My Fake God, Part 2
The guardian deity shook her head, her expression filled with shock.
"That cannot be," she said, her voice heavy. "To change the object of my protection means you must shoulder the weight of the oath I broke and the karma I have accumulated. I cannot do such a thing to my benefactor."
"What a wonderful attitude," Noel remarked.
Suddenly, he had been elevated to the status of a benefactor.
Ghosts with this level of character were incredibly rare.
A smile naturally formed on his face.
"Don't worry. I can take on as many spirits as I want, so you don't need to fret."
"It is far more immense than you realize."
"I'm saying this because I can purify it, you know?"
Noel stepped closer and conjured a flicker of his purple flame.
Sssss.
Its mere presence began to melt the erosion away.
The guardian deity's eyes widened in shock.
"How... how is this possible?"
She was utterly bewildered.
He was clearly a living being.
Yet, she could feel a power of death radiating from him—a power no living being should ever possess.
He called it purification, but for the dead, true purification was nothing other than the path leading to absolute death.
"Are you... a god?"
"Of course not," Noel chuckled softly.
He had possessed the most cursed, most loathsome power since the day he was born. That was all.
"You've been here for far too long. They've forgotten you, and they don't even recognize the sword that was the token of your promise."
Noel looked at her.
She looked as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
"I knew it all along, but hearing it from another's lips... stirs so many emotions within me."
"You kept your promise. You kept it for a very, very long time. You weren't the one who broke it first."
Noel simply stated the facts.
He didn't want guilt to fester into something deeper and bind this guardian any longer. After all, she had to come with him now.
"My life won't be that long either. It'll certainly be much shorter than the time you've spent waiting here. After I'm gone, you can do whatever you want."
"...Whatever I want?"
"Yeah. Move on to the afterlife, travel the world, do whatever. Just be free. Until I die, that is. Sounds like a good deal, doesn't it?"
"But even that child does not seem to know where she threw the sword."
"I'll ask her once. If that doesn't work, I have other ways."
Noel openly channeled the power he had received from another guardian deity.
She reacted instantly.
"Did you already have another guardian deity?"
"No. It's a power I received as a reward for doing a good deed. Do you feel reassured now?"
At Noel's question, the guardian deity let out a soft laugh.
With that kind of power, she was certain they could find the sword.
"If you return my sword, I swear to protect you until the day you draw your last breath."
When she held out her hand, Noel smiled and grasped it.
For a spirit of her caliber, this was no mere verbal agreement.
She was speaking with the weight of all the divine merit she had accumulated over centuries.
The moment the target of her protection shifted and the heavy burdens she had been carrying rushed toward him, Noel let go of her hand.
"...?"
The dark smoke rising from Noel's hand instantly coalesced into the shape of a sword.
Boom!
It slammed downward with immense pressure.
It was a swirling mixture of black and white light, looking as if a piece of the night sky had been torn away.
"What... what are you doing?"
"What do you think? I'm severing the burdens you're supposed to shoulder."
Why on earth would he be foolish enough to just accept them when he could simply cut them away like this?
"Can you... see that karma?"
"I can see it."
"How can you... see such a thing?"
The more they spoke, the stiffer her expression became.
She could not shake the realization that this was a kind of power she had never witnessed in all her existence.
"This is a burden that doesn't even suit the dead. Isn't it ridiculous to be bound forever by an oath to protect someone? Someone has to be able to cut it. If life after death is just going to be miserable, why would a peaceful death even exist?"
Even though he was not a guide to the afterlife like a Grim Reaper, he possessed the power to grant the dead a peaceful passing.
With a swift motion, Noel severed the karma the guardian deity spoke of.
She couldn't even blink.
When she had carried it as a burden, it had felt so heavy and overwhelming. Yet now, it had vanished in an instant, leaving behind a strange sense of emptiness.
She felt utterly dazed.
"Just stay here by the fire. I'll pull out the swords stuck in your body and the one in that door when I get back."
"What... what do you gain from doing this?"
"I told you. I need a fake god. I need a deity if I'm going to play the part of a shaman."
"Is it truly just for that reason?"
"Then what other reason do I need? If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have even come here."
Except for a very small minority, ghosts were usually nothing but trash.
Why should he help those who had tormented him so terribly in his past life?
Even though he had the power, he had turned away from them.
In fact, he might have even hated them.
Still... there were ghosts who helped me back then.
Noel shook off the rising emotions.
This ghost was a guardian deity, and since they had formed a contract, she could never betray him.
"Wait here."
It was time to wrap things up.
Noel entered the room without knocking.
Wheeze. Wheeze.
Even with the oxygen mask on, the sound of her struggling to breathe was the first thing that reached his ears. She sounded as if she might stop breathing at any moment.
Unlike the warm living room, this bedroom was freezing. His breath misted in the air despite being indoors.
Her weakly rolling eyes turned toward him.
"Hello. We don't have much time, so I'll keep this brief."
The scent of death lingered heavily around her.
She had two days left at most.
Even that was a miracle made possible only because the guardian deity had suppressed her own power.
But why did she throw away the sword? Surely, she must have subconsciously realized it was something precious.
It didn't make sense, but Noel reached out his hand anyway.
"Where did you throw the sword?"
As he asked, the bird pattern engraved on the back of his hand began to glow with a soft light.
Since the guardian deity who had granted him this power assured him he would find what he was looking for, finding it was a foregone conclusion. That was the nature of miraculous power, after all.
Following the guidance of the energy, the sword turned out to be much closer than expected.
It had been discarded like trash among the bushes of a small park behind the commercial buildings just outside the market alley.
"Here," Noel said, holding it out.
Honestly, if he hadn't been told it was a sword, anyone would have mistaken it for garbage. It was broken and wrapped tightly in a dirty cloth, covered in thick rust.
Yet, the guardian deity accepted the dilapidated sword with great care, cradling it in her hands.
"...Thank you."
As she gently stroked the blade, a soft light swirled around it.
The sword instantly regained its original shape, as if it had never been broken or rusted. It looked surprisingly plain.
"...Thank you, truly."
She smiled, gently tracing the weapon.
"This is the sword my mother gave me. Since our family had no sons, I was raised as a boy. This was the very first sword she bought for me when I had to take up arms."
She had never known what her mother was feeling back then. She hadn't even asked, choosing only to resent her.
"And this family is the lineage of my master. He took me in and raised me."
Noel listened quietly as he began pulling out the remaining swords embedded in her body.
One.
Three.
Seven.
She really has a ridiculous number of these stuck in her.
"I wanted to repay my master's kindness."
"You've repaid it enough—no, far too much," Noel said.
At his blunt remark, the guardian deity let out a hearty laugh.
"I am called Asin. I have no surname. What is your name?"
He couldn't give a fake name to a spirit of her caliber.
"Noel Teurus."
"An unusual name."
"People on the outside call me Do Yeonghyeon, so you can refer to me as that."
"Understood. I shall ask no further."
Noel nodded and silently continued pulling out the remaining swords.
"That is enough. I can handle the rest myself. Am I not a guardian deity, after all?"
"Then I'll go finish up over there."
"I leave it to you."
At Asin's polite request, Noel walked over to the front door.
He wrapped dark smoke around his hand and gripped the thick sword embedded deep in the wood.
A dark red hand stretched out from the blade, desperately gripping the doorframe.
It was a display of sheer will not to be removed, but Noel didn't care and yanked it out anyway.
How long could a power that hadn't even fully matured into a curse possibly hold out against him?
Crack. Crack.
It popped out cleanly, like pulling a radish from the dirt, and a piercing shriek echoed through the air.
"Aaaagh!"
It was its final, desperate struggle.
So noisy.
Noel summoned a purple flame on his fingertip and slid it from the tip of the blade to the hilt.
Once the flame caught and began to consume the weapon, he threw it onto the floor without hesitation.
The fire would never go out until the erosion was completely erased.
Noel opened the bedroom door.
Warmth was finally beginning to circulate through the room.
Noel looked around, then drew the heavy curtains aside.
As the warm sunlight fell on the woman's face, her eyes fluttered open.
"Are you awake?" Noel asked.
He gently removed her oxygen mask. She was breathing on her own now.
"I... I didn't throw the sword away," she gasped out, her breath misting in the air. "A woman kept appearing in my dreams, but I really didn't throw it away!"
The coldness that had settled deep in her organs was finally leaving her body.
"I know," Noel replied calmly.
Asin reacted to his words.
"...She didn't throw it away? What do you mean?"
"It seems she was hit by some kind of spell. That's why she has no memory of doing it."
"That cannot be. I was right here, so who could have used such power under my watch?"
"It seems she was targeted outside the house. Don't blame yourself too much. It's all over now."
As Noel spoke to them, he reached toward the woman's ear and pulled something out.
It was a single strand of dark thread. He rolled it up and slipped it into his pocket.
Should I track down whoever did this? Well, let's keep it for now.
"Is that... the trace of that power?" Asin asked.
Noel nodded lightly at Asin's question, then turned back to the woman.
"It was a token of the contract with your guardian deity. Because you unintentionally threw it away, you were hit with a powerful curse. It was so strong that ordinary shamans wouldn't have been able to do anything about it."
He spun a plausible, convincing lie.
"...Guardian deity, I am so sorry. I am truly sorry. Please forgive me," the woman sobbed, tears streaming down her face.
Since she had seen the deity in her dreams, she had no choice but to believe every word.
"I've appeased her, so don't worry now. For the time being, just focus on getting plenty of sunlight to flush out the remnants of the curse lingering inside you."
"Then... will I really be okay now?" she asked hesitantly.
Many people had come and gone, but no one had ever given her a straight answer to that question.
"Yes. It's all over now. You'll recover in no time."
As Noel smiled, Asin stepped closer. With the erosion gone, her eyes had returned to their original, clear state.
"...My child, I am sorry," Asin murmured softly.
She gently placed her hand on the woman's forehead, and a small, warm light began to glow.
The look in the woman's eyes changed instantly. She no longer felt cold.
"...I really don't feel cold anymore. It doesn't even hurt."
"I'll call your parents in."
Before leaving, Noel pulled a small stone out of his pocket. It was glowing with a faint purple light.
The room grew noticeably warmer the moment it appeared, and the woman instinctively reached out her hand.
"Keep this stone close to you until its light goes out. Once the light fades, you can just throw it away."
"Thank... thank you," she sobbed, tears spilling over.
"Thank you so much..."
Hearing her repeated gratitude, Noel smiled quietly and stepped out of the room.
Once outside, his smile faded, and his gaze turned to Asin.
"Did you forgive her that quickly?"
"She was a lovely child."
"If you say so," Noel muttered, brushing it off.
He dismissed it lightly and left the house, walking down the stairs. Since he had already stepped out once before, the restaurant owner didn't have a dramatic reaction this time. He simply asked with his eyes how it went.
"She's fine now," Noel said.
At those words, the owner rushed upstairs in a frenzy.
Following behind him, Noel modified the door-shaped energy he had left behind, turning it into a ward to keep evil spirits away.
Consider this a free service.
Noel stepped inside the apartment and closed the door behind them.
The sound of weeping echoed from the bedroom.
Instead of going near, Noel sat on the living room sofa and waited. Listening to the endless stream of tearful questions and answers, he looked at Asin.
"It's not your fault," Noel said quietly.
"...Thank you," Asin replied, offering a warm smile.
She wondered what would have happened if this young man hadn't found her. This had to be fate.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Hearing urgent footsteps approaching, Noel was slightly taken aback.
"Thank you...! Master! Thank you so much!"
The owner immediately threw himself to the floor, prostrating before Noel.
Noel blinked in surprise. "Sir?"
"Thank you... so much. Thank you truly, truly, for saving my daughter," the man choked out, his voice thick with tears. He was so overwhelmed with gratitude and so ashamed of having doubted Noel that he didn't know what to do with himself.
"Do you believe I'm the real deal now?" Noel asked.
"Yes! You are a true shaman, Master!" the owner raised his voice instantly. Every other shaman he had met before had been a fraud, a bunch of swindlers. But Noel had resolved everything in less than two hours. How could he possibly doubt him?
"Then, when I open my shop later, could you spread the word? I'll come back to check on your daughter's condition around the time I set up my business."
At Noel's proposal, the owner raised his head eagerly.
"Of course I will! I'll absolutely do it!"
"Thank you. In that case, I'll deduct the cost of the word-of-mouth advertising and just take five hundred thousand won."
Since he had unintentionally taken their guardian deity away, he decided to charge only this much.
"Five hundred... thousand won?" the owner stammered.
Only that much? He wondered if he had misheard. Other shamans had ripped him off for over ten million won.
"Yes. Is it... too much?" Noel asked.
"Ah, no! Not at all, Master," the owner quickly wiped his eyes.
"Do you need any side dishes? Our side dishes are really delicious."
"I saw how crowded your shop was. Is it really okay for me to take some?"
"I really want to give them to you. Truly... I must give them to you," the owner pleaded, looking at Noel with earnest eyes.
"If you give them to me, I'll gladly accept."
As Noel smiled, the owner finally let out a relieved smile of his own.
Noel stopped in his tracks, carrying a bag of side dishes that was quite heavy to hold in one hand.
A familiar presence had followed him.
"Halt," Asin spoke first, her voice sharp.
"As expected of a guardian deity," Jin-ho said, clapping his hands as he emerged from the shadows.
"What brings a Reaper here? This child's time to die has not yet come."
"Well, the lifespan of a soul I was supposed to collect in two days has suddenly changed. Since our Master here caused this incident, shouldn't I be the one to pay a visit? Isn't that right, Master?"
Noel smiled broadly at his words.