The Machine Church prayer hall.
Jin Hwaju felt strange.
No, a wave of anxiety was washing over her.
‘The Machine is the same, and the followers are here. Let’s not think of useless things.’
— Brothers. Sisters. It is time to show our devotion to our Leader. The world is becoming more chaotic by the day. In times like these, we must keep our wits about us and focus on what we desire. Giving offerings and praying is the best course of action we can take right now, everyone!
Now, the applause should start…
Silence?
Jin Hwaju swallowed hard and looked at the followers.
However, the look in their eyes was different from before.
At the prayer meeting three days ago, the gazes that had looked up to her with passion now felt hostile.
Gathering to pray every three days was a method of managing the followers. If she let them loose for a whole week, they became harder to control.
She believed she had to call them frequently to keep them brainwashed, and she thought she had turned them into rats in a trap by meeting them regularly without giving them a chance to feel a sense of crisis.
But today, though she couldn’t put it into words, something felt off.
‘No. It’s just because I haven’t slept well these past few days.’
Trying to steady her heart, she looked toward Seo Suyeon and the asset manager.
The man claiming to be an asset manager had caught her eye from the start. It was a rare occurrence for her to see such a handsome and sophisticated man up close.
She had even imagined what a man like that would be like in bed.
‘I must be crazy, seriously.’
In truth, Jin Hwaju felt like she was actually losing her mind. She hadn’t been able to sleep since the asset manager visited her home.
Possessed by some sudden impulse, hadn’t she handed over her entire fortune on the very first day they met?
At first, she couldn’t sleep because her heart was racing, imagining 1 billion won turning into 10 billion.
From the next day, she couldn’t sleep because she began to doubt whether he was a trustworthy person.
Still, she couldn’t just demand answers blindly.
‘What if he suddenly disappears?’
She hated to admit it, but she was currently the weaker party.
Just as she had become the stronger party once the followers handed their money over to her.
Once a large sum of money has changed hands, one ends up being dragged along by the desire to protect that money.
Jin Hwaju, who had spent her life scamming others, never dreamed that she could be the one scammed.
She didn’t realize that people blinded by greed, unable to make rational judgments, are the easiest targets for fraud.
The people she had scammed were those driven more by desperation than by greed for money.
Fortunately, the asset manager hadn’t disappeared and had shown up at today’s prayer meeting.
And yet, her heart remained uneasy.
“Holy One, when will my leg heal? I’ve been praying so diligently for over half a year; are you even listening to me?”
A follower suddenly shouted.
It was an elderly man who had always come and gone quietly, praying with devotion.
“I’m curious too. You said my husband, who is in a vegetative state, could wake up. I’ve given more in offerings than I spent on his medical bills!”
It was a middle-aged female follower who had nowhere to go and nothing to her name.
She had fallen into Jin Hwaju’s trap while losing hope, having liquidated all her assets to pay for her husband’s hospital bills.
Having lived and slept at the hospital, her physical strength had dwindled, and she was utterly exhausted.
‘That old geezer has lived long enough; why is he so obsessed with fixing a leg?’
‘It’ll be faster for you to close your eyes and join him than for your husband to open his.’
Even with such thoughts, Jin Hwaju couldn’t say them aloud.
Being hit with public questions that left her speechless made her feel as if her body were malfunctioning.
This had never happened before.
Oh Yeong-i, who was more beautiful and elegant than her, and the old man and woman who brought bags of money begging for their wishes to be granted, they were all busy bowing and scraping.
Why were the people who would have pretended to die if she told them to suddenly act this way?
— I, uh, well… I mean, the Holy One is…
Unable to remain silent, she brought the microphone to her lips, but no words followed.
All the followers gathered there simply stared coldly at Jin Hwaju’s anxious eyes and trembling hands.
‘Now, shall we start the showtime?’
I stepped up onto the podium where a frozen, panicked Jin Hwaju stood.
Then, I gently took the microphone from her hand and spoke.
— Everyone, has the confirmation been finalized?
At my question, the people began to murmur as if they had been waiting for this.
“Thinking back, there were so many things that didn’t make sense.”
“Isn’t that thing actually just a washing machine and a speaker?”
“If the Machine Church gives such clear answers and makes people prosper, why is that ‘Holy One’ struggling here? That in itself is strange.”
“If it weren’t for those people, my money… no, my whole life would have been ruined.”
“Shh. Watch your mouth. Regardless, wasn’t it a great decision to file the complaint yesterday?”
When Go Hakjun and Ju Myeongjin first met the followers, they didn’t believe them. No, they didn’t want to believe.
The moment they admitted the Machine Church they had trusted was a fake, all their past time and money would vanish.
However, once they recovered the money they had offered, they were able to stand firm.
It was thanks to that money that they could survive tomorrow.
The followers had voluntarily gathered and called Go Hakjun and Ju Myeongjin back.
This was after they had shared the conversations they had with Jin Hwaju and completed a cross-check.
Seo Suyeon and I were also present, and the followers who had seen us at the prayer meeting participated in the interviews even more actively.
They said they would cooperate with anything since we had saved them.
That was how they had sued Jin Hwaju.
‘Sued? Who? Surely… not me?’
Jin Hwaju thought she could still fix this.
That if she spoke well and persuaded them, she could turn the people’s hearts back.
But a legal complaint?
Suddenly, the strength left her legs, and she nearly collapsed.
But if she collapsed here, it would be a disaster.
Now was the time to put strength in her legs and run away.
Just as Jin Hwaju was stealthily stepping backward.
Screeech.
With the sound of the prayer hall’s iron doors opening, a crowd of men in black suits rushed in.
Among them were people wearing vests with the “Prosecution Service” mark.
A man who appeared to be the leader stepped onto the podium and approached Jin Hwaju.
“Ms. Jin Hwaju?”
Ignoring the look of horror on Jin Hwaju’s face, the man pulled a piece of paper from the inner pocket of his suit.
“This is a search and seizure warrant.”
“What is the meaning of…?”
Unable to even step back, Jin Hwaju looked as if she were about to burst into tears.
“The people here have filed a complaint against you, Ms. Jin Hwaju. You must cooperate with the investigation regarding charges of embezzlement and fraud. We ask for your cooperation.”
Prosecutor Gu Hyeongjin spoke in his characteristically languid voice.
Delivering terrifying words with a kind demeanor was his trademark.
On the podium, Gu Hyeongjin and I looked at each other.
[ I came because I was told there was an important tip, but what is this pathetic story about a pseudo-religion? ]
Gu Hyeongjin had become a star prosecutor after uncovering the illegal campaign funds of a National Assembly member-elect and stripping him of his badge.
Because of his relentless approach, which seemed as if he wouldn’t even spare the President, he earned the nickname “Night Road.”
Meaning he was a man one had to be careful of on a night road, as you never know when you might be stabbed in the back.
Like the common saying that a straight tree is the first to be broken, his rigid principles of investigation would eventually come to an end when he touched the Mayor of Seoul elected in the next election.
The current him had no way of knowing that he would end up being cast out of the organization.
[ Please judge based on the materials here. Also, it seems there is someone this woman is paying money to; I think I could trust this if the Prosecutor could uncover who that is. ]
Gu Hyeongjin was the only person who could properly lock up the social evils I intended to cover.
I planned to continue collaborating with him and save him in the future. That’s why I was careful with my choice of words.
What changed Gu Hyeongjin’s mind was the mention of the “entity receiving money.”
Because there is a high probability that the person a cult leader hands large sums of money to is a figure of immense power.
And what touched Gu Hyeongjin’s heart was the video showing Oh Yeong-i and her daughter. The sight of Oh Yeong-i committing child abuse with a face full of love for her daughter was too bizarre.
“We have also filed a complaint.”
Looking toward the sound, Oh Yeong-i and her husband were standing side by side, their expressions looking much more at peace.
I heard that on the day Oh Yeong-i heard everything about Jin Hwaju from Seo Suyeon and Jeong Eunwoo, she had fainted.
When she woke up in the emergency room, only then did her eyes regain focus, and she wailed with guilt toward Jisu and apology toward her husband.
Oh Yeong-i’s husband was able to forgive his wife after seeing the 120 million won that had been returned.
This is why financial recovery for the victim is so important.
From the husband’s perspective, he had lost trust in his wife, and all the money he had earned through hard work on a ship had vanished, making it difficult to improve the marital relationship. Moreover, hadn’t they even taken out private loans?
For someone who has lost everything, forgiveness is not as easy as it sounds.
Oh Yeong-i and her husband sued both Jin Hwaju and the loan sharks.
Above all, they immediately began hospital treatment for Jisu, who had been the most deeply wounded. It was a true relief.
Upon confirming Oh Yeong-i and her husband, Jin Hwaju finally collapsed with a thud.
With the same expression Oh Yeong-i had worn just a few days ago.
“Prosecutor. There is an office belonging to Jin Hwaju and her husband not far from here. Please investigate the materials regarding the victims there as well.”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of doing a sloppy investigation.”
While I was talking with Prosecutor Gu Hyeongjin, I saw Ju Myeongjin weaving in and out among the busy investigators.
Tap, tap, tap.
As soon as I returned to the office, I watched all the footage Ju Myeongjin had filmed and began writing the article.
The footage felt like a piece of reportage.
I was writing the article while thinking about the news format to deliver it most effectively.
Ring.
My phone rang, and the caller was Prosecutor Gu Hyeongjin.
“Yes, Prosecutor.”
— I’ve found out who Jin Hwaju was giving money to.
“Already?”
— Yes. Before the investigation even began, he insisted on a phone call. It was Assemblyman Jin Woo-il.
“…Who did you say?”
For a moment, I doubted my ears.
Jin Woo-il?
[ It’s a hit-and-run accident caused by Assemblyman Jin Woo-il’s son. I know there’s a huge backlash because of the drug use… but my best friend died because of that accident. ]
In my past life, Jeong Eunwoo had conducted an investigation related to him. That was Eunwoo’s final assignment.
[ If we leave Assemblyman Jin’s son alone, he’ll cause another accident. Other victims will keep appearing; how can we leave it like this? Above all, if you commit a crime, you must be punished! ]
I, the man who was the Head of the News Division, had blocked the investigation of a righteous reporter.
Was that all? I had smiled with pleasure after receiving advertisements from Assemblyman Jin Woo-il’s side.
Because I had originally been close with Assemblyman Jin Woo-il. I had been introduced to Jin Woo-il after becoming part of Kim Dusik’s line, and it was practically through his help that I became the Head of the News Division.
And I had lost Eunwoo.
The person who helped Jin Hwaju get a suspended sentence in my past life was likely Assemblyman Jin Woo-il.
The money Jin Hwaju had, over 1 billion won in cash at home, must have flowed to him.
Such money grew his power, and believing in that power, he would eventually become a monster who committed even greater illegalities without blinking.
‘I might be able to take that bastard down even without Kim Dusik. The whistleblowing investigation our Eunwoo couldn’t finish, I’ll do it for you. You’re caught, you bastard.’
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