S115

Society Protocol 15

Candidates

Ji Seo-hoon was briefly lost in old memories while his manager brought in a new rookie actor.

In his first at-bat, having accepted the organization's request, Seo-hoon hit a home run.

From then on, his life was a resounding success.

A few days after completing his first assignment, a messenger from the organization came to deliver a message of gratitude.

A few days later, a package arrived at the office.

It was a type of medicine called the "Fruit of Knowledge," meant to be taken as both a liquid and a capsule.

All one had to do was open the capsule, put it in the mouth, and tear open the bottle containing the liquid to drink them together.

In reality, there was no particularly unpleasant taste, nor was the texture or scent strong.

And above all, he felt absolutely no change.

It was to the point where he couldn't understand why on earth he was taking it.

However, as he watched their planning and execution skills, and the help they provided him,

he became convinced that there was absolutely no harm in trusting them.

He consistently accepted the Fruit of Knowledge whenever it arrived, swallowed it, and drank it in a place where no one was around. The effects of the fruit slowly began to take hold.

When he started to speak with someone, he began to anticipate to some extent what they were going to say.

Furthermore, he developed the ability to gauge a person through their facial expressions, appearance, and clothing.

He was not entirely sure what was clearly happening to him.

Ji Seo-hoon, who happened to stumble upon a TV program about solving problems while flipping through channels,

heard the problem and was reminded of a word he did not know at all.

[Why does this word come to mind?]

Then, that word appeared as the correct answer on the broadcast.

It was a word he had never seen in his memory.

However, simply by listening to the question, he didn't know why or what was going on, but a certain word came to mind,

and then that word became the answer to the question.

The principle of this drug was as follows. Humans receive countless pieces of information throughout their lives.

However, if one does not know the precise reality, it is not stored in memory.

And even if it is stored in memory, if one hears it without knowing what it is, one does not understand its meaning and therefore cannot associate it.

However, by consuming this fruit of knowledge, one gains an ability akin to a reflex:

that connects information one had already heard somewhere but was not consciously aware of,

and extracts it immediately upon questioning.

Looking at stock charts, he could somewhat predict where the indicators would move next.

When looking at a new movie or product, the answer regarding whether or not it would succeed came to him intuitively.

Rather than a device that completely enhances memory to turn one into a genius,

it was a system that wove together unrelated pieces of information he had heard somewhere before,

causing insights to surface in his mind intuitively without him even realizing it.

Of course, Ji Seo-hoon had absolutely no idea what the underlying principle was.

However, he realized that the number of words exposed to his mind was relatively small.

Although he had picked up many words since childhood by reading books, newspapers, and studying,

there was a wide variety of knowledge existing in the world.

Since simply putting all those words into his mind would allow them to automatically come to mind and inform him when needed,

and even enable him to predict events that would occur in the near future,

he began reading various books whenever he had the time.

And he developed the ability to judge people.

In the case of Director Lee Jun-hyun, he was the very first person he selected after eating the fruit of knowledge.

His judgment was accurate.

Even for someone with a bad reputation who was untrustworthy, he was able to recognize their strengths.

He developed an eye for spotting people who would grow.

Just by looking, listening to their voices, or observing their actions, he could tell automatically.

How it would proceed.

However, he simply could not figure out anything regarding the organization.

Based on his conjecture, it seemed to contain technology designed to block certain information,

so that anything related to the organization would not be connected. But he did not dig any further.

The situation recently was very different from when he was a player for the organization.

Because the sole purpose was to draw public attention with sensational incidents, it was akin to performing a kind of realistic acting. However, the situation has changed since a few years ago.

When he was a player, no one died or was injured.

There were no victims, and there were no perpetrators.

Although they announced that there were witnesses, in reality, there were none.

It was like an action movie where no one got hurt. But now, the situation is different.

A company in Korea affiliated with the organization had created a machine that manipulated people using their brains.

To be precise, it was not possible to control everyone.

There were individuals who were particularly sensitive to specific frequencies, and there were those who could not directly control their own behavior or anger.

The organization had identified them early on and continuously monitored and observed them.

Then, they selected a few candidates.

It was as if they had been assigned a special mission for the organization without even realizing it.

The difference from Ji Seo-hoon is that the organization will not make any dealings with them,

and they will not know of the organization's very existence.

They would become a kind of victim, unbeknownst to them, sacrificing themselves for the organization.

People for the organization were categorized into several groups in this way.

Those who received benefits from the organization while taking action were called "players."

Among the players, the outstanding ones became managers who oversaw a select few.

Such managers were called coaches.

Among the coaches, those with good performance become partners.

Once they become partners, they take on the task of designing the organization's operations.

This involved designing for the pioneering of the future, and simultaneously designing tasks to resolve problems when they arose and threatened the society they had built.

The top among them was called the leader.

Ji Seo-hoon became the leader after five years as a partner.

And within the organization, a person who, even while playing, did not know the organization's true identity or what they were doing was called a martyr.

For the martyrs who sacrificed themselves for this world,

the traces of them are preserved in a special, unknown space and are continuously managed by the organization.

Furthermore, whenever the organization holds official events, it always begins by giving thanks for the martyrs' deeds as the top priority.

Although the martyrs themselves had absolutely no knowledge of what they did or for whom they did it,

the organization was handling everything according to a plan.

There were prospective martyrs selected in this way.

They were diverse in type.

Violent tendencies, sexual tendencies, tendencies to act as directed, tendencies toward paranoia,

They were fundamentally sensitive to electromagnetic waves.

And they were always aware that someone was manipulating them from somewhere.

However, there were also those who remained silent, thinking that if they told people, they might be locked up in a mental hospital.

They were on the list of candidates for martyrdom, but ultimately, not everyone had the opportunity to be martyred.

This was because the potential for an explosion had to be predicted to some extent before they could be sacrificed for the organization.

Because it is necessary for the story to be realistic.

Let me give you a few recent incidents as examples.

This martyr was a very famous figure in the region.

However, the premise was that he would fully regain his sanity while taking medication.

So, the story was that one day, he stopped taking his medication, suffered a seizure, developed paranoid delusions, and began harming those around him.

Ji Seo-hoon did not like this approach.

Because, having lived his life as a player who never harmed anyone, he felt uneasy about the fact that someone would die and innocent people would be sacrificed as a result.

However, since this method was mainly used in countries where the media was not absolutely controlled,

It had to be introduced in Korea as well.

Of course, the list of martyrs includes not only the perpetrator but also the victim.

After suffering the harm, their families will likely experience a positive outcome where things work out well for them without anyone knowing.

Getting accepted into your desired school despite failing an exam,

or getting hired by a company you were just thinking of applying to despite lacking the qualifications,

or suddenly becoming romantically involved with a wonderful person who is far beyond your means,

from these small things to having a benefactor appear in your business—I mean that kind of luck.

Of course, they had absolutely no idea who had helped them.

The organization could only shake off the guilt of their actions by comforting the souls of the victims in this way.

[It is all for the sake of our society.]

They had such a clear justification.

Now, having given all the orders and obtained the list of martyrs and victims from the managers,

they had to undertake the task of selecting the starting members of the team who would actually be martyred.

And they also had to handle the task of recruiting new players.

This is because even a single mistake, such as recruiting an incompetent player,

or a player leaking a secret signal, would have a significant impact on the operation.

This is because things like stolen bases or bunts are over once they are predicted.

However, he had not yet selected his first player.

Lee Jun-hyun, the manager he had known for a long time, was very kind and a good person. And he was quick-witted.

Although he had a desire for success, his affection for people was also great,

so he needed someone who could be cool-headed at times and strong enough to keep his mental composure intact.

So, he had thought about it a few times, but after eating the Fruit of Knowledge and running a simulation,

he concluded that he ultimately had to hide the organization's secrets from Lee Jun-hyun. It was then.

The door opened, and Lee Jun-hyun entered, bringing a male actor in.

Ji Seo-hoon instantly and intuitively recognized his successor. He would become a major star.

The Fruit of Knowledge kept sending signals in his mind.

He had an attractive appearance, and his eyes blazed with desire.

He moved with absolute awareness, without letting a single movement slip out of place.

Even now, he was scanning the room, thinking in his head about the atmosphere and the personality of the person who had decorated it.

That was what Ji Seo-hoon could see.

“Welcome. It’s even more delightful to see you here so suddenly. I’m the owner here.”

Ji Seo-hoon approached Min-hyuk and shook his hand.

“Hello. I’m Kang Min-hyuk. Nice to meet you.”

His voice was charming, too. Voice is a very important point, especially when it comes to appealing to women.

“Thanks for your hard work, Director. I have something to discuss privately later, so I’ll call you right after this is over. Please have a meal somewhere.”

Manager Lee Jun-hyun was about to say something, but seeing that the owner seemed to take a liking to him, he immediately stepped away.

This was because the owner had never said he wanted to see an actor he was seeing for the first time in person.

Jun-hyun closed the door and went outside.

“So, Min-hyuk, have you heard of our company?”

“Of course. Meeting the CEO in person at such a famous company feels like a dream.”

“I feel the same way. Having seen many people, I think I have a pretty good eye for talent. How about it, Min-hyuk? How far do you want to go?”

Since he suddenly asked Min-hyuk how far he wanted to go, he couldn't immediately think of an answer.

So, he just stated his usual thoughts.

“I want to become the best.”

Ji Seo-hoon seated Min-hyuk on the sofa.

Then, while making a simple cocktail with a few ice cubes in a glass, he spoke to Min-hyuk.

"The word 'best' has various meanings, and since it seems you are trying to become an actor, what kind of actor do you want to be? The best actor? Or the most popular actor? The highest-paid actor? Which one?"

"I want to be an actor who is good at acting, popular, and has a high market value."

He held a cocktail mixed with red and yellow for himself and offered a green one to Min-hyuk.

“I wasn’t sure how much alcohol you drink, so I just went with something light. It’ll taste like melon. Just wet your throat.”

Min-hyuk drank the green beverage. It was a melon-flavored cocktail that had a slight alcoholic kick, but it went down smoothly.

“It’s delicious. It really tastes like melon.”

“That’s a relief. Actually, this is the first time I’ve made this since I bought it. I just wasn’t really craving it, hahaha.”

“It really is delicious. If you haven’t tried it, you should.”

“I will. That’s a relief. I haven’t openly pursued acting, but I think it’s like this:

Does being good at acting guarantee popularity? Do people from all directions ask to work with you just because you act well?

I had these thoughts. Fundamentally, actors these days need to have charm.

While this charm can be shown in their acting roles, I am convinced that, fundamentally, they need to be good at variety shows.”

Min-hyuk had never once thought about things like variety shows.

It was partly because he attracted attention just by walking.

The boss continued speaking.

“Actors move according to a pre-written script. They live within it.

But variety shows, especially talk shows,

allow you to see just how charming a person is as a human being.

That is why there are many cases where actors who are very popular in dramas or movies don't appear on TV at all.

It's because they're afraid of being exposed for lacking human charm.

It's like people's fantasy, I suppose; living within the character of the work ensures their true nature won't be revealed,

so they think it's safe.

However, I believe it's difficult to survive that way unless you are one of the very few.

And just because you're good at acting doesn't mean every opportunity comes your way.

Because in this industry, without opportunities, you can't even get started, let alone gain popularity.”

Min-hyuk felt the aftertaste of the melon drink was bitter.