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Society Protocol Season 2 - Episode 2

Proof of Existence

The SS's world headquarters was located in Greenwich, London, England.

The River Thames meandered through the area, and the famous Millennium Dome was nearby.

It was situated near a small hotel in a neighborhood called Black Heath, south of the Greenwich Observatory.

An Anglican cathedral was also in the vicinity.

The reason the headquarters of this global organization exists here, rather than in a global financial center like New York, is that its beginnings were directly linked to the Greenwich Observatory.

In the 1600s, when the observatory was first established in England, people interested in astronomy began to gather there,

and they began to congregate to develop astronomical navigation,

a method that would allow one to determine their current location by comparing it to the positions of the stars.

Among them were ship experts and merchants. Various scholars also participated.

It was then that these organizations were merged into one for the first time.

Until then, they were organizations that had continued in their respective countries and could only exert influence within their own regions.

However, due to advancements in navigation, improved ship performance, and the development of trade,

it became a suitable time to integrate the world into one.

In the case of Korea, the story of a sailor who had come to live in Joseon following a Dutch trading ship drifting at sea before the observatory was established was documented,

and became known a few years after the observatory began.

Their contact began when British trading companies visited China and Japan, and merchants from Kaesong traveled by ship to China or Japan to align with their schedules.

Therefore, it can be said that the headquarters in Korea originated from Kaesong in the Joseon Dynasty.

After the war broke out on the Korean Peninsula, the merchants in Kaesong fled to Busan to escape the Communist Party, and then returned to Seoul. At that time, the area inside the Four Great Gates was Seoul, while the surrounding area was Gyeonggi Province. They crossed the Han River at Mapo Ferry and settled in a neighborhood where salt warehouses were clustered.

This place was a hub for money, and salt was needed everywhere.

Therefore, it was the best location for obtaining information.

Currently, the area belongs to Seoul and is densely populated with apartment buildings.

However, they did not change their location elsewhere.

This was because the airport was relatively close, and the roads along the Han River that led to downtown Seoul were also nearby.

Because the golf practice range located in the center of this place was an open space where anyone could come and go,

they paid no attention to people coming and going.

This place was composed of the Bukcheong water vendor organization that came down from the North, the existing salt warehouse organization,

and the ferry boat operation organization, as well as the Gapachi organizations that manufactured goods,

and the itinerant peddler organization that traveled around selling goods,

and the clown organization that accompanied them.

Later, as some members of the bandit group joined, they became capable of exercising a form of force.

Although the organizations that started operations were as described above, as they eventually connected with the global headquarters,

the existing vested interests vanished, and the place was freely filled with capable individuals.

It is known that there are currently about 50 members in Korea.

Among them were figures of the chaebol class, but there were also merchants, soldiers, scholars, and entertainers,

creating an atmosphere where they seemed completely incompatible.

However, they eventually distinguished themselves in their respective fields and have now risen to almost the very top.

However, the process by which they rose from their beginnings to reach that point was often questionable.

There were cases where they went from selling goods from a simple street stall to becoming chaebols,

and cases where they went from delivering vegetables from a truck to managing airlines and shipping companies.

There was even a case where someone who sold snakes and medicine at Dongdaemun Market became a pastor at a leading church in the country.

Particularly in the entertainment industry, there was a case where a man who used to emcee for a circus troupe

came to wield all the power in the Korean entertainment world.

Because people only saw them after they had succeeded,

they assumed that was the case even before that, but the reality was completely different.

The same goes for the 50 people gathered here today.

Although they all appear to be doing very well now, their beginnings were quite humble.

However, there was only one reason why they were different from others.

[I want to get better. I want to be the best. I want to reach the very top.]

They are people so passionate that this aspiration practically radiates from their faces,

and in the eyes of experts in their field, they were individuals possessing potential and talent.

They rose to this organization at a relatively young age.

And every year, one, or at most two, new recruit candidates would join.

Here, they were called rookie players and had to run all sorts of errands and do the grunt work for their seniors.

Only by being able to endure that could they survive in the organization.

That is why the discipline between seniors and juniors is strict here.

Strict discipline between seniors and juniors also implies that it is an organization where there is, in a sense, no difference in ability.

There are certain groups known for having strict discipline between seniors and juniors.

Athletes and the entertainment industry are places where they strictly adhere to the senior-junior hierarchy and set a fearsome atmosphere.

To be precise, the reason is as follows.

This is because it is a field where a junior can beat a senior in skill.

In fields like engineering, where seniority is not a major concern, a one-year difference is significant.

Unless a newcomer is a true genius, it is difficult for a junior to beat a senior in skill.

This is a kind of irony.

A junior can overpower a senior with skill to become a starting player or even a national team member.

In the case of entertainers, a junior can become a lead actor over a senior and receive higher advertising fees due to their greater popularity.

However, in general companies, there are likely not many cases where a junior earns a higher salary than a senior.

That is likely the difference between general fields and this organization.

There is no one who is easy to deal with, and a junior can potentially overpower a senior.

That is why the disparity in status between seniors and juniors is even more pronounced, and why the bonds are so strong.

It is because there is an atmosphere of mutual support.

However, since this organization is run by people, it was not entirely perfect. This was because there were instances where a sort of war broke out among the members.

If they suffered a defeat, everything they had built up until then could collapse all at once.

The organization did not cover for such things.

In the case of Ji Seo-hoon, the newly appointed head of the Korean branch, he had been a baseball player since childhood.

He had extensive experience with the organization and with his seniors and juniors.

Therefore, he was particularly good to both his seniors and juniors, which is why he became the branch head at a relatively young age.

Furthermore, he handled work very neatly and possessed an exceptional eye for judging people, making him stand out as unrivaled even within their organization.

Almost all members gathered to celebrate Ji Seo-hoon's inauguration as branch head and to attend a global joint conference.

This was a rare occurrence, happening perhaps once every few years.

When Ji Seo-hoon first joined this organization, he had spent several months working alongside a senior member who was in charge of training.

He learned about the work and the organization by working together at that senior's workplace.

“This organization is somewhat akin to a religion. The only difference from other religions is that this place directly provides what the believers want.”

The senior was conveying to Ji Seo-hoon, a newly arrived junior, a synthesis of what he had initially learned and the insights he had gained while living here.

“Isn’t it funny that the snake is the symbol? Who in the world would like a snake?

It might be slightly better than bugs or rats, but snakes have a nature that arouses revulsion in people.

However, they possess venom and can hide anywhere.

The reason the protagonist who told the woman to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Bible was set as a snake was because snakes carry an image of being both threatening and intelligent to humans.

Since ancient times.”

The senior occasionally conveyed his thoughts by speaking of such fundamental principles.

Although Ji Seo-hoon was well-read in newspapers and books, he was fundamentally an athlete, so the conditions for acquiring basic knowledge were fundamentally different from those of others.

Therefore, Ji Seo-hoon had to study the Bible as well.

“In the Bible, the serpent is a kind of disguised form of the devil, and this devil was originally a powerful angel who held the highest position among the angels, second only to God in power.

However, while trying to help humans,

and although the Christian perspective views it as a being that plunged humans into the suffering of work,

when looking at the content alone, there was absolutely no benefit for it to gain,

and despite the risk of becoming a serpent and being loathed, it committed such an act.

Why did it do that? Couldn't it have just lived as an angel? Why do you think the serpent did that?”

“Maybe it just wanted humanity to fail?”

“That’s the general content of Christianity, but I think it’s a little different.

Adam and Eve go around naked, you know.

They don’t even know what shame is.

And while God just watches the kids playing in the garden He created,

He makes them unable to even think about resisting Him.

Maybe he thought He was doing a kind of ‘gaslighting,’ which is quite common these days.”

“Gaslighting?”

Ji Seo-hoon looked up at the ceiling, as if afraid of being struck by lightning at the thought that God was gaslighting humans.

“ The angel who turned into a serpent, the most outstanding of all angels, hated seeing the way God was acting.

So, at the very least, he must have wanted to let them know.

You are being gaslighted right now.

It is a kind of policy to keep the masses ignorant.

It is just like making people fools, inciting them, and making them support a political party that implements policies that ruin them.

That is why he made humans eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even though he himself might be cursed forever.

However, humans were so stupid back then that they lived without even knowing what good and evil were.

So, he seduced a woman who was at least somewhat intelligent to make her eat the fruit.

That is why the devil was trying to save humanity from the system created by God.

That is why our symbol is the serpent. And not just any serpent, but the very serpent that appears in the Bible.

Aren't you curious why it wasn't a symbol when it was in the form of an angel?

It is meant to make them realize what kind of end awaits them if they oppose God and to make them resolve it themselves.

Who asked you, a serpent, to become an angel? If asked to choose, who would pick a snake?

However, we are not afraid to become snakes.

That is the teaching of our leader, who risked becoming a snake to save humanity out of love.

Therefore, everyone in our organization has the responsibility and duty to make such sacrifices and bear the risks.”

Ji Seo-hoon, a rookie player who had been listening quietly, couldn't fully understand yet.

Noticing this, the senior player began the conversation using a topic Ji Seo-hoon could understand.

“You know the movie Superman, right?

It was originally an American comic book, but it’s one of the human fantasies. He flies through the sky, shoots lasers from his eyes,

is incredibly strong, and uses those abilities not for his own gain, but to save people from danger.

That kind of fantasy. You know it.”

“Of course I know. I’ve seen every kind.”

“But think about it. Superman is the strongest guy in the whole world, isn't he?

He’s a guy with terrifying abilities, capable of turning you to dust with just a graze.

But there was someone who actually took him on head-to-head.

Do you know who that was? It was a man named Lex Luthor.

The one with the receding hairline.

Why did Lex Luthor dare to fight Superman when his abilities were so weak—were weaker than a bug, like a mosquito or a fly—that he would die just from Superman snapping his fingers and slapping him?”

“Isn't it because he’s a bad guy?”

“That’s a kind of frame. It’s branding someone as evil.

Lex Luthor hated seeing that guy called Superman running rampant.

And he hated that people liked him.

He hated the thought of becoming a slave to that guy called Superman.

So he tried to create a world without Superman.

After he had acquired all the knowledge handed down from Superman’s homeland, that is.”

So, he concluded that they were making grandiose claims that they were villains on the level of Lex Luthor,

as a form of self-consolation. However, he had a doubt.

“But isn’t it all just the story of the Bible—the serpent, the God, everything? If we are the devil, shouldn’t we deny all of those things? Shouldn’t there be no such thing as a God?”

The senior shook his head lightly.

“This organization became a global alliance because it started with people observing the stars at an observatory gathering together.

Those people are smart, you know.

They looked at the stars in the sky and thought:

This is a situation that absolutely could not have occurred unless it was a system created by God.

Like this.

So, fundamentally, the people in our organization are also zealous believers who trust in the existence of a god.

I mean, basically, there isn't a single atheist among us.”

Ji Seo-hoon hadn't understood it at the time, but he understood it to some extent now.

He thought that his presence in this place might also be a kind of divine will.