Chapter 319: Faded Promise (11)

“You want me to become a god? What kind of nonsense is that?” Song Ha-Eun frowned and cocked her head in confusion. “You said the dragonkin need a god they can believe in and follow.”

“Yeah, so you can become that god for them,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“You can’t just become a god because you want to.”

Suddenly telling her to become a god? What kind of absurd, unrealistic idea was that?

“You can become one,” Kwon Oh-Jin continued unwaveringly. “You have the soul of the Dragon God Kaleios inside you, don’t you?”

“I told you. Even though I have the soul, I haven’t heard a single voice or anything like that.”

The Dragon God’s soul didn’t contain any will or consciousness. It was nothing more than a lump of raw power. To be blunt, the Dragon God’s soul was no more than a miracle drug with good side effects for her.

“But the dragonkin don't know that.”

Only Song Ha-Eun knew that the soul had no consciousness. The dragonkin wouldn’t know whether the Dragon God’s will lingered within her or not.

Song Ha-Eun’s jaw dropped at the unexpected idea. “So, you’re saying... I should deceive them?”

“We’re just giving them exactly what they need.”

“And what they need is a lie?”

“No. What they need is hope.”

Hope that the god they worshipped still lived. That their god didn’t melt away in flames or vanish forever without ever waking. That it still existed in some other form. That belief would be the only hope left for the dragonkin, crushed under the weight of despair.

Song Ha-Eun bit her lip. “But still...”

She understood Kwon Oh-Jin’s intentions, but wasn’t this ultimately a betrayal of their faith?

“The truth doesn’t matter, Ha-Eun.”

It had never once mattered.

“Only what looks like the truth matters.” Kwon Oh-Jin’s quiet words echoed in her ear.

Her clenched fists trembled. As she struggled with the decision, images of the dragonkin flashed through her mind. They sat in the streets like lifeless corpses, their spirits completely broken.

What did they truly need? The truth that the Dragon God would never return or the lie that its will still lived on in someone?

“If I do this... we can really save them, right?” she asked.

Song Ha-Eun didn’t have any special attachment to the dragonkin since she hadn’t known them for long. Plus, she wasn’t some compassionate humanitarian pained by the suffering of others.

I’m the one who absorbed the Dragon God’s soul.

Whether she meant to or not, she had taken in the very power meant to awaken their god. She had received too much without a price to confidently say that she wasn’t responsible. So, becoming their god would be the price she had to pay for gaining that power without exerting any effort of her own.

Just because one won the lottery didn’t mean they got out of paying taxes. Therefore, she had a responsibility to help the dragonkin in despair.

Even setting aside talk of costs and responsibility, every time she saw a dragonkin taking their own life, her heart throbbed in pain.

She wasn’t a saint who mourned over all the world’s sorrows, but she wasn’t a cold-hearted monster who could turn away from the suffering in front of her either.

“Alright. Screw it, I’ll give it a shot.”

Kwon Oh-Jin faintly smiled and nodded. “Good choice.”

“What exactly do I have to do?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you later.”

The method itself wasn’t too complicated. There was something more important than how she acted as a god.

“We need allies.”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes lit up as he turned to look at Kellion, who was still desperately working to comfort the broken-hearted dragonkin.

***

A low voice echoed through the shabby house.

“So, then...” An old dragonkin with a white beard furrowed his wrinkled brow and glared sharply at Kwon Oh-Jin. “Are you telling me to deceive my own people?”

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded without hesitation. “That’s right.”

Song Ha-Eun, seated beside him, hesitantly opened her mouth. “It's not exactly... deceiving. It's just—”

“If that’s not deception, then what is?” Kellion didn’t hide his displeasure.

As a dragonkin, he had also waited desperately for the Dragon God to awaken. He found it hard to pretend that their god, who had already died, was still alive just to save the dragonkin.

“I can’t accept that—”

“Then, do you intend to leave things as they are?” Kwon Oh-Jin looked into Kellion’s eyes with a deep, steady gaze. “Just today, three more dragonkin took their own lives. Yesterday, and the day before, two ended theirs.”

“That’s—”

“Do you think this is the end?”

Emotion was poison. Despair would only continue to consume them.

“The number of dragonkin taking their own lives will only increase,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“The dragonkin aren’t that weak,” Kellion said.

“How many more have to die just to prove your statement that they aren’t weak?”

Would the rest simply sit back and watch as this endless chain of despair continued, holding onto the blind hope that it would resolve itself?

“We...!”

“I saw a crying child today on the way here,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“A child?”

“The child said their mother was killed in the recent decoy operation by a demonic beast.”

They had tried to minimize casualties, but that didn’t mean no one had died.

“Apparently, before she died, the mother told her child, ‘Even if I don’t come back, the Dragon God will watch over you.’”

“...”

“That child lost the parent who would protect her and the god she believed in, so what happens to that child now?”

“That’s...”

“Does that child have to find a way to stand on her own, despite the grief? Despite not having anything left anymore?” His cold gaze turned toward Kellion.

Kellion clenched his fist, biting his wrinkled lips. “A false god won’t be able to protect that child.”

“But it will still be able to give her hope.”

“What meaning is there in a hope that can never be fulfilled?” Kellion slammed the table and stood up.

Bang!

“What do you think kept the dragonkin going for the past hundred years?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

“We—”

“Wasn’t it the hope that the Dragon God would open their eyes again?”

That hope, the belief that the sleeping Dragon God would one day awaken and save them, had allowed them to endure one hundred long years.

“You asked what meaning there is in a hope that can never be fulfilled.” Kwon Oh-Jin looked up at Kellion and softly chuckled. “Aren’t the dragonkin themselves proof that such hope can have meaning?”

Kellion’s expression stiffened. He sat down again with a hardened look and lowered his head. “If I go along with you, can we really save the dragonkin?”

“No, we can’t save them.”

Even if Song Ha-Eun perfectly pretended to be the Dragon God, it wouldn't change the fact that the Dragon God had died. She couldn’t truly fill the god’s absence.

“What the dragonkin need right now isn’t salvation. It’s a small platform to step up from.”

The hope that the Dragon God’s will still remained somewhere would be the stepping stone they needed to rise again.

“How much longer do you plan to wait for someone else to save them?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

Kellion could only remain silent.

“It’s time for the dragonkin to rise on their own.”

A resolute determination filled Kellion’s eyes. “What do you need me to do?”

At that reply, Kwon Oh-Jin faintly smiled. “The method is simple. When Ha-Eun acts as the Dragon God, you just need to respond accordingly.”

“Respond?”

“Yes. Think of it as playing the role of a wingman.”

In any scam aimed at a group, a convincing wingman was more important than anything else. After all, emotions were contagious.

If someone backed up Song Ha-Eun’s words, even the unbelievable claim that the Dragon God now lived in a human woman would be believable. Especially if it was none other than the elder who had led the dragonkin to this day. The impact would be even greater.

“It’ll make it much easier if you can tell us things like Kaleios’s speech patterns, habits, or memories that the dragonkin might relate to.”

Kellion heavily nodded. “Alright. I’ll tell you everything I know about the Dragon God.”

The stories continued for several hours. How the Dragon God cared for the dragonkin, how he treated them like his own children rather than slaves, and how he gently smiled and headed into battle despite warning them to flee beforehand. The sorrowful stories continued without end.

“I think that should be enough,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

They had gained more than enough information about the Dragon God’s personality, manner of speaking, and the things he had done.

“Then, please gather the dragonkin at the banquet hall tomorrow,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

The banquet hall was the massive circular structure where the dragonkin had been held captive. They gathered there every year to hold a festival in hopes of awakening the Dragon God.

“I thought it was a place we’d no longer have a use for.” Kellion bitterly smiled and nodded.

“Let’s go, Ha-Eun.”

Song Ha-Eun had a few things to prepare as well.

“

Huh?

O-Okay.” She had hardly taken part in the conversation and stood up with an awkward smile. “

Uh...

it’ll be okay, Gramps. Don’t worry too much.”

Perhaps concerned about Kellion’s grim expression, she showed him a little encouragement.

Kellion faintly smiled and nodded. “I trust you, the dragon’s Virgin Maiden.”

“Yup! See you tomorrow!” Song Ha-Eun waved energetically.

After leaving Kellion’s house, she followed Kwon Oh-Jin with a conflicted expression.

“Hey, Oh-Jin...”

“Yeah?”

“That child you mentioned earlier, where did you see them?”

The weight of becoming a source of hope for that child, who had been left behind after losing her mother, pressed heavily on Song Ha-Eun’s shoulders.

“There isn’t one.”

“

Huh?

What do you mean?”

“There’s no such child. I’ve never seen one.” Kwon Oh-Jin continued walking, leaving the utterly shocked Song Ha-Eun behind. Then, he turned toward her. “I told you, didn’t I?”

The truth didn’t matter. Only what looked like it did.