Chapter 403
Chapter 403 Side Story Chapter 23
Hochi (2)
“Homen.”
“Homen.”
They joined each other and prayed.
Hochi thought to himself.
How long will this fake prayer greeting last?
It started unintentionally, but now it is becoming a tradition of the Lee Ho-jae Faith.
If he had known that this would be the case, he would have looked for the right word.
“Are you going in now?”
Kim Min-hyuk asked.
Hochi nodded his head.
The festival was in full swing in Seoul.
It was the 1st anniversary of the founding of the Lee Ho-jae Faith.
Seoul, the central city and capital of Korea, was now recognized as a sacred place for the Lee Ho-jae Faith.
Residents came from all over the world.
The crowd was enough to make the huge city of Seoul feel cramped.
You can get points for the Lee Ho-jae Faith just by participating in the festival.
As a church member, there was no reason not to participate in the festival.
On the contrary, if you engaged in a livelihood without participating, your faith score could be reduced.
The festival was almost coming to an end.
The fireworks that now lit up the night sky were actually the last event of the festival.
He took all the pictures
He met everyone he wanted to meet.
Hochi left the rest to Kim Min-hyuk and returned to the temple.
“Hello, Hochi? Homen.”
“Homen.”
There were also church members who he encountered inside the temple.
There were office workers who dealt with the Lee Ho-jae Faith’s affairs, and there were also believers who lived in the temple at all times.
The atmosphere of the temple was lively.
It wasn’t even authoritative.
Hochi was proud.
The religious system of his own creation.
Everyone puts moral values first and makes everyone act in a law-abiding manner.
Be more harmonious.
Be better.
Be more faithful.
He was also proud that it was achieved through the rewards that people aspire to, not through coercion through punishment.
Hochi thought that a person could be good or bad.
But in modern society, people have more easily chosen the opportunity to be evil.
If you commit an illegal act, you will be punished by the law.
However, in a line that does not come into contact with the law, or in a situation where they can avoid the law, people can become evil without hesitation.
There was no system that rewarded the opposite.
Instead, there was only compensation for evil deeds.
Conversely, rewards for good deeds were worthless.
Meddling to help others became a rarity, and the only reward for good deeds was the satisfaction you felt yourself.
As society became more competitive, and making a living became more difficult, this tendency became stronger over time.
It was the same with Lee Ho-jae.
He was crazy about competition.
He did everything to beat others.
Hochi knew.
Only Hochi knew.
How crazy Lee Ho-jae was about winning and losing.
This utter madman didn’t even notice his meticulousness and naivety to others.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to be the bad guy.
He was hiding his actions, lest the next time he would use the same method.
In return, Lee Ho-jae rose to the top of his profession as a pro gamer.
It also allowed him to retire at the peak.
Hochi didn’t like that aspect of Lee Ho-jae.
The religious system of the Lee Ho-jae Faith was the opposite of Lee Ho-jae, who can be said to be its owner.
It encouraged people to be more relaxed and peaceful.
Without worries and obsession for the future, they lived each day doing their best and praying hard.
They had a belief that religion would take charge of their future and their family, no matter what happened to them.
They began to enjoy good deeds.
Good deeds satisfy both the practical benefits of religious points and emotional satisfaction.
The world was changing positively.
At least from Hochi’s point of view.
* * *
Hochi confided his concerns to the Grandmother, who was half lying on his sofa.
The Grandmother was living on Earth for the church festival.
She was controlling the temperature so that people wouldn’t fall from the heat during the festival held on the street in the sweltering summer.
She was lying on the sofa in the temple lounge.
Hochi told the grandmother what he had in mind.
Originally, he should have asked Lee Ho-jae, but now that Lee Ho-jae has gone to catch the God of Order, he has no one to consult with.
“What do you think, Grandmother?”
“I think you’re like a kid.”
Hochi pursed his lips in disbelief.
“Look, isn’t that a childlike reaction?”
Grandmother said with a big smile.
Hochi didn’t feel like laughing at all.
“What is childish?”
“Something cute like a child.”
The grandmother thought it was funny even though she said it herself, and she started to laugh a little louder.
Hochi’s expression grew worse and worse.
“Isn’t it right to be like a child?”
“Not really.”
Grandmother laughed again.
“No! No! I’m telling you!”
Hochi shouted, but the grandmother did not stop her laughing.
She shook her neck and chuckled, and she started to laugh.
Hochi could feel the rising feeling of injustice.
“I’m just thinking about it and I’m worried.”
“Yeah, you are.”
Grandmother just kept laughing and teasing him.
When Hochi was thinking about just leaving the room, the grandmother finally stopped her laughter.
“What are you so concerned about?”
“Just that…”
It was complicated.
Jealousy, envy, and inferiority that he felt in the past.
Regret, pity, and guilt.
There were too many emotions to single out.
There were also things in common.
That he was raised by Lee Ho-jae for the same purpose.
“That’s enough to get you interested.”
The grandmother nodded her head.
“Just go and talk to him often. If you talk, you will one day know exactly how you feel. The girl who is locked up on the 61st floor needs a conversation.”
For Lee Yeon-hee’s sake, try to talk to her often.
Hochi nodded.
That was clear and wise advice.
“Anyway.”
The grandmother floated her words.
“I sometimes think. Why don’t you blame the king?”
The king the grandmother was talking about referred to Lee Ho-jae.
Hoch was able to clearly answer that question.
“I blame him. Still.”
“Do you?”
Hochi’s body is, in theory, identical to that of Lee Ho-jae at the time when he created an alter ego on the 61st floor.
So are his brain functions.
Hochi did not forget what he had been through on the 61st floor.
He had too good a memory to forget those experiences.
But he wished he would sometimes forget those things.
Those were painful memories.
He received an apology from Lee Ho-jae, and he is still with him and has become his family.
Lee Ho-jae forced himself to be unfair from the beginning.
As an alter ego, he did not hide the fact that he was made to clear the 61st floor, and was made to be left behind on the 61st floor.
Of course, Hochi resisted.
Very violently.
He confronted Lee Ho-jae with the mindset that he would rather die fighting.
It didn’t take long for that mindset to break.
Lee Ho-jae was a natural fighter.
He was even an experienced fighter.
Lee Ho-jae tried to grow Hochi.
Enough to make it all the way to the end of the 61st floor alone.
Or enough to be recognized as a challenger in the tutorial.
The process of growing up was no different from torture.
Hochi was different from Lee Ho-jae.
Even if he saw the same things, he could not learn the same things.
Lee Ho-jae did not accept that.
He thought that Hochi was forcibly slowing down his growth to prevent him from clearing the 61st floor.
‘Be strong! If you don’t become strong, you die! Don’t think you’re going to die on the 61st floor. If you don’t have enough strength, I’ll kill you before I put you on the 61st floor.’
And after I kill you, I’ll make you again.
Just remembering those memories made Hochi shudder.
Rather than his body being tired and exhausted, it was when the mind was more scared and terrified than the spirit.
In the end, Hochi couldn’t clear the 61st floor.
It wasn’t because he couldn’t get stronger.
Hochi was not accepted as a contender for the 61st floor.
Hochi thought that Lee Ho-jae would kill him, who had become useless.
So he hid in the ruins of the 61st floor.
He was sure to be caught soon, but he wanted to survive just a little bit longer.
Even a few minutes or hours
So time has passed.
A day passed, a week passed, a month passed.
It was then that Hochi realized.
Lee Ho-jae doesn’t hate himself.
Lee Ho-jae doesn’t even hate him.
To his surprise.
The reason he tortured Hochi by pushing him to the limit was really purely to make Hochi stronger.
It was amazing that there was no malice in that vicious act.
Lee Ho-jae, who gave up using his alter ego, started tormenting himself again instead of Hochi.
“So could you forgive me?”
“What is forgiveness?”
Hochi didn’t forgive.
It would be right to say that he did not forgive.
As long as he can’t forget the memories of that time, he will never completely forgive Lee Ho-jae.
Lee Ho-jae will not be able to cast off his guilt either
“I understand rather than forgive.”
“Understand?”
“That you were originally like that.”
Lee Ho-jae was a character who pushed himself more than others.
Perhaps the person who hates that hostile nature the most is Lee Ho-jae himself, not anyone else.
How could that be?
The spirit of sacrifice that laid down everything to achieve his purpose was truly magical.
There seemed to be no greed or satisfaction for a comfortable life.
He was like a human who had mentally castrated his indolence and slackness.
“He must have killed himself. His weak side. Just like he did to you.”
said the grandmother.
Hochi thought so too.
What human being is born so obsessive from the moment they are born?
He cut off his own weak side.
Hochi knew it too.
Lee Ho-jae gets annoyed whenever he sees Ho-chi idling, slacking off, and playing, and gives him a scolding
He was sometimes angry.
Each time Lee Ho-jae calls him, Hochi could feel jealousy.
Lee Ho-jae was envious of Hochi’s laziness, but he did not stop it.
Of course, this is the story after giving up on the 61st floor.
Lee Ho-jae used to write novels for Hochi as a hobby.
Lee Ho-jae himself could have also enjoyed reading the novel he wrote.
But he couldn’t.
Instead, he watched as Hochi had fun reading the novel.
It was an indirect surrogate satisfaction.
He was tickled, wondering what was so much fun.
When Hochi had almost finished reading his novels, he would transcribe a new novel.
Hochi thought about what Lee Ho-jae was doing now.
He couldn’t imagine.
He disappeared saying he was going to beat the God of Order that is close to a transcendental god.
He still shows no sign of coming back.
However, the God of Order did not become a transcendental god and the world did not perish.
How much more is he pushing himself?
He was worried.
* * *
The church festival was over.
Hochi, who had been spending his days busily working, finally became a little more free.
Hochi, who was breathing a sigh of relief from his seemingly endless work, was able to realize one thing.
He realized that he wasn’t the only one worried about Lee Ho-jae.
“Uncle!”
Yong-yong called him in a determined voice.
Hochi opened his eyes and grabbed the little hand.
Yong-yong looked cute rather than determined, but he knew that Yong-yong was determined anyways.
“Uh… uh.”
Hochi was perplexed.
It was because of Yong-yong’s outfit.
Yong-yong usually liked to wear fairy-tale and girly clothes.
However, the clothes that Yong-yong is wearing now were combat uniforms.
The military uniform-like outfit was strangely cute.
“I’m going to find Daddy!”
Hochi was even more perplexed.
How? Where? In what way?
A number of questions filled Hochi’s mind.
“So, let’s go together, Uncle!”