In the Name of God - Chapter 58.1
“Pull it together, you morons. No matter how much you pray, the dead aren’t coming back.”
In the time of this world, was it more than forty years ago?
Back then, there was a cathedral that gathered and protected disaster orphans who had survived the overflowing monsters. That place was situated deep underground to avoid the surface, which was swarming with monsters.
“There is no God. If there were, would He have let those monsters kill our mom and dad?”
Not long after, even that place was shattered to pieces by the monsters pushing their way into the depths.
“Instead of wasting time like this, study how to survive. At this rate, we’re all going to die anyway, whether we starve or get torn apart by monsters.”
Countless corpses of orphans were strewn along the path to the underground cathedral. It was the same inside the cathedral itself.
“I will… somehow… survive no matter what it takes.”
Even the child who gritted his teeth, vowing to survive at any cost, eventually became just another part of the mountain of corpses.
And then… I was saved.
<The Wandering God □□□ has designated you as an Apostle.>
<The Wandering God □□□ will now become your Guardian Deity.>
<The Guardian Deity □□□ revives you with divine authority.>
The moment I opened my eyes after receiving a new lifespan.
<The Guardian Deity □□□ smiles brightly while looking down at you.>
The smile of a Guardian Deity existing outside the world completely transformed the universe of a young child who had known only despair. Thinking of that time still makes my heart flutter even now. All sorts of emotions well up, making me want to rush back and embrace the person sleeping in the dormitory right this second.
Did that person realize? That the underground cathedral designated as the Boss room was the place where we were linked like destiny, and that it was once the sanctuary of a beloved Guardian Deity.
Lee Sunho stopped in front of the Boss room and gazed at the broken door with complex emotions. Soon, he passed the investigation team members waiting near the room and opened the door without hesitation.
“Wait, hold on…”
The investigation team members backed away in tension at Lee Sunho’s bold actions. Although they had received word from above, they seemed to be debating whether it was truly alright to let him in alone. While no one dared to approach, Lee Sunho entered the cathedral alone and closed the door.
Thud.
The sound of the door closing echoed particularly loud. Upon entering the cathedral, Lee Sunho stood still, staring at a specific spot. Only after some time passed did he begin to move.
“…Are you going to keep staying like that?”
Lee Sunho’s voice reached “something” at the end of his gaze. That “something,” standing as if suspended with both arms bound upward by faint chains, slowly raised its head.
…….
The entity fashioned from blue light met Lee Sunho’s eyes. A slight spark of life returned to those eyes that had been unfocused and hazy. Its lips parted. However, nothing could be heard except for the sound of ragged breathing. Only then did he realize there was a large wound on the phantom’s neck.
…….
Despite being a phantom helplessly bound, the beautiful Guardian Deity silently wore a lovely smile toward Lee Sunho.
Seong Do‑yoon likely didn’t know, but there was a secret to the hallucinations in this Boss room. It projected phantoms toward the entrants by extracting things from the depths of their memories.
In other words, the black figure Seong Do‑yoon had faced was an accumulation of the murky memories and emotions pulled from Lee Sunho. It was a remnant of desire mixed with countless memories and feelings: resenting the god who didn’t return, calling his name every single day, and struggling to make him keep his promise by any means necessary.
There was no way such a filthy and selfish thing could appear whole to him. The sounds the black mass made were nothing but disgusting shrieks, and it let out a horrific scream every time he sliced through it without hesitation. A mere lump of pitch-black, hideous shadow. In Lee Sunho’s eyes, the hallucination Seong Do‑yoon had been seeing looked exactly like that.
On the other hand, it was a pity. Because the “something” standing quietly suspended in the corner of the Boss room, where black energy sat thick, rarely reacted. That entity, born from the Boss monster’s medium and taking its place there, had been watching Lee Sunho the entire time. As if saying, “I am the phantom you are meant to face.”
Yet, even so, it did not particularly try to delude him or reveal its presence prematurely. It simply watched Lee Sunho in silence, as if wishing to slowly weather away as time naturally passed. That phantom remained quietly even after the Boss monster vanished. Although the source of its power was cut when the Boss monster, who was the caster, disappeared, it seemed able to linger like an afterimage until the power of the medium vanished completely.
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