Chapter 71 – LV.Five Martial Artist Gaeulbi – [Six]

Gaeulbi pointed the pistol this way and asked in an anxious voice.

“Should I really shoot?”

Seo Yun nodded.

“Yes, and don’t even say when you’re going to shoot. You have to spot the moment I shoot and extinguish the flame.”

“So I should just shoot suddenly? Isn’t that too dangerous?”

“I spent a ton of Live Ammo Contribution Points to practice this. I even had to talk nonsense about needing it to protect myself since I’ve been kidnapped twice by people who hate giving them.”

“Then why not just use it for self-defense…?”

“I’m not good at shooting. Isn’t it better to prevent me from being able to shoot? In the end, it’s being used to protect me. Now, come on, shoot.”

Even at Seo Yun’s urging, Gaeulbi hesitated. After a brief pause, she muttered without firing.

“If someone sees this, they might misunderstand that a lowly Martial Artist is jealous of a Priest and trying to assassinate her?”

“Don’t be so disparaging about professions. Just hurry…”

Han Siwoo, still lying in the corner, interjected.

“Does the muzzle really have to be pointed at you? If you just want to extinguish the flame when the trigger is pulled, couldn’t you do that even if she shoots at a different target?”

“If I see a gun being fired from the side, it’s too obvious. It’s different from seeing it head-on. Besides, I’m not telling her to shoot my body, just to shoot between my legs. Can’t she even do that?”

Gaeulbi complained.

“What if she hits me by mistake!”

“You can hit a moving bear’s eye, and you’re worried about that?”

Gaeulbi still looked reluctant, so Seo Yun said.

“In return, I’ll grant you one request. Okay?”

“A request?”

“Yes. A request.”

But Gaeulbi still seemed unwilling. The girl said with a contorted face.

“Then do the cheer, do that again.”

Seo Yun’s body stiffened. Thinking about why she would make such a request, it seemed she knew Seo Yun disliked it when someone mentioned that incident and was deliberately making that request.

Seo Yun bit her lip and muttered.

“Do the cheer…”

Gaeulbi shouted.

“Like an Angel, turn on your halo too!”

Seo Yun, slowly suspecting that this chimpanzee was trying to make fun of her, turned on her halo. And just as she was about to recite the requested line again…

Oh Haengun’s voice was heard.

“Hey, I heard Seo Yun is here? Can I come in for a moment…”

As Gaeulbi hurriedly hid the pistol in a drawer, Seo Yun hastily turned off her halo. Then she shouted.

“Come in!”

And Oh Haengun entered. Along with a Frenchman, Oh Haengbok, and the Priest Lady.

The Frenchman’s gaze turned toward the floor by their feet. Wondering what had fallen, Seo Yun looked down, and there was something shimmering with a golden light.

The halo had disappeared, but the Golden Spark left behind by the Ring of Fire remained, scattering a faint glow.

The Frenchman’s gaze wouldn’t leave it. They didn’t know exactly what it was but seemed to vaguely sense something mysterious and spiritual. Suddenly, they knelt toward her and began chanting.

“Receive an audience… with the Angel.”

Seo Yun was dumbfounded and thought. Are these crazy guys doing this after hearing our conversation inside?

No. Her conversation with Gaeulbi was in Korean, so they couldn’t have understood.

Then this wasn’t to make fun of her…

Since that day’s prophecy, there had been a group in Happy Village who treated Seo Yun like a Goddess.

But their attitude toward her wasn’t truly reverent, as if treating a Divine Being. Later, when they brought alcohol and Tribute, asking her to look after them well, it was closer to the attitude of a customer paying a Fortune Fee at a Shaman House rather than treating the Second Coming of Jesus. The attitude of an atheist who doesn’t revere the Divine Spirit enshrined in a shaman’s house but simply seeks blessings because it’s said to have Miraculous Efficacy.

But these Frenchmen were different.

Seo Yun looked at the Frenchmen standing before her. They remained kneeling until Seo Yun told them several times to rise, and only then did they reluctantly stand up. And then they couldn’t relax.

The Frenchmen neatly clasped their hands over their stomachs. It felt like they were straightening their collars in front of an interview panel, being cautious in every action.

She couldn’t bear to watch. Seo Yun averted her gaze from the Frenchmen.

She saw the people from Happy Village who had come with them. She asked Oh Haengun in Korean.

“Why have these people come to see me now?”

“They say it’s an important matter. It’s related to village diplomacy, so no matter how absurd it seems, please just humor them for now, okay?”

Next to Oh Haengun stood the Orc who seemed to be his sworn brother.

“And why is the Chief here?”

Seeing the long Warhammer in his hand, she asked. Oh Haengbok answered with a contorted face.

“To keep an eye on these bastards in case they’re up to something again trying to kidnap a Priest.”

It seemed he was here to calm the Orc if his anger exploded. Even the Priest Lady had followed them here.

The gazes of everyone present were not favorable, but the Frenchmen paid no heed.

The man who had earlier asked for water timidly approached and said.

“Please forgive my rudeness for not recognizing the Angel and acting improperly…”

Seo Yun, managing her expression with effort, asked.

“Why on earth are you acting like this?”

In response, the French Man returned words of repentance, saying he had acted too informally toward the Angel earlier, that he had ‘dared’ to ask for water.

Seo Yun asked again.

“Why on earth am I a Race Angel?”

“You are a Priest of the Hearth Goddess, are you not? Therefore, you are the Angel of the Hearth Goddess. Is that not correct?”

“That’s true, but why does that…”

The French Man’s eyes lit up.

“We are Devotees of the Hearth Goddess. We have been faithful for two years now. How could we dare act rudely toward the Angel sent by the Hearth Goddess?”

And Seo Yun was astonished. Good grief, followers of the Goddess of the Hearth? What on earth was that?

“That Hearth Goddess, is she perhaps from Greek mythology…”

Did he take this question as some kind of Faith Testimony? The Frenchman waved his hands frantically.

“Not that Goddess! The Goddess of the Hearth we speak of is She who bestows warmth upon this cold world, who protects us from freezing to death…”

So it was correct that they had Faith in a Goddess from the Immortal Kingdom.

It was truly astonishing. How on earth could they declare themselves Devotees of a Goddess from a game with such seriousness?

The French Man reached his hand into the fold of his coat. He was wearing an old-fashioned fur coat, not a modern coat with outer pockets, so he had to do that to take something out.The man pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and began reading aloud.

“The great queen’s funeral was conducted through cremation… On that day, people danced and prayed around the blazing hearth fire… The fire and the queen’s spirit merged, giving birth to the Goddess of the Hearth…”

Seo Yun felt she had seen those phrases somewhere before. Where had she read them?

Right, it was probably the flavor text introducing the Hearth Goddess in the rulebook. What she had read back then was in Korean, but since these words were in English, she hadn’t recognized them immediately.

“Thus, the Hearth Goddess is the primordial…”

So, this man was now reading the rulebook’s content as if it were scripture. It was truly, truly shocking!

“So, what do you hope to gain by coming to this temple?”

“The honor of kissing your hand.”

As Oh Haengbok’s eyes widened, his eye light erupted. The veins on his arm holding the hammer bulged.

Seeing this, Oh Haengun signaled with his eyes. Immediately, the Priest Lady recited a Calm Spell. True to its reputation as a spell with exceptionally fast casting speed, the Calm Spell enveloped Oh Haengbok’s body in an instant.

However, Oh Haengbok’s contorted expression still didn’t relax. Did the spell fail? That didn’t seem to be the case. At least he put the hammer down.

But it seemed only his blazing rage had subsided; his displeasure remained. He muttered in Korean.

“Aren’t those bastards straight-up pedophiles?”

Seo Yun looked at the Frenchmen, relieved yet not completely letting her guard down.

Their expressions and attitudes as they looked at her remained exceedingly humble. Despite having a faith less than five years old, not even born-again, they were acting this way.

Unable to bear it any longer, Seo Yun spoke.

“It seems you are conflating the image of an angel from the Immortal Kingdom with that of a Christian angel. In the Immortal Kingdom, being called an angel doesn’t mean one has the ability to grant salvation. If you look at the Lesser Angel race description in the rulebook, you’d know.”

The French Man cautiously opened his mouth.

“Um, Angel.”

“Yes?”

“May I ask what the rulebook is?”

Seo Yun closed her mouth for a moment. She had to suppress the urge to retort, ‘If you don’t know the rulebook, then what was that thing you just read?’

“It’s the book of the game that merged with this world.”

“Ah, I heard there was such a thing…”

Listening to him talk, it seemed their village didn’t have an Immortal Kingdom rulebook.

This explained the source of their abnormal behavior.

When people from Happy Village hear about the Orc race, they first think of ability scores like Strength +1 and Spirit –2. They don’t care about the detailed settings or characteristics of Orcs. Only the game-like ability scores and their utility matter.

But those without the rulebook seemed different. When they see an Orc, they would first see its ferocity and savagery. They would only see the characteristics that have become reality, not the game-like elements.

So, they already know the game has become reality, but that awareness isn’t clear-cut.

Therefore, they might have immersed themselves even more deeply into this world. Unlike Korean Players who, whether they abuse their levels or not, maintain a certain psychological distance from all fantasy elements due to knowing these changes originated from a game, these people might have embraced all these fantastical changes with their hearts.

In just three years…

Seo Yun didn’t know how to deal with them.

For now, Oh Haengbok seemed to find them extremely unpleasant.

“Let’s go now, okay? Staying here will only make you angrier.”

Oh Haengun struggled to lead away that Orc, who seemed on the verge of boiling over with rage again.

Meanwhile, the Frenchmen were only looking this way. If she let them kiss her hand now and even a ‘smack’ sound was heard, Oh Haengbok would probably have a fit outside.

“Having you kiss my hand seems difficult, but instead…”

Seo Yun activated her halo. At that moment, she felt the Frenchmen’s breaths halt.

As they stared at her, entranced, Seo Yun took out a bottle of wine that had been roughly enshrined, muttered something, and held it out.

She didn’t clearly explain what she did to the wine, only pretending to have consecrated it. But the Frenchmen gladly accepted even that, cradling it.

Then, they prayed with their hands clasped before her for a long time. One of them even shed tears.

‘If I told them I’m being groomed to be a Goddess or something, they’d probably faint outright.’

Only after completing all that religious activity did the Frenchmen leave the tent.

Turning her head, she saw the boy and girl staring this way with dazed expressions. Seo Yun took a pistol from a drawer, waved it, and warned the chimpanzee with a foul mouth.

“If you spread what you saw here, you’ll die by this pistol with me. Understood?”

“Understood…!”

Outside the tent, the conversation between Oh Haengun and the Frenchmen could be heard. Roughly listening, it seemed like some negotiation was proceeding.

Only after some time had passed did Seo Yun step out of the tent.

The Frenchmen had disappeared somewhere, and Oh Haengun was talking to Oh Haengbok.

“At first, I thought their nonsense about how a Vampire couldn’t be a leader or whatever was just them picking faults to get material support. Seeing us looking so well-off, I thought they were just thinking they could get more gifts beyond what they’d already received… But listening to them talk, that’s not it.”

“They were complete fucking idiots.”

“Yes. As you saw, they’re real lunatics. It means they have mental problems. So please stay calm…”

“Mental problems, like me?”

“No, that’s not it…”

“If I have to tolerate them because they’re mentally ill, then shouldn’t you also tolerate me when I’m about to explode in anger?”

“Chief.”

As Oh Haengun fidgeted nervously, Oh Haengbok looked this way. His mouth, filled with jagged fangs, opened.

“Seo Yun, call that Troll.”

“Huh?”

“Call that Troll bastard! Tell him to change the Dimensional Gate location! Am I supposed to keep seeing those idiot bastards from now on?!”

Considering that Oh Haengbok himself had warned against summoning that Troll recklessly, this instruction was truly absurd. Seo Yun shook her head.

“Not near here.”

“Why?!”

“Gaeulbi and Han Siwoo are right in that tent, aren’t they? If we summon it here, they might hear…”

Oh Haengbok seemed determined to make his request to that Troll.

“Then we’ll summon it somewhere else. Follow me!”Oh Haengbok took Seo Yun and Oh Haengun to his tent. There was no other choice now.

Seo Yun muttered “come here” toward the bracelet.

And the next moment, the world stood still, and the Troll was before her eyes.

The Troll seemed to have hurriedly answered the summons. The fact that he was wearing some kind of gown instead of his usual silk robe was proof of that, though he still wore the golden mask even in his haste. Does he wear that mask even in his daily life?

“What’s the matter? Are they trying to kill you?”

At the Troll’s question, Seo Yun shook her head.

“No, it’s not that. That Orc told me to call you.”

When Seo Yun briefly explained the reason, the Troll did not show any displeasure. He merely explained in his characteristic stammering tone.

“That is, troublesome.”

“Is it impossible?”

“It is possible. But the reason I opened a Dimensional Gate near that village in the first place was also to reduce the number of monsters in that area.”

“So the people there could live more comfortably?”

“Yes.”

So it seemed he had sent the Korean Peninsula Players to another region with a different intention. That intention was unexpectedly and unnecessarily altruistic, but anyway.

“Since you’re here, there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Ask.”

Recalling the Frenchmen who had just claimed to be Devotees of the Hearth Goddess, Seo Yun asked.

“What exactly is the reason one should become the Goddess of Beauty or the Goddess of the Hearth? I can understand the reason to become the Goddess of Beauty. You’d be able to control Undead like Vampire Lords. But what’s the reason to become the Goddess of the Hearth?”

“As I said last time, the details will come later…”

“I don’t understand anything at all, so I have no motivation. I’m asking again, but how am I supposed to take the place of Gods that already exist?”

The Troll stared intently at her and then nodded. And he said.

“Because the Meteorite hasn’t created them yet.”

“Huh?”

“The Meteorite hasn’t been able to create the Divine Beings yet. So, the Goddess of the Hearth does not exist now. Nor does the Goddess of Beauty.”