A Rapidly Changing World (1)
I logged into Minecraft for a bit before starting my stream. But when I woke up, the world had turned upside down. It all happened in a single day. Everything had been fine when I was watching Maem’s stream before bed. What the heck was going on?
When I arrived, Raming’s house… or rather, the Maru Church cathedral was packed with people. Yesterday I’d only seen Maem talking to one or two folks. How did it get like this? I had no idea.
“Who are you people?” I called out to the noisy crowd.
“Isn’t this a free soup kitchen?”
“Huh?” A soup kitchen? This is a cathedral. It’s the sanctuary where we worship Maru. Who told them it was a soup kitchen?
“Maem—I mean, Master Em—said if we came here we could get bread. She even said we might score some upgrade materials if we’re lucky.”
“Really?”
“Who are you, anyway?”
“Me? I’m a paladin here.” I answered without a hint of shame, standing tall. I belonged to this cathedral, after all. Heh.
“Look, I can open this door.” I cracked the tightly shut door open and slammed it shut again before anyone could slip inside. The reactions were explosive.
“Ooooooh!”
“Cool paladin, give us some bread!”
“There’s already a job like that? Is it hidden?”
“Hidden? What’s that?”
“Isn’t paladin a hidden class?”
“Nope. I just made it up.”
“Ah, got it. Yeah, okay.”
I found myself nodding along without thinking. A hidden paladin class? Who knew?
“Are you part of the Ant Legion too?”
“Ant Legion? What’s that?”
“You know… the guild?”
“Me? I’m a total nobody. I’m solo. Everyone here is probably the same—broke and looking for free stuff.”
“Oh…!” So that’s why they came to the cathedral. What kind of rumor had Maem started?
“So when do we get the bread?”
“Bread… right. Just a second, everyone.” I quickly slipped inside and shut the door behind me. “Wait here for a bit. I need to check the storage boxes.”
Maem, what on earth did you do? No, no—spilled milk and all that. No point complaining now. There were eight or nine people out there. She’d really pulled this off? Well, good for her. I should just enjoy the moment. Honestly, it felt nice. It made me happy. I really hoped we could form an official religion soon. Heh-heh.
I opened the storage and pulled out bread and upgrade materials.
“This should be enough, right?”
Oh, right—I hadn’t even started streaming yet. Ugh… my head was spinning. So much to do. Slow down. Just take it slow.
First, I opened the door and let the followers in.
“Everyone, if you want bread you have to pray first. Please take a seat.”
The place actually looked like a real church, complete with a raised platform up front and chairs lined up on both sides. The followers listened well and sat down immediately. I liked that.
I stepped onto the platform and raised my voice.
“Greetings, everyone! This is the Church of Maru. You’ve all come to the right place. Let us give thanks to the goddess who brought us together—Maem!”
“Ma~em!”
Wow. These people caught on fast. Their adaptability was impressive. Perfect. This was exactly what I wanted. Goddess, can you hear us from up there? I hope you’re happy wherever you are. I’ll keep spreading the word for you.
“Thank you all. We are a neutral order that worships the goddess through the Church of Maru. We’re strictly neutral—absolute pacifists who never fight.”
“Ooh~”
“So if anyone ever claims to fight in our name, they’re heretics. Please take them out! That’s all. Go ahead and pray on your own, then grab some bread.”
“Sir Paladin, do we get extra bread if we recommend people?”
One sharp question from a certain gentleman. A very good question, actually.
“We don’t accept recommendations. People come of their own free will. This isn’t the kind of place you join because someone told you to! Our followers aren’t allowed to proselytize either. Our motto is simple: a cathedral you visit because you genuinely want to.”
“Ooh!”
The followers murmured in approval. I loved it. Their reactions were great. I’d give that guy an extra loaf.
“Alright, everyone, come get your bread.”
“Is that it? Don’t we have to pray longer?”
“Ah, I’m not the one who usually does the prayers… The proper person isn’t here right now, so I filled in. Please come back during regular hours!”
Moddeok was supposed to be our saintess. I was just a paladin. Paladins didn’t belong on the platform—they sat in the pews and prayed with everyone else.
“What time are the regular hours? Will there be more bread then?”
“Uh… I’ll let you know later. Please take your bread and head out now.”
I shooed them out like a bunch of beggars.
The first batch of followers numbered nine. I handed each of them one set of Bana bread fairly. You could get Bana bread by receiving a 1,000-won donation, and every loaf came from Raming. My own bread wasn’t worth that much. Since Raming and I had declared joint ownership of our resources, this was fine. There were still ten more sets in storage anyway.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Take care on your way out.”
One gentleman left with his bread. Another paused.
“Sir Paladin… are you a hidden class?”
“I’m a fake paladin.”
“Ah. Good work.”
“Thanks. Safe travels.”
Curious guy. So what if I wasn’t hidden? I had zero interest in chasing hidden classes. The process was bound to be ridiculously hard. One hundred percent.
“Sir Paladin, this is a guild, right?”
“Not yet. The server admin said he’d add a religion system if we can create one.”
“Oh. So could I join then?”
It was a male character wearing glasses. Hmm… what would he even do? We were just playing house. This was all pretend, and it would probably fall apart eventually.
“What would you do if you joined?”
“Me? Ah, I do some building. I was thinking I could help construct things around here.”
“You’re a builder?”
Okay, that changed things. Builders were hard to come by, especially in Minecraft. They were the real deal—masters of grinding. Their streams were basically sleep-aid videos.
“Yeah, I build a fair bit.”
“Oh…! Mind if I check your work? Do you have any videos?”
“I do.”
I looked up his YouTube channel. He really was a builder. The guy had built castles in hardcore survival worlds. That was impressive. He’d also uploaded tons of artistic creations.
“Oh… Michael…”
“Hahaha. I’m Joseph.”
“Oh, Joseph. Welcome. I’m the paladin. Let’s work well together as fellow followers.”
It was a shame we couldn’t actually shake hands in Minecraft. Still, talent like this was always welcome.
“Come on in, Joseph.”
“Thank you… What should I call you?”
“Just call me Paladin.”
“Paladin?”
“Yeah. Paladin is fine.”
I welcomed Joseph into the order, sat him down on a chair, and gave him a thorough interview. You never knew if someone might be a spy or a heretic.
“Why did you choose our order?”
“Well… I thought if we made the area around the cathedral pretty, it could become a theme park.”
“How much would the down payment be?”
“Hmm… You don’t have to pay anything. I’ll just do it for free.”
“Whoa…! Understood. From today on, you’re officially a follower, Joseph.”
This was huge. He was offering to build for free? Amazing.
“Then please invite me.”
“Invite you? Ah… we don’t have a guild yet. Bana said he’d create the religion system if possible, so we’re waiting on that.”
“Oh… I don’t have permission to do anything then. Can’t you grant me building rights separately?”
“This land isn’t mine. It belongs to Raming, so I can’t do anything until she logs in.”
“Ah! Then could you call me when that happens?”
“Got it, Joseph!!”
The Minecraft world moved incredibly fast. On day two we officially formed a guild. It was a necessary step if Joseph was going to build. The founding members were me, Raming, Maem, and Joseph. Joseph was a god of grinding—he’d log in at random times and just keep working. I helped out too, whether I was streaming or not.
On day three, two more followers joined. I hadn’t invited them—Maem and Raming had recruited them. They were put straight to work grinding as well.
On day four, our saintess appeared. Moddeok became our official saintess. She was incredible. The moment she joined, she dropped a 1,000,000-won donation and made it public. Then she casually convinced Raming.
“Raming, Seon-a and I are making tteokguk at her place. You should come too.”
“Come where?”
“We’re making tteokguk at Seon-a’s house. Come eat with us.”
Moddeok’s invitation pulled me in as well.
“Y-yeah! Raming, come! I’ll protect the red potion no matter what. It’ll just be the three of us! Moddeok, let’s earn ten million won!”
“Uh… I’ll think about it.”
Raming only said she’d consider it. The rest of our time was spent grinding.
Day five… day six… nothing but grinding. Three more guys and four more girls who showed interest in building joined us. The only notable thing was that someone in another legion had found a hidden class.
On day seven I got shocking news. Mom called, her voice trembling. I wondered what was wrong—then she told me my little brother was enlisting. He only had a week left. She asked if I was going to see him off. I’d originally planned to, but when she said it was the 31st Division… the round trip would take eight hours. No way. I decided I’d just see his face instead.
Day eight… nine… ten… I was obsessed with grinding. That was all I did.
On day eleven, Bana told us creating a religion system was too difficult. Instead, he’d expand our guild. Our max member limit jumped from fifteen to fifty. It was the happiest day. Raming said she’d join. She’d gotten permission. I thought about inviting Maem too, but decided against it. She only knew me, and it still felt too early. We’d meet in person first, then she could join the group.
On day twelve we recruited eight more followers. Joseph warned that building a proper cathedral might take a month even with twenty-four-hour grinding, so we rushed to bring in more people. “Want bread? Come join us!” Homeless players signed up in droves. Heh-heh. We kept grinding hard. With so many members, we could divide roles. Some farmed materials, some built, some did RPG stuff, some hunted hidden classes. I was finally creating the Ant Legion I’d seen on day one.
On day thirteen we recruited seven more. Our order had climbed to third in the server rankings. We had fun for those thirteen days. Today I headed back to my parents’ house early in the morning.