Chapter 49: Monday Service (4)

In the Bible, there were times of exorcism, like scenes where Jesus healed those possessed by demons.

So what about the 21st-century church? Healing someone possessed by a demon-

Is this possible in the 21st century?

In a world where psychiatric advancements have determined that most possessions are mental illnesses like schizophrenia, to drive out demons.

Churches would usually try to avoid such things. But Pastor Cheon Ae-su shouted confidently instead.

"Evil enemy devil ghost! In the name of Jesus, I command you to leave this man's body! Evil enemy devil ghost! Satan! In the name of Jesus, I command you! From this man's body! Leave!"

His voice echoed through the chapel without a microphone.

He was like a general commanding the world, but the limping man got angry as if he found it ridiculous.

"You bastard, putting on a crazy show! Why am I Satan! You son of a bitch! You! Pastor bastard! You! You tricked my wife into giving all our money to the church! You bastard! Why am I Satan!"

The man, unable to hold back any longer, grabbed the pastor's collar. It was a very exciting situation.

As I was watching this situation unfold right next to me, wondering what would happen next, Pastor Cheon Ae-su said,

"What is your name─"

"It's your mother's ass, you bastard! Give me back my money!"

Swish-

The man pulled something out from his chest. It was a shining, sharp knife.

"Before I stab your gut with this knife and kill you, you bastard! Give me my money!"

The blood drained from my face.

Damn, shouldn't we be calling the police instead of doing this? But Pastor Cheon Ae-su, still standing like a towering mountain, asked,

"What is your name!"

"I'm your father!"

"In the name of the victorious Lord God in heaven and the authority of Lord Jesus who defeats the enemy devil Satan, I ask! What is your name! Your name! What is your name! Your name!"

The voices of the congregation reading John's Gospel projected on the PPT screen.

The cold blade of the knife. The smell of alcohol. The pastor's thunderous command.

It was a time when all these things were mixed together in utter confusion.

Pop!

Suddenly, the lights in the chapel went out, and several people screamed. Given that even the PPT had gone off, it was clearly a sudden power outage.

The light from cell phones that started to shine one by one illuminated Pastor Cheon Ae-su and the drunk man like spotlights. Amidst the chaotic atmosphere, Pastor Cheon Ae-su said,

"Enemy devil Satan! You cannot defeat me! I, Cheon Ae-su, chosen as a shepherd by the victorious Lord Jesus, the King of Kings, ask you with heavenly authority to open your mouth and speak your name!!!!!"

What on earth is happening?

I want to leave this place, but the congregation had firmly locked the doors.

That's when it happened.

The man who had been shouting drunkenly until just now rolled his eyes back until they were white. And then he opened his mouth─and started laughing in a very coquettish voice.

"Hehehehe, hehehehehehe, hehehehehehehe, I am your mother. Cheon Ae-su. Ae-su. I am your mother. Your mother. Hehehehehe."

It was a coquettish woman's voice. How could a drunk, gruff man make such a voice?

"You think I'll tell you my name? You fake. Fraud. If you're Jesus's apostle, try to guess my name. Kekekekeke! Hahahahaha!"

Swish!

The man with his eyes rolled back white turned his head towards me.

Grin-

The man looked at me, stretching his mouth into a grin, and asked me,

"Child. What is your name?"

"Who... me?"

"Child. What is your name? Your name. Your name. If you don't say your name, I'll tear your beloved mother to death and throw her into the depths of hell. I am the roaring lion."

I felt like I was going to go crazy.

He'd kill my mom if I don't say my name!

"...My name is Ha Young-won?"

"Lies. Your name is not Ha Young-won. Liar. Liar. You are a liar. Your name is not Ha Young-won! Kihihihi! Hihihihi! I know everything! I am Jehovah, the God you believe in!"

I was extremely confused.

As I was trembling, Yang Juhee asked me,

"Hey! What's wrong with you! What's wrong!"

"That... that really seems like a ghost?"

Honestly, I was half in doubt. But from the conversation just now, the situation seemed to be leaning towards 'real'.

As if reading my thoughts, Yang Juhee shouted,

"You... you damn ghost! You fucking demon bastard!"

Yang Juhee seemed to almost have a fit and then suddenly jumped out. And then she punched the man in the face!

Thud-!

The man fell down with a crash.

"Aaargh! Owwww! Oh, I'm dying!"

"I am the tearing lion. I am the beast of salvation roaming the valley."

The man started screaming.

The coquettish voice from earlier was gone, replaced by a very gruff scream. Blood was gushing from the man's nose, and Pastor Cheon Ae-su, as if seizing the moment, shouted,

"Satan! Leave! Satan! In the name of Jesus, I command you to leave this man Park Gwang-deok's body right now! Leave!"

"Urgh, uurgh, urgh-. Uuurgh-."

The man started vomiting.

And at the same time, the lights in the chapel flickered back on.

"Uh... what was I..."

The man started looking around. His eyes were no longer rolled back white, but his face was a mess because of the nosebleed.

***

"Did you see the pastor drive out the demon?"

"It's really amazing. Phew, other fake churches can't do this. Only our pastor can do it."

"When Satan spoke in a woman's voice through the man's mouth, I really got goosebumps."

After the Monday service ended with much difficulty, all the believers were making a fuss talking about what had just happened. Among them was Deaconess Kim Yeo-ok, Yang Juhee's mother.

"Hey! Yang Juhee! How could you dangerously hit someone like that! Phew, it's fortunate that the pastor resolved things well with Mr. Park Gwang-deok! You could go to jail for that! Repent quickly!"

"......"

Yang Juhee was pouting her lips as if she found it all incomprehensible in many ways.

...Honestly, I didn't think Yang Juhee would punch the man in the head there either. I was really surprised.

Fortunately, the man only had a nosebleed and, well, no damage to his bones or anything like that, they said.

"Pastor. You saved me. Oh, thank you. I think I was possessed by something. Thank you so much. I survived thanks to you, Pastor."

Mr. Park Gwang-deok, who had pulled out a knife and talked about killing the pastor, was now bowing his head and repeatedly expressing gratitude to Pastor Cheon Ae-su.

...What a mess.

What on earth was it all about?

"You guys. Wasn't today really amazing? The pastor drove out Satan. You can't see this kind of thing anywhere else. Isn't our pastor really incredible?"

Just then, Sister Joo Chan-mi approached us.

While both Yang Juhee and I were hesitating, Yoo Dahee asked,

"By the way, where were you, Sister? We didn't see you during the service."

"Me? I was in the broadcasting room handling the PPT. Oh, that sudden power outage was troublesome. Wasn't it really scary? That Satan and devils are ministering in the world... Everyone should always be careful."

Slowly-

Yoo Dahee narrowed her eyes. Is something bothering her?

"We usually have a Bible study session, but we can't do it today because of what happened. Kids, just go home for now! Try to stick to main roads if possible!"

Sister Joo Chan-mi seemed to have some urgent business and left quickly.

Watching her leave, Yoo Dahee said,

"That sister. She's lying. Didn't you all notice? The woman's voice that sounded like a demon. It's similar to Sister Joo Chan-mi's. I recognized it as soon as I heard it."

Really? I didn't notice.

Yoo Dahee continued,

"I have a recording. Listen to this. Also, it's strange that when Juhee punched the man's face, we could hear both the man's voice and the female demon's voice simultaneously."

Swish-

Yoo Dahee held out her phone and played the recorded file.

"You... you damn ghost! You fucking demon bastard!"

"Aaargh! Owwww! Oh, I'm dying!"

"I am the tearing lion. I am the beast of salvation roaming the valley."

"It's true! We can hear Yang Juhee cursing, and then the man's scream and the female ghost's voice together. What's this? How did this happen? Did he speak with two voices at once?"

"From what I saw, it's a scam. That man from earlier must have had a speaker hidden on his body, and that sister who was far away must have been speaking through some kind of microphone."

Yoo Dahee's deduction seemed quite plausible.

The question was why they would pull such a scam.

Why on earth?

"Maybe they're putting on a show to make the believers believe? That's what I think."

Pastor Cheon Ae-su deliberately created an event to show off his power─

Could we see it that way? Was it all a staged act?

"Yang Juhee. What do you think?"

Yang Juhee was the friend who had attended Glory Church the longest among us. When I asked, Yang Juhee seemed to think for a while before blurting out,

"I don't know. Was that really Sister Chan-mi's voice? I didn't think it was. Ah, I don't know."

Right. It's okay not to know.

I shook my body to shake off the complicated feelings I was having too. It had been a day full of strange experiences.

"Meooow-"

That's when it happened.

We heard a cat crying loudly from somewhere.

"Wow! There must be a cat!"

Yoo Dahee looked under a car, extremely delighted. I had noticed for a while that Yoo Dahee clearly liked cats a lot. But Yang Juhee frowned deeply.

"Was that... really a cat's sound?"

***

Midnight, after the service ended.

When the church had quieted down, a man visited the church broadcasting room.

It was Park Gwang-deok.

"Oh my. Sister Chan-mi. You worked hard today. Your acting is getting better and better. You're worthy of a grand prize. Your voice today was so vivid, I really thought you were Satan!"

As if he had never caused a drunken disturbance, Park Gwang-deok was joking around. He took out a speaker from his waist and handed it to Joo Chan-mi.

"I wonder if it broke when I fell earlier. Ouch, it hurts. That Yang Juhee brat. She takes after her mother's temper, punching me in the nose. The bones seem fine though."

Swish-

After putting down the small speaker, Park Gwang-deok looked at the facility deacon sitting in the broadcasting room.

Mumble mumble mumble mumble-

Facility Deacon Kim Hae-il was a man who always muttered unpleasantly in a low voice.

Park Gwang-deok felt a chill looking at the man about his age and just wanted to leave this place.

Park Gwang-deok, pocketing the envelope of money prepared in the broadcasting room. He patted Facility Deacon Kim Hae-il's shoulder.

"Hae-il. The pastor says you raised the circuit breaker too quickly today."

Mumble mumble mumble-

"What a weird guy. Anyway, Sister Chan-mi. I'm leaving."

Swish-

Park Gwang-deok left with the thick envelope of money. After he disappeared, Joo Chan-mi looked at the speaker used today. It was an expensive Japanese small speaker she had bought before, but it was cracked.

"......"

Joo Chan-mi, wondering if it might be broken, tried to remove the battery first... but she noticed something strange.

'There's no battery?'

The battery was missing. Since when?

Swish-

Looking at the charger, she saw that both of the speaker's external batteries were plugged into the charger. It meant that there was no battery in the speaker from the beginning, and it shouldn't have been turned on.

"......"

Joo Chan-mi could feel a chilling sensation rising from her toes to her head.

Soon, the lights in the chapel started flickering on and off, and the speaker emitted an unpleasant noise, "Kihihihi-" with static.

"Go away."

Joo Chan-mi said irritably.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the church quickly returned to normal. Now Joo Chan-mi found and played the file recording today's service.

"Enemy devil Satan! You cannot defeat me! I, Cheon Ae-su, chosen as a shepherd by the victorious Lord Jesus, the King of Kings, ask you with heavenly authority to open your mouth and speak your name!!!!!"

Joo Chan-mi kept replaying a certain part over and over.

Turning the volume up to the maximum and putting on headphones, she even closed her eyes to focus on her hearing as much as possible-

Amidst various murmuring noises, she could hear a very small whispering voice.

"───"

"......"

It wasn't clear. But something was definitely mumbling, and Joo Chan-mi paid utmost attention to hear the sound better. And finally, she could clearly understand the small voice.

"Why did you kill my mom why did you kill my mom."

"Gasp!"

Someone suddenly grabbed Joo Chan-mi's neck tightly.

Joo Chan-mi struggled in surprise and finally snapped back to her senses. Feeling a chill, Joo Chan-mi called someone.

"Pastor, it seems the school's door has opened again. I'm going to check it out first... If I go missing, please contact Seoul first. I'll hang up now. Thank you for everything until now."