until it swelled into a vast religious organization.
The Church of the Luminous Unknown has mistaken this
’Author: Name’ designation for a great divine being and
now worships it
...Just like a real cult.
And here’s what that means.
Within the doctrine of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, from its very
origin there is an inherent contradiction
: Happy Ending Sect
It was born carrying a fundamental setting error.
"...Huh?"
By any chance, do you remember what I said before?
After facing the centipede shrine and the villagers of Jisan.
– Those too weak to accept this truth may seek escape through death, but
that is no true salvation.
That’s right.
Death is no escape.
There is no running from Ireum-nim.
"Th, that’s..."
Therefore, death
► cannot be happiness.
► cannot be an ending.
There is no such thing as a happy ending.
To kill in the name of granting one is...
A doctrinal contradiction
A meaningless act
"..."
The Happy Ending Sect official fell silent.
Her smile was gone.
The face under the red headband and the worn school uniform went still.
A young face, but suddenly emptied of life.
And then.
"Does that matter?"
...!!
"Isn’t this cult-like enough? People dying for no reason, the whole thing a
misunderstanding... surely Ireum-nim would take notice. We’re doing
fine."
Splash, splash.
"Right? If a hundred people leap into liquor and it’s all for nothing, if the
Happy Ending Sect itself is a joke, isn’t that just fun?"
Something felt wrong.
This wasn’t the cheap, performative madness that horror stories love to
flaunt. Nor was it some forced ’look how scary I am’ hysteria.
It was real.
So this was...
"Unique, fun, with a twist. Isn’t it entertaining?"
Terror.
I look at the twins, their faces those of neat-looking teenagers in school
uniforms. A look so contrived it almost feels artificial.
So desperate... so nakedly deliberate in its personality.
"Ireum-nim would like this, right?"
...
"Ireum-nim would like it so much... He’d want to watch longer, wouldn’t
He?"
And I understood.
They already knew.
It wasn’t ignorance.
What I had seen on the wiki was that patchwork of shallow, unpleasant
shocks, cruelty without foundation, personality built out of scraps. But here,
reality was different.
For them, it was simply that...
"Then that’s enough."
Ireum-nim is fear itself.
That this ghost story world was Ireum-nim’s will.
They knew that.
So the only thing to do was to act in ways that suited His taste. Commit
senseless acts, stage things for amusement, do cruel things, create grotesque
situations.
To strive to behave in line with that taste.
"That is enough."
That was the true nature of the Happy Ending Sect.