Surviving Among the Entities

For humans to engage in dialogue with other humans is always fascinating. Human individuality varies immensely from birth, further diversifying through the environments and processes each person experiences, so the exchange of perspectives offers an intellectual pleasure akin to setting foot in a new frontier.

『Foolish sentient being, you dare discuss Buddhist teachings with me.』

If such is the case between fellow humans, it was inevitable that my interest would be piqued by conversing with entities – existences incomprehensible to humans.

“Yes, we must discuss them. For anyone can see that your actions do not follow the Buddha’s teachings. If there are new teachings of the Buddha that I am unaware of, please enlighten me.”
『You humans are pitiful, bearing original sin from birth. It is only rightful that you offer yourselves as sacrifices to atone to this world, yet you are ignorant of this fact?』

Look here, is this not fascinating already?

“Original sin, that is a Christian doctrine, is it not?”
『From the moment you are born you bring suffering to your mother, committing the sin of being unfilial. By eating and drinking other lifeforms, you commit sin. Every action you take induces sin, so there is no doubt you sinful beings are composed of sin itself.』
“That is simply the course of nature and its principles. As living beings, we have no choice but to consume other lifeforms to survive. If you call that sin, then every living, breathing creature on this earth is a sinner.”
『That is correct.』

The monk laughed.

『All living things are sinners.』
“Oh dear.”

It is a fascinatingly narrow-minded viewpoint.

“If all living things are sinners, then……”
『Undergo ascetic practice to atone.』

The monk struck a wooden bell, inducing a strange sensation to flow into my mind.

‘I want to harm myself.’

But since I had no desire to actually do so, I ignored it and continued discussing sin with the monk.

“If all living things are sinners, then are you yourself not a sinner? For a sinner to judge other sinners is not judgement, but simply wanton slaughter – nothing but a sophistry to justify your own violence.”
『?』
“And you’ve been striking that bell talking about asceticism and atonement, which is a mistaken act itself.”
『Why do you not undergo asceticism?』
“In Buddhism, the bell symbolizes being awake and signifies ceaseless diligence to attain enlightenment. But you are judging and condemning humans with a narrow perspective, which is the affliction of delusion – one of the three poisons that distorts perception of the world’s true nature through ignorance and stupidity, is it not?”

Unfortunately, the discussion could not continue further.

『Gah! Why do you refuse to undergo asceticism!』

The monk stood up and tried to strike me down, so I had no choice. The monk who had been of ordinary human size while seated suddenly grew several times larger upon standing up.

Vertically and horizontally.
It was now a size that could no longer be called human, but that was not an issue.

“Do you know why large organisms walk on all fours? Because quadrupedal locomotion is better suited for supporting their weight compared to bipedal.”
『Undergo asceticism!』

I lightly evaded the attack, advanced forward, and aimed a right hook at its knee. With the sound of cartilage shattering, the monk knelt down.

“As you can see, bipedal locomotion has limited weight distribution, so leg injuries directly threaten one’s life.”
『Graaaahk!』
“Perhaps in the past there were many large bipedal lifeforms, but through natural selection only the quadrupeds survived, which is why the giant bipedal robots that many men dream of are mere fantasy.”

I closed in and delivered a knee kick to the monk’s jaw. The sound of shattering bones was more crisp than a bell’s peal.

“More importantly, discussing original sin while failing to follow the Buddha’s teachings of compassion makes you a renegade monk.”
『You, you scum! How dare……]』

Since it persisted in attacking, I continued to strike it.

“I dislike violence, but sometimes force must be countered with force.”

Its large size made it satisfying to hit.

“Please surrender quickly so I can proceed to the next car.”

『Grruuk…… stop…… please…… have mercy……』

The obese monk had reverted to its original size. Seeing it shedding tears begging for mercy stirred my artistic spirit.

‘The monk who should be the most compassionate lacked compassion for others, yet now begs for compassion in its own suffering.’

How ironic!

“I’ll take a photo.”

Unable to hold back, I took a photograph. The developed photo showed the monk covered in blood and crying, to which I wrote on the back:

[Ignorance of Empathy]

I tried to show the photo and explain the artistic expression while urging it to be more compassionate, but the monk was startled and spoke unprompted instead.

『Please! Please have mercy! I am not really a monk! That is why I did not show compassion! So please! Do not ask about Buddhist teachings anymore, and do not inflict more suffering!』
“Not a real monk?”

Something was amiss.

“This is the Hell Express Train, the Buddhist hell, is it not? A train that judges those who have committed sins based on Buddhist principles? Though the criteria may be strict and excessive, it is still something conceivable for an entity……”
『Please, please……!』

Unfortunately, as I approached the monk it began foaming at the mouth and passed out.

“Wake up.”

I lightly shook it, but it showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

“Hmm.”

No helping it, I’ll have to ask the next judging entity.

『Another lascivious sinner has come.』

In the hotel lobby, a 10-meter tall naked giant bared its fangs at me.

“Could we perhaps resolve this amicably through dialogue?”
『I shall violate you lascivious one to lessen your sins.』
“It seems not so easy after all.”

But there were no victims in sight. They had likely already become the train’s fuel.

“I already dealt with the giant in the previous car.”

Though I wanted to resolve things quickly through dialogue.
Complaining would not change reality, and time would not stop its flow, so I swiftly crippled its knees and, like the monk, evenly struck it until the giant belatedly lost its fighting spirit, wailing and begging for forgiveness.

『Tha, tha……..』
“I heard you are a judging entity of this train. But the judges here do not follow compassion or the Buddha’s teachings at all. What is the meaning of this?”
『Hu, huhiing…… yooo……kai…….』

It seems I struck its face too much. It could no longer converse coherently, and shortly after the giant lost consciousness again.

“Hmm, yoookai…… a demonic spirit?”

Then all of its actions make sense.

‘Could the Hell Express Train itself be demonic spirits posing as the Buddha while tormenting humans?’

Before leaving, I observed the giant. Despite being unconscious or dead, its genitals stood erect.

“With a height of roughly 10 meters, its genitals are around 30cm.”

I calculated the ratio.

’10 meters is 1,000cm, so 30cm/1,000cm, the ratio is 3%. Applying that to the average adult male height of 175cm would be 175 x 0.03 = 5.25cm.’

It was an adult male with a 5.25cm penis.

‘A case of micropenis.’

After taking a photo that clearly showed the giant’s genitals, I wrote the title on the back of the developed print:

[Anger Over What One Could Not Possess]

“Deprivation seeks excessive compensation. If the judgement here is not proper judgement, then the giant’s violation of the passengers may have been an excessive act to satisfy its deprivation.”

I proceeded to the next car. In a mountain valley with a stream, a youth spotted me then suddenly vanished.

『Hello?』
“Hello there.”

The youth who had approached me whispered:

『Your friend Homun, he actually never considered you a friend.』

It seemed capable of reading human memories.

“Hmm.”
『Did he resent you even at the moment of his death? He’s currently whispering in hell. Ah! I can hear it! Why didn’t you revive me!』
“I really did want to resolve everything through dialogue……”
『Kikikiki, don’t you, uh?』
“As a human, if you provoke me like that I cannot help but get angry.”
『You, you! How did you defeat the other jud, judges!』

It seemed it had read my recent memories.

“You’re too late.”

For the first time, I used not violence for the sake of dialogue, but violence for the sake of violence itself.

[The Gate of Verbal Disaster]

I also took a photo.

『Ah! Jewels!』

Excluding the Judger, this was the final Car No. 2, where the Desirous judge – a pig-nosed entity – greedily received the diamonds I offered.

『Pretty jewels! The only jewels I don’t have!』

The Desirous turned people into pigs to raise as livestock by showering them with jewels they desired, except there was one jewel it did not possess – diamonds.

‘In the game, offering diamonds as a bribe allowed you to escape the train.’

It seemed the same in reality, as upon receiving the diamonds the Desirous pointed somewhere on the plain.

『Go straight that way and you can leave the train!』
“No, I want something other than leaving.”
『What is it?』
“Who are you people?”

The pig-faced entity brightly smiled as it spoke:

『We are yooo……』

Its smiling face was instantly decapitated.

“……”

The severed head and body turned to dust and vanished. The judging entities I had faced until now had merely lost consciousness, not died – proving that.

“Why did this happen?”

Following my instinctive urges, I moved to the next car.

“There is only one reason.”

Unlike the previous cars, in the center of this ordinary-looking Subway Line 1 car, a figure awaited me.

『……』

An old-fashioned train conductor uniform.
A face obscured by a black shadow.
Everything exactly as described in the game.

『Did you enjoy yourself?』

Only one difference – it did not use respectful language.

『Did you revel in glee like a petty thug after getting a bit of power? Did you become intoxicated by your own strength, deluding yourself into thinking you were someone great?』
“No, I did not.”
『How arrogant. You must have thought you could stand above the solemn laws after felling the judges, didn’t you? For a mere mortal, an insect unworthy of being human, to run rampant imagining itself a god transcending the celestial laws – it is absurd yet pitiful enough to make one shake their head while sighing.』
“I will say it again, I did not harbor such thoughts.”
『Yet, it ends here.』

At that moment, an impact akin to being hit by a vehicle distorted my vision.

『No matter how an insect flails, it is still an insect. Have you ever seen a person die from an insect bite?』

I wanted to say it was possible if the insect had potent venom, but the barrage of impacts from all directions shook my innards, making it impossible to speak.

『In the end, your existence is just that. A slightly better insect with a few more fangs, but ultimately unable to escape the lowly fate of being an insect.』

Enduring the disorientation several times, I barely managed to open my eyes – only to find my body was already mangled.

『Insect, crawl on the ground, for that is your rightful place.』

My body was in agony, my leg bones felt shattered, several ribs seemed broken, and most critically my left eye could not see.

‘Ah.’

The conductor’s image was reflected in my right eye’s pupil. Beyond his shadowy silhouette, I witnessed something else.

‘A demonic spirit.’

It was a dark plain or cosmos filled with horned, grotesquely-shaped demonic spirits dancing in pits of fire and pools of blood, with towers of piled skulls reaching the sky scattered throughout.

‘A hazard grade?’

Like the blindfolded girl, could the conductor also possess power not of the hazard grade, but the extinction grade?

“Huff.”

With trembling hands, I reached into my pocket. Inside the crumpled Void Pouch, I retrieved cigarettes, a lighter, and my smartphone while I was at it.

“Excuse me, may I smoke one?”
『I do not expect courtesy from an insect, so smoke if you wish. I am merciful, and it will be your last cigarette.』
“Unexpectedly aware of mercy, I see. Thank you.”

Fortunately my trachea was uninjured, so I took a deep drag and spoke:

“First, my name is Seung-hoon Lee. One should introduce themselves. And……”

Perhaps because I was smoking in a place where it was prohibited, it tasted exceptionally good.

“I too am aware that I am like an insect.”
『You admit it?』
“Yes, I admit it.”

From a very long time ago.

“That all humans are like insects.”

This is what I have thought.

“Like worms desperately crawling out to breathe on a rainy day, only to be carelessly crushed underfoot and killed.”
『You knew your place yet still acted so shamelessly?』
“But what can be done? Humans are ‘insect-like’, not insects themselves.”

Which is why even now that the world has become a 「game of surviving the entities」, I still live on.

“Because we are not insects, though we may die at any moment we desperately struggle to live. Despite the risk of being carelessly crushed underfoot, we strive to live each moment to the fullest.”

Not knowing when I may die to an extinction-grade entity, but desperately squirming to survive.

“That is what I believe to be the proper human attitude toward death.”

That is my current life.

『How regrettable. For one who thinks that way to now face death.』
“Well.”

And even now, it is the same.

“First, let us engage in a dialogue.”