Before that, let me ask you one thing.
Yamamoto opened his mouth with a blank expression.
I said this while raising one corner of my mouth at the sight of Yamamoto like that.
"Do you not understand what I am saying?"
"Okay, just a moment."
Yamamoto picked up the water bottle in front of him and drank it down in gulps.
He emptied the entire can and said in a dumbfounded tone.
"Are you saying that we should kill Hiroyuki now? A member of the Liberal Democratic Party… and the head of a faction at that?"
He expressed no doubt about killing Takayama.
Hiroyuki's death. That's all I asked about.
"Yes. Let's kill them both."
"Killing Takayama is not a difficult task. The death of one or two yakuza is not a big news story these days. However, Hiroyuki is a completely different matter. The Chief Cabinet Secretary of the current cabinet. No, more than that, it is not easy to kill the head of a faction that divides the Liberal Democratic Party. No matter how powerful Prime Minister Koizumi's faction is, Hiroyuki's faction cannot be ignored. If we try and make a mistake, yakuza like us will be completely wiped out. If they put their mind to it, it is not that difficult."
I knew very well what Yamamoto was worried about.
Koizumi already had a history of thoroughly crushing the yakuza that aligned themselves with the coup forces.
But then again, a politician dies at the hands of the yakuza?
No matter how much Prime Minister Koizumi tried to look after it, it was something he could not overlook.
Of course, he would be cheering inwardly, but at least outwardly, he was in a position where he had no choice but to order a thorough investigation into Hiroyuki's death.
"I understand Mr. Yamamoto's situation. But, I have to kill him."
Let's speak firmly, Yamamoto rolled his eyes as if he was embarrassed.
"This is Takayama. No, Yamamoto-san taking responsibility for the mistake he made to me. What do you think? Can you do it?"
Yamamoto didn't say anything and just looked into my eyes.
As if he had read the sincerity in my eyes, he immediately let out a deep sigh and said.
"Is there a reason you have to do that?"
"Of course. I really don't like what Hiroyuki did to me."
"······I heard the circumstances. But isn't that something that a believer can sufficiently ask for?"
Yeah. If Hiroyuki was really a fanatic and made such a threat, I wouldn't have even thought about killing him.
But Hiroyuki dared to use me to devour the Japanese religious community.
Thinking back, it still makes me angry. When I thought of Hiroyuki with his eyes sparkling, my face naturally hardened.
I shook my head with a stiff face.
"As Mr. Yamamoto said, if he was truly a fervent believer and loyal to the cult leader, I wouldn't have thought of killing him. But that was just an excuse, and they already knew that I would never grant that request. In the end, this was all a dirty trick to eat up the Japanese cult of the Heavenly Church."
"What does that mean?"
I summarized what Blackbear had found out.
The more he listened to the content, the paler Yamamoto's face became.
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"What President Kim Mu-hyeok said is that the purpose of releasing the founder is to separate the Japanese branch of the Church of Heaven from Korea and operate it independently, right?"
"Good summary." I snickered and raised one corner of my mouth.
Yamamoto flinched as if he had read the murderous intent reflected in my eyes, contrary to my smiling face.
"Yes. It's really annoying. How dare you try to use me. At first, I was just going to warn Hiroyuki, but the moment I realized that he was trying to use me, I gave up on that idea. I thought it would be better to just kill him."
If he really wanted to eat up the Heavenly Church sect, all he had to do was come to me with some tempting material and ask for a deal.
But to use me while hiding his true intentions? Hiroyuki has crossed the line.
This had to be dealt with thoroughly. If I let something like this slide, others would think it was okay to do the same.
I was going to use Hiroyuki to warn everyone what would happen if they tried to use me.
"Hmm. President Kim Mu-hyeok, do you really have to kill him? I think it would be better to just give him a warning to some extent······."
When Yamamoto heard the full story of the incident, he seemed scared and tried to hide himself.
I smiled softly as I looked at him.
"You don't want to do it? Okay. Then I'll do it myself. But know this: If I do this myself, it will prove that I don't need you, Mr. Yamamoto. If I have to do it myself on Japanese soil, you will no longer be of use to me. Plus, you will have to take responsibility for the mistakes you made to me in other ways."
Yamamoto waved his hand urgently at the cold warning, unlike his smiling face. Then he said with a fake smile.
"No. I should do it. I told you because I was worried that Hiroyuki's death would be detrimental to you, sir."
The world of the yakuza is one where you have to constantly prove your worth.
Yamamoto would know very well that if he were useless, he would be disposed of.
He himself would know better than anyone else, having handed over members of opposing or unfriendly factions within the organization to the police.
He needed to prove his usefulness to me more urgently than anyone else right now.
"How do you plan to proceed? And what do you think I should do?"
"Before that, let me ask you one thing. How far do you think Takayama can go?"
"He is the kind of person who will do whatever I tell him to do."
"He is a loyal subordinate. How can you kill him?"
"That's right. Yakuza must take responsibility for their own actions. Only then can they be called samurai of our Yamaguchi-gumi."
Samurai. It was funny how the city thugs tried to do everything they could think of.
Besides, he had already had an accident once before, so I didn't really believe it, but I nodded.
"Then let's do it like this."
I began to explain my plan to Yamamoto.
* * *
The Japanese headquarters of the Church of Heaven in Kyoto.
The leaders of the Japanese religious order were lined up at the entrance to greet someone.
A while later, a Mercedes-Benz with dark tinted windows stopped in front of the main gate of the church.
When the car stopped, a man got out of the passenger seat and opened the back door.
As the man stepped through the open door, the leaders of the Church of Heaven all bowed their heads.
The man who got out of the car was Hiroyuki.
"Haha! Were all the pastors of our Heavenly Church waiting for me? You don't have to do this when you are so busy."
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Hiroyuki spoke to them with a serious expression, barely keeping his quivering lips closed.
"No. The Chief Cabinet Secretary is visiting our church in person, so it is only natural that we are here to greet him. Welcome."
Hiroyuki smiled pleasantly and nodded as the man who seemed to be of the highest rank spoke to him.
"Okay. Then let's go in. We have a lot to talk about today."
"Yes, I will serve you."
As he was guided in, Hiroyuki asked the man who had mentioned it earlier.
"Kitamura. Long time no see."
"Yes, Chief Cabinet Secretary."
"Haha. Why are we calling each other by our titles so formally? Do whatever you want."
"No. How can that be?"
The man named Kitamura politely declined the offer and spoke politely.
Hiroyuki patted Kitamura's shoulder in a friendly manner.
Surrounding people were the believers of the Church of Heaven watching the scene.
Conscious of people's eyes, he praised Kitamura excessively.
"Congratulations on taking charge of the Japanese church this time. There is no one who can lead this church better than you."
"thank you."
Hiroyuki looked around and said with a smile.
"Let's go in."
The Japanese branch of the Church of Heaven occupied an entire building.
Kitamura nodded to Hiroyuki's words and took him to his office on the top floor.
Hiroyuki naturally sat at the head of the table, and the leaders of the Heavenly Church were all seated on either side of him.
Hiroyuki wiped away the pretense he had shown on the outside and asked Kitamura.
"What is the reaction from the Korean headquarters?"
"I told you not to talk nonsense. Oh, stop talking nonsense. You're going to make a big fuss about overthrowing the leadership of the Japanese religious order..."
Kitamura also erased the polite appearance he had shown outside and spoke properly.
"Now that President Han Seong-jin has been arrested, we must unconditionally separate the Japanese church from the Korean main church. You know that, don't you? I don't understand that this Heavenly Church is a Korean religion. It should be the religion of our Great Japanese Empire."
"you're right."
"Come to think of it, President Han Seong-jin was also born in Japan. He founded the Church of Heaven after Japan withdrew from Korea. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, that's right."
Kitamura just echoed Hiroyuki's words like a parrot.
Hiroyuki looked at Kitamura like that with pleasure and said.
"I told Kim Moo-hyuk to release President Han Sung-jin."
"Yes. We had already been diligently spreading the message to the believers. At the request of our church, the Chief Cabinet Secretary personally stepped forward to save President Han Seong-jin. The believers were moved to tears."
"Well done. But Kim Moo-hyuk will never let Han Seong-jin go. I know about that guy. He will never forgive anyone who points a knife at him."
Hiroyuki said, rubbing his chin. However, Kitamura didn't know much about the man named Kim Mu-hyeok.
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All I knew was that he had arrested President Han Sung-jin and supported Han Hyun-soo, the current leader of the Church of Heaven.
And the fact that he is also close with Prime Minister Koizumi.
Perhaps that was why Kitamura's face showed a look of worry.
"Is the Chief Cabinet Secretary okay?"
Hiroyuki laughed out loud at Kitamura's question.
"Hey, dude. Who am I? I'm the Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan. How dare you kill me? This is Japan, not Korea. If you mess with the Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japan, even that guy won't be safe."
Kitamura finally nodded in relief at Hiroyuki's boast.
The Hiroyuki he knew was a persistent and ambitious person.
He was so competent that he survived when all the politicians associated with the Church of Heaven were ousted from power.
So Kitamura joined hands with Hiroyuki to separate the Japanese religious order from Korea.
"And that man probably has no idea what I'm thinking. When I met that man, I pretended to be a fanatic. He probably only knows me as a believer who risked his life to save President Han Seong-jin."
"Is that so?"
"I also think it would be great if President Han Sung-jin came. If he came to the Japanese church, everything would be resolved."
"Yes, that's right. Wherever he is, that's where the headquarters is."
Hiroyuki shook his head at Kitamura's optimistic words.
"That's true, but it's not realistic. Then we should go our own way. Don't you think so?"
"That's right. It's time to stop being dragged around by Korea. Our Japanese church has the most followers. How long are we going to be dragged around by Korea?"
"That's right, that's right. That's exactly what I thought. Didn't I say that we can grow the Church of Heaven even bigger than Korea? I've been saying that for a long time. Back then, it didn't work because President Han Seong-jin was here, but now that he's gone, we have to step up. Aren't we the ones who understand his doctrines properly?"
Kitamura responded to Hiroyuki's confident words and asked cautiously.
"But······. They want to meet me at the Korean headquarters. What should I do?"
Hiroyuki's eyes lit up with interest.
"Is that gentleman Han Hyun-soo moving himself?"
"I think so."
Hiroyuki thought for a moment and then answered.
"If you want to talk to us, tell Han Hyun-soo to visit the Japanese church in person."
"Would you like to come? I think they're going to tell us to come in."
"People who are sorry will come. We have nothing to regret. Do you think other countries' religious groups will stay still if we separate? They will definitely come."
The two, dreaming of a happy future, began making plans for what to do if the Japanese religious order were to split.
Little did they know that Kim Moo-hyuk was preparing a knife aimed at them.
< Let me ask you one thing before that > End
< I will protect you at all costs >