[I-Iâm sorry. I forgot my official God authentication expired.]
Andersen quickly said to Jaehwan.
Exactly 30 minutes ago, Jaehwan was forbidden from entering the auction house by the employees.
-Iâm sorry, but you will need valid God authentication to enter the auction house.
Jaehwan learned that there was such a thing called official God authentication and a God without it was not allowed to enter public facilities such as the auction house.
The bigger problem was that it would take a month for the authentication to be renewed.
-The law was amended a while ago, so if you can prove that you have 5 or more Followers, we will issue a temporary authentication for you to use.
At least 5 Followers. That was the least number of Followers needed to prove that the Godâs âworldâ was safe to .
[Ugh, these top-ranking Gods and their nonsenseâŠ]
âShut up.â
[Sorry.]
So now, Jaehwan, Andersen, and Runald were looking for Followers outside the auction house.
Buttnaked, with a few parts dangling helplessly.
What was relieving was that Runald was actually rather excited. It seemed that he was excited at the thought of getting a new Follower.
-Accepting Followers! We welcome everyone! Partial payment for the penalty given, [Settings] will be at 200% for newcomers!
As Jaehwan looked at Runald holding up a hologram panel with the above written on it, and he was a bit impressed.
âHeâs good.â
âHey! Lady! Please check our unique world!â
âOH! Mister, mister! Can you please check our Settings? Itâs one of a kind! I promise!â
However, even with Runaldâs overly enthusiastic recruitment efforts, there werenât any Followers volunteers. It was obvious why, but it was still disappointing to have no one even take an interest.
âIs it usually this hard to collect Followers?â
âUh⊠we used to have some who would have some interest at least⊠why isnât there anyone now?â Runald asked as he looked down at Jaehwan and himself.
ââŠIs it because weâre naked?â
âProbably.â
[What?! NO WAY! My Settings are perfect! I think youâll be popular among girls.]
It was then that a man approached them.
âOh, is it a new unique world?â
It was their first customer. He didnât look special, and he was obviously a Follower of a not particularly strong God. He did look a little suspicious, but he was still a potential customer. Runald quickly ran up to him and brought him to Jaehwan.
âRight! Itâs a new world! If you join us as a Follower, you will be high-ranking and variousâŠâ
âHmm. But why is this Vicegerent naked? Is heâŠâ
âThatâs not important! We have a cool world! Youâll be impressed when you see it!â
âReally? What is it? Oh, and what [Settings] do you have?â
âUh⊠hm. ThatâsâŠâ
Runald became silent. How should he explain the world? What about the [Setting]? As he looked up to the sky, Runaldâs face became pale. He then turned to Jaehwan.
Jaehwan answered first.
âItâs better he sees it for himself.â
And after a moment, the man who was eager to see a new world became terrified. As he pointed toward the sky with trembling hands, his eyes rolled backward and he fell.
âH-hiiiiiiik!â
As Runald explained it, he was so impressed that he passed out.
A few more spirits went by like that.
Their reactions all differed as they witnessed Jaehwanâs world. However, they mostly involved passing out for a brief moment, and then leaving while cursing.
[You know, weâll never gain any Followers at this rate.]
Andersen mumbled in despair.
[Followers living in the have a hard life. They live paycheck to paycheck and your world is too dark and gloomy. Do you think they will want to see that when their own life is already as hard as it is?]
ââŠâ
[How about you change it to something brighter? I can let you borrow my world.]
âWhat is your world?â
[Itâs called âNaked Worldâ. Itâs a wonderful place where all Followers are naked. The only downside is that some perverts join just to get a peek but stillâŠ]
ââŠDidnât you say your world is like a fairytale?â
[Yeah! But an R-rated type.]
Jaehwan turned to Runald, who was still working hard on recruitment.
âSo, was he an adult?â
He remembered Runald jabbering about Andersenâs fairytale-like world savaging him and all.
[You really donât want to? Iâm not forcing you, but weâll never gain a Follower in this rateâŠ]
âIâm not changing it.â
[âŠAre you sure?]
âIâll wait for a bit and if it doesnât work, Iâm breaking in.â
It was a casual but determined tone. Andersen felt as if she wanted to go meet Minerva, the Goddess of Fortune, for help.
[I-isnât it better to just put some flowers and trees, so it will look beautiful? If we spice it up, there will be a lot of FollowersâŠ]
It was then two women walked towards the auction house. They were beautiful girls, with lavish-looking equipment. Andersen spoke grumpily.
[Give up. I can see that they are Followers of high-ranking God.]
But Runald had already went after them. The girls cackled at Runald and spoke.
âHehe, youâre cute. Are you asking us to transfer our world?â
âYeah! Itâs really amazing! Youâll faint if you see it!â
âReally? I guess taking a look wonât hurt.â
They followed Runald towards Jaehwan. It was the blonde girl who spoke first.
âOh, you dressed quite⊠extraordinarily. Like- nothing. Are you a Vicegerent?â
âRight.â
âCan you show me your world, then?â
She smiled as she checked out Jaehwanâs entire body. The short-haired girl standing next to the blonde girl also looked him over thoroughly, and stayed at bottom portion of his body as she spoke.
âThatâs disappointing.â
Jaehwan had lived for two thousand years. He didnât mind sexual harassment, so he didnât hide his body. He spoke as he stood confidently.
âYou canât just take a look for fun. If you are not interested in joining us, then I wonât show you.â
Andersen had to ask herself if Jaehwan was sane and the blonde girl seemed to be surprised.
âI donât want to waste my time on someone whoâs not interested in joining.â
âOh, so you knew. Haha.â
The blonde girl grinned, âI can see that youâre a Vicegerent of a low-ranking God. Arenât you a bit arrogant?â
ââŠâ
âHow great of a [Setting] makes you so arrogant?â
Jaehwan could see that the blonde girl was looking down on him. The short-haired girl interrupted, âHey, arenât you a bit rude?â
âNo Iâm not. Itâs him whoâs being rude if he wants us to buy a product without letting us see it first.â
With that, Andersen, who had been keeping silent, raged.
[A PRODUCT?! Does that girl think that a world is just created like a factory doll or something?!]
Andersen, who had been secretly planting flowers in the world, pulled the flowers out and shouted.
[I CANâT STAND IT ANYMORE! Hey, show that girl your world. Make her faint.]
It was the first time Andersen had the same opinion as Jaehwan. Jaehwan nodded.
âIâll show you if you want it so badly.â
And then his world was unleashed. It was even more tainted and distorted than usual. With the sounds of crows and dead bodies mindlessly walking up, the short-haired girl screamed in terror as she looked up to the sky and saw the giant, bloodshot eye.
âKYAAAAAA!â
And with that- she fell to the ground, unconscious. The blonde girl also seemed shocked as she looked up to the sky. However, she did not faint and spoke.
âHey! Why are you showing such thing to a girl!â
âDidnât you want to see it?â
âI didnât ask you to show me this hideous thing!â
Runald then shouted from behind, âHideous thing?! Apologize!â
âShut up, kid! You dare to sell this hideous thing andâŠâ
The blonde girl then pulled out a weapon from her waist. It was sharp rapier, pointed at Jaehwan. There was an engraving of a green leaf, a symbol of Goddess Artemis, on the weapon.
âGet it back into you! It feels like Iâm going crazy!â
âWhat if I donât want to?â
âThen Iâll make you!â
The world power of Artemis began to concentrate around the blonde girl. It was Artemisâs [One Fatal Strike] Setting that shone brightly from her rapier. Andersen, who didnât think that a fight would break out, panicked.
[Wait- are you going to fight?!]
They were against the Followers of a high-ranking God.
She wasnât a Vicegerent, but just by serving a high-ranking God was enough to make her a formidable enemy.
[No! We canât win just with the [Naked] Setting! Our [Setting] is weak against hers!]
[Settings] between Gods of had a power balance that worked like ârock, paper, and scissorsâ. Law Settings were strong against Strength Settings, and Strength Settings were strong against Kinetic Settings, and Kinetic Settings were strong against Law Settings. Andersenâs [Naked] Setting was a Law Setting.
However, even if [Naked] was a Strength type, this fight had to be avoided. High-ranking Gods usually had more than five thousand Followers.
The difference in world power between high and low-ranking Gods was large enough to trump the power balance of [Setting] types. Just as a pair of scissors made out of diamond would cut a rock made out of dirt.
And thatâs when Jaehwan took out something from his unique world. Andersen flinched.
It wasnât the power of [Naked].
Andersen then realized that she never asked what kind of [Settings] Jaehwan had. He was a God after all. He must have had his own [Settings] in place.
And in the next moment, Andersen screamed in panic as she witnessed Jaehwan hold up a sword burning with dark flames.
[W-what is that sword?!]
It was the first power Jaehwan acquired after he opened up âCreationâ. It was the dark sword that contained everything Jaehwan had.
[Fall]
The sword that could destroy the world was now revealed in .