I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

I had made the proposal, but I didn’t know whether Dominic would accept it.

Perhaps I would die and resurrect over and over again.

And this time.

I felt that I wouldn’t be able to endure it.

Just remembering that pain made my body begin to tremble like a conditioned reflex.

To think that I was willing to stay beside the very existence that had put me through all of that.

If captain Mo found out, she would definitely scold me.

And this time, even captain Kwak would probably join in.

I wanted to laugh.

But I didn’t have the strength.

I only smiled faintly to myself as I waited for Dominic’s decision.

“Mr. Gunbam.”

The expression in his eyes was strange.

It couldn’t be interpreted as either acceptance or rejection.

If I had to describe it, I would say it resembled curiosity more than anything else.

“You never cease to surprise me.”

That was the ambiguous comment he made.

His words were impossible to decipher, and I became more and more anxious.

‘Is he going to accept or not?’

If he was going to condemn me, I wished he would just tell me already.

At least then I could prepare myself mentally.

‘So is he going to make the contract?’

But Dominic didn’t answer.

He simply continued watching me in silence.

‘Then… not…?’

After a long while of trying to guess his intentions, he finally spoke.

“Very well. I will make the contract.”

I looked at him in disbelief.

I had thought there was some chance he might accept, but for it to actually happen left me stunned.

‘Did it really work?’

If he had refused, I was planning to look for another solution.

But this was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.

It felt like returning alive after standing on the very brink of death.

Just moments ago, I hadn’t even been able to move a finger.

Now I felt that I could at least move my tongue without difficulty.

“Thank you very much. Then… um…”

That was when I realized a huge problem.

I had no idea how to make a contract.

In the game, the ritual was simply performed, the Outer God appeared, and the contract was made automatically.

But now that I had to do it myself, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

‘Do we have to draw a magic circle or something?’

That was the typical image you saw in stories.

Recite an incantation.

Or use blood.

If none of those worked, I even considered drafting a contract the way people did in the real world.

Just as I was turning those thoughts over in my head.

Dominic asked a question.

“What name did you use during the ritual when you summoned me?”

Why was he asking that?

Even so, I answered immediately.

“Gunbam, I suppose.”

Since the ritual had taken place inside the game, it must have been Gunbam.

“That explains it.”

After hearing my answer, Dominic praised that name.

“It doesn’t completely reflect your true essence, but I’ve always thought it was a good name.”

When I first met him in Call of the Void, Dominic had said that the name Lamb didn’t suit me and called me by my real name instead.

So I had quickly improvised the name Gunbam.

Although he didn’t seem particularly fond of it, from then on he began calling me that.

I assumed he eventually accepted it simply because he had grown used to it.

After that unexpected compliment, Dominic spoke with perfect courtesy.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment, Mr. Gunbam.”

My eyes widened.

And I slowly lowered my gaze.

Huh.

Even though I was seeing it with my own eyes, I found it hard to believe.

Dominic’s hand had passed through my body.

And yet.

I felt no pain.

Not a single drop of blood flowed.

Simply.

I felt absolutely nothing.

The hand that had passed through my chest firmly grasped something.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

My heart began pounding violently.

With the same calmness as someone signing a contract, Dominic spoke.

“Now I remember a little more. I believe this is the first time I’ve made a contract with a ■■ ■. Since your rank is still far too low, Mr. Gunbam, I have no choice but to resort to such a traditional method…”

That was the last thing I heard.

The next instant, I lost consciousness.

***

“…!”

The moment I regained consciousness, I jolted upright.

I immediately placed a hand over my chest.

…Fortunately.

I could still feel my heartbeat.

It seemed that none of my organs had been ripped out.

I wasn’t in pain either.

No wounds.

No bleeding.

In fact, I felt even better than I had before passing out.

My entire body was overflowing with energy.

‘He could have at least warned me.’

Suddenly opening someone’s chest wasn’t exactly normal.

The horrifying sensation was still etched into my memory, so I rubbed my arms, which were covered in goosebumps.

Once I had finally calmed down a little, I looked around.

Dominic was gone.

The underground chamber was completely empty as well.

Silence filled the place where all the believers had been only moments before.

But one person remained.

“Prophet…”

It was Edel.

Only then did I realize that I had remained on the altar the entire time.

It seemed that Edel had not left my side for even a single moment.

Although she was clearly bewildered to discover that everyone had disappeared except for her, she was doing her best to remain calm.

She seemed to have come up with an explanation on her own and asked me cautiously,

“Does… this mean that God has saved us?”

“Yes.”

I didn’t have the strength to come up with any explanation.

And it wasn’t entirely a lie.

So I simply nodded.

Upon hearing my answer, Edel bit her lip with a conflicted expression.

This was the moment she had always longed for.

And yet, she didn’t seem happy.

I felt guilty.

I had wanted to show her the ideal world she had dreamed of for so long.

But I hadn’t been able to.

“Edel is free now.”

The moment I said that, her expression darkened even more.

I hurriedly wondered if I had said something wrong.

Then Edel spoke.

“From the very first time we met, everything felt strange.”

“What felt strange?”

“Everything. Even now, I keep having very strange thoughts.”

Edel slowly walked toward the altar where I was sitting.

“Perhaps… you are my ■.”

The most important word was drowned out by loud static, and I couldn’t hear it.

The same thing had happened when Dominic spoke about the contract.

It seemed to be a word I still wasn’t able to hear.

Since I hadn’t even understood the question properly, I didn’t know how to answer.

Edel didn’t press the matter.

Nor did she ask again.

From the beginning, she didn’t seem to expect an answer.

Instead, she asked something else.

“Will we meet again?”

I hesitated for a moment.

Then I smiled at her.

“Of course.”

“What a relief.”

My lie made Edel happy.

‘I’m glad I managed to get the True Ending.’

If I had left her here alone.

I’m sure I would have kept thinking about her over and over again.

Fortunately, I fulfilled the promise I made to her.

And I gave her the freedom to stop being bound to the Trial.

“Edel. Thank you for saving me just now…”

I wanted to thank her.

But I left the sentence unfinished.

Before I realized it, Edel had already disappeared.

Call of the Void completed!
— Apostle Ending of ■■ ■.

“…….”

Even so, I thought we would have had a little more time to talk.

‘I should have thanked her before anything else.’

No matter how many times I went through a farewell like this, I doubted I would ever get used to it.

I felt a little lonely.

Standing there completely alone, I watched as system windows began appearing one after another before me.

‘Han Goyo’ has made his name known to Akasha!
■■ ■■■ is impressed!! It watches you with inexhaustible interest.
Current Recognition: 0.2%

It seemed that Mr. Black Blocks was still watching me.

Then, all of a sudden, my Recognition jumped by 0.1% in a single leap.

Just as I was surprised by such a generous increase after it had always gone up only by hundredths.

The number changed.

Current Recognition: 2%

‘What…? Don’t tell me this is some kind of x10 experience event…’

Current Recognition: 29%
Current Recognition: 666%
Current Recognition: 7777%
Current Recognition: 99999%

I stared in disbelief as the number skyrocketed to a completely absurd value.

The instant it reached 99999%, the system window exploded with a loud bang.

Then it reappeared as though nothing had happened.

Current Recognition: 0.2%

As I wondered what on earth that had been, something even more absurd happened.

The Trial (Call of the Void) has ended.

In 80 seconds, the Trial will be permanently closed.

You were the greatest contributor to (Call of the Void).
You may take ‘9999’ items with you.

9999 items?

I didn’t even have time to be surprised by the obviously incorrect number.

Another window immediately appeared.

Item selection has been completed.

Huh?

Wait a second.

I didn’t choose anything!

And this time I hadn’t even received any items from any NPCs, so I had no idea what had been selected.

While I stood there bewildered, the eighty seconds continued counting down without stopping.

The world began to collapse.

And finally.

I left the Trial.

***

I saw the night sky.

The moonlight illuminated my face.

I stared at it for a moment before slowly turning my head.

A lookout…?

The wind carried a faint scent of salt.

‘Haewoljeong?’

It seemed to be the same Haewoljeong I had used to enter the Trial of the Three Worlds.

Now that the meteorite from Trial of the Three Worlds had disappeared, the place was under reconstruction, with construction materials scattered everywhere.

I looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

‘I survived.’

I still had my communication earpiece.

All I had to do was contact the Trial Management Agency.

After getting some rest first, of course.

Dominic was nowhere to be seen.

‘I guess a happy ending where he disappeared along with Call of the Void was too much to ask…’

Thinking about that impossible wish, I lay back on the ground and gazed up at the sky.

The air was so clear that the stars were perfectly visible.

Then the system window I had been waiting for finally appeared.

◆ Epic Quest (Han Goyo): Close 3 Trials within one month.
Trials currently closed (3/3)
Warning! If you fail this mission, you will lose all four limbs. If you succeed, you will keep them.

It was confirmation that I had managed to save my arms and legs.

A small smile escaped me.

You have completed the Epic Quest! A portion of the knowledge of Archive World has been unlocked.

You are a Young God of planet Earth.

Young God?

Not “Lamb,” nor some ordinary system message, but Young God?

After everyone in Call of the Void had constantly talked about Outer Gods, I even wondered if I had misread it.

But no matter how long I stared at the window, “Young God” didn’t change.

Suddenly, I remembered something Dominic had said.

“I believe this is the first time I’ve made a contract with a ■■ ■.”

What if the part I couldn’t hear meant Young God?

Besides, he had also said that my rank was still far too low…

Come to think of it, the system had always insisted that I needed to improve my abilities.

Everything seemed to fit together.

But I found it hard to believe.

‘Could this be another system error?’

I couldn’t believe I had been placed in anything resembling the same category as Dominic.

My title was Young God.

His was something like Lord or whatever it was.

The difference between us had to be as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.

Even so, the mere fact that we were both classified as “gods” seemed ridiculous to me.

“Young God…?”

I said it out loud because I still couldn’t believe it.

“Don’t you like the title Young God?”

I sprang to my feet in complete shock.

“Mr. Dominic!?”

I looked around.

But the three-meter-tall man was nowhere to be seen.

I desperately wished it had been a hallucination.

However, the voice spoke again.

“Yes, Mr. Gunbam.”

“…Where are you?”

“Ah. I suppose it’s time for me to come out.”

Something inside my chest began to writhe.

And it slowly started to emerge.