Creation Talent - Chapter 24
Kim Jihun headed to a nearby hospital with his mother. It was a spine specialty clinic well-known for treating herniated discs.
After arriving at the hospital, his mother underwent various tests. She spent several hours moving between different areas, getting CT scans, MRIs, and more.
Once all the tests were done, the doctor spoke to Jihun's mother with a grave expression.
"The disc herniation is getting worse. You might need surgery down the line. It must have been really painful. It couldn't have been easy holding out."
Jihun was shocked by the doctor's words. He hadn't realized his mother's herniated disc had progressed that far.
Come to think of it, she's been grimacing more lately. He'd just thought she was in poor condition. But it was back pain all along.
Jihun suddenly regretted not paying more attention to his parents.
After the tests and consultation, Jihun and his mother went to the desk to settle the bill. But they were stunned by the staggering amount—far beyond what they'd expected.
"The test fees are 1.2 million won?"
Jihun was taken aback. Having always been healthy, he'd had little to do with hospitals, so 1.2 million won felt enormous.
His mother was equally surprised by the higher-than-anticipated sum.
"Wasn't it only about 400,000 won last time? Why's it so much today?"
"If you look at the bill, the MRI and additional fees make up the bulk. Just the MRI alone is 620,000 won, and adding the ECG, CT, and others brings it to 1.2 million."
"That's too expensive..."
His mother hesitated, the medical costs weighing heavily on her. But what could they do? The tests were already complete. With a deep sigh at the 1.2 million won slipping away, she handed over her credit card.
"Please process it. Ten-month installments."
1.2 million won. A hefty sum. With their tight household budget, this unexpected expense burned at her heart. Just tests had cost over a million, so how could they afford proper treatment?
But she had no choice but to swallow her bitterness once more.
"Ma'am? This card's over its limit. We'll try another."
The nurse at the desk informed them payment was declined.
"Over the limit?"
His mother panicked. She hadn't realized the card had maxed out. Muttering in confusion, she fumbled for her wallet.
"Oh no... I don't have another card."
She rummaged through her wallet hesitantly, but all that came out were a few 10,000-won bills and a local mart points card. Nowhere near enough for 1.2 million won.
Just as his mother stood there flustered, Jihun stepped forward.
"Use this to pay."
He handed over his debit card. The nurse processed it, and it went through smoothly. She printed the receipt and handed over the diagnosis and bill.
"All settled. Have a good day."
...
"1.2 million won... you sure you're okay with that?"
"I'm fine, Mom. I had some savings from my part-time job. Don't worry about it."
Jihun and his mother left the hospital and headed home. Grateful for his unexpected help, she looked at him with both pride and guilt.
But Jihun said firmly,
"You've raised me this far—what's a little payback?"
"Jihun-ah..."
To Jihun, the 1.2 million won for his mother's tests wasn't a penny wasted. Sure, it was an unimaginable fortune to him—money he'd have to work a full month for at his job.
But wasn't it for healing his mother?
Money can be earned again. You can't skimp on something like this.
That was all he thought.
...
Back home, Kim Jihun went straight to his room. Sitting in his chair, he stared blankly, lost in thought.
Someday, once I master my creation powers, I can heal Mom's back.
Jihun definitely possessed an ability unlike ordinary people. Creation Talent. The absolute authority to conceive, create, and alter anything.
He often recalled the sight of Asrie crafting a star system. Creating massive planets, structuring time and space—an awe-inspiring spectacle.
Someday, I'll be able to do that too.
He believed he'd one day become an omnipotent being like Asrie.
But who knew how long that would take?
Healing a herniated disc, though? With dedicated effort, couldn't he manage it relatively soon?
I'll work hard.
If he honed his creation powers, he could heal his mother someday. Believing that, Jihun practiced creation in his room today as well.
...
"So this is the place you made."
Kanna looked around as her feet touched Earth's surface. She seemed somewhat surprised.
"It's definitely a much more unique world than the planets run by other Creator Gods."
This planet called Earth, created and managed by Asrie, was extraordinarily peculiar. It was a massive village teeming with countless intelligent beings. Towering structures filled the village, and strange artifacts littered everywhere.
"What are those lights? The intelligences can't use divine power, and they're not campfires."
"Those are electric lights. Tools that emit light using energy called electricity."
"And those metal lumps on wheels?"
"Those are cars. Machines that burn petroleum to transport people using kinetic energy."
Kanna questioned everything she saw while wandering the city—cars, roads, buildings, even the things people had plugged into their ears.
Asrie grew irritated by Kanna's endless curiosity as she answered.
"Enough already! They're all inventions and creations of this planet's intelligences! Stop asking!"
"It's just so fascinating. I've seen intelligences on many frontier planets, but nowhere that's developed in such a unique direction."
"Hmph."
Asrie found Kanna's curiosity annoying, but deep down, she felt proud. To her, human civilization was the achievement of the intelligences she'd created taking flight.
So she began explaining her management philosophy to Kanna.
"Other gods control their created intelligences, but I don't."
"Why not? Letting them develop this far without control wastes so much divine power, doesn't it?"
"That's how they advance."
Most Creator Gods exerted strong control over the intelligences they designed and created. It was for efficient divine power management to grow strength easily, and also to project their power effectively onto the planet.
But Asrie was different. She imposed no control or pressure on her creations. She only protected them from external threats beyond the planet. She observed strictly.
Thanks to that, her planet's intelligences advanced. Denying gods birthed science, and advancing science launched civilization.
Paradoxically, as creations of a god, they evolved by discarding their god. She called this "independence."
"If gods control intelligences, they stagnate, content with mere stability and maintenance."
She walked slowly down the street. Smoothly paved roads and sturdy skyscrapers filled her view, along with swarms of humans bustling atop them.
Gazing at them, Asrie continued.
"Maintaining intelligences does take a lot of divine power, that's true. But it yields the fruit of progress."
"Progress that can't possibly affect gods, right? The gap between humans and gods is vast. Better to use divine power more efficiently than expect excessive growth from them."
"No, that's not it."
Asrie slowly shook her head. Kanna looked at her with an expression of incomprehension.
Asrie told Kanna,
"Progress starts from insufficiency. What's perfectly designed is static and unchanging. But what's lacking compensates and advances itself, expanding endlessly. That's exactly what I intended."
"Still, no matter how much they progress and expand, they can never rival gods, can they? Even at their peak, they're feeble things that can't escape this planet."
"No."
Asrie slowly raised her hand, pointing at the sky.
"Why the sky all of a sudden... huh?"
Kanna's eyes widened.
"See it?"
"...I see it."
Ordinary humans wouldn't notice. But Kanna had divine sight. She could clearly see even distant objects, and she was stunned.
There, far beyond the atmosphere in outer space, floated humanity's largest manned structure: the International Space Station (ISS).
Asrie looked smugly at Kanna's shocked face and declared,
"My children's expansion and progress have already accelerated. It won't be long before they venture beyond the planet."
"...Whoa."
Kanna couldn't help but be amazed. Intelligences were primitive beings confined to planetary surfaces, parasitic leeches sucking up gods' divine power, weren't they?
Yet these weaklings were entering what gods considered their domain—outer space.
Like chicks hatching from eggs into the world, breaking free from gods' warm protection to venture into the void.
"If intelligences expand into space, their sphere of existence widens. What if humanity like this filled every planet, every space?"
Endlessly expanding humanity. Conquering space. And the Void steadily receding.
"My god."
Kanna realized anew and gasped in awe. Use the expansion and progress of intelligences to push back the Void!
It was a perspective Kanna had never considered.
Of course, Earth's humanity alone was negligible.
But if every planet across the universe teemed with such intelligences? And if they ventured into space without hesitation?
We can't defeat the Void. But it would greatly delay the universe's end.
It would help immensely. Especially for the current god race, perpetually short on Creator Gods.
Suddenly, Kanna realized something.
"Progress and expansion! That's why the Creation Talent emerged!"
She shouted.