Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 43
Only Noblemtl
Apocalypse in Water Episode 43
Episode 43
【 Invasion of the Ark 】
The smoke cleared and a shield appeared.
As I expected, there was not a single scratch on the shield.
Hoyoung smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up.
“Huh! You’re saying you’ll resist to the end? Then all right. I have no choice but to step forward.”
Elder Kim came down to the bridge and spat on his palm and shouted,
Then he placed his saliva-covered hands on the shell and began to pray.
“By the ark and the Holy Spirit of the cult leader, break the shield of the unbelievers, and let those corrupted ones tremble in the fear of the sublime waters… … .”
Even without a loudspeaker, the voice was heard clearly.
“Haha. Who is that guy? I thought he was going to do something big. He’s not even a kid, he’s drooling.”
“Haha! I don’t drool either.”
Bomi and Hoyoung laughed at Elder Kim.
But I couldn’t shake off the chilling feeling because I knew what kind of person Elder Kim was.
Elder Kim offered his own daughter as a human sacrifice.
He has denied the kidnapping and murder of his daughter, both officially and during police questioning.
However, those who knew him believed that he rose to the position of elder because he sacrificed his daughter.
In fact, the reason the police began investigating was because of the wife’s report.
However, the investigation concluded that there were no charges and the case was closed.
After Jiyeon went missing, I thoroughly investigated the incidents and reports related to the Bangju Church.
Among them, Elder Kim’s case file caught my eye.
Although Elder Kim had some fame, the fact that he sacrificed his daughter was similar to Jiyeon’s.
As the leader of the evangelistic group, Elder Kim acted boldly and aggressively, like a gangster.
Because of that, my face was often exposed to the media.
I deliberately went to see Elder Kim’s divorced wife.
Elder Kim’s wife looked like a withered plant.
It opened its mouth passively when asked something, almost like a plant responding to light.
However, he told me something that I had not actively asked about Elder Kim.
“Yeonhee’s father had indigestion. At first, I thought it was simply because he overate. So I washed his hands and gave him digestive medicine. But it didn’t get better at all and just got worse. He said he felt like something was wrong with his stomach and couldn’t even eat properly and just withered away.”
I saw Elder Kim during the revival meeting of the Ark Church.
That’s why I couldn’t quite imagine the skinny appearance of Elder Kim that my wife was talking about.
“I went to a university hospital, got an MRI, and even tried herbal medicine prescribed by a famous oriental medicine doctor, but it didn’t help at all. The doctors said it was because of stress and told me to just relax and rest. But he said he couldn’t do that to support his family, so he dragged his sick body to work. At that time, I felt so sorry for him and grateful to him.”
She paused for a moment and looked back at the wall.
A faded family photo hung on the wall, like an old flower pot that had not been watered.
Instead of short hair, Elder Kim, wearing a suit with a long bangs, his wife, who was smiling brightly unlike now, and his daughter were striking a harmonious pose.
My daughter’s impression, with her long, straight hair and distinct features, was completely different from Jiyeon’s, but perhaps because she was wearing her school uniform, Jiyeon came to mind.
“Then Yeonhee’s father went to a meeting of the Ark Church through a business partner’s introduction. At the leader’s call for those who desperately wanted a miracle to come out, Yeonhee’s father went up to the stage as if he was hypnotized. The leader handed Yeonhee’s father a glass of water. Yeonhee’s father drank the glass as if he was thirsty. However, the water was salty like salt water and even a little bitter. However, he drank it all without leaving a single drop. Then, as if he was throwing up everything inside him, he burped loudly. Then, his indigestion, which had not gotten better, ended in an instant. Yeonhee’s father knelt down on the spot and swore to the leader that he would give the most precious thing to him.”
When I heard that, I thought of Sim Hak-gyu from Simcheongjeon, who sacrificed his daughter.
Elder Kim kept his word, even sacrificing his own daughter as a promise.
I’m sure he’s doing something right now.
The shell that Elder Kim had prayed for while licking his lips was loaded into the cannon.
The shell was fired immediately, exploding against the shield as it had during the last bombardment, sending up a plume of smoke.
I waited nervously for the smoke to clear.
“I had a feeling it was me, as expected.”
As Bomi said, the revealed shield was intact.
I fired a few more saliva-laced shells, but they didn’t do much to damage the shield.
Bomi and Hoyoung laughed and teased me, but I noticed that the shield had shrunk slightly.
The shield was close enough to touch the buoys that had been erected to mark its position.
The saliva-coated shells seemed to have the power to shrink the shield rather than destroy it with their explosion.
However, the distance shortened was only a short distance of less than 1m.
The distance from the shield to the apartment was about 150m, so it would take more than 150 shells to fire that many.
Elder Kim also accepted the situation and stopped praying.
“Hmm. This won’t do. Bring me the tribute!”
At his direction, the sailors went below deck.
Let’s wait a moment, the chained people were dragged out.
They were probably slaves who rowed the boats.
Dr. Oh, who had been nailed to the cross in silence as if he were dead, screamed.
“Elder Kim! Stop shedding blood. As a fellow human being, don’t you feel sorry for those people?”
“Huh. What do you mean, pitiful? You’re a bunch of non-believers who deserve to die. There’s a friend of yours in that apartment, a salty non-believer. Just wait. I’ll crucify him together with you. Haha!”
I appreciate you remembering me.
I approached Elder Kim as he was coming down from the stage after the revival meeting and said a few words to him.
At that moment, his eyes widened and he glared at me as if he was going to eat me.
“I’ve heard a lot about the non-believer detective Nari. It seems like she’s trying to provoke me into obstructing official duties or assaulting me, or whatever. Do you think I’ll be the one to suffer? Just wait and see. When the world changes, what will happen to you non-believers?”
Elder Kim’s face, reflected in the telescope, was full of anticipation.
On the other hand, the people in chains had a desperate look on their faces, perhaps sensing their fate.
“Please save me. Please!”
“I will do anything if you just spare my life. I will repent and believe in the Ark.”
But Elder Kim spoke coldly.
“Why should I spare opportunists like you? Aren’t you lying to survive anyway? The door is already closed.”
Then he rolled up his sleeves.
The arms were covered with a glossy, smooth purple surface.
At first I thought it was a piece of armor like a gauntlet.
But when we adjusted the focus and magnification to take a closer look, the purple surface looked more like skin than armor.
And I could see a saw-toothed blade on the outer forearm.
Elder Kim waved his arms as if he was pulling something out.
Then the saw blade on his forearm rose up and became sharp.
“What is that? Is it a weapon?”
Bomi, who was looking through the telescope, asked.
Hoyoung tilted his head and answered.
“Well, this is my first time seeing it. Is it a weapon made by modifying a gauntlet?”
It won’t be a weapon like a gauntlet.
Perhaps Elder Kim had eaten something like a black pearl, like the tenant representative.
Or maybe he did something he promised to do for the son of the tenant representative.
The goal of the Bangju Church is to become a monk by completing a transformation, like attaining enlightenment in Buddhism or salvation in Christianity.
However, there was no specific description or information about the transformation or the number of people.
Like other religions, he spoke vaguely, saying that Suin was someone who could live without going against the flow of water.
You can live without going against the flow of water.
Isn’t that me?
You can swallow black beads and breathe underwater, so you don’t go against the water.
Elder Kim swung the blade of his forearm at the chained man.
Then, his body was torn in two along with the chain.
“Ahh! Ahh! Please save me. Please!”
The person covered in blood screamed in fear.
As the chained men became greatly agitated, the sailors beat them mercilessly with clubs.
Elder Kim placed the shell on the pool of blood on the floor, paying no attention to the beating going on next to him.
And he began to pray as if he was about to bury his spit.
“With the ark and the Holy Spirit of the cult leader, break the shield of the unbelievers. Those fallen ones will tremble in fear of the sublime water… … .”
Then the pooled blood began to be absorbed into the shell.
The shells turned an eerie red.
When the people screamed again at the sight, the sailors swung their clubs again to silence them.
Elder Kim himself carried the red shell and loaded it into the gun.
And then he fired.
The shell flew towards the shield so slowly that its trajectory was visible before it impacted.
There was no explosion like before, but the shield vibrated with a frictional sound like scraping iron.
“Hey! There’s a shield!”
“What is this!”
Bomi and Hoyoung screamed in surprise.
The shield shrank and its border shifted inside the buoy.
Even without the buoy, it seemed to have moved about 10 meters, enough to be visible to the naked eye.
“What should I do, sir?”
Hoyoung asked me in confusion.
On the other hand, Bomi was surprisingly calm.
“If we keep killing people and then shooting blood bombs, the shield will eventually become useless. We’d rather attack first.”
Bomi prepared her arrows and bow as if she was going to run out at any moment.
“No. Even if the shield is gone, it’s to our advantage to fight a defensive battle in the apartment. But before that, we have to protect the shield.”
“I see you already have a plan, sir. I’ll help you too.”
“No. I think I’ll have to do it alone this time.”
The equipment that Elder Kim had been preparing since he was spit on was divided into tool belts and X-bando’s auxiliary bag.