Hiding a House in the Apocalypse - Chapter 349



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Hiding the House in the Apocalypse Episode 354

145. Faith (2)

Before the war, the Manryu Ghost Religion that originated in China pushed China toward destruction, just like the Taiping Rebellion in the past.

The Chinese government consistently called them fanatics and suppressed them mercilessly, but on the other hand, it conducted a thorough and meticulous analysis of the religion they disparaged as fanatics.

I’ve seen some of that material too.

Cults are more diverse and come in different forms than we might imagine.

The Chinese government has categorized the sects by their degree of secularity, which I personally think is an appropriate classification.

The sect that follows the pure teachings of Ma Won-gap, the founder of the Manryu Gwijong religion, is surprisingly harmless.

They, like the people we witnessed in the Paju Crack, are devoted to a self-destructive path of becoming one with the monsters and the Crack, neglecting worldly matters.

The problem is the secular sect.

They only half-accept the teachings of Ma Won-gap, and they create an organization like a common cult and try to expand their influence.

In the process, they often bring up scriptures and theories that even Ma Won-gap does not know, and engage in bloody fights with fellow fanatics.

The fanatics we commonly deal with are the latter.

What is particularly striking in the Chinese government report is the process by which this secular cult has grown its followers.

We thought that fanatics were joining fanatic groups on their own through missionary work, but surprisingly, the number of believers joining fanatic groups through missionary work was small.

Chinese government estimates put the figure at less than 20%.

More than 90 percent of those arrested on suspicion of fanaticism and facing execution confessed to having joined a fanatic organization against their will.

They defended themselves by saying that their actions were an act of emergency refuge, as joining a cult was the only way to survive in an area abandoned and unprotected by the country.

The report does not record whether their arguments were accepted in Chinese courts, but it was quite shocking to hear that the majority of fanatics joined the cult for survival rather than for religious reasons.

According to that argument, fanatics are also human.

So, what I’m saying is that you didn’t voluntarily take the monster’s side.

Of course, that doesn’t make any difference.

In extreme situations, the process and circumstances are omitted.

Only what you see before your eyes is the truth.

Even if it’s just a fleeting flash, it doesn’t make a difference.

I believed that the life of one of my team members was more important than the lives of ten innocent civilians, and that belief has not changed even at this moment.

No matter what the circumstances, if someone tries to kill me or my colleagues, I will kill them and I will not hesitate to do so.

In any case, it is clear how fanatics expand their influence.

They mainly target outcasts and groups.

The zealots have the knowledge and wisdom to survive in the eroded zone, and although they are not rich, they have sufficient supplies.

For those who have nowhere to go and no one to rely on, they are in a sense a savior.

Of course, once a person becomes a believer, he or she becomes a thorough appendage of the believer organization.

In the case of high-ranking organizations, they even have “religious leaders” and enjoy luxuries that are comparable to those of the queens and ministers of the past.

The sect that the Awaken woman who appeared on our bulletin board in the past was from is a secular sect, as is the sect we have to deal with this time.

There is one more important distinction here.

“North Korean groups are the main group.”

There are three main groups of fanatics.

One is a lineage native to Korea, and the other is a lineage from North Korea.

It is said that there are rare lineages from mainland China, but the numbers are so small that it is of little significance.

The majority are North Korean.

It’s a natural flow.

North Koreans heading toward destruction flocked to the Chinese border, came into contact with the then-burgeoning Manryuguijongyo religion, and returned to their failing homeland, where their sect grew. When the military abandoned the front lines, they crossed the ceasefire line and flocked to South Korea, where they absorbed abandoned people and groups and expanded their sect.

The reason this is important is because we can infer the specific tactics and behavioral patterns of a fanatic through their origins.

“This is the footage my brother took when he sent out a reconnaissance drone.”

It appears that Hong Da-jeong is working as a drone agent in the same unit.

She said that she was at a significant disadvantage during the hiring process because she had no military experience and was also a woman, and that she was able to silence the hiring manager in the field.

The video taken by Hong Da-jeong clearly reveals the characteristics of the North Korean group that we know.

“Are there a lot of guards?”

The North Korean side uses a lot of people.

Use it excessively.

What it feels like is not like working 80+ hours a week like in Korea, but rather assigning ten people to a task that could have been done by one person.

It’s a very inefficient behavior, but if you use a lot of people, you can still get something out of it.

The bonus attached to the border area is one of those things.

Since North Korea itself is one giant barracks, one of the main characteristics of the North Korean group is that its organizational structure is organized in a military style.

Centered around a large shopping mall that served as their base, the fanatics had established closely-knit defensive positions in various locations.

The fact that many of the weapons of the guards standing in makeshift pillboxes made from scrapped vehicles and cement blocks are domestically produced speaks volumes.

“Did the Legion give you the weapon?”

The defender nodded.

“I heard that a man named Han Seong-yeol, who took over for Kim Byeong-cheol in Wonju, was doing arms business.”

“Was there anything left for a fanatic to live for?”

“female.”

“female?”

“Yeah. It seems like he gives you a weapon in exchange for a woman.”

“What a piece of trash.”

“There are rumors that he also does organ trading. Well, he’s a guy who’s gone too far. It’s not my place to say that.”

“······You are a true soldier who is very interested in medicine and soldier welfare.”

I expected that the warlords would take off their masks once the Legion Faction was disbanded, but as always, the reality is worse than I imagined.

It’s not a story worth discussing.

There is so much trash in this world, and trying to understand each and every one of their actions could lead to mental illness.

Anyway, perhaps because they sold a lot of people or because Han Seong-yeol was kind-hearted, the fanatics were well-armed.

The serious composition is also balanced and it is a powerful group with considerable numbers.

But wouldn’t this level of power be easily dealt with if only our reporter Woo Min-hee stepped forward?

It doesn’t seem like a problem that requires me to be called in to handle.

In response, the Defender looked around and answered in a low voice.

“Chief Woo. It looks like you’re saving your strength.”

“Save your strength?”

“At most, maybe twice a year? There’s a story that he doesn’t go to battle very often. This is what the veterans next to the commander said, so it must be true.”

“······okay?”

For a moment, Woo Min-hee’s face flashed before my eyes, but I, who wasn’t even Awaken, couldn’t possibly understand her thoughts.

“······.”

There must be some circumstances.

Anyway, there’s no doubt that this mission is quite difficult.

It’s easy to understand why the regular Awaken wouldn’t listen to those words.

Even if you are an Awaken who reflects bullets, you will soon reach your limits when you are being shot at from all directions without warning.

This is because a reflective field is not something that is spread out like a tent 24 hours a day.

Although we do not know the exact mechanism, we know from experience that the power of Awaken and the monsters increases explosively through a process similar to the explosion of an internal combustion engine called a “wave.”

Even monsters can’t create waves infinitely.

Those guys also can’t create waves if the battle continues for a certain period of time and their fatigue increases.

This phenomenon is noticeable when medium-sized or larger monsters die after being hit by artillery fire in the kill zone. They deploy a reflection field to blow the incoming artillery fire away to a faraway place, but you can see that the field is destroyed by the barrage of shells pouring down like rain, or they are crushed because they can no longer create waves.

Awakens are the same, their wave endurance is not as good as that of smaller monsters.

So, in this kind of street fighting, even against fanatics who disregard their own lives out of fanaticism, the well-made regular Awaken can still record a significant death rate.

In addition, due to their fanatic nature, they will also have many regular Awaken-level Awakens.

As a regular Awaken, this would be a battlefield you really don’t want to get your feet wet on.

This is especially true for friends from Jeju Island, where people don’t usually interact with others.

“It looks like ground penetration would be impossible.”

He opened his mouth while looking at the map and drone footage.

“You must have also considered a method of invading through infrastructure such as subways, right?”

The defender nodded, but as expected, his expression was not very good.

“The underpass is not in good condition.”

The Defender showed a new screen.

Beyond the dark tunnel where the old metropolitan railway used to run, an area dyed grayish white is visible.

“The monster has made a nest.”

This is not a newly built nest.

It is a nest like an impregnable fortress that was built a long time ago and is ready to be reinforced.

The defender nodded.

“It’s not for nothing that they set up shop in that eye-catching shopping mall.”

In short, there are plans to end the fanatics, but there are no easy ways to get there.

This is the conclusion reached by the Defender.

But that conclusion may need to be revised.

“······What kind of monster is it?”

I am watching.

*

One of the conclusions I’ve come to after working in organizations since my mid-teens is that there aren’t many ways to get someone to work if they don’t want to work.

Well, I can give the appearance of doing it roughly.

That’s easy.

But what we do cannot be done carelessly.

It is our hunter’s job to not allow even the smallest mistake.

It’s very difficult to get people to do real work in a place like that.

It would be right to give up if that guy is more powerful and has a higher status than me.

The point is that there is no need to hang on.

There is a saying that if you have the intelligence, you can move heaven, but I am not sure.

If the world were such that such a thing could happen, wouldn’t it have been at least better than it is now?

Of course, I plan to meet the regular Awaken who is currently working hard.

That’s one of the duties that must be performed as the head of Seoul Hunter HQ.

[ MAIN ]

The regular Awaken had made their home in a converted old post office, next to The Hope, which had full heating and electricity.

Their pride could easily be read from the fact that they proudly hung a sign with the English word meaning the main part.

Well, in the regular Awaken position, they would always be the main force and the rest would be the support.

It probably wouldn’t have been very appealing to operate at the same eye level as friends who were considered inferior to you.

We also had no reason to badmouth others.

How many times have we ignored and despised “school hunters” who had the same physical abilities and received similar training, simply because their training institutions and periods were different?

Moreover, I think that it is necessary to understand the perspective of regular hunters, who have objective differences, from their perspective at least once.

Of course, I am their commander.

The task that Woo Min-hee gave me was to train these strong youngsters to integrate into the new organization.

I think the reason Woo Min-hee didn’t come forward is because she was afraid that if she did, she would kill these precious people.

Squeak-

As I open the creaking door, hot air hits my face.

It seems that the radiator was running at full capacity, wasting precious electricity even though the temperature was only 2 degrees.

As I watched the thermometer hanging in the corner read 28 degrees, I felt the young friends sitting loosely in the open room turn their heads toward me.

“who are you?”

A man asked curtly.

He has a young appearance, perhaps only in his late teens, but he has a large physique that is well over 190cm tall.

Without answering, he walked slowly and deliberately towards the center of the hall while they watched.

And stared at the regular Awaken.

Look at the faces.

A variety of emotions are seen, including antipathy, contempt, and surprise, but the one that is read most is contempt.

He spoke in a calm yet powerful tone, without caring.

“······My name is Park Gyu, the newly appointed commander of the Seoul Hunter HQ. My call sign is Professor.”

Only when they heard the name Park Gyu did the Awakens react.

No matter what, it seems like my call sign is somewhat known to those arrogant people.

“Professor?”

“Is it true?”

“That person······?”

“You’re younger than I thought.”

I can feel the eyes of those watching me closely, noisily.

He added, turning his gaze.

“Who is responsible?”

A man raised his hand.

The moment I saw his face, I thought, “As expected.”

I don’t believe in physiognomy, but that’s a face that really doesn’t listen to anyone.

I would say that it is a face value that should be found in the music or art world rather than in the military organization.

“I’m going.”

He got up from his seat.

“This is Seunghwan Ahn. My level is 9.”

A woman handed him a jumper.

The jumper had various patches attached to it.

It seems likely that it was intended to commemorate various achievements and achievements, like those of past legion deserters.

“······I was in Big Hole for a year and a half. I went there a total of 12 times, including the blasting incident. Twice.”

It’s a story I don’t know.

I have no idea what you’re talking about.

But if you look at the nuance, it’s probably an attempt to compare me.

That his achievements are comparable to or superior to anything I have ever recorded.

“You know the orders the commander gave, right?”

Seunghwan Ahn nodded without even blinking an eye.

“Why aren’t you participating in the operation?”

Seunghwan Ahn opened his mouth.

“It’s not that I’m not participating in the operation.”

“I don’t like beating around the bush. If you have any complaints, say them here.”

“Ah······Yes. So, to get back to the story, we are not invincible soldiers like Beerwaken thinks. We don’t reflect all bullets, and we die if we get hit.”

“······.”

“Kim Da-ham? Kim Da-ra? Anyway, I told that woman what I wanted, but it seems like she didn’t convey it to you?”

He gestured for me to raise my head and speak.

Seung-Hwan Ahn smiled and spoke with a strong accent on some words.

“There must be support troops, including a tank company.”

What he emphasized was the tank company.

“Wouldn’t it make sense for us to advance after the tanks have cleared the road and secured the flank?”

After finishing his questions, Seunghwan Ahn sat down, crossed his legs, and looked up at me.

Looking at those cold, indifferent eyes, I was reminded again and again that persuasion through words was impossible.

At the same time, I also know that luxurious requirements like a tank company are impossible to achieve.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re going to throw away this valuable power.

“It seems like you guys are making one mistake.”

I looked around at my friends with shining eyes, including Ahn Seung-hwan, who showed their antipathy in various ways.

“At least here you are not the main.”

They don’t laugh out loud, but you can see their lips parting.

“Show me.”

People tend to work harder when they feel worthless.

I hope these guys are like that too.

“······.”

By the way, an annoying friend stuck with me.

“hello?”

A woman I don’t know.

This is Jeonggu Awaken who was with Seunghwan Ahn.

The face somehow resembles Woo Min-hee.

“Can I come with you?”

Bad-tempered, eccentric, and temperamental.

.