Part 24: The Faith of the Humans

_{content warning: needles, misogyny/ogling/general weird behavior about a woman}

[BGM: A Family Matter]


Hmm? What is wrong with this pen? It's not working again...

What great timing... it's so annoying.



Willy gave me this pen.
Although it looks like a pen, it is not for writing.
I need to use it to slice up the letters, which will then split into pieces.
I can then rearrange the pieces before pressing a button on the pen, which makes the pieces reattach themselves into an intact letter.
Afterwards, the events in the human's life will happen according to my new arrangement. I can even read about the aftermath in the letter.
However, recently the pen has started to act strangely.

*growl...*

Er... I'm hungry.



Huh, it's time for afternoon tea.

That's strange. Willy has normally brought me snacks by now.

Willy? Willy, where are you?

…



It's so dark...

Where has he gone? It's so dark here, and these stairs feel very old.

Wi-!!

*crash!*

…

[BGM: Cat Pound]


What on earth are you doing here?

Turn around! Don't look!

As if I wanted to...

Ouch... Why is it so dark here? Is the light bulb out?

Yeah. It has been for a long time.

Why don't you have it fixed?



Wait... why can't we fix it ourselves? Aren't we gods? Shouldn't we be able to fix a light bulb with a simple wave of a hand?

Who told you that? Even gods have their limitations, and we can't get whatever we want. You should learn to appreciate what we do have.

Hmm? Are you saying we need to buy things too, like humans?

Well... we are not entirely like humans in this regard. We don't have to pay rent or mortgage to live here, but not everything is free.

We don't need money, but we need faith from the humans.

You mean the more people that go to a temple or church to pray to us, even worship us, the better our lives will become?

Yes. More or less. However, we are not like those gods in the normal sense.



For example, in a place with an extreme drought people would often pray for rain, right? The normal gods would just give them rain if the faithful were deemed worthy. This way, the humans would know that their wishes had been granted.

But if we were to grant their wishes, it would mean that the drought had never happened in the first place... Therefore, the humans would never realize that their wishes had been granted, because there had never been a drought; therefore they never would have had to pray, either.

I see.

So you're saying that all those people who have asked for our help never realize that they have done so.

Does that mean we are going to starve to death?

That is not going to happen, but we might be living in poverty, and...



...we might be suffering.

….........

It's hard being a god.

Well, don't think about it too much.

Anyway, were you looking for me?

Oh right! I almost forgot!

The pen hasn't been working well recently. Is it broken?

It's too dark in here. I can barely see... Let's go upstairs to your room.



Isn't there a room right here? Speaking of which, didn't you just come out from there?

Is this your room?

Yes it is.

Well, let's-

No.

(I haven't even asked yet...)

(The more he does not want me inside, the more curious I get... is he hiding something unspeakable?)

But I twisted my ankle when I fell down, I really don't want to climb the stairs...

No problem.



*fzzzt!*



Huh? H-How did we get up to my room?

(shrug) 'Cause I'm a god.

That's awesome! You know how to teleport?! Can I do that too?

Hmm... perhaps.

Let me take a look at the pen...



Well... it might be getting too old to work properly. Just try again later, it should be fine. Anyway, I'll leave you to it. I'll go prepare some snacks for you. Just lie down and rest your ankle.

Teleportation...

(Humnah humnah humnah...)

(I! Want! To! Teleport!)

...Well, that didn't work... How can I do that?

…

[BGM: New Life]






NEW MESSAGE: 1200cc



…

[BGM: Getting Serious]


1200cc

Port of Busan, near Warehouse 23.
About forty people were there, lying, standing, running.
The fisherman who were up early for work had gathered around when they realized that something big had happened.
The reporters who had heard some tips were huddling with them, hoping to catch any newsworthy material that could make a career.

But the only two people who knew what had happened had already left the scene.

The ambulance was traveling as fast as it could while trying to remain steady.
Lieutenant Kang was lying on the seat opposite me. He was still unconscious.
The medics said that he was basically asleep, and that there was no need to worry.
I wasn't surprised. After all, I had intentionally avoided his critical spots earlier.
Maybe after the nap he would be even more relaxed.



Tired. I felt so tired.
First, I'd had to knock out a mob of gangsters, then I had been threatened by Choi Yo-Han, and then I still had to fight the Lieutenant.
I hadn't slept the whole night.

Still, I had so many questions in my head that I couldn't rest at all.
Why would Lieutenant Kang attack me?
And how had he become so strong, like another person completely?
What kind of secrets had the Lieutenant been hiding?
Furthermore... This bald headed, muscular man who was lying between us due to loss of blood. Who was he?
Considering the situation with the Lieutenant, I began to find this big man suspicious, too.

I quietly took a syringe from a tray near us and hid it, just in case one of them suddenly woke up and tried to stab me with it like a maniac.



“His veins...”
The medic mumbled something while trying to give the big man an I.V.

[BGM: Silence]
Suddenly, the ambulance took a sharp left turn, and the driver slammed on the brakes to slow down.
I heard a few curses from the driver's seat.

The ambulance started again, and we noticed that the needle had slashed the muscular man; that there was a deep cut in his arm.
Strangely, though, there was no blood coming out of the cut at all.

[BGM: Broken Dream 1]


Transfiguration.

I stared at the red “Operating” sign in the ER.
I was trying to remember the documentaries about transfiguration that I had seen in the police academy.

Transfiguration was a skill that not only could change one's look, but even one's figure.
A transfiguration expert could wear a disguise that was good enough to fool anyone farther than 20 centimeters away.
This was my first time ever witnessing it at such a close distance. It was so shockingly real.

The body suit had different thicknesses in different areas.
The thicker parts perfectly resembled the texture of bulging muscles.
The suit was also completely skintight once put on a person, leaving no gaps between the suit and the wearer's skin, preventing people from sensing anything unnatural by contact.



It was very difficult to replicate the texture of real skin on the suit, though.
Most people who wore it to transfigure themselves would be exposed when people touched their skin.
However, this female senior officer, with a perfect body, was brave enough and skilled enough to go undercover in a violent gang, all while pretending to be a shirtless meathead.
It simply meant that she must be a master among masters in transfiguration.
The people in Unit 4 were practically superheroes!

I took out a pack of tissues from my pocket and calmly wiped off the blood coming out of my nose.

Not only was this my first time seeing somebody using transfiguration...
It was also my first time seeing a naked, gorgeous woman like this.
Lieutenant Kang had told me before that Officer Ji-Yeon had never attended the police academy, so she was even younger than me.
More importantly, she also had a full head of shining, long and straight black hair. She was essentially a goddess from my dreams!
From now on, I would be able to spend time with a senior officer like this every day... I, Chang Gyeong-Min, could die a happy man any time now!



Someone had just come out of the operating room. It was a young nurse.
She ran towards me as I was the only person in the hallway.

“Are you a family member of the patient?”

I nodded my head, shook it, and nodded again.

“She has lost too much blood. We need at least 1200cc more for a transfusion, but we are running out of blood. There haven't been enough donations recently. Our blood bank doesn't have enough blood of her type in storage. We are also having a shortage of another type too. I think it is...”
“Oh right, it was type A.”

“What is Officer Ji-Yeon's blood type?”
“Type O.”



What was my blood type again? I remembered I had checked it before. Let me think...
“Yes, it was type A.”

Lieutenant Kang, who had been asleep since we got to the hospital, was suddenly standing behind me. “Mine is...”
“Type B.”

The nurse looked sympathetic.
“I'm sorry, but neither of your blood types is a match. I'll have to go and call another hospital. I hope it is not too late.”

A few minutes after she had hurried away, the sign went off.
The doctor slowly pushed open the door to the operating room.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, and the door looked like it was as heavy as a mountain.

“I'm so sorry...”



I held my head in my hands, staring at the floor.
I couldn't breathe.

It was all because of my little trick. If I hadn't shot her, if only I were a better police officer, she would still be alive...

Chang Gyeong-Min





***

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