episode_0059

Gatekeeper of Salvation (5) – Hanmaeum Salvation Church 3rd floor

I leaned against the window frame of the executive office and admired the full moon.

The moonlight illuminates the dark city of Incheon with the gentle night breeze.

A city night that relies only on the weak moonlight.

If you were to take a picture of Incheon at night from the sky right now, it would look like a city in total darkness.

And this situation is not limited to Incheon.

A Republic of Korea that has lost its light.

The only two bright spots in the place.

Full moon and sanctuary.

I smiled as I looked at the lights on the ceiling of the executive office, which were dazzlingly bright thanks to the generator running brightly.

“Very good.”

Normally, on nights like this, the point was to get sick of the bugs gathering in the lights, but not here.

Because the performance of the Heavenly Shield blocks not only zombies but also everything that I do not allow.

Of course, insects were also prohibited from entering my sanctuary.

“Ah… I need to upgrade [Identify Deficiencies] and the statue… .”

I can’t remember the last time I’ve opened my own status window because I’m so engrossed in SimCity developing my sanctuary.

Those were the days when only the and tabs were displayed.

In addition, it was important that the ‘gargoyle upgrade’, which is still a type of SimCity, also stopped at level 2.

Considering the performance of the ‘Heavenly Shield’, which even prevents insects from entering, it was an especially urgent task to obtain the statue level 3 power as quickly as possible.

But of course, you don’t have to just stare at the faith point window while foaming at the mouth.

Because ‘One Mind Salvation Church’ continues to sail very smoothly.

The same is true today.

It was a smooth, perfect day.

Through the Gate of Salvation, believers have been armed with a stable supply of believers and a stronger faith.

The first chapter of the mythologically written ‘Book of Salvation’ and a sumptuous and satisfying dinner.

It was the completion of a perfect day when I fell asleep in the arms of Yoon Ah-young, who was waiting for me on the 4th floor, but there was still important work left.

“Name… Kim Cheol-soo.”

I muttered the name written on the questionnaire.

The first survivor to cross the Gate of Salvation.

A husband who protected his family with an axe.

The nonsense he was talking about while looking at me kept bothering me.

Knock- Knock- Knock-

“Sir, believer Kim Cheol-su has arrived.”

“Oh, please come in.”

I answered the voice of Seo Taesan that came at that moment and closed the window.

It’s a profit –

At the sound of the door opening, Kim Cheol-soo, dressed in white Shinto clothes, bowed his head politely.

“Master.”

“Hahaha, I may have prevented you from resting comfortably.”

I joked as I moved from the window to my seat.

Cheolsu Kim responded by bowing more politely.

“No. The leader is calling, so of course I have to come. Please stop saying such things.”

“I know. I am well aware of Kim Cheol-soo’s beliefs. Now, please take a seat.”

He sat down on the chair with a careful gesture, following my gesture as he sat at the head of the table.

I stared at the face of Kim Cheol-soo, who had just finished taking a shower after a long time.

A face that looks so harmful that you can’t even imagine that it was a person who shouted with a face like a charcoal black man.

“I am happy to see Kim Cheol-soo’s face brightening.”

“… I just want to thank the leader for his grace.”

As if my words had triggered it, Kim Cheol-soo’s words became moist.

When I saw Shindo crying, I automatically let go.

I held his trembling hand and comforted him in a very soft voice.

“Everything is okay now. Aren’t I always behind Kim Cheol-soo’s followers?”

“… you’re right. That’s right, leader!”

In the end, I handed Kim Cheol-soo, who was shedding tears, a banana that was on a plate in the center of the table.

Since ancient times, snacks have been perfect for crying children.

“And, it’s fruit. really… It’s been so long since I last saw you… ”

He was unable to finish his sentence as he stared blankly at the banana.

I handed a banana into his hand and asked subtly.

“Now that I think about it, you and your wife applied for a separate living space.”

“Ah… yes. If my wife was free… that… Sorry.”

It was a bit of a stuttering answer, but I understood it right away.

Because it is a basic human desire to like the more of something.

“Haha, why is that a sorry thing? On the contrary, you have a very wise wife.”

“When you said that, I felt much more at ease. Thank you, leader.”

Kim Cheol-su, who was crying again, lowered his head and observed the mini-map.

Two nameplates floating in the newly created believer’s room.

Seeing that she wasn’t moving, it seemed like she and her daughter had gone into a deep sleep.

‘hmm… Kim Cheol-soo’s wife.’

I remembered her face shaking as she held her daughter.

Characterless, colorless and odorless features.

I nodded as I looked at my object, which was not responding at all to my below-average appearance.

There’s a high-end restaurant waiting on the 4th floor, so you can’t afford to eat junk food.

There was no merit in taking a wife, even if it meant shaking Kim Cheol-soo’s trust.

rather.

“Don’t bother your wife too much just because it’s a happy day. You must save up the energy you will use tomorrow.”

“… Boo, I’m embarrassed, leader.”

There was no law that required only the variants to be identified.

The One Mind Salvation Church also had to encourage childbirth.

Children born to loyal believers will be born as more loyal believers.

From the beginning, for newly born children, the world in which they would grow up was the sanctuary of the ‘One Mind Salvation Church.’

He stopped at giving Kim Cheol-soo a subtle compliment and turned the conversation to the next topic.

“Ah! Is there any indoor exercise that Kim Cheol-soo enjoys?”

“Yes? uh… A little bit of table tennis… ”

“Haha, great! Shin Woo’s followers will like it very much.”

“Uh… … .”

Looking at Kim Cheol-soo who looked confused, he asked with a rather surprised expression.

So that you can feel the sense of disconnection from the outside world more clearly.

It’s like that’s normal here.

“Oh, you haven’t explored the entire first floor yet! Perhaps as soon as the sun rises tomorrow, believer Shin Woo will come to visit. Don’t be too surprised. It is the tradition of our Salvation Church that senior believers lead junior believers by explaining all their questions.”

“Ah, such a good tradition… … .”

It’s a rule that isn’t old enough to be called a tradition, but if I was a tradition, it was a tradition.

Kim Cheol-soo will probably be surprised tomorrow when he receives Shin Woo’s guidance.

The appearance of a sanctuary where civilization is so well maintained.

In particular, when he sees the rest area with board games, ping pong tables, and billiard tables that he had scavenged from department stores, Kim Cheol-soo will probably get a kick out of it, just like other believers.

“Once the introductions are over, watch out for Shin Woo Shin. We are going to start the internal table tennis rankings at Guwonkyo right away.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

I could tell right away by looking at Kim Cheol-soo’s awkward expression.

He’s so embarrassed by the vibe I’m giving off right now that he doesn’t know what to do.

Only one day has passed since yesterday, when we had to fight to the death with zombies, but now we are told to be careful of something as trivial as a table tennis ranking match.

And I am deceiving you into thinking that it is now your daily life.

“Hmm… Perhaps Shin Woo’s congregation was part of the table tennis club? They said it was like that. It is ranked 1st in the Salvation Church. Ranking #1.”

“I also play table tennis… I am quite confident.”

“Oh… There will be a very exciting match tomorrow. I’m already looking forward to it, hahaha―”

“I will show you the skills that no one can surpass in the eyes of the teacher!”

Before I knew it, I was assimilated into the atmosphere and smiled as I saw Kim Cheol-soo laughing and talking with me.

The ‘proof of faith’ blooming from his body was becoming brighter.

In this way, faith could be strengthened in many different ways.

I rolled my tongue as I checked Kim Cheol-soo’s relaxed expression.

It was good to strengthen my faith, but the reason I called him in the first place was elsewhere.

I looked at the clock hanging in the executive office with a somewhat regretful expression.

“Oops! We were having so much fun talking that time has already passed. You should go to bed quickly, but I feel sorry for no reason.”

“No. It’s okay, leader.”

Now was the point.

Those words from Kim Cheol-soo that kept bothering me.

I asked him in a quiet voice.

“Do you remember the moment you crossed the gate of salvation?”

“Of course. I’m sorry, teacher. At that time, I was so… ”

“Ah, it’s okay. This is not to criticize believers. There was something that bothered me about what he said back then.”

Kim Cheol-soo’s neck fluttered as he slightly lowered his head.

I asked him softly, as he was very nervous.

“I was chasing you… I told him to fuck off… When I think back to what believer Kim Cheol-soo said, it seems as if this is not the first time.”

Encountering such a religious group.

Thick beads of sweat flowed down Kim Cheol-soo’s forehead.

I watched his eyes flutter violently and gently comforted him.

“Why are you so excited? I am not questioning believer Kim Cheol-soo. only… I’m just curious. The pseudo-religion that threatened you.”

“Sorry, sorry. When I think about that time, I am so scared… .”

Yeah, I didn’t expect the guy who was swinging the ax recklessly with his eyes wide open to give me a logical explanation.

Exactly!

He lightly clicked his fingers and caught Kim Cheol-soo’s gaze.

His eyes follow my fingers to the ceiling.

A light that illuminates the darkness and a heavenly shield that spreads firmly over it.

“Don’t confuse yesterday with today. Mark my words. What do you see in your right hand?”

“Aaaah― Cult leader―”

Kim Cheol-soo clenched and unclenched his right hand with blank eyes.

As if he were really holding something.

Kim Cheol-soo, who repeated that action several times, looked at me and said with a bright smile.

“… I see the sword of faith.”

“Yes. You have my sword, so what are you afraid of? Please speak comfortably. Very comfortable.”

Kim Cheol-soo’s pupils seemed to gradually calm down at the soft command.

Only then did Kim Cheol-soo calm down and slowly begin to tell what had happened to them.

Kim Cheol-soo’s family did not take a single step out of their apartment even after the shelter evacuation order was issued.

The Internet and news were saying it was safe to go to the shelter, but he didn’t believe it.

In the first place, I felt an instinctive sense of ominousness at the sight of the government recommending ‘evacuation’ rather than ‘suppression’ in the face of such an unprecedented disaster.

They began to survive by sharing the food in their refrigerators and their homes, and in the end, their choice was effective.

However, that is said now, and it is said that at that time, they greatly regretted the dwindling food supply and the situation that was not improving.

That feeling of self-reproach reached its peak the moment the Internet and TV were cut off and I could not get any information.

They either die of starvation or are killed by zombies, but both die.

I would rather die like this without doing anything, so I would rather go to a shelter.

That day when he was tearing out his hair as he watched his wife and daughter getting thinner and thinner.

I suddenly heard someone’s voice shouting in the apartment.

“Embrace the cycle! Embrace the cycle!”

The voice of someone I haven’t heard in a really long time.

Kim Cheol-soo, startled, jumped out onto the apartment’s veranda.

“Accept the truth! Accept the truth!”

A woman standing in the exact center of the apartment street was shouting two sentences repeatedly.

“Embrace the cycle! Embrace the cycle!”

Kim Cheol-soo felt his skin slowly rise at the sound of that voice.

“Accept the truth! Accept the truth!”

A voice as inorganic as a machine without any emotion.

An action that is entirely devoted to the sole purpose of ‘speaking.’

“Embrace the cycle! Embrace the cycle!”

“Shh, shhh!”

First of all, I couldn’t leave that woman like that.

Kim Cheol-soo, who was stomping his feet, looked at her and put his index finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet.

And the woman responded to the hissing sound like a snake.

She, who had been staring straight ahead like a doll, raised her head.

Her eyes met with Kim Cheol-soo, who was in a high-rise apartment.

she laughs

No, ‘smiling’ carries out the action.

“Accept the truth! Accept the truth!”

Kim Cheol-soo’s body began to tremble as he watched her repeating the same words over and over like a radio.

“Woman, honey? What’s going on?”

“Oh, no! Don’t come out! Never come out!”

Despite his wife’s worried questions coming from inside, Kim Cheol-soo’s eyes could not leave her.

The moment he took his eyes off her, it felt like she was right in front of him like a ghost.

It seemed as if those empty eyes were coming right in front of his pupils.

“Embrace the cycle! Embrace the cycle!”

she walks

Uh, where?

Kim Cheol-soo’s eyes turned straight down.

She started walking towards the entrance of her wing.

The face was staring at me and the way it walked forward looked like a doll, which gave me goosebumps.

“Mi, you’re a crazy bitch… .”

“Accept the truth! Accept the truth!”

“Oh, don’t come! Don’t come, you two bitches!”

While I was gradually retreating from the woman’s actions, I let out a scream that I should have heard.

“Kkisss—!”

Kim Cheol-soo’s body, which had been moving backwards due to his unique howl of scratching his vocal cords, turned forward again.

No matter how crazy a bitch or how crazy a woman she is.

“ too, run away!”

“Kkisss—!”

Kim Cheol-soo’s shouts and howls echo in the quiet apartment.

And that woman.

“Embrace the cycle! Embrace the cycle!”

He silently repeated his actions.

In Kim Cheol-soo’s eyes, he saw zombies running furiously toward the woman.

Still, her head did not move away from herself.

It’s as if they only react to voices they hear for the first time.

“Why… why… Oh, don’t come! Don’t come! ”

She walks towards herself.

At a slow pace.

Zombies run towards her.

At very high speed.

It was very clear that the zombies that had approached close range were flying.

“Accept the truth! Accept the truth… ”

“Kkisss—!”

Her voice, which seemed like it would never stop, stopped.

The zombies knocked her down and started eating her.

Every time they shook their heads, red blood flew into the air.

Crack-crack-crack-

Kim Cheol-soo’s head went blank at the grotesque situation where even the bones were chewed up and eaten.

As she collapsed in front of the apartment entrance, her eyes were focused on herself until the end.

Her mouth, which had been opening and closing as if it were malfunctioning, slowly opened.

“Circulation.”

Kim Cheol-soo did not hesitate any longer.

He quickly entered the living room, locked the balcony door, and drew the curtains.

“Honey… What happen… ”

“Come here! Quickly!”

He crouched down and covered the ears of his wife who approached him looking at him with concern.

The wife naturally covers her daughter’s ears.

And I prayed that this time would pass safely.

Crack-crack-crack-

May the zombies’ meal be over.

“Circulation and truth.”

As soon as Kim Cheol-soo finished speaking, he looked back at the main keywords.

If everything Kim Cheol-soo said was true, it couldn’t help but be a very strange thing.

A woman who repeats the same thing over and over again.

Empty eyes, as if empty.

Creaky gestures like a doll.

… … wait for a sec.

Is this brainwashing?

As a person whose number one priority in my mind was brainwashing when thinking about which skills to use with skill creation rights, that was 100% related to brainwashing.

“Well, only pseudo-crazy bitches can do something like that! That woman kept repeating strange words until she burned her own life!”

Certainly, Kim Cheol-soo was right.

I nodded at his words, but the more I thought about it, the more I frowned.

I don’t know what kind of guy was using brainwashing, but he was ‘consuming’ people rather than ‘using’ them.

It was used as a disposable loudspeaker to convey one’s message.

“Definitely… These are pseudo-believers who can’t even gamble.”

“That is 100% correct! All these pseudo-bastards should go to hell!”

It felt uncomfortable for some reason, but I quickly got up from my seat.

We couldn’t just leave a pseudo-group that was consuming people.

“What is the address of the apartment you live in?”

“Yes? ah… ! Daegu, Daegu City… ”

“Wait a minute… . I beg your pardon? Daegu?”

“Yes, yes. Yes.”

I realized this as I sat down again.

Now that I think about it, why did I think they were in Incheon?

The door of salvation is a door that opens to those who seek salvation.

Kim Cheol-soo’s residence was Daegu, not Incheon.

That meant that the place where the person with brainwashing abilities was located was Daegu, not Incheon.

We measured the distance from Incheon to Daegu.

Gyeonggi-do and Gyeongsangbuk-do.

I, who had not yet completely occupied Incheon, rushed too far and rushed too far to deal with them.

“Thank you for your kind words, it was very helpful.”

“I mean… Rather, the leader’s intentions… ”

“Haha, not at all. Come on in now and see us again tomorrow with a bright smile.”

Kim Cheol-soo bowed politely to my congratulatory message and left the executive office.

Gwiikik- Chin-

With the sound of the door closing, I walked to the window where I could see the full moon again.

daegu… Daegu.

“It is indeed Gotham Daegu. You mean we can’t lose to Demon World Incheon?”

I realize it again.

This world is not an RPG game where you press pause.

I am not the only one who came up with the idea of a religious group in the apocalypse.

Since ancient times, when darkness came to the world, people were divided into two extremes.

Those who cling to God and those who curse God.

Among them, the history of those who took advantage of those desperately seeking God was too numerous to count.

It is a business item that history guarantees.

I arrived at the window frame with idle thoughts and opened the window.

Hwii-ing-

I gazed at the full moon I had seen earlier, with a cold wind indicating that the night was deep.

Two lights that will brighten up Korea.

Full moon and sanctuary.

No, only the Sun of Salvation and Sanctuary will dispel this darkness.

“Stay right there. The light of salvation will burn you.”

Just wait a little while.

A pseudo-cry that cries out for circulation and truth.

Secretly plotting against Daegu through brainwashing…

“Heretic.”