-Brrrrrrr~!
“Uwaaah!”
Every time the giant wheels bumped along the rough path between the fields, the Promotion Team’s screams erupted.
But Yama paid no mind and kept turning the steering wheel.
-Swoooooosh
“Your Majesty!”
“Slow down, just a bit slo—!”
Mujae and Hallakgoong shouted at the top of their lungs, but their voices didn’t reach Yama in the driver’s seat.
-Clunk!
Another bump sent Zack flying into the air before he thudded back down onto the tractor.
‘I feel like I’m going to die.’
Zack, looking pale as if he were seasick, waved an SOS with his hand, but everyone was too busy just holding onto themselves.
“Wow!!”
After being shaken for what felt like ages, Mujae forgot about his nausea and let out a gasp of awe.
As the tractor climbed higher and higher, the panorama of Revelation Hell unfolded before their eyes.
“I see the Tongue Sea over there.”
Hallakgoong, as if he couldn’t believe it, lifted his Camera with trembling hands.
Far in the distance, where there should have been a sea, was instead endless fields and the horizon.
The Tongue Sea, where they had toiled away at dawn, looked now like a tiny speck far, far away.
In that moment, the events of that morning flashed before their eyes like a lantern slideshow.
But their drive wasn’t over yet.
“Hold on tight!”
“Huh? Hold what—!?”
Just as Yama, who had ignored all of the Promotion Team’s screams until now, threw out a warning, they began to descend.
“Uwaaaaah!!?”
The tractor skidded down at an angle that was practically a cliff.
For a moment, Mujae would have chosen passing out over being seasick.
But unfortunately for Mujae, there was no such option.
-Screeeeech!
With a hard brake, the tractor landed on the ground.
Momentum hurled the Promotion Team forward, tangling them up with each other and the luggage.
“Uwaaah!”
“We’ve arrived!”
Grin-!
Yama took off her sunglasses and announced it in the brightest, liveliest voice in the world. Unlike her refreshingly cheerful face, the Promotion Team, tangled up with the luggage, looked like they’d aged ten years.
“I-It’s over….”
Mujae, his legs shaking like those of a newborn giraffe, staggered up and looked around.
It was clear—the atmosphere here was very different from the endless fields they’d seen until now.
Everyone took a moment to catch their breath, trying to steady their dizziness.
Zack, face still pale, leaned against the back of the tractor, while Hallakgoong rummaged through his Bag for water.
“Here.”
“Thanks….”
Hallakgoong nearly swallowed the entire Water Bottle Mujae handed him, finally coming back to his senses.
And then, Mujae once again locked eyes with something.
“Hurk!”
Glittering black eyes. A body moving like a mountain.
Black Oxen with overwhelming presence were pulling Jaenggi.
And beneath their feet, something huge, damp, and Pink Carpet-like caught Mujae’s attention.
“…This must be the end of the world.”
Hallakgoong, still deathly pale, gulped hard.
-Aaaaahhhh
-Save meeee
-Huuhuaaaa
The distant screams they’d heard while setting up the tent before now rang out much closer, echoing around them.
A place completely different from the soil of the fields they’d grown so sick of was beginning here.
Mujae instinctively stepped back.
Just then, someone grabbed Mujae’s shoulder.
“…Huh?”
It was Zack and Hallakgoong, who steadied Mujae as he was about to collapse. Though their faces were just as pale, they became Mujae’s support.
For the first time in his afterlife, Mujae felt tears sting his eyes.
“Everyone….”
“Ugh.”
But maybe it really was too much—Hallakgoong couldn’t hold back his nausea and dashed off. Yama clicked her tongue at the sight.
“How pathetic. Didn’t you say you wanted to learn farming from me? Farming! If you want to farm, you need land first, don’t you!”
She casually began unloading cargo from the tractor, then yelled at the Promotion Team.
“What are you doing! Hurry up, get the luggage off! At this rate, the sun will set!”
Still not recovered from the shock, the Promotion Team nonetheless worked hard to unload the sacks of debris they’d collected. When most of the luggage had been moved, Hallakgoong carefully asked a question.
“Your Majesty, are those people the managers of Revelation Hell?”
“Yup. They’re the ones who make the land. Hey, Juseon!”
At Yama’s call, a small child came running from the distance.
The Juseon Child looked about the same age as Seolpyo from Northern Ice Hell, but with a healthy, sun-browned look, called out energetically.
“What is it!”
The Promotion Team flinched at the unexpectedly familiar tone, but Yama just kept the conversation going.
“How many pyeong are you expanding today?”
“Three hundred pyeong!”
“And now?”
“We’re at one eighty!”
“Good job! Let’s eat lunch later!”
“Okay!”
It was a peaceful, everyday scene in Revelation Hell.
The screams of the criminals never stopped in the background, but for these people, it was just another ordinary day.
“Alright, everyone feeling better now?”
Yama rubbed her hands together and looked at the Promotion Team. Her faded eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Okay! If you’re ready, let’s get to work!”
With her characteristic bold stride, she led them toward a massive warehouse next to the newly made land. As they followed, Zack gestured to his friends.
‘Now that I think about it, we’re making compost again.’
Maybe the fate of the Promotion Team was to end up in the compost bin….
When Yama opened the warehouse door, a pungent smell wafted out, and piles of black Soil came into view. But it was clear at a glance—this was no ordinary Soil.
“What’s that?!”
The black Soil seemed to wriggle as if alive, slowly crawling toward the Promotion Team.
Everyone instinctively stepped back, but Yama, now holding a shovel, scooped up the Soil and threw it back in.
“It’s called Soul Earth (혼토).”
Yama’s face grew bored as she explained.
“It’s what’s left after tongues have completely decomposed for a very long time.”
“So, couldn’t we just bury that?”
“No, it doesn’t mix at all with new tongues.”
She pointed her shovel at a heap of debris piled up like a mountain.
“This intermediate debris has to be mixed in. It acts as a buffer. That’s why we mix it here.”
What they’d thought was another warehouse was actually a Compost Bin for making compost. Yama, standing next to it—it looked twice her size—set up a ladder and gave a hearty order.
“Alright, let’s blend it~! Two shovels of Soul Earth, three of debris, and one shovel of regular Soil!”
Naturally, everyone took charge of what was closest: Mujae got the debris, Zack handled the Soul Earth, and Hallakgoong took care of the regular Soil.
“Huh?”
As they mixed according to Yama’s instructions, the materials swallowed each other up and started to foam.
It was hard to believe, but these different things were all the rotted tongues of criminals.
And Mujae was about to be even more shocked by something unexpected.
His face frozen with surprise, Mujae looked at Yama and asked,
“Why… does the compost smell fresh?”
“Hahaha! Of course it does!”
Yama laughed out loud at Mujae’s confused expression. She explained with pride beaming on her face.
“Rotting away sin properly—that’s the scent of Purification!”
“So, after this process, if it rots well….”
Hallakgoong, now curious, asked,
“Does that mean the criminals’ suffering is reduced? Or does it get worse?”
“Well.”
Yama looked bewildered, as if she’d never thought about it before.
“I’ve never been a criminal, you know.”
“That’s true….”
“It might sound strange, but I’ve never once tried to make anyone suffer more.”
Her eyes pierced right through Hallakgoong.
“Everything follows its own flow, as it was meant to.”
“…….”
“Everyone has their reason for being, receiving just the right reward and punishment, growing and living as they should.”
Just then.
“Ah!”
Mujae suddenly cried out.
The others turned, startled, to see Mujae clutching his right hand in surprise.
His gardening Gloves had torn, leaving a hole.
Hallakgoong clicked his tongue at the sight.
“Seriously, always so clumsy.”
“No, really, just now there was a crackling, and….”
“What are you talking about? Take off your Gloves.”
Hallakgoong took off Mujae’s Gloves, revealing his bare hand.
At that moment—
-Zzzzt!
“Waaah?!”
As soon as the debris powder from the Gloves touched his hand, a chilling shock pierced through Mujae’s veins.
-Die! I said die!
A scream, like the wail of sin itself, brushed past Mujae’s ear like a wisp of smoke.
Startled, Mujae tried to back away but ended up collapsing to the ground.
He couldn’t tell if he had dodged it, or if it had fled from him.
“You…!”
Yama approached belatedly, but white debris suddenly began to spread and boil around where Mujae had collapsed.
-Bubble bubble….
The debris, reacting in a chain, frothed with sticky bubbles before settling down again.
Yama’s face contorted in shock at the result.
“…Did you just make compost?”
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
Mujae prostrated himself before Yama.
All the while, his right arm shook violently in the air, trying not to touch the ground.
“…Perfect.”
Yama picked up the debris that had turned black where Mujae had sat.
It crumbled in her hand like soft Soil, falling right to the floor.
She turned her head back to Mujae.
“You, what are you?”
“Huh?”
Yama’s gaze, locking with Mujae’s as he looked up, coiled around him like a snake.
That stare was so heavy, Mujae felt his throat tighten from the pressure.
“How is it that a mere Dead…”
Her eyes searched Mujae thoroughly as she lifted his chin.
“…has the same power as Soul Earth?”
The laid-back air she’d shown so far was gone—this was the true face of the King of the Underworld.
The murderous aura made Mujae’s face turn almost purple.
“Your Majesty, Mujae is—!”
Hallakgoong and Zack, unable to bear it any longer, tried to intervene.
But then—
“You.”
Yama dropped a bombshell they hadn’t expected.
“Work here.”
“Huh?”
For a moment, Mujae thought he’d gone deaf.
But Yama didn’t give him a moment to escape.
“With a talent like this, were you planning to hide somewhere?”
Her lips curled so far up, it looked almost devilish—no, she was clearly delighted.
“Someone as talented as you should be working under me, Yama!”
In an instant, fear was replaced by utter shock on Mujae’s face.