Divine Seat
I followed Kang Jiwoo down the underground passage.
The only light in the pitch-dark corridor came from the small lantern in her hand. Its glow was so faint it barely illuminated the space around us.
I studied the walls as we walked. The stone surfaces were smooth, packed with the same bizarre, inscrutable patterns I'd seen at the training hall in Busan.
Ever since I stepped into this passage, I've felt off.
There were several reasons. The air was warm and clammy, as if a hot spring ran nearby — the sensation of walking into someone's mouth. And second, I had no idea what waited at the end of this tunnel.
"You seem tense, Yujin."
"We're heading somewhere I don't know. Of course I'm tense. We've been walking for a while now and there's still no sign of arrival. How much farther?"
"Hard to say. This is my first time walking this passage myself… We should be there soon."
"Your first time?"
"Yes. This tunnel was built by the Japanese branch, and I'm in charge of Korea. I've visited Japan a few times, but never on business like this."
"Tell me what's at the end of this passage."
I cut straight to the point, frustration getting the better of me. Kang Jiwoo smiled sweetly.
"See it with your own eyes, Yujin. The Light God wants that as well."
I'd gotten nothing. I sighed and kept walking.
Then I noticed something strange. It was far too quiet. There were twenty of us down here. Kang Jiwoo had never forbidden conversation — she answered my questions kindly enough whenever I asked.
…What the hell? They're all completely out of it.
The believers, Park Su-ho included, were dazed and vacant. Their pupils were blown wide, mouths hanging open with drool running down their chins. Reason had left them entirely.
"Park Su-ho."
I grabbed his shoulder.
"Uh… y-yeah. Hyung. What's up?"
He snapped out of the blank expression, though his eyes still wouldn't focus.
"…Nothing. Never mind."
Nothing I said was going to get through.
"Nothing, huh."
He stared ahead as he walked, then slipped right back into that empty-headed look.
Same as brainwashing. The patterns on the tunnel walls are affecting Su-ho and the others. Absolute Mind keeps me safe… and Kang Jiwoo is a Guide, so maybe she's immune.
The back of my neck prickled. Instinct and gut feeling both screamed danger.
Better prepare now.
I checked my surroundings. Kang Jiwoo at the front was focused only on moving forward, and the believers trailing her all wore the same vacant faces. I could have flipped them off right in front of their noses and none of them would have reacted. Unless I physically touched them, they wouldn't even look my way.
I pulled out my phone — and immediately noticed there was no Wi-Fi. Fine, that much I could live with. The real problem was that the signal bars were also at zero. No calls could get through from this underground passage.
What the hell did they do to this tunnel?
Outside help was off the table.
I used the Game World to rearrange my inventory for combat, then wound a Spatial Transfer Scroll around my wrist just in case. If things went south, I could activate it and run.
Good. Ready. Let's go.
I was fully prepared.
Even against an A-Class hunter, I was confident I could win with the right gear. The absolute top-tier A-Classes might be another story… but I could at least escape.
This is reality. Die here and it's over — so play it safe, no matter what.
Dying in a Game World just ends that world. Reality doesn't work that way. I still hadn't finished enjoying every Game Life app — I wasn't about to die now.
Hoooooooooom.
"……!!"
I sucked in a sharp breath. The space around me had shifted all at once. I knew this sensation well.
A dungeon! Did we just enter a dungeon?!
I looked at Kang Jiwoo. She kept walking as if nothing had happened.
"We're almost there."
At the end of the passage stood a door. A massive door — black, carved with every kind of ornate relief, like the gates of hell itself.
Kang Jiwoo gripped it and pushed. Creeeeak. The door swung open slowly. For something that looked so heavy, it moved with surprising ease.
"Everyone. This is your first time at the Gwangwon Sect's temple, isn't it? Honestly, it's mine too. The temple is a place no one may enter without permission. Here, the Light God will claim the Divine Seat and descend to save this world."
I felt the dungeon-entry sensation again.
The world beyond the door was something else entirely.
A vast white building of breathtaking grandeur rose beneath a high blue sky. Clear water flowed around it. Clean marble floors stretched out in every direction.
So this is the Gwangwon Sect's temple…
It felt like stepping into a fantasy world. No — even in fantasy worlds, buildings like this weren't common. I'd been to enough of them to know.
Believers of the Gwangwon Sect moved about the grounds — not only East Asians, but Westerners as well. I scanned the area and confirmed three more black doors identical to the one we'd come through.
I felt the dungeon-entry sensation twice on the way here. Don't tell me… a dungeon inside a dungeon?
For all my shortcomings, I was a university Hunter Studies major, and I prided myself on knowing the field. Nested dungeons were part of that knowledge — rare as hell, cause unknown, but they did happen.
I checked my phone. Still no signal. And looking up at that brilliant blue sky — so different from Japan's night — I had to accept it. This was a dungeon. Whether it was a dungeon within a dungeon I couldn't say, but a dungeon it certainly was.
Then it happened.
A group emerged from the temple's main entrance.
At their head was a middle-aged man with short blond hair, draped in a white robe. The gold-thread embroidery on his lavish garments made his status unmistakable.
"Ohhh! Honored One! We have been waiting for you to arrive at the temple!"
I was thrown. Never mind that a foreigner had suddenly spoken fluent Korean — the excessive welcome directed at me was the real shock.
I glanced sideways at Kang Jiwoo. She was smiling.
"That is Giorgio Micheli, the Pope of the Gwangwon Sect. It seems he came out personally to greet you, Yujin."
Giorgio, Pope of the Gwangwon Sect, ran straight to me and threw his arms around my body. Having some guy wrap me up soured my mood instantly. I wanted nothing more than to put a blade through him then and there… but there were too many people around. Especially the ones flanking the Pope — they had the presence of A-Class hunters.
"…This is a bit much, Your Holiness."
I went limp and pushed him off. Giorgio stepped back easily.
"Ah… I've overstepped. I was simply so overjoyed… Forgive me, Honored One."
"I'm not hurt, so it's fine. I didn't expect the Pope himself to welcome me like this."
"For the Honored One, it is only natural. And yet your eyes are full of confusion."
I looked around.
Every member of the Gwangwon Sect regarded me with open goodwill. And I still wanted to know what this temple really was. I didn't have the details, but it was clearly no ordinary place.
"I'll ask you straight. Where is this? Where on Earth are we?"
"Haha. The Honored One finds the temple fascinating, I see. This temple exists nowhere on Earth."
"……A dungeon?"
"Similar, but slightly different. A full explanation would take more time, so I'll leave it for later. Suffice it to say that the Light God's power has saturated this space."
The Pope answered my questions without hesitation. He showed no irritation at all.
"There's something else I don't understand. Why am I the Honored One?"
"Because the Light God chose you."
"I'm asking why the Light God chose me. Until recently, I had nothing to do with the Gwangwon Sect."
If not for Park Su-ho, I never would have gotten involved. And being told an oracle had made me the Honored One still didn't make sense. Why would the Light God issue such an oracle? Why choose me? The more fundamental questions kept rising.
Kang Jiwoo would have spouted something about the divine will being too deep to fathom — but the man in front of me was different. Unlike Kang Jiwoo, lowest among the sect's officers, this was the Pope, highest of them all.
"Haha. Since the Honored One has come this far, an explanation is only proper."
The fact that he was offering it so freely only made my suspicions grow.
"First, the Honored One has already faced the Light God."
"I've met the Light God? When?"
"Surely the Honored One already knows. Search your memory carefully."
I focused — and then I remembered.
A being that could only be called a god.
But not a god of this world. A god of Park Su-ho's Tattoo World.
Bramasen.
Yes. That was the name.
The Evil God.
The God of Madness who spread insanity.
So the 'Light God' wasn't a god of light at all — it was literally a mad god.
I had the Light God's true identity now.
Bramasen. Somehow, that thing was being worshipped on Earth. And at the same time, a new question formed. Hadn't Bramasen been hostile toward me? And now they were treating me as the Honored One? As far as that thing was concerned, I should have been an enemy it wanted dead on the spot.
"The Light God desires the Honored One."
"Desires me?"
"Yes. For reasons we cannot know, the Light God desires you."
"……."
The last time I'd faced Bramasen, it had tried to win me over. And I had shut it down cold.
"Honored One. Do you know of Selbretina's Champion? Our worst enemy — a heretic among heretics. We have that heretic in our hands. The finest of all sacrifices."
The Pope's gaze shifted to Park Su-ho. Su-ho still wore that vacant expression. Like any ordinary believer, he dropped to his knees and bowed his head toward the Pope. Looking at him, Giorgio's mouth curved into a thin arc. A sneer.
"To think Selbretina's Champion would approach us with no preparation at all. I never expected it — and neither did the Light God. The Light God was overjoyed by this stroke of fortune."
I'd already half-guessed that Su-ho was the Champion. The one deeply tied to the Tattoo World wasn't me — it was him.
"……Park Su-ho is a sacrifice? What does that mean?"
"Selbretina's Champion is special. One who has received Selbretina's power… a kind of apostle, you might say. Through the Champion offered as sacrifice, the Light God will seize Selbretina's power and claim the Divine Seat. Then He will descend upon Earth. Hahaha. Originally we would have needed another half year or more — but with the Champion in hand, our success rate has soared, and the timing has been moved forward!"
"If Park Su-ho is the sacrifice, what's my role? Am I a sacrifice too?"
"To make a sacrifice of the Honored One… we would never commit such blasphemy. What the Honored One must do is face the Light God upon His descent. In my judgment, the Light God intends to make you His apostle."
The Pope looked at me with eyes dripping envy and reverence. I felt nothing of the sort.
"…When does the Light God descend?"
"Tomorrow. We will perform the Divine Seat ritual tomorrow! Much as I would love to begin this very moment… a ritual requires preparation."
We were fucked.
Not just me — the entire planet.
I thought it over, then nodded. I put on a bright smile that hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Tomorrow can't come soon enough. I've finished preparing to meet the Light God."
Since we were already screwed, I chose the best option available. Ride Bramasen's coattails. Even if the world went to hell, at least I'd be safe. What mattered to me was surviving long enough to keep enjoying Game Life.
From this moment on, I was a believer of the Light God Sect.