Chapter 146
Chapter 146.
"About the angels?"
"Yes."
Father Esteban showed a completely different attitude from his previous frivolous demeanor.
"Was this a story that father shouldn't hear?"
"No. It's not particularly that. But Uncle Junil has devout faith, doesn't he? The story I'm about to tell might hurt the feelings of a devout believer."
What kind of story is he trying to tell?
'If it's a story that would hurt a devout believer's feelings, then it must be something bad about angels.'
Lee Ganghan made this guess as he listened to Father Esteban's words.
"First... our Constellation is truly someone we should be grateful for regarding humanity. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that humanity has survived until now thanks to Kael."
"Is that so?"
I thought he was going to badmouth the angel.
But he's starting with praise.
"From the establishment and operation of FIPA... to the grade measurement devices and various convenience items they created, there's nothing that hasn't been touched by Kael's hands."
So that scanner that was sucking in items last time was also made by an angel?
I heard FIPA created many amazing things.
There was angel involvement even in this.
"Moreover... Haven't you found it strange, Heavenly Demon? That there haven't been any Tower of Light explosions since the Mogadishu incident."
"That was indeed curious."
The 'Mogadishu incident' where the Tower of Light exploded and completely incinerated Mogadishu.
Even after that, there were quite a few places where Towers of Light became overcharged.
But they never went as far as exploding, and somehow the crisis was always resolved beforehand.
To the public.
It was known that after the Mogadishu incident, international cooperation became more solid.
So extreme situations no longer occurred.
"Although Somalia was poor, there are quite a few countries in Africa in similar economic situations. Even with global cooperation, it wouldn't have been strange if one or two had exploded."
"Was it also Kael who prevented the explosions?"
"That's right. The angel descended upon Angels Wing players and prevented the explosions."
What?
Then he's a completely good Constellation for humanity?
After Mogadishu exploded.
He desperately prevented Tower of Light explosions.
'I don't understand why I cursed him as a damn angel.'
Perhaps sensing Lee Ganghan's confusion.
Gulp, Gulp.
Father Esteban downed the high-proof liquor like water.
"Up to this point, it's a situation where everyone is happy."
"Indeed. Humanity has received much benefit from the angel."
"However, the players the angel descended upon had somewhat different circumstances."
"The players he descended upon... Do you mean cases like yours, Father?"
"That's right, like me."
And then.
Swish.
Father Esteban took out his phone.
A considerably outdated version of a phone by current standards.
He went into the gallery and said,
"These people... would you like to take a look?"
He showed photos of various people.
Portrait photos of people of various ages and races without discrimination.
'But... Why do they all have the same hair color?'
Their appearances were all different.
But they were people whose hair was dyed pure white.
Unlike the white hair that appears due to aging.
A subtle light emanating from their hair could be felt even in the photos.
"These people are...?"
"They are Angels Wing players who have experienced the angel's descent at least once."
So when an angel descends, their hair color changes like this?
Lee Ganghan's gaze turned toward Father Esteban.
"You have blonde hair though, Father."
"I'm a delinquent priest, so I'm desperately rebelling."
"Rebelling?"
"Yes."
What is there to rebel about regarding hair color?
When Lee Ganghan made a puzzled expression.
Esteban smiled bitterly and put the alcohol back in his mouth.
"When the angel descends, the player feels tremendous exaltation, happiness, and liberation. Yes... it's like going to heaven, I suppose?"
"...Heaven?"
"Yes. That sensation... is truly tremendously ecstatic. It would have effects far more intense than any drug created by humanity."
He said he came out of a Mexican cartel.
He's using drugs as a comparison for going to heaven.
When Lee Ganghan looked at Esteban as if it was absurd.
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Well anyway, after experiencing the descent, players become immersed in that happiness and then their hair color changes like that. And they develop very intense faith."
"Faith?"
"Yes. If the angel told them to jump into a pit of fire, they would jump without hesitation. To put it badly... they fall into the realm of fanaticism."
So having hair turned pure white is like a trace of the angel's descent.
After that, they completely devote themselves to religion.
But.
"How are you rebelling, Father? You said earlier during the day that the angel descends frequently."
"Ah. That's..."
Swish.
Esteban, holding his drink.
"With alcohol and."
Grin, he smiled foolishly while making a smoking gesture.
"I rebel with cigarettes."
***
"...No, you're not some young student, how do you rebel with alcohol and cigarettes?"
Not even a middle or high schooler.
Resisting angel descent with alcohol and cigarettes.
What nonsense is this?
Lee Ganghan looked at Esteban with a suspicious face but.
"It's true! You might not believe it!"
Gulp, Gulp.
Father Esteban brought the liquor glass to his lips while emphasizing that his words were not lies.
"What did I say earlier? I said that after the descent, it's incredibly~ blissful, right?"
"You did."
"Then you get this feeling, like... ah... should I abandon myself and surrender to God? This kind of thought comes to mind? Like I'm becoming faint somehow? But if you just pour some alcohol here and administer nicotine, you return to being the useless priest 'Esteban'!"
Finding yourself through alcohol + nicotine?
It sounded like nonsense, but unexpectedly, Esteban's expression was serious.
'Is this really some kind of method?'
A rebellious method that seemed genuine when the other party came at him like that.
But.
"Why don't other players do the same?"
"They just surrender their bodies to it. How wonderful it is. An angel has descended, and it feels like they might even be able to go to heaven! They just surrender to God! They're sitting in advance on express seats to heaven!"
"Is that so? But Father, why are you..."
"I just... want to endure a bit longer as Esteban, I guess?"
Glug, glug, glug.
Esteban, wearing a bitter smile, poured liquor into his glass again.
"Hehe. There's another good point to it too."
"What is it?"
"When an angel descends, your body gets completely healed, you know? No matter how much you indulge in alcohol and cigarettes, one descent makes your body healthy! You also gain an iron tolerance!"
"...Your alcohol tolerance goes up too?"
"Rather than tolerance going up, it's more like your body doesn't break down easily for a certain period of time... but well, it's the same thing, isn't it?"
No wonder the speed at which he consumed alcohol and cigarettes was ridiculously fast.
So there's some buff time after an angel's descent.
"Well anyway, the situation of players who have had angel descents is just a handful compared to all humanity, and except for someone like me, everyone else is satisfied, you know? Their faith becomes incredibly strong, and even though they just pray all the time after climbing towers, they're happy. Huh. Now that I think about it, am I the only weird one?"
Counting various possibilities with his fingers, Esteban was startled to realize he was the only strange one.
But.
'I wonder if those people who became passionate believers really changed that way by their own will?'
Lee Ganghan harbored such doubts while recalling the players whose hair had turned completely white.
They say they changed that way after experiencing heaven following the descent, but looking at it negatively, isn't it at the level of forced brainwashing?
Of course, judging only by the outward phenomena, it felt like everyone was satisfied.
'...If it had been only that good, would Father Esteban have so urgently sought alcohol and cigarettes right after the descent ended?'
The changes after an angel's descent. Something doesn't seem right.
Lee Ganghan thought this while asking Esteban.
"Well, I understand there are unsettling aspects to the descent."
"Hey, unsettling? I'm the weird one!"
"If you really thought that way, you wouldn't have told me about these circumstances."
"...Hehe."
Esteban didn't particularly answer this and drank his liquor.
He really drinks whiskey like water.
"But is this all the nonsense about angels?"
"Ah. Right... I really didn't say any nonsense, while talking about Angels Wing players."
Father Esteban said he had just remembered and continued speaking.
"Angels have descended into my body dozens of times so far, you know? So maybe because of that, I can feel the angel's emotions? Thoughts? Something like that."
"You can feel the angel's emotions?"
"Yes. Of course, it might be my delusion... Well anyway, you asked that question to the angel who descended into my body earlier, right?"
"Which one do you mean?"
"The question about why they don't help from heaven."
Ah. Right.
If Angel Kael was so strong despite not being of high rank among angels, wouldn't it be fine if just a few more angels of that level came down?
To that question, Kael left saying his descent time was up.
"What I felt then was... intense bewilderment."
"Bewilderment?"
"Yes. Until hearing that story from you, Heavenly Demon, the angel had never harbored any doubts about the current situation."
"Why don't they harbor doubts?"
"Angels are beings that serve God's commands. They cannot dare to doubt God."
When Lee Ganghan blinked his eyes, Esteban gave an example.
"If you pressed the button telling a robot vacuum to clean, it wouldn't say 'Human, it's too dirty so I can't do it,' would it?"
"Uh... but angels and robots are different, aren't they?"
"They're similar in that they lack free will."
Is that so?
"So the angel's bewilderment at your question, Heavenly Demon, was close to 'I'm an angel, so why am I having such doubts?' At the same time, they wondered if the connection with the heavenly world had been severed."
"Connection with heaven."
"If there are angels, wouldn't there be heaven too?"
True.
Angels are also active in FIPA's underground, so heaven would naturally exist.
"If the connection between heaven and this earth continued, there's no way I, being an angel, would harbor doubts like this - that kind of thinking."
"Hmm..."
At Lee Ganghan's question, the angel harbored doubts.
Huh. For me, an angel, to harbor doubts.
Has the connection between heaven and this world been severed?
It seems like this logic is how it works.
Lee Ganghan understood to some extent what Esteban had said, but.
"Then what's the problem?"
Is it because he's non-religious?
He couldn't really sense whether this was a particularly serious problem.
"Ummm. For us, it's a serious problem, you know? The connection being cut off—has God abandoned this world? Are the angels' struggles just mere struggles? Was this place actually hell all along? Are our fellow players whose hair turned completely white not going to heaven but just losing their sense of self and that's the end?"
While saying this, Father Esteban downed the entire bottle of alcohol.
Seeing Esteban put his mouth to the whiskey bottle's neck and slurp, slurp suck on it, Lee Ganghan frowned.
"Father, you drink all of that alcohol today."
"Ah. I suddenly got emotional....... Yes. I'll drink it all today!"
Seeing Esteban salute with a straight face.
Lee Ganghan let out a deep sigh and recalled when he had met an angel at FIPA headquarters before.
Right before leaving the underground at the very end.
When he turned around to check the angel's appearance again.
A human head with long white hair suddenly popped out from inside the giant eyeball.
-Haah...... Eh? Hee, heeek!
That head quickly went back inside the eye after discovering Lee Ganghan.
And sent garbled messages frantically.
'Back then I just thought it was hiding inside the eye, how interesting.'
Esteban might know something, right?
"Actually......"
Lee Ganghan told Father Esteban about the happening that occurred when he met the angel in FIPA's underground.
Then.
"Hmm. Long white hair...... The face was covered by light so you couldn't see it?"
"Yes."
"That's...... interesting. As expected of Heavenly Demon. Even when told to leave, you turned back to look amazing."
"......Is that something worth being called amazing for?"
"Of course! You disobeyed the angel's command and looked back! It's just like when Lot's wife disobeyed the instruction not to look back while escaping Sodom and Gomorrah!"
"What's that?"
"You don't know this? It's the story of a woman who turned into a pillar of salt for not listening to God."
No, then the ending isn't good.
Isn't that an insult rather than praise?
"Hmm...... This needs to be looked into. Good. I have more justification for drinking and smoking! If I find out interesting facts, I'll share them with Heavenly Demon too."
"Then I'd be grateful."
"How about this, I was going to give information to Heavenly Demon but I'm the one listening instead~"
While saying this, Esteban who had been drinking straight from the bottle.
"Ah. The angel's blessing...... it's already been cut off......?"
Suddenly his face turned red in an instant.
Thud!
He planted his face on the dining table and.
"Snore......"
Fell asleep instantly.
'They said the body doesn't break down for a certain period after descent...... it's already over?'
He downed strong liquor like water.
Without the angel buff, he collapsed immediately.
Lee Ganghan let out a deep sigh and.
Picked up Father Esteban like luggage and laid him down in the guest room.
Even while being dragged, Esteban didn't let go of the whiskey bottle he had been holding.
"Ugh. I promised to drink all of this......"
He talked in his sleep about keeping his promise, but.
"It's fine. I'm going to throw it away, so give it to me."
Swoosh.
Lee Ganghan immediately snatched it and went to the bathroom to pour out all the remaining alcohol.
Then when he came back out, the living room was like a battlefield.
'Drinking with older men isn't easy.'
Lee Ganghan shook his head from side to side and cleaned up the entire house thoroughly.
Then when he lay down on the bed to sleep.
Ding.
[Due to precise inspection of 'Humanity' affiliated player data, voting initiation has been delayed.]
[The system has now normally terminated the temporary delay state.]
[Transcendent voting begins.]
[Voting rights are granted to all humanity 'Players'.]
A message appeared before his eyes that voting had begun.