I Got an Omnipotent Angel - Chapter 93

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 93: Judge Kim Panyeong

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The Ghost Soul Compendium showed a vengeful soul named Kim Panyeong.

I checked whether the Karmic Mirror Paper listed anyone else, but there were no other names.

Was this guy the judge?

When I searched for people in professions that accumulated different kinds of karma, a whole list of names appeared.

It was like some kind of talent-scouting map.

"Should I try someone else?"

This time, I decided to use the Ghost Soul Compendium's spell to find Eight-Foot Sister.

"Souls bear traces, karma bears weight, and urban legends bear the karma of assimilation. Ghost Soul Compendium, reveal the soul of the one who has engraved the karma of stories, the one who is the master of those stories."

Fwoosh!

The Ghost Soul Compendium opened again, and the map that had just been searching for Kim Panyeong changed.

The terrain was familiar. Munjeong-dong.

I was looking for an anomaly, the protagonist of an urban legend. Around here, no one fit that description better than Eight-Foot Sister.

「Eight-Foot Sister · wandering soul」

"Oh, this says Eight-Foot-something, right? And the rest says wandering soul."

But what was that last character?

"It says Eight-Foot-something, my lord. The last character means older sister."

It said Eight-Foot Sister instead of Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost?

Did it account for things like that too?

Next, I tried looking for Gari.

Would Gari, an angel, belong to the Ghost Soul Compendium's five-stage soul classification?

The answer was no.

"Gari isn't showing up."

"Could Gari really be considered part of a soul classification, my lord?"

True.

Then demons probably wouldn't show up for the same reason.

The Ghost Soul Compendium was an incredible secret manual, but it apparently couldn't detect transcendent beings like angels and demons.

"Then should we go find Kim Panyeong first?"

I'd confirmed that the Ghost Soul Compendium worked, so now I had to find our judge.

The map showed him somewhere north of the river. Since he was even farther north than the Junggok-dong factory site, one vertex of the Holy Vein triangle, I guessed he was around Nowon.

"Everyone, gather around!"

Clack?

【Po~】

Gari, Eight-Foot Sister, and Kohaku gathered around me.

"Anyone who wants to find the judge, gather here~"

"Naturally, I shall join you, my lord!"

【Po~】

Clack!

Okay. I changed clothes to leave right away, but Kohaku was waiting by the shoe cabinet.

As I reached for my shoes, Kohaku suddenly stepped forward.

"What are you doing?"

"My lord, I warmed your shoes for you."

"What?"

Kohaku carefully set down the shoes she had been hugging tightly to her chest.

"It's getting chilly, isn't it?"

"Kohaku, you...!"

She'd warmed my shoes with her own body heat so my feet would stay warm!

"Kohaku, you are a loyal retainer for the ages, with loyalty that will be remembered for generations!"

"My lord! I am deeply moved that you recognize my loyalty!"

"Kohaku!"

"My lord!"

I was touched by Kohaku's sincere loyalty.

"Am I not your finest retainer, my lord?"

"Yeah, yeah. A loyal retainer for the ages."

"Right? Excluding Sir Gari, I can truly be called your right-hand retainer, my lord."

I had the feeling Kohaku was looking somewhere.

Following her gaze, I saw Eight-Foot Sister trembling as though she'd been shocked.

【Po...】

What was with her?

Grin!

I could've sworn Kohaku had just made an incredibly sly expression.

Must've been my imagination.

* * *

When I jumped to the Junggok-dong factory district, construction was already well underway.

Workers moved around while heavy machinery compacted the ground.

So that was what a road roller looked like.

"Hey! Who gave you permission to come in here?"

A middle-aged worker approached me.

"I came in by accident. I'll be more careful next time."

"Be careful, there's heavy machinery moving arou-"

"Huh? Boss?"

Someone called me boss as they walked over. Judging by the label that read foreman, they seemed to be the site foreman.

"Boss?"

"Yeah, he's the president of the company supplying materials here. You know, the one connected to Pastor Go."

"Ah... President Baek?"

What were they talking about?

I didn't have a title that would get me called boss any...

"Ah!"

When we were preparing to reopen Yurim Hotel, Pastor Go had made me stamp a bunch of documents.

One of them must've been for a materials company.

"You're also the owner of this land. You know, the arrangement with the chairman building the factory here..."

"Ah... Ahem! What brings you here?"

"Oh, I was passing by and got curious, so I came to look around. It's nothing, so don't worry about me."

I could see the workers becoming more cautious around me.

It looked like more people would start crowding around, so I quickly left the site.

"As expected of King God Emperor Daimyo, my lord~ Your fame spreads far and wide!"

"S-stop it..."

Still, I didn't feel great about it.

When I thought about it, wasn't that... massive tax evasion?

There were reasons to justify it, but it still made me feel like I was committing a crime.

"Let's hurry up and find Kim Panyeong."

I opened the page with Kim Panyeong's name on the Karmic Mirror Paper again. But the terrain around it looked strange.

"Huh? What? He disappeared somewhere completely different."

"What? Wasn't he around Nowon just now?"

He'd been directly north of Junggok-dong.

But now Kim Panyeong was heading west from Junggok-dong.

"Can ghosts move this fast?"

It had taken about ten minutes to find Kim Panyeong's soul with the Ghost Soul Compendium, change clothes, and jump here.

Then I ran into the construction workers and took another five minutes before opening it again. He'd moved more than ten kilometers in fifteen minutes.

Unless it was Gari in Chariot Mode, or a winged ghost like Joryeong, it was impossible to cover that distance in one go.

"The terrain keeps changing! No, how is he moving so quickly?"

"It doesn't make sense..."

There were ghosts that could fly, but none should be this fast.

"Is he like Eight-Foot Sister?"

【Po?】

I looked at Eight-Foot Sister as she tilted her head.

She could definitely do it, but...

"Cases like the Eight-Foot-Tall Ghost are rare. We should rule that out for now and consider other possibilities."

"You're right."

Even powerful ghosts didn't often move as quickly as Eight-Foot Sister.

It would be different if Kim Panyeong had become an urban legend, but that didn't seem likely when his actual name showed up.

When I searched for Eight-Foot Sister with the Ghost Soul Compendium, she had simply appeared as Eight-Foot Sister, hadn't she?

If Kim Panyeong had turned into an anomaly, his real name wouldn't be listed.

Could he be riding something?

Could ghosts even ride vehicles? No, I'd seen plenty of examples.

Taxi ghosts and bus urban legends, for one.

But could he move this fast, even in a vehicle?

"How could he be moving like this? Is he an urban-legend-type vengeful soul?"

"Hmm..."

As Kohaku and I sank into thought, Eight-Foot Sister, who had been quietly staring at the Ghost Soul Compendium, poked me.

【Po~】

"What's wrong?"

【Po~】

Eight-Foot Sister pointed at my pocket.

"My phone?"

【Po.】

When I handed it to her, Eight-Foot Sister skillfully operated the smartphone and opened Naver Map.

She searched for a subway map.

"Kim Panyeong is moving through the subway?"

【Po... Po...】

Just as she said, the Ghost Soul Compendium, which updated in real time, moved exactly like someone watching their own location while riding the subway.

I'd never considered it, but once I matched it to the subway lines, everything fit perfectly.

"Oh! Good job, Eight-Foot Sister! How'd you think of that?"

【Po~】

Eight-Foot Sister smiled faintly and twisted up the corners of her mouth.

I'd seen her smile plenty of times, but this was the first time I'd seen her make such a twisted smile.

It was like she was showing it to someone...

"Grr!"

For some reason, Kohaku trembled with frustration.

"My lord! Judging by this direction, Kim Panyeong appears to be traveling on Subway Line 7! I shall bring this Kim Panyeong to you!"

"You're not coming with us?"

"Wouldn't splitting up make it easier to find him? Leave it to me!"

Kohaku immediately sprinted toward the subway. At the same time, Eight-Foot Sister started running too.

"H-hey, you two?"

They ran off before I could say anything.

How did they know where Kim Panyeong was headed?

"Gari, aren't you going?"

Claaaaack~

Gari only let out a long, dismissive yawn.

* * *

Kim Panyeong.

Judge Kim was a soul burdened with resentment, unable to leave this world even after death.

He had been a renowned judge in life.

He took pride in being a member of the judiciary and had lived uprightly, without shame before himself.

He knew very well why he had become a vengeful soul, wandering this world.

【Haaah...】

【Judge, why are you sighing like that?】

Across the subway car, a ghost sprawled across the priority seats spoke to him.

The clothes ghosts wore were deeply connected to the karma they had accumulated in life.

Students wore school uniforms. Office workers wore suits. Since Judge Kim had been a judge, he wore judicial robes.

The ghost across from him, on the other hand, wore filthy, ragged clothes.

He must have been homeless in life.

【It's nothing.】

Judge Kim brushed off the ghost across from him.

They were the kind of people he wouldn't have even acknowledged in life.

Though they were now both ghosts, he still looked down on the ghost without realizing it.

【Doesn't look like nothing. You've been sighing up a storm. Looks like you've had plenty to worry about since you were alive.】

【Mind your own business and go on your way.】

【Look at this guy. I went out of my way to worry about you.】

The homeless ghost abruptly stood and walked toward Judge Kim.

Looking closely, the homeless ghost was at least a head taller than him, enough to make Judge Kim shrink back.

【Hey, Judge. I don't know how long you've been dead, but do you still think you're a judge?】

【D-don't do this. The citizens of our law-governed society...】

【What are you talking about? Law? Is there anything like that here?】

Of course, there was no such thing as law in the world of the dead.

Maybe there would be in an afterlife like Heaven or Hell, but weren't they like refugees wandering without a destination?

There was no law or order here.

【I was the guy who got stabbed to death on Line 7. Ever heard of the Yongmasan stabbing?】

【I-I know that case...】

Judge Kim had heard of it too.

A psychiatric patient had gone on a stabbing spree in the subway, killing one homeless person and injuring several others.

【I waited years after dying unfairly, just to see that bastard get sentenced to death. Then some judge bastard said the prosecutor asking for thirty years was too harsh and cut it down to seven years. All because he was mentally ill.】

【T-there were mitigating factors, so it couldn't be helped-】

【What? It couldn't be helped?!】

The homeless ghost flew into a rage and began kicking Judge Kim.

Judge Kim had never been in a fight in his life. He couldn't resist as he was beaten.

【They cut it down because he was mentally ill! They cut it down because it was unplanned! They cut it down because it was his first offense! Fuck, remorse? Sincere remorse?! What kind of bullshit is letting off someone who killed a person because he wrote an apology letter?!】

【Urgh! Ugh!】

Judge Kim felt wronged.

What was he supposed to do when that was the law?

The sentencing criteria were laid out by law. Ignoring them to deliver a verdict would itself be an abuse of the law.

Of course, he understood the victim's feelings.

If he were in their shoes, he'd want to hand that insane murderer the death sentence too.

How many serious criminals had he seen while working as a judge?

He'd seen children below the age of criminal responsibility walk free laughing even after killing someone, and rent-deposit scammers who got only a few years in prison.

If it were up to him, he'd sentence them to death, castrate them, and take every last bit of money they'd hidden away.

Judges were people too. How could they not be enraged like everyone else?

But what was he supposed to do when that was the law?

In the end, judges were always the ones who got cursed at.

The constant accusations that he'd taken bribes and that old refrain, "Would you have ruled like that if they were your family?" had become so common he was sick of hearing them.

'I did too! I wanted to sentence all those bastards to death too!'

Judge Kim wanted to shout out his feelings as he was beaten.

But he wasn't a judge anymore, and he no longer had the authority to pass judgment on anyone.

He would wander this world like this, unable to let go of his resentment, until he eventually faded away.

He just didn't want to become an evil spirit.

Thudududududu!!

【Die! Die, you judge bast-?!】

At that moment, the homeless ghost stopped beating him.

Had he gotten tired? When Judge Kim cautiously looked up, the homeless ghost's eyes were trembling as he stared somewhere.

【F-fuck... what the hell is that...?】

Following the homeless ghost's trembling gaze, Judge Kim turned and felt terror seize his legs.

【What is that...?】