BSA Ch 20

Only belatedly did Mukso realize that, dazzled by the cruel sacrificial rituals, he had been missing the basics of military strategy: “Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will win a hundred battles.”

It was four years and three months since he had attempted the peninsula liberation enterprise. Until then, he didn’t even know who was commanding the fanatics.

Mukso hurriedly dispatched spies to the ‘land of gods’. Because it was such a closed country, infiltrating spies was not easy. When he managed to infiltrate spies with great difficulty, there was no news. Out of fifty-six spies, only one returned. The spy stated that everyone except himself had been brutally murdered in broad daylight at the capital department.

“I have no way of knowing how the assassin figured out the whereabouts of my comrades and killed them.”

The subsequent report was shocking. As Mukso had initially guessed, the ‘land of gods’ was a country of farmers. Although the state enforced a cult religion, the vast majority of the citizens were atheists who thoroughly denied the existence of gods, and the religious fervor of the very few religious people who did exist was weaker than a firefly.

The spy said that although the current Lee Hwa was unusually cruel, he had never once performed a ritual using human blood, and currently the citizens of the ‘land of gods’ were completely unaware that this mess had broken out at the border and were shedding beads of sweat while focusing solely on farming.

“Lee Hwa’s bloodline is said to have preempted rebellions with clairvoyance, maintaining power for over 800 years. The current Lee Hwa is a figure so shrouded in mystery that rumors of his death once spread, but the government has clarified multiple times that it is groundless. Rather, these days rumors are rampant that he regrets his past misdeeds and secretly guards the country as a recluse. The current Lee Hwa is evaluated as the strongest clairvoyant in history. We were deceived, My Lord.”

Mukso, too, admitted it. That he had been deceived. And for over four years at that.

Mukso’s heavily crumpled pride recovered somewhat as he conquered ‘Ilhwawolguk (日和月國)’. Just as he was about to attempt the peninsula liberation enterprise in earnest again, this time ‘Saengmokguk (生命木國)’ caused a disturbance at the snakes’ border.

With no other choice, Mukso changed direction and decided to plot the division of the East peninsula. Finding a traitor was not easy. All members of the ruling class of the ‘land of gods’ feared Lee Hwa’s clairvoyance and kept a low profile. It was around the time they entered their seventh year of confronting the ‘land of gods’ that a spy managed to recruit a local noble.

The traitor provided all sorts of confidential information. The fanatics at the border were actually the best skilled talents produced by ‘Hwado’, a training center for murderers established by the government, and were the coldest-blooded men in that land. They were divided into four divisions: Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk, and were tasked with imitating fanatics, various surprise attacks, defense, offense, operations, and military training.

There is only one way for a minority to defeat a majority. Massacre. The Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk divisions were elite units that enlisted after signing a massacre pledge abandoning their humanity. Four people called Lee Hwanmae, Yoo Nanoh, Seo Jukgyeong, and Park Gukyoung—collectively known as Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk—who were alumni from Hwado, were the core figures, and the traitor revealed that the leader was Lee Hwanmae, while Yoo Nanoh, acting as the combat captain, was the strongest master.

The traitor also provided photos of Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk and detailed all sorts of terrifying things they had committed. In particular, the cruel acts of Lee Hwanmae and Yoo Nanoh were more spine-chilling than what was revealed to the outside. Over the past seven years, the officers they had personally tortured and murdered amounted to some seven hundred. Yoo Nanoh took the vanguard every time he kidnapped snakes, and was said to be a murdering ghost who didn’t blink an eye even after killing hundreds of people all at once. Finally, the traitor told the spy:

The rumors are true. Lee Hwa, regretting his past misdeeds, is currently dedicating himself solely to guarding the country facing a crisis, and Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk is his closest elite bodyguard unit. The soldiers secretly trained by Lee Hwanmae under Lee Hwa’s orders for seven years number as many as one million!

Among the snakes, the only person currently knowing this classified information was Gwanchang. Just before uploading the report containing the secrets to Mukso, the spy Deng Li was killed in a raid by the fanatics, and only Gwanchang survived and was dragged all the way to the Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk division.

“Patriotism!”

“Patriotism!”

As Lee Hwanmae walked down the hallway, the slaughter corps lined up and shouted salute slogans. A reek of blood hung heavy in the hallway where the blue fluorescent light shot downwards. Passing the slaughter corps wearing black uniforms, this time men wearing navy-blue uniforms lined up and passionately clapped.

“Patriotism!”

“Patriotism!”

“Patriotism!”

Gwanchang immediately recognized them by their navy-blue uniforms as they shouted until their throats were hoarse. They were military officers of Lun (侖) dispatched here.

According to the information provided by the traitor, the first side to acquire the military secret that Mukso was planning an invasion of the East peninsula was the ‘land of Lun (侖)’. Upon learning of the plan to exterminate all men under 60 and women under 45 of the East peninsula during the invasion process, the Lun side was turned upside down. Lun immediately formed a top-secret military alliance with the ‘land of gods’ and established a cooperative system. The traitor informed him that that was already seven years ago.

A total of three hundred elite members belonging to Lun (侖) stayed in the Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk division. Selected only as hardliners, they took charge of various tasks such as medical support, spy activities traveling between the Western continent and the East peninsula, filming ritual ceremonies, and video editing. Their core mission was medical support, which included several items violating the Hippocratic Oath. Before the ritual ceremonies, military doctors belonging to Lun (侖) hypnotized the snakes and injected hallucinogens to drive them into a state of resistance inability. Once that preliminary work was completed, elite members belonging to gods chopped the snakes up piece by piece. The above fact is also information provided by the traitor to the spy Deng Li.

“Patriotism!”

“Patriotism!”

“Patriotism!”

The elite members of gods and Lun passionately clapped and shouted slogans. Lee Hwanmae walked past them as if nothing were the matter and kept walking. Only after walking for a long time did the corridor end. The moment a pretty Private First Class opened the door, Gwanchang widened his eyes.

A temple that had only been seen through ritual ceremony videos unfolded before his eyes. Gwanchang judged that the information provided by the traitor was accurate to some extent. The appearances of Mae-Ran-Guk-Juk were just like the photos, and the statement that there was no actual temple also matched. The identity of the giant temple that overwhelmed the snakes’ gazes in the ritual ceremony video was none other than a blue screen.

Blue screens surrounded all sides of a large interrogation room the size of an indoor gymnasium, and a high altar was installed on one side. The giant temple where snakes were offered as meals was a fiction created by computer graphics. According to the information provided by the traitor, precise editing was applied in the post-production of the video, such as using CG snakes to increase the number of snakes appearing in the field-grade officer gang-rape scene from five to one hundred.

Just like the temple, there were no fanatics either. They were dressed in hoods and black uniforms just like in the video, but only a chilling murderous intent emanated from them. Lee Hwanmae, Yoo Nanoh, and the pretty Private First Class all put on hoods before entering the temple(?).

In particular, Lee Hwanmae even draped a long, dragging cape over his black uniform. Only then did Gwanchang realize that the problematic ritualist who always appeared in the ritual ceremony videos and incited the bloody frenzy was none other than Lee Hwanmae.

“I will teach you why I kept you alive, snake.”

Lee Hwanmae said as he climbed the altar.

“Interpret. Our interpreter died during the fierce battle. I will keep you alive only until a successor arrives. Grab the mic and accurately interpret our patriotic acts in your language to let the snakes know. An inspector will be attached beside you. Only translate what we demand you to translate. If you disobey, you too will appear as the lead actor in this new release.”

The pretty Private First Class grabbed Gwanchang’s arm and followed Lee Hwanmae up the altar. Cameras and filming crews were visible everywhere. They would vividly film, precisely edit, and publicly screen the patriotic acts (inhumane acts to the snakes) that were about to take place.

Gwanchang grabbed the microphone. The pretty Private First Class pointed a knife at Gwanchang’s neck and said:

“Translate only when I stab your side.”

A freezing murderous intent drifted from the lowered voice. Although his rank was Private First Class, he seemed to be a trusted subordinate whom Lee Hwanmae called a disciple. Gwanchang immediately revised his judgment that Lee Hwanmae failed to properly utilize talented people.