On Hiatus: God's Personal Reasons

Chapter 4: God’s Shop

"At last, a Hunter from our country has opened the Hunter Shop! This calls for a celebration!"

"Finally!"

The eyes of everyone in the conference room flickered with excitement. They had fewer than ten people in attendance, but each one was easily recognizable. After all, as heads of the Hunter Association, they were all well-known figures in business and politics.

They gulped. "Can we see it?”

The host nodded. "Please, come in."

A middle-aged man with a long beard entered the conference room. Behind him followed a seemingly aloof woman with sparkling emerald hair.

"This is Mr. Kang-Woo, the S-rank Creation-type Hunter who finally opened the Hunter Shop. For our convenience, S-rank Psychic-type Hunter Sung Mi-Na will be assisting today. Mr. Kang-Woo, will you open the Hunter Shop?"

Kang-Woo nodded. "Understood."

Tsstssts.

Thanks to Sung Mi-Na's psychic empathy, the shop window, originally visible only to Kang-Woo, appeared in mid-air for all to see. It showed a list of items and weapons that one would only encounter in myths and legends.

-----

[Hunter Shop]

[High Potion (Grade A)]

Category: Consumable

Price: 70,000G

[Excalibur (Grade S)]

Category: Weapon

Price: 2,000,000G

[Blessing of the Thunder God (Grade SS)]

Category: Divine Skill

Price: 300,000,000G

...

-----

"So this is the Hunter Shop!"

The Hunter Shop. A rare power exclusive to a select few S-rank ability users with Creation-type abilities. Like in a normal store, one could purchase the items or skills listed in its inventory. While it remained a mystery how this ability was triggered, what mattered was that other countries had been monopolizing the Hunters who could access the Hunter Shop. However, South Korea had gained one such Hunter.

"Please proceed with the demonstration, Hunter Kang-Woo."

Kang-Woo nodded. His entourage piled specially crafted gold coins on the table, then extended his hand toward it.

"Purchase High Potion."

Tsstssts!

The pile of gold coins vanished into thin air and was replaced by a bottle containing a dazzling blue liquid.

The Hunter Association chairman’s eyes lit up. Jumping to his feet, he exclaimed, “There’s no doubt about it! He has access to it!”

As long as they were still breathing, High Potions could heal and save even someone at death's door with several missing limbs.

The host continued, "As you all know, the Hunter Shop uses gold as its currency, and it takes about 100,000 won worth of gold to make one gold coin. Even so, the items in the Hunter Shop are worth every cent, especially the Blessing of the Thunder God, the unique skill of SS-rank Hunter Gillian."

"Considering Gillian's power, 300 billion is cheap."

The USA’s SS-rank Hunter Gillian was one of the first Hunters to awaken. With his Blessing of the Thunder God skill, he single-handedly annihilated the one hundred thousand zombies invading New York City.

"Until this project is fully underway, we must keep it a secret that we now have access to the Hunter Shop,” the president said. “ I want Mr. Kang-Woo to always be accompanied by at least two S-rank Hunters."

The president of South Korea solemnly continued, "Everyone, please keep in mind that the fate of the Republic of Korea hinges on this matter."

***

And then... there was me.

[Congratulations, Nameless God. You have met the conditions to unlock the God's Shop.]

[Would you like to unlock the God's Shop? (Yes/No)]

Someone once said that curiosity killed the writer. Well, no, it was me. I was the one who said it.

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Regardless, it was a writer's nature to satisfy their curiosity no matter the consequences. Hence, I immediately pressed “Yes.”.

Ding!

[100 Gcoins are required to unlock the God's Shop. Would you like to proceed? (Yes/No)]

Yes, of course.

Ding!

[Currently, the Nameless God only has Dark Gcoins.]

[You have paid 100 Dark Gcoins to unlock the God's Shop.]

Pshhh!

Simultaneously, one of the cap coins engraved with "100" on the bed crumbled into dust and soon vanished without a trace.

I gulped. Although I had awakened my ability, it hardly felt real. After all, making cap coins was all I could do. However, just now, one of the coins disappeared. Unlike what the center’s staff had presumed, I felt that my ability wasn't just a simple creation ability.

Perhaps...?

For a moment, I thought of Kang-Woo, one of Korea's top Creation-type hunters, but the thought soon left my mind. There was a world of difference between an S-rank Hunter like him and a G-rank like me.

"What do these even mean?"

I stared intently at my phone screen but couldn't decipher the writing. It looked like a mix of Arabic and Hebrew. Since they had some numbers next to them, I assumed they were items for sale.

[-----: 1,000,000 Gcoins]

[---: 3,500,000 Gcoins]

[---------------: 1,000,000,000 Gcoins]

The numbers were staggeringly huge. At the moment, I only had 200 cap coins—no, Godcoins. Considering I earned a coin for every ant I killed, did this mean I had to kill as many ants as those numbers to afford any of the items?

Trying to decipher the incomprehensible script and overwhelming numbers made me feel bleak.

Swoosh!

At that moment, the shop window scrolled on its own. With a click, it stopped on a different page.

[-----: 100 Gcoins]

The item on the window flickered as if a game tutorial was prompting me to select it. After a moment of hesitation, I obliged.

Pshhh.

As another 100 Gcoins disappeared, a message appeared on my phone.

Ding!

-----

[You have purchased the Blind Eyes of God (Innate Power).]

-----

[Blind Eyes of God (Innate Power)]

Description: An innate power of the Nameless God, activated by a strong desire.

One may catch a glimpse of the truth, but they can never truly see it.

-----

Blind Eyes of God? Innate Power?

The name was profoundly meaningful.

If one had gone blind, what other use could they have for their eyes?

And what about this mysterious explanatory text?

Who was this “Nameless God”? What did it mean by “one might catch a glimpse of the truth, but they could never truly see it”?

At that moment, as if a curtain had been drawn, my vision turned black.

"Huh?"

Thud!

Startled, I accidentally dropped my phone.

"W-what is this?!"

Despite having my eyes open, I couldn’t see anything. I was terrified. In that brief moment, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind.

"Call 911..."

Panicked, I searched for the phone that I had dropped. However, no matter how hard I looked for it, I couldn't find it.

It must be close by...

Then, I hit my shin on the table.

Thump!

"Ouch!"

Tears welled up in my eyes as I sat down in excruciating pain.

"Huuuuuh!"

Fortunately, my vision soon returned, and I found the phone I had been desperately searching for right at my feet. I breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed my eyes.

"Ah, that was scary."

The experience had given me a newfound appreciation for being able to see.

The skill I bought couldn’t have caused that, could it?

As if possessed, I picked up the phone. Looking at its screen, I was startled once more.

"Huh?"

-----

[Flames of Gehenna (Low-tier God)]

Category: Exclusive Power for Evil Gods

Price: 2,000,000 Gcoins

[Pandora's Box (Mid-tier God)]

Category: Exclusive Sacred Item for Evil Gods

Price: 5,000,000 Gcoins

[Summon Planetary Devourer (High-tier God)]

Category: Exclusive Summoning Skill for Evil Gods

Price: 1,000,000,000 Gcoins

[Space-Time Return (Top-tier God)]

Category: Universal Power

Price: 10,000,000,000 Gcoins

-----

The previously incomprehensible texts had been translated into Korean.

Wow, the names are quite grand.

Moreover, they were outrageously expensive. Among them, one had a particularly absurd price.

-----

[Creation of Heaven and Earth (Transcendent-tier God)]

Category: Exclusive Power for Transcendent Gods

Price: 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Gcoins

-----

Hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions... wow... How much is that?

The price listed for the Creation of Heaven and Earth matched its grade. The amount was so overwhelming that I doubted anyone could save that much in their lifetime. How many ants would they even need to kill to afford it?

"This is making me feel like the protagonist of a novel, though."

The protagonist has the lowest-ranked ability within the G-rank category, but he can open a mysterious shop window. Using the powers and items from the shop, he can create a storyline as explosive as a nuclear bomb, dating beautiful ladies, making money, and saving the world on the side to become a hero....

My imagination ran wild.

"Well, it’ll be nothing more than a fantasy."

Reality was harsh. Abilities did not develop. G-rank would remain G-rank, and the same applied to S-rank. One could probably increase their proficiency with diligent use, but the limits of an ability were nearly impossible to change. There were a few exceptional cases, but those were like winning a lottery.

"Anyway, what majestic names. Fitting for me as a writer."

Unfortunately, the skills displayed in the shop window wouldn’t be able to live up to their lofty names because they were based on my G-rank ability. Moreover, they were overwhelmingly expensive, almost as if deliberately priced so as to prevent purchase.

I scrolled through the list, looking at the items that seemed as promising as fool's gold. The categories of abilities, items, and summonings started at over 10,000 coins, and anything that looked decent invariably crossed into the millions.

Then, I spotted the only item I could afford with my remaining 100 coins.

-----

[Crushing Forefinger of God (Growth-type)]

Category: Innate Power

Price: 100 Gcoins

-----

Just like the Blind Eyes of God that I had just purchased, it was marked as an innate power.

"Crushing Forefinger of God? Sounds impressive."

I hesitated before making the purchase, fearing it might blind me like before. After a moment of contemplation, I activated my phone’s voice recognition AI so I could call 911 by voice if needed.

Alright, let's try this.

"Purchase."

Pshhh.

My last 100 coins vanished like dust, and a message window appeared.

Ding!

-----

[You have purchased the Crushing Forefinger of God (Innate Power).]

-----

[Crushing Forefinger of God]

Category: Innate Power

Description: An innate power of the Nameless God, activated by ruthless slaughter.

The Nameless God speaketh, "Ye insignificant vermin, I deliver the divine punishment bestowed by the God almighty! Be crushed to death!"

-----

Despite bracing myself for the worst, the event I feared did not occur this time. In fact, absolutely nothing happened. The message description was absurdly grandiose, so this couldn't be all, could it?

"Maybe I should try using it."

I turned to an empty water bottle rolling on the floor. With all my might, I earnestly shouted, "Crushing Forefinger of God!"