Chapter 7
Twilight
Pink smoke filled the inside of the hut.
Within the entirely pink-tinted interior, one elderly man and two young children sat in rocking chairs.
All three had their eyes open, drool running from their mouths as they sat perfectly still, as though frozen.
Are these the Dreamers?
As the unfamiliar term appeared, the status window seemed to sense Lee Shin’s curiosity and sent him a message.
「TIP: Dreamers is the term used for followers of Lilith, the Dream Demon.」
「TIP: Lilith, the Demon of Dreams, is the demon with the largest number of followers in the [Small and Deadly World].」
A demon.
After dwarves, yet another fantasy-like term had appeared.
「TIP: Humans who make a contract with a Dream Demon surrender their souls and fall into eternal sleep. They escape reality, dreaming only sweet dreams as they slowly die.」
「TIP: For that reason, Dream Demons are welcomed in ruined worlds.」
「TIP: Under the slogan, ‘A sweet death rather than a painful life,’ Dream Demons have brought ruin to countless worlds.」
A sweet death rather than a painful life....
It was an incredibly grim phrase.
And yet, it was exactly the kind of phrase that could tempt people who had fallen into despair and lost the will to live.
How do I wake them up?
「TIP: You must persuade them.」
Persuade them?
「TIP: You must make them choose your reality over the demon’s sweet dream. The only way to escape a Dream Demon’s dream is to awaken by one’s own will. That is extremely difficult.」
Even Lee Shin sometimes didn’t want to wake up when he was having a pleasant dream.
If someone like him, who lived in an ordinary world, could feel that way, how much stronger would that feeling be for people living in a ruined world like this?
He didn’t think he could persuade them.
「TIP: You can do it!」
「TIP: Demons are the archenemies of all gods. You must not lose. You have to show them what you’re made of!」
Archenemies?
For some reason, Lee Shin became curious at the status window’s words.
A moment later, the explanation began.
「TIP: Demons and gods! The beings who live in the world of the stars can believe in only one of the two. And naïve, innocent gods have repeatedly lost to demons who will use any means necessary.」
“....”
「TIP: You must show your greatness to the demons who ruin worlds by offering nothing but sweet pleasure and momentary gratification.」
Can I really do that?
Lee Shin had awakened less than a week ago.
Meanwhile, the other side was an ancient veteran with the largest number of followers in this entire world.
As Lee Shin silently stared at the old man and the two children, something from his own past suddenly came to mind.
There had once been a time when Lee Shin, too, chased dreams instead of reality.
As a child, Lee Shin had longed for the attention and affection of his friends, yet he had been ignored by everyone.
There had even been a time when the loneliness and isolation he felt while surrounded by others became so unbearable that he refused to go to school.
He had thought it would be better to simply lie in bed and dream forever.
How had the Lee Shin of those days overcome his weakness and managed to move forward?
Remembering the past, Lee Shin asked,
How do I persuade them?
The status window immediately answered.
「TIP: Try using the [Soul] tab under [World Interference].」
「Connecting to the Dreamer’s inner world.」
「Loading information from the soul.」
Lee Shin had been standing inside the pink-tinted hut.
Now, however, he found himself in a completely different place.
The world twisted and shifted around him.
「The Dreamer, Santiago, was a Hunter.」
As the world changed, the status window began showing Santiago’s past, just as it had once shown Eve’s.
「In his youth, Santiago was famous. His skills were so exceptional that there was no one in District 444, the [Small and Deadly World], who did not know his name. Monsters fell one after another before Santiago.」
Santiago’s skill in the scenes of the past was indeed extraordinary.
Even enormous monsters frequently collapsed helplessly before him.
「But there were too many enemies, and they were too powerful. Beneath an endless tide of calamities, Santiago’s small world eventually fell. During the fierce war, Santiago’s wife and children died horrific deaths. The loss of his family broke the courageous Santiago’s spirit.」
Santiago’s life flashed past like a panorama.
The old man, who had once seemed like a hero as he slaughtered monsters, wept like a child before the bodies of his dead family.
「He tried to take his own life, but Santiago still had family left. The small children his deceased son and daughter-in-law had protected with their lives. Four-year-old twins. A grandson and granddaughter whom Santiago had to protect at any cost.」
Seeing the faces of the grandson and granddaughter, Lee Shin realized that they were the two children sitting beside Santiago in the hut.
The entire family had fallen into the dream together.
「Santiago did everything he could to survive in the ruined world. But Santiago had grown too old and too weak. One day, after enduring and enduring until he finally reached his limit, he looked toward the sky and begged God to at least save these little children. No answer came.」
「Because God had abandoned them.」
「Instead, a demon appeared.」
When Santiago had been driven to the very edge, the demon came to him.
Looking at the two children sleeping soundly, the demon made a sweet offer to the broken old man.
「The demon said:」
「‘Don’t you want to return to the days when you were happy?’」
Santiago did not refuse.
And thus, this family became Dreamers.
「Connection complete.」
As Santiago’s past came to an end, the twisting world finally transformed into the world of his dream.
While Lee Shin looked over Santiago’s completed dream world, the status window spoke.
「TIP: You can do it!!」
「TIP: (0·0-)و」
Santiago’s dream world was the [Small and Deadly World] before its destruction.
Instead of the utterly collapsed civilization of ruins Lee Shin had seen, there stood a dazzling city far more advanced than Earth.
He passed people enjoying peaceful, prosperous lives amid the advanced civilization.
Soon, he came across an old man sitting on a mat spread over green grass.
His face was deeply lined with wrinkles.
He was the master of this dream.
“...A great one has come.”
Santiago spoke, sensing Lee Shin’s arrival.
“You were nowhere to be found when I searched for you. Why have you come only now?”
His voice was filled with resentment.
“God... you have come far too late.”
Santiago’s eyes were empty.
“You ignored this old man no matter how desperately I cried out. And only after I finally sold my soul to a demon do you appear before me. Have you come to punish us little ones?”
The old man spoke in a hollow voice before turning his gaze away and muttering.
In the direction Santiago was looking, children were running across the grass, laughing brightly.
“I ask only one thing of you, Great One.”
They were the children sleeping beside Santiago in the hut.
The grandson and granddaughter he had tried to protect until the very end.
“Punish me however you wish. You may tear this old body apart from head to toe. You may cast me into blazing fire for a thousand years. I will gladly accept any cruel divine punishment you see fit. But... could you not forgive those little ones?”
Santiago’s voice trembled.
“Those children... have done nothing wrong.”
Lee Shin remained silent after hearing the tiny wish the old man had made while sacrificing everything of himself.
Even without receiving an answer, Santiago continued staring toward the sky.
Lee Shin thought,
I didn’t come here to persuade him.
How could Lee Shin possibly soothe the grief of this noble old man who had burned away his entire life trying to protect the world and its people until the very end?
Lee Shin was merely a twenty-four-year-old young man who had grown up surrounded by the love of people he was grateful for.
Compared to the old man, he was nothing more than an endlessly immature kid.
Lee Shin had not come here intending to use impressive logic or eloquent words to convince the old man to return to reality.
There was simply something he wanted to say to this old man who had fled from a painful reality into a dream.
—Son, if things are hard, it’s okay to rest for a while.
Just as the people most precious to Lee Shin had once told him.
—Living in this world can be very difficult. Sometimes, you may wish you never had to wake from a dream. But you know, if there is a painful today, there can also be a tomorrow that shines brighter than anything else. Someday, today’s hardships might become your most precious memories, or they might become the stepping stone toward a wonderful future.
—You don’t have to be afraid of anything. Your mom and dad will always be on your side, son. Forever.
Lee Shin decided to use the new power he had recently obtained, worried that his feelings might otherwise fail to reach the old man properly.
Unlike the image of a god they might have expected, he possessed no overwhelming majesty.
He looked utterly ordinary.
But Lee Shin had not come to this world to be worshipped by them.
There was simply something he wanted to say to this suffering old man.
For today, that alone would be enough.
「Using Descent.」
「Constructing a body suitable for the [Small and Deadly World].」
Contrary to his worries, Lee Shin took on the form of a tiny dwarf.
He crossed the grassy field and quietly sat beside the old man on the mat.
God had descended into the dream world using the body of a dwarf rather than appearing as some majestic being.
Had He come personally to judge this old man and make an example of him?
Santiago had never trembled before any monster, but he had no intention whatsoever of daring to oppose a god.
Though the being before him wore the body of a dwarf, the wondrous divinity emanating from Him had not diminished in the slightest.
Santiago closed his eyes and waited for divine punishment to fall.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
But no punishment came.
The God sitting beside him began with an apology.
“Was it very hard?”
“.....It was.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t look after you.”
Once again, He apologized.
“I don’t know what kind of beings you believe gods are. Maybe you think of them as sages who know everything, or absolute beings capable of anything. But as you can see, I’m not anything that impressive.”
“Perhaps other gods are like that. But I’m not.”
“I’m inadequate and unimpressive.”
God denied His own greatness.
Why?
Santiago could not understand.
The more believers a god possesses, the greater that god becomes.
The stronger the faith placed in a god, the greater that god becomes.
That was common knowledge.
For that reason, every god sought to embellish themselves.
To appear greater.
More omniscient.
More omnipotent.
But this one...
Instead, He openly revealed His own shortcomings.
Why?
Santiago could not understand that either.
He had fought all his life.
He knew the weaknesses of every kind of monster, could quickly craft almost any tool, and had survived hundreds upon hundreds of battles through sheer experience.
He had become an old man who seemed to know everything.
Yet this god was filled with things he could not understand.
“I am inadequate and unimpressive. And I know you must resent the gods. At the moment when you were at your brightest, your god turned away from you. Your world collapsed, and there was no one who offered you a shoulder to lean on.”
“....”
“This world was far too cruel to you, Santiago. Of course you came to hate it. So much that you no longer wanted to keep living.”
“....”
“But... was the world only something you hated?”
A gentle breeze blew.
The same kind of breeze had blown the first time Santiago held his son in his arms, his body still covered in monster blood and entrails.
It had blown on his wedding day too, a ceremony he had painstakingly prepared for over a year. When a violent downpour ruined everything and he thought the day was a disaster, his wife had smiled brightly and told him she was happy.
“It couldn’t have been only hateful, Santiago.”
“....”
“There must have been days so joyful you never wanted to forget them, days so radiant you missed them with all your heart, and days when you thought there was nothing in the world more beautiful than this life.”
The demon had said:
The gods are arrogant and beyond redemption. They never admit their mistakes or failures. The god and the world that abandoned you will torment you for the rest of your life, so you should abandon the world in return.
“I saved a little girl who was wandering through the wasteland. Her name was Eve. She used to sob from hunger, but now she’s a cheerful girl who no longer cries. She smiles.”
Santiago had believed the demon’s words.
But—
“The people of the Red City, Gepetto, smile brightly now. The starving regained their smiles once they had food and water. The suspicious and frightened began sharing what they had and looking after one another. At night, they light fires and even hold festivals.”
“Their sorrow turned into laughter, and the sound of people laughing was more beautiful than any music. I want everyone in the world to be able to smile brightly without worry. I want everyone to be happy.”
Were the demon’s words truly correct?
“I’m still inadequate and unimpressive. The world hasn’t changed dramatically. So far, only one city has regained its smiles. This little world will change slowly. Ruined buildings will still be ruins, the dead will still be dead, and those who grieve will still be sad.”
“....”
“But someday, it will definitely change.”
Santiago thought:
If a god like this exists, perhaps the tragedies of the past will not be repeated.
Perhaps that beautiful age of glory truly can return to this world.
“...What do you hope to gain by saying all this?”
“Nothing.”
But Santiago still could not understand.
There must be prosperous worlds among the countless worlds of the stars.
Caring for this tiny, ruined world of insignificant beings could bring this god no benefit whatsoever.
So why did He care for them?
No one wanted something without value.
That was what Santiago had learned over the course of his long life.
When slaughtering pigs, people only wanted the useful cuts.
When dismantling monster corpses, they only sought the valuable parts.
And when an old man who had devoted his entire life to this world begged for the smallest bit of help, not a single person reached out a hand.
There was no country for old men.
Surely gods were the same.
So why was this god doing something so incomprehensible, rekindling a flame in this old man’s heart?
Still—
Still, Santiago understood nothing.
The old man who had once known everything when fighting monsters now felt like a child who knew absolutely nothing.
“Because it’s my world. Because this world gave me the name of God.”
“Everyone has moments when they’re afraid of the world. Everyone longs for unwavering faith and love. Everyone wants someone they can always lean on. Everyone wants warmth, care, and attention. That’s simply what people are like.”
“....”
“You can believe in me. I will never abandon you. Even when you are at your lowest and most insignificant, I will remain on your side forever. I believe that is the duty of someone who bears the name of God.”
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
Santiago remembered a line from a book he had once read.
And yet—
“I have never felt such a thrill in all my life. I greatly look forward to seeing the world you will create. I’m certain it will change. It will become far more wonderful than this false world made by Lilith, that demon.”
“Then would you like to see it with me?”
“No. It’s too late for me. Now....”
Santiago shook his head.
“This old man is too tired.”
Before the benevolent God, Santiago looked back upon his life.
The day he was first thrown into society.
His clumsy but successful first hunt.
The finest wedding imaginable with his innocent, beautiful wife.
The day his child was born, crying loudly.
The weight of life in his arms.
His son’s first day at work.
The bland side dishes his daughter-in-law made.
The tie he had knotted for his son himself.
The collapsing city.
Their burning home.
The cold temperature of corpses.
His grandson and granddaughter hiding inside a wardrobe.
An old bicycle.
A bloodstained family photograph.
Expired milk.
Moldy bread.
The eyes of two children who looked only to him.
The old man reflected in the mirror.
A broken body.
A worn-out mind.
After that brief recollection, Santiago spoke.
“I want to rest now.”
“I see.”
“May I ask one thing of you?”
“Anything.”
The worn-out old man no longer had the strength to move forward.
“Please take care of those children.”
“I will.”
Santiago nodded.
The dream world was peaceful and sweet.
But in this false world, the same days repeated forever, and the children never grew.
No child could grow inside a dream.
This prison of time, beautiful only on the surface and never moving forward, was a dreadful place.
He had escaped here because it was still better than reality.
But Santiago understood now.
Children needed a world where time moved.
A new world that this new God would create.
There would be hard times.
There would be painful times.
There would be moments of unbearable sorrow.
But those, too, would someday pass.
And just as Santiago had, the children would encounter joys and happiness they could never forget, precious moments they would never trade for anything.
Because the world was not only a hateful place.
Because that was what life was.
Beside this benevolent God, the children would grow up happily.
Surely that would be far better than the rough, clumsy care of an old man like him.
The children would probably be satisfied too.
How much hardship had they endured before entering this dream?
Perhaps deep down, they might even be relieved once this dreadful old man disappeared.
No one had the right to stop a child’s time.
Every child had the right to become an adult.
Every child had the right to live a life of their own.
For flowers that still had to bloom, it was time for the withered old man to leave.
“I’ll take the children with me.”
God rose and approached Santiago’s grandson and granddaughter.
He said a few things to them.
The children, who had been running around and playing, startled so badly that they fell over.
Their eyes widened as they listened.
Then both children came sprinting over.
Their eyes were brimming with tears.
“Come with us, Grandpa!”
“If Grandpa doesn’t go, we’re not going either!”
Santiago smiled without realizing it.
“...What do you like so much about an old man who’s always yelling at you and feeding you moldy bread?”
“You went hungry for a whole week and gave it to us.”
“I’d rather stay here. I don’t care if I have to eat moldy bread for the rest of my life. No, I don’t care if I have to starve forever. I want to stay with Grandpa.”
“If you reject God, you’ll go to hell, you fools.”
The children answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Hell is fine too, as long as we’re with Grandpa.”
Santiago fell silent.
Slowly, light returned to the old man’s empty eyes.
Why had God said He would devote Himself to this weak, insignificant world?
Why did a single sentence from these children make energy surge through Santiago like he was young again, even though he had been utterly exhausted?
At that moment, Santiago finally understood.
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
That line from the book did not apply only to that ideal God.
Even this small, unimpressive old man had people he had tamed.
People he was responsible for.
A parent was a child’s world.
From the moment Santiago took in the children who had lost their parents, he had taken upon himself a duty he could never abandon.
Until a child leaves their parent, no parent should ever leave their child.
Perhaps that was also why this God had made His choice.
Perhaps He was the same as Santiago.
Yes.
Perhaps He....
As Santiago thought that, he looked toward the God watching him.
And then Santiago saw something unbelievable.
The face of the God, who had taken the appearance of an ordinary young man, shimmered and changed.
First, it became the face of Santiago’s wife, who had passed away before him.
Then his daughter-in-law.
Then his son.
And finally, the faces of Santiago’s mother and father, who had died long ago.
Santiago stood frozen for a long time.
Then he closed his eyes.
Hot tears flowed down his cheeks.
When he opened them again, Santiago prostrated himself upon the dirt and grass before the great God and pleaded,
“Please... take this old man with you as well....”
***
「Your number of believers has increased by 3.」
「Current believers: 96」
「100% of the residents of the Red City, Gepetto, believe in you.」
「There are no longer any unbelievers in this city.」
「Achievement reward granted.」
「You are the first to take followers away from a Dream Demon in a ruined world.」
「You have achieved an extraordinary feat.」
「Hero-Rank reward granted.」
「Legendary-Rank reward granted.」
「Believer [Santiago] is ranked [Hero].」
「You are the first among Lowest-Rank Gods to obtain a Hero-Rank believer.」
「You have achieved an extraordinary feat.」
「Hero-Rank reward granted.」
「Your great achievement has begun spreading throughout the [World of Stars].」
「“Many collapse when faced with ruin and destruction, but at least today will not be that day.”」
「You are the first among [Lowest-Rank Gods] to convert a [Demon’s Follower]!」
「You have achieved a great feat.」
「Legendary-Rank reward granted.」
「“God never extends a hand to those who refuse to act.”」
「You converted a demon’s follower faster than anyone before you.」
「You have achieved a great feat.」
「Legendary-Rank reward granted.」
「Your great achievement has begun spreading throughout the [World of Stars].」