I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

I stared at the system window in disbelief.

‘Did Affinity really just jump straight to 100?’

Normally, raising Affinity was extremely difficult.

Especially at the beginning of the game, when the Creatures were far more distrustful, making everything even harder.

A single small mistake would only increase Suspicion.

Even in the game, I had returned the vine plant on other occasions, but I had never immediately reached 100 Affinity.

The same thing had happened with the stat changes in front of Cell Number 13.

The increases were far too large.

The higher the Affinity, the greater the advantages it provided.

It became much easier to communicate with the Creatures.

And therefore, it also became easier to move closer to the True Ending of granting them “true freedom.”

However, I couldn’t simply be happy about such an abnormal increase.

I was worried whether it would still be possible to achieve the True Ending using the strategy I knew.

I looked at Creature No. 1, which was still wrapped around my entire body.

Its vines were covered in slash marks.

They were the scars left behind from cutting them apart to extract Neo.

Some of the scars were especially large and deep.

They had formed after parts of its body had been separated and reattached.

I tried to find the little vine I had carried with me all this time, but it was nowhere to be found.

It seemed to have completely merged back into Creature No. 1.

Through the vines touching me, I could directly feel the Affinity Creature No. 1 held toward me.

‘Honestly… I haven’t done anything to deserve such high Affinity.’

Yes, I had taken care of that little vine.

But that was all.

I had even struck it several times with a riot baton.

Unable to believe it, I checked its stats directly.

Creature No. 1

— Suspicion: 0

— Affinity: 100

It was an extraordinary number.

Within The Cell Block X, it was practically the ideal value for a Creature.

But it didn’t make me happy.

I hadn’t done anything to deserve such absolute Affinity.

Thinking it was probably some kind of error only left me feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

I slowly let out a breath.

This wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

I had only found one Creature.

I still had to locate all the others.

However, Creature No. 1 didn’t seem to have any intention of letting me go.

It moved its vines, pulling me deeper and deeper into its body.

Before I knew it, I was completely buried among its vines.

Unlike the sturdy outer vines, the inside consisted only of tender new shoots.

They were covered in soft fuzz, as though they had only just sprouted.

They felt incredibly pleasant to the touch.

Personally, I could have stayed hidden in there for hours.

But I still had a lot to do.

With only the upper half of my body sticking out, I called to Creature No. 1.

“Um… Patient Number 1?”

I gently patted it with my hand.

The vines twisted happily, as though delighted.

It wasn’t an invitation to play.

Seeing a Creature that had just escaped behaving so calmly was exasperating.

And, at the same time, rather amusing.

I smiled faintly as I stroked its vines before checking on Dominic.

At some point, he had climbed onto my head.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of touching the vines.

Other than that, he didn’t say a single word.

He simply stayed there, wobbling softly like the Pudding Slime.

Reassured by that, I turned back to Creature No. 1.

“Patient Number 1. Could you tell me where the other Creatures are?”

I knew it couldn’t understand my words, so I accompanied my request with gestures.

I took two vines in my hands and made them touch.

I even mimicked the gesture of shaking hands.

The vines moved as though they had understood.

Then they slowly began to move, carrying me along on top of them.

With Affinity this high, it certainly was convenient.

As Creature No. 1 silently glided through the shadows, I looked up at the sky.

Every searchlight in the prison was pursuing a single black figure.

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno was thoroughly provoking the prison guards.

Countless bullets streaked across the sky.

Yet he freely maneuvered his metallic wings, dodging them with extraordinary agility.

He behaved as though he were about to let himself be hit.

Only to evade every shot at the very last instant.

That only infuriated the prison guards even more.

It seemed that none of them would take their eyes off Fugitive Number 13 until they managed to land at least one bullet.

As I watched that black figure calmly crossing the night sky, a thought crossed my mind.

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno had probably captured me so he could drop me directly onto the Creature.

But I had the feeling there was another reason as well.

Kwak Hanmuk had warned me about Won Taebeom.

He had told me that everything I did in front of him would eventually be reported to Director Jang Seokyun.

There was no way Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno was unaware of that.

Perhaps that was precisely why he had deliberately separated me from Won Taebeom.

To keep him from seeing how familiar I was with the NPCs or witnessing the change in my eye color.

After all, Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno was the Director of the Trial Response Agency.

Even though he acted like a complete madman, most of the time he made surprisingly sound decisions.

‘Except during Dead Zone Delivery.’

I still couldn’t understand why he had been so determined to chase me back then.

In truth, there were many other things about Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno that still made me curious.

For example.

Why did he constantly look up at the sky?

While Creature No. 1 carried me along, I was still thinking about him when suddenly—

Ding!

A new system window appeared, announcing stat changes.

Affinity +10

Suspicion +12

There was either a Creature or a prison guard nearby.

There was no way a prison guard’s Affinity would increase after seeing me riding on Creature No. 1.

So it had to be another Creature.

I sharpened all my senses as I scanned the surroundings.

The darkness and the thick fog made it impossible to see clearly.

At least it didn’t seem to be a large Creature.

Visibility was poor, but not so poor that it could conceal something enormous.

So it had to be a medium-sized or small Creature.

Someone capable of hiding their presence and intelligent enough to observe the situation.

There was one Creature that perfectly matched those conditions.

Number 6.

A mixture of tension and excitement welled up inside me.

From the moment I entered The Cell Block X, I had been prepared to meet him.

Even so, it wasn’t easy.

I slowly parted my lips.

“Patient Number 6.”

The moment I spoke those words, I heard an exclamation.

“This is impossible!”

The voice came from the shadow cast by Creature No. 1.

The shadows began to stir before a tall figure emerged from them.

His black hair had two white patches on either side of his head.

He was a man over two meters tall with an eyepatch covering one eye.

That one-eyed man, whose appearance resembled an orca, spread his arms as he looked at me buried among Creature No. 1’s vines.

Showing his sharp teeth, he said,

“How did you find me? You don’t seem to have any ability capable of detecting my hiding place, Doctor.”

He was the only one of the twelve Creatures who could communicate freely with humans, and the only one who had a name.

Creature No. 6.

Orca.

And he.

He was the main reason I ended up hating The Cell Block X.

“Doctor Gunbam. No one can obtain everything they desire. Sometimes you also have to learn to accept what is painful and bitter.”

“Well now, Doctor Gunbam, are you crying? I’m sorry. It was my fault. I understand that for someone as young as you, it’s simply too difficult to accept…”

I suppressed those memories that kept resurfacing and did my best to focus on the Orca standing before me.

Fortunately, the system window appeared at that moment, helping me regain my composure.

You have found Creature No. 6.
(Creatures found: 2/12)

The first thing I did was check Orca’s stats.

Creature No. 6 (Orca)

— Suspicion: 30

— Affinity: 72

‘What…? Affinity 72?’

Another completely absurd number.

Confused, I mentally reviewed every stat change notification that had appeared in Sector X.

So many windows had popped up at once that it had been complete chaos.

But not so quickly that I couldn’t remember them all.

Among them had been Affinity +62 and Suspicion +18.

Apparently, they belonged to Orca.

‘That’s impossible.’

Earlier, I had already found the Chief of Security’s stat increase strange.

But now even the Creatures’ stats were completely out of control.

I wanted to find out what was causing those changes.

No matter how anomalous the situation was, every effect had to have a cause.

If Affinity was increasing by such absurd amounts, then there had to be something I still didn’t understand.

Without realizing it, I found myself staring at Orca.

Ding.

Another notification appeared.

Affinity +2

…I had only looked at him.

Left speechless, I realized this was very similar to what had happened with the Chief of Security.

Back then, I hadn’t done anything special either.

Our eyes had simply met.

‘What am I overlooking?’

As I tried to grasp that clue that seemed just out of reach, Orca spoke again first.

“Doctor. What is your name?”

“Lamb.”

“Ah… Lamb…”

For some reason, upon hearing my name, Orca showed an expression of deep disappointment.

Then another notification appeared.

Affinity -20

…I had only told him my name.

And I had just lost twenty Affinity points all at once.

At that point, I was starting to think the system was simply spinning a roulette wheel to decide the stats at random.

In a somewhat dry tone, Orca continued,

“Doctor Lamb. I don’t know why you’re wearing a prison guard’s uniform or how you managed to win over Creature No. 1, but…”

“Aaagh!”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

Creature No. 1 had extended one of its vines and lashed him hard.

As a plant-type Creature, Creature No. 1 could perceive others’ emotions through the vibrations in their voices.

It must have interpreted that Orca was treating me badly.

And immediately punished him.

I gently stroked Creature No. 1’s vines before speaking to Orca again.

“Just as you deduced, Patient No. 6, I don’t possess any special abilities. But I do have medical knowledge. I came here to help the Creature patients. And besides…”

Even though I had just lost twenty points, my Affinity with Orca was still above fifty.

Considering how many anomalies were occurring, I thought it would be better to be direct, even if it was somewhat risky.

I was about to say something I had never imagined he would accept.

But I never got the chance.

“You came to grant us freedom?”

Orca spoke the very words I had been about to say.

How…?

I froze completely.

Seeing my reaction, a huge smile spread across Orca’s face.

Then he burst into loud laughter.

“Hahaha! So it wasn’t just an illusion born from my own wishes!”

Despite being a fugitive on the run, he laughed so joyfully that he seemed unable to contain himself.

Ding.

Another notification appeared.

Affinity +30

This time, Affinity had increased by a full thirty points.

While I checked the system window over and over again, Orca reached out his hand toward me.

Creature No. 1 moved its vines and gently set me down in front of him.

“Though you may find it difficult to believe…”

Orca said as he held me in his arms,

“I saw you in a dream.”

His shining black eye was filled with deep Affinity toward me.

“In that dream, I didn’t call you Doctor Lamb.”

“I called you Doctor Gunbam.”