Chapter 105 - Episode 15. God and Believers (1)
Chapter 105: Episode 15. God and Believers (1)
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「There is one mistake that novice gods who have only just acquired a 「Unique World」 make more than any other. They blindly churn out new 「Settings」. This symptom usually worsens around two years after a novice god arrives in the Abyss. Thus, the 《Abyss》 refers to this period with the slang term ‘God Complex.’
This is not about other gods.
It is about you.
A flashy Setting like Dragon God Droyan’s 「Black Flame Dragon」 or the God of Flames Ignis’s 「Crimson Flame Tribulation」 is already running wild through your mind, isn’t it?
...Perhaps you have already made one.
I offer my respects in advance to the shame you will suffer two years from now.
Two years from now, you will learn that the 《Abyss》 already has around 214 Settings featuring a black dragon you came up with, along with around 753 similar derivative Settings. (Incidentally, this information comes from an unofficial Setting record collection in the 《Akashic Records》.)
You will gaze upon the 754th knockoff Black Flame Dragon created by your solemn imagination and cry out in despair.
By then, having outgrown your time as a novice god, you will begin to realize what you have done. As other gods laugh at you, you will claw at your Vicegerent’s hair and resent everyone for not stopping you back then.
Then, little by little, you will lose your imagination.
Rather than first Settings, you will seek stable ones. Rather than a Worldview that displays your individuality, you will choose a popular Worldview that many Followers enjoy. You will spend each day creating the same Settings as everyone else and longing for ordinary Parts.
Then, perhaps after a long time has passed, you may come to realize something.
Perhaps there was something more important than this.
But it is already too late. The things we once imagined will never return, just like the first Black Flame Dragon you created.
The things that truly matter leave our side completely in those days.
Becoming a god in the 《Abyss》.
Living as a god.
That is what it means.」
Written by Pierre, God of Madness.
Excerpt from 『Hymn to the God Complex』.
〈Caspion〉 Gate 84, situated between the Blue Grove Restricted Zone and the Red Ravine Desert. A naked man and a half-dressed boy stood before its portal.
The man looked down at his completely bare body, then asked in a voice that seemed to doubt everything in the world.
“You really don’t find this suspicious?”
“Of course not. The 《Abyss》 respects the individuality of every Setting.”
“Even though I’m naked like this?”
Jaehwan gave Runald an incredulous look.
He already had too many bad memories of checkpoints. Even in 《Chaos》, he had trusted the Companion who entered a checkpoint with him and ended up dragged into an argument.
Of course, if Karlton had been here, he would have said something like this.
‘Weren’t you the one who started the argument, Fortress Lord? At the time, you violated Article 27, Paragraph 4 of Gorgon’s Entry Law...’
Karlton was likely somewhere in the 《Abyss》 by now. Perhaps he was reciting that damned Gorgon Special Act here too.
Jaehwan thought of Karlton’s annoyingly handsome face and spoke.
“In every world I’ve visited, walking around naked was considered highly suspicious.”
“What’s wrong with being naked?”
[Come on, I told you it’s fine. Just trust me!]
Hearing the smug voices of the boy and girl, Jaehwan frowned. Thinking about it, it was not entirely unreasonable. Human standards and godly standards were surely different. With little concern, Jaehwan decided to pass through the gate with Runald.
A short while later, the director of the gate arrested him.
* * *
The inspection room at 〈Caspion〉 Gate 84.
The director, a Follower of the high-grade god Balibar, looked between Jaehwan and Runald with displeasure.
“A law-type Setting that makes you stronger the more naked you are? Who uses something like that these days?”
Listening to the director’s firm scolding, Jaehwan muttered quietly to himself.
‘I’ll kill you.’
[That’s strange. It’s a perfectly ordinary Setting. That director’s unusually uptight~.]
‘I’ll kill you first.’
[No, wait a moment!]
At that moment, a soldier approached the director, who was stroking his beard in deep thought.
“Director, I believe that person is telling the truth. There is a record of a god named Andersen registering a Setting called 「Naked」 2,531 years ago.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And according to Caspion’s records...”
The soldier glanced at Jaehwan before whispering to the director.
“Huh, she was once a high-grade god? I had no idea.”
The director gave the documents brought by the subordinate a quick read, then looked at Jaehwan.
“Naked Andersen... You are her Vicegerent, and that child is her Follower. Is that correct?”
Jaehwan was about to say it was not.
[Say it is. Otherwise, this will definitely cause trouble.]
Jaehwan changed the shape of his half-open mouth.
“More or less.”
The director’s eyebrows twitched at his curt reply.
Relationships between Followers reflected the difference in their gods’ divinity. Therefore, Jaehwan was in no position to answer carelessly before the director, who was a Follower of a high-grade god.
The director cleared his throat.
“But this is a little different from the records. Your World Force pattern is different too. According to these records, Andersen only has one Follower...”
“Our god recently increased her Followers! There are two of us now!”
Runald quickly cut in.
“Vicegerent-nim, you’re excited too, right? We can make new Settings now! We can have cool Settings like Black Flame Dragon or Crimson Flame Tribulation! Because there are two Followers now!”
At the mention of Black Flame Dragon, the director’s eyes took on a strange look. Runald continued while looking at him.
“Director, you surely had a time like us too?”
“Huh? Haha, yes. I did.”
Perhaps it was Runald’s cute appearance, or perhaps it was the flattering way he spoke, but the director showed no displeasure at the sudden change in topic.
“Black Flame Dragon, huh? Well, that is the sort of Setting you want at that age. I was obsessed with looking cool back then too.”
“What were you like when you were our age?”
“Hoho, when I was your age...”
Before long, the director began rambling with a nostalgic expression. He seemed to think Runald had only just become a novice Follower. Half of it was his own heroic tales, and the other half was overly intrusive advice.
Perhaps the director had once been a Follower of a low-grade god as well. He was stuck at 〈Caspion〉 Gate 84, longing for those days.
As he listened to the director’s boring story, Jaehwan looked at Runald.
The child knew how to handle adults.
A child who could use the fact that he was a child to deceive adults.
Jaehwan could not imagine what kind of life Runald must have lived to grow up so shrewdly.
After finishing his lengthy self-praise, the director rose from his seat with a broad smile, snorting through his nose.
“Ahem. I will let this pass just once, so do not forget to update your records from now on.”
“Thank you, Director!”
“Yes, yes.”
The director smiled at Runald, then gave Jaehwan a cold glance.
“Do not wander around naked so carelessly next time. Enjoy that kind of Setting discreetly inside your Unique World. And do not drag innocent children into it.”
With a loud bang, the gate’s entrance doors shut.
Jaehwan and Runald stood there for a moment, watching them close. It had ended far too easily.
Runald spoke.
“Adults these days are all like that. They can’t even live their own lives properly, yet they’re desperate to give advice to everyone else.”
“...”
“They’re so damn nosy too. Don’t do this, don’t do that. They probably don’t realize that forcing those things on others means forcing their own Unique World on them.”
Jaehwan quietly watched Runald.
When Jaehwan did not say anything, Runald lowered his head with a dark expression, as if thinking he had made a major mistake.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea someone like that would be the director. In the 《Abyss》, the rule is not to interfere with another god’s 「Setting」...”
“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, you’re quite a talker.”
“Hehe, thank you. Jaehwan-nim has no social skills or flexibility at all, though.”
With that way of talking, Runald could more than pull his own weight. Jaehwan thought there would be no harm in keeping the child around. At the very least, Runald would be better than someone completely useless.
[...]
‘It seems you’ve proven more than enough that you’re useless.’
[What are you talking about? Thanks to me, you passed through the checkpoint easily.]
‘You don’t even have a mouth, and you still can’t talk straight. We didn’t get through because of you. We almost failed to get through because of you.’
[No? If it weren’t for me, you would have been locked in Caspion’s prison, one hundred percent.]
As Andersen spoke, the gate’s main entrance opened wide. It was different from the side entrance through which Jaehwan and Runald had entered.
A crowd came through the blue portal in a line. Humans bound in restraints made of special metal were being led somewhere by overseers. Jaehwan watched them, then asked.
‘Why would they imprison me?’
[There are countless reasons. For one... you’re an illegal god.]
‘An illegal god?’
[Gods not registered in Big Brother’s Akashic Records. Usually, once someone gains divinity, they are registered automatically. But you are different. Big Brother’s factions would never recognize someone like you as a ‘god.’]
‘What a troublesome world.’
“Move it!”
“The gods are waiting!”
Just as Jaehwan was about to ask something else, another group of humans passed before him.
“Look at the way you move! The slow ones will be sent to the labor camp, so get moving!”
Souls being whipped by overseers as they headed toward the detention center. Jaehwan’s eyes met one of them for an instant.
It was only a brief moment, but Jaehwan’s body went stiff as though struck by lightning.
The man did not seem to recognize Jaehwan. His empty eyes turned away, and he followed the crowd again.
Jaehwan stared at the man’s back for a long time. It had been a very long time since anything had shocked him so badly.
How could this be?
So many questions flooded his mind that Jaehwan even forgot what he had been discussing with Andersen.
After a while, he finally managed to speak.
“Who are those people?”
“Who? Ah, those people?”
Runald answered his question.
“They seem to be souls newly caught from a Fishing Spot. Judging by their number, it must be a large Fishing Spot... It looks like they are being held in a temporary detention center before the auction.”
Runald’s voice was indifferent, as though this were an ordinary occurrence.
Jaehwan suppressed a faint discomfort and asked again.
“Fishing Spot? They catch souls?”
“Yes. Um... Well.”
Runald briefly explained the relationship between Fishing Spots and souls. Here, fishing was a means of replenishing an insufficient number of Followers.
At that moment, Andersen, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
[It may seem inhumane, but there is a reason they do it. Newly caught souls need to find a god as quickly as possible. Otherwise, they all go mad soon enough. The 《Abyss》 is not a place where you can endure without a god.]
“Where does this Fishing Spot connect to? The 《Great Realm》?”
[No, the 《Peripheral Worlds》. It probably connects directly through the Tree of Illusion’s 《Root》. Most of those souls come from that side. Cases like yours, crossing over from 《Chaos》, are rare.]
“What kind of souls usually come up?”
[Usually, souls that had been wandering around the 《Peripheral Worlds》. And sometimes...]
“Sometimes?”
[Souls that died in the 《Tower of Nightmares》 sometimes come up too.]
Jaehwan’s mouth opened slightly, then closed again.
Andersen sensed his shaken heart and asked.
[Why? Is there a problem?]
The face of a man being dragged away in restraints.
Jaehwan could not forget it.
He was someone who should not have been here.
Back when Jaehwan was still in the 《Tower of Nightmares》, he had been the comrade who followed him to the very end. The man who had pretended to be regressing to the past to lighten Jaehwan’s burden.
He had been more cheerful and brighter than anyone else. That was why people called him the Smile Knight.
Jaehwan still remembered his name.
Yoonhwan, why are you here?
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