Chapter 137

Cease to exist…?

Forgetting the pain for a moment, I looked at Dominic.

He slowly released the heart he had been clutching.

My body trembled at the sensation of his hand slipping out.

When the tip of his last finger slipped out, I couldn’t hold back and gagged right then and there.

Dominic held my forearm to prevent me from falling.

Since I hadn’t eaten anything, nothing came out.

I rubbed my wet lips with the back of my hand.

To think he put his hand into a living person’s body.

It was something that far exceeded the limits of what I could understand.

It was even more horrifying that, despite feeling the sensation of him digging in, not a single scar remained on my chest.

However, I couldn’t protest to Dominic.

It was because he looked angrier than I had been.

Dominic seemed genuinely angry about me being hurt and wounded.

I was speechless, having seen myself in a state that looked like broken pottery pieced back together.

Furthermore, having heard the phrase ‘cease to exist,’ I was honestly terrified.

I hesitated for a moment before asking him.

"Please explain in detail what you mean."

"Do you remember the day we first met?"

Of course I did. It was a memory I could never forget.

At that moment, Dominic had looked into me.

"Little Lamb?"

"If you’ll pardon me, but that name doesn’t suit you."

And he had seen right through my real name and mentioned it.

The memory of how I had tried so hard back then to somehow frame Dominic as a human was vivid.

"Even back then, Roasted Chestnut was already in this state."

"You mean I was this broken…?"

"Yes. There were many wounds not only on the outside but also on the inside. It got worse after that."

He mentioned it briefly, but I could immediately recognize the cause of the worsening condition.

It was because he had repeatedly killed and revived me in the ending of CallOVo.

However, I later made a contract with Dominic, and he wanted to help me in various ways as his contractor.

‘So that’s why he fed me Infernum.’

He had attempted to heal me with the flames of Infernum.

Thanks to that, my wounds were slowly healing, but it seemed I had completely messed things up by using Resurrection.

“Punishment wouldn’t have wounded Roasted Chestnut, and it is an ability that would have been useful in the future. The same goes for Blind Faith and Summon.”

Seeing Dominic summon me here, it certainly looked convenient.

Punishment was a cool ability, too.

Honestly, I needed at least one offensive skill to help me survive.

Blind Faith…

‘I’m sorry, Lieutenant Won.’

I felt like I would really have to bow my head in apology once I got outside.

Although, I’d probably be dragged away in a straitjacket before that.

“To think you chose Resurrection for the sake of such insignificant creatures.”

Dominic seemed very displeased that I had erased my other abilities to create Resurrection.

But I had no choice.

At that moment, what I wanted most was Resurrection.

I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed that to possess the ability of Resurrection, I had no choice but to erase something else.

I hadn’t grown enough yet to hold multiple abilities simultaneously.

As I remained silent, having nothing to say to Dominic, he rose to his feet.

“Things like this will happen again in the future.”

Dominic looked up at the sky.

The world had changed.

“…!”

I was in space.

Countless stars embedded in pitch-black darkness, incomparable to the night sky.

As the massive band of the Milky Way cut across the darkness, the stars shone in various colors and sizes.

In the distance, nebulae and star clusters emitted a mysterious light.

As I gazed at the wondrous beauty, I discovered a pale blue planet.

It was Earth.

Dominic reached out his hand toward me. As I took his hand, a new sight unfolded before me.

I widened my eyes.

Meteorites appeared around Earth.

As if summoned from somewhere, dozens, even hundreds, of meteorites appeared in sequence and fell toward Earth.

The Trial Meteorites were falling.

The endless barrage of falling stars left me breathless.

“It is the not-too-distant future. I sped time a little faster for your understanding, Roasted Chestnut, but… the flow of events will likely be similar.”

There were already countless Trial Meteorites existing on Earth.

Although the majority were unhatched, humans were unable to properly deal with even the tiny fraction of Trials that had hatched.

But so many more meteorites going to fall?

If they hatch the moment they collide with the surface, just like Cell-X…

Nothing came to mind except the destruction of the Earth.

"The gods from the outside will come to Roasted Chestnut’s planet. There will be some even stronger than the god Roasted Chestnut faced this time."

Dominic asked me a question.

"Can you protect them? With an ability like Resurrection?"

I could not answer.

I have to protect them.

I have to protect my subordinates, and my domain.

While I was lost in thought watching the meteors fall, the scene before my eyes changed.

Before I knew it, I was back at the Black Sea.

"Roasted Chestnut."

Listening to the sound of the rough waves, I stared blankly up at Dominic.

"If you wish to protect Roasted Chestnut’s planet even without Punishment, it is time to make a choice."

He placed the orb in my hand once again.

"Whether to grow and move forward, or to stop and cease to exist. I leave the choice to Roasted Chestnut."

Dominic’s words ended there.

He remained silent, as if to say he would not intervene any further.

I gazed at the candy-shaped orb resting on my palm.

“…….”

I had a strong feeling that eating this would surely change something.

Though it wasn’t really a feeling.

‘It would be stranger if nothing happened.’

What would the system have said?

Seeing how quiet it was, it seemed its power had run out again.

Or perhaps it couldn’t interfere because this was Dominic’s domain.

I had to make a choice entirely on my own.

Suddenly, I remembered the system window that had appeared when I cleared CallOVo and left.

[You are the Young God of the planet ‘Earth’.]

Back then, I found the title of ‘young god’ absurd.

I regarded it as some kind of second class advancement and firmly defined myself as a human.

Besides, being in charge of Earth? For me, an unemployed person struggling just to manage a single studio apartment, it was a very vague statement. But now I know.

That I had become a being beyond human.

Every time I recalled the memories of speaking and acting as a young god, it was unbelievably chilling.

I also had a vague sense that the Earth was my domain.

Why me, of all people?

I was most curious about why the Creator chose me.

The ongoing Epic Quests and the system were also questionable.

The system offered a perfect body as the final reward for the epic quest, while threatening limb amputation and eye gouging for failure, all while leading me along.

I did not feel that the system was the same entity as the Creator.

Amidst complex thoughts, I opened my mouth.

“If I eat this… will I drastically change?”

I wanted to live.

I wanted to eat the orb, if only to avoid ceasing to exist, but there was something weighing on my mind.

It was the fact that I did not know what kind of being I would become.

I did not want to think and act like a young god.

Consuming this would undoubtedly bring me… a step closer to becoming that sort of young god.

My hand trembled slightly. It was because thoughts I had blocked out suddenly flooded in.

I barely managed to push them back.

Dominic did not answer immediately.

Looking at the way he silently gazed at me, I felt for some reason that he was trying to understand me.

It must have been a frustrating situation for Dominic.

After all, I was choosing the difficult path when there was clearly an easy one available.

But I did not want to become a god with a hierarchy mindset like Dominic.

Whenever I recalled the moments I had recklessly pried into another’s mind, or the sensation of trampling on No. 1 with my foot, I felt deeply… replused.

If I absolutely had to become a god, I wanted to be a god for the sake of those I cherished.

Dominic finally spoke after a long pause.

“There will be parts that won’t change even if you try.”

It was vague, but it seemed like the best answer for now.

It wasn’t just my subordinates and my domain that I needed to protect.

I had to protect myself, too.

Looking at the orb once again, I let out a chuckle.

‘A choice, indeed.’

Wasn’t there only one path from the very beginning?

After all, the alternative meant the Earth shattering and my own life ending.

But since he says there is a possibility that I won’t go crazy, it was worth taking a gamble.

I can do it.

“Dominic-ssi.”

“Yes, Roasted Chestnut.”

“I want to ask just one last thing. Could you answer me honestly?”

“Go ahead.”

I asked the question I had been hesitating to ask.

“I want to know why you are so kind to me.”

“Roasted Chestnut, you are my contractor, and you are still young, aren’t you?”

“Is that all?”

Dominic smiled silently.

As if he knew everything I feared and was afraid of.

He asked back in a whisper.

“Is that not enough?”

“…….”

It seemed he didn’t want to tell me yet.

When will I ever be able to understand him?

I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be easy, even in the future.

I brought the orb to my mouth.

However, I didn’t have the courage to eat it right away, so I just held it against my closed lips for a moment.

It clearly looked like candy, but when I touched it, I felt a damp sensation.

I lost the desire to eat it…

I let out a deep sigh inwardly.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

His prompt came—gentle, yet firm.

I parted my lips under his blue gaze. And I pushed the orb into my mouth.

The round shape touched my tongue, and soon it melted thickly.

In the midst of that, the sweet taste made me smile slightly.

I realized that he had truly made it easy for me to eat.

The candy melted quickly.

As I swallowed the last bit of sweetness, Dominic gently praised me.

“You worked hard.”

I replied, a little awkwardly.

“Thank you.”

His blue eyes gleamed as he reached out his hand to me.

Sensing what he intended to do, I turned my head slightly to avoid his touch.

Dominic gently coaxed me.

“Didn’t I promise it wouldn’t hurt? I’ll finish it while you’re asleep.”

“No, it’s fine. Just do it.”

Dominic looked at me as if I were a stubborn child.

But I was sick and tired of things I couldn’t remember.

Dominic reached out his hand again.

“Then I will just cover your eyes.”

The moment his fingertips touched my eyelids, my vision went black. A low voice warned me.

“It will be quite long and painful.”

And so, I went through a terrible ordeal.

Thunder roared across the black sky.

A blinding flash screamed through the night sky, dyeing the world blue.

Blue veins, tangled like balls of yarn, stretched out across the sky.

As the lightning struck the ground, fragments of deep blue lightning shot up in all directions like flames, accompanied by dazzling smoke.

Amidst the burning blue heat, Kwak Hanmuk sat slumped on the ground.

Warm blood flowing from his eyes and ears mixed with the pouring rain, staining him completely red.

In the past, and even now, as he relived it in his dreams.

He always had the same thought.

I want to die.

Yet, even death was a luxury denied to him.

Because he knew what would happen after he died.

There was nothing he could do.

Just helplessly crushed by an overwhelming, unknown entity.

Kwak Hanmuk smiled bitterly even in his dream.

Although it was always the same nightmare, a feeling that never became familiar, no matter how many times he experienced it, weighed heavily on him.

However, it was bound to end soon.

As always, he waited to either wake up from the dream or repeat it over from the beginning.

Strangely, the dream did not end.

Kwak Hanmuk looked up at the sky.

It felt as if someone were calling him.

Even though the only thing continuously etched into the black sky was a deep blue flash, he could not take his eyes off it.

And finally.

He saw a radiant golden light.

A golden meteor shower with a long tail cut powerfully through the black sky and the blue lightning.

The moment he saw the falling meteor, he realized.

It was a star that had come to find him.

“…Gasp!”

Kwak Hanmuk’s eyes snapped open and sat up.

His entire body was drenched in cold sweat. He covered his face with trembling hands.

It was a dream he always had. A memory of being trapped in a hellish place.

But the memory and the dream always ended in the same place…

For the first time, the dream continued. And an unfamiliar scene began.

It was a memory that did not exist for him.

Recalling the golden light etched into his mind, he muttered softly.

“Fuck.”

I just want to smoke one cigarette.

Ignoring the intense urge rising within him, he rubbed his face with his hand.

Then he looked around.

It was the TRA’s infirmary. It seemed that Cell-X had been cleared safely.

‘Goyo….’

The last thing he remembered was being wrapped up by a tentacle bastard.

The moment he saw that thing, he had instinctively known it was the same kind of entity as the one inside him.

He had lost consciousness feeling like his brain was being crushed, but when he actually woke up, his body was perfectly fine.

In fact, he felt better than he had in a long time.

It didn’t feel like much time had passed since it had been cleared.

He decided he needed to check if Han Goyo was alright first.

It was just as he threw off the covers and stepped out of the hospital bed…

A screen appeared before his eyes.

—Captain Kwak Hanmuk.

The holographic-colored man on the screen stared at Kwak Hanmuk expressionlessly.

“Samra?”

He was puzzled; he knew Samra wasn’t the type to offer a warm greeting just because he had regained consciousness.

—Please come to the Research and Analysis Headquarters immediately.

As Kwak Hanmuk looked on, wondering what could be the matter right after waking up, Samra spoke with a hint of urgency.

—Han Goyo-ssi has been pronounced dead.

rest in peace, goat…see you all next monday. also you might not have gotten an email for this since i reached the daily limit by releasing 5 chapters in 24 hours