I Returned as a God - Chapter 18

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Returned as a God ◈

Chapter 18: Reason for Living (2)

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"You call that a question? Obviously not."

[You're pretty shameless.]

Hands in his pockets, Jihan shrugged lightly.

I hadn't actually expected anything from that question, so it didn't bother me much.

'No way a Korean high schooler knows how to use a sword to kill monsters.'

Weird that Choi Suhyun's face came to mind right at that moment. Must've been my imagination.

If it was Choi Suhyun, the youngest Awakened on record, it wouldn't have been strange to see him in his school uniform killing monsters in a dungeon.

'Anyway, that's just because that world is the weird one.'

Normally, Yu Jihan's reaction was the correct one.

[So, you got a god you serve?]

"A god I serve? Ah, is that the thing those bastards were talking about?"

Yu Jihan muttered that he'd overheard people talking about it.

Judging by how unsure he sounded, he didn't seem to actually know much.

I could see Yu Jihan's merit points, and I could gift him items.

Seeing that merit points existed for him at all, it occurred to me that it might be possible to bring Yu Jihan under me.

'Should be fine, right?'

Even accounting for the fact that we were inside some kind of space-time distortion, I wasn't even sure something like this was possible.

'Ugh, whatever.'

Better than leaving him to die pathetically here.

Besides, even if I took him in as a follower, there was no guarantee Yu Jihan would survive long anyway.

It would just raise the odds a little.

"Hey, what are you trying to do?"

[Hold on. Thinking.]

Whatever happens, happens. It's not like taking in one Yu Jihan is going to cause some catastrophe.

[Inviting 'Yu Jihan' to become a follower.]

The moment I hit confirm, a status window appeared in front of Yu Jihan.

I could see Yu Jihan's status window too.

[The god Soter wishes for you to become a follower. Accepting will make you a follower of the god Soter.]

"This is..."

[Not forcing you.]

I made that part clear.

Whether Yu Jihan became a follower or not, I had no reason to be disappointed, and I had no need to drag him along against his will.

'This is pure meddling on my part.'

I was just returning, in kind, something I'd once received from someone myself.

Contrary to my expectation that he'd need time to decide, Yu Jihan's answer came a lot faster than I thought.

[Yu Jihan has become your follower.]

[Congratulations! Your first follower has been born!]

I immediately checked Yu Jihan's status window.

[Yu Jihan (Soter)]

Rank: Guardian

Strength: A- (11%)

Vitality: B- (30%)

Mana: C+ (70%)

Healing: B (5%)

Merit Points: 720

Skills

Talent <Blessing of Soter>

I'd expected it, but the status window really was clean across the board.

[You may appoint a Guardian. 0/1]

[Would you like to appoint Yu Jihan as Guardian? The appointment takes effect the moment the other party accepts.]

I just hit yes without thinking twice. Looked like a notification had gone to him too.

[Yu Jihan has become your Guardian.]

While I was still turning things over in my head, Yu Jihan spoke up.

"Okay, I accepted, but weren't you saying something about a sword? Say something already. I don't even know where it is, this is driving me nuts."

[You sure you don't regret this?]

"Regret what? Joining up under you? Everyone else seems to have a god they follow anyway. I was kind of annoyed I was the only one with nobody. Dunno about other gods, but you're weirdly human for a god, so this seems like the better deal."

Well, I couldn't decide if that was supposed to be a compliment or not.

I opened Yu Jihan's status window.

[Special Gift]

! You may gift an item you personally brought in.

Note: gifting consumes merit points corresponding to the item's value.

- Gift recipient: Yu Jihan

- Available gift: Bladed weapon (620)

'Ah, more than I expected.'

But since I'd already decided to give the gift, I wasn't backing out now.

'Got plenty of swords anyway.'

Before entering the Tower of Trials, I'd stopped by Choi Suhyun's personal vault.

Figuring losing one wouldn't be a big deal, I gifted a sword to Yu Jihan.

[Consumed 620 merit points to gift 'Yu Jihan' a bladed weapon.]

The sword in my hand vanished, transferring into Yu Jihan's inventory.

Yu Jihan, having received the gift, pulled the sword out of his inventory.

"What's this now?"

[Call it your welcome gift for becoming a follower.]

It was a used sword, so calling it a gift felt kind of iffy, and since it came out of his own merit points, that made it even more awkward to call a gift.

Still, I milked it for what little credit I could get.

The sword appeared in Yu Jihan's hand.

"Pretty sharp."

Yu Jihan ran his finger along the blade and hesitated.

[If you want to back out...]

"Enough with the backing out. You're the one who told me not to give up, don't act all considerate now."

Yu Jihan cut me off, sounding like he already knew exactly what I was getting at.

Jihan had already experienced, firsthand, what a difference in power actually meant back in the lobby.

Why had the people who came into the lobby with Jihan died at the hands of the Central Guild members?

Why had the ones who got kicked out died without ever clearing Floor 1?

Because they had no power. Because they weren't ready to kill monsters. That was the whole reason.

[Don't think this ends easy just because I'm not visible.]

"I said I got it."

Jihan gripped the sword tight.

* * *

Korea Hunter Association, Jongno Headquarters office.

Choi Suhyun, occupying two spacious desks, sat with earphones in, working through his tasks.

Fragments of some currently trending idol song leaked out from the wireless earbuds.

On one side of his desk sat a half-finished beer can and some beef jerky, while on the other, a dual monitor displayed a webtoon that had absolutely nothing to do with work.

It wouldn't have looked out of place as a desk at home instead of a company desk.

No matter that it was the Association, a company was still a company.

Who on earth listens to music, watches webtoons, and drinks beer while working at the office? By any normal standard, this shouldn't have been happening.

And yet nobody scolded Choi Suhyun for it, nor did anyone seem bothered.

Everyone's expressions said this was just how things were.

They wouldn't have cared even if Choi Suhyun put on a headset and played some online game over voice chat.

The simple fact that a Hunter of Choi Suhyun's caliber showed up to work and sat at a desk every day was already impressive enough.

A man in his early twenties approached Choi Suhyun's side.

"Manager, Manager."

"Huh? What?"

The man who'd come up to Choi Suhyun's desk pointed at the other monitor.

"Please check your email."

"Hold on."

Choi Suhyun quickly finished the episode he was reading, then turned to check the email his team member had sent.

"Another dungeon break in Sindorim? Wasn't there an incident nearby just last week too?"

"That was Yeongdeungpo. Given the fake dungeon issue from before, upper management said to avoid anywhere with trouble. We're moving the field training from Boramae Park over to Maebongsan. Just need your sign-off, Manager."

"Yeah, yeah."

Choi Suhyun picked up the tablet pen connected to his PC, signed one of the documents on his monitor, and sent the email.

"Thanks."

After the team member returned to his seat, Choi Suhyun turned away from the monitor with the webtoon and toward the one with a different program running.

'Number of dungeon breaks in the last three months. Aria Guild. Aria. Aria. What? Why do they have so many?'

A messenger notification chimed on Choi Suhyun's computer.

"Who's messaging me... ah."

Seeing the fairly short reply, Choi Suhyun picked up his phone and headed into an empty conference room.

─ Hey, buddy. Dungeon expedition wrap up okay?

─ What do you want?

─ Just checking in on you. We're not so distant that I can't even call to say hi, are we?

─ What do you want.

─ Cold.

─ Dodge the question and I'm hanging up.

Another employee heading for the conference room flinched at the sight of Choi Suhyun.

Choi Suhyun waved a hand and the employee reluctantly moved to a different room.

Park Siyu, Aria Guild representative.

One of three co-representatives, and Choi Suhyun's high school classmate.

─ Nothing much, just there's a Hunter with nowhere else to go, can you take them in?

─ That's unusual.

─ It's someone I've kind of taken a liking to.

─ If you like this kid, I already know for sure he's not right in the head. What's your angle here?

At Park Siyu's words coming through the phone, Choi Suhyun scratched his cheek.

Aria Guild wasn't a guild built around any one main god. It was a guild with Hunters serving all sorts of gods, and as long as someone wasn't Unaffiliated, getting into the guild itself was pretty easy.

Whoever this Hunter was that Choi Suhyun wanted to introduce, there was no need to go through such a roundabout process.

But the great Choi Suhyun, bowing his head to ask a favor of Park Siyu, a guild representative?

There was no way to think about it except that he had some other angle for this Hunter he was placing.

─ Not asking you to watch his back or anything like that. Obviously you're not the type to just take someone in on request alone. Just, once he joins the guild, let me know what he's up to.

─ You want me, the guild rep, to spy on the Hunter you yourself recommended? You know that's not like you, right?

─ You guys have been having a lot of dungeon incidents lately. Took a quick look earlier, it's not just one or two cases. You know we're on edge about that fake dungeon thing, right?

─ A trainee dying in a dungeon is clearly your side's management failure, isn't it? Not sure why you're going after a perfectly clean guild.

─ Chalk it up as a debt. I haven't been doing this job for one or two days, keeping a tab like that'll pay off for you.

─ Send me the kid's profile.

─ Okay.

Choi Suhyun hung up and returned to his seat.

Leaning back in his chair, he finished off the rest of his beer and chewed on some jerky.

Choi Suhyun sent a text to Hangyeol.

「Your guild's confirmed.」

「Oh. Thanks.」

Choi Suhyun was about to switch to his computer and reply with something about grabbing dinner, when a text from Hangyeol popped up on his big monitor.

「Oh right, hyung」

「I lost the weapon」

Choi Suhyun's hand, mid-typing, hovered over the keyboard for a few seconds.

He raised a hand to wave off a team member approaching about a different sign-off, then sent a reply to Hangyeol.

「Hey」

「You know how much that thing costs?」

"Ugh, my blood pressure."

A sudden, intense bloodlust seeped into the air, and the office atmosphere went cold.

Choi Suhyun's hand trembled as it hit the keyboard.

* * *

I helped Jihan as much as I could, then left the Tower of Trials.

I boiled some ramyeon at home and was waiting around when I muttered at Choi Suhyun's reply.