Chapter 130: How to Shoot Down the Sun

The sun. A star at the center of the solar system. It is the closest to Earth, and has a rotation period of about twenty-five days. It was composed of a central core that emitted enormous amounts of energy, an outer radiative and convective layer, and an atmospheric layer that includes the photosphere, chromosphere and corona, which emits light direct...

Pass.

From a mythological perspective, we can often find traces of the deities of the sun across different cultures as the most commonly believed natural deities, especially in the highest order. In Greek mythology the Sun God Apollon, in Egyptian mythology Ra, in Aztec Huitzilopochtli, In Chinese Huo Yi, and in Korean the Sun and Moon...

This too.

No matter how much I run to escape from the sun, it is always in my heart~ hoo~

-Rainie’s “How to Avoid the Sun”.

Tak!

I closed my laptop. Everything on the internet was useless! From what I could find, only Huo Yi from Chinese mythology could

exorcize

the sun. The guy shot down ten suns with a bow and arrow, after all. But realistically speaking, how did that make any sense?! Although I doubted my situation had been realistic to begin with.

The reason for my struggles was the 42nd floor of the Tower of Warriors. Recently, it felt like the difficulty of the trials had spiked up. Before, when I was still a Low-tier God, Il-Ho was tasked to save the Fairy Queen and fight an otherworldly god. Now, he had to get rid of the sun.

What a hellish tower.

No, could it even be called a tower anymore?

“

Haa.

” I plopped down on the sofa in the suite, even the cushions felt expensive.

“Everyone.” I laid my head against the headrest of the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. “What should I do to get rid of the sun? Does anyone have any good ideas?”

I turned to the gods, who should still be watching over me, for some advice.

[All-Cutting Heavenly Sword arrogantly flashes his sword and suggests you just cut it down.]

Yeah, nope.

I did slash a huge fireball during the holy war, but this was on an entirely different scale.

[Silently Crawling Nightmare licks her lips, urging you to just eat it.]

They are both the same. Ugh, these damn malevolent gods aren’t helping. How about the benevolent one?

[Infinite Abundance said she has no expertises in that area, looking sad.]

It’s fine, Abundance noonim. I’m always indebted to you, so please continue to look after me.

[Silently Crawling Nightmare glares at Infinite Abundance with jealousy.]

Ignoring the useless stalkers, I accessed the God’s Shop.

“Is there anything I could use from here?”

I looked through the catalog, hoping to find something that’d help this situation. Since there was no search function, I had to painstakingly go through the items one by one.

“This darn game.”

I had noticed this before, but two-thirds of the items in here were useless, while the actually useful ones were overpriced as fuck.

Now that the Gayami nation was advancing Antrinia, and I was gaining followers from the Fairy World as well, I had roughly 100 million Godcoins in my balance. And yet, it was nowhere near enough to buy anything above High-tier God items and powers! I tried to see what I could get with my limited budget.

Woooong!

My phone vibrated out of the blue.

Tsk, I’m busy, who is it?

Il-Ho?

So, I went to check out the notification and dropped my phone in shock.

Tremble!

I broke out into a cold sweat. I’d forgotten about it all

—

actually, I probably just pushed it off my mind to escape reality. The accumulation of causality transformed into huge despair, washing over me at this moment.

Mighty Editor-in-Charge:

Have you gone mad? Disappearing for over two weeks in the middle of an ongoing serialization. This is your final warning. Drop by as soon as possible, or get sued!

It was a message from my editor-in-charge.

***

I’d arrived at Cafe Refreshingly Sweet.

“...Well, aren’t you two hours late for our appointment, Mr. Yu? What’s with that get-up? Did you fall into a sewer on the way here?” My editor-in-charge questioned.

“

Uhm

, about that, I had some unavoidable circumstances.”

Sss—

I wiped my dirt-stained face with some napkins on the table while explaining my situation.

“So, here’s the deal.”

[Activating title: Brutal Killer (B)!]

[Yu Il-Shin’s combat luck has increased significantly!]

It had slipped off my mind until now, but since I was only a Mid-tier Malevolent God, side effects had started to appear.

Creaaak! Baaaam!

While on my way to the cafe, I almost got run over by a dump truck that suddenly drove into the sidewalk. A couple of potted plants also fell from the sky, nearly hitting me. But that wasn’t all.

Pzzz!

Suddenly, a gate opened out of nowhere, from which a monitor lizard monster appeared and began attacking the people.

-

Grrrr!

So this is the world with the tasty weak god! I am King of Frosty Scales’ proudest underling Barak—!

“The heck? Crushing Forefinger of God.”

-

Kueeeek!

Craaaack!

The monitor lizard was flattened like a piece of jerky by my finger. I wasn’t really threatened by these monsters anymore. The same pattern repeated a few times. I inadvertently did a lot of good deeds, increasing the progress of the Secret Resurrection Medicine quest given by Infinite Abundance: A Hundred Good Deeds a Day Makes the Universe a Beautiful Place!

Realizing I’d have personality issues when equipping the Malevolent God title, I decided to balance out the good and evil in myself. I should complete the Mid-tier Benevolent God quest as soon as possible.

“...That’s what happened.”

Anyway, I did my best to explain to my editor-in-charge why I was late.

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

“You call that an excuse?!”

Slam!

He slammed his fist down, snarling. “As expected of a genre writer! Such creativity!

Haa

, I’m losing weight because of you!”

“But I think your belly is bulging quite well...”

“Shut up. Sit over here and start working on your manuscript right now! You’re not going home until you clear up all the backlog!”

“What? Over here?”

“Should we head to the office then? Do you want to get canned for a long time?”

Canned—this was the ultimatum for writers who couldn’t make it for their deadlines. One would become an

old boy

stuck at the publisher’s office, just writing and doing nothing else.

“...

Gosh

, what a cruel thing to say. I work better at cafes, but I didn’t bring my laptop. Let me grab it real quick.”

“I knew this was going to happen, so I prepared a work laptop for you.”

What a meticulous man.

But logically speaking, I shouldn’t be spending time on my manuscript.

“Section chief.”

“Start writing already. Why are you leaning over instead?”

“I actually have a secret to confide in you and

only

you. Please don’t tell this to anyone else!”

“Seriously, what kind of secret is it? Why are you keeping me in so much suspense?”

Whisper—

I sat down next to him and shared my secret. I didn’t expose Kang Woo’s name, but I told him my entire encounter with a regressor and the impending doom that laid ahead for humanity.

“That’s what happened!”

Now, he’d understand why I couldn’t complete my manuscript on time.

What’s the point of working on the manuscript when humanity stands on the brink of doom?

After listening to me, my editor-in-charge turned to me with a stern look on his face and a machete on each hand.

“Mr. Yu, do you know the saying

‘plant an apple tree today, even if the world is destroyed tomorrow.’

Do you know what the moral is?”

“To hold hope amidst despair?”

“No, it means that you should still finish your work even if it kills you!”

“What? What kind of bullshit is...”

“

Haha

, Mr. Yu. I have to admit, I enjoyed your story, but it’s kind of cliche. Now isn’t the time to procrastinate, so just write what you shared with me.”

“It’s not a story, but my reality...”

"Looks like you’ve already got a rough outline. Let’s get started. How about one hour per chapter? That should be enough, right?"

How could anyone complete a chapter in under an hour?!

I’d have to write at least 5,000 characters, which roughly translated to 25 pages for the manuscript!

“That’s ridiculous!”

My editor-in-charge grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and growled like a mad dog. “It couldn’t be more ridiculous than how you’ve gone AWOL for the past two weeks, Mr. Yu! On an

ongoing

serialization, to boot! Stop complaining and get to work!”

I nodded vigorously, unable to resist his intimidation.

Tadak, tadadak!

I began working on my manuscript under the watchful eyes of my editor-in-charge in real-time.

Haa

,

I really shouldn’t be doing this.

Wooong!

My phone vibrated out of the blue with an incoming message. I gave it a careful glance and saw that it was a call from Il-Ho on God-Maker.

“

Uhm

, Section Chief.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“May I go to the toilet...?”

But my editor-in-charge jumped to his feet. “Let’s go together then.”

“I-I’m going to take a dump though?”

“So?”

He doesn’t believe in me. Of course.

I repeatedly told him that it was fine, but he seemed to think I’d escape as soon as he took his eyes off me. In the end, he followed me to the washroom.

Clunk—

“I’m giving you three minutes. Make it quick.”

I heard his heartless voice from outside my stall.

“

Haa...

”

I mourned at the lack of trust humans had and silently launched God-Maker. Then, I clicked on Il-Ho’s channel.

W-what’s all this?

I saw a flock of monstrous birds resembling bald eagles, their feathers appearing like flames. They were attacking Il-Ho and the cactus girl!

-

Eeek!

Warrior!

-The water thieves come in a bunch this time! I won’t let you lay a claw on Water Dancer! I swear on my muscles!

Muuuuscles!

Pow pow!

With each swing of his dumbbell sword, the birds, which were several hundreds of times larger, shattered into pieces. However, their strange red crowns flickered and burst into flames.

-

Kieeee!

Similar to how the legendary phoenix rose from the flames, the monsters returned unscathed. They attacked Il-Ho and the cactus girl repeatedly.

-

Augh!

Cowards!

Il-Ho could barely deal with them. He had his hands full protecting the cactus girl, who had no combat skills.

Swaaa!

One of the birds snuck around without participating in the battle. Then, it lunged at the cactus girl’s head with its beak.

-

Eeek!

God! Please save me!

Usually, I wouldn’t get involved in the trials. However, hearing her pitiful scream made me unable to stand by idly.

“Crushing Forefinger of God!”

-

Kueeek!

Pow! Crack!

The bird that was about to bite off her head was crushed like mincemeat.

Yes, I stopped it!

Ding!

[Fire Shining in the Highest Skies emits strong hostility toward you for killing his alter ego.]

[You are now connected with Fire Shining in the Highest Skies through causality.]

Messages from another god other than my stalkers appeared.

Huh? What’s this? Causality?

Ssss!

At the same time, the space beneath my feet disappeared.

“

Huh? Aaaargh!

”

Swoosh!

My body was sucked into it, as if I was flushed into the toilet.