I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

The toothed sword snapped its mouth shut as if it had never opened it in the first place.

It didn’t even try to cut me with its blade. It simply brushed past me.

Seo Mooncha took several steps back to create some distance.

“…What the hell…?”

The most bewildered person was Seo Mooncha himself.

As the weapon’s owner, no one knew better than he did how absurd this situation was.

Mischievous Predator was an extremely violent weapon, just as its name and appearance suggested.

It unleashed savage attacks to the point that, at times, even its own owner couldn’t control it.

If anything, it bit its enemies more than necessary.

But something like this, at least as far as I knew, had never happened.

‘Why isn’t it attacking me?’

I couldn’t understand it either, so I kept staring at the toothed sword.

“What…?”

Seo Mooncha swung the sword several times in complete disbelief before charging at us again.

Won Taebeom immediately raised his gauntlet to block it.

However, both Mok Saehwa and Seo Mooncha focused all of their attacks exclusively on me, so he soon reached his limit.

This time, Mok Saehwa managed to hit me with a bullet.

Or rather, she almost did.

“Wow, Mr. Goyo!”

Mok Saehwa exclaimed in surprise.

And I was even more surprised than she was.

Just before it reached me, the bullet gave a soft pop and turned into a flower.

Completely bewildered, I instinctively caught the falling flower.

The bullet was supposed to lodge itself in my body and cause a flower to bloom that would absorb the host’s life force.

Instead, it simply turned into a flower and fell to the ground.

Even Won Taebeom, after witnessing that second inexplicable phenomenon, couldn’t help asking me,

“…Is it supposed to work like this?”

But I didn’t have an answer either.

“Uh… I don’t know either.”

Dominic, who had been calmly watching the battle, lowered his gelatinous body from the top of my head onto my shoulder and explained what had happened.

“Mr. Gunbam. No matter how insignificant a creature may be, it can never go against its instinct to revere and serve a god.”

He added that there was no reason to be surprised.

That it was perfectly natural.

Of course, I was surprised.

As difficult as it was to believe that I was a Young God, it was just as hard to believe that the Trial Items were serving me.

I still didn’t fully understand the explanation.

But the situation was obvious.

‘That means they can’t attack me?’

I immediately changed the plan I had come up with and called out to Won Taebeom.

“Lieutenant Won.”

I showed him my right hand, covered by the gauntlet.

“I’ll mark the target.”

Paladin’s Oath only displayed its full power when both gauntlets were used together.

Its operation was simple.

First, you marked the enemy with the right gauntlet.

Then, any attack made with the left gauntlet against a marked enemy inflicted vastly increased damage.

The exact increase seemed to depend on Won Taebeom’s physical condition, though I didn’t know all the details myself.

At the moment, because he was carrying me, he only had the left gauntlet equipped.

I intended to use the right one to apply the marks for him.

Since the Trial Items were on my side, the directors couldn’t even attack me.

That meant I could move much more freely.

It would be difficult against Mok Saehwa because of the distance.

But Seo Mooncha had to keep closing in to attack Won Taebeom.

That would be the perfect opportunity.

Just from hearing that single sentence, Won Taebeom immediately understood what I was planning.

However, his reaction was rather poor.

“Recruit Han. Do you act like this with the Special Operations Team as well?”

“Huh?”

I thought it was a good plan.

But Won Taebeom replied coldly.

“The reason I gave you the gauntlet is so you can defend yourself. Focus solely on your own safety.”

“Yes…”

I immediately shrank back.

Even so, it seemed that Won Taebeom also intended to take advantage of the situation.

He opened and closed the fist covered by the gauntlet and, holding me more firmly, said,

“We’re moving fast.”

He shot forward.

Boom!

The gauntlet slammed head-on into Seo Mooncha’s toothed sword.

The heavy punch made the sword tremble.

Seo Mooncha deflected the blow and retreated.

Taking advantage of the opening, a bullet flew toward us.

Won Taebeom deflected it with the gauntlet.

The bullet ricocheted off the wall and, an instant later, transformed into petals before disappearing.

Immediately afterward, he let the toothed sword aimed at his head graze past him and launched a powerful punch toward Seo Mooncha’s abdomen.

Seo Mooncha dodged the blow with ease.

At the same time, he also avoided my hand, which had come within inches of touching him.

“Hey, hey, Mr. Goyo. That’s cheating.”

My hand brushed past him for only the briefest instant.

Somewhat disappointed, I pulled it back.

Won Taebeom shot me a quick glance.

But the battle was too intense for him to scold me.

The exchanges continued.

Since he no longer had to protect me as much, Won Taebeom was able to move much more freely.

Although he still couldn’t gain the upper hand, he managed to hold on by the narrowest of margins.

And the more time passed, the more the situation favored us.

Mok Saehwa began to grow impatient.

“Director Seo! At this rate, we’ll never get Mr. Goyo to sign the contract!”

Then she raised her weapon… and shot herself.

Bang! Bang!

Each shot caused new flowers to bloom across different parts of her body.

Seeing that, I was horrified.

Sacrificing her own life force to increase her offensive power was a technique Mok Saehwa only used when she absolutely had to win.

Her eyes became bloodshot.

Her face completely flushed, she plucked the withered flower from the magazine and threw it onto the ground.

Then she looked at me while breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling.

“Mr. Goyo… hah… just sign… uff… the contract… just once… okay…?”

A chill ran through my entire body.

Mok Saehwa smiled brightly at me.

Then she loaded her weapon with a clack and aimed directly at Won Taebeom.

“I’m very sorry, but in the end it’ll be eight weeks of medical leave. Please don’t take it too personally.”

Ratatatatat!

Until just a moment ago, she had been firing one shot at a time.

Now the weapon transformed into an automatic rifle and unleashed a hail of bullets.

The barrage drastically reduced Won Taebeom’s room to maneuver.

Seo Mooncha didn’t let the opportunity slip away and charged with the toothed sword.

Won Taebeom dodged the blade.

But, as if it had been waiting for that very moment, the sword opened its mouth wide and bit down on Won Taebeom’s gauntlet.

Clang!

A loud impact rang out.

Neither the sword’s teeth nor the gauntlet suffered the slightest damage.

However, the surface of the gauntlet was completely coated in a thick layer of poison.

As long as the poison didn’t splash onto his skin, Won Taebeom would avoid being poisoned immediately. That was why he desperately tried to put distance between himself and Seo Mooncha while shaking the poison off the gauntlet.

But at that moment, he was hit by a bullet.

“…!”

Won Taebeom narrowed one eye.

A vivid flower instantly bloomed on his shoulder.

Mok Saehwa’s eyes shone even more brightly.

After absorbing someone else’s life force, she began firing with even greater ferocity.

I tried to deflect as many bullets as I could, but with Seo Mooncha attacking at the same time, it wasn’t easy at all.

On top of that, the poison coating Won Taebeom’s gauntlet restricted his movements even further.

‘We have to hold out for at least five more minutes.’

At this rate, I’d end up signing the contract whether I wanted to or not.

I decided to take advantage of my Trial Items.

“Lieutenant Won! Take the hits! I have a recovery Trial Item!”

Won Taebeom turned his gaze toward me.

I returned a look that practically begged him to trust me.

Mok Saehwa exclaimed as though disappointed.

“Mr. Goyo! Recovery items are useless against my bullets!”

I knew.

When Blooming Funeral unleashed a barrage of shots, the life force it absorbed couldn’t be offset by an ordinary healing item.

But—

‘This isn’t just any recovery item.’

If it was the six-star Phoenix Meringue Cookie I had obtained in Slay to Plate, then it would be enough.

The problem was whether Won Taebeom would trust me.

I was basically asking him to bet his life on my word.

And it was impossible for that level of trust to exist between us.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had simply ignored me.

If he did, I was planning to suggest another strategy.

However, against all expectations, Won Taebeom charged straight at Seo Mooncha.

Boom!

Seo Mooncha blocked the gauntlet’s punch and let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Lieutenant Won, since when do you obediently listen to a mere recruit?”

Flowers began blooming all over Won Taebeom’s body.

One bullet even lodged itself in his cheek, causing a flower bud to bloom there.

But he didn’t hesitate.

As he calmly blocked the barrage of punches, Seo Mooncha mocked him.

“No matter how good you are, trying to defeat me with only one arm is far too optimistic.”

I agreed.

That was precisely why I intended to turn it into a two-armed fight.

The exchanges became faster and faster.

And when Won Taebeom and Seo Mooncha were completely within close range.

I reached out my hand.

Straight into the path where the toothed sword was descending.

Seo Mooncha’s eyes flew wide open.

Before he could react, the sword opened its mouth on its own.

Thanks to that, it barely managed to avoid cutting me.

But in doing so, the tips of its teeth ended up pointing directly at Dominic.

I noticed.

But I didn’t pay it any mind.

As long as it wasn’t a god, no one could affect Dominic.

I thought a Trial Item would simply pass through him without causing any effect.

However.

Dominic, who clearly couldn’t stand getting dirty with something unpleasant, pressed himself a little closer against my body.

It seemed he didn’t even like the sword passing through him.

As his gelatinous body shifted with obvious annoyance—

Crack!

The sword’s teeth shattered.

There was no need to wonder who was responsible.

It was Dominic.

Taking advantage of the instant Seo Mooncha froze in shock at that unexpected turn of events, I grabbed him by the collar.

“…Mr. Goyo!”

And pulled with all my strength, throwing myself directly at him.

Since the sword had just thrown him off balance, Seo Mooncha caught me by reflex.

I seized that instant to mark him with the right gauntlet.

“Lieutenant Won!!”

Before I had even finished shouting, Won Taebeom had already moved.

Finally free, and covered from head to toe in flowers, he threw a punch at Seo Mooncha.

Seo Mooncha tossed me aside while trying to defend himself with the toothed sword.

But he reacted just a fraction of a second too late.

“Ugh!”

The punch landed squarely in his abdomen.

Blood burst from his mouth.

The bespectacled man in a suit was sent flying several meters before crashing violently into a building.

I rolled across the ground.

And I couldn’t suppress the smile that began spreading across my lips.

Won Taebeom immediately ran over and picked me up.

At the same time, he scolded me in a stern voice.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Eat this first.”

With one hand, I plucked the flowers that had bloomed on his body.

With the other, I took a cookie out of my inventory and handed it to him.

Won Taebeom swallowed the Phoenix Meringue Cookie in a single bite and frowned.

His body recovered instantly.

Then he looked at me with an even more suspicious expression.

I hurriedly explained.

“It’s a Trial Item from Slay to Plate. I brought it back with me after clearing the Trial.”

Meanwhile, Mok Saehwa lowered her weapon and exclaimed with complete sincerity,

“Mr. Goyo really has to come to Pasung…”

Just as she once again insisted on recruiting me into Pasung—

Flash!

The entire area lit up as though it were broad daylight.

There was only one possible explanation for such an explosion of light.

Great Sun Tathāgata.

The moment I became worried about Samra.

A violent gust of wind blew through.

The wind was so strong that it threw my hair back.

I narrowed my eyes.

Then I felt something wrap around my waist.

My body was abruptly pulled away and slammed into a surface as solid as a wall.

I turned my head.

“…!”

I saw a white mask.

“Han Goyo.”

Pasung’s CEO Cha spoke in his mechanized voice.

“Are you ready to sign now?”