Paradigm

Chapter III

As I mentionned in the disclaimer already, this book will cover some heavy topics and might contain discriminatory words. Please, read at your own risks.

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Seoul, South Korea, April 1993.

It only took a week before an over-excited Hongjoong informed all the members of his community that he had a new recruit to introduce. Therefore, on a cloudy Saturday, they all gathered in the outskirts of the city, in Mingi's flat. He was the only member living independently on his own.

On the contrary to what San expected from a single twenty-six year-old young man, the flat was decorated with great taste and modernity and most importantly, was clean from the ground up. It looked straight out of a catalogue. The polished wooden floor shone so much you could see your reflection as you walked on it. Furthermore, all the guests had to take their shoes off and put soft slippers on before entering. Not a stain, not a dust grain around. On the book shelves, the books were sorted out in alphabetical order, color and size. The young man wondered what could trigger such a drive for cleanliness.

Before he learned more about ilminists, he rather considered them as a group of poorly educated people who just blindly conveyed outdated ideologies. However, as he met the people who knocked at Mingi's door one by one, he was forced to admit with growing horror that he had met them all at the library or in amphitheaters regularly. They were part of the top students of the best universities of the country. Just like him.

They were five altogether : Hongjoong, Mingi, Wooyoung, Yunho and Bora.

And he made the blunt-mistake of underestimating them.

Ilminism defends racial supremacy, authoritarian power and is definitely not a gay-friendly ideology. However, much to his surprise, San clearly recognized Wooyoung. He had already seen him in a gay bar. A spark of excitation lit up in the young man's chest : things hadn't even started, but they were already interesting enough.

-Well, hello my friends. This is Choi San, a very dear friend who wished to join us. I trust him with my whole being, so I suggest familiarizing him with our current situation.

Yunho started. He was the most friendly member. .

-As you can see, we are only five, six with you and you must think we don't hold a lot of credibility. We are actually attentively followed by tens of other groups well-versed in politics and scientific progress from countries around the world because we have... techniques that are more than interesting and carry out very successful scientific research. We possess something others don't.

-That is ? I can't quite grasp the relation between scientific research and your political activism, to be honest.

They had definitely piqued San's curiosity, though. He had just found his new favorite occupation.

-Tssst. You already want to rush things. To be taken into our confidence, you need to be an official part of the group.

They were ready to trust San simply based on Hongjoong's insurances, but not if it exposed them to any kind of danger. They were testing him.

Obviously, if he revealed the existence of their fascist group, their social integration would suffer a bit, but they would not have problems with justice. Their activities were apparently inoffensive and it was not illegal in South Korea to utter a few totalitarian sentences. He still did not have any means of pressure against them, even though he would love to.

He liked to blackmail people, to have an ace up his sleeve, just in case.

-Are your activities legal ?