Chapter 258

Chapter 258

In the meantime, there had been many calamities on Earth.

“A few years ago, a humanoid monster—a mermaid—appeared.”

The bishop of the Moon Lady Religion explained in her characteristically calm tone.

“With the mermaid’s appearance, Sancalut, which should have been sealed in the Association’s research institute, also displayed the form of its power. Traces were found mainly within the Sun Religion.”

“Did the mermaid truly join hands with Sancalut?”

“Now it seems even the evil god of dreams has done the same. No, rather, we could say he presided over all of this. The mermaid, Sancalut—neither of them revealed all the power and cruelty they could have...”

“So the evil god of dreams placed restraints on them.”

“We cannot be certain whether they moved as his subordinates, but the possibility exists. At the very least, we must assume they joined hands. And the initiative would have been with the evil god of dreams.”

“That would be the only way to explain the attitude those previous calamities showed.”

The Moon Lady Religion’s priests nodded.

“It seems the evil god of dreams truly intends to make Earth his colony.”

Even the word “colony” was overly softened.

“Well, rather than a colony, it feels closer to a feeding trough.”

“If we consider the situation, it seems his intent is to turn Earth’s residents into livestock.”

“For an evil god, making use of the empty bodies of humans who have abandoned reality and become addicted to dreams would be nothing...”

“The government and the Association will need to prepare a proper alternative, but we can’t know how it will turn out.”

“Certainly, this is something that must be handled at the national level.”

But that was not for the Moon Lady Religion to agonize over.

“Everyone, please focus.”

The bishop drew their attention once again.

“What we must do is not the rescue of citizens. That, as I said before, is the duty of the government and the Association. Our role is the destruction or sealing of the ‘Amusement Park of Dreams.’ And...”

“...”

“...the rescue of the saintess.”

At her words, the air grew heavy. The priests’ expressions were no different from before, but that did not mean their hearts were calm. They were quietly seething.

“...We will rescue the saintess safely.”

“We will not allow her to be toyed with in the evil god’s grasp.”

A closed-off culture, and individualism taken to the extreme—such were the priests of the Moon Lady Religion. Yet precisely because of that, their trust and affection for their brothers were greater than anyone’s. The only thing they could truly trust was their own family.

“Brothers who have become addicted to dreams still cannot wake up.”

“Since the actual sleep time is not increasing, they do wake periodically, but...”

“They continue to avoid reality and immerse themselves in dreams. We are forcibly stopping them from trying to extend their sleeping hours with drugs, but that is only a temporary measure.”

“To simply sit and watch... it is a miserable situation.”

“At this rate, they will cross over entirely into the ‘Amusement Park of Dreams.’ Not a mere illusionary dream, but a real dungeon with substance—unlike the saintess, they will willingly entrust their bodies to it.”

“In the worst case, Earth could become empty. And the place most likely to become that first would be our Moon Lady Religion.”

They were people with a strong hunger for knowledge. The Moon Lady Religion’s priests did not dig into dreams for peripheral pleasure. Yet even if it was a dream, knowledge was not an illusion—how sweet must it have been.

Even the priests who were awake now sympathized with that desire. Some of them went beyond sympathy and even envied those who slept. And yet, there was only one reason they had not fallen asleep.

“So the saintess...”

“We must take the saintess back.”

“To dare lay hands on her.”

“We cannot forgive it.”

The saintess’s absence loomed too large for them.

“We will enter the dungeon.”

It was time for a practical response.

“Not everyone can cross over through dreams.”

“That’s right. Some of us will once again fail to recognize the dream as a dream and be trapped at its entrance. That would be putting the cart before the horse.”

“It seems we should keep, as much as possible, the priests who felt temptation toward the dream in reality. We must limit the priests mobilized for this entry to those who have recognized the dream as a dream three times or more.”

“Furthermore, it would be even better if they were priests who have seen the appearance of the ‘Amusement Park of Dreams.’ There are not many, but it will help.”

If all the priests fell asleep, the Moon Lady Religion’s operation would suffer. And even if they fell asleep for entry, how many of them would actually reach the ‘Amusement Park of Dreams’? This was a moment that required a small elite.

“So for this entry...”

After sweeping her gaze over the priests, the bishop spoke in her characteristically emotionless voice.

“I will join as well.”

“Bishop, but those who remain in reality need you.”

“If, at the moment the saintess has been taken, I spare my own body, what priest would trust the bishop?”

“We trust you even if you do not do that.”

“I firmly believe that even without me, those of you who remain in reality will do well.”

“However, Bishop, now that the saintess has disappeared, if you also leave your seat, who can we rely on? We cannot allow that.”

“Then let us establish a second-best measure.”

She had to keep her place.

“...We will decide an order.”

“Are you preparing for the case where the first entry fails?”

“You cannot be full on the first spoonful. And when responding to an abstract enemy and inner greed like this, it will be even more difficult.”

“We understand your words, Bishop.”

“We will divide into the first, second, and third entry.”

“Then we must think of those first three entries as preparation.”

Even though the bishop did not add anything further, the priests naturally accepted the idea of offering themselves. Even though the priests assigned to the “preparation” phase would be nothing more than lab rats.

Looking at them, the bishop could not help but think.

‘...Yes. A barrel filled with spoiled liquor.’

Even if the barrel looked fine on the outside, one had to know the liquor inside. They had to recognize that it was spoiled. If they could not, then it would eventually seep out beyond the barrel and reach the artisans who brewed the liquor.

‘That we have stagnated and rotted.’

So please clear it away.

‘Then new liquor will be filled...’

The Moon and the saintess held in the evil god’s arms would become that beginning.

‘So what I must do is simple.’

I must break this solid barrel. I must help the spoiled liquor creep out through the cracks of the broken barrel. This religion built atop rotten tradition would be broken and made anew.

“...”

And thus, we sinners will become a star beside the Moon.

“...From this point onward, elders, listen carefully. The priests who will participate in the entry from the first to the third may not know what risks they will face, so you must help them decide their own value.”

“Even if you did not say that, Bishop, we are all prepared to offer ourselves. To reclaim our precious saintess, and our family, what sacrifice could be meaningless? Please do not doubt us.”

The novice priests still receiving training were excluded from all of these proceedings. Some were relieved, but most novices felt regret. Even so, the bishop did not permit them.

They had to survive and lend strength to the saintess’s new beginning.

“Then it seems the list has been prepared like this.”

The Moon Lady Religion’s choice was no different from how it had always been. Priests who were willing to use themselves as consumables. So much like usual that one could not even feel the incongruity.

“I will share our plan with the Association.”

“Yes, Bishop.”

“In the meantime, the priests will continue their cultivation while offering prayers to our teacher.”

“We will do so.”

“May wisdom be with us.”

May a better future come to us.

‘Even if it is mercy that began from the evil god’s hand.’

There would be nothing bad about it.

* * *

Iruda, a novice priest of the Sun Religion, asked.

“Then doesn’t this evil god of dreams oppose the Black Cloak?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah... probably?”

“Then it’s true you won’t be harmed at all?”

She was worried about her partner, Cha Isol.

“If it becomes a fight between divinities, it can’t help but affect the priests who serve them too. In the end, the power a priest uses comes from the god they serve. And you borrow quite a lot of power from the Black Cloak.”

“I thought it wouldn’t really be a problem...?”

More than anything, Cha Isol already knew the truth of this incident.

“It’s fine, it’ll end well!”

This was just a minor squabble between Gio hyung’s second personality and third personality. Cha Isol, who loved his family to death, had fought with his older brother and sister before too. But they had made up in the end, so Gio hyung would be the same.

After staring at Cha Isol, Iruda let out a sigh.

“You’re too positive.”

“Isn’t that a good thing...?”

“...”

Iruda held back her words with a look that clearly said she had something to say.

“...I hope, like you say, it ends without any problems.”

If the previous actions of the mermaid and Sancalut were the work of the evil god of dreams, then this dungeon had appeared after quite a long preparation. The abstract ‘Amusement Park of Dreams’ that stimulated the inner self truly approached as a major threat.

‘But for something like that, the damage is too small, which is strange.’

In cases like this, it was usually one of two things.

‘Either the one behind it is holding back, or someone else is forcing them to hold back.’

But no matter how she thought about it, an evil god who made a dungeon to lure people in did not seem like he would have self-control. Even if he did, wasn’t it irrational that the damage would be this small?

‘If someone else is restraining the evil god of dreams... then it’s an existence not merely equal to him, but a higher rank. And in the current situation, there aren’t many existences that could restrain the evil god of dreams.’

There was the “Promise” that protected Earth’s system, or the “Black Cloak,” the sun god Cha Isol served. Considering how Earth’s situation was unfolding, the latter felt far more likely.

“...Mm...”

But that was a little strange too.

“...You really aren’t feeling any influence at all?”

“I didn’t feel anything in particular—could it be because I’m not capable enough?”

“Ah, no. Don’t suddenly blame yourself like that.”

Flustered, Iruda still continued her instinctive assessment.

‘The power Cha Isol received from divinity is by no means small. And it doesn’t seem like Cha Isol is lying right now either. Usually in a case like this, either the divinity being served is so enormous that the priest who received power isn’t affected, or there’s no major change in the divinity itself so there’s no influence to begin with...’

The former was absurd, and the latter didn’t make sense.

‘Is the Black Cloak, which has settled among humans as a familiar ghost story, really an existence of such a higher rank?’

But if not, then the conclusion would be that right now the Black Cloak was not seriously clashing with the evil god of dreams.

‘Either way, it’s not an easy fact to accept.’

No—first, there was at least some plausibility to judging that the Black Cloak was a higher-rank existence than the evil god of dreams. Keeping that in mind, Iruda asked Cha Isol.

“What do you think about this evil god?”

“Uh... I want to go to that amusement park too?”

“You’ll get a scolding like last time with Sancalut.”

Saying that, Iruda thought.

‘Maybe it really is the latter. No, at this point, do I have to think both cases are true?’

Cha Isol, the apostle of the Black Cloak, does not reject the evil god of dreams. Even if he doesn’t realize it, that is the reaction of a priest who is influenced by divinity. She could be reasonably confident.

“...”

But why?

‘...The Black Cloak, who enjoys protecting Earth, doesn’t hate the evil god of dreams?’

It was incomprehensible, but it was awkward to press further.

“Anyway... I heard Priest Kang Seodam is participating in this entry too—do you think he’ll be okay?”

“They said no one has died because of this dungeon, so won’t he be okay?”

“But it’s still a dungeon.”

“And it’s also a dream.”

Cha Isol smiled as she drew the Black Cloak.

“How does a person die in a dream?”

“...That’s true too.”

Iruda did not bother criticizing her partner’s innocent question.

* * *

Some divinities Gio called friends played along with their friend’s prank.

The Sun Goddess denounced the wicked acts the evil god of dreams had committed. The priests of the Sun Religion influenced by her, though it was the affair of the Moon Lady Religion they did not get along with, showed willingness to cooperate. The Moon Lady Religion gladly accepted.

The God of Death grieved over the dream addicts who degraded the value of life. The priests of death did not add words, but that alone stated their position. They helped with material support for the dream entry unit.

“...Your friends are scary.”

“They are all good people.”

In the meantime, the Black Cloak remained silent.

“I feel good.”

“Is that Mr. Argio?”

“You guessed it very well.”

The battlefield was prepared.

“Soon, I will be leaving my seat, so please take good care of my empty portrait.”

Satisfied, Argio returned to his place.

(Continued in the next part)