The Outer God Needs Warmth

“Long live! Long live! Long long live!”

People dressed in black with their faces covered raise their arms and shout. Shouldn’t they be saying “Long live!” instead of “Long live!” if they live on the continent? I don’t understand why they’re praising a king under the emperor.

“Cheonma Hyunshin! Manma Angbok!”

What kind of army is this? Their arm movements are sharp. When they say “Manma Angbok,” everyone bows down.

“Shin Gyo Mujuk! Mado Cheonha!”

Then they stand up again, flailing their arms and waving their hands before bowing to the ground two more times.

It’s not like this is an idol concert, but as soon as someone appears across from me, they start moving enthusiastically.

Is that a strangely muscled woman? No, it’s a man.

Is there some kind of hormonal imbalance? His hips are oddly protruding, and it looks like he’s halfway through a transformation or something.

It is a man, right? A cross-dressing man?

“Are you the one known as the Four Seasons Chaos who led the gods?”

His voice is quite high. But it’s definitely a male voice.

He doesn’t seem to be forcing it, but there’s an awkwardness to it.

The faded man in my memory is amazed that this ancient Cheonma is a primitive being.

Ancient Cheonma?

Ah. Right.

He’s talking about that guy. He was from the Ilwol Church. Though the faded man has never actually seen that work, his knowledge is very fragmented, but he knows that he’s the one who appeared as a mid-boss and got killed.

A man whose sexual identity is broken after learning a eunuch’s martial arts.

But wait, “gods”?

Gods. The atmosphere feels somewhat like martial arts, but who is it?

I recalled all the harvesters.

First, I excluded any harvesters from the weird harvesters or those who weren’t human.

Anyway, there aren’t that many, considering the first world…

The most plausible character.

“Could it be Eunjai?”

Then I hear murmurs around me. Apparently, it’s not the person we were thinking of. Seems like I got it wrong.

Is this a fail?

At that moment, the man in front of me raised his hand.

Then everyone orderly closed their mouths and bowed their heads.

He’s an extremely charismatic person.

That kind of outfit wouldn’t be easily accepted in society, but if it’s not in the world where Eunjai existed, the culture could be completely different.

“That is the true name of the god. Few know it. From the looks of it, you didn’t completely summon something strange.”

Then the man dressed as a woman approached me. The closer he got, the more obvious it became. He seems to be trying to hide it with clothes, but his physique is still noticeable.

Somewhat feminized, but you can see there’s a limit that cannot be crossed.

Why would someone like this call for me?

“Four Seasons Chaos. A mythological monster that appears before the despairing, radiating indescribable Qi before disappearing. But in the time when gods were still called Cheonma, when moral degenerates referred to themselves as righteous, they attacked him and inflicted great wounds, and it’s said that he met Four Seasons Chaos and acquired a new body and transcendent power.”

He pointed a finger, painted white, at me.

“O spirit possessing the body of that child. Are you Four Seasons Chaos?”

If that’s Eunjai, then I guess, yes.

But here, I’ll deny it.

“No, I don’t have such a name.”

The name held by the faded man seems to be one I can’t use, so I gave up on naming myself.

It doesn’t really matter if I have no name in obtaining warmth.

“But if someone asked if I have given a blessing that someone called Eunjai, then yes. That’s right. I did.”

I don’t lie.

As always, I speak the truth. Someone called it a blessing. But the actual phenomenon is different. I pour myself into it and mutate it.

But it’s true that it was called a blessing.

It’s crucial to create an escape route like this.

“You speak just like someone I know. You smell just like a filthy conman.”

Suddenly, he frowned and took a step back.

Huh? Did I make a mistake?

I glanced around, surprised, but he flicked his finger.

Then, after about a second passed…

Something wriggled in my head.

A creature probing my brain? I hear the sound of a bug crawling, irritating my brain and causing pain.

Gross.

A bug with many legs is crawling inside my head, poking at my brain. It crawls from my frontal lobe to the occipital lobe, and then towards the base of my spine, biting the nerve bundle.

It hurts.

Huh.

What is it?

Compared to the cold, this is nothing. I thought it was time to counterattack, so I looked at the man. But suddenly, the ground is rushing up to me.

Thud.

My body unexpectedly twists strangely and falls to the ground.

What’s happening?

Ah. Is this a reflex action?

Right. If it can stimulate the brain, it makes sense that it can also affect the signals heading to the spine. My legs brushed against the nerves, causing my body to lose balance and seize.

Ugh. A bug. A bug.

There’s light?

Heh heh.

Conveniently, there’s warmth right in front of me, so I absorbed it.

Quaddeuk!

Oh no. Mistake.

A bizarrely deformed bug burst out, completely destroying my head. Come to think of it, if I suck out warmth from a living being, it turns into something like this.

The bug keeps growing, even though it doesn’t eat anything.

How does the law of conservation of mass work in this case?

Such a question came to my mind.

The bug twists and changes into an asymmetric and non-linear body. Meaning it turned into something useless.

But for another reason, its lifespan was very short.

“Master!”

“Your Excellency!”

The people around me exclaimed urgently.

But quicker than that, the cross-dressing man’s hand moved faster.

In an instant, a black energy gathered in his hand, and a line of mixed black and red was drawn in the air. That line then sliced the bug in half.

Seeing him flick his hand as he brushed it off, it seems he killed it with his bare hands.

He’s strong.

No, is it really too difficult for me to lead someone like this in the direction I want?

But even in this situation, I need to extend the harvesters.

What else can I do?

I got up from my spot.

A presence that could be called murderous intent flooded in from all directions.

Quadeuk.

A massive crack forms where my head used to be. After that disappears, a girl with purple hair stands there.

That’s me.

I opened my mouth again with the new head.

“It’s truly barbaric to let a parasite grow this large in one’s body.”

Considering the actions of the man dressed as a woman earlier, I know that the bug was inserted to control people.

Of course, I’m unfazed.

Honestly, it’s someone else’s body.

It’s just like when a character in a game is afflicted with a status ailment.

I had my doubts about whether the status ailment would disappear, but since it exited itself, I feel relieved.

I looked around for more, but apart from that light, there’s nothing else.

Only one.

Was this a shocking sight or what?

I think it would be easier to take the initiative with this.

“Now, shall we end the petty tricks? Then, before discussing the contract, let’s introduce ourselves.”

Saying that putting a bug in was a petty trick and letting it slide.

By the way, I’m a master of reading expressions. Whether my intent got across, the expression of the cross-dressing man twisted slightly.

He looks very uncomfortable and tense.

Heh heh.

Alright, let’s approach dramatically. Murim is about art, right? He must not have given up on language?

“I am a very cold sea. Looking up at light from below the surface, I long for the warmth that light possesses. I still lack warmth. Very much so. I want warmth. I would do anything for warmth. That’s why I came here.”

And then I took a step forward.

The split crack is slowly healing, but the limits are approaching. This place could easily break like the first world if I’m not careful.

I might only be able to regenerate once moving forward.

But even if it’s dangerous, I decided to pretend to be confident here. If it’s Eunjai’s world, it’s pretty similar to a martial arts masterpiece.

Especially those in front of me are followers who look up to the strong and surrender.

If I show weakness, I might end up as prey.

“This is my name.”

I introduced myself while looking at the cross-dressing man.

“Cheonma.”

He replied with just one word, as if he needed no other name.

Then, people around me started murmuring titles such as leader of the Cheonma Church and Jinsan Daegoon, describing the achievements of the person before me.

After some time had passed, the cross-dressing man raised his hand.

In an instant, everyone around him shut their mouths.

To others, this might seem threatening, but to me, it looks like there are multiple warmths.

Now it’s time for a proper conversation.

“Is that so? The greeting ritual of humanity is over? Now we get to the main point.”

What you just did has no value, I’m going to say what I really need.

“I will entrust myself to you. But later, once you’ve resolved everything, I’ll receive everything you have. What do you think?”

I extended my hand toward the cross-dressing man.

No, at this point, I should say it like this.

“You want power?”

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