Ch.1Chapter 1 – Genesis

# Chapter 1, Verse 1

In the beginning, there was light.

# Chapter 2

Verse 1: In the midst of the vast darkness and churning chaos, the light became aware of itself,

Verse 2: It distinguished between itself and that which was not itself, naming that which was not itself as “the world,”

Verse 3: And called itself “Eloach.”

# Chapter 3

Verse 1: Eloach looked upon the world filled with darkness and chaos,

Verse 2: And the world was not beautiful enough for the Lord’s eyes.

Verse 3: The Lord gathered all the darkness and chaos of the world into one place,

Verse 4: Compressed the chaos into a small mass and cast it outside the world,

Verse 5: And from the darkness, spun infinitely thin threads to weave an endlessly vast cloth.

Verse 6: The Lord spread the cloth wide to cover the world,

Verse 7: Then detached a portion of the light that constituted Himself and broke it into small pieces,

Verse 8: Placing the pieces of luminous bodies upon the cloth here and there to fix the cloth to the world.

Verse 9: The Lord called the cloth “universe” and the luminous bodies “stars,” and this was the first day.

Verse 10: The Lord looked at one luminous body placed in the center of the universe,

Verse 11: Created a mass of land rotating around the luminous body and covered it with a firmament, and this was the second day.

Verse 12: The Lord created flowing things above the land and below the sky,

Verse 13: Called that which flows on land “water” and that which flows beneath the sky “mana,” and this was the third day.

Verse 14: The Lord created self-changing things and planted them beneath the land,

And sprouts emerged from the ground, growing into trees that reached the sky.

Verse 15: Fruits grew on the first tree, and seeds spread throughout the world, causing vegetation to grow abundantly, and the Lord saw that it was good.

[Likes(12) Dislikes(2)]

Comments(19)

– Welcome, cult leader

– Keep it up

– Yeah, your god took 2 weeks for creation~ Worse than the Christian God~

– Writing fantasy in the Bible style lol

– Say hello

– Lol now they’re proselytizing online

ㄴ -newcomer-

ㄴ This guy’s been maintaining this concept for over 10 years lol

– Idiot

– Is this that Paradise Church that’s trending these days?

ㄴ That’s a new cult, this is a really old cult lol

ㄴ But why does Paradise Church have more followers…

ㄴ Who would be stupid enough to believe this stuff lol

ㄴ For real lol

– But the worldbuilding is unnecessarily good

ㄴ Agreed lol

ㄴ It’s actually entertaining to read before exams lol

ㄴ The later parts and earlier parts actually connect well

ㄴ Yeah, still a cult

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***

At dawn, faint rays of light penetrated through thin curtains, breaking into particles as they reflected off the floor and ceiling, scattering through the quiet darkness to dimly illuminate the room.

In the corner where two walls met, the silhouette of a young man in a hoodie gradually emerged. He sat at a desk attached to both walls, staring at a glowing monitor while roughly scrolling the mouse wheel.

Anyone familiar with the internet would recognize the screen displaying a post from a famous online community. A post titled Genesis, describing how some unknown deity created the world.

At first glance, it bore many similarities to the Christian Bible. The young man quickly moved his bony index finger to scroll down, and the screen filled with comments at the bottom of the post. Anonymous netizens were mocking the poster, “MasterPaladin.”

“Shit, it’s real though…”

The hooded young man, Shin Jaehyuk, closed the browser window with a curse. Though he had expected harsh treatment, receiving such insults daily was still unpleasant.

Reflecting his mood, a hot, humid sigh escaped his lips, mingling with the cool dawn air. He leaned back, feeling the elasticity of the chair as the backrest tilted with his movement.

Jaehyuk stared at the ceiling with hollow eyes. His medication had run out, and he was too lazy to go to the pharmacy, so he’d skipped a day. As a result, his depression and insomnia had flared up, leaving him without sleep all night. Thanks to that, his head felt foggy and he was terribly tired since dawn. Seeing those comments had only worsened his mood, making this truly the worst day.

Seeking a more comfortable position, Jaehyuk supported the back of his head with interlocked palms. He felt his muscles tense beneath his armpits as they bore the heavy weight. His half-closed eyes stared intensely at the cracks in the ceiling, as if searching for something. After a while, Jaehyuk gave up finding anything new in the ceiling he always observed and closed his eyes.

With his eyes closed, memories came flooding back. Memories of his past life.

In his past life, Jaehyuk had been a paladin.

And not just any paladin—an extremely powerful one.

Unlike the peaceful Earth where supernatural abilities didn’t exist, his medieval fantasy world, Eden, had been in endless war since before his birth. The Demon King’s army, serving the evil god Rohim, invaded the material plane, while the human alliance, led by the Empire, united to resist the demonic invasion.

Jaehyuk’s past self, Longinus, was a paladin serving Eloach, the God of Light and Creator. A demon slayer who crushed demon skulls on the frontlines with a mace in his left hand and a spear in his right. The Papal State honored his great achievements by granting him sainthood and the title of Master Paladin, recognizing him as the strongest paladin in history.

Longinus was a mighty paladin who, along with eleven companions, crossed the gates of hell to strike at the enemy’s headquarters and defeated numerous high-ranking demons. But he too was human. In his final moment, during a one-on-one battle with the Four Heavenly Kings in hell, he was defeated and lost his life due to an inexplicable freezing of his divine power. Then he was reincarnated—in a world he’d never heard of called Earth, as an orphan named Shin Jaehyuk with no connections.

‘Was it really the demons’ doing? But that phenomenon was clearly… No, I shouldn’t think about it anymore.’

Jaehyuk shook his head deliberately to stop his thoughts. Such doubts were clearly blasphemy against his god. This was a worry that had tormented him constantly for nearly 24 years since his reincarnation. No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn’t find answers now.

Jaehyuk straightened up and rested his elbows on the desk. He closed his eyes and covered his face with both hands in a dry face-washing motion. The blue light from the computer desktop reflected off the backs of his hands.

He always felt depressed when recalling his past world. Dark demonic voices lingering in his mind kept tormenting him with ominous questions: What happened to the war against demons after his death? Did humanity really perish? If so, why was he reincarnated in this world? Such questions haunted him.

Every day for 24 years, without fail.

No matter how hard he tried not to remember, his past self constantly reminded him of his duties as a paladin. The demonic hallucinations he occasionally heard sometimes tormented him in the voice of his paladin mentor: Everything is according to Eloach’s will, protect humanity! Kill the demons! Leave none alive, kill them with your own hands…

The paladin’s depression had continued since infancy—worry for humanity in his past life, questions about his final moments, guilt for escaping from demons under the convenient excuse of reincarnation. A depression so severe that an ordinary person would have taken their own life. But he couldn’t commit suicide, following the doctrine of scripture and perhaps because of the slight possibility that his reincarnation might be the Lord’s will.

Since a child’s body couldn’t relieve stress through alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs, he immersed himself in the world of computers to escape his dark thoughts. He lost himself in web novels, comics, games, and animations featuring overpowered protagonists defeating evil enemies and achieving happy endings.

Thanks to this, the paladin’s depression, having turned away from the cruel reality, improved significantly. However, as is common with people immersed in two-dimensional worlds, his interactions with others gradually decreased, and his relationships naturally narrowed.

Longinus had been a paladin who spent his entire life killing demons. Killing demons was his life’s purpose. Everyone respected such a noble paladin. But that respected paladin was no more. Only a common high-school graduate unemployed man remained, aimlessly drifting through days while browsing internet communities. In this peaceful Earth with no demons or gods, only scientific civilization, Jaehyuk had lost his purpose in life.

Thus, in a world without miracles, the paladin who had lost his god became a shut-in, confined to his home.

***

While a man mentally in his fifties wallowed alone in dawn sentimentality, the red sun had fully risen above the horizon, asserting its presence between Seoul’s high-rise buildings. As the early summer morning sunlight brightened the room, Jaehyuk composed himself, turned off the computer, and stood up. It was time to proceed with his daily routine.

The former paladin’s morning always began the same way. After cleansing his body, he would excerpt portions of the scripture he had memorized and upload them online—in Korean and English, the only Earth languages he knew. He did this hoping that someone else who had been reincarnated might see his posts and contact him.

Of course, instead of contact, he received only mockery, and his decade of effort was dismissed with derogatory labels like “crazy roleplayer,” “cult leader,” and “community troublemaker.” He would have preferred to upload in Eden’s language so only fellow reincarnators could understand, but unfortunately, Earth’s computer keyboards and writing systems didn’t support Eden’s script.

‘Damn, why does Earth have so many unnecessary languages? It would be convenient if there was just one common language like in Eden. Fucking English, fucking basic education curriculum…’

Jaehyuk cursed South Korea’s basic education curriculum and the Ministry of Education, recalling being scolded by an English teacher who was (mentally) much younger than him. Since he had already handled today’s online scripture lecture in the early morning due to his sleeplessness, Jaehyuk considered what schedule remained: praying to Lord Eloach and practicing divine spells. First, to pray to his god, Jaehyuk knelt on the floor and clasped his hands.

“Almighty Eloach, protect me with your eternal light. Guide me with your holy wisdom, and even if my path is shrouded in darkness, lead my soul with your divine light… Amen.”

With eyes closed, Jaehyuk recited an impressive prayer he had heard in an online game promotional video. Naturally, no divine voice responded to his prayer. Of course, this wasn’t because the prayer was too frivolous or lacked sincerity. As a paladin, Jaehyuk was always serious and reverent when addressing his god.

He remained kneeling, contemplating his inner world. He could feel the immense divine power he had cultivated in his past life still coiled in a corner of his soul. If that divine power hadn’t been there, he would have accepted himself as merely a delusional patient who believed he was a reincarnator.

With prayer complete, it was time to practice divine spells. Jaehyuk recited the clerics’ chant, Aria, to complete a purification spell. It was an abbreviated Aria. Sufficiently skilled clerics could recite only part of the Aria to invoke miracles permitted by the Lord.

“With your light, purify the filth of the secular world…”

Purification was originally a spell that cleansed evil beings like undead or demons, with the side effect of cleaning the surroundings. The abbreviated purification would only trigger the side effect—cleaning the area—as Jaehyuk intended. But the spell remained incomplete. The divine power in his soul refused to respond.

‘It doesn’t work today either.’

Had the divine power freeze from his past life affected his current life? Or was it because gods didn’t exist on Earth? His divine power had never answered his call in this world. Despite praying daily, practicing divine spells, and proselytizing online to stimulate his divine power, it hadn’t stirred even slightly for over 20 years. Not even a speck of divine power.

Nevertheless, the young man didn’t look disappointed. He hadn’t expected success in the first place. It was something that had failed for 24 years. Today would be no different. Jaehyuk rose from his position with an impassive face.

***

The filthy state of his home came into view. A table crusted with dried ramen broth, dust piled on chairs, an overflowing laundry basket, plastic bags rolling on the floor. The consequences of postponing cleaning again and again.

‘Cleaning is such a hassle… Maybe I’ll succeed with the purification spell tomorrow. Yeah, I’ll clean tomorrow and just eat now.’

After brief deliberation, Jaehyuk once again postponed today’s cleaning to his future self, just as his past self had done yesterday, a week ago, and a month ago. Rising from his seat, Jaehyuk opened the refrigerator for breakfast. An empty refrigerator greeted him. He checked the shelves above and beside the refrigerator, but they were clean without even a single can. Jaehyuk remembered that yesterday he had eaten the last remaining can of spicy tuna and instant rice.

“Ah, right.”

Enduring his hunger, he turned on his smartphone with practiced movements and bulk-ordered groceries from an online shopping mall—enough to last several months without leaving home. Of course, purchasing food now wouldn’t immediately satisfy his hunger.

‘The delivery will take a few days… I’m too hungry, should I go out to eat?’

The hikikomori pondered briefly. Going outside was bothersome, but he was extremely hungry after staying up all night. The emptiness rising from his stomach became more pronounced the longer he thought about it. Though ordering delivery was an option, Jaehyuk decided to venture outside for some fresh air and to check on the owner of his regular restaurant.

“At least there’s a restaurant right in front of my house…”

Jaehyuk slowly changed his clothes—the same type and color of hoodie and cotton pants as his indoor clothes.

It was his first outing in two months.