The Saint's First Step
Slaves and I formed a bond. Even if they were nothing but a pile of trash, it was still better than being alone. No one knew how this would be used. I had bought that possibility for two hundred million coins.
“I’ll use this well. These coins will be spent on recruiting comrades and operating the resistance.”
“The resistance, huh…”
He said it as if it were obvious, but these bastards were just slaves. Whether they called themselves revolutionaries or not, they were simply slaves. Slaves.
I glossed over Hoseon’s words of gratitude and asked about the next plan.
These guys only started carrying out operations after meeting with Christina, but I was curious what they were actually doing at this stage.
“First, we’ll gather trustworthy comrades.”
“How? Aren’t they a secret society?”
“They’re starving because of Orihime. They commit murder just to get one miserable meal. Among those, we’ll find the ones who’ll get along with us.”
Who cares what they do with the coins. It’s useless to be careful. In the novel, they couldn’t do anything until Sodahui got involved with them.
‘Orihime is that overwhelming, after all.’
Even if I treated him as the main villain, it was fine. He felt similar to Orde but completely different. Orde had relatively weak combat power of his own, but Orihime wasn’t like that. She was the ultimate weapon herself, the one who could bring about the end of the world.
‘I have no intention of challenging her first.’
Even if I wore a mask, she would see through it. I hadn’t even met her yet, and she was already regenerating my personality to that degree. I could guess how strong Orihime’s power really was.
“When is the next meeting?”
“A week later. Since we received some donated coins, we might start meeting more often from now on.”
You had to work to get coins. The owner of the room received coins automatically, but other players didn’t. Slave players had to rely on the owner’s mercy. But there was no owner who would hand out coins for free. They somehow squeezed every drop out of them. They exchanged labor for coins. It was a simple transaction.
“Since the room next door is right there, if you meet, come call me.”
“Understood.”
I left the slaves behind and returned to my room.
‘512. 112.’
An uninhabited island greeted me. The sun had set and the moon had risen. Moonlight illuminated my room. A strange scent suddenly wafted over. It smelled like the sea.
“Uhh… hah…”
I lay on the bed inside the cave.
‘What is Dahui doing?’
Thinking about that, I slowly closed my eyes.
Clap. Clap.
Wave after wave crashing against the sandy beach. A soothing background music for sleep.
* * *
‘Sally was weird.’
Christina had noticed the change in Sally. She was fidgety, as if checking someone’s eyes, but she couldn’t hide the longing in her expression.
She sent Sally away and investigated the ‘room’ where Sally was working.
‘513. 112.’
It was just an ordinary field. There was no big difficulty. The only problem was that it was an end room, so it might be dangerous.
‘Thanks to the debuff, it’s safer than I thought.’
A stronger player strong enough to penetrate the debuff and harass Sally would be unlikely to appear suddenly. Besides, from Sally’s reaction, it didn’t seem like she was being harassed. Tomorrow morning, she was eagerly waiting to go to work.
‘What exactly happened?’
Christina decided to follow Sally tomorrow morning. She knew that sitting quietly and worrying wouldn’t yield an answer.
“Y-you really want to come with me?”
“Yes. Sally’s expression looked bad last night.”
“That’s…!”
Sally couldn’t say it. She couldn’t admit that she had been taken so thoroughly by Kim Jinwu that her body ached.
Christina and Sally arrived at ‘513. 112.’
The room was a mess because she had been taken while working. It was just a field, but Sally frantically wiped away the traces of yesterday.
Christina observed Sally with a sharp gaze.
‘She’ll definitely come looking. What am I supposed to do…?’
Sally started working in the field, stomping her feet.
Christina also rolled up her sleeves and helped. Normally she would have spent the morning elsewhere, but she pulled out the morning for Sally’s sake. This was acceptable.
“I can handle this work alone. Christina-nim, you should go to the room that needs Christina-nim…”
“I can’t do that. I offered Sally a full day of rest today, and she said she was fine. I’m worried, so I can’t go.”
Christina was firm. She wanted to stay even for the morning in case something big happened. She wanted to find out what had caused Sally’s strange excitement.
Sally felt happy but also ashamed. She had come because she wanted to be taken by Kim Jinwu, so she had refused Christina’s offer.
Squeak.
“Sally, I’ve come… da…!”
Christina faced Kim Jinwu, who had come to take Sally. Seeing him enter the door without his pants and proudly, Christina frowned.
Kim Jinwu was still wearing the mask. He had no intention of dropping the concept. But something seemed panicked behind the mask.
From Sally’s perspective, the relaxed feeling from yesterday when he had taken her was gone.
‘So the man was the cause.’
Christina quickly understood the situation. Looking at the proudly exposed lower body, she could figure out what had happened yesterday.
She didn’t know why Sally had glared at the man’s penis with expectant eyes, but she had no intention of forgiving Kim Jinwu.
“It’s rude. Your attitude of casually crossing into my territory is also inexplicable.”
Christina began to warn Kim Jinwu. Even though she was the saintess, her stats weren’t weak. Among players of the same level, she would take the rear role, but that was only for efficiency.
‘Moreover, this dark magic….’
Black magic. The man was a black mage. An heretical being who defied the laws of nature and stole the lives of others…!
Normally, one shouldn’t be able to sense black magic until using it. Even if it was black magic, it wasn’t the same. The black magic used in her home dimension and the black magic Kim Jinwu had were fundamentally different from the one in the Tower of Struggle.
But Christina had noticed. She smelled the scent of black magic. The robe, the mask, and the heavy traces of black magic clung to him.
Sensitive people could feel black magic.
‘Now I see.’
She understood Sally’s change too. The ominous aura lingering from Kim Jinwu.
‘That man is….’
Christina took out her mace. It was wrapped in brilliant light.
Kim Jinwu watched the scene and pursed his lips. He worked his brain hard. And he made his judgment.
Instead of throwing the concept at her to catch Sally, he would pick it up again.
“Eyes…”
Light burst from Kim Jinwu’s penis. It was more intense than ever, so Christina instinctively covered her eyes.
“Saintess Christina, I’ve heard a lot about your fame.”
“Shut up, rapist. You’re here to harass Sally again, right? I won’t allow it.”
“That’s not what it is. I don’t rape anyone.”
Kim Jinwu said it brazenly. Because of his overly confident attitude, Christina let out a laugh.
“You know that what you just said doesn’t sound like anything, don’t you?”
“To convince Saintess Christina, I should introduce myself first.”
Kim Jinwu clasped his hands and bowed his head. As he greeted, the light from his penis exploded brilliantly.
“I am the Saint. I’ve done saintly work in a different dimension from you, Saintess Christina.”
“Saint? You call yourself a saint?”
Christina was dumbfounded. She couldn’t speak with that brazen self-proclamation of being a saint.
The title of saint and saintess meant those who received the gods’ selection and gained the ability to use holy power at an extraordinarily high level. Their holy power was the strongest, and using that power, they could protect the weak and the dangerous.
“Don’t casually throw around the word saint. It’s not a position where you can claim it like a joke.”
Christina swung her mace threateningly. If she misstepped, her head would probably burst.
Kim Jinwu didn’t back down. As if he was only telling the truth, he took a step toward Christina.
“I am the most upright person there is. The goddess chose me as a saint, and I defeated the demon king alongside the hero.”
“Hah!”
Christina showed a twisted smile. She didn’t believe Kim Jinwu’s words.
“How am I supposed to believe you?”
“You’re wearing that ugly face, so how am I supposed to believe you? Fix your appearance first and speak properly.”
It was solid. There was no way to break it. Kim Jinwu wanted to create a gap somehow. In this moment of being labeled a rapist, he had to reverse the situation or there would be no future.
‘I’ll show you my ace.’
Kim Jinwu started thinking. A tremor occurred in the light from his penis. As if it was representing his emotional change.
“Perhaps the saintess is a savage who views other cultures with prejudice?”
“What?”
“You’re treating the culture of my home dimension as impossible, aren’t you? Like the other savages…!”
Responding to Kim Jinwu’s emotional appeal, his penis shot out light like a firework.
It was the release of Shinsung, spreading a warm aura.
‘This, this…?!’
He felt black magic from Kim Jinwu. But he also felt an overwhelming purity of Shinsung.
Christina couldn’t understand.
“My goddess Pushi says love should be given to everyone. Based on that doctrine, we spread love without regard to gender, age, or status. No matter who the other person is, no matter their appearance, through intercourse we purify the filth and spread happiness.”
“Don’t say nonsense.”
“Our people in the home dimension actually offer their private parts to the goddess’s followers. Through intercourse, we exchange Shinsung and purify each other’s bodies.”
Kim Jinwu grew more and more brazen. The more he spoke, the more he melted into his own setting.
“Saintess Christina is just the kind of person who treats the culture and civilization of other dimensions as savage. She wasn’t the compassionate and noble saintess.”
The light bursting from between Kim Jinwu’s legs subsided. The emotional agitation decreased. It seemed he had clearly evaluated Christina.
Christina was confused. She was sure Kim Jinwu had raped Sally, but he was defending it as the ‘culture’ of his home dimension.
“That is the culture of my home dimension. If someone forcefully carries out that culture in the Tower of Struggle, isn’t it natural to be mocked as a savage?”
“It started with force, but it ended in consent. Just as a person’s value changes depending on the moment of death when defining human life, my intercourse also ended in consent. What I shared with Sally was not rape but intercourse.”
Strange logic collided. Anyone could see Kim Jinwu was wrong, but Christina didn’t force her own opinion. Because she knew that, he had been able to hold out until now.
And it was time for his winning shot.
“Ask Sally. Is it that she finds the love of goddess Pushi disgusting and hateful, unable to even look at it, or is it that she finds it compassionate and lovely and wants to receive it again?”
Kim Jinwu threw the arrow at Sally.
Christina turned her gaze to Sally. The nature of sexual intercourse was such that one wrong word could turn it into rape or love. To Christina, rape itself was clearly wrong, but depending on Sally’s stance, the value might change.
“As taught by goddess Pushi, I have only practiced love. Even if power was used in the process, I shared the love between sperm and egg. Sally, please tell me. Was my preaching unpleasant to you?”
Light scattered from Kim Jinwu’s penis. It was more sacred than any light.
‘Is he really a saint?’
There was a dimension with such culture.
Christina couldn’t believe it.
“Sally, tell me the truth. Honestly about your feelings right now. If you tell me you feel unpleasant or hard, I’ll… right away…”
“Saintess Christina. You’re the kind of trashy human who forces your opinion, aren’t you?”
“Sally. Give me your power so I can crush that man’s head.”
Christina begged earnestly, wanting her justification to be granted.
But.
“I, I’m not bad… I came today because I wanted to receive more….”
The answer Christina didn’t want came from Sally’s mouth.
“Black magic! You’re controlling Sally with black magic. I can’t forgive you.”
“You should know it’s not at all. Saintess, you’re trying to force your opinion like a petty person. I’m disappointed.”
“No, wait…!”
“Sally, come here. I’ll share love with you again today.”
“Sally! Don’t go. It’s rape. You were forced!”
Christina reached out desperately toward Sally.
Sally glanced at Christina for a moment, then gave an awkward smile.
“I’m sorry, Christina-nim. I’ll finish my work for today and return.”
“Y-you’re lying, right? Why would you go to that man on your own feet? Sally?”
“Thank you for coming with me.”
In the forced smile, Sally’s sincerity was felt. Sally was genuinely going to hug that man.
“Saintess, I don’t believe you intend to interfere even with normal sexual intercourse between men and women. I hope that kind of trash doesn’t exist.”
“…That’s impossible. Sally, why…?”
“As a follower of the goddess, desecrating another’s god is blasphemy, but I won’t cling to it. Since it’s the Tower of Struggle, I’ll forgive you thinking you lacked manners for other dimensions. After all, through intercourse, that will prove your faith in Pushi.”
Kim Jinwu boasted his victory and rambled on.
“Sally and I have to have intercourse, so I’ll go now. I hope the saintess can love everyone too.”
“Aaaaah…!”
Finally, he squeezed Sally’s butt and turned his back to his room.
Squeak.
As the door closed, Christina bit her lip hard.