Chapter 132: Recognition (5)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Suddenly, 'New Light Truth Church'? And on top of that, the Vice-Commander was the Chairman of 'New Light Truth Church'? At the conclusion Commander Kang Jae-ha had just reached, Lee Chan-hoo and the rest of the subordinates wore stunned expressions.

Some turned grave, some widened their eyes, some let their mouths fall open, and so on.

Apparently, none of them had expected the cult, the New Light Truth Church, to suddenly enter the picture. Well, it wasn't that strange. Jin Jong-hoon and the Vice-Commander's appearance suddenly leading to the New Light Truth Church did seem a little out of nowhere.

Kang Jae-ha, on the other hand, was unfazed.

"......"

He had first learned about the cult known as the New Light Truth Church through Ha Yeon-ji in the past. Later, circumstances had emerged suggesting that it might be connected to Han Tae-sung, the CEO of Leon Entertainment, where Jae-ha currently worked. That was why Kang Jae-ha had ordered an investigation.

However, uncovering any connection to CEO Han Tae-sung had not been easy.

Instead, it had been connected to Yu Gil-tae's new film, Mask of Murder. More specifically, the drug case involving Woo Jeong-cheol, the top actor Yu Gil-tae had cast at the time.

The New Light Truth Church lurking in the shadows had gotten on Kang Jae-ha's nerves, so he had dragged it into the public eye and dealt it a blow.

Afterward, the New Light Truth Church matter had been put on hold for the time being.

Once it was exposed to the public, the New Light Truth Church retreated even deeper into the shadows. Naturally, its movements had no choice but to slow down, and it became far more cautious than before. The controversy had more or less died down by now, but the name remained vividly etched into the public's minds.

But the New Light Truth Church had not collapsed.

It was large enough to have a main headquarters and branches, with the estimated number of followers alone exceeding hundreds of thousands. On top of that, many powerful figures from various industries were hidden among those followers. Its scale rivaled that of a regional city, so there was no way it would crumble easily.

In any case, every subordinate's eyes were fixed on Kang Jae-ha.

Their eyes were brimming with question marks.

As far as they could work out, there was simply no way to connect the Vice-Commander with 'New Light Truth Church'. So Jae-ha went on to lay out how he had arrived at the answer that the Vice-Commander was the Chairman of 'New Light Truth Church'.

"It was strange how fast 'New Light Truth Church' was building up its power. I did wonder about it even back then. Next, Woo Jeong-cheol's drug case. The order for that came down from 'New Light Truth Church'. Which means they controlled everything from the source to distribution. And they're running other crimes on the same level."

Ryu Hyuk, who had been listening, cut in.

"So this human trafficking is 'New Light Truth Church' too?"

"That's right. The methods are similar. More than anything, drugs and Human Trafficking. Those two usually come bundled together. There's a high chance the same side is behind both."

"That is true. Both crimes follow the same basic structure."

"If you place the New Light Truth Church behind both crimes, the whole picture comes together very easily."

Ryu Hyuk, the detective, nodded.

"Hm. Fair enough. If I'd picked up on the existence of 'New Light Truth Church' in the drug case, I probably would've started digging at them for the trafficking too."

"An investigation starts by questioning possible connections, and even the timing overlaps. On top of that, if an 'Ability' is involved in both crimes, things become much easier. They'd make money several times faster too."

Lee Chan-hoo, who had been quietly listening, uncrossed his arms.

"Thanks to their 'Abilities', they probably thought there was no way they'd ever get caught, but then they somehow caught Commander's eye and got royally fucked. Both the drugs and the Human Trafficking."

That was the correct answer. If not for Kang Jae-ha, both crimes would probably have continued without any major problems, now and in the future.

Kang Jae-ha then thought of Jin Jong-hoon, whose brain had been wrecked.

"And that 'Chairman' Jin Jong-hoon mentioned. He said the Vice-Commander is serving as Chairman right now, didn't he."

"He did."

"There's no way the Chairman of a group of bastards selling other people's organs is the head of some respectable institution. But the Chairman of a massive cult? That's another story."

"Ah-"

Understanding gradually spread among the subordinates. At that point, Kang Jae-ha remembered one more piece of evidence suggesting that the Vice-Commander was the Chairman of the New Light Truth Church. It had been when he saw the 'Deja Vu' involving Jin Jong-hoon.

The unidentified man who had exchanged a brief phone call with Jin Jong-hoon. That soft, silky voice of his.

It was a voice Jae-ha could never fail to recognize. That had been the Vice-Commander's voice, no question.

Soon Lee Chan-hoo stroked his chin.

"If you're hiding in the shadows, gathering comrades with 'Abilities', and amassing money and power through disgusting crimes, there really isn't anything better than a cult."

After looking over his subordinates for a moment, Kang Jae-ha spoke again.

"One more thing. I vaguely remember the Vice-Commander saying something like this back when we were in the Mercenary Corps."

"Sir? What was it?"

"That there were quite a lot of people back in his homeland who followed him."

"Huh-"

"At the time, I just assumed he meant something like a vigilante group from his hometown."

"Then those people who followed him were probably his followers. Which means he was already the Chairman of the New Light Truth Church from the beginning."

Ha Yeon-ji, who had been listening seriously, rubbed both of her upper arms. Apparently, she had gotten goosebumps.

"Now that I think about it, there was something weirdly twisted about that Vice-Commander bastard's eyes, wasn't there? And thinking back on it now, that soft, gentle voice of his rubbed me the wrong way too. He was exactly like a snake."

"If the Vice-Commander's been running 'New Light Truth Church' as its Chairman all along, then the smell I caught off him and his stats make sense. That's exactly why I put him in the Vice-Commander's seat."

Having said that, Kang Jae-ha crossed his legs.

"As his time in the other world dragged on, he gave up on ever going back to his original world, and then at some point he ends up returning as the Chairman of 'New Light Truth Church'. With an 'Ability', no less. If you were in the Vice-Commander's position, what would you do?"

The answer came, unexpectedly, from Choi Ri-na, whose eyes had gone serious.

"My heart would be pounding, I think. Because I'd be able to run wild way more than the old me ever could. We all thought that way, didn't we?"

The subordinates fell silent for a moment. It was a wordless agreement. Each of them remembered the past moment when they had realized they could still use their 'Abilities' in this world.

Kang Jae-ha soon addressed the whole group.

"That's why the Vice-Commander is the Chairman of 'New Light Truth Church'. Sure, there's a chance he isn't, but the way I see it, it's 99% him."

By this point every subordinate around him trusted the Commander's conclusion 100%. No, they were certain the Vice-Commander was the Chairman of 'New Light Truth Church'.

Meanwhile, Go Chun-seok, whose expression had hardened considerably, looked at Jae-ha in admiration.

'He gathered fragments of memories from our Mercenary Corps days all the way up to now and reached a conclusion like that? Just how fast does his mind work? I can't even imagine doing that.'

Ryu Hyuk felt the same.

'He figured everything out in that short amount of time. With only a handful of circumstances and clues. As expected, he's extraordinary. That's one of the Commander's terrifying qualities. That absurd judgment and the brain capable of backing it up.'

The other subordinates were no different.

And once again, they made up their minds. They absolutely had to stay beside that monster. The Commander was far ahead of them. If they tried to act smart with their paltry knowledge, it was obvious they'd be crushed without even leaving bones behind.

It was then that Jang Tae-san, the most recent addition to Kang Jae-ha's side, asked cautiously.

"Commander... why did you choose the entertainment industry to expand your power? There must have been plenty of other paths, even if not in the form of a cult."

He was asking why 'MEG' was pointed toward the entertainment industry. Jae-ha huffed a laugh, and his answer came quickly. That calculation had been settled long ago.

"Because nothing spreads as easily as 'culture'. In terms of speed, it's dozens of times faster than a cult."

"Ah."

"On top of that, it slips into people's hearts, and further, into other countries, more easily than anything else. Culture has the power to take hold overseas without me even having to go abroad myself."

One look at the Korean Wave spreading gradually abroad gave the answer.

"Culture doesn't show, but it's the nimblest blade there is. Without waging a war, without spilling a drop of blood, you can seize the public of your own country and of other countries. Which is to say, their forces, and easily at that."

"......"

"In a way, culture is close to an 'Ability' itself. Different faces, different languages, and yet it can slowly eat into the brains of another country's public."

"...You thought all of that through the moment you came back here?"

"That's right. In the other world it's strength, force, that's the most frightening thing. But in this world, where systems are already built worldwide, culture is powerful. Beyond imagining. Above all, if I use culture, I can run into subordinates naturally, not just at home but overseas too."

In fact, Kang Jae-ha had run into Kamijo Yuu and Sato Shota over in Japan.

"That's why I chose culture as the direction for the Mercenary Corps on this side, for 'MEG'."

For some reason, Ha Yeon-ji gave a hollow laugh before replying.

"My god. I thought you'd just steered things that way because you happen to be working as a Manager in this world, but of course you've been designing something ridiculously vast. How Scary."

"Scary?"

"No, I meant it's reassuring."

Lee Chan-hoo agreed emphatically.

"Yes, very reassuring. I'll keep working my ass off, sir. Loyalty, loyalty." [TL Note: 충성 ("loyalty") is the standard salute-greeting used in the Korean military.]

Ha Yeon-ji laughed in disbelief at him and tossed a question at Jae-ha.

"Anyway, so it's confirmed that the Vice-Commander is the Chairman of that 'New Light Truth Church'. So what do we do now?? If he's the Chairman of 'New Light Truth Church', then unlike before, he's tangled up with us very closely, isn't he? Too closely to ignore."

"That's right."

"And as it happens, we've attacked 'New Light Truth Church'. Twice, even. Though the Vice-Commander doesn't know yet. So- should I restart the 'New Light Truth Church' investigation we paused?"

Kang Jae-ha shook his head.

"No. You make that 'K:FESTA' matter I brought up earlier your main focus."

Jae-ha turned his gaze on the group as a whole and spoke.

"Just because new things have turned up, the Vice-Commander, 'New Light Truth Church', whatever, that doesn't bend MEG's direction. If anything, we hold it exactly as it is. Dogs can bark all they want, but the train still has to keep going."

It was essentially a warning not to act rashly.

"We were already predicting there'd be other groups or organizations out there besides us anyway. Keep 'New Light Truth Church' in mind and carry on with what each of you was doing. That's how we make sure the Vice-Commander stays unaware, just like he has until now."

Kang Jae-ha spoke calmly, then gave a faint smile. The Vice-Commander's face was already in his mind.

"The best move is to keep making that Vice-Commander bastard fight an enemy he can't even see. Make sure it gives him one hell of a headache."

Cha Chung-hyeon, looking thoroughly bored now that the tension had eased somewhat, added a remark.

"And once he gets desperate, mistakes are bound to happen."

"Exactly. We'll take advantage of our position and proceed calmly without getting hung up on anything. Charging in blindly right now would be poor timing."

Lee Chan-hoo was next.

"In short, we have to stay formless. Like fog."

"Correct. The Vice-Commander probably thinks he's the one operating from the shadows, but he's wrong. We're the ones pulling the strings, not him. And we already are."

Cha Chung-hyeon laughed weakly.

"That sort of thing is your specialty, Commander."

Kang Jae-ha shifted the direction of his crossed legs and spoke quietly.

"The Vice-Commander. No, let's start nibbling away at the edges of 'New Light Truth Church'. Quietly enough that even he won't catch on."

Kang Jae-ha then met Ha Yeon-ji's eyes.

"Ha Yeon-ji, while you're running 'K:FESTA' as your main job, sweep the press side while you're at it for any new rumors that have cropped up about 'New Light Truth Church'."

"Yes, Commander."

He pointed his index finger at Ryu Hyuk.

"Compile all the information we've gathered on the New Light Truth Church from the past until now and hand it over to Ryu Hyuk."

Kang Jae-ha turned to Ryu Hyuk, who had been waiting.

"You take the information and dig into whatever you can turn up on your end. Move quietly. While keeping up with your own work."

"Understood."

That was when it happened.

【Hello, Kang Jae-ha-nim.】

A woman's voice suddenly rang out for Kang Jae-ha. He hadn't expected it, so he flinched slightly, and the woman's voice went right on regardless.

【You have encountered ten or more comrades (subordinates) within Segment 2, which you have entered.】

【You are continuing to maintain contact with your comrades (subordinates), and an 'Additional Perk' will be awarded to Kang Jae-ha-nim.】

The woman's voice then listed off the 'Additional Perk', and the moment he heard it, Kang Jae-ha's smile deepened.

'Good timing.'

It was because a rather useful 'Ability' had come out of it.

*****

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