Chapter 124

Disbeliever I

Do you know what promise Koreans will never keep?

"Let's have a meal together sometime."

That's right.

To Koreans, this phrase doesn't actually mean meeting up to increase insulin secretion when you're really hungry.

To interpret it precisely,

"We are not allies, but at least we declare that we are not hostile to each other at this moment."

Every country has sophisticated diplomatic expressions like this.

For example, when a Japanese person from Kyoto asks, "Would you like some ochazuke?" it doesn't mean "Wow! Traditional food! The Japanese are so kind!"

If North Korea launches a missile, the automatic AI translation in your head should process it as "Please notice us! We're here too!" instead of "Damn Southern bastards, die!"

It's the same with "Let's have a meal together sometime."

If you respond to a Korean's statement with "Sure! When? Tomorrow? Next week?" the other party will seriously question whether this diplomatic relationship is worth maintaining.

And there's one common diplomatic statement that transcends national borders:

"The end of the world is coming soon! Everyone!"

"Hell is coming! I can see the scenery of hell with my eyes! Get on the new ark before the hellfire pours down!"

"I am the Son of Heaven and the Savior. Those who believe this truth will be blessed, but calamity will follow the disbelievers, this I declare."

It's the doomsday prophecy of cults.

Anyone who lives with their brain's translation function always on knows that the proper interpretation of "Someday, the world will end!" from cultists is: "But if you donate, we might be able to extend the deadline."

People who don't understand this basic diplomatic language are a minority in any country. The marginalized weak who are excluded from international diplomacy are always exploited.

And then the Void arrived.

“Wow! The end of the world really is here! The guru’s prophecy was true! Guru! What should we do now? Should we start the mass suicide you mentioned?”

“Uh.”

The brains of anomalies didn’t have a translator installed. Of course, they couldn’t understand the subtleties of human diplomacy.

On the day the Void arrived, cult leaders worldwide felt an involuntary urge to ask the anomalies, "Are you seriously that clueless?"

“No... what I meant was, just because the end is near doesn’t mean we have to commit suicide...”

“Guru, stop talking nonsense and hurry up and kill yourself.”

Most cult leaders found themselves on the receiving end of the clueless accusation instead.

But they didn’t need to be too sad. Their followers weren’t mean enough to completely abandon their gurus. They kindly completed the “prophecy fulfillment” achievement together.

- Breaking news. This morning at around 11 a.m., evidence of mass suicide was found in a facility in Chungcheongbuk-do...

- According to police investigations, there is no clear connection between the recent series of collective incidents...

- The terrorist group that occupied the Seoul subway has been identified as members of a certain cult. They committed mass suicide once a day, including their leader...

It was a harsh season for cult leaders.

There had never been such an unemployment crisis. Running a cult required more stringent choices.

However, in troubled times, heroes always emerge.

In the Korean Peninsula, two cult leaders successfully overcame countless suicide suggestions and declared, "I want to live! With you!"

Entry number one.

“All Awakeners must join the New Buddha to escape the sin of killing as soon as possible! Those who don’t are going against the will of Hwaeom! They are disruptors of universal peace!”

“Immortality without killing! Spiritual Hwaeom! Eternal cosmic peace!”

New Buddhism.

Coincidentally, a monk in central Korea who had settled in his city saw the zombie virus, the Udumbara, and reached enlightenment.

The faith that wearing flowers on their heads would make them immune to anomalies resonated deeply with modern people who doubted the performance of their mental translators. They willingly replaced their brain translators with more eco-friendly materials.

New Buddhism rapidly expanded its influence, dominating the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese archipelago, and the Chinese continent. At one time, South Korea's most popular export was not K-pop but K-religion.

Of course, once I started defeating the Udumbara, it lost all its influence. The monk and his followers booked a one-way ticket to Nirvana.

Entry number two.

“Understood! Brothers and sisters! I, your shepherd, will lead the way!”

“As expected of our leader!”

“Mo Gwang-seo! Mo Gwang-seo!”

Mo Gwang-seo.

Like all pioneers of new doctrines, Mo Gwang-seo had a unique background.

He was a double excommunicate, first excommunicated by the Catholic Church from the Mary’s Ark of Salvation, then again by the group that excommunicated him. He was truly an unparalleled cultist.

When you multiply a negative by a negative, it becomes a positive. Unusually for a cult leader, Mo Gwang-seo had a mathematical brain and was convinced he was on the right path of faith.

His followers numbered around 210. He didn’t even rank among the top cults on the Korean Peninsula, but Mo Gwang-seo didn’t mind. After all, Jesus had only twelve disciples (one of whom respected Brutus more than his master).

Mo Gwang-seo's confidence was not without basis.

“It’s a resurrection! It’s a miracle of resurrection!”

Now, the followers no longer needed the wind path to ascend to heaven.

The very place where the resurrected Jesus existed, this land, was the holy temple.

They didn’t hear trumpets, nor did they see angels, but those trivial details didn’t matter. To live as a cultist, you must have the courage to ignore life's trivialities. And the 200 followers were indeed courageous.

“Chairman Mo Gwang-seo was the resurrected Jesus!”

“Oh! Amen! Amen!”

“I am saved! We are saved!”

Mo Gwang-seo won.

Where? In the religious war.

In this land called the Korean Peninsula, a jar of despair with 20 gods and 50 resurrected Jesuses waging eternal crusades, Mo Gwang-seo was chosen as the last man standing.

Now, Mo Gwang-seo’s cult was reborn as the 'Resurrection Church.'

“Spread this miracle far and wide!”

“Believe in the miracles of holy water and holy fire!”

“Evangelize and evangelize again! Amen!”

Followers of the Resurrection Church traveled across the country with holy water—gasoline—marked on their foreheads.

While New Buddhism absorbed followers from the Buddhist sects, the Resurrection Church voraciously devoured Christian believers.

Of course, other cultists became the most tempting prey.

“What? Apostatize? How dare you! Our leader received the Eucharist from the Pope, and it turned into flesh and blood in his mouth, and our statue of the Virgin Mary shed tears 500 times, and we have photos and evidence!”

“So what? Our leader resurrected.”

“What?”

“Our leader is the resurrected Jesus. What can you say to that?”

Mo Gwang-seo’s resurrection didn’t end at one. The first time was hard; the second, third, and fourth were easy.

Every Sunday, Mo Gwang-seo was engulfed in gasoline and set ablaze. And each time, he walked out of the light, beaming a merciful smile.

“Ah, ahh!”

“Do you believe now?”

“I believe! Amen!”

The material ‘evidence’ other cults boasted of was nullified by the vivid resurrection show before their eyes.

Sinning by killing the person they believed to be Jesus every Sunday was justified before the mission of evangelism. It was unrealistic to expect rationality from them.

Attending Sunday mass and then returning to their base, the apostates immediately arrested the ‘false prophets.’

“You Satanic bastards! Do you think you can do this to me and get away with it?”

“Shut up! You are Satan!”

“What, what?”

The competitors who were gods and Jesuses yesterday turned into Satan overnight.

Followers criticized themselves for being deceived by the Antichrist and poured the holy water from the Resurrection Church on Satan’s head.

“Please, spare me! Please, spare me!”

“Let the ether purify the filthy soul. Amen.”

“Amen!”

Holy beacons ignited across the country. Naturally, stories of the Resurrection Church began to reach me, who was active between Seoul and Busan.

‘...What the hell.’

My eyes grew cold.

There was nothing special about cults themselves. They had always been prevalent on the Korean Peninsula.

Ever since Hwanung hypnotized a perfectly normal bear, saying, "You are not a bear anymore, but a human," this land had been famous for mental brainwashing.

But the Resurrection Church was a bit different.

I was a sound Korean. So, as soon as I heard Mo Gwang-seo’s story, the AI translator in my head worked furiously.

A being that keeps resurrecting?

But doesn’t understand human language?

Glows and smiles silently with each resurrection?

‘...No matter how I look at it, that’s not a person. It’s a human transformed into an anomaly.’

Indeed.

These cultists were no longer content worshiping humans and had started venerating ‘anomalies’ as Jesus.

Footnotes:

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