Chapter 32

Cold sweat drenched my entire body.

My most secretive secret…

How predictable.

The fact is, the miracles I perform aren’t actually miracles; they’re just embarrassingly crude skills from some RPG.

Moreover, wasn’t there a prophecy about how the powers in my hands are ugly and base?

There’s nothing else that could be considered my deepest secret.

And now that it’s uncovered, I will die at the hands of those who love me?

“Saint! Thanks to you, I’ve been healed! Thank you!”

“The Saint is the living embodiment of Grace! Thanks to you, I can see tomorrow!”

“Thank you… Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I truly…”

The faces of those who smiled at me come to mind.

I remember the people of the slums and the members of the Lilia Church bowing deeply, showing their respect for me.

They are the ones who love me the most.

I can’t even think of anyone else.

And they…

Will kill me.

I can’t breathe properly.

It feels like I’m having a panic attack; my whole body is convulsing in fear.

It feels like I’m hyperventilating. My breathing is incredibly fast.

But the prophecy about my fate hasn’t ended yet.

[But even death will not be the end. The one who bestows Grace will seize your soul after your death and send it to a place befitting your actions. There, you will live through things you do not wish to endure.]

“Ghhhh…GHHHH!!!”

I collapsed to the floor.

Not even death will be the end.

The one who bestows grace.

Of course, it must be Lilia.

After I die.

It means that Lilia will seize my soul and send it to a place fitting my actions, where I’ll have to endure things I don’t want to face.

Where could such a place be?

Hell.

Hell!!

It’s saying I’ll suffer eternally in Hell!

Now I understand why I haven’t been struck down by divine retribution even though I’ve been pretending to be a saint for over half a year.

Lilia hasn’t been looking the other way because I’ve been doing a good job!

That was my own mistaken assumption!

She had planned to punish me—just not by striking me with lightning!

After my secrets are revealed,

And I’m miserably abandoned by everyone, eventually executed by devout followers of the Church and the slum dwellers who love me—I’ll have my soul extracted and thrown into Hell!

It’s as if the omnipotent Goddess herself has declared her intention to personally destroy me.

What’s the point of gaining the emperor’s approval?

What’s the point of receiving gifts and rejoicing in them?

If my soul ends up in Hell, everything is finished.

My hyperventilation worsens.

[You will suffer alone, but through this suffering, Grace will spread its intentions throughout the world. People will see you and realize that the one who spreads Grace truly exists.]

The will of Grace.

What does that mean?

Pretending to be the saint leads to ruin.

No matter how many people I’ve helped, I shouldn’t be allowed to masquerade as the Goddess’ apostle when I’m a person with ugly and base skills, lacking in faith!

This is to show everyone what happens when you pretend to be a saint!

And by witnessing it, people will realize that Goddess Lilia is alive!

Shit…

I can’t…

I can’t breathe.

My vision turned pitch black.

***

“Saint of Healing!”

I opened my eyes to find Vice President Gerba from the Prophecy Sect looking at me anxiously.

“Great, what did Lady Lufiel say? What future did she show you?”

I didn’t answer.

My clothes were drenched in cold sweat.

I was trembling with chills and pleaded with Gerba.

“Vice President, please call Vice President Yodel of the Lilia Church.”

“It’s done immediately!” he said and bolted.

Soon, Gerba returned with the old man Yodel.

I looked at Yodel.

“Master Yodel.”

“Saint! What in the world has happened?”

“I have one question.”

I was too afraid to tell the truth—that upon exposure of my deception, I’ll end up cruelly killed, and even after death, my soul will be sent to Hell for eternity.

“To receive forgiveness from Goddess Lilia for wrongdoings, what must one do?”

Let’s first ask how to get the Goddess’ forgiveness.

“For heaven’s sake, why do you ask such a question, O Saint?”

“Please answer me. It’s urgent that I know.”

Yodel looked worried and explained.

“Of course, one must not repeat the wrongs they’ve committed.”

This means I shouldn’t keep pretending to be a saint.

“You must distance yourself from wrongdoing.”

I need to get out of here.

I had been strategizing poorly—waiting here for the church to go bankrupt before leaving isn’t a good idea. Moreover, if I bankrupt the church, it might infuriate Lilia even more!

Damn it!

I should’ve fled immediately!

“One must engage in endless self-denial.”

I should strongly deny being the saint! I need to keep saying “I’m not the saint” at every opportunity!

“One must accumulate good deeds and approach the Goddess.”

Since I’ve already done a lot of that—treated a lot of people—this isn’t enough anymore, right?

I don’t need to keep pretending to be the saint and creating more trouble!

But this still feels insufficient.

These are all too general answers!

The crimes I’ve committed aren’t ordinary!

The Goddess of Grace declared that she’ll personally grab me after I die and throw me into Hell! She’s beyond furious!

There must be…

There has to be something more I can do!

In case I fail to remove myself from the role of the saint, there needs to be another contingency plan.

“If a soul stained with sins condemned by the Goddess herself can avoid Hell, how might they do it?”

“Saint, what prophecy have you heard?”

Gerba anxiously asked me.

Am I supposed to say it?

“I cannot divulge it. Master Yodel, please answer. Is there a way for a soul condemned to be punished by the Goddess herself to avoid going to Hell?”

“If a soul manages to escape its sins through the miracles of a saint, then it can avoid Hell.”

That’s a solution I can’t use.

I’ve never heard of another saint besides me.

There are no real saints other than me, the fraud.

So, if everything fails, obtaining salvation through another saint’s miracles isn’t possible.

“Is there any other way?”

“It’s a bit of a workaround, but if a soul is powerfully cursed and completely destroyed, though it can’t be completely prevented from going to Hell, the journey can be delayed.”

What does that mean?

“Please explain further.”

“It means just what it sounds like. How can one punish a soul that’s already shattered into pieces? Of course, it can’t go to Hell. In the past, records show that wicked dark magicians used this method to avoid suffering in the afterlife.”

It’s exactly what I need right now!

How? How can it be prevented?

“Even though destroying a soul is extremely difficult, if it’s destroyed, it doesn’t mean the entity ceases to exist. Over time, as long as the entity still has a predetermined lifespan, it will eventually restore itself to its original form and disappear after completing the remaining lifespan.”

“So how does this help one avoid going to Hell?”

“It involves deliberately destroying one’s soul, which still has a lifespan, with a powerful curse. Then one manually slows down the soul’s restoration process so that it revives much later. By doing so, the memory of one’s misdeeds fades, and one prays that even the gods will forget them. It was a desperate struggle to avoid Hell, but ultimately it didn’t work.”

“And why not?”

“The moment a soul is destroyed, it returns to where it was born in its respective dimension, where it slowly regenerates. Through this process, the gods easily identified who the regenerating souls were. In the end, even the black magicians who regenerated after long periods of time were dragged to Hell and made to suffer.”

I’ve got it!

The perfect escape!

If my soul is destroyed by a powerful curse, I’ll skip Hell!

Because my soul isn’t from this dimension!

If my soul is destroyed by a curse, it will regenerate in the dimension it belongs to—Korea!

How can Lilia punish me if I escape to another dimension?

By being destroyed by a powerful curse, I’ll bypass Hell and be reborn in Korea!

Even if I return as an unremarkable university graduate, it’s better than going to Hell!

No, it’s infinitely better!

“Thank you, Master Yodel. I’m feeling tired now. Would both of you please retire?”

The vice president and the old man Yodel looked at me worriedly but then bowed politely and left.

Now.

The plan is set.

To escape, I need three things.

First, I don’t want to be chased after I run, so I need a way to evade the miracles of tracking.

Second, I need to quietly gather enough money to survive in my escape place.

Third, I need to improve my control over the Time Stop skill, which is critical for escaping.

Once these three conditions are met, I’ll leave immediately!

I’ll alter my appearance with body modification and live quietly.

Of course, this method is extremely orthodox but highly risky.

The loyalty of the Lilia Church and the slum dwellers toward me goes beyond that of fanatics.

No matter how careful I am, they might track me down.

So I also need to search for that powerful curse that could be my ultimate cheat code, giving me a one-time opportunity to escape Hell.

The problem is, such powerful curses don’t just lay around waiting.

In short, the orthodox method has low success but can always be attempted, while the cheat code method, while not always available, guarantees 100% success if it works.

What can I do?

I’ll push forward with the orthodox method in routine situations, but if I ever find a powerful curse, I’ll immediately try to use it to escape Hell.

I suppose that’s about it.

As they say, even a thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.

Let me sleep first.

After hearing that terrifying prophecy, my whole body feels weary.

The heaviness pressing on my eyelids increased as I lay down on the bed.

And soon, I fell asleep.

***

Monstrous human figures, twisted and grotesque as they would appear in nightmares, were screaming.

Their grotesque forms were contagious.

The twisted humans were hunting the living, eager to transform them into something like themselves.

Gunfire, magic, and miracles were being cast to repel the twisted ones, but they didn’t stop.

The walls fell. The city fell.

Humanity fell.

Undead creatures, neither zombies nor ghouls, devoured the bodies of living humans. Before long, those bodies rose as equally twisted ones, roaming the earth.

And at the center of it all were two women.

One was a mutilated woman bleeding on the floor, dying. Beside her stood another woman, identical in appearance, wailing in despair.

Large wings sprouted from the wailing woman’s back.

They were pitch black, emanating a dark, malevolent energy that was the source of all this twisted horror.

“No! No!!”

The woman with the black wings screamed.

“I just… just wanted to be loved!”

But there was no one left to love her.

Like the fallen angel her wings resembled, the woman wept, over and over again.

Yet around her, the only company was the twisted ones.

There was no one left to love her.

Anywhere.

***

I shot up from my bed, drenched in cold sweat.

Again!

The same prophecy of the doomed future!

But now…

I no longer feel fear.

The dark energy emanating from the black wings I saw in the dream!

That’s it!

It’s a curse!

Hit with that, die, and my soul gets destroyed—Hell bypassed!

Rebirth in Korea, right?

Yes!

This is it!

The cheat code came faster than I expected!

Now I just need to find that woman with black wings who casts that curse!

Hit by that curse, my soul will be destroyed, and that’s it!

Just as I was reveling in my newfound plan,

“Saint, are you awake?”

Old man Yodel’s voice came from outside.

I only woke up from a nightmare—I’m not sure why old man Yodel is awake at this hour.

“Yes, I’m awake. What is it?”

When I opened the door, Yodel’s expression was not normal.

What’s wrong?

“His Majesty the Emperor wishes to meet you discreetly.”