Chapter 5

Eve the Evangelist (2)

“Sunday means I’m the jjajang ramen chef!”

As Eve simmered the broth down, she continuously recited the magic incantation Lee Shin had taught her.

Today wasn’t Sunday, but so what? Lee Shin himself was a god.

If God said it was Sunday, then today was Sunday.

“Eat as much as you like, everyone! This is grace bestowed upon us by God! God has spoken: even after this jjajang ramen feeds all the people until they are full, twelve baskets will still remain!”

The people, who had been sniffing the aroma while cautiously watching them, finally began eating the jjajang ramen. Without even chopsticks or forks, they scooped it up with their bare hands. They were so starved that they paid no heed to the heat and wolfed it down ravenously.

Some of the residents even began to cry.

“Th-This tastes heavenly.”

“Waaah, it’s so delicious.”

“Even the salty broth is incredible. I feel like I could survive on this broth alone.”

“Sniff... How long has it been since I last ate something warm like this? My late mother would’ve loved this flavor....”

The residents devoured the jjajang ramen in the blink of an eye and wore expressions of pure bliss afterward.

Even Lee Shin felt pleased at the sight.

Then the city’s residents hesitantly approached Eve.

“H-How could we ever repay you for sharing such precious food with us...?”

Eve smiled brightly.

“You don’t need to repay me. This is heavenly grace bestowed by God, merely one day of fullness granted to the starving and suffering lambs of this land.”

“Pardon? G-God...?”

“I have come to this land to bring you salvation.”

Her star-shaped pupils sparkling brilliantly, Eve looked over her prospective believers.

But the people who had seemed willing to give her their livers and gallbladders while eating the ramen suddenly became wary at the word God.

“Did another cult fanatic send her?”

“Now they’re trying to lure us in with food....”

Cult fanatic?

Judging from their reactions, they seemed to be seriously misunderstanding something.

Apparently, they were lumping Eve together with the people who loitered around subway stations trying to proselytize.

“Yeah. As if pure goodwill could still exist in this world.”

“We’re sorry, but....”

Their gazes gradually turned colder.

Seeing Eve’s troubled expression, Lee Shin cleared his throat.

“Ahem.”

Then he spoke.

The next instant, a thunderous voice crashed down from above.

『My little children.』

Every resident’s face instantly went deathly pale.

『Why do you deny Me?』

“....”

The moment Lee Shin’s voice descended upon them, the residents of the Red City, Gepetto, began trembling as they looked toward the sky.

Th-This can’t be.

There was no need for petty persuasion or evidence.

They could feel it through their very skin, and the tiny souls within their tiny bodies were crying out.

Your God has come.

B-But God abandoned us....

The god who had once ruled the dwarves’ world had forsaken His creations when the moment of destruction arrived.

No matter how desperately they cried out for help, their god never answered.

Amid that horrific sense of abandonment, the dwarves’ religion disappeared without a trace.

In their despair, both faith and hope vanished.

Only fraudulent religions remained.

That was why all the dwarves left behind in the [Small and Deadly World] resented the very existence of gods and reacted with intense hostility toward the occasional religions that appeared among them.

But now—

A new God has appeared.

A great and omnipotent being had come to them.

The dwarves felt a profound sense of fulfillment welling up from the depths of their souls.

It was the fulfillment that had disappeared when their god abandoned them, something they had believed they would never experience again.

In this lonely, desolate world, they were no longer alone.

They could unmistakably feel that a new God had appeared to watch over them.

Lee Shin didn’t know it, but in a world where gods truly existed, being abandoned by one’s creator and deity was an unimaginably horrific thing.

For a very long time, the dwarves had been like children abandoned by their parents, lambs forsaken by their master, or specks of dust rolling uselessly across the earth.

But when a God finally came to find them again, the dwarves became dwarves once more.

They were no longer beings abandoned by the world.

They were beings who were watched over and loved.

Beings whose lives had value.

『You are no longer alone, dwarves.』

His enormous voice continued to reverberate like crashing thunder, loud enough to make them fear they might go deaf.

Yet not a single person frowned.

『There is no need to be afraid, little ones. I will not leave your side. I Myself shall watch over and care for this pitiful, ruined world so that it does not disappear completely.』

“....”

『I shall be the embrace that holds you. I shall be your parent. I shall be your friend and your eternal refuge. When you are at your lowest and most insignificant, your God shall not turn His eyes away. I shall take responsibility for you until the very end.』

Even if they went deaf today, the dwarves would gladly accept it.

Truly, gladly.

『I proclaim it. Today, the abandoned and devastated world of the dwarves has regained a new God. From this day forward, no one shall ever call the dwarves the forsaken again. If your faith is eternal, then your glory shall also be eternal.』

“....”

As the voice that seemed to recompense them for all the sorrow they had endured finally faded, Eve grunted and struggled her way atop the pot.

Then she shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Joy to the world!! The Savior has come!!”

Eve clenched her little fist and continued shouting.

“Praise Him! Praise Him!”

“.....”

“The Savior of the little ones has come, so everyone bow down and worshiiiiiip!!”

At Eve’s cry, the people who had been standing there in a daze began, one after another, to bow their heads to the barren ground.

Then droplets of water began falling upon the heads of those who had shown their faith.

The great drought that had continued for over a hundred years after their abandonment by God was finally over.

As rain poured from a cloudless sky, the people stared upward with their mouths hanging open, letting the rainwater bestowed by God wash over their entire bodies.

It truly was...

a blessing.

「71% of the residents of the Red City, Gepetto, believe in you.」
「Your number of believers has increased by 71.」
「Current believers: 72」
「You have gained many new believers.」
「Please manage their faith carefully.」

Everyone clearly seemed to have gone hungry just as badly as Eve had, so Lee Shin used not only the bottled water in his room, but every two-liter bottle of water in the house to make it rain.

With 71 new believers gained, a new status window appeared before Lee Shin.

「Conditions have been met.」
「Try appointing an [Apostle] to help manage your believers!」
「TIP: You cannot perfectly manage an entire world by yourself.」
「TIP: An Apostle will become a faithful servant who gladly spreads the faith for you and carries out your will so that the faith never fades.」
「TIP: Choose the person you trust the most.」
「TIP: Of course, you can't choose me!」
「TIP: "0"」

Lee Shin realized that the position of Apostle was essentially a kind of middle manager.

If so, there was only one suitable candidate.

The very first friend he had made in this world.

「Low-Rank Believer [Eve] has been designated as your glorious First Apostle.」
「Believer rank has increased.」
「Congratulations! Low-Rank Believer Eve has become an [Intermediate-Rank Believer]!」

Eve, who had been dancing around wildly, suddenly jerked her head up.

Raising her chin toward the heavens, she screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

Clenching both fists, Eve cried,

“God! My God! I’m so moved! Waaaaaah! Hoorraaaaay! Worship Him! All people, worship Hiiiiiiim! Waaaaaah!”

Ding!

A status-window notification sounded.

「Status has been updated.」

「Lee Shin's Closest, Small and Adorable Believer」
「Name: Eve」
「Class: High-Ranking Cleric (First Apostle)」
「Overall Assessment: Far too excited. Looks like she could do twenty consecutive somersaults. Her faith has soared beyond the heavens and filled the universe to its very edge.」

At the same time, status-window notifications repeatedly chimed.

「Cumulative believer count has reached 50.」
「Achievement reward granted.」

「World Interference — [Apostle Management] tab has been unlocked.」

「World Interference — [Offerings] tab has been unlocked.」
「World Interference — [Descent] tab has been unlocked.」
「World Interference — [Summoning] tab has been unlocked.」

「All Interference Power has been consumed.」
「[World Observation] will be deactivated.」
「Consumed Interference Power will recover in 12 hours.」

***

The year Lee Shin was born, Rifts opened, causing a portion of humanity to awaken supernatural abilities.

They acquired all sorts of different powers, but they had one thing in common: every time they entered a Rift and fought monsters, they could grow stronger.

It was similar to gaining experience points and leveling up by killing monsters in an RPG, but apparently Lee Shin’s ability allowed him to grow through a different method.

His Divine Power increased the more believers he had, while his Interference Power increased the more influence he exerted.

The way Lee Shin earned the resources needed to wield his mysterious powers was certainly unusual.

Lee Shin was fairly satisfied that he had awakened a power that worked differently from everyone else’s.

He didn’t have the confidence to bravely enter Rifts and fight monsters like Choi Bom did.

Lee Shin was the kind of person who preferred helping, caring for, and getting along with others rather than killing things.

He liked simply having fun with cute little creatures, just as he was doing now.

—Did all that really happen?

“Yeah. This time I made Eve my Apostle, and a bunch of new tabs opened up. I think I’ll be able to do a lot more things from now on.”

—You said you’re basically the god of that world, right? That’s fascinating. From what I learned, otherworld exploration abilities are supposed to be really difficult to use. The inhabitants of other worlds generally don’t welcome strangers, so it’s extremely difficult to befriend them. I even heard they might attack you if things go wrong.

“Everyone treats me well. They’re nice.”

—That’s a relief! Now you finally have lots of friends besides me. Aren’t you happy?

“You’re still the best.”

—Hmph. I’ll buy you meat when I get out.

While talking on the phone with Choi Bom after her daily duties were over, Lee Shin told her about everything that had happened in the [Small and Deadly World].

His ability was unprecedentedly unusual, but whether it was Lee Shin’s parents or Choi Bom, everyone simply thought,

Well, if it’s Lee Shin, I guess something like that could happen.

Lee Shin had been such an extraordinary person ever since childhood that even the news of his Awakening didn’t feel particularly shocking.

“It’d be nice if I could make money with this ability and buy you meat for once. You always pay for me. I want to treat you too.”

—No, thank you. I buy it for you because I want to, okay? If you start trying to make money from this for no reason, you’ll lose your little source of simple but certain happiness. You’ve finally made some friends besides me, so just think of it as going on a trip and enjoy yourself.

Lee Shin really did have a lot of good people around him.

—By the way, did you properly read through your Status?

“There’s probably a lot of useful information in there.”

“No, I haven’t really read it.”

—Idiot. Read through the whole thing at least once, and if there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me. What’s the point of having a friend undergoing preliminary Hunter training if you don’t ask her for help at times like this?

“It’s fine. The status window explains things really well.”

Whenever even the smallest problem arose, it would send him a message labeled TIP.

But at Lee Shin’s answer, Choi Bom hummed thoughtfully, sounding somewhat puzzled.

—The status window normally isn’t like that...?

“It isn’t? Whenever I ask it something, it gives me a really thorough answer. It’s incredibly convenient. And cute, too.”

—Status windows are famous for being rude. And cute? They’re so unfriendly and curt that everyone complains about wanting to smack theirs at least once a day.

Listening to Choi Bom, Lee Shin scratched his head and stared blankly into the air.

A moment later—

Ding!

The status window appeared.

「TIP: (0·u·1)?」

No way.

Lee Shin figured Choi Bom, who was always so prickly, was exaggerating again.

—Anyway, I have to get ready for roll call, so I’m going. Tell me more when we meet this weekend, okay? I want to see that tiny little thing scampering around too.

“Okay. Call me again.”

Click.

The call ended.

Sitting there quietly, Lee Shin thought it might not be a bad idea to do as Choi Bom suggested.

After all, you were supposed to read the manual carefully no matter what kind of product you were using.

She’s busy herself, but she’s still trying to help me, huh?

She had said preliminary Hunter training was so hectic that she barely had time to catch her breath.

If there was something he didn’t understand, he could simply ask somewhere else instead of bothering Choi Bom.

Lee Shin casually turned his head and looked into the empty air.

It didn’t take long for an answer to arrive.

Ding!

「TIP: I’ll explain everything to you from A to Z!」
「TIP: ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶」