“I was seriously considering how to deal with these guys at first. That’s how angry I was at them.”
Baal said this with a gaze fixed on a distant mountain.
“But you know, it’s not just a few demons showing up; over ten of them appear all at once, so I couldn’t care less. They’ll be suffering the punishment slowly for a long time anyway, so getting angry now would be pointless. If I kept that up, maybe I’d eventually think it doesn’t matter at all after a long time.”
Baal dragged a chair over with a scrape and sat down.
…Wait a minute. Just a moment ago, this place was empty— No, wait. Does it even matter? I’m facing a god here. A chair popping out of thin air wouldn’t be strange at all.
“Sit down. We have a long talk ahead.”
There was a chair where Baal pointed. I wasn’t sure if he thought I was uncomfortable or if he was the one feeling uneasy, but between the place he was sitting and my seat, there was a long table.
“……”
Since I was too lazy to argue, I just dragged the chair over and sat down in silence.
“Well, I can prepare something to eat, but I can’t guarantee it’ll taste good. After all, this isn’t the real world; it’s your consciousness.”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
“Good to hear.”
As he said that, a silver candlestick rose in the middle of the table. Watching the candle lit up effortlessly, I found myself at a loss for words.
“……Your taste is quite good.”
That was all I could muster up.
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“……”
Ignoring my complicated expression, Baal lifted one leg and crossed it over the other. He rested his elbow on the armrest and propped his chin up with his hand. That posture made him look just like a protagonist out of a middle school light novel— or a shonen manga character with an absurd number of female fans… Well, you get the idea.
“Actually, every time I came to see you, Ariel was nagging me a lot. She gives me a hard time.”
“But you came anyway, right?”
“Regardless, we are on equal footing. If I have the right to meddle, I also have the right to ignore it.”
So, does that mean the nagging doesn’t matter?
If I voiced such thoughts aloud, it felt like we’d end up debating personal rights and equality until sunrise, so I stayed silent.
“Why is that, I wonder?”
Huh?
The conversation with Baal suddenly took a strange turn, and I stared at him for a while. But if I didn’t respond, it felt like he would just keep staring at me. Eventually, I was the one who spoke first.
“…What kind of nonsense is that?”
“I’m being literal. Every time I want to ‘interfere’ with you, why does Ariel nag me?”
“…Because she thinks it’s unnecessary?”
Isn’t it a bit troubling that they’re assigning me tasks yet keep meddling? Ariel can be a bit soft-hearted.
“That’s a very accurate description.”
Baal lifted one corner of his mouth. It wasn’t exactly a smile. Sure, his mouth was shaped that way, but his eyes were completely devoid of mirth.
“Ariel ‘trusts’ you. She thinks you’ll figure things out on your own without needing direct guidance. You might even interpret this as a sort of debt due to bringing you from another world.”
“And you don’t trust me?”
“Of course not. I’m a skeptic.”
“Huh?”
Wait, what does it mean for a god to be a skeptic? Isn’t that their job, to inform and guide people?
“What even is a god?”
Baal shifted his hand from his chin to his stomach, straightened his back, and leaned against the chair. Even when sitting straight, he still seemed somewhat slouched; it must be his specialty.
“Is a god simply someone with overwhelmingly greater power than humans?”
“Uh… that seems a bit off.”
“Then is a god someone who is omnipotent? If so, what if that omnipotent being denies being a god? Are they still considered a god?”
“Are you trying to pull a riddle on me right now?”
“No, I’m being quite serious.”
Baal lifted his hands, interlocking his fingers as he spoke.
“Because I’ve hardly ever thought of myself as a god.”
“……”
I felt like those sect leaders who were going to faint from shock.
“You’re not a god, yet you created demons? You appeared in Jian’s mind and told him to become an apostle, and you showed up in Rina’s head and told her to lead the sect?”
“Ah, of course, I act like that when necessary. It’s more efficient. They follow well.”
“……”
As I gaped at Baal, he slightly shrank his shoulders.
“Well, that’s just how I think. Regardless of my own feelings, those who believe in me are connected and can access my power. It’s actually more convenient for me to manage them as someone who ‘self-proclaims’ to be a god. That way, things don’t go off the rails.”
Without regard to one’s own will…
Well, if he could turn Holy Power and miracles on and off at will, he would have wiped out demons long ago. He could have taken back all the power given to them and erased their lives outright with divine power. There are things that even Baal and Ariel, who are called gods, cannot do, which led them to undertake this complex and uncertain task.
Most importantly, I can’t imagine Ariel wanting to give Holy Power to someone like Kwon In-Soo.
Hmm.
Something… how should I put it…
The more we talked, the more it felt like I was discovering things I didn’t want to know. Or perhaps things I already knew but didn’t want to think about.
…I definitely need to keep everything that happened here a secret.
“And you know about the beings designed to directly utilize that power.”
“……Demons?”
“That’s right.”
Baal’s eyes became distant again.
“I’ve already made a terrible mistake. So many have suffered and died because of it. Yet those who endured and died, along with their families and friends, still consider me a god.”
“……”
“I’ve tried to understand the concept of a god. In certain religions, a god is said to have created the world. If that’s the case, I’m not a god. I didn’t create the world. In other religions, a god is said to be a destroyer of worlds. If that’s true, then I’m not a god either. I don’t wish to destroy the world.
…If I had to define a similar existence, it would be gods with human forms and emotions, mortal rather than immortal. But can such beings be called gods? Can those who claim to be gods and look down on those who naturally came into being truly be considered legitimate gods? From the moment I was born, I was that kind of being. And I never once considered myself a god. Therefore, I don’t think those beings regard me as a god.”
…Hmm.
What should I say? I have never thought about it, so I’ll just stay quiet.
No matter what I say, it’s likely to be refuted. To a being that has seriously contemplated its existence for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, arguments from me would sound like the illogical ramblings of a child.
“So, I consider myself a skeptic. Do I have the right to be called a god, after turning the world into hell while trying to lend a helping hand?”
“……”
It was too big an issue to claim it was just because the intention was good.
“What does Ariel say about that?”
“Well, she says that since people believe so, it’s just a matter of returning their faith. You know Ariel’s personality well, don’t you?”
Yeah, that sounds like something she’d say.
“Uh… so, you came all this way to say that you can’t trust me?”
“Uh? Ah. What I originally intended to say wasn’t this; it was something a bit shorter.”
Then just get to the point first!
As I glared at him, Baal smiled a tired smile.
“However, there’s one thing I need to correct. It’s not that I can’t trust you. I simply don’t have the courage to leave everything to you like Ariel does. As I said, I’m a skeptic.”
“Ugh…”
Am I supposed to feel touched? Is this the moment?
If that were the intent, he wouldn’t have said it so blandly. If this were a movie or a drama shoot, it would definitely be an NG. The director would ask for a retake. Right now, I kind of want to shout “cut” myself.
“The number of demons is eighty-seven.”
“……Huh?”
“I know the count well. When I first created the demons to manage the world, there were 112 of them, and after removing those who died in internal strife after abandoning their faith in me, that’s how many were left.”
But given he used “was,” it seems there has been a change in that number.
“Right now, it’s fifty-one.”
“……”
“Yeah, it’s decreasing rapidly. As the gap between the strong and the weak widens, that number will continue to fall faster.”
Baal leaned slightly towards me with a serious expression. The way the candlestick was positioned perfectly emphasized the seriousness on his face.
“What I wanted to say is that you don’t have much time left. The demons will likely unify much quicker than you expect. And when that happens, humanity’s existence will also be in jeopardy. Like I mentioned earlier, Ariel believes in you. She thinks it’ll work out for you without me having to invade your consciousness to say this. Or rather, she believes it will happen.”
Baal let out a light sigh and continued.
“But, I don’t. I’m anxious. I’m anxious about whether you can truly protect humanity perfectly and prevent the extinction of the other races in this world. That’s why I’ve shown up in your consciousness numerous times to try and help.”
“……Even when you possessed me to confront demons or witches?”
“That was genuinely out of anger, though.”
So you’re saying you acted more out of emotion than reason!
“Anxiety is also an emotion.”
“……”
Baal stared at my face intently.
“I’ve told you this, so you understand. You need to prepare thoroughly. You must be able to achieve what you want, no matter how unforeseen the circumstances may be.”
“……”
Today, he wore a more serious expression than any I’d seen before…
“I hope you can help me gather the sins I’ve committed. If you ask me to apologize for not believing from the start, I will. With everything you’ve done until now, there’s no way for me to repay you. Even if you fail, I must feel grateful to you.”
Baal uncrossed his legs.
He then quietly lowered his head.
“But now, we’ve really come close to the end. So I ask you to move a little forward. I’m making this request.”
“……”
Ah, my jaw hurts.
I must have been holding my mouth open too wide.
What’s wrong with him? If a god gets that weird, it’s really a serious crisis, isn’t it?
“……Ah, well.”
I let out a sigh.
“Get your head up. Back in the day, maybe not, but now there are believers who trust you. If you bow your head to me, you’re spitting on their faces.”
As I said that, Baal lifted his head. His expression was blank, but I could sense numerous emotions tangled up behind it.
“Isn’t it because it’s something only I can do that you entrusted it to me?”
As I said before, if Baal and Ariel could just stomp on it themselves, they would have done so. But these two even seriously considered creating beings similar to demons, only to halt that idea. They must have weighed the possibilities with their divine intellect, pondering if the ones who defeated the demons might become demons themselves.
And ultimately, the possibility they found was bringing me from another world.
Someone who might have written the world with the tip of a pen.
Well… Honestly, speaking like that makes me question things.
Initially, I thought I wrote the world, but the more I lived here, the more I questioned how true that really was.
What I wrote was only a tiny portion of this world. So much happens behind the scenes that I’m completely unaware of.
So, do I truly have the right to be called the creator of this world?
…It seems Baal’s skepticism has rubbed off on me.
“And… Well, if I didn’t want to be here, I would have asked to be sent back long ago.”
“……Is that so?”
Baal nodded.
“Indeed.”
After murmuring that, he slowly stood up from the chair.
“Then, that’s the end of what I wanted to say. Do you have anything else you wish to share?”
“……I honestly just want to forget everything I’ve heard here.”
I just want to do things as Ariel thinks, without any worries. I’m hoping that somehow things will work out.
At my response, Baal smiled sadly.
“Then it seems we won’t meet for a while. You will be busy too.”
“……I guess that’s how it’ll be….”
As I muttered with a soul-drained expression, Baal flinched slightly.
“Well, it’s something that can only be done by you.”
“Alright, I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you.”
…Hasn’t he suddenly switched character too much?
Well, I suppose it was pointless for me to think about it.
“Then, I bid you farewell. We will meet again someday, whether that’s in a short while or many years later.”
“I suppose so.”
“If possible, I’d prefer it to be in many years. Wouldn’t that be better?”
“I think so too.”
As I agreed, Baal nodded and took a few steps back before—
“Oh, wait, one more thing.”
Suddenly stopping, he turned slightly back toward me.
“Since I’m already giving you a heads up, let me tell you one more thing.”
“……You’ve already told me more than enough.”
“Just accept it as a favor and stay quiet.”
…Something tells me that if I don’t listen, I might not wake up in the morning, so I stayed quiet as Baal requested.
“Do you know what the power of miracles is?”
“Isn’t it a bit late to be asking that now?”
“Let’s hear it.”
Not understanding what he meant, I stared at Baal blankly as he gestured toward me again.
“Say it. What is a miracle, according to you?”
“……It’s when someone who believes strongly in a god or is convinced of their existence calls upon the power of that god into their own body.”
As I recited what I had set up in my story, Baal quietly nodded.
“Yes, that was it.”
Baal nodded.
“Then, where does the ‘power of the god’ come from?”
“What?”
“Simply put, I’m asking where the power of a god comes from. Did you set that too? What about our origins?”
“……Aren’t you just strong?”
Isn’t that how you were born? Didn’t Baal say that himself earlier? It seemed so obvious that I never thought to lay out a separate setup. Quite the contrary, perhaps he couldn’t think of himself as a god because he was just born that way.
“Hmm.”
Baal gave a very unpleasant smile.
“……Why? What? What’s wrong? Am I misunderstanding something?”
Feeling anxious, I asked, and Baal raised his hands dramatically as if he’s in a scene from an American drama.
“Who knows? If you didn’t specifically write it in the notebook, it might be as you said, or it could also be different.”
“No, what are you getting at? Is it important?”
“I’ll give you a hint.”
As he said that, Baal turned around.
“When I entered your body, you called upon the power of miracles and stripped away my wonder. Whose power was that? What color was the light emanating from your left hand then? Black light? Gold light?”
“Uh….?”
“What color was the intense light radiating from your left hand?”
Uh, wait a minute.
“You might not remember clearly because you were so furious at that time, but if that light in your hand had been Ariel’s miracle, your head would’ve been blown off in that instant. So, why were you able to take away my miracle without any of that?”
“……”
As my mouth hung open, the Demon smiled and began to walk away.
“Think carefully. What could we have ‘come from’? Why is it that their ‘faith’ calls upon our power?”
“I mean, can you just tell me that while you’re leaving?!”
As I said that, I stepped forward to follow the vanishing figure of Baal, and—
I fell off the bed with a thud.
Damn it!
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