Ch.147146. Reviewing the Negotiations

To conclude, the most desired outcomes of this negotiation—a ceasefire agreement, armistice, or end to hostilities—were not achieved.

From the Allied Forces’ perspective, this was the most desperately needed negotiation, and failing to achieve a ceasefire made this negotiation truly regrettable.

However, considering they obtained important information about the Cult of Immortality, it could be viewed as a partial success depending on one’s perspective.

“A failure.”

“Yes. In the end, we failed to temporarily halt the war.”

The Allied Forces leadership assessed this negotiation as essentially a failure.

After all, they hadn’t resolved any of the problems the Allied Forces were facing.

From the perspective of the Allied Forces soldiers, morale could significantly drop just from knowing this tedious war wouldn’t end.

“If we hadn’t achieved a decisive victory, it would have been dangerous.”

“The Ulsan Bridge battle was our most important battle.”

Fortunately, since the Ulsan Bridge battle ended in a decisive victory, the soldiers’ trust in the leadership hadn’t diminished at all.

Above all, the soldiers could clearly see the efforts being made to somehow resolve this situation, which created trust in the leadership.

“At least our continued victories help them forget their fatigue.”

In fact, they hadn’t accumulated defeats, and they had continued to win small defensive battles.

So these accumulated victories provided the driving force to continue the war despite the fatigue building among the soldiers.

“But the fact is, we needed time for maintenance. It’s truly regrettable.”

Still, what’s regrettable is regrettable.

It was true that they needed to reorganize their forces and give rest to tired soldiers.

“At least we can report good news to Lord Bahamut and the cabinet who are abroad on diplomatic activities. That’s truly fortunate.”

“Were you concerned about their reaction?”

“Yes. I was concerned about the cabinet.”

At least being able to deliver good news to Bahamut, who was conducting diplomatic negotiations abroad, could reassure Jeong Dong-geon.

No matter how much trust Bahamut had in him, that trust couldn’t last forever, and if the Ulsan war continued to drag on, that trust would inevitably crack.

While feeling such anxiety, this decisive victory allowed him to build trust with Bahamut once again, so it wasn’t a bad thing for Jeong Dong-geon personally.

“By the way, thinking about the information we obtained this time, the Cult of Immortality’s influence is broader than I thought.”

“Yes. It’s substantial. Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Ulsan, and even Busan. They’re exerting influence in every major city on the Korean peninsula.”

Among the information obtained this time, the most interesting was the influence wielded by the Cult of Immortality.

During negotiations, they had calmly passed over it, but the information that they exerted influence not only in major cities across the Korean peninsula but even in Seoul, the capital, made him wonder if the Cult of Immortality might be a more powerful force than the Balhut Cult.

“But they probably don’t actually govern more than half of those areas.”

However, if they were such a powerful force, there would be no need to focus solely on the Ulsan front.

They could attack the Balhut Cult’s headquarters through other regions, and if Daejeon was in their hands, it would be possible to target Pohang via a detour.

“The cities actually controlled by the Cult of Immortality are Ulsan… at most, Busan would be the limit.”

“Is it because Hero Kim Su-ho is in Seoul?”

Of course, each region had its outstanding heroes who reclaimed cities, and Kim Su-ho, who was based in Seoul, was the first hero on the Korean peninsula to reach the superhuman realm.

In fact, news had spread that he had rescued remnants of the Korean government and established the Han River defense line, showing he was implementing the best possible measures. Han Seong-geun mentioned Kim Su-ho’s name to Jeong Dong-geon, judging that the Cult of Immortality couldn’t exert influence in Seoul where Kim Su-ho was present.

“Because Kim Su-ho is in Seoul. I was honestly surprised that they exert influence in Seoul despite it being protected by the first superhuman to reach level 20.”

Conversely, the fact that they exerted influence in Seoul where Kim Su-ho was present proved that the Cult of Immortality was quite a powerful force.

After all, influence doesn’t just mean control—it can also mean infiltrating organizations and doing various things, right?

“It’s not that surprising. They’re exerting influence through cell organizations rather than outright control.”

“I know. But we’re talking about Kim Su-ho here.”

In that sense, the Balhut Cult was already exerting influence in Daegu, so it wasn’t that surprising.

However, there was something Jeong Dong-geon didn’t know.

“About Kim Su-ho. According to recent news, he was defeated in Myeongdong.”

“Kim Su-ho was?”

The hero called the Ever-Victorious had actually tasted defeat.

Jeong Dong-geon looked at Han Seong-geun with an expression of disbelief, and Han Seong-geun nodded heavily with a cold expression.

“Yes.”

He confirmed it.

Jeong Dong-geon pondered for a moment with a troubled expression at Han Seong-geun’s words.

“That’s… troubling. Did Kim Su-ho die?”

First, he asked about Kim Su-ho’s survival.

The strategy the Balhut Cult needed to consider would differ depending on that.

Fortunately…

“He didn’t die. According to community sources, they barely lost any forces. They only lost the territory they had reclaimed in their expedition.”

“So the Han River defense line is safe.”

“Yes.”

Kim Su-ho not only survived, but the forces he led didn’t lose their strength.

They only lost reclaimed territory, and there was no news that the crucial Han River defense line had fallen.

It could essentially be interpreted as one step forward, two steps back, but…

“Something must have happened in Seoul.”

Conversely, if they abandoned hard-won territory and retreated, it meant something had happened in Seoul.

Jeong Dong-geon could speculate two possibilities:

‘The emergence of a powerful undead. That’s the simplest and quickest explanation.’

The first was a powerful undead.

Having already discovered a special entity called a banshee in the East Sea, the groundwork had been laid for powerful undead to appear in the apocalypse.

Moreover, if the Cult of Immortality, which had connections to the ghost fleet, was exerting influence in Seoul, it was possible to speculate that a powerful undead prepared by the Cult of Immortality could be there.

This logic was the easiest to understand and could be seen as a situation warranting retreat.

Considering how much trouble the East Sea fleet had with the banshee during their first encounter, it was a rational choice for Kim Su-ho to retreat for the safety of his troops.

“…Or perhaps there’s an urgent internal problem.”

“Commander?”

The second possibility was an internal… that is, a political problem.

Jeong Dong-geon had Bahamut’s trust and the support of Hwang Geun-chul and Park Cheol-gon, representatives of the two factions, so he had never faced political problems, but Kim Su-ho was different.

If it wasn’t a powerful undead issue, the only explanation for choosing to retreat and abandoning hard-won territory would be internal political problems.

There was a distinct possibility that relations between Kim Su-ho and the political forces at the Han River defense line were poor or uncooperative.

“…Let’s move past the discussion about Kim Su-ho and continue. The second point is about the leader of the Cult of Immortality. He has the title of Dark Lord.”

“That’s quite a common title. For a villain.”

“Indeed. If they had called him the Black Wizard, I might have felt tense for some reason.”

The name was so grandiose that it wasn’t scary.

Rather, if it had been a clean and concise name, they might have felt a bit more fear. That was just a frivolous joke.

“But unlike the common name, he’s regarded as an absolute being in the Cult of Immortality, befitting his name.”

“An absolute being… like Lord Bahamut?”

“Who knows. We know nothing about his power. But considering that countless unimaginable things can appear in this apocalypse… we should be cautious.”

However, they couldn’t let their guard down.

No one except the Cult of Immortality knew about his identity yet, and the only reason they could confirm this being’s existence was thanks to interrogation through the Geas Scroll.

Above all, what Jeong Dong-geon was most concerned about was…

“I can’t guarantee there aren’t beings equal to Lord Bahamut in this apocalypse. Anything can happen in the apocalypse.”

What if the opponent was on par with the dragon god Bahamut?

In that case, how should they deal with it? Jeong Dong-geon’s concerns only deepened, but…

“I see.”

“You don’t seem very frightened.”

Han Seong-geun simply answered concisely, as if it wasn’t a problem.

Jeong Dong-geon asked why, and…

“But the fact that this Dark Lord they mentioned isn’t taking direct action is evidence that this being fears the power of dragon god Bahamut, isn’t it?”

“Is that so?”

Han Seong-geun argued that if such power existed, it could end the Ulsan war directly, but instead, it was operating through the Cult of Immortality without direct involvement.

If the Cult of Immortality was aware of dragon god Bahamut’s existence, it could be evidence that the Dark Lord was also aware of dragon god Bahamut, and one could argue that the Dark Lord feared dragon god Bahamut.

“Yes. If that power were absolute, it should have already dominated the Korean peninsula. Yet it doesn’t show itself at all and merely observes while moving the Cult of Immortality. Meanwhile, Lord Bahamut takes the initiative when necessary.”

Han Seong-geun cited as evidence the fact that this absolute being had never appeared on the front lines.

Dragon god Bahamut would come to the front lines himself if necessary, but the Dark Lord claimed by the Cult of Immortality not only hadn’t appeared on the front lines but was a mysterious figure about whom no information existed before this negotiation.

“That could be true. But we must not let our guard down. Moving on to the next piece of information. We fundamentally cannot coexist with the Cult of Immortality.”

“So it is as expected.”

The next piece of information was… the reason they had to continue this bleak war.

It was the decisive reason why they couldn’t negotiate a ceasefire or end to the war, and Jeong Dong-geon really wanted to ask the Cult of Immortality if they were thinking of fighting to the death.

Surely the Cult of Immortality must know that both sides could be ruined at this rate.

“I thought we could at least negotiate, but the opponent has already decided to destroy the Balhut Cult. Since their absolute being has declared it, all we can do is destroy them before we’re destroyed.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

However, if the opponent had already decided to destroy the Balhut Cult, the Balhut Cult must also decide to destroy the Cult of Immortality.

Jeong Dong-geon declared that he would destroy the Cult of Immortality, and Han Seong-geun, while saying it was unfortunate, didn’t object to that vow.

In the end, they knew that for one side to survive, the other had to be destroyed.

“Finally… about the Ulsan residents.”

“…What happened to them?”

Jeong Dong-geon just shook his head in silence.

It was a wordless gesture indicating not-so-good news, and Han Seong-geun simply kept his mouth shut at the sight.

“They didn’t give a proper answer. If we’re to have hope, we believe the Ulsan residents are still alive.”

“In this apocalypse, having false hope is… too cruel.”

This apocalypse was too harsh to believe they were still alive.

Above all, considering the methods used by the Cult of Immortality, their survival could be considered practically hopeless.

“It’s best to be prepared.”

“Understood, Commander.”

In the end, they had to be prepared to sacrifice half of Ulsan.

Jeong Dong-geon said to be prepared in a trembling voice, and Han Seong-geun simply acknowledged his words with a troubled look.

With this, they had reviewed all the collected information, but Jeong Dong-geon seemed to have something else on his mind.

“And before Lord Bahamut returns, I’d like to gather information about Seoul.”

“Seoul?”

He mentioned collecting information about Seoul to Han Seong-geun.

“Like it or not, Seoul is the center of South Korea. The fact that Hero Kim Su-ho was defeated… that could affect the entire Korean peninsula.”

“Understood. I’ll look into it.”

Whether they liked it or not, the defeat of Kim Su-ho in Seoul could have an impact across the entire Korean peninsula, so they needed to think about countermeasures.