Transferred to an SSS-rank Production Class

The king, gripped by suspicion and an even greater fear, trembled as if on the verge of fainting.

At his feet lay an item colloquially known as the “human mattattabi.” With its stimulating effect and mild awakening properties, nothing could have been more fitting for this situation.

‘Thank goodness I have this antidote item.’

Without the protective gear, I too would have been dizzy and disoriented. The king seemed to lack such an item, and with the added influence of alcohol, his exaggerated reaction was inevitable.

‘If there are no unexpected variables, it should be easy to deceive him. What a relief.’

Borrowing Gregory’s tone from when he passed his absurd sentence on us in the ninety-ninth cave, I intimidated the king.

“How dare you impersonate a god. It’s an unspeakable sin. You know its weight better than anyone.”

“I-I was told the eyes of the grim reaper wouldn’t reach me…”

“You still say such things even after seeing the plague flower blooming on your face?”

The king, unable to deny it outright, fumbled at his face. The shock of having his carefully hidden secret exposed took precedence.

“Do you truly know everything?”

I nodded, keeping my expression as cold as possible. The king collapsed to the floor, clinging to my feet shamelessly – a textbook example of the strong turned weak.

‘It seems the king’s affliction with the plague was quite a secret. Perhaps only his confidant, Arajin, knew about it?’

As soon as I mentioned the plague flower, the doubt in his eyes dispersed like dandelion seeds. This reaction suggested that very few people knew about his condition.

Seeing this, I realized the physicians who had examined the king probably hadn’t met a pleasant end. This was a man who wouldn’t hesitate to endanger even his own children. It wouldn’t be surprising if all the physicians who had set foot in this palace were now meeting Sa Mok-yeong in the afterlife, having succumbed to the plague.

The thought of those innocent physicians who had met their untimely demise soured my mood.

“Please, just spare my life-ack!”

I deliberately shook my ankle roughly, dislodging the king who was prostrate on the floor, pleading. His bulky form rolled and crashed into the bed. Despite being too intoxicated by alcohol and the item to feel pain, the king, ever self-indulgent, was quick to wail.

I felt no guilt for harming him. Nor was I generous enough to show consideration for someone who couldn’t even maintain basic decency. Instead of an apology, an interrogation followed.

“That’s not all. Your sins, committed for personal glory, seem to pierce the heavens of Cheonsan. Their number is beyond count.”

Apparently terrified of me, or rather, of death itself, the king crawled backward without even raising his head properly. I could have let him be, but I deliberately followed his movements.

The room, though spacious, was still confined. The king soon found himself trapped against a piece of furniture, unable to retreat further.

What followed was noteworthy. Realizing he couldn’t escape, the king immediately began clenching and unclenching his fists, glancing furtively in my direction.

‘Does he lack the ability to learn?’

Judging by his gaze, he seemed to be sizing up my build. Probably trying to time when to lunge at me. He must have dismissed his earlier failed attempt to grab my arm as a fluke.

This moment clearly revealed that what the king feared was not some transcendent being, but merely death itself. His transparency was so absolute it almost made me laugh.

“A futile effort.”

Instead of a lengthy response, I bent down and grabbed the back of the king’s collar. Then, as if lifting a shopping basket, I picked him up with one hand and tossed him onto the bed.

“W-what impossible strength…”

The king, his attack thwarted in the blink of an eye, muttered as he rolled on the bedding. I admonished him not to apply human standards, and only then did he finally kneel obediently.

Now that the situation was in my favor, it was time to drive the point home. Kneeling on one knee to meet the king’s eye level, I asked:

“Is the journey to the Western Garden of Flowers so terrifying to you?”

Did he think showing pity would make me go easy on him? The king nodded vigorously, wearing an aggrieved expression. But this was not a lifeline; it was a noose.

“Enchant set.”

As the king stared at me blankly at the unfamiliar term, I drew a line in the air with my index finger. Following the trajectory of my finger, twenty-four cards materialized in mid-air.

As expected, the king couldn’t take his eyes off the suddenly appeared cards. In reality, this was nothing more than an illusion with no practical use, but to the king, this sight must have seemed like the miraculous ability of a transcendent being.

Flipping over the ‘Corrosion’ card, dominated by dark hues, I showed it to the king while murmuring:

“Even after narrowing it down, there are still twenty-four sins. Punishments befitting each await you. What you should truly fear is not death, but what lies beyond.”

“I-I, this lowly one, committed so many sins? Th-this is utterly preposterous!”

“I assure you, you’ll be begging for death with every passing second.”

The potion seemed to be working well, as the king, now pale as a sheet, lunged at me. Having witnessed me perform several feats impossible for an ordinary human, he could no longer harbor any doubts.

“Still thinking of making feeble excuses?”

I waved my hand as if in disgust, erasing all the cards. No matter how intoxicated he was, showing all the card faces might have aroused suspicion.

Unaware of my inner thoughts, the king grew increasingly frantic and once again clung to my feet.

“Your lack of remorse has cost you any chance of a reduced sentence. This is all your karma.”

“Pardon?”

“In the afterlife, as in this world, genuine repentance is of utmost value. And the laws of the afterlife are a bit more merciful to those deemed worthy.”

You’ve squandered your last blessing, truly a pitiful turn of events.

Hearing my deliberately muttered words, the king’s face contorted as if he were about to cry.

Though he had been quick to deny everything to me, he knew his own actions best. He was probably trembling now, trying to gauge what punishments awaited him. Perhaps he was even regretting his earlier rash words and actions towards me.

After giving the king ample time to stew in his anxiety, I put on a seemingly merciful smile and spoke casually.

“However, regardless of everything else, you are of the bloodline that carries the supreme covenant with the Heavenly Emperor.”

“You mean…!”

“Out of respect for Him, I shall grant you one last special opportunity.”

I felt the king’s grip on my robe tighten. He must have been thinking that he couldn’t miss this chance, given the atmosphere I had carefully cultivated.

For the first time since entering this room, I smiled, my eyes curving.

“Lay bare before me now all the deeds you have committed, blinded by selfish desire.”

“Well, you see…”

The king fumbled with his words, as if unsure which transgression to confess first. He must have more than a few things weighing on his conscience. Even as he hesitated, he kept tugging at the hem of my robe, as if afraid I might change my mind. I couldn’t tell if he was extremely timid or boldly desperate.

‘He’s drawing this out too much. I’ll grow old waiting at this rate.’

If I started with “You caused suffering to your people,” it would naturally lead to other revelations, right? Seeing as we might be here all night at this rate, I had no choice but to speak first.

“Above all, your greatest sin is the countless—”

“Ah! I severed the veins of countless mountains. In doing so, I dared to aspire to godhood. Surely there can be no greater sin than this.”

What? Severing mountain veins? Cutting off my words, the king blurted out a sentence that wasn’t in any expected answer, completely out of context. Trying not to show my surprise, I urged him on in a deliberately nonchalant tone.

“That’s not enough. Everything, even what you might not consider a sin – reveal it all, in minute detail.”

“Y-yes, of course. That’s exactly what I should do. But please, allow me the chance to explain why I had no choice in these matters.”

The king, who had been kowtowing all this time, slowly raised his head and began to unfold his story, starting from the distant past when he first harbored the desire to become a god.

“Ever since ascending to the throne, I have strived day and night to rectify the covenant that the Heavenly Emperor failed to properly fulfill.”

In the beginning, the Heavenly Emperor, the god of gods, had promised to hand over the entire land solely for the benefit of humans. The king denounced this covenant as unfulfilled, claiming it was unjust.

“The Heavenly Emperor deceived my ancestors—no, all of humanity. If that’s not the case, why do the powers of the gods still flow through the mountain ranges to this day? And what of the existence of mediums who can manipulate these powers?”

“…The stakes with lines drawn on their heads.”

“Yes, with those objects, I sought to complete the long-standing covenant.”

He said that discovering an ancient text about the flow of mountain ranges was the crucial turning point. Though he didn’t know who wrote the book, simply driving stakes into the locations described in it caused the divine energy flowing through the mountain ranges to dissipate into the air.

‘So this is how it all connects.’

I knew there was something off about those stakes. As expected, a hunter’s instincts shouldn’t be ignored. Since the stakes themselves were made of ordinary wood, it’s no wonder Kalia and the others didn’t notice anything unusual.

This must also be related to why Park Shin-ju’s markers didn’t disappear. It’s just my speculation, but I suspect they might have absorbed the divine energy leaking from the stakes.

‘Wait. If that’s the case, were the players messing with the stakes also after this energy?’

While there was some conjecture involved, it was a hypothesis worth considering. If that “Eastern Malady” item they sprinkled on the stakes acted as a catalyst to materialize the divine power, everything would fit perfectly.

Those who would be interested in this…

“But the Heavenly Emperor was truly persistent. Severing the veins alone wasn’t enough to stop the interference, so I too couldn’t stop.”

Before my thoughts could deepen, the king’s continued confession captured my attention.

His eccentric behavior didn’t stop there. The king used his troops to burn down shrines and secretly gathered mediums from all over the land. The mediums, dragged away without knowing why, were buried alive without a trace.

“Ah, yes. That did happen.”

“For the sake of all the people of On, shouldn’t some sacrifices be tolerated?”

It was a statement drawing a line, implying that the mediums weren’t people. Seeing the king’s eyes, trapped in a twisted belief, I shook my head.

‘He sure knows how to make nonsense sound plausible. Sacrifice, my foot. More like murdering innocent people out of sheer obstinance.’

Was there someone else who thought the same as me? The king brought up a deeply buried story.

One day, he said, a woman rang a bell to summon the king. She rang it day and night without eating or sleeping, and according to an old custom that couldn’t be ignored, the king had no choice but to reluctantly receive her.

Recalling that time, the king, seemingly unable to contain his anger, scratched his cheek with his finger and pleaded:

“If it weren’t for that woman who appeared twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have ended up like this.”