GSGW c237

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Chapter 237

In the underground bunker of a cult sect.

Dinner time, when all the initiates sit together.

In the silence, a voice echoes.

“Wow.”

.….

“Wow, that’s fascinating.”

A ghost story of the Church of the Luminous Unknown is looking at me.

“Only the dragon came?”

She smiles brightly.

Her gaze shifts to the two empty seats beside me.

“The fox and Grandma Kim Bokja aren’t here. Only the dragon came.”

……

“Hey. Why do you think those two couldn’t make it?”

Guess: simple forgetfulness

Reason: natural aging due to old age

“Are you dissing the fox for being older than you? Hahahaha!”

Hahahaha…

Laughter spreads through the dining hall.

“Don’t worry! They’re both fine. They seemed like they wanted a tour, so I let them.”

A tour.

[Oh dear, it seems we’ve been discovered.]

Probably.

I try not to imagine their situation in an overly imaginative direction.

But—

“So? Want to keep eating? Or go see those two?”

…Ha.

Rule: Breakfast and dinner are eaten together.

“That’s right! But you’re not an initiate, are you? So you’re an exception.”

……

“Come on, follow us! I’ll show you. Everyone else can keep eating!”

“That’s right.”

The people nod with smiles, resume eating, and start exchanging things like “Let’s share happiness.”

I stand up and quietly gather my smoke, then follow the twins.

As I walk, I begin numbering possibilities in my head—assuming the worst.

'As long as the Assistant Manager isn’t dead.'

And as long as Ho Yuwon didn’t run away alone. As long as it’s not that, anything is fine.

The chances are low. Remember that.

The twins leave the eastern dining hall and walk down a dim cement corridor toward the place we expected.

The huge central chamber.

The place where the rituals were performed.

And—

“Here it is.”

Among the many coffins, they point behind one leaning against the wall.

“Want to go inside?”

The older sister grinning cheerfully. The younger brother expressionless.

After glancing once at their obvious yet unsettling faces, I send my smoke thickly into the space behind the coffin.

Inside—

“Ah. You’re here.”

…Ho Yuwon, looking perfectly fine, and Assistant Manager Eun Haje, disguised as Grandma Kim Bokja, are leaning against the wall.

At least both of them look unharmed.

'Whew.'

Seeing Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s signal, I slowly step fully into the space. And there—

'…Factory equipment?'

It looks like some kind of facility.

Not as overwhelming as the central chamber, but slightly larger than the dining hall. Pipes run along the walls, and mechanical humming echoes throughout.

It’s like an old factory, compressed into a compact industrial installation.

[Indeed! A bunker equipped with production facilities.]

[Some preppers build underground bunkers not merely for evacuation, but for long-term living! This seems to be one such example.]

Steam hisses from the pipes. Within the air, I detect the smell of disinfectant.

“Impressive, right?”

I turn my head.

The twins are now standing inside the space.

Both of them are smiling in circles.

“Curious what we’re making?”

……

“Go on, ask. The fox saw it first.”

I look at Ho Yuwon.

He glances at the equipment, then speaks with a smile.

“It’s a place for brewing liquor.”

……

……!!

“Correct—ta-da!”

The twins step aside, revealing what they had been blocking.

A giant container.

Tall enough to stand two people on top of each other, incredibly wide.

But instead of ceramic, it’s a huge cheap plastic rectangular water tank.

Then I realize something.

The smell in the air isn’t disinfectant.

It’s ethanol. Alcohol.

Coming from that tank.

“How is it? Cool, right?”

In Jisan Village, the place where the liquor called Shinseonju was made by soaking the centipede deity.

Here, beneath the village shrine, they have recreated that container.

Exactly the same.

“Right in this spot. A long time ago, there was a festival where people drank liquor brewed with the centipede of the Mimicry Sect. Everyone there heard Ireum-nim’s voice and got their happy ending.”

……

“But it looks like someone stole all the liquor. Even the centipede got completely taken. So someone has to refill it, right? We’re going to try!”

Wait.

Then what exactly are they planning to put inside instead of the centipede—

“We were thinking about dragon liquor or fox liquor.”

……!

“But hey, you two didn’t join the sect! That wouldn’t work.”

That—

“For the liquor to have the power to realize Ireum-nim, we need to soak something with the faithful and mystical authority of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, right?”

Authority.

The term the church uses for the power that summons ghost stories.

“So we prepared some authority. Ah, the participants are arriving.”

Footsteps echo behind us.

The sound of dozens of people walking, reverberating through the giant chamber.

“Congratulations on completing your initiation!”

……

I turn my head.

Beyond the entrance—

The initiates who finished dinner are standing there.

They line up quietly in front of the coffins.

No one says anything. Yet they all smile as if they understand everything.

A strange sense of unity.

As I examine their faces—

……

Wait

Question:

“Hm? Roe Deer, I’ve told you several times that it isn’t your turn to ask a question right now—”

Question: Whether the restriction on 130666’s facial-recognition degradation (mosaic) has been lifted

“…That’s a strange thing to say.”

Ho Yuwon declares:

“I have never touched Roe Deer’s restriction.”

……

Then—

Why can I see everyone’s faces clearly?

From the first day, in this bunker, I never saw anyone’s face as a mosaic or a dripping blur.

Because it was true for everyone, I simply accepted it. Because I was temporarily outside Daydream Inc., accompanying Director Ho. Because he had said: “Enjoy your temporary freedom.”

So I accepted it naturally.

And now—I face the truth I missed.

“Let’s share happiness!”

The initiates open their mouths as if reciting a predetermined line.

I look inside those mouths.

Inside them—

The thing moving where a tongue should be.

It’s not a tongue.

“Let us share happiness.”

It’s a worm.

A red, fleshy worm like an earthworm writhes inside their mouths where a tongue should be. It moves naturally, skillfully replacing the tongue entirely. But the mouth at its end opens—and teeth appear.

“Oh, you saw it? Cool, right? That authority originally comes from a fear derived from fish parasites. It attaches to the root of the tongue, slowly eats it, and replaces it. Also…”

The whisper of the Happy Ending Sect.

“It spreads quickly. Just talking during meals together is enough.”

And at that moment, I realize.

The sarcastic remark I casually made earlier while analyzing the situation—

—How exactly do they create such unity?

How arrogant a position that question comes from.

Reality is not a wiki.

Just because the settings written on a wiki look childish doesn’t mean a situation lacks plausibility. How fragmentarily I have been looking at all of this.

In reality, every phenomenon always has a reason and a foundation.

It’s just… that I don’t know them.

—The details that make this absurd situation possible.

They exist.

—Small symbols shared only among themselves.

Those exist too.

'Ghost story.'

All the initiates are contaminated by the same ghost story. That is why I can see their faces.

And that ghost story is…

“Isn’t it fascinating?”

Something I don’t know.

I barely know what kind of ghost stories the Happy Ending Sect uses as powers. Only the strong and impressive ones are chaotically registered on the wiki.

…Would it mean anything to read it now?

Whether there is meaning in controlling this insane situation, in a situation where the initiates’ tongues have all been replaced by parasites, where perhaps all of their reasoning and cognition are controlled by those parasites…

[Oh, my friend. There is an idea you have overlooked.]

What?

[If you say all initiates, then there is still one person who has not yet been confirmed, isn’t there?]

'......!'

I stiffly turn my head.

Assistant Manager Eun Haje.

The Assistant Manager’s face, looking back at me, is perfectly intact—without a single mosaic blur or melting distortion… just like on the first day.

……

Smoke rises.

Recommendation: Check the tongue.

However.

“Ah. It’s okay. Falcon’s tongue is fine.”

Ah.

“Falcon is already infected, you see. Other parasites can’t enter.”

Wait.

I meet eyes with Ho Yuwon, but there is no time to question it.

Because—

“Looks like the story is finished, right? Then now… the initiation ceremony is over, so it’s time to start work.”

The twins raise both hands.

“Everyone, take your positions!”

People move.

The initiates, still lined up neatly, enter the facility without hesitation. And then…

They pass right by me and stride forward briskly.

Further inside.

As if placed on a conveyor belt, they walk along the pipes of the facility equipment at a steady pace, climbing upward…

And then they throw themselves.

Splash, splash, splash!

People fall into the potent liquor.

'...!!'

With clear, almost refreshing splashing sounds, the people disappear into cheap white plastic barrels. They sink. The cool, crisp sound continues without stopping.

“I think it will become wonderful liquor.”

Dozens of people are contaminated with a ghost story, turned into something no longer human, and used to brew alcohol.

…Instead of centipedes, the entire group of initiates is used as ingredients.

That is the purpose of this initiation ceremony, the reason the underground bunker is located here.

“Isn’t it wonderful?”

……

A chill crawls up my spine.

“When it’s finished, you should drink it too. Drink it, and come to know Ireum-nim.”

And then I realize one more emotion has returned to me.

Known entity: Ireum-nim

Disgust.

“Hm?”

Doctrine of the Church of the Luminous Unknown:

This world belongs to Ireum-nim. Only Ireum-nim’s will and choices have meaning.

“That’s right! Exactly that!”

Exactly?

But they probably don’t know.

Do you know what the absurd truth of this doctrine is?

In fact, this is…

Ireum-nim

The being worshipped by the cult, the Church of the Luminous Unknown, appearing in <Dark Exploration Records>. It is said that in this world only their will and choices have meaning.

In truth, their identity is [spoiler].

Click the spoiler and this appears:

the author of the <Dark Exploration Records> wiki.

It’s simple.

At the beginning, <Dark Exploration Records> followed the format of a normal website. So when someone clicked “submit” to write a wiki entry, a name field appeared.

But anonymity was the rule, so people were not supposed to touch the name field.

So when someone submitted a ghost story as it was… it ended up like this.

Author: Ireum

/tn. Ireum (이름) in korean literally means "Name", so the authors use "Name" to remain anonymous. But we're already so used to Ireum so I'm using Ireum instead of Name.

That format.

Thus every wiki page was written as "Author: Ireum."

And the Church of the Luminous Unknown originally began as a small meta ghost story inspired by this.

The chilling idea that beings inside a ghost story become aware of their own author—breaking the fourth wall.

But as countless people added to it, it gained a life of its own and grew wildly, eventually becoming a massive religious organization.

The Church of the Luminous Unknown mistook this “Author: Ireum” for a single great divine being and began worshipping it.

…Just like a real cult.

And what that means is—

Something that possesses a contradiction from the very beginning according to the doctrine of the Church of the Luminous Unknown

: The Happy Ending Sect.

In other words, the Happy Ending Sect contains a fundamental setting error.

“…Huh?”

Do you remember?

What I said to the people of Jisan Village in front of the Centipede Sage.

—Those weak ones who could not accept this truth fled the world through death, but that is not an escape.

That’s right.

Death is not an escape.

You cannot run away from Ireum-nim.

“Th-that…”

Therefore death

▶ cannot be happiness.

▶ cannot be an ending.

In other words, there is no such thing as a happy ending.

Killing people in its name is also—

A doctrinal contradiction.

A meaningless act.

"......"

One of the executives of the Happy Ending Sect closes their mouth.

The smiling expression disappears, leaving a quiet face beneath the red headband, above the worn school uniform.

A face with the vitality gone.

Suddenly, I realize that face is not as young as I first thought…

And then—

“Does that matter?”

…!!

“Isn’t it ghost-story-like enough? People die for no reason, it’s actually a misunderstanding… it’s something Ireum-nim might pay attention to. That means we’re doing well.”

Splash, splash.

“Right? If a hundred people are jumping into liquor right now, and it turns out they’re all just pointless deaths—if the Happy Ending Sect itself is ridiculous—then that’s interesting.”

…Something

was strange.

That wasn’t grotesqueness deliberately staged.

In other words, it wasn’t the flat kind of madness you often see in ghost stories or horror, where insanity suddenly bursts out and shouts, ‘Aren’t I scary?’

It was real.

So this is…

“Unique, interesting, with a twist too. It’s fun.”

Fear.

I look at the twins with the delicate faces of teenagers wearing school uniforms. Their appearance is almost artificial.

Desperately so… blatantly individualistic.

“Ireum-nim will like it, right?”

……

“Ireum-nim will like it and want to watch it longer!”

I realize something.

'They knew.'

It wasn’t that they didn’t know.

On the wiki you only see cruelty and characterization—fragmentary, unpleasant shocks with no foundation. But reality is different.

For them…

“Then that’s enough.”

Ireum-nim is fear.

Ghost stories run rampant in this world because it is Ireum-nim’s will.

They know that.

And if that is the case, they must behave in ways that suit Ireum-nim’s tastes as much as possible—doing absurd things, creating interesting events, cruel acts, even grotesque situations.

Trying to act in ways that match those tastes—

“Then that’s enough.”

That is the true identity of the Happy Ending Sect.

 

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