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Proofreader: Hydragea

Seoul (12)

“A god must not lie!” the mantis shouted.

How did it know about the gods? It was a monster until recently.

I asked.

“I heard what the Ruler said!”

I see. I got it.

“Why can’t gods lie?”

“Every moment of life after ascending to the throne is proof of one’s divinity.”

It was natural, huh? If one didn’t do that in the first place, they wouldn’t even gain divinity. Oh, was this an exception for a monster-turned-Ruler?

“You shouldn’t go against your words because every action and word has its own will. You shouldn’t say anything that goes against yourself, especially lies. It was said that divinity accumulates slowly, and if you made a mistake, the divinity could even collapse. It’s different from the days when there was no cost for this.”

When he narrated the story, I realised I knew it well.

It was a true story. What the mantis had said was a long explanation about a god’s faith in himself. It was common for a person to betray their values or conscience for petty gains.

It was typical of humans. Humans always cheated and put on masks. It wasn’t a bad thing, though. If they acted within limits, it was all fine.

But it was not the same for gods. A slip of the tongue that humans could just let go of was fatal to a god.

If the act completely contradicted one’s own divinity, it was even more fatal. For example, the God of Duels cannot engage in cowardice for no reason. It was simply unacceptable for him.

Such behavior was intolerable, and if he did so, some of the divinity he had built up so far would vanish.

Because of a god’s characteristics, being able to become a god was considered a matter of great prestige.

A god’s behavior and treatment were predictable.

If one goes beyond knowing divinity and gets hold of the concept of being a god, their knowledge will know no bounds.

I wondered which Ruler the mantis knew. I assumed it to be a young god who had just gained divinity. A new god made sure to defend one’s divinity and make it increase.

The gods who obsessively tried to stick to the meaning of divinity were relatively low-level gods. They seemed to constrain their own behavior to how they interpreted divinity.

The higher gods did not—like the God of Hope.

During a conversation with me, the God of Hope said that he was hope. Even among the gods, there was a difference in their attitude toward divinity.

Perhaps that proved the difference in the cost.

(T/N: Cost referring to cost of losing divinity, might be less or more depending on their indifference.)

“By all means, a god shouldn’t tell lies! It’s true! You’ll get in trouble if you ignore it! You must keep your promise!”

“Yes, but not me.”

My divinity had nothing to do with honesty.

It didn’t matter if I changed my words and actions for my benefit. After all, as long as I had faith in whatever I did, it wouldn’t matter if I lied.

On the contrary, deceiving the enemy was beneficial in gaining the light of divinity, not a loss.

I tapped on the wall of the box. Like a goldfish in a fishbowl, the mantis fell in shock.

“For your information, making fun of others like this doesn’t matter to me.”

Instead, it was a win. I chuckled at the sight of the fallen mantis.

“Ahhhh! Too cruel!”

The mantis remained in its fallen position, shaking its legs, screaming in anger and frustration.

What do you mean, too cruel? I just had fun.

* * *

Yong-yong prepared a lot for the mantis.

He had briefly returned to his room after putting the mantis in the box. Then, he came down with a bunch of junk.

I think those were the items that Kim Min-hyuk had brought to where we lived, but Yong-yong must have remodeled them.

“This is a water bottle and a rice bowl. A rocking chair, bed, and desk.”

It looked like the furniture in our flat had been shrunk for this purpose. The box now looked like a miniature dollhouse.

Yong-yong created a habitable environment inside the box. Sadly, the box did not have a plumbing system.

“And here’s the bathroom.”

All the furniture was modern, except for the bathroom where you couldn’t even flush. He only had the sand to put in a small teacup.

Was it good to act like a cat and cover bad things up with sand?

“...How shameful,” the mantis sat down and muttered.

Yong-yong was surprised. He apologized and promised to make a proper toilet.

I had no choice but to say sarcastically, “What’s shameful? What’s shameful is guy who doesn’t even sh*t?”

This guy was not a human being. Although it looked like a human being, it was a monster whose physiological processes could be ignored.

It was also questionable whether there were any physiological processes occurring in him in the first place.

“Cheap! If you’re gonna be cheap, I can be cheap too!” the evil mantis spoke in vain.

I looked into the box for a moment and got up from my seat. “Now, shall we start?”

“Can’t we just stay a little longer?” Kim Min-hyuk stopped me when I was about to go.

We sent the visitors back, and I had heard enough information from the mantis.

The mantis in the box was a Ruler to some extent.

It was time to start again.

“Please...”

“Why?”

“Move a bit more slowly. Please give me some time to rest.”

When I saw Kim Min-hyuk’s haggard appearance, I wanted to ask if he had something to do, but I kept my mouth shut.

Why was he so tired in just a day? Was there so much to clean up?

“You’re going to catch another G-class in a day? We have to get permission from the authorities before we go. Then there’s raid procedures, evacuation orders...”

His explanation continued.

“It’s alright. You don’t have to do that.”

I didn’t need it.

Kim Min-hyuk replied with a sigh, “As a result, I’ll have more work to do. I’m not telling you not to go. I’m telling you to slow down. Hey, go eat lunch.”

Kim Min-hyuk tried to stop me, but I ignored him.

Why would I need lunch?

“I’ll eat lunch.” Seregia poked Kim Min-hyuk’s side with her finger.

I thought she had been in Grandma’s hand in the form of a sword. When had she reverted to a human?

“You’re not coming?”

Seregia nodded. I could feel her willingness to go on strike if I tried to take her away. I decided to leave Seregia. If I needed Seregia, I could just summon her.

“Then, just give Seregia lunch. I’ll be right back.”

“You returning late is not a problem. I’d rather you take your time...” Kim Min-hyuk said bitterly, tearing his hair out.

Oh, come to think of it, there were some things I wanted to ask Kim Min-hyuk before he left.

“What is it?”

“Please secure a gate nearby. I’ve got something to do with the remodeled gate.”

“...Huh?”

Kim Min-hyuk looked at the ceiling with a desperate look on his face.

I’m sorry, but I have one more favor to ask.

“And I don’t know exactly where, but there are some guys who sell my name on the Gangwon-do.”

“...Ah, them?”

“You know?”

Kim Min-hyuk seemed to know who I was talking about, which was unexpected.

“There are some sellers in the countryside who sell Awakened names. Of course, I’ve heard of those who sell your name.”

“Please call them here, too.”

“By when?”

“As soon as possible.”

Kim Min-hyuk had mixed expressions on his face, but he nodded.

On the surface, he was showing that he didn’t want to, but I knew he would do as I asked.

“Ah, we should also announce the capture of the Pyongyang G-class. It bothers me when the tough guys try to take the praise first.”

Revenge was easy, but it was annoying to change people’s perceptions.

“I’ve already taken care of that. There was a piece of breaking news earlier. It’ll come out when you turn on the news, do you want to check it out?”

“No,” I answered Kim Min-hyuk and looked at my party.

Grandma and Old Man were in the subspace. I wouldn’t have to take the two.

Of course, Yong-yong would follow me.

“Hochi.”

“Yeah?”

“Come with us.”

Hochi turned his head for a moment and then turned back to the novel he held in his hand.

For some reason, the actions of Seregia, who was sitting at the table waiting for lunch, and Hochi, who was silently protesting, seemed to overlap.

Was it just me, or were the two getting closer?

“Hey, you should go.”

“Why?”

“You know dungeons well.”

Unlike the mantis in the box, the G-class that I was going to visit was a proper one, which meant that there was a high probability that it was in a dungeon, making use of the Earth’s source.

And Hochi knew this type of dungeon well.

He practically cleared the 89th floor himself, where dungeons were the central theme.

Although Yong-yong helped, he only liked to decorate the dungeon and collect subordinates. He had little interest in managing the dungeon.

“If that’s the case, I’ll go. Ha.”

Hochi flipped his novel over and stood up with a haughty smile.

He seemed inwardly pleased.

I watched the scene and thought perhaps there was a good reason why Hochi was always unwilling to do anything.

I had always demanded that he should become stronger faster. I’d been driving him up the wall.

“Why are you so slow?”

Even if Hochi showed a growth rate above mine at that time, I would not have been satisfied and would have wanted him to do even better.

I was also on the edge of a cliff.

But the memories of my immoral acts would remain with Hochi.

That’s why I wondered if Hochi wasn’t excited about learning something new.

Come to think of it, Hochi didn’t know what he was good at compared to Yong-yong or me. [1]

Of course, there must be something that Hochi was good at. Maybe he was good at more things than me.

But I didn’t know what it was, and I hadn’t even thought to look into it.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

As expected, parenting was difficult. I decided to think about this problem later. It had randomly come to my mind, but it was not something to be taken lightly.

“Can’t you let me go?!” the mantis in the box raised its hand and asked.

“No.”

“Please!”

You can’t ask me to do that.

I grabbed the box and shook it up and down.

“Urghhhh.”

Inside, the mantis flew, hitting the walls, ceiling, and floor. While I was teasing it, Yong-yong grabbed onto the box.

Then he looked at me with a grim look on his face. “You can’t just bully it because it’s weak.”

Uh...

That was what I had said to Yong-yong earlier, allowing him to raise the mantis. I had nothing left to say, so I apologized to Yong-yong.

I apologized to the mantis, too.

Note/s

[1]: Yong-Yong’s specialty being the cause and effect thing back at the tournament (still quite not sure whether he manipulated cause and effect or time), not sure what Hojae’s is maybe the whole having faith in yourself thing?