The Earth Mother Goddess.
Warmth seemed to radiate from the name alone, and this One God turned all of Nanman upside down the moment she appeared.
It was a spectacular debut that swept away Nanman’s religious scene—once every bit as fiercely competitive as Korea’s idol market.
And then came the wave of faith.
No, the tide of fanaticism.
“Earth Mother Goddess! Earth Mother Goddess!”
“Mother Goddess Heaven! Unbeliever Hell!”
Those who believed in the Earth Mother Goddess would be saved even after death, while those who denied her would die and be thrown into a pit of fire.
Within half a day, her new sons and daughters were marching through the streets, shouting slogans. Before long, they began proselytizing.
“Hey, you. Wait a moment.”
“Why, why do you ask?”
“Do you believe in any god?”
“Well, um… Ah, yes! I believe in the Earth Mother Goddess!”
“Mother Goddess Heaven.”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t know the slogan? You’re a heretic! Unbeliever Heeell!”
“Eek! I’ll convert! I’ll convert!”
Jeok Cheongang watched the spectacle and summed up his thoughts in one short sentence.
“What a fucking shitshow.”
Jeok Cheongang was an outsider, so his reaction ended there. But the Beast Miao King, who had somehow become the Earth Mother Goddess’s priest, was half out of his mind.
“This… This isn’t right. Our traditions… Our native faith…”
It didn’t take him long, though, to realize what was happening.
“Wait. This…”
The Beast Miao King fell deep into thought, then murmured, “Not bad. No, this is actually great.”
“You get it now? Nothing brings people together like religion.”
Nanman was rebuilding, and for now everyone was pulling together. Even so, there was no denying that the Nanman Beast Palace was divided.
“You’ve been wondering what to do with the tribal chieftains we threw into the underground prison, haven’t you?”
“…Yes. No matter what crimes they committed, each of them led a tribe.”
He hadn’t spared them out of some misplaced sympathy.
At its core, the Nanman Beast Palace was an alliance of thirty-two tribes, and more than twenty of their chieftains had taken part in the betrayal.
If he executed them all as traitors, some people were bound to resent it. People took their own side.
“For now, the people want them executed. But given time, problems will arise. They simply haven’t surfaced yet.”
Memories had a way of becoming kinder with time.
Once the chaos settled, people would probably begin to whisper.
Our chieftain was a decent man, though.
That’s right. Baeksang tricked him. He couldn’t help it.
Come to think of it, isn’t it strange that so many chieftains were involved?
I could picture it all too easily.
Those cautious conversations would begin in small groups, spread throughout the Nanman Beast Palace, and eventually cause another rift.
“On top of that, the tribes whose chieftains were traitors involved in this affair will be subjected to the other tribes’ silent contempt. That will lead to resentment between the tribes.”
“But we can’t just let them all go.”
“They were blinded by wealth and glory and betrayed Nanman once already. Would a second betrayal be so difficult?”
No wonder the Beast Miao King had agonized over what to do with them. He needed a way to punish the traitors without tearing Nanman apart.
At least, that had been the case until the One God known as the Earth Mother Goddess appeared and performed an unprecedented miracle.
“Now is the perfect time. We can expose their crimes under the law, execute them, and root every weed out of this land!”
The law? Executions?
I clicked my tongue at the sight of his clenched fist.
He still doesn’t get it.
“What?”
“The law is fine, but this is judgment. Divine judgment.”
“Divine… judgment?”
“The men in the underground prison are traitors who joined forces with the Fiend known as Dark Heaven to corrupt this land. And you, Great Hero Yayul, are the one and only priest. You received a divine revelation from the Earth Mother Goddess: kill every last one of those bastards and purify Nanman.”
“……!”
“……!”
The Beast Miao King stared at me, wide-eyed. So did Jeok Cheongang, who had been listening beside us.
I could read the thoughts in their eyes.
Wait, he’s spinning it like that?
Wow. Is this guy seriously insane?
What a pair of naïve old men.
Ten Kings be damned. Maybe spending their entire lives focused on martial arts had left them ignorant of how the world worked.
Even after leading the Nanman Beast Palace for so long, the Beast Miao King wasn’t much more politically savvy than Jeok Cheongang.
No wonder Baeksang’s faction ran rampant.
But who was I?
A proud citizen of Korea.
I had spent my whole life in a country with more churches than fried-chicken restaurants, where you could spot twenty-first-century martyrs carrying crosses near any subway station.
I decided to show the Beast Miao King, who still didn’t understand what it meant to be a priest, the power he held.
“Now, repeat after me.”
The Beast Miao King stared blankly at me, then echoed my words.
“Now, repeat after me.”
“No, not that. We’re starting now.”
“Ah. Right.”
“I am a priest.”
“I am a priest.”
“The Earth Mother Goddess is a god.”
“The Earth Mother Goddess is a god.”
“Good job. Now continue.”
“I am a priest. The Earth Mother Goddess is a god.”
“Excellent. Repeat it.”
“I am a priest. The Earth Mother Goddess is a god. I am a priest. The Earth Mother Goddess is a god. I am… invincible!”
“……?”
That last part wasn’t quite what I’d taught him.
Regardless, the Beast Miao King trembled with excitement, awakened to his role as the Earth Mother Goddess’s priest. Then he took the first great step toward reforming Nanman.
“In the name of the benevolent Earth Mother Goddess, I convene the Tribal Grand Council!”
“…….”
“…….”
He really was a priest now.
The Tribal Grand Council began in the blink of an eye.
Partly because so few tribal chieftains were able to attend, but sending messengers probably hadn’t been necessary anyway. The chieftains were already waiting for the Beast Miao King in a hastily prepared meeting room.
“Palace Lord!”
“It’s just a rumor, isn’t it? Tell us it’s a rumor!”
“What is this about an Earth Mother Goddess all of a sudden?”
“Fuck, the tribespeople have gone completely insane. They’re like Demonic Cultists during the Great Faction War!”
“This is absurd! Are you telling us to abandon the Wood God we’ve worshiped all our lives?”
They rushed at the Beast Miao King, their faces a mixture of disbelief and shock. But as soon as they heard what kind of effect launching the Earth Mother Goddess as a new brand could have on the market, they made their declarations in solemn tones.
“As tribal chieftain, I must set an example. I shall convert.”
“The Tribal Grand Council supports you, Palace Lord.”
“Wow, a united Nanman!”
“The Wood God? When it comes to gods, the Earth Mother Goddess is the one.”
They were in charge for a reason. They caught on fast.
Of course, some people weren’t so quick and came to confront the Beast Miao King.
“Palace Lord! How can this make any sense?”
“What exactly is the Earth Mother Goddess? And where did this nonsense about Mother Goddess Heaven and Unbeliever Hell come from?”
“It’s poison! The Palace Lord has spread poison throughout Nanman!”
“Do you think we priests will stand by and watch? We would rather die than let this pass!”
Dozens of priests, every one of them very old.
They had spent their lives serving the local gods, but they confronted the Beast Miao King with voices that rang out loud and clear despite their age.
Until Jeok Cheongang opened his mouth.
“If you won’t let it pass, what are you going to do about it?”
“What did you say?”
“Well, listen to the way this young bastard talks to his elders.”
“Palace Lord! Punish that insolent man at once! Some nobody we’ve never even heard of, running his mouth like—”
“Fire King.”
“……?”
“……?”
“That’s my sobriquet. Fire King Jeok Cheongang.”
“……!”
“……!”
“I’ll let anyone a hundred or older off. The rest of you, heads to the floor.”
The fame of the Fire King Jeok Cheongang—or rather, his temper—was well known not only in the Central Plains but also throughout Nanman.
“Um, Palace Lord?”
“Ah, what a lovely downpour.”
“…….”
When even the Beast Miao King, their final lifeline, looked off toward a distant mountain, the priests immediately got down with their heads to the floor and swore that from then on, they would keep their mouths shut about the Earth Mother Goddess no matter what.
“Honestly, we call ourselves priests, but we’ve never even seen the gods we serve. Isn’t that right?”
“Hahaha. True, true. But the Earth Mother Goddess has shown us a miracle herself. How extraordinary!”
“Um, Palace Lord. Might there be any positions left on the Earth Mother Goddess’s side? You would remain the priest, of course, but perhaps another role…”
“Ahem. Since you mention it, the gods we serve are all closely tied to this land, aren’t they? Perhaps we could join forces…”
“Exactly! The Earth Mother Goddess is the mother of this land. In a sense, she gave birth to all the gods!”
A fantastic collaboration: priests who didn’t want to lose their livelihoods and the Beast Miao King, who wanted to unite Nanman completely.
After a serious discussion, the Earth Mother Goddess emerged as a god with dozens of lesser gods under her. I had no desire for a religious war, so I lent a little help too.
“This is getting complicated. Why don’t we just make one?”
“Make what?”
“Well… I guess we could call it a Bible for now?”
“A Bible?”
“What’s that?”
“The history of this land. The word of God. Think of it along those lines.”
“Oh! Ohhh!”
“Truly, a talent sent by the gods!”
After that, I tossed out a few hints and watched from the sidelines.
They started racking their brains for lore like webnovel authors with a deadline breathing down their necks.
Then the traitors who had spent the past ten days locked in the underground prison were finally dragged before everyone.
“P-please spare me!”
“Baeksang tricked me! I never joined forces with Dark Heaven!”
But there was no forgiveness. No mercy.
Ssshhhhhh.
The benevolent Earth Mother Goddess’s blessing fell upon the land.
Beneath the rain—by then known as the Sacred Rain—the people cried out for judgment, and the executioner’s blade flashed.
Slash!
That was the end of it. The bodies of the traitors who had once led this land were thrown to the beasts.
The rain fell without end, washing away the blood they had spilled.
And only then did the people suddenly realize.
They had finally become one.
They had overcome a catastrophe together, witnessed and experienced an unbelievable miracle, and at last become one family within the warm embrace of the Earth Mother Goddess.
That was the true miracle.
A miracle that had finally united the people of thirty-two tribes.
And the forest keeper who had cut down every diseased tree and weed in the forest shouted before them all.
“From this moment on, we are the people of Nanman—wholly united as one!”
“Waaaaaah!”
Their voices rose together, echoing in every direction.
It sounded like the roar of warriors heralding the Great War soon to come.
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