Ch.146145. Ulsan Negotiations (4)

After mutual agreement, the contract by the Gear Scroll was finalized, and the magical power embedded in the document commanded them to follow the oath they had sworn.

Jeong Dong-geon looked at the Cult of Immortality’s envoy with a relaxed expression, while the envoy stared at both the contract and Jeong Dong-geon with eyes full of doubt and anxiety.

The envoy clearly sensed some magical power activating, but whether what Jeong Dong-geon had claimed would actually happen remained questionable.

However, considering that special magic-imbued items were gradually emerging in this apocalypse…

‘I can’t just dismiss his words as lies!’

The choice to disbelieve Jeong Dong-geon wasn’t one he could make easily.

After all, if this wasn’t just bluffing but real, wouldn’t he be the one losing out in this contract?

More importantly, if his level were to decrease—something more precious than life itself—he might face the crisis of being expelled from the Cult of Immortality’s executive ranks.

“My first question. What is the scale of the Cult of Immortality’s forces on the Korean peninsula? Please disclose everything you know, including hidden information.”

“Hmm.”

Jeong Dong-geon asked his first question before the envoy could even compose himself.

It was a heavy question from the start, essentially demanding that he reveal the Cult of Immortality’s influence—which had been kept secret from everyone—to the Balhut Cult. The envoy pondered this briefly, but then:

“Seoul. Incheon. Daejeon. Busan. And our Ulsan.”

Even if the Balhut Cult, based in Gyeongju, learned this information, they couldn’t do anything about it immediately.

Rather, thinking it would be a bargain to just reveal their power structure in exchange for rescuing an executive, the envoy disclosed what he knew about the Cult of Immortality’s sphere of influence.

‘So half the Korean peninsula is under their influence.’

Busan was understandable, but the fact that they had influence in Incheon, Daejeon, and even Seoul made it seem like the envoy might be exaggerating, but:

“They’ve spread more than I expected. Your cult. No wonder we’re outnumbered in terms of followers.”

Jeong Dong-geon glanced at the contract and determined that the statement was true.

However, he realized that the Cult of Immortality truly exercised significant influence across many regions—no, across the entire Korean peninsula.

‘Ulsan and Busan I can understand. With their headquarters in Ulsan, it would be strange if they didn’t have influence in Busan.’

Since Busan was close to Ulsan, it would have been strange if they didn’t exert influence there.

Just as the Balhut Cult had expanded its power to Pohang, the Cult of Immortality naturally needed Busan to expand their influence, but:

‘I can’t believe even Seoul is under their influence. I need to reassess their scale.’

However, he hadn’t expected them to exert influence not only in Daejeon, which could be considered a gateway to Seoul, but even in the Seoul area itself.

In terms of scale, they were overwhelmingly larger than the Balhut Cult, which only influenced Gyeongju, Pohang, and Daegu.

While the enormous scale was surprising, conversely, the actual usable scale would be:

‘Ulsan. And probably Busan.’

Since Daejeon, Seoul, and Incheon still had functioning communities, these three cities weren’t areas controlled by the Cult of Immortality but rather places where they exerted influence through some kind of cell organization.

The Balhut Cult also exerted influence in Daegu through cell organizations, so this wasn’t particularly strange.

As Jeong Dong-geon calmly accepted this information without showing much reaction, the Cult of Immortality’s envoy, somewhat disappointed but determined to finalize the deal, spoke up.

“Keep your promise.”

“Oh, of course. I don’t want to lose precious levels either. Han Seong-geun, please release one of the Cult of Immortality members we captured as a prisoner. The negotiation has progressed somewhat.”

“Understood.”

When told to keep his promise, Jeong Dong-geon said he valued his levels too and released a prisoner as the envoy had requested.

Not long after, a car carrying the prisoner arrived at Ulsan Bridge, and the prisoner was able to cross the bridge on his own feet toward South Ulsan.

Watching this scene, the Cult of Immortality’s envoy looked at Jeong Dong-geon with an even more questioning expression, despite being told that the contract was being fulfilled.

It was certainly a tense moment, but was it really okay to release prisoners so readily just because they had made a contract?

“Now, for my second question. Who is your leader? To be precise, who is your true boss?”

“I cannot answer that. Ask something else.”

However, the envoy wasn’t given much time to deeply contemplate the previous scene.

Jeong Dong-geon mentioned the most troublesome question for the envoy, who immediately refused and requested a different question.

The envoy pleaded with a fearful look and desperate voice, but…

“The essence of this contract is to answer as honestly as possible within the limits of your knowledge. Let me ask again. Who is your boss’s true identity?”

Jeong Dong-geon showed no sympathy for the envoy.

Instead, he asked more firmly about who controlled the Cult of Immortality.

“Our cult leader…”

“Wait. Not the cult leader of the Cult of Immortality. Tell me about your real boss.”

“…Kuk.”

As the envoy began to speak about the cult leader, Jeong Dong-geon interrupted, demanding to know about the real boss.

When Jeong Dong-geon sharply pointed out that he was trying to exploit loopholes in the contract, the envoy clicked his tongue but:

“Even I don’t know the name.”

Once again, he began to answer Jeong Dong-geon’s demand.

At the response that he didn’t know the name itself, Jeong Dong-geon glanced at the contract again, but there was no reaction.

‘No reaction from the contract. He really doesn’t know.’

This meant that the envoy truly didn’t know the name of the one who controlled the Cult of Immortality.

It was somewhat ridiculous that a cult member didn’t know the name of the deity they worshipped, and it wasn’t that the envoy had religious devotion preventing him from uttering the deity’s name.

“But we all call him the one whose name we dare not speak, or the Dark Lord.”

‘This is also true.’

However, he answered that they called him by other names, such as “the one whose name we dare not speak” or “the Dark Lord.”

There was no reaction from the contract to the envoy’s words, suggesting that everything he had just said was also true.

“He gave us power. He gave us magic. He gave us the power to change this corrupt world!”

“…Very well. That seems to be true as well.”

The envoy spoke of this being giving them powerful abilities, seemingly trying to intimidate Jeong Dong-geon, but Jeong Dong-geon merely assessed the truth and falsehood like a machine, showing no fear.

After all, Jeong Dong-geon himself was a proper religious person who worshipped the Dragon God.

At this point, there was no option for Jeong Dong-geon to believe in and serve another god.

‘The Dark Lord, huh? What a grandiose name. Well, we call ours the Dragon God, so I guess it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other.’

More than anything, he could only mock the title “Dark Lord”—was he self-proclaiming to be a demon king from a story?

Of course, Bahamut was also called the Dragon God in the Balhut Cult, but that was because his appearance was literally that of a magnificent dragon.

“Let’s release another prisoner.”

And since truthful information had been provided, Jeong Dong-geon once again ordered Han Seong-geun to release a Cult of Immortality prisoner.

Only two prisoners remained.

With fewer prisoners left, Jeong Dong-geon needed to be more careful about what information he requested.

“Third question. What is the purpose of the Cult of Immortality? To be precise, what orders did you receive from the Dark Lord?”

“The order we received this time is the destruction of the Balhut Cult.”

‘This is also the unvarnished truth. Is it real?’

The destruction of the Balhut Cult, he said.

This too seemed to be verified as truth, as there was no reaction from the contract, and Jeong Dong-geon couldn’t understand why the Cult of Immortality harbored such hatred for the Balhut Cult.

Even after hearing directly that the Cult of Immortality wanted their destruction, the questions in Jeong Dong-geon’s mind remained completely unresolved.

“Destruction, you say. Forgive my impertinence, but this is our first encounter with your people.”

Although they were geographically close, the Balhut Cult had never confirmed the existence of the Cult of Immortality until they recaptured Pohang.

The first time the Balhut Cult recognized the Cult of Immortality as an organization was when they arrived at Ulsan Airport, and even then, the Balhut Cult had never shown hostility toward the Cult of Immortality first.

Only later did they learn that the ghost fleet was operated by the Cult of Immortality.

‘From our perspective, it was more like a defensive battle. We never launched a first strike. So what’s behind this endless grudge? Why are they trying to destroy us?’

Besides that, there had been no opportunity to build up resentment, and this war wasn’t started because the Balhut Cult wanted it.

It was a war that broke out because the Cult of Immortality suddenly attacked.

“Because that hateful dragon ruined all the plans constructed by the Dark Lord.”

However, the Cult of Immortality’s envoy said that the Dragon God Bahamut had ruined the plans set by the Dark Lord.

That seemed to be why they were hostile.

“Ah. If you’re referring to the methods you used in Ulsan, then I can understand perfectly.”

Jeong Dong-geon finally realized that the Cult of Immortality had intended to do in other regions what they had done in Ulsan, and they resented the Balhut Cult for recapturing two cities first.

Of course, only the Cult of Immortality and the envoy before him would know the true answer, but with the information he had now, that was the limit of the conclusion Jeong Dong-geon could draw.

“Very well. It seems we were destined to be enemies from the start. I’m satisfied with confirming this. I’ll release one more prisoner.”

Accepting this, he released another prisoner, leaving just one prisoner remaining.

Having negotiated this far without a single level down, the envoy seemed to relax his guard as three prisoners had been released, and he turned to question Jeong Dong-geon.

“…Is this contract real?”

“It is indeed. We’ve been releasing prisoners as promised, haven’t we?”

He had only been stating facts, but not once had there been a reaction from the contract.

It was inevitable that some doubt would arise.

“Or would you like to risk a level down and break your oath once?”

“…Ugh.”

But using such precious levels to uncover the truth of that contract seemed too wasteful.

Although he wanted to expose the lie right now, if the price was his own level, it was more beneficial for the envoy personally to continue the negotiation quietly.

“Then for my final question. What happened to the people in Ulsan?”

“……”

However, the envoy couldn’t easily answer Jeong Dong-geon’s final question.

Faced with a question that was like touching a sore spot for the Cult of Immortality, the envoy looked around with a bewildered expression, but no one was there to help him.

If this were revealed and this fact became known throughout the Korean peninsula…

“……”

It was dangerous.

The envoy seemed to think this was a secret that should be kept even at the cost of his level being reduced, so he remained silent.

Yes, silence.

The oath only required him to speak the truth, so if he didn’t answer the question, wouldn’t that be fine?

“You’re not answering. Does that mean you’re willing to accept a level down?”

Jeong Dong-geon asked if he was willing to accept a level down, and the envoy retorted with a somewhat mocking expression.

“Ha. Planning to lie without even knowing if this is real…!”

After all, whether it was real hadn’t been proven yet.

If… if it was just a paper imbued with magical power, the level down wouldn’t happen, and the envoy would be exposing Jeong Dong-geon’s fraud, wouldn’t he?

The subsequent negotiation would proceed more favorably, and the envoy would achieve great merit.

“AAAAARGH!”

Contrary to the envoy’s hopes, the contract imposed a penalty on him for breaking his oath.

That penalty was indeed a level down.

It forcibly collected power from the foolish one who blatantly failed to fulfill the contract.

“It seems the contract has determined that you won’t fulfill it. You must receive the penalty.”

“W-wait. Is this real?! Are you saying my level is really going down?! I was so close to level 20 with just a little more effort!”

“Let’s check and see.”

After the intense pain subsided, the envoy regained his senses and glared at Jeong Dong-geon with an incredulous expression. Jeong Dong-geon responded with a small smile, telling him to check for himself.

“S-status window…! You fool!”

The envoy’s level had indeed decreased.

The level reduction was 3, and the stats appropriate to that level had also been clearly deducted.

This meant he would have to put in considerable effort again to regain those 3 levels, and at the same time, it meant his path to becoming superhuman had become more distant.

‘My position! My power! My strength! All of this is disappearing?’

He could also quickly sense that his position within the Cult of Immortality would fall.

“No! No! This can’t be happening! My… my level has decreased…!”

“But since you’ve tried to keep the secret even at the cost of your level, I too must keep my oath. I’ll release the last prisoner.”

The envoy howled like a beast, seemingly unable to believe this reality, and Jeong Dong-geon briefly sympathized with him while fulfilling his own oath by releasing the final prisoner.

Judging that all contractual obligations had been fulfilled, the magical effect on both Jeong Dong-geon and the envoy disappeared, and the contract burned and vanished.

“Damn it…! Damn it! Damn it!”

“Well then. Let’s meet on the next battlefield.”

Jeong Dong-geon simply returned to Ulsan Airport, leaving behind the envoy who had fallen to his knees in despair, wailing over his decreased level.