Chapter 340 – Seoul (24)
“There are no rules?”
“Yes.”
In response to the aide’s answer, Kim Eui-seok felt embarrassed.
“You don’t have to pray, keep any religious items, or pay contributions like tithing either.”
“... Then how does this hold up as a religion?”
It was Kim’s honest feelings.
The most essential thing to religion is the god who is idolized and the people who idolize it.
But for that, practical rules were needed to bind people; thereby making themselves feel subordinated to God.
And...
“Why is there no compulsory donation? How is the church running?”
“It is said that it runs from the voluntary donations to the church.”
‘What nonsense is that....’
Of course, there are religious people who donate money.
They are enthusiastic believers who pour out their personal savings for all kinds of religions and make donations.
But running a denomination on that alone?
If the Lee Ho-jae Faith was a small religious group buried in a rural corner, it would have made sense.
However, the Lee Ho-jae Faith was a large-scale denomination that had recently expanded its status nationwide.
Can the operation of such a denomination be supported by only donations?
“That... It is said that the donations collected are substantial. Sir, first you need to know, there is a unique system of faith and merit value in the Lee Ho-jae Faith.”
Kim Eui-seok listened to the aide’s explanation for a while.
It wasn’t a difficult story to understand in general, but it was difficult to understand with Kim’s way of thinking.
Religion usually promises miracles, and in return, forces believers to believe.
However, the Lee Ho-jae Faith was at the level of bringing miracles to the believers.
Who wouldn’t pay attention to such a thing?
It was also understood why the church operated solely on donations.
Probably, the level of donations overflowed to the extent of being difficult to handle.
Who in this world was not desperate for something?
After all, everyone wishes for a miracle.
“About those miracles... Did you find out what it was?”
“Yes, I did... In fact, there was a member of the church among my staff. It was thanks to him that I was able to get a list of miracles. Here you are.”
Kim Eui-seok received the file handed over by Assistant Kim,
“Thank you for preparing this right away. Yes, I’ll talk to a friend of that congregation, so get ready.”
Then, he opened the document file.
A list of miracles was written on more than a few documents.
Reading those miracles, Kim Eui-seok began to feel dizzy.
[Potion-Lowest Healing: 50pt]
-Although it is the lowest level, it is known to show excellent effects on wound healing.
It was the potion the Awakened used the most in the Tutorial.
Not long ago, this potion was the ultimate goal of the prototype that the scientists were furiously researching in the United States.
[Potion-Low Level Disease Healing: 400pt]
-Similarly, it is a low-grade potion but is known to have a better performance than the basic potion.
According to the testimony of the Awakened, this could be used to cure early-stage cancer without any side-effects.
...
“Then all hospitals would be closed....”
It was a ridiculous reward.
Meanwhile, according to the data, the Intermediate Potion and Healing Miracles could be used to cure most of the incurable diseases on Earth.
There was no sense of what would be possible at the higher grades.
And beyond the healing aspect....
[Miracle-Intermediate Shield Generation: 4000pt] (lasts for 600 minutes.)
[Miracle-Summon the Supreme Guardian: 50000000pt] (may fail depending on the circumstances of the guardian.)
[Food-Cheese pork cutlet set: 2pt]
[Food-Rice 2kg: 1pt]
There was really nothing special.
Kim Eui-seok focused on the food items next.
If that was really possible, then they could get around the food shortage somewhat.
[Miracle-Revival: 100000000pt]
[Miracle-Resurrection: 8000000000pt]
“... Is he really a god?”
If not, then the gods of the Hundred Gods Temple must be backing him.
Otherwise, these miracles couldn’t be explained.
-Miracles that require more than a million points are likely to be false products.
Kim Eui-seok was of the opinion that the Awakened Lee Ho-jae was using the potions he obtained as a reward for clearing the Tutorial to scam people.
However, assistant Kim’s further explanation also made sense.
Low scores can only be used to claim potions and other small items, and no one had high enough points to be able to claim the high-tier rewards.
There aren’t many people who can achieve that score anyway, so it won’t be a problem.
‘But....’
[Kim Eui-seok]
Age: 72
Status: A person who may be a political patron of the denomination, an informal believer
– Produces 11pt of faith every month.
-Witnessed the existence of miracles and began to have faith. However, they are not yet registered as an official member, thus they cannot get rewards.
-Has accumulated enormous achievements in improving the awareness of the church.
-Cumulative faith: 11pt
-Cumulative merit value: 14900pt
-Total score: 14911pt
Kim Eui-seok himself quickly collected 15,000 points.
But one thing that bothered him was faith.
After listening to the explanation from his aide, he knew what faith meant.
Just hearing about the church and miracles gave him a sense of faith.... If not....’
It was because of his 15,000 points.
He looked at a list of miracles, and contemplated what he could buy with his score.
He started thinking unwittingly.
Then he started to feel excited.
[Ability-Strength 1: 100pt]
[Skill Ability-Flame Radiance: 1500pt]
Was there anyone on Earth who had never thought of wanting to be an Awakened?
Flying between buildings and defeating monsters with all sorts of brilliant abilities.
However, in order to become an Awakened, it was necessary to clear the randomly summoned Tutorial.
Even that opportunity disappeared as the summoning from the Tutorial stopped completely.
Kim Eui-seok looked down at his swollen hands.
He honestly admitted that he wanted to try it.
He had 15,000 points.
His heart fluttered and his stomach turned from the excessive excitement.
[Faith is greatly increased.]
[Produces 22pt of faith every month.]
Assistant Kim, who had been out for a while, came in and said,
“Your Excellency, there is someone who came to see you.”
When Kim Eui-seok, who was in distress, raised his head, he saw Assistant Kim’s nervous expression.
“Lee Hochi, the clone of the Awakened Lee Ho-jae....”
Kim Eui-seok interrupted his aide mid-sentence and said,
“Let him in.”
He had heard the story of Lee Ho-jae and his clone several times.
It was difficult to understand with his own common sense, and only after hearing it several times was he able to understand.
However, what was important now was not the concept of a clone, but that a man named Lee Hochi was the manager and head of the Lee Ho-jae Faith.
“Hello?”
Hochi came into the breakroom and greeted him calmly as if he were greeting the owner of a local convenience store.
Kim Eui-seok was a little surprised.
Even though he had the same face as Lee Ho-jae who he encountered earlier, the impression was completely different.
Hochi, who had a clear, somewhat humorous smile on his mouth, said,
“I came to preach the word of god.”
* * *
“I really can’t find him.”
Hochi was very determined.
“Shall I look for him?”
Asked Yong-Yong, who was sitting on my lap.
He looked at me with his bright, blue eyes.
It was cute.
“No, I will do it myself.”
I sent a message asking to not find him and leave him alone.
I didn’t want to waste his hard work by looking for him.
I can just ask him what happened later.
After their first performance, the girl group started singing a second song.
I thought they would go down after only one song.
“How many songs are they singing?”
“Five songs.”
“...What? Why five songs?”
“Hochi told me to let them sing as many songs as possible.”
What?
Did Hochi become a fan of that girl group or something?
I couldn’t understand it.
I saw huge screens on both sides of the stage.
The faces of the girl group members were shown on the screen, but it occasionally showed the faces of the special guests among the audience.
Most of the people invited were either Awakened or politicians, and they wore tired expressions whenever their faces were shown on the screen.
It was obvious they were bored.
It was a natural reaction since they were expecting the explanation of the Dimension Gate, and not an idol group performance.
The cameras focused on the audience again.
And among the audience... were my followers.
Some put on T-shirts with my face printed on them and displayed strange placards such as ‘The great Lee Ho-jae uses teleportation’** and waved the flags in a lemniscatic pattern, which seemed to be the symbol of the church.
The believers also shouted when they knew they were being projected on the camera and fluttered their flags more excitedly.
A shout of ‘whoa!’ rang from behind my back.
The camera movement was strange.
Usually, when shooting a place other than the stage, it only illuminates a short moment, about a second or two.
However, it zoomed in on my believers.
Meanwhile, the girl group’s song ended and silence came for a while.
In between those short silences, a loud voice shouted.
“Cool-headed charisma, Lee Ho-jae, fighting!”
It was so loud, and the scream was enough to be heard right in front of the stage.
I reflexively covered my eyes with my hands and ducked my head.
The camera was pointing towards me.
What was this damn Hochi up to?
I thought he was going to do something, but I wouldn’t have prepared for this kind of operation.
“Hey, tell them to put the cameras away.”
I told Kim Minhyuk while keeping my head down. Shrugging, Kim Minhyuk replied,
“But how do I get rid of those?”
The camera, which zoomed in on me for about 3 seconds, focused on the stage as the girl group’s next song began.
“Lee Hochi, this guy....”
“Hey, but what was that? What was with the cool-headed something?”
“...It was my nickname when I was a pro gamer.”
* * *
The Dimensional Gate’s briefing session was held successfully.
There was a comment that the unexpected appearance of the girl group was suspicious, but it was generally positive.
The Dimensional Gate that will present a new paradigm to the chaotic government is created in Korea, and is also created by a Korean Awakened.
The news that it will be run by the Korean government and the guild brought great excitement to Koreans.
Even on the Internet, it became a hot topic.
However, there was another topic that was as controversial as the Dimension Gate.
[Dimensional gate briefing session. Strange audiences appearing there.]
[Wow, those Ho-Jae guys go all the way over there, so extreme.]
[Isn’t that a problem? It’s annoying at national events.]
[A pseudo-religion extreme enough to be out in real life....]
[They’re a cult who believes in Lee Ho-jae as a god. Wasn’t Lee Ho-jae invited?]
It was natural.
It was because of Hochi that they got invited in the first place.
[But isn’t that a pseudo-religion? Or is it just an ensemble group?]
[It’s a pseudo-religion. It has been a famous pseudo-religion in Gangwon-do since several years ago.]
[They look like Lee Ho-jae’s fan club instead of a religion. Only crazy guys would see him as a god and make a slogan like ‘The great Lee Ho-jae uses teleportation’.]
[Admit it. The funniest part of yesterday’s briefing was Lee Ho-jae getting embarrassed.]
[They’re having fun with each other.]
[I know. It’s just like a fan club meet. Besides, it’s an event that Lee Ho-jae organized anyway, so he can invite his fans.]
Public opinion on the Internet was going toward Lee Ho-jae Faith being a fan club wearing a religious mask rather than a pseudo-religion.
[It is also a good fit.]
[It sounds like a fan club. What kind of fans does he have?]
[Are you ignoring our brother Ho-Jae? He used to have so many fans.]
[I also cheered for Brother Ho-jae in high school, but it was a shock when Ho-jae lost to Kim Sung-hwan and announced his retirement.]
[By the way, look at how Lee Ho-jae is still embarrassed by his fans hahahaha.]
[Even when he was active, he told his fans to be quiet because he felt embarrassed when they cheered for him.]
[Even so, when I saw him, he gave me an autograph, and he talked to me kindly. I had the autograph before, but I lost it while evacuating to Seoul.]
I remember I had a lot of female fans too.
[It was really awesome then. Right now, it’s a glimpse of the past, but at that time, it was really cool. I watched the video of the contest in a PC room with my friend.]
[What kind of person likes esports but doesn’t know Lee Ho-jae? Even foreigners would know about Lee Ho-jae.]
[When was this old esports. Is it a true story?]
ㄴ[Link] A collection of Lee Ho-jae’s dark history as a pro gamer. “Utube”
[Lee Ho-jae Faith necklace from the President. What is the relationship between Lee Ho-jae Faith and President Kim Eui-seok?]
[Girl group Unnamed leader Lee Ye-i, and her family are all members of the Lee Ho-jae pseudo-religion.]
It’s a mess.
One thing is for certain, the talk of being a pseudo-religion was not seen.
It was covered with more stimulating content.
Occasionally, I saw comments saying that the opinions of the pseudo-religion were being erased, but even that soon disappeared.
It will definitely help improve the image.
It will be a bit funny, but if you remove the pseudo image and absorb people, the game is over.
Once you soak your feet in Lee Ho-jae Faith and learn about miracles, it will be difficult to get out of it.
In addition, the president and girl group members who were invited to the event added support to the church.
Honestly, I had to admit that Hochi was doing well.
But.
What was embarrassing was embarrassing.
“Yong-yong. No, old man.”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Catch Hochi for me.”
This naughty boy. Where the hell are you hiding? Just get caught. See if I let you go.
Translator’s Notes:
‘The great Lee Ho-jae uses teleportation’ **: Is a parody of 장군님 축지법 쓰신다(The Great General uses teleportation) which is a North Korean song praising Kim Jong-il.
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