Ch.1919. The Balhut Cult (1)

The meeting with Bahamut was evaluated and remembered by many survivors as the day that determined Gyeongju’s fate.

“From this moment on, our Balhut Cult will begin the Gyeongju reconstruction project!”

The Balhut Cult, having absorbed and united numerous survivor camps, had grown into the most powerful force in Gyeongju. Their first declaration after this rapid growth was the Gyeongju reconstruction project—a large-scale civil engineering plan to rebuild the collapsed city into a new one.

This ambitious project attracted great interest from survivor clubs and wandering survivors who hadn’t encountered Bahamut, while survivor camps that hadn’t even considered joining showed undisguised discomfort. However, the Balhut Cult ignored all complaints and pushed forward with the reconstruction project.

“With advice from Gyeongju’s finest experts, we will ensure the success of the reconstruction project.”

Choi Yu-na, now officially the leader and high priestess of the Balhut Cult, followed Bahamut’s orders and invited experts from various administrative fields who had survived even during the zombie apocalypse.

Economics, law, culture, administration, construction, politics, and military—there were retired and active politicians, architecture professors teaching students, and even retired soldiers. They could be considered the elite agents recruited through the Balhut Cult’s utmost efforts, but…

“Come to think of it, those fellows managed to survive this chaos quite well.”

In reality, it was closer to inviting experts from various fields who had survived in Gyeongju.

Those invited by Yu-na looked at the faces of other invited experts and thought casually, “All familiar faces. I know these people.”

While they initially marveled at how well everyone had survived this zombie apocalypse-level disaster, they all tensed up as soon as Yu-na entered the conference room.

If the Balhut Cult hadn’t exterminated all zombies in Gyeongju and reclaimed the city, these people would very likely have been branded useless.

“To fulfill the promises made by the Balhut Cult, we need substantial manpower. However, with many survivors joining at once, we lack officials to manage and supervise them.”

“Then we’ll recruit former civil servants again. If more are needed, I’ll dispatch people from within the Balhut Cult.”

They had to prove their usefulness to Yu-na… no, to Bahamut who was watching this scene.

For those with vivid memories of being abandoned in the harsh environment of the zombie apocalypse, the Balhut Cult was a lifeline, their salvation.

Lee Su-a, who had become an administrative official of the cult, reported her findings one by one with desperate determination, pointing out problems.

“Although zombies have disappeared from within the city, there are still zombie groups coming from outside. Additionally, we need security forces to control potential criminals inside the city and troops to liberate villages on the outskirts.”

“We’ll create forces composed of Awakened. Jeong Dong-geon, please select personnel to become soldiers or police.”

“Understood, Yu-na.”

While some were desperate to prove their abilities, others displayed confidence.

Jeong Dong-geon, who had already demonstrated his influence in survivor camps, spoke confidently to Yu-na about what was needed, unlike Su-a’s desperate approach.

What Jeong Dong-geon mentioned was truly necessary, so Yu-na nodded and said she would support his policies.

It was true that although Bahamut’s arrival had eliminated zombie groups within the city, they still needed forces to deal with zombies coming from outside, maintain internal security, and liberate nearby villages occupied by zombies.

Moreover…

“What about the movements of survivor camps that haven’t joined us?”

“There’s no movement yet. Our staff speculates they’re planning to move according to the Balhut Cult’s actions.”

“Thank you for your hard work. Please continue monitoring their movements.”

“I understand.”

There were survivor camps that didn’t follow the Balhut Cult.

Of course, they publicly claimed neutrality, and the Balhut Cult had no intention of attacking them first unless they attacked the cult.

Moreover, Bahamut had ordered to resolve issues with them through dialogue and diplomacy as much as possible.

So the only military action the Balhut Cult could take was surveillance.

“Since it will take time to design new laws, we need temporary laws to apply during city reconstruction.”

The next official to step forward was Hwang Seung-man, the judicial official in charge of the Balhut Cult’s legal system.

Hwang Seung-man mentioned that since designing legislation suitable for the zombie apocalypse era would take time, they needed laws to apply immediately on a temporary basis.

“Temporary laws?”

“If we apply punishment regulations based on previous laws while rebuilding the city, there will naturally be great confusion and many wronged people. So I plan to abolish all existing laws and apply three temporary laws.”

Hwang Seung-man explained that applying pre-apocalypse South Korean laws directly would cause confusion and injustice.

In reality, actions that were serious crimes before the apocalypse now occurred as everyday occurrences in the current situation.

If they punished according to South Korean law, chaos would inevitably ensue, so he proposed abolishing existing laws and temporarily applying three interim laws.

“First, murderers shall be punished for felony. Second, those who harm others shall be punished for misdemeanor. Third, those who steal others’ belongings shall be punished for petty offense. Anyone who properly observes these three laws shall be protected in the name of God Bahamut.”

“Is that sufficient?”

Hwang Seung-man proposed what was commonly known as the Three Laws.

Frankly, compared to modern law, it was extremely crude.

“Yes, this is good for now. This is just temporary law to use during city reconstruction, and we’ll use different laws after the city is rebuilt.”

“I understand. We’ll temporarily apply these three laws as Hwang Seung-man suggested. Then next…”

It was still inappropriate to apply modern laws directly as the zombie apocalypse situation hadn’t ended and was still ongoing.

Although zombies within Gyeongju had been completely eliminated, zombies were still coming from outside, and internally they were busy with the reconstruction project.

So until that was resolved, Hwang Seung-man’s opinion was that laws should be kept as simple as possible.

“It’s us.”

“Wow. I can’t believe those two are working together.”

The next presenters were politics and society experts.

In response to Yu-na’s call, two men raised their hands together, and the other officials who watched them stand up together wore expressions suggesting they were witnessing something truly rare.

“Hwang Geun-chul.”

“Park Cheol-gon.”

This was because these two men differed in party affiliation, inclination, and ideology.

Like members of two parties that had fought extreme left-right conflicts until the zombie apocalypse broke out, they were now cooperating hand in hand as if forming a national unity cabinet.

Of course, it would be strange to be divided by ideology or factional conflicts in this situation.

However, other officials familiar with the extreme left-right conflicts seen in the media and daily life found it disconcerting that these two were presenting together.

“I understand, man…”

They were truly an ill-matched pair.

Even they themselves, aware of the attention, thought so.

“First, we need official positions for our cult. We must clearly specify concrete authority and responsibility to command others, and reorganize the organizational chart.”

“And ranks. We need to properly distinguish job grades, or the types and difficulty levels of duties.”

“Finally, positions. That is, we need to clearly establish the hierarchy within the cult for proper work efficiency.”

Positions, ranks, hierarchy.

At the claim that the Balhut Cult needed these three things, Yu-na made a troubled expression.

“How should I answer this?”

She fell into contemplation about how to respond.

“This wasn’t in the roadmap Lord Bahamut gave me.”

Before entering the meeting, Yu-na had received a kind of cheat sheet from Bahamut, and through that note, she had managed to converse equally with those she had called elites without being overwhelmed.

However, when politics—specifically, the topic of ranks—came up, she was greatly flustered as it differed from what Bahamut had anticipated.

Moreover, Yu-na was still a 16-year-old girl who knew nothing about social life.

For Yu-na, who had little connection to ranks commonly mentioned in social life except for school teachers, what she could do was…

“…I’ll leave that matter to Hwang Geun-chul and Park Cheol-gon.”

She said she would entrust that issue to Hwang Geun-chul and Park Cheol-gon.

Since she couldn’t point out anything herself, she was delegating to those who appeared to be experts.

Of course, while doing so, she maintained a cool and dignified appearance like the dragon she served, putting on airs in front of the executives.

“Understood.”

“Leave it to us.”

Her act seemed to work well, as the two men smiled slightly and bowed respectfully at Yu-na’s statement that she would delegate to them.

They thought they could gain the trust of Choi Yu-na, the high priestess of the Balhut Cult, thanks to their good presentation.

Of course…

“I’ll use this opportunity as my first political career in the Balhut Cult.”

They had no dark intentions of betraying the Balhut Cult or Yu-na.

Currently, the dominant force in Gyeongju was the Balhut Cult and the god Bahamut whom they followed, and the two politicians predicted that their momentum would continue for quite some time.

“Well, as long as there’s a dragon, we’ll never lose in war. This is definitely a successful connection!”

These two, who wanted their own survival and high power, hoped that the Balhut Cult would maintain its influence for a long time and become a force representing the new South Korea.

They believed that with Bahamut present, they would never lose if a fight broke out, and they wanted to rise to high positions in the Balhut Cult to wield power comfortably.

“Here, there’s a chance to get a position second only to one and above all others!”

Yes… they were aiming for the prime minister position of the Balhut Cult!

As local Gyeongju council members unrelated to the central assembly, they had ambitions to rise to high positions at least once!

“How is the reconstruction project going?”

Leaving behind the two politicians secretly burning with ambition, Yu-na listened to the report from Yu Su-seong, an architecture professor.

“Let me tell you about the Gyeongju reconstruction project. Currently, there are no problems with the project itself. We’re moving as quickly as possible to make the area habitable by rapidly demolishing buildings that have collapsed or become unusable due to severe odors, and repairing usable buildings.”

“With your ability, Su-seong, how long will it take?”

Yu Su-seong had awakened as an Awakened and simultaneously acquired skills related to construction and crafting.

The skill’s ability was, naturally, to receive additional bonuses when constructing buildings or crafting tools.

As a simple example, if an ordinary Awakened could construct one building a day, Yu Su-seong could construct buildings and craft tools several times faster and more efficiently.

“Even with my abilities, for the number of people currently registered with the Balhut Cult to return to pre-apocalypse living conditions, at least 20 days are needed. Demolishing collapsed buildings that can no longer be used, cleaning up dust and garbage from demolition… there’s more to do than I expected.”

Even with those abilities, returning to previous living conditions was still a difficult task.

The city had been destroyed by zombies, and rebuilding the destroyed city required a lot of manpower.

“Fortunately, urban infrastructure like electricity and water systems are intact, so if we can properly maintain them, we can use electricity and water within the city. Of course, until then, we’ll need Lord Bahamut’s help.”

“Lord Bahamut has promised to support the cult as much as possible.”

The hopeful aspect was that the city’s infrastructure remained intact.

If they could restore the infrastructure based on that, they could return to pre-disaster life…

“But for gas and oil… While we’ve collected as much as possible from nearby gas stations and have some quantity left, it will quickly disappear if consumed at pre-apocalypse levels.”

“…So we need alternative energy resources to replace gas and oil.”

Naturally, it was difficult to return completely.

Even if water and electricity were resolved, gas essential for city living and fuel to move vehicles were problematic.

There was no way to obtain these energy resources in Gyeongju, and once the resources stockpiled in the city ran out, they wouldn’t be able to use machines that run on oil or gas.

“Yes. Thanks to Lord Bahamut’s help, we can receive unlimited supplies of cleanly purified water and electricity for home appliances or electric vehicles, but even he can’t do anything about gas and oil.”

“I’ll try to come up with countermeasures as much as possible.”

Sensing there would be great difficulties in fuel supply, Yu-na turned her attention to the last official.

“Finally… Lee Hyeon-a.”

“Yes, economic official Lee Hyeon-a here.”

Unlike her sister with gentle eyes, she was a career woman with sharp eyes wearing a neat secretary outfit.

“I believe the Balhut Cult needs currency now.”

Lee Hyeon-a argued that the Balhut Cult needed currency for economic activities.