Interviewee: Zeng Zimo, Manna Charitable Foundation Far East Branch Director ("Zeng" below)
Interviewer: Dr. Mint, assigned to Site-CN-21
<Begin Recording>
Dr. Mint: Let's begin.
Zeng: Alright, doctor.
Dr. Mint: What exactly happened?
Zeng: That day, Happou from the JOICL main branch called all of a sudden, saying "Oh, sorry to interrupt, but those biscuits we sent over? They have a defect and shouldn't be used, please dispose of them yourselves" and so on… to be honest, when I got that call, I was a bit shocked, thinking "are they really that kind of person?"
[After hearing these words, Dr. Mint shows interest]
Dr. Mint: So you also had that kind of feeling.
Zeng: Don't joke around. And then… well, even though I felt it was pretty weird, it was an unexpected scenario, so I went to the director's office to report it. The director was confused when he heard it, too, but since this was the first time JOICL had said this, we complied, of course. And then you came along…
Dr. Mint: And there was nothing of the sort before?
Zeng: Nothing at all! Not once, not even that time in Sierra Leone. That time, they only said some formalities like "we can't prohibit employees from conducting private business, our apologies"…
Dr. Mint: And after this, how will your organization deal with JOICL?
Zeng: [surprised]Why are you asking me this?! [seemingly struggling to find appropriate words] Oh, that… we'll… [trailing off] keep on doing—
Dr. Mint: [interrupting] Keep on doing business with them? How many times have they messed up with you?
Zeng: [silence]
Dr. Mint: I don't understand. Why do you continue to trust them?
Zeng: [avoiding eye contact] We've worked together more than once… and they have donated some useful things.
Dr. Mint: That's not a good enough reason.
Zeng: [wiping away sweat] Although we accept donations from all sorts of groups and individuals, we do screen the donations. If someone donates things that only cause problems, we won't accept further donations from them.
Dr. Mint: That's not right to say, is it?
Zeng:[at a loss for words]
Dr. Mint: And even though they knew these biscuits were pure cellulose, they still used them for "relief"?
[silence]
Dr. Mint: If you want to work with someone, don't blindly defend them.
Zeng: [raising both hands in defeat] Alright, alright, I'll say it. We didn't actually do the screening.
Dr. Mint: [motions for Zeng to continue]
Zeng: To be honest, the matter with JOICL is that there's always been infighting there. Their donations have caused problems multiple times, and sometimes when we want to contact them, we found out they'd already shifted the blame the second they donated the stuff. How useless.
Dr. Mint: So why don't you just reject their offers?
Zeng: They're not just an isolated group. They have contacts all over Asia, Europe, the Americas… they're not just limited to Japan. If we were to reject their donations, we'd find ourselves sanctioned by all their partners. And being alone in the paranormal scene is never a good thing… [quietly] but I think they're just a collective of crazy people.
Dr. Mint: [watching Zeng attentively] It's not just that, is it?
Zeng: [after 15 seconds of silence] The rest is money, of course, money. We need funding, and we need quite a lot for charity… JOICL was one of our first funders, and so they regularly provide good sums of money for us. If our relations turn sour, even if the money doesn't outright stop coming, it'll be affected greatly, and we won't be able to operate.
Dr. Mint: So when did they start?
Zeng: From the first donation? It was last century, in the 80s or 90s.
Dr. Mint: [short silence] I understand. So that's how it is.
<End Recording>
