Chapter 110: 46.2

The Meaning of Family (2)

“Welcome to our village. For now, why don’t you come on in. Since you’re family members, we can’t just leave you standing outside like this.”

With bright smiles, the people led us into their village. My companions shot me a look before moving to follow, and I trailed along behind them as unobtrusively as I could. At first glance it might seem like the villagers were just being hospitable, but the truth was…

“This is…”

The moment we entered the village, we were struck by the view. The houses were built in a rough semi-circle surrounding a wide open space, and within this clearing, a giant tree grew from the centre with an altar built in front of it. Besides the altar, a majestic looking cross superimposed with a circle had been erected. The giant tree and the houses were connected by a web of colorful ropes.

Ji-Hye froze and turned to look at me. I could only bite my bottom lip as a sign that she should keep silent.

Known as the ‘Past Life Church’, this was the site of a Korean cult that had become as famous in my previous life as the Japanese Aleph Cult. Unlike other such cults, it had become particularly problematic because of its pursuit of ‘isolation’. As it was situated on an island, it was able to rely on its natural features to block access to the outside world, allowing the damage to escalate beyond imagination. From the outside, it simply appeared to be a rather unusual village, but the ugly truth behind it was… quite a surprise.

“This is my house.”

Paint was peeling off the walls of the house and the roof was slated with blue tiles. Though compared to its time-worn external appearance, the inside of the house looked neat and well-organized.

Sang-ho looked us up and down before pulling open a closet door.

With his gaze fixed on Chief Kim’s suit and tie, he asked, “Don’t you all feel constrained wearing such a formal outfit? Allow me to lend you all some clothes. That should let you change into something more comfortable.”

“Oh, not at all. I’m perfectly fine.”

“I’ll just leave them here. Ji-Hye can change clothes in the next room.”

Sang-Ho insistently laid the clothes down on the floor for us to change into before leaving the room. Every single one of the pieces of clothing that Sang-Ho had left for us was dyed green. These were the type of clothes worn by believers who had just joined the Past Life Church. The darker and flashier the clothes were, the higher the wearer’s rank in the church.

Click-

As soon as the door was shut, Ji-Hye grabbed my arm, “Something strange is going on here-”

I held a finger up to my lips, stopping Ji-Hye from speaking and telling her to be careful with her words. Although Sang-Ho had closed the door, I had yet to hear the sounds of him walking away.

‘Damn. He really has been brainwashed.’

Then a few moments later, along with the sound of someone entering the house, I heard Sang-Ho leave.

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I quietly whispered to my companions, “I also know that something strange is going on here. But that’s why we need to act as naturally as possible. For now, keep the fact that I’m a cop an absolute secret, and don’t change into those clothes.”

There was no need to provoke the villagers with any hasty rejections. Since you can never know what might happen if you hit a crazy person’s berserk button by telling them that they’re crazy. On top of that, this was their homeground.

“By the way, Sang-Beom-ah. Although it’s a bit of a shame since we finally found your brother, for now we should get out of here and come back later.”

Seeing how serious my expression was, Sang-Beom could only silently nod his head. It could be that he felt a sense of discomfort from his hyung, who had changed some time during their long years apart.

Knock knock-

After knocking on the door, Sang-Ho entered the room. He was holding an aged book in his hand. As if it was a forbidden text, the book was stained red. When he saw that we had yet to change our clothes, he tilted his head questioningly.

With a gulp, Chief Kim tugged at his collar.

“Do you not like the clothes?”

“Not at all. It’s just that we’ll be leaving soon, so it’s a bit of a waste.”

“Ah. Could it be that you have something urgent to get to?”

While checking my watch, I answered him, “Well there’s the travel time to consider, and we really do need to get back to work once our vacation is over. We can’t afford to delay much longer. Sang-Beom will make sure to send you a lot of letters, so why don’t we just get an address from you before we go.”

“It’s been so long since we last met, you could at least have dinner before you go…” Sang-Ho trailed off as he pleaded with Sang-Beom.

I discreetly sent him a signal to refuse the offer. There would be a better chance for the two brothers to reunite soon enough.

“I’m sorry, Hyung. I’ve still got to go to school, and since I was only able to get here with help from Ji-Hun-hyung, I can’t ask any more of him. For now, I’ll head back home and come back to see you soon.”

Okay. Well said! It was so convincing that even I almost unconsciously agreed with him.

The truth was that Sang-Ho and the rest of the villagers currently weren’t a serious threat to us. As people who lived in isolation, you would have to assume that they’d feel uncomfortable with allowing outsiders to stay in their village. The real problem was if we met ‘that bastard’.

Sang-Ho took Sang-Beom’s hand and said in a reluctant tone, “Okay. It looks like it can’t be helped. However, Sang-Beom-ah, let me just tell you something important before you go. The rest of you can listen to this too.”

He opened up the book he had brought with him. Its pages were thick with Chinese characters. The margins were packed full of notes made in pencil, showing signs of diligent study.

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