Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 237.2

I know almost nothing about what ghost stories the Happy Ending Sect uses as Authority. Only the big, famous, wiki-registered ones.

…Would it even help reading it out now?

To try and analyze while all around me, tongues have been replaced with parasites, and these parasites are probably controlling their hosts’ cognition and thought…

[Oh, Friend. You’ve overlooked one obvious angle.]

What?

[If it’s every convert, there’s one person you haven’t checked yet, isn’t there?]

‘……!’

My neck stiffened as I turned.

Assistant Manager Eun Haje.

Her face was perfectly clear. No mosaic, no blur… Just as on the first day.

……

Smoke curled up around me.

Recommendation : Tongue inspection

But.

“Ah. No need. Ms. Falcon’s tongue is fine.”

Ah.

“Miss Falcon is already infected. Nothing else can get in.”

Wait.

I met Ho Yoowon’s eyes, but there was no time to argue.

Because.

“Done with the talking? Then… the initiation’s over. Time to work.”

The twins raised both hands high.

“Everyone, take your places!”

The converts moved.

Without hesitation, in their neat lines, they flowed into the facility.

They brushed past me lightly and advanced deeper in.

Onto the pipes and walkways of the equipment, climbing upward as if on a conveyor belt…

And then they jumped.

Splash, splash, splash!

People started plunging into the potent liquor.

‘…!!’

Clear, almost cheerful sounds as bodies slipped under, vanishing into the huge white plastic tanks. Splash after splash after splash—crisp, clean, horrifying.

“A fine drink, don’t you think?”

Dozens of people, contaminated by ghost stories, no longer human, were being brewed into liquor.

…Not centipedes this time, but the initiates themselves as the ingredient.

That was the true purpose of this initiation, the reason this underground bunker was built here.

“Isn’t it cool?”

……

Goosebumps crawled up my back.

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

And then I realized a feeling had returned to me, something sharp, undeniable.

Already known entity : Ireum-nim

Revulsion.

“Hmm?”

Doctrine of the Church of the Luminous Unknown:

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

“Yes! That’s it!”

That’s it?

But they must not know.

They can’t really know the absurd truth behind this doctrine.

Because the truth is.

Ireum-nim

An entity worshiped by the Church of the Luminous Unknown, a pseudo-religious group appearing in <Dark Exploration Records>. According to the cult’s doctrine, only this being’s will and choices hold meaning in the world.

But in reality is [spoiler].

Click the spoiler and you’d see this.

the wiki’s author(s).

When the wiki started, it copied the format of ordinary websites. When you submitted an entry, there was a [Name] box.

But because anonymity was the rule, people left it untouched.

So if a poster submitted without changing it… it would say.

Author : Name(Ireum)

Every wiki page ended up labeled that way, with ‘Author: Name’.

The Church of the Luminous Unknown began as a tiny meta-ghost-story built on this joke.

It was just a playful, creepy concept about breaking the fourth wall, for the characters to become aware of their author.

But as more people contributed, the idea spiraled and grew, feeding on itself until it swelled into a vast religious organization.

The Church of the Luminous Unknown has mistaken this ‘Author: Name’ designation for a great divine being and now worships it

…Just like a real cult.

And here’s what that means.

Within the doctrine of the Church of the Luminous Unknown, from its very origin there is an inherent contradiction

: Happy Ending Sect

It was born carrying a fundamental setting error.

“…Huh?”

By any chance, do you remember what I said before?

After facing the centipede shrine and the villagers of Jisan.

– Those too weak to accept this truth may seek escape through death, but that is no true salvation.

That’s right.

Death is no escape.

There is no running from Ireum-nim.

“Th, that’s…”

Therefore, death

→ cannot be happiness.

→ cannot be an ending.

There is no such thing as a happy ending.

To kill in the name of granting one is…

A doctrinal contradiction

A meaningless act

“……”

The Happy Ending Sect official fell silent.

Her smile was gone.

The face under the red headband and the worn school uniform went still.

A young face, but suddenly emptied of life.

And then.

“Does that matter?”

…!!

“Isn’t this cult-like enough? People dying for no reason, the whole thing a misunderstanding… surely Ireum-nim would take notice. We’re doing fine.”

Splash, splash.

“Right? If a hundred people leap into liquor and it’s all for nothing, if the Happy Ending Sect itself is a joke, isn’t that just fun?”

Something felt wrong.

This wasn’t the cheap, performative madness that horror stories love to flaunt. Nor was it some forced ‘look how scary I am’ hysteria.

It was real.

So this was…

“Unique, fun, with a twist. Isn’t it entertaining?”

Terror.

I look at the twins, their faces those of neat-looking teenagers in school uniforms. A look so contrived it almost feels artificial.

So desperate… so nakedly deliberate in its personality.

“Ireum-nim would like this, right?”

……

“Ireum-nim would like it so much… He’d want to watch longer, wouldn’t He?”

And I understood.

They already knew.

It wasn’t ignorance.

What I had seen on the wiki was that patchwork of shallow, unpleasant shocks, cruelty without foundation, personality built out of scraps. But here, reality was different.

For them, it was simply that…

“Then that’s enough.”

Ireum-nim is fear itself.

That this ghost story world was Ireum-nim’s will.

They knew that.

So the only thing to do was to act in ways that suited His taste. Commit senseless acts, stage things for amusement, do cruel things, create grotesque situations.

To strive to behave in line with that taste.

“That is enough.”

That was the true nature of the Happy Ending Sect.

Salt Goblin

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