“Mom, I’m cold! I don’t want to go in!”
Jim shouts.
Amy is crying.
But Peter and Anna keep holding onto their hands, not letting go.
“If you don’t go in, it’ll only hurt more. You don’t want to feel more pain, do you?”
“Let’s go in, Jim. Amy. If we go in, we won’t feel any pain anymore.”
The couple hugs their sobbing children tightly.
Then, gently patting the children’s backs, they slowly begin to walk into the river.
“It’s okay. You won’t feel any more pain. It’s okay.”
Slowly.
The water starts to engulf their bodies.
At that sight, I instinctively started running toward them, only to stop, frozen in place, as though a nail had been driven into the ground.
Unleashing the Demon King’s power and turning the world into hell?
That’s the worst.
My beloved women being destroyed because of my power?
That’s terrifying.
But above all else, what truly scared me the most was burning forever in hell.
Using my power meant I would go to hell.
And I didn’t want to go to hell.
I just wanted to stay quietly and find a black magician or demon follower to quietly have my soul destroyed, and end it all.
I wanted to go back to Korea.
What about that family?
They only handed me a few pieces of black bread, right?
I’m grateful, but going to hell to save them doesn’t make sense, no matter how I think about it.
So, I have to leave.
I have to leave...
“Mom, I don’t want to die!”
Jim cries out.
At his desperate cry, the couple finally stops.
In the water, up to their chests, the couple starts to release a wailing cry I’d never heard before.
They couldn’t go in.
But they couldn’t come out either.
They just stood there, helpless, crying.
Dawn.
In the cold dark.
Around the river, homeless people, like Peter and Anna’s family, with their bodies in similar disrepair, hung limply without any hope or salvation, watching the suicidal family without a word.
The only one who could save them was me.
Would I suffer forever in hell?
Or would I just leave them and escape to Korea, leaving them behind?
Such a simple choice.
Such disgustingly simple choice.
“Peter!! Anna!!”
My head was screaming to choose the latter.
But before I knew it, my body was jumping into the river.
I’ll definitely regret this moment later.
I can already see myself regretting it, pounding the ground in regret.
But I couldn’t stop.
“Don’t die!!”
When I came to my senses, I had already dragged the four family members out of the river.
The condition of the four people, dragged out of the water, was truly dreadful.
Of course, their bodies were freezing cold like ice, and they were all shaking as if they had seizures.
But far worse than their bodies was the damage to their hearts.
“Why did you save us?”
Peter, whose arm had been severed, sobbed as he asked.
“Even if we live, what’s the point? How are we supposed to live like this with these bodies...”
His voice was broken, but the fact that he was crying meant he hadn’t completely given up hope yet.
Until the very end.
I hesitated.
Once I used my power, somehow, rumors would inevitably spread.
Just yesterday, the family had lost an arm and had gone blind, and now, overnight, they were miraculously fine?
Even if I wiped their memories with absolute hypnosis after healing them, some would feel suspicious and try to find out what happened, eventually reaching me.
So, I should never use it, not even once.
But now that I had used it...
People would come looking for me anyway.
I had no choice but to heal them as much as possible.
I looked around.
Like Peter’s family, there were homeless people around who had suffered injuries lying everywhere.
I couldn’t just heal Peter’s family and ignore the others.
They, too, were suffering just as much.
No.
Perhaps they had suffered more than Peter’s family.
Now that I could use the time stop much more easily...
I could escape at any time.
So, just this once, please forgive me, Goddess.
I’ll take responsibility and die as a martyr before my powers awaken.
It’s too cruel to just leave these people to suffer when I have the ability to heal them.
It’s really too cruel.
“You gave me black bread, right?”
I undid the body modification on my face.
Slowly.
My face returned to its original form.
“That was hope for me. So now, I’ll give you hope in return.”
I placed the body modification on Peter.
I healed his severed arm and treated his frozen body.
I also cleaned out all the impurities and waste in his body.
Next was Anna.
Then Jim. Then Amy.
The vision that had been lost in their eyes was restored, and their severed arms grew back, perfectly.
The lungs that had been damaged by the dust from the textile factory returned to their original state.
In an instant.
They all transformed into the healthiest versions of themselves.
“My... my arm...”
Peter stared at his arm.
“Mom!! Look!! Look!!”
Young Jim screamed in astonishment.
“I can see it, Mom! Dad!! I can see it!!”
Amy, too, fumbles at her eyes and screams.
And finally, Anna, unable to breathe properly, looks at me.
“E-Eleos...”
I gently patted her head.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help sooner.”
I’m sorry because I’m a coward.
But I also had to face going to hell.
It took time to make up my mind.
So, please forgive me.
After healing the family, I looked around.
The homeless people, who had been staring at me with dull, hopeless eyes just moments ago, were all now standing up.
I had to heal them.
Heal them, and before my power grew too much, I had to run away.
Just a week.
Only a week, and then I would escape.
I couldn’t just ignore them.
“I’ll heal you.”
At my words, all the homeless people around me immediately screamed and stood up.
“Eleos!!”
“Heal me!! Heal me!!”
Seeing the people rushing toward me, I felt drained.
I had chosen hell.
But, oddly enough, I didn’t regret it.
I began healing the people rushing toward me.
I had made a mistake.
Next time, I should go to a place with no people at all.
That’s one thing I was sure I had learned in this moment.
*****
Scrap Yard was the perfect place for Mammon.
A place of extreme polarization, with money-obsessed businessmen and suffering poor people.
Human greed, rotting away endlessly under the name of capitalism.
And due to the culture that rejected all religions, faiths, and magic, there was not a single temple in the entire city.
The followers of the great temple and the influence of the Evil God, who could have been the perfect prey for Mammon, were nowhere to be found.
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Mammon looked at the city and devised a grand plan.
To consume the souls and minds of every human in this city.
And to turn everything into his own power.
He had been working on it for decades, leading the city into ruin and darkness, pouring time and effort into it.
Now, just a little bit more, and his plan would be completed.
A battle of greed and power.
And in the process, all the souls and resentments of the people would be swallowed whole as part of his grand plan. It was almost complete.
But then, in the final moment...
A meddler showed up.
[Isn’t he the Saint of Healing? Why is he here?]
A being who appeared out of nowhere, completely unexpected.
The Saint of Healing.
He was known to be the chosen one of Lilia, the Goddess of the Great Temple, who had been severely wounded.
And this Saint, who was supposedly Lilia’s chosen one, was now wielding unimaginable power, destroying the Evil God’s Fragment.
This being, who didn’t fit at all in the picture, suddenly settled in a corner of the city and started healing people.
[We have to drive him out. How dare he come to someone else’s domain and interfere?]
It was like an uninvited guest suddenly interrupting a carefully prepared stage.
If there were variables, it would be problematic, so Mammon quickly planned to get rid of the saint.
[Drive him out? You’d better not do that.]
A familiar stench and disgusting voice echoed in Mammon’s ear.
Mammon’s brow furrowed.
[How did that hellspawn worm manage to crawl up here?]
At the sight of the disgusting Evil God, Mammon growled and spat a retort.
But the Evil God didn’t seem to care.
[I came to share an interesting piece of information.]
[You’re just here to lie again. I’ve been tricked by your lies a hundred times. Get lost. Don’t interfere with me.]
Mammon, who was preparing to use his power to push the Evil God out of his domain, froze as the Evil God spoke again.
[The Saint of Healing actually possesses the power of Asmodeus, the Demon King of Lust.]
Mammon hesitated, stopping the power he was summoning.
[Oh? Now that’s an interesting claim. What kind of nonsense is that?]
[It’s literal. Asmodeus is the one acting as the saint. I found ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) this out when part of him entered the body of that saint.]
The Evil God laughed slyly.
[Doesn’t it make sense that Lilia, in her broken state, would send a chosen one?]
[That doesn’t make sense.]
[If it had been my chosen one, of course, there wouldn’t have been any destruction of my fragment. Not from me, not from the Great Temple. So what does that mean? It means the power of Pandemonium.]
[One of the fallen deities from the Celestial War may have been reborn in human form, right? Didn’t that piece of shit from the Sun Cult, the so-called Justice Rophus, start out as human and later regain his divine form and rise to the Great Temple?]
[That’s right. The gods of the Great Temple probably think so too. But I’m telling you, my words are true. The saint is performing miracles using the power of Asmodeus.]
Mammon chuckled.
[This is so absurd that I’m starting to listen just for the entertainment value. So, what’s the point you’re trying to make, you hellspawn?]
[Lust’s power. You can have it.]
The Evil God whispered seductively.
[You’re trying to cause chaos in Scrap Yard to swallow the souls and resentments. I know all about it. But don’t you think it’s a little less satisfying to consume the power of another Demon King compared to your own? Where else would you find a better opportunity than this?]
[.......]
[Lucifer spent 300 years gnawing away at the connection between the human world and the Celestial Realm. Except for Dulaney, Rophus, and Luphiel, other gods can’t even send a chosen one, let alone give divine proclamations. On top of that, I’m giving you information no other Demon King knows. Even if you swallow Lust’s power, it’s already too late to stop it.]
The Evil God smiled widely.
Mammon watched the Evil God with a scowl on his face.
[It’s the first time you’ve spoken such absurd nonsense, and I’m actually listening. But it’s so transparent I can see right through it. You want me to mess with the saint, don’t you?]
[Exactly.]
[The Great Temple is going to hate that. Plus, if you mess with the most important figure in the human empire, the royal family will get involved. That means all the work I’ve put into building my empire here in Scrap Yard will collapse. Do you think I don’t know your filthy intentions, you worm?]
The Evil God shrugged.
[Believe it or not, that’s up to you. But think carefully. Are you really going to pass up this great opportunity just because you’re the Demon King of Greed?]
[We’re not exactly on such friendly terms, are we? Get lost, you worm.]
Mammon snapped his fingers, and the Evil God’s illusion shattered.
Mammon shook his head in disbelief.
If he could swallow Lust’s power, it would certainly be the best outcome for him.
But he just couldn’t trust the Evil God’s words.
[He must have tricked me a few times.]
Whether it was Lust or the remaining gods of the Great Temple on Earth...
The important thing was that the saint was now a disruptor in the elaborate play Mammon had prepared for so long.
An unexpected character should never show up in a play you’ve been preparing for.
Now, Mammon would need a legitimate excuse to drive the saint out of the city without provoking the royal family or the Great Temple.
[Exiling him for proselytizing isn’t legal, is it?]
There was no law banning proselytizing itself, only cultures that frowned upon it.
Empire law, however, favored businessmen over workers, so if Mammon could accuse the saint of giving free treatment that harmed a pharmaceutical company, it would be a legal excuse to exile him.
[Exiling him under the charge of harming the pharmaceutical company... I’ll call him a labor extremist and send him away.]
Even a saint would be nothing more than a person who caused harm to the company in the ruthless world of capitalism.
This way, Mammon could exile the saint, and the royal family and the Great Temple would have no reason to speak out against him.
Satisfied with this solution, Mammon smiled.