Chapter 39 Part8 (1/2)
<chapter 39.=”” new=”” party=”” member=”” -=”” 8=”” [end=”” of=”” volume=”” 9]=””>
”How stupid.”
Jin, who'd learned the truth, said and went silent. He probably had so much on his mind that he couldn't say anything more. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo also had mixed feelings on the subject, so he didn't say anything either. Soon, Jin spoke, as if he were muttering.
”If the Emperor's true goal was turning them into the undead and he succeeded, then... Why are we fighting them? Did even G.o.d abandon them?”
”No, it's to protect the world. If the undead curse spreads to the surface, then the world is as good as dead.”
Since Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was undead himself, he didn't want to label them like this. But strictly speaking, the undead consumed the world's resources, without creating anything in return.
That was their biggest flaw. If all the beings that lived on this world became undead, then the only course the world could take is ruin. It was only natural that G.o.d sought to eliminate the Undead Empire's curse.
”But the Undead Empire's so pitiful.”
”The h.e.l.l are you talking about? Everyone's trying their hardest to live. What are you going to do, let the underground inhabitants go to the surface? If you do that, then the underground and the surface will go to war. It's been so long since the underground was isolated from the surface. Even if the underground takes their revenge on the surface, the surface dwellers will be the only ones who'll suffer.”
”Then why do you look so unwell? You don't sympathize with the underground citizens, nor do you hate the surface dwellers, so why...”
”I feel bad for the heroes.”
”Huh...?”
As expected, Jin hadn't gotten that far yet. Jin looked bewildered and Lee s.h.i.+n Woo explained kindly.
”The heroes don't know anything and are being manipulated by G.o.d. They don't know what happened to the people underground, why they became undead, or how the surface is faring. That's pitiful enough, but even if they eliminate the undead curse, all that's left for them is despair.”
”Why despair... Ah!”
Jin realized belatedly and was shocked.
”The barrier that prevents the living from pa.s.sing through... I see! So the heroes can't leave the Underground Empire either!”
”Yeah. G.o.d's using the heroes to do her dirty work, but once they've eliminated the curse, she plans on burying them underground.”
”How could she... Wait a sec. What if they collect 100 permits; if they get that many, they can see the surface. Wasn't her intent to let them escape to the surface?”
”No, absolutely not.”
G.o.d's power seemed absolute, but Lee s.h.i.+n Woo knew that G.o.d, and by extension, Pleine, were just bluffing.
”You've never thought about why we're the only ones given the mission of collecting the secret shop permits? Even though there were dozens of heroes (seniors) before us.”
”Just us... Isn't it because, other than you, it's impossible to gather that many permits?”
”No. It'd be really tough, but it's not undoable. You can also get quests from G.o.d. If G.o.d had told our seniors that they could go the surface if they gathered 100 permits, then they probably would have tried.”
However, G.o.d had never given them that option. She had only given that option to Lee s.h.i.+n Woo by surrept.i.tiously saying 'save the permits'. Why did she do that? Lee s.h.i.+n Woo realized why she'd done that early on.
”If the other heroes were to gather 100 permits, it'd be meaningless.”
”Meaningless... What are you talking about?”
”There were several clues. Lee Man Bok hated G.o.d, and Pleine showed some signs as well.”
Ah, and now that he thought about it, he'd heard it before he had brought Jin to the secret shop to leave for the surface. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo remembered that time and kindly told Jin what Pleine had told him.
”She said if it were just me and you, it should be possible, but she also said I'd be the 'first and the last'. Why would I be the last? That's because the other heroes can't pa.s.s through the gate.”
”Ah...!?”
That's right. Pleine had borrowed G.o.d's power to create a gate that led to the surface, and while that gate looked like it could be used by the other heroes, it actually couldn't.
Although she seemed omnipotent, even G.o.d couldn't do anything about the barrier that divided the surface and the underground. So it made sense that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo and Jin, who 'weren't alive', could use the gate. Looks can be deceiving. Rem also wasn't alive, so it could go through without any problems.
It made sense that the other heroes hadn't heard of gathering 100 permits in order to go to the surface before. No matter how many permits they saved, G.o.d didn't have a way of sending them to the surface!
”But the Bone Gate absorbed G.o.d's power and evolved into a level 9 artifact. It blew G.o.d's expectations out of the water and possessed power greater than that of the chaos element barrier. G.o.d probably wanted us to do something about the barrier from the surface, but the problem had already been solved. So, there wouldn't have been any problem if we went straight back underground when we first arrived on the surface.”
”It sounds really stupid.”
”Yeah. It does sound stupid, even while I'm saying it.”
Of course, the fact that Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's Heaven Door's Key could transport Ye Jin Jin to the surface was enough proof.
However, that was merely the outcome. The fact that the Heaven Door's Key had even been born was strictly luck. Its creation hadn't been G.o.d's intention, but a result of Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's karma. It wouldn't have even been enough if all the heroes traveled around the Underground Empire and went on a 'three steps, one bow' [1] pilgrimage to Lee s.h.i.+n Woo.
”If we put everything together, we find that... G.o.d's a b.i.t.c.h.”
”Uh, yeah.”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was fl.u.s.tered by Jin's extreme bluntness and agreed with him. Although it wasn't his intention, he ended up defending her a little bit.
”But I feel like G.o.d wasn't pleased with her choices either. Whether she decided that things couldn't go on as they were, or that she pitied the heroes... It doesn't matter. After all, she turned you and me into the undead.”
”Did she make it so that we could go to the surface after we've completed our mission? Sure. But we're undead! Moreover, it doesn't change the fact that the other heroes can't escape!”
”Yeah, so she didn't have a clear goal or plan in place. She probably just... hoped? We're both heroes and also ent.i.ties that can enter the outside world; she was hoping that we would do something about that barrier.”
”She should've been more clear!”
”Well, we did deal with it though.”
From the very beginning, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo didn't think G.o.d was looking far into the future. As he said, she probably just hoped they'd deal with it; that's why they were in this situation.
And realistically speaking, they had dealt with it. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo thought 'you sure are lucky that it turned out as you wanted'. If he just dealt with the undead curse, then everything would be... Lee s.h.i.+n Woo knew that that was probably what G.o.d was thinking, and it had played exactly as she wanted.