Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Yohan Church
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010
“…….”
Go Yohan gazed ahead with a languid expression.
“…What is this?”
“What else? It’s the orphanage I told you about.”
A grin spread across Lee Jaekyung’s face.
“The one we talked about.”
Go Yohan and Lee Jaekyung stood on the outskirts of Seoul.
Right before their eyes.
[Yohan Church]
[Yohan Orphanage]
A rundown old church and orphanage sat side by side.
“It’s out here on the edge, not many people around. Best conditions we could find.”
Lee Jaekyung wiped his nose contentedly as he spoke.
“And….”
A grin.
“That goddess or whatever—I don’t know much about her, but there’s a god involved, right? Figured a church would fit the bill.”
At those words, Go Yohan stared blankly for a moment.
“Pfft!”
Then burst out laughing.
“The Goddess has no need for a church.”
“Huh? It doesn’t work that way?”
“Besides….”
A chuckle.
A temple to a god from another world called Earth, not even for the Goddess herself.
“Doesn’t matter anyway. It was part of the acquisition terms, and for all the paperwork and hassle, this was the easiest spot.”
“Then that makes sense.”
Go Yohan and Lee Jaekyung nodded as they looked at the church.
“How’s school?”
Lee Jaekyung, who had taken a few days off, was meeting Go Yohan for the first time in a while.
Go Yohan had recently started elementary school.
“…….”
“Why the long face?”
“…Today we learned addition and subtraction.”
“……? Hah, hahaha!”
Lee Jaekyung stared blankly before erupting in laughter.
It hit him again: the boy who had torn apart level 300 demons was only eight years old.
“Finish up quick and get back to guarding me. The temp guard… checks my homework.”
“Puhahaha!”
Go Yohan shot a glance at the roaring Lee Jaekyung, who finally stopped laughing.
That was when it happened.
Rustle.
A pretty girl emerged from inside the church building.
“…You’re here?”
It was Yun Seunga.
Her demeanor still carried a cautious air, and her memories remained incomplete.
Word was, it had taken quite some time for her to speak properly.
Yet Yun Seunga.
Shivering.
Trembled at the sight of Go Yohan.
It was the first time seeing her since the Black Gate.
“……?”
“G-Great….”
Yun Seunga approached, head bowed as if unable to meet his eyes, and spoke.
“G-Great One… I-I see you….”
Go Yohan and Lee Jaekyung both frowned at the sight.
Yun Seunga looked ready to drop to her knees at any moment.
“Seunga, what’s wrong?”
“It’s….”
Unable to calm down, her body shaking, Lee Jaekyung eventually took Yun Seunga back inside the church and returned.
“Do you know why she can’t even speak?”
“…Probably because of the demon.”
Demons, curses, sins.
Through atonement, Yun Seunga and Go Yohan were inextricably linked.
‘Did she see me?’
Something lingering within him.
Or perhaps.
“…….”
She saw him as the demon she had been forced to serve.
“Sigh.”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine soon enough.”
Lee Jaekyung comforted him as Go Yohan sighed.
“Oh, and….”
Lee Jaekyung’s expression sharpened.
“You’ve got interviews later.”
The people Lee Jaekyung had scouted were coming to the church today.
*
*
*
It was late evening.
“…….”
The group in the SUV was a motley crew.
Four in total, excluding the driver.
Women and men, older folks and the young.
But they shared one thing in common.
“You gonna tell us where we’re headed or what?”
A sharp-tongued woman spoke up.
Once known as the Moon Hunter, a ranker-level Player.
Renowned for her archery skills, she had lost both eyes one day to the poison of a Benomus she encountered in a gate.
Potions merely boosted a Player’s regeneration, but there was no way to restore her sight.
“This is bullshit. It’s not like we’re being dragged to the slaughterhouse.”
This time, it was an older man who spoke.
He too had once been a ranker Player, known by name.
But a few years back, he’d announced his retirement.
Player retirements weren’t bound by age.
“I’m only going because it’s you, old timer.”
He was a terminal cancer patient.
One common misconception among civilians was that Players were immune to disease.
It was true to an extent.
Players did have stronger immune systems than civilians, and incomparable regenerative abilities.
But cancer was different.
“An old man on death’s door—what use could I be?”
Cancer was a disease born of abnormal cell regeneration.
Fortunately, surgical removal had high survival rates thanks to Players’ superior regeneration.
“Urgh.”
But if caught too late, it was a disaster.
Cancer cells metastasized throughout the body via that very regeneration.
Old man Park Doyeong was such a case.
Cancer had spread to his brain, organs, spine, and even blood.
“Well… if they need someone like me, that’s a relief.”
The others were no different.
Wastrels living listlessly or coasting on saved money for a comfortable life.
But.
Ripple.
They now burned with desperate longing for the Player life they could no longer have.
Former comrades who had once raided gates alongside Lee Jaekyung.
“What’s with all the chatter, huh?”
The driver, Lee Jaekyung, grinned.
“You’re all just idling away or dying anyway.”
“Urgh.”
“No worries.”
Screech.
The SUV slowed as it reached its destination.
“You won’t regret it.”
“A church?”
They had arrived at a church on the outskirts of Seoul.
“…….”
Their faces hardened as they stepped out.
“Lee Jaekyung, I’m disappointed.”
Moon Hunter Shin Seolhye twisted her face in disgust.
What Lee Jaekyung had said was:
-I might be able to heal you. Wanna give it a shot?
He’d promised to cure their disabilities.
“What, you planning to evangelize us? Thought you were atheist.”
“…….”
“Not a cult, right?”
The others looked equally displeased.
A church out of nowhere.
If not for Sword Ghost Lee Jaekyung.
If not for the man of divine power, they’d have smashed his head in with their broken bodies.
“You don’t trust me that much?”
Lee Jaekyung said.
“Let’s head in first.”
If not for the man they’d once staked their lives with.
With those thoughts, the four Players entered the church uneasily.
*
*
*
The four Players grimaced even more upon entering the church.
Unlike its shabby exterior, it was spotlessly clean—but that was it.
Moreover.
“What’s this supposed to be?”
On the pulpit where a pastor would preach sat a drowsy-looking boy of about eight, eyeing them.
“…….”
The oldest Player and cancer patient, Park Doyeong, narrowed his eyes.
“So it’s the divine one’s youngest son.”
Silver-white hair, sky-blue eyes.
-Go Yohan.
Traits of the divine one’s youngest son, said to have albinism.
Especially well-known was that Lee Jaekyung personally guarded him.
“I’m starting to get pissed.”
Park Doyeong said.
“Showing us off to the divine kid like some circus?”
“You think I’d do that, old man?”
Lee Jaekyung frowned, displeased as well.
“…Hah. Cut me some slack.”
Park Doyeong shook his head.
“With bodies like ours, hard not to think the worst.”
Their falls from ranker grace were plain to see, amid tangled interests, envy, and jealousy.
No matter how much money they’d saved, once-Players like them couldn’t bear those stares.
“Not bad at all.”
Go Yohan stood then and spoke.
“Full of suspicion and irritation, yet clinging to that sliver of hope, squirming helplessly.”
“…….”
“What’d the brat say?”
Divine youngest son or not, that was all he was.
“I like sensing that desperation.”
There was no reason for them to suffer insults from the divine kid.
“Hah! Lee Jaekyung, don’t contact me again.”
That was when the one-armed Player turned irritably toward the door.
Boom!
The church doors slammed shut with a resounding crash.
No one had moved.
The only thing that had.
“……!”
Go Yohan’s single finger.
“You could come in freely, but leaving? Not so much.”
“…Goddamn it, hearing that crap here of all places.”
“More importantly.”
Go Yohan gave a small smile.
“You’ve heard the pitch. And seen what you shouldn’t have, so measures are needed.”
His voice carried an eerie undertone.
And.
“Goddamn it. What the hell’s going on.”
Moon Hunter Shin Seolhye sat first.
Her archer’s senses were sharper than anyone else’s there.
And she.
Trembling.
Was suppressing her quivering body.
Unable to see.
‘What the hell is this guy!’
Go Yohan’s presence, the power he’d used to shut the door—it hit her all the harder.
“…Nailed it right on the nose.”
They sat one by one.
Only then, satisfied.
Clap!
Go Yohan clapped his hands.
“The offer is simple.”
No more hesitation now.
“I’ll fix your bodies.”
“W-What?”
“Did the divine one find some method?”
“…How’s a kid gonna do that?”
Varied reactions.
“In exchange, you serve the Goddess here.”
“…Goddess?”
“No need for faith or anything. The Goddess demands nothing forced.”
Go Yohan slowly descended the pulpit and approached the Players.
Like a little devil up to mischief.
“What’ll it be?”