Chapter 235
Chapter 235
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 235. Heaven
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Why was the judge being handed down by the Chief Justice in the first place?
The question flashed through my mind, but what could I do about it?
When had I ever applied common sense here? This was a place where if water instantly turned into fire, I'd just go, "Oh, so water turns into fire here!" and adapt.
"Why is some Chief Justice doing the judging?"
Our maknae apparently didn't think that way.
From amid the murmurs of the crowd came a voice shouting, "Silence!"
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Chief Justice was slamming down his gavel.
Watching what looked like a white moth—or something akin to a human—wield the gavel felt a bit off-putting.
Oh, right.
"...How do you two see that thing?"
"Just some guy in judge's robes."
"To me, it's an enormous moth shrouded in a mysterious white halo."
Everyone saw something different.
"First!"
-Thud! Thud thud!
The gavel slammed down as he turned to Ailin.
"The sinner may challenge endlessly, but they shall never set foot in the sanctuary! The sins you have committed are so numerous that He rejects you!"
Ailin nodded with an expression that wasn't even surprised.
"What you have done clearly opposes His will, which means you have no right to enter the sanctuary!"
"What is His will?"
"If she knew, she wouldn't be stuck in some proper church, right? That's the kind of crap a cult spouts."
Park Ye-eun sighed in agreement with my mutter, as if it were obvious.
"Next!"
Soon, Park Ye-eun stood before the Chief Justice.
...
...
The Chief Justice stared fixedly at Park Ye-eun, and she stared right back.
"Poor child."
Park Ye-eun raised one eyebrow at the Chief Justice's mutter.
Was she angry?
Before I could stop her, the Chief Justice continued.
"You lost your family to something that must be eradicated, and you are fated to lose even your loved one. What a pitiful life."
Park Ye-eun's expression shifted to one of bewilderment as she listened.
"I don't have anyone I love."
"Not yet, you don't."
The Chief Justice shook his head as he said it.
"Even so, you cannot enter there."
...
"The reason is clear. You have failed to prove yourself."
It was all incomprehensible nonsense, growing more so.
Park Ye-eun raised one eyebrow again and pressed on.
"What the hell is 'proof' supposed to mean?"
Proof.
What test do you have to pass to prove yourself? Just declaring proof granted or denied without question or trial would seem absurd even from Park Ye-eun's perspective.
"You must have encountered them plenty of times yourselves."
The Chief Justice answered Park Ye-eun's question calmly.
"They're called monsters in the world at large, and if ordinary people spotted them, information manipulation and evidence destruction would follow immediately."
...
"The organization you belong to. The Management Bureau. They call them Containment Objects there."
It felt like moth wings unfurling.
"Those who oppose things contrary to His will."
"Then aren't all Management Bureau people qualified?"
Park Ye-eun muttered in disbelief, and I couldn't help but agree.
We fight them too, in our own way. Does that mean the whole Containment Team goes to heaven?
"Of course, that's not all."
The Chief Justice continued.
"It also includes the nobility of the soul elevated by encountering countless non-cognitive entities."
"...So it's whatever he says it is."
Park Ye-eun muttered.
"In that regard, you are not yet worthy of this place."
"Then."
Ailin, who had been silently listening until now, lifted her head to look at the Chief Justice.
"Were my parents worthy?"
Silence followed.
"They had noble souls."
"They didn't do anything."
"Some souls are noble from birth."
"I'm their daughter."
"If you don't know, then I have no need to tell you."
After that, the Chief Justice said nothing more, and Ailin furrowed her brow.
"Next."
"It's all arbitrary bullshit."
Tsking her tongue, Park Ye-eun walked back toward me.
She was scared earlier, but now she was raring to go again.
Park Ye-eun passed me by, and the Chief Justice's gaze turned to me.
Alright, let's see what he says this—
"Pass!"
Both of them stared at me.
Park Ye-eun with utter disbelief, Ailin with an "I knew it" look.
"No, why'd I pass?"
I couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
The moth's wings quivered.
"Noble soul. Unyielding will. And the prophet's mark. Truly suited for heaven."
This was pure arbitrariness.
I stared at the Chief Justice in disbelief, but he met my eyes without a word.
At the same time,
-Rumble...
Light descended from the sky.
More precisely, the ceiling opened—that was the better way to put it.
The ceiling parted, and light poured down.
Soon, the light began to take shape.
The brilliant light formed stairs, like a staircase leading straight to heaven.
-Zing!
Pain shot through my temple.
Pain in the temple meant a mental attack incoming.
Was he hypnotizing people into thinking they'd been chosen?
For the first time in a while, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
['Church' comprehension increases.]
[Critical 2->3]
"I grant you permission to enter the main hall."
This easily?
I hurriedly glanced at Ailin, and she nodded back at me.
-Shrrk!
The manual unfurled.
[Office Manual]
[Church Exploration Internal Guide - Response Team Hwang Yuhun Latest Edition]
[8. Final Judgment]
5. The chosen one will be forcibly pulled into the 'main hall.' There are no recorded survivors among those pulled into the main hall, nor any records at all.
"But only the chosen may go."
The Chief Justice looked at me.
"Savor that honor alone."
Naturally, only I had gained permission to ascend.
Of course, Ailin knew that too.
That's how she lost her family.
As a child, she must have just shed tears watching her family ascend without her.
But things were different now.
She was ready to do whatever it took if an opportunity arose.
"Park Ye-eun!"
"Yes!"
Park Ye-eun responded briskly to Ailin's call and opened her bag. Ailin plunged her hand inside.
That's why she had prepared as well.
'Listen closely.'
I recalled Ailin's words.
'The reason I packed these bombs isn't to destroy the church. It's our best tool for rebellion.'
'Tool for rebellion?'
'Unlike HR Team, we have to fight modern-style.'
She pulled a bomb from the bag and shook it.
'Deprive them of sight and hearing.'
'Will that even work?'
'The church is made of human materials.'
She gave a wry smile.
'In the end, it all comes down to the quality of the materials.'
"Close your eyes and cover your ears!!"
Ailin shouted that and hurled something.
A metal canister like a rod, with a handle.
A flashbang.
As promised, Park Ye-eun and I closed our eyes, plugged our ears, and turned away...
-Bang!
Even through my eyelids, the white flash seared. Rubbing my stinging eye sockets, I opened my eyes to find smoke grenades filling the area around us.
"We have to go!"
"What about HR Team people!"
"They can't come anyway! I put up the red ribbon, and unless they sprint like maniacs, they can't—"
"Jaeheon-ssi!"
"...They're here?"
Yoo Da-on's voice overlaid Ailin's words, and she emerged from the darkness.
Bleeding profusely.
"Da-on-ssi, what happened to you!"
"Oh, that. I screamed!"
She let out an awkward "ahaha."
While she laughed, her wounds had already healed, leaving only bloodstains scattered across her body.
"So they chased me..."
Two others hurriedly followed her.
"Why'd you scream...!"
"You screamed too."
"If a cockroach the size of my face jumps into my arms, anyone would scream!"
"I just screamed along."
"I didn't scream!"
Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin were bickering again, while Yoo Da-on just beamed happily amid it all.
"Wait, does that mean..."
Ailin muttered, and at the same time, something lunged at the two from behind.
Statues.
The statues, weeping, attacked the pair.
A goat statue charged with its horns, and a weeping man gaped his mouth wide to devour them.
"Hup!"
At the same moment, Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin spun and swung their arms.
The goat statue flew backward, and the weeping man crashed to the ground, ankle snared by a thread.
"What do we do!"
"Up the stairs!"
Ailin and Park Ye-eun rushed up the stairs, and I extended a hand to the three.
The four of us, including me, climbed the stairs.
-Thud!
"Ack!"
Park Ye-eun, who was ahead, clutched her nose as if she'd hit something and staggered back.
"There's... a wall...!"
An invisible wall?
No need to think.
"Move!"
"Ready."
I shouted, and Jang Chaeyeon dashed to my side.
[Coordinate Rip 3->2]
The world turned into graph paper, revealing the unseen.
A thin membrane stretched out, and Jang Chaeyeon clenched her fist.
-Crack!
With a crumpling sound, the wall tore open, and we all leaped through.
Why aren't they chasing?
I whipped my head around to look back at the Chief Justice.
The smoke had already cleared.
But no one moved.
The Chief Justice simply stood with hands behind his back, watching us, and the spectators smiled at us too.
As if all this struggling was pointless, they just smiled.
Having fulfilled his duty, the Chief Justice turned and vanished elsewhere, the jury dissolving into mist.
Finally, Song Arin climbed the stairs.
"Arin-ssi, hand!"
I reached out, and Song Arin grabbed my hand.
I pulled her up, and with a "waaah!" she tumbled into my arms.
At the same moment, the ceiling sealed shut.
...
...
Song Arin stared up at me from my embrace.
"...Oh, uh. Good thing."
"...Y-yeah, um... thanks."
She thanked me in an awkward voice.
She looked straight up at me.
"Not gonna move?"
At Jang Chaeyeon's voice, Song Arin shoved my chest and stumbled back, falling flat.
"Ow! My tailbone!"
"Thirty seconds and it'll heal."
"You think you're me!"
Song Arin snapped irritably at Yoo Da-on's words as she got up.
"...What... is this place..."
Her voice trailed off as she looked around.
Clouds floated in a white sky, dotted with countless houses.
Far off loomed a mountain like a massif.
At the same time, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
[Name: Fields of Joy]
[Age: -]
[Specialty: -]
[Talent: X]
[Background: They believe this is the origin point of all life.]
[Weakness: -]
We were in heaven.