Climbing the Tower with Time-Stop Ability - Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Cult (2)

TL: DDTL

I arranged to meet Ju-won hyung in person so I could hear the whole story.

“You know about Person123 Church, right?”

Hyung looked haggard as he turned the coffee cup in his hands.

I nodded.

“Yeah. Jiu noona got mixed up in that?”

I’d seen her involved with Person123 Church activities before, but…

I certainly hadn’t realized it was this serious. Or maybe it had gotten worse over time.

Ju-won hyung began explaining.

“Apparently Person123 Church has all these different sects, or denominations, or whatever you want to call them. Not just the one most people know about…”

To summarize what he told me.

I didn’t know much about religion, but apparently Person123 Church wasn’t a single unified organization. It had all kinds of sects or branches.

The largest one worldwide was the Salvation Faith, officially the Society of Hope for Human Salvation.

It was the one that showed up on the news all the time, the version of Person123 Church everyone knew about.

But besides the Salvation Faith, plenty of other Person123 Church sects had sprung up domestically like weeds…

While the mainstream Salvation Faith felt less like a religion and more like a casual fan-club cheering on Person123, some of the smaller, more obscure sects had gone way further than that.

In a word, they were cults.

“…You know how lately a lot of people have been joining Person123 Church like it’s some kind of trend? Jiu was like that at first too. Just casual stuff. I even went along to some of the meetings with her sometimes.

But at some point she started getting really deep into it. ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’… she started telling me about this weird group called that.”

The Religion of the Heavenly One.

That was the name of the cult Jiu noona had supposedly fallen into.

“The leader there is supposedly Person123’s representative or whatever… that’s totally nonsense, right? It’s obviously a cult.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

When the hell did I get a representative without knowing about it?

Unbelievable.

The rest of the story was about what I expected.

Hyung had tried to stop her and reason with her, but she wouldn’t listen, and at some point she’d cut off contact entirely.

He’d gone by her studio apartment and found it empty, so he’d tried reaching her other friends and her family, but nobody could get hold of her either.

“When exactly did she stop replying?”

“It’s been almost a week since she completely stopped.”

“What about school? Oh wait, it’s vacation right now…?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you file a missing person report with the police?”

Hyung sighed.

“I did. But they said they confirmed she’s safe.”

“So they got in contact with her?”

“Uh… Jiu’s side said she’s fine where she is, and she’d appreciate it if people stopped contacting her. So the police said they can’t investigate it as a missing person case…”

If the other party responded normally, it wasn’t classified as a missing person case.

He’d asked the police to at least tell him where Jiu noona was, but they wouldn’t give him that information either.

If the person herself refused, the police didn’t have the authority to share her location or address with anyone else.

It wasn’t a runaway minor situation. She was an adult acting on her own will.

I looked through the chat logs hyung showed me between him and Jiu noona.

Him telling her it was a cult and to come to her senses, her denying it. Arguments.

They’d kept fighting like that… and then a few days ago, after she sent a message saying she was sick of it and to stop contacting her, she’d gone silent.

“Even if the police say she’s responding, I’m losing my mind. What if Jiu’s actually in danger or something? I mean, she’s not the kind of girl who’d just cut everyone off like this…”

That was true.

The Jiu noona I knew was such a cheerful person. To get tangled up in a cult and go completely silent… what on earth was going on.

“…I’m seriously considering going into ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ myself. Maybe I can find her that way.”

“Hyung, don’t. That’s a bad idea.”

I tried to stop him.

Even just from the description, this clearly wasn’t a normal group. It could be dangerous.

All I could do was listen to him vent and tell him to hold off on doing anything reckless for a while longer.

*

When I got home, I looked up what ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ actually was.

A quick internet search and there it was, an official homepage and everything.

– Master Shin Du-rang, the representative of Person123, will guide you onto the right path.

“Ha.”

The introduction had me snorting from the very first line. I scrolled down with the mouse cursor.

– The fate of the present world rests entirely in the hands of Person123, and Master Shin Du-rang is the sole representative personally appointed by Him.

The people of this world remain foolishly unaware. In the end, the world will perish, and only those whose faith in Him runs deepest shall be saved. This is the time when Person123 separates His true believers from the rest, a time of testing.

When the time of testing ends, the days of falling and salvation shall begin. Just as the Tower offered the Ark on the 6th Floor, most unbelievers will die and fall as monsters. Conversely, the chosen few believers will receive His salvation.

Time grows short. Do you wish to be among the chosen few? Master Shin Du-rang, His sole representative, will guide you onto the right path…

.

.

.

A long-winded introduction that screamed “cult” from start to finish.

What was funny was that they’d even worked in the recent Ark incident. Did they update this thing diligently or something?

There was a contact number at the bottom of the page.

I thought about it for a moment.

‘What should I do…’

What I was thinking right now was this.

Going into ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ myself.

It was a cult exploiting my name and impersonating as my representative.

What if Jiu noona really was in some kind of dangerous situation?

At the very least, I figured I should find out where she was and what she was doing.

This wasn’t entirely unrelated to me either, and I felt bad for hyung…

I didn’t deliberate long.

I tapped the contact number on the homepage.

The call connected and a voice that sounded like a customer service rep came through the speaker.

“Hello? Yes, I saw the introduction on your homepage and I was calling because…”

*

The very next day I arranged to meet with people from ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ at a cafe.

“So nice to meet you. You’re interested in joining our ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’, I hear?”

Two people showed up.

One was a girl around my age who looked like a college student, the other a middle-aged woman.

Cult proselytizers were all like this, I supposed. On the surface they looked perfectly normal.

“…If I really join, will I actually be able to receive salvation directly from Person123?”

The girl smiled brightly as she answered.

“Of course. He never turns away those who believe in Him with a sincere heart.”

“And is The Religion of the Heavenly One’s Master really His representative?”

I asked on purpose.

If I seemed too willing to believe from the start, that might raise suspicion.

The girl clasped her hands together and nodded.

“Yes, our Master truly is Person123’s representative. He even personally proclaimed it Himself.”

“Person123 personally proclaimed it?”

What kind of nonsense was this now?

The girl continued spouting her absurdities with full confidence.

“Yes! Only the Master and the High Priests have seen Him in person.”

“…So you haven’t actually seen Him yourself?”

“I’m just an ordinary believer. But ordinary believers can become High Priests too, by accumulating enough holy merit to serve closest to the Master. Then they’ll have the honor of seeing Person123 in person.”

This was unreal.

The girl kept going on about ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ .

How to receive true salvation, how little time was left to be saved, how fortunate it was that fate had brought me to ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ now, and on and on.

I swallowed my sighs, nodded along, and acted like I was gradually being won over.

“…So, what do you think is the best way for us to demonstrate our faith to Person123?”

“Hmm… what would it be? Prayer?”

“Of course it’s important to pray with a heart that truly believes in and follows Him. But putting your faith into action is just as important.”

What was she on about?

“As I mentioned, the destruction of this world has already been decided. So would we still have any need for material possessions?”

“No.”

“Exactly, we wouldn’t! So if you truly believe in His salvation, there’s no need to cling to worldly things. Proving that you’ve let go of that attachment is the same as proving your faith in Him. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, it makes perfect sense.”

I knew this buildup was going somewhere.

In the end, they just wanted money.

“To join ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’, you need to start with a very small demonstration. So we require an initiation fee of 300,000 won.”

300,000 won.

I could just pay it. No big deal.

“Once I join, can I meet the Master right away?”

The girl shook her head.

“To receive baptism directly from the Master after joining, you need to complete a probationary period.”

“So I can’t meet Him right away?”

What was with all these hoops? For a cult leader, no less.

When I looked a little put off, the girl quickly added,

“Our ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ regularly holds something called the ‘Rite of Praising the Heavenly One’. It’s a sacred event where all ordinary believers gather together to receive guidance from the Master.”

Rite of Praising the Heavenly One?

That was quite a grand name.

“All ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ believers gather together?”

“Yes! At that time, probationary believers who have completed their three-month probationary period also receive baptism directly from the Master and are promoted to full believers. The Rite of Praising the Heavenly One happens every three months too. And it just so happens that the next Rite of Praising the Heavenly One is in just a few days.

So if you join now, you’ll be able to participate in the Rite of Praising the Heavenly One right after. As soon as your probationary period ends, you’ll be promoted to full believer.”

I thought about it.

An event where all the believers gather.

Maybe I could confirm Jiu noona’s whereabouts there?

“Where is the Rite of Praising the Heavenly One held?”

“At our Religion of the Heavenly One’s sacred site. You can only go there once you’ve completed your probationary period.”

It seemed they weren’t going to give out the location casually.

Well, the probationary period was probably a kind of vetting process too.

People doing shady things wouldn’t just let any random person in.

I didn’t press her about the location and instead spoke earnestly.

“Didn’t you say there isn’t much time left for salvation? I can pay more, if that’s what it takes. Is there really no way for me to attend this Rite of Praising the Heavenly One?”

“Ah… I’m sorry, but it’s set by the doctrines of our order, so…”

The girl glanced at the middle-aged woman beside her.

The middle-aged woman shook her head, and the girl spoke apologetically.

“I’m sorry. But there’s no need to rush like that. It’s not too late if you attend the next Rite of Praising the Heavenly One in three months.”

“When exactly will that be?”

“Ah… one moment please.”

The girl checked the date on her phone and answered.

“April 16th.”

“That’s almost 100 days from now. So I’d be waiting an extra ten days on top of three months, which means this Rite of Praising the Heavenly One is happening about ten days from now?”

“Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“Is there really no way to attend that one?”

“I’m sorry. There’s just no way to shorten the probationary period…”

Ten days from now, then.

To keep in contact with them, I went ahead and paid the initiation fee. 300,000 won.

“I’m so glad you’ve made the wise choice. Now you, Brother, also stand at the starting point of the path toward true salvation.”

The girl clasped my hand tightly in both of hers and offered a brief prayer.

She was calling me “Brother”…

After that I got put through a simple background check.

Name and age, and I introduced myself as having dropped out of college and currently working part-time.

“It was so nice to meet you today, Brother. We’ll see you again soon.”

We agreed to meet again a bit later and parted ways.

Back at home, I thought about what to do next…

[Person123: Bilon, could you possibly get me something like a location tracking device?]

I contacted Bilon.

The reply came right back.

[Chicken Sandwich: Of course. What kind would you like, exactly?]

Bilon never asked questions, just agreed to whatever I needed.

I described something like the location trackers from spy movies, the kind that could be secretly attached to a single person.

[Chicken Sandwich: I see. If you wish to track one specific person, I can provide a tool that hacks their phone directly. That would also let you check their GPS information, of course.]

[Person123: Then please go with that. Would within a week be possible?]

[Chicken Sandwich: Certainly.]

I had no intention of waiting several months to check out this Rite of Praising the Heavenly One.

So what to do.

Why not just put a tracker on a ‘Religion of the Heavenly One’ believer?

It was an event where all the believers gathered, so when this upcoming Rite of Praising the Heavenly One happened, they’d all be heading there.

The simple plan was to attach a tracker and follow along.

The hacking tool Bilon promised arrived the very next day through the Magic Stone Courier.

[Chicken Sandwich: Please connect it to the charging port of the phone you wish to hack.]

According to Bilon’s explanation, just three seconds of contact was enough to take full control of the target’s phone. Terrifying.

Another day passed.

For the first time in my life, I was heading out for a religious activity.

And not just any religious activity, but as a believer in a cult that was exploiting my name.

“Welcome! It’s this way.”

I met up with the girl who’d recruited me and we headed somewhere together.

Her name was Lee Hye-ri, and she was a year younger than me, not that any of that really mattered.

In any case, the place we ended up wasn’t anywhere strange. It was a study cafe.

I’d imagined something like a dark room full of fanatics in a frenzy… but no, it wasn’t like that at all.

They’d booked a study room at the cafe, and the whole thing was just people I’d never met before introducing themselves and chatting away cheerfully.

Was it because I was new?

This was probably how they slowly broke down newcomers’ defenses and reeled them in.

Whatever. It wasn’t hard.

Slipping the hacking tool into Hye-ri’s phone, which she’d left lying carelessly on the table, and then retrieving it.

We ate, drank coffee, and when the activity wrapped up I went home and checked.

“Oh, it worked.”

Just like the instructions said, once I connected the other tool that had come with the hacking device to my own phone,

Hye-ri’s phone was completely transparent to me, like it was my own.

I went through everything, messages and chats and all.

Looking through it… this Lee Hye-ri was no ordinary cult devotee either.

I got all the information I needed.

The Rite of Praising the Heavenly One was happening on exactly January 15th. Just five days away.

And Hye-ri was indeed planning to go to the cult’s headquarters for it.

Five days passed.

I checked Hye-ri’s real-time location as she started moving in the early morning.

Tracing her route… she was leaving the Seoul metropolitan area and heading down toward Chungcheong-do.

Once Hye-ri arrives, I’ll head straight there myself.

Find Jiu noona, make sure she’s safe.

What came after that, I hadn’t quite decided yet.

Hye-ri’s location stopped somewhere in the middle of a mountainous area.

The region was Boeun-gun in Chungcheong-do.

It seemed she’d reached her destination.

I dressed in a cap, mask, and hoodie pulled up over my head, then activated the Warp Device.

Let’s see.

Let’s see what these cult bastards are up to over there.

****

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