Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: [Side Story: Welcome Aboard the Express Train to Hell on Line 0]
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'Ah, I'm gonna die.'
Kang Ju-ye, a 28-year-old office worker living in Suwon, trudged home after days of endless overtime, her mind half-blank today as well. She arrived at the subway platform and slumped onto a bench, staring blankly as she waited for the last train.
'Good thing the last train's at 11.'
If it weren't for that, her damn boss would've piled on even more work. She'd been wishing for a miracle where the last train came at 6 p.m., sparing her overtime, when the train's lights pulled into the platform. She staggered to her feet.
'Ugh, so sleepy. Gotta get home, shower, and crash.'
An announcement flowed from the platform speakers.
[Now arriving: Seru-bound train to Seru. Please stand back from the platform edge.]
《Now arriving: Hell-bound train to Hell. Please step forward, passengers.》
'?'
Did that just say something about Hell? There'd been a faint, noisy voice mixed in, but she paused only briefly before brushing it off.
'Must've misheard.'
The empty car was deserted. She sat at the far end of the seats and leaned her head against the handrail.
'Can't sleep. Miss my stop and I'm screwed.'
And in the blink of an eye...
"?"
"What the?"
"Huh? Where's this?"
"Wh-where are we!?"
She was sitting in a packed car.
＊＊＊
'Dream?'
Kang Ju-ye pinched her cheek. The car that had been empty moments ago was now crammed full—of passengers who shouldn't even exist.
"Where are we!?"
"What!? I was definitely on the subway in Brooklyn!"
"Hey! This ain't New York?"
"I boarded a Tokyo Metro car..."
White, Black, Hispanic, East Asian, Westerners, Koreans, Japanese, Americans, Germans—people from every corner of the globe were jumbled together. If this wasn't a dream, what was it?
"...This isn't a dream!?"
Her cheek stung. She wasn't the only one realizing it. One by one, others snapped to the same awareness, turning the car into utter chaos several times over.
"Listen up! Doesn't this feel off? Why can we all understand each other!?"
"That's 'cause you're speaking English... Wait, what language is that?"
"French!"
"Weren't we all speaking Japanese?"
"My God! What the hell is going on!"
Their languages flowed naturally into one another. The bizarre situation dragged on until things gradually calmed. People began cautiously exploring the subway car, and Kang Ju-ye followed suit, scanning her surroundings.
'Line 1, right?'
Foreigners might not know, but this was the standard South Korean Line 1 car she rode every day.
"The door to the other cars won't open."
"Can't see the opposite car at all."
"What about the windows?"
"Damn, same here. Won't open, and no view outside."
"We can only tell the train's moving from the shaking."
Then, she spotted something else odd.
'Hang on, the route map's weird?'
Above the doors hung a [Line 0 Route Map] with a detailed diagram.
[The Crusher → The Speaker → The Ravager → The Whisperer → The Glutton → The Judge → Engine Room (No Entry)]
She was analyzing the cryptic map when chaos erupted in the car.
"Shut the hell up!"
"Kyaa!"
It was a Black man covered in tattoos on both arms. He whipped out a pistol hidden at his waist and aimed it around, threatening everyone.
"Damn it! Dropped into some dogshit space, about to get offed by a freak monster like in a cheap horror flick! I ain't dying in a place like this!"
"Calm down! This isn't a movie!"
"Shut up! I was about to have a hot date with my girl, and now I'm dragged to this bullshit spot— you get how pissed I am!?"
Just as the uproar teetered on violence...
『This is an announcement from the engine room.』
A broadcast echoed through the car.
『First, we sincerely thank all passengers for boarding the Express Train to Hell on Line 0. Our train is currently heading to Hell—straight to Hell. Passengers, please proceed to Car 1 for simplified judgment. Once again: Our train is bound for Hell, so to receive your simplified judgment, please head to Car 1 without delay.』
The broadcast ended, dripping with inexplicable ennui.
"Car 1?"
"Which car is this?"
"Says Car 6."
As passengers hesitated, the firmly shut door to the next car slid open on its own.
"Gotta go to Car 1?"
"What happens if we don't?"
"Hell? Actual Hell? Then shouldn't we not go?"
Amid the dithering crowd, Kang Ju-ye saw it.
『Kikikikikiki!』
A woman in mourning clothes, hair hanging long, had appeared at the back of the car.
『Kikikikikiki!』
"Shut up."
Luckily, she wasn't the only witness.
"Horror movie rules! Stand around gawking at the monster, and you're dead!"
The Black youth's gun muzzle flashed.
"I ain't doing that dumb shit!"
Bang-!
After twelve shots, acrid gunsmoke filled the car. But the mourning woman was unscathed by the bullets.
"Oh, fuck."
『Kikikikikiki!』
The woman twisted her head 360 degrees, then glided across the car like liquid, seizing the Black youth's throat with one hand.
"S-save..."
His neck crumpled like wet clay and tore away.
"Gyaah!"
"R-run!"
She didn't stop, pulverizing his limbs entirely. Everyone bolted in panic.
"Help!"
"Aaah!"
Too many people in one car—several couldn't escape and were caught, their bodies mashed to pulp in her grasp.
"What is this place!"
"It's alive!?"
Even the escapees weren't safe.
"We were definitely inside the train!"
Until they'd crossed, the space beyond the door had been a normal car. Now, they'd tumbled into some nameless mountain.
"Where the hell are we now!"
"I-I think I know which way to go. Am I the only one?"
Passengers didn't speak but inwardly agreed.
'Somehow, gotta head that way.'
'Path's over there.'
Like fish breathing underwater, instinct guided them naturally to a shabby, nameless temple.
『Oh, you sinful mortals.』
On the temple porch stood a monk bloated with fat, beaming widely.
『Atone through asceticism. Achieve enlightenment by purging your sins.』
The monk struck his wooden fish drum. In that instant, some passengers wailed.
"Aaah!"
They inflicted pain on themselves. One clawed off skin and tore at flesh, trying to peel it away. Another bashed their head on the floor amid spurting blood and leaking brains. Yet another foamed at the mouth while strangling themselves.
"Hiiik!"
The survivors fled where instinct led. Their ordeals continued.
『Lustful sinners, I shall lighten your wicked burdens by ravaging you.』
A 10-meter giant chased them into a hotel, raping men and women alike.
『The one running beside you plans to kill you and survive alone. Strike first!』
"Gyaah!"
『Foolish? My, how selfish. Killing others to save yourself? A sinner like you must live eternally for others here.』
A boy at a stream sowed discord, goading passengers to murder each other.
『Oh, so many new pigs! Here, jewels for you!』
A pig-faced giant on a plain hurled gems that ignited ravenous desire on sight—but touching them stripped you bare, crawling and squealing like swine.
"Huff, huff!"
Piercing it all, only one reached the final car: Kang Ju-ye.
"Ugh, sob... Mom..."
She wasn't any better than the others, just a bit luckier, enough to make Car 1.
"I miss you..."
Car 1 was a normal subway compartment. Ahead lay the door to the engine room; outside the windows, nothing—just an ordinary yet unnatural space. She burst into tears, and belatedly, the engine room door opened.
『Ah...』
Blinking through tears, she made out the figure: archaic engineer's uniform, face shrouded in black shadow, unrecognizable.
『A sinner has reached this far after so long.』
It was the voice from the broadcast.
『Then, let us begin the simplified judgment.』
"P-please, let me go."
Kang Ju-ye begged the engineer.
"Th-this is Hell, right? Yeah? Too much overtime gave me a heart attack or something without realizing? Or brain hemorrhage? So now I'm being judged?"
『...』
"I-I lived a good life! Not the best in the world, but I donated to UNICEF, obeyed my parents, never wasted food, never killed animals, never fought anyone."
『...』
"So please, Heaven? No, Pure Land! Send me to the Pure Land!"
The engineer reached toward his shadowed face, holding a small monocle.
『Simplified Karma Mirror review shows: You bear many sins.』
"Yes!?"
Her heart plummeted.
『Fall of your 27th year: Cut in line on the bus.』
"N-no..."
『Same year's summer: Watched pornography online.』
The engineer droned on.
『Spring of 26: Ignored parents' worry, no contact for a month.』
『Winter of 25: Vented job-hunt stress on your mother.』
『Summer of 23: Slapped your boyfriend when he wanted to break up.』
『Spring of 23: Lewd acts outdoors with boyfriend.』
『Fall of 22: Secretly dumped Mom's blood sausage hangover stew, claiming you couldn't eat it.』
『Fall of 20: Didn't yield subway seat to an elder.』
『Winter of 19: Mocked a classmate behind their back with friends.』
The engineer's litany of her sins flowed endlessly. Kang Ju-ye, snapping to her senses late, protested desperately.
『Spring of 17: Killed a cockroach at home.』
"W-wait! That's something anyone would do!"
『Summer of 16: Lewdly eyed a male classmate's nape, harbored filthy thoughts.』
"Everyone does that!"
『Winter of 15: Posted defamatory comments online.』
"Please, hear me out!"
Ignoring her cries, the engineer continued until, after an age, it ended.
『Spring of 0: Difficult birth nailed a spike into your parents' hearts.』
"D-done?"
『Yes. 1,627 sins confirmed. This is the abridged Karma Mirror result; actual sins likely exceed this.』
"But that's stuff everyone does! Not even real sins!"
She protested again.
『No, all are sins. Hell's laws are strict and solemn—no exceptions.』
"Mercy, please... Aaak!"
The engineer seized her hair and dragged her into the engine room.
"Hiiik!"
Inside loomed a colossal furnace. So immense that even from afar, blistering heat scorched her skin.
"S-save me!"
『This is Simplified Hell: Where the living arrive in fleshly form to suffer present-life karma without dying. Your plea cannot be granted.』
Closer to the furnace, she saw what burned within.
"Aaah!"
"Save me!"
"Please! Too hot!"
Countless people of every race burned as firewood—and among them, the Black youth from the first car, stragglers from the path.
『Simplified Hell's sole punishment: Burn alive to fuel this train.』
"Ah, aaah..."
『Duration of torment...』
The engineer hurled her into the furnace.
『One kalpa-year.』
Her body ignited.
『Until then, scream and repent your sins.』
Agonizing itch, then regeneration.
『This is the solemn penalty for sinners.』
The reborn body burned again.
『Now, then...』
The furnace door sealed. A broadcast played.
『Thank you for your service today. Rest until the next sinners arrive.』
The monster-haunted train thundered down the tracks.
『We are proxies, judges delivering Hell's verdicts in the living world on behalf of its busy bureaucracy. The busiest civil servants in this sin-ridden age.』
In the shadows, the engineer's eyes gleamed coldly.
『Now, recruiting the next sinners.』
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"Ah."
Late at night, a man appeared at Suwon Station.
"Hope it shows up today."
A Polaroid camera hung around his neck as he stepped onto the platform.
"Express Train to Hell on Line 0."
With lighter steps than anyone.