Chapter 147: Collective Intelligence
Choi Mingyong, a native Naju farmer and priest of life and abundance at the Ten Thousand Gods Temple, has been a devotee of Leon’s since his first visit.
For years, he had stared in disbelief at the land that had become barren and contaminated with miasma.
There are dozens of people who have lost their land in Naju and are in debt because they keep buying expensive purification products from the Tower.
Naju was not the only place in Korea that was contaminated with miasma, and not only farmers, but also people who had lost their homes and were living in other places.
Their hope is that one day a powerful purifier will come along to cleanse the land and bring relief.
But no one could do anything about the miasma-infested land, and they could only wait and trust in empty promises.
“This is the Lionheart King. He represents all the gods, and he is the Knight King of the Knights of Glory.”
But then he appeared.
He purified the land, as even the wizards of the Tower could not, and brought the Goddess of Life and Abundance to this land.
I can’t tell how I felt when I first ate the blessed crops.
My neighbor Kim was cured of dementia, my liver cured of cirrhosis, and new teeth grew.
The population of rural areas is mostly elderly. In this smart era, the lack of young people is a global problem.
The elderly get sick and injured easily.
For them, Leon’s presence is the dawn of a new era, as they have left the prime of their lives and are waiting for the day they die.
They are rejuvenated, healthy, and have gained strength they never had in their prime.
All they had to do was eat the crops the goddess had blessed them with and follow their noble code.
“Mr. Choi!”
“Uh, Mr. Park.”
Choi Mingyong approached Mr. Park’s workshop, where he repaired the village’s farm equipment and tractors.
He owned a hardware store and used to repair broken tractors, but the quality of his work had greatly benefited from the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods, as he believed in Heto, the God of Iron and Blacksmithing.
“What are you doing?”
“Just tinkering with the tractor that Lord Yappy improved this week.”
Yappy had been using holographic drones to train the worshippers of the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods on a weekly basis.
Mr. Park was in the middle of a crash course as an iron and blacksmithing priest.
“You know, some of us are setting up a garden at home this time. I made some sickles and hoes for it. How about it, do you want to buy some?”
“Hmm…….”
Mr. Choi was troubled. According to the doctrine, the use of farmlands is subject to the taxes, but a small garden of about 12 square meters is not taxed.
When he asked His Majesty why, he was told that private gardens are not considered an extension of the country’s farmland, but rather a personal hobby.
Now that he is the highest priest of Demera in the Naju Plains, he realizes that the tenets of the TTG Temple are not as rigid as he thought.
‘We don’t rely on rules and regulations to maintain social order, but on conscience and goodwill.’
It’s a rather loophole-ridden system that can be exploited but Choi saw it as a blind spot.
The unholy will be destroyed, and then their souls will be torn apart.
“How do you do?”
It was then that a white man with a snotty nose who looked out of place in rural Korea appeared.
“Huh? Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m Denis, a United Nations inspector.”
“Why, didn’t they say that they were coming to inspect or something?”
Mr. Choi told Mr. Park what he heard from priestess Ha-ri, that the UN was coming to inspect or something.
With the outrageous charge that TTG Temple was “suppressing human rights.”
Mr. Choi and Mr. Park’s gazes narrowed.
“It’s not that──”
Dennis continued his question in as friendly a manner as possible to the locals.
‘They’re members of the TTG Temple, which enforce the Ten Commandments. They must have some complaints!’
“Why is it, Mr. European, that you are so interested in Wool Village?”
“Well, Wool Village is doing well these days.”
The voices were friendly, but the gazes of the two were sharp as hawks, and Dennis carefully steered the conversation.
“I see a lot of exotic people here, are they all foreign workers?”
Dennis knew who they were: half-human, half-demon. That is, his elders, the demons’ followers.
The thought of them being forced to work in this stinking countryside brings tears to his eyes.
“No. His Majesty has ordered them to make life easier for old men like us.”
Right! The corners of Dennis’s mouth lifted.
“Are you a devotee of the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods?”
“…….”
Mr. Choi was silent with a smirk on his face while Dennis, cringing at the shy old man’s gaze, pushed his questions further.
“What their salary, and just a few questions about the working conditions──”
“Heh~ Why are you so interested in the affairs of His Majesty and the Wool village?”
Dennis is puzzled by Mr. Park’s voice.
“Oh, no, not that…….”
“No, no, no! I’m saying that Wool village is exploiting those people!”
Dennis backed away in horror as Mr. Park raised his scythe imbued with holy power!
“We fed them on time and gave them a bed! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Enough.”
“Choi…!”
“Uhhhh, if you can’t control yourself, you’re an embarrassment to His Majesty.”
“Hmph…….”
Mr. Choi glared at Denis with hateful eyes.
“We’ll talk about that later. I’m going to show him around the village.”
“Oh, yeah… yeah…….”
Dennis was forced to back down by the overly polarizing Mr. Park. Staring at his back, Mr. Choi said.
“Mr. Park.”
“Yes.”
“Get the kids’ tools. Tonight, we have a big job to do.”
UN inspectors should feel the horrors of rural, closed societies to the bone.
* * * *
And so the villagers, who didn’t like the idea of the U.N. survivors’ rights inspectors poking around, raided their lodgings in the middle of the night and hanged Louise and the inspectors.
“Hang them!”
“Hang the demons!”
“We must burn them to death!”
The people’s insane collective intelligence and outbursts were beyond Louise comprehension.
This was South Korea, one of the most developed countries in the world?
No matter how rural it is, it’s still a country, and they’re going to hang an inspection team sent by the United Nations like this?
“This is ridiculous!”
During her human rights investigations, Louise had encountered soldiers who threatened her life or used force to seize documents many times but never anyone like this, who threatened to burn her to death.
“Everyone, everyone, calm down. What’s going on? If we’ve done anything wrong, we apologize.”
Louise tried to calm the mob down but her desperate cries had no effect.
‘That’s right! I forgot my translator!’
Ha-ri handed her the translator but she couldn’t get it as she was being hastily dragged away. She was going to be burned at the stake if she doesn’t move──
-Bam!
It was then that a cuddly, minimalist mechanical spider landed in front of the UN inspectors as they were about to be burned at the stake.
“Lord Yappy!”
“Sir!”
The villagers parted in unison as Yappy appeared and the bloodshot stares of madness were replaced by respect and admiration.
-What is this?
“They are demons!”
Mr. Park shouted, his voice echoed by the residents.
“They’re the ones who went around asking if His Majesty in the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods had mistreated people!”
“What a bunch of bullshit. They’re trying to slander us, and we can’t stand it!”
“What, what…!”
Louise was exasperated. Isn’t this the kind of thing reporters do?
Of course, even if this was a poke at their blind spot, it usually ended with them being shut up or kicked out.
It doesn’t make sense to hang people like this!
“Sir Yakt Spinner, are you going to stand by and watch this unjustified atrocity!”
Louise pinned her hopes on the mechanical spider, who would at least be able to see reason.
Yes, the villagers can, but not you!
-The trial begins.
“What?”
“This is crazy! This is crazy!”
“We’re with the United Nations! What kind of law are you trying us under?”
-The Holy Knight.
“What? What was that?”
-Holy Knight of the Ten Thousand Gods is above the law.
“What? What kind of nonsense is that──!”
“Waaaahhhh…!”
“Judge the demons!!!”
The protest was drowned out by the cheers of angry residents and Yappy immediately began the heresy trial.
-The defendants will be interpreted live by this judge. Witnesses to the stand.
Mr. Park, a hardware store owner, was the first to take the stand.
A student of Yappy’s holographic lectures, he first bent 90 degrees to Yappy, the Holy Knight of the Iron and Blacksmith God.
“I’m Mr. Park, owner of the village hardware store.”
-Yappy
Okay, let’s hear what the hell he says. Louise and the U.N. staff turned to listen to Mr. Park, who burst into a rant.
“Those guys are possessed by the demons!”
“What?”
“No, out of the blue, what do you mean, the demons!”
Mr. Park glared ferociously at the protests of the UN staff.
“That haggard, blue-eyed bastard who came out of nowhere said His Majesty abused innocent people!”
“Ah, no, not so directly…!”
“What kind of a man is His Majesty, isn’t he the one who saved our village from total destruction, the one who connected the gods to us!”
To accuse a man like that of human rights abuses, how is that possible!
“”That’s right!””
There was no logic in Mr. Park’s words but it was enough for the fanatical villagers.
-Next witness.
“I am Choi Mingyong, a lowly servant in the service of Demera, the Goddess of Life and Abundance.”
Mr. Choi, the one behind the riot, glared at the hanging UN inspectors and continued.
“They are demons.”
-What?
“They’re demons, that’s what my senses say.”
“Crazy!”
“Come on! R-u-crazy?!”
“How dare you insult the priest of Demera?”
“Kill him! Take out the demon and burn him!”
The inspectors were beaten down again and again as they tried to plead their case.
“There is another reason why I suspected them.”
-What is it?
“Their eyes were the same as the eyes of the serfs. The evil, filthy, dirty eyes of the demons. But…….”
Choi pointed to Dennis, his voice quiet, but full of conviction.
“That one has the demon eyes, too!”
“What are you talking about, you old fool, I don’t have eyes like that!”
“Shut up, demon!”
Dennis shouted in frustration. No, he’d gotten it right, but demon eyes?
What a bunch of bullshit logic!
“My sixth sense is telling me. Those guys must be demons!”
After Mr. Choi testimony, the residents cheered with pickaxes and shovels in hand, and more testimonies followed.
“My cows haven’t eaten since those demon bitches came!”
“It must be the demon’s fault that the cows don’t eat!”
“No, why is it our fault that your cow doesn’t eat──!”
“”Shut up, demon!!””
“Look at the way my dog is barking at those demons, isn’t that proof that they are demons!”
“Isn’t a dog a spirit animal, and can recognize demons!”
“What does a dog’s barking have to do with anything──”
“”Shut up, you demon!””
-Defendants. Any objections?
When Yappy gave her the opportunity, Louise exclaimed impatiently.
“It’s not fair! We’re not demons!”
As a United Nations official who cares about human rights, Louise justified what she had been doing all her life.
The need for those human rights to be respected, even for criminals, and the world that excessive punishment would create.
Her proofs were logical and methodical, and everyone was convinced.
-Acknowledged. Not logically unreasonable.
Yappy recognized their logic. The monstrosity of mechanical logic does not negate reasonable logic.
But
“Those bastards are demons. I saw them.”
“Admit it!”
“I’ll bet my wrist they’re demons!”
Disordered collective intelligence. That outrageous assertion──
-Acknowledged. The need to be sure.
Yappy saw it as reasonable and reserved judgment so he didn’t dismiss the outrageous trial!
“What the hell are you thinking, you’re going to torture us, something the world would never approve of──”
-Try burning them.
“……?”
“Waaaaaaaaaah!!!”
“Lord Yappy gave his verdict!”
The complexion of Louis and the UN staff changed at the sudden burning at the stake.
-When burned, it’ll be revealed if one is demon or human.
“Iron bastard!”
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