Ch.5555. Conference (1)

After returning to Pohang, Jeong Dong-geon informed the Pohang University Campus about the recapture of the industrial complex. The university campus officials, upon seeing the photos taken by Son Sang-hui, naturally expressed their doubts.

However, after personally exploring the industrial complex to verify the claim, they discovered that the Balhut Cult had indeed thoroughly cleaned out the mutant spider zombies from inside the industrial complex. Since some of the people treated by Han Jun-woo, the Gyeongju hospital director, were affiliated with the university campus, they eventually realized that Jeong Dong-geon’s promise was true. In response to his call, they agreed to hold another meeting at the Steel Industrial Complex Intersection.

“…Didn’t you resolve this too quickly?”

“In the apocalypse, time is gold. Regardless, the Balhut Cult has fulfilled all the conditions you specified. Now it’s time for the Pohang University Campus to keep your end of the promise.”

Of course, this was less of a meeting on equal terms and more like pressuring the university campus to keep their promise.

Since the Balhut Cult had perfectly met the demands of the Pohang University Campus, the campus side had no justification to ignore the cult.

In fact, not just justification—the Balhut Cult had so quickly satisfied the university campus’s conditions that…

“Ugh. I understand.”

“I hope good news arrives before our patience runs out.”

“Yes, I get it already!”

It seemed they had developed a certain degree of fear and terror.

The university campus representatives responded to Jeong Dong-geon with trembling voices, intimidated by the suspiciously powerful cult. Jeong Dong-geon decided to use their fear to his advantage for the next meeting.

Either way, this was truly a deal that benefited both sides.

The university campus could use the cult as a weapon to secure safety in the surrounding areas, while the cult gained opportunities to contact other survivor camps in return.

“Relatively speaking. Isn’t your task easier than ours who have to directly fight the mutant spider zombies? All you need to do is contact other camps and gather the forces in Pohang for a meeting.”

“Do you think gathering people while avoiding zombie eyes is easy?”

“Yes, of course. After all, you have an internal communication network to contact each other.”

Moreover, the cult wasn’t asking the Pohang University Campus for anything difficult.

They simply requested help in arranging meetings with the remaining two forces in Pohang, which could easily be done through the university campus’s internal communication network.

“Ha. Since you know about that, I guess there’s no point in making excuses about communication difficulties.”

“Haha. We’ve recruited many local collaborators, so we know much more than you might think.”

“Sigh. You’re quite resourceful.”

Indeed, the three major camps in Pohang were closely cooperating with each other.

Due to the hostile zombie forces occupying Pohang, far from being adversaries like in Gyeongju, they had maintained close relationships from the beginning of the apocalypse to somehow deal with this external threat.

That’s why the three major camps had an internal communication network to easily contact each other, which was what Jeong Dong-geon had mentioned.

In any case, Jeong Dong-geon successfully managed to contact the remaining two major survivor camps through the Pohang University Campus’s arrangement.

“…We’ll determine the time for the meeting.”

“That’s fine with me.”

While the meeting between the Balhut Cult and the three major Pohang camps was successfully arranged, the Pohang camps seemed intent on maintaining their pride, as some minor power struggles still remained.

Perhaps they wanted to gain the upper hand in negotiations or somewhat neutralize the initiative the Balhut Cult had gained.

Jeong Dong-geon could have strongly objected to Ha Jin-woo’s blatant political maneuvering right there, but since his authority was limited, he didn’t criticize their attitude. Instead, he simply reported the successful arrangement of the meeting to Yu-na.

After all, Yu-na would make the subsequent decisions.

“Is this a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand?”

“They might be trying to claim rights in Pohang later.”

After hearing this report, Yu-na also assessed it as a desperate attempt by the three major Pohang camps to gain control over Pohang.

Jeong Dong-geon seemed to think the same, nodding at Yu-na’s words and judging it as an act to claim future rights in Pohang.

“So it’s a kind of power struggle.”

“Yes.”

In short, it was a power struggle.

It could be seen as a kind of power struggle or assertion of rights to gain control over Pohang in the future.

From the Balhut Cult’s perspective, this was extremely troublesome, as cooperation with the three major Pohang camps, the local forces, was essential for smooth governance of Pohang in the future.

“This is difficult. We can’t govern Pohang with our resources alone.”

“That is troublesome indeed.”

Above all, the Balhut Cult and Gyeongju lacked the resources to govern the vast area of Pohang.

The city was twice the size, and Gyeongju’s administrators couldn’t possibly know the internal affairs of Pohang, which meant mistakes would inevitably occur in various areas.

Even for the steel mill and industrial complex that the cult was targeting, cooperation from technicians and skilled workers under the three major Pohang forces was necessary to properly utilize those facilities.

Were they deliberately engaging in this power struggle knowing this, or were they doing so because they didn’t trust the Balhut Cult?

“It seems many still doubt the cult’s power.”

Jeong Dong-geon’s assessment was split down the middle.

They were engaging in power struggles to gain the upper hand while simultaneously distrusting the Balhut Cult.

Since the recapture of Pohang wasn’t initially promising, they might be engaging in meaningless power struggles.

“Then, we’ll gradually consume… I mean incorporate the small and medium-sized camps near Pohang Airport through Yeongil Bay Road into our subordinate camps. If they doubt the cult’s power, we’ll simply prove it directly.”

“As you command.”

So Yu-na’s choice was really simple.

If the three major Pohang forces weren’t cooperative, they would gradually target the small and medium-sized camps within Pohang to demonstrate the Balhut Cult’s power throughout the city.

Fortunately, they had secured a route to Pohang Airport, which wasn’t included in the three major forces, and planned to recapture the airport through Yeongil Bay Road to establish a solid Balhut Cult presence within Pohang.

It was essentially a demonstration of confidence and power, showing that the cult could recapture Pohang on its own, as well as a declaration of intent to recapture Pohang without the cooperation of the three major forces.

“I hope they continue this power struggle for a long time.”

“It won’t take long. Once we prove ourselves through action, they’ll come to a decision within days.”

Yu-na expressed her wish for the power struggle to continue for a long time, but Jeong Dong-geon shook his head, confident that an answer would come within days.

While Jeong Dong-geon mobilized his troops to recapture Pohang Airport through Yeongil Bay Road as per Yu-na’s orders, Yu-na used the Scrying Mirror to report this to Bahamut.

[Pohang is quite different from Gyeongju. No internal divisions. Forces formed in a cooperative structure.]

“Yes. This is probably possible because they have zombies as a clear enemy. Unlike us.”

Hearing this report, Bahamut remarked that Pohang was very different from Gyeongju, which had been divided into North and South Gyeongju, and Yu-na said this was possible because they had zombies as a clear enemy.

Nodding in agreement, Bahamut spoke in a serious voice.

[Thanks to the zombies, they had a reason to unite. We’ll need to be cautious about their unity when governing Pohang later. We could become the powerful enemy replacing the zombies, you see.]

He expressed concern that they might unite against the Balhut Cult again during the future governance of Pohang.

Yu-na then asked Bahamut with a puzzled expression.

“Couldn’t they sincerely follow the Balhut Cult? If they witness the descent of a god.”

[They will follow. But according to Park Cheol-gon and Hwang Geun-chul, Pohang is likely to have internal power struggles according to the rules I set.]

If Bahamut descended upon Pohang, they would certainly follow without question.

However, while they would follow, whether they would sincerely be loyal to the Balhut Cult was questionable.

[Struggles and demonstrations to gain control and rights in Pohang, they say. Since the Balhut Cult can’t directly govern Pohang.]

“True, we are too small.”

As mentioned earlier, Gyeongju’s resources were insufficient to govern Pohang.

There was a twofold difference in scale, and Pohang had its own military power to fight zombies.

Since the Balhut Cult couldn’t leave Gyeongju to directly govern Pohang, cooperation with influential figures within Pohang was essential.

[Pohang is originally a city twice the size of Gyeongju. We need to respect that to some extent. Of course, I’ve kept some minimum means to negotiate with them.]

So Bahamut said he would show maximum respect while also preparing negotiation tools to incorporate Pohang.

Yu-na looked at Bahamut with an expectant expression.

“As expected of you, my god. May I hear about it?”

[The safety of Pohang.]

“Does that mean you’ll protect Pohang like Gyeongju?”

He said he would guarantee Pohang’s safety.

If he protected Pohang like Gyeongju, it could be an attractive negotiation tool in this apocalypse, so Yu-na asked if he intended to protect it directly.

[That, and I’m thinking of accepting a new contractor from Pohang. As a token of my promise to protect Pohang.]

He said that in addition to that, he was also thinking of accepting a new contractor from Pohang.

“I think that’s a great idea! They will surely follow you, my god. They wouldn’t dare refuse!”

Yu-na exclaimed that it was truly a brilliant idea and confidently stated that Pohang would definitely follow Bahamut.

It was an opportunity to gain the right to contract with Bahamut, the dragon god.

If this fact were revealed to the people of Gyeongju, they would surely express envy while harboring jealousy.

Considering how incredibly powerful Yu-na herself had become after contracting with Bahamut, she thought Pohang wouldn’t dare refuse the dragon god’s offer.

[No, I can’t guarantee that.]

Of course, that was Gyeongju’s perspective, and from Pohang’s standpoint, not knowing how exceptional these terms were, they might actually refuse.

“No! It will definitely happen!”

‘Ah, I made a mistake.’

However, it seemed impossible to stop Yu-na once her determination was ignited.