Ch.302302. North Korea (1)

In reality, considering the status that the Dragon Priestess held within Seorabeol, this was essentially a declaration equivalent to Seorabeol announcing they would immediately use nuclear weapons if war broke out with their current ally, the Yamato Alliance.

For the Yamato Alliance, receiving support from a nuclear power was incredibly reassuring, but conversely, it raised questions within the Yamato Alliance about whether this war was truly significant enough to warrant the Dragon Priestess’s direct involvement.

The enemy wasn’t an internationally notorious force like the Cult of Immortality. At best, they were just warlords connected to pirates who controlled the South China Sea.

Of course, some of those warlords had likely collaborated with the Cult of Immortality, and others might have cooperated with them secretly. Perhaps the Dragon Priestess was stepping in as an additional warning to the Cult of Immortality.

Seorabeol would engage in any war related to the Cult of Immortality.

“We can’t deploy Kim Su-ho and Jeong Dong-geon to Japan. Kim Su-ho needs to handle North Korea. And Jeong Dong-geon must deal with the Cult of Immortality that has established itself in Busan.”

“Then we only have Seol-hwa left.”

That reasoning was half right and half wrong.

In truth, Bahamut had initially planned to dispatch either Kim Su-ho or Jeong Dong-geon, but internal issues within Seorabeol made it impossible to send their top generals abroad.

In that case, high-ranking Awakened like Jin A-yeon, Han Seong-geun, Governor Heo Jin-ho, or an inspector could have been considered for deployment to the Yamato Alliance. However, each had important responsibilities, so ultimately Baek Seol-hwa was the only card Seorabeol could play.

Of course, they could have chosen Son Sang-hui, who served as an adjutant to either Kim Su-ho or Jeong Dong-geon, but compared to their superiors, they had many shortcomings.

“What are your thoughts about the East Sea?”

“A joint fleet between Seorabeol and the Yamato Alliance will be formed, so the East Sea’s safety won’t be an issue. Moreover, with the collapse of the Cult of Immortality in South Korea, the ghost fleets appearing in the East Sea have been virtually annihilated.”

“I see.”

This time, Kim Su-ho, attending the meeting as a staff officer, expressed concerns about protecting the East Sea, but the response was simply that there wasn’t much of an issue due to the elimination of the ghost fleet that had threatened the East Sea.

In reality, the current threat to the East Sea’s safety wasn’t ghost fleets but pirates, indicating how significantly the Cult of Immortality’s influence had diminished on the Korean Peninsula.

They had managed to maintain their influence in Busan, but they would eventually kneel before Seorabeol, which had completed the pacification of South Korea.

It wasn’t a bad decision to show the Yamato Alliance what Seorabeol’s loyalty meant by having the Dragon Priestess take the field.

“And isn’t there another reason why you can step up?”

“The North Korean issue, right?”

“Yes. More specifically, because of the Cult of Immortality that has established itself in North Korea. And there are still remnants of the Cult in Busan as well.”

And the important reason why Kim Su-ho and Jeong Dong-geon could take action was because Seorabeol still had unfinished business.

Yes, from the Cult of Immortality remnants who fled to North Korea to their main force established in Busan.

After reclaiming Seoul, Paju and Kaesong had become the new battlegrounds for the Seoul Allied Forces, where they continued to engage in a delicate balance between guerrilla and conventional warfare.

The Seoul Allied Forces wanted to secure Kaesong to open the path to Pyongyang, while North Korea desperately wanted to end the war in Paju and prevent the Seoul Allied Forces from advancing northward.

“The war with the Cult of Immortality is over. But the war with North Korea isn’t over yet.”

“When will the armistice negotiations come? Isn’t it about time we ended this war?”

“That’s right. I’d like to conclude the armistice negotiations before the general election so we can proceed with the election with peace of mind.”

But both the Seoul Allied Forces and North Korea had reached their limits.

In Seorabeol’s case, they had sufficient supplies and morale due to their war victories, but soldiers on the front lines were expressing war fatigue. For North Korea, they had reached the limit of their resources, and the Cult of Immortality needed to focus on taking over North Korea rather than continuing the war with Seorabeol, which was nearly impossible.

Given the situation, either North Korea or Seorabeol would have to attempt negotiations through diplomatic channels soon, and Bahamut also expected this war to end before the general election.

“Then, what about using the Cult of Immortality remaining in Busan as hostages for negotiations?”

“Oh? Explain further.”

It was Jeong Dong-geon who responded to Bahamut’s concerns.

He proposed using the Cult of Immortality remnants in Busan as hostages to negotiate peace, and Bahamut seemed interested in this proposal, gazing at Jeong Dong-geon.

Under that gaze, Jeong Dong-geon nodded lightly and explained his reasoning.

“The reason the Cult of Immortality in North Korea continues to call itself North Korea without removing the Kim family is because they believe they don’t have the power to fully control North Korea yet. So the Cult, which is just a remnant now, must be coveting the infrastructure left in Busan.”

“So you’re saying we can buy peace with that.”

“Of course, in exchange, the Cult of Immortality might be able to take over North Korea, but even then, it would be difficult for them to return to their heyday. Currently, even the Kim family regime in North Korea only controls the areas around Pyongyang. They can’t control the provinces at all, where local warlords are asserting their power.”

While one might worry that giving the Cult of Immortality the personnel they needed could allow them to regain their strength, Seorabeol now had access to information collected by the National Intelligence Service agents that Kim Su-ho had used.

This meant they could understand North Korea’s internal situation, and Jeong Dong-geon, realizing that North Korea’s situation was worse than expected, was essentially suggesting that Seorabeol show mercy first since the Cult couldn’t recover to its former glory anyway.

Additionally, it was an opportunity to acquire Busan, which was controlled by the Cult of Immortality, without reducing it to ruins through war—a proposal with more benefits than drawbacks.

“And what remains in the pacification of South Korea? Only Busan. If we recapture Busan and achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula, it would be just in time for the general election.”

“Indeed.”

“Send a Seorabeol negotiation team to Pyongyang. Tell the Cult of Immortality that we’ll send all their forces remaining in Busan to North Korea in exchange for an armistice or peace agreement based on the military demarcation line before the apocalypse. General Jeong Dong-geon will be responsible for the negotiations, in case of any unforeseen circumstances.”

“Understood.”

With that, they notified diplomatic channels that a Seorabeol negotiation team would be dispatched to Pyongyang, and North Korea responded that they would permit it.

Diplomatic relations between Seorabeol and North Korea had just begun, and while North Korea’s situation might not seem too bad, the reality was quite different.

As always, documentaries praising the glory of the Kim family were broadcast all day in downtown Pyongyang, and people from the markets were doing business on the streets—not a bad scene for post-apocalyptic times. To anyone watching, North Korea still appeared to be under the Kim family’s rule.

“Look! We have won the war against South Korea! This is the proof!”

“We are succeeding in reconstruction! The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has never fallen!”

From the magnificent military parade of the conquering army that briefly occupied Gangwon Province to the reconstruction of farms and factories using seeds and infrastructure brought by the conquerors.

North Korea claimed victory over South Korea and loudly praised the Kim family as invincible leaders, but the truth was somewhat different.

“Damn it. I never thought we’d be shouting about the glory of those northern pigs.”

“We have no choice. If we reveal the Cult of Immortality’s name right now, we’ll be hunted down by Seorabeol’s dogs.”

Currently, all North Korean policies, video editing, and broadcast production were under the Cult of Immortality’s control.

While on the surface it appeared that the Kim family firmly ruled North Korea, in reality, high-ranking officials from the Cult of Immortality were manipulating the Kim family—a kind of shadow government.

The Cult of Immortality thoroughly concealed the fact that they were in North Korea from the outside world, and many people, unless they were high-ranking North Korean officials, didn’t even know the Cult had arrived.

Most were either staying as “guests” of North Korea or had fled to China, spreading false rumors that the Cult of Immortality wasn’t in North Korea. They were attempting to govern under the name of North Korea while hiding the name of the Cult of Immortality.

“Let’s kill that big-headed pig and control his young son.”

“Killing him immediately is too risky. We need to make it look like a natural death.”

“Damn it. I never thought we’d be writing speeches for that pig.”

However, as their work continued, the Cult members inevitably realized their grim reality.

Before joining the Cult of Immortality, they had been South Korean citizens who viewed the Kim family as untouchable dictators or ridiculous pigs.

Yet now, the Cult was writing speeches for these “pigs,” planning events to showcase their dignity, and even managing their health and finances with dedicated Cult members. It was like serving masters.

In an underground meeting room unknown to anyone else, the Cult of Immortality’s executives laughed self-deprecatingly at their situation.

“But the mind control is working, right?”

“Yes. The Kim family now must die if we tell them to.”

But the Cult of Immortality, as a major power on the Korean Peninsula, had already brought the Kim family under their control.

The reason they continued to use the Kim family was simple: to redirect the loyalty of the North Korean people from the Kim family to the Cult of Immortality, essentially transforming North Korea from a country ruled by the Kim family to one ruled by the Cult.

They aimed to shift all the loyalty of North Korean citizens toward the Cult of Immortality instead of the Kim family, seeking a regime change through public sentiment.

“We don’t rule this land by force. We make the North Korean people genuinely follow the Cult of Immortality.”

Like the Balhut Cult, the Cult of Immortality was also aiming to establish a new country.

For this reason, they began employing governance techniques they hadn’t considered in South Korea, and in fact, most of the Cult of Immortality’s policies were copied from those used by Seorabeol during the Balhut Cult era.

They were implementing policies to help North Korean citizens awaken as Awakened, improving their lives by providing labor through undead, and engaging in economic activities through necromancy.

In particular, they were winning over North Korean citizens by implementing “mechanical” agriculture without machines using overwhelming numbers of skeletons, or by providing labor for construction projects.

While they were steadily working toward taking over the country…

“A negotiation team from Seorabeol.”

“It will be either an armistice or a peace treaty.”

“Obviously an armistice. They know we’re here, so there’s no way they’ll sign a peace treaty.”

Seorabeol’s message reached Pyongyang through diplomatic channels.

The Cult of Immortality initially hesitated about this message, but only briefly.

They began to seriously consider Seorabeol’s proposal to repatriate the Cult of Immortality remnants in Busan to North Korea.

“Busan… If we could bring back the infrastructure in Busan…”

“It would be a great help in taking over the country…!”

“But would Seorabeol really do something that benefits us?”

At first, they expressed doubt about this generous proposal, thinking that Seorabeol wouldn’t willingly do something beneficial for them.

However, before long, they realized that Seorabeol was serious about negotiating.

“The Japanese archipelago integration war…!”

“Damn it. If the allied forces win that war, we’ll be surrounded by Seorabeol and the Yamato Alliance.”

But the problem was that the stakes of the war being waged by the Yamato Alliance were enormous.

Victory would mean the Yamato Alliance would unify the Japanese archipelago, which meant a new enemy would be born for the Cult of Immortality.

Considering that the Yamato Alliance also had reasons to seek revenge against the Cult of Immortality, they needed to interfere with or sabotage this Japanese archipelago unification war.

“But we, who haven’t fully taken over North Korea yet, don’t have the means to check them.”

The problem was that the current Cult of Immortality didn’t have the military power to do so.

They were using all their forces to take over North Korea—how could they possibly check the Yamato Alliance?

This was essentially a notification from Seorabeol, and it was clear that the Yamato Alliance would slowly consume the Japanese archipelago with Seorabeol’s approval.

The only hope was that there were forces in the South China Sea who didn’t want the Yamato Alliance’s unification.

“…We accept the proposal.”

This meant the current Cult of Immortality was in a situation where they had to cling to potential miracles or uncertain futures.