Whether Orma was grumbling to himself feeling wronged or not, Ban carefully approached the inn employee while watching his mood. When he reached his hand to the tip of his nose and felt faint breath, he let out a sigh of relief that Orma really hadn’t killed him due to poor control of his strength.
However, even that didn’t please Orma, who opened his mouth with sharp eyes.
“Is now the time for you to worry about that mere human?”
“……Then what should we do?”
He had seen such a terrible sight, so when he regained consciousness, wouldn’t he lose his mind again and go around saying he’d report Orma or whatnot? His God probably thought that as long as he didn’t kill them, everything was fine. But it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible that he looked at him with such an unpleasant expression.
Um… right, strictly speaking, it was something to be thankful for. It was Ban who had begged for mercy for the inn employee, and hadn’t his God willingly granted it? Ban changed his mind and bowed his head toward Orma again.
“Thank you for your mercy, Orma-nim.”
It wasn’t for nothing that Orma in the game was called the Evil God. Of course he would kill on sight whenever he was in a bad mood or things didn’t go his way, and he was an existence who took others’ lives lightly because he himself wanted to die.
Especially since his last memory on earth was all about being betrayed by humans, and after that he had been stuck in Hell for a long time, so his personality twisted and warped until he went completely insane. Didn’t he even kill Ban by throwing a spear at him without even seeing his face first?
So… he’s really being merciful at this level!
Ban was newly moved by the fact that his God wasn’t completely ruined and still had room for rehabilitation, but Orma seemed to think differently. Looking at Ban offering thanks to him, he seemed to lose strength and closed his mouth with a weak face accompanied by a small sigh.
“Ha…..”
What’s the problem again? Damn it, Orma-nim, what else displeases you? Ban rolled his eyes, then thinking perhaps the angle didn’t please him, bowed his head even more.
I show the crown of my head to my God…..
“It’s annoying, so get up already.”
“Yes.”
It was the opposite, oops.
When Ban sprang up, Orma looked him up and down as if fed up, then raised his right hand and lightly flicked it in the air. Then with a snap sound, something small and black appeared on the floor and bounced around freely, hopping energetically.
While Ban blinked his eyes thinking it might be a bug, that unidentified something slipped right into the ear of the unconscious inn employee. When the flustered Ban unconsciously looked at Orma, his God calmly waved his hand and said.
“Leave it. That human will think everything that just happened was a nightmare.”
“I… see…..”
Is that okay though? It should be fine, right? Ban, who had stood awkwardly with an uneasy feeling, carefully walked to Orma’s side while worrying and observing whether the inn employee would wake up right away. Hmm, it seemed like his brow just furrowed slightly…..
“If you have too many nightmares, you might want to commit suicide.”
“Right… huh?”
He spoke so nonchalantly that Ban emptied his brain and agreed thoughtlessly. When Ban turned his head toward Orma in shock, only then did Orma, whose mood had improved a bit, giggle.
“I just said it could happen. Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to make someone continuously have nightmares.”
“……You should eat instead.”
It would be better if the inn employee wasn’t in sight. Ban went behind the smirking Orma and carefully pushed his back forward.
Fortunately, Orma obediently headed into the dining area on the first floor. Ban naturally led Orma to a corner and seated him in a position where he wouldn’t even make eye contact with other humans. Seeing the innkeeper, who recognized Ban, smile brightly and bring out food right away… well, it seemed he didn’t know anything about the commotion that happened with the inn employee, so Ban was relieved.
“It’s been a while since you’ve had a meal, right? Please go ahead and eat.”
“……”
Ban slowly cut the meat into easy-to-eat pieces and offered them to Orma. Smelling the mouth-watering scent of the steaming hot meat, he was instantly hit with hunger, so Ban immediately put another piece into his mouth. Perhaps the inn being full of customers was partly due to the food—the fairly excellent taste made his eyes sparkle naturally.
‘It does have a bit of a gamey smell, but… this much is fine.’
Of course it would be lacking compared to food from famous restaurants on Earth before his reincarnation, but still, for this world, this was very delicious. Ban, whose mood improved with the delicious food, began recommending various things again to Orma, who was just holding his utensils and staring blankly in front of him.
“Please try it. The meat is tender. Ah, is meat a bit burdensome since you haven’t eaten for a long time? Then let’s start with the cream soup that came with it. It’s fairly smooth and flavorful, so it will whet your appetite.”
“……”
At Ban’s recommendation, Orma finally poked at the food, cut it small, and put it in his mouth. However, his jaw didn’t really seem to move, and there was no expression. With such an indifferent face, he ate a little of the food on the table and eventually put down his utensils.
“Is it not to your taste?”
“……No.”
No, my ass. Anyone could see it looked like he ate food that wasn’t very tasty….. Ban recalled the price of the food on the table and soothed his aching insides by putting it all into his mouth. With a strong will to absolutely not leave any leftovers, he ate the food elegantly but quickly, and Orma stared at Ban intently as if fascinated.
“……Why are you staring like that?”
“Just. I’m amazed at how well you eat.”
Then there was nothing to say. But thinking of his emptied wallet, he had to do at least this much.
“But… are you not hungry? Or is the food not good?”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
Orma repeatedly clenched and unclenched his grip on the fork and knife tightly like making a fist, as if even holding them was awkward. Considering his history of being cut off from civilization for a long time and forgetting language, it might be natural.
But isn’t it strange that he’s not very interested even though it’s full of such delicious food smells? He could forget how to eat like a human or etiquette, but if he’s a living creature, he shouldn’t be able to forget hunger. Even earlier when he reluctantly poked at the food and barely ate a little, it was exactly like…..
‘Exactly like… he was pretending to be human, it was too awkward.’
The moment he thought that while chewing what was in his mouth, Ban had an intuition that he had somehow reached the truth.
During the distant time Orma was in Hell, hadn’t his body slowly and completely set foot in the realm of God? He no longer needed to eat food, but perhaps Orma inwardly didn’t want to acknowledge or accept that. The fact that he had departed from being an ordinary ‘human’ who could die.
With complicated feelings and thoughts, when he glanced at Orma, he was looking at Ban, who ate well, as if fascinated with his golden eyes sparkling.
‘Hmm… I shouldn’t say anything.’
How could he look at that face and say ‘Aren’t you not hungry because you’re no longer human now?’ Whether in the game trailer or when he actually faced him as the final chapter boss, Orma’s face either had no expression whatsoever or was covered in madness with nothing but bizarre laughter. Unlike how comfortable and stable he looked now while looking at Ban.
There’s no need to ruin that. Didn’t he just taste a fragment of that anxiety earlier? When he imagined for a bit that the world was destroyed but he still couldn’t die, how terrifying was that face that turned pale in an instant?
Ban scraped together the last remaining part and dutifully threw it into his mouth, then picked up a slightly wet handkerchief and patted his lips.
“You ate all this by yourself?”
“……It’s because you didn’t eat, Orma-nim.”
Even so, isn’t treating him like a pig too much? How much money is this…. I absolutely can’t leave any.
However, Orma seemed to be purely admiring rather than teasing Ban.
“You eat a lot unlike your appearance….”
“I don’t know how you see me, but I don’t normally eat this much.”
“You mean you don’t eat, not that you can’t eat?”
Orma replied playfully and stood up with Ban, walking slowly to the room. Finally, as night came to the world outside the window and thick darkness quietly covered the world, the people who had filled the first floor of the inn headed outside saying they could finally breathe.
Timewise it must be 11 PM, but the sky is only now getting dark. It wasn’t for nothing that the number of people whose day and night life patterns had changed increased. They slept during the day and worked or were active at night, but even that night was getting shorter and shorter, which was truly regrettable.
“What?”
When Ban, who had entered the room, looked alternately at the bed and Orma, he tilted his head and asked. Since it was late, it was time to sleep, but could Orma actually sleep? Someone who was awkward even with meals, could he sleep?
When Ban hesitated without asking honestly, Orma snorted and made assumptions on his own.
“There’s only a double room so there’s no choice. Now that you’re actually going to sleep together, are you scared?”
“Huh? Scared?”
Orma proudly pointed to himself.
……Ah. He seemed to be asking if he was scared of him. Thinking about it, he had killed Ban twice as soon as they met, so it wasn’t entirely incomprehensible. Besides, in truth, saying honestly that he was worried because he felt sorry for him all this time… he did have to protect the God’s pride too.
Ban slightly shook his head and hurriedly made up other content with a worried face.
“It’s not that… isn’t the bed narrow? I’m worried you’ll be uncomfortable.”
“Leave it. I don’t need to sleep.”
“Hmm….. Didn’t you sleep when you were in Hell?”
“When day and night came, I was in a state of having fainted from pain—if you count that as sleep, then I slept.”
Orma answered indifferently and walked to the bed. He glanced at the window nearby, then awkwardly sat on the bed and looked at Ban with a blank face.
Days when even bones and metal melted, and nights when even air froze solid. Even if it wasn’t really Hell, if you locked someone up in that place, it was definitely a space that produced a similar effect. It was fortunate that Ban happened to set foot on some ambiguous day between the day and night that lasted roughly 50 days, otherwise he might have had to repeat death and resurrection for several days while searching for Orma.
But what about Orma who experienced those days and nights countless times? His body continuously brought about regeneration, and he only felt miserable pain but ultimately couldn’t die. Orma wanted to die as an ordinary human even if it meant repeating such desperate acts.
Why does he hate becoming a God so much? He couldn’t know that, but anyway, Ban grabbed the arm of Orma sitting awkwardly in the empty space next to him and forced him to lie down. For a moment his golden eyes were colored with bewilderment, but regardless, he lay down next to him, covered him with a blanket, and patted his chest area.
“……What are you doing?”
“Trying to put you to sleep.”
“Aren’t you going to remove this? How dare…..”
Goodness, even when I try to preserve your humanity, you act like this. Even if it’s awkward, you need to sleep. If you’re human, sleep is essential.
Ban closed his own eyes tightly and blocked the conversation with the words “Let’s sleep,” enjoying the quiet and dark night. It seemed like he could hear a murderous sound like grinding teeth from the side, but Ban’s hand lightly ignored it and repeated the patting.
Hmm, drowsiness was gradually coming over Ban too. There were many things today that made his nerves stand on end, so he seemed a bit tired….. Does fatigue accumulate even after revival? I’ll have to look into this later…..
Until his touch gradually slowed and finally stopped, Orma ultimately couldn’t swat that hand away.
“……Sleep? You’re going to sleep like this? Really?”
Isn’t this too carefree? Orma glared at Ban sharply with golden eyes sparkling in the darkness, inwardly thinking ‘Just wait until tomorrow’ and plotting the future like a shabby villain. I said I didn’t need to sleep, but what the hell is this? It feels like he keeps treating me like a child.
Tomorrow when I wake up… I’ll absolutely… not let this… go easily…..
[Human Sleep Therapy (B-rank) is activating!]
Go…..
Ah….. The sunlight leaking through the window disturbed Ban’s deep sleep. Seeing how bright it was, it seemed day had broken. But why is his body so heavy? As if crushed by something…..
Looking around with half-closed eyes, Ban could immediately identify the cause. Orma, who had been so adamant about not sleeping with his eyes wide open, was sleeping soundly. The only problem was, for some unknown reason, he was holding him tightly trapped in his arms.
‘……I can’t breathe.’
Orma-nim, are you planning to crush your Apostle to death…..
