you just unlocked a core memory for me by asking this

I likely escaped out of a legitimate cult when I was like 14. My parents really wanted me to attend a Korean summer camp and while I’m not religious I thought eh why not might as well make them happy and it’ll be a fun social thing probably.

I met with one of my friends before we went and I was pretty excited that we could hang out and maybe even stay up late while doing whatever events they had.

After I got there I thought hey this might be cooler than I thought, they set up karaoke and whatnot what the heck? Alright I’m down.

I think it was around 7ish, things started to get a bit weird. I don’t know how to describe it but like the mood and tension in the air turned weird. The adults and pastors felt off I wish I could remember why but unfortunately I have no clue now. The older teens/‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ as in Korean relationships 형 [hyoung] and 노나 [noona] stared acting irrational in their bunks and rooms.

We sang church songs, listened to sermons and near the end of the sermon they made us repent our sins and had us cry (literally cry with tears).

I thought that this was so out of left field as I spent most of my childhood with my Canadian friends. I’ve experienced a slew of cultures due to my friend’s backgrounds like Candian Canadian, Slovakian, Indian, African American, Chinese, American, Philippinean.

So as confused as I was, I just looked around in confusion as I didn’t understand why or what was happening. I got some stern looks from 2 pastors so I immediately closed my eyes, looked down, and began to say(more like chant) similar things to the neighboring people around me.

This took like an unbearable 2 hours, holy shit I felt awful as I wanted to leave but I couldn’t. I just felt confused and sick wondering what’s point of all this???

After that grueling mental endurance training ended when I finally got to my room I faked throwing up and asking some adults if I could go home. Thankfully they called my parents and I got to fucking rest holy shit oh my gods I will never forget just how relieving it was to go home.

---

It wasn’t until I was in one of my post secondary studies where I got into a conversation with one of my 형’s and he told me about the cult epidemic in South Korea. I asked if he was joking as he said it in a quite serious tone to me brows furrowed. He said “컴퓨터각고 찾아봐” (search it with your computer).

• Oh rip I was gonna add the wikipedia link but I can’t find it anymore.

Either way I learned that for some reason cults are a major problem in my family’s country. And I then thought back to that summer camp experience and then I remembered one key thing: why didn’t my parent admonish me for “missing out on the fun”? Usually they’d criticise me for ruining the experience or saying that it was unfortunate that I missed out. After I got back home that day, I never heard anything about it since. They say they don’t remember now.

I don’t know for sure but that summer camp still gives me pyramid scheme vibes(some of my friends got suckered into those ponzi schemes so I know those vibes/atmosphere/ick as well now).