The Believers (2024) s01e01 Episode Script

[thrilling music playing]
[sighs]
[man clearing throat]
It's your right. Have a look.
We still have no idea
why you brought us here.
You dare to defy me like this,
you must be confident
you've moved money without a trace.
Let me contact my lawyer.
Do you think your lawyer can help you?
Huh?
You can think and say however you like,
but as a police officer, you should know
that imagination alone won't do the trick.
You devil scumbag.
Leeching off religion.
Isn't it normal?
If this were illegal,
would you be able to arrest us all?
You're good at provoking people.
I like you.
It's fun talking to you.
Don't you know
how much Thai people crave merit?
[theme music playing]
THE BELIEVERS
SIX MONTHS AGO
[man] This is our office.
[hip-hop music playing]
NARUETHI WATER
WE'LL DESTROY METAVERSE
We run a business on an NFT game
called Pirate's Hell.
The trends and popularity
are looking great.
My dream of being rich at young age
is now in front of me.
After we launched the game,
the graph has skyrocketed. [laughs]
Let's see how they'll react to this.
You can install the chandelier
as per design now. I've bought it.
[man] Dear, is your phone ringing?
[phone buzzing]
[Dear] What' up?
- Did you see it?
- [Dear] See what?
What about you, Game?
Let's see.
Fuck.
HELL PRICE (HELL)
- Is this for real?
- Hell, yeah.
Around what I've estimated.
[hip-hop music continues]
Yes!
I estimated it to go up to 300%.
But it could reach 800.
And if the growth is steady,
we should be able to
pay off our debt as promised.
[Game] Let it continue.
Can't it go on to second and third phases?
[photographer] Okay, good. That's it.
One more time. One, two, three.
Good. All done. Thank you.
- Your brother is back, isn't he?
- [Game] Yeah.
Game, come and take a photo with us.
[laughs in the background]
- [woman] Press run now.
- [man] Press run now?
Congratulations.
Fuck you.
[woman] Win, I've made some new guides.
Which one?
[hip-hop music continues]
HELL PRICE (HELL)
Can we talk now?
Yeah. Go ahead.
Let's hold off on selling the tokens.
We can get the funds back later.
[Win] The feedback is looking good now.
Our users can use it if we keep it.
I guess it's time I get a Lambo.
I'd rather invest in my shop.
Go ahead.
That's it for today, I guess.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- [sighs]
- [music stops]
Game, when'd you get here?
I've just got here.
Where've you been, Dad?
I went out to do some business. I
I'll be right back. All right?
- [Game's dad] Hey.
- So, how did it go?
[Game's dad] The garage said
the rubber engine mount had worn out,
so it made a lot of noise.
But you have to order the spare parts.
I'll get it changed some other day.
[man] Alright.
[exhales sharply]
NARUETHIP WATER
- [Game clears throat] Hmm.
- [woman] Oh, hey.
Why didn't you eat?
You'll starve to death.
My work is not done.
- [calculator keypad clicking]
- [Game sighs]
NARUETHIP WATER
- [Game sighs]
- Why are you sitting?
Do you want to help me?
So it'll be faster. Come on.
Hey, if this is too much for you, then
go and call Dad over.
- What's he got to do with this?
- [Game] Well,
he's always helping other people
even it's not his business.
Just now,
he went to get Uncle's car fixed.
Why'd he have to do it for him?
[sighs]
Do you still get upset over this?
Just let it go.
[exhales sharply]
[suspenseful music playing]
And what about you, sis?
[Game] You should think of your baby.
What are you achieving
from working like this?
They'll see it some day.
Don't worry. I can still do this.
Sis, I'm going to say this one more time.
Even though you do all this
they still won't care about you.
'Cause they'll leave everything
to the grandsons.
Thanks for your concern.
You should worry about yourself.
So? Aren't you continuing your studies?
Oat graduated from Harvard, you know?
So what?
- [Game] Hmm?
- [sighs]
Are you going back inside?
- Yes.
- Get me some Hoi Jo. I want to eat it.
[sister] You got some?
- [Game] No need to wait.
- What a good chap.
[Game] Duh.
[song "17 Minutes" playing]
I BOUGHT AN 18-INCH PIZZA TO CELEBRATE
BUT CAN'T FINISH IT BY MYSELF LOL
[song stops]
[sighs]
[sniffs]
[man] Speaking of the hottest new game
at the moment,
it has got to be Pirate's Hell.
It's now very popular among players.
It's a play-to-earn type of game.
- Salt.
- [man] The number of players
is gradually increasing.
An interesting point, Chat, is that
it was created by Thai developers.
They're a group of youngsters
coming together to develop a game.
- A new team emerged on a watch list.
- Hey.
Now, we'll have to see
how long this game will stay in trend.
Please root for them.
- You didn't eat it when I gave you.
- [man] Trust me.
If you call yourself a gamer,
you must've downloaded and played it.
Or you'd be considered very out of trend.
As for those of you
who haven't downloaded it,
you should hurry.
Anyway, press
[sighs]
[yawning]
[exhales sharply]
[sighs]
[pensive music playing]
[man] Win. How are you doing over there?
Here, the glue has dried. Burst it,
so we can go eat.
[balloon popping]
[man laughing]
[man] Let me see.
[pensive music continues]
[man] One day when you've grown older,
many things you see
may turn out to be nothing
on the inside. Here, take a look.
[man] Don't believe in
everything you see, son.
[alarm clock beeping]
[hitting alarm clock]
[music stops]
[phone buzzing]
[keyboard clicking]
[thrilling music playing]
Fuck!
[panting]
How is the situation right now?
People have been sending
shit ton of report.
Have we suspended the token?
[thrilling music continues]
So how did they hack us?
Didn't we already run the security test?
[Game] Huh?
Do you know
which wallet they hacked us from?
Bro, we'll need Golf's help
if it's the Eco Wallet.
[woman] Hey
And where is Golf? Huh?
Win.
- Move.
- [panting]
Hey, White Girl. Have you called Golf?
- I'm calling. He doesn't answer.
- [Game] Okay, keep calling.
- [man 1] What shall we do? Open this.
- [man 2] Open it.
Fuck, even if we restore the system,
it's no use.
What?
The price has dropped by over 50%.
[sniffs]
There must be a way.
Okay? Think, all right?
Just keep thinking.
[yelling] I'm thinking, bastard!
Okay.
[thrilling music continues]
[sniffs]
- [Game] Try calling Golf's home.
- I've tried everyone!
[yelling] The fuck, everyone!
[sniffs]
[exhales sharply]
[man] It's tough, Ms. Dear.
I'll get back to you about it soon.
Thank you. Please make it urgent.
What did he say?
He said it'd take time.
How's the situation right now?
[Win] The wallet getting hacked
was nothing.
The problem was people panicked
and withdrew all their tokens.
But, luckily,
we froze the transfer of tokens in time.
[Game] So it only costed us six million.
[Dear] "Only"? All of our money combined
isn't even six million.
[Win sighs]
When we run it again,
the price will drop even more.
[Game] Let's go with what we have for now.
As for the rest,
I can borrow from my family.
[Game] All right?
I'll post a statement on the website
explaining what went wrong.
Let's go with this. Okay?
I'll talk to my family
and give you guys an update.
[inhales deeply]
[sighs]
- [Win] We need to repay the creditor.
- [Game] What?
When do we
have to pay them back?
After launching the game.
Fifty million in 30 days.
- [Win sniffs]
- [Dear sighs]
Fuck, that means
we have less than a month.
[phone buzzing]
[tuts]
[phone buzzing]
Shit.
[phone buzzing]
I'll pick it up.
- Hello?
- [man] Hello.
Can you hear me?
I'm Yossaphat, a legal representative
of SU88 TECH Company,
from which Mr. Akkarachai took a loan.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Yossaphat] Hello?
- Mr. Akkarachai, are you still there?
- Yes, sir.
[Yossaphat] I saw the news on Twitter.
Regarding what's happening right now,
should I be concerned?
[Game inhales sharply]
We're dealing with it.
I think we'll be able to fix it.
[Yossaphat] That's great.
Allow me to repeat the agreement to you.
You borrowed 25 million baht from us
and must pay us back with a 200% interest.
Yes. I remember that.
[Yossaphat] I'm relieved to hear that.
I heard many people
have withdrawn their tokens.
I hope you will pay off your debt in time.
Otherwise, we'll have to charge you
an additional 20% interest rate
- as per the agreement we signed.
- Hey, bro.
Can't you just chill?
It's just happened today.
[Game] I think
there should be something
we can talk over or negotiate on.
What if we can prove that you hacked us?
I don't think
the evidence is hard to find.
Wait.
Did you bastards to this?
[Yossaphat] When you understand
the situation better,
- I'll call you again.
- [Game] Hey, hold on, you bastard!
[line beeping]
[music stops]
[Game] That motherfucker.
So, what do we do?
I've been thinking,
those bastards gain the most from this.
One of us must've helped him
or it wouldn't have been so easy.
It was Golf, wasn't it?
- If not, we'd be able to reach him by now.
- It's possible. We need to investigate.
Fuck that bastard Golf.
Fuck Lamborghini.
Fuck that lawyer.
[Win coughs]
Hey.
[sighs]
[door closes]
[Win barfing]
[tense music playing]
GMT/USD
DAD
GMT/USD
INCOMING VOICE CALL
TRICKS IN SAVING UP YOUR FIRST MILLION
[sighs]
- [Dear's dad] Hi, sweetie.
- Hi, Dad.
[Dear's dad] Did you just call?
I left my phone upstairs.
How are you doing, honey?
Hey, Jamie. What are doing over there?
- Are you free to talk?
- [Dear's dad] Hold on. Hold on a second.
Jamie, why did you throw that at me?
Just finish your food.
You can go outside and play.
Anyway, go on. What were you saying?
It's okay, Dad.
I just wanted to say hi
and check up on you.
You should probably take care of Jamie.
We can talk later.
- [Dear's dad] Sorry. Let's talk later.
- Bye.
[busy tone]
FROM BANGKOK TO NEW YORK
[music stops]
[keyboard clacking]
[door knocking]
[thrilling music playing]
[door banging]
[phone beeping]
[grunting]
[thrilling music continues]
[Win] Ouch!
- [grunting]
- [Win groans]
[Female automated voice] Sorry, the number
you've dialed cannot be connected.
Please try again later.
Sorry, the number
you've dialed cannot be connected.
Please try
[thrilling music continues]
[Game] Huh!
Hey.
Where is Win?
Huh?
Is he in his room?
[Dear sobbing]
Calm down, okay? Alright?
[Game sighs]
- Are you calling the police?
- Yeah.
Hello?
[Win] Game.
Just hang up.
They can't do shit.
[Dear sobbing]
I'm okay. [sniffs]
[sighs]
Here.
Help me clean up.
[sniffs and groans]
Here.
- Are you okay?
- Yes.
[Win sniffs and sighs]
WE'LL DESTROY METAVERSE
[breathes heavily]
[sighs]
[sighs]
[Game] Dad, I
[Game's granddad] Hey, Game.
- [Game's dad] What's up?
- Hello.
[chuckles]
Hey. Where've you been?
Why are you still up?
I got a cramp and couldn't sleep.
So I came out to take a walk.
Is something wrong?
No, it's nothing.
I'm going to bed.
Okay. Good night.
[music stops]
[door closes]
WE'LL DESTROY METAVERSE
[Game sighs]
About the lawyer,
we can't sue them.
The law can't touch them.
They're charging us a 20% interest.
That's almost eight million.
And they're giving us
two months to pay everything off.
Who the fuck can pull that shit off?
What about a bank loan?
If the bank had let us take out a loan,
would I have gone to the loan shark?
Use your brain.
Should we run away?
[pensive music playing]
Do you think we can fucking run?
But there's one thing I don't get.
If they really did it, why wouldn't they
wait for the price to go up?
What do they get for hacking it now?
They never wanted the tokens.
If they were to hack us,
if we could shut down the system,
they'd get the same amount.
- What they really wanted
- The interest?
[sighs]
Can you try to call Win again?
[line ringing]
[phone buzzing]
[cat meowing]
[text beeping]
WIN, WHERE ARE YOU? CALL ME BACK.
[cat meowing]
[music stops]
[door opens]
[cat meowing]
[woman] Hey, Win.
What brings you here?
What happened to your face?
- I came off my motorcycle.
- Does it hurt a lot?
Did you see a doctor?
- It's still bruised.
- Um.
[sighs]
What are you doing?
[woman] I'm counting the donations.
The public health center is hosting
a robe offering event.
Do you want to pitch in? 100 baht is fine.
Hmm.
You should use the money I gave you
to fix the house or just buy a new one.
You don't have to live
in this shabby house.
You helped pay off my cooperatives debt
early last year. I want nothing more.
Mom.
Would you come with me if I moved abroad?
Where are you going?
What about dad?
[sad music playing]
[Win's mom] A person is missing.
[sobbing]
What are the police doing?
It's been over a month.
[sobbing]
I don't know what to do anymore.
[Win's mom chanting in Pali] The Dharma is
well elaborated by the Exalted One.
I pay homage to the Dharma.
The Sangha, the Blessed One's disciples,
has practiced it well.
I pay homage to the Sangha.
[Win's mom sobbing]
[music stops]
[man] This is a way to get rich fast.
Create a million random crypto tokens.
Then, you go on and rip people off
by selling them for 3,000 baht each.
If someone bought a token for 3,000 baht,
it means a million tokens you're holding
can be worth three billion baht.
Now, you can bluff about
how good your token is.
Build an image, hire celebrities,
and sponsor e-sport teams
to make your token seem credible.
Act like a philanthropist,
promoting the crypto society
and helping underprivileged people.
Once you get there,
it'll be easy to raise funds.
Making ten million, a hundred million,
or a billion will be just a piece of cake.
- [keyboard clicking]
- Fuck you. Easy, my ass.
[sighs]
[Win's mom] You got up so early.
Did you get any sleep?
Did someone move into that house?
Oh, you mean Dear's old house?
Someone moved in last year.
I bought some honeycomb waffles.
If it's not enough,
heat up food in the fridge.
Alright? I'll get going.
Hey, Mom. I'm coming with you.
Wait for a bit.
Let me go wash up.
There's nothing to do at home.
It was like this
when I arrived this morning.
[man] Fuck. Who did this?
- I'll check the glass wall on that side.
- Okay.
Are you alright?
I'm fine. I can handle this.
[Dear] Security sent the results.
They said the code they tested
and the latest one didn't match.
This means an insider changed it,
exposing a loophole to hack us.
Does this mean Golf conspired
with the creditor and did this?
Motherfucker.
He wants to check again to be sure
and will send us proof later.
No need to check again.
It's obvious. He's disappeared
and turned off his damn phone.
[Game] He even borrowed money from me.
Wait for the evidence and report
to the police. I'll keep you updated.
[Game] You still couldn't contact Win?
No.
Alright.
Bye.
VEGETABLE OIL ONLY
[indistinct male voice on speaker]
[indistinct chattering]
[indistinct male voice on speaker]
[Win's mom] Win.
I'm going to the ordination hall.
- Do you want to come with me?
- Mom.
TOTAL DONATION 21,859,558 BAH
Twenty-one million.
- More than the donation of our district.
- Don't think of it that way.
Twenty-one million.
TOTAL DONATION 21,860,858 BAH
[monks chanting in Pali] May all
misfortunes vanish.
May all diseases disappear.
May you be free from all danger.
May you be happy and live long
You shall respect
[man] Making ten million,
a hundred million, or a billion,
would be a piece of cake.
[bell chiming]
[monks chanting in Pali] May all
misfortunes vanish.
May all diseases disappear.
May you be free from all danger.
May you be happy and live long
You shall respect those of seniority
and abide by morals
TEMPLE
[bell chiming]
[hip-hop music playing]
TOTAL DONATION 22,059,858 BAH
TEMPLE INCOME
DONATION HUB
HOW TO GET TAX DEDUCTION
TEMPLES HAVE HIGH INCOME
"BUDDHISM COMMERCE"
"TEMPLE" DONATION HUB
HUGE MONEY CIRCULATION
- [music stops]
- [Win] Hey, guys.
I think I've found a way out.
[Game] Hey.
If I may ask, why the fuck am I here?
Follow me.
- What the fuck?
- What?
[Dear] Hey, what's going on?
I'm going to show you a business model
that's been operating over 2,000 years.
Huh?
We're going to run a temple.
[hip-hop music playing]
This country has over 40,000 temples,
probably making several billion yearly.
I did extensive research
but couldn't find data
on how much each temple makes.
How much do you think famous temples
tens of thousands people visit daily make?
There's no information on this.
Everyone knows
that temples make a lot of money. So?
[Win] Everyone knows this fact,
but no one seriously looks into
how those temples make money,
how much they make,
and how they spend it.
There're regulations require
an inspection,
but how many "legit" inspections
are being done?
As long as they don't stand out too much.
I said several billion baht
are circulating yearly, right? Hear this.
I read a viral news about a famous temple.
After a scandal, they got exposed
that they had three billion baht
circulating in their account yearly.
Shit!
[Game] Three billion?
That's bullshit.
Three billion. And that's just one temple.
Think about it. How much do you think
the oil bottle you just saw costs.
Around ten baht.
If you put 100, that's ten times.
I think it's more than that.
Faith-based donations,
can't put a price on that.
May all of you be happy and prosperous.
May you all live long.
When stressed out or having problems,
you think people go to a shrink or temple?
That's a leading question,
what do you want me to say? A shrink?
It's temple, you bastard.
For Thai people,
going to a temple is cheaper,
easier to access and have a much
wider range of target groups.
- Want some flowers to make offerings?
- No, I'm good.
[Win] We have to conduct research to see
how many people visit a temple per day
on weekdays, weekends, observance days
to calculate average income per person.
Besides donation boxes,
temples have many other sources of income.
Belief and faith
make people want to make donations.
Not the entire donations go to the temple.
Excuse me. Could you give me a blank one?
The majority of the donations are cash
collected and managed by people.
And this is the loophole that gives us
a channel to handle the money.
Amen.
[Win] The temple activities,
are like theme parks.
with all kinds of events.
[man] Relax.
Breathe in.
[Win] Temples offer services
for all stages of life.
Birth, old age, sickness, death.
We have four packages to offer.
S costs 30,000 baht.
M costs 60,000 baht.
L costs 90,000 baht.
Or would you like
the VIP package for 230,000 baht?
[Win] We must make these activities
relatable to those temple goers
to stimulate them to visit temples
and make donations to help them often.
[woman] May you be happy and prosperous.
What do I get for the VIP package?
It's just more luxurious.
Why don't we take a shower
since we're soaked?
[music stops]
Why don't we just ordain?
[Win] Big income gap
between monks and temples.
How many years do we have to be monks
to save up that much?
Or you must be a famous monk,
which will still take a lot of time.
The possibility is also very low.
Isn't this illegal?
We're not forcing or scamming anyone.
[Win] This is a product
consumers are willing to pay for
at the prices they can pay.
[exhales]
[sighs]
Are you two dating or something?
- [water splashing]
- [Dear] Fuck.
[Dear] It's impossible,
no matter how I think.
Building a new temple
needs both money and time,
plus the regulations
of the National Office of Buddhism.
How can lay people pull it off?
We're not building a temple.
We're gonna takeover one.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Be more articulate.
We have to find a temple that's interested
in merging and offer to run it.
After that, we make the brand stronger
by rebranding it.
Use modern marketing principles
to attract new targets,
create more income channels,
and set an accounting system.
Once we reach target income,
we share the profits.
We get money to pay off debt,
the temple prospers,
and then we run.
It's a win-win situation.
I know it's risky,
but it will be even risker
if we don't try.
[suspenseful music playing]
Fine, let's do it. Since you went
all that way to talk us into this.
What about you, Dear?
Let's do it.
[hip-hop music playing]
[Game] Come on.
- You too, bitch.
- Oh, okay.
[Game] That's it.
[Game] I hope Win's plan
will save us from this hell.
Amen.