S117

Society Protocol 17

The Lamb

Mi-hee spent a few days at the prayer retreat with her mother.

Underwear, tracksuits, and sneakers were provided at the retreat.

Being away from home and with her mother made her feel like she was on a trip.

However, it was a very sudden change.

Even so, it would be difficult to turn a blind eye, pretend not to hear, and return to her normal life.

This is because even if she had returned home just as she was, the stories she had heard at church would have continued to linger in her mind.

[Let's just wait a few days. I'll listen to the story more, and if anything seems even slightly off, I'll take Mom out.]

Mi-hee chose to stay not because she had faith of her own, but because she was worried about her mother, who was deeply immersed in the church.

Although she received child support, Mi-hee knew how much her mother had suffered and struggled while raising her alone.

It was only after she started attending church that Mi-hee's mother, who had lived in pain, began to look brighter.

The church provided Mi-hee's family with jobs and became a free tutor so they could study.

And it was a source of strength during difficult times.

Mi-hee's family could not simply pretend not to hear or ignore the words of the church's senior pastor.

However, Mi-hee had to contact Min-hyuk. But she didn't know what to say.

She decided to wait a few more days before contacting him and turned off her phone.

There was nothing special about the time spent at the prayer retreat. It was just like her daily life.

Those who wanted to pray prayed, and those who wanted to read the Bible read the Bible.

And those who wanted to watch TV went to the cafeteria to watch TV.

Since everyone simply had their smartphones with them, the students spent their time playing games or watching movies they wanted to see.

During the day, they spent their time strolling around the prayer retreat and watching the fish living in the gently flowing stream.

The only other activity was holding a brief worship service in the evening and then watching a few videos.

The content of those videos consisted of various revelations from the Bible,

and documentaries and classic films related to the judgment of fallen humanity.

In the fallen city, people indulged in debauchery and committed immorality.

Then God sent a revelation to a specific person and commanded them to save the people.

However, no righteous person could be found. And the world became a sea of fire.

He told them to let go of their attachment to the city and leave without ever looking back.

But the woman looked back out of a sense of regret.

She likely wanted to see how things would change. The woman turned into a pillar of salt.

The video continued as if sending a kind of warning.

The next movie shown was a relatively recent Hollywood film.

It was a movie called Noah, starring a famous actor.

Eventually, the world was flooded, and only Noah and his family in the ark survived.

The animals and plants that Noah saved began to rebuild the world.

“We just need to start over.”

An elder came forward and spoke to the believers who were filled with worry after watching the movie.

“If trash is piled up, you just empty the trash can. It will fill up again, and then you just throw it away again. It is the same thing.”

The next day, they started playing the video in the morning.

The video was about environmental destruction caused by man-made objects and the changing climate of the world.

[Things that should have remained buried in the ground were dug up by humans, burned, and used as power. As a result, humans were able to perform tasks that they should have been able to do on their own through machines. Instead of praising God during the remaining time, humans boasted of their own greatness and decided on animals and plants based on their own needs. Consequently, only animals and plants suited to humans remained in the world.]

In a video by a famous foreign doctor, someone was providing explanations while dubbing it in Korean.

A sea turtle appeared, struggling in agony after eating plastic fragments floating in the ocean.

Fish had disappeared from the sea, leaving only jellyfish and starfish.

Corals were dying and rotting, and animals were perishing from a disaster created by humans.

Lush forests were being burned.

This was to cultivate bananas and coffee for human consumption.

Various forms of destruction were taking place, and the Earth was being covered in dust from exhaust fumes emitted by factories.

[Ultimately, we humans will destroy ourselves and the environment around us, leading to our complete self-destruction. If things continue this way, the Earth will die, and then all of humanity will perish.]

The narration concluded like this.

The final part of the video was a dead cow skeleton in a desolate desert.

The next day arrived.

Someone came and began a lecture. According to the introduction, he was a quite famous scholar.

The elder introduced him by saying that he had studied various fields and thus had a balanced understanding of both nature and human affairs.

“Automakers are currently switching entirely to electric vehicles. While they claim that EVs are zero-emission, there are several reasons why they are abandoning all existing technologies and making this new transition. Ultimately, it is because they have realized the severity of pollution and understand that the fossil fuels powering vehicles are being depleted. There are also political reasons. The reason is that if they do not rely on oil, the power of Middle Eastern nations to stand against powerful countries like the United States will disappear. There will no longer be a need to wage wars to obtain oil from the Middle East.”

Unlike previous videos, the expert's words began to appeal to young students.

This was because they sounded plausible.

“In the future, the United States and its allies will withdraw their power from the Middle East. There will be no longer any reason to wage war to obtain oil. Then, how will electricity be generated? For now, the only alternative is nuclear power. Nuclear power will become an even larger market. So, what should be done? They will politically force other countries possessing nuclear technology to abandon their industries so that they cannot preempt the market.”

The expert began by talking about the environment, then shifted to politics, and finally to industry.

And eventually, returned to the topic of humanity.

“The human population is increasing exponentially every decade.

And due to the development of medicine, the number of people dying has decreased.

It is not just medicine.

Due to the development of home appliances, humans spend less time on labor,

and because refrigerators have made it possible to keep food fresh for a long time,

the threat to health has disappeared.

Cleanliness is achieved through washing machines,

and the amount of dust affecting the human respiratory system has decreased through vacuum cleaners.

Ultimately, the human population will continue to increase, and livestock will increase to feed them.

However, the waste produced by livestock will eventually destroy the environment,

and as livestock numbers increase to match the growing human population, the grass they eat will become scarce.

However, as we began using energy from food sources like corn known as bioenergy,

food shortages occurred, and prices skyrocketed.

Among human food sources, meat is [a futures investment] It became a target of speculation,

and prices rose to benefit the speculators.

As a result, livestock farms became impoverished, and consumers

had no choice but to buy meat at higher prices.

And it became a system where those who engaged in speculation in the middle took the profits.”

People now began to agree with the lecturer's words.

"When the Great Depression comes, war breaks out.

When jobs become scarce, people begin to become cruel in order to protect themselves and their families.

This leads to an increase in violence, and eventually, the weak and innocent become victims.

When such violence accumulates, it eventually leads to war, resulting in the deaths of countless people and the devastation of nature.

However, ironically, when war breaks out, technology improves in order to create even more powerful weapons.

Almost all the technology we use today was developed during wartime.

Now, thanks to the technology developed to win the competition created by World War II and the Cold War,

we communicate, manufacture cars, use the internet, and operate computers.

When everything is destroyed by war and the human population decreases, the economy recovers.

Jobs are created to restore what was destroyed, and when jobs are created, the economy recovers,

and we enjoy prosperity again.

This prosperity will, in turn, increase the human population.

This is a kind of human It is a system of the society that created it.”

Although Mi-hee could not fully grasp it yet, she began to think that it was not entirely preposterous. After all, there had never been a time in human history without war.

It was a system where those defeated in war became slaves, and the victors became masters.

However, machines were now replacing those slaves.

The time had come when so many humans were no longer needed.

“This system is driven by a specific force.

They are the so-called high-IQ humans.

Just because one possesses high intelligence does not mean everyone desires to become such a ruler.

Among them, there are those who regard other humans like livestock.

You may think this is wrong, but if you were in that position, you would be no different.

Because you are currently acting that way yourself.”

The believers looked puzzled at the remark that people were acting like rulers.

The instructor took photos from his laptop and displayed them on the screen.

They were ordinary photos of people eating, shared via social media.

In particular, there were many photos of women.

“Looking at this photo, it seems like an ordinary, unremarkable picture. But look.

They are cutting up live animals, dipping them in chili sauce, and eating them while smiling.

We consider this to be perfectly normal.

Look at this video. It’s a famous grilled shrimp restaurant.

When they sprinkle salt on live shrimp, cover the grill, and turn up the heat, the shrimp writhe in agony. But what about those people? They seem to be enjoying it, don't they? You have likely had similar experiences.

Grilling meat and eating it while smiling and taking pictures.

We probably never once thought that was wrong.

Imagine someone killing you or your child, cutting them up, grilling them over a fire, and laughing while eating them.

It is an absurd and horrific thing.

We treat it as if it were nothing. But consider this:

Imagine there are people who think of us like those fish, pigs, or cows.

They wouldn't care whether we died or writhed in pain.

They would likely just smile and take commemorative photos.

Such a group exists in this world and is currently serving as the driving force behind it.

We call this organization the SS. They also call themselves the SS.

Their name is Smart Serpent. A serpent is the snake found in the Garden of Eden.

We call large snakes serpents.

If the term "serpent" feels awkward to you, you can simply call them "snakes." It means they are the same snake.

We say that they are the descendants of the serpent that corrupted humanity in the Garden of Eden.

But do you know what the real problem is?

It is that they themselves consider themselves to be the serpent of the Garden of Eden.

They believe the serpent was right.

They view God as a kind of ruler and believe the serpent to be the savior of humanity.

They view ordinary humans merely as beasts meant to survive and believe they must rule over them.

They are destroying the environment and corrupting humanity.

Ultimately, we have no choice but to fight them. To protect our Garden of Eden.”

Mi-hee finally realized that she had become entangled in a major incident.

This was because her mother, standing beside her, wore a look of fury that seemed to say the snake had to be killed.

Mi-hee could not leave her mother behind and go alone.