What an ordinary human needed to become a god was a painful and miserable death.

The greater the resentment, the more power the soul held after death.

To achieve that, one could not die an ordinary death.

If the subject of deification simply grew old and died a peaceful death, there would be nothing mysterious about it, nor would it draw anyone’s attention.

One had to remain in people’s memories, passed down as a story for generations.

Only a remarkable figure who died a miserable, dramatic death qualified to become a god.

In that sense, Yoo Harang possessed the makings of a god.

“After Cult Leader Yoo Harang dies, we will build a statue of her and tell her story endlessly!”

Even if a child on the street died, people would soon forget.

But if a girl revered as a cult leader chose death for the sake of all?

Her recognition level would only rise higher as her story spread from mouth to mouth.

In his past life, Seo Kangrim and Shin Sooa had known this fact and been horrified.

They could not understand it on any level.

Seo Kangrim had asked Shin Sooa.

[Why would someone like Yoo Sunmin go out of his way to kill Yoo Harang? With his high grade, he could have received a powerful deity’s descent.]

Others might have no choice due to their weakness, but Yoo Sunmin was different.

With a Dragon Grade fate, he should have easily been able to receive a Divine Descent.

In fact, several deities had reportedly shown interest in him.

At that time, Shin Sooa had smiled bitterly and said:

[He said he wanted a god he could control.]

A Manshin recipient had to obey their guardian deity’s commands.

If unlucky, their entire will would be stripped away, leaving them to live as nothing more than a servant of the god.

But what if one could control that god?

“If we believe, she will become a god. It is not the god who chooses us—we choose the god!”

He shouted, his eyes gleaming with madness.

He looked like a man possessed by a ghost.

“Of course, the death will be painful. But Cult Leader Yoo Harang has prepared herself for everything!”

Even at the declaration of her death, Yoo Harang offered no resistance.

Yoo Sunmin knelt before Yoo Harang and pleaded.

“Cult Leader Yoo Harang, the time has come.”

“…….”

“Please become a god for us wretched souls.”

At those words, Yoo Harang stared down at Yoo Sunmin with hollow eyes.

She looked like a doll whose soul had fled.

Yoo Harang slowly nodded.

“Yes. I will become a god for your sake.”

Her voice carried neither fear nor hesitation.

Yoo Sunmin smiled broadly, rose to his feet, and led the people down below.

He addressed the followers.

“Now then, let us begin.”

At Yoo Sunmin’s command, the followers brought torches.

They were meant to set the tower alight.

This wooden tower would become a pyre to burn Yoo Harang.

The people watched the scene unfold.

[What was the other reason the Holy Grace Cult only accepts weak people?]

[Because desperate people are the most fervent.]

Cults prey on the desperate.

Desperation becomes faith, and faith becomes power.

Faith was the greatest fuel of any religion.

As hundreds looked up at Yoo Harang, Yoo Sunmin smiled.

This was the moment he had waited for over many long years.

The moment a new god would be born.

A god for them, a god solely for them, was about to be born.

As Yoo Sunmin gazed up at the tower with rapturous eyes—

-Kkwaang!

“Aaaargh!”

Along with the people’s screams, the sound of something collapsing rang out.

Yoo Sunmin turned toward the source of the noise in surprise, then scowled.

“Seo Kangrim…?”

Seo Kangrim, who should have been unconscious from the drug, was standing on his own two feet.

The people who had been restraining him lay scattered about like straw.

Feeding Seo Kangrim the paralytic had been a fatal miscalculation on Yoo Sunmin’s part.

No matter how potent the drug, his Poison Resistance rendered it ineffective.

Seo Kangrim stepped forward, leaving the fallen bodies behind him.

“You’re going to make a god?”

His voice was as cold as subzero temperatures, yet boiling like magma.

The same was true of Seo Kangrim’s eyes.

A killing intent and fury so intense it seemed it could slash a person with a glance alone.

“Cut the bullshit. You’re nothing more than a murderer trying to kill a child.”

Seo Kangrim drew his sword from the Storage Pouch.

At the sight of the gleaming, razor-sharp blade, the people flinched and recoiled.

Yoo Sunmin, too, showed signs of alarm.

‘I fed him a paralytic—how is he moving?’

Not knowing that Seo Kangrim possessed Poison Resistance, Yoo Sunmin had no choice but to be bewildered.

The moment Seo Kangrim leveled his weapon, spirit beasts were summoned from the Spirit Realm.

“W-What is that?”

“M-Demon beasts!”

Those seeing spirit beasts for the first time stumbled backward in alarm.

Seo Kangrim glared at them and spoke.

“Yorongi, Rini.”

“Ung?”

“Subdue the people.”

“Kkyang!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Seo Kangrim and the spirit beasts charged at the crowd.

Just as several followers tried to flee in panic, Yoo Sunmin shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Everyone, seize Seo Kangrim!”

As the Voice of Brainwashing activated, the eyes of the followers—who had been hesitating moments ago—sharpened.

They clamored and rushed at Seo Kangrim.

Seeing this, Yoo Sunmin grinned.

“The people here are all brainwashed civilians, not hunters!”

Individually they were weak, but their numbers were overwhelming—and as civilians, they could not wield weapons or special abilities.

Therefore, Yoo Sunmin believed Seo Kangrim would be helpless against them.

“You’re just an ordinary hunter in the end! You can’t lay a hand on civilians—”

“Aaaargh!”

But at that moment, a follower screamed as blood spilled from his body.

Blood splattered across Seo Kangrim’s sword.

“Under normal circumstances, I would have fought while protecting civilians.”

Seo Kangrim said, his eyes flashing.

“But not now.”

Yoo Harang—that child—was on the verge of being burned alive.

Even if it meant accumulating karma from killing and being held accountable for his crimes, saving Yoo Harang came first.

Seo Kangrim looked at the followers faltering before him and activated Ten-Foot Blaze.

But at that moment, Yoo Harang’s scream rang out.

“Stop! Don’t do it! Don’t kill these people!”

[Special Ability ‘Forced Dispel’ activates!]

With her cry, the flames of Ten-Foot Blaze died out.

Yoo Harang, who had been silent until now, was screaming.

Terror was etched across her face.

“I will become a god. That is my fate! I have no complaints about my fate. So don’t kill the followers!”

She could accept burning to death herself, but she could not bear to watch others die.

While Seo Kangrim faltered at her cry, the crowd surged forward and seized him.

Yorongi and Rini were also caught in the people’s hands.

“Ung, uuung!”

“Kkeureung…”

Under the influence of Forced Dispel, Yorongi and Rini were also reduced to a near-defenseless state.

The spirit beasts glared at the people around them with defiant eyes.

Seo Kangrim shouted toward Yoo Harang.

“Yoo Harang, snap out of it! You have to break free from his brainwashing!”

If only Yoo Harang would take Seo Kangrim’s side, escaping would be easy.

But Yoo Harang did not answer.

Instead, Yoo Sunmin approached with a chuckle.

“It seems you know about Yoo Harang’s and my abilities. But you’re laboring under one misconception.”

Yoo Sunmin leveled a long sword at Seo Kangrim.

“Yoo Harang is not brainwashed through an ability. All of this is the child’s own will.”

The sound of giggling clung unpleasantly to his ears.

Yoo Sunmin wore a smile brimming with confidence.

“I’ve been preparing for this moment for a long time. After all, I was someone with a touch of divine affinity myself.”

Yoo Sunmin spoke softly enough that only Seo Kangrim could hear.

Seo Kangrim asked the man wearing that relaxed smile.

“You had already awakened before the Day of Awakening?”

“Yes. And from that moment, I began preparing the Holy Grace Cult and Yoo Harang.”

Saying so, Yoo Sunmin smiled with satisfaction.

“Perhaps because she was a child, I didn’t even need to use an ability to brainwash her. Though it seems to have worked out even better in this current situation.”

Yoo Harang truly believed she was destined to become a god, solely due to Yoo Sunmin’s suggestions.

She had accepted that dying in the process was also her fate.

If it had been brainwashing through an ability, there would have been a way to dispel it. But when a mind had been broken down over years of manipulation, no ability could fix it.

“In any case, you’re too dangerous. To shake Yoo Harang up like that… I need to eliminate you quickly.”

Yoo Sunmin raised his blade to Seo Kangrim’s throat.

Seeing this, Yoo Harang screamed.

“Father, stop…! Please! Please don’t kill that man!”

At her cry, Yoo Sunmin turned to look at Yoo Harang.

He was smiling.

Yoo Sunmin picked up a fallen torch and spoke to Yoo Harang.

“Harang. If you die and become a god for us, no one else will be hurt.”

It was an incredibly gentle and tender voice.

An expression completely at odds with the threat of death.

At those words, Yoo Harang hesitated, then nodded.

Yoo Sunmin beamed.

“Good girl.”

-Hwareureuk!

The moment he finished speaking, Yoo Sunmin hurled the torch into the tower.

Having already soaked the wood in oil once, the fire spread rapidly.

The others watched, then fell to their knees and reached their hands toward Yoo Harang.

“Ah, Lady Harang!”

“Please save us!”

“Please become a god for us!”

“Please die for us!”

Yoo Harang looked down from atop the tower.

Dozens, hundreds of people were shouting in unison.

Begging her to become a god for their sake.

Yoo Harang only gazed quietly at the sight.

‘I’m really going to become a god now.’

She felt no regret or dissatisfaction about it.

It was a story she had heard from Yoo Sunmin for as long as she could remember.

From the moment she was adopted from the orphanage and brought here, Yoo Harang had been preparing to become a god.

[You were born to become a god.]

[A god for the weak and pitiful people that even the gods turn away from.]

[You can save those people.]

[That is your fate.]

If her death could bring joy to those people.

If everyone here desired her death.

‘But still…’

But still, she felt a pang of regret.

She wanted to see the outside world.

She wanted to make friends, not as a cult leader but as a human being, but…

“Lady Harang, ah, Lady Harang!”

“We will finally have a god! Lady Harang will die for us!”

The followers knelt, bowed, and wept fervently.

Among all those people, there seemed to be no one who wished for her to live.

Except for one person.

“Yoo Harang! Don’t listen to any of this nonsense!”

At that voice, Yoo Harang’s eyes snapped open.

It was Seo Kangrim’s voice.

Looking down, she could see Seo Kangrim.

Countless followers were blocking his path, but he was pushing forward toward the tower.

Cutting down every enemy between him and Yoo Harang.

Seo Kangrim kept shouting.

“Don’t surrender to this garbage! Don’t die! You can’t die here!”

Those words left Yoo Harang dumbfounded.

Why was he telling her not to die?

While everyone in the Holy Grace Cult wished for nothing but her death, why was this man telling her not to die?

“But… I have to become a god…”

“Don’t die as a god—live as a human! You’re human!”

At those words, Yoo Harang’s eyes wavered.

Live as a human—she had never heard such a thing before.

Seeing Yoo Harang’s reaction, Yoo Sunmin snapped and shouted.

“Yoo Harang, don’t be fooled! He’s trying to use you! You must become a god, Harang! Listen to your father!”