Chapter 64
In the center of the stone chamber was what appeared to be a village feast, laid out deliciously.
A large pig’s head was placed whole, while various seasonal fruits boasted beautiful, vibrant colors and scattered sweet scents.
Deliciously cooked or simmered meat dishes, generously marinated, were abundant, and the fish were prepared whole, with fresh sashimi neatly arranged between the head and tail.
I suddenly realized that whether it was a memorial table or a feast, it was entirely dedicated to me, and I licked my lips.
If countless people had put this much effort for me, wouldn’t it be the duty of the one being treated to respond accordingly?
I thinly sliced the head of the poor pig, savoring the headcheese dipped in sauce, and popped the expertly prepared raw fish into my mouth.
Whether it was meat from the land or the sea, every piece of flesh was tender and melted like snow, disappearing after only a few chews.
As the happiness and satisfaction that had filled my mouth vanished in an instant, I felt an uncontrollable hunger and dissatisfaction, and moved my hand again.
I scooped up a bowl full of seasoned vegetables, topped it with well-marinated meat, and shoved it all into my mouth. When my throat felt dry, I grabbed a fragrant bottle of alcohol nearby and guzzled it down.
Good, good. Bring me more.
Bring more, something better, so that this body’s mouth is never empty, so that this body’s stomach never feels hunger.
I devoured the fruits prepared for dessert whole, without even peeling them, and chewed on chunks of sticky, sweet snacks coated in sugar or honey like gum.
But everything that entered my mouth disappeared like a midsummer night’s dream at the same time as I felt a fleeting moment of happiness.
It’s not enough yet. I want to eat more.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a beast that roams the earth on all fours or a scaly fish that swims freely in the vast waters.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a fruit with good seeds that grows on a large tree with green leaves, or a snack made from flour milled from rice and wheat that make up the golden fields.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as I can put it in this body’s mouth and fill my stomach.
So bring me more, something better.
Yes, if there aren’t enough four-legged beasts, two-legged beasts will do.
If there aren’t enough scaly fish swimming in the water, a fetus swimming in the amniotic fluid of its mother’s w*mb will do.
If there aren’t enough sweet fruits growing on trees, the round heads of the trees that walk all over the world will do.
If there aren’t enough snacks made from flour milled from rice and wheat that make up the golden fields, snacks made from flour milled from human bones will do.
Anything will do.
It doesn’t matter what happens.
I will not tolerate only the table in front of me being empty.
I will promise you success and the accumulation of wealth, and I will also bless you with future well-being and health.
So offer me ■■ in return for what you have received.
I like the tender flesh of a young one.
I like an untainted, pure, and innocent soul.
I like the innocent screams they make as they enter my mouth and fall into my stomach.
I exist only to enjoy that, so you should naturally serve and worship me to keep me in existence.
“From a medical perspective, the concept of dieting first emerged not because of food shortages, but because of the overabundance of food and uncontrollable gluttony that led to the emergence of morbid obesity and adult diseases. It’s sad, isn’t it? In the distant past, people starved to death due to lack of food, fought for their lives for a single piece of bread, or even sold their families. There were even people who desperately clung to life through cannibalism, which humans should never do, or were unjustly killed. How extravagant would dieting feel to those who know those times?”
Wouldn’t they be as shocked as a commoner seeing a chaebol wiping their nose with a check? Of course, such a thing would never actually happen.
I stared blankly at the messy table on the altar.
What was placed there was not a pig’s head, but a human head, snacks made from human blood and b*ne powder coated with sugar and honey, an unborn fetus, and a human body deliciously dismembered, leaving only the head and limbs, with organs and flesh neatly arranged.
The recipient of such a table was a very large pig.
But it wasn’t just any pig, it was a weird pig, a monstrous pig, boasting sharp teeth like a beast, prickly bristles like a porcupine, and a body as big as a house.
It walked on two legs instead of four, and used its two hands to grab what was offered to it and bring it to its mouth.
It kept sniffing with its huge, elephant-like nose, and moved with its belly dragging on the floor due to its excessive weight.
Its sturdy legs were buried under its belly and couldn’t be seen, so it was no longer a beast that walked on the earth, but a beast that crawled.
“Where is the promised tribute?! I want that v*rgin! That fragrant smell of flesh, fresh blood, a soul full of life! All of them must boast the finest taste! I’ve been waiting for five years!!!!”
The weird pig shouted as it swept aside the table set for it in the center of the stone chamber with its massive hand.
The sound of its movement could be heard, slithering like a snail or a snake, with its massive body not fully revealed in the darkness.
When I finally stood in the center of the candlelight, replacing the table that had been set in the center of the stone chamber, it still sniffed at me with its twitching nose.
“A familiar scent. The scent I’m still chasing. The scent from the finest food that I’ve licked, touched, and savored, yet never tasted.”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“What?”
“Let’s not pretend to be innocent when we both know everything. The scent you were smelling, the scent of that v*rgin you’ve been desperately searching for for five years, even after licking and touching her, but never tasting, is being masked by me, a man. If a woman gives off a man’s scent, and a man gives off a woman’s scent, isn’t the answer already clear?”
“How dare you!!!!!!”
A voice like thunder and lightning, as if it had swallowed a train’s boiler, echoed from all directions within the stone chamber.
D*mn it, come to think of it, I remember dozing off every time my parents dragged me to church.
Every time that happened, the pastor, standing on the high platform and delivering his boring sermon, would catch a glimpse of a young child’s slumber with his hawk-like eyes, and suddenly increase the microphone volume to shout a Bible verse.
The already absent-minded elderly and fervent believers would exclaim”Oh my!”and cry out”God! God!”while fervently praying or shedding tears.
On the other hand, kids like me, who were dragged there on weekends and forced to listen to incomprehensible words for over an hour, ended up with a kind of trauma.
It was a trauma that made me want to throw a punch whenever someone suddenly yelled.
Needless to say, I beat up so many kids in elementary school who couldn’t control their volume and screamed at the top of their lungs because of that trauma.
“You’re not even spiritually connected to me, so you can’t harm me. Why don’t you stop this nonsense and repent now? If you’re so desperate to eat human flesh, go to Heaven and eat only halal-certified food.”
Wouldn’t that be a happy ending for you, me, and everyone?
But the weird pig had already lost its reason—or maybe it never had any reason in the first place—and was rampaging so violently that the wide and sturdy stone chamber shook.
Thanks to that, I was able to momentarily sever the connection the monster had established with me through Kim Hak-ju’s family.
I was still standing still in the middle of the motel’s 10th-floor hallway.
I looked at my pocket watch and saw that the hour, minute, and second hands were spinning madly. Things never go smoothly.
I used the room key I had received from Kim Hak-ju in advance to open the door to room 1004 and entered.
Inside, I saw the three family members sleeping soundly, groaning and struggling in their sleep.
Looking at the time, about two hours had passed since I returned to room 1003. It seemed like they were all too tired to wait and fell asleep.
I approached Kim Hak-ju, who was experiencing sleep paralysis, opened the Bible, and said in a solemn voice.
“You, Kim Hak-ju. The only sin you committed in your life was lifting a girl’s skirt when you were young, you lewd child. The Lord Jesus Father has watched your exemplary life closely and said that you deserve not to suffer for the rest of your life, so you no longer need to be afraid. If you lose your way, the shepherd will find you, and if you feel threatened by a wolf, the shepherd will chase it away, so all you have to do is feel the love of the Lord Jesus Father in the green pasture without worry or concern. Amen.”
As I said that, placing my hand on Kim Hak-ju’s head, he began to breathe peacefully, as if nothing had happened.
Next, I approached Kim Hak-ju’s wife, Lee Jin-hye, and placed my hand on her head as well.
“You, Lee Jin-hye. You’ve committed quite a few sins in your life. As a notorious school bully, you openly picked on poor, nerdy kids and instigated your delinquent friends to crush their dreams and hopes（2D）, so your sin is by no means light. However, the Lord Jesus Father sees that as a part of the countless mistakes and possibilities humans can make, so you will repent for the mistakes you made under your free will and peacefully end your life as a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Father, according to His will. You must not answer anyone else’s call before the Lord Jesus Father calls you, and all calls other than His are but the cheap tricks and enticements of evil and wicked things, so do not be easily deceived like Eve in the Garden of Eden. Amen.”
Lee Jin-hye also broke free from her sleep paralysis and fell into a peaceful sleep, breathing evenly with a relaxed expression.
Finally, I knelt down in front of the poor child sleeping on a thick blanket on the floor, a child in his prime who had missed the time to be loved because his family had no time for him.
“You, Kim Hak-seon, even though you were bullied by those with evil hearts, don’t be too heartbroken because it’s a fact that your name, Hak-seon, is so funny. The Lord Jesus Father probably originally intended to name you something like Hak-gyun or Hak-gyo. If your biological father’s naming sense is like that, how can a sinless son lament his own hard life? Don’t dwell on the past anymore and just live a faithful and wise life worthy of your name. This is something the Lord Jesus Father acknowledges, so you should never doubt and believe in Him.”
The child who had been bullied at school for childish reasons, the child who had to watch his kind older sister suffer from a young age, the child who had to witness his sister’s death in a car accident right before his eyes.
I carefully extracted the negative emotions embedded in the painful memories this child held and scattered them in the air like releasing a soul.
Humans don’t just think that they are unfortunate beings with a terrible fate just because they’ve experienced painful things.
Some bravely overcome hardships and adversities and become even stronger heroes of reversal, while others use it as an opportunity to prepare a means to protect themselves.
Of course, there are some who are trapped in the past and consumed by negative emotions, but they simply haven’t learned how to properly shake off those negative emotions.
Because they were too young, too weak, and lacked courage.
We shouldn’t blame or scold them, but rather encourage them and give them strength.
Just like everything in this world s*rewed me over and made me a stronger person. Ah, is this a bit different?
Anyway.
I reminded both Kim Hak-ju’s son, Kim Hak-seon, and Kim Hak-seon’s older sister, Kim Hye-seon, that they could be saved under the name of the Lord Jesus Father.
“I know what it’s like to lose family at a young age. I’ve been bullied too. I despaired at my own weakness, resented the injustice of the world, and yearned for a salvation that didn’t exist. But look. I’ve finally reclaimed my life as a human being, so there’s no reason why you can’t do the same. If you can’t fight, endure, if you can’t endure, bide your time, if you can’t bide your time, rest for a while. If you can laugh in the end, nothing in the world can defeat you, so you will truly be a strong person. Amen.”
After instilling courage in the boy who still showed signs of youth, I confirmed that all three family members were sleeping peacefully for the first time in five years.
Looking at the entrance of the room again, the blackened talisman crumbled and fell like ashes.
The salt I had placed on the windowsill was slightly yellow when I first saw it, but now it had also turned into black ash.
Suddenly, the sound of running water started coming from inside the closed bathroom, and the TV, which had been turned off, turned on by itself and emitted a constant stream of static.
The intercom, which had been unplugged a long time ago, rang, and loud footsteps, as if many people were coming and going, could be heard from outside the hallway that should have been quiet.
Someone kept grabbing the doorknob and twisting it.
Black shadows flickered past the window, distracting me.
But the three family members were still sound asleep with peaceful expressions.
“This is a pasture under the warm sunshine watched over by the Lord Jesus Father, a shelter He has prepared, so you evil and wicked things cannot dare to dwell here.”
Clank, clank, clank, clank!
Ring, ring, ring, ring!
The noise intensified, and the pressure increased, but I didn’t even blink as I sat down in front of the vanity table.
I covered the mirror with a coat hung on a hanger like a tent because it could become a gateway for ghosts.
I silently protected Kim Hak-ju’s family in this quiet room until the sun rose.
All I could do was play mobile mahjong on my smartphone.
“No, you son of a b*tch! Why did you call ron right there?!”
