Chapter 158. The Aspiration of Those Who Crave Equality.
The kings of each nation convened to discuss how to handle the madness of the group that had been shrieking about equality, a collective headache for all of them. The chaos they had sown was severe, already beginning to leak across borders bit by bit. The air in the conference room hung heavy with dread.
"If anyone has a sound idea, please... share your thoughts."
"You all know what will happen, don't you? If we handle them wrong, it'll be like kicking a hornet's nest."
In the end, rather than act directly, they decided to commission the Disaster mercenary company.
"I've heard of this 'Disaster' group too. But isn't it nothing more than exaggerated rumors among the common folk?"
"Even if only half—or a quarter—of those rumors prove true, that's enough. And, after all... a single private force swelling to such power is—"
"Ahem!"
The moment that uncomfortable truth was spoken aloud—that a privately-owned company was beginning to rival the might of entire kingdoms—the kings cleared their throats, betraying their unease.
In the end, they each gathered a commission fee and resolved to entrust the task to Disaster.
On the surface, it was a choice to "resolve the problem," but their true intentions were different. The scheme was to let Disaster stamp out this chaos while simultaneously draining their strength and chipping away at their reputation.
They did not believe there was any real chance of success. And if Disaster failed, they could deplete the company's power and even claim a penalty fee for the failure. Every last one of them expected Disaster to be badly wounded in a fight against this fanatical group.
Naturally, since they assumed failure was all but guaranteed, they prepared no reward at all for mission completion—only the down payment.
The commission arrived at Disaster, and the company attached little significance to it. They had already completed several large-scale contracts, including suppressing forces attempting a coup.
But contrary to Disaster's expectations, no visible results materialized.
"Old man, is their resistance fiercer than we thought?"
"It seems we are struggling more than anticipated."
"Hmm... I'll look into it myself."
Cheon Sihu, the Commander of Disaster, moved personally. Once he began to act and confirmed the state of the kingdom, the only word that fit was 'hell on earth.' Even he, who had lived an impossibly long life and spent all of it as a mercenary, had taken countless lives with his own hands. He had struck down numberless warriors and foes, won numberless battles, and long since grown accustomed to bloodying his hands.
But the wars he had experienced had never been this kind of mindless slaughter. His battles had always carried a just cause, and the targets were always a clearly defined "enemy."
Now, however, the sight unfolding before him was a horrifying reality. Without discrimination—children, the elderly, women—all had been cruelly torn to pieces.
There was no cause here. No vengeance, no extortion, no grudge, no quarrel—not even the most trivial justification existed. It was nothing but a massacre.
His face remained expressionless as he stared at the corpses, his inner self holding a stillness—but within that stillness, a tremor of rage rippled just beneath the surface. All his life, steeped in battle as it was, he had lived by his own principles. Yet these people had utterly disregarded everything, crushing innocent lives for no reason whatsoever.
"Old man."
"Yes."
Cassius, who had always maintained his calm, could sense it: his liege was burning with fury.
"One week."
"..."
"I will end all of this within one week."
The only one to enter the kingdom was the Commander, "Cheon Sihu," alone. And what did the rest of the company do?
They sealed the kingdom's borders so tightly not a single ant could escape. And then, they eradicated every last one of them—far faster than the predicted week. He passed judgment on those pieces of trash masquerading as people.
On that day, traces were carved across the sky above the kingdom held by the group: slash marks raking across the clouds themselves, as if the heavens had been cut apart.
After that, the kingdom officials—who had never dreamed the mission would actually be completed and had prepared no reward—faced threats from Disaster even in their sleep. In the end, they were left with no choice, forced to wring out their treasured wealth like water from a stone.
And word spread across the entire continent that Disaster possessed power rivaling entire kingdoms.
Setting aside the worries of our entire party, we moved into Suwon. Since Terion was protecting the village, I wasn't terribly concerned.
"Commander, the place where they're holed up will be in sight shortly."
"No one dies except for that bastard."
"Yes."
I would capture him directly and interrogate him on how he knew about that group. We reached his location, and yet there was not a single soul standing watch outside.
"Is he waiting inside?"
Cassius sent in a few operatives who excelled at infiltration. They came back out almost immediately, rendering the whole stealth approach pointless.
"Commander, everyone inside is dead...!"
"What?"
It made no sense that a man steeped in equality and justice would massacre every single survivor from his own group. We all went inside to confirm it—he had killed every last person before fleeing in a frantic rush, taking only himself.
I had expected him to realize I would track him down, but something was off. The man was clearly steeped in madness, yet his behavior was disturbingly rational.
"Search everything. Leave no stone unturned."
At my command, the company members gathered up anything that might serve as intelligence.
"Commander, I believe this is his journal. You should probably look at it."
'A diary?'
Curious, I roughly flipped through the pages. As I moved toward the back, the handwriting grew increasingly warped. The volume was thick; he appeared to have been keeping it fairly consistently. I opened to the very first page and began to read.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
The world has ended. Humans bite and devour one another.
Am I still dreaming?
―――――――――――――――
The early sections detailed a desperate struggle for survival. Up to this point, he was just a young man clawing to stay alive.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
While rescuing people and forming a group, I awakened.
It came with a cheesy title: 'Judicator.'
The more I carry out my brand of justice, the stronger I become... What is this, some hero comic?
―――――――――――――――
"So this is when he started to fixate on justice."
I flipped past several pages.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
I cannot understand people. They were dying, and I rescued them, yet they oppose bringing in more people.
I asked why, and they said food supplies will shrink. Truly selfish people.
―――――――――――――――
"..."
It must have been somewhere around this point that he decided not everyone could be truly good—not like him.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
I killed a person for the first time. I killed a man who was trying to rape a woman in our group.
Surprisingly, I felt almost nothing. Have I already adapted to a world like this?
The irony is, after killing a person, I gained a skill called 'Heresy Judgment.'
―――――――――――――――
I kept reading.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
I killed people who disagreed with me and made it look like an accident. Laughably enough, the more people I killed, the stronger I grew—thanks to that 'Heresy Judgment' skill.
It seems my thinking wasn't wrong after all.
―――――――――――――――
Now, at last, I understood what Park Hanna had told me.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
As I grew stronger by killing zombies, I also gained an ability that made people listen to my voice a bit more intently.
It wasn't exactly brainwashing—it felt more like my persuasiveness had grown a little thicker.
―――――――――――――――
"So that's how he riled people up and gathered them... his gift of gab."
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
Something called the Shop appeared, and I bought a special item that only I could purchase.
The Yearning of Those Who Crave Equality.
It seems like an item perfectly suited to me, the Judicator.
―――――――――――――――
Urgently, I opened my own Shop at the word "equality" and checked, but it wasn't visible to me.
'Did the emotions given off by their vengeful spirits become deified?'
There had been quite a few cases like that on Titan as well. When enough people yearn for something with enough fervor, that yearning gains divinity and takes on a real form.
'Has a divine authority intervened in the System?'
Assuming the System itself was created by a divine authority, the possibility of an intervention—rather than an alteration to the System—seemed plausible enough.
This was roughly the point where his handwriting began to turn strange.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
All people must be equal. Only then can we create a utopia where everyone is happy.
I've started having strange dreams—perhaps the memories of someone I don't know.
―――――――――――――――
And then, for a long stretch, he didn't write at all. The most recent entry seemed to have been written only after he met me.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
I met someone called Cheon Sihu. To have that kind of power and use it only to satisfy his own selfish desires... It is absolutely unforgivable.
―――――――――――――――
The next page seemed to have been written after meeting me and then being unconscious for two weeks. The handwriting was completely different from before. It was as if a different person had written it.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
I have realized my past life. All those dreams I've been having were actually my former self.
What's astonishing is, I was killed by Cheon Sihu in the distant past.
He murdered every last one of my brothers and sisters who were striving for a utopia of equality.
If he discovers my past existence in this life, I will be killed again.
Fortunately, if I use only the mana the body's original owner possessed, he shouldn't notice.
Still, not knowing what might happen, I prepared a single contingency. It consumed quite a bit of my life force, though.
―――――――――――――――
"...!"
It was now certain. The flesh belonged to Lee Jong-hyun, but the one inside was that bastard.
And while he scribbled some absurd nonsense about past lives, the truth was that Lee Jong-hyun had simply been devoured by those entities contained within the Yearning.
I didn't know the exact method he'd used to slip from my grasp, but it looked like he'd employed that "contingency" he mentioned preparing.
―――――――――――――――
Month X, Day XX
I passed judgment, one by one, on those who turned their backs on equality and became tainted by heinous things. Their sins shall be cleansed by death.
It feels different from true equality, but I should go to China, the standard-bearer of communism, which professes something similar.
It is my mission to enlighten them and teach them true equality, and by judging the heretics, I too will draw closer to the utopia.
―――――――――――――――
After that, the notebook held nothing else.
But I could more than guess where the bastard was heading.
After all, he had written it down himself on the very last page.