Chapter 48: Take this
Dohyuk grabbed his thigh.
[DOOOON’TTTTTALKKKKTOTHEEEEEM]
Something was vibrating violently in his pocket.
<<Message overloaded>>
<<All messages banned temporarily.>>
All the messages immediately disappeared. And then came-
-UGH!
Basil’s scream. Dohyuk couldn’t see, but Basil was getting bombarded with messages and many different colored lights were shining around as they did earlier to Dohyuk.
-M-me? B-but... W-Wait! This is just too... too much....
After one minute, Basil panted as the light that shined around him disappeared.
“Ugh... W-why do I have to go through this...
Basil sighed.
“You don’t need to tell me everything.”
-I’m going to get punished if I don’t do it, you bastard!
Basil shouted angrily.
-A lot of gods want you to...
“I know.”
-What?
“I know what those gods want from me.”
The angel was shocked. Dohyuk asked, “Isn’t it because of this?”
Just ten minutes ago, Choi Jimin regretted going west of the river. In the previous life, Dohyuk wanted to move past the desert to the west. Therefore, Jimin came to the city of Azkatan, but she couldn’t find Dohyuk. Instead, she met someone she did not hope to meet.
-That’s all. The change will begin soon, so be ready.
The angel flew out of the room after giving her the message. Soon after, someone opened the door to the ‘prison cell’ she was locked in. A woman walked in alone with a backpack.
“How are you faring?”
She was very beautiful. The lady wore a ragged, oversized hoodie and short pants and pair of worn sneakers with her roughly tied hair and old ragged eyeglasses, but those things could not hide her beauty. It also did not hide her unknown illness from her pale face.
“No answer?”
“...”
“That’s weird... I’m sure I didn’t hurt your vocal chords.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Huh?”
The woman, Shin Nahee the Gibbous, looked at Jimin curiously.
“That’s my question. I didn’t pose any threat to you and tried to talk, but you just ran.”
Jimin closed her mouth. It was true. Just after a few days of the trial, Nahee was already in control of the city of Azkatan.
“I didn’t intend on attacking you until I grabbed your arm. It was you who hit me first.”
That was also true. Nahee chased Jimin by herself, without having her servants do it for her. As Jimin was captured, she did her best to fight back. However, the result was unexpected. Nahee was struck and it did no damage.
“I mean, I thought we had the same goal.”
Nahee then rubbed a scratch on her lips. That was the only damage Jimin had inflicted. She was then beaten up and was locked up afterward. But what made her feel better was the fact that it wasn’t Nahee’s own power.
“...If you are talking about Dohyuk, then don’t even start.”
“Why?”
“You... You have that filth in your body!”
Demon God Yoruba.
Yoruba was a strong god. In the previous life, humans faced Yoruba’s trial at the end. Of course, Nahee was a strong woman who would have no problem in finding Yoruba’s shrine to serve, but...
“You know Dohyuk suffered because of that bastard... and you still blindly follow him for your own power?!”
There was a reason why Jimin did not accept any religion. She knew how Dohyuk hated the gods in the previous life. Even if she decided to follow a religion, there were gods that she could follow and those she could not.
“That’s weird.”
“What?”
“Lord Yoruba never ‘fought’ against Dohyuk.”
“...!”
Jimin became infuriated.
“Y..you whore...!!”
Nahee’s eye opened in rage. Her pale lips and sunken eyes shook. Even Jimin flinched for saying those words out loud.
“Oh well.”
But Nahee immediately smiled. She then placed down the backpack she was holding – Jimin’s belongings were in there.
“What...?”
“I was going to hand it over to you when you woke up.”
It was items that Jimin had collected. These were treasures that were valuable, even for Nahee.
“If your injuries are all cured, I’ll let you go. I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
“What... are you up to?”
“I want you to help me. Not anyone else. Not even Dohyuk. I need people who survived to the end, and the ones that I can trust.”
The person who had survived through the end. What Nahee was talking about was obvious. Jimin also heard from the angel that multiple gods were now coming in to conduct their own trials. It meant all stages were going to be opened immediately, along with all the treasures hidden within.
The world was now going to grow strong at a rapid pace. The information and who got to it first was crucial.
But...
“You think you can trust me? ME? For you?” Jimin scoffed. “I don’t trust anyone other than Dohyuk...”
“First, I need to get stronger than Dohyuk.” Nahee ignored Jimin and continued, “If the time has come... I will find Dohyuk and... it’s sad to say this, but I will immobilize him... even if I have to cut off his limbs... even if I need to cut his muscles... so that I can watch over him...”
“CRAZY B*TCH!”
“But it’s okay. When he becomes a god, those injuries won’t mean anything.”
“....What?”
Nahee then turned to Jimin.
“You and I both know.”
She was smiling ever so sadly.
“Even if we’ve returned, Dohyuk will be Dohyuk... he will never change. He doesn’t deserve all the damage, but he will give up everything and fight. He will fight the fight that no one really wishes for.”
It was as Dohyuk did in his previous life.
“I thought to myself, when I was reborn, that I would never see that again. Never.”
“...”
Jimin was shocked. She now knew why Nahee had accepted the demon god.
“And when I’m done with Dohyuk, I will kill those stronger than Dohyuk, and those who are weaker than me. All of them.. in front of Dohyuk. So he can change.”
The final requirement to rule over the world was to have everyone, including Dohyuk, go crazy.
“It will take time... it’s Dohyuk after all. And it will be painful. But I must do it... whatever it takes... and when it’s done...”
Then came the final step. Nahee used her thin finger to move it horizontally across her neck horizontally.
“I will finish the last one.”
A life that was set to die. That’s why she served the demon god.
“B-but why...”
“We have the same reason for that.”
Nahee spoke with understanding eyes.
“It’s love.”
“I’m a god.”
Dohyuk said, “And... I’m not sure, but gods cannot directly interfere with each other.”
-....
But even then-
“If I open the status window, this still shows up.”
-Religion: N/A
Maybe he was wrong, but Dohyuk always questioned himself as he was the one who knew the least in this world. This was the formation of a word that the angels called ‘system’.
“In my experience, these gods do not send a message if they are hostile.”
Dohyuk guessed that they wanted something from him.
“Is that right?”
-....Yes.
Basil agreed. As he said, Dohyuk was a god. Even if he was a mortal, and without the privilege to rule over the world, he had the Divine Power. That was why he was special. It was because-
-Under Lord God, all other gods are equal.
The strength differed, but system-wise, all gods had equal authority. However, as with other people, Casita’s system considered Dohyuk as a religionless mortal, or a god who could have a religion.
“What happens then? Let say if I become ruler of this world... does the one I serve become the owner of it?” Dohyuk asked, half-guessing himself. But Basil looked down at him with a complicated look.
‘It’s... probably more complicated.’
If a god is served by another god, what does the owner-god receive? The world that the follower-god rules over? Or maybe... it might even be a step closer to the almighty being on top.
-Hey, so you...
“I have no plans on having a religion.”
-Think wisely. This isn’t just a matter of just rejecting.
Basil knew what these gods would do to gain the one they wanted. The message wasn’t the end. If the being worthy, they then sent significant suffering so that the being could surrender himself or ask for the god’s power to overcome it. Even in the current situation, those gods could grant power to Dohyuk’s enemy and order them to strike. Dohyuk had two Divine Powers, but it was also meant that Dohyuk was the same as a person who served a god that only had two Divine Powers.
-Every god is looking at you now! You should at least just accept for now and...
Dohyuk then turned away.
“They’re looking at me?”
He turned against the space, the place where the giant figures were looking down from. Dohyuk raised both his arms, as if he were worshipping them.
“Oh, great ones...”
And-
His hands turned into fists, leaving his middle fingers up.
-...!
“Can you hear me? I believe you can.”
Dohyuk spoke, partly shaking, “Thank for considering me but-”
Dohyuk only had one answer to give.
“You better quit thinking about toying me around, you sick bastards.”
It was his declaration against the world, the beginning of the great change in this world.
“If you don’t like it,” declared the young god, “strike me down.”