Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Karma Consulting
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“Karma Consulting”
“…….”
“Hello? Hey? Klesa Mara? Can you hear me?”
The engineer dropped his cell phone in despair.
“……This is all your fault.”
I thought he had lost his mind in defeat, but he unleashed his fury at me.
“If it weren't for a worm like you! None of this would have happened!”
“I don't know the full details, but from what I've heard, weren't you the one who committed the grave sin?”
At least, that's what I'd gathered.
“Hell was so overwhelmed that it requested help from the Desire Realm, establishing a provisional hell to quickly process those with lighter sins and ease Hell's workload. That was the purpose of this train. But instead of proper judgment, you treated humans like bugs and passed sentences based on personal grudges…….”
“Shut up!”
The engineer's black shadow swelled.
“No matter what…… you…….”
At that moment.
“!?”
The furnace fire went out. Darkness descended on the engine room.
“Ah, aaah…….”
My enhanced body granted the power to discern objects even in the dark, pinpointing the trembling engineer perfectly.
“Please…….”
Then darkness fell once more. Deeper than before, as if the previous gloom had been mere light—this new veil was impenetrable even to my current flesh.
“Mercy…….”
My body couldn't see it, but my right eye activated, revealing the unseen world.
“Ah.”
Beyond the pitch-black darkness lay a cosmos. Past planets, stars, and galaxies—beyond that universe, sprawled like beads in a darker realm than this place.
“O Transformation Sovereign Heavenly King!”
There, universes were infinite. I couldn't fathom how they were counted or comprehended, but I felt it.
“O Demon Army!”
An infinite array of universes, coiled and cradled like eggs by a serpent of black flame. The serpent's heads numbered three thousand, all eyes closed in slumber.
“O Demon King!”
“O Sixth Heaven Demon King!”
“O Mara Nun!”
“O Wave of Decay!”
“O Unliberated One!”
“O Celestial Demon!”
One of the serpent's heads slyly opened an eye. Beneath that lid lurked a darkness even my right eye couldn't pierce—and as it closed again, the engineer vanished.
“Please! Just one act of mercy…….”
I had seen it. Something beyond human words.
Yes, the closest analogy: the engineer had been “peeled” from this world.
“Terrifying.”
Beyond flesh—existence itself.
That was the most concrete way to describe what had just transpired.
“Whew.”
The serpent, uninterested in me, vanished soon after. The darkness upon darkness lifted, the world brightening once more. The furnace fire reignited, and aside from the engineer's disappearance, all was as before.
“Hello? Hey? Is it over?”
“Yes, it's done.”
I picked up the abandoned phone and resumed the call.
“It seems the Transformation Sovereign Heavenly King paid a visit. You probably didn't see it, but the darkness blanketed everything, right? That's the sign of his arrival.”
“I see.”
“We at our subcontractor sincerely apologize for the issue this caused.”
From the receiver, the Super Strength Great King explained the incident.
“Truth be told, ever since the number of sentient beings exploded, our workload has been overwhelming. In modern times, not only has the population grown, but so have the sins they commit.”
To cope, Hell devised several measures.
“First, we abandoned strict punitive justice for a rehabilitative and conciliatory approach. We added far more flexibility to the rigid laws. Even so, with sinners overflowing, we sought aid from the Desire Realm.”
“So this train was made in the Desire Realm.”
“Yes, it's a provisional hell to judge lightly sinful souls and swiftly reincarnate them. Of course, we planned annual audits to catch any improper judgments…….”
The train's inaugural run was June this year.
The point when the world shifted to survival of the fittest among entities—and less than a year had passed, so no audit yet.
“Who would've thought he'd start handing out arbitrary judgments right away! And not to the dead, but the living! If not for Mr. Lee Seung-hoon's good karma, we wouldn't have known until the next audit! He probably would've fooled us then too! We're truly sorry for dragging you into this!”
“No, everyone who could be saved was, and I'm alive, so it's fine.”
The people burning as furnace fuel had all returned to their abduction sites.
“Among those inside, some were abducted with me, right?”
Passengers killed by the judge before reaching the engine room had somehow become fuel too, so all abducted passengers were effectively rescued.
“Anyway, Klesa Mara will likely face the Transformation Sovereign Heavenly King's punishment until the universes align. That's how he usually does it.”
“What kind of punishment?”
“Who knows exactly. But it's bound to be horrific. Now, shall we return to business and finish our earlier talk?”
“About karma, right?”
“Yes. While the Transformation Sovereign Heavenly King visited, I took a close look at your karma. It's remarkably unique.”
My karma was unique—intriguing how.
“I'd welcome that.”
No way I'd pass up this chance.
“First, your current good karma totals 26.72 million points from earlier, plus 210,000 from past accumulations, right? The 26.72 million is from liberating sentient beings suffering in Hell, and the 210,000 is for 'giving new life chances to those weary of existence'—1,000 points per case, so you saved 210 people?”
The former from freeing furnace passengers, the latter seemingly from the isekai transfer effect.
“Next, evil karma from earthly deeds: 155,500 points. No major sins, just petty ones piling up over time.”
“But I've never done anything bad in the community.”
“Yes, I reviewed the detailed logs. You posted purely with good intentions, seeking honest discussion, no malice. But everyone hated it.”
Unfortunately, community evil karma didn't absolve good intentions alone.
“Despite universal dislike, you kept posting, so the system deemed it intentional—flagged as harassment regardless of motive. Even without evil intent, consistent harm to others counts as evil karma. Remember that.”
I wanted to protest, but suddenly recalled a tragic figure from history.
“Typhoid Mary.”
Back when typhoid was a deadly plague called “taint disease,” a woman named Mary lived in America.
“She was an asymptomatic carrier harboring typhoid bacteria without symptoms.”
Her job? Cook—and through her food, countless people contracted and died from typhoid.
“Once identified and banned from cooking, she kept at it due to hardship, hiding her identity.”
Each time, deaths followed; caught again, she spent her final days confined in a hospital, forbidden to cook.
“She had no ill intent either.”
But victims existed, and they all died.
“Am I the same?”
I knew people hated my posts. I saw it as society's chronic ills and kept trying—but they judge even that as evil karma.
“How tragic.”
“I'll share an alternative. Repeating that in others' communities builds evil karma, but in your own, it's your space—so as long as no malice, even repeated acts won't accrue evil karma despite complaints.”
“Oh, thank you!”
“No problem—it's consulting.”
Solid advice.
“Overall, 156,500 evil karma points, fully offset by 26.93 million good karma. No evil left—just pure good! Congratulations! Live like this, and paradise awaits!”
“Thank you. A few questions, though.”
“What is it?”
“I've saved the world several times—doesn't that count as good karma?”
“Huh? Uh, let me check the logs again.”
After a moment, she spoke.
“No record. Two possibilities: you misremembered, or transcendent beings intervened.”
“Transcendents?”
“Some rely on transcendent powers to foresee futures and rack up good karma that way—but it's treated as their power, not yours, so no credit.”
“Ah, got it.”
Worlds saved via the right eye from the blue moon didn't count as my good karma.
“This closes a loophole where people abused the offset system: piling evil karma, then using transcendent aid for good karma to cancel it out. Hence the rule.”
“Understood. Last question—may I?”
“Anything!”
One burning curiosity.
“I know there's more than one hell in this world. How's it decided where we go after death?”
“I knew you were no ordinary soul, but you even know that? On that…….”
The Super Strength Great King chuckled.
“It's internal company secrets—off-limits to outsiders!”
Regrettably, I learned nothing about afterlife destinations.
[Promise to join our Hell after death, and I'll tell you now! At this rate, you'll reach paradise for sure—but paradise offers choices! One is becoming a King of Hell!]
Buddhist Hell, yet modern like Lucifer Company—but a public enterprise, not private.
[Hell's a public sector gig—lifetime job unless you cause a huge scandal!]
She ended the call, saying to reactivate Karma Call Center if interested later.
“Whew.”
I wanted to sleep right then. But work remained unfinished.
“Sarang, let's head back to reality. Handle the driving.”
“Understood.”
Via Sarang, I hacked the furnace and leaned against it as it ran.
“20 minutes to arrival.”
“Yeah, catch a quick nap.”
“I'll share the destination with the Foundation via saved contacts.”
“Thanks.”
Eyes closed, that colossal serpent resurfaced.
“No way to fight and win against something like that.”
No matter how strong I grew, victory seemed impossible.
“Anyway.”
With a deep sigh, I snatched some sleep.
“What a tough world to survive in.”