By the Grace of God

1

Even though it was the years 1987 and 1988 that left the biggest impact on the South Korean population, with all the protests and the Olympic games keeping the big cities holding their breath this wasn't the case for the Seok Chi Village a small gathering of households and farms between Gumi and Uiseong. The villagers never paid much attention to the outside world and lived their lives at a steady and slow pace. The year that left the biggest impact on the population of the Seok Chi Village was the year 1989 to be precise it was the summer of 1989 between the end of July and the beginning of August when the sun was burning down and the heat was getting unbearable. That summer a string of violent murders rattled the tranquil and serene village.

It all started with the disappearance of a girl by the name of Lee Hye-jin at the beginning of July. She was a young girl not older than ten years of age living in the small orphanage up the hill of Seok Chi Village. Well-loved by the villagers and the orphanage caretakers alike word of her disappearance soon spread through the village and search parties were organized to find the young girl. However, she was gone, as if the earth had swallowed her and not even a glimpse of her cherry red dress was seen. Only two weeks later when the village boys visited the river to escape the heat of the summer did they find the little girl.

On a hot sunny afternoon in the middle of July, three boys from the orphanage and two boys from the village visited the river running through the valley not far from the village. As they were playing in the water suddenly a young girl stumbled out of the foliage surrounding the river bed. At first, the boys couldn't recognize the young girl as her face was covered in dirt and her hair was all shaggy, her cloth ripped. Only after making out the cherry red colour of the dress did they realize that it was the missing Lee Hye-jin. Shocked by the state the girl was in and by her sudden appearance after going missing for two weeks the boys quickly brought her back to the village's doctor.

"Hye-jin was missing for two weeks and judging by the wounds and bruises on her body she has been wandering around the woods this whole time. However, she doesn't seem dehydrated or staved." The doctor concluded his examination of the girl. "She appears frightened by the experience of being in the woods all alone for two weeks and has lost her will to speak." The doctor continued looking at the worried expressions of the two nuns currently taking care of the children in the orphanage. "Will she ever speak again?" One of them asked her face showing concern. "It will be difficult to say if she speaks again. The most important thing right now is to make sure she feels safe and protected as well as keeping her comfortable. After that only time can tell."

After returning to the village the girl never spoke again but with her return, a string of events so gruesome and blood-freezing occurred even the most seasoned hunters of the village were shocked. The first incident took place only a few days after the little girl returned to the orphanage. After claiming to have heard Lee Hy-jin talk to her stuffed animal in the middle of the night one of the nuns was found murdered. Not only murder but bludgeoned to death. The first to find her was a young boy who had gotten up early to sneak into the kitchen and steal some of the breakfast food. The kitchen normally busy at this hour of the day was quiet and the nun who was in charge of preparing the kids breakfast wasn't like usual clacking and clanging with the kitchen wear.

Thinking this was the perfect time to sneak in the boy carefully peeked around the kitchen door corner only to find the kitchen covered in red blood. It was splatted everywhere. Unable to comprehend what he had seen the boy could only stand in the kitchen door staring at the scene unfolding in front of him. It took a few hours until the village police officer arrived at the scene. After that, it didn't even take an hour for the story to spread through the village and soon everyone was talking about the murdered nun. It still took a few more days and another incident before the police department in Gumi was informed of the murders and sent out two of their detectives to solve the case.