CH 9

I had never walked on water before, but if I could, would it feel like this? Somehow, it felt like what my feet were touching wasn't solid, but rather a liquid.

“Yes, this way. Come on.”

...I could clearly hear the voice nearby, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see who it belonged to. I narrowed my eyes and looked around again.

“Can't you see me? I said I'm here! Here!”

When I couldn't find them, an unknown voice erupted in anger.

The sound seemed to be coming from below. As I looked down, I saw a small white bird struggling to flap its wings, just like the one I saw in the temple garden a little while ago.

It was a cute bird with a black pattern on its back, tail, and wings.

“…Magpie?” I blurted out, dumbfounded. Was this baby bird talking right now? Really?

Even though it was just a dream, it was still shocking. A bird smaller than the palm of my hand was talking to me. What kind of unconscious reflection was this?

“A magpie? No...I'm a white-headed oriole, a completely different species from magpies, which are referred to as red-headed orioles.”

The white bird that wasn’t a magpie...whatever it was, protested to me by pecking me with its beak.

Either way, it didn't seem like an important issue. But then, suddenly, the bird swelled up like a balloon and screamed, and in an instant, it seemed to have grown ten times larger.

“You thought it didn't matter if it was this or that, didn't you? You always need to give precise names to things and living beings!”

I furrowed my brows and covered my ears. What a bird with a bad attitude.

The white-headed bulbul, who had been venting his anger, returned to his small size as if he had never enlarged in the first place.

Well, I don't know what it was shouting in English, but it was cute anyway.

“Hey, you.”

I blinked my eyes drowsily, and the white-headed oriole made an unfamiliar sound.

“Uh?”

“Hand it over. How long do I have to flap my wings? This also takes a lot of energy.”

I was amazed, but I still held my palm upward. Then the oriole flew onto my palm.

“Do you know who I am?”

“...A white-headed oriole?”

After introducing himself earlier and asking if I knew who he was, the round-eyed bird let out a gasp as if there were no easy answers to his question.

“Hah, not such a simple answer. Of course, I am currently in the form of a white-crested oriole. Look beyond the surface, look at the essence!”

But even if he talked about the essence... I had no clue what he meant, so I just blinked my eyes. Suddenly, I heard Jerome's voice in my ear.

“You can feel the breath of the gods even in this tiny bird.”

...No way. He couldn't be a god, could he?

This little bird? A god?

“Right, you seem to have figured it out. I am the god of this world.”

“God...you said? You?”

You have to take the bluff to the extent that it can be accepted. Wasn't this going too far?

Although it was amazing that a bird could talk, who would believe someone claiming “I am the god of this world,” so easily?

“...You are a very skeptical kid. Truly negative. I knew it from the time you doubted Jerome.”

“It's not being negative, it's being realistic.”

“Ha, really! Don't you hear a lot of people saying that you're shameless?”

The sparrow let out a disgruntled sound as if it was thrilled by my skepticism. But, let's be realistic here. Although I didn't know much about religion, I had never heard of a god in the form of a bird before.

Though, in the European mythologies that any Korean knows well, there is a god that transforms into an eagle and harasses human women. But this little bird was not as majestic as an eagle. Could a sparrow be a god? Did that make any sense?

“Why is a god taking the form of such a small bird?”

“Does a god have to look like a human? That's a human-centered and narrow-minded way of thinking. And I'm not a sparrow.”

Come to think of it, did I mention the word “sparrow”? Weird, isn't it? I was sure I only thought about it.

Since earlier, I have had this feeling like my thoughts were being read... Could it be just my imagination?

“It's not your imagination. I can read your thoughts. So, do you believe that I am a god?”

“Uh... Wow.”

At this point, I seemed to have to accept that this insignificant sparrow, no, this white-haired little bird, was a god.

“Are you starting to believe now? Alright, then. Let me introduce myself properly. I am the administrator of this world. To make it easier for you to understand, let's just say I'm a god.”

As the god spread its wings, a screen-like display opened behind it.

And on that screen, a beautiful woman appeared. One pair of white wings, one pair of black wings. The woman with two pairs of wings was familiar even to my eyes.

It was the goddess “Dea,” depicted in the murals of the Terenunus Temple.

“The only god believed in by the Terenunus religion, Dea. That's me. And...”

As the god once again stretched out his wings, the picture on the screen changed. It was a dignified old man with a thick white beard.

“I'm also the god of the Gerges, Manus...”

As I stared blankly at the image, the man disappeared in an instant from the screen, and the appearance of a giant, alien-looking monster appeared.

“I'm also the demon Ariman...”

At this rate, the presentation didn't seem like it would ever end, even if we stayed up all night. Was the intention to showcase every god from all cultural spheres in this world?

“Oh, I see. So, you're saying that every god in this world is you. I get it, I get it.”

As I shouted in frustration, the screen instantly turned to smoke and dispersed.

“You're still far from understanding.”

The bird, who had been confidently presenting on my palm, made a disdainful coo as if it didn't like what it heard.

Why did it look so annoying? It seemed like it was trying to act superior.

“It's not acting superior, it's being superior. This is not negativity, but rather reality.”

“Do you... really? I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were such an important person. From now on, should I use honorifics?”

“What's the point now? You've been using informal language until now. And you're still doing it, aren't you? You're the first one to speak informally to me, so it feels fresh.”

The deity perched on my palm burst into cheerful laughter like a chirping bird.

...It was ridiculous that I had become such a disrespectful human being who spoke informally to a deity, but it was also quite strange that the deity liked it, saying that it felt fresh and saying things like, “You're the first person to speak to me like this!”

“I appeared in this form in front of you because there is a deep meaning behind me having such diverse appearances. Shall we say it's a custom-made form just for you? You don't like humans very much, do you? That's why I appeared in this cute and lovely form for you.”

“Oh, I see.”

I wanted to deny it, but I couldn't. It was true that being called cute and lovely was embarrassing, but it was also true that I didn't like humans very much. It was a fact that I couldn't deny, since my distrust of humans was deeply rooted within me.

And as the god said, appearing in the form of a cute animal rather than in the form of a human being also made me feel less repulsed.

“...Alright. Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get to the point. I don't really know who you are. I'm the one who brought you to this world. The one who brought the soul of Park So-Eun into the body of Lucia Chase, that was me.”

Oh, my name. It was a name I hadn't heard in a long time. Park So-Eun. I felt a little awkward hearing my real name for the first time in a long time, after only hearing the name Lucia.

No, what did he just say?

Who was the reason I was possessed in Lucia's body?

It was you, the culprit.

“Who do you think has been giving you information about Lucia and the people around her all this time? Me. I've been waiting for you to come to the temple just to talk to you like this. The temple is the place where my influence is strongest.”

“Why on earth...?”

I stared at the god sitting in the palm of my hand with all my might. I couldn't understand why I had transmigrated to this crazy world.

If I had gone to the other world as it was, I would have had a meeting with my long-dead mother.

“To put it simply...from God's perspective, you weren't very likable...I guess that's the reason?”

After saying some vague and incomprehensible words, the god spread his wings and flew back up into the air. Then he settled on my right shoulder this time.

“Is it your hobby to speak so ambiguously? No wonder it's so difficult to understand the Terenus Scriptures. Are you always this grumpy?” I muttered as the god pinched my ear with its tiny beak, obviously displeased with my words.

Ouch. What a moody god.

“That's why it would be better if you just said it clearly from the beginning,” I grumbled, rubbing my ear that had been pinched by the sharp beak. I really didn't know why I had to chat with a god here.

“You read the novel set in this world, 'Israji is in a mess'. Tell me what you think of it. Don't hold back.”

God said this with a serious expression. Without hesitation, I immediately blurted out my thoughts on the novel that I had always pondered over.

“In one word, chaos.”