novelraw Chapter 71 : Fare for the Afterlife (3)
Chapter 71 : Fare for the Afterlife (3)
Chapter 71: Fare for the Afterlife (3)
Blue Marble.
A board game where you roll the dice, move your piece according to the number rolled, buy land, and build structures.
Was it because it included an educational element that made children realize the importance of real estate and the dangers of reckless investment from an early age? Even the parents of that era, who recoiled at the idea of games, didn't particularly object to Blue Marble.
But if you looked just a bit deeper, you'd find gambling elements that surpassed even an average casino slot machine.
A thoroughly luck-based game that allowed no skills (?) other than rolling the dice, and a harsh reality where the game only ended once everyone but the winner went bankrupt.
Once the game began, and land deeds and money landed in your hand, it became something beyond a mere board game.
No cash exchanged hands, but once the game started, this place became Gangwon Land and Las Vegas.
-Rattle rattle.
“Ugh! I’m ruined! I finally rolled a double, and it’s Deserted Island again?!”
And despite being overly immersed, this Soul Reaper had an unusually bad streak of luck.
Wherever the dice landed, there was always someone else's building, and the land he bought with bold resolve often ended up forcibly sold.
Beginner’s luck, sadly, wasn’t on this Soul Reaper’s side.
At this point, it almost felt bad when my turn came around.
But once the tide of a game tipped, it was hard to turn it back, so the victory naturally fell into my lap.
Even if I wanted to go easy, there wasn’t really anything I could do besides rolling the dice, so it was a near-forced win.
“Bankrupt again...”
“Me too, hehe.”
“Shall we go another round?”
“Uh, should we?”
“Yes, it’s really fun doing this after a long time.”
I was glad I’d suggested playing together.
Sure, on the first day, he had company, so it wasn’t surprising. But today, he came alone.
Of course, a customer coming to the café alone wasn’t anything unusual, so I simply served him a cup of Ssanghwa Tea, but his behavior—curiously poking around—was the problem.
Pretending to adjust his silver-rimmed glasses while sneaking side glances at the Immortal elders’ tablets and the Blue Marble game we were playing—he did that several times.
Eventually, sharp-eyed Ria invited him into the game.
Why the Soul Reaper came to our café wasn’t important.
To say I wasn’t curious would be a lie.
But I had never questioned anyone who came to our café about why they were there.
Not when the Elder Gumiho first came, nor Sanyi, nor Ria, nor any of the other special ones.
Everyone had their own reasons—reasons that compelled them to come to this shabby café for a cup of coffee.
So, we spent the night enjoying Blue Marble with the Soul Reaper, who couldn’t hide his expressions.
“Lost again! Geez, how can I not win even once?”
“We’ve only played three rounds. You’ll win next time you come.”
“Wait, we’re stopping?”
“It’s too late! If you oversleep, you’ll be late for school!”
A vague answer I was spinning in my head, not wanting to disappoint such an innocent face, was clearly spoken by Ria instead.
“Next time, bring the folks who came with you before. Games like this are more fun with more people.”
“Is that alright? I mean, I’m not exactly coming just to play games…”
“By all means. Oh, earlier I noticed the gate floating in the sky might be too visible to normal people. Could you come by another method?”
I didn’t mind frequent visits, but having a large gate floating in the sky each time was a bit troublesome.
“Should I come through another gate?”
“If that’s possible.”
“The gate to the Afterlife forms wherever many souls’ thoughts gather. The Afterlife itself is a world formed from the belief that there’s another life after death.”
“Then it would work to have such a gate near here.”
“Smart! Then see you tomorrow!”
-Whoooom.
Before the farewell even finished, another gate formed in the sky.
And at the same time, the deadline to deal with that gate was set—tomorrow.
National Intelligence Service conference room.
Due to the nature of the work, there was no distinction between day and night, but it was still rare for the conference room lights to be on even during the weekend.
Even NIS employees, being human, usually avoided weekend meetings if they could.
But that was a thing of the past.
Now, employees were using the conference room as their hideout to gather and play games under the pretense of work.
“Heal! No heal? Ugh, I’m dying. Heal me quick!”
“All my mana is gone.”
“Already? What are the healers doing with their mana? It’s not like we’ve only done one or two raids!”
“There were many damage dealers hit by the last area-wide attack pattern.”
“What, you think we got hit because we wanted to? The parking spot placement was bad just now.”
“Huh? Team Leader Choi, are you saying that for the tanks to hear?”
“Enough, enough. Let’s calm down and try again slowly.”
“Yes, Director.”
Oh Tae-soo, Director of the NIS, calmed the heated atmosphere.
It had already been three months since they began playing Path of Heroes.
Their original goal—to uncover the powers of the Dragon Pearl and establish contact with Jinseong—had long faded.
The only ones left were evil spirits who just wanted to enjoy gaming legally at work.
“Still, since the café owner hasn’t logged in, we’re out of potions.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to gather some ingredients yourself?”
“When we don’t even have time to clear dungeons? Anyway, Deputy General Manager Choi, the café owner hasn’t been playing lately? Call Director Baek. Never mind! There he is!”
-Knock knock.
Just in time, Director Baek Mahyeon, seen rushing past the blinds, was greeted with a friendly knock on the window by Director Oh Tae-soo.
“Director Baek, you’re no better than the rest of us. I was just about to call you. Where are you off to in such a hurry on your day off? I was thinking…”
Oh Tae-soo trailed off.
Several reasons why Director Baek Mahyeon might be urgently heading out on his day off flashed through his mind.
“No way? That’s not it, right?”
“There was another guest at the café. I’ll report the details once the team gathers.”
“But we’re in the middle of a raid…”
-Clack.
Without a word, Director Baek Mahyeon turned off the conference room lights and began setting up for his report.
However, Director Oh Tae-soo, the deputy general manager, and the involved employees all wore oddly calm expressions.
Because none of the guests who had come to the café so far were ever ordinary.
“Who is it this time?”
“A Soul Reaper. Reportedly a very high-ranking one.”
“Of course. That café isn’t ordinary. I heard most yokai can’t even touch the doorknob.”
There were only two types of guests who could enter Jinseong’s café.
A person who had no divine power at all, or someone strong enough to withstand the energy of the Divine Tree.
That was why it wasn’t surprising that the Soul Reaper who came to the café was a high-ranking figure.
“Well, it’s not like we have anything to do, right? The café owner handles everything well.”
“This time, there’s a problem.”
-Beep.
The beam projector connected to Director Baek Mahyeon’s phone turned on.
On the screen appeared a massive traditional gate, like something you’d see at the entrance to a temple, floating in the sky above the café.
It was a photo Jinseong took the moment Yeomra departed.
“Any witnesses?”
“Luckily, it was the weekend, so no one was around. But we can’t have a gate appearing in the sky like this every time, so we asked for a workaround. He said we need a place that as many people as possible believe connects to the Afterlife.”
“I mean, I don’t even know where to start with this. We need to know what kind of gate it is before we can get one from anywhere.”
“This gate is currently the most likely candidate.”
-Beep.
On the next screen, a massive bronze gate appeared.
“This is the Gate of Hell currently owned by the Samjung Group Art Foundation. It’s a representative work by Rodin and matches the conditions Jinseong mentioned most closely.”
“So, what you’re saying, Director Baek, is that we have to either buy or borrow that and place it near the café. And by tomorrow!”
“Yes.”
“…”
It was an impossible task.
Getting a historical piece from an art foundation owned by a corporation was already a major obstacle. And they couldn’t just leave it standing openly near the café, so they would also need to construct a hidden temporary structure.
All within a single day.
“Director Baek, is this even doable?”
“We dispatched the facilities team as soon as we got the call. Fortunately, there’s a public-use site nearby, and we’re setting up a temporary tent there. They say it’ll be finished by dawn.”
“Good work! Whew, that’s one thing off my chest. Wait, hold on. What about the gate?”
Director Oh Tae-soo, who had let down his guard thanks to Baek Mahyeon’s swift action, now asked the fundamental question.
Unfortunately, the answer lay with him.
“The piece cost over ten billion won when it was purchased by the art foundation. Director, you’ll have to handle it personally.”
“M-me?”
And so, it was Director Oh Tae-soo of the National Intelligence Service who first stood before a Gate of Hell that he hadn’t even secured yet.
“Ahem.”
Returning to the Afterlife, Yeomra hummed to himself continuously.
It was his first visit to the Living Realm not for work, but for personal reasons.
Even after living for countless eons.
It was only natural that a being of the Afterlife couldn’t linger in the Living Realm.
If even a soul of daylight couldn’t, how could one who ruled over the Afterlife be any different?
But that teahouse was different.
It was the Living Realm and the Heavenly Realm at the same time—and it could even open a gate to the Afterlife.
On top of that, wasn’t it the very teahouse he had so longed to visit just once?
Time in the Living Realm flowed faster than in the Afterlife, so he had planned to stop by frequently.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize that wasn’t possible.
As soon as he stepped into Yeomra’s Palace, his retainers rushed forward and prostrated themselves.
“Great King! You must not go to the Living Realm any longer!”
“Yes! Your mind isn’t even fully stable—how can you move about alone? We fear something terrible might happen! Please have mercy on us!”
“Please have mercy on us!”
‘Right. I forgot for a moment. It was like this last time too.’
Even when he found a suitable excuse, it only happened once every few centuries.
And each time he returned to the palace, retainers would rush out like this to stop him.
Yeomra had existed as soon as the Afterlife came into being.
He was the Afterlife itself.
The retainers knew this too—thus they were on their knees, desperately blocking his way, worried about any possible mishap.
And so, that blissful moment became a dream once more, and cold reality unfolded before Yeomra’s eyes.
A mountain with flowing lava, skies engulfed in flames, and the screams of sinners.
This was where Yeomra belonged.
The farewell he gave, saying he would return tomorrow, now seemed ridiculous.
“To the court.”
At his cold command, the retainers rose from their prostration and followed behind Yeomra.
They did not realize that viewing the vile deeds of sinners every day through the Karma Mirror was, for Yeomra, an unending hell.
‘The café owner must be waiting… I feel sorry now.’
He regretted giving a farewell that had become a promise he could no longer keep.
But there was something even Yeomra didn’t know.
What Jinseong would do when a guest at the café needed help.