God carefully took a sip of the tea with her thin, pale pink lips and sighed in satisfaction, as if enjoying the teaâs scent. She then saidâŠ
[Iâll get straight to the point. This is all your fault.]
âThat sounds like a load of bullshit, but letâs hear what you have to say.â
Lee Shin Woo gently opened his eyes and glared at her. She pushed her red hair to one side and shrugged her shoulders.
[Itâs true. At first, I could only influence the world [1], or as you understand it, the surface and the underground together, so much. And Iâve been dividing that limited influence to summon the heroes, give them power, and develop them. Do you understand me thus far?]
âSo why is your influence on the world limited in the first place? Gods are absolute beings, arenât they?â
Heâd asked something similar before, and he was ignored back then. But he believed that now God would acknowledge him.
God seemingly thought to herself regarding that, and then nodded her head and spoke.
[Yeah, I guess itâs time for you to know⊠If someone possessing a high âlevelâ, presence, or magic moves, then thatâs enough to shake the world. One personâs karma changing affects other peopleâs karma as well.]
âOf course. Thatâs how this world works after all.â
This was especially true for this world, such that he could see it with his own two eyes. Moreover, Lee Shin Woo had experienced it with his own body, hadnât he? By switching between his form with limited immortality and his human form, heâd learned that when obtaining a terribly great karma, there was an equally heavy cost associated with it.
At the time, heâd thought that God was just toying with him, but that wasnât the case. While it was a great risk, her bestowing immortality upon him was meant to reduce the side effects of bearing this kind of karma to its minimum. âŠOf course, her not telling him in advance was just to mess with him.
However, he understood her true intentions and nodded his head. God looked a bit moved.
[Youâre beginning to transcend humanity too. You see, most humans would be confused around now.]
âBut thatâs the essence of karma, isnât it?â
[Understanding it shows the difference between a transcendent and a mortal. By forming connections with others, your karma became distorted and developed in a completely different direction, so that may be why you were able to pick up on the essence of karma so quickly.]
God then lowered her empty cup. She tapped on the cup and it refilled with tea. She had restored Lee Shin Wooâs special mixture of tea and brandy.
She gulped it down in one go and sighed. She then asked Lee Shin Woo.
[Do you understand what I just did?]
âTime?â
[Right. Itâs time. To be exact, itâs creation using Time Magic. Recreating something that is gone. Itâs quite simple for me, but if used in the world, then it would be too much for it to bear and a city may vanish right then and there. Thatâs what karma is. And thatâs the main reason why I havenât been able to intervene so much.]
âMmm.â
Lee Shin Woo tilted his head. While Lee Shin Woo had understood the result, he couldnât understand the process. But the result did tell him something.
For example, if Lee Shin Woo were to use the very same Time Magic for creation, then he was confident that he wouldnât cause the same adverse effects. Why, you askâŠ?
âCanât you just trick it? It seems pretty simple to me.â
[Ah, the world. Youâve already been doing that. Iâve seen you twist order around, such that itâs unclear who the true owner of your karma is. I was really shocked. But thatâs impossible for me to do. Since I canât use that innate element.]
If God were both omnipotent and omniscient, then sheâd be able to do everything Lee Shin Woo could do. However, she thought innate elements were special and claimed that even she could not fool the world. But if thatâs the case, then whyâŠ
ââŠAre innate elements powers of the gods?â
Yeah, he naturally came to that conclusion. Had he become a god at some point? But he soon rejected that notion, as he felt he was still lacking in several areas to be called a god.
âMoreover, there are way too many people in the world who wield innate elements. Aside from me, thereâs the Dark Flame Ghosts, the Garuda, Seagald, the Magic Emperor⊠the Undead Emperor, Jissehanu, should be able to too. And based on the energy tampering with the chatting channel, the Archmage must be able to too.â
[Mm. They donât become gods per se, but you could say that theyâve met the conditions to transcend karma itself. Thatâs actually why Iâm concerned. Like you said, there have been way too many individuals with innate elements. Youâre an exceptional irregular, but the events hundreds of years ago had too much of an effect⊠I shouldâve stopped it myself, but why didnât I? There was definitely a way to minimize the chaos and stop it. But by allowing the humans to take matters into their own hands, I ended up having to intervene more than before. I was so foolishâŠ]
ââŠLetâs get back on topic now, shall we?â
As one ages, they gain a specialty. It was talking about one thing, and then suddenly going on a tangent. Before it was too late, Lee Shin Woo slapped his cheek and spoke. Then, God went âoh myâ and nodded her head.
[Anyway, thatâs why my influence is limited. If you were in my place, then you wouldnât even have to worry about this and could just kill Jissehanu or Jirold yourself. Dark Shadow. That thingâs really overpowered. Remember. You may think that Annihilation Flame or what not is overpowered, but itâs not. Itâs Dark Shadow. Got it?]
God was being jealous! While sweating buckets, Lee Shin Woo tried to steer the conversation back on track.
âSo the surfaceâs Emperor is called Jirold, huh? It really suits him.â
[I donât know what his public name is, but his name is definitely Jirold. But what were we talking about again? âŠAh, thatâs right. First, give me another cup of tea.]
âYou could just restore it like last time.â
[But it feels different. Thatâs karma for you.]
Perhaps there was something he still didnât know about karma. He poured her another cup of tea while pouting. She took it satisfyingly and returned to their original conversation.
[I should tell you how I bestow power upon the heroes. First, the summon. I summon those fated to die in another world and send out someone dying from this world. This is the basics of summoning. Itâs done to reduce the summoningâs adverse effects on the world as much as possible. And the power I bestow. I told you this at the beginning, so I donât need to go over it again, do I? This is my âinfluenceâ. It was all going according to plan up to here, but⊠the problem started afterwards.]
âThe secret shop?â
[The secret shop maintains balance by accepting Perium for its goods. Of course, there were some issues with it as well, but there are some issues that can be dealt with because most of you heroes are otherworlders and not from this world. It seems like bestowing power upon otherworlders, rather than the original inhabitants of this world, has a much less adverse effect on the world. Well, what do you think? Itâs quite a delicate balance, isnât it? You get how much I love this world, right?]
âThen whatâs the problem?â
Was Ms. Goddess over here always such a chatterbox? If not, then was it because of Lee Shin Wooâs actions thus far? Either way, he wouldnât be happy, so he just urged her to continue. God continued her explanation whilst grumbling.
[The quest rewards.]
âAh, I see⊠Especially the 12 General quests, right?â
[Yep, exactly.]
God scratched her head as if she felt like this was a pain in the ass.
[The reason the 12 General quests were set up that way was because I thought beating them was just that difficult and that they wouldnât be defeated so frequently. At the time, I didnât think a hero would show up that would kill seven of the 12 Generals by himself.]
âAh, as I thought. I kind of get it. It all happened because I was too good, right?â
[Yeah, you bugged player.]
If Lee Shin Woo were to liken the situation to a game, then it would be something like âwhen all the goods are pushed onto one side, then the gameâs balance breaksâ. With the emergence of an irregular like Lee Shin Woo, Godâs delicately balanced influence broke.
[Itâs quite ironic, but the situationâs less severe than it couldâve been; all because of your Joker karma. If you didnât have it, then the hero system wouldâve failed a long time ago. You donât seem to be aware of it, but youâve already halfway transcended the world. Meaning youâre not recognized as one of the inhabitants of this world. Of course, that probably doesnât matter to you.]
âSince I just need to trick it.â
Lee Shin Woo replied plainly. To be honest, he already knew that. As his Joker karma grew stronger, he felt more and more isolated from this worldâs rules. Even God acknowledged that as well.
But who cared? If he stayed on this world, then it would become his home. Lee Shin Woo was already prepared to kick back and live peacefully on this world.
[Anyway, most of my power went to you, which made the problem even worse. Not only am I less and less able to interfere with what happens in this world, but the power Iâve already used is also starting to weaken as well. And he just happened to take advantage of this opportunityâŠ]
âThe Archmage.â
[Thatâs right. It wouldâve been impossible with normal mana, but that bastard has learned an innate element.]
At first, Lee Shin Woo wasnât 100% sure it was the Archmage that had invaded the chatting channel. Since the mana pattern heâd remembered differed from the one within the chatting channel.
So then why wasnât Lee Shin Woo able to confirm that it was the Archmage, even though he was familiar with his mana? It was simple. As Lee Shin Woo had suspected, the Archmage was using some sort of mana he wasnât familiar with⊠In other words, he was using an innate element!
He didnât even want to think about it, but⊠there was a high chance that heâd awakened an innate element from his battle with Lee Shin Woo and Seagald. âYouâre just an undead, yet youâre growing!?â, thought Lee Shin Woo; though he wasnât one to talk!
[In any case! You canât use the chatting channel anymore. Thatâs not all. The other heroes probably wonât be able to go to the secret shop anymore. He seems aware of how dangerous it would be to invade the secret shop though, as he hasnât dared to enter, so I donât have to worry about Pleine.]
âWow.â
[Do you get it? I canât summon new heroes or provide you with supplies anymore. âŠEverythingâs on you now. You have to do it. If you fail, then it really is the end. âŠIf that happens, then Iâll have to intervene and start everything anew.]
Of course, heâd roughly expected this, but he felt somewhat odd hearing it from her. Lee Shin Woo contemplated on what sheâd said and then asked.
âDoes that mean the world will end?â
[âŠIf youâre playing a game with your character, Hero AAAA, but you find you canât beat it, then what do you do? You erase that character and try again with Hero DDDD.]
âBe more creative with your names.â
[âŠSo I ask of you, Hero AAAA. Itâs really tiring to make a new game from scratch⊠and itâs really sad too.]
She genuinely bowed before him. He couldnât even imagine her doing this, considering how their first meeting went.
Hero AAAA⊠Err, Lee Shin Woo shrugged his shoulders and stood up. If he failed, he would die too. There was no need to answer her.
âAh, one more question.â
[What is it? Oh, Pleineâs a virgin. Isnât that hilarious?]
âThanks, I really wanted to know that. No, not that.â
[Seiraâs a virgin too.]
âI knew that already. So what exactly is Invisible Heart?â
Godâs eyes widened slightly. But she didnât seem surprised. Perhaps she was waiting for him to ask her that. She soon narrowed her eyes and smiled.
[Even if I were to tell you, you wouldnât understand. But if itâs you, you may be able to figure it out by yourself soon enough.]
âYouâre really no help at all, you old bag.â
[Then, take care, Lee Shin Woo. Itâs been such a long time since Iâve played around with someone who could understand my âlevelâ. Come back and play with me again.]
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The next moment, Lee Shin Woo had returned to the secret shop. Pleine and Seira were watching him with eyes wide open, as heâd disappeared and suddenly reappeared. He remembered what God had said and in embarrassment, turned his head around.
âWhatâs the matter, Mr. Shin Woo?â
âNever mind. Itâs nothing. Nothing at all.â
Lee Shin Woo couldnât handle the awkwardness any longer, so he was thankful that the Erems had suddenly sent him the report that heâd been waiting for.
[1] T/N: The word she uses can mean either the world or above ground/surface in Korean. Thatâs why she clarifies it.