BXBX NOVEL Chapter 125 - Unbelievers ⅠⅠ
Chapter 125
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Unbelievers ⅠⅠ
3
Originally, I didn't pay much attention to Mo Gwangseo and the Resurrection Church.
The anecdotes about Mo Gwangseo and the actions of the church members described in this episode are about 50% based on my imagination. I didn't witness them firsthand; I reconstructed them based on the testimonies of various people.
Why didn't I care?
"Who has time to worry about a cult when I'm already swamped?"
Honestly, it wasn't worth my attention.
The situation was different with the Shinbul (New Buddhism) cult. Although it was similar in that it used the paranormal to support faith, the Udumbara of Shinbul posed a direct threat to human civilization.
Moreover, Shinbul was hostile to the Awakened, requiring urgent action.
But the Resurrection Church?
"Awakened? What's important about that right now? Jesus has returned!"
"Amen!"
"The end is near. Brothers and sisters, repent now and board the ark of salvation designed by our leader."
"You! I see from your face that you are a good person who must be saved!"
Aside from occasionally encountering a missionary on the street, there wasn't much harm. And street evangelism was a side quest that you could run into on your way to work even before the apocalypse in South Korea.
As a regressor, I had much more important main quests to focus on.
More importantly, Mo Gwangseo's Resurrection Church also had its own main quest.
- Everyone! I will open the way for the wind so that you can ascend. You must help others too.
When he was alive—before he transformed into the "Resurrection Monstrosity"—Mo Gwangseo targeted a unique sales point in the religious market of Korea.
- But where do you think your help is most urgently needed?
- Um? ...Yeouido?
- No! It's North Korea!
- What?
The Northward Evangelization Doctrine.
- Jesus said, 'Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.' But why did Jesus say to compel them? Did he mean to drag unbaptized people into the church by force?
- Absolutely not. There are evil Satanic forces that forcefully prevent the sheep from following the shepherd's call by blocking the roads and building fences. These Antichrists must be defeated by force.
- The unbaptized brothers and sisters in North Korea are not at fault. The great sin lies with the Kim family, who built the iron fence and wall around them. Since the Korean Peninsula was divided, the 'road' has been cut off and a 'fence' has been built. Jesus commands you to restore this road of tears and blood with your steps.
- Ah, brothers and sisters! We do not tread this most difficult path here because we are better than others or to boast. We trust that other brothers will pull the sheep along the easier fields, so we walk this more arduous path of evangelization out of faith and love for our brothers.
- So please, may the thunder of faith break down Satan's wall, and may our steps reach their hands. Amen.
Mo Gwangseo's Northward Evangelization Doctrine gained considerable support among his followers. To be more precise, only those who resonated with it joined his church.
In truth, the Northward Evangelization Doctrine was another "diplomatic" flourish that Mo Gwangseo had devised.
If you took it literally and tried to spread the doctrine by moving northward, Mo Gwangseo and the JSA (Joint Security Area) battalion would be in trouble. Mo Gwangseo, as a citizen of a democratic country, was merely making "campaign promises" to his followers.
But as I've said before, all evil stems from the monstrosities that don't have a translator in their brains. In this case, it was the Ten Clans.
"The barbed wire has been torn down!"
The Ten Clans were drawn to gatherings of over 300 people.
After concluding that Korean humans were quite palatable, the Ten Clans became interested in the same species of meat. The camps in North Korea, where the line between prison and barracks was becoming blurred, appeared to the Ten Clans as Michelin one-star fusion restaurants.
"Ah! Leader Mo Gwangseo, no, Jesus's prophecy has been proven true again!"
"The fist of fire has shattered the wall! Now it is time for us to spread the gospel!"
"Let's go, brothers! To North Korea!"
The Resurrection Church really did march northward.
After incorporating various cults within Korea into its own, training them, and then sending the church members on a continuous march to North Korea.
This new crusade continued to advance even as the South Korean military was being annihilated.
If you're wondering why a crusade emerged out of nowhere on the Korean Peninsula rather than in Jerusalem, it's either because you didn't study history enough or because you've been influenced by Occidentalism. After all, Pyongyang was once called the Jerusalem of the East.
"March northward!"
"God wills it!"
Gaeseong, Geumcheon, Pyeongsan, Sariwon.
North Korea's major strongholds were liberated one by one. Indeed, the Korean Peninsula seemed to have geographical characteristics that provided more buffs to volunteers than to regular armies.
The secret to the Crusaders' success was simple. The Resurrection Church regarded the Ten Clans, who had destroyed the demilitarized zone, as "Apostles of God." They followed behind the Ten Clans, who devoured the North Korean army.
In a sense, the Resurrection Church members were among the best-adapted humans to the apocalypse. The leader was a monstrosity, the vanguard was a monstrosity, and few other groups had utilized monstrosities as effectively as they did.
And finally.
"Look over there!"
"It's Pyongyang! We've finally arrived!"
"Ah... the Lord's light fills the Jerusalem of the East."
The liberation of Pyongyang!
The believers shuddered with excitement. Since the time of Dangun, had there ever been a religious figure who accomplished as much as they had, aside from perhaps Gung Ye?
Of course, the Oriental Jerusalem had little of the Lord's light. The only cathedral in Pyongyang, Jangchung Cathedral, had long since collapsed. There weren't many people either.
-G҉오҈҈҈҉위҉우҉҈҈그҈҉오!
No, they were disappearing in real-time.
The North Korean regime had made a desperate final stand to defend Pyongyang. And as you might guess from the use of the past tense, they were wiped out entirely, down to their souls.
There were even some Chinese troops in Pyongyang. Upon hearing the intelligence that "liberators are marching north from the south," the Chinese soldiers' minds suddenly regressed to the 1950s.
That's right. Even though they sometimes forgot, Pyongyang and Beijing were blood allies.
And so they shed blood together.
-Gu҉ro҉҈҈o҉wi҉҈o҉...
The strongest of the Ten Clans roared. The Ten Clans was ridiculously powerful, the strongest of the monstrosities.
With its tentacles reminiscent of Cthulhu, the Ten Clans easily drilled through underground rock formations, rendering bunkers meaningless.
The North Korean leadership, military generals, and, most importantly, the North Korean soldiers and Pyongyang citizens all set off to meet Comrade Marx.
Even the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, who had come down from Manchuria, belatedly realized that they had severely misinterpreted the intelligence. The Ten Clans loved East Asians far too much to be considered mere capitalist imperialist agents.
At that moment.
At the very moment when North Koreans were dying, Chinese were despairing, and South Koreans had just arrived in Pyongyang and were screaming.
Footsteps.
Mo Gwangseo walked forward.
"Leader!"
Shouted a believer. Those who had followed Mo Gwangseo before he demonstrated the miracle of the Second Coming subtly enjoyed using the old title, "Leader," to express their sense of privilege.
"Jesus!"
Shouted the late converts. Throughout the Crusaders' march, Mo Gwangseo had walked at their forefront. For such an esteemed figure to walk toward that terrifying monstrosity! Even if the Ten Clans was an Apostle of God, they couldn't help but worry.
"Who the heck is this bastard?"
Shouted the North Koreans. The Chinese were no different. It was a natural reaction.
In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, or perhaps in the name of Leader Jesus Christ, Mo Gwangseo walked forward.
Thud. And naturally, one of the countless tentacles of the Ten Clans impaled Mo Gwangseo like a skewer.
“Leadeeeeerrr!”
“Oh Lord! Oh Loooord!”
Though it was as inevitable as the law of gravity, the believers of the Resurrection Church were horrified. How could this be? The Ten Clans were indeed apostles of God, but the problem was that their name happened to be Judas Iscariot.
This is why one should always check their true name when summoning a servant. The believers of the Resurrection Church seemed to be paying for ignoring this old proverb.
As some wept, and others looked on in confusion, thinking, 'What the hell are those guys doing?'
Flash—.
There was light again.
-Grrrrrooooookooopahhak!
Light burst forth from the tentacles of the Ten Clans. The city, which was in the midst of a massacre, was suddenly engulfed in a bright white glow.
The Ten Clans, as if they had bitten into a shell while eating raw oysters, spat out Mo Gwangseo.
By the time the light subsided, all the humans engaged in the urban battle could witness the halo of Mo Gwangseo.
“……”
“……”
The battlefield fell silent.
With a gentle smile, Mo Gwangseo, the resurrected anomaly, stood in the centre of the attention of tens of thousands of people.
-Grrruuuuuu...
And then a miracle happened.
The Ten Clans, who had spat out Mo Gwangseo, turned their backs and left.
If one were to interpret it in human language, it might be something like, 'I wouldn't come back to this tasteless restaurant even if you paid me.' However, since the anomalies didn't carry human translators, and humans didn't buy anomaly translators either, the meaning was lost.
Thud, thud…
The massive form of the Ten Clans slowly moved away. The North Korean soldiers, who had been ready to accept their total annihilation just moments ago, and the Chinese troops, all stared in disbelief.
What on earth had just happened?
“Hallelujah!”
The believers of the Resurrection Church provided an answer to their questions.
“Jesus has driven away the apostle of God!”
“Oh, fellow citizens! Praise the Lord! He has blessed our Crusade!”
“It’s a miracle, a miracle!”
The Chinese soldiers didn’t understand the Koreans' fervor. But the North Koreans did.
Through the interpretation of a North Korean officer, the cries of the Resurrection Church believers were translated to Chinese as well.
The expressions of the remaining soldiers and civilians changed.
Incidentally, that day was a Saturday, and the next day a special 'mass' of the Resurrection Church was held. Even the skeptics who were still unsure about Mo Gwangseo's miracle attended the live "concert" to see what all the fuss was about.
The mass ended.
On that day, Pyongyang was restored as the Jerusalem of Korea.
4
The Holy Kingdom of the East
The name of the newly established country in the ruins of Pyongyang.
Although it was not recognized internationally, the new nation was not without power. After all, the previous regime was in a similar position.
North Korea had now become Rome itself. Although it was too far east to be considered the Eastern Roman Empire, that didn't matter.
The capital was, of course, the Holy City of Pyongyang. The national leader was Mo Gwangseo.
Mo Gwangseo’s official title wasn’t king, president, prime minister, or Leader. Not even pope.
The only title fitting for Mo Gwangseo was Jesus, so the official full title of the head of state of the Holy Kingdom of the East was determined to be 'Mo Gwangseo Jesus.'
The comedy, with the Resurrection Church handling both the script and the lead role, had finally reached its climax.
“What the hell is this...”
The expression on Noh Doha’s face when he heard the news from the North was priceless.
“Wasn't that place a communist stronghold? And now they’re rapping about Jesus? Marx would have condemned religion as the opium of the people...?”
“Hmm. Isn’t a cult religion better than Juche ideology?”
“Better, my ass. It’s just the same. This country is really going to hell...”
Indeed, this world was a fantasy. What else could you call a reality where a 'Holy Empire' was marked boldly on the map?
In any case, Pyongyang seemed to have left a lasting impression on the Ten Clans as a 'restaurant with poor hygiene,' and they made sure to avoid it.
The Holy Kingdom of the East believers praised this as a 'glorious miracle of Mo Gwangseo Jesus Christ.'
Naturally, other North Koreans began to flock to Pyongyang as well. It wasn't so much that they were fooled by the propaganda of the Holy Kingdom, but rather that they didn’t want to serve a meal to such terrible customers as the Ten Clans.
As the end times drew on, the governments of Korea, Japan, and China collapsed in that order.
Though the three East Asian countries weren’t born on the same day, they seemed to have formed a brotherly bond to die together. Yet, the Holy Kingdom of the East alone managed to preserve its state. It was truly fitting for a region that had long been stripped of any concept of international cooperation.
While the surrounding countries wondered, 'Why hasn't that place fallen? Seriously, why hasn't it fallen?' (which was also similar to the previous regime), the Holy Kingdom of the East gradually became aware of the situation.
‘Huh? All our neighboring countries have collapsed?’
‘Then doesn’t that mean we can now legitimately claim those ungoverned lands?’
The Holy Kingdom of the East resumed its 'march northward.'
It wasn’t under the pretense of reclaiming the ancestral lands of the nation. Such nationalist thinking was not in vogue.
The Holy Kingdom of the East was the only regime directly acknowledged by the Lord. Therefore, they believed they could formally lay claim to any territory in the world.
Thus, the Second Crusade was officially declared in the Holy City of Pyongyang.
The Crusaders swept through the Gando region, where the population had been forcibly reduced to around 300 by the Ten Clans. Liberation, liberation, and more liberation.
“Today, the holy Crusaders of the East liberated three more villages and brought them into the embrace of our Mo Gwangseo Jesus Christ. Let us pray for the well-being of our brothers and sisters. Amen.”
“Amen!”
This wasn’t a clash between nations or a conflict between peoples.
It was simply a bloodbath between the Resurrection Church, which had downloaded a hypnosis app, and the poor ordinary people who resisted.
In such a genre of conflict, the ordinary people were always at a disadvantage. Even those who had never encountered adult doujinshi could sense the clear foreboding.
If this were the world of a doujinshi, the person who first sensed the 'foreboding' would become the first victim.
“Hmm…”
Fortunately, reality was not a doujinshi.
In contrast to doujinshi, which lowered humanity's average intelligence just to maintain the genre's strictness, the people of reality could judge things correctly.
Especially when the National Highway Director, Noh Doha, was the type to snatch away a phone if the opponent had a hypnosis app and preach about '101 reasons why you should commit suicide right now.'
At first, Noh Doha was disgusted by the cult madness, but gradually, his expression changed.
“Doctor Jang…”
“Yes.”
“Just curious, but… is there any way we could make use of this Mo Gwangseo’s Resurrection Church?”
It was a kind of destiny.
The National Highway Director, the ruler of the 'south' of the Korean Peninsula, was instinctively beginning to pay attention to the leader of the 'north.'