Chapter 1: Day 1

I must imagine Sisyphus happy.

This isn’t some philosophical reflection or a joke for laughs.

I mean it literally.

Because I am Sisyphus.

I am now facing the greatest crisis of my life—beyond mere misfortune.

No one hates getting rich.

Everyone wants to be hit by a money ‘storm’ at least once in their life.

But let me say this clearly:

If that chance comes—avoid it at all costs.

Because when a “storm” hits, people die.

It hurts like hell.

“Ugh, huff…”

“Are you finally coming to your senses? Seems like you don’t even have the strength to flap that proud mouth of yours anymore, Sisyphus.”

A burly, blonde, handsome middle-aged man stood in front of me, his eyes blazing as he shouted.

From his hand, lightning flashed—just like the one that had just struck me.

Sisyphus.

That’s my name.

Not a god, not a hero, not even someone with a special power—

Just a lowly human being.

My limbs were tightly bound by ropes made from golden mountain goat fur.

I couldn’t move an inch.

It’s been days—maybe weeks—since I started being tortured in the name of “punishment.”

“Now that he’s finally quiet, he’s actually tolerable to look at.”

“No matter how clever, he’s still just a mortal man.”

“The sin of mocking the Twelve Olympian Gods must be answered for.”

It wasn’t just the man with lightning.

Twelve men and women were seated on thrones around me, glaring with anger, contempt, and scorn.

I was inside a palace adorned with marble columns.

Gaps in the structure revealed floating clouds—this place was clearly in the sky.

Yes.

This was an age when gods walked and breathed among humans—

The mythical era of Greek and Roman mythology.

Ancient Greece was the world I lived in.

“Don’t pretend to be unconscious. You can’t fool the eyes of a god, Sisyphus!”

BOOM!

Another bolt of lightning struck near my head.

The immense pain flooded my body.

My vision flashed white, neurons firing in agony.

The blond man smirking while hurling lightning at me—

He was Zeus, king of the Olympians, the supreme god of Greek mythology.

‘My memories are all jumbled…’

Was it because of the endless torture that didn’t even let me die?

I had lived twenty years as Sisyphus.

In this world, where gods dictated human fates and toyed with lives, I had done my best to survive.

But then—

‘No, I’m not mistaken.’

I reincarnated.

I clearly remember the modern era—South Korea’s civilization.

It’s not a delusion or fantasy.

I had knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology.

As a kid, everyone owned at least one volume of a hit comic series on the subject. I remember reading it for hours.

‘I, Sisyphus, angered the gods with my silver tongue and was condemned to eternal punishment.’

My mind snapped back into clarity.

Because the punishment was horrifying.

Sisyphus was doomed to push a massive rock up a mountain, only for it to roll back down every time he reached the top.

A never-ending sentence.

And there’s no happy ending—no escape for Sisyphus.

And now, that fate was about to become mine.

Could there be anything more dreadful than that?

‘…Absolutely not.’

Sure, I had gotten into a pretty serious accident.

But even if we placed blame, it wasn’t entirely my fault.

I can say with confidence—I don’t deserve a punishment this extreme.

‘Something’s wrong here.’

I thought about the life I’d lived and the world I knew.

It was quite different from the original Greek myths.

Even my own story didn’t match the Sisyphus I knew.

The civilization felt more like the Middle Ages than ancient Greece.

‘Could it be… the world I reincarnated into wasn’t the actual past or mythology—’

But a reinterpreted game or novel world?

That seemed very likely.

Original Greek myths portrayed a relatively peaceful world.

But the land I lived in was under constant threat from demonic beasts and territorial wars—peace was a fantasy.

‘In any case, I need to survive this moment first.’

If I stayed passive, I’d be condemned to roll a rock for eternity.

I released my bent knees and slowly stood.

My trembling legs nearly gave out.

“You still had the strength to stand?”

“Ha! Bold, aren’t you?”

These were the Twelve Gods who had tortured me to death a hundred times over, without remorse.

As much as I wanted to yell back at their smug faces,
a human before gods is like a bug.

I had no choice but to bow my head in respect.

“Oh mighty lords of Olympus, I greet you once more. I, Sisyphus, son of Aeolus and Hippoetes, humbly request a new judgment from the Twelve Gods.”

“Did he just ask for a retrial?”

A god slammed his armrest in fury.

The god of death—Hades.

“Zeus, my brother. Surely you won’t let this detestable mortal run his mouth again? This is the third time he’s trying to deceive us with that lying tongue of his.
I suggest we tear it out now.”

Hades truly hated me.

In fact, he was the main reason I was dragged here in the first place.

“Well, the verdict is already decided. But why not hear what he has to say?”

The elegant gesture came from a woman—Hera, goddess of family and marriage.

Zeus’s wife and second-in-command of Olympus, her words carried serious weight.

However, Hera’s actions were not out of mercy—she simply wanted to toy with me.

Thinking back to the time I was tortured, it was clear she was an extreme sadist.

Hades didn’t seem pleased with Hera’s suggestion, quietly letting his hatred show.

“Sisyphus. First of all, you committed the grave crime of abducting and imprisoning my envoy. With that silver tongue of yours, you lured the reaper into your polis and confined him. During the time the reaper was missing, death vanished from the world and the ‘Ten Days of Immortality’ occurred.”

“It was a major incident.”

“Nothing could be done, because no one could die!”

Even war was disrupted.

“Fate’s threads all tangled into chaos.”

Other gods agreed.

“Not even the souls of the dead could find their way to my underworld. This is not a crime that can be repaid with a single human life.”

That was the beginning of my ill-fated relationship with Hades.

There had been an incident where the reaper, the collector of souls, stayed in my territory.

“As I said back then, the truth is different. I did not bind the reaper. The real issue was that someone from my family, who had not yet reached their time, was listed in the Book of the Dead. The reaper, displeased, went on strike in protest.”

“Still, you were the one keeping the reaper, were you not?”

“That’s true, but the reaper chose to stay in my polis as a tourist. He is a great god after all—how could I possibly drive him out without showing hospitality?”

That was the truth.

The reaper, having had a falling out with Hades, declared a strike, and I merely entertained him during that time.

“The root of the incident lies in the underworld. Years of unjust treatment of the reaper in the underworld built up until it finally exploded. I made a choice to protect my family.”

The responsibility lay entirely with Hades, not me.

But I couldn’t say it outright, so I used “the underworld” as a roundabout expression.

Hades couldn’t refute my wording, but perhaps because he felt humiliated, his eyes gleamed more fiercely.

“…However, secondly, when I summoned you to the underworld to hold you accountable, you deceived me and returned to the land of the living.”

“You would have taken my life if I’d stayed still.”

“Well… of course I would have.”

“That is not reasonable. I had not yet reached the time of death. Besides, the ‘Ten Days of Immortality’ was not my doing. You should have looked for the cause within the underworld.”

“……”

Speaking logically left Hades unable to respond.

“I am a lord responsible for a domain—a polis. Lord Hades, as ruler of the underworld, surely you understand the weight of such responsibility.”

“…This wretch still dares to run his mouth. Zeus, this is why I told you we should tear out his tongue.”

Running out of things to say, Hades turned to Zeus.

Zeus, the pinnacle of Olympus, held the highest authority.

My final hope rested in a fair judgment from him.

“The events are clear. My brother Hades. Sisyphus, son of Aeolus. I shall now pronounce the sentence for your crimes.”

Rumble!

Thunder roared from a clear sky.

“For disturbing the underworld and deceiving a god, Sisyphus shall be sentenced to an eternity in Tartarus, condemned to roll a rock to the top of a mountain for all time!”

What?

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Had he not listened to a single word of my exchange with Hades?

“Lord Zeus, please wait! That punishment is far too severe!”

“Too severe? Gods of Olympus, if you find my judgment fair, raise your hands.”

One by one, hands went up.

Two… then ten.

“All are in agreement. The punishment shall be carried out. Sisyphus, you will be imprisoned in Chronos’s time prison and will not be freed until you roll the rock to the mountain’s summit.”

“I cannot accept this. I acted only to protect my family—to survive. I never harmed anyone directly! Why must I be punished like this for all eternity?”

Zeus chuckled at my protest, as if it were amusing.

“You’re mistaken, Sisyphus.”

“Mistaken? About what?”

“Reason applies only among gods. You are but a mortal, aren’t you?”

He jabbed my solar plexus with his index finger.

In that instant, I felt an overwhelming pressure—like that between a child and an adult.

“Humans are nothing more than entertainment for gods. Your crime—offending the gods—is a grave one indeed.”

“…What did you say?”

Perhaps…

Zeus was right.

I had been deluded all this time.

A grand delusion that maybe, just maybe, I could get through to them with reason and logic.

But in this era, there are no such things as human rights or fairness.

The severity of punishment, the cost of things—everything is decided by the whims of the gods.

They abducted a perfectly normal person and started torturing them from the get-go.

The outcome had already been decided.

Maybe it was because my memories of the modern world came back…

I foolishly expected to have a civilized conversation with these beasts.

But come on, even Zeus by modern standards is a criminal—he has a wife and yet goes around violating other women.

“Starting to bore me now. I think it’s time to let you drop.”

Zeus sneered at me with that tall, handsome grin.

“Hey.”

As he briefly turned his head—

Smack!

I slammed my head into him with all the strength I had left.

A perfect hit to the nose.

It was a move born from the thought: “Fine. If you’re a beast, I’ll treat you like one.”

I just wanted to get in one good hit.

“Hahaha, look at this little chick!”

But it didn’t land with any real effect—only brought laughter from Zeus.

The laughter swelled.

The other gods joined in, mocking me.

Blood blurred my vision—maybe my head cracked open.

I don’t remember much after that.

After getting a few hits from Zeus, I blacked out, and when I came to, I was a wreck.

“Let’s end this.”

Zeus slammed my head into the ground and turned away.

He raised a golden goblet, which filled itself with wine.

Snap.

Hades flicked his fingers, and my body was sucked into somewhere else.

Like falling endlessly through an infinite tunnel—

Gasp.

My body shattered from the impact.

I barely came to and managed to stand up.

“…Hoo.”

Before me stood a towering mountain.

Its peak lost in the clouds.

The slope was littered with every kind of obstacle, almost as if it were designed to throw a person off.

But more than anything—

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

It couldn’t even be called a rock.

A perfectly round shape that would roll down with no resistance at the slightest incline.

A flawless sphere, three meters in diameter, waited for me atop a pedestal.

“This is beyond cruel.”

Its surface was so smooth it defied the laws of friction.

It shone so brightly under the sun that I could see my reflection.

Even a bowling ball wouldn’t roll as easily as this thing.

That grinning blond middle-aged bastard’s face flickered in my mind.

“That son of a…”

My pride flared.

Fueled by the urge to shatter this rock Zeus had prepared to humiliate me—

I ran at full speed and threw myself at it.