The Bomb Explodes

Sometimes fate, no matter how much you try to avoid or resist it, forces you to do exactly that right there.

Perhaps that’s why people say you must fight fate, not go against it.

—Solo Count, love and communication specialist.

When Aetas rubbed her fingers together and made a crisp sound as if annoyed, the suffocating killing intent subsided in an instant.

Judging by the speed with which she expelled and reined in that murderous aura, the epithet “god of birth” didn’t truly suit him.

“At the last ‘Battlefield of Gods’…”

“Stop!”

This time it was Spatium. She glared at Genesis with murderous eyes and spoke.

Spatium’s words felt like cold daggers, laying sharpened blades across the Garden of Gods’ floor.

“That’s enough. I won’t allow any more. There is a being here unfit for this place. Moreover, now is not the time to blithely speak of hidden contracts behind the results of the previous Battlefield of the Gods.”

“…That’s what she says. I can’t tell you the details. But Kim Han, if you protect Mae Young-ryeong—no, even if she must die against your will, it’s fine, you may take her as your woman—I only ask that Mae Young-ryeong finish the Battlefield of the Gods happily, and I promise, by divine oath, to heal and protect all of Kim Mina, and to tell you the whole truth once you have completely finished the Battlefield of the Gods.”

“I’ll think about it. There are still three years left.”

“Yes. Thank you, thank you, Kim Han. And I have prepared some things just in case. I’ll send them to Mae Young-ryeong’s side—hope they help.”

After those words, everyone fell into their own thoughts and silence descended over the Garden of Gods. A sudden hush.

But nobody found the silence uncomfortable; they were all lost in thought.

After a long while, Aetas spoke up as if he’d suddenly remembered something.

“Ah! Kim Han. Now that I think about it, I was going to talk about something important, but we wasted time on irrelevant things. Let me explain why we brought Ister here.”

“Huh? Sure, go ahead.”

Honestly, I expected Aetas’ words wouldn’t really register—my thoughts couldn’t stop returning to Mina.

I thought I would hear whatever Aetas said with one ear and let it go out the other.

“You’re going to recruit another representative, right?”

“Uh—uh. Huh?!”

“I mean the legion. Won’t you recruit another representative?”

“…I should, right?”

I really hadn’t expected her to bring up recruiting another representative.

Ironically, I was the one who wanted to ask Ludicer for advice on how to recruit another representative.

“So we’ve prepared. We even have a good test subject here named Ister. We all suspect the work you must do won’t be ordinary, and it seems to align with what we hope for. But if you add other legion members, secrecy becomes an issue, doesn’t it?”

“What? Oh no, Aetas!”

Had this not been discussed with Ister yet?

Ignoring the visibly flustered Ister, Aetas pulled out a dazzling piece of paper.

The situation progressed aggressively and quickly. Meanwhile, my lingering worries about Mina remained unresolved in my head.

As a result, unlike before, I couldn’t intervene; I only nodded.

“This is the ‘Oath of Divine Speech.’ At the top it says the conversations between representatives shall not be leaked or discussed with anyone except the Rebound legion members and their responsible gods. I’ll write the names of the four of us, including myself, now. Like this. Now, Ister. Do it.”

“…What? No, why should I sign this!”

Ister recoiled as if she’d touched something filthy.

The other gods’ gazes turned cold as they looked at Ister.

“Don’t like it? If you refuse, Arun will have to be expelled from the Rebound legion. Goodbye, Ister.”

“It’s not that, but I do have my position and free will…”

Unexpectedly, it was Spatium who approached the hesitant Ister.

“Ister, you’ve grown a lot. To think you’d consider opposing us. Fine, we understand how you feel. Off you go.”

Huh. Unlike the other four gods, Spatium gave Ister a short, curt remark that was more threat than not, then turned away decisively.

Then Spatium walked straight to Ludicer with the oath, and Ludicer ostentatiously signed.

“…I will.”

Is it an offer a god cannot refuse? Perhaps it’s proof they consider my chances of winning quite high.

Ister’s claim that it was coercion wasn’t wrong. It was certainly forced.

Nevertheless, fearing Spatium would finalize the oath, Ister hurriedly agreed.

“What? We don’t want to coerce you.”

“No. I want to join the Rebound legion as well.”

“Oh? Well then, should we accept you?”

The situation had completely reversed. It was like watching a comedy skit.

My head spinning at the scene continued to hurt, Ludicer approached me.

“Are you feeling strange, Kim Han?”

“Huh? Uh, a little.”

“Actually, I’m always surprised by you, Kim Han. By how you handle other gods and seize initiative. But more astonishing is your prior knowledge of the Battlefield of the Gods—the positions of the transcendent, their unique skills that even other gods don’t know, and even how those skills match with representatives.”

“….”

“But above all, and something I personally highly value, is your preparedness to make the training period more fruitful than anyone else’s: the various integrated magic circles installed in your mansion, the underground training ground, and inviting Deicide and Destruction for practical combat drills.”

“…I see.”

“Even if you fought other representatives right now, Kim Han, you’d be among the top three. And you’re progressing far faster than other representatives. You have no less than eleven talents backing you, enormous training volume, two transcendent-levels whose combat power rivals most gods, life-or-death battles akin to real combat, and excellent fighting sense. In four years, you could likely handle hundreds of ordinary representatives alone.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yes. And that’s a conservative estimate. If you miraculously master Deicide and Destruction before the training period… I can’t even imagine. In any case, the representatives around you have all grown stronger too. Lee Hyo-ju, Naruan, and Mae Young-ryeong have changed to seem almost of another class; Hazel achieved the wish she’d desperately wanted; and Arun is already a master great mage. So other gods cling to you.”

Is that all? Everyone here—even Ister with the fish-head—knew that I had met the Creator.

Especially the four goddesses surrounding Ister, radiating the ‘playful older sisters’ vibe that Talis called Creator superfans, might know more details than Ludicer.

‘Well, whatever the reason, as long as it’s certain, that’s good for me.’

I had no objection to agreeing to secrecy. In fact, it was exactly what I wanted.

Representatives can be trusted, but gods are not beings you can easily trust.

While chatting idly with Ludicer, Aetas ran over with a cheerful smile, fluttering the oath paper.

“Kim Han. From now on we’ll each keep a copy. So whenever you recruit legion members, always ask who their responsible god is. And…”

“Kim Han!”

The one who cut off Aetas was Genesis. Her face was completely ashen.

“…Why are you so anxious?”

“Mae… Young-ryeong, Mae Young-ryeong…!”

“Mae Young-ryeong what?!”

Genesis’ desperate shout sent question marks hovering over everyone’s heads.

Mae Young-ryeong spoke with her responsible god, Genesis.

She had received her power, and just as she was about to leave the Garden, Genesis urgently called her back and handed her a small parcel.

“You must definitely deliver this to Kim Han. And Young-ryeong…”

“Yes?”

“Do exactly as Kim Han tells you. That’s how you’ll live. If you don’t, you and everyone else will be unhappy. Understand?”

“What? Yes.”

Mae Young-ryeong didn’t fully understand what Genesis meant.

But she took it lightly as an order from the legion leader and didn’t think much of it—her complacence became the flap of a butterfly’s wings.

As soon as Mae Young-ryeong left the Garden of Gods, she was surprised that she was the first out. She hadn’t expected Naruan to take longer than her.

“Huh?”

The gardener, seeing Mae Young-ryeong sitting on the Garden steps waiting for her companions, suggested she wait comfortably inside.

The gardener led Mae Young-ryeong to the reception room where they had previously waited for Lee Hyo-ju to wake after receiving her ‘transmission.’

Mae Young-ryeong parted the heavy kilim and entered the reception room, sat at an old tea table, and began reading a book.

Savoring the fragrant tea the gardener brought, she lost track of time reading the letter Genesis had given her.

How long had she been reading? A conversation beyond the long-draped kilim pricked up her ears.

“Really? There are already infected in Exorsus too?”

“So I’ve heard. The Temple Union has designated the area where the first patient appeared in the eastern district as a quarantine zone.”

“Huh—what’s happening all of a sudden? So Exorsus isn’t safe anymore?”

“Indeed. The Holy Nation Union says quite a few villages have already vanished to the pestilence.”

“This is serious.”

“One of the gardeners has gone out and will learn the details. Let’s wait.”

“Hmm…”

The reception room used the heavy kilim instead of a door to separate inside and out, so Mae Young-ryeong could clearly hear the gardeners’ conversation in the corridor.

She tried to refocus on the book, but it was useless. Curiosity had already prodded her side, urging her to go see.

Pestilence.

Those two words set fire to the heart of Mae Young-ryeong, a healer by nature.

Cautiously leaving the reception room, she approached the gardener guarding the Garden of Gods’ entrance.

“Excuse me… gardener?”

“Yes, Messenger.”

“Do you remember my companions? Mr. Kim Han and the others.”

“Of course. We all know Mr. Kim Han.”

“Hoho, that’s good. Could you give this to Mr. Kim Han when he comes out? I have somewhere to drop by briefly.”

She handed the gardener the small parcel and whispered, ‘It’s something women need that men don’t know about,’ then winked.

“Mr. Kim Han won’t like this…”

The gardener murmured worriedly watching Mae Young-ryeong’s retreating figure.

Eastern district of Exorsus.

Strangely, this area—where magic towers are usually plentiful in the Battlefield of the Gods—had not a single magic tower. It was all temples and related establishments; otherwise only residential districts.

The wider the road she walked, the deeper Mae Young-ryeong’s smile became, and the corners of her eyes curved like crescents.

She hummed, her steps light as if floating, until she began to giggle softly.

Finding the quarantine zone wasn’t hard; many people had gathered nearby.

Civilians kept a fair distance, but there were quite a number of temple priests and paladins.

They surrounded an old inn, radiating a threatening posture as if to forbid anyone’s approach.

But Mae Young-ryeong approached the grim paladins with a pleased expression.

“Excuse me.”

“Huh? Who are you! Back off!”

“I’m Mae Young-ryeong. I heard about the pestilence and came to help.”

“Ha! Pestilence! Didn’t you hear me tell you to leave? Do you know where this is?!”

The paladins from the temple weren’t merely refusing entry; they wouldn’t tolerate any curiosity about what was happening inside and threatened to block her.

Just as Mae Young-ryeong was about to reveal she was a representative,

“How dare a woman disrupt the Temple Union’s affairs! Men, seize her!”

At the gruff, irritable voice from behind, two of the four paladins advanced on Mae Young-ryeong with menacing intent.

The other two paladins moved to block her retreat.

“Why are you doing this? I…”

Backing away and trying to talk did no good.

Just as one paladin lunged to grab her right arm, she slipped free like a jiu-jitsu expert and lightly pushed the paladin’s chest plate.

The man staggered—crash, tumble.

A counterattack from an unexpected person with unexpected force in an unforeseen situation.

The ugly-falling paladin suffered no real injury but was mortified to the point his face flushed.

As he scrambled up, he drew the sword at his hip.

“How dare you!”

“…Phew. Really, without proper hearing… Truly rude. Tale of the Stars, Stubborn Taurus Summon. Open. Gravity…”

Kuuuuhhhh—!

“Gah!”

“Ugh!!”

“Huk! Cough cough!”

“Guhk!”

Not only the paladins who advanced but those waiting behind them collapsed to the ground, retching blood.

Citizens of Exorsus watching from a distance, the priests waiting around the inn, and even the old man who’d given the order staggered back in shock.

“Now we can talk a bit. Hello. I’m Mae Young-ryeong. I’m a representative and my specialty is medicine. So, may I examine the patients?”

The surroundings froze at the sight of Mae Young-ryeong politely greeting them in a soft voice, despite having left four men half-disabled.

Blinking, the temple official, caught by Mae Young-ryeong’s gaze that seemed to say ‘I’ll wait for your answer,’ reluctantly nodded.

“…Come in.”

“Thank you. Oh! I nearly forgot. Close. Gravity. Dismiss Stubborn Taurus Summon. Hehe.”

“Guh!! Huhh…”

“Hah… Hup…”

From the paladins’ perspective, it was hair-raising talk.

Mae Young-ryeong dismissed the magic with an almost casual, cute laugh, as if telling a classmate they left an umbrella in the classroom.

Even the stern-looking old priest couldn’t adapt to her behavior, and Mae Young-ryeong walked into the quarantined inn.

.