Ch.164163. Alliance and Confrontation (2)

They were outnumbered, and at the same time, Heo Jin-ho’s group had absolutely no energy to fight against the Balhut Cult, so they immediately chose to surrender. Their surrender was accepted by Baek Seol-hwa, and they were transported to Gyeongju.

Unlike the raiders who had tasted blood and become criminals, they were treated with great respect as interim government officials and their leader. In particular, Heo Jin-ho, who had been seriously injured while fleeing, was admitted to a large hospital where he could focus solely on treatment, receiving free surgery.

Thanks to this, they were able to truly rest their bodies and minds. Yu-na, who had received reports of their capture from Baek Seol-hwa, did not immediately visit them but generously gave them two weeks to organize their thoughts and rest their exhausted bodies.

For an Awakened, with proper treatment, their regenerative abilities would quickly heal them, allowing them to return to the battlefield. Indeed, when Yu-na visited Heo Jin-ho’s hospital room two weeks later:

“You’ve come? I was getting tired of waiting. You seem quite relaxed. The Balhut Cult, that is.”

As if he had been waiting, she could see that Heo Jin-ho was healed in both body and mind.

Seeing him doing push-ups and training his body, as if he couldn’t stay quietly in the hospital room, suggested he was naturally inclined toward being a warrior.

Seeing Heo Jin-ho like this, Choi Yu-na greeted him without any particular change in expression.

“Yes. Nice to meet you for the first time, Mr. Heo Jin-ho.”

“…That girl I saw before was a monster, but you’re even more of a monster. Haha. Are all young people these days such monsters?”

“Ah, I see. You seem to have excellent sensing abilities too. If you can feel my magical power.”

In response to Yu-na’s greeting, Heo Jin-ho, rather than returning the greeting, called her a monster with a somewhat frightened expression, as if intimidated by the overwhelming power he sensed from Yu-na.

He even stopped the push-ups he had been doing until just now and stared at Yu-na. It was a statement that could have been criticized as rude, but in fact, Heo Jin-ho’s comment wasn’t exactly wrong.

He seemed to be sensitive to magical power detection and had felt Yu-na’s tremendous magical power. Most people’s first reaction upon meeting Yu-na was to call her a monster or question if she was human, so it wasn’t just Heo Jin-ho’s reaction.

Rather, recognizing that Heo Jin-ho was a sensing type, Yu-na nodded in understanding and spoke.

“I had no intention of subjugating you at all. But if you’re uncomfortable, I’ll withdraw this power for a moment.”

“No, it’s fine. It can provide an appropriate sense of tension, so rather show me. Your normal self.”

Despite Yu-na’s kindness, Heo Jin-ho said it was actually fine, as it provided an appropriate sense of tension.

Well, without this, the girl before him would just be a young girl who hadn’t even reached her twenties, like Baek Seol-hwa whom he had seen before.

So for the upcoming negotiation, to instill an appropriate sense of tension, this magical power that made him shiver could stimulate Heo Jin-ho’s sense of crisis.

“Then once again. Hello, Mr. Heo Jin-ho. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine thanks to the Balhut Cult’s sincerity. More than me, I’d like you to take better care of my subordinates.”

“Haha. The others are receiving similar treatment, so don’t worry.”

So Yu-na greeted him again, and Heo Jin-ho said he was much better thanks to the Balhut Cult, and rather asked her to take care of his subordinates.

To this, Yu-na reassured him that the others were receiving similar treatment.

“That’s a relief then. They were subordinates who followed me to the end despite my shortcomings.”

Heo Jin-ho bowed his head in gratitude to Yu-na, as if relieved.

With an expression of relief, as if all his worries had been resolved, he stared at Yu-na.

Seeing this, Yu-na also anticipated that the negotiation would proceed smoothly and began to tell Heo Jin-ho the main point.

“I’m glad you’re reassured. We have a lot to talk about going forward. About your future actions, Mr. Heo Jin-ho. And some stories that might interest you.”

“What kind of story do you want to tell a defeated loser like me?”

However, Heo Jin-ho responded with a puzzled expression, as if wondering what opportunities a defeated person could have.

Before the apocalypse, opportunities could come as long as one was alive, but in this harsh apocalypse, it was notoriously difficult for a defeated loser to rise again.

Considering that even Kim Su-ho, the hero of Seoul, lost most of his prestige after being defeated once in Myeongdong, Heo Jin-ho’s logic wasn’t strange.

After all, Heo Jin-ho had been defeated by refugees, had his regime taken away, and had become a refugee himself, now under the protection of the Balhut Cult.

“In this apocalypse, being given a new opportunity is like a miracle. I was ultimately defeated, and we were driven out of Daegu, which was our home, making us essentially refugees. Our value would at best be as guests begging from the Balhut Cult, or as parasites consuming food.”

During the two weeks of treatment, his self-esteem seemed to have fallen significantly, as Heo Jin-ho told Yu-na with downcast eyes that their limit would be as guests or parasites.

It was the appearance of someone whose beliefs had collapsed due to betrayal by someone they had tried to trust and believe in, a phenomenon commonly seen in anxiety disorders.

He had led his subordinates this far for their sake, but now that their safety was secured, he essentially had no attachment to life anymore.

Yu-na knew this feeling all too well.

‘This is how I looked before meeting Lord Bahamut.’

After all, Yu-na had also suffered from this condition and was greatly confused until she met the dragon god Bahamut.

So to revive his motivation, she needed a special strategy.

“If you recapture Daegu, could you establish a government again?”

“…Are you saying you’ll give us another chance? To us, the defeated?”

Yu-na smiled brightly and told Heo Jin-ho she would give him another chance, and Heo Jin-ho, seemingly somewhat interested, asked after a moment of silence if she would really give a chance to someone who had been defeated.

To that voice filled with some expectation, Yu-na nodded as if it were natural and spoke, acknowledging Heo Jin-ho’s existence.

“Yes. For the plan we’re going to devise going forward. We’d like someone influential who is favorable to the Balhut Cult to have real power in Daegu.”

“…If I ask about that plan.”

Saying that for the future plan the Balhut Cult would announce, Heo Jin-ho’s help would be absolutely necessary, she told him he was a valuable person.

At those words, Heo Jin-ho pondered for a moment but then spoke, saying he would first like to hear about the plan.

“It’s an alliance. Or to explain in more detail, we plan to establish a united nation combining Gyeongju, Pohang, Daegu, and Ulsan.”

“A united nation, huh.”

It was indeed an alliance.

“We’ve already established a country in a sense, but it’s still lacking in many ways. So to supplement those deficiencies, with our Balhut Cult as the center, we plan to create a new power by uniting with all forces in this area. We already have Pohang and North Ulsan in our hands, so if we can also take Daegu, this plan is quite feasible.”

“So you’re essentially saying you’re going to formally establish a country. And incidentally, to absorb our talent without resistance.”

“Yes. But what’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing wrong. Rather, it’s an extremely merciful proposal for us.”

This was to suppress and integrate internal dissenting forces, and to absorb the numerous talents that could be gained without significant resistance.

If they had been using administrative power to subjugate one by one until now, this time they were showing mercy and tolerance, giving them the opportunity to make voluntary choices.

“Until now… honestly, you only had Gyeongju and Pohang as territory, right? Too small to call a country. Now you’re finally declaring the establishment of a nation in earnest.”

“Haha. Should I be alarmed at the fact that there’s a traitor to the Republic of Korea right in front of me? Or is it strange that I calmly acknowledge this fact? It’s truly frightening how I’m getting used to the apocalypse.”

At the sincere declaration of establishing a country, Heo Jin-ho laughed bitterly and said it was difficult to respond.

After all, before the apocalypse, this would have been an unimaginable… no, a delusional statement.

A person with a sound mind would have called it crazy talk, but now the Balhut Cult was capable of establishing a new country that no one could deny, declaring the end of the Republic of Korea.

“Well, the Republic of Korea has fallen, hasn’t it? Now that the hero of Seoul, Kim Su-ho, has failed to recapture Seoul, this tattered sign is about to disappear soon.”

“That’s right. This incident too… perhaps it’s also a result of Kim Su-ho’s defeat. With his defeat, provincial cities, if not Seoul, have become convinced that the Republic of Korea has perished.”

In the end, all of this started with the defeat of Kim Su-ho, the hero of Seoul.

If Kim Su-ho hadn’t been defeated, the Balhut Cult wouldn’t have been able to so blatantly declare their intention to establish a country, but Kim Su-ho’s defeat became the catalyst that convinced many warlords that the Republic of Korea had fallen.

The Republic of Korea led by Kim Su-ho was nothing more than a warlord controlling part of Seoul, and the laws and regulations of the Republic of Korea that were still being protected had become an illusion, a vain pretext.

“What a troublesome cult leader. To think such a person was living next door to us. The world is truly frightening. But from our position, we can’t refuse either. We owe our lives, and above all… this life isn’t just mine alone.”

However, while everyone else still respected the Republic of Korea and claimed to be its successor to obtain the legacy it would leave behind, the Balhut Cult was actually trying to establish a completely new country, excluding the Republic of Korea.

Heo Jin-ho laughed bitterly at the fact that such a person was his neighbor, and also realized that now that they had heard this, there was no way to escape.

Now Heo Jin-ho was in a position where he had to become an accomplice of the Balhut Cult to save the lives of the subordinates he led.

So it was better for his well-being to cooperate obediently, and Heo Jin-ho expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Balhut Cult.

“Thank you for making that decision.”

“Alright, let’s say I cooperate with you. Now what do we do? Even if you provide weapons or soldiers, it will be difficult to recapture Daegu right away. Two weeks is enough time for us to organize our thoughts, but it’s also enough time for them to take control of the defense system I created. From now on, you and I will have to face the defense line I built against zombies.”

However, Heo Jin-ho said that even with him and his remnants joining, there wasn’t much they could do.

He said that even if they borrowed soldiers now and set out to recapture Daegu, since they had given them two weeks, the other side would have already prepared for Heo Jin-ho’s counterattack.

Moreover, since they had only taken out the command with a decapitation strategy, if they could inherit and use the system Heo Jin-ho had established, they would be difficult opponents even for the Balhut Cult to attack.

“Once a regime has been usurped, there will be an enormous increase in the type of people who think they can recapture the usurper’s regime if it were them, declaring ‘I can do it.’ I suppose there are such types in the Balhut Cult as well…”

“Of course there are. I was just on my way back after dealing with all the challenges from those fools until just now.”

“…Oh, is that so?”

And now that Heo Jin-ho had usurped the regime and shown that it was possible to seize power, there was a possibility that actions would be taken to usurp the established interim government regimes in other regions as well.

The Balhut Cult was no different, and there couldn’t be no one who thought they could do better than the current cabinet and the Dragon Priestess, declaring they could do it.

The beast-like humans who craved power naturally emerged in any era, and Yu-na had simply answered their challenges by accepting them all and blowing them all away.

“Don’t tell me you’re not confident?”

“Confidence, huh… Well, I’m not confident about losing. At first, we were helplessly defeated due to the surprise attack, but in a head-on battle, if you support us well, we can win.”

Then when she asked Heo Jin-ho if he wasn’t confident in breaking through the defense line he had built, Heo Jin-ho retorted as if that couldn’t be the case.

“From now on, I’ll prove it.”

He declared that he would prove it from now on.