Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Hell of Grudges
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Every story has an end.
The tale of the girl and the butterfly was no different.
It began in a cave somewhere on a beach, where they first encountered the Hell of Heretics.
From there, they traversed the Hell of Hedonism, the hell of those suffering eternal starvation, and the hell of aberrations indulging in self-destructive slaughter, only to return to this place once more.
Having overcome countless crises, the girl and the butterfly returned to the beach where the moonlight erased the sky’s gloom and stood before a golden door.
The butterfly spoke.
[Alright, you just need to cross through here.]
“What’s over there?”
[A better place than this.]
At that, the girl standing before the golden door hesitated.
Finally, she managed a single word.
“You?”
The question revealed the reason for her hesitation.
From what I could tell, the girl wanted to stay with the butterfly.
In other words, she did not want to part with it.
But a single misfortune had befallen the girl.
The butterfly’s intentions were different from her own.
[I can’t. I have far too much to do.]
The butterfly’s will was firm.
It was a cold declaration that erased all the coaxing, encouragement, and support it had offered until now.
[I’ve already spent too much time on you. It’s time to move on to the next task.]
That was how it had always been.
If the butterfly took such a firm stance, the girl would have no choice but to nod.
The girl, who knew nothing, would have willingly stepped beyond the door.
And yet,
“...I don’t want to.”
She did not.
It was the girl’s first refusal.
“I’m not going.”
The girl’s expression was as blank as ever. There was no inflection in her voice, no noticeable change in her behavior.
But one thing, and one thing only, was clear: her own will.
At that, the butterfly’s wings trembled.
It flitted about as if flustered, then gently flew down to land on the girl’s forehead.
It folded its wings as if giving a kiss, in a gesture that seemed to embrace the girl.
[...You have to go. I’m begging you.]
It finally uttered a plea.
The girl’s head drooped.
Only her small, trembling hands betrayed her emotions.
A non-verbal affirmation. Only after receiving her answer did the butterfly take flight again.
[Let’s go. Beyond the door.]
Its voice was a quiet murmur.
The girl answered.
“...Okay.”
And so, the girl left.
Behind a door leading to an unknown destination—a place where, according to the butterfly, she could become happier than anyone in the world.
And a place from which she would never return.
*Swoosh—*
The waves washed over the sandy shore.
The door the girl had passed through began to fade.
The butterfly remained motionless before it for a long time.
Until that moment, I had been wondering.
What was the ultimate meaning of their journey, which had only left me with questions?
Why had the girl wandered through hell, and what purpose did the butterfly serve?
The hells I had witnessed before meeting them were so horrific that the tranquil poignancy of this scene felt all the more out of place.
It was in that moment.
*Swoosh—*
As another wave rolled in, the butterfly’s form changed.
For me, it was a sight that took my breath away.
It had to be. For the first time, the butterfly, wreathed in a turquoise aura, took on a human form—a form that was all too familiar to me.
‘...!’
It was a woman in a white dress.
Her long, golden hair shimmered as her sad, blue eyes shone.
She looked so much like what the girl might become when she grew up that it felt like an illusion.
And then, the woman spoke with a sorrowful smile.
“...Goodbye.”
*Crack!* Like a bolt of lightning, a storm of thoughts raged through my mind.
The journey I had witnessed flashed before my eyes, leading me to a single conclusion.
‘Ah.’
Only then did I understand the meaning behind all the scenes of hell and the girl’s journey.
It made sense. It had felt strange all along.
Why did hell show the sins of a life that this young girl could never have committed?
Why was a butterfly placed by her side to guide her escape from hell, and why was the girl never told the reason for any of it?
Why was her birth called a sin?
The answer was remarkably simple.
The puzzle that wouldn’t fit together just needed one missing piece to connect it all.
‘They’re mother and daughter. Those two were mother and daughter.’
All I had to do was change the protagonist of the story.
From the girl to the butterfly—the woman in the butterfly’s form.
In other words, the girl’s mother.
This was, from the very beginning, the hell of the butterfly, the girl’s mother.
“Be happy. Happier than anyone else in the world.”
The woman smiled sadly.
Soon, *crack, crack,* fissures spread across her body.
It was an unstoppable, massive current that began to break her apart.
Even as she uttered an apology, the woman’s smile grew brighter.
It became clearer and clearer, like someone who had finally shed all their burdens, like someone who had witnessed salvation.
Watching her, I reflected.
‘That woman must have lived a long time.’
She must have lived long enough to believe in a false faith, to indulge in pleasures to the point of self-destruction, to suffer from a hunger so great she harmed someone, and to plan a joint demise with another.
In other words, the path the girl walked was the trajectory of the woman’s life.
If so, why show that path to the girl?
And what of the girl, whose birth was called a sin?
I couldn’t say for certain.
All I knew was the relationship between the two, the woman’s life, and the fact that this beach was hell.
So, let me weave a story using only what I know for sure.
‘A woman who lived an unhappy life.’
The woman believed in a cult. Because of it, she indulged in pleasures that would ruin her, suffered from a hunger so severe she must have robbed someone of their money, and in the end, planned a murder-suicide.
‘The girl was...’
Her daughter, who died with her. Around six or seven years old.
I don’t know her background or anything about her father. But I can tell the girl was neglected in an environment where she received no education.
The probability of her having been loved converges to zero.
It was not a peaceful home.
A tragic family portrait, one that might be common in some places, comes to mind.
Now I ask the reason again.
The girl committed one sin.
For that reason, she fell into hell and had to walk the path of her mother’s life.
That causality suggests something.
‘The source of the unhappiness.’
The girl must have been the cause of the woman’s unhappiness.
The girl must have been at the root of the sins the woman committed.
The moment I realized that.
As if someone whispered in my ear, or carved the words into my mind.
I came to know the name of this hell.
‘The Hell of Grudges.’
An island where those who have received hatred as deep as the sea are swept ashore by the current.
An island where they suffocate on that hatred, wither and die, becoming charred skeletons that in turn spew hatred toward someone else.
*Swoosh—*
On top of what I had learned, I added one more thing: the reason why the woman, finally finding peace and crumbling away, had saved the girl.
It was a speculative and somewhat emotional story.
Perhaps the woman, facing her own annihilation, realized that her resentment had caused her daughter to fall into hell and came to regret it.
And so, she cared for the girl, and now that she had finally saved her, she was fading away with such a smile.
*Swoosh—*
The receding tide gathered the shattered fragments of the woman.
As quietly as when it had guided the girl here, it pulled them down into the endlessly deep sea of grudges.
The Hell of Grudges, thus, came to a bitter end.
***
“...Is that the end?”
Han Seo-rim asked after hearing the story of the ending.
She looked at once crestfallen, angry, and dazed.
“What more could there be?”
“No, no...!”
Han Seo-rim scratched her head and then spoke, frustrated.
“What happens to Alice? What’s behind the door? And who was Alice’s dad in the first place?!”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what about the mom? Why did she become a butterfly? Who did that for her? And before that, what happened in her life?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“What! How can you not know any of it?!”
“What can I do if I don’t know?”
Unfortunately, that was the truth.
I was merely a thorough observer of the mother and daughter’s journey, so I couldn’t be certain of anything I hadn’t seen with my own eyes.
Besides, the backstory wasn’t that important in this story.
“The past and future are left to speculation. It’s an open ending.”
“Is that okay?!”
“Of course. It’s up to the user to speculate. If it becomes a topic for discussion... well, that’s great. It’s noise marketing.”
I had thought long and hard about the ending.
I had to consider how to direct it, how to present it, and how to control the amount of information revealed in the ending.
I consider the ending to be one of the most important elements of a game.
This is especially true for games where narrative devices like this are crucial.
Think about it. If a story you’ve been eagerly following ends with a fizzle, wouldn’t all the anticipation you’ve built up turn into disappointment?
This was the result.
More than anything, I wanted to recreate the bittersweet and stirring feeling I had experienced watching the Hell of Grudges.
To do that, it was best to hide as much information as possible and let the users infer the ending themselves.
Deep thought leads to deep immersion.
The proof of its effect was standing right in front of me in the form of Han Seo-rim.
“...There’s probably something like reincarnation, right? Like, they meet again in the next life as a happy mother and daughter.”
Wanting the stories one consumes to have a happy ending is a common sentiment.
Han Seo-rim had extremely conventional tastes.
In other words, through her, I could get an early access look at how users would react to the ending.
I replied.
“Could be. What’s beyond the door Alice passed through is a space where she can be the happiest. If Alice’s happiness is a life with her mother, then they’ll meet again.”
“Right? That’s the official story, right?”
“Not official, no.”
“Do you want to die?”
“...”
Sparks flew from her eyes.
Her insistence on a happy ending suddenly reminded me of something from a few days ago.
- *You cry watching dramas? Honestly, isn't that just forced tears? It's all made-up stories. How can you get invested when you know it's a lie? I'll never understand people who cry at dramas.*
Despite saying that, her eyes were now welling up.
And not even from a drama, but just from hearing a story.
Her words and actions were truly at odds.
Anyway,
“Let’s move on from that.”
“What? How can we move on?”
“We need to talk about work. There’s something to add to the ending.”
“Huh?”
Han Seo-rim’s brow furrowed.
Hmm, it seemed she had completely forgotten that I called her here because I had something for her to do.
“I told you. There’s something you need to do.”
“What is it?”
“We need to create one more boss.”
“Isn’t the Chapter 4 boss the final one?”
“That was the plan, but I changed my mind. It feels a bit anticlimactic.”
While the narrative is important in *Hellic 2*, the essence of this medium is still a game.
Considering the pressure a player should feel when facing the final boss from a gameplay perspective, the Chapter 4 boss was a bit lackluster.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? For the grand finale, the setting should be the beach, the origin of the story.
Imagine calling the boss of another, distinct hell the final one.
Wouldn’t it feel like a thread you’ve been carefully weaving was left untied?
No matter how I looked at it, setting up a separate final boss battle on the beach seemed to be the only way.
There were other reasons as well.
“It’s a matter of narrative device. We’ve hidden the butterfly’s identity throughout the game. Even if we reveal it in the ending, there won’t be enough time for the user to become deeply immersed in the butterfly’s perspective. There’s a lack of emotional understanding. For a game that’s been building up to this one ending, that would be a major flaw, wouldn’t it?”
“...Well, that’s true.”
Han Seo-rim tilted her head.
“How are you going to create that immersion? During the final boss fight, the player will still be playing as Alice. If the butterfly’s identity isn’t revealed yet, what does the time for immersion matter?”
“I never said Alice would be the one to fight the final boss.”
“?”
“The final boss fight is set right after Alice goes through the door. The moment the door starts to fade.”
Originally, that scene was just the butterfly returning to her human form and then crumbling into dust.
The process of making the user aware of the butterfly’s identity.
But that alone wasn’t enough.
The regret of a mother who once hated her child enough to drag her into the Hell of Grudges.
The firm resolve she must have had to accept her own annihilation.
And finally, a direction was needed to encompass the entirety of the woman’s life, which drew a single trajectory to its very end. The answer was this.
“Until the door disappears, the butterfly, in her mother’s form, will fight the final boss. To protect the door.”
“What?”
“We can’t have something from hell chasing Alice through the door, can we?”
That was the surface reason... but in truth, there was a bit of an external calculation involved.
An idea had come to me, a way to solve the chronic problem of the *Hellic* game IP: the lack of a shared lore.
It was simple. I just had to use the hell lore I had built up so far.
“The butterfly’s life was a downward spiral. From the murder-suicide with Alice to her self-destruction to get her daughter out of hell, everything was downhill.”
“That’s... right?”
“Doesn’t a certain boss fit that theme? A self-destructive life.”
At that moment, Han Seo-rim’s eyes widened.
And then, the answer came.
“...The protagonist from the previous game?”
“Exactly.”
The Warden from *Hellic 1*, the keeper of the Hell of the Self-Destructors.
A ruthless torture expert with blue skin, dressed in a black shroud.
He would follow the butterfly to the beach.
To capture the butterfly and Alice, who had not yet fully departed.
“Turning the previous game’s protagonist into the final boss. A direction only a series can pull off.”
Ultimately, that’s what it was about.
“A mother’s story of saving her daughter. Her opponent is the protagonist of the previous game. In other words, the strongest being in the world. That’s the theme of the final boss battle.”
Heart-wrenching, and spine-chillingly.
We’re going to hit the users with a massive twist.
Trailer (1)