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Chapter 27

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The New Buddha I

Sinnoa

As I mentioned before, there were numerous boss-level monsters that emerged around the globe besides Ten Legs. One such example was the Meteor Shower, which rained down an endless storm of meteors from the night sky when I ran a convenience store.

Early on, "monster" was the most common term for them. However, just like the Meteor Shower, many monsters were more phenomena than living beings. As the story progressed, Awakeners began branching out into using other terms as well, like "anomaly," "fiend," "yokai," and "the lost."

In Japan, boss-level monsters were referred to as "angels." Quite the odd choice of terminology, considering they were called “demons” in the West. Later, the Puppeteer, an Awakener who had lived in Japan, explained that the term originated from a classic Japanese anime.

The Gates were similarly convoluted. Many of them didn't resemble "doors," so terms like "void," "abyss," "inferno," and "hell" were used more frequently. (In fact, distinguishing between "anomalies" and "voids" was difficult.)

Today, let's discuss one of the primary culprits behind these linguistic changes—namely, the "New Buddha.”

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“Uh? Hey...”

“Huh?”

“What’s that on your head?”

That monster wasn't a living creature. More precisely, opinions were divided on whether it was living or non-living.

“That thing growing by your ear... a leaf?”

Such is the nature of viruses.

Where the virus originated remained unknown for a long time. It mostly likely stemmed from North or South Korea. Just as Busan Station’s waiting room had become a hotbed for Awakeners, the Korean Peninsula was a paradise for monsters. It’s like the world itself was balancing things out.

“Z-zombie virus!”

People panicked and flew into an uproar. Zombies are a staple of any apocalypse, after all.

When infected with the virus, the human body begins to sprout leaves or flowers. There were even cases of weeds growing on bald heads. Yet despite this peculiar occurrence, the initial response to the virus was surprisingly lukewarm.

There was a reason for that.

“No! I’m not a zombie!”

“...Huh?”

“See, I’m speaking normally! My memory’s fine, and my head’s clear! Damn, having a maple leaf under my arm does feel weird, but I don’t want to die because of it!”

Simply put, the people infected by the virus were surprisingly functional. While it turned the human body into a bizarre-looking flower pot in the blink of an eye, the virus appeared to be harmless if one could ignore its appearance.

In fact, it even came with significant benefits.

“That damn monster! It killed my mother!”

“Ah...”

“I’ll kill it, no matter what! Even if I die, I will end that monster!”

“Son...”

“Please watch over me from heaven, mother. Your unfilial son will soon follow.”

“Son!”

“Huh?”

“I'm not dead, you fool! How many times do I have to call out to you?!”

“M-mother? But your stomach is torn open...”

“Don’t know why, but I’m fine. Maybe because I had a tonic yesterday?”

People infected with the virus were hard to kill. As long as the brain wasn’t destroyed, even severed limbs and damaged organs couldn't cause death. Even if the body’s vital functions shut down, if one soaked up enough sunlight during the day and drank plenty of water, they could survive serious injuries.

With the medical system as it was, how did ordinary people react?

“God has blessed us!”

“Me too... I want to be infected too!”

People clamored to get infected. Awakeners with healing abilities were rare, and the skilled healers were busy assisting on the frontlines. In this era of uncertainty, where death was always one move away, gaining an extra "life point" for free was a godsend. It was like finding a lifeboat on the sinking Titanic.

“A zombie virus? No, it’s the blessing of life.”

“Become a plant too! You won't need to scavenge for food anymore. With sunlight and water, you can live without a care in the world.”

“This is the greatness of the New Buddha. Believe in the New Buddha, and you will be free from suffering and gain a body capable of living in a new world.”

Even cult doctrines began to sprout. The zombie virus came to be worshiped as the New Buddha. Although not related to Buddhism, its slogan “Eternal liberation from the harm of needing life in meat or grain to sustain life” resonated with people.¹

Followers of the New Buddha shaved their heads. Unlike Buddhists, however, what grew back was not new hair for these New Buddhists but instead weeds and flowers.

They claimed that shedding human skin was part of accepting a New Buddha.

“Oh my, Lady Yellow Rose. I hope you slept well?”

“Yes, thanks to your care, Lady White Rose, I slept peacefully.”

The New Buddhists adopted new dharma names, similar to Christian baptismal names. They called each other by the names of trees and flowers that grew from their heads.

They named their group Hwadan, meaning a Flower Garden of a million blooms, and called their ideology Huayan, or Flower Garland.² It was fitting, given their penchant for living with flowers on their heads.

“...These flower-heads are going to kill us.”

Dang Seo-rin once muttered this, probably in the fifth cycle.

As the vice guild leader of the Samcheon Guild, I shrugged. “Well, in a world this chaotic, it’s no wonder people want to rely on cults. Why else would the Yellow Turban Rebellion have occurred?”³

“So the vice guild leader continues his use of Three Kingdoms metaphors. It makes you sound old, so please stop.”

What’s wrong with The Three Kingdoms? All the kids love Liu Bei. Filial kids admire Cao Cao. Sun Quan is... well, liked by psychos.

Seeing my expression, Dang Seo-rin chuckled. “I get why they do it, but these people are poison to us.”

She was right.

The New Buddha had its drawbacks. It had no ill effects on ordinary people, but about two weeks after being infected, once the flower fully bloomed, Awakeners “couldn’t use their powers.”

A deadly poison, indeed.

“Be careful too, Guild Leader. Nowadays, any criticism against them is met with accusations of ‘plant hate.’”

“But they hate Awakeners.”

Another valid point.

In the early stages of the Gate crisis, Awakeners were highly respected. But backlash against their superiority grew, and the New Buddha systematically incorporated this into their teachings.

“Awakeners are no different from monsters, as shown by how their powers vanish once they receive the New Buddha’s blessing.”

“All Awakeners should join the New Buddha faith and quickly free themselves from the sin of killing! Those who don’t oppose Huayan’s will! They shatter the peace of all life!”

“Non-killing eternal life! Eternal Huayan! Endless stability!”

A truly troublesome bunch of cultists they were.

But Dang Seo-rin was a capable guild leader. She hadn’t formed a multinational guild in Korea for nothing.

She casually solved the issue by donating a large amount of goods to the New Buddhist flower bed.

“Haha! Although Dang Seo-rin has yet to receive the Buddha’s blessing, how could we flowers mistreat one who devotes herself to the greater good?”

“Thanks.”

“Amitabha, Amitabha...”

Amitabha, my foot. If Siddhartha had seen that fake monk with the tiger lillies growing from his head, he would’ve shaved it clean with clippers.

Korea was still a relatively nice place to live. On the peninsula existed a phenomenon called the "Constellation." This phenomenon kept Awakeners relatively grounded, so their superiority couldn’t flourish. Consequently, there wasn’t much hatred toward Awakeners among ordinary people.

However, when the New Buddha spread to other countries, things changed.

The New Buddha, along with the virus, became an intellectual infection exported worldwide, and the cult shook the world.

“Everyone! What is faith?”

“Non-killing eternal life! Eternal Huayan! Endless stability!”

“That’s right! Faith is merely a name for flowers!”

“Waaaaaaa—!”

In other countries where constellations didn't exist, Awakeners’ supremacy was rampant. Governments were crippled, the rule of law collapsed, and even those keeping an eye on me were absent. The natural consequence was that Awakeners with any modicum of power wreaked havoc.

Naturally, the common folk who suffered despised the Awakeners, and the New Buddha served to justify that hatred. Thus was born a K-cult that swept the world.

There was another cult in North Korea, but its influence was limited to the northern region, so its impact paled compared to the New Buddha.

“...This is a mess. A total mess. The number of volunteer soldiers we expected from Japan has plummeted.”

Dang Seo-rin rubbed the frayed edge of her cone hat with her fingers. It was her unconscious habit that appeared whenever she was genuinely troubled.

You might’ve forgotten, but in the fifth cycle, we retreated to Busan instead of fighting the Ten Legs directly. Hundreds of Awakeners from Japan had promised to join us, but the number suddenly dwindled to 20.

“Twenty’s too few.”

“The flower-heads have expanded their influence in Japan. They’ve taken over from Kyushu to Kanto, nearly half the country, so it’s been difficult clearing out their base. I've heard that even India, Europe, and America are starting to succumb.”

“Humanity’s future looks bleak.”

The rise of cults and the bleak future were a chicken-and-egg problem.

While the Ten Legs was visible and could be defeated with enough fighting, the New Buddha had no such solution. How could a virus be eradicated? The virus labs were busy researching life-threatening epidemics, so the New Buddha virus wasn’t a priority.

Each cycle brought with it a different set of New Buddha victims. Sometimes Dang Seo-rin was infected, and other times, even the Saintess.

Whenever I suspected I was infected, I'd quickly end my life before the leaves bloomed. If my awakening ability stopped working, what if I lost my ability to regress with it? I had to die before that could happen.

Well, with Old Man Scho around, I probably wouldn’t have trouble, but better safe than sorry.

Here's what happened to the characters when they got infected and which flowers bloomed:

Saintess: Blue hydrangea, with drops of violet dye.

Dang Seo-rin: Pitch-black violets, like the night sky enveloping a moon halo.

Seo Gyu: Unknown.

Sim Ah-ryeon: White lily of the valley, trembling amusingly.

Lee Ju-ho: Bright yellow sunflower.

Go Yuri: Unknown, presumed to be daffodil.

Old Man Scho: Unknown, presumed to be clover (not four-leaf).

Oh Dok-seo: Red spider lily, also known as "Lycoris radiata" or "higanbana." She was curious what flower would bloom for her and deliberately got infected to find out. Not normal either.

Like Old Man Scho, I didn't know what flower would bloom for me. If I suspected an infection, I'd kill myself before the flower bloomed. I did this twice.

If I had to guess, though, perhaps a pure white lily? Symbolizing innocence and purity seems fitting for me.

Anyway, the New Buddha was more troublesome than Ten Legs.

Letting them be since they didn’t harm civilians was my strategy until the 17th cycle, when it had to be corrected.

“Doc! We’re in trouble!”

Old Man Scho burst through the door. I had just fallen asleep and frowned deeply.

“Ah, what is it? Let me sleep. I’m not old like you. I still need a lot of sleep.”

“What? You damn brat... That’s not it! Outside! Look out the window, you fool!”

“What’s got you freaking out in the middle of the night...?”

I opened the window and looked up at the night sky. Then, I froze, window frame gripped in hand.

“...What the hell is that?”

Yggdrasil.

A massive red tree engulfed the expanse of the night sky.

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