Cult (1)
Thud! Whack!
"You demon bastard!"
"Die, Satan!"
A group of people, their eyes gleaming with madness, were brutally beating a
man.
The man had already lost consciousness, taking every kick and blow with his limp body.
A man who seemed to be the leader exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke and spoke.
"That's enough."
With that calm command, the frenzy abruptly ceased.
The leader walked over slowly, cigarette still in his mouth, and examined the man's condition.
Even at a glance, the middle-aged man, trembling intermittently, was in a dire state.
After staring at the man's bloodied face for a moment, the leader spoke again.
"This should do. Let's go."
"Yes, sir."
After they disappeared completely—
"Guh... urgh..."
The man, now covered in blood, struggled to lift his battered body.
Instead of spit, blood trickled from his mouth, and his entire body was so bruised that every movement sent searing pain through him.
"Those... fucking bastards... ugh...!"
But his hatred wasn't directed only at the ones who had just assaulted him.
It was aimed at the man who ruled the top floor of Lotte World Tower at Jamsil Station.
That man he was the real target of Choi Sang-hyun's wrath.
"That cult leader bastard...!"
The man's name was Choi Sang-hyun.
He had one daughter.
After the world had gone to hell, she was all he had left-his one precious treasure.
And then she had said something that shattered him.
(Daddy! He hugged me! From today on, I'm the bride of God!)
His daughter's face had been so full of joy when she said that. That image tore Sang-hyun's heart to shreds.
He could still vividly remember her expression and the sound of her voice.
Driven mad, Sang-hyun had tried to confront the man himself-but he never even got to see his face.
All he got for his tears and rage was this-
Branded a demon, expelled from the sanctuary.
Huff... huff...
He had a rough idea where he was.
And he knew why they hadn't finished him off.
If I stay here, I'll die.
The entire mountain range, including Namhansan, belonged to that creature.
This was just the outskirts, but with this much blood stench reeking off him, it was only a matter of time before the monster showed up.
I can't die yet...!
He had to rescue his daughter.
He had to get her out and flee to another faction.
He couldn't just die and abandon her in that hell.
So please... I beg you!
Move, body. Move, legs.
Forcing himself to ignore the pain, he finally managed to stand and began walking.
But-
Swoooosh-
"!!"
He hadn't taken more than a few steps when darkness found him.
His steps turned frantic.
Shaking uncontrollably, he somehow kept moving-but then started running.
It didn't last.
His body, already at its limit, couldn't keep up. He tripped over his own feet and fell.
Ah!
Thud! Scrraaape!
After tumbling roughly down a steep slope, his body finally came to a halt.
Bzzzz-
Thick shadows closed in all around him.
""
Choi Sang-hyun knew exactly what kind of creature had found him.
Even the cult's strongest couldn't do a thing against it.
The Shadow Ghost.
This is the end.
As he accepted his fate and closed his eyes-
Shhhhhh!
Black shadows surged up on either side of him, swallowing him whole.
Seul-gi...
The image of his daughter filled his mind as he shut his eyes—
Fwoosh!
Along with the sound of something piercing through—
A flash of light!
A bright light spread out in all directions.
"Ugh!"
Even Choi Sang-hyun, who had tightly shut his eyes, instinctively raised both arms to shield his face from the blinding brightness.
Only after the light faded slightly was he able to slowly lower his arms and open his eyes.
And in front of him-
"Are you okay?"
A woman was standing there.
She had appeared in the blink of an eye, and Choi Sang-hyun, caught off guard, could only stare at her blankly. The woman inspected his wounds and then shouted toward the sky.
"Dajeong! Look over here!"
In response, a black bird descended from the sky.
Upon closer look, there was a calm-looking woman riding on the bird's back.
The newly arrived woman boldly jumped off and landed lightly in front of Choi Sang-hyun.
After quickly scanning his condition, she spoke.
"He's in bad shape."
"Right?"
Then-
Wooong-
A warm light began to radiate from the woman's hands, and it was soon absorbed into Choi Sang-hyun's body.
"Huh?"
At the same time, he felt the pain quickly fading and opened his eyes wide in surprise.
'No way...'
He immediately looked down at his hands.
"!!"
The wounds on his hands, bathed in light, were disappearing in real time.
He could feel the bruises and injuries all over his body fading rapidly as well.
"Are there any other places you're still uncomfortable?"
With a dazed face, Choi Sang-hyun shook his head.
The stomach pain that had felt like it was tearing him apart...
The blood that kept rising in his throat...
All of it had completely healed.
"Th-thank you!"
Just as he bowed his head in gratitude, he noticed a sinister black shadow spreading across the ground.
As he quickly looked up, about to shout a warning-
"Urgh!"
He suddenly felt someone grab his collar and lift him powerfully into the air.
The next moment, he saw the mouth of the black shadow opening wide beneath his feet.
"Ahhh!"
He panicked as the black shadow's sharp teeth closed in—but then, a spear flew in from somewhere and pierced straight into the shadow's mouth.
KWA-BOOM!
A huge explosion engulfed the shadow monster, and when the dust settled, a small crater was left behind.
'Did I die...?'
He wondered for a moment if he had truly died when the shadow swallowed him earlier, and this whole scene was just some hallucination created by his ghost.
It was such an unbelievable sight that the thought didn't seem too far-fetched.
"... Mister, are you okay?"
When he finally looked up, he saw six men and women riding on the backs of giant birds.
One thing stood out-the bird that had saved him was dressed in human clothes.
Compared to the others, it was a bit smaller, and although it was wearing human clothing, it strangely suited the bird quite well.
'Weird. Why is no one riding on this bird?'
Was it because it was too small?
He was lost in such pointless thoughts when-
"... Mister. I asked if you're hurt anywhere."
"?"
The bird spoke to him.
'...Mister?"
As Choi Sang-hyun stared in shock, the bird opened its beak again and spoke in human language.
"Are... are you human too?"
"Of course. Isn't it obvious?"
He almost blurted out, 'You look like a monster no matter how I try to see it as anything else,' but barely managed to hold it in.
'It took care of that shadow demon like it was twisting a kid's wrist.'
The overwhelming difference in strength.
What that meant was clear.
"These people are stronger than even the cult's top fighters...!"
It was hope found at the edge of a cliff.
"I can't lose them."
Choi Sang-hyun pleaded desperately with them.
"Please, please help me!"
***
After hearing the man's situation, it was hard not to feel pity.
"What a vile bastard."
Choi Sang-hyun cried out with venom in his eyes.
"My daughter is only fifteen years old!"
The so-called cult leader was a man in his mid-to-late forties.
He wasn't just any evil man-he was outright wicked.
"Please kill that bastard for me, I beg you..."
The strange part was that this man turned out to be the leader of a surprisingly massive group.
His name: Jung Hyun-soo.
A textbook cult leader who proclaimed himself the savior of humanity.
He had established a cult in the heart of Songpa District, Jamsil, under the name JHS-taken from his initials.
What was most shocking was that the number of people affiliated with JHS exceeded 100,000.
If that was true, one thing became certain:
"He's an Awakened."
And clearly, he had awakened a powerful ability.
"With just an A-rank or even S-rank ability, that scale wouldn't be possible."
To support and sustain over 100,000 people, one would need power beyond that.
He might even be like Grandpa or me-someone who had awakened a divinity.
"A divinity..."
If he really had awakened a divinity—and if that meant a god-like power-then the situation was almost laughable.
"Someone like that acting as a cult leader?"
A man who gained divine power deifying himself?
In a way, it wasn't entirely wrong.
"But his actions are."
Even if he truly had used his power to save 100,000 people, he had committed an unforgivable crime.
The top priority of Ha Dong-geon's party was to hunt the monsters occupying Seoul and establish a forward base in a suitable location.
They planned to build a base in the city center, then bring in people and guide them safely to Busan through Namdaemun.
That was the foremost objective.
But-
"We can't just leave someone like him be."
He deserved punishment.
"But..."
There was one strange thing.
"The monster you just defeated was one that even the cult's top fighters couldn't handle. Please, use that power to kill the damned cult leader."
The monster that had just tried to devour Choi Sang-hyun was indeed high-level.
"A Shadow Whale. It was level 43."
At that level, it could reasonably be considered the boss of a region.
But-
"That cult leader must be even stronger than that, right?"
Of course, level isn't everything-but if he had enough power to support 100,000 people, a level 43 monster shouldn't be a problem for him.
I used the Ring of Communication to speak to Ha Dong-geon's party.
[I don't think we can fully trust his story yet. We need to verify the facts.]
Fortunately, there was someone perfect for uncovering such secrets.
That was Moon Byung-ho-capable of perfect infiltration using teleportation and invisibility.
[Mr. Moon Byung-ho, please infiltrate the cult's headquarters and confirm whether Choi Sang-hyun is telling the truth.]
"Understood."
At my command, Moon Byung-ho mounted his assigned Kellican.
Currently, we had twenty-three Kellicans tamed through a subjugation contract—exactly matching the number of our vassals.
Each vassal had been assigned one.
With the ability to fly on Kellicans, their mobility had increased dramatically.
Shriek-!
The Kellican carrying Moon Byung-ho flew swiftly toward Seokchon Lake, where Lotte Tower stood.
It was less than 10 km from Namhansan, where the vassals had been stationed, so the destination was reached in the blink of an eye.
The massive building, over 500 meters tall, could be seen from afar.
But there was another peculiar thing.
"The electricity's on?"
Lotte Tower and the nearby Lotte World were radiating bright lights.
It stood out all the more because it was the only place in all of Songpa District with visible lighting.
As they reached the airspace above the dazzlingly lit building—
Whoosh.
Moon Byung-ho's figure melted into the darkness, disappearing from atop the Kellican.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]