Ch.318318. Busan (2)

Though it hadn’t been mentioned for a long time, after the Seoul Reclamation Operation, Busan had become an official territory of Seorabel. This came about through negotiations between Seorabel and North Korea, where they agreed to officially repatriate the remaining Cult of Immortality members in Busan to North Korea in exchange for returning Busan as it was.

North Korea had honored the treaty and handed over Busan as an intact city to Seorabel, and no traces of the magical energy corrupted by the Cult of Immortality’s experiments had been detected so far.

Because of this, Busan appeared to be a living city on the surface. Steel containers for Busan’s reconstruction were arriving at the harbor, and downtown buildings had largely maintained their original form. At night, electricity ran through some buildings, and there were footprints of people walking on the streets. At first glance, one might think it was in better condition than Seoul before its reconstruction.

“…Hmm. It’s completely ruined.”

Unfortunately, looking deeper, this city had long since died.

While there were indeed footprints of people moving about the city, making them citizens of Busan in a sense, from Seorabel’s perspective, there were too many concerns to comfortably call them citizens.

“Is there anyone here who has registered as a resident at Busan City Hall?”

A Seorabel administrative officer called out desperately, but most people living in Busan turned their heads away.

They could be called citizens since they lived in Busan, but their personal information couldn’t be verified through the resident registration records of the former government.

If they had been slaves, believers, or test subjects captured by the Cult of Immortality, their information could have been identified through documents left behind or handed over by the cult, but that wasn’t the case either.

This meant they were likely refugees who had settled from outside, or possibly looters who had entered Busan during the war, making administrative management inevitably difficult.

“Lady Seolhwa. The internal infrastructure…”

“What’s the problem?”

“The sewage system and power grid. They haven’t been maintained for so long. We can’t process sewage throughout the city until inspections are complete. And as for the power grid… except for a few areas, power supply isn’t functioning properly.”

The city’s entire sewage system and power grid were broken.

They had considered the possibility that the Cult of Immortality might have hidden an undead army in the sewers, but the cult had followed the treaty as agreed, and despite thorough exploration by the Hwarang, no powerful undead weapons were found in the sewers.

These two issues could be quickly restored once city operations resumed and management was reinstated, so they weren’t suffocating problems.

The next issue was more concerning.

“The problem is… even the citizens whose identities we can verify aren’t in their right minds.”

“What do you mean?”

“Essentially, most Busan citizens have become devoted followers of the Cult of Immortality. Though they had no choice for survival, they’ve forgotten how to live as humans and faithfully follow the teachings given by the cult.”

While those whose identities couldn’t be verified could be monitored separately without major issues arising, the Busan citizens whose identities could be verified had become faithful followers of the Cult of Immortality.

This indicated mental devastation—many citizens had forgotten how to live humanely as they did before the apocalypse. They strictly followed the teachings of the Cult of Immortality, and serious defects had developed in their ability to make choices or explain things logically.

This could be seen as a survival tactic under the Cult of Immortality, but as a result, they had become slaves completely obedient to the cult.

They had memorized the cult’s teachings and couldn’t resist the irrationality before their eyes.

Seolhwa felt more devastation than anger at the damage left by the cult.

“…That’s troublesome. But conversely, doesn’t that mean Lord Bahamut’s teachings could thoroughly penetrate?”

She thought it might not be so bad if it meant Bahamut’s teachings could penetrate—imagining that if they proclaimed the teachings of the true god instead of the false one, the citizens of Busan would soon return to normal. But this was nothing more than a delusion.

“Pardon?”

“No, I understand that administrative procedures are needed to undo that brainwashing. As governor, I’ll give the order. Please summon my aide, Seo Un-jae, here. I need his help.”

Recognizing that her words had been delusional, Baek Seol-hwa decided to entrust this issue to her aide, Seo Un-jae.

She was confident that with Seo Un-jae’s demonstrated administrative abilities, he could solve this sufficiently. Indeed, not long after, Seo Un-jae boarded a train bound for Busan Station along with administrative officials who had been following Baek Seol-hwa.

When Seo Un-jae’s train arrived at Busan Station, unfortunately, there were no announcements playing. Stepping off into the silent station, Seo Un-jae gazed at the city landscape.

“…Is this the city we’re going to rebuild?”

“Yes. You should prepare yourself. This was once the territory of the Cult of Immortality.”

“Understood, Mr. Seo Un-jae.”

The group assembled to rebuild Busan included military security personnel, infrastructure experts, record keepers, and Awakened specialists—members determined to rebuild Busan. Under the name of the First Provisional Administration, they made their way to Busan City Hall where Baek Seol-hwa was stationed.

After examining the administrative documents at Busan City Hall, the officials realized they were in a situation where it wasn’t even clear where to begin.

While the resident registry at Busan City Hall remained intact…

“There are no land registers, hospital data, or corporate registration records.”

“Only some religious documents and corpse classification tables remain. The Cult of Immortality probably wasn’t interested in the rest.”

“They probably thought all buildings in Busan belonged to them anyway!”

The fundamental documents and records for administration hadn’t been properly managed.

The resident registry was intact, presumably to control the residents, but it was discovered that the old Republic of Korea’s data had either been improperly managed or completely discarded, resulting in chaotic operations.

Though the situation seemed overwhelming, they had determined what needed to be done.

“We have no choice but to rebuild everything from scratch.”

If there was no sign of recovery, they would simply use a massive budget to rebuild from the beginning.

The biggest issue—the budget—wouldn’t be a problem considering who Seo Un-jae’s lord was. They could secure ample funding, and under the banner of Busan’s reconstruction, Seo Un-jae began reviving Busan’s administration.

The first thing he implemented was dividing the city into temporary administrative districts for easier management.

“We’ll divide the city into eight zones—preservation zones, restricted access zones, controlled reconstruction zones, and so on. We’ll distribute appropriate officials and Awakened to each zone to maximize efficiency.”

This was a strategy to dispatch suitable administrative officials and Awakened to each zone. Simultaneously with dividing the administrative districts, Seo Un-jae’s next step was:

“From today, this zone will begin temporary resident registration. Please write down your name, age, status, and the last residence you remember.”

He began identifying the personal information of citizens living in Busan and incorporating all citizens into the administrative network.

And most importantly…

“What kind of building used to be here?”

“This was the site of the cult’s temple.”

“Set up a control line and deploy surveillance personnel.”

They worked to identify traces of the Cult of Immortality through citizen testimonies.

Although the Cult of Immortality had supposedly withdrawn completely, as Seorabel’s archenemy, it was important to investigate and identify any traces they had left behind.

Using citizen testimonies, the administration located the sites of the cult’s former temples and strictly prohibited public access, placing them under direct government control.

“We will distribute relief supplies! We have enough for everyone, so please come forward calmly.”

“Will you demand something from us in return?”

“No! This is simply government aid and welfare for citizens! Please feel free to receive the relief without worry!”

At the same time, they began providing aid and welfare to gain citizen support.

Especially after announcing food distribution, hungry citizens began gathering throughout the city. Thus began the normalization process of gradually shifting the psychology of dependence on the Cult of Immortality back to pre-apocalyptic times.

However, the problem was that information about the massive amount of supplies flowing into Busan had spread widely within the city, which inevitably meant the appearance of looters targeting those supplies.

“Finally, our chance has come!”

“Unlike other regions, Busan’s security is a mess! There’s no police or Hwarang to catch us! Not even those damn guild members!”

Looters who typically appeared in remote provinces, deep mountains, or highways beyond Seorabel’s control were now emerging in downtown Busan, drooling over the massive supplies heading to the city.

From their perspective, Busan was much more vulnerable than other regions, with few military, police, or Hwarang relative to the city’s size.

They saw this as a golden opportunity to plunder supplies from Seorabel, and they began their first move near Busan International Passenger Terminal, where supplies were coming in.

Suddenly, screams erupted near the gradually recovering Busan International Passenger Terminal.

“Government officials! Seorabel bastards! Kill them all!”

“Long live the Iron Flower Group! Blood revenge against Seorabel!”

The looters, calling themselves the Iron Flower Group, were armed with worn military uniforms and hideous iron plates without any specific dress code. Each member was armed with firearms—not bad for looters’ standards—and they even fired smuggled Bahamut Bullets at approaching Seorabel Awakened.

However, their thoughtless firing of Bahamut Bullets caused a temporary warehouse used for transporting supplies to suddenly become engulfed in flames and even explode. What started as looting transformed into terrorism as the Iron Flower Group began to rampage mindlessly.

It seemed they couldn’t break their habits from their days as looters. In fact, if this had been an ordinary warlord faction in the Korean Peninsula rather than Seorabel, the damage would have been so severe that no one would dare think of retaliation.

“L-Lady Seolhwa, there’s been a terrorist attack.”

“There is no mercy for terrorists. Kill them all. Let the looters know that Seorabel’s mercy has its limits.”

The problem was that Baek Seol-hwa was in Busan.

For Seolhwa, who was trying to create a paradise in Busan, this was essentially touching a sore spot. Unusually for her, she ordered the Hwarang to carry out thorough retaliation and definitive execution.