1.

It was quite a warm night, warm enough to spend the night on the green grass. That night, Kim Tae-hoon began collecting information.

"The smoke began to flow out of the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner and became a monster."

The man, who was now kneeling naked in his pants and underwear and wearing only his jacket, was Kim's first target. In fact, it was right to say that they were collected rather than hunting.

For Kim, hunting was his own determination, and sometimes his life depended on it.

If Kim dealt with an animal, who had raped a woman by force and was concerned about future trouble and killed her on the spot without mercy, it would not be called hunting, it would be an insult to him who has been hunting monsters.

"No, it was a beast, not a monster. Tiger, lion, wild boar… elephant! There was also an elephant!"

Of course, Kim had no intention of showing the leisurely air of the winner, the mercy of the hunter to the man.

"So, where is the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje?"

"Yes?"

"Where is the Messiah you serve?"

"Well, it's…"

"If you answer my question, your life will be saved, I'm sure I promised." There was only one deal he wanted to keep, only one deal with the man. "I'll ask you again, where are they?"

"Well, I don't know. She and her Guardians don't stay in one place and move on. I only see them when the Guardians with the Stigmata come to receive the payment periodically!"

"Where are they?"

"I said everything! I told you everything I know! Please let me live..."

If you answer the question, you will be saved. In other words, if you do not answer the question, you will die.

"I'm sure the woman who was killed by you, would have cooperated with you, until she died."

"You, you son of a bitch! You didn't want to spare me from the beginning… eub… eub… eub…"

It was all Kim wanted to do.

2.

Ppuduk! A neck was forced to turn and the sound slid past the silent foothills. It was a feeble sound. It was so weak that it was hard to hear unless one was near.

"Really…" In other words, she heard the noise and it meant that she was close. "Do you really have to kill them that way?"

At night, Kim began collecting information. After kidnapping the remnants of the Messiah in Buyeo and those who described themselves as the believers of Messiah, he obtained information from them and killed them all.

She had to look at the whole scene from a stone's throw. He didn't do it to bother her. For him, she was a hostage, and he just needed to watch her so that she wouldn't play tricks. Anyway, it was not a pleasant sight.

"You don't have to kill them without conditions." She, who had been silent, complained to him.

"I don't have to kill, but they have enough reason to die. Looting, rape, murder, robbery. In American law, there is no shortage of electric chairs."

"Isn't it fair to give them a chance to at least reflect?" Kim's behavior was too much from her point of view. "What you do is not a judgment."

She was not a good woman. She had no desire to be a good woman. But she had some good, she had her own justice. The goodness she had was a coin. It was a coin with a reflection on one side, a coin with a judgment on the other, an opportunity for those who sincerely reflect, and a judgment on those who do not.

"Let's make one thing clear," he answered. "I have no intention of judging them. I remove them because they are potential threats."

"Potential threats?"

"A hostage is valid when there is a watchdog. A hostage without a watchdog is not a hostage, but a variable, like a mine that might explode at any time. It is better to be a murderer than to risk myself, my companions, and my men for my mercy and humanity."

"What is that…" Kim Tae-hoon was a little funny and in a frank spirit as Kate was making such an objection.

"The potential threat is eliminated in advance by any means possible, isn't that the American style? That's why agents from the NSA, CIA, and FBI are filming a fake beard and an Afghan in Afghanistan on the other side of the Atlantic with a camera named Global Hawk, which costs 200 million dollars?"

The United States, not any country, was the most enthusiastic, most thorough, and quickest in the world to eliminate potential threats to its homeland.

"It's…" Kate, the daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Korea, could not be unaware of it. Finally, Kate shut her mouth.

She couldn't answer his cross-question unless she abandoned her own belief in the U.S., and status of the daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Korea.

He did not explain any more to her. Her values didn't matter to him and were not important to him. What was important now was to organize the information he had received.

He immediately took a thermos bottle out of his bag. Hee drank the coffee he had drained before nightfall.

She sat on the ground with a long sigh at this sign that he would no longer talk. Then she grabbed her hair like she was tearing off her coveted blond locks.

Meanwhile, he began to match fragmentary information.

'The Messiah I met this time is stronger than I thought.'

According to the information collected, the Messiah organization that he had met was the most systematic and calculating of all the groups he has met.

'They take advantage of the characteristics of religion.'

The Messiah organization had four major classes. The peak was Messiah, or God, in short. Below it were those with Stigmata, the Guardians of God. Next, there were believers who believed in Messiah as God. The last class was slavery, who were not treated as human beings, and they were simply consumed. Of course, there was no much difference to the general group with classes here.

'They are well armed with mystery.'

The difference was the actions of Messiah and the Guardians. They moved in the Chungcheong Provinces without staying in one place, eliminating monsters, and handing out food and weapons to survivors. Of course, food and weapons were given only to those who believed, followed and served.

They showed salvation and compassion. For those who wanted to survive humanly in the Chungcheong Provinces, and for those with power and status, the Messiah had become a must-believe religion.

'It's a lot better to be a god than a king.'

That was why Kim considered this Messiah wise.

Realistically, it was impossible to properly manage a situation where most of the social infrastructure had collapsed. However, Chungcheong Province was not a small area like Seoul, where infrastructure and population were concentrated. Infrastructure and population were scattered all over the open land.

There were many more mountains than buildings. In these places, areas that could be managed only with intimidation were very limited. But mystique was different.

'It is a very good time for the concept of religion to have power.'

The reason why a man who had never been to the Vatican worshipped the Vatican and Muslims bowed every day to Mecca, which they had never seen before, was also due to the mystery.

Above all, it was no exaggeration to say that the value of religious relics in this era was perhaps the most powerful in human history.

'Rather, the power of the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje is…' Even the power of the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje that the Messiah had was appalling by explanation.

According to the explanation, the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje was an object that summoned an animal made of golden smoke. The power of the animal summoned was at least equal to the second-grade Horse Figure Type Earthenware currently in his hands.

'It's more threatening than I thought.'

It was said that not even one but several were summoned, and since they were made of smoke, no physical attack could hurt them.

The believers of the Messiah said that there was not a single monster so far that they could not kill by with Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje.

'A monster made of golden smoke that is not hurt by physical blows…'

That was enough to be called a miracle. This was not the only thing.

Instead of calling them an Awakener, the Messiah used Guardian, and they expressed the mark of an Awakener as the Stigmata of a Guardian.

It was not just an impulsive group, but evidence that the Messiah system was built based on a number of purposes.

Of course, it was an awkward system for Kim, who had to capture them and then take the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje from them.

'I'll have no problem if I have time…' If he had time, the Messiah would never be an opponent. Kim knew how to deal with a stronger opponent or a stronger group.

There was no need for the power of an Awakener. All he had to do was take the time to kill them one by one.

'There's no time, and that's a problem.'

But now, the time he was given was... until June.

He must be back in Bucheon in July. Otherwise, he would not be able to stop the assassination of Colonel Lim Hyun-joon.

He could not afford to trace Messiah's movements right away, and he knew that it would take the time to destroy them. In addition, using such methods, Messiah and the Guardians might choose to hide or escape. All he needed now was to make them come out by themselves, then knock them out.

'That's what works best for those who use religion as a weapon.' And he was well aware of how to catch a group that used religion. 'The rise of a cult.'

He was also more aware of the dangers of a group using religion better than anyone else. He swallowed a cup of coffee and closed the lid of the thermos bottle.

'The use of another poison to remove the poison. I will be a Messiah, too.'

3.

The arrival of the monsters took away everything: it became an absolute reality in a changed world

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think there has been a rebellion at Buyeo."

"Rebellion?"

Under the warm sunshine, the car campsite located in the north of Mt. Gyeryong was spectacular. Expensive SUVs were flashing themselves, expensive camping supplies were scattered, and countless kinds of wines and food were everywhere. It was hard to believe that such a sight was real.

In one place there was even a DJ machine, and some people were dancing to the songs.

It was a sight that was hard to see even before the monsters appeared. A short-haired woman laying down on a hammock between two trees handed her wine glass to the man standing next to her.

"Why don't you take care of it?"

"Well…"

"What's the matter?"

"I sent people, but they were all beaten."

At this, the woman was no longer lying in the hammock. She sat up from it and looked at the man kneeling in front of her, as she sat in the hammock and held the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje.

The man continued at her glance, "The rebels seem to be armed properly, and-"

"And? Are there any more problems?"

"Some of the survivors who went to quell the rebellion say strange things."

The man who was trying to spit out his words took a breath and then continued, "The true Savior saved us… The people who revolted in Buyeo said that."

As soon as he said those words, the golden smoke began to flow out of the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner the woman was holding. With the appearance of the golden smoke, not only the man who knelt before the woman, but also the man who stood guard near the woman's hammock and everyone around her stood stock still.

Soon the smoke disappeared back into the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner, and the woman held out her right hand. The man who had just received the glass of wine put it back in her right hand, the one with Stigmata on the back of it.

The woman drank her wine, savored it a while, and said, "Maybe a cult has appeared."

The woman made a light gesture at the words. At the sign, the people around her gathered beside her as if they had been waiting. All of them had marks on their right hand, which they called Stigmata. Already listening to the preceding conversation, they scrambled to talk to each other.

"I'll take care of it."

"Please leave it to me."

The woman did not respond to them as they called out their willingness to take on the mission. Before replying, she touched the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner she had in her hand.

"No, all of us going."

"All of us?"

"Yes, all of us."

"Is necessary?"

The woman in command sighed. "If the rumor goes all the way to Nonsan, we'll be in trouble."

"Due to the crazy monster in Sejong City, we cannot be active in Daejeon City, so Nonsan is our base area. If the rumor spreads in Nonsan, it will be nothing good for us. We will show them, who deny us and resist us, what a cult is treated like!"

Show. Everyone's eyes changed at the word.

The woman's eyes had changed.

"Everyone, gather."

Soon after, at her words, the partygoers at the campsite stopped everything and began to gather at the place where the woman was sitting on a hammock. More than a hundred people gathered in a flash.

All of them with the Stigmata on their right hand were wearing Bronze Swords or Gandol Swords at their waists.

The woman smiled at the crowd and began stroking the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner in her arms.

"Buyeo, this guy is going to its hometown after a long time."