Ch.6969. Chosen by the Dragon God (1)

A priestess chosen by the dragon has been born here.

Baek Seol-hwa, who successfully became the Dragon Priestess, was no longer the child who had suffered and been wounded.

She was able to return as the strong warrior that Son Sang-hui had known as the strongest Awakened in Pohang.

Perhaps due to her contract with the Dragon God, she had become a girl with impressive sky-blue hair and blue eyes—rare features for Koreans or Asians—but the tremendous power emanating from her sent shivers throughout Son Sang-hui’s body.

“I don’t want to lose my true self anymore.”

Having regained her eyes, face, and legs through the contract, Baek Seol-hwa wished never to lose them again.

It must have been painful.

Though she pretended to be calm and blamed herself for everything, deep down in her heart, she had been asking the gods, “Why me?”

As if releasing that resentment, Baek Seol-hwa slowly opened her eyes and declared to Bahamut:

“I’ll go as far as I can go, Dragon God.”

She would advance as far as possible.

After completing her contract with the Dragon God, Baek Seol-hwa slowly began to suppress the power flowing out of her. Meaningless release of magical power would only drain her energy.

‘Huh, is her talent similar to Yu-na’s? Or does everyone who contracts with me become like this? This is scary, I didn’t know about this.’

From Bahamut’s perspective, healing her body was certainly his intention, but he hadn’t expected her to become this powerful so quickly.

At first, he thought it might be because Seol-hwa had talent similar to Yu-na’s, but then he wondered if everyone who contracted with him became like this, which made him secretly tremble with fear about future contracts.

‘It should be fine, right? She needs to do something similar to Yu-na in Pohang! In the apocalypse, one’s strength also functions as political power. If we make the residents of Pohang recognize that the Dragon Priestess is strong, things will be easier going forward.’

If her talent and power were greater than he expected, Bahamut couldn’t help but feel proud of the priestess he had contracted with.

From Bahamut’s perspective, if the contractor’s talent was exceptional, it would also improve his own reputation.

Since Seol-hwa would need to take on a role similar to Yu-na’s in Pohang anyway, Bahamut thought it would actually make his work easier if she showed off her strength like this.

“Are you feeling alright?”

So he slowly asked Seol-hwa, who was gathering her power, if her body was okay.

Although he had healed her face, eyes, and legs, he thought there might still be something lacking, which prompted his question.

“I’m fine. In fact, I’m in top condition! It’s not something the Dragon God needs to worry about!”

“I-I see.”

Bahamut was taken aback when she prostrated herself on the ground, apologizing for causing worry.

Thinking this scene looked familiar, Bahamut hid his bewilderment and spoke again.

“More importantly, now that you’ve regained your sight… how does it feel?”

“It’s such an honor that the first person I see is the Dragon God! Hmm! You’re cuter than I expected. I’m very satisfied!”

‘Huh? Cute? Not cool?’

When asked how it felt to regain her sight, her answer was that he was cute.

What unique taste, one might say.

Most people who saw Bahamut’s true form would feel awe or think he was cool, but “cute”… that was a first.

Bahamut looked at Baek Seol-hwa with an incredulous gaze, deflated by her comment.

“Huh.”

Son Sang-hui seemed to share Bahamut’s sentiment, as she was dumbfounded by Seol-hwa’s comment about him being cute.

From her perspective too, Bahamut’s true form would be better described as majestic or cool rather than cute.

Where exactly was the cute element…?

“I agree with that statement one hundred, no, a thousand percent!”

“Ah, no.”

However, the only one at the scene who agreed with Seol-hwa’s assessment was Yu-na.

As if agreeing a hundred or thousand times over, she immediately approached Seol-hwa, grabbed her hands, and shook them.

‘Not cool, but cute. Both Yu-na and her. They’re my contractors, but they both have such unique tastes.’

Their taste was certainly unique.

Seeing Yu-na sympathize with Seol-hwa’s taste, Bahamut thought that although they were his contractors, this was something he couldn’t understand.

“Ah! You must be Yu-na! So you’re my senior! Senior, this junior greets you!”

“Hoho. I finally have a cute junior! Let’s spread the greatness of Bahamut to the world together!”

“Yes! Let’s make the Dragon God’s greatness known throughout the entire world!”

“You’re a junior who shares my mindset!”

“I feel the same way, senior!”

And seeing Yu-na shaking her hand, Seol-hwa called her senior, which made Yu-na smile proudly.

Genuinely delighted to finally have a junior, Yu-na suggested they spread Bahamut’s greatness together, and Seol-hwa responded that they should make it known throughout the entire world.

‘I don’t know about that. This is scary.’

Witnessing the joining of like-minded fanatics right before his eyes, Bahamut continued his cowardly behavior as always.

Even Bahamut was left speechless by the sight of Yu-na seriously accepting Seol-hwa’s absurd suggestion to spread his name throughout the entire world.

No matter how you look at it, isn’t that scale too grand?

‘Well, that’s not realistically possible!’

Of course, Bahamut concluded that realistically, such a thing wouldn’t be possible! But doesn’t this scene look familiar somewhere?

You cowardly, thick-headed dragon.

“Thank you, Sang-hui! Thanks to you, I’ve been given a new life. I won’t hesitate anymore. I’ll go all the way.”

“I’m truly glad.”

After finishing her conversation with Yu-na, Seol-hwa immediately thanked Sang-hui, who had guided her here.

Sincerely grateful, she took Sang-hui’s hand, and Son Sang-hui, though surprised by the miraculous recovery, sincerely said she was glad.

“I can feel the sincerity in your heart. Thank you so much.”

“Yes. You’re welcome.”

It seemed that sincerity had been conveyed.

Baek Seol-hwa said she could feel the sincerity in Yu-na’s heart.

“Well then, my contractor Baek Seol-hwa, I assume you’ve heard about Pohang before coming here.”

After they finished greeting each other, Bahamut slowly got to the main point, as if directing traffic.

Calling his newly contracted Baek Seol-hwa, he mentioned that she must have heard about the reason for the contract.

“Yes. Before coming here, Seo Un-jae explained the situation to me. From now on, as the mayor of Pohang, I’m destined to be a puppet of the three major camps in Pohang, right?”

“You don’t need to tell me that much, but anyway, I intend to guarantee Pohang’s freedom going forward. If the three major camps in Pohang have no intention of opposing the Balhut Cult, I have no intention of directly interfering in their internal affairs. The issue is the path my contractor will take from now on.”

Initially proceeding well, when the puppet talk came up, Bahamut looked embarrassed but said there was no need to mention that, and instead brought up Pohang’s freedom.

He said that if they had no intention of opposing the Balhut Cult, he had no intention of interfering in their internal affairs.

However, he had to take responsibility for the path that his contractor, Baek Seol-hwa, would take.

Depending on the path she chose, Bahamut would need to formulate future plans for Seol-hwa in his mind.

“Path… you say?”

“Yes. You have now become my contractor, Bahamut’s. So I must ask about the belief you will proclaim to the world from now on. What do you want to do in this world with my power?”

That was something he had asked when contracting with Yu-na as well.

Bahamut looked at Baek Seol-hwa with a serious expression, and seeing this, Baek Seol-hwa also pondered his words with a serious expression.

“…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know, you say.”

But no matter how much she thought about it, the answer was “I don’t know.”

This contract wasn’t one that Baek Seol-hwa had chosen of her own will from the beginning; she was a priestess selected as a kind of sacrifice to avoid civil war among the three major camps in Pohang.

Although she had resolved herself according to Bahamut’s words, in reality, she must be at a loss about what to do going forward.

“At first, to survive the apocalypse, I just pretended to be cool and brave in front of people. Looking back now, it might have been guilt for surviving when my parents didn’t.”

“…Ugh.”

But now, thinking about herself before meeting Bahamut here, she realized that all her actions so far had stemmed from the guilt of surviving alone.

Son Sang-hui turned her eyes away from Baek Seol-hwa when she said she had been putting on airs in front of people to atone for her parents who died in her place, and to survive herself.

After all, Son Sang-hui was also a survivor who believed she could survive this apocalypse if she trusted that gallant figure.

‘I relied too heavily on Seol-hwa.’

Thinking about it now, she felt bitter that she had placed too much burden on a child who should have been protected.

Son Sang-hui wanted to apologize to Seol-hwa for placing so many expectations on her.

“Even after contracting with the Dragon God like this, I haven’t thought deeply about how to live. Because I lost the right to choose my life before meeting the Dragon God.”

It also didn’t help that Baek Seol-hwa before the contract didn’t have time to seriously think about her future.

Having lost everything and only being recognized for her usefulness with a magic wand, she couldn’t have seriously contemplated her future.

It was natural for her to be confused when she suddenly regained the right to choose her future after having lost that right.

“So, how should I live from now on?”

“…Yu-na once told me she wanted to normalize the world. What do you want to do going forward?”

“Normalize… what do I want to do…”

Seeing this, Bahamut mentioned Yu-na’s past example and asked what she wanted to do going forward.

What she wanted to do.

It was a question that could be answered with what she could do right now rather than her future.

“I want to send the people I know to heaven. I want to prove to this world that these people weren’t meant to shed blood and tears like this.”

And what she chose was salvation.

She said she wanted to prove that the people who had to die in this apocalypse weren’t supposed to, that they weren’t meant to shed blood.

Baek Seol-hwa…

“I want the descent of paradise on this land.”

“Paradise, you say.”

‘What’s that? The scale is enormously larger than Yu-na’s!’

She wanted a paradise where everyone could be happy.

When she suddenly expressed such an enormous wish, Bahamut couldn’t hide his bewilderment and looked at Baek Seol-hwa with trembling eyes.

Isn’t the scale too large? Paradise!

“Yes. I don’t ask for heaven, but I want a world where people can live as people. Where everyone can be safe and happy, smiling and enjoying peaceful daily lives… a peaceful paradise.”

“Not much different from Yu-na. In the end, it’s about overcoming this apocalypse.”

“Yes.”

Thankfully, Baek Seol-hwa provided additional explanation, so Bahamut hastily said that her wish wasn’t much different from Yu-na’s.

He roughly identified her goal as overcoming this apocalypse and elicited her agreement, and in response to the Dragon God’s solemn words, Baek Seol-hwa nodded heavily in agreement.

Seeing this, Bahamut inwardly exclaimed “That’s right!” and delivered his prepared trump card statement.

“But you know best. The opinions of the powerless are bound to be ignored.”

“…Yes. I feel it to the bone.”

“So cultivate power that others cannot ignore. The strong can change the rules, and with that power, you can defeat the enemies who destroyed your daily lives. And from the ruined city, a new city will be born. That will be the new paradise you desire.”

Repeating exactly what Yu-na had said, he told Baek Seol-hwa to cultivate power and use that power to build the new paradise she wanted.

“The new paradise I desire.”

“With power comes responsibility. If you’re willing to bear that responsibility and desire the descent of paradise, I will also do my utmost to assist in fulfilling your wish.”

And he said he would help her achieve that wish.

At the suggestion that Baek Seol-hwa’s dream wasn’t far-fetched and could be achieved, she opened her mouth with a determined expression.

“Yes. I… Yes. I will establish the new paradise I desire in Pohang, in this country.”

She said she would bring about the new paradise she desired in this country, just as Bahamut had said.

Bahamut had created yet another devoted fanatic who would never betray him.

‘Huh? Establishing a paradise? That somehow sounds ominous!’

Only then did this thick-headed dragon sense that the current situation was taking a strange turn.

But it was already too late. Escape was impossible!

Our Bahamut truly showed no growth.