Gula hummed, watching the changed state of the stellar map of destiny.
'So THAT is why it broke causality for us to discuss his relationships.'
It was something that didn't make sense at the time.
To the gods... well, in particular to Gula, since she was the one in charge of Jihu's blessing.
Anyway, to Gula, she could see the events that unfolded from Jihu's actions as clear as day. Although he had that ridiculous innate ability that allowed him to somehow also scry into the future and the record of existence, because the future existed simultaneously as the present and also had its own weight, it didn't truly matter.
At least, it SHOULDN'T matter.
Destiny did not take to being moved very easily. The stars in the skies that symbolized the numerous lives in existence had a set course and orbit that didn't change unless near impossible efforts or events occurred.
So, suffice to say, you would expect that Jihu setting out to kill the Parasite Queen, Blackie and Future Sung Shihyun showing up to blow up the Imperial Palace, and the current Sung Shihyun killing off the Parasite Queen himself to devour her divinity along with the eldritch being beneath the Imperial Palace would have affected causality.
On the surface, you would think that it was going against the course of destiny for someone like that to do what appeared impossible.
But no.
In fact, Gula had expected that.
From the moment that the Parasite Queen cheated in protecting her Army Commanders in their fight against Jihu, her death was written into the annals of history. It was only a matter of time catching up.
And... although the method was... rather anticlimactic, it seemed like existence had somehow chosen Sung Shihyun as the instrument to her demise.
As for Sung Shihyun himself... well, the current one, that is.
He was completely fallen into lust and pride. Thinking that he was almighty because he understood a fragment of Jihu's power, he was likely going to try accumulating strength to become the next Emperor of Paradise.
Unfortunately for him... he missed a key factor.
Paradise could only have one Chief Deity.
Said deity WAS the Parasite Queen. But she lost the qualifications for it when she was killed by someone of lower status.
That meant that the role fell onto the next qualified person.
Which, of course...
...Was not Jihu, but Gula herself.
It WOULD have been Jihu, but Gula figured that if he was tied to Paradise in that way, her continuously growing child would figure out a way to bind an entire cosmos to his body...
So she intervened. Just a little.
But that wasn't the key point.
No, no.
What Gula and the other gods had been wondering was why discussing Jihu's future feats, such as dismantling the corrupt Earthlings, killing Sung Shihyun, and events on that caliber did not break causality, but discussing or trying to give ANY tips about resolving his relationship concerns DID.
And the reason had just become clear.
'Karma, was it?'
It was something Jihu said at the Banquet in the third stage. When he answered the other gods chastising him into thinking he did not know what he talked about regarding the Heaven-Slaughtering Star.
---
*For every action, an equal and opposite reaction. For every result, a cause. That is the way of the universe- No, existence. But... if it was just that, then you wouldn't call us here. If it was like that, then the result is already set in stone. You lost. But you haven't given up. You haven't let it go... Why?*
*The answer is obvious. You gods know it too. Humans... Can break causality. And the reason for that is because 'karma' and 'bonds' are stronger than mere cause and effect. A saint can become a murderer after one bad day... And a murderer can become a saint after meeting one good person.*
---
The cause and effect of Jihu's life was clear right now. Because he had refused to commit to any one girl, his life was hell. Just like 'Seol' in that other time, the 'effect' in the future as things stood right now. The 'time' that Gula and the other gods could see was an imperial concubine war between all the women in Jihu's life.
And yet, trying to steer anything about that was impossible. At least, for the gods.
Gula herself had tried to give some pointers a few times already, but she was stopped by existence.
Luxuria had also mentioned that trying to warn Yuhui or steer her in a particular direction had also caused her to be stopped by existence itself, causality wrapping around the other god's throat like a vice.
It was confusing.
But after seeing Jihu's recent status changes, it became clear.
'It is like you said, my ridiculous child...'
The gods saw 'possibilities' but they did not see 'reality.'
That was what Jihu said.
And it was wrong. Objectively.
...At least, for everyone except for him.
The gods... Entities like Gula. They existed outside of time. That was how she was able to pluck Seol's emotions from the future and send them back into time.
However, because the river of time had a flow already, it was like dropping pebbles into the river and hopping the ripples caused a small flooding far down the line.
But Jihu was different. An anomaly. An individual who acted with such singularity of action and intention that there were no alternate timelines, only glimpses at what could be.
The reason why Blackie and Seol could exist simultaneously was because the future and the present ran concurrently for them. They were connected by the throughline of causality. What occurred in the present created the future. And because Blackie had wished to connect his future to the past, making that a new present, it was a mobius strip that allowed the strange concurrency they experienced.
Jihu was not like that.
Instead of a mobius strip, he was on a ray. A singular vector extending infinitely into the future.
Although he had that ridiculous ability that seemed to allow him to turn back the clock to be with his loved ones, that wasn't the case.
Rather than turning the river of time backwards... it was simply displacing the time vector.
The ray itself did not change. Neither did its trajectory. Rather, existence AROUND the ray had changed.
Or in short...
'Jihu is someone who operates on different rules of existence.'
Gula still wasn't sure how her ridiculous child ended up this way. And she was FAIRLY certain that he was the result of some extradimensional being deciding to perform an experiment using Paradise as a playground and Jihu as a test dummy.
Not that Gula would ever explain it to him.
No, no.
That would mean that SHE would have to deal with her ridiculous child's karma.
And it was also likely that she would somehow end up being wrapped into his romantic affairs one way or another, and while she adored her ridiculous child, she was NOT going to be the first deity in Paradise to consort with a mortal.
In any case...
'What was I reflecting upon again...? Ah, yes.'
Causality. Karma.
Causality turned out to be something that bowed to karma.
As for what karma WAS, it was apparently a force that existed outside of time. The connections between souls and existences that had a weight heavy enough to distort temporal bonds, spatial ties, as well as destiny itself.
Which was why they couldn't talk about Jihu's relationships, since karma was something that had to be resolved by the individual who was weighed down upon it.
In short...
Gula temporarily stepped into the 'other Earth' where Seol lived, pretended to be a mortal, purchased a bowl of popcorn, and then headed back to her own starry expanse, eagerly watching Jihu's next moves.
"Come then, Child. Show this goddess what your 'reality' is then if all we see are 'possibilities.'"
It was exciting.
For an entity like her who had seen the same scenes play out endlessly, watching time be anchored to the moment and KNOWING that the 'future' she saw was illusory was a novel experience.
Now...
Ah.
'We should start a betting pool among the gods.'
Who Jihu chose to talk with first, whether he decided to eliminate Sung Shihyun like an ant to focus on his family, whether Blackie and 'Whitey' would show back up...
Fun. Very fun.
===
As I stopped outside of Jinhee's door in the Neutral Zone, I felt a vague sense of unease.
Not like someone walked over my grave. No, not that.
More like... aunties gossiping about my life decisions and career.
'Are Gula and the other gods treating my life like a sitcom right now?'
It certainly felt like it...
Well.
Even if it felt like it, it was still my life.
And to get my life back on track, I needed to have some conversations.
Starting with my baby sister.
So...
"Jinhee. Are you decent?"
...I knocked on the door and waited for a response.
"Just come in already, Oppa! I've got like, twenty different route maps for the visual novel romcom that's become your life and the thousands of bad ends you have to avoid so we can reach the golden ending!"
...Of course she would be like this...
Hah...