The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 88: Soo’s Gangho (8)

The Heavenly Demon, after finishing the bowl of water, seemed to realize she had been sweating and looked down at her drenched clothes.

The way So-O hesitated and tried to reach out to catch her falling was oddly amusing.

Is human warmth really that warm?

It hasn't been long since someone dear to me passed away.

They say that when someone is there for you in tough times, their kindness stays with you for a long time.

No, of course, I didn’t have So-O join me with that intention.

I was simply interpreting her actions.

I don’t think like a strategist, trying to move people according to my will. I just understand how people generally think, I can't predict each individual.

I wish I had an immense intelligence.

Or at least some special brainwashing ability.

But since I have neither, I just act on impulse!

"Have you calmed down yet?"

The Heavenly Demon put down the bowl and put her clothes back on. She made a disgusted expression, likely because her clothes were soaked with sweat. Of course, no one wants to wear clothes drenched in sweat.

But what can I do? Walking around with an exposed upper body would be perverted. A pervert.

The Heavenly Demon fiddled with the collar of her clothes, then turned to me and spoke.

"Is that why you want warmth?"

Ah, right.

Hmm, yes. It's similar to the feeling of coldness, but essentially different. If I felt it even a little, it would be clear that I was playing around with the word warmth!

In my head, I come up with excuses, distorting words, changing the subject, and straightening my expression. I think of several ways to respond.

I’ve only spoken the truth, so there’s no need to worry about the context of the lie. I’m really starting to believe that my choice was the right one at this moment!

Anyway.

"Yes. It's cold, right?"

The Heavenly Demon nodded slowly at my question. So-O, who had been standing next to me, hugged me tightly. No, that’s not the kind of warmth I meant. So-O, there’s no effect like that from hugging.

"It’s unbearably cold."

The Heavenly Demon’s expression was quite complicated. Among her expressions, I noticed one that seemed to feel sympathy for me. Oh, she feels sorry for me?

She empathizes with me. Why? Doesn’t she just think I’m a monster seeking warmth because I feel like I’m freezing to death?

"How can you remain sane?"

Huh? Wait, does she think of me as human? Did she believe the earlier statement I made about being human, and empathize from there? A glimmer of a breakthrough appears.

I need to choose my words carefully.

What should I say?

It’s frustrating that I can’t answer right away.

I have no choice. I’ll stick to the rule of only speaking the truth.

"I’ve already gone mad long ago."

I’m just telling the truth.

I begged, begged endlessly, asking for mercy, then later begging for death. I couldn’t weaken without a body, so I continued to beg forever.

At some point, when light shone from the sky, the faded man’s memory was just dust.

I don’t know if that much time actually passed, or if there was simply no phenomenon to mark time, so it might not have been that long after all.

Escape from reality? I had done that. I probably even tried to create another personality. But my body isn’t human.

Even though I wanted to treat myself as someone else, I had nothing but the coldness. No matter how much stress I went through, my brain didn’t break. I didn’t even have a brain that could break.

Above all, the coldness was so intense that I couldn’t escape it.

To alleviate it, I could do anything.

"But you don’t have to feel sorry for me."

Really, I’m thankful. So, you see me as a victim.

Strictly speaking, I am a victim. But I’ve become the perpetrator. I’ll do anything to get what I want. Anything.

So, when the opportunity arises, I take it.

"What do you think, Heavenly Demon? Do you understand why I can't use my power?"

The Heavenly Demon closed her eyes. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to me anymore, she just needed to collect her thoughts.

Then she opened her eyes again. She spoke, finally responding.

"If everything in this world is born from a flow, and time passes as things decay and return to the flow, then you are surely on the other side of that flow, beyond the realm of this world."

More poetic language. It's hard to interpret. What is she saying?

Couldn’t she give a more straightforward answer?

I showed my confusion with my expression, wanting an explanation.

She looked at me with a look of disdain, as if wondering how I could be alive with this kind of brain. It felt like the look a man from the faded memories would have given when he heard an adult talk about the flat Earth theory.

Is this the frustration of an average person standing between the sciences and the humanities?

"If internal energy, the force that makes up the world, is the foundation, you are the rule that denies it, calling it nonexistent."

In short, it means I can't use it because of who I am.

"No, Unjae uses it just fine."

"And that's why it’s so destructive. This isn’t just power. It’s a law that denies all things in the world."

The Heavenly Demon suddenly stopped speaking, her face showing a look of realization.

"Ah, so that’s why he said he saw the end of the Heavenly Demon Technique. Back then, we thought he became arrogant after becoming a god."

She looked at her palm with a bitter expression after lifting her hand.

"He was right."

She clenched her fist and brought it down again.

From what she said, it seems like she has figured out that I’m a dangerous person.

I tried testing my power briefly, but did it really end up like this? Isn’t this unfair? How should I answer now?

While I’m contemplating, the Heavenly Demon approaches me.

There’s no malice.

She looks at me with an unnervingly transparent expression.

"Did you come here to destroy this world?"

See? I don’t know why she’s making that face, but it ends up like this, doesn’t it?

But I can answer this without lying.

No, in fact, it’s an opportunity. I’ll flood her with information. I’ll drown her in the truth so that she forgets the real question she should be asking.

I speak from the heart.

"I don’t want the world to end. Quite the opposite. The world should grow bigger. People should go to places they haven’t gone before, reach places they’ve never touched, and travel far, beyond the sky, into infinite space."

Only then will people kill each other even more.

When humanity reaches a certain number, the numbers on paper or the figures on a screen become numb.

They kill countless people without even feeling it.

Numbers numb people.

The murderer may kill just one person, but a ruler can kill hundreds, thousands. They don’t even realize that they’ve taken a life.

It’s not because they’re psychopaths.

It’s because they no longer see people, only numbers. That’s why they can’t feel it.

I like people like that.

Those people will bring me warmth. Every day, exploiting the powerless, they’ll twist and kill them. In doing so, they’ll give me warmth by killing many people.

They are the perfect candidates for Harvesters.

For that, there need to be more people. Tens of billions, even more.

So many people, or rather, numbers, that no one can distinguish them as individuals.

"The world must not end. Never."

The first world should never happen again.

"You don’t lie. Not about that."

The Heavenly Demon said that, looking up at the sky from the kitchen. The kitchen has no walls on the west side and a small door on the east side.

So, once you step outside, you’re right there.

The Heavenly Demon, who had been looking at the sky, lowered her head.

"I’m going to head back soon. I’m tired."

She started to walk, but suddenly stopped. She turned around.

"You won’t be able to use your energy. Well, see you, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow."

She said that as she left.

The faded man’s memory brought up the word "teabagging." What’s with the image of a kid repeatedly sitting and standing in the same spot?

In the first world, there was hardly any reaction, but in the second world, this memory is coming up.

I saw the Heavenly Demon off, then turned my attention to So-O.

I wonder what this child is thinking after listening to our conversation.

"What do you think of the Heavenly Demon’s words, So-O?"

The little child, not even coming up to my waist, answered immediately without much thought.

"Choseol is weak. Poor."

A good warrior’s temperament shows there.

But then So-O came closer, as if she had more to say, and hugged me.

"It’s okay! So-O will get stronger and protect you!"

Is that really all she has to say after listening to our conversation?

Isn’t there more to it?

From watching her observe my conversation with the Heavenly Demon, I know she’s smart.

"Then why am I Choseol, and the Heavenly Demon is a warrior?"

"Because Choseol is weak?"

She immediately struck with the truth. Where did she learn that?

Well, there’s a culture in this world that respects those who teach martial arts. So it’s not strange that So-O follows it.

"Why does Choseol call the Heavenly Demon a warrior then? That’s not her name."

She asks that?

There was a moment during the Heavenly Demon’s lesson on the Heavenly Demon Technique when the name came up. So-O learned about it that day, but I didn’t realize she was still wondering about it.

But there’s an answer to this.

"When she introduced herself, she called herself the Heavenly Demon. That’s her name to me."

I explained what I am, and she, who was once that, called herself the Heavenly Demon.

There won’t be any change in that.

Why?

Because she achieved her wish, and I got what I wanted. So she’ll always be the Heavenly Demon.

So-O stares at me.

"Are you sulking because she didn’t tell you her real name?"

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

Hehe.

I raised my finger to my lips.

So-O gave me a pitiful look.

"If you don’t have a chest, your heart is small too."

I may be tall, but the Heavenly Demon is tall and well-endowed. If Choseol were an adult, it might be different, but judging by the timing, she’s around fourteen.

The size is due to bodily modification. They probably kept the child suspended in near zero gravity, growing only in height.

If I had left without entering, I would have been unable to walk. I didn’t have the muscles to support myself. It was harsh training.

More importantly, seeing how So-O speaks, I can tell one thing.

Is this child really a born warrior?