"S-spare me…"
Clench!
A thoughtless stomp crushed the person's head, bursting it open.
Dan Ja-Kang, who had carelessly taken a life, stepped on the blood and brains and moved forward. Then he quickly glanced back.
Wherever he passed, only corpses remained.
The empire's troops had arrived after realizing the situation. To ordinary people, this would be sheer terror, and even the military forces—usually unfazed by murim warriors—were nothing more than swarms of flies to Dan Ja-Kang.
All that remained was a hellish land, seemingly swept clean by war.
Of course, this hellish landscape did not inspire Dan Ja-Kang. He was merely erasing those who deserved to be erased.
He couldn't afford even the slightest sympathy or doubt. He silently wiped out everything he saw.
Yes, these were people, but they were not truly people.
They might look no different from the followers, but they were nothing more than swindlers who had rejected the chance to believe that had been offered to them.
The Heavenly Demon had already given them an opportunity—a chance to acknowledge its existence and submit.
However, they had rejected that chance. Since they had turned away from the descended God, all that awaited them was death and the eternal suffering that would follow.
'In the end, they chose this fate themselves.'
Just as Dan Ja-Kang was about to turn away, absentmindedly staring at the blood-tinted land, his gaze suddenly shifted to the side.
A faint sound of a child crying passed by his ear. His brow furrowed slightly.
Among the dead and dying, he had missed these small signs.
He moved forward, thinking that he didn't have much experience with this kind of massacre.
"P-please… please."
What soon came into view was a strange sight.
Beneath a pile of corpses, a woman was covering a child with her entire body. Dan Ja-Kang narrowed his eyes as he watched the woman desperately cover the child's mouth with one hand, trembling.
"Please…"
The woman, trying to stop the child from crying, flinched greatly as she sensed Dan Ja-Kang's presence. Her terrified eyes looked up at him.
As soon as their eyes met, the woman began to sob and tremble as if she had encountered the devil's spirit.
"P-please…"
Her words did not change.
However, the target of her plea had clearly shifted. If the first "please" was directed at the child, now she was begging Dan Ja-Kang.
"Please, just this child… please!"
Dan Ja-Kang stared blankly at her and the child in her arms.
Foolish. Foolish and again foolish.
How could she not understand that all of this was the result of her own choices? And how could she not realize that the one who should be asking for forgiveness was not Dan Ja-Kang?
He raised his hand absentmindedly.
But at that moment, the child in the woman's arms burst into tears as if suffocating.
"Euk… euyk… please. Cough."
The woman hugged the child tightly to her chest and closed her eyes.
Dan Ja-Kang raised his hand and watched the scene.
And then, slowly, his hand lowered. He looked at the woman and child with an unreadable expression, then turned and walked away.
It wasn't exactly sympathy.
In any case, everyone in this area would die. There was no chance for the weakened woman and child to survive here. They would perish on their own without his intervention.
They would die quickly even without his touch, so he didn't want to soil his hands any further. That was all.
Step.
As he walked, stepping on the blood-soaked ground, a messenger approached him.
"I will report!"
The messenger, lying on the bloodied ground as if nothing had happened, raised his head to report. His eyes widened fiercely as if sensing a presence behind Dan Ja-Kang.
"I will listen as we go."
Dan Ja-Kang's words made the messenger stop.
"Yes!"
The messenger quietly got up and followed behind Dan Ja-Kang.
"More than 90% of the work here is done."
"You are late."
"I'm sorry. Since this is a city, too many people are hiding underground."
"Excuses only cover up your incompetence. They don't mask the lack of faith."
The messenger's face turned pale at that.
"I will do whatever it takes to finish this in three days!"
"Two days."
"…"
"Two days. Within that time, destroy everything that still remains here."
"Yes, sir!"
The messenger bowed deeply.
Whether it was possible or not didn't matter. What mattered was that he had received an order. The high priest's command must be carried out at all costs. That was the law of the Cult.
As the messenger steeled himself, Dan Ja-Kang's voice broke the silence.
"Messenger."
"Yes, high priest."
"I have one question."
The messenger bowed his head silently, waiting.
"Their deaths are merely the price for their sins."
"That is true."
"These are those who rejected the hand of salvation extended by the Great Being. They knew of the Heavenly Demon's existence but did not convert to the Cult and dared oppose the Heavenly Demon."
"Yes."
"There is no room for salvation for those who know the Great One but do not choose. Those who did not choose out of ignorance also cannot escape their sins."
The messenger nodded as if this was obvious doctrine.
"But, messenger," Dan Ja-Kang said with an indifferent expression, "what should we do with those who do not know the Heavenly Demon's existence and have not yet had the chance to choose?"
"…What are you saying?"
"This is exactly what I mean. Should children who do not yet know pay the same price for their sins?"
The messenger's face twisted strangely.
"…They may not have sinned, but isn't it natural for children to bear the sins of their parents?"
"Is that so?"
Dan Ja-Kang nodded quietly.
'…A choice.'
Can that really be called a choice?
Dan Ja-Kang quietly stroked his face, his rough lips brushing against his palm.
When living solely within the Cult, there was no need for such doubts. Everyone believed the same, thought the same. Anything wrong was completely excluded.
Just believing brought peace.
Just accepting the high priests' sermons without question allowed infinite joy.
However…
Dan Ja-Kang looked up at the cloudy sky.
The world he encountered was as hazy as that sky. The sky without a single doubt he had seen in doctrine did not exist here.
"Let me ask you one more question."
"Yes, high priest."
"If we achieve all of this…"
Dan Ja-Kang stared blankly at the sky for a moment, as if unable to speak fully. Then he said,
"If He does not answer our cries… what will we do?"
"…."
"Will you return to the Cult and wait forever until He comes?"
'I…'
The messenger hesitated, then lowered his head apologetically.
"I don't know the answer."
"…I see."
"I only know one thing. The joy of the teaching lies in following and keeping His words. Any pleasure pursued by disobeying His words is nothing more than apostasy."
Dan Ja-Kang nodded, seemingly pleased.
"That is a good answer. There is no doubt about your faith."
"Thank you, high priest."
"Finish this up."
"Yes."
"Ah, and…"
The messenger paused at Dan Ja-Kang's firm voice.
"I guess he's on my mind."
"…Is that the one who came to see you before?"
"Yes. I don't remember his name."
Dan Ja-Kang snickered. He wasn't someone whose name he wanted to remember.
"He doesn't seem like someone who would give up easily. He will definitely come after us again."
"Yes."
"It might be a futile struggle, but there's no harm in being on guard. Check if anyone approaches and prepare in advance."
"The Cult's followers have just arrived. I'll leave the guard to them."
"Leave the method to them."
"Yes, high priest!"
The messenger quickly moved away as he had come. Dan Ja-Kang's indifferent steps didn't stop, but they seemed strangely slower than before.
'The Cult is not perfect.'
Yes, that was natural.
If the Cult's doctrine were perfect, there would be no non-believers. The Cult doesn't exist to distinguish the smart from the foolish; it merely divides those who believe from those who do not.
And so the Cult must not be perfect. A Cult that leaves no room for doubt cannot be the standard for judging faith.
Believing even when there is doubt—is that true faith?
So don't doubt it. Just believe.
But how is knowing different from doing? Even though he knew his doubts were eating away at him, he had no way to quench the doubts that had blossomed.
'Maybe I just want to confirm.'
Dan Ja-Kang's purpose was not to confirm with his own eyes the bright world that He would open. It was simply to confirm His existence.
Even if he were to burn in hellfire forever for this deep doubt, if he could confirm the Heavenly Demon's existence, he would laugh forever in hellfire.
So… so…
'Please answer.'
Please tell me all my doubts and suspicions were in vain.
Please condemn this person who lacks faith.
Please do not abandon those poor, pitiful people who worship the Heavenly Demon on this barren land.
Dan Ja-Kang would become the spark.
His existence would ignite a spark; his doubt would crumble and turn into certainty. And finally, eternal peace would come to this world.
Dan Ja-Kang smiled brightly, a face mixed with joy and distrust, hatred and affection.
'I am the contradiction.'
Doubting but believing, believing but doubting. Unable to believe without doubting, he desperately hoped that everything about his actions was wrong.
How could this not be ironic?
'Forget it.'
Now was the time to simply do what had to be done.
Dan Ja-Kang, about to move his stopped feet, suddenly turned sharply.
Northwest.
There was nothing visible. Nothing that caught his senses.
But what was that? What was this feeling he just felt?
Dan Ja-Kang slowly clenched and unclenched his fists.
'To the northwest…'
His eyes darkened.
"I might have to cross the river…"
Dan Ja-Kang, who had been staring northwest with gloomy eyes for a while, slowly resumed walking.