Ch.4141. Our House is Open for Business! (2)

Yuna’s actions were incredibly swift.

After returning to the cult, she gathered religious figures to spread Bahamut’s teachings, and countless religious leaders responded to her call without hesitation.

Soon, each religious group selected one representative to send to Yuna, and she directed these chosen representatives to the temple where Bahamut resided.

Naturally, these selected religious figures earned the honor of meeting Bahamut face-to-face in the sacred temple revered by the Balhut Cult.

“Well… I called you here to speak with you. It’s a strange situation, but there’s something I’d like to ask you all.”

“What would that be?”

Seeing these selected religious representatives, Bahamut could feel Yuna’s sincerity and goodwill, but found it burdensome. Hoping to somehow send the religious figures back, he posed a question to the priest who had been selected as a representative.

He was determined to send them back to Gyeongju with a question that Christianity could never avoid!

“Doesn’t the doctrine of your religion believe in one God? I… from what I’ve heard, even the Ten Commandments state there is only one God?”

He first mentioned the famous Ten Commandments.

It was one of the most important passages in Christianity, a religion boasting thousands of years of history.

Ten precepts revealed by God to a great hero for his people.

The first commandment was “You shall have no other gods before me” or in some denominations, “Honor the one true God.”

He was asking whether worshipping another god—namely Bahamut—would be breaking the Ten Commandments.

“That’s correct. I’m honored that you know the doctrine of our religion, Lord Bahamut. However…”

Of course, a priest who studied theology in seminary would know the famous Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments were naturally important passages in theology, and even in Korea, where they might not be regularly recited, a properly educated priest would fully recognize that his actions essentially ignored the first commandment.

Bahamut explicitly mentioned this, and the priest nodded in agreement, confirming that Bahamut wasn’t wrong.

“But despite everything that’s happened, our God has not answered any of our prayers.”

“I-is that so?”

At the same time, he expressed disappointment and resentment toward a God who hadn’t responded during this tragedy.

Even in this hellish disaster, the God the priest served never answered his prayers.

No matter how devout a religious person might be, if their God offered no response when their life or the lives of those around them were in danger, losing faith was the natural outcome.

In fact, what saved this priest and Gyeongju wasn’t the monotheistic God he believed in, but Bahamut who stood before him.

“But only you, Lord Bahamut, have saved us. Isn’t it natural psychology to believe in a savior who offers salvation before our eyes rather than a heavenly God who does nothing?”

So despite the Ten Commandments, the priest felt no resistance to serving Bahamut as a dragon god.

From the priest’s perspective, it made more sense to believe in the dragon god who saved him and his family than in a God who never responded.

Indeed, after Bahamut’s arrival, Gyeongju continued to be saved—the tyranny of the despot Jo Sun-do was overthrown, bringing freedom throughout Gyeongju.

If one didn’t believe the dragon before them was a god protecting humans, they would be considered strange or insane.

That’s how strongly public opinion in Gyeongju now accepted Bahamut as a dragon god.

“I guarantee freedom of religion. It’s fine if you continue with your existing faith. I can even protect your religion in my name.”

“Thank you sincerely for your consideration. But we’ve already made our decision.”

Judging that the situation was taking an unexpected turn, Bahamut declared that he guaranteed religious freedom and that existing religions could continue practicing, promising to protect them in his name.

Unfortunately, this didn’t resonate with the religious figures before him.

Frankly speaking, even if they revived their original religions now, would their congregations remain intact?

Could people still believe in a God who did nothing but watch during this hellish disaster?

Especially when a dragon god who protected the citizens of Gyeongju was right before their eyes?

That was absurd.

“Lord Bahamut, you are the god who saved us… saved Gyeongju.”

Rather, only the influence of the Balhut Cult would grow, as people could sincerely believe in and follow the visible dragon god.

So the priest before him was prepared to serve a new god for a new era.

In truth, no one could be blamed for this—this phenomenon occurred because Bahamut had done everything possible for the cult members in Gyeongju, creating devoted followers.

As the cult members had promised, he backed their currency, delivered justice to the villain Jo Sun-do like a satisfying resolution, and guaranteed Gyeongju’s freedom and peace.

He even promised to guarantee religious freedom—it was hard to imagine why anyone wouldn’t support the dragon god.

“Is it the same for the rest of you?”

And it wasn’t just the selected priest—the pastor Lee also felt the same way.

He nodded solemnly in response to Bahamut’s question, and even the Buddhist monk answered by closing his eyes and bowing his head.

The most understandable logic came from Buddhism.

“The path of Buddha we speak of is not limited to Buddhism alone. Shakyamuni, the Tathagata, was able to reach Buddhahood because he attained enlightenment himself, and he taught that there are many paths to enlightenment. So I believe this path could be another path of enlightenment for me and others.”

Buddhist teachings are about escaping life’s suffering, and that method is Buddha.

However, the path to Buddhahood wasn’t always achievable only through Buddhism.

Shakyamuni, the great sage who founded Buddhism, became Buddha by attaining enlightenment on his own before Buddhism existed, and thus Buddhism—the teaching of becoming enlightened—was born.

But Buddhism was merely one way to attain enlightenment, not the only path or truth to reach Buddhahood.

In Buddhism, all beings can become Buddha, so all humans can ultimately attain enlightenment, and good, evil, sentient, and non-sentient are all merely part of the process.

“Since there isn’t just one path, following Lord Bahamut could also be a legitimate path to Buddhahood.”

“Hmm.”

In other words, even following Bahamut could be a way for someone to attain enlightenment and become Buddha.

Bahamut nodded heavily, as if impressed by the monk’s solemn sermon.

“Well then, let me explain why I called you here.”

After the monk’s sermon, Bahamut reluctantly explained why he had summoned them.

“I’m planning to hold religious activities here every weekend.”

“We heard from Lady Yuna.”

“Would you use your abilities to guide the cult members who come here onto the right path? As I just said, I guarantee freedom of religion in my name.”

When he mentioned holding religious activities in this temple, the selected religious figures replied in unison that they had heard about it from Yuna.

Bahamut then asked if they would provide guidance to cult members who visited.

Believing they were all sincere religious figures who wouldn’t lead people astray, he asked them to guide people onto the right path.

He even repeated his promise to guarantee religious freedom.

“Excuse me, but are you sure about this, Lord Bahamut? If you proclaim religious freedom, wouldn’t that be problematic for the cult’s faith?”

In response, the pastor asked Bahamut if he was really okay with this.

If Bahamut guaranteed religious freedom, all religious people in Gyeongju and throughout South Korea could continue practicing their current faiths, which would be reassuring for those still following traditional religions.

However, from the Balhut Cult’s perspective, this could significantly harm their influence.

“I never considered myself a god to begin with. I never demanded faith from cult members, so to be honest, I have little interest in the cult’s influence.”

“Is that so.”

However, Bahamut himself denied his own divinity.

He firmly stated he was not a god and drew a line, saying he had little interest in the Balhut Cult’s influence.

‘I don’t want to be criticized as a cult leader!’

That was his true feeling!

He was already anxious about the cult’s influence, and if he became the god of a genuine cult, he felt like he’d want to run away.

“So you’ll need buildings for religious activities. I’ll try my best to support whatever is needed, both for the cult and for you.”

So he planned to guarantee religious freedom while providing maximum support to these seemingly sincere religious figures.

Though they now claimed to worship him as a god, he naively thought that after some time, they would recover from their mental vulnerability and return to their original faiths.

He held the unfounded confidence that the Balhut Cult would eventually be refuted and transform into a normal government.

Yes! With time, everything would return to normal!

“We want a chapel where believers can worship comfortably.”

“I want the same.”

“We want a temple where we can perform Buddhist ceremonies.”

So he promised to support existing religions, and the religious figures stated what facilities they wanted.

After hearing their requests, Bahamut thought for a moment.

“Hmm, I see. Something like this?”

With a snap of Bahamut’s fingers, what appeared to the religious figures was an incredible miracle.

Instantly, the interior space of the temple expanded, and what looked like prefabricated building materials appeared from somewhere. These materials began assembling themselves in the expanded space.

Before long, they could see with their own eyes that magnificent chapels and temples—exactly what the religious figures had wished for—had been created in the expanded space.

“How is it? I created suitable structures using magic.”

‘How troublesome. He performs such miracles yet claims he’s not a god.’

Bahamut casually said he completed this with magic, but from the religious figures’ perspective, could this really be called mere magic?

Having survived the zombie apocalypse, all the selected religious figures were Awakened who had hunted zombies.

Naturally, they had seen magic used by fellow Awakened, and none of them could perform miracles like this.

Could a mere snap of fingers instantly create such magnificent buildings? Was this truly possible with human power?

‘Is this really possible with magic?’

‘Haha. He’s even more amazing than I thought.’

Was this truly possible with magic as Bahamut claimed?

Bahamut called it magic, but to those watching, it was nothing short of a miraculous scene.

‘Well, I heard there are now institutions researching my magic, so this level should be fine.’

Indeed, institutions for researching Bahamut’s magic had gradually emerged within the Balhut Cult, and Awakened clubs and magician research groups had been established to study Awakened abilities.

Some cult members had actually attempted to replicate the magic Bahamut demonstrated, but most failed or couldn’t perform it as impressively as Bahamut had.

‘Wow, I never thought the leftover materials from building the temple would come in handy like this! Recycling is the best!’

The somewhat understandable trick was that Bahamut hadn’t created something from nothing—he had merely used leftover assembly parts from when the temple was built.

Simply put, he had used telekinesis to retrieve hidden prefabricated parts and quickly assembled them in the empty space he had secured. If the Awakened before him could discover this trick, the situation might be somewhat comprehensible.

“…Is this the chapel we’ll be using?”

“That’s right.”

However, they had no way of knowing about Bahamut’s trick. From their perspective, it appeared as if the great dragon god had snapped his fingers, causing magnificent buildings to appear and gifting them to the religious figures—like a scene straight out of mythology.

What emotions would religious figures feel after witnessing such a miraculous sight?

“I’ve engraved the Balhut Cult’s symbol inside, but additional construction will be needed to make it comfortable for people. If necessary, ask Yu Su-seong, who’s in charge of construction.”

“Ah, yes.”

‘If this person isn’t a god, who could we possibly call a god?’

Indeed, who could say?