Chapter 73: Blend (11)

Translator: Dreamscribe

The public exposure of the 'New Light Truth Church' spread fast. The platform with the most firepower was Youtube.

-[I Believed, and It Was Hell... An Inside Exposé of a Cult!!!]

-[A Former Follower's First Confession!! The Things That Went On in That Place? The Emergence of the Cult New Light Truth Church]

The ex-journalist Youtubers didn't just slap sensational titles on their videos; they padded the content with plausible-sounding stories, cranking up the dramatization.

It was enough to grab the public's attention.

Long-form or short-form, the name 'New Light Truth Church' spread faster and faster. The word 'cult' carried such a stinging, bitter weight, and the fact that there had been major incidents involving cults in the past only made it worse.

Once the firepower ignited on Youtube, the topic of the 'New Light Truth Church' jumped over to SNS and online communities in no time.

-Whoa, there are still people who believe in trash like that?? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ isn't this an IQ issue?

-It's just a scam outfit pretending to be a religion, yep

-The title literally says cult, how am I supposed to resist clicking ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-They smash families apart and bleed you dry, what's all this talk about faith

-The name, New Light Truth Church ㅋㅋㅋㅋstep in there and your life gets force-switched to hard mode

-These cult bastards, soon as you've about forgotten one a new one pops up yep they're cockroaches, can't be exterminated

-Just watched the video, it's not some piss-ant little place, looks pretty big actually

-Kinda curious what the cult leader prick's face looks like ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-If it were a normal religion why are they always hiding and recruiting in secret? The answer's obvious

-Places like that are a social evil, they need to be cut out, for real

-Do you believe!!!!

-Cults are basically started by morons and believed in by morons

-New Light Truth Church ㅋㅋㅋㅋthe name alone is revolting

The public's reactions were all over the map. Some just munched popcorn and watched, some were disgusted, some snickered, some seethed. Maybe because it was the kind of topic bound to rack up clicks, reporters too began joining the public exposure one by one.

《Another Cult Surfaces Under the Name 'New Light Truth Church'/ Photo》

The 'New Light Truth Church', once tucked tightly away in the shadows, could be found easily all over the place by the small hours of the morning, a day and then some after it began. By daybreak it was even more widespread. If this kind of buzz had been a rookie celebrity's claim to fame, the celebration drums would've been pounding.

But the 'New Light Truth Church' had, without a doubt, wanted no part of a situation like this.

《Cult 'New Light Truth Church' Spreading Across Youtube, SNS, and More; Looking at an Interview With a Former Follower...》

The fog that had been concealing the 'New Light Truth Church' lifted in an instant. At this point, operating in secret was impossible. It was as if, exactly as Kang Jae-ha had intended, countless CCTV cameras had been installed. Kang Jae-ha, who checked all of this on his way to work, was satisfied for now.

'This much has definitely brought things into focus, and the fog's pretty much all lifted.'

Of course, while it wasn't yet certain, the 'New Light Truth Church' was a large-scale cult with a head office and branches on top of that. A place like that wouldn't collapse from a hit of this magnitude.

But Kang Jae-ha knew the power of public opinion all too well.

Once a snowball started rolling like this, predicting it became difficult. Stopping it was even harder. How could anyone guess the direction of a towering wave, much less hold it back? And in fact, the snowball surrounding the 'New Light Truth Church' reached beyond the press and public opinion all the way into the broadcasting world.

The location: the current-affairs program team at a terrestrial network.

"PD-nim!"

A female writer who'd been staring at her laptop screen called out to the lead PD.

"You've got to see this!"

"'New Light Truth Church'? What's that."

"A cult. It's causing quite a stir, in the articles and especially on Youtube."

"Oho-"

"Looks like it got dropped sometime yesterday. Doesn't the topic have a good smell to it?"

"It does. Looks like it'd be tasty."

"How about the 'New Light Truth Church' for our next topic?"

"Shall we dig into it??"

The 'New Light Truth Church' snowball didn't look like it would stop easily.

That same day, just before midnight. The 'MEG' conference room.

The time was thirty minutes shy of midnight. In the 'MEG' conference room, all of his subordinates had gathered: Lee Chan-hoo, Ha Yeon-ji, Go Chun-seok, Cha Chung-hyeon, and Choi Ri-na. And of course, Commander Kang Jae-ha was there with them.

Jae-ha, seated with an easy expression, was watching Lee Chan-hoo, while Lee Chan-hoo, for some reason, wore a fairly tense look.

Ha Yeon-ji and Cha Chung-hyeon, meanwhile, were studying Lee Chan-hoo with rather intrigued eyes. Even as Kang Jae-ha kept his gaze on Lee Chan-hoo, he murmured low to Go Chun-seok.

"Give it a try."

At that, Lee Chan-hoo, standing face to face with the hulking Go Chun-seok, suddenly threw both hands out.

"Wait! Wait, wait!"

Stopping Go Chun-seok as he closed in, Lee Chan-hoo asked the Commander rather desperately.

"Commander! Is this really gonna be okay??"

Jae-ha snorted a laugh.

"What are you so scared for."

Go Chun-seok chimed in.

"Trust the Commander."

Even his deep, gruff voice did nothing to settle Lee Chan-hoo's agitation.

"No, no, I trust him. Of course I trust him. But-"

Trailing off, Lee Chan-hoo shot a glance at Go Chun-seok's hands, each one the size of a pot lid.

"Haa... is this for real??"

In fact, Kang Jae-ha had already told his subordinates about his newly acquired 'Ability', Defense. Which meant he needed to show everyone exactly what kind of 'Ability' Defense was, so he'd cast it first on Lee Chan-hoo, who would serve as the example. Then he'd ordered Go Chun-seok to give Lee Chan-hoo a moderate hit.

But having seen those enormous hands of Go Chun-seok's, Lee Chan-hoo couldn't quite steel himself.

"Maybe the Commander could just do it himself......"

Ha Yeon-ji shot that down right away.

"No way. Our 'Abilities' don't even work on the Commander, remember? And if Go Chun-seok went and attacked the Commander, Go Chun-seok's the one who'd end up dead??"

Once more, Go Chun-seok solemnly chimed in.

"Trust the Commander."

Choi Ri-na had her eyes crinkled in a smile. This whole scene was a lot like the old Mercenary Corps days. She clapped, cheering Lee Chan-hoo on.

"Oppa! You've got this!! Brace that core, hard!!"

If anything, it was the word 'oppa' that got a reaction out of Lee Chan-hoo, who managed an awkward smile. Even the usually languid Cha Chung-hyeon couldn't look away.

"......This is so interesting it's woken me right up."

At this point Lee Chan-hoo looked at Go Chun-seok again. He also remembered the tumbler Go Chun-seok had once molded in a solid steel ball. Then, molars clenched and eyes narrowed to slits, Lee Chan-hoo shouted.

"Ahh, screw it!! Whatever! Bring it on!"

He thrust his belly out toward Go Chun-seok. At once, as if he'd been waiting for it, Go Chun-seok balled up his fist. No, that wasn't a fist, it was a cannonball. That cannonball slammed straight into Lee Chan-hoo's gut. A blow that even carried Go Chun-seok's 'Ability', Strength.

Lee Chan-hoo's back curled like a shrimp's, fast.

"......"

"......"

Silence spread through the conference room. Lee Chan-hoo, back still bent, didn't stir a muscle. Slightly startled, Ha Yeon-ji furrowed her brow and quickly stepped toward him.

"Hey, are you dead?"

Luckily Lee Chan-hoo seemed to be alive, because he slowly straightened up and blinked both eyes.

"Huh."

He looked perfectly fine. Go Chun-seok was rather astonished. Scratching his head, Lee Chan-hoo kept prodding at his own belly.

"Whoa! Defense is insane!!"

Kang Jae-ha, legs crossed, asked.

"How's it feel."

"I'm totally fine?? Hey, Go Chun-seok, you hit me for real, right?"

"Yeah."

"Huh- no pain or anything, just felt like a strong gust of wind? That 'Ability' Defense is seriously sick??"

Every one of the gathered subordinates, Go Chun-seok included, went wide-eyed. Snickering, Lee Chan-hoo teased Go Chun-seok.

"You punch like a wet noodle, you bastard."

Riled up, Go Chun-seok loaded up his cannonball again.

"Let me try one more time."

This time it was Commander Kang Jae-ha who stopped him.

"Knock it off. Do it again and he really will die."

Jae-ha moved in close to Lee Chan-hoo and looked him over. Even on the surface there didn't seem to be anything seriously wrong. Which meant the protective barrier of the 'Ability' Defense truly performed exactly as it should. Single-use though it was, it had nullified the strength of Go Chun-seok, a man who could crumple steel like paper.

'This much is more than satisfying.'

Pleased with Defense, Kang Jae-ha checked the time. It had just gone past midnight. Defense, like Mask, was once per day, and could be used again the moment midnight passed. Jae-ha laid a hand on the shoulder of a now-relaxed Lee Chan-hoo.

Casting the 'Ability' Defense on him once more.

Of course, Kang Jae-ha intended to take his time and cast Defense on all of his subordinates. Having explained as much, Jae-ha didn't forget to give them a warning either.

"It's as good as gaining one extra life. But don't put blind faith in it, and don't let your guard down either."

A little while later.

The once-noisy 'MEG' conference room quieted down. Every one of the subordinates took a seat. In the midst of it, Lee Chan-hoo was still prodding at his belly as if fascinated. Smiling faintly at the sight of him, Ha Yeon-ji turned her gaze to the Commander.

"Commander- you saw the 'New Light Truth Church' kicking up quite the storm, right?"

"Yeah. Good work."

"That was all me, me. Nice, praise me some more."

Ha Yeon-ji, boldly puffing out her chest, asked again.

"So what do we do now?"

Kang Jae-ha, legs crossed, propped his chin on his hand.

"What do you mean, what do we do. Now we leave it alone. Let the snowball roll on its own."

"So the plan's to let it sit, and once it dies down a bit, toss out more bait?"

"Right. We'll have to watch it for a while."

"The dumbasses, what do you think the 'New Light Truth Church' guys are up to right about now?"

"Flipping out, I'd imagine."

Cha Chung-hyeon yawned and rubbed his eyes, changing the subject.

"Commander, what's the deal with Ryu Hyuk-"

"We'll be meeting him soon enough. All of you, get ready for it."

Having murmured this, Kang Jae-ha turned to Choi Ri-na, who was continually smiling with her eyes and idly running her fingers through her purple hair, and spoke.

"You heard that 'Seriel' has started album production on your songs in earnest, right."

"Yes! I heard, thank you so much!"

Kang Jae-ha, who'd recently begun rebuilding 'Kisera', went on.

"A few more songs could get contracted on top of that. Once it's confirmed, I'll let you know."

"What?! Seriously??!"

"Yeah."

"Wow-"

In her surprise, Choi Ri-na suddenly clapped her hands together with a smack.

"Oh, right! Commander-nim! Those songs you mentioned, 'Condensation: Euphoria' and the, the One-Act Drama Project's 'Murder Is a Qualification Too'! I finished all the music!"

She was referring to the music director role now, on top of the composer work Kang Jae-ha had already told her about. The fact that she'd finished the music for not one but two works rather surprised Kang Jae-ha.

"You finished already?"

Choi Ri-na nodded spiritedly.

"Yes-yep! All done!"

Kang Jae-ha smiled slowly and gave an immediate instruction.

"Then let's give them a listen sometime tomorrow."

Lee Chan-hoo soon cut in.

"I had a bit of a talk with Director Hong Man-seop and 'FrameMEG'. If we're aiming for a theatrical release, they say it's about time we settled on a distributor too."

This was about Director Hong Man-seop, who had begun production on 'Moonless Village', the spin-off version of 'House of the Daytime Moon'. If a theatrical release was the goal, then beyond the production company, which had recently changed its name from 'Cheong-yeon Studio' to 'FrameMEG', a distributor naturally had to be lined up during the pre-production period as well.

"He's recommending the distributor we worked with on 'House of the Daytime Moon'. What do you think, Commander. The place we've done business with before is the better bet, right??"

But Kang Jae-ha, chin propped on his hand, gave an unexpected answer.

"No. Put the distributor matter on hold for now."

"Huh? Why??"

"The release itself isn't all that hard anyway, and putting it on hold for a bit won't cause any real problem. 'House of the Daytime Moon' was a smash hit, and I'm thinking it's about time we mixed things up a little. Or maybe I should call it an experiment?"

"Do you have something in mind??"

'House of the Daytime Moon' had already struck gold with a box-office record of over six million admissions. By Cha Chung-hyeon's reckoning, the profit alone falling to Jae-ha came to nearly 20 billion won. Secondary and tertiary distribution were a separate matter. In other words, there was still plenty more money to be made, and Kang Jae-ha was slowly starting to think about taking Director Hong Man-seop's animated film technology global.

"Just releasing it domestically gets us nowhere. It's time to change direction."

The morning of the 14th. Netflix Korea.

Netflix Korea had been run off its feet lately with all sorts of things, starting with the 'One-Act Drama Project'. Even now, the executive director and the executives had gathered in the meeting room since early morning.

Important agenda items went back and forth.

Then the meeting ended and the staff filed out of the meeting room. But for some reason, the bald-headed Executive Director Heo Seong-jin stayed put. He looked like he was waiting for someone, eyes on his phone.

Roughly ten minutes later, a knock sounded through the meeting room.

A staff member poked their face in and said:

"Executive Director-nim, General Manager Kim Ha-jae from 'MEG' is here."

Executive DirectorHeo Seong-jin nodded and rose from his seat.

"Show him in."

Soon 'MEG's General Manager Kim Ha-jae stepped into the meeting room. It was Kang Jae-ha, having switched to the A face. Of course Executive Director Heo Seong-jin had no way of knowing that, and Heo Seong-jin, who was already acquainted with him from the earlier negotiation over Oh Jong-man's terms, offered a handshake.

"Hello, General Manager-nim."

"Yes. Thank you for meeting with me right away."

'MEG's General Manager Kim Ha-jae. No, Kang Jae-ha. Watching him, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin murmured to himself:

'It was the same at the last meeting, but this man still gives off such a cold air.'

He gestured to the seat across from him. Once Kang Jae-ha had sat down without ceremony, Executive Director Heo Seong-jin spoke up.

"So, what's this proposal you wanted to make to me."

Kang Jae-ha, with his face changed, smiled faintly.

"Rather than a proposal, I thought I might offer you a chance to get in ahead of everyone."

"A chance?"

"Executive Director-nim. Have you seen 'House of the Daytime Moon'?"

Kang Jae-ha had abruptly brought up the animated film 'House of the Daytime Moon'. It seemed Executive Director Heo Seong-jin had already seen it.

"......Yes, I've seen it."

Executive Director Heo Seong-jin's brow narrowed, and Jae-ha murmured low to him.

"This is your chance to preempt the next installment in the 'House of the Daytime Moon' series before anyone else."

*****

For more extra chapters, you can check out my Patreon here --> patreon.com/dreamscribe

If you enjoy this novel, please review and rate it at Novelupdates. Thanks! 😊

To receive the latest update notifications or report mistakes, join our Discord server linked below.