In Hellbound, the founder of the New Truth Society, President Jeong Jin-su, had experienced a notice 20 years prior. Desperate for answers, he begins seeking people with similar experiences. In the process of doing so, he finds that his fear of sinning leads him to do what society deems as “good”. This realization, combined with the notions that “Humans will destroy themselves if they are left without meaning” and that divine law triumphs over human law, leads him to found the cult (ep. 11, 12). His motivations suggest that filling the void with a constructed myth grants him both personal clarity and communal influence. As Joseph Campbell states in The Power of Myth, myths harmonize body and mind to soothe the guilt and fright that comes with birth, aging, sickness, and death (88).
After his death, the second president, Park Jeongchil, comes into power. Taking the original ideology behind the cult to the extreme, he transforms the New Truth Society into an authoritarian institution that imposes divine law over human justice. The driving force behind the cult transforms from seeking to achieve a sinless society to striving for total control—the line between myth and manipulation becomes increasingly blurred. The moment where a producer complains that the condemned sinner appears “too emotional” and elicits sympathy reveals how the cult controls not just behavior, but perception itself (ep. 30).
Ultimately, the webtoon is both an allegory for the rise and maintenance of authoritarian rule, and a critique of how mythologies can be co-opted by those in power not to enlighten, but to dominate, highlighting humanity’s vulnerability when desperate for answers.