episode_0175

|Thanks to your dedication, we managed to capture a great evil spirit.|

“No, I just did what needed to be done.”

Just now.

Perhaps it was because I witnessed Cali’s soul being sucked into the deep abyss, but my body trembles uncontrollably.

The fear of death, which I never found particularly frightening before, now envelops me.

It’s not the fear of ‘the end.’

It’s the fear of the possibility that it might not end.

Even in death, my fate in the afterlife is uncertain.

I might have to endure endless suffering for eternity.

‘What kind of punishment will I receive?’

The fear of what comes after death now haunts me.

My sins are not just one or two.

Even committing a sin in just one lifetime is overwhelming, but repeating it twelve times…

The weight of guilt engraved on my soul must be immense.

If I were to ascend to the flames of hell, would the fire not rage uncontrollably like dry kindling?

|You seem to be afraid. Am I afraid too?|

“Yes. You, the afterlife, frighten me…”

|Why is that?|

“Death, whether it be a god or not, is inevitable. So, eventually, I too will die and go to the afterlife.”

|Do you wish to go to the afterlife?|

“No? That’s not it…”

|If not, then you have no business in the afterlife. Unless you commit sins in your future lives.|

“…”

Feeling puzzled, I raised my head for a moment.

But overwhelmed by the dizzying darkness that filled my vision, I quickly lowered my gaze again.

What does this mean?

I won’t go to the afterlife?

“If I may ask without being disrespectful, why is that the case when my history is filled with many misdeeds?”

|Indeed, they are misdeeds. You have deceived many people and inflicted wounds that cannot be healed.|

They?

Although something sounded strange.

Since he mentioned not being familiar with human language, I decided not to dwell on it and moved on.

“As you said, my misdeeds were not worthy of judgment in the afterlife, is that what you meant?”

|No. Originally, you would have had to endure the accumulated pain of the wounds you inflicted, without rest, for decades.|

“…”

I also believe that to be true.

I used the afterlife to deal with the Four Emperors.

So, it would be fair for me to face judgment in the afterlife.

But what followed from the afterlife deity’s mouth was unexpected.

|However, that is a story that does not apply to anyone but you. Would you call this an exception?|

“What do you mean by that?”

|Isn’t your history interrupted? History is supposed to flow continuously without stopping. I, the Death King, am just a mere mortal who cannot escape that grand flow. Therefore, for those with a broken history like you, I have no right to intervene. Only your story is different.”

“…”

The story has gone beyond my comprehension.

Who are ‘they’ and who is ‘you’ in this context?

Given the circumstances, ‘you’ seems to refer to me, but…

From now on, I will just listen without trying to understand.

|What do you believe is the condition for absolving your misdeeds?|

“You mean there is a way to absolve them?”

|If there is no absolution, wouldn’t one who commits a sin once continue to do so endlessly? That is not what I desire.|

“I apologize, but I can’t seem to grasp it… May I ask what the condition for absolving misdeeds is?”

Clever yet foolish in some aspects. There are two conditions. The repentance of sinners. And the forgiveness of those who have suffered. Fortunately, you satisfied both conditions just before I arrived. So rest assured that your evil deeds, which have continued from closed history, have been pardoned. I do not wish for the innocent to live in fear their whole lives due to excessive self-blame.

The evil deeds have been pardoned…

These evil deeds undoubtedly refer to the act of deceiving and betraying Jil, Yuriya, and Yerina.

But I have repented for it (though it doesn’t feel like enough yet).

I faced all three and received forgiveness.

The consequences of facing my sins have now come to me.

If Mijung were by my side, she might have swallowed her saliva, saying it’s a feast fit for a king.

Suddenly, my right hand feels empty.

My hand delves into the abyss shrouded in darkness.

“Is there another evil spirit?”

“Yes… Yes.”

I thought I was getting used to the voice of the afterlife.

But it seems I have become numb to only the pain, while the damage was accumulating.

I struggled to answer while vomiting blood.

“It’s okay… I’m okay with dying… Please finish off the remaining evil spirit…”

“… ”

“It seems not. While mortals cannot choose how they are born and live with a name, they should at least choose how they die. The way of your death, choose it yourself. I will now return, leaving the passage open. Since I have entrusted a part of the afterlife to you, it would be better to rely on its power in the future. Then, I wish you luck in your future.”

With those words.

The darkness that had been looming disappeared, and the overwhelming pressure that had been crushing my body also vanished.

Then, the system window that appeared before my eyes.

[Achievement Unlocked]

[Survive the encounter with the First Judge, the King of Time in the afterlife!]

The conditions for the achievement are quite insane.

Not just ‘encounter with the King of Time,’ but ‘encounter and survive.’ If I didn’t have the ‘mental strength enhancement’ trait, I would have thought I was dead for sure, which gives me chills.

“Oh…”

I might still be facing death right now.

As the darkness lifted and the surroundings became visible.

I lost consciousness after seeing the worried face of Mijung running towards me.

[As a reward, ‘Familiarity with Death…’]

The system window that appeared at that moment was not fully read as my consciousness faded.

“Where am I…?”

It was definitely Elvengard.

Due to being trapped in darkness for quite a while, my sense of time and space was distorted.

But at least I remember what I was doing and why.

However, I was quite taken aback by the sight before me.

“Snow?”

Looking around.

All I could see was a snow-covered field.

The cold snowstorm relentlessly battered me as if to knock me down.

The sky was gloomy with thick clouds covering it.

One thing is certain.

This is a landscape that I have no memory of at all.

Have I lost my memory in the meantime?

Is it because I faced the God of the Underworld that I lost my memory on the way here?

Such arrogant thoughts crossed my mind.

Looking around 360 degrees, I discover the only place where light shines.

“Heuk… Heuk…”

As if possessed, I push through the snowy field.

My attire remains the same as it was in Elvengard for some reason, so the snow feels cold and prickly against my bare skin.

I was so fixated on heading towards that light that I couldn’t think of anything else.

“A flower?”

A spot illuminated by the sunlight seeping through the clouds.

There, amidst the pure white snow, is a single camellia flower.

After clearing the snow piled on the petals, I confirm that it is a red camellia flower.

But aren’t camellia flowers supposed to bloom on trees, not in fields?

Lost in such thoughts, I momentarily tilt my head.

I notice that there are other flowers in front of me as well.

One is a blue cyclamen.

“Huh? Cyclamen?”

Strange.

How do I know the name of a flower like cyclamen?

I don’t remember having a hobby of collecting flowers.

Feeling a sense of discomfort, I hear a voice that seems to say that this is not really important, so I decide to move on.

Another one is a black rose.

Thorns protrude harshly from this one, causing me to give up trying to touch it after getting injured.

And the last one is a yellow jasmine.

The four flowers, basking in the sunlight, bloom unexpectedly in the empty snowy field.

As I gaze down at them absentmindedly, I suddenly sense a presence and quickly turn around.

“Who…!”

“It’s me. The God of the Underworld.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t make that foolish expression. Didn’t I say earlier that I would give you a part of the God of the Underworld and the God of the Underworld? That’s who I am.”

A long-bearded old man in a black robe appears, causing me to freeze.

However, I am only surprised by the sudden appearance of a person in this snowy field.

I feel no pressure or other kind of coercion pressing down on me.

“You can relax. With such a small amount of power, it won’t have any impact on someone like you who is well-trained in mind.”

“Yes… But, does the appearance of the God of the Underworld mean that this is within my own mind?”

“You can understand it that way. Magicians call it the soul, and shamans call it the spirit, but neither term is accurate. It’s not the place where the soul disappears when the body dies, nor is it a place where the spirit exists. Finding the right expression in human language is quite difficult… If we have to put it into words, we can call it your inner world.”

“My inner world?”

“Yes. Everyone with intelligence harbors a world in their mind. Most mortals die without even knowing of the existence of that world… But occasionally, once every tens of thousands of years, someone realizes that existence and steps into their inner world. In your case, you are already prepared to enter your inner world, but you haven’t done so yet. That’s why I personally let you in.”

Upon hearing those words, I snap out of it.

My hazy mind clears up, and my vision becomes sharp.

Only now do I understand this strange spectacle.

The endless snowy plain.

And the flowers that shouldn’t bloom here.

Just a moment ago, I was accepting it as if it were a dream, but now I realize that this bizarre sight could only be staged in my inner world, the world I created.

“Thank you.”

“Stop thanking me. This is really nothing special. You would have broken through on your own within 100 years anyway.”

“······.”

The old man in black robes waved his hand as if a hundred years were nothing.

Being a god, his sense of time seemed to be quite different from mine.

“So, what should I do here?”

“I didn’t send you here to do anything. I brought you here because you fainted, and this is the only place where we can have a conversation.”

“Oh…”

“My original self returned because it seemed like I would kill you if I stayed any longer, but I left the passage open. Currently, I am receiving tremendous power from the original self in the afterlife through that passage. So, before the passage closes, meet the last remaining evil spirit. Then, I will return to the afterlife through that passage with that evil spirit. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

So, if I take this old man to Luna, he will embrace Luna’s spirit and fly to the afterlife together.

I understood perfectly.

I wondered if this irresponsible god would just leave me and go with Luna until the end.

Surprisingly, this god was reliable in handling the aftermath.

“One thing you must not forget is that I am inside you right now. So, I can hear all your thoughts.”

“Oh.”

“It’s interesting to see someone like you thinking of me this way. It’s like treating me as a character in a story.”

“······!”

A chilling sensation crept over me.

The old man in black robes stared through me for a moment.

Then he chuckled and turned away.

“It’s time for me to leave this place. You will wake up from your fainting state soon. Seems like there is someone desperate to save you.”

“Wait, Lord of the afterlife! Just one more question! You said this is the ‘world inside me,’ right? What is this place for? What do these flowers symbolize?”

“You will have to figure that out on your own. Any more help might do harm to you. I… ”

The old man’s words trailed off.

The snowy landscape around us gradually turned white.

My vision was filled with white light.

As the light faded, I felt my vision clearing.

“······Yujin!”

“Cough!”

Mi-jeong looked down at me, her eyes filled with concern.

I spat out blood, struggling to sit up with trembling arms and legs.

I must have lost consciousness for about 5 minutes due to bleeding…

Although I felt a bit dizzy from the bleeding and some internal functions, including my heart, were weakened, my life was not in immediate danger.

I stroked Mi-jeong’s head with bloodied hands, then stood up with shaky legs.

“Am I… going to die?”

“Not yet.”

“Ugh…”

Mi-jeong clung to me, tears welling up in her eyes.

I hugged her back, patting her back, and when I lifted my head…

“Are you going to wake up? I was worried. It’s chaos right now.”

“Huh?”

Soo-rim, engulfed in flames, came into view.

It was a massive blaze that could easily engulf Elvengard in flames.

What happened while I was unconscious for 5 minutes?