Chapter 127. Ryugyong Hotel.
Chapter 127. Ryugyong Hotel.
When the Celestials first approach, they come off as the kindest souls in the world — sweet and gentle. The image of those who help the poor and care for the sick. But under the surface, an abyss lies in wait.
'A race that believes inferior humans ought to feel honored just to be looked after by superior Celestials...'
Their entire way of thinking is alien. They demand faith, and if you refuse, they conjure up all manner of pretexts and kill you in the name of judgment.
Their faces turned hard when I told them, stone-cold and without compromise, to blow their heads off without hesitation.
"They resemble the angels people imagine. And in an apocalypse like this, there will be those crying out for a god — so stay on your guard."
They even use polite speech and approach with practiced kindness, all to soften your suspicion. If there's one piece of luck, it's that you can spot them at a glance and think, 'Ah, so that's a Celestial.'
"They'll be wearing white robes and white wings. You'll recognize them on sight."
"...We'll stay vigilant."
"Of course, we're not yet absolutely certain they're the real thing."
In truth, I was more than ninety-nine percent convinced they were Celestials.
'I'm just short of something definitive...'
Dwelling on it right now wouldn't change anything anyway, so I got everyone ready to move again.
"We've finished eating. Pack up and let's keep moving."
We ate, then walked and camped and walked again, repeating the cycle, and along the way we didn't so much as glimpse a stray zombie. Except for the occasional bloodstain on the road, you almost forgot a zombie outbreak had ever happened here.
"A little farther and we'll reach Pyongyang. Let's push on just a little more."
"We're clearly worn out. Once we arrive in Pyongyang, let's take some time to rest there."
'If I'd known it'd be like this, maybe I should've grabbed vehicles back in Paju...'
I'd been so fixated on having to punch through hordes of zombies that vehicles never made it into the plan. Now, I regretted it.
After a few more hours on foot, we finally spotted a sign that read: Pyongyang Directly Governed City. The moment the group saw it, faces brightened and sighs of relief broke out.
"Pyongyang University of Science and Technology?"
"A university should sit on fairly sizable grounds, and the open sightlines would work in our favor. Let's hole up there for today and set out tomorrow morning."
We spent the rest of the day there and headed out again in the very early morning. Walking on, just before entering Pyongyang proper, a bridge came into view.
"Once we're across, we're in the heart of Pyongyang. No telling what's waiting in there — stay sharp."
The moment I set foot on the bridge, something deeply unpleasant washed over me. Something viscous, something that got under your skin and made you want to recoil.
"Hold up."
I was at the front and raised a hand, stopping the group in their tracks. Everyone tensed, rifle barrels sweeping to cover every direction.
"Sir, what is it?"
"At the end of the bridge..."
I sharpened my focus and stared toward the bridge's far end. A body was impaled on a lamppost, dead. The special mission agents confirmed it through the scopes mounted on their rifles. The man hadn't simply been pierced — he'd been rammed into it upright. One had a steel bar driven through the top of his head, and another had rebar jutting from his shoulder joint.
"How could they...!"
"Sir... that one's still alive..."
The one whose head wasn't penetrated let out labored groans and showed fitful movement. Just barely clinging to breath — he didn't look like he had much longer.
"Crazy bastards... did they do this to whip up terror and herd people together...?"
We gave those still gasping a merciful end and moved past them, pushing deep into Pyongyang. And there it was — a building boasting an unthinkable height, unfinished.
"North Korea has a building like that?"
"I believe that's the Ryugyeong Hotel... The second dictator ordered it built, but as far as I know, construction was never completed for some reason."
"So it's unfinished. Then what about the people over there right now?"
A sizable crowd had gathered there, and the scene was nothing short of inhuman and hellish. On either side of the entrance, in rows just like the ones we'd seen earlier, people were impaled on pillars.
"From here on out, it looks like we'll have to move with a great deal of caution..."
"Let's flag this location for later and proceed to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun. That seems wisest."
We went on with all the caution we could muster, but the place was so empty of people it almost made a mockery of our careful approach. So empty, in fact, that it felt like nearly everyone had swarmed into the Ryugyeong Hotel.
"Looks like this was where those bastards' statues used to be..."
At the spot where a massive statue was presumed to have stood, everything from the ankles up had been smashed off, as if by something. The bastard should still be alive — there's no way he'd have allowed his own statue to be destroyed. Which meant...
"This definitely confirms he's under someone else's thumb. Someone strong enough to make even that pig bend the knee."
"As you say, Representative — if he were in his right mind, he'd never have permitted his statues to be toppled, let alone left them like that."
The real question now wasn't the simple fact of the executions, but why anyone would commit the mad act of impaling people on pillars in the first place...
"This is the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun."
Anyone could see it was a building of extraordinary scale. Portraits of the first and second leaders hung from the upper facade. And this was the only place where a substantial number of soldiers were posted on guard. The fortunate part was that the interior didn't hold a great many people.
We infiltrated the building through a second-floor window, but we had no way of knowing which room the bastard was using as his office.
"We'll have to grab someone who looks high-ranking and ask."
Even in this situation, they were punctilious enough to still be in military uniform — which meant we could look at the rank insignia on their shoulders and figure out who the big shots were.
"This room looks high-end enough to belong to someone important. We'll wait in here."
After lying in wait for several dozen minutes, we heard voices in conversation outside.
"I, now..."
"Comrade Senior Colonel, please make yourself at ease..."
We traded glances, and everyone took up positions — behind the door, behind the pillars, under the desk. The room was so large that the whole team managed to conceal themselves.
ㅡ Creeeak...
The door opened and a uniformed soldier walked in. I could see three stars on his shoulder board and a collection of decorations jangling on his chest.
'That seems fairly high-ranking.'
The man pulled a cigarette from his jacket, lit it, and drifted over to the window. Once the door closed, two of my operatives crept up silently behind him.
"Now!"
In an instant I deployed a Qi Barrier with mana, and at the same moment, the operatives rushed him. One snatched the pistol from his belt, and the other wrapped an arm around his throat to restrain him.
"Krrk...!"
Another operative swiftly hauled over a chair, sat him down, and bound him fast.
"How about a little chat?"
His eyes flew wide upon seeing the special mission agents' uniforms, and then his expression hardened into defiance.
"South Korean puppets..."
"Where is the pig right now? No, more to the point — in a world like this, why the hell would he force an invasion south?"
"I have nothing to say to puppets!"
Right. Humans are, by nature, the kind of creatures who won't know what shit tastes like until they stick a spoon in it.
I gave the operative a nod. At the signal, he handed his rifle to a comrade and pulled his gloves on snug.
ㅡ Whack! Smack! Thwack!
For a while, the room echoed with nothing but the sound of impacts and stifled grunts. When the beating was over, I grabbed him by his slumped head of hair and wrenched his face upward.
"...I can never betray Comrade Chairman..."
Blood streamed from his nose and mouth, but still he radiated total, unshakable loyalty. From what I knew, high-ranking officials like this only pretended at loyalty to survive the purges...
'Maybe I should knead his brain a little...'
"Then the Ryugyeong Hotel. What is that place?"
At the mention of the Ryugyeong Hotel, his eyes went perfectly round. He started shaking his head, then his whole frame began to tremble.
"Please... I'll tell you everything... That place is..."
As if in a fit, he was seized by terror and abruptly started pissing himself. After being beaten to a bloody pulp without uttering a word, his defiance did a complete one-eighty so suddenly that it caught us, not him, off guard.
"I'll tell you everything...! Comrade Chairman is currently in his third-floor office...!"
His legs still quaking, he gave us the exact route and precise location of the office, but we pressed him again about the more important matter — the Ryugyeong Hotel.
"What exactly is over there?"
"Th-that place... the demons... they came down from the sky... Krguuaahh!!!"
All of a sudden, blood rushed to his face, and an eerie symbol seared itself onto his forehead as if branded by an iron. He died right there.
"..."
"I think we need to hurry."
"Huh?"
"Just now, something inside this bastard tried to force its way out through the Qi Barrier. Fortunately, it didn't get through, but whoever planted that device inside him will have sensed that something is wrong."
Looking at the symbol seared across his forehead, I was absolutely certain. The ones responsible for everything up to now were the Celestials. The mark was a solar emblem, with angels' wings spiraling outward from the center.
"They call these Holy Stigmata themselves, but in truth they're little different from a slave brand."
Any Celestial can carve a Holy Stigma into a worshiper. They can even share a portion of their own power with those who bear the mark — but they are hardly the kind of race to hand out such favors purely out of benevolence.
"Let's move to the third floor. Now."
I was the first out through the window and into the third-floor corridor. Unlike the second-floor hallway, this one was empty. Once the all-clear was given, the entire team filed in. And there, at the far end, was a door so ornate anyone could recognize it for what it was.
The squad fanned out on either side of the large door. The presence I felt inside was a single one. That meant no one else was in there besides the bastard himself. Just as I had earlier, I deployed a Qi Barrier to prevent any sound from escaping.
ㅡ Bang!
"Breach!"
Wary of any traps set for intruders, we surged inside at speed. I could see the man floundering in panic at the sudden intrusion; to subdue him fast, the lead operative kicked his legs out from under him, sent him sprawling, and pinned him down.
"H-how did South Korean dogs...!"
"I'll ask, and you'll answer quickly. Understood?"
"I am the supreme leader of the Republic! Who do you think can intimidate me!"
This one still didn't have his head on straight, apparently.
ㅡ Shkkt...!
I sliced off his ear. He screamed something hideous and clutched at the side of his head.
"Kkkrrrkk...! Puh-huh-huh..."
"...?"
After thrashing about in agony for a moment, the man abruptly began to laugh.
'Has pain unhinged him? No, something's different.'
"Who is this 'teacher' you keep speaking of? And what is happening right now at the Ryugyeong Hotel?"
"I was going to give all my people an earthly paradise... a day when they could wear silk robes and eat white rice with meat soup..."
Looking in his eyes, I could tell he wasn't crazed. He was speaking entirely of his own will.
"The Ryugyeong Hotel is the earthly paradise my teacher-comrade prepared for the people...!"
Suddenly, his eyes rolled back, and the symbol on his forehead flared to life. Unlike the earlier man who had writhed in excruciating pain before dying, this one wore an expression of utter peace.
"I, too, shall finally go to the earthly paradise..."
The flames of the symbol died down, and in their wake, he turned into a cold corpse. And just like before, something tried to wrench free from his body and tear through the Qi Barrier.
When I carefully released the Qi Barrier, the thing fled — straight in the direction of the Ryugyeong Hotel.