The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 96: Soo’s Gangho (16)

For reference, his body now has nothing in it.

However, judging by how his whole body is dyed blue, it seems his life was hanging by a thread. When the worms inside a person start rampaging, it’s hard for anyone to survive.

They had placed such worms inside him. To control him.

"No, no, there's no way I betrayed him!"

Inshimwon denies his actions. Then, suddenly, he stands up and rushes toward me.

"You! What the hell did you do to me?!"

As the Heavenly Demon prepared to strike, I raised my hand to calm him down. Inshimwon grabbed my collar and shouted loudly. It seems like he can’t handle the actions he’s taken.

I’ve already gained a lot of information, so it wouldn’t matter if he died.

But I should use him sparingly.

I placed my hand on the shoulder of the man who grabbed my collar.

"I left you to die. Isn’t that abandoning you? But I decided to save you."

I don’t think he was actually planning to abandon him. He put in a lot of effort to steal the light. But he gave it up to survive.

The one who abandoned him was none other than Inshimwon.

"No! Turn me back to the way I was! I’ll return to him! Please do it! No, I’ll definitely be punished if I wait any longer! I have to go back before it’s too late!"

He screams in a fit of panic. His face is filled with fear, realizing that if he doesn’t return now, he’ll be punished.

Ah, I see. People from the Heavenly Demon Church have parasites inside them, which control them. When people are tortured from a young age, they’re left with irreversible scars in their hearts.

There are experiments too. When a dog is shocked with electricity in a place with no way to escape, even if a door to flee opens later, the dog won’t run and will just sit there, enduring the pain.

They call it learned helplessness, I think?

They just modified it a little. If you don’t show loyalty to them, they cause pain and kill a few people as an example.

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If it continues for a long time, even if someone has the strength to escape, they can’t even think about resisting.

Because they’ve been programmed to believe they can’t escape.

So, I revealed one fact to him.

"There’s nothing left in your body that will torment you anymore. You can live freely from now on."

He looks at me with a face that says it’s impossible, but the strength in his hands gradually fades away.

He must know it himself. That there’s nothing left inside his body anymore.

"Inshimwon."

I speak to him.

"Is there anyone you want to save?"

Yes.

He has someone important to him. Someone I couldn’t possibly know. Normally, when people rise to high positions, they gain something important, but by some stroke of luck, this person values people.

It’s not like there’s much else to value in this place.

Because of the dress code, he can’t wear any riches. There’s no private property at all. The only thing he can gain is rank, but even that requires terrible procedures.

Once he’s gone through all those procedures and risen to a high rank, he has nothing left except his name. The only thing left to cling to is people.

Maybe that’s why the Heavenly Demon is obsessed with Jeonyang.

Anyway.

When I asked Inshimwon, he clutched his head in agony. After a short moment of hesitation, instead of speaking, he raised his head and placed his finger over his lips.

Then, he pointed to three specific places: the ceiling, the wall, and a particular spot.

It means there are people hiding and watching.

"Clear them out."

"Okay."

As the Heavenly Demon took a step, there was a sound of things being crushed from all directions.

Hmm?

I thought he was going to swing his sword or use something like he did just a moment ago, but...

Wait, did he really use me?

Not just the places he pointed, but blood started pouring from several other places too.

Curious, I walked toward the places where blood was coming from and opened the door, only to be greeted by shattered corpses.

The bodies looked human, but they were mixed with so many impurities.

Arms that were bizarrely deformed, colorful intestines that looked rotting, and legs stretched along the spine with multiple insect-like appendages.

But perhaps because of the Heavenly Demon’s stomp, they all died. Of course, I knew that many died after absorbing a large amount of warmth.

"The bugs are the main body."

The Heavenly Demon, who followed behind me, looked down with an uninterested expression.

"It’s a common occurrence in the Heavenly Demon Church. Still, I didn’t expect this many to be consumed."

I turned back to Inshimwon.

I grabbed his hand and pulled it closer to his face while smiling.

"You can save the person you want."

If I say this after just killing someone, it might sound like I’m saying I won’t kill them, but if he sees his blue skin, he’ll understand my intent.

I alone can save him.

I made it look that way.

He nodded obediently. Then, still seemingly afraid, he whispered in a small voice.

"What do you want?"

I responded in a soft voice as well.

"Take me to your master."

He briefly bit his lip, then, looking me straight in the eyes, he opened his mouth. He seemed to have made a resolute decision.

"Save me first."

"Okay."

He was surprised when I immediately responded, looking at me in disbelief.

His reaction was so odd that I asked.

"Why are you so surprised? Shouldn’t you be finding someone who can save you rather than an enemy?"

The Heavenly Demon laughed from behind. Of course, I know that my words could sound like I’m doing this out of concern for him.

But for those who know what I am, isn’t that meaningless? Inshimwon knows what I am too.

There was a reason he shouted at the Heavenly Demon earlier. All the attempts to do something with me through strange magic had ended in vain.

No, I didn’t feel anything, but it seemed like they had cursed me or tried using dark techniques to test me.

But they all failed.

Inshimwon remembers that they didn’t even work. It wasn’t that they didn’t activate; they just disappeared meaninglessly, like throwing eggs against a wall.

At least if they attacked, I would have felt it, but it seems like the method of cursing me through my Harvester status doesn’t even register as an attack.

How unfortunate.

Anyway, I don’t mind if they misunderstand. I took him with me and walked with the Heavenly Demon through Moonjeongdang. There were no obstacles along the way. Soon, he found the person he wanted.

It was a young girl.

She wasn’t a lover. She wasn’t a daughter either. They had only met by chance and had some insignificant conversation.

It’s pitiful.

How can people act like they’re willing to give everything up just because they made a friend?

But, a little too late.

"I’ll make you pay for betraying me."

The thing that popped out of her face this time was a creature resembling a gomchi.

At the same time, the girl’s body swelled, her brow furrowed, and scales popped out. But her body couldn’t hold up, and part of her muscle mass became exposed, causing it to sag.

Unable to withstand the transformation, her body was collapsing.

"You, who wear the mask of a human."

The monster spoke to me, looking up at me from atop its head.

"I don’t know what you are, but don’t think you’ll return safely once you enter the territory of the Haedo."

Haedo?

Ah. Is this a branch of Bongshinryeon? It’s all mixed up.

Or maybe part of this world has bled into the world I knew, but that doesn’t really matter.

"Are you the highest?"

It smiled at my question.

"Yes. I am the head of the Jeoryo Sect. Tongcheon. Do you fear me now?"

So that’s what the title was. Tongcheon. This side was close to being a god, right?

"If you’re a god, then yes, I might fear you."

It laughed loudly. The one attached below it moaned in agony, making the contrast in their reactions even more jarring.

"Ah, yes. I am the god you all fear."

Kehehe.

"Yes. I understand."

I see. A god.

I can take that to mean you’re the god who gave me this coldness, right?

The god who gave me such freezing cold that I might lose my mind from it?

Even if I’m wrong, that’s fine.

I just need someone to take my frustration out on.

"Heavenly Demon. As long as he’s alive, that’s enough."

The Heavenly Demon stepped forward. Then, the gomchi above him opened its mouth as it looked at the Heavenly Demon.

"You’re like a corpse. Did you use the reverse heaven’s art to resurrect the dead? And Tongcheon, if you’re the leader, you’re bound by an oath. If you break that oath, consider your connection severed from today. Don’t regret it if I take everything you’ve enjoyed in this world."

But the Heavenly Demon swung his sword at the gomchi.

In an instant, the limbs of the girl who had turned into a monster disintegrated into dust.

Yes. They didn’t just get cut; they turned to dust, scattering into black particles.

Inshimwon looked at the Heavenly Demon in utter shock. His gaze filled with awe, making it incredibly amusing.

The Heavenly Demon approached the fish speaking atop the monster’s head.

"I know about that old oath. So consider this the final advice from the side breaking the contract, Shinseon."

The fish wriggled as if amused.

"Advice? From a corpse patched together with lives? Go ahead and try."

It was clear that it thought it was superior, and the Heavenly Demon strangely smiled.

"Run. If you can."

Then, with a soft pssh, the fish turned black and disappeared.

The Heavenly Demon turned back and pointed at the monster whose limbs were now lost.

I walked over to it and made the contract.

Don’t think you can’t make a contract just because you can’t speak or your brain is destroyed?

That’s not true.

If you touch the light directly, it’s okay even if the body is severely damaged. How did I speak to those on the surface until now?

I recited the contract.

Like pottery, the body broke apart, and a girl with blue skin emerged from inside.

I walked toward Inshimwon, who was still crying.

"Now, let’s go meet your god."

I said as I stopped Inshimwon from banging his head on the ground.