Chapter 59

I had made the proposal, but I had no idea whether Dominic would accept it.

I might have to repeat death and resurrection again.

This time… I probably wouldn’t be able to endure it.

Just remembering the pain from that moment made my body tremble like a Pavlovian response.

Thinking that I would stay together with the very being who had given me such an experience…

Captain Mo would definitely curse me out if she found out.

This time, Captain Kwak might join her.

I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t have the strength.

I just weakly chuckled to myself internally as I waited for Dominic’s choice.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

His gaze was strange.

It was difficult to interpret it as either acceptance or rejection.

If I had to describe it, curiosity was probably the closest word.

“You continue to surprise me.”

That was the vague evaluation he gave.

His words were impossible to understand, making me anxious.

‘Is he accepting or not?’

If he was going to pass a death sentence on me, I wished he would just say it quickly.

At least then I could prepare myself mentally.

‘Is he saying he’ll make the contract?’

But Dominic didn’t come to a conclusion.

He only looked down at me silently.

‘Or not?’

After carefully reading his expression for a long time, Dominic finally gave me his answer.

“Very well. I will make the contract.”

I looked up at him with disbelief.

I had suggested it because I judged there was at least some possibility he would accept, but now that it actually happened, I was dazed.

‘It actually worked.’

If he refused the contract, I had planned to try solving it another way.

But this was, essentially, the best possible result.

After returning alive from the edge of a cliff called death, I felt like I had gained strength I didn’t have before.

Just moments ago, I truly couldn’t even move a finger.

Now, moving my tongue was something I could do without much trouble.

“Thank you. Then, um…”

I realized a major problem.

I didn’t know how to make a contract.

In the game, I simply performed the ritual, and once the Outer God was summoned, the other side handled the contract.

Since I was trying to do it myself, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

‘Do I need to draw something like a magic circle?’

There were those kinds of images commonly seen in media.

Maybe I had to chant some kind of spell.

Or spill some blood.

If nothing else worked, I even wondered if I should make a written contract, in a very Earth-like way.

That was when Dominic suddenly asked:

“What name did you use for the ritual when you summoned me?”

Why was he asking that?

Still, I answered quickly.

“Roasted Chestnut… I think.”

Since it was the ritual I performed in the game, it should have been Roasted Chestnut.

“So that was why.”

After hearing my answer, Dominic praised the name Roasted Chestnut.

“It does not perfectly represent your essence, but I believe it is not a bad name.”

When I first met him in CallOVo, Dominic had said that the name ‘Little Lamb’ did not suit me and called me by my real name.

That was why I hurriedly came up with the name Roasted Chestnut.

Dominic didn’t particularly like it, but from then on, he had continued calling me Roasted Chestnut.

It seemed he had accepted the name because it was somewhat familiar.

After giving me unexpected praise, Dominic politely informed me:

“Please excuse me for a moment, Roasted Chestnut.”

I widened my eyes.

Then slowly lowered my head.

Uh…

Even while watching it happen, I couldn’t make myself believe it.

Dominic’s hand was inside my body.

Yet I felt no pain.

No blood spilled out.

There was simply no sensation.

The hand that had entered through my chest grasped something.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart beat violently.

In a calm voice, like someone signing a business contract, he spoke.

“I remember a little now. It seems this is my first time making a contract with ■■ ■. Since Roasted Chestnut’s rank is still low, I suppose I have no choice but to use this traditional method…”

That was all I heard.

I immediately lost consciousness.

“…!”

The moment my consciousness returned, I jolted awake and sat up.

I pressed my hand against my chest.

…Fortunately, I could feel my heartbeat.

It didn’t seem like my organs had been taken.

Aside from that, I felt no pain, bleeding, injuries, or anything else.

In fact, my condition was better than before I lost consciousness.

Vitality flowed through my body.

‘He could have at least told me beforehand.’

Cutting open someone’s body without warning was not something a sane person did.

The unsettling sensation still seemed to remain, and I rubbed my arm, which was covered in goosebumps.

After calming myself down a little, I belatedly looked around.

Dominic was nowhere to be seen.

The underground chamber was empty.

The space where all the followers had disappeared was silent.

However, there was still one person left.

“Cult Leader…”

It was Edel.

Only then did I realize that I had been on top of the altar this entire time.

It seemed Edel had stayed by my side the whole time.

She appeared flustered that everyone except her had disappeared, but she was trying her best to remain calm.

Perhaps she had come to understand the current situation through her own logic, because she cautiously asked me:

“Did… God save us?”

“That’s right.”

I didn’t have the energy to come up with an excuse, and it wasn’t entirely wrong, so I simply answered yes.

After hearing my response, Edel bit her lip with a complicated expression.

Even though this should have been the moment she had always wished for, there was no sign of happiness on her face.

I felt sorry.

I had wanted to show Edel the scene she had always dreamed of, but I couldn’t.

“Edel will… be free now.”

After hearing my words, Edel’s expression darkened further.

I wondered if I had said something wrong, but then Edel suddenly spoke.

“It was strange from the very first time we met.”

“What was strange?”

“Everything. Even now, I have a strange thought.”

Edel approached me, who was sitting on the altar.

“Could it be… that you are my ■?”

The most important word was mixed with static noise and could not be heard.

The exact same thing happened when Dominic spoke about the contract earlier.

It seemed to be a word I was currently unable to hear.

Because I hadn’t heard the question properly, it was difficult to answer.

Edel did not ask again despite my silence.

It seemed she never expected to receive an answer in the first place.

Instead, she asked me something else.

“Can we meet again?”

I hesitated for a moment, but soon smiled faintly.

“Of course.”

Edel was happy with my lie.

‘It was good that I went for the true ending.’

If I had left only her behind in this place, she would have continued coming to mind.

Fortunately, I had kept my promise to Edel and given her the freedom to escape being bound to this trial.

“Edel. Earlier, for saving me…”

I was about to thank her, but my words trailed off.

At some point, Edel had already disappeared.

“……”

I thought I would at least have a little more time to talk.

‘I should have said thank you first.’

I didn’t think I would ever get used to this kind of farewell, no matter how many times I experienced it.

I felt a little lonely.

Left alone, I watched the system windows that appeared one after another in front of me.

It seemed Black Block was still watching me.

And my recognition had increased by a full 0.1% at once.

I was surprised by the sudden generous increase in a number that had previously risen only by hundredths of a percent.

Then the number changed.

What…?

It wasn’t some kind of ten-times experience event, was it?

I stared blankly at the impossible numbers that skyrocketed in an instant.

The moment it reached 99999%, the system window popped and shattered.

Then it displayed normally again.

I stared at it, wondering what had just happened, but something even more absurd followed.

9999 items?

I didn’t even have time to be confused by the seemingly glitched number.

The next window appeared immediately.

Wait, what?

I didn’t choose anything.

This time, I hadn’t even received any items from NPCs, so I had no idea what had been selected.

While I stood there dumbfounded, the 80 seconds continued to pass.

The world collapsed.

At last, I escaped from the trial.

I could see the night sky.

The moonlight poured down brightly onto my face.

I stared blankly at the moon before turning my head to the side.

The barrier…

The wind blowing past seemed to carry the scent of salt.

‘Haewoljeong?’

It seemed to be Haewoljeong, the place I had used to enter Clean3.

With the meteorite from Clean3 gone, Haewoljeong appeared to be undergoing repairs, with construction materials scattered around.

I looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

‘I survived.’

I still had my earpiece, so I should be able to contact the TRA.

After resting for a little while, at least.

Dominic was still nowhere to be seen.

‘A happy ending where he disappears along with CallOVo is probably too much to hope for…’

Thinking about an impossible wish, I lay spread out on the ground and stared at the sky.

The air must have been clean, because I could see the stars clearly.

Against the backdrop of the night sky, a system window appeared.

It was the one I had been waiting for.

It was a notification that I had successfully protected my limbs.

I was about to chuckle.

Young God?

Not Little Lamb.

Not a system designation.

Young God?

Because CallOVo had repeated the words “Outer God” so many times, I wondered if I had misread it.

But no matter how long I stared, “Young God” did not change.

Suddenly, Dominic’s words came to mind.

“This is my first time making a contract with ■■ ■.”

Was the part I couldn’t hear possibly referring to “Young God”?

He had also mentioned that my rank was low…

Considering how the system had constantly nagged me about raising my abilities, it did seem to line up.

But I still couldn’t easily believe it.

‘Is this an error?’

The thought that I was being placed in a similar category as Dominic was unbelievable.

My title was Young God, while he was something like a Lord, so the difference was probably as vast as the universe itself.

But the fact that we could both be categorized as “Gods” felt absurd.

“Young God…”

The moment I said it aloud because I couldn’t believe it.

“Do you dislike the title Young God?”

I, who had been lying on the ground, shot upright in surprise.

“Dominic?”

I looked around, but there was no three-meter-tall man nearby.

I hoped it was a hallucination, but the voice came again.

“Yes, Roasted Chestnut.”

“…Where are you?”

“Ah! I suppose I need to come outside.”

Something moved and began flowing out from my chest.