Chapter 5: Verdict (2)
King Yeomra clicked his tongue. “Ugh! I’ve been sending those useless prophets to spread my name for centuries and what do I get? A shit-full of unbelievers. Tsk, tsk.”
My God. What do you think? I’m an atheist by nature. No, technically I’m agonistic. I can only believe what I have seen. How can I believe something when I’ve never seen it?
There are many impudent swindlers in this world. I took this opportunity to ask the Lord of the Underworld a thought that had been plaguing me. “But is heaven and hell big? Thinking about the number of people born and those who died through the passing of centuries, would heaven and hell be enough to fit them?”
“The concept of physical space is not important. The fact that you can put a universe in a small bead is key to modern physics. Are you ignorant? How can you not know this?”
Mother of god… I’m no god? How about that for an answer.
Aish… I think I’ll go crazy if I continue talking to him.
“Now, weigh yourself.”
At the order of King Yeomra, the coffin transformed into a scale.
In that short moment, mixed feelings overcame me. Looking back, I hadn’t lived the best of my life. Responsibility always came first; my family and my filial piety. I never stuck my hand out to those in need nor the poor. I had no memory of giving a helping hand if it didn’t benefit me. That didn’t mean that I was a horrible man nor was it a crime. I was just an ordinary man, neither nor bad.
I wonder what my result will be.
“Oh my God. Oh. My. God. OH MY GOD.”
“W—what? Is something wrong?”
I couldn’t resist my curiosity. I lifted my head and took a peek. The second hand of the scale was pointing precisely in the middle. The bundle of good deeds and evil deeds done was perfectly leveled.
“It’s a strange thing. Your good deeds and bad deeds are the same.”
“What’s going to happen to me the? Will I be half seasoned or half fried?”
King Yeomra made a slight frown at my unsavory joke and muttered softly as if he was trying to communicate. Is he wearing a bluetooth in his ear?
“…Yes, I’ll take care of it. Hmm. The upper court has ruled then.”
“Upper? Who else is on top of the underworld?”
“Stop asking the obvious. I’m just a junior god in charge of the underworld.”
Oh, so there’s someone ranked higher than a king. Was it the Great Jade Emperor who made the ruling?
“Anyways, King Yeomra the Great, what is my ruling?”
“You will now be reincarnated.”
“Lee Jungwoo… will be… reborn?”
“Yes. You will be able to relive the memories of your past life and live anew and build your karmic good and evil to be judged again.”
“What? A second ruling again?”
“That’s right.”
“So you’re telling me to live this horrible life again? I don’t want to.”
“What?” King Yeomra’s eyes fluttered open at my bold response.
Is it maybe because I was the first person who refused to reincarnate?
“After my tragic death, I wandered around the River of Three Crossings and things I wish I hadn’t seen. I thought everything was over at last… that finally, my damned life has ended. Do you want me to live that life again? No, I don’t want to. Just decide my fate right now. If you want to send me to hell, I’ll abide by this decision without protest. I lived a hellish life anyway, so how bad can this hell be?”
“Oh, well I hate to break it to you, but you don’t get to choose. You are judged.”
“Oh, come on! Just let me go!”
I protested and pouted like a child. At my violent reaction, both the servant and King Yeomra looked bewildered.
I’m going to die anyway. Let me act out.
Oh, wait… I’m already dead.
As I continued protesting, I threw away all my dignity and pride and began lamenting.
“To be honest, I wasn’t happy. I never lived a good life aside from my good brain. For over 20 years, I did nothing but sit at the desk studying hellishly all for what? And later on, I’d been betrayed. My wife cheated on me and I was stabbed to death by my wife’s lover. But do you know the cause of my death? It’s pitifully funny. It’s because my dick is small! The cause of my death is because I wasn’t able to please a woman. Oh, sorry. I suddenly got excited.”
“…”
“I later found out that my wife was impure. She was having an affair. When my death had been investigated by the police, my wife lied through her teeth. She didn’t want a divorce. She’d lose my money. So they planned to kill me.”
“…”
“What good is it if I have to relive that life again? I would rather not. You say this is my destiny, right? Well, I have lived that life, and it’s a damn shithole.”
The reason why I wandered around the River of Three Crossings was that I had a grudge. I followed my wife like a mad ghost.
She denied all allegations until the end of the investigation. It was wrong of her to cheat, she said, but she didn’t coerce her lover to kill me. It was all his doing. However, through the CCTV investigation, every detail of that day was revealed.
After I had been stabbed to death, my wife tried to bury me instead of calling the police. She said that I went on a business trip to the provinces and suddenly went missing. Eventually, she was arrested on all accounts of murder.
Later that day, my body had been recovered from a reservoir near Gyeonggi-do. I burst out in tears as I watched my parents fall into a miserable state.
My daughter had been caught in the middle and the truth was revealed. When my parents found out about my wife’s affair, they immediately conducted a paternity test.
“…Even my daughter whom I cherished so much was not my child. I’m a fool. She didn’t look like me or had any resemblance, but I never doubted it.”
“…”
My complaints to avoid my rebirth had been long and dismal. King Yeomra and the servant listened to my story without interruption. I wonder if they felt any sort of sympathy.
“…I have no regrets. My life has been nothing but excruciating pain and you want me to live again? What an irresponsible thing to say. No. I can’t. I won’t. God wouldn’t allow me to go through that again if he had any consciousness.”
「Haha! From what I’ve heard, this guy’s weird. Yeomra, send him up.」
Suddenly, there was a loud rumble in the air.
What? Who is it?