The Qualification of a Party Member (2)

Every single step taken by this crazy politician was dizzying.

'Why on earth is he going this far?'

Seol Jung-ho simply could not believe the choices this political maniac was making.

"Lee Yun-hyeok must have known we would plant people inside."

Yun-hyeok was a rookie, but he was quick-witted and exceptionally brilliant. He would have certainly anticipated it.

"But if so, shouldn't the safest solution have been to say, 'We will proceed without voting members just for this election'?"

In that case, of course, the Hanmin Party and the Jayu Party would have torn him to shreds once the election race began.

They call themselves a member-centric party, so why did he bypass the member vote and primary, strategically nominating himself to run as a candidate?

Is his own elitism an exception to his member-centric rule?

Such attacks would certainly have been a weakness, but they wouldn't have dealt a fatal blow.

For instance, Lee Yun-hyeok could have defended himself like this:

'The Hanmin Party requires six months, and the Jayu Party requires three months of party dues from general members before granting them voting member status. The reason for such a grace period is to verify the sincerity of the members and to give them time to adapt to party activities.'

It was a reasonably logical answer. It might spark some gossip, but it wouldn't scatter his supporters.

This was the safest and most conventional option.

Normally, that was what anyone would have done.

"But what on earth is this..."

Seol Jung-ho simply could not comprehend it.

"Linking it to their personal social media?"

It was such an unconventional answer sheet that he couldn't even begin to gauge what kind of reaction it would provoke.

"It will succeed."

The Jayu Party's strategists, Kim Jae-o and Seo I-gyeong, offered their assessment.

"There are two reasons. First, there are many people in Lee Yun-hyeok's Responsibility Party right now who don't care about that sort of thing."

The party's ideology and color were aggressive and proactive. Moreover, they were heavily mobilizing digital democracy.

From the beginning, a significant portion of the 120,000 registered members possessed exactly that kind of disposition.

Thus, they might feel little to no resistance to Yun-hyeok's proposal. In fact, they might be thrilled that a stage had been set for them. Seizing this opportunity to satisfy their bloated desire for political expression, they might strive to draft the ultimate 500-character essay.

"And the second reason is that the Responsibility Party has a clean image."

The party had yet to show any "ugly behavior." It was only natural. What kind of scandal could occur in a party that had just been founded? Especially when the chairman of the preparatory committee was a thirty-two-year-old rookie.

To a public exhausted by the bickering of the two established parties, their freshness and purity would feel like an unpolluted spring.

This was especially true right after the two major parties had engaged in mudslinging and negative campaigning over the Choi Gwang-seop scandal.

"That's why verifying their party admission essay on their personal social media won't feel like much of a burden to them."

Conversely, this was extremely difficult for those who were systematically mobilized.

It was entirely different from their usual activities, such as leaving comments under pseudonyms, sharing posts with fake accounts, or manipulating community forums to push posts to the trending page.

A verified social media account could be seen by friends, family, and acquaintances.

"Most of them will refuse to do it."

And on top of that, they weren't just clicking a button; they had to write a 500-character essay.

Who would actually do that?

Even if the party leadership tried to ghostwrite them, the scale of the operation would become far too massive.

"But wait."

A new, creeping sense of anxiety began to rise within Seol Jung-ho.

"What if this goes viral on social media?"

Ji Hye-min sat in front of her computer and took a deep breath.

In truth, this was completely out of character for her.

Hye-min was introverted. She disliked standing out in front of people and preferred to spend her time quietly with her close friends.

Revealing her political stance on social media was something she could never have imagined doing under normal circumstances.

But.

"I can't just sit this one out..."

She was no ordinary party member.

She held a position on the preparatory committee.

Specifically, she was the Public Relations Commissioner.

'Since your YouTube channel is the biggest speaker our party has, we absolutely must utilize it.'

Yun-hyeok had asked her to take on the role of PR Commissioner with those words.

Thanks to that, Hye-min had become an executive—of sorts—on the preparatory committee.

'I wanted to live quietly without drawing attention after that whole incident with Hong Gi-beom.'

Hye-min squeezed her eyes shut and clicked the upload button.

And moments later, her friends ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠began pressing the heart button one by one.

Strangers even started sharing the post.

Buzz, buzz!

About an hour later, a call came from Yun-hyeok.

"Hello?"

"It was beautifully written. I was deeply moved."

"Don't tease me!"

"I'm serious. But you know, you could have set it to 'followers only' instead of making it completely public."

"Well, if I'm going to do it, I might as well go all the way..."

"Anyway, thank you. For showing such great courage."

Actually, once she uploaded it, it wasn't as big of a deal as she had feared.

"By the way, Mayor."

"I'm not the mayor anymore."

"Chairman, then...?"

"Yes."

"But then, if you become the party leader, do I call you Representative? Or Candidate? If you get elected as Governor, is it Governor?"

"You can call me whatever you like, but, well..."

Yun-hyeok said.

"In private, you could just call me Oppa."

"...!"

Hye-min was suddenly jolted wide awake.

My goodness. What a sly, shameless flirt!

"But what were you trying to say earlier?"

"Ah..."

Hye-min replied.

"I just thought of a good idea."

The preparatory committee's PR Commissioner had pulled off a major feat.

Hye-min had suggested giving the members who linked their social media accounts a reward beyond just voting member status.

Nothing too expensive.

Something small, but honorable and charming.

A PVC appreciation card.

And a small metal badge engraved with the party logo and the title of "Voting Member."

These small but meaningful gifts were shipped out to each voting member.

"It just keeps getting bigger and bigger."

Han Gi-jeong didn't even have the energy to puff on his electronic cigarette anymore.

Lee Yun-hyeok's party had gone intensely viral on the internet.

Now, photos of the badges and plaques, alongside the admission essays, were circulating all over social media.

Normally, established parties only handed out plaques of appreciation to aspiring politicians who had active, long-term involvement in local committees, campaign staff, or local party chapter chairmen with high mobilization power during elections.

Therefore, this idea set them apart from established parties, boosted the party's identity and the morale of its members, and created a marketing effect that attracted even more people to join.

What was the key factor behind this success?

It was because they had precisely targeted the demographic for party admission.

Namely, the digital generation, who were most familiar with fandom culture, online communities, and social media.

It even began to be reported in foreign media.

Focusing on keywords like digital experimentation, the evolution of democracy, and young leadership, the reports read as follows:

As the party surged in popularity, some people quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

For example:

Who could have ever predicted this?

Hong Gi-beom, whose political life had been virtually cut short after being crushed by Yun-hyeok in the previous by-election, leading him to defect from the Jayu Party and live in seclusion, had entered the Responsibility Party.

Stating that he had deeply reflected during his year and a half as a political outsider, he declared that he would assist Lee Yun-hyeok in pursuing a new, member-centric politics. It seemed he intended to run for the provincial assembly.

Besides him, other politicians whose names were somewhat familiar began gathering in the Responsibility Party one by one.

Regardless of whether they were from the Hanmin Party or the Jayu Party.

And in the first online vote held within the party:

As expected, Lee Yun-hyeok seized control of the party with an approval rating that would make the leader of any dictatorship blush.

Han Gi-jeong felt a strange sense of anxiety and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suspicion.

The suspicion that perhaps the party ideology of being "member-centric" was merely a strategic move for Lee Yun-hyeok.

After all, the weight of a statement made by Lee Yun-hyeok as an individual politician was vastly different from one made by Lee Yun-hyeok as the party leader backed by a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠90% approval rating.

He was acquiring immense power through democratic procedures. If he managed to win the Gyeonggi Province gubernatorial election on top of this, he could instantly rise to the ranks of presidential contenders.

"Whew."

Han Gi-jeong shut down all the news articles.

"It is truly regrettable that the central party's attempt to dismantle them from within failed," the chief of staff said.

"I didn't expect much from that in the first place."

Han Gi-jeong was well aware that Party Representative Han Myeong-cheol was planting people inside Lee Yun-hyeok's party.

And he had expected it to fail.

Lee Yun-hyeok was a young rookie, but he was by no means naive. Han Gi-jeong, who had tried to swallow Mir Childcare 365 only to be swallowed himself, knew this all too well.

"In the end, there's nothing left but a head-on collision."

Han Gi-jeong replaced the cartridge of his electronic cigarette.

"We'll just have to face each other in the gubernatorial election."

The current date was late March.

Lee Yun-hyeok's party had completely established its footing.

A week later, in April.

Lee Yun-hyeok also emerged victorious in the Responsibility Party's internal primary, officially becoming the candidate for Governor of Gyeonggi Province.