Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Family (1)
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One day, an unbeliever asked a priest from a church who was engaged in charitable work:
"How can you be so certain of a god you've never even seen? If there truly were an all-powerful god, wouldn't he have created a world free of suffering from the start? If God exists, why are some children born into poverty, why are there people wicked enough to feed on others' tears, and why must some good souls suffer from incurable diseases and leave this world too soon, no matter how righteously they live?"
The priest's response was unexpected.
"Lord Radiance is undoubtedly a great being who watches over us, but even he has things he cannot do."
Hearing this, the man incredulously retorted:
"Why should we believe in a god who isn't omnipotent?"
The priest replied:
"Whether you believe in Lord Radiance's words is a matter of personal freedom. But he regards us as his children and pours out unconditional love like a parent, so we simply revere and follow him in return."
The man asked again:
"Then can that love be proven? How do we know if this unseen, unheard god cherishes us or torments us?"
The priest smiled gently and answered:
"The evidence of that immense love is already right beside us. Grieved by his children's suffering and waywardness, Lord Radiance sent his most beloved first daughter in your stead to this world. She is the saintess we serve."
And he added:
"The saintess's heart, unable to turn away from the desperate pleas of the afflicted and loving her neighbors as her own body—that is the clearest proof of the love from God, Agape."
- Author Unknown: The Love of God -
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Inside the maglev elevator ascending silently to the penthouse atop a towering skyscraper.
I glanced at the girl standing quietly beside me and fell deep into thought.
His wife's chronic illness had stumped countless medical luminaries, top research teams, state-of-the-art medical AIs, and even massive pharmaceutical conglomerates. No one had found a cure.
An unsolved enigma that had devoured vast fortunes and years of effort from experts.
So why was I bringing this stranger of a girl to his wife's side now? We'd only exchanged a few words. It felt like I'd been bewitched. I couldn't even comprehend my own irrational actions.
But desperate people are all too willing to play the fool sometimes.
That was Lian right now. He'd swallow even the most outlandish lie if it dangled hope.
Yet no con artist had ever tried to deceive him. For one simple reason.
Everyone knew that the moment this fool realized he'd been played, he'd transform into the world's most terrifying avenger.
That's why Lian couldn't just brush off the girl's bold claim about curing an incurable disease.
A straw to grasp at, mingled with the doubt that it was all a foolish waste of time.
Through that tangle of emotions, the elevator finally reached the top floor.
Entering the penthouse, the maids greeted him courteously as always.
"Welcome home, Chairman."
Lian waved them off and strode down the hall without hesitation.
A light, quiet footfall followed behind him.
At the end of the wide, long corridor.
Arriving at his wife's room, Lian let out a quiet sigh.
He wasn't sure if this was the right choice, but they'd come this far.
He turned the doorknob.
Click—
In the center of the slowly revealed room, a woman reclined on a pristine white bed like a doll.
Dull, brittle hair. Emaciated frame.
On one bony arm, an IV needle pierced a faint vein.
Most heartbreaking were her vacant eyes.
They held no trace of recognition.
No reaction to visitors or nearby sounds.
Her unfocused gaze stared into empty space.
Lian approached cautiously and spoke softly.
"Rachel, how was your day? I came home early today."
But as expected, no reply.
With a deep sigh, he turned to the girl trailing him and murmured.
"No doctor, no lab could even pinpoint the cause of her illness."
After a long silence, as he stroked his wife's dry hand, he continued.
"All they could tell me was... Rachel has less than a month left."
Forewarning eternal parting from his beloved, yet his eyes remained utterly emotionless, dry.
The heavy shadow of resignation after exhausting every option.
Perhaps for Lian now, trying to save her was little more than inertia he'd forgotten how to stop.
So without suspicion, curiosity, or hope—just repeating the question he'd asked thousands of times before.
"...Do you think you could save my wife?"
"........."
The girl's eyes wavered slightly at the sight of the couple.
The emotion in that gaze... was utterly foreign to Lian.
Pity?
A novel sensation for him. Every doctor and researcher he'd met had only offered apologies, awkwardness, or professional regret. None dared pity the head of a megacorp.
But the girl's look was unmistakably different. Eyes that pitied a man of incomparable wealth and power. Strangely, it didn't feel bad.
Her gaze wasn't empty pity... but warm mercy from some profound height.
Perhaps that's what had drawn Lian to bring her here.
"......"
At last, the girl approached the couple wordlessly.
She slowly raised a finger.
Lian just watched blankly as it touched his wife, who still stared vacantly into space.
Until a warm glow, blooming from who-knows-where, filled the room.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Honestly, fear outweighed any expectation.
Saving overlooked slum dwellers was worlds apart from curing a megacorp chairman's incurably ill wife.
I couldn't even guess the fallout from this choice.
But ever since realizing the risks of 'miracles,' I'd braced myself every time I used my power.
Whatever the consequences, I'd do what a person should.
Same here. The decision was made.
Having come this far out of compassion for their story... no more hesitation.
I worked a miracle before their eyes, and the result—
"........."
"........."
Heavy silence settled in the room after the sudden glow faded.
Lian Lumen, chairman of Lumina Group, stared in awe at the mystery he'd witnessed for the first time.
Then it began.
A tiny change.
The woman's eyebrows on the bed twitched faintly.
Like a dust-caked window creaking open, her eyelids fluttered weakly.
Her limp fingers on the bed jerked in spasm.
A dry swallow rippled briefly in her parched throat.
Then, as if the frozen world's sounds restarted... a small cough escaped her lips.
"Cough—"
"Ra... Rachel!"
At the sound, Lian jolted like ice shattering, turning to his wife.
The woman, coughing dryly for a moment, slowly—creakily like a rusty doll—turned her head toward the voice.
Her long-unfocused eyes groped the air, then locked on the man before her.
The moment their gazes met, the world stopped.
Lian froze like stone. Terrified a single breath might shatter it all like a dream, he held it.
In that stillness, he glimpsed his reflection, faintly shining, in her eyes.
Finally, the wife parted her lips toward her despairing husband.
"...Li... an..."
A cracked, faint voice after endless ages.
Hearing it at last, the man collapsed beside the bed.
Unable to even touch her, he desperately called her name.
"Rachel... Rachel, can you hear me...?"
The woman nodded laboriously but clearly. In her rasping tone, she whispered the unbelievable.
"Always... I've always heard you..."
Those words crumbled his face.
He bit his lip to stifle the sobs, but his whole body trembled.
With shaking hands, he grasped hers—gently, lest she break—and pulled her close.
Hope long abandoned. Tears like rain fell on his desert-dry heart.
Hot trails down his cheeks dripped onto her shoulder.
"Rachel..."
Fearing it a dream, Lian pulled back to check her face again.
Her beautiful eyes met his squarely once more...
He finally bowed his head and wept like a child.
Like the lost boy from back then—unloved by family, wandering until his first love understood him.
"Rachel... sob... thank you... hic... for coming back... I, really..."
I stepped back quietly, watching the couple reunite at the brink of farewell.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After a long, emotional reunion, the couple finally composed themselves and turned to me.
It felt like half a day, but the wait wasn't dull at all.
I didn't want to interrupt their tender reunion.
Still clasping hands tightly, Lian Lumen, chairman of Lumina Group, bowed deeply to me.
"Thank you. Truly... you've bestowed a debt I can never repay. Words fail to express what you've restored to me. I can only say thank you."
His wife, Rachel, added:
"Miss Eve, thank you so much."
Her face now brimmed with far more vitality than before. Even haggard, her stunning beauty shone through.
It made sense now why a man rising to megacorp chairman never forgot his childhood love.
I asked her:
"How's your body feeling?"
"Yes, just a bit hungry, otherwise..."
At Rachel's reply, Lian startled beside her.
"Hungry?! I'll call the chef right—"
"It's not that bad. How rude in front of our benefactor. We haven't even properly thanked you yet."
"R-Right... my apologies."
I replied awkwardly.
"No, please eat well and recover quickly."
Still, the fidgety middle-aged man's demeanor sent a slight chill down my spine.
The gloomy, nihilistic megacorp head from moments ago had transformed in hours. Like a husband ready to fetch fresh fruit at dawn in midwinter for his pregnant wife.
Knowing his face from before... it felt a bit awkward to face.
But at his wife's word, Lian bowed deeply again without hesitation.
"I say it once more: thank you. Name anything you desire. Whatever I have, whatever my power can reach, I'll repay this grace. I swear it on my name as chairman of Lumina Group."
That vow might not sound grand at first.
Lumina Group barely scraped the bottom of Omega Detroit's top corporations list.
But reality differed vastly.
To grasp a 'top 100' firm's standing here, first understand 'Omega Detroit' itself.
The world's first pan-national megacity, planned from the ground up by Omega International Group.
Near-zero corporate taxes and utterly deregulated business policies made it hyper-capitalist, far beyond mere tax havens.
Over decades, global giants relocated HQs or branches here en masse.
Mid-tier firms stayed domestic, handling local infra like transport, media, real estate. Even with city-pop equaling a nation, their power had limits.
But the 'top 100 megacorps'? Another league entirely.
In hyper-capitalism transcending nations, they needed venues to align on global affairs. Firms from other continents set up outposts, converging on Omega Detroit.
Thus, landing on the top 100 meant global influence.
And that leader now stood before me, saying:
"Tell me. What can I do for the benefactor who restored something more precious than my life?"