The World After the Fall

The inner fortress of Edmunt was crowded with the Council for the evaluation. They were all so busy with their work that if it wasn't for the evaluation, it would be hard for them to gather in one place like this.

"What? He didn't come again?"

"Well, he's very busy."

"He's not the only one who's busy!"

Surha and Runald were quarreling. Surha was especially mad as she was now the leader of the Council.

"We barely managed to put it in place! There's no use if we don't keep it going!"

Surha snapped and glared at Chunghuh.

"And Teacher!"

"H-huh?"

"You broke the [Setting] rule again! Didn't I say not to create such a stupid [Setting]? You created a [Three Wives] Setting after [Polygamy]? Are you kidding me?"

"Uh, it was to answer my male Follower's needs… Surha, you know 80% of my Followers are men, right?"

"Don't use them as an excuse. It's all because you want it that way!"

"…"

"You already have mostly men! Why don't you try making a multiple husbands [Setting] instead?!"

Chunghuh became silent. He was actually having problems because of his [Settings]. It was Runald who suggested a different idea.

"Well, you can have the men marry each other. Why would you restrict a woman as a 'wife'?"

Karlton then cackled while he was organizing the documents. Chunghuh paled as people around them laughed. Surha sighed.

"Ugh, that's enough. Runald, go get Jaehwan. It's all his fault that teacher is like that."

"…Why is it his fault?"

"Don't you know? You know what Jaehwan's rank is now?"

Surha pushed Karlton away and pulled out a piece of paper from the pile. Everyone turned to that paper. There was the thick word for the rank.

Lowest.

Runald said, "…It probably means something else."

"No, it is exactly what you see. He's the lowest rank right now."

"But how can he be the lowest?"

"See for yourself."

Everyone looked closely at the document.

Name: Jaehwan

World name: World after the fall

Follower: 1

Happiness rating: 1

Evaluated rank – Lowest

Chunghuh commented, "So, he only has one Follower."

"Yeah. And that's me," Runald said. "How is that happiness-rating evaluated? I guess it only counts me since I'm the only Follower, but why is it 1?"

"Because the only Follower is depressed and always talks about nonsense? You always walk around saying an eye is looking down on you or something like a maniac. How can you be happy like that?"

Chunghuh's words made Runald dumbfounded. Chunghuh continued, "I'm surprised Jaehwan is still in the rankings. How did he survive last time? Isn't there a rule to expel a God from the rankings if the happiness drops below 10?"

It was Karlton who replied, "Oh, I opened [Gorgon Fortress] back then. If I use my unique world, Master's Followers increase greatly while my world is maintained."

[Gorgon Fortress] had an effect on removing the borders of [Chaos] and [Depth]. Even if [Chaos] did not have Gods, there was a lot of trust toward Jaehwan within [Chaos]. So if Karlton opened his unique world, Jaehwan's Followers increased greatly. Chunghuh frowned.

"That's cheating."

"Yes, but we can't expel him."

"Yeah…"

"If it doesn't work out, I will do it again this time."

Surha interrupted, "You can't. Jaehwan should be evaluated fairly this time. We can't always make exceptions for him."

"Are you saying you will expel him from being a God?"

"…Why would I do that? I will give him a penalty of serving as a public volunteer or something… and fix his unique world so he can increase his Followers. What's important is that he needs to follow the rules now."

Surha and a few members of the Council nodded. What she said was right. The policy only worked when there were no exceptions in place. Even if Jaehwan was the hero of [Depth], he couldn't be treated differently forever without the other Gods objecting.

Everyone's eyes all turned to Runald. Runald, the only Follower of Jaehwan. He was the only one who could communicate directly with Jaehwan.

"Runald, you know where he is right now, don't you?"

Runald was staring closely at the document from Surha. They then realized Runald was looking at the 'happiness rating'. Everyone felt sympathetic at that moment. A few were looking at the scar on Runald's shoulder. Everyone who had fought in the war knew what the scar was.

From his shoulder to his thigh. It was the result of spirit exploding.

Runald was injured to the point where his spirit had no chance of surviving. It was a miracle that he even made it through. If it wasn't for Jaehwan's [Eye of Geshtalt] and Chunghuh, Runald would've died.

'If he wasn't there, the 7th site would have perished that day.'

Everyone thought as they looked at the boy. He was a great hero. The boy gave up everything to kill the Lord. He had the right to be 'happy'.

"You didn't answer my question yet."

Was it because they were deep in their thoughts? People didn't realize Runald had asked something. Surha blinked her eyes dumbfoundedly and asked back, "Huh? What question?"

"This."

Runald pointed at the 'Happiness rating: 1' as he continued.

"This happiness rating… who and how was this evaluated?"

"Oh, I did that from…"

And before she could finish, Runald interrupted, "YOU did this?"

"…Uh, yeah."

"HOW DARE YOU?"

Surha's face turned cold. The air quickly became tense, however, Runald's face became colder.

"How can you judge another person's happiness? What are you to rate that?"

"Runald, that's…!"

"What difference is that from the System?!"

Surha couldn't say.

"Yes, Chunghuh's right. Jaehwan's world is depressing. It makes me go crazy if I look up at the eyeball in the sky. It even makes me feel like I want to die. But… that doesn't mean I'm not happy."

Some gasped. They didn't expect to hear that from a young boy.

"I determine my own happiness. So if you are trying to restrict Jaehwan with such nonsense, give up."

Some council members were shocked by the declaration. Maybe it was Runald who saw reality clearly. But they were adults and they had their pride. They could not agree with the young boy's words. And the one who represented that pride was one person. Surha declared as people turned to her, "We need him."

Runald grimaced.

"Why? Why do you need him?"

"To create a fair world…"

"For that reason? Are you certain?"

Surha couldn't answer as minutes passed. Runald stood up from his seat and walked over to the window, opening it. A breeze entered the window and cooled the room.

There was the smell of the wind. There were many windows inside the room, but none of them were large enough to contain the entire sky. There was always a part of the sky that they couldn't see. Runald spoke as he looked at the squared sky from the window.

"You already know where Jaehwan is and what he is doing right now. Don't you?"

Surha didn't speak but answered with a look.

"You're just afraid."

"…"

"WE are afraid about what we don't know."

People shook, seemingly from the cold... but there were no weak spirits within the council that could feel 'cold' from the weather. It was the year of peace that had given them comfort that made them feel cold against the reality.

"We… we just want to bind Jaehwan to us."

'It's here.'

The 3rd site of [Depth], in the hottest region named 'Musfelheim'…

Jaehwan was looking around as he checked the direction of the sky. Karavan asked Jaehwan, "Are we really here? Is there really an entrance in my site?"

Karavan, after a year of training, had inherited Ignis' [Setting] and became the new God of the 3rd site. He wasn't strong as Ignis during his best days, but everyone agreed that Karavan would be a great God in the future.

"Yeah."

"I was suspicious when [Fruits] were dropping here, but… did you hear it from Myad?"

"Something like that."

Jaehwan looked up at the sky, at the giant eye that was always looking down on him. The eye was closing slowly. Jaehwan narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

"It's about time."