Chapter 17
“Geumseum, Geumseum, wake up. Hurry.”
Hanyeong shook awake Geumseum, who had been sleeping soundly. As he sat up and shook off his drowsiness, he saw that everything around them was in chaos.
Loud engine sounds inappropriate for the middle of the night, someone’s rough shouting, a child’s crying, and right nearby, the sound of Hanyeong frantically packing their belongings – all kinds of noise crashed into his ears at once, making them sting.
Geumseum shook his head to consciously block out the sounds. Hanyeong came over and put shoes on Geumseum’s feet, tying the laces tightly.
“I guess this is why these shoes caught my eye. They say a rift appeared 10km northeast. It seems to be spreading downward. We need to move further south. I’ll pack up the tent, so Geumseum, you quickly get dressed.”
“Okay.”
The spot where the workbench had been was already empty and desolate. The boss and his gang had barged in to deliver news of the rift and had taken away the finished byproducts first.
There was nothing to feel disappointed about. Just receiving news so they could evacuate was already a privilege. Otherwise, they would have been sucked into the rift while sleeping.
Hanyeong quickly folded up the tent, rolled it up tight, and tied it securely. He discarded everything that would be a burden and packed only the bare minimum necessities. He handed Geumseum the nice titanium walking stick he had once picked up from a waste disposal site and firmly grasped the handle of his cart.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
The evacuation route wasn’t lonely. Geumseum and Hanyeong joined the endless procession of people. Following the guidance of those who had maps, a long journey southward began.
The procession moved along highways that had been built back when rifts hadn’t appeared yet, when all humans lived gathered on the surface. The car carrying the boss’s gang passed by the procession at a slow speed, spotted Geumseum, and honked their horn. They demanded he get in with profanity-laced words, but there was only one seat. Geumseum shook his head and refused. After sending them ahead, when they had walked about ten more kilometers, they encountered a river.
All the vehicles that had gone ahead were stopped, causing commotion in the procession. Even in bottom-dweller life, there was a wealth gap – those in cars all had power, strength, or money. The fact that they had stopped meant bad news.
Right in front of the group where Geumseum and Hanyeong were, a loud noise erupted and people all turned around at once and started running in the opposite direction.
“Run! Quickly! Get out of the way!”
Hanyeong squeezed the hand he was holding tightly.
“Geumseum, hold my hand tight and run. Got it?”
There was no time to ask what was happening. Hanyeong abandoned even the cart and started running while holding Geumseum’s hand.
When he opened his ears that had been closed, noise poured in. Screams, curses, the sound of weapons being swung – combat was taking place in the direction they had wanted to go. Geumseum ran quickly, matching Hanyeong’s stride.
“Kyaaaak! My leg! Aaahhh!”
Following the scream from right behind them came the sounds of crunching and chewing. Hanyeong turned pale and increased his speed. Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap! From the sound of eight legs stepping on the ground in sequence, Geumseum realized the monster chasing them was a spider.
“Geumseum, dodge!”
Faster than Hanyeong’s signal, Geumseum sharply turned to the right. A mass of spider web that the spider had swung burst with a thud where the two had been standing, spreading a foul stench. Geumseum, who instinctively remembered it was poison that acted on the nervous system, wrapped his arms around Hanyeong and shouted.
“Don’t breathe!”
Geumseum opened wide the senses he had been blocking.
While carrying Hanyeong on his back, he nimbly avoided the toxic substances and ran faster than people with perfectly good eyes. The horrible sound of the spider devouring paralyzed people pierced his ears, but each such sound bought them precious time to barely escape. There was no luxury of helping anyone.
“In front!”
Forgetting his warning not to breathe, Hanyeong shouted. At the same time, Geumseum crouched and rolled forward. With a sharp whistling sound cutting through the air, scorching heat passed over their heads.
Kwaaaaang-! With an explosion sound, the entire area suddenly brightened as if the sun had risen.
The two people who had rolled together as one mass forgot about running away and looked back.
Through the bandages covering his eyes, he could feel the outline of a house-sized spider burning. Just as he raised his arm to shield against the heat hitting his face, another fireball poured down from the sky.
The flames burned away even the spider’s poison that had spread in the air. Geumseum grabbed Hanyeong’s hand to pull him up and tried to run again to a safer place, but he couldn’t.
“It’s Baek Mujin.”
Because Hanyeong’s voice pulled Geumseum back like an anchor. Even though he had only muttered it quietly.
Soon after, countless fireballs fell like a bombardment from the sky, pouring down over the river. More precisely, they fell on the bridge crossing the river, onto the nest where the monster spider had laid its eggs, causing a massive explosion.
The storm of heat created fierce winds, and all the survivors had to lie down or fall over, covering their heads.
A light footstep seemed to be heard. As if unaffected by gravity at all, Baek Mujin lightly stepped on the ground.
Geumseum, who had fallen, sat frozen like ice on the ground, staring at his silhouette. Flames flickered fiercely over his thick body clad in tight black combat gear. Even though everything around was hot with heat, goosebumps rose along his spine and it felt like his hands and feet would all freeze.
“…!”
The moment Baek Mujin turned his head, Geumseum quickly lowered his. White hair fluttered in the darkness. The moment he felt his gaze, a stabbing pain like being pierced by an awl arose in both eyes beneath the bandages.
Clearly nothing should be visible, yet he could see clearly. And he didn’t even realize it was strange that he could see. â– â– felt like his head was burning completely white right now.
“Geumseum, are you hurt anywhere? You’re okay, right?”
At Hanyeong’s whisper and careful touch, Geumseum suddenly came to his senses. Because he could feel that the brave and spirited Hanyeong was trembling, he squeezed the hand holding him and slowly raised his head.
Baek Mujin, who had surveyed the scene with a cold and indifferent expression, turned his body toward the direction Geumseum and Hanyeong had fled from. At the last moment, his gaze seemed to turn toward Geumseum once more, but his darkly dimmed eyes discovered nothing.
In the direction the procession had been heading, there was a bridge to cross the river, and on top of it, the monster spider had built its nest. After instantly disposing of all the baby spiders that had been hunting people, Baek Mujin charged alone toward the giant mother roaring in the nest.
“Wow… so fucking cool.”
Hanyeong’s muttering reached his ears, but Geumseum couldn’t even dare to look at the flames that burned away the darkness.
* * *
Three years after prophesying the Great Rift.
Yeongseong Gwanghwi, which was walking the path of revival, was no longer treated as a cult. It received evaluations as a new religion, new teachings for a new era, and even that a real god who would save the world had appeared.
The central sanctuary of Yeongseong Gwanghwi was truly the height of splendor.
The black stone pillar, a symbol promising the path of salvation, soared up to the impossibly high ceiling. The round hole cut in the dome ceiling resembled the Pantheon. The sunlight streaming down from there illuminated the black stone pillar like the hand of god.
And what about the artificial lake in the garden and the small forest surrounding it, and the sculpture park? It was a beautiful place where some ancient king might have strolled. Everyone who visited the sanctuary and saw this couldn’t help but be amazed.
However, the sanctuary, which would normally overflow only with quiet prayer sounds, was now filled with commotion. Huiseon’s guild leader had led hunters to storm in and was in sharp confrontation with the sanctuary’s gatekeepers.
“Move aside if you don’t want to burn to death.”
At the end of his quiet words, flames blazed up and consumed the curtains hanging at the entrance.
Baek Sangyeon pushed aside the sharp spear tips the gatekeepers were pointing at him with his fingertips and walked inside without hesitation. His attitude said ‘go ahead and stab me if you dare.’ While none of the gatekeepers dared to rashly attack, Baek Sangyeon reached the center of the sanctuary.
“Do Yeongmyeong!”
When the cult leader’s name was called so carelessly, the believers with their heads bowed below the altar all gasped in unison.
Do Yeongmyeong, who had been standing on the golden altar, slowly turned around. Baek Sangyeon looked up and down at the white robe he wore to create an air of holiness and made a mocking expression.
“I’ve come to hear an explanation from you.”
“An explanation, you say.”
Do Yeongmyeong responded with a gentle smile.
“I merely convey the prophecies that our lord god tells me. I have never spoken falsehoods that would require explanation.”
“Are you saying that the absurd claim that the dead will return to life is not a lie?”
“Yes. It is not a lie. What would god gain by speaking such falsehoods?”
Baek Sangyeon narrowed his eyes. Even though he had clearly expected this kind of answer, he couldn’t suppress the rising disgust and contorted his face.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
