Leveling with the Gods

Side Story 3

In a vast desert, a scream echoed.

Varuna, who had been struck by the Lightning Bolts falling from the sky, collapsed to the ground, trembling.

"Get up."

"Yes!"

Varuna sprang to his feet at YuWon's command. His face, from head to toe, was as black as coal, clearly showing how much he had suffered.

"Repeat this."

"Yes!"

"From now on, I won't approach a woman who wants nothing to do with me. Ten times."

"I won't approach a woman who wants nothing to do with me. I won't approach a woman who..."

It was already dark.

Varuna, who had gone through a tough tbeing electrocuted and burned for half a day, had to cross the threshold of death at every moment.

"...I won't approach!"

"Alright. That's enough."

YuWon nodded satisfactorily as he saw Varuna, who had finally given up his pride, repeating his words.

Varuna knelt on the ground and slumped, his entire body limp.

He felt no humiliation or shame.

Firstly, he couldn't feel it because the person in front of him was too strong.

'Who the hell is this guy?'

Varuna glanced sideways at YuWon's face.

He didn't remember seeing him anywhere.

However, the more he looked, the more he felt like he had seen that face somewhere.

'No wonder. My intuition can't be wrong.'

This guy clearly has skind of secret.

A powerful individual who was with Pandora.

He was such a methodical person that he had even avoided the surveillance of the Administration Bureau.

'I should report it to Vishnu-nim when I get back...'

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Varuna shuddered.

After being tormented for half a day, his thoughts about Pandora had already been replaced by fear of YuWon.

Just as YuWon desired.

"No, nothing."

"You plan to report to Vishnu as soon as you return, right?"

YuWon leaned forward and said with a mocking smile, as if he could see through Varuna.

"Vishnu will be delighted to know that a Ranker from his Guild was beaten by a non-Ranker Player for flirting with a committed woman."

Varuna's eyes shook at those words.

"Varuna."

"If you cause trouble with women again and tarnish the nof Deva..."

"Then, at that very moment, I'll lock you in the Sura Hell for a thousand years."

Varuna felt a chill.

Varuna had already had problems for being a womanizer.

He had received a warning for that just a few years ago.

And if, on top of the troubles with women, the shof a Deva Ranker being defeated by a non-Ranker Player was added...

'It might not be a thousand years, but an infinite prison.'

In that cold situation.

"If..."

Craaack~

YuWon approached Varuna and pointed the tip of his Lightning Bolt spear towards his private parts.

"If you cback, that will disappear."

"Gah!"

A shiny black aura enveloped Varuna's body.

Varuna felt something and looked down.

The ground, which had turned into water, hid an infinite darkness that stared back at him.

"Gah!"

Varuna's face turned pale, and he nodded incessantly.

He wasn't sure if he heard correctly, but YuWon stopped there.

If he ignored the warning and cback, YuWon would lock him in Tartarus.

'In Tartarus, he'll rot for a few years, and his mind will be cleared.'

Of course, if that happened, Varuna would regret it a lot. He would say it would be better to be locked in the Deva Hell.

Sssh-.

While dispersing the Lightning Bolt in his hand, YuWon turned around suddenly, realizing something, and looked at Varuna.

"Oh, right."

Although he only looked at him, Varuna trembled under YuWon's gaze.

In case he changed his mind and acted immediately.

And to that Varuna, YuWon leaned down and brought his face close and asked:

"Do you remember me?"

"...Yes?"

Faced with the unexpected question, Varuna momentarily looked foolish.

But soon, he began to seriously contemplate YuWon's question.

From their first encounter, his face seemed familiar somehow.

YuWon's question meant that this déjà vu feeling wasn't just his illusion.

"Umm."

Varuna's contemplation lasted several minutes.

But in the end, he didn't remember YuWon.

However.

"It seems like I've seen you somewhere, but... I don't remember."

"Have you seen me?"

"Yes, but I don't remember."

"Really?"

YuWon didn't have a disappointed expression.

For now, that was enough.

"Then, it's okay."

When YuWon gave him permission to leave, Varuna rushed away from the place.

YuWon didn't care if he went back to the Guild and told Vishnu what had happened or not.

Even if it was a matter of guilt, Vishnu wouldn't be on Varuna's side.

What worried YuWon was something else.

"It seems like I've seen you somewhere, but... I don't remember."

It wasn't just nonsense.

From the moment their eyes met, he looked at him with a puzzled look.

Not only that.

'Yesterday, when I went to the market.'

"That customer, it seems like I've seen him somewhere, but... I don't remember."

The merchants and customers he met at the market.

Among the people who crossed his gaze, there were quite a few who couldn't take their eyes off him.

Moreover, what it meant that they had seen him somewhere was just one thing.

'Are memories returning?'

Initially, he didn't believe this phenomenon would be permanent.

But it was faster than he thought.

He thought it might take decades, even centuries, before his memories about himself returned.

'Too fast.'

It was a mix of joy and sadness.

YuWon was also a human, so he didn't like everyone forgetting him.

But anyway, Pandora, Son OhGong, and Hercules remembered him, and for now, he enjoyed this peaceful life.

Clack-.

YuWon returned home.

Varuna had taken more tfrom him than he thought.

Looking up at the sky, he saw the sun setting from the edge.

'Is it already night?'

YuWon had been separated from Pandora for a long time. The door opened softly thanks to Hercules, who had fixed it the day before.

When he entered the house, the first thing he saw was the living room on the first floor. Pandora was sitting there.

The table was set with cold soup, bread, baked potatoes, and meat. There was also food for YuWon on the opposite side.

"Have you had dinner?"

"It's morning."

"...?"

YuWon was about to ask what that meant when he finally understood and asked:

"Haven't you eaten?"

"Yes."

The table in front of her was not dinner but a breakfast table.

She kept waiting without eating.

It seems she hadn't eaten a single meal until now.

"You could stop waiting."

Pandora had already waited for him long enough.

When everyone forgot about him, she waited alone at home.

She didn't step out of the house one step and waited for him, and waited.

Although it was shorter than back then, this twas the same.

She kept waiting without eating.

"I could have eaten first..."

YuWon was about to say that when Pandora interrupted him with a bright smile.

"But I like it. I like YuWon, and I like waiting for him."

She liked waiting.

Those words softened YuWon's heart.

Why did she love him so much?

Pandora ignored YuWon's stunned expression and looked at the cold table.

"It's cold. Shall I heat it up?"

"No. It's okay... Ah."

"Really?"

Clack-.

Finally, Pandora picked up the utensils.

YuWon sat in front of her, and they began to eat together.

Although the food was cold, the meal was more delicious than ever.

A month into their marriage, YuWon finally realized while eating the food she had prepared for him.

Now, she was his other half.

Varuna quickly returned to Deva. Although his body wasn't well, the first thing he had to do was get as far away from the first floor as possible.

So, he sailed upwards on the Deva Boat for several days.

During those days, Varuna constantly thought about YuWon.

What should he do with him?

How could he defeat him?

Should he report to Deva or not?

As his thoughts about YuWon grew deeper and deeper, Varuna sighed regretfully from the bow of the ship.

'No matter how I think about it, it's strange. Why did I confront Kim YuWon?'

While trembling, YuWon's image appeared in Varuna's mind.

He wrapped himself in Lightning Bolt and cut through the water arrows he had created with his Kusanagi Sword.

It wasn't a fight.

From the beginning, he wasn't an opponent he could fight.

Kim YuWon.

Who was he?

Wasn't he the hero who saved the Tower from the Outer invasion ten years ago?

What YuWon showed in his fight withwas only a tiny part of his power.

If I touched the woman of that Kim YuWon, maybe it's lucky that I didn't die...

"Eh?"

At that moment, Varuna felt something strange.

Until a moment ago, he considered him an enemy and feared him.

"Was that guy... Kim YuWon?"

He murmured as if knowing it for the first time, but it wasn't.

"My nis Varuna. I don't know if you're a Ranker from srural village, but state your name!"

"I'm Kim YuWon."

"Kim YuWon? Was there a Ranker with that name?"

He had clearly stated his own name.

However, he couldn't remember the nKim YuWon, a nthat anyone living in the Tower, even a Ranker from srural village, should know.

At that moment...

"What, what is this?"

Many questions ran through Varuna's mind.

Why couldn't he remember it?

Why did the world forget him?

After pondering for a while, Varuna took out his Player Kit and called somewhere.

-...What's up?

Vishnu's voice.

Varuna first greeted the great existence that ruled the Devas.

"Have you been well lately?"

-Did you cause another accident?

"Eh? What did I...?"

-You're always causing accidents. Because of women.

Varuna's expression turned into a grimace.

It wasn't a lie, so he couldn't contradict it.

Above all, it was impossible to contradict Vishnu's words.

-In any case, you haven't caused an accident.

"Yes..."

-Then, what's the matter?

"There's something I want to ask His Majesty Vishnu."

"What is it?"

Varuna tensed with hope that it wasn't.

Then, he asked the question.

"Do you remember Kim YuWon?"

-Kim YuWon? Who is that?

A voice full of doubt.

The moment Varuna answered yes to the uncomfortable question,

"Is that all?"

Varuna's eyes wavered at Vishnu's words.