34. With the King of North Gyeongju Fallen to Yu-na, North Gyeongju is Liberated
With the king of North Gyeongju fallen to Yu-na, the city was liberated.
"Form fifty teams of four each and capture Jo Sun-do's gang that fled into downtown North Gyeongju. Move like you've been trained!"
"Yes, sir!"
With Jo Sun-do and his gang captured, all the Balhut Cult needed to do was hunt down the remnants who had abandoned their leader and fled. Then they could declare total victory. Jeong Dong-gun organized fifty four-man pursuit teams and scattered them across North Gyeongju to track down the stragglers. The remaining three hundred soldiers would serve as Yu-na's escorts...
"Leave a hundred here to help Yu-na-sama organize the base. The rest, arrest the members of Jo Sun-do's gang who fell on the battlefield and handle the cleanup."
"Understood."
"And bring the comrades who fell on the battlefield before the Pontiff."
"Yes, sir!"
They left them behind to clean up the base and the battlefield simultaneously. This included recovering weapons from Jo Sun-do's scattered underlings and capturing them, but it was also to rescue their own comrades who had fallen under attack from the same gang. Though the Balhut Cult's overwhelming firepower had shaken the battlefield, they had inevitably suffered casualties too.
"Forget Jo Sun-do's gang for now! Save our comrades first!"
The soldiers tasked with battlefield cleanup prioritized rescuing their fallen allies over the frothing, Bahamut Bullet-riddled members of Jo Sun-do's gang. Fortunately, their matching uniforms made the wounded easy to spot, and they were discovered just before their conditions worsened, allowing Yu-na to provide emergency treatment. As long as they didn't die outright, Yu-na's healing could restore them fully.
"Th-thank you, Yu-na-sama."
"Be more careful next time."
"Haha, I will."
The soldier who had crossed the brink of death expressed his genuine gratitude to Yu-na, who in turn offered him words of caution. His face still pale from the ordeal, the man put on a show of bravado at her concern, insisting she not worry. But that bravado didn't last long.
"We're free!"
"The tyrant has fallen!"
"We're alive now! Liberation from oppression! Long live the Balhut Cult!"
Shouts of joy erupted across North Gyeongju, drowning out the soldier's bluster with voices hoarse from exuberance. With Jo Sun-do defeated, the slaves plundered from the base finally grasped their salvation. They cheered wildly about their liberation from tyranny, some weeping openly and praying to the gods that this wasn't a dream. But seeing the state of those former slaves, Yu-na could only let out a hollow laugh.
"Ahahaha. It's a mess over there too."
"Yes. Quite pitiful."
It was a mess, plain and simple. The female slaves had been meticulously groomed and maintained for sexual exploitation, but the male slaves, exploited for labor, were emaciated like malnutrition victims—skin stretched taut over bones and tendons. Their hair was falling out as if from alopecia, their eyes bulged like a witch's, cheekbones protruded sharply, and they looked almost like zombies at a glance. And they hadn't been properly washed; their faces were caked black with grime. Even Jeong Dong-gun, who had witnessed countless horrors on expeditions, couldn't help but grimace.
Imagining the atrocities these people had endured under Jo Sun-do, Jeong Dong-gun felt a surge of sympathy.
"First, we'll arrest Jo Sun-do and his gang and transport them to headquarters. The rest of the troops will handle any remaining holdouts inside the base."
"Please do."
Jeong Dong-gun's workload intensified. He swiftly disarmed and captured the unconscious Jo Sun-do and his demoralized followers, shipping them off to the cult's main temple. A detachment re-entered the base to eliminate any die-hard loyalists. Meanwhile, Yu-na, flanked by her escorts, got to work.
"Gather all the injured inside the base. I'll treat them."
"Understood, Yu-na-sama."
"Oh! Thank you. Thank you so much. Sis, we're saved now!"
For the citizens who had suffered under Jo Sun-do's oppression, she personally administered treatments.
"Are you alright?"
"Surviving just enough not to die."
Up close, the male slaves were even more horrifying. Their fingers were scarred and flayed raw from brutal labor.
"That suffering ends now. The tyrant has fallen."
"Thank you. Truly, thank you."
Whip marks and bruises lingered across their bodies from beatings and violence. Stirred by their death-like existence, Yu-na poured vast amounts of mana into healing the slaves—no, the citizens of Gyeongju once more—one by one.
"It's no different over there."
"Hey, heal Sis first! She got beaten by Jo Sun-do last time and still hasn't woken up!"
"Don't worry. I'll treat everyone."
The female slaves, spared hard labor to preserve their looks, still bore the scars of sexual exploitation and violence at the hands of Jo Sun-do and his men. Some, frequently targeted by the tyrant himself, appeared fine on the outside but were as wrecked internally as the men.
"Around two hundred, maybe? If the main base is this bad, how horrific are his other outposts?"
"Reports confirm exploitation elsewhere too."
Yu-na treated just over two hundred slaves here. That meant over two hundred lives reduced to tools for Jo Sun-do and his gang's comfort. And that was only the main base—other sites surely held even more victims.
"These two hundred people... all enslaved for one man, Jo Sun-do?"
"This isn't the end. Villages and towns around Gyeongju have seen plenty of this."
Kim Tae-hyeon and Kang Jae-wan, who had rushed to join the subjugation force upon hearing the battle was over, could only frown at North Gyeongju's horrors. It was like stumbling into one of those grave human rights abuses solemnly covered by nutubers.
"And he called himself a king!"
"Tragic, but this is Korea's reality now."
"Damn it all!"
Kang Jae-wan, enraged by the atrocities, cursed Jo Sun-do furiously. But Kim Tae-hyeon, who had tagged along on expeditions for business, had seen worse outside and could only swallow his bitterness, acknowledging it as the current state of the Republic of Korea. Jae-wan had no retort to Tae-hyeon's point that such horrors persisted beyond Korea's borders. As a war correspondent, he knew all too well how commonplace this was outside Gyeongju.
"Tae-hyeon-ssi! Reporter! Over here!"
"Got it."
"Of course!"
Spotting the pair lost in thought, Yu-na called out sharply. Snapping to attention, they hurried to her side faster than anyone.
"Tae-hyeon-ssi, use the prepared rice to make porridge for the patients."
Yu-na's healing was exceptional, but it couldn't fully cure severe malnutrition. She could replenish their vitality with mana, but treating over two hundred meant some compromises. Besides, this was enemy territory, not a cult hospital—they couldn't afford to leave her defenseless by depleting her mana entirely.
"I've been waiting for that order!"
Without hesitation, Tae-hyeon dove into his food truck, hauling out two massive pots that could feed over a hundred. He lit the burners, added rice, and poured in ten times the volume in water. Handling the task with practiced ease, as if he'd done it a hundred times before.
And then...
"You called for me, Yu-na-sama?"
The embedded reporter Kang Jae-wan hurried to her side at her summons, expecting something important from the Pontiff herself.
"Yes. Did you finish the North Gyeongju interviews safely?"
"Yes. I think it was meaningful work."
"Good. Can you interview the liberated people here and collect testimonies on Jo Sun-do's crimes?"
It was a more pivotal assignment than expected. Fresh off witnessing the horrors and seething with rage, Jae-wan had already planned to interview victims about Jo Sun-do's atrocities. But with Yu-na's official approval, it came with the Balhut Cult's full backing—legitimizing it all. The young reporter, incensed by the self-proclaimed king of Gyeongju's evils, bowed brightly.
"Leave it to me!"
"You know this, but these are people from Jo Sun-do's base who suffered brutal labor and sexual exploitation. I've healed their wounds and restored some vitality, but they're still malnourished—don't feed them solids."
"Ah, I know. North Gyeongju is worse than I imagined."
"Ahahaha..."
Jae-wan marveled at the unexpected devastation, leaving Yu-na to laugh awkwardly. North Gyeongju had suffered under Jo Sun-do's exploitation, but bluntly speaking, it was average by current standards. As Pontiff, Yu-na knew the countless worse atrocities beyond Gyeongju—so she could only laugh at his lament, not concur.
"Well, it's a zombie apocalypse. Everywhere outside South Gyeongju—Korea, no, East Asia—is a mess from it."
"Hits home again."
All she could offer the idealistic reporter was the blunt truth: everywhere but Gyeongju writhed in apocalyptic ruin. Jae-wan nodded gravely, feeling it sink in.
"Then, I'll leave it to you."
"Yes. I'll record every word."
Would Jae-wan's records truly aid the Balhut Cult? Yu-na wasn't sure. But gathering victims' testimonies against Jo Sun-do was surely meaningful.
And just as civilian treatments wrapped up...
"Yu-na-sama."
"What is it?"
"We found Jo Sun-do's warehouse. You should see it."
Jeong Dong-gun returned from purging holdouts in the base, his expression troubled as he reported the discovery.
"Yes. Lead the way."
Having just finished with the civilians, Yu-na followed without hesitation.
"Whoa. Jo Sun-do might hate getting looted more than losing to us."
Piles of supplies towered like mountains, leaving even Yu-na speechless. Instant noodles and canned tuna—pre-cult currency staples—abounded, alongside unpackaged rice sacks plundered from nearby farms. But that was just the start. Medical supplies, supposedly all recalled from Gyeongju, formed another mountain. Useless electronics followed. Deeper in, luxury goods lost their value: watches, bags, clothes, jewelry. Even the region's gold seemed scraped clean, hundreds of cases stacked high.
"Truly the end times."
Witnessing endless human greed, Jeong Dong-gun muttered his succinct verdict.
"It really is."
Overwhelmed by the spectacle, Yu-na felt torn between laughter and tears.