Chapter 42
The religious followers who witnessed the miracles worthy of myth returned to the main hall of the Balhut Cult.
Upon arriving at the main hall, the first person they sought out was none other than Choi Yuna.
They intended to report this event to Choi Yuna and seek her assistance, and naturally, Choi Yuna, eager to further expand the influence of the Balhut Cult, smiled brightly and spoke up.
“If God Bahamut has gifted us a chapel, then the rest is up to the Balhut Cult to take care of. I will call Yoo Soo-sung immediately.”
It was a time for evangelism, granted by the deity!
For Yuna, who had longed to spread the name of the Balhut Cult and Bahamut throughout Gyeongju, this was a golden opportunity.
Of course, she interpreted the deity’s declaration of religious freedom as a sign of his mercy, but Yuna was already certain that there would be very few who still believed in the old religions.
“Mr. Yoo Soo-sung, it’s an urgent matter.”
“I’ve already heard from Mr. Jung. I will proceed with the interior work with all my strength.”
The Shrine of Bahamut was one of the most critical facilities the Cult had to manage.
Through the shrine, they were able to receive purified water and electric energy daily from Bahamut, which was the secret behind maintaining the semblance of city life in Gyeongju, despite the scarcity.
Naturally, a well-paved road was needed for smooth transportation of supplies, and in the case of the road leading to the shrine, they had the assistance of Bahamut. Additionally, thanks to the efforts of Yoo Soo-sung, the architecture professor, a direct route from the shrine to the main hall had already been completed.
Through this road, they could transport building materials to expand or renovate the chapel gifted by Bahamut.
“In that case, we’ll need shuttle bus drivers as well.”
Now, only one thing was needed.
They had to secure a means of transportation that could quickly reach the shrine.
Yuna thought of buses as that means of transportation, and in reality, buses had been designated as crucial military supplies for the Balhut Cult.
Buses, capable of transporting many people at low cost, served as transport vehicles for soldiers from the expedition team, who frequently went out on missions beyond the city’s borders.
Moreover, since expeditions often required bringing back large quantities of supplies, buses also doubled as freight transport vehicles, making them even more popular.
“I will select buses suitable for operation.”
“Please do, Mr. Jung Dong-gun.”
For the Balhut Cult, which controlled Gyeongju, securing buses to use as shuttle vehicles was a simple task.
They could either repurpose buses used by the expedition team or retrieve abandoned buses in Gyeongju.
At that time, many abandoned or damaged buses were scattered across Northern Gyeongju, so Jung Dong-gun ordered his subordinates to patrol Northern Gyeongju and retrieve the abandoned buses.
“Fix it.”
“Um, Mr. Jung, we’re foundry workers, not mechanics, you know?”
“You’re handling it too. Just do it.”
“Haha, you troublesome Mr. Jung, we’re already swamped with work…”
And the rest could be offloaded to an acquaintance.
That acquaintance was none other than the Gyeongju Foundry, which manufactured weapons and industrial goods for the Balhut Cult. Jung Dong-gun parked the broken buses at the foundry and asked Mr. Choi to repair them.
Though Mr. Choi was about to rebuke Jung Dong-gun for making an unreasonable request amidst their already busy schedule,
“It’s an order from Ms. Yuna.”
“…Forget it. I’ll get it done right away! Hey, everyone! We’ve got an important job!”
Using Choi Yuna’s name was the solution to everything.
In any case, since Choi Yuna had declared the task important, failing to use her name would likely have resulted in rebuke from her.
Thus, with Jung Dong-gun leveraging Choi Yuna’s name, the Balhut Cult swiftly completed the preparations for the religious activities and began posting announcements on their community website.
They declared the start of weekly worship services for Bahamut from today, explaining the reasons behind this, and when the citizens of Gyeongju read the announcement…
“Is it finally possible to practice our faith?”
“Haha! I was worried we might be branded as heretics by mistake, but finally!”
Rather than criticizing the Cult’s proclamation, they welcomed it.
It was as if they had been waiting for this moment, eagerly anticipating the arrival of Sunday.
This was evidence that there were truly devout followers who believed in the teachings of the Balhut Cult and had been waiting for this moment more eagerly than anyone else.
“It’s a chance for my family to become Awakened. I can’t miss this.”
“Honestly, it’s not much different from going to church on Sundays.”
“If the Balhut Cult says so, it’s worth trusting at least once.”
The most appealing factor was the opportunity to become Awakened without having to hunt zombies.
The chance to become Awakened was inherently attractive.
While on the surface, the community claimed that simply hunting a single zombie would grant Awakening, the reality of combat involved considering many factors that the community often overlooked.
“It’s tough even for an unawakened person to take down a single zombie.”
“And it’s not like there’s ever just one zombie. Besides, it’s hard to even find zombies in Gyeongju these days. It’s difficult in a different way.”
It wasn’t as if a lone zombie was conveniently wandering the streets, and during times when zombies were more numerous, it was common to face groups rather than a single zombie.
Moreover, some zombies were sensitive to sound, so if a battle escalated and made too much noise, it could attract nearby zombies.
Ultimately, fighting zombies was still a life-threatening task, both in the past and now, and even if the reward was sweet Awakening, throwing oneself into such a life-risking gamble required considerable courage.
“It’s a chance for our child to become Awakened, isn’t it?”
“And for my father too.”
“With the world in this state, it’s only natural to bring parents along.”
What’s more, even young and physically fit individuals had to risk their lives to become Awakened. It was naturally even harder for those who were weaker, like children or the elderly, to achieve Awakening.
Especially for those with young children or elderly parents, the harsh reality of the world meant that if something were to happen to them, those left behind would struggle to survive on their own.
“Isn’t it appealing to have a safe way to become Awakened? We can’t expect our child to hunt zombies.”
“My child is only seven years old.”
“It’s unreasonable to tell a twelve-year-old to go out and hunt zombies, isn’t it?”
However, the Cult announced that they had found a way to safely achieve Awakening in a secure location, which was appealing to those with families to support, making them more willing to participate in the Balhut Cult’s religious activities.
In fact, the assurance that even if they were gone, their family and children would have a way to survive resonated deeply with them.
They viewed it as a kind of insurance or even social welfare.
“But can we trust this?”
“They say it’s a result of research directly conducted by God Bahamut.”
“Then we have to believe it!”
The fact that the overall leader of this project was none other than God Bahamut, whom the Balhut Cult worships, provided enough trust in the endeavor.
At first, when the project was revealed, there were naturally those within the Balhut Cult who harbored doubts. However, those skeptics disappeared with a single statement that Bahamut himself was overseeing the project.
Whatever else, within the Balhut Cult, there was not a single person who would doubt or question the words of God Bahamut.
“He declared it during Do Josoon’s trial!”
“That’s right.”
Above all, Bahamut himself had already announced during Do Josoon’s trial that he had discovered a method to artificially awaken individuals.
Many saw this as Bahamut’s declaration to fulfill the promise he made back then.
Therefore…
“…It’s more successful than I expected.”
The Awakening Project was a huge success.
Depending on the religion people believed in before the apocalypse, each chapel and temple saw a massive influx of people.
Dozens of shuttle buses were mobilized, and with the influx of people, the deployment of the Cult’s police forces for traffic safety was inevitable.
“Haha. This is all proof that we have many devout followers!”
‘I can’t deny it! The evidence is right before my eyes!’
Bahamut couldn’t deny Choi Yuna’s statement about the numerous devout believers.
With the evidence clearly visible before him, it was impossible to dismiss this as a mere cult.
At this level, it would not be strange to declare it an established religious group rather than a cult.
The once quiet Shrine of Bahamut, which had been filled with silence, was now bustling like a marketplace, with what felt like all the residents of Gyeongju visiting.
“If this solves the Awakening problem… then the issues with the surrounding cities remain. It looks like our expansion beyond Gyeongju is not far off.”
However, if all the visiting residents were to awaken, the issues that had plagued the Balhut Cult so far, such as the lack of Awakened and the tensions between Awakened and ordinary people, could be resolved.
Bahamut, while saddened by the overwhelming success of the Cult, also felt joy in having resolved all the previously postponed issues, and he began to turn his attention to external matters.
While the internal issues of Gyeongju had mostly been resolved, it was only natural to start focusing on matters outside of Gyeongju.
“Wait? Surrounding cities? Do we really need to concern ourselves with them?”
“Huh?”
Instead, Yuna tilted her head in confusion as if wondering what he was talking about.
“Do we really need to be aggressive? We can live comfortably even now.”
‘Ah…’
Strictly speaking, she was closer to being unaware of the reasons for needing to expand.
Yuna was not a politician or someone close to the ruling class. Even the power she held was solely for the stabilization of Gyeongju, not for her own empowerment.
Therefore, from Yuna’s perspective, she couldn’t understand why Bahamut would suggest risking Gyeongju’s newfound peace by venturing into dangerous external territories.
After all, wasn’t Gyeongju already self-sufficient?
‘If it’s just maintaining the current state, Yuna’s argument isn’t entirely wrong.’
If the goal was simply to maintain the current peace, Yuna’s point wasn’t entirely off.
While supplies were limited, they received an unlimited supply of water and electricity, and reactivating the sewage and power facilities would further enrich city life.
Above all, they had been gradually reclaiming farmlands around Gyeongju, so while they might lack certain things compared to the past, it was enough to live on.
But there was also a clear reason to expand externally.
“No, securing the safety of the Cult isn’t guaranteed just by Gyeongju alone. The entire Republic of Korea is still trapped in the Zombie Apocalypse. We are the only ones who have successfully reclaimed a city. In other words, the other cities are still filled with zombies.”
“That’s true.”
“What do you intend to do about the zombies in the other cities? Even now, zombies from other cities are walking toward Gyeongju. For now, Jung Dong-gun’s expedition team and the Balhut Cult’s security forces are easily handling them. But if the zombies from a city swarm toward us all at once, defending against them would be a challenge.”
“Oh no!”
The outside world still hadn’t reclaimed its cities, and the cities were filled with zombies.
Even Gyeongju itself wasn’t reclaimed through the Cult’s efforts alone but through the intervention of Bahamut, a game-changer. Considering this, it was reasonable to expect that reclaiming a city overrun by zombies would take a lot of time for any survivor camp.
In such a situation, if a massive wave of zombies were to descend on Gyeongju, would they have enough strength to fend off such an attack?
“Of course, we can defend against a zombie horde. However, unfortunately, Gyeongju’s resources are limited. Right now, we can sustain city life, but there will undoubtedly come a time when we lack resources. Therefore, our priority should be securing a safe trade route where we can buy or sell the necessary items.”
And they couldn’t always maintain the current state.
Gyeongju needed to grow further, and for that growth, there would surely be materials they needed.
There was a clear reason to secure a safe trade route where they could quickly obtain those materials.
“Above all, we cannot rule out the possibility of a disaster greater than mutant zombies.”
“You mean there could be zombies stronger than mutant zombies?”
Moreover, there was the possibility that mutant zombies could evolve into new kinds of zombies.
Considering how regular zombies evolved into mutant zombies, which went on to wipe out many survivor camps, Bahamut’s argument was quite reasonable.
Even Yuna remembered how the survivor camp she once stayed at had fallen to mutant zombies, and that memory had left a deep trauma within her.
“Yes. Mutant zombies can even turn Awakened into zombies, right? If an Awakened who turns into a zombie evolves into a mutant zombie, how terrifying would that be compared to ordinary mutant zombies?”
“Oh no.”
The evidence to support Bahamut’s logic was actually in Yuna’s own testimony.
Yuna couldn’t find any words to refute Bahamut’s argument.
“I understand, my Lord. It seems we need a place to expand from Gyeongju.”
Acknowledging the logic, she nodded and once again addressed him as her deity.
Bahamut’s argument was plausible.
Mutant zombies had already shown the ability to infect even the Awakened, turning them into zombies.
And if those infected Awakened could potentially evolve into new types of mutant zombies, then Bahamut’s rationale for the need to expand externally made perfect sense to Yuna.
“Yes. I believe that solving the issues of weapon procurement and securing trade routes is essential. Moreover, as the number of mouths to feed keeps increasing, securing additional food supplies is necessary too. While we are gradually liberating the farms around Gyeongju, the more food we have, the better.”
“Yes, it’s needed.”
Weapons, trade routes, and food supplies.
They were all things that were better to have in abundance, so if they could secure more, it was only natural to want to do so.
“That’s why I want to set my sights on Pohang.”
“Pohang, you say?”
“Yes, the place for us to advance to from our unified Gyeongju is Pohang.”
Bahamut believed that Pohang was the place that could satisfy all those needs.
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