The Awakened One, Lee Shin (2)
Lee Shin knew the name of the transparent window floating before his eyes.What the world called a status window—the exclusive domain of Hunters.
So I've awakened.
He didn't make a fuss, nor did he feel particularly happy.He simply accepted it with a calm I see.
As far as Lee Shin knew, awakenings originally came to a portion of humanity at random. Even if he had suddenly awakened out of nowhere, it wouldn't have been strange.
If this phenomenon—him being abruptly dropped into a wasteland despite having been lying in bed just moments ago—was part of that awakening, then it made sense. He had heard that there were awakened individuals with abilities like this.
Interdimensional explorers.Pioneers who crossed dimensions to other worlds to bring back valuable information or precious items.
It was an extremely unique ability, but his reaction was still indifferent.He merely accepted it calmly—So I've come to another world.
"Joy, joy, the Savior has comeee—kek, kegh!"
The one making a fuss was the girl over there. With her arms stretched wide, dancing and singing, the tiny girl—Eve—suddenly began coughing painfully.
The status window had said earlier that she needed water. Watching a small child suffer wasn't pleasant, so Lee Shin decided to do as instructed.
But how?
TIP: You can bring objects from reality through the skill [World Interference].
Ding.Seeing the newly appeared message, Lee Shin opened his own status window and read through it. Sure enough, there were entries labeled Traits and Skills.
And every single one of them was anything but ordinary.His category was God (神), his trait was Creator, and every skill name carried an absurdly grand scale…
Of course, Lee Shin merely skimmed through them, thinking, So that's a thing.
"Kegh, kek, egh!"
How do you use a skill?He wanted to give her water quickly. As Lee Shin pondered whether he needed to say the skill's name out loud, another window appeared.
"You are about to bestow [2-liter bottled water, partially consumed] from your room. Do you wish to proceed?""An item imbued with your greatness may either save this small world or shatter its balance. Do you truly wish to bestow it?"
He nodded without hesitation.
A flash of light followed, and then—thud!—a bottle of water fell from the sky.
"Keh—huhk—hegh—gi, gigeok!"
Eve's eyes widened as her body trembled briefly. At a glance, the tiny Eve was astonishingly smaller than the 2-liter bottle of water.
Roughly speaking, she was about half the size of the bottle—Not the size of a human, but of a mouse.
"Ngghhh…"
Eve groaned as she struggled to open the bottle of water, then gulped down the pouring liquid in great mouthfuls. With just a few sips of water, the hollows in her cheeks began to fill out, and flesh returned to her once-emaciated body. It seemed she was only human-like in appearance.
"Kyaaah!"
The tiny Eve stretched with a bright smile. Her beaming grin was utterly adorable.
"O God, O God! Thank you for sending rain down upon this parched land! Thanks to the rain you bestowed, this Eve has preserved her life!"
As Eve spoke energetically, her eyes sparkled. Soon, star-shaped patterns appeared in her small pupils.
And then—
"You have bestowed grace upon your first believer, Eve."
[Mutual understanding has been established.]
[Eve has become an official believer.]
[Eve's status is being reorganized.]
[The Nameless God's First Believer]
[Name: Eve]
[Class: Cleric]
[Believer Rank: Low]
[Soul Rank: Common]
[Overall Evaluation: Excited.]
Eve had officially been inducted as a believer.
Lee Shin didn't know what exactly had changed, but seeing her smiling so brightly made him feel quietly pleased.
Eve once again groaned softly as she carefully tried to screw the cap back onto the water bottle. Lee Shin was about to tell her that there was no need to be so careful—
"Little child, that is something trivial to me, so there is no need to treat it as a supreme treasure."
But the words came out differently than he intended.
The voice he had spoken in a whisper grew thunderously loud, echoing across the entire wasteland.
"Hic!"
Startled, Eve hiccupped and looked up at Lee Shin with an expression that seemed to ask if she had done something wrong. He hadn't meant to scare her.
Is it because I'm a god here that my tone and voice change?
It was a curious thing. Perhaps, in Eve's eyes, she wasn't seeing Lee Shin's original face, but a dignified and majestic one instead.
"Do not worry. I did not mean to scold you."
Of course, no matter how he looked or sounded, it didn't really matter. Lee Shin wasn't the type to concern himself with things like that in the first place.
Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Lee Shin watched Eve—who bared her rabbit-like teeth and hopped about energetically—and thought to himself,
It's been kind of boring lately since Bom entered the academy. This works out nicely.
It would've been even better if he had awakened some cool ability and gotten to live academy life together with Choi Bom, but this wasn't bad in its own way either.
She couldn't fight monsters, but she was small and cute. It felt like he had gained a new pet. Lee Shin had always liked animals.
Unlike people, who were difficult to deal with and would avoid him after a single mistake, animals always approached him with pure hearts—and once they bonded, they never betrayed him.
For some reason, Lee Shin felt drawn to this tiny girl, who carried a similar kind of purity to the animals he loved. If this was his awakening, then it was a welcome one.
"O God, O God! May I make one request?"
Eve spoke with her hands clasped tightly together.
"Just as you showed mercy to me, please show mercy to the pitiful dwarves of this world as well! Sob!"
At once, Eve's memories flickered before Lee Shin's eyes like a moving image.
"Eve's world was not originally such a barren wasteland, devoid of even a blade of grass. It was a rich and fertile land, a peaceful world where many dwarves lived together.
But after the rift opened, everything changed.
The dwarves fiercely resisted the interdimensional invaders and monsters that poured through the rift, but in the end, they were defeated. The invaders turned this small but lethal world into a colony and enslaved the skilled dwarves.
Eve was one of the labor slaves. She had originally been a priestess who served the god of this land, but when the rift opened and signs of destruction appeared, the dwarves' god clicked his tongue in disapproval and abandoned his world, fleeing away.
The last priestess left behind in the forsaken world cried out endlessly for her god, escaped from the worksite, and climbed the highest mountain to seek a new god.
A god who would never abandon the dwarves, no matter what cruel trials might come, no matter what happened—
the most merciful and gentle god in all dimensions..."
It was a pitiful story. After witnessing the downfall of Eve's world through her memories, Lee Shin rested his hand against his chin and thought,
If we fail to stop the rifts… will our world end up like that too?
If that were to happen, Lee Shin would be truly sad.
Earth held countless precious memories and people dear to him, and he wanted to continue living that life in the future as well.
He muttered inwardly.
Should I help Eve a little more? Would it be enough to drive out all the invaders and rescue her people from the work sites?
TIP: That would be premature!
Beep!
The status window sounded a warning.
TIP: The interdimensional invaders who destroyed Earth No. 444, the small but lethal world, are excessively powerful.
TIP: You possess potential broader than the universe itself, but at present you lack the strength to contend with those malevolent beings.
Lee Shin stared blankly at the status window.
Then what should he do going forward?
TIP: Increase your divinity.
TIP: The more divine power a god possesses, the greater influence they can exert, allowing them to be reborn as a more magnificent god.
Divine power?
TIP: You can collect 1 point of divine power per week from each low-rank believer.
TIP: Gather many believers and accumulate abundant divine power!
TIP: e(n·0.)9
That must mean taking in more cases like Eve.
There was no reason for Lee Shin to refuse.
The more cute ones, the better.
Having lots of puppies or kittens was basically heaven. He had only met Eve so far, but if all the residents of this world treated him like she did, it would be delightful.
They were small and cute, easy to talk to, and didn't dislike him. On the contrary, they approached him first and wanted to be close.
Having lived his life with no friends besides Choi Bom, Lee Shin felt as though he had found a place where he could make new ones. It was the same feeling he'd had as a child, right before starting school for the first time.
This time, he secretly hoped it would be different.
"You need more believers, my Eve."
"I will guide you! O God, O God!"
Eve clenched her small fist tightly.
She's cute—like a mouse.
Excited at the thought of setting out on an adventure together, Lee Shin felt like a child going on his first school field trip.
But the excitement quickly drained away.
"You have exhausted all interference power."
"Returning to the original world."
[Expended interference power will recover in 12 hours.]
TIP: To return to your world again, wait until your interference power is fully recharged, then try using [World Observation].
It was time to leave.
Eve's voice—crying out "O God, O God!" in desperation—echoed like a fading reverberation.
**
Lee Shin returned to his original world.
Time in reality hadn't passed, so it was still 3 a.m., but his drowsiness had long since vanished.
That was more fun than a dream.
He already wanted to go back. It reminded him of a documentary he'd once seen—about people inside, shouted with booming enthusiasm.
"To remain longer in your world and visit it more frequently, you must possess greater interference power."
TIP: There are three ways to increase interference power.
1. Acquire more worlds.
2. Exert strong influence over the worlds you possess.
3. Enter rifts in reality and directly fight interdimensional invaders, strengthening your soul.
Even when he merely thought to himself, the status window seemed to read his thoughts and provide answers.
After reading the three methods, Lee Shin muttered,
"Option three is impossible."
The ability Lee Shin had awakened wasn't suited for combat. He had only one believer—Eve. There was no way he could send a girl smaller than a 2-liter water bottle to fight grotesque monsters.
"And option one is…"
TIP: Currently impossible.
That left only option two.
Strong influence…
He wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but if he went on adventures together with his small friend Eve, he would naturally come to understand.
Lee Shin felt a rare sense of excitement welling up inside him. Hoping the twelve hours would pass quickly, he closed his eyes—but with his heart pounding, he couldn't fall asleep. In the end, he got up and personally packed a lunchbox.
After all, you couldn't go on a field trip without a lunch.
He prepared this and that, and before he knew it, Lee Shin had spent the entire twelve hours wide awake without a wink of sleep. The moment his interference power finished recharging, he used World Observation.
[First World]
"Moving to Earth No. 444, the small but lethal world."
A floating sensation—and soon, Lee Shin's eyes caught sight of Eve. She was crouched down, repeating "O God, O God" over and over, crying her heart out like a child.
A moment later, as if she sensed his arrival, Eve lifted her head with swollen eyes. Her face was still streaked with tears, yet she shouted energetically, as though she had never cried at all.
"O God, O God! You've come!"