Chapter 126
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The Unbeliever III
Shin No-a
5.
To reiterate, No Do-ha was a pragmatist.
He was an extremist who went beyond the black cat white cat argument—if it tasted good, did it matter whether it was a black rat or a white rat? (In fact, rats were excellent nutrition in the apocalypse.)
In short, No Do-ha was specialized in squeezing out extreme efficiency by any means necessary, regardless of whether his counterpart was a cult or whatever else.
"You're saying we should use them? The Resurrection Church?"
"Yes. First, I'd like to ask the Funeral Director Awakener's 'Regressor Wiki' about this... but that Resurrection Church won't last long, will it...?"
"Of course not. The Resurrection Church will fall within three years at the latest."
Correct.
No matter how crazily the Resurrection Church expanded, no matter if it set its sights not just on North Korea but even on Manchia, there was no need to concern ourselves with it. It was doomed to collapse before long anyway.
It was different from Udumbara's Divine Buddhism.
Udumbara actually guaranteed 'benefits' to those infected by the virus. The Divine Buddhists could regenerate endlessly—even if their arms were severed, their heads half-destroyed, their intestines ripped out. They could even survive on photosynthesis alone without eating. If not for the minor drawback of having to offer their lives to the World Tree when the collection date arrived, I would have converted to Divine Buddhism myself.
On the other hand, the Resurrection Church?
"That creature Mo Gwang-seo has no abilities whatsoever. Aside from sparkling every time he resurrects, he really has no abilities at all."
"Hmm..."
This had already been verified multiple times.
In some cycles, we even kidnapped Mo Gwang-seo and conducted biological experiments. We tried searing him, frying him, burning him with aura—we tried all sorts of things.
'He won't die even from this? Even from this?'
We beat him thoroughly with such sentiments, but the results were underwhelming. Mo Gwang-seo resurrected every time.
One day, we tied Mo Gwang-seo at the landing point of a meteor shower. Even the meteor shower that reduced the entire surrounding area to ashes couldn't kill Mo Gwang-seo.
We once commissioned UFOs to kill Mo Gwang-seo. We put Mo Gwang-seo on a fishing boat to coincide with the timing of aliens landing in the East Sea.
-Kyaaaaaaah!
-Kiyaak! Kyaaaaak!
The universe's strongest warrior race threw themselves at Mo Gwang-seo.
Flash! Flash! Mo Gwang-seo died dozens of times per second, triggering eye-respawn in all directions. The East Sea instantly became the hottest club in the world.
Thirty minutes passed.
-Kiyaaak...
-Kyak, Kyaaaa...
The miraculous UFOs, designed to withstand space environments but somehow dissolve in H₂O like salt, sank.
The aliens who had poured all their energy into the club party also melted into liquid. These bastards were basically Ultraman with their time limit extended from 3 minutes to 30 minutes.
Pop-
While the aliens evolved into slippery slimes, only Mo Gwang-seo remained intact on the fishing boat, smiling peacefully.
Truly miraculous vitality.
But... that was all.
The light emanating from Mo Gwang-seo had no sacred blessing—heck, it didn't even have the fatigue recovery effect of Bacchus. It was just bright.
Very bright.
Aside from damaging human corneas, it genuinely, absolutely, had no meaning whatsoever.
-Oh! Mo Gwang-seo Jesus Christ, who has returned from heaven to save the earth!
-We belieeeeve!
Yet for some reason, people went crazy over Mo Gwang-seo. They worshipped as a god a being with absolutely no utility beyond sparkling.
Why on earth?
I couldn't understand. If I'd known that, I would've rushed to Pyongyang and shouted Mo Gwang-seo Amen myself.
Worldly affairs are truly mysterious, aren't they?
"Well, there's no need to analyze why they do it. Leave that sort of thing to psychologists and sociologists. What's important for us is that the Resurrection Church has mobilization power and action capability..."
Returning to the main topic, No Do-ha spoke.
"We just need to defend a few strongholds anyway. Heh. In the meantime, if the Resurrection Church draws even a little monster aggro from the north, wouldn't that be a gain...?"
"Ah. Are you planning to make the Resurrection Church into a shield of flesh?"
"Yes..."
Clank.
No Do-ha lightly tapped the ankle brace with a hammer. Even after becoming the National Road Management Commander, he personally made or repaired braces when there were no urgent matters.
Always the same routine. The note No Do-ha had attached to the brace bore the name Shin Su-bin. He was one of the elderly who still treated her as 'Brace Artisan Teacher' rather than 'National Road Management Commander Your Excellency.'
"Funeral Director Awakener. Thinking coldly about it, the Resurrection Church doesn't really cause us any harm other than their northward advance. If we assign the role of tanking to people desperate because they can't die, wouldn't that be the correct way to use life...?"
"Hmm."
I rested my chin on my hand.
In previous cycles, I hadn't particularly interfered with the Resurrection Church. That was because I saw it as the slow suicide of the Korean remnants—a funeral ceremony.
Christianity. The religion with the widest roots in Korea. The Resurrection Church merely mimicked the language and grammar of that religion on the surface.
Northward advance. The ideology longest rooted in Korea. The Resurrection Church also borrowed the color and scent of this ideology.
The cult of cults.
The parasite of parasites.
But when the host dies, the parasite cannot survive either. Civilization had perished. The Republic of Korea had died.
Only parasites remained on the already long-dead corpse, wriggling in the final season.
I didn't respect their lives, but I respected their deaths. Doesn't a person have the right to choose their own death? The 'Eastern Holy Kingdom' and 'Pyongyang Holy City' were the graves and coffins they had laid themselves down in.
"Let's eat out the Resurrection Church's brain..."
And No Do-ha was someone who would use even corpses if necessary.
Before the dark shadow cast in No Do-ha's eyes, I set aside my personal sentiments for a moment.
It wasn't difficult. There was no need to ignore the opinions of lives precious to me for the sake of lives I didn't respect.
"So you're saying we should take control of the Eastern Holy Kingdom's leadership and play the shadow master role."
"Yes..."
"It won't be easy. The Eastern Holy Kingdom isn't a nation. It's not even a single group. It's merely a collection of cultist factions that gather and scatter under the symbol of Mo Gwang-seo. We'd need to bring all twelve so-called 'Apostles' to our side, or choose one of them as Champion and make them 'Pope.' Naturally, our support would need to flow behind the scenes to keep the Eastern Holy Kingdom going. Would it be worth that much effort?"
"No. It's not worth that much..."
Heh, No Do-ha laughed.
"But if we can control just Mo Gwang-seo alone, wouldn't it be a profitable business...?"
"Huh? How? By the way, if you're thinking of using Cheon Yo-hwa's brainwashing ability, I already tried that before. It doesn't work because the brainwashing resets every time Mo Gwang-seo resurrects. Yo-hwa can't exactly go up to Pyongyang every Sunday to play missionary."
"No, not Guild Master Baek. Doesn't your guild have a certain rascal? Are you saving that one to make soup or something...?"
I blinked. A rascal?
"Ah."
So that was the method.
6
"G-Guild Master? Why are you suddenly looking at m-me like that...?"
"No, not you, A-ryeon."
"Huh?"
Two rascals lived in our guild.
One was Sim A-ryeon, whose career aspiration was Professor Quirrell's tongue. The other was tilting her head in Sim A-ryeon's arms.
When our eyes met, the rascal waved her hand. Then the maid behind the sofa, connected by transparent threads, opened her mouth.
"What?"
Doll Master Lee Ha-yul.
Ha-yul rarely showed her face in my story, for a simple reason. Every now and then, she'd leave without telling anyone and go wandering.
Should I say she likes traveling? It wouldn't be wrong to call her a wanderer possessed by wanderlust. Once Ha-yul extracted enough puppet threads to use as transmission lines, she'd wander off somewhere for weeks or even a month.
Occasionally, really out of nowhere.
'I want to go to India this time. Oppa.'
'Uyuni Salt Flats. Let's make rice balls and eat them at Uyuni Salt Flats. You make the rice, oppa.'
She'd pester me like that, and we'd even travel to dangerous zones together.
They say those who enjoy can't be beaten by those who try hard. That rule applied without exception even at the end of the century. Lee Ha-yul was thoroughly enjoying her apocalyptic life.
If Ha-yul were to become the protagonist of a spin-off, the genre would instantly shift from survival to road movie travelogue.
Perhaps she was a reactionary, her freedom suppressed by Mayor Jeong Sang-guk since birth—that was my guess.
Well, putting aside psychological causes, from No Do-ha's perspective, who believed humans should invest 25 hours and 59 minutes out of 24 hours into labor, Lee Ha-yul was naturally a 'rascal.'
That rascal was currently lying on the sofa, using Sim A-ryeon as a lap pillow, munching on potato chips.
"Ha-yul."
I tried to smile as generously and benevolently as possible.
For reference, though not as much as No Do-ha, I too was someone who believed 20 hours should be invested in labor.
"What?"
"Ha-yul, you like dolls, right? I found a doll up north that'd be fun for you to play with. How about it? Are you interested?"
"Blink, blink." The golden eyes of this rascal Ha-yul kid moved without emotion.
"Not interested."
"Hmm... How can we get our Ha-yul interested? I think it's about time you started working too."
"Don't need to work. Transmission lines, only I can make them. Patent rights. Other guild masters beg me to install them in their hideouts. Consulting fees alone, totally possible to play for life forever."
This silver-spoon ability bastard...
"Last time, I even read Three Kingdoms like you asked. Minimum 3 years immunity, please."
"Hey. If you have any conscience, did you really read that properly? If you read it properly, tell me—how can a person side with Wei?"
"Wu has zero presence, invisible nation. Shu is infinite labor, black company. Unless you're from Xuzhou personally, why shouldn't you pick Wei?"
"...If you don't help with this one, I'll tell Seo Gyu to delete your SG Net account."
"I guess I was from Xuzhou in my past life. How should I help? Oppa?"
Puppet threads spread like a highway from Seoul to Pyongyang.
Ha-yul had to become a spider web machine for two straight years to produce about 250km of puppet thread, but there was no major problem.
Not only did she lay the threads without being noticed by others, but the threads themselves were transparent. Without mobilizing aura, it was difficult to even cut the threads.
I secretly infiltrated Pyongyang Holy City.
"Hm? Just now..."
"What's wrong?"
"No, it felt like wind blew. Must be my imagination?"
There was an awakened bodyguard unit around Mo Gwang-seo, but avoiding their eyes was no task at all. 30% of them were opium addicts anyway.
Some bodyguards even carried firearms. Guns in this day and age. Amateurs who didn't know the value of their own lives.
With my presence erased, I infiltrated the 'Mo Gwang-seo Christ Cathedral.'
This place, formerly called the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, had spires and crosses haphazardly added throughout the building, some of which had collapsed from wind.
Deep inside, in the hall converted to a cathedral, Mo Gwang-seo sat alone. With no altar or tabernacle, as if the leader's existence alone was sufficient, Mo Gwang-seo sat on a golden throne.
"..."
It wasn't mass time so only Mo Gwang-seo was present, but I didn't know when believers might enter. I quickly attached puppet threads to various parts of Mo Gwang-seo's body.
"Saintess, I've finished setting everything up."
[Yes, I've relayed it to Ha-yul. ...Ha-yul says the distance is too far to make controlling easy.]
"Does that mean it won't work?"
[No. She says moving the mouth is still possible.]
I nodded. For this operation, I'd poured aura training into Ha-yul for the past two years.
"Tell her to try saying something as a test."
[Yes.]
A moment later.
"Op-pa."
Goosebumps rose all over my body. Mo Gwang-seo's lips, which had always only smiled, were slowly moving.
"Now, can I- take a break- from training?"
"...Sure. Ha-yul. Just work hard once a week on mass days."
"Y-ou, that Liu Bei, Yi Province- regional regime- traitor who betrayed Liu Zhang- hypocrite bastard. Zhang Fei's head wobbling- Guan Yu's head bobbing- brotheeer, why won't you come, brotheeer. Did you forget the oath at the Peach Garden- come quickly, brotheeer-."
Pop.
Mo Gwang-seo's mouth returned to its original position.
"..."
Fire shot through my heart, but I held back. Right. The kid had endured hellish training for two years straight pulling out puppet threads, so she could relieve that much stress.
In my heart, I made a minor adjustment to Lee Ha-yul's awakener rating from 1,000m class to 900m class, then slipped out.
The very next day, the Eastern Holy Kingdom's hypnosis app (backdoor installation complete) showed off its performance during Sunday mass.
"Soon, monsters shall swarm from the distant eastern lands."
The believers in the middle of mass were startled.
"Ch- Chairman...?"
"Mo Gwang-seo Christ has opened his mouth!"
Buzz, buzz.
The cult believers were shocked at the first words from their leader since his resurrection. Some impulsive people were already on their knees sobbing.
Mo Gwang-seo spoke in a low voice.
"You have purified the kingdom through faith, and now it is time to encircle it with walls of your flesh and blood. As this winter approaches, the demon hordes shall sweep in. Build fortresses and barriers at every crossroad and testify to your faith."
"W- what do you mean by walls...?"
"Your kingdom must be preserved long so that lost sheep may arrive even if late. Protecting this place is guarding the path to heaven. My beloved children. Prepare to fight against the hordes of monsters and demons. But do not oppress my people; form your walls solely through your voluntary faith."
"Ohhhhhh!"
Mo Gwang-seo's first official statement caused an enormous stir.
The Crusaders, who had repeatedly marched north as if throwing away their lives on the roadside, stopped and threw themselves into fortress construction. The leader's command was sacred and inviolable.
Even if the fortresses couldn't deal significant damage to the monsters, it was far better than useless expansion of influence. The number of monsters coming down from the North immediately decreased.
But that wasn't all.
['The Morning Star of the Second Coming' issues commands to faithful believers.]
We even created a Constellation mimicking Mo Gwang-seo.
On days without mass, the Saintess sent 'Constellation Messages' pretending to be Mo Gwang-seo to control the believers.
Since he called himself a returned Jesus, it was the Second Coming. Mo Gwang-seo's name was Gwang-seo (Dawn Light), read backwards it became 'Dawn Light,' so Morning Star. Hence, the Morning Star of the Second Coming.
Naturally, this Constellation was newly created exclusively for believers of the Resurrection Church.
['The Morning Star of the Second Coming' prophesies that monster hordes will soon approach.]
['The Morning Star of the Second Coming' guides the path you must take.]
['The Morning Star of the Second Coming' instructs that the National Road Management is a tool fulfilling God's will, so believers must not be hostile to them.]
The malicious software Ha-yul and the Saintess had secretly installed in the Resurrection Church worked perfectly.
Now the Resurrection Church believers were nothing more than puppets controlled at our will.
"Excellent..."
No Do-ha, the mastermind who ordered this grand hacking project, looked thoroughly satisfied. The National Road Management Commander, confirming the backdoor was working properly, smiled faintly.
"Now we can use it whenever needed. You've worked hard, Funeral Director Awakener..."
"Not at all."
From this point on, the territory we effectively controlled included not just south of the Han River but the North as well.
The time it took to get here totaled about 2,000 years across all cycles.
Probably the slowest territorial expansion in all genre novels and alternate history fiction, wouldn't you say?
7.
There's a brief epilogue.
No matter that a direct highway of puppet threads was opened from Seoul to Pyongyang, occasional maintenance was necessary.
I infiltrated the cathedral in Pyongyang Holy City once every half year to service the puppet threads.
It was when I finished the usual tuning work and turned around.
"Enter through the narrow gate."
I turned around.
Mo Gwang-seo's unfocused eyes were looking down at the floor.
"The gate that leads to destruction is great and the road is wide, and many pass through it."
"..."
"The gate that leads to life is small and the road is narrow, and few find it. Scribe. Enter through the narrow gate."
Then Mo Gwang-seo fell silent again.
The atmosphere was slightly strange, but I didn't take it too seriously. I just thought Ha-yul was teasing me again.
Returning to Seoul, I asked.
"I didn't know you read the Bible too, Ha-yul."
"Huh?"
"You quoted the Gospel of Matthew earlier in Pyongyang. But why did you call me 'scribe' of all things?"
"...?"
Lee Ha-yul tilted her head.
"I've never read the Bible."
"..."
"I'm non-religious."
...I'll leave it to you readers to judge whether Lee Ha-yul's words were truth or lies.
-The Unbeliever. End.