Chapter 385: Heaven and Hell
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 385: Heaven and Hell
“No. Let’s look around the temple first, then we’ll go in.”
“Ah! Yes!”
To be honest, I wanted to go in right away, but seeing the expressions on Baek Ahyeon and Choi Seulgi’s faces, I felt that postponing it for a bit was the right choice. It would be impossible to see everything at once anyway, so it was better to explore the surrounding area a little more before descending into the basement.
While Choi Seulgi and Baek Ahyeon were interested in the heaven side of things, the place I was far more interested in was, without a doubt, hell. Taking in the sights, I spoke to Baek Ahyeon.
“I think I heard you mention ‘revenge welfare’ earlier…”
“Ah, yes, that’s right. Revenge welfare. The Savior’s faithful have lived happy lives from the beginning, but that isn’t the case for the elves who were already here. They were enslaved, tormented, and sexually exploited by the Japanese. They were even forced to participate in unwanted battles. Revenge welfare was created for elves like them.”
“Is it effective?”
“Of course. They were a little hesitant at first… but they all adapted quickly. It made me think that thinking creatures, whether human or elf, adapt quickly to their environment.”
“It seems you have a separate place for it.”
“Yes! That’s right. We try to avoid bloodshed here on the top floor as much as possible… so we’ve prepared a separate location in the basement.”
“Hmm…”
“Occasionally, the elven women summon Japanese men.”
“……?”
“The men in the basement have a small side effect from a special potion. It causes them to feel immense pain instead of pleasure upon ejaculation. From the elves’ perspective, it’s just returning what was done to them, but the pain is said to be enough to cause death from shock, so it’s likely an even greater torment than what they endured.”
In other words, the men down there couldn’t have proper intercourse. She hadn’t just built a new city; she had created an entirely new world. While I was still a little surprised, Choi Seulgi was nodding her head repeatedly as if it were all very impressive, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at a distant statue. Its overwhelming size forced her to crane her neck back to see it all.
The tip of the statue’s shoe felt about as tall as I was. Choi Seulgi let out a gasp of admiration.
“Wow… This is…”
“It’s a statue that’s currently under construction. The other statues and the wooden effigy of the World Tree are about this size as well. It’s being made from an ore that can only be found in the East, but it’s taking longer than expected…”
They were certainly working hard. What was interesting was that you could clearly distinguish the two groups of workers. The difference was in their expressions. The ones working with joyful faces were the temple’s artisans, who were being paid for their labor. The ones working cautiously with anxious faces were clearly the Japanese.
There was one other difference. While the temple’s faithful were bowing to me, the Japanese who had been brought out to work were desperately keeping their heads bowed, their gazes fixed to the ground.
‘So they’re not allowed to look.’
I didn’t know the details, but they were probably forbidden from looking at me.
Their anxious demeanor, as if worried that any trouble might fall on them, was certainly different from the Japanese I’d seen before. Servility and anxiety were etched into their very beings. It had been a short time, all things considered. I began to find Baek Ahyeon even more terrifying for having changed them to this extent.
“Hmm. Ahyeon, have you seen that form before?”
“Yes? What…”
“Kim Taesung, you brought the chair, right?”
“Of course…”
Choi Seulgi whispered in my ear, and I gave a rough nod.
I kept it stored separately in the subspace of my cloak. I’d stored it there for the purpose of firing it like a projectile, but I never imagined the first deployment of the Iron Throne and the Hermit’s Cloak would be in a place like this.
Naturally, I knew what Choi Seulgi wanted. I extended my arm slightly, and the weapons that composed the Iron Throne began to shoot out from the cloak.
They formed the shape of a chair in a mere instant. Before I could even bend down, the Iron Throne was complete, appearing on the spot with a loud CRACK as it shattered the floor.
“S-Savior…”
I saw Choi Seulgi’s triumphant face and Baek Ahyeon’s expression of utter disbelief. Perhaps due to the wave of magic from the throne’s creation, my cloak billowed, creating an even more dramatic scene. To be honest, it might have looked a little cool.
The moment I sat down, a sound that was not quite a cheer, yet a cheer all the same, erupted from Baek Ahyeon.
“Savior!!! Aaaaaaaahhhhh!”
It was the first time I’d ever heard Baek Ahyeon scream like that. Even a fangirl at an idol’s concert wouldn’t react like that.
“Haa… haa… It’s just as cool seeing it again. Really…”
“Aaaaaahhh!! It truly looks like something out of a myth! Oh, Savior! To see you seated upon a throne made of weapons, this humble believer can now die without any regrets!”
“……”
“If we’re going to modify it anyway, how about this pose?”
“Of course. Of course, creating it in this form would be much wiser. Lady Seulgi, you are brilliant.”
“Hmph. I know a thing or two.”
Baek Ahyeon’s face was so flushed she looked like she was about to get a nosebleed, and she pressed a hand to her nose.
“Listen up! We will immediately begin redesigning the statue in this image! I will grant you the opportunity to sear the Savior’s divine image into your filthy eyes, so burn it into your memories as quickly as possible.”
“Y-Yes, we understand! For… for the Savior…”
A desperate voice responded to Baek Ahyeon’s cry. It seemed the general supervisor of this project was not a temple artisan, but one of the Japanese. The moment Baek Ahyeon’s order fell, he began to study me with a desperate look. He knew that if he failed to commit my image to memory, he would die.
It wasn’t just him. The other Japanese were also staring at me desperately. I even began to see some of them taking out charcoal to sketch my likeness.
“Mm…”
As quickly and as accurately as possible—that was probably their mission. It was then that I felt like I made eye contact with a Japanese woman. Though only a moment had passed, Baek Ahyeon spoke swiftly.
“You are not worthy of laying your eyes upon him. You wenches, lower your gazes this instant, or I will gouge those eyes out myself.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
The woman I’d made eye contact with screamed. In the brief time that had passed, there were no longer any Japanese with their heads raised.
“I like this place,” Choi Seulgi muttered as she watched the scene.
I, on the other hand, found it a little frightening.
Touring the temple’s interior took a long time, but it wasn’t all bad. In particular, watching Choi Seulgi and Baek Ahyeon enjoying themselves was quite pleasant for me as well.
After a while, we joined up with Lee Wanyong and were just preparing to head down to the basement. The ones going down were just me, Choi Seulgi, and Lee Wanyong. Baek Ahyeon had wanted to come along, but since the goal was for a smaller group to experience it, she would unfortunately have to join us next time.
Baek Ahyeon looked incredibly sad at the news that she would have to be content with just seeing us off at the entrance, but she didn’t say anything else to me.
“Are you truly certain you will be alright going down in that state, Savior? Those filthy creatures wouldn’t dare harm you, but I am terribly worried that your mood might be soured.”
“There’s no problem, my believer. Do not worry, and carry out your duties.”
This was precisely why I wasn’t taking Baek Ahyeon with me.
“Hmm… this magic is a bit sloppy. Will it be okay?”
“Hehe. Of course, it will be fine, Lady Seulgi. Even with illusion magic of this level, the ones in the basement will not dare to recognize the true forms of the Savior and yourself.”
“Well… it’s not Eunju-unni’s specialty, but… it’s still high-level magic. It’ll be hard for them to tell,” Lee Wanyong replied to Choi Seulgi’s question.
Going down in disguise was a sort of amusement. I wanted to experience it for myself, and I thought I’d be able to see a more natural side of things than if I went as myself.
If Baek Ahyeon were with me, she would probably lop off the head of anyone who dared to curse at me.
“You can take this down, Savior.”
“This is like an elevator, isn’t it?”
I agreed with Choi Seulgi. The basement was apparently so deep that such a facility was necessary. It seemed to be powered by magic, but its structure didn’t look very complex. As I boarded the elevator with Baek Ahyeon, who had agreed to see us to the very entrance of the basement, along with Lee Wanyong and Choi Seulgi, it felt like something I hadn’t seen since I was on Earth. The difference from the ones on Earth was that it wasn’t enclosed on all four sides, but open.
Thanks to that, the sights that came into view as we slowly began to descend were reminiscent of a horror movie.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhh!”
“I believe in the Savior. Please, believe me. Please… I’m begging you.”
“Aaaaaahhh!”
“Just send me back down… sob… sob… Please… please send me back down…”
It was a scene I had witnessed once before.
“The Inquisitors are doing their best for the Savior today as well.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Ah, over there, you can see Inquisitor Park Jihye, the wife of believer Lee Wanyong.”
Finding it difficult to watch his wife at work, Lee Wanyong hastily turned his head away.
“Only those who have passed various qualifications and tests at the very bottom of the basement are allowed to participate in this purification ritual. Of course, unfortunately, not many are reborn as true believers.”
“How many have there been?”
“One. Regrettably, so far, only a single believer has risen from the bottom to live a happy life above. Perhaps due to a lack of faith, most of them start screaming to be sent back down before they even pass a few stages. Of course, once they’ve come up, they must undergo a certain amount of the purification ritual, so we don’t just send them back.”
“I see…”
In other words, it wasn’t that there was no path to the surface at all. But that path itself was agony. If it were me, I would rather choose to live in the basement.
As we continued to descend, new scenery came into view.
From those being tortured with sharp objects to those undergoing water torture, all sorts of bizarre things involving magic potions and monsters began to appear. I thought I saw something like tentacles pass by.
“From the basement to the surface is…”
“About 150 floors.”
That meant one had to endure 150 different kinds of hellish torture, climbing one floor at a time.
“……”
When I looked at Baek Ahyeon, appalled, she muttered with a gloomy expression.
“I am truly sorry. They are filthy to the bone… I’ve even heard that recently, some of these filthy wretches have started refusing to ascend. We are forcing them up, but… those who have already lost their will have no potential… I will strive to work harder.”
She seemed to have interpreted my look as a reprimand for the fact that only one person had passed through all 150 floors. That wasn’t it at all. On the contrary, I was just incredibly curious about who that one person was.
After some time had passed, I felt the elevator we were all riding in come to a stop.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Yes. Well then, I will see you on the surface, Savior.”
“You’ve worked hard. I’m proud of you.”
“Th-Thank you, Savior.”
It was right to say at least that much.
Together with Choi Seulgi and Lee Wanyong, I bypassed the Inquisitors who were waiting for us and stepped outside. Soon, a place entirely different from the heaven above began to unfold before my eyes.
“Hah…”
As I stood there with my mouth slightly agape, Lee Wanyong nodded with a confident expression.