Chapter 35: The Sad Past

A spear flew at me mid-sentence.

Caught off guard, the God of Wind ducked quickly and rolled on the ground.

Feeling the humiliation of having his body used as a projectile’s target, he managed to evade it.

But Seyul was relentless, launching one spear after another at the escaping deity.

The wind god couldn’t get up, constantly on the run.

Look at that pitiful creature rolling around like a donkey!

Truly a god no one else would’ve noticed that attempt to dodge.

Chat messages taunted his ugly display.

Why’s the god rolling on the ground to avoid attacks?!

If this were a wuxia novel, they’d make you the villain in seconds.

He has no choice, right? His opponent just started throwing spears at him out of nowhere.

Why did he attack the god anyway?

What’s with Seyul rushing to throw spears so fast?

Because he’s just that kind of guy.

Viewers watched in confusion, wondering why Seyul had attacked the God of Wind.

Why? Why did you do that?!

The God of Wind felt the same way. He’d just tried to talk, and now he was getting attacked.

What did I even do?!

When he cried out that it wasn’t fair, Seyul explained.

“Ah, sorry. It was a reflex.”

H-huh?

“I attacked you without thinking. It’s like how my hand comes up without thinking when I see a mosquito.”

He was comparing the God to a mosquito.

It was disrespectful, but there was a reason for it.

“But listen, attacking isn’t really that weird. You didn’t do anything wrong, but the God of Water did. You heard about that, right? That guy tried to kill me a bunch of times, so attacking you right away isn’t that strange.”

Seyul put away his sword and replied coolly. As he said, he had already made an enemy of the God of Water.

When he met one of the latter’s underlings, naturally he was less than welcoming.

Here’s another lunatic, thought the God of Water, astonished by Seyul’s answer.

He understood its implications, but the reflexive attack on another deity was unforgivable.

I came here to talk!

“The God of Water always had something to say too.”

And you think that’s your fault? If you don’t like it, talk kindly instead of always telling him to disappear!

The God of Water acts like a brute because you provoke him!

“At first, I told you to go away nicely. But you kept coming back.”

Fueled by anger and forgetting his original purpose for visiting, the God of Wind engaged in a bitter debate with Seyul.

[Hrmm, the God of Wind speaks the truth]

[True. The child was indeed disrespectful]

[But that’s separate from what the Water God did]

[Does trying to kill me for being unfriendly make any sense?]

[Lest we forget, he even empowered our enemies, the demonic beasts]

[Considering our original purpose as gods, this is topsy-turvy]

[It’s like burning down the barn to catch a mouse]

While the viewers sympathized with the God of Wind, they generally sided with Seyul.

The Water God had crossed a clear line, and it had them just as incensed.

The argument over who was wrong continued for quite a while until…

“Fares, do you hate gods?” Luminous suddenly interjected after silently observing the situation.

Seyul paused his squabble and directed a puzzled look towards Luminous.

“You haven’t noticed? I don’t like these guys.”

“Not just the five gods. From what I’ve seen, you seem to dislike the concept of gods in general,” Luminous replied, his inquisitive voice chummy, unaware that he had just pinpointed Fares’ core issue.

Without realizing it, Fares avoided Luminous’s gaze.

“…You could say I don’t really believe in gods.”

“Why not?”

“I have my reasons. Three to be exact.”

All three reasons were related to this new world. Fares continued, recollecting events from this new world.

“It happened a few years ago. To tell you the truth, I used to belong to some sect once.”

What’s this?

[What sort of sect?]

When they saw Seyul yawn with his mouth open wide, both the God of Wind and most of the viewers were startled.

It was such a different image from what they knew of Seyul.

They couldn’t believe that a human who would refuse divine help even when a god appeared before them belonged to a religious sect.

As they tried to focus on the next words, they heard something even more shocking.

“So he was part of a cult that believed in the god of water.”

The God of Water?!

“No, not that one.”

The god waved off their astonishment at thinking it was the God of Water.

After all, there wasn’t just one or two gods controlling water in this world.

In this fantasy realm where miracles truly existed, there were many such gods.

Among them was one called the ‘Source of All Waters’.

The followers of this god believed he was the source of all water.

It was the most well-known religion of its time. One day, one of their priests approached Seyul.

Hello. Are you Seyul?

I am.

We’re priests of the Source of Water, and we’ve come because we heard about Melusine searching for you.

The priests explained that since Seyul was of the water race, he should naturally believe in the Source of Water.

Did you know?

All races like yours, who are made of water, are connected to our god.

That’s why mermaids, nymphs, and other water races believe in him too.

So, you should believe in him too.

Is that so? But suddenly being asked to believe….

Of course, we’re not asking you to take it on faith alone. If you join our religion, you’ll be protected by us. We hear you’ve been having trouble lately.

In those days, the rules for our taxes hadn’t yet reached the crazy level they have today.

Still, because the taxes were pretty high, I got caught up in all sorts of trouble.

For those who believed in the Source Water, it acted like a shield, protecting them from problems.

They told me they could help me if I agreed to join their group.

So, Seyul decide to join, but there was one issue:

Those people are forcing me to buy something strange.

*……

‘…’

‘This is a special offer for the Lord’ Geonnoh’ fans. Each bottle is only 50,000 gold.’

Not content with forcefully selling me something strange, they’d caused more trouble.

“I found out later that they sold me there just to make a profit.”

One day, I was walking down the street when a crowd of people approached me. They claimed to be fans of a famous man named Geonnoh at the time.

I respect Geonnoh-nim, so I joined his sect which is based around Clean Water.

Really?

Yes! I even convinced my family members to believe in Clean Water. In exchange, I received some of the money they donated to the sect.

Huh?

And then I donated all of it back to the sect. I heard that if you give enough, you can become strong like Geonnoh-nim.

I did the same. I even gave away my family’s savings, thinking I could become beautiful like Seyul.

The religious sect had been using Seyul as an excuse to take donations. It was like a pyramid scheme.

“…And that’s why I left the sect. After that, my opinion of God grew worse.”

There were other reasons too: He suspected he had been brought to this world by a divine being and that the girl he met here was also connected to God.

But the main reason came from his dealings with the water-based sect.

Ah, I remember you.

When they took out the fact that this was another world, people started posting bitter comments:

Sounds like you got caught up in a cult.

No wonder you lost faith in God.

Everyone empathized with the idea of Taxes’s troubled past.

“Fraud! Absurd!”

Not even Luminous and the God of Wind were spared.

They all grew concerned for Taxes based on their shared understanding of the world.

The God of Wind, like any divine being, softened his tone after acknowledging the other deity’s struggles caused by him.

“No.”

Despite being flat-out rejected, the God of Wind remained calm and composed.

“I heard that a god was blessing these magic beasts. The guy hanging around me pointed the way. So I guess that god is you?”

It was a reasonable guess, and it was true.

“Tell me where I can find the God of Water. That’s why I came here.”

“I don’t care if you dance naked. What’s with that? Are you on my team and trying to withhold information about the God of Water?”

It’s not like that, but it doesn’t seem fair. You want to take information without helping me.

Seyul scoffed as if he’d heard some ridiculous nonsense.

“Don’t get confused. I’m here as a victim of an attack, demanding what’s rightfully mine. It’d be immoral to refuse payment for revealing this information.”

Just as he firmly declared his refusal to grant any favors:

“That’s problematic!”

A swarm of magic beasts emitting intense spiritual energy surrounded Seyul.