Seoul (8)

“The G-class is dead?” Kim Min-hyuk was puzzled.

“Is it normal for it to die like that?”

No, it wasn’t. If it died, it died. It couldn’t be helped.

“Joon-suk said that the G-class would be hard to handle even if you came out.”

“Lee Joon-suk?”

“Yes.”

Well… I’ll ask him myself later.

“You said the G-class in Pyongyang was a Ruler, right? What the hell is a Ruler?” Kim Min-hyuk curiously asked again.

“Well… How should I explain this?”

“You can explain it any way you want. I’ll try to understand.”

Kim Min-hyuk was intelligent when it came to matters like this.

“First of all, there are some ways to get more than a certain level of power at once.” I decided to tell him the fundamentals first. “There are two ways to do this: using a source or using faith.”

“What’s a source?”

Damn, this guy doesn’t even know the essentials. I’ll just explain the source later.

“I think it’s a bit too complicated for you right now. I’ll explain that later. Anyway, there are ways to raise your power through source and faith.” Firstly, from the source. “There’s a way where you have to devour the source and overcome your desires.”

In most cases, the person had to have a certain level of power before devouring the source. If the Spirit King, who coveted the source’s power, devoured the source, he would be able to control it with his power without any problems.

Or the person would have to overcome their desires as I did.

“The second way is where the person will absorb the source but will get devoured by their desire. They’ll become a monster, and after eating countless lives, they can escape the hold of some desires.”

These people were called Rulers. At least, that was what they called themselves.

“So, the G-class in Pyongyang was a monster that swallowed one or two planets?”

It was probable. Of course, there might be slight variations; it may have eaten less or a bit more.

Kim Min-hyuk asked me, wanting to know more about the Ruler’s power or ability, but I was unable to answer with much.

I’d never met a Ruler. Kirikiri had made it clear that the centipede-like Ruler I saw in the Tutorial was a fake, a failure.

Also, there were cases where a Ruler could use his power and ability to become a god. This ability was challenging to express in one or two words.

“Then, what is faith?”

“It’s the same as the faith one has in religion.”

I explained about faith. Kim Min-hyuk quickly understood the concept of the sects, which appeared in the late 50th floor.

“Then, can anyone be a god?”

“No.”

I would know. One would only gain the power of faith if they reached the minimum standard. Even if ordinary humans gained the power of faith, how could they wield it?

First of all, they needed to know how to wield their powers. Kim Min-hyuk continued to ask, very keen about learning how faith compared to the source, gaining power, and what kind of power was created by faith.

Were there many kinds of faith?

“I don’t know if it’s accurate, but there are two main types of faith.”

“Two kinds?”

“Uhuh. One is the faith we normally get from others. The other is what one receives from themselves.”

One of the differences between faith and source was that the power received depends on who the being was. No matter who was being empowered, the source’s power wouldn’t change much, but faith was different.

The more faith sent by higher classes, the stronger the power. It even depended on the relationship between gods. In a way, it was natural.

A faithful believer and a believer who rarely prayed, couldn’t offer the same amount of faith.

There was no way that a superhuman, like an ordinary human, would have the same faith as a god. The God of Slowness had mentioned that there was a god that respected them. And I remember the God of Slowness telling me this fact with great pride.

How much power of faith did those who’d become gods have? It may have started with such a question.

Seregia was the one who’d first talked about faith in myself.

It was a hypothesis that Seregia had put forth when I was wondering about the power I had, even though there were no sects on the 60th floor. She believed faith in oneself could also be faith.

She said it was only one person’s faith, but it wasn’t directed towards anyone else. Hence, it could be a great power. And she proved her hypothesis by making me achieve my powers.

“So… what kind of power do you have?”

“Both of them. I devoured a source once, but it was taken away.”

I had once got a source from the 59th floor, but I didn’t retain it after clearing the floor. Of course, the power would be restored someday.

It wasn’t that strong, and with my current power, it wouldn’t matter much, but I couldn’t just let it go.

“Are you… a… God?”

“Yep, I’m practically a God.”

* * *

The Association’s vehicle stood out.

Even though it was the Association’s vehicle, one in charge of monster raids in the city, it was military-ready, designed to make it easy for other vehicles to recognize and move out of the way.

Lee Sung-eun, the team leader, opened the car door with her coat draped over one hand. The weather was as chilly as ever.

Inside the vehicle was the Association’s combat team. Fortunately, everyone seemed to have come except for her.

Standing beside the door, she said, “I’m sorry I’m late. Shall we leave right away?”

“Let’s wait for a little. Our youngest hasn’t come yet.”

Team leader Lee Sung-eun nodded. It wasn’t a tight deadline, and she couldn’t complain about waiting for others because she herself was late.

The warm air released from the heater made her frozen hands itch. While thinking about living a warm life, Lee Sung-eun, the team leader, found something strange.

It could be called a belated discovery. The atmosphere in the car was awful. It didn’t seem like there had been a quarrel between the team members.

It was more like they were going to a funeral home.

Oh Sang-jin, who headed the association’s three-person team, had his head down and his hands covering his face, his body still.

Team leader Lee Sung-eun was shocked to see he was crying. The other team members were also acting strangely.

Some team members held their heads against the window, others sighed, and some fiddled with their cell phones with serious faces.

She was confused. One of the team members sitting next to her said, “Please understand. Our team leader used to be in the Order of Vigilance.”

Lee Sung-eun, the team leader, wondered what the matter was and what had happened

She was going to ask what was wrong, but just in time, a team member opened the car door and came in. The team member took something out of the envelope and handed it out to them.

Lee Sung-eun also accepted.

“I’ll take one Cheongsimhwan too.”

(T/N: Cheongsimhwan is a pill one takes to calm their hearts.)

Team leader Lee Sung-eun laughed inside. It seemed ridiculous to see Oh Sang-jin, the team leader, standing up and taking a Cheongsimhwan.

Of course, they all thought about Lee Ho-jae, and it was reasonable to be nervous, considering that he was an Awakened, the strongest one.

But why were Awakened, ones who were in the combat team, scared to this extent?

The visit was not even about arresting or punishing Lee Ho-jae.

It was just to inform him of what happened at Seoul Station and its damage and ask him to be careful. It was a visit that would start with a conversation and end with a conversation.

She explained it clearly to the team members.

“So that’s the only way out, huh?” team leader Oh Sang-jin, who forgot about his Cheongsimhwan, muttered with a frown.

He asked Lee Sung-eun, “Team Leader Lee, why were we suddenly thrown into this mess?”

“What are you talking about? Thrown in?” she asked when he asked about why the team leader had thrown them into this.

What was he trying to imply?

“Oh, hell, if you don’t know,” said the team member who was sitting in the driver’s seat.

“I’m moving back to the highway. There’s a section that’s being restored ahead,” Oh Sang-jin said, throwing the Cheongsimhwan wrappers he had in his hands into the driver’s seat.

“Don’t go.”

“Why? There’s a lot of traffic.”

“Yes, go to the place where there’s traffic. Let’s reach as late as we can.”

Looking at Oh Sang-jin, the team leader who was usually confident, waver, Lee Sung-eun felt reluctant.

The association’s vehicle left the association’s parking lot filled with anxiety

* * *

In the morning, Yong-yong and his party came home.

When asked why she had returned so late, Grandma replied that it took time to soothe Yong-yong, who had begun to cry.

I could understand.

Yong-yong’s eyes opened slowly. I didn’t know why he had cried so much. Maybe it was because he didn’t keep his promise to me.

Yong-yong tried to explain to me what happened. He seemed to be choking on tears, but he tried to keep talking till the end. I hugged his small figure.

“That’s why I hit…”

“Did you play?”

“Uhuhhh, yes…”

Yong-yong, who was withholding his tears and trying to explain, eventually buried his face in my chest and began to cry. I hugged him tightly and patted him on the back.

“What happened to him?”

Seregia sat on the sofa, acting innocent. Naturally, my eyes turned to Grandma, but she shrugged her shoulders.

“It was too weak for me to act.”

Then there was nothing they could have done. I knew this would happen. I couldn’t even blame Yong-yong for not being able to hit humans for fear of killing them.

Of course, he was good at controlling his strength, but he couldn’t help not being able to sense how weak his opponent was.

“…Dad.”

“Yes, Yong-yong?”

“Can’t you save it?” Yong-yong questioned, pointing to the body of the monster lying on the floor.

It was a mess. Blood and impurities were all over its rough skin. Blood still leaked out, wetting the living room’s floor.

Perhaps, because it’d been so long since he’d seen such a thing, Kim Min-hyuk hardened his face and hurriedly left, under the excuse of going to the market.

“Why this again?”

Now that it was in this situation, it was easier to just absorb it.

Yong-yong didn’t answer and buried his head back in my chest. This was a total disaster.

While thinking, I reached out to the monster’s body.

“Return.”

With a bright light, the body began to move. The previously flat body swelled, and the blood on the floor floated into it.

The broken bones and ruptured muscles returned to their original place. The restored monster looked like a human with paws and wings.

“Argh! Save me!” the monster screamed as soon as it was revived.

Ah, it’s talking.

When the monster saw Yong-yong in my arms, it fell on its legs. The old lady, who was standing behind, stopped it from rushing back.

“Cute,” Yong-yong said quietly, watching the monster that kept screaming and trying to escape.

Oh my god. Yong-yong, that thing is not cute.

It resembled a normal adult woman with paws and wings. It was bizarre rather than cute. The giant centipede monster we saw last time looked more spectacular.

“Daddy, can i keep it?”

I thought about it for a while. The reason I revived it was to soothe the depressed Yong-yong and experiment with it later.

But if I gave that to Yong-yong as a gift, I couldn’t use it. I pondered on it for a while, then finally decided. “You have to raise it well.”

Yong-yong grinned cutely.

There were still tears trailing down his cheeks, but it was nice to see him smiling brightly.

“You shouldn’t let it run away or die. You have to take good care of it. You can’t harass it just because it’s weak.”

The monster, completely overpowered by grandmother, looked at Yong-yong and me, scared.

I resumed talking. I was already worried about Yong-yong’s attitude toward humans. I was going to try to change that.

In the past, raising pets may have helped children develop emotions and social abilities.

I hoped that this would help Yong-yong.

“Oh you can’t let it go wild either. You need to educate it properly.”

Yong-yong nodded energetically. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I decided to leave it to him for now.

I placed Yong-yong down on the floor, looked at Yong-yong running over to the monster, and turned to Lee Joon-suk, standing awkwardly in the corner.

“Long time no see.”

“Ah, yes… Hyung, long time no see.”

Lee Joon-suk stood nervously at the side of the door.

“What are you doing there? Come here, I have a lot of questions for you.”

*This translation belongs to Centinni.*

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