The Price of Rudeness
As I grabbed the necks of the two obnoxious Main Gods in charge of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area and prepared to rip their heads clean off their bodies with a little more force, the elite Transcendents who had just arrived via spatial teleportation came rushing in. The moment they appeared, they saw their superiors on the verge of death and froze in shock, but as expected of veterans, they quickly formed an encirclement.
But it was laughable. “You lot, wait your turn. I’ll deal with these fools who dared speak rudely to a High Lord like me first.”
In his universe, a lower being showing disrespect to a superior was essentially begging to be killed. If the offender was a lower being strong enough to make punishment complicated, that was one thing, but slaughtering weaklings who foolishly rushed in with numbers posed no issue at all.
As expected, even though the sealed Dimensional Lord’s divine rank was at the Main God level, the Transcendents hesitated to attack due to their honed instincts for danger. ‘Their divine weapons are trembling quite noticeably. These must be battle-hardened veterans.’
The necks of the Main Gods in his grip were already on the verge of snapping, and their hands, which clutched his arms, began to shake violently as their strength faded. They clearly had no idea what to do. From their perspective, jumping into a fight between Main Gods would accomplish nothing, and if they were unlucky, they’d end up sharing the same punishment.
‘This is almost the same situation as when I concealed my presence and moved in secret. That’s why they froze up the moment I mentioned being disciplined by a High Lord for speaking rudely.’
He could see some of the Main Gods hesitating, wondering whether they should withdraw the divine energy they were aiming at him. ‘Showing hostile intent toward a High Lord, the pinnacle of Main God rank, is the same as asking to be killed.’
The Dimensional Lord was already seething with rage from the disgusting authority of the Yugyeok Volcano. Seeing these fools, he felt like he’d hit the jackpot and tightened his grip even further.
“Please wait—! Lord Dimensional Lord—! If you kill them, there will be no replacements—!”
Suddenly, a plump-looking god came huffing and puffing toward them. ‘What the hell is that?’
It was impossible to believe that body belonged to a Main God. A single entity with more than two people’s worth of fat. Whether male or female, the bodies of Spiritual Beings were supposed to transform into ideal forms. Even the plumpest Goddess of Abundance or her male counterpart usually concentrated their sexual appeal in voluptuous areas rather than distributing fat so evenly across the body. This was because both administrative and combat gods had to be able to fight during certification battles.
Yet the god rushing toward them, clearly a Upper God in rank, had a body like a balloon. “Haaah—! Haaah—! If you kill the Main Gods in charge of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area just because you’re irritated, you’ll have to handle their duties yourself. So please, put them down. Haaaaah—! It’s been so long since I used spatial movement that I feel like I’m dying.”
The god was swaying as if he might collapse at any moment, breathing raggedly. The Dimensional Lord frowned at the now-limp Main Gods in his hands, then tossed them to the ground.
‘Come to think of it, I did send an official application along with my appearance description and divine power pattern when I said I was coming to recruit gods for the Spirit Realm and the waiting area.’
There were almost no Main Gods who lived wrapped in light while fully releasing their power to train their Innate Divine Power like he did. In fact, without the Origin’s Sun and Moon he had provided, even he would have found it impossible. So it was safe to assume no one else could do it.
Yet failing to recognize a Main God-level divine rank made no sense. ‘My divine authority is “Dimension,” which is extremely rare. There’s no way they wouldn’t know. Even this ridiculously fat Upper God recognized me immediately, didn’t he?’
So the fact that the mid-rank Main Gods in charge hadn’t recognized him was incomprehensible. ‘Don’t tell me these bastards were trying to pull something so they could die by my hand? The Chief God of the God Realm suffers almost no divine power loss even if he dies, so maybe they were trying to shove the position of Spirit Realm Waiting AreaMain God onto me. How dare they—!’
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
He swung the hands still gripping their necks and hurled them into the air like stones, then grabbed their heads instead.
Crack—! Crunch—!
“Kuaaaaagh—!”
“Kaaaaagh—!”
Screams of an entirely different dimension rang out, and the approaching gods hurriedly withdrew their divine weapons. They had confirmed his identity, and from what they were seeing, they seemed to realize he wasn’t someone with a mild temper.
‘This damn Main Universe is full of bastards who’ll risk their lives to stab you in the back no matter where you go.’
They had been punished by the Creator God and, no matter how long they waited, no replacements ever came. Stuck here, they must have thought that even dying would be worth it if they could drag him down with them.
Now thoroughly irritated, the Dimensional Lord warned the Main Gods whose skulls were beginning to deform in his grip.
“If you suffer annihilation instead of mere death, even Chief Gods of the God Realm drop at least one full rank. If I collect your vitality and inject it directly into this realm, you’ll fall 1.5 ranks. It seems you want to return to the beginning as Main Gods and start the certification battles all over again, so I’ll grant that wish.”
“Huuuuh—!”
“I understand your noble desire to offer your vitality and divine power as responsible managers of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area. I will personally take responsibility for your revival as well. Reconstructing Main God-level gods is child’s play. As a temporary Creator Candidate, I will notify the Main Divine Realm and have you permanently appointed as responsible managers.”
Crack—! Crunch—!
His fingers dug into their skulls, leaving imprints as the bones neared the point of shattering. Only now did the Main Gods desperately begin defending with their full Innate Divine Power. The fingers that had penetrated them met fierce resistance from the divine power and authorities operating within.
‘As expected—! No matter how superior a High Lord I am, there’s no way gods who survived as Main Gods in this universe could be this helpless. But isn’t the situation far too unfavorable? How do they plan to resist while suppressed like this?’
Floating in the air with their heads—the centers of their divine power circles—seized, they could only flail their limbs helplessly.
“For the crime of attacking me while claiming not to know who I was, you shall be cleanly annihilated. Then I will revive you immediately as Main Gods—! You two shall be the permanent managers of the Spirit Realm.”
At his vicious words, the Main Gods’ bodies trembled visibly. ‘For some reason, they seem more terrified by the words “permanent manager” than by the prospect of their heads being crushed and annihilated. Is this post really that terrible? Well, what does it matter to me?’
Just a little more and he would have shattered both their divine power circles and skulls completely, but the fat god shouted desperately.
“If you forgive them, I won’t charge any intermediary commission—!”
“……”
The Dimensional Lord froze. The moment he heard those sweet words, his grip unconsciously loosened. The list of Spirit Gods the goddesses had asked him to bring already numbered ten thousand. Most were only Upper Gods, but he still had to supply enormous amounts of vitality to the Spirit Realm. On top of that, the commission fees for the Spirit Realm were no joke.
‘Otherwise, why would I, a temporary Creator Candidate, have to come in person just to get a discount? And now he’s offering it for free.’
His heart was naturally moved, but he still needed to teach these bastards a lesson first. ‘To think they would try to scheme against a High Lord three full ranks above them. Insane fools.’
Still, his mood had improved slightly, so it was inevitable that some strength left his hands. It was absolutely not because he wanted them to offer more.
Crack—! Crunch—!
“Uaaaaagh—!”
The plump god wiped cold sweat from his brow as he watched the Main Gods abandon all dignity and scream under the pressure of divine power radiating from the Dimensional Lord’s hands.
‘This Upper God with the bizarre body is quite interesting. He looks exactly like the God of Knowledge, carrying every hardship on his own shoulders. But are these Main Gods really that important? If the administrative Upper Gods take over, it shouldn’t matter who becomes the new Main Gods, right? No, it’s also strange that an Upper God has the authority to offer commission discounts.’
As expected, the plump god opened his trembling mouth and added more conditions.
“In addition, I will provide the deep-list roster and detailed analysis reports on each god.”
“Keep going.”
“Huuuugh—! This is truly difficult.”
The Dimensional Lord found the plump god and the God of Knowledge increasingly similar. ‘They prepare exactly what the other party wants and handle advantageous negotiations alone. He must be the overall person in charge of the field workers.’
Managing the Spirit Gods of the Spirit Realm must be incredibly difficult given how catastrophically bad their morale was. ‘He seems to relieve stress by eating. That explains the body.’
When the Dimensional Lord demanded more, the plump Upper God glanced around and spoke.
“I will also ensure complete confidentiality regarding your visit and your stay here during the god recruitment period. As far as I know, a troublesome war is currently taking place in the Spirit Realm’s defensive God Realm. You have the right to choose whether to participate, but if you remain here, it will be difficult to refuse a participation request from a Creator Candidate. I will block that through information control.”
“Good—! Then what about silencing the mouths around us? There are beings higher than you here, aren’t there?”
At the Dimensional Lord’s pointed remark, the plump god answered with a face full of confidence.
“There is no need to worry. I don’t know about the outer universes, but most of the gods forcibly dispatched here are permanent residents, so maintaining harmonious relationships comes first. Even if they accomplish something noteworthy, they cannot leave this place, so they would be buried anyway. For the sake of public interest, they will naturally keep their mouths shut. Isn’t that right, friends?”
When all the surrounding Main Gods nodded at his words, the Dimensional Lord understood why. ‘So the gods managing the Spirit Realm here are literally those who have completely fallen out of favor with their superiors and been pushed out of the path to success.’
In that case, no matter what they did, returning would be nearly impossible. Unless some insane god volunteered to come here. Therefore, rather than harboring ambitions to defeat others and rise in rank, they seemed to have chosen to pursue safety and happiness where they were.
‘But let me tell you something. The most untrustworthy thing in the world is a mouth that flaps freely.’
He had no intention of trusting in camaraderie only to get stabbed in the back. The most reliable thing had always been aligned interests. He needed to make sure that his success meant their comfort, and that if he failed, they would die alongside him.
“Heh—! So that’s how it is here? It’s a bit different outside.”
Swish—! Swish—! Swish—!
At a speed so fast that none of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area administrative gods could even scream, he moved and stripped every single badge of the Spirit Realm Waiting Area from the chests of their blue uniforms.
“Huuuuh?”
“Waaaaah!”
Screams erupted from all around, and reactions came immediately. The red badges he had just torn off were divine artifacts that allowed them to escape the authority of the Creator God’s Yugyeok Volcano.
‘Without them, they will immediately have all their spare vitality and divine power drained like I did earlier, and be burdened with loads heavier than carrying boulders without any authorities.’
Spatial movement would naturally be impossible. And for Transcendents, that burden would be more than double, which was why they were screaming like that.
‘At least there aren’t any pathetic ones shouting that they’d rather die and collapse, so that’s a relief.’
When the plump god looked at him with an expression of incomprehension, the Dimensional Lord answered.
“If any problems arise from this incident, I will use my authority as a temporary Creator Candidate to revise the operating rules of this Spirit Realm Waiting Area. For now, have a light taste. Of how the Transcendents and Main Gods from the outside grow strong and survive—!”
He threw the Main Gods he held in his hands toward the gods whose faces had turned deathly pale and continued.
Those who simply stood still would have their vitality absorption and physical burden doubled, so some were already staggering pathetically. But the Dimensional Lord hadn’t even begun yet.
“All of you, run from that state to the outer boundary of the Spirit Realm and back.”
The place he pointed to with his finger was the outer perimeter of the Spirit Realm. Of course, they would have to pass the new Spirit Gods currently entering.
“Huk—! Th-that’s impossible.”
“Shout your slogans energetically and sing as well—! Show an example to the new Spirit Gods entering. If you only flap your mouths about having an iron will or whatever, stop tormenting them with such vicious false information and, as their superior managers, display overwhelming strength and will so they will follow you—! No matter how difficult it is, smile and endure in front of the entrants. That is the path a true strong one must walk. While I am staying here, every Transcendent in the Spirit Realm Waiting Area will complete one full lap per day without exception. Those who refuse to set an example of strength for the entrants or give up will be personally corrected by me and forced to comply. And if…”
Fwoosh—!
Flames of divine power blazed in the Dimensional Lord’s eyes. He spoke each word clearly and with sincerity.
The Transcendents, whose Main God-level divine power and crisis senses were genuine, had no trouble understanding his coercive intent.
“If the fact that I am here leaks outside and causes problems, I will make it a permanent rule for all of you. I will also add a few more things I do, so try to survive it.”
“Hiiiiik—!”
“Only the strong survive among Transcendents, and only endurance against trials makes one stronger. Run immediately—! The slogan is ‘Yugyeok Volcano’—! Begin—!”
“Begin—!”
Watching even the newly awakened mid-rank Main Gods desperately sprint into the distance, he clicked his tongue.
‘As expected, only after experiencing the sorrow of the weak do they stop doing such nonsense.’
They had only engaged in vicious acts of tormenting the weak while neglecting their own training, which was why their fighting spirit was in such a state and they were overwhelmed by this much. ‘Well, since I created recovery zones for divine power and vitality at the midpoint, none of them should collapse.’
Only the plump god remained, continuously wiping away the streams of cold sweat while watching his mood. Still, since there was at least one god he could communicate with, there wouldn’t be any major problems with work.
He decided to speak since he needed to explain his detailed business.
“You are…”
“I quit the unsuitable Transcendent path long ago and switched to the administrative god specialist line. I’m in charge of operations—! An administrative god, I tell you—! I would die if I did that—! So please, spare me—!”
“……”
A brief silence fell, broken only by the distant chants of the administrative gods. As they happened to pass the entering gods, the volume grew significantly louder.
“Yugyeok—!”
“Volcano—!”
“Yugyeok—!”
“Volca…”
When the entering gods looked at them with surprised and admiring eyes, they raised their voices, and the sound quickly faded once they passed. At least their sense of timing was excellent. And seeing this plump god rolling his eyes around with an anxious gaze, it seemed the work wouldn’t be resolved so easily after all.
The Dimensional Lord could only grumble that the deeper he went into this Main Universe, the stranger everything became.