After Leon's lesson, the knight cadets had a spontaneous review session with each other.
The topic was the relationship between faith and the Holy Law.
"But isn't it a contradiction to want faith and not expect anything in return? The Holy Law requires faith."
"Isn't that what His Majesty Leon was saying, that the quid pro quo is predicated on faith, but not on prayer? You asked for rain, but you didn't pray that you wouldn't get wet."
"Is that what it boils down to, the gods take care of those who believe?"
Chun So-yeon was speechless as she watched Kim Jae-hyuk and Han Soo-ho discuss the matter. When she didn't say anything, Jae-hyuk, who would normally be coldly poking holes in her, asked her bluntly.
"Don't you have an opinion?"
"...I don't know."
Chun So-yeon was puzzled.
She naturally compared the beliefs of the Ten Thousand Gods Guild to conventional religions.
Believe and you'll go to heaven, make an offering and you'll be saved. If you blow yourself up, you get 72 sex slaves with infinite virginity.
Basically, religion rewards faith.
When you dig deeper, it tends to emphasize the size of your faith or evidence, but for atheists, it's more of a pay-to-play system.
Instead of answering the question, Chun So-yeon raises a new one.
"How do you prove faith? Who can measure its size?"
"A note…an offering?"
"They say a coin from a poor widow is worth more than a bag of gold from a rich man's offering."
In short, it's about seeing how sincere you are in your circumstances.
Jin-hyuk retorted.
"You're talking about the Ten Commandments."
"...."
"..."
It's one thing to say they don't take money but the TTG Guild blatantly wanted proof of faith from its followers.
It wanted tribute, it wanted the loyalty of a soldier, it wanted the honor of a knight.
Of course, the Decalogue is not the Decalogue at face value, but....
"In the end, that's it, just give us your faith, and we'll take care of you. What kind of unreasonable deal is that?"
Chen So-yeon criticized in a sharp voice. It would be more convenient for her to offer material goods and have her wishes fulfilled.
She was the granddaughter of the Divine Sword Guild leader, the next head of the Divine Sword Guild. If she set her mind to it, she could make more offerings than everyone in the Ten Thousand Gods Guild combined.
If she wanted to honor the gods, she could go out and slit the throats of monsters herself.
Whatever she wanted, she could accomplish it but faith was different.
"Isn't this the key?"
Soo-ho pointed out what Leon had been trying to say throughout the lesson.
"Don't try to make a deal. I think you're pointing out the attitude of hoping for something and having faith."
It was a terrible phrase, one that shut down any action that Chun So-yeon could do because she and countless others put their faith in God without expecting anything in return.
Everyone is equal before the gods but Chen So-yeon found it unreasonable.
* * * *
Protestantism, Buddhism, and other miscellaneous religions exist, but they are always wary of new religions entering their territory.
Apart from that, the attitude of the citizens towards the TTG Guild is quite favorable, even the religious ones.
-Honestly, there could be gods in this world.
-What if the Lionhearted King is lying?
-If he's bullshitting, isn't that a masterful performance? I'm not saying he was ready to start bullshitting about religion as soon as he crossed over.
It's no secret that the Lionhearted King's eccentricities are well known to all who know him.
Fortunately, 21st century Koreans are pretty tolerant of cultural relativism.
-You don't believe me when I tell you that just eating rice will cure your illness?
-That could be otherworldly technology.
-Watch this interview with an old man who farms in Naju.
-It's all a bunch of bullshit.
The public reaction is favorable. The gods of the pantheon have already proven themselves to be real enough, and the miracles they perform cannot be explained by anything other than 'miracles'.
But what about the government's stance on accepting these otherworldly deities and allowing them to proselytize?
-Just keep him out of the presidential race.
-Except for politics, give him everything he asks for!
-The power of the TTG Guild is astounding. Even Lionheart's own powers are considered to be at least S-class, including the ability to destroy demons known to be immortal.
-And what about his subordinates? The Magician Queen alone could make the Lord of the Magic Tower prostate before her.
-The Yakt Spinner is relatively quiet, apparently unable to recover from his loss at Cheongju Gate.
Most of all, it's the incredible rise in power of the D-ranked Hunters that has catapulted them to C-rank. Their rise to power will greatly benefit the national interest.
The government's position is that they'll support whatever Leon does as long as he stays out of politics and for good reason since the dominance of large guilds in South Korea is nothing new.
They have made many demands on the government in the form of gate attacks and threatened to emigrate.
Recently, more than half of the 10 largest guilds united behind the Gate Tax Reform Act… On the other hand, the TTG Guild standard of behavior is not for profit.
The TTG Guild is driven by doctrine and justice. This may seem like a strange thing to say in the 21st century, but that's exactly what they, driven by the absolute charisma of Leon, did.
The problem was the religious establishment.
"What the hell, those people."
"What's wrong with them?"
But today's visitors included some rather frowned upon people.
"Thy mercy come down, come down!"
"Thy mercy like the spring rain!"
"Thy mercy encompasses me!"
Standing out from the bustling crowd, even in the midst of a noisy holy site, was a group with microphones and musical instruments, shouting.
"What are they doing?"
"Trampling on the ground at TTG Guild...."
It's a common occurrence in South Korea.
People enter other religious facilities, sing gospel songs, dance, and disrupt traffic.
They physically ostracize those they see as heretics by smashing Buddha statues, burning cultural artifacts, or simply knocking over sacrificial statues that recreate traditions.
If anyone tried to stop them, they would treat them as heretics and even assault them, so it's no wonder they didn't want to get involved.
-What were they doing?
Approaching the commotion was Yappy, the ringleader of the TTG Guild.
He warned the rioters who were conducting a live trampling.
-Your noise level has reached the nuisance level. Restrain yourself.
"For we love you. Know and enlighten. Because we must go to paradise together. Because it is the will of God."
-???
The expressionless mechanical spider's inner thoughts were revealed.
-Warned again. Quickly stop making noise. No musical instruments were allowed.
More than 10,000 people visit the park every day. Naturally, disturbances happen, and as many hunters gather here as there are, there are fights.
But this is where the Cheongju killing machine, the Yakt Spinner, comes in. A swift, calculated kill is Yappy's specialty.
But they responded to his warnings by bursting into hymns.
"The devil tests your faith! Reject heresy!"
-....
Yappy wondered as they grew more vocal. What could they possibly believe?
-Crazy organisms.
It was an ultimatum. Yappy's robotic arm was unveiled, its distinctive wires strung out. It was non-lethal, but it could subdue a decent Hunter.
"That cold machine is possessed by the devil, and in the name of my lord, it shall die tonight!"
Their dominance was short-lived.
Yappy was unrelenting in his punishment of those who failed to heed his three warnings as wires shot out like a net and fell upon them relentlessly.
* * * * *
-Don't come in front of me.
"That, that devil!"
-Want to turn around?
After being beaten and chased away from the entrance of the temple, they cursed and ran out of the temple at a fast pace.
When they reached the parking lot, a man came running up to them, panting.
"Brother Kwang-tae, you've been swearing!"
"Brother Dongshik, did you do a good job?"
"Of course."
Dongshik pulled out his cell phone and waved it around, the screen clearly showing Yappy subduing them by force.
"Brother Kwang-tae, is this enough?"
"Hmph, enough."
This was the reason for their rampage in the TTG Guild.
They shouted and trampled, then waited for the bad-tempered robot to take over by force.
After that, it's all downhill from there.
Accuse him of assault and tear down his entire shrine. There will be some testimony, but it doesn't matter.
'It's just a minority opinion with a commenting army.'
'Besides, we're the ones who were assaulted.'
At best, they're guilty of insult, and at worst, they're guilty of violence.
"What ignorant heretics. They don't know the law in Korea."
Park Kwang-tae, the Hanbit Palace evangelist who organized the whole thing, smiled with satisfaction.
This wasn't the last time. From now on, the Hanbit Palace will put pressure on TTG Guild in all directions.
No matter how well TTG Guild has been doing lately, it's still a young guild without strong pillars.
They are no match for a guild that has been around for 20 years.
"Everything is for the sake of the Lord...."
""Everything is for the sake of the Lord....""
They went straight to the police station and accused the TTG Guild of assault, and immediately launched a public relations campaign.
* * * * *
[TTG Guild, assaulting tourists!]
[TTG Guild accused of massive tax evasion].
[What kind of a person is King Lionheart, the head priest of TTG Guild!]
Kim Gun-tae, an Internet newspaper reporter, couldn't help but chuckle at the scoops he was about to post.
These articles were commissioned by the Hanbit Palace, which had connections to the newspaper, and they showed the will of the Hanbit Palace.
'It's annoying.'
I figured they'd clash at some point.
Since the Cataclysm, several new religions have sprung up in Korea, with the Hanbit Palace being the largest and most powerful.
They are not only a religious organization, but also a hunter's guild, and a very successful one at that.
In the eyes of the TTG Guild, they are the seniors to look up to. Of course, seniors are not obligated to help juniors.
In any case, TTG Guild's recent behavior must have been quite disturbing to the Hanbit Palace.
Kim Gun-tae had a hunch that not only his own newspaper, but the Korean media as a whole, would be reporting something sinful.
"Well, since he's an otherworlder, he'll be helpless against the propaganda."
His Majesty Leon will pay a high price for this. In the 21st century, nothing is more expensive than an image.
In the end, the outcome of this confrontation will depend on how far Hanbit Palace is willing to go to bash the TTG Guild.
Poor guy, but he's only doing what he's paid to do.
Aside from the money, Kim Gun-tae also had a small inferiority complex.
'He's handsome, he's fucking rich, and he's got a lot of money, so why shouldn't we fuck with him?'
I wonder how he feels in the midst of all the articles and unsubstantiated scandals that are popping up. It's just a shame we don't get to see it.
"Oh, is he going to hold a press conference?"
What could be more fun for a journalist than to bring down a celebrity?
You get to use your own brush to bring them down. Wouldn't that be considered a victory over Leon?
'The paintbrush is mightier than the sword.'
The moment he hit enter, Kim giggled as he thought of the views and incentives that would explode.
"Joatsu~"
Ten seconds after hitting enter Kim Gun-tae couldn't stop his curiosity and pressed F5 on the page where his article was posted.
He made the title as provocative and aggro as possible, so maybe there would be comments already──
"What?"
[It's a deleted page]
"Huh?"
What the hell is this?
Kim refreshed again, but nothing changed.
After six tries, he realized: his article had been deleted.
'What, what, did they catch me with an illegal promotional program?'
It couldn't be. His online news organization had never been taken down for running ads for gambling sites or pornography.
As he hurriedly reposted the article, he received another shocking message.
[Your account has been deleted]
"What?"
There was no time to be surprised. Suddenly, the lights and electronics in Kim's building went out.
"A power outage?"
At this time?
Kim Gun-tae and other reporters screamed, but suddenly, the power went out in a small area all over the country. And five minutes of silence from all media organizations in Korea.
[XX news agency's ugly nakedness. Illegal non-fund deposit route. Where is the truth?]
[Suspicious funds transferred to XXX reporter of OO news agency. The end of the transfer route?]
[The identity of the passerby who went on a rampage at TTG Guild is Evangelist Park of Hanbit Palace].
Internet public opinion, You Tube, Jinstagram, Twitta… All Internet sites that modern people in the 21st century can access began to be flooded.
* * * *
Jae-hyuk was born into a fairly well-to-do family.
Specializing in subcontracting for large companies his father's side of the family had a lot of good clients, so you could say he was born with a pair of spoons.
Until Jae-hyuk entered Hunter Academy, things were going well for the family but when his father died his family began a rapid downward spiral.
"Whoa...."
In a residential neighborhood in Incheon there was a long-lost relative's house that was old and shabby as he remembers.
"I came because you said to come, but...."
He couldn't get used to this damn neighborhood. In fact, he grew up in an expensive, rich neighborhood in Seoul.
Nowadays, apartment prices have risen, but Jae-hyuk's house hasn't benefited from that, and he's sold it.
The company he inherited, the land he owned, the apartment… everything was sold.
The business didn't fail. It wasn't that he needed a loan, or that he had a guarantee.
'That damn religion.'
Hanbit Palace, his mother's religion, was an emerging religion that worships the system as the will of the gods and has S-class hunter Park Yong-shin as its leader.
Jae-hyuk's mother was so devoted to this religion that she gave her entire family's wealth to the Hanbit Palace.
When the family ran out of rice, Jae-hyuk enrolled in the academy to escape.
"...."
Jae-hyuk hesitantly knocked on the front door of the three underground rooms.
"Is Jae-hyuk here?"
A woman greeted him with a smile. As usual, Jae-hyuk's heart sank at the sight of his mother's bright smile.
The moment he saw his mother-──
[Punish her!]
The voice of a man who growled and didn't hide his anger resonated in his heart like thunder.
In the religious education class a few days ago Jae-hyuk had heard the voice of God.
Only, he couldn't tell anyone, so he clamped his mouth shut.
[Bring down heavenly punishment, for that is the test given to you]
Jae-hyuk was torn in the face of the God of Sky and Thunder wrath.