Chapter 113

Only after combing through the surroundings for a while did I reach a conclusion about where this place was.

Damn it. No matter how I looked at it, there was no mistake. This was...

“I told you, you don’t need to be that tense. As long as you don’t go near it, it won’t bite.”

Looking at the sneering Kim Namwoon, I let out a small sigh.

A three-headed monster was staring this way from near the entrance. Cerberus, the monstrous hound seen only in myths. It looked bored. Two of its heads were dozing, and only one had its eyes wide open, keeping watch over the surroundings.

There was no doubt. This was the prison of Tartarus, the hell of the underworld.

Kim Namwoon kept yammering on as if he were some kind of guide to hell.

“That’s just a pup. At best, it’s a Tier 4 monstrosity. There are way nastier ones downstairs.”

He was right that it was a pup. It said so in TWSA, too.

The farther down Tartarus you went, the stronger the prisoners locked away there were, and the Cerberus guarding each floor grew larger as you descended.

Kim Namwoon snickered and asked,

“So, what do you think? First impressions of hell?”

I opened my mouth, wary of his swaggering attitude. There was every reason to stay tense around this psychopath, since there was no knowing when he might suddenly turn.

“There’s something I want to ask.”

“What?”

“Is there anyone else here besides you?”

“You’ve got ajussi right here.”

“Besides me.”

I carefully examined the faces of the passing wraiths. But I didn’t see anyone I knew. For example, Myeong Ilsang, Catastrophe of Questions, or a non-human like Song Minwoo.

“As far as I know, no. Out of everyone who was on that subway, I’m the only one who came here.”

Hades’s underworld was only one of the world’s countless afterlives.

The dead Incarnations had probably each gone to different afterlives according to the beliefs they held while alive, or else through some arbitrary classification. Myeong Ilsang and Song Minwoo were probably the same.

I watched Kim Namwoon’s reaction as I continued.

“Has a young woman come here recently, by any chance?”

“A young woman?”

“White hair, um... a ponytail. Pretty.”

Kim Namwoon frowned for a moment, then suddenly burst into giggles.

“Ahh, now I get it.”

I listened closely, wondering if he had seen Shin Yuseong. Kim Namwoon wagged his pinky finger.

“So you died trying to save a woman, ajussi?”

“......”

“That really is the problem with old-fashioned people. All this living and dying for love... Seriously, what era are you from?”

“Did you see her or not? Just answer that.”

“Of course I didn’t. Too bad. Can’t meet your beloved girlfriend?”

It seemed Shin Yuseong’s soul hadn’t come here either.

There was still a chance she hadn’t crossed the Acheron yet, but...

Either way, since she was a soul from another worldline, she would stay here only briefly before being expelled outside the worldline.

What I had to do was get my hands on her soul before that happened.

“What were you doing here?”

“What do you mean, what? Making that. Now you’ll be making it too.”

Kim Namwoon dusted the ash off his hands and pointed behind him.

“That. See the thing that looks like a Gundam?”

I had already been looking at it. A weapon shaped like a giant, finished in black gleaming metal, breathing slowly like a living creature. A weapon prepared for the most horrifying war in myth.

A Colossus.

Sure enough, Hades was already preparing for the Gigantomachia.

As expected, he was different from the twelve gods of Olympus, who did nothing but eat, shit, and run their mouths about preparing for war. Come to think of it, even if Hades was a Constellation from Greek myth, he didn’t belong to Olympus. That was when I heard a commotion outside the entrance.

Kim Namwoon’s expression turned serious as he grabbed my shoulder.

“Come here. Come with me.”

“Why?”

“Can’t you see the overseers coming? I set up a workstation over there, so go and at least pretend to hammer something. The newer you are, the quicker you’re supposed to move.”

I knew that much already. If this really was Tartarus’s Slave Forge, I had a rough idea of how it worked. So Tartarus itself wasn’t what surprised me. Kim Namwoon stuck out his lower lip.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I hadn’t been going to say anything, but I couldn’t help it.

“Seeing me doesn’t make you feel anything?”

“What do you mean?”

Kim Namwoon seemed to think for a moment, and then a creepy smile spread across his face.

“Ahh, you’re acting like that because you’re scared of me?”

“......”

“You think I might take revenge on you. Right?”

If I wasn’t scared, that would be abnormal. I had killed the bastard who reigned as an even worse psychopath than Yu Junghyeok in the original work. If that same guy suddenly started acting friendly toward me and I wasn’t terrified, that would be strange.

“Well, there’s no need for people who are already dead to be cold to each other, right? Besides, I’ve changed a lot since I got here. I’ve done a lot of reflecting, too.”

What absurd nonsense. The idea of that Delusional Demon Kim Namwoon reflecting on himself was about as believable as Yu Junghyeok suddenly turning into a pretty girl one day.

Of course I knew it had to be a lie, but I decided to show him the last courtesy I could offer another person and activate [lie detection]. After all, this was exactly the kind of situation I’d gotten the skill for.

But then.

[You have confirmed that statement to be true.]

...What?

Dumbfounded, I stared at him. Kim Namwoon cried out like he’d been wronged.

“I’m serious! Why can’t you trust what people say? I told you I’m living while atoning for my sins. I even think of it as something to be grateful to you for. For killing me.”

“......No, why?”

“Meals come on time. I get a place to sleep. I don’t have to go to school, and there are no nagging parents... It’s a bit hot, but this place is the best.”

And yet here was someone talking about Tartarus, hell itself, like that.

“Besides, when I get bored, I can assemble Gunpla[1]. How great is that?”

Calling a Colossus Gunpla.

“It’s thanks to you, ajussi. I mean it. I’m really grateful.”

This bastard really was insane.

[The character Kim Namwoon feels goodwill toward you.]

Damn it. With even the system message popping up like that, I couldn’t exactly refuse to believe it.

“Anyway, hurry up and get over here. We don’t have time!”

Led by Kim Namwoon, I headed toward his workstation. The tools he had been using were laid out neatly on the workbench, and there was even a Gunpla made out of leftover metal.

To think he was doing this with metal from the underworld.

It really drove home again that this bastard’s character setting had been pure chuunibyou.

“They’re coming. Pick up a hammer.”

No sooner had he spoken than the Cerberus at the gate started barking.

Overseers holding a club in one hand and a whip in the other were entering Tartarus. Hades’s minions wrapped in pitch-black capes. They didn’t look as strong as the judges, but it still wouldn’t be good to get caught. I stood there awkwardly and pretended to hammer a few times. Kim Namwoon snickered beside me.

The overseer climbed straight up onto the platform by the entrance and spoke in a voice like iron scraping.

[An announcement to the slaves on the 1st Floor. There will now be an unscheduled inspection.]

Kim Namwoon frowned and grumbled.

“Those bastards are always pulling this shit. If they’ve got nothing to do, it’s always inspections and whatever...”

But at the words that followed, Kim Namwoon immediately shut his mouth.

[An illegal intruder has appeared in the underworld. We have been told that someone crossed the Acheron with the soul of a living being.]

Wraiths holding hammers and saws murmured in confusion.

The overseer continued.

[If the great death learns of this, something terrible will happen to you as well. Therefore, this inspection is being conducted to root out that impure intruder. For now, it is only a formality, so do not be nervous. Everyone is to remain where they are.]

Damn it, things were moving faster than I had expected.

I heard Kim Namwoon muttering under his breath.

“That really is stupid. Even if a living guy did come here, why would he sneak into Tartarus of all places? Once you come in, you can never get back out. Right?”

“......”

“Hey, ajussi?”

“Ah, yeah.”

I had been thinking, so my answer came a beat late. Kim Namwoon looked at me and spoke in a blank voice.

“I’ll ask just in case. That isn’t about you, is it...?”

“That’s right.”

“Holy shit.”

Kim Namwoon threw down his hammer and laughed in disbelief.

“Wow, you really know how to stab someone in the back. So all this time I’ve been whining to a living human about my life?”

I couldn’t tell whether he was angry or amused.

With a sigh, I asked him,

“...Is there anywhere to hide here?”

“Holy shit, where would there be a hiding place in a prison? If it comes down to it, hide inside that Gunpla or something!”

I looked toward the Colossus. Hiding in there really would be one option. The problem was that thing was already close to a living being, so if I went inside it, there was a good chance I would be digested just like that.

“Is it finished?”

“Not yet. Something’s wrong with the core or whatever... You’re not seriously thinking of hiding in there, are you?”

“No.”

“Good thinking. If you go in there, you’ll die on the spot.”

“...Didn’t you say you were going to live as a good person?”

“I’m only nice to dead people. Shame, since we met again after so long. You’ll die soon too, ajussi, so when that happens, I’ll be nice to you again.”

Looking like he found my situation deeply satisfying, Kim Namwoon drew a hand across his throat.

While we traded nonsense, the overseer had already come close.

If the Colossus had been complete, there might have been the option of riding it, beating Cerberus to death, and heading straight for Hades’s palace, but even that was impossible now.

[Due to the effect of your attribute, your memory of pages you have already read has improved!]

Desperately, I dredged up the contents of TWSA. Come to think of it, Yu Junghyeok had visited the underworld once in a later round.

How had that bastard handled it then?

「“Tell the King of the Underworld. I’m taking the Colossus Pluto.”」

「“Tell everyone to get lost if they don’t want to die.”」

...That psycho bastard.

It had been fun when I read it, but now that it was my situation, it was no help at all. To face one of Hades’s judges head-on. Something like that was only possible for a regressor like Yu Junghyeok. He had the force and the chance to do it. But I...

...No, wait a second. What was stopping me from doing it the way he did?

The moment I changed my angle of approach, the direction of my thoughts changed too. Of course I couldn’t actually behave like him. But there were plenty of ways for me to bluff.

Why shouldn’t I get caught by the judge?

Because if I failed the Hidden Scenario, I would become a resident of the underworld?

Or because the judges, wary of Hades, would try to annihilate me?

How stupid.

To begin with, that was the kind of problem I didn’t need to worry about as long as I solved just one thing.

At last, the overseer reached our workstation. I stepped forward instead.

The overseer asked,

“Who are you?”

“The person you were looking for.”

At that moment, a light flashed in the overseer’s eyes. From somewhere, I began to hear something like a sharp metallic sound. My body gradually felt as if it were freezing cold, and soon the back of my neck went chill.

If I turned around now, Hades’s judge would probably have my throat in their grip.

Resisting the cold that seemed to freeze my bones, I opened my mouth.

“It looks like you’re planning to annihilate me, but you’d better think carefully.”

I didn’t have Yu Junghyeok’s kind of force. But I had something he didn’t.

“If you kill me now, you will absolutely lose the Gigantomachia.”

The overseer’s eyes wavered for an instant, and the chill eased, if only briefly. I didn’t miss that opening and spoke while looking toward the Colossus.

“Tell the Father of the Rich Night. Tell him I know how to complete that Colossus.”

Then a terrible silence descended.

My body was slowly freezing from the nape of my neck outward, but I deliberately did not resist.

This was a test.

Before I knew it, the chill had passed my neck and shoulders and begun descending toward my chest. I didn’t panic. A little more. Just a little more. And finally, the moment the cold was about to dig in around my heart, it stopped as if by magic. Then a message appeared.

[The Hidden Scenario's contents have been updated.]

A little while later, under the judge’s guidance, I began to climb toward Hades’s palace.

Beyond the growling Cerberus, I saw Kim Namwoon receding into the distance. Kim Namwoon stared at me blankly, and I quietly waved a hand to him.

Then live well in hell, Namwoon.