On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons

Chapter 143: A Story For Later

Flutter flutter—

With cold, snake-like, sharp eyes, a man flipped through a stack of papers on the desk, like counting a stack of bills. He looked exactly like a ruthless debt collector.

Draaag— Slam! @@novelbin@@

“Hoo, 300 pages with typesetting. No doubt about it.”

Smirking, he shoved the stack of papers and a USB stick into the steel desk.

“Congratulations. We’ve finally received ten days’ worth of manuscripts. See? You can do whatever you set your mind to! Hahaha!”

“Uuh...” I groaned, slumping onto the desk. I’d been reduced to all skin and bones, and was basically a zombie.

“Hahaha, you’re welcome! Isn’t it my job to make up for your shortcomings?”

“I’ll... kill...”

I reached out to my editor-in-charge, but he nimbly flicked my hand away with his huge pot belly.

“No matter how close we are, intimate skinship is a no-no!” He looked at his empty wrist and yelped, “Eep! Look at the time! I have an off-site meeting, so I’ll head out. Mr. Yu, you may go home and have a good rest tonight. See you tomorrow~!”

“S-stop the...”

I flailed my arms like a zombie as my editor left me in the office, gone like the wind.

Just like that, I was finally out of the can and finally able to return home after a week.

***

“Uugh... I’m dying...”

Back in the corner of my humble abode, I laid on the floor like gum that’s been chewed for three days straight. I then recalled the moment with a half-lucid mind.

The Final Stance of Demon Lord's Heavenly Sword, Disintegration was created thanks to the entanglement with the White Knight's struggles.

-How can this be... I, Sun God, who should’ve reigned over all gods... was defeated by an insect...

Slash— Psss.

Slashed into two, the phoenix disintegrated into the air as if he’d never existed in the first place.

“Huff! Puff!”

When I collapsed to the ground as if I was about to faint any moment, two figures stood before me.

One of them was my Alter Ego, who was charred from the intense flames, and a blue lady with a jagged crown.

The lady knelt down respectfully before me.

-Thank you for saving our world. I, Cycler of All Things, vow to be your faithful follower in the future.

-Chirp chirp!

In the hands of the Water Goddess was a little chick made of flames. I instinctively knew that it was a fragment of Sun God.

-This child will become the new sun of Antrinia. I’ll make sure to educate him properly so that history doesn’t repeat itself, so please don't worry. See you next time, then.

Sss—

With an introspective smile, the Water Goddess and the fiery chick disappeared without a trace.

My Alter Ego, who had been watching the interaction, finally spoke, “...My time is up too.”

Sss—

As his body began to blur, he stared at me with a complicated look in his eyes. Then, he continued, “Remember, I’m not worse than you. I can do what you can. And if I were you, I’d have slain the Sun God without breaking a sweat.”

I nodded. “Of course. Good job today. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to stop the Sun God.”

I meant it, even though it felt a little awkward since I was saying it to myself.

“Tsk! Forget those empty words!” My Alter Ego grumbled, then turned into a black haze and seeped into me.

Ding!

[You have saved the three worlds: Antrinia, Waternia and Earth.]

[You have exceeded the number of good deeds required for the quest: A Hundred Good Deeds a day Makes the World a Beautiful Place.]

[999,999,999(↑)/10,000,000.]

[Infinite Abundance was overflowing with emotions as she clutched her chest with both hands, bestowing quest rewards and blessings upon you.]

Riiip! Flash!

A dimension rift appeared before me, and a dazzling golden potion emerged from it. I sensed an unusual divine power from the bottle. Was this the Secret Resurrection Medicine?

Even though I felt like I could faint at any moment, I still launched God-Maker.

“Ms. Lilith, please come out.”

Pop!

Then, a black-haired cute-looking angel appeared. I handed the potion bottle to her and instructed, “Feed this to Xu Zhu...”

To prevent decay, I left Xu Zhu's corpse with Ko Sa-Deuk, a necromancer and expert in the field. Lilith nodded vigorously with the potion bottle in hand, and flew to where Ko Sa-Deuk was.

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword yells at you, asking if you’re insane for using an elixir of immense divine power and causality on a mere human. He shakes his head in disbelief. He knows you’re stupid, but not this stupid.]

[Infinite Abundance uncharacteristically glares at All-Cutting Heavenly Sword.]

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword ignores her, asking you to call the angel and give the elixir to him so he can help you put it to good use.]

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword offers you a secret deal. He will give you 1,000 Gcoins in exchange for the Secret Resurrection Medicine.]

[Infinite Abundance cringes at the outrageous amount, quietly picking up something.]

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword saw the item in Infinite Abundance’s hand and backed away in horror. He says that a benevolent god shouldn’t possess such a thing!]

[Silently Crawling Nightmare cackled, cheering for Infinite Abundance.]

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword sighs at the sight of Moonlight Sword that Illuminates Evil Doers and their Sins Committed in the Darkness of the Night returning to the Heavenly Sword Treasury.]

I sighed heavily at the interactions between my stalkers. I had suspected the White Knight wielding a Thousand Swords fighting the God of Destroyer to be All-Cutting Heavenly Sword, but I guessed not.

How could such a narrow-minded person be the same Sword God? Moreover, White Knight was slain by God of Destroyer. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen Eternal Seeker around recently. Where could he be? Was he busy exercising?

I felt dizzy all of a sudden.

Ah, there’s my limit.

My consciousness began to fade.

Ding! Ding!

I thought I heard a few more messages from God-Maker afterward, but I couldn’t quite make them out.

“Hoho. Is this where you’ve been hiding, Mr. Yu?”

However, the impact of hearing my editor-in-charge’s voice at the last moment was huge.

After that, as expected, I got canned. Some might wonder why I cowered at my editor, but such was the consequence of a writer who couldn’t meet his deadlines.

Even though I had the upper hand on the contract, in reality, I was on the losing end. I was, at worst, a small serviceman.

Moreover, I’d known this man since I was a child. We shared an uncle-nephew relationship, so I couldn’t treat him casually. Anyway, while I was canned for a week as a labor slave, here was a quick summary of what happened in God-Maker...

“Puff! Puff!” Il-Ho had taken off his top in a wild fashion, rolling on the ground with the cactus girl. “Do I dig here?”

“Yes. I can feel the water here! Please dig as deep as you can!”

“Leave it to me! Hyaaa! Muscle Shovel!”

Every stroke of the shovel was akin to a crane operator, causing mounds of dirt to fly in the air.

“Kyaaa! You’re so cool, Warrior!”

“The Water Goddess is working hard to resurrect the sun of our world! This is the least I can do! Muuuscles!”

Despite having cleared the Forty-Second Floor of the Tower of Warriors, Il-Ho remained in Waternia, helping to rebuild the desert world.

Meanwhile, the demise of Sun God plunged Antrinia into a world of pitch-black darkness.

-Chirp!

A few days later, a red chick with a blue water pin on its head flew into the sky and...

Flicker!

A new sun had risen in the sky, dispelling the darkness. Empress Anty burst into tears, exclaiming, “Look up toward the heavens, everyone! God Yu Il-Shin has restored our light!”

“Ooh! Long live the great and merciful Yu Il-Shin!”

“God Yu Il-Shin! Puck puck!”

Everyone in Gayami Nation heaped praises and prayers on me endlessly.

“Kya kya~”

Clatter clatter!

Flying joyfully in the sky, the Angel Soldiers blew trumpets, and the Skull Chickens played their bones like castanets. Most of the Skull Chickens and Angel Soldiers killed by the crocodile monsters had been resurrected as well.

After a quick call with Ko Sa-Deuk, I learned that the original undead could be resurrected as long as they weren’t decimated by shaman’s magic. Thankfully, this also applied to Angel Soldiers, who were originally Yaksha Soldiers.

However, if their souls were destroyed, they couldn’t be resurrected. I had been advised to keep this in mind for the future.

“What a beautiful sound! I, Baek-Ho, couldn’t miss out on this! Listen to this, everyone! Sing a hymn of praise to God Yu Il-Shin and divine beast Akdol!” Baek-Ho joined in the melody as he picked on the lute made of spider webs. He sang with a braying voice, sounding like a pig getting slaughtered.

Ding!

“Evil Sun God instigated the crocodile monsters to cross the borders of Gayami Nation! Hosha! Hosha! When the entire world was engulfed in flames and swallowed in despair, the Divine Beast Akdol awakened! He became a legendary dragon, spreading his wings of hope! Hosha, hosha~”

-Blegh!

Akdol, who had been stuffing himself with trout next to Anty, plugged his ears. He glared at Baek-Ho, almost tempted to eat that bad singer instead of his delicious fish.

Right, there was also Yi-Ho, who was always by Anty’s side to protect her. He’d decided to challenge the Tower of Warriors.

He was currently on the first floor, attempting the Trial of Rocks.

Ruuumble!

A boulder the size of a house came crashing toward him. Yi-Ho, unfazed, stabbed at it with the spear on his back in a flash.

Baaaam!

“This is much easier than I thought.” Yi-Ho stepped on the rock shards as he passed the trial.

In fact, I was a little worried when I first heard that Yi-Ho wanted to challenge the Tower of Warriors. But since he had put in a lot of effort into protecting Anty, the rate of his progress had surpassed Il-Ho’s.

Who knows, maybe both of them would be reunited at the Tower of Warriors. I looked forward to the day when both Il-Ho and Yi-Ho teamed up and overcome the Tower of Warriors.

And with that, peace had returned to Earth and Antrinia.

***

...Hmm? When did time pass so fast?

I opened my eyes to see darkness filling the sky outside the window. I must’ve fallen asleep during what I thought to be a short break.

Despite being a god, I could still be exhausted. After all, I’d been working on the manuscripts tirelessly, pulling all-nighters for nearly a week.

Flinch!

However, I wasn’t alone in the room.

“Are you awake now, Mr. Sword God?”

In the darkness, a naked woman kneeled on the floor; her red eyes glowing at me.