Episode 68
“What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said. I need your help, unnie.”
“…Explain. Now.”
“It’s… I don’t want to be a sacrifice. Please help me, unnie.”
I’d assumed this was just another ordinary cult—one that swindles money, brainwashes people, or maybe, on the extreme side, pushes them to mass suicide. That’s what I’d thought, but…
“Sacrifice?!”
I was so surprised that I nearly screamed, then clamped a hand over my mouth, stifling the sound. My heart pounded as I tried to steady myself.
Sacrifice? You mean… killing people and using them as offerings? That’s insane! Who did that in this day and age?
“Kid, I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
“I’m not a kid. I’m Ji-woo. Choi Ji-woo.”
“Yes, Ji-woo. What you’re saying isn’t making sense to me.”
“I saw it.”
“Did you not see it wrong?”
“No. I saw it. I saw it clearly.”
Tears pooled in her wide eyes, and she looked at me with the expression of a child that seemed to be about to burst into tears.
“You don’t believe me either, unnie? I’m not lying. I’m not…”
“No, I’m not saying you’re lying, Ji-woo, what I’m saying is…”
“I saw it. I saw… my brother… die because of them.”
“…What?”
For a moment, I couldn’t process what I’d just heard. What kind of words were coming from the mouth of this child? I stared down at her, bewildered. Ji-woo met my gaze, tears finally spilling over. They poured out as if a faucet had been turned on.
“Ji-woo, don’t cry. Okay? Let’s… about your brother…”
Seeing Ji-woo cry this bitterly, I could tell she wasn’t lying. Which meant everything she’d said so far was true…
Why did we have to walk straight into the tiger’s den? If I’d known, I’d have dragged everyone off that bus the second I woke up. Cursing my past self for being so reckless, I muttered under my breath.
“Ji-woo, stop crying. Can you tell unnie everything that happened? Slowly?””
***
“So you’re saying this isn’t just an ordinary cult?”
“Exactly.”
“It’s one that sacrifices people?”
“Yeah. That kind.”
“…”
“Hard to believe?”
He answered with his expression instead of words.
“I felt the same. But you should’ve seen her. How badly she cried. But a child who’s barely five or six wouldn’t sell out her own family otherwise. No way. Right?”
“…Right.”
“So we’ve got no choice but to believe it.”
“…”
And everything Ji-woo had described was too detailed, too real for a child her age to fabricate. It had been exactly that which had made believe in it even more.
“Let us recap. First of all, this isn’t an ordinary religious organization but a cult. We’re trapped in a cult that’s planning to sacrifice us, and we’re gonna die. The only silver lining is they won’t kill us… immediately?”
I didn’t know the exact doctrines. According to Ji-woo, their “god” inhabits the cult leader’s body to guide the followers, and to keep this deity anchored there, they must offer a sacrifice every month. Why it had to be humans, though — that part was unclear.
Most cults are created for money, right? Brainwashing followers and inventing twisted doctrines should be enough to squeeze cash out of them. Why add murder to the mix? Maybe the leader was just a psychopath who enjoyed killing.
But that wasn’t the point. The sacrifices happened on the last day of each month, which was still weeks away. We weren’t in immediate danger.
–My parents are here too. The people here… they made Mom and Dad act weird.
Curious how a child could know all this, I’d asked how she ended up here. She explained her parents had brought her — likely brainwashed by the cult first, then dragging their kids into it. What good would recruiting a child even do?
In any case, Ji-woo said the members doted on her after her arrival, so she didn’t mind it back then. But when her older brother, Ji-hu, entered, he rebelled fiercely.
He was in his first year of middle school then — probably a mix of puberty and angst. She said Ji-hu hated the cult members and constantly caused trouble. Then one day, he suddenly turned quiet. Stopped acting out. Started obeying every word the adults said.
—A week before Oppa disappeared, he took me somewhere. It was a police station. I think he talked to the officers, but I don’t remember what he said.
—The day before he vanished… he said something weird. He said if he ever disappeared, I should go back to that police station and tell them he was gone.
—The next day, he was gone. Mom and Dad said he was going far away and would never come back. I hated my brother for leaving me, but… I kept my promise to go to the police station. The officers told me to go home. I heard them say, ‘A middle schooler’s delusions can’t be trusted. He can’t be dead.’
After that, Ji-woo lived normally — until two months ago, when she saw it.
—People… covered in red. Someone was bleeding and dying…
The place she described was the abandoned factory next to this building — likely the sacrifice site.
—Oppa didn’t leave. He died. There. Sniffle… He looked just like the day he disappeared. Just like when he… changed.
Ji-hu had learned what happened on the last day of every month, and had eventually died for it. Now his sister knew it too.
“This is…”
“Don’t believe me? Read this.”
I handed Do-yoon a thin notebook—Ji-hu’s diary, given to me by Ji-woo.
—After learning the truth, I met one of Oppa’s friends. He said he’d found stuff Oppa left with him while cleaning and called me to pick it up. So I went to his friend’s house and got this.
“Read it. It’ll connect the dots. I only believed Ji-woo after seeing this.”
To be honest, Ji-woo’s story was difficult to comprehend fully because it had gaps. I had to fill them by guessing through the empty parts, but the diary had made up for it.
Diary Entries:
「Mom and Dad are acting weird. They say this place is our home now? Insane. The people here are “kind,” but in a creepy way. They keep forcing nonsense on us and trying to make us follow along.」
「Overheard Jin-hyuk and Hyung-woo secretly talking about “preparing the sacrifice.” They’ve drilled it into us: “Offerings to the god on the last day of each month bring happiness.” But they never say what the “offering” is — “You’ll learn when you’re older.” This is my chance. I’ll sneak into the ritual site tonight.」
「This can’t be real. No. It’s impossible.」
「Is this true? Are they really…? How could our parents…? These people — how could they do something so monstrous?」
「Now I get why they never told me or Ji-woo about the sacrifices… the location, the timing. Why they hid what the “offering” really was. This is wrong. So wrong.」
「I don’t want to stay here. I’m scared. Everyone here is crazy.」
「The police didn’t believe me. They said they couldn’t trust a “kid’s wild story” without proof. I’m disappointed, but there’s still a way. The next ritual’s in a few days. If I sneak photos of it, that’ll be evidence. Then they’ll have to listen. So I said I’d bring the evidence and came back home with my sister.」
「But I’m scared. What if I get caught taking pictures? Will I end up… like that? No. Mom and Dad will protect me. They’d never let them hurt me.…Right?」
The diary ended there.
Do-yoon closed the notebook, silent for a long moment.
“The fact that it stops here…”
“…Means his faith was betrayed.”
His parents — and the devotees here — were far more insane than he’d ever imagined.
That is one smart 6 year old
