Let's say these are my requirements
Humans are more selfish than any other animal.
That's why I don't believe in people who say they have no greed.
"Does that matter?"
"Yes, it is. It is an important factor in deciding whether or not to help Pastor Shoji take control of the Japanese church."
"······You'll help me take control of the Japanese religious community?"
"Yes. If you tell me everything honestly, Han Hyun-soo will take some action against the Japanese church as soon as Korea is sorted out. No matter how powerful the Japanese church is, it cannot escape the influence of the main church. That's why the separatist faction is also saying to separate from the main church."
Shoji didn't answer right away, but just bit his lips.
If you still won't tell me your true feelings after doing this, I was thinking of pushing someone else instead of Lee Ja.
"Let me ask you one last time. Are you sure you don't have any other ulterior motives?"
Shoji looked straight at me and sighed deeply.
"You want to see my bottom? Yes. Apart from respecting President Han Sung-jin, I don't think he is the living Messiah. No, I believed in him at first. But as time went by, I was able to see the reality. He is not the Messiah, but just a man who claims to be the Messiah. But that doesn't mean my respect for him has disappeared."
The introduction was so long and tedious. I raised an eyebrow and asked back at the fact that he was only talking about the main point.
"So?"
"I don't want to separate the Japanese church from the main church. That's a good cause. Even if the leaders don't know, most of the ordinary believers regard President Han Sung-jin as the Messiah."
"They are saying that they will use Han Seong-jin to take control of the Japanese religious community."
"You can't say it's use. It would be better for the Korean headquarters to be affiliated with the Japanese church. No matter what anyone says, isn't the largest branch of the Church of Heaven in Japan?"
That was right.
So, Han Hyun-soo must have foolishly entered the country without any doubts when he heard the Japanese religious community say that he would think about separation if he visited Japan.
"Did you know about Han Hyun-soo's work?"
"yes."
"Hmm······. You knew but you didn't do anything?"
"Because there was nothing I could do. As long as Hiroyuki held on, no matter what I did, I couldn't defeat them."
"Even if he is the Chief Cabinet Secretary, he is too humble. Since when did religion start to look at politicians? If they move, they move."
Shoji said, shaking his head slowly.
"Before he was a politician, Hiroyuki was a key figure in the Church of Heaven. In the Japanese church. No, among the leaders of the Church of Heaven, there was no one who was more devoted to the doctrines of the Church of Heaven than he was. And yet he took power. I think President Kim Moo-hyuk knows better than I do what that means."
Those who hold power in the secular world also hold power within the religious order.
The people standing opposite Hiroyuki must have been breathless.
"Even if I take control of the church, I have no intention of separating it from the main church. There is no reason to do so. The believers would want that too."
Shoji closed his mouth after saying those words. But I still didn't get the answer I wanted to hear.
"The key is missing: your desires."
"······Are you finally making me say it with my own mouth? Fine. I want to get the Japanese religious community under my control. The rest will follow as long as I get the religious community under my control."
Now I'm finally being honest. People say that hiding your desires is a virtue, but not in front of me.
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I decided to leave him for the last time.
"What if I have to abandon Han Seong-jin to do that?"
Shoji flinched at my words. He hesitated for a moment and then asked.
"We have to abandon President Han Seong-jin. What does that mean?"
"That's true. What if you have to deny Han Seong-jin? What would you do then?"
"······Do you think that's possible?"
"Well, if I were Han Hyun-soo, I think I would do that. There was already an uproar in Korea when he came back from the dead."
Shoji didn't say anything. But judging from the way he rolled his eyes, it seemed like his mind was quite complicated.
"Han Seong-jin, who lost to the powers that be and went to prison, and Han Hyeon-su, who died and came back to life. You probably know who is closer to the Messiah without me having to say anything. Power is like that. It cannot be shared even between parents and children. That is why Han Hyeon-su, who has seized the opportunity, will deny Han Seong-jin. He will say that he, not him, is the Messiah. Now, the most urgent task is to escape from Han Seong-jin's halo."
"Then we must follow the new Messiah."
I swallowed a laugh inside. You said you respected Han Seong-jin, but you abandoned him so easily.
It doesn't matter if you're not choosing a passionate fanatic, and if you just want to be in Han Hyun-soo's shadow, there's no need to seek out someone else.
"Okay. Now let's talk."
I sat up in a comfortable position and smiled kindly.
"What is the biggest obstacle to the pastor taking control of the church?"
"I guess they are separatists."
"With Hiroyuki dead, there would be no focal point."
"Once they separate from the main group, they will fight each other to seize power. They are not stupid enough to cause internal strife before achieving their goal."
"Achieve your goal first, then think about the rest. What if I get rid of them?"
"Are you saying I'll kill you?"
Even though they are a pseudo-religious group, religious people are quite vicious. I shook my head and snickered.
"Is it really necessary to kill someone? And killing someone isn't easy."
A look of disappointment appeared on Shoji's face. He must have expected me to kill them.
"The relationship between Hiroyuki and the Church of Heaven will soon be reported in the media."
"What is that······?"
"I will release the evidence I have to the press. If Hiroyuki's relationship with the Heavenly Church is revealed, the Heavenly Church will be in quite a commotion."
"That won't do. We shouldn't be in the media······."
Shoji protested urgently, but I raised my hand and cut him off.
"If there's a better way, please tell me."
"······."
"This is an issue that must be dealt with at some point. Even if it weren't for me, I don't think Prime Minister Koizumi would leave it alone."
Of course, Koizumi was reluctant to touch on religion, but there was no need to bring it up here.
"An attack from the outside is the best way to unite the inside."
"That alone won't be enough to reduce the power of the separatists."
"Yes, but what if all the sexual scandals and illegal activities that took place within the Church of Heaven are made public?"
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"Huh? What do you mean?"
Where the hell is this kid pretending not to know? I said, looking straight into Shoji's eyes.
"Don't pretend not to know. There's no way a pastor wouldn't know. If you did it together, you're an accomplice, and if you didn't know, you're incompetent. And I hate incompetent people the most."
"······."
"Tell me the truth. Didn't you know?"
Who wouldn't get angry when someone sarcastically calls them incompetent? Shoji said, biting his lips tightly.
"······I knew it."
"Are you, Pastor, involved in the illegal activities?"
"To some extent."
The reason I chose interest is because interest is not a completely clean guy.
As I was not a clean person, it was easy to put a leash on me.
"Okay. Everything related to the pastor will be omitted from the article."
"Is that possible? It's obvious that the Separatists will cling to me and bite me, saying that they can't die alone."
"They won't be in the mood for that. And no one will believe it. They'll just clean up the separatists and be quiet."
"Do you think that makes sense now?"
Shoji looked at me with eyes full of distrust.
I'm now used to the reactions of people who don't know me yet.
"I can do it. I don't know about others, but I can do it. When they are sorted out, the separatist faction will naturally disintegrate. Of course, the Church of Heaven will also shrink."
If the sexual scandals and various illegal activities of the cult are reported in the news, Koizumi will take action immediately.
No matter how much you dislike religion, you will now know that you can survive only if you can say that this incident was something that happened between religion and the yakuza.
If the LDP and Koizumi were to get out, that was the only way.
"But no matter how many times the number of believers decreases, the Church of Heaven is still the Church of Heaven. As time passes, won't the number of believers increase again?"
"What is that······."
Shoji neither confirmed nor denied. But I knew that as time went on, the Japanese sect of the Heavenly Church would become even more powerful.
In a cult, even if believers leave, new believers continue to increase, just like in a multi-level marketing scheme.
That's why cults don't disappear.
"How about it? Would you like to hold my hand?"
"What does President Kim Moo-hyuk get out of helping me?"
"doesn't exist."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"The Japanese church has nothing to offer me."
That was exactly what it said.
There was nothing to be gained from the Japanese church. I was planning on taking it all out on Han Hyun-soo.
But Shoji didn't easily believe what I said.
"I can't believe it. I don't want anything in return, so why on earth are you helping me······."
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"That helps Han Hyun-soo take control of the Church of Heaven. If the Japanese church is separated, Han Hyun-soo's power will be weakened."
"Is Han Hyun-soo that important of a person?"
"That's not possible. I'm just helping him because I have something to gain. If we can't get rid of him anyway, it's easiest for Han Hyun-soo to take control of the Heavenly Church alone. That man is afraid of me. He'll probably stay in the Heavenly Church and never come out. That's what I want. So just stay in the main organization and run the Japanese church well."
"······."
"Let's say these are my requirements."
Shoji thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Okay, let's do that."
"Just act as you normally would. Even if you prepare in advance. It won't take long for the article to come out. Then move quickly."
Shoji swallowed dry saliva and nodded. With nothing more to say, I stood up from my seat.
Shoji also got up from his seat.
He bowed deeply and greeted me.
"Thank you for your help."
"Thank you for the greetings. I'm just helping you because I need it."
I just turned around.
Shoji didn't raise his head until he closed the door and came out.
* * *
Han Hyun-soo came out of the classroom after a long time.
He kept grumbling as he headed to the meeting place to meet Han Hyun-jin and Han Hyun-woo.
"What is a room salon? A room salon. Why do you guys act like that at your age?"
Thinking back on it, it was still absurd.
I couldn't help but laugh at the behavior of the two brothers who decided to meet at a room salon while talking about something important.
"I've already placed my men around."
At that moment, the mercenary captain sitting in front spoke.
"Okay. Please take care of it."
Han Hyun-soo, who arrived at the meeting place, went down the basement stairs leading to the room salon.
There were no guests, so no singing could be heard; it was just quiet.
"Are you Han Hyeon-su?"
A woman who was presumed to be a madam spoke. Instead of answering, Han Hyun-soo nodded.
"I will take you this way."
Madam guided Han Hyeon-su to the innermost room.
When Madam opened the door, Han Hyun-jin and Han Hyun-woo were already waiting inside.
Han Hyun-soo confidently entered the room. The mercenary captain followed him.
"It's been a while, guys."
Han Hyun-soo said, raising one corner of his mouth.
"That's right. I heard that you came back alive."
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Han Hyun-jin greeted me as if nothing had happened.
"That's right. It would have been better for you guys if I had just died. I'm sorry I'm alive."
"Sit down and stop talking nonsense."
Han Hyun-woo shouted in annoyance. Han Hyun-soo looked at Han Hyun-woo with a distorted face.
"Little brother. Are you yelling at me just now?"
"I called you today not as a leader but as a brother, so shut up and sit down."
Han Hyun-soo clicked his tongue and sat down.
After seeing the mercenary captain standing like a stone statue in front of the door, Han Hyun-jin spoke to Han Hyun-soo.
"Shouldn't you send that guy out too?"
"Why? Are you trying to kill me with your own hands?"
"What is that······."
"If not, just leave them alone. Those people are all getting paid to do this work, so how can I stop them from doing it?"
"Hey! Han Hyun-soo, you're serious!"
Han Hyun-woo raised his voice in discontent. However, Han Hyun-soo paid no attention and continued talking.
"Speak softly, little brother. The Han Hyun-soo you know is dead. I'm not the Han Hyun-soo of the past. Why did I let you guys live? I realized it after I died once. The old me lived too much like a flower garden."
"······I didn't know my mother would do something like that. If I had known, I would have stopped her."
Han Hyeon-su laughed at Han Hyeon-jin's indifferent words.
"Block it? You must have done well. Don't you know that I don't know my eldest brother? You must have known but pretended not to know and taken advantage of your mother's weakness. Oh, you already used that once, right?"
"That's not my evidence, it's Hyunwoo's."
Han Hyun-soo looked at Han Hyun-woo. Han Hyun-woo muttered rudely, his lips pursed.
"What? What could I have done there?"
"Well, that's always been the case with my younger brother. He always relied on others when he had to step forward. This time, it was the same. If there was evidence like that, instead of running to my older brother, he should have held on to it and continued to shake up my mother."
"······This kid."
"Do you know that I didn't let my older brother set foot on the podium at all and just left my older brother alone?"
"······."
"Because you pose no threat to me. I'm not scared of anything you do."
At the mocking words, Han Hyun-woo jumped up from his seat and slammed the table.
The glass in front of Han Hyun-woo overturned in shock, spilling the alcohol onto the floor.
"How dare this kid ignore me?!"
"Sit down. Or······."
Han Hyun-soo raised one corner of his mouth and looked at the mercenary captain.
"Because that guy will force you to sit down."
Han Hyun-woo, who flinched, looked at the mercenary captain. However, as if trying to save his pride, he did not sit down right away.
"Sit down, Hyunwoo."
Only after Han Hyun-jin stopped him did Han Hyun-woo sit down.
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Han Hyun-soo snickered at Han Hyun-woo's appearance.
"By the way, what did you call me to talk about today? You didn't call me to ask me to save you, did you?"
"what?"
Han Hyun-jin and Han Hyun-woo asked at the same time.
"Did you really think I would let my brothers live again?"
Han Hyun-soo let out a cool laugh.
< Let's say these are my requirements > End
< I still haven't come to my senses >