Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 110
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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110
A boy who had arrived in a wheelchair to meet the Angel walked out on his own feet. The fervor of the Angel’s devotees who witnessed this directly burned without end, growing ever hotter.
“Na-young, that’s not just a regular Heal, is it?”
“If it restored nerves damaged long ago, it would have to be at least a Great Heal. There are plenty of Healers who can use it, but none of them can cast it continuously without rest like those Angels do.”
Even in the Gate era, Healing wasn’t something you could receive from a neighborhood pharmacy like cold medicine. To match the income Healers earned from entering Gates, the cost was substantial. Ultimately, without money or connections, it was difficult to receive treatment in a timely manner.
Rigen donated, and good-hearted people like Ye-seul and Na-young volunteered, but there were never enough people.
So it was hardly surprising that people were ecstatic about this difficult-to-access service being provided continuously and freely by beings called Angels.
“Oppa, they don’t seem to be doing anything bad?”
Na-young didn’t feel the repulsion I experienced from the Angel. Rather, she felt affection toward helping those in need.
“Yeah. All they seem to do is provide Healing and gather people to talk to them.”
“Are they doing these activities all over the world?”
“That’s right.”
“So from now on, we’re just going to coexist with the Angels?”
“I don’t know. This ominous feeling still hasn’t gone away.”
Na-young, who knew how accurate my premonitions were, took my words seriously.
Each individual Angel didn’t seem to possess any particular power. But their sheer numbers were overwhelming, and the infinite support from their devotees was also a cause for concern.
People gathered to see the Angels sang hymns, and renowned pastors gathered crowds in various places to speak with them.
“Many have doubted the existence of God!”
Pastor Seo Hyun-tae, who had appeared on the news multiple times for unfortunate reasons, began his sermon from the podium.
“They mocked your faith as meaningless!”
Before him sat thousands of believers, nodding their heads and listening intently to his words. I couldn’t fathom where the moving parts were, but some wiped away flowing tears.
“But look at those Angels! The word ‘devotion’ exists for them!”
“That’s right!”
“You who have suffered from monsters, Gates, and everything in this world! You need not suffer anymore. A new world has opened! Believe in God! Only the faithful shall be saved!”
“We believe!”
The Angel devotees echoed Pastor Seo Hyun-tae’s words.
Unable to bear watching madness grow like a malignant tumor, Na-young and I slipped away.
* * *
“Ji-seok, can we just leave that place?”
My Mother, who had been watching the Angels on television beside me, asked.
“Will you go too, Mother?”
“Yes. I’m curious. You saw them too, didn’t you? What did you think?”
“They’re just luminous people. Mother, it’s dangerous, so please don’t go. You don’t even have a religion—what would you be doing in a place like that?”
“I’ve been too busy to practice religion until now. But later, to go to heaven, I need to believe, don’t I?”
I persuaded Mother not to go for now. However, people who thought like her converted from Christianity and Catholicism to the Angel Church, created by Angel devotees, and their numbers grew.
And the problem I had worried about erupted overseas.
Rat-a-tat-tat! Boom-boom-crash!
The news showed the flames of war rising in the Middle East.
A nation in the Middle East had gathered Angels at what they considered their Sacred Ground. Other neighboring sects and religious groups dissatisfied with this tried to move the Angels to lands they desired, and some even attempted to seize the Sacred Ground itself. The multiple battles that ensued spiraled beyond control and eventually escalated into full-scale war.
The Middle East was already chaotic to begin with, but having entered into full-scale war, Hunters were sent to the front lines rather than Gates. Unable to clear Gates in time with insufficient Hunters, a Breakage occurred. The damage from war and damage from monsters compounded.
I wish they’d come to their senses by then, but the Middle Eastern nations deployed the worst possible tactic—driving monsters from the Gates straight toward their enemies.
“Sister… I’m sorry, I don’t really understand this. Those people don’t believe in the same God, right?”
Yang Sang-heon asked Bae Na-young after hearing the news.
“That’s right.”
“But why are they acting like that?”
“I don’t know… Maybe their faith is so strong that they can’t think rationally?”
The war seemed destined to continue until one side was completely annihilated.
* * *
“Are you insane, firing weapons of mass destruction at residential areas?!”
“Watch your tongue! This is a holy war!”
“Unless you want to start a world war, stop fighting immediately!”
“We’ll do that once those infidels surrender the angels!”
“As long as I draw breath, that will never happen!”
“Fine! Let’s settle this today!”
The ambassadors stomped across the table as if it were a stepping stone, hurling themselves at one another and throwing punches. Those trying to break up the fight tangled with those trying to join in, turning the assembly into complete chaos.
It was the first physical brawl in an assembly that typically confined itself to verbal jabs.
Despite the situation, the angels made no move to stop the fighting.
“We will go where God’s help is needed most.”
Instead, they made vague statements that only encouraged the conflict further, escalating the chaos.
Normally, neighboring nations couldn’t help but intervene in such matters, but this time they lacked the capacity to do so.
In countries beyond the Middle East, religious leaders of all sizes incited their followers to hold massive rallies.
“Those who doubted God! You will fall into hell! Salvation is upon us—unbelievers, repent!”
A pastor in the United States gathered people and swelled their numbers to alarming proportions. Attendees began attacking those who didn’t believe in the angels, hoping to earn points with them.
With hundreds of such pastors across the United States, the government had no capacity to monitor the international situation.
Korea was no exception.
Pastor Seo Hyun-tae became the focal point for Korean angel devotees, drawing endless crowds of believers.
“This is dangerous—disperse immediately!”
The government made maximum efforts to disperse the angel devotees who arbitrarily occupied streets and held gatherings.
“The government must stop oppressing the angels!”
“It’s not oppression! It’s dangerous to gather like this—we’re asking you to disperse!”
“Go to hell!”
“What the hell is wrong with you?!”
As heated clashes between frustrated riot police and believers erupted everywhere, Pastor Seo Hyun-tae began selling land, calling it sacred ground.
“Buy land from heaven!”
He sold barren wastelands at absurd prices, calling them sacred ground and heavenly land, yet there was no shortage of buyers. The irony was that even after purchasing the land, all rights to it remained with Pastor Seo Hyun-tae.
The location where the angels had been hastily moved was already overcrowded, and the government was considering new sites. Whether Pastor Seo Hyun-tae had lobbied the government or not, the angels were eventually relocated to the sacred ground he had created.
“We welcome all who wish to receive the angels.”
And he accepted everyone. The believers continued to multiply across the millions of square meters of sacred ground.
* * *
“Productivity has hit rock bottom because people are neglecting work to meet the angels. The situation is the same overseas, and prices that were already high are skyrocketing.”
“Hunters are being excessively deployed to control the angel devotees. If we fail to contain even one Gate, it will be a catastrophe.”
The ministers from each department briefed the president on the current situation.
“Isn’t Hunter Lee Ji-seok managing the Gates well?”
“Are you suggesting we stake the nation’s fate on a single hunter? We need to devise countermeasures.”
“What do you propose?”
President Son Yun-tae pressed his temples repeatedly. Before his term, he’d only had a few gray hairs, but in just two years, his hair had turned almost completely white.
“We must forcibly disband them.”
“You want to forcibly disperse those fanatics gathered on private land—people whose eyes have gone mad? Are you trying to have me remembered in history as a mass murderer?”
“Ahem….”
“They’re accumulating funds. What if we imposed mandatory taxes on that money?”
The Minister of Strategy and Finance made the suggestion.
“The angel devotees are donating money without any hesitation, aren’t they? But I doubt that would lead to them disbanding.”
Another minister was pessimistic about collecting taxes.
“True. However, we can use that money elsewhere, so let’s implement it first. Each department must provide unconditional support for whatever the Awakener Management Bureau needs. Monitoring the angels is important, but we cannot afford to become so preoccupied with them that we suffer damage from monsters.”
The president keenly felt his own powerlessness, as there was little he could do in the current situation.
Korea was relatively fortunate—fewer people practiced religion, and the temperament was mild.
In the United States, the epicenter of conspiracy theories, the government faced large and small terrorist attacks from those claiming the government was oppressing the angels.
China imprisoned the angels and mobilized hunters to root out those who believed in them. Countless civilian casualties occurred in the process, but none of it appeared in the news.
As nations employed increasingly extreme measures to respond to the angels, pillars of light descended from the sky once more.
This time, the beings descending from the heavens were different from the Angelus I’d seen initially. They had wings like before, but their facial features were slightly different, and they wore armor along with swords and shields.
They called themselves Archangelus. Unlike the gentle-faced Angelus, their expressions were somewhat stern. However, they too did not show hostility toward humans.
As the number of angels continued to grow, governments worldwide were at a loss.
Some criticized that they should have regarded them as enemies from the start and attacked unconditionally.
When opinions arose to suppress them militarily while ignoring civilian casualties, it sounded insane, but now the leaders of each nation wondered if they truly needed to consider it.
* * *
On the way back from clearing the Gate, I spotted a group of angels moving alongside monsters. The monsters didn’t attack the angels; instead, they followed them like offspring following their mother.
I immediately changed direction and stood before the angels and the monster horde.
“So you’re finally showing your true colors.”
Since we were already in an adversarial relationship, there was no need for courtesy.
“Lee Ji-seok. Hello.”
One of the Angelus turned to face me.
“Where are you taking those monsters?”
“We’re gathering them all in one place to prevent them from attacking Earth’s inhabitants.”
The Archangelus had done something—various monsters with vacant eyes stood in a line behind him.
“…How are you commanding the monsters?”
“It’s an authority granted by Metatron.”
“Can you command humans as well?”
It didn’t appear to be mind control.
“That would be impossible. These beings have already lost their reason due to the Destruction God, so it was possible. And why would we do such a thing to Earth’s inhabitants?”
Angel Angelus smiled gently.
“How can I trust you? Gathering monsters like this?”
“We’ve already received permission from the Earth authorities.”
“What?”
“The government officials have authorized us to proceed.”
I stepped away from the angel and called Director Baek Young-shin.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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