My Fake God, Part 12
'Wow. That evil spirit is practically god-class.'
The moment Noel neared Sumi's Side Dish Shop, he was slightly taken aback.
If a normal evil spirit was a hornet's nest, this thing was a natural disaster.
Normally, he would have just ignored it and walked away.
But a good idea had just crossed his mind.
'Just when I was in need of a ghost that could pass as a god.'
There were three main categories of spirits that could remain in this world without passing on.
An evil spirit.
A god-class ghost.
Or a god.
Here, "god-class" didn't mean an actual deity.
It referred to an entity that wasn't a god but could perform miracles that influenced the living.
It was a term from his original world, but what did that matter?
To be a true god, one first needed an insane number of believers and the ability to leave a mark on them, like a crucifix.
Therefore, the entity Sihun believed in was a god.
The personal deities that shamans served could be classified as god-class ghosts.
'And it looks like she's aware she's turning into an evil spirit.'
She was actively suppressing her power to prevent the corruption from spreading to her surroundings.
That meant she was still maintaining some level of sanity.
'But why is she targeting the shop owner's child?'
That was the question.
That was all the information he could gather from the outside.
Even when he asked other ghosts, those usually chatty spirits would flee in sheer terror.
Having reached a conclusion, Noel spoke to Yeong-hyeon before heading inside.
"Hyung."
"Yeah?"
"It's dangerous, so I need you to wait here."
At Noel's words, Yeong-hyeon looked at him with worried eyes.
"You're going to be okay, right?"
"I don't do things that don't benefit me."
"That's a relief, then. Go on."
Only then did Yeong-hyeon offer a bright smile.
He had already seen Noel's power and knew how strong it was.
He didn't know what kind of power it was, but it was incredibly special.
"I'll be right back. Don't go following anyone."
Yeong-hyeon scoffed at Noel's warning.
"I should be the one saying that to you! Stay on your toes; not everyone out there is nice. Don't let your guard down just because they seem desperate. Some people will ask for your shirt after you've saved their life."
Sensing a long lecture coming, Noel quickly made his escape.
"Noel! Don't run away just because you think I'm nagging!"
"...Excuse me. There's a line here."
As Noel bypassed the queue and strode straight into the side dish shop, a waiting customer spoke up.
"I'm not here to buy side dishes."
Noel looked at the customer, his gaze rising slightly to the bird pattern on her forehead.
'What is that?'
An elderly woman was sitting with a perfectly straight posture. When she opened her closed eyes, a pure, clear energy washed over him.
"Child, let me apologize on her behalf. That child simply has an overabundance of justice."
Considering there was a god-class evil spirit nearby, the fact that she could approach this closely meant she was no ordinary ghost.
What should he call this ghost?
'She's not quite god-class... but she's pretty strong.'
"Child. If you wouldn't mind, could you tell this girl to throw away the large mirror in her house? I will surely repay this favor."
"Throw away the large mirror in your house. Don't go near it," Noel spoke without hesitation.
Regardless of what face the customer made, it was always wise to stay on good terms with spirits like this.
"Thank you."
The elderly woman tightly grasped Noel's hand.
He felt her channeling her power.
"You will find what you seek."
A bird pattern materialized on the back of his hand.
To be able to manifest this much power...
'Do I need to add another category besides gods and god-class ghosts?'
"I am that child's guardian deity. It is an ancient promise."
Noel nodded lightly at the grandmother's introduction.
It would be nice if they crossed paths again, but even if they didn't, he had already received her power.
'A guardian deity? I guess I'll call them mid-god class.'
He was about to brush it off and move forward, but a sharp "Excuse me!" caught his ear. He didn't bother turning around.
He had no business with her anyway.
Ignoring the various voices behind him, Noel looked around for the owner.
"Excuse me, customer."
Despite the cautious inquiry, Noel simply said, "Just a moment," and strode toward the owner.
Perhaps because she once had a guardian deity's protection, a sword pattern was visible on her forehead.
But there was no guardian deity around the owner now.
What did that mean?
"Customer?"
"Excuse me, customer. You can't do this."
The part-timer tried to stop him, but Noel intentionally thrust his injured arm forward and stood right in front of the owner.
Standing here, he could faintly hear the voice of the evil spirit from above.
"...Give it back. Please... give it back."
Even after becoming an evil spirit, she was still begging.
Was it because she was a guardian deity?
"Shamans have been coming and going, and performing exorcisms hasn't helped at all, has it?"
"..."
The owner didn't say a word, but she stared at him with deep distrust.
He understood completely.
"Going to the hospital was useless, and no matter what you did, your daughter showed no signs of getting better. And that's not all. No matter how high you turn up the heating, your house is always freezing, isn't it?"
He knew his words probably made him sound like just another fraud.
But she would have no choice but to cling to this hope.
After all, he wasn't the desperate one here.
"Usually, I require payment upfront, but this time, I'll let you pay afterward."
Noel made a grand concession.
Surely, this would ease her mind to some extent.
"You have nothing to lose anyway, so please lead the way."
Faced with Noel's confident voice and unwavering gaze, the owner fell into deep conflict.
Her daughter was sick.
She didn't know why.
Just, suddenly one day.
There was no other way to explain it.
Going to the hospital did nothing.
Whether it was this hospital or that hospital, they all said they couldn't find a diagnosis.
She went to churches, cathedrals, and temples.
No one knew.
So she clung to shamans.
She gave them whatever money they asked for.
If they told her to perform a ritual, she did. If they told her to use a talisman, she did.
The result was that nothing changed.
Her daughter just kept wasting away, day after day.
Every single day, her heart sank with the terrifying fear that her daughter might die.
"There is a guardian deity here."
The young man, who had been silently climbing the stairs, suddenly spoke.
"...What?"
A guardian deity?
The owner's eyes quickly darkened.
"I understand. You're thinking, 'If there's a guardian deity, why are things in this state?' Right?"
"To be honest, yes."
"It's because that guardian deity has lost her mind for some reason."
"...Excuse me?"
"Confusing, isn't it? Same here. I'll go up and try to soothe her."
"W-Wait a moment."
"Yes?"
"...So..."
The owner sucked in a breath.
"You're saying... the shamanic stuff was real?"
"Yes. It seems you've been scammed quite a lot, though."
"..."
The owner's face contorted with pain.
"At least I don't scam people. I haven't taken any of your money, have I?"
Noel reached out.
He was pretending to be a shaman, but since the lines of work overlapped, they were basically in the same field anyway.
"Don't come inside. And... well, it might get a bit noisy. But I'll do my best to minimize any damage."
"Should I... close the shop?"
"No. You need a lot of money right now. Keep running the shop. You'll need to pay me, after all."
If she had to keep the shop open even with a sick daughter, she must have been scammed out of an astronomical amount of money.
But what could she do?
The one in need always had to bow down.
"I don't need anything, so I'll come down when it's all over."
Noel cut her off before she could ask.
I need this, I need that...
She had probably listened to endless demands like that from others.
He honestly didn't understand why people needed so many tools just to exorcise an evil spirit.
"Go on. Don't come up until I head down."
Noel offered a faint smile.
It wasn't like her watching would cause any real problems.
It would just distract him.
"I... beg of you."
She retreated with a somewhat skeptical voice, but he understood.
Even in his original world, where people knew about necromancers and ghosts, they still looked on with doubtful eyes when things like this happened.
How much worse must it be here, where those who didn't believe in ghosts far outnumbered those who did?
Before entering the door, Noel extended his finger and drew a long line from left to right.
A black shroud appeared and flowed downward.
As it fluttered as if caught in a breeze, he reached out his hand.
The black shroud soon transformed into a black door.
It was a type of barrier that had no effect on the living but blocked the dead from passing through.
Since even the dead had to exit through a door in a place where the living resided.
'I can't let my fake god escape.'
Noel gripped the door handle.
Sssssss.
A sound like melting flesh echoed, but he didn't care.
'So you set up a barrier too, huh?'
Instead, black smoke swirled around Noel's grip, revealing the barrier that had been placed on the door.
Mysterious characters appeared all over.
But he could read them.
'Because it's the language of ghosts.'
[EXPULSION ORDER]
Simply put, it meant "get lost."
"Now, that's not very nice. You're hurting my feelings."
Noel sneered as he turned the doorknob.
Click.
With the sound of the door opening, the barrier shattered.
He had been told they used the top floor as their home.
The door swung open, revealing a breathtaking sight.
In this place, so freezing that it made his skin ache, was a pitch-black entity that could barely maintain its shape.
Countless swords pierced the ghost's body. Judging by the trembling form and the nature of the energy, it seemed she had used her own power to suppress herself.
'I need to clean that off. The corruption is severe.'
Noel's lungs ached with every breath in the intense cold, but he strode forward.
Wrapping black smoke around one hand, he grabbed the black mass covering the guardian deity's body.
He yanked it away as if snatching a blanket.
The disgusting, filthy corruption made his face contort in revulsion.
Pressing his nose against his injured arm, he shook off the corruption.
As it fell away like dust, the black object in his hand began to regain its original color.
'It's a cloak.'
It was a navy cloak studded with stars.
An item belonging to the guardian deity.
As the remaining corruption on the floor began to squirm, Noel reached out.
A purple flame flared up.
He threw it directly at the corruption, and it ignited in purple fire.
It was a flame that burned away corruption.
As warmth returned to the room, he turned his head to look at the guardian deity.
Only now could he see her form.
She wore ancient attire, though he didn't recognize what era it was from.
She simply felt like a warrior.
"You're the guardian deity, right?"
Noel returned the cloak to her.
That cloak had been holding back the corruption all this time.
"Who... are you? How did you enter this place?"
She spoke and looked at him, but even the whites of her eyes were stained pitch-black.
The corruption had not yet been fully purged.
"Is that really important? Why is a proud guardian deity in this pathetic state?"
"...I have committed an act that should never have been done."
"Cursing the very person you're supposed to protect?"
"..."
Having her secret laid bare, the guardian deity bit her lip and hung her head.
"You... must kill me. With the power you possess, I believe you can do it."
"Are you crazy? That would be a hassle for me."
"If you consider the divine punishment..."
"I don't know what divine punishment is. If you were still in that state from earlier, I could have just obliterated you, but not now."
Since evil spirits were like relentless stalkers, it was usually best not to associate with them.
But he never backed down from a fight brought to him.
If it was an evil spirit consumed by corruption, obliterating them caused almost no encroachment backlash anyway.
'Exactly, I can't do that now. Not after I went through the trouble of shaking the corruption off her cloak and burning it away.'
"I... have committed an act that should never have been done."
Her self-loathing began anew.
Every single one of those laments would gather to form corruption, paving a shortcut to becoming an evil spirit.
"I heard you earlier. You were asking for something to be returned. What is it?"
Noel asked bluntly.
There had to be a reason she was turning into an evil spirit.
"...You heard that?"
"Yeah."
"I had a sword. It was my oath and token to protect this family even after my death."
"And that person took it?"
Noel pointed toward the room.
One of the swords the guardian deity had plunged into her own body was embedded in the door of that room.
Doors were always important.
They were the entrance and the most crucial architectural feature that marked a space as a single domain.
Therefore, doing such a thing to a door meant cursing not only the domain itself but also its owner.
"...Yes. I am bound to this place. I could not go to retrieve that sword."
"With your level of power, you could have entered her dreams and told her."
"I already did. I begged her to return it. I pleaded with her to return it. But... she ignored me."
The corruption embedded in the guardian deity's eyes flickered.
"Countless times."
Along with her chilling voice, the temperature of the surroundings began to drop once more.
"I pleaded with her so many times..."
The corners of her mouth curled upward.
She began to laugh softly.
It distorted into a spine-chilling sound.
"...Is this all I get in return for protecting this family? If the price of my protection is to be discarded like this..."
Clap!
Noel clapped his hands together.
It wasn't just a simple sound.
A clear, resonant sound like a ringing bell followed, piercing through her corrupted ears. The guardian deity gasped and snapped back to her senses.
"Are you back with me?"
"..."
The guardian deity's gaze shifted.
She stared Noel as if he were an incomprehensible entity.
But she closed her eyes and bowed.
"Thank you. I am truly grateful."
'Not bad.'
Ghosts who possessed power yet still expressed gratitude were rare.
He liked her even more now.
"I'll find that sword for you, so come with me. I happen to be in need of a fake god."
Noel extended his hand.
To any shaman, she would undoubtedly look like an incredibly magnificent deity.