Hell Train: Give Me That Body!
The passenger in car 10 of the train thought. When will I be able to return to the land of the living? Memories from when he was alive didn't come to mind much. Still, he could somehow recall the most recent ones. He'd run into a man in a black coat, and when he came to, he was inside this train. At first, he'd tried to tough it out until they reached the land of the living, but every time they pulled into a station, the pain was unbearable. The judgment hurt. Electrocuted, burned by fire, pelted with stones, pierced by thorns, drowned in water, frozen in the cold. Anyone who's felt extreme agony knows it all too well. At that point, you'd think dying would be better than enduring this. So he'd gotten off the train. Sealing his death. He regretted it. He shouldn't have gotten off. The time after was even harder than the torment on the train. Once you step off, you need bribe money to board again. So he had to do hard labor, treated almost like a slave. Working in hell, he gradually lost his humanity, until he no longer looked human at all. But somehow, he'd scraped together the bribe money. He would return to the land of the living. And then what? He didn't know. He couldn't even remember if he had family. Not his name, not what he looked like. Not even why he had to go back. He just wanted to escape this hell of suffering somehow. But human life had been painful too, it seemed. Did that mean human life was just another hell? Escaping one hell for the familiar hell of humanity. It was so absurd he let out a hollow laugh. So when would they arrive in the land of the living? How long did he have to endure this hell? When would the judgment end? When could he escape this train? When would this pain finally stop?
"Okay, everyone, make way~."
A cheerful voice echoed through car 10. He glanced that way. A life-sized doll was walking around. At a glance, it looked like a living human. It was that human-like. He felt envious. I'm no longer human, but that doll's at least holding onto a human form. Following the doll came new passengers he'd never seen before, all stepping forward. They all had human shapes. But he vaguely sensed they weren't human. More like they were pretending to be. Still, he envied them. I'm no longer human. They're monsters just like me. But they get to keep their human appearances. So damn enviable. Looking closer, he spotted the tiny girl they were protecting. A human. A living human. Ah, I'm so jealous. Jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. Why is she alive when I'm dead? Why, why, why, why, why, why, why? It's so annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying. Give me that body.
"Give me that booooody!!!"
The passenger in car 10 lunged at Mayuri. Or tried to.
"Sorry, but no can do!"
His arm was grabbed. His leg was grabbed. His waist was grabbed. His neck was grabbed. By the dolls. Aaah! Aaaaaah! Why are you stopping me! Just because she's the only one alive! The only one breathing! Without any effort! She just sits there and keeps her human form. Just sits there and stays alive. From the perspective of the dead, it's pure deprivation! I've suffered more in hell, worked harder in hell. I should be the living human!
"Sorry, Yuri! It's getting too noisy! Gotta shut this one's mouth!"
Soon the dolls reached out and clamped his mouth shut.
Baesena eyed the monster that had tried to attack Mayuri. It kept saying something, but Baesena wasn't interested. What monsters said didn't matter. Especially ones trying to harm humans. It really didn't matter at all.
Baesena didn't like the word "hell" much. Suppose there was a god in this world. If that god showed hell to everyone, no one would do bad things out of fear, right? But plenty of people do evil in this world. So one of two things: either hell doesn't exist, or god doesn't. Of course, god might exist but not show hell to humans. But if so, isn't god wasting hell? If god isn't omnipotent, incompetent, and doesn't watch over us, can you even call that a god? Decisively, the world is like this, and it's too harsh on humans right now. So Baesena doesn't believe in god. At the same time, she despises god.
"Did you mess with me while I was asleep? Touch me here and there or something?"
Baesena, waking from the carrier, asked Mayuri that.
"N-no, I didn't…."
"Doesn't matter to me~. Touch all you want!"
"No need for that."
Mayuri's slightly cold tone. But it really didn't matter. After all, Baesena was made of countless duplicate bodies, and she'd handed ownership of one to Mayuri. Squeeze it, break it, whatever. Mayuri owned it, so no holding back. Thinking that, Baesena moved forward. Dolls filled every space. Passengers grabbed by dolls' limbs. Passengers buried under hordes of dolls. Even the hell train attendants were caught.
"What is the meaning of this! Disturbances on the train are a clear violation of regulations! Grounds for punishment!"
"Then punish me."
Baesena said to the attendant.
"I caused all the commotion. So how are you gonna punish me? Kill me? Throw me off the train?"
"That's…."
"I'll take any punishment gladly! But how many of us need to be punished? 100? 1,000? 10,000? How many do you need? Tell me."
"……."
The attendant shut his mouth, unsure what to say. Infinitely self-replicating Baesena. What could be more pointless than punishing her? Anyway. Word of Baesena's commotion had spread to the other attendants. Countless attendants blocked her path.
"Why are you causing this disturbance!"
"'Cause the train won't reach the land of the living, duh? So I'm gonna see the engineer!"
"Passengers can't go to the engine room!"
"Yeah? I think differently~!"
The hell train attendants charged. Attendants swinging police batons, beating Baesena. She shattered and broke under the blows. Roll... An eyeball rolled out from Baesena's smashed face. Baesena shrugged and pulled out a new one. A new Baesena appeared. Smashed. New Baesena appeared. Smashed. New Baesena appeared. Smashed. New Baesena appeared. Smashed. New Baesena appeared. Grabbed. Looking at the hell train attendants, Baesena thought. What to do? None of her dolls had much strength individually. So she couldn't kill anyone. Especially not monsters. "So, just beat 'em till they pass out?" Thwack! Thwack! Thud! The dolls grabbed one attendant and lynched him. Ahahaha! Ahahahaha! Laughter of the dolls echoed through the train. Even the passengers who'd been hostile to Mayuri just watched. They'd realized Baesena was a higher-class monster than expected. In an instant, the train was under Baesena's control.
Thud, roll... Something rolling on the floor caught my ear, so I looked. An eyeball.
"Eugh…."
"Ah! Sorry, Yuri! Missed cleaning that up, my bad!"
Looking closer, it wasn't a human eyeball but an artificial doll eye. Exquisitely crafted. The Baesena next to me quickly picked it up, and I saw its eerie bounce. I'd thought it'd feel like a marble, but what was it made of? Not a real human eye, right…?
"Sorry for scaring you! Should've cleaned better."
Suddenly, a hug. I felt hands stroking my head. The unnatural sensation of doll joints mixed in, but the texture itself was close to human skin. Still, the lack of body heat screamed she wasn't human. Unlike the warmth on Nao's lap or Sua's back hug. That distinct chill.
"I-It's f-fine…. Just startled me a bit."
Feeling a bit babied, I pulled away from Baesena. Putting a little distance, our eyes met. Her pupils were inorganic. Yet her eyebrows and cheek muscles moved so human-like. She looked apologetic.
But she shows no mercy to monsters….
I realized anew that Baesena was a full-fledged Muksi Saengmyeongche. Come to think of it, the "Human Shelter" was a Muksi Saengmyeongche modeled after paradise lost. This "Hell Train" was a bizarre phenomenon tangled with various hells. Hells differ by country, religion, even person. Hell could be seen as a primal ghost story, manifested as this "Hell Train." So every station stop lets you taste different hells—that's the gimmick. Not sure which is higher-tier: the Hell Train's hells or the Human Shelter's Eden. I'm no religious person. I just felt anew that Baesena was a monster kind to humans, and since I'm human, I'm safe. That's why some monster game players posted stuff like "[General] Ugh.. SeonaDie.. MommaThro.." back in the day. Thank god I'm human, really.
"Everything's wrapped up except the engine room!"
Baesena said. Time to end this bizarre phenomenon. I headed for the engine room.