Chapter 185: Maitreya Luminous Cult (1)

Ouyang Mun and Ju Seo-yeon weren't the only ones out there doing missionary work. Jin Hayeon was paired up with Hyeokryeon Seon-ah.

It was Il-mok's way of being considerate by keeping Ju Seo-yeon and Ouyang Mun away from Jin Hayeon.

Jin Hayeon wandered around the marketplace and struck up a conversation with a young man.

"Excuse me, but I'm new to this area. Could you give me directions?"

The moment she spoke, the passing young man stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her with a dazed expression.

Despite her cold personality, Jin Hayeon was a beauty who could effortlessly catch the attention of anyone walking by.

"O-of course! I'd be happy to help!"

The guy was practically bursting with enthusiasm as Jin Hayeon asked him.

"Could you tell me how to get to the Windstream Inn?"

The Windstream Inn was the biggest inn in Gulang County, the kind of place anyone who'd lived here for even a few days would know about.

But even though she was asking about such a famous landmark, the guy didn't find it suspicious at all.

After all, this gorgeous young lady had said she was new to Gulang County, and more importantly...

‘A face like that could never tell a lie!’

His eyes were already glued to Jin Hayeon's face.

The guy happily led Jin Hayeon and Hyeokryeon Seon-ah to the Windstream Inn.

"Thank you so much, young hero."

"Hahaha. Y-young hero? That is far too grand a title for me.”

As the man laughed awkwardly and blushed, that's when Hyeokryeon Seon-ah stepped in.

"Since fate brought us together like this, how about we share some tea inside?"

"My sister speaks the truth. You've been so kind to us, shouldn't we return the favor? The tea will be on us, so please, join us.”

When they invited him for tea, the guy's mind was already painting rosy pictures of the future.

They went inside the inn and started with simple introductions before moving on to casual small talk.

"Hahaha!"

Even though they were just making pointless conversation, the guy's smile stretched from ear to ear.

It was almost dinner time, yet he seemed to have completely forgotten that his parents were waiting for him to eat with them at home.

‘Mom! Dad! Just wait a little longer! Looks like I might be getting a wife soon! Maybe even two!’

He probably thought he was being a good son right now.

While the guy was lost in his delusions, Jin Hayeon's smooth voice slipped into his ears.

“By the way, Young Hero Park, do you happen to follow any particular religion?"

***

While the two pairs were doing their missionary work, Dam Bin was also operating independently.

Just then, Jeong Hyeon sent a sound transmission to Il-mok/

—Y-Young Master, are you s-sure it's okay to do missionary work like this?

Because Jeong Hyeon was prone to panic attacks if anyone came within ten paces of her, she'd been excluded from the missionary activities and was acting as Il-mok's bodyguard instead.

As Jeong Hyeon’s question implies, this entire method of recruitment was conceived by Il-mok.

It was a playbook he knew by heart, having been on the receiving end of it countless times in his past life.

Everything from the classic old-school "Do you know the Way?" approach to asking for directions to famous landmarks as an excuse to start conversations.

‘Too bad there aren't any universities here. I can't pull the whole "I'm doing a college project and need to interview people" bullshit.’

There were countless ways to approach random strangers.

Thanks to being burned by all those countless methods during his life as Seo Ji-hun, it had become second nature to simply ignore any stranger who tried to speak to him on the street.

It was to the point where he wondered if the reason the sense of communal warmth between people had vanished from the cities of South Korea might've been because of all those damn cults.

And to put it another way…

‘If these tactics worked in suspicious modern cities, there's no way they won't work in this medieval era.’

Jeong Hyeon's worries were completely pointless. If anything, he should be worried about things going too well.

***

After the sun had completely set, Il-mok greeted the returning missionary team with a bright smile.

"Good work, everyone. Did you make sure to clearly state the time and place at the end?”

The five who'd been doing missionary work all gave positive responses to Il-mok's question.

"Then just bear with it for a few more days."

Il-mok had no intention of keeping up this missionary approach.

Because of guilt?

Not even close.

‘If I keep pulling these stunts in such a small place, we'll stand out. I'm not Baek Cheon. I can't afford to do that.’

Gulang County wasn't a city; it was a small community with a finite number of faces and would quickly attract notice.

What they'd done today was just laying groundwork.

Building at least a minimal foundation for the real missionary work to come.

"Here's a simple form I prepared. Use this format to organize information about the potential converts you talked to today."

The form was nothing special; it was just their names, ages, hobbies, relationships, and personality traits they'd picked up during conversation.

However, the information from this simple form would become a massive asset for future missionary activities.

Jin Hayeon looked down at the paper Il-mok handed her, then raised her head.

"I followed your instructions for now, Young Master, but I'm not sure if this approach is right."

"Even though this form looks simple, it'll be a huge asset later."

"I wasn't referring to the form. I was questioning whether it's right to pull people in through simple friendship rather than actually teaching them our doctrine."

A few other thoughtful members seemed to share similar doubts as they too looked at Il-mok with skeptical eyes.

They seemed to feel that people who became believers just because of friendship rather than truly believing in the doctrine couldn't be trusted.

Well, everyone besides Seon-ah and Baek Cheon.

Meanwhile, Ouyang Mun and Ju Seo-yeon were staring at Jin Hayeon, who'd asked the question.

"Hmm."

After scanning the crazy bunch, Il-mok looked at the ones he could actually have a logical conversation with. Which are Dam Bin, Jin Hayeon, and Jeong Hyeon.

"You need to think about this backwards. We’ve been exposed to our Divine Cult's great doctrine since childhood, but to the people of the Central Plains, our doctrine is unfamiliar. Hmm. Think of it like food, for example."

"Food?"

"Right. Imagine someone served you a new dish from a foreign land instead of something you're used to eating. Something weird-looking that you've never seen before."

"Young Master, your analogy is problematic."

“Are you suggesting that the doctrines of the Divine Cult are weird?"

When Dam Bin and Jin Hayeon pointed this out, Il-mok shook his head.

"At least to the people here, it might seem weird."

To be honest, it wasn’t just the locals; even Il-mok thought it was pretty weird.

"Anyway, how would you feel if a complete stranger from a foreign land tried to force you to eat that weird-looking food?"

“Like I was being poisoned.”

"Exactly right. On the flip side, what if people you knew or were close to were all eating that food together and enjoying it?"

“...You might be wary, but you’d also be curious, wouldn’t you?” Jin Hayeon answered, and the others started to understand Il-mok's intention.

For their benefit, Il-mok added.

"Also, this approach has another strength. One of the things humans find hardest to sever is precisely our human emotions. Unlike approaching people by revealing our religion from the start, if they've already become close to us and their friends and family belong to us... the potential converts won't be able to leave easily."

Il-mok knew this from knowledge he'd picked up in the modern world.

One reason people who got tricked into joining cults couldn't leave even after realizing the truth was exactly this.

"Finally, we'll need to soften our doctrine when we first teach it. Like I said, to them, our doctrine is weird foreign food. Rather than forcing them to eat foreign food as-is, shouldn't we make it a bit more familiar to the local people?"

“In what way should we soften it?"

For some reason, Il-mok’s gaze fell upon Jin Hayeon.

"I think we should borrow the method Miss Jin used to teach me in the past. We'll omit the title 'Heavenly Demon' and use the name Maitreya, teaching that Maitreya will come in the future to punish the wicked."

“…Are you saying we should only reveal our true identity to those who later come to truly believe in our Divine Cult?”

Il-mok nodded at Jin Hayeon’s question and spoke.

"Exactly. Until we reveal our identity, we won't be called the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. We'll operate under the name Maitreya Luminous Cult, in the sense that Maitreya will one day judge evil and reveal the light.”

***

The missionary work continued for two more days after that.

The five carried out missionary activities in different parts of Gulang County on different days, making contact and conversing with various people.

Following Il-mok's orders not to be too conspicuous, they stopped the missionary activities after that, and two more days passed.

One evening, several people gathered toward the middle slope of a low mountain near Gulang County.

"Welcome."

"Thank you so much for keeping your promise."

The five who'd done missionary work for three days total came forward to greet each person they'd invited as they showed up.

Against all odds, Jin Hayeon had brought in the largest number of potential converts despite being the most skeptical of this approach and the one who lacked social skills.

But Il-mok wasn't surprised by this.

‘The laws of logic don't apply when you're that beautiful. A pretty face is its own plot armor.’

Every single guy who'd had even a brief conversation with her boasted perfect attendance.

‘This is why men need to be most careful of honey traps.’

He conveniently ignored the fact that he had been the one to weaponize her beauty in the first place.

"Huh? What brings you here?"

"Brother Jang, I should be asking you the same thing.”

Maybe because Gulang County was small, there were many among the invited guests who knew one another.

And mixed in among them was another arrangement Il-mok had prepared.

The martial artists from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's Gulang County branch.

They'd been living here for at least several years, some for over a decade, so they were practically locals.

They could naturally melt into the crowd, pretending to know nothing, and help shape the atmosphere.

The people gathered in the small clearing had casual conversations under the moonlight.

At first, they exchanged brief greetings and small talk, but throughout the conversation, several people with assigned roles naturally brought up religious topics.

"We believe that in the future, Maitreya will come to punish all the wicked and open the way to a peaceful world.”

"Heaven's net may seem loose, but no evildoer will escape it."

But not everyone was fooled by this artificial atmosphere.

"What naive thinking. This is a world where trying to live righteously only gets you hurt.”

As the young man spoke in a sullen tone, a woman chimed in.

"That's right. If the wicked really get punished, why are those bastards still living just fine?"

Just as an unsettled mood began to spread because of their words...

Il-mok, who had been watching from beyond the bushes while using his concealment arts, stepped forward.

Il-mok had somewhat expected this.

He knew that sooner or later, their message of hope would crash against the rocks of reality.

In a world where evildoers ran rampant, saying that the wicked would be punished in the future was nothing but empty words.

And here in Gulang County, there was a gang of criminals who'd made themselves at home.

The kind of bastards who extorted money by threatening people, engaged in loan-sharking as a daily business, and even coerced those who couldn’t repay their debts into selling their women as prostitutes.

“Are the bastards you speak of the Red Serpent Gang?"

When Il-mok suddenly appeared from the bushes wearing a mask, everyone in the clearing turned their attention to him.

The reason Il-mok felt no guilt about using those damn missionary tactics he'd experienced in the modern world...

...Was because of the Red Serpent Gang he'd learned about while getting explanations about Gulang County from the Branch Leader.

Il-mok still thought of the Demonic Cult as a den of lunatics, but...

‘The Demonic Cult might be full of crazy bastards, but they're not scumbags.’

They didn't pull the kind of evil shit you'd expect from cults, like sexual offerings.

Their only problem was the fact that they relied purely on force to achieve what they believed was right.

That’s why...

“I am the Incarnation of Maitreya, sent forth into the mortal world before he cleanses it. Maitreya has decreed that there is a gathering of evil in Gulang County and commanded me to root them out to save the people."

Tonight, Il-mok planned to deliver justice for the people of Gulang County as payment for his missionary activities.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's brand of salvation.