102: F10, Choosing
The scene flashes with red and a loud angry bzzzzz slashes through the air and I feel my heart drop. I look over at Pain.
"Ooh, bummer! So close. Well, eight out of ten points is still quite high, so for your admirable efforts, you get the wonderful prize of—"
I slam both hands on the podium faster than my brain can process what`s happening. "W—wait!" I shout. "Why shouldn`t I pick either? What will happen to me? Will they hurt me? Will Want try to kill me for it? Will I get hurt further down the road? Will they revoke my authority skills? Will they remove skills they gave me that I didn`t know about? And if I have to pick one or both of them, which should I do? Want or Coward? What happens if the god of cruelty tries to jump into this mess? I wished for information, so give it to me!"
He pauses briefly, turns to me, and smiles. Then, he turns back to the audience. "As I said, for being such a champ, Kitty will receive the wonderful prize of getting another hug from your most beloved God of Pain!"
My eyes widen and I want to say something but no words will come out and I can do nothing but stare as he slowly approaches me, one step at a time, his hard-leather shoes going clack-clack-clack against the stage, his arms stretched out and his chest bared in a gesture of friendliness and compassion. I back away from the podium. "No, no, I don`t want a hug, please, oh, God, please, I—I won`t ask any questions anymore, so please, just& I`ll do the tutorial as many times as you want, anything at all, just so long as you don`t—"
He brings me into his arms.
Through the WHITE silent shrieking PAIN I hear only His voice.
[To those that know me,
I am large.]
[To those that Love me,
I Love them.]
[I am Pain,
and I will walk with you,
now and forever.]
The pain abruptly ends and I jerk out of it, sweating and shaking and trembling and with a dry mouth and staring eyes, the same way you feel when you startle out of a horrible terrible nightmare that never seemed to have an end. Except the nightmare looks so silly when you look back on it that you can`t understand why you felt so scared about it at all.
The God of Pain hugged me. Why do I feel my heart beat quicker and my breath turn into panting hyperventilations when all that happened was that I got hugged by a stupid moon-man? I don`t get it. I just don`t get it.
hereby invites Hell Challenger Lee Ho-Jae to fulfil His Apostleship Trials in order to become the Apostle of Cowardice.> hereby invites Hell Challenger Lee Ho-Jae to fulfil Her Apostleship Trials in order to become the Apostle of Want.> I stare at the two messages in front of me. By giving a quick glance around, I can tell that I`m in the lobby of the next floor. Wonderful. The WHITE wallpaper really does give it that insanity-inducing glow that`s so chic nowadays. But I can`t afford to put this off any longer. I can`t refuse them both. I don`t know if I should choose one, and in that case, which one would be the proper choice. Even if I assume that picking one will relinquish the support of the other, I still can`t decide. Both of the authority skills they`ve given me have been equal in how useful they are, and losing just one of them would hamper my progress and survival chances immeasurably. Likewise, whatever they give me should I become their apostle will no doubt be just as useful. Even though Want has given me an additional skill and let me keep my pelts, I can`t say that I would be too excited to be her apostle. Considering that her main facet of being is greed, there`s no doubt in my mind that being her servant would be less of a two-sided partnership and more of an indentured servitude. I`d basically just be a little butler, or some kind of tamed brownie. There isn`t a single doubt in my mind that she would mainly just use me to get stuff. Do I really want to be the underling of a sugar mama? The second she finds a new sweetie to take care of, I`m as good as a pair of outgrown pants. But that doesn`t mean that Coward is the right choice, either. I don`t think he`d make a slave out of me, but I also don`t think he`d be too keen on protecting me if things went wrong. As his apostle, should shit hit the fan, instead of getting an umbrella to shield us, he`d just toss me aside and run for cover himself. Or, even worse, use me as cover. After all, I am nothing but a mortal. Neither of them are good choices. Not in and of themselves, at least. But if you combine them, you get a completely different story. If one of them has me, then I`m disposable. However, if they`re fighting over me—over my attention and gratitude—then I have a chance. There is only one real option here. Twice the gods, double the rewards. I place my index fingers on both Yes buttons and press them simultaneously. The Apostleship Trials of the Goddess of Want.> The Apostleship Trials of the God of Cowardice.> progress: 0/365> progress: 0/23> &Huh? Wait, that`s it? I thought the apostleship trials would be, like, a floor or something where I had to defeat enemies or fight my way through mazes and puzzles or whatever. What the heck is this supposed to be? I can`t press it, so I have no idea what these trials are even supposed to be. Do I need to defeat certain types of enemies? Should I collect an X amount of gold? What about treasure? Maybe I need to beat the floors themselves? I have no idea! How do you expect me to clear your dumb trials if I can`t even know what they`re for?! I demand an explanation! But, as usual, no such response arri— clears His throat equivalent and prepares to give a lengthy explanation.> barges in and chastises the God of Cowardice for His ignorance.> attempts to defend Himself.> gets into a spat with the God of Cowardice.> gets into a spat with the Goddess of Want.> &Okay. So, in other words, I seriously should just never try to get these two in the same room, huh? What a lovely couple. kindly informs you that They are not a couple.> kindly informs you that They are not a couple.> Yeah, yeah, I get it, so buzz out of my screens already. It`s starting to get annoying.