NOVEL WEB Chapter 7
The saint let out a long breath.
Her white breath rose and covered her face.
The saint, tightly clasping her thin trembling hands, opened her mouth solemnly as if giving a confession.
“…I already told you. It’s been over a hundred years since this terrible curse began.”
Her low voice was filled with deep guilt.
The tension in the saint’s hands was visible.
The saint took another deep breath and bit her lips tightly.
“…To be precise, my power turned into a curse.”
“You mean your power turned into a curse?”
As she looked at me, the saint averted her gaze and nodded.
“From a certain point, people who received my treatment didn’t die.”
“…Do you mean the people here?”
“Yes. No matter how fatal their wounds were, no matter how painful their diseases… Nobody died. Or rather, they couldn’t die… It was as if they were rejected by death.”
Her hands were shaking violently.
In fact, her whole body was trembling.
With a fragile voice on the verge of breaking, the saint continued her confession.
“At first, I thought it was a blessing. The people who were supposed to die survived… But it was wrong. This is a curse. A curse!”
“Lady Saint…”
“They are suffering so much, yet they don’t heal! The pain doesn’t end! It’s because of me… Me, me…!”
That soft voice gradually grew louder.
The saint fiercely and repeatedly hit her chest until it bruised.
The heavy dull sound of flesh being hit echoed through the large room.
“Why am I still alive? If I wasn’t here… If I hadn’t been here! People wouldn’t have to suffer like this!”
“Wait a moment, Lady Saint.”
“It wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t what I wished for. If I hadn’t said I wanted to see them… People wouldn’t have set foot in this world!”
The fingertips of her hand, which kept hitting her chest, had turned white.
Even as she collapsed on the floor, her hand didn’t stop hitting.
As if she believed she could atone for her sins through this pain.
“…I, I. I want to be alone in a place where no one knows me, but I can’t. If I don’t purify, the world will fall into chaos… But the more I do, the more… Death gradually… Even plants and animals…”
“Please calm down and listen to me, Lady Saint. Alright?”
The nauseating smell of decay and the harsh scent trying to cover it stung my nose.
And the horrifying sight surrounding us.
Living people rotting away, bugs crawling on the floor, pools of blood everywhere.
My vision started to blur.
I felt dizzy and nauseous, but I had to hold on to the saint who was in pain.
Because I had something to tell her.
After taking a deep breath, I approached the saint.
At that moment…
– Thud!
I felt something soft under the tip of my foot.
I inadvertently looked down.
There was a pool of blood mixed with decay liquids,
And in it was a severely decayed hand.
Upon seeing the decayed hand being stepped on by my foot, goosebumps ran down my back.
“Ugh!”
In the moment I hastily moved my foot,
A swarm of maggots sprang out from the fingers and wriggled in the pool of blood.
‘…This is it. The limit.’
Just then, my vision turned blurry, and I fainted on the spot.
*
– Clink!
In my foggy consciousness, I continuously heard something breaking.
Meanwhile, someone’s scream of anguish also echoed in my ears.
I furrowed my brow at the ringing noise in my head.
‘…What was I doing? Ah!’
I suddenly opened my eyes.
There, I saw the saint holding a broken dagger to her neck.
“What are you doing!”
I urgently grabbed the blade.
The saint, who had held it so feebly, looked down at her empty hand in a daze.
Then she turned her gaze toward me.
Silently blinking,
The light returned to the saint’s eyes, which had lost all hope.
“…Mr. Death?”
“I don’t know how many times I’ve said this today! Treasure your life… No, please prevent the God of Death from saying such things…!”
Before I could finish my sentence, the saint burst into tears and rushed to me.
“Hooaaaang—!”
The saint firmly embraced me.
Her whole body was trembling, and her crying continued despite occasional breaks.
I sighed and patted the saint’s back.
“…It’s okay. You’re fine, Lady Saint. Please calm down now.”
“It’s lucky. It’s so lucky you’re safe…”
As I recalled the situation just moments ago, my face grew hot.
You know, I passed out right in front of people; nothing lucky about that.
My reputation as a God of Death will be cut down by my seniors, who will keep nagging me about it.
‘…Ah, that’s right. I can’t go back to the underworld.’
Just as I thought that, a faint mumble from the saint reached me.
“…I thought you were disappearing too. I thought I was wrong because of me.”
“Me?”
“Driving away death… The curse… You, a God of Death… I thought you were wrong because of me…”
Before I realized it, I interrupted the saint’s words and shouted.
“That can’t possibly happen, right?!”
“What?”
The saint stared at me blankly.
A puzzled look crossed her trembling eyes.
“…You mean the God of Death isn’t about death? I thought Zera clearly said…”
“No, that’s not it. Well, that is right, but!”
I felt a headache coming on as I tried to explain.
Who would’ve thought I’d have to explain this to a human.
‘Even if I’m only a half-death god, I don’t think I should be driven away by humans, right?’
I massaged my temples.
“To begin with, I didn’t collapse because of you.”
“Then why did you collapse…”
My cold sweat flowed along with her tearful voice.
‘Should I really tell her, or should I not?’
While I kept pondering, my mouth opened and closed,
but the saint kept shaking and pulling my sleeve, asking for the reason.
Her determined eyes suggested she wouldn’t accept my explanation unless I told her the truth.
‘…I really don’t want to.’
I looked up at the corridor ceiling and then hid my face with both hands.
“…It’s because I’m weak against gore.”
“What?”
The saint stopped shaking and stared at me blankly.
I lowered my head deeply and shouted.
“I mean! Seeing blood everywhere or people being torn apart here and there! …Wait. I remember that again now… Ugh!”
The scene of the pool of blood and the decayed hand just moments ago resurfaced in my mind. It turned my stomach.
I helplessly swiped my hand, but the nausea wouldn’t stop.
“Anyway, it’s not because of you, Lady Saint. Absolutely not. Please take it easy!”
“…T, thank goodness. It’s really a relief.”
Tears brimmed in the saint’s eyes again.
But this time, they were tears of relief and gratitude.
I tried to stop the nausea by patting my chest with one hand.
Because I really had something important to tell the saint.
“And that thing that happened also wasn’t because of you.”
“…Hmm?”
The saint, with wide eyes, stared at me.
Apparently, she thought she might have misunderstood.
I firmly grabbed the saint’s shoulders and clearly repeated again.
“It’s not your fault.”
Only blinking her eyes, the saint slowly opened her trembling lips and carefully asked.
“…Is it true, it’s not because of me?”
“Yes. It’s not.”
I sighed and continued.
“This isn’t your fault, but rather about the upperworld… the gods.”
“…God?”
Though I wondered if it was alright to tell this to a human, if it’s taboo, they’ll likely take me away.
But this world follows the cosmic laws anyway.
After nodding my head, I began explaining.
“To put it simply, all of this happened because the connection with the underworld was severed.”
“…Connection with the underworld?”
“Yes. The underworld is the source of death. It’s also where all souls begin and end. So, when the connection with such a place is cut off, death naturally disappears.”
The saint still looked confused as she gazed at me.
I continued the explanation while scratching my head.
“Originally, any world where life exists must be connected to the underworld to be normal. Therefore, the gods who left this absurd world unattended have a great responsibility.”
“…H, but the dimensional rift happened because of me.”
With a voice filled with unease, the saint continued.
“If I hadn’t wished… People wouldn’t have settled here…”
“That’s also the fault of the gods for not repairing the dimensional rift in time.”
Such an occurrence is not common,
but there were incidents where souls that needed to be recovered got sucked into dimensional rifts.
‘…I almost became a lost soul in the void because of that.’
I recalled the memory and shivered.
“Anyway, they probably have a lot to do, so they might not handle it immediately, but even so, they should have handled it promptly to prevent damage to their associates.”
“Sniff…”
Having suppressed her sobs, the saint hugged me.
‘…I could have unintentionally complained again, but I survived it.’
I sighed with relief and spoke.
“The conclusion is, it wasn’t your fault, Lady Saint.”
“…Really? It’s really not mine?”
“Yes, it’s true. So, don’t think of it as your sin. Because you did nothing wrong.”
Even after my assurance, the saint couldn’t hide her uneasiness.
Her pain of failing to convince herself was evident from her trembling lips.
“…It’s really, really not me? …I haven’t broken the world, right?”
“Yes. It’s not.”
After hesitating for a long while, the saint looked at me with trembling eyes.
“Did I… heal everyone… and upset the gods?”
“No. If that were the case, healers and doctors would have been immediately annihilated by my hand or sent straight to hell.”
I waved my hand while saying this and glanced around.
“Fortunately, death seems to apply.”
“…What?”
Ignoring the saint’s question, I scanned the surroundings again.
Indeed, it wasn’t a mistake.
Though not many, I could perceive the presence of souls wandering around.
The flow of souls dissipating tickled my senses.
As I concentrated, the numbers became clearer one by one.
‘…See. One, two… About fifteen?’
While sensing the flow of souls, my body began to shake.
When I looked ahead, the saint was desperately shaking my arms.
“What did you just say? What does it mean?!”
“Ugh, I mean it literally. There is death in this world.”
“How?!”
In response to the saint’s question, I pointed at myself with my finger.
That’s right.
Even though I’m only half, even though I’m incomplete,
there is death in this world.
Because I’m here, I, the death god,
death itself.