The Divine Twilight’s Return

s to begin with, but he had also expected that Minerva would be interested in him if he did, considering her personality.

Fortunately for him, his prediction had turned out to be true.

‘The aforementioned three are all evil-aligned deities.
Thanks to Minerva, the imbalanced scale is now finally balanced.
My Alignment won’t change too much in the future.’

[Scales of Good and Evil]

Good: 40% | Evil: 60%

Chang-Sun had no intention of tilting the scale too far to one side.
If he played an active role in one faction, he would surely get a lot of support, but that also meant he would make many enemies in the other faction.

‘I made enough enemies in the past.
This time, I’m going to walk a fine line,’ Chang-Sun thought as he finally came to a conclusion.

[Four minutes have passed.]

[Nine Celestials keep their eyes and ears open to see which Celestial will be chosen to become your Guardian.]

[If you do not have a Guardian, you will lag behind other Players of your level, as you will be unable to receive blessings.
You are strongly recommended to make a choice as soon as possible.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ awaits your answer.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ awaits your decision.]

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ awaits your response.]

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ awaits your choice.]

…

Of course, Chang-Sun had no intention to choose one of them.

[Five minutes have now elapsed.]

[You have not chosen a Guardian!]

…

[Your current status is ‘No Guardian.’]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ lets out a very long sigh once again.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent ’ observes you with his sharp gaze, wondering about the reason for your choice.]

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ is waiting for your response.]

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ advises you that it would be good to think about this matter for a long time, although she adds that it is a shame that you have not chosen anyone.]

…

[??? Celestials who are interested in you retain their false hopes.]

[?? Celestials who desire you have become angry, fed up with your endless greed.]

Each deity’s reaction was different, whether they were the deities who had offered Chang-Sun an apostle seat, or the ones who had just been watching him through the Dungeon Channel.
Some became angry; others gave up, including Pabilsag.
They were undoubtedly dumbstruck, as Chang-Sun had refused no less than nine offers to be an apostle.

However, Chang-Sun did not give them any explanation, allowing the deities to leave if they wanted to.

In fact, nobody left.

[Achievement Unlocked!]

“The Deities’ Man Who Rejected Many Deities’ Wooing.”

Reward: All stats +5.
Fame +20.

[A rumor about you is now spreading throughout Heaven.]

[?? Deities are watching you to determine whether or not the rumor is true.]

[??? Deities are calling the to access your records.]

[Fame increased.
100,000 Karma has been accumulated.]

[Fame increased.]

…

In the future, Chang-Sun would continue to attract the attention of many deities.

‘The more Celestials continue to covet me, the more they will compete.
When that happens, they’ll try to give me various gifts to win my favor, which is good news for me.
As they try, they’ll fight more among themselves.
They’ll drift apart in no time.’

Creating discord among Celestials, and acquiring as many abilities and relics as possible, were Chang-Sun’s primary goals.

‘Of course, before doing any of that…’ Chang-Sun thought, his footsteps coming to a halt.
When he looked up, he found himself in front of a tall apartment complex built out of gray concrete.

‘…I’ll have to meet my family.’

Chang-Sun somehow felt that it would be more difficult to meet his family than it had been to finish the Tutorial.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

* * *

The World Player Council for Freedom, or WPCFF for short, was an international organization affiliated with the UN Safety Management Bureau.
It was often referred to simply as ‘The Council.’

When Dungeons and Gates had suddenly appeared a few decades prior, they had completely changed all of human society.
The Council had been established to better manage them.
It was a powerful organization; its status and jurisdiction superseded that of any nation from the time of its founding.

Naturally, however, that only applied to the ‘bigwigs’ who ruled the Council.
Meanwhile, field agents were like ants, to be stomped on at any time.

Cha Ye-Eun was one such agent.
She was a Class 3 agent, a manager-level operative who had some power.
However, she simply thought of it as a mere fancy title.
She viewed herself as ‘a punching bag; her superiors punched her from one side, and her subordinates punched her from the other.

At present, her thoughts remained the same.

“What is this?” Ye-Eun asked, frowning in annoyance.
She had been busy writing a report on the ‘Jamsil Gate’ incident, but her junior partner Jin Seok-Tae had suddenly dropped a pile of newspapers on her desk.

Seok-Tae replied, “What do you think? They’re the work of muckraking journalists who are busy lighting a fire under our asses.”

Every article was hell-bent on criticizing the Council.
Naturally, Ye-Eun was extremely annoyed as she read them; more than that, she thought it was unfair.

As a field supervisor, she had worked to death over the past fifteen days.
She had evacuated the residents who lived within a five-kilometer radius of Jamsil Saenae Station, where the Gate had opened.
In preparation for a monster wave, a phenomenon that could occur right after a Dungeon Break, she had cordoned off the area with military and police.

The Council executives had tried to back out, saying they did not want to get entangled in such a big incident.
With great difficulty, Ye-Eun had managed to grab the executives by their collars to stop them from running away.
She had even finished the paperwork needed to receive backup from nearby countries for possible contingencies.

And yet, after going through all that struggle, the only response she and the Council received was criticism.

‘Sons of bitches,’ Ye-Eun thought, gritting her teeth.

What had they been saying? It was that she had been making a fuss over nothing, right? That was precisely why the phrase ‘muckraking journalists’ existed.

“So why are you giving me this?” Ye-Eun asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
She still had to sort out the incident, so she was swamped with work; and yet, her so-called partner was still showing her such trash.
Naturally, she was frustrated.

What kept her especially busy was organizing the data about the ‘Tyrant’; out of all the information related to the Jamsil Gate, that was classified as ‘Top Secret’.

“Look at the newspaper at the bottom of the pile,” Seok-Tae said, gesturing to Ye-Eun with his chin.

Ye-Eun glared at Seok-Tae as if she would kill him if he made a fuss over nothing.
Then, she pulled out the newspaper from the bottom of the pile.
When she read the headline, she laughed dryly.