Chapter 1: The Boy

“Oh divine one, please hear my plea.

The sage once told me that although everyone worships different gods, they might all be the same being.

So no matter where we are, you’re surely watching over us all, right?

When the Gates appeared and people started dying, I became afraid to go outside…

But I know this is punishment for my sins.

They say it’s all my fault.

I’ll repent.

I’m already repenting.

So please, grant my wish.

Let my departed parents be in heaven.

Spare others who resent me from suffering like I have.

Create a world where everyone but me can be happy.

And when everyone’s happy… then maybe I can join my parents?

Thank you for hearing my prayer.

I’ll serve until my dying day.”

The praying boy lifted his head. His face, hidden behind sea-blue hair, was revealed. Blood tears flowed from his hollow, cave-like eyes.

He was just a torso sitting in a chair, limbless. The bleeding was so profuse it was hard to believe so much blood could come from such a small body.

“Oh! Oh my! I-I’m actually getting younger…!”

As the boy writhed in agony, the elderly man sitting across from him grew increasingly radiant.

The shadows under his eyes receded, his dull gray eyes became clear, and his wrinkles smoothed away.

“My back! The pain is gone!”

“Congratulations, Mr. Chairman!”

It was rejuvenation.

The forbidden realm that had never been achieved, even after the Gates opened and humans gained all sorts of abilities.

The miracle of turning back time was realized right here.

“Ha, hahaha! This won’t do! You there, I’ll buy the next prayer too!”

“I’m sorry, but the First Lady is waiting for the next turn…”

The elderly man – no, now a young man – rose from his seat. He jumped up and down, stomping his feet, feeling no pain at all.

His body, which used to tire from the slightest movement, now felt limitless.

With this kind of power, even billions wouldn’t be too much to pay.

“Then I’ll take the one after that. Do you know who I am? I can prepare enough money for you to buy an entire city. Contact me anytime.”

“I’ll get in touch after confirming the details.”

“Of course! You’re welcome anytime!”

The two chatted casually as they left.

Thud-!

No one paid any attention to the frail boy collapsing behind them.

It was only natural.

Did they think such a miracle would come without a price?

The old man had to pay 3 billion dollars in laundered US bonds through various channels for this one miracle. That was about 4 trillion won.

Guilt?

What could be wrong with a mutually agreed-upon contract?

As the boy struggled to regain consciousness, drowning in a pool of his own blood, a man in a suit came from another room.

“Let’s go. Stop being so dramatic. Your parents probably suffered far worse when they died.”

He yanked on the chain connected to the boy’s neck.

The boy was dragged along like an animal about to be slaughtered.

He didn’t respond.

He couldn’t, since he had no tongue.

“The next client is very important, so don’t mess this up. This time… Hmm. They want their son to become an Awakened. Can you manage that?”

The boy simply nodded silently.

His body was already at its limit, but he wasn’t afraid of death.

From the start, this miraculous power to accomplish ‘anything’ by sacrificing something was a gift from God.

Dying like this meant he’d finally atoned for his sins, so he was actually happy.

If this miracle could make even one more person happy, that was enough.

How many days had passed like this?

“Tsk. Has he really reached his limit now?”

“Well, we’ve been keeping him alive with potions and drugs. It’s a miracle he’s still breathing at all.”

“We can’t use him even once more?”

“If he loses consciousness midway, the prayer might not work.”

“Damn. Considering the cleanup, it’d be better to just dispose of him.”

“I’ll handle it as planned.”

The boy was finally free.

As a reward for his hard work, he was gifted an abandoned house in a corner of Seoul.

He was laid on a couch crawling with cockroaches.

They were being considerate, letting him live out his last few hours as he pleased.

Such kindness from people who treated human life as worthless.

It was fulfilling to think that his efforts had made them a bit more human.

The boy smiled faintly.

“You crazy bastard.”

And was cursed at.

It was a familiar voice.

“I warned you, didn’t I? That if you kept granting everyone’s wishes, you’d end up dying miserably.”

The boy shook his head.

Dying miserably? Who?

He was perfectly content.

In fact, it was because they were such bad people that he was able to help so many others so desperately.

If he’d been with kind people, they would’ve worried about his health, limits, and condition, and he wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

Thanks to them, he could now go to heaven where his parents were, just as he’d promised…

“What are you mumbling about, you idiot? If you wanted to talk, you should’ve kept your tongue.”

But no matter how much the boy tried to answer in his mind, it was useless.

The girl was a skilled Awakened, but she couldn’t read minds.

So she continued speaking, regardless of the boy’s reactions.

“Anyway, you’re going to die now. I kept my promise and didn’t do anything.”

The boy nodded.

Though she always cursed, she had indeed kept her promise.

“But when you die, the promise ends, right? So I’ll do whatever I want now.”

Shing-

A chilling sound rang out.

The boy flinched, but without eyes, he couldn’t see the source.

The girl helpfully pressed the cold blade against the boy’s skinny abdomen.

“Can you feel it? It’s a curved sword. My weapon, sharp enough to cut through steel easily.”

So? Are you going to kill me?

The boy tilted his head in confusion, his blue hair falling to the side.

‘Damn, how can he still look so pretty in this state…’

The girl gritted her teeth and raised the sword.

“Now, I’m going to use this to kill myself.”

“…?!!”

Suicide?!

That’s a sin.

Even the merciful God who forgave the boy for devouring his parents…

Would never forgive suicide. It must never be done.

The boy shook his head violently, trying desperately to protest.

“But you have no eyes to see it, and no arms to stop me. You’ll just have to listen to me die painfully from there, won’t you?”

The girl wouldn’t stop talking, no matter how the boy looked like a pathetic roly-poly doll.

“So promise you’ll grant my wish as agreed.”

What kind of wish would make her threaten like this?

Did she want the world to end or something?

Part of the boy was afraid, but it didn’t take long for him to nod.

Saving a life came first.

Above all, she was the only person in his life he could truly trust.

He couldn’t let her go to hell by committing suicide.

Seeing the boy’s frantic nodding, the girl burst into laughter.

“Then start praying now. You’re going to take over my body.”

“…!!”

“Your body’s dying, so come into mine. Then you can live, right?”

The boy shook his head.

The girl swung her sword as if to make him listen.

“If you don’t want to, I’ll just kill myself~ Should I slit my wrists? Or maybe disembowel myself? If I sit on top of you and cut open my stomach, all my guts will spill out. That’d be quite a sight, huh?”

It was a terribly gruesome threat.

If he had eyes…

If he even had one arm left, he might have been able to stop her somehow.

But now, there was nothing he could do.

Either grant her wish…

Or watch her commit suicide.

In this deadly choice, the boy really only had one option.

The boy started humming a song.

The only song he remembered from childhood, “Island Baby.”

It was always a song that made him feel his mother’s warm embrace, but today it was filled with nothing but despair.

“That’s right. Good boy.”

An unfamiliar hand stroked the boy’s head.

He felt a warm touch.

Maybe because he was used to being hit with hard sticks, tears welled up involuntarily.

Drip, drip – tears tinged pink with blood fell to the floor.

“Resent me. But I don’t want to just let you die, even if you hate me for it.”

Resent? How could I ever resent you?

The boy, humming as he prayed, coughed up blood.

It was the backlash from offering almost every part of his body – heart, brain, stomach, and more – as payment for this final wish.

As the boy finally crumbled…

“Don’t die. Don’t give up. This is my body, so don’t use it as you please. Grit your teeth and take care of it. Treat it like it’s me.”

The girl’s whisper reached him.

A tiny voice, like a lullaby.

“Don’t die. Take care of my body.”

The girl repeated the same words over and over.

Again and again.

Until the boy’s consciousness faded completely and he breathed his last.

She didn’t stop until her own consciousness disappeared.

“…Idiot. You’re always getting taken advantage of because you’re so damn nice.”

The girl staggered to her feet and quickly broke open a round capsule she had brought.

Immediately, a translucent energy rose up and surrounded her body.

A liquid clearer than water welled up, warmly enveloping her.

This should keep anyone from disturbing her until she wakes up.

It was done.

To the outside world, the boy was dead, and the girl was alive.

No one would ever know.

He wouldn’t be able to recklessly sacrifice himself, since it wasn’t his own body.

For the first time in 10 years, the boy would be able to live his own life.

“Heh, parting like this… I wonder how he’ll react when he finds out I’m alive…”

Her consciousness was fading.

Like going under anesthesia, a drowsy feeling rapidly took over her mind.

“See you later…”

Her consciousness cut off abruptly.

The girl’s body went limp, floating on the liquid.

Fsssh-

The sphere faded away, disappearing along with the girl’s body.

It was a perfect death, and several days passed.

—

[Heya! raei here~

New novel! I’m very ahead in all my current tls so I’m doing a new novel every week this month. This one is from the pick ups discord channel and I tried it because op (Acheron) said it was like my other tl, kidnapped by the strongest guild.

And it very much is a novel in the same vein… but with some very large differences. The biggest difference is the mc and with how different she is, the story becomes very different as well.

Anyways, I’m enjoying it a lot so far! Will be posting a few a day then eventually get into my usual schedule of 5/week.

Enjoy enjoy!]