I'm a Young God, so Please Raise Me - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 19
Gwak Han-muk, Mo Hae-in, and others like Samra felt similar to how I had imagined dot characters in the game.
I had even silently admired how well their distinctive features were rendered in pixels.
But Je Hyeon-o had never shown his face even once in the game.
He had never even removed his goggles.
Now, across both the game and reality combined, I was seeing Je Hyeon-o’s face for the first time, even if only partially.
And Je Hyeon-o without his goggles looked nothing like what I had imagined.
‘I had pictured him as a handsome man with a tall frame and impressive build, but rather than that….’
Beneath densely packed lower lashes, dark purple irises nested within horizontally elongated eyes fixed their gaze upon me.
The iris and pupil differed in color—the pupil gleamed with a metallic golden hue.
The discolored pupil, altered by infection, clearly announced that he had transcended his humanity.
Unlike me, who had frozen with wide eyes in shock, Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in showed only mild surprise, with no dramatic reaction.
Their response was merely the level of wondering why he had removed his goggles.
They had seen Je Hyeon-o’s face countless times before, so there was nothing new to astonish them.
I was trying hard not to stare at him too intensely when Je Hyeon-o’s eyes curved upward in amusement.
Only then did I realize how many steps closer I had drawn.
It seemed I had unconsciously approached him while observing him.
‘While we’re at it, I wish he’d remove the gas mask too.’
I wanted to ask him later, once we grew closer, if he would take it off.
“Trainee.”
I snapped back to attention at Je Hyeon-o’s voice, having been absorbed in studying his face.
“What’s your name?”
“Han Go-yo, sir.”
“Go-yo, then.”
His devastatingly low voice and smiling eyes were utterly mismatched.
As if two completely different things had been stitched together.
“Do that one more time, and you’re really dead.”
…A chill ran down my spine.
“I apologize.”
I immediately offered my apologies.
Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in probably thought he was warning me about the dangerous act of using him to eliminate zombies.
But I knew better.
Je Hyeon-o was speaking about Zero.
‘Don’t presume to know things carelessly.’
Despite holding the rank of lieutenant colonel, Je Hyeon-o was the youngest team leader in the Sidaecheong.
Unlike Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in, who were in their thirties, he was merely twenty-eight.
The turning point for his unprecedented rapid promotions was Zero.
Je Hyeon-o, once a promising talent, had his entire world inverted after entering Zero.
As an infected entity possessing reason, he became the Sidaecheong’s most formidable weapon.
It was no exaggeration to say that South Korea, which had teetered on the brink of national collapse due to the calamity, was able to recover thanks to Je Hyeon-o.
Capable individuals began voluntarily entering 【Zero】 to gain power as formidable as Je Hyeon-o’s.
Yet none of them survived.
Je Hyeon-o was the sole survivor of 【Zero】.
Sidaecheong desperately wanted to know how he had cleared 【Zero】, but Je Hyeon-o never submitted a report.
Even when Director Jang Seok-yun personally pressed him, he couldn’t extract a single word from Je Hyeon-o.
Afterward, numerous attempts continued to extract information about 【Zero】 from Je Hyeon-o.
In response, Je Hyeon-o began attacking anyone who mentioned 【Zero】 to him.
After a researcher from the Research Analysis Headquarters died as a result, discussing 【Zero】 in Je Hyeon-o’s presence became an unspoken taboo.
Sidaecheong still had no idea what kind of trial 【Zero】 actually was.
And then I touched Je Hyeon-o.
But I had my own reasons to speak up.
“So will you accept me as a team member now?”
Honestly, it was Je Hyeon-o who tried to kill me outright from our first meeting.
No matter how violent his tendencies were toward trials and capable individuals, he had never been this aggressive toward a Sidaecheong soldier without reason.
When I asked if he wasn’t going to kill me, Je Hyeon-o shifted his gaze to Mo Hae-in instead.
“Captain Mo. What is this?”
“A newly enlisted trainee. It’s a one-month short-term assignment, and a new Special Task Force directly under the Director has been formed, centered around Trainee Han Go-yo, who possesses special knowledge about trials.”
“Hmm, I’m assigned there too.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mo Hae-in paused briefly, then looked Je Hyeon-o straight in the eye and added.
“…He’s a team member, Colonel Je.”
Je Hyeon-o slowly closed and opened his eyes.
“Trainee Gwak closed down Haspack. He possesses considerable knowledge about trials. He should be useful as a team member.”
Gwak Han-muk also eagerly chimed in to demonstrate Trainee Han Go-yo’s value.
And while the two captains worked hard, I sent out a message of my own.
Please trust me.
Je Hyeon-o’s pupils shifted toward the system window that appeared before me, then returned to looking at me.
An instinctive chill ran through me.
Je Hyeon-o still wanted to kill me. A murderous intent I couldn’t fathom.
Yet simultaneously with sensing that intent, I felt certain that Je Hyeon-o would absolutely never kill me.
At least not while I’m here in DeZomDeal.
‘If he was going to kill me, he would have done it long ago.’
Je Hyeon-o couldn’t possibly be immobilized just by rolling on asphalt.
Even after my last attack failed against the restraint, he had countless opportunities to slit my throat.
Yet Je Hyeon-o kept me alive.
‘Perhaps… because he doesn’t know my abilities for certain.’
Je Hyeon-o doesn’t know that my abilities are still unremarkable.
What he knows is that I can send system windows and place brief constraints on him.
It was natural for him to suspect I was hiding something far more formidable.
In fact, there was execution too. Once registered, Je Hyeon-o’s life rested in my hands.
As the staring contest dragged on, Mo Hae-in began to show signs of unease.
Je Hyeon-o finally opened his mouth after a considerable silence.
“You think you can pull off a true ending with this?”
The meaning behind his question was unmistakable.
If I failed to prove my worth in DeZomDeal, he would dispose of me immediately—regardless of whether I possessed this strange ability to summon system windows.
Truth be told, I hadn’t yet confirmed whether a true ending was even possible.
‘But that’s my problem to solve.’
If I wanted to keep my limbs intact, I had no choice but to make it work.
I answered him with absolute conviction.
“I will succeed without fail.”
Amusement flickered in Je Hyeon-o’s eyes—though I couldn’t fathom what he found so entertaining.
With his eyes curved like a crescent moon, he suddenly called out my name.
“Go-yo.”
“Yes!”
“You’ll die young.”
“…Pardon?”
Without warning, he hurled that curse at me and promptly put his goggles back on.
Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in stood there in stunned silence before jumping to my defense.
“Sir, Colonel. What kind of thing is that to say to our team’s youngest member? Han Go-yo is twenty-four years old. Twenty. Four. Years. Old.”
“Colonel, that was a bit much.”
Of course, Je Hyeon-o didn’t respond. Instead, he displayed a grotesque emoticon on his goggles.
> <
What on earth was that supposed to mean…?
I simply gave up trying to decipher the emoticon. Besides, that wasn't what mattered right now.
Je Hyeon-o had finally joined the Special Task Team!
My heart swelled as I gazed at Je Hyeon-o, Mo Hae-in, and Gwak Han-muk.
To think I was now on the same team as those I'd always considered Sidaecheong's finest members while playing Archive's game.
It was the best moment I'd experienced since becoming a system and facing the threat of limb amputation.
"I look forward to working with you, Colonel."
I bowed respectfully to Je Hyeon-o while harboring a secret hope in my heart.
'Maybe I'll get to see my favorite character later?'
While I appreciated the Sidaecheong members, my absolute favorite character from Archive wasn't affiliated with Sidaecheong.
Still, since they were a suitable candidate, I felt confident I'd encounter them eventually.
Of course, first I had to survive the next month unscathed and keep my limbs intact.
Just then, the sound of zombies drifted through the quiet night air. The remaining dead zombies seemed to have picked up our scent.
"The jeep!"
Gwak Han-muk immediately secured the jeep.
"I'll go hide the jeep."
There was no more useful vehicle than the jeep, so it seemed wasteful to use it as a one-time throwaway here.
But if we hid it carelessly, the dead zombies would surely destroy it.
Dead Zombies possessed far greater destructive power than ordinary zombies.
This was why the Dead Zone had become nothing but ruins, devoid of intact buildings compared to other sectors.
We'd need to reach at least the Red Zone to find a place to hide the jeep, but that would defeat the purpose of having transportation.
"Captain Gwak. It seems it will take considerable time to move the jeep to a safe location."
I pointed toward the Research Facility's rooftop.
"What if we left it on the roof?"
Mo Hae-in looked at me with eyes that screamed, "This lunatic is at it again."
Despite her exasperation, she asked how it could be done.
"How exactly would you get it up there?"
"By flying."
Moments later.
We successfully soared through the night sky.
Je Hyeon-o carried the jeep with me, Gwak Han-muk, and Mo Hae-in aboard.
With each beat of his wings came a crisp metallic sound, like a gentle background melody.
Gwak Han-muk, seated in the driver's seat, leisurely enjoyed the flight with his arm draped over the wide-open window.
"Colonel Je is really convenient."
Bathed in the cool night breeze, Gwak Han-muk was thoroughly satisfied with the performance of this "aircraft."
"Captain Mo. What if we made our Go-yo hyung the leader of the Special Task Force? Then could we fly like this every time?"
Unlike Gwak Han-muk, who joked and laughed merrily, Mo Hae-in in the passenger seat still wore an expression of disbelief at the situation of flying in a jeep.
"Stop spouting nonsense, Captain Gwak. It makes me want to bite."
She wore hinge cuffs on her wrists.
It was a precaution in case her aggression suddenly flared up.
The reason she sat in the passenger seat was also to keep her within Gwak Han-muk's line of sight, in case she attacked from behind.
As a result, I, the youngest, found myself relegated to the back seat.
Listening to the bickering exchange between Gwak Han-muk and Mo Hae-in, I glanced down through the window.
Dead Zombies had swarmed around the Research Facility. Yet none could crawl up to the rooftop.
'Let's just keep going like this.'
If we could pull off a swift true ending clear this way, it would be perfect.
Je Hyeon-o, having flown to the rooftop, circled the Research Facility once to gauge the space, then gently set the jeep down in an appropriate spot.
With a soft thud and slight tremor, the jeep touched down on the roof.
A few Dead Zombies hiding in the corner of the rooftop immediately attacked, but there was nothing for us to do.
Je Hyeon-o disposed of them in an instant.
While Gwak Han-muk unlocked Mo Hae-in's cuffs, I read the system window materializing before my eyes.
◆Main Quest: Explore the Research Facility and locate the surviving vaccine developer.
You have achieved a remarkable Achievement through an impossible method!
You've accomplished the unbelievable, but now the real challenge begins.
You believe that if you find someone to develop the vaccine, you might be able to grasp new hope.
However, you cannot know if everything will proceed smoothly.
Much has already changed.
Finding a researcher to develop the vaccine was a Quest you received in the game as well.
The Quest details were somewhat odd, but the overall context wasn't significantly off.
I began the briefing simply.
"The moment we enter the Research Facility, the first thing we need to—"
"Trainee, wait a moment."
But the instant I opened my mouth, Mo Hae-in cut me off.
"Your hunger and thirst levels have fully recovered, right?"
"Yes! I've replenished everything now. I'll be careful to avoid such situations going forward."
….
Mo Hae-in's eyes narrowed. Suddenly, Gwak Han-muk slapped my shoulder with a hearty laugh.
I looked up at him, pinned beneath his arm.
"We take Trial closure incredibly seriously, you understand? We're not savages about this kind of thing."
"That's right, trainee. You only have the rank of trainee—you haven't received formal training yet."
Mo Hae-in regarded me steadily as she spoke.
"To be precise, right now you're a civilian, not a soldier."
"Ah… I apologize."
I was about to take a step back, wondering if I'd overstepped.
Mo Hae-in produced a cloth from somewhere and dampened it with water, then handed it to me.
When I simply stood holding the cloth, she gestured to my face with her hand.
Only then did I understand, and as I wiped my face, the cloth turned a vivid crimson.
Mo Hae-in sighed and murmured to me.
"…It means manage your condition as you go."

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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