Ch.307307. Destruction

In the realm of punitive authority, only the Korea First Party was responding while the rest remained silent, making the extremists increasingly anxious as time passed.

They had expected some grace period before making contact, but now with less than two weeks until the election, they finally realized that the two major parties had no intention of reaching out to them at all.

Before the apocalypse, they had expected either side to contact them to demonstrate their strength—the complete opposite of what happened. As a result, numerous extremist factions gathered at their hastily assembled container headquarters built on the ruins of collapsed buildings to seriously discuss countermeasures.

Though they had always been mortal enemies competing for subscribers and followers, this time they seemed to genuinely consider the situation dangerous, as they watched the developments with unified purpose rather than causing conflicts.

But that didn’t last long.

“Damn it! Not even the non-mainstream parties are contacting us! Do they really not need our support? Is this even politics?!”

“Our supporter numbers are gradually decreasing!”

“Views! The views are a problem too! How badly have you been doing your jobs?!”

Many extremist representatives threw their tablets and denied reality, violently venting their anger at those around them.

Their angry voices intimidated the many content planners and staff working under them, but in reality, after taking a hit from Jin A-yeon, their support base had been gradually shrinking.

Some had witnessed the difference between the Awakened and ordinary people and realized how harsh reality was, while many others had completely withdrawn from the alliance to return to life as ordinary citizens.

Just a few days ago, their anti-Seorabeol content had surpassed hundreds of thousands of views, with inflammatory captions and edited scenes sufficient to excite their supporters. Now, however, reactions were ambiguous, raising questions among existing subscribers, with cynical responses becoming noticeable.

It meant ordinary citizens had realized that the logic promoted by extremist forces was nonsense and had begun to consider it not worth their attention.

“Why is the Constitutional Democratic Party saying nothing? Shouldn’t they be the first to stop the theocratic regime?!”

The representative’s wailing might have been born of desperation.

Though parliament had been dissolved, leaving no ruling or opposition party, he harshly criticized the Constitutional Democratic Party—which had been the opposition before dissolution—for doing absolutely nothing.

But despite their wailing and expressions of anger, the Constitutional Democratic Party strictly prohibited contact with extremists as party policy to maintain their identity. Instead, they actively encouraged the Dragon Priestess to participate in parliament and promised to rebuild democratic traditions, taking a pragmatic approach.

Even if the Dragon Association were elected as the ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Party advocated for a grand national unity cabinet that prioritized stability over conflict through cooperation with the Dragon Association, aiming to capture moderate votes.

“What’s with this monarchy in this day and age?! Aren’t you conservatives?! You call yourselves conservative but approve of monarchy?!”

The Dragon Association was even more problematic for them.

The Dragon Association not only talked about monarchy but genuinely affirmed it, declaring that current Seorabeol was a monarchy and defending that system with their entire being.

In other words, they were a party that served the Dragon Priestess or Dragon Bahamut as monarchs, making them fundamentally incompatible with extremist forces that denied Seorabeol’s system or made anti-Seorabeol claims.

While moderates dismissed them as needing state-led reformation since the country had just been founded and extremist forces naturally emerged, or dismissed their statements as unfounded rumors, hardliners called them traitors who should be suppressed by Seorabeol as treasonous groups.

Either way, they weren’t getting support from either major party, which was what made them angry and desperate.

“Why is everyone ignoring us?! We’re telling the truth about Seoul!”

“Oh, is that so?”

As the situation developed this way, even the Korea First Party realized the gravity of the situation.

They had expected someone to reach out around the latter half of the election period, but not only was there no contact, they were being excluded, making alliance with these groups increasingly lukewarm.

“Will you make an alliance declaration with us?”

“Well, let’s keep watching the situation for now.”

The Korea First Party always avoided their requests for alliance by suggesting they should continue monitoring the situation, making them increasingly anxious.

They feared they might be treated not as a legitimate political force but as outsiders… or worse. They had been broadcasting daily without fail to rally their followers, but their concurrent viewer numbers kept decreasing over time.

“America won’t help us. Japan doesn’t care. Britain is mocking us! What did we do wrong?! We only told the truth!”

Their viewership, once in the tens of thousands, now couldn’t even break 500, making them feel their downfall approaching.

Despite their desperate wailing and lamenting, the situation wasn’t calming down but becoming more extreme, so internal conflicts naturally began to intensify.

“This is all because the leadership has been acting too weakly!”

“Why can’t we speak clearly! We should call for dismantling Seorabeol!”

“Revolution! We must prepare for action! Blood revenge against Seorabeol!”

Fractures began to appear within their ranks, with the more radical elements calling for preparation for action, but that was questionable.

If they truly had the courage to take action, they would have done so at the most advantageous time, not now when Seorabeol’s victory declaration was imminent.

The best timing for action would have been when the Seoul Allied Forces clashed with the Cult of Immortality. If they had succeeded in driving out the Seoul Allied Forces then, they might have been promised a place, but now there was no party or force willing to help them.

They knew this fact well, which is why despite their words, not a single person actually took action.

In the end, they were just opportunists who survived the apocalypse, good at shouting radical slogans but not brave enough to risk actual violence.

“Cowards.”

“You pig-dog bastards!?”

Eventually, they began to be socially isolated and treated as cowards by the public.

When ordinary citizens started calling them cowards, they finally decided to vent their frustration and prove they weren’t cowards by inciting violent riots.

Yes, if Seorabeol’s police and vigilantes were Awakened, they could attack places likely to have no Awakened to prove their courage.

They seemed to think they were being mocked as cowards because their opponents were Awakened, and if they demonstrated overwhelming violence, even the “pig-dogs” would be shocked into submission.

“We should target the courts that handle judicial matters for Seorabeol’s dictatorship!”

They decided to target a place where they could proclaim their anti-Seorabeol cause and simultaneously prove Seorabeol’s dictatorship.

Yes, the building that was once a government office had been rebuilt and now operated as the Seorabeol Central Court, a symbol of the revival of the rule of law and a place citizens called the return of justice—this was what they decided to attack.

“That’s right! Today’s court is a symbol of Seorabeol’s rule and forced distribution!”

Calling themselves the Korean Freedom Defense Army, they planned to attack the court, and in fear of being forgotten, all extremist forces joined the Korean Freedom Defense Army to carry out this action.

They purchased firearms circulating within Seorabeol and prepared for action. Once the Freedom Defense Army was fully armed with guns, they began attacking the Central Court under cover of night.

Their plan was to bomb the Central Court while capturing the judges there to threaten and negotiate with the Seorabeol government. It was an operation that used all the organization’s financial resources, even obtaining military-grade submachine guns that had been used before the apocalypse.

“Begin infiltration!”

The attack by hundreds of Freedom Defense Army members appeared on the surface to be a frenzied charge, and indeed their eyes flashed with madness.

However, that madness was very brief. They surrounded the area, rushed into the building, and fired submachine guns wildly to try to subdue the security guards protecting the court.

Yes, they wanted to subdue them.

“What’s this? Terrorism? Hey, terrorism without Bahamut Bullets. How refreshing?”

“Huh?”

What they hadn’t considered was that the seemingly lazy security guard who had been yawning was actually a high-ranking Awakened affiliated with Seorabeol or a Hwarang from the Dragon Priestess’s personal guard, making him very difficult to injure with ordinary submachine guns.

No matter how many bullets they fired after breaking into the court, to a warrior-class Awakened, it was little more than getting pricked by needles. Assessing the situation, the Hwarang didn’t even deploy his dragon armor but struck the hand of a Freedom whatever-they-called-themselves member who was firing a gun with lightning speed, sending his wrist flying off.

The Hwarang who had struck the hand to subdue him was more surprised by this outcome.

“My, my, my haaaand!”

“What are you guys?”

The Hwarang looked at the Freedom whatever-with incomprehension, and seeing their comrade’s wrist fly off, another whatever-member charged at the Hwarang but…

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, owwwwww!”

“Huh?”

This time too, the Hwarang, trying to subdue him lightly, delivered a gentle knife-hand strike to the charging whatever-member’s stomach, and at that moment, the man’s internal organs completely ruptured, causing him to start bleeding profusely.

The Hwarang’s expression moved beyond incomprehension to complete bewilderment as he looked at his opponent, and upon seeing the opponent’s face, he seemed to finally understand the situation, looking at the Freedom whatever-Army with an incredulous expression.

“You’re not Awakened?”

Yes, the previous strikes had all been delivered by Awakened standards, and realizing that the opponent was not an Awakened but an ordinary person who couldn’t awaken, or at most a Level 1 Awakened who had just awakened, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

Since they were terrorizing the court, he had thought it was the work of anti-Seorabeol forces, clearly related to the Cult of Immortality, a warlord rebelling against Seorabeol, or a lone wolf.

In reality, there were none of those, just ordinary people who couldn’t even awaken charging at him, leaving the Hwarang beyond incredulous, wanting to ask what they were thinking.

“Crazier than the Cult of Immortality?”

However, now that he knew the opponents were ordinary people, there was no reason to continue confronting them. The Hwarang neutralized all the terrorists who had attacked the court simply by releasing a light amount of magical power.

Ordinary people who weren’t even Awakened couldn’t resist the pressure of magical power emitted by a high-ranking Awakened. Thus, all the terrorists were instantly neutralized, and except for those who had suffered serious injuries due to the Hwarang’s initial misjudgment, all were able to collapse with their limbs intact.

The court building staff, either bold or trusting in the Hwarang’s strength, continued their work without showing any sign of surprise, while citizens watching were unable to hide their shock at the sudden attack.

But at the same time…

“That’s an Awakened?”

“Is there such a difference between us and them?”

For ordinary citizens, it was a scene that made them realize the difference between the Awakened and ordinary people, and the sight of just one Awakened subduing hundreds of terrorists began to be shared throughout Seoul through videos captured by citizens.

The news spread instantly through social networks, and the reactions of internet users who hadn’t awakened were unanimous.

“…Is that really a person?”

“One person just catches bullets?”

“It was over before they could even draw their guns?”

Everyone realized the overwhelming difference between ordinary people and the Awakened, and…

“Does this mean we’ll become obsolete if we just stay like this?”

They understood why Seorabeol was pursuing the artificial awakening project as a national policy.

Yes, with such a difference, ordinary people would inevitably become obsolete in the future.

Seorabeol had expressed concern about that future, which is why they adopted the artificial awakening project as a policy at the national level, and this video proved their reasoning.