South Korea was a country in a strange position.
This country had been teased by Netizens as the country closest to Cthulhu.
The percentage of the population that believed in Christianity was extremely high. In the survey that was conducted many years ago, it was said that more than forty percent of the population were believers. Just looking at this figure, anybody would say that the country was Christian.
The truth however was quite the opposite. In fact, the vast majority of Christianity practiced by the country was not orthodox Christianity, but something slightly different.
However, South Korea emphasizes religious freedom. Only destructive religions were referred to as "cults." In other words, only religions that have caused major bloodshed were labeled as cults. Religions that engage in scams, financial exploitation, or promote nonsensical and chaotic doctrines were not considered cults; they were classified as “new religions”. This laid the groundwork for a wide variety of religions to thrive.
Actually, if we go by the standards of many other countries, the majority of those faiths in South Korea could easily be labeled as cults. While it might be an exaggeration to say that all South Koreans believe in cults, it's not entirely unfounded. Even their presidents have had some rather unconventional religious affiliations.
In South Korea, as long as you’re good at boasting, as long as you can claim some connection to Christianity, and as long as you dare to come up with innovative theories, you can easily establish a religious sect that's attractive enough to draw in numerous followers. In some novels, people often mock the abundance of swordsmen, but in South Korea, this is where you truly find a plethora of messiahs.
Korea’s cults not only moved towards internationalization, but they also influenced the political arena.
When the supernatural began to appear on Earth, when the true Christ descended, the whole Korean cult groups cheered and felt that their time had come.
According to statistics, in the past year, the number of new religions in South Korea was more than ten times the total of the previous several years. In South Korea, if you didn't have some sort of belief in an unusual sect, you might have felt embarrassed to even greet people when you went out. The emergence of mysterious powers gave these charlatans even more tricks to play with, and they came up with all sorts of schemes to deceive South Koreans, who happened to be quite susceptible to such tactics.
Park Jung-chul was a follower of a pseudo-Christian faith, which was considered a different sect within Christianity in South Korea. In this belief, you not only had faith in Christ but also in the leader of the church. In China, this would have been considered a cult, involving deceiving female believers and extorting money from followers, all of which were unfortunately commonplace.
It was precisely because of the religious chaos in South Korea that there were several bloody incidents in the past year, including strange black masses and sacrificial rituals. Despite all this, the South Korean government chose not to intervene, allowing these religious activities to thrive. It's possible that the president at that time himself subscribed to some peculiar sect.
Park Jung-chul graduated from Seoul National University, which was the best university in Korea, but even so, due to the social atmosphere in Korea, he joined a sect at an early age.
At Seoul University, Jung-chul studied the history of China, and he was obsessed with Chinese culture. He was even fluent in Chinese and English.
After graduating from Seoul National University, Park Jung-chul went to the United States for further studies. Whenever he had some free time, he would visit Chinatown. Due to historical reasons, many ancient Chinese artifacts and items could be found tucked away in corners abroad. Park Jung-chul's visits to Chinatown were primarily for researching these ancient artifacts. Even if they weren't valuable, they provided excellent research material.
On this particular day, as Park Jung-chul strolled through Chinatown, he was drawn to a small vendor's stand displaying an antique hardbound book. His deep research into Chinese history had exposed him to numerous Chinese antiques, so he could sense that this ancient book had significant historical value. Even if it wasn't worth much monetarily, it was still an antique, possibly even a rare edition.
The vendor quoted a price of three hundred dollars, which was higher than what such an item would typically cost. However, since the appearance of mysterious phenomena, the prices of various ancient items have been on the rise, especially those from countries with rich histories like China, Egypt, and India. Nevertheless, despite the increased prices, no one had managed to unearth any genuine artifacts related to the supernatural. It was only recently that prices had started to come down somewhat.
If it was half a year ago, this kind of book would be estimated to be more than five hundred dollars if not more.
Park Jung-chul hesitated for a while but still bought the book in the end. This made the store owner feel regret as he could probably have asked for more.
After placing the book in his bag, Park Jung-chul couldn't contain his curiosity. He lost interest in wandering further in Chinatown and quickly returned to his home in New York. Being a high-achiever, he knew many talented individuals, and with a bit of networking, he managed to find an appraisal expert. They used various modern instruments to determine the approximate age of the book, which was around the 2nd century AD.
“This ancient book from the Eastern Han Dynasty is quite strange. It’s already been eighteen hundred years, yet the quality of the book still remains pristine.”
Park Jung-chul touched the cover of the book and the rough paper inside with his hands. It was simply unbelievable that it hadn’t decayed after so many years.
The Western Han Dynasty used bamboo slips for writing and only the Eastern Han began to use paper. However, the paper did not last as long as bamboo slips due to its quality.
Park Jung-chul was excited. He felt that this book was definitely not ordinary.
When Park Jung-chul opened the book, he found himself completely unable to understand it. The text appeared to be in an ancient Small Seal Script, similar to the style used during the reign of China's First Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Apart from a few characters he could guess based on modern Chinese, the rest left him utterly baffled. What was even eerier was that while the script was clearly ancient, when Park Jung-Chul looked at it, the characters seemed to writhe and contort, emitting an eerie aura. Each character appeared as if it were a tadpole, creating a sense of unease.
Just seeing these words, before understanding their meaning, made Park Jung-Chul dry-heave.
But this did not make him fearful at all. Instead, it aroused his endless curiosity and interest. This feeling he felt simply told him that this book was definitely part of the supernatural!
The benefit of modern technology is that, as long as you have an internet connection, even ancient scripts like Oracle Bone Script can be translated. Park Jung-chul immediately went to the library to borrow books and searched online for translations and references to Small Seal Script. He painstakingly began the process of translating this book into modern language, word by word and sentence by sentence.
“The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan? The writer is Hsan… Hsan? Never heard of him.”
Park Jung-chul searched the internet and realized that no such person existed in China.
Then after his tireless efforts, he finally translated the preface of the book.
“The Initiates’ Preface, like the Way, is steeped in the understanding of the Way, knowing the things of the Way, yet not knowing the Way itself. I have often heard that those who diligently seek knowledge are not truly seeking knowledge but are those who already possess it, going forth to chase others. Those who carve deeply without mercy are like hawks and hounds pursuing hares.”
This passage appears to contain philosophical musings on knowledge and its pursuit, but it also carries an air of mystery and the supernatural. It seems to discuss the acquisition and transmission of knowledge, possibly involving some unusual form of wisdom or power. The book appears to have transformed a legitimate Taoist text into something quite the opposite, turning the noble teachings of the Way into a corrupting form of dark magic!
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