Day of the Unbelievers (5)

With a grinding sound like a blender shredding meat, a system message blinked into view.

Only after confirming the kill message did I release my telekinesis. The vortex wind died down with a quiet hiss, and the rat bastard's final state was revealed.

His entire body had been shredded by the massive rotating blade, and the right side of his torso was bristling with chunks of concrete embedded flush to the flesh. My brow furrowed at the small holes punched cleanly through the right side of his face.

"Ugh. I might develop trypophobia."

Really, wouldn't a clean neck-snap have been a better ending for both him and me?

I spoke toward the interior of the building, pitch-dark but crawling with an obscene number of presences.

"Anything else you've got prepared?"

The moment the words left my mouth, more green objects came flying up to the rooftop. Hah — no ambush this time; they launched straight at me, and I stopped them midair with effortless ease.

Meaning their means of resisting me had finally run dry.

Thanks to my telekinesis, the grenades suspended in the air detonated exactly where they hung.

KWAAAAAAANG—

With a blast that tore the air apart, the shrapnel spraying in every direction froze dead in the sky. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I curled my outstretched fingers inward, closing my hand around the grenades, and the fragments hanging as if time itself had stopped began to drift back together. The gathered pieces reformed into grenades — and started flying back toward the space they'd come from.

"U-UAAAAAAGH!"

Screams and shouting convulsed inside the building at the sight of an ability that seemed to rewind time. I fixed my gaze on the ones scrambling out onto the rooftop to escape the explosions. One man in a neatly pressed military uniform, along with the stragglers I'd missed, tumbled out before me like a matched set.

First, I read the name tag of the uniformed man I'd never seen before.

Sergeant First Class Kim Joohyung.

So this was Sergeant Kim — the man who'd spoken through the speakers, the one running this district.

"Everyone — unless you want your heads blown off by these grenades, don't move a muscle."

As I spoke, the grenades that had entered the building rose back up and floated to either side of their heads. I could see it written plainly on their faces, the terror, as they stole sidelong glances at the grenades bobbing like clouds.

"You're Sergeant Kim, the one I was talking to earlier?"

The grenade drifted lazily right in front of his face. He was sizing me up and down with forced composure.

"A sergeant who doesn't even salute back? Interesting."

"...Yes. I am Sergeant Kim."

"Oh my, even talking down to me?"

He was playing it cool like a man used to leading, but nothing got past my eyes. The cold sweat chilling his spine, the deathly pale fingers gripping his rifle. If he'd seen how the rat bastard died, there was no way in hell he could stay calm.

"Not teleporting away this time? Fine by me — I've got evangelizing to do, so I was planning to sweep all of Incheon anyway."

It wouldn't have mattered if they ran. Nowhere they fled to would hold paradise once they abandoned this place's infrastructure. They'd only make it as far as Incheon's borders, and I had to comb every corner of the city regardless to find that teleporting Awakened — the bastard's real treasure.

At my words, the men's eyes all snapped shut. Then Sergeant Kim's face, which had been deep in thought just a moment ago, flooded with panic.

Something's gone wrong on their end.

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly before he croaked out in a dry voice:

"...I ask for negotiation."

Zhjiijijiik—

The head of the man standing directly to his right was torn apart. Blood from the corpse splattered violently across the bunched-together faces.

Watching some of them convulse while Sergeant Kim wore an expression of pure bewilderment, I spoke.

"Now, let's not get so full of ourselves, hmm?"

"...You're insane."

My indifferent gaze swept over the group. No Awakened remained among them.

Either still inside the building, or already gone.

I pushed my way into the crowd somehow and singled out a black tracksuit trying to hide from my gaze.

"Hello! Seeing you again — so nice!"

"U-Uuugh. I-I'm sorry!"

"Look at that, apologizing already. Practically a grown man, huh?"

As expected, the bastards only come to their senses once they've had a taste of blood. I gave a slight tug at the head of the little fly-eyed weasel rolling his beady eyes around.

"H-HIIIIIIIICK! I-I'm sorryyy!"

"Now! If you want to live, our little errand boy here is going to gather every last survivor still in this place and bring them here. Think you can manage that?"

"Y-Yes yes yes! I-I can absolutely do iiiit!"

"Good, good! Get moving, now!"

The moment I released my telekinesis, he bolted inside without so much as a backward glance.

"U-UAAAAAAAGH!"

Before he vanished into the darkness, I pinched his ass with telekinesis, and the screaming fit he threw was spectacular.

Ugh, poking a guy's ass really does leave a filthy feeling.

Note to self: never touch another man's backside again.

After the black tracksuit disappeared, I bound the crowd, now sunk into silence, with telekinesis. Watching their eyeballs dart around wildly under the inexplicable external pressure, I gave them a small measure of reassurance.

"Wait quietly. There's still work left to do."

Their true usefulness came after this.

"Oh, Joohye-yah. Let me see — are you hurt anywhere, hmm?"

"Grandma, is now really the time to worry about me? Did those bastards at least feed you on time?"

"Aigoo, your grandfather and I never run out of worries, child. We're fine, all of us. The Lord is watching over us."

Joo Joohye burrowed into her grandmother's embrace for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Feeling her grandfather's gruff, awkward hand patting her shoulder, she held back the tears welling in her eyes.

She had stayed in Star Light Church, exactly as Sergeant Kim had instructed. She'd even changed the keywords to a cipher only she knew. From the moment the core members occupying Star Light Church ascended to the upper floors, she had resigned herself to a whatever-happens-happens mindset.

Sergeant Kim could never kill her, after all. And any new intruder would covet this absurdly useful skill of hers, too. There was no rosy future waiting for her beyond these walls anyway. The world outside had long since become a hell where you couldn't take a single step without trembling.

"Aigoo — the people from our church, they're all safe, aren't they?"

"......"

The mouths of the crowd gathered around her grandparents in the grand cathedral snapped shut all at once. In their current state, not even as a white lie could anyone call them safe.

"Hic... huuuhk—"

At the sound of Seo Hyewon's sobbing, Joo Joohye squeezed her eyes shut. Only the faint, shallow breaths of Elder Na, lying on a chair as if dead, supplied a harmony to that weeping.

"Oh... oh, Lord..."

Her grandmother's hollow prayer drifted through the cathedral, and her grandfather, gently holding the old woman, murmured in a low voice:

"...Looks like things are finally coming to a head."

Joo Joohye stared at her grandfather's forearms, thinned to almost nothing, then looked up at the ceiling herself. The savage booms that had been shaking the building until moments ago. Now that they'd cut off with a snap, the silence felt like the eve of a storm.

Kiiiiiiik—

"Haah— haah— Joo Joohye, you bitch!"

The cathedral doors swung open and a gasping Cho Seongcheol stormed in. Even in the gloom of the dark cathedral, his eyes blazed, brimming with fury.

"Grrgh— seriously! You! Grrrrgh!"

Foaming alone in his private rage, he took deep, shuddering breaths to swallow it down. The moment the crimson, quivering flesh of his cheeks settled, he bellowed:

"Is anyone still outside right now? No, right? From this moment, everyone goes up to the rooftop! Move, now!"

Waving people out as if shooing them, Cho Seongcheol turned to Joo Joohye.

"Run, while you still can. If you stay here, we really are all going to die!"

"Even if I run, you're just going to cowardly flee with your search team alone! What about these people — you want me to run off by myself?"

"Y-You stubborn woman! This time it's really different! H-He's genuinely insane! The second we go up there, there's no more chances, I'm telling you!"

Joo Joohye ignored the man foaming at the mouth. From the moment she'd set foot in this cathedral and stood among these people, she'd already climbed onto the back of a running tiger. She simply didn't have the mana to move both the search team and the thirty people in this cathedral.

"Grrrgh! F-Fine! Fine, let's go up! We n-need to hurry!"

"Hold on. Can't we just leave Elder Na behind?"

"Fuck! I said bring everyone! If that bastard finds out! Ah, whatever! Everyone, absolutely everyone, gets brought up!"

Having said his piece, Cho Seongcheol turned and sprinted back toward the rooftop. Every gaze in the cathedral turned to her. Feeling her family's hands quietly take hold of hers, she shuddered under the crushing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠weight of responsibility.

Now, she truly had to walk forward into a future where not even an inch ahead could be seen.

She hoisted the collapsed Elder Na onto her back and gave the others a nod.

Kiiiiik—

With her at the lead, the group from the cathedral climbed toward the rooftop. Passing through the dim interior, their eyes squinted against the bright sunlight pouring down just ahead of the rooftop.

"You've come, my children."

She swept her gaze across the rooftop. Right beside her stood the search team, frozen stiff and pale as chalk, along with Sergeant Kim. And on the deeply cracked, gouged lawn lay the flung-down corpse of Park Yeongjin. Above that body, someone hovered in perfect stillness.

She couldn't make him out clearly — the sunlight's radiance swallowed him whole. Only a pair of eyes spitting white light remained vivid, gazing down at them. That light-spitting gaze drew them in like a deep well.

"I have heard your prayers."

A warm voice seeped into the wounded, the grieving.

"I have heard your weeping. You who long for comfort, for hope, and for salvation."

His pristine white robes billowed in the wind. Beside the man floating in midair loomed a massive cross. At the presence it so naturally conjured, Joo Joohye's eyes rippled.

"Ahh—"

And she was not the only one who thought it. A small gasp escaped the group's lips, and a quiet awe filled their eyes.

"Some of you despair under a coercive bond you never chose. Some of you tremble before a future you cannot see."

"Huuuk— hic— hic—"

At his words, Seo Hyewon shook all over, her sobs racking her small frame. An unseen future... Joo Joohye, too, could not suppress her trembling at the uncanny sensation that the man was looking down upon the exact shape of her own longing.

"Even amid such bitter pain, someone among you would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠say: love your neighbor as you love your own body."

"A-Amen—"

He gave a faint smile at the whispered response. To Joo Joohye, strangely, it looked like a sneer.

"Others would say: if struck on the right cheek, offer the left also."

"A-Ah..."

Before the word amen could even finish, he roared. A wrath like thunder rolled across the rooftop.

"What cruel wretch among you! What wretch dares to strike my sons and daughters — and demand more besides!"

Crreeeeek—

The cross that had risen as if to touch the heavens itself screamed. As the cross, torn loose by a monstrous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠force, wrenched free into the open air, screams and shrieks came down like rain.

"Kyaaaaah—! UAAAAAK—!"

"Tear away the black veil that blinds the eyes of your souls! Wash clean your filthy ears and open your eyes wide — look upon me!"

The massive cross blotted out the sunlight that had been pouring down on them. Only then, standing above them with his face fully revealed, did the man cry out:

"Am I not the messiah you yearned for! Am I not the one sole savior who shall redeem this world!"

No one could answer.

"Then where is that one! Why does he not extend his hand to you who grovel in the filth and the dust! Look well! My children! Who was it that heard your prayers!"

He spread both arms wide. In that instant, the search team standing right beside Joo Joohye began to creak like marionettes, walking forward of their own accord.

"Uuugh! Uuuuuugh! Uuuugh!"

As if someone had sealed their mouths shut, they mumbled and wrenched their heads frantically side to side. The man above pointed at Sergeant Kim among them.

"Behold your oppressors! Your tormentors! With the faces of wicked serpents they barred your meeting with me — but destiny has come at last, and lo, I stand before you now!"

The search team arranged themselves into one long line and one short line crossing it.

A cross.

A cross made of human bodies.

Pointing at it, he shouted:

"Who else shall ascend Golgotha alongside those serpents! If there is a hypocrite among you who would truly grant them forgiveness and understanding — let him come forward!"

CRGGGGGK—

The great cross suspended in the sky lowered itself, aligning precisely above the cross the search team formed.

"Come out at once, and bear the cross alongside the serpents."

Joo Joohye glanced around. Not one person stepped forward. Everyone listening to him had forgotten even how to breathe, hanging on his every word. Empathizing. Being consoled. Agreeing.

"Rejoice! My children, stripped clean of the filth of lies! Tell me what you desire! Pray to me the true longing that has lain buried in the deepest chambers of your hearts!"

Thud—

With the sound of earth meeting knees, someone screamed in anguish:

"Kill them! P-Please, those trash, those pieces of garbage! Please, kill them, please!"

At the sorrow-laden wail of Seo Hyewon, Joo Joohye's pupils trembled. A madness spreading slowly from Seo Hyewon's eyes was swallowing the girl herself whole.

"Grrrrgh! S-Save me! Save me, Hyewon-ah! I was wrong! I-I actually gave you food stamps, unlike Yeongjin, didn't I?!"

"I-I'm sorry! I-I ran every errand the Master asked of me, didn't I?! Save me, please!"

"S-Somebody, anybody, get this thing off me! My body won't move, I can't moooove!"

Listening to the search team's screams gush out like a broken dam, the tormented souls shivered in gooseflesh. Only then did they understand. That the day they had wept and waited for through all their suffering — it was today. That these bastards' end, that righteous retribution, was about to unfold before their eyes.

"Th-Those who deserve divine punishment! Those bastards truly deserve to die a hundred times over!"

"Y-Yes! Kill them! Please, kill those bastards, pleeease!"

The tormented knelt and begged, just as Seo Hyewon had. Cries of save us and cries of kill them clamored over one another. Amid that theater of madness, Joo Joohye could only stand with her mouth hanging open, numb.

When he lightly closed his right hand, everyone fell silent. In that hellish bedlam unlike any other, the man in white smiled brightly and whispered:

"I have heard your prayers."

CRUUUUUNCH—!

The massive cross came down and crushed every last member of the search team beneath it. Along with the blood spraying in all directions, yet more crimson painted over the already blood-red cross.

"AAAAAAAH—!"

"Th-They're dead! They really died!"

People had died — and someone was rejoicing. In this place filled not with screams and wails but with jubilation and laughter, the blood streaming from the condemned flowed across the green grass until it reached their feet. Before the blood of sin could stain them, the rejoicing bodies rose gently into the air.

The white-robed savior smiled like a saint and spoke to them:

"The designs of the false god have crumbled, and true salvation is at hand!"

Gazing at that smile, unsullied by a single speck of dust, Joo Joohye thought: this was a madness of an entirely different order from Sergeant Kim's.

"Paradise awaits you all."