Surviving Among the Entities

‘Ah, I’ll be late again.’

Kang Ju-ye (28), an office worker living in Suwon, walked home in a dazed state from the consecutive nights of overtime work. Arriving at the subway platform, she sat on a bench and blankly waited for the last train.

‘Thank goodness the last train is at 11 pm.’

If it wasn’t 11 pm, that damn boss would have made her stay longer. Wishing as usual that the last train timing could miraculously be moved up to 6 pm so she wouldn’t have to work overtime, she sluggishly stood up at the sight of the train’s headlights entering the platform.

‘Ugh, so sleepy. Need to hurry home, shower, and sleep.’

A platform announcement played.

[The next train arriving is for Seryoo, Seryoo direction. Please stand back from the platform edge.]
《The next train arriving is for Hell, Hell direction. Please step closer to the platform edge.》

‘?’

Didn’t it just say something about hell? A small noise-mixed voice seemed to play between the announcements, but she only paused briefly before dismissing it as unimportant.

‘I must have misheard.’

She sat at the end seat of the empty car, resting her head against the handrail.

‘Can’t sleep, or I’ll miss my stop.’

And in the blink of an eye…….

“?”
“What is this?”
“Huh? Where is this?”
“Uhh? Where is this place!?”

She was sitting in a completely full train car.

‘Is this a dream?’

Kang Ju-ye pinched her cheek. The car that had been empty just moments ago was now crowded with people who should not be there.

“Where is this place!?”
“What!? I definitely boarded the train in Brooklyn!”
“Hey! Wasn’t this New York?”
“I boarded the Tokyo Metro……”

White, black, yellow, Asian, Westerner, Korean, Japanese, American, German – people from all over the world were present in this unbelievable situation.

“……This isn’t a dream!?”

Her pinched cheek stung. Not just her, others began to realize this was not a dream, and the car became several times noisier.

“Listen everyone! Isn’t this strange? How can we all understand each other!?”
“That’s because you all speak English…… No, wait, what language is that?”
“It’s French!”
“Weren’t we all just speaking Japanese?”
“Good heavens! What on earth is going on here!”

Their languages naturally became mutually comprehensible. After this bizarre situation persisted for a while, the people gradually calmed down one by one and began examining the train interior, Kang Ju-ye following suit.

‘This is Line 1, right?’

The foreigners may not have known, but for Kang Ju-ye this was the familiar subway Line 1 car in Korea.

“The doors to the other cars won’t open.”
“I can’t see anything beyond this car at all.”
“What about the windows?”
“Damn, it’s the same here. They won’t open and I can’t see what’s outside.”
“The only way to tell the train is moving is from the shaking.”

In the midst of this, she noticed another strange detail.

‘Wait, the route map is weird?’

Above the doors, instead of a normal route map the text read: [0 Line Route Map]

[Crusher -> Narrator -> Violator -> Whisperer -> Desirous -> Judger -> Engine Room (No Entry)]

Just as she was about to examine the indecipherable route map, a great commotion broke out in the car.

“Everyone get down!”
“Kyaaak!”

It was a muscular black man covered in tattoos, who had pulled out a handgun hidden in his waistband and was now threatening everyone around him.

“Damn it! This shitty situation is just like some crappy horror movie where we randomly get thrown into some freaky place and killed by monsters! I don’t wanna die in a place like this!”
“Please calm down! This is reality, not a movie!”
“Get down! Do you have any idea how pissed off I am to get dragged to this retarded place when I was just trying to go on a casual date with my girl!?”

Just before the commotion escalated into violence.

『Ah, an announcement from the engine room.』

A broadcast played inside the car.

『First, we sincerely thank all passengers for boarding the 0 Line Express Train to Hell. This train is currently heading to Hell, Hell. All passengers are requested to proceed to Car No. 1 for the abbreviated judgement process. I will repeat, this train is heading to Hell, Hell, so all passengers must receive the abbreviated judgement and are requested to promptly proceed to Car No. 1.』

The announcement was laced with an indescribable sense of lethargic indifference.

“Car No. 1?”
“Which car is this one?”
“It says Car No. 6 here.”

As the passengers hesitated, the firmly closed car door automatically opened.

“We have to go to Car No. 1?”
“What happens if we don’t go?”
“Hell? Is it really hell? Then shouldn’t we avoid going?”

Among the hesitating passengers, Kang Ju-ye witnessed something.

『Kikikikikiki!』

At the very rear of the train, a woman in a white robe with long disheveled hair suddenly appeared.

『Kikikikikiki!』
“Get down.”

Fortunately, she was not the only one who saw it.

“The rules of horror movies! If a monster appears and you just gawk at it, you’ll die!”

The black youth’s gun spewed flames.

“I ain’t doing that dumbass shit!”

Taang-!

After 12 gunshots, the acrid smoke of gunpowder filled the car. But the woman in white remained unharmed by the bullets.

“Oh, shit.”
『Kikikikikiki!』

The white-robed woman twisted her head 360 degrees, then slid across the car and grabbed the black youth’s neck with one hand.

“Save me……”

The black youth’s neck crumbled away like clay.

“Uwaaaahk!”
“Run, run away!”

Not stopping there, the white-robed woman crushed all their limbs as they desperately fled.

“Save me!”
“Aaaaaahk!”

Too many people were in the single car, so several ultimately failed to escape and had their entire bodies crushed by the white-robed woman’s hands.

“What is this! Where are we!”
“Mountains!?”

Even those who managed to escape did not fare well.

“We were definitely inside a train just now!?”

The space beyond the door they had crossed had seemed like an ordinary car interior, but the moment they passed through they found themselves in an unnamed mountain area.

“Where is this place!”
“Oh, I feel like I know where we should go. Does anyone else sense that too?”

Though no one verbally confirmed it, the passengers inwardly agreed.

‘For some reason, it feels like we need to go that way.’
‘It feels like if we go there, we’ll find a path.’

Following this natural instinct like fish breathing underwater, they arrived at a humble temple gate.

『Oh, sinful sentient beings.』

And on the temple’s wooden floor, an extremely obese monk greeted them with a wide smile.

『Undergo ascetic practice, and through such practice atone for all your sins to reach enlightenment.』

The monk struck a wooden bell. At that moment, some passengers screamed in anguish.

“Aaaahk!”

They had begun inflicting self-harm. Some tried scratching off their own skin, peeling it away layer by layer, while others kept bashing their heads against the floor amid spurts of blood and brain matter, and others strangled themselves even as they foamed at the mouth.

“Huieek!”

The remaining people ran toward the direction their instincts guided. But the passengers’ torment did not end there.

『Lascivious sinners, I shall violate you lascivious ones to lessen your sins.』

A 10-meter giant chased them into a hotel, violating men and women indiscriminately.

『That guy running next to you, he plans to kill you and survive alone. Kill him first!』
“Uwaaaahk!”
『You fool? My, you really are selfish? Willing to kill others just to save yourself, a sinner like you must live the rest of your life here serving others.』

A stream where a youth drove the passengers to turn against and kill each other.

『Ooh, so many new pigs have come! Here, have some jewels made just for you pigs!』

A vast plain where an enormous pig-faced giant threw jewels that made one desire them immensely upon sight, but caused them to strip naked and wallow on the ground squealing like real pigs the moment they touched them.

“Huck, huck!”

The lone person to push through all of that and arrive at the final car was Kang Ju-ye.

“Hukhuk, mom……”

She was not particularly exceptional compared to others, but luckier, which allowed her to reach Car No. 1.

“I miss you……”

The last Car No. 1 was an ordinary subway car interior. A door led to the engine room, and the windows still showed nothing outside – an ordinary yet extraordinary car. As she cried there, the engine room door belatedly opened.

『Ah……』

Through her teary eyes, Kang Ju-ye saw the figure that appeared.
An old-fashioned train conductor uniform, but with a face completely obscured by a black shadow.

『It has been a long time since a sinner arrived here.』

The same voice from the broadcast.

『Then let us begin the abbreviated judgement.』
“Pl, please let me go.”

Kang Ju-ye begged the conductor.

“Th, this is hell, right? Right? I must have died from a heart attack or something from all the overtime work without realizing it. Or a brain hemorrhage? So I’m being judged right now, right?”
『……』
“I, I really lived a good life! Maybe not the absolute best, but I still donated to UNICEF and listened to my parents and never wasted food and never killed animals and never fought with others.”
『……』
“So please, heaven? Ah, paradise! Please send me to paradise!”

The conductor extended a hand toward his shadowed face. In his grip was a small monocle.

『After examining you with the karmic mirror, you have many sins.』
“Yes!?”

Kang Ju-ye’s heart sank.

『At 27 years old in autumn, you fare-dodged on a bus.』
“Ah, no……”
『At the same age in summer, you viewed pornography online.』

The conductor continued listing her sins.

『At 26 in spring, you went a whole month without contacting your worried parents.』
『At 25 in winter, you vented stress from job hunting on your mother by throwing tantrums.』
『At 23 in summer, you slapped your boyfriend when he tried to break up.』
『At 23 in spring, you engaged in lewd acts outdoors with your boyfriend.』
『At 22 in autumn, you secretly threw away the hangover soup your mother made for you.』
『At 20 in autumn, you did not give up your seat to an elderly person on the subway.』
『At 19 in winter, you mocked a disliked classmate behind their back with friends.』

The conductor did not stop listing her sins, and belatedly Kang Ju-ye frantically objected.

『At 17 in spring, you killed a stray cockroach that entered your home.』
“Wait, wait a minute! Those are things anyone would do!”
『At 16 in summer, you lustfully gazed at a male classmate’s nape and had lewd thoughts about him.』
“Those are things anyone would do!”
『At 15 in winter, you wrote defamatory posts about others on internet communities.』
“Please, please just listen to me!”

Ignoring her pleas, the conductor continued listing sins, only finishing after a long while.

『At 0 years old in spring, you scarred your parents’ chests during a difficult birth.』
“Is, is that the end?”
『Yes, a total of 1,627 sins have been confirmed. As this is an abbreviated result from the karmic mirror, the actual number of sins is expected to be even greater.』
“But those are things any human would do! You can’t call those sins!”

Once more, she objected.

『No, they are all sins. The laws of hell must be strict and solemn, so there are no exceptions.』
“Please have mercy……. Aaahk!”

The conductor grabbed her by the hair and forcibly dragged her into the engine room.

“Hee, hieek!”

Inside the engine room was an enormously large furnace. So immense that despite being far away, she could feel the scorching heat singeing her skin.

“Sa, save me!”
『This is the abbreviated hell, a place where the living arrive in physical form and atone for their earthly sins through suffering in the flesh, so your request cannot be granted as one cannot die here.』

As the furnace drew closer, she could see what was burning inside.

“Aaaahk!”
“Save me!”
“Please! It’s too hot!”

Regardless of race, countless people were being burned like firewood, including the black youth she had seen in the first car and other passengers who had fallen behind on the way.

『The punishment of this abbreviated hell is simply one thing: to be burned alive and fuel this train.』
“Ah, aah……”
『The duration of the punishment is……』

The conductor threw her into the furnace.

『1 kalpa.』

Her entire body was engulfed in flames.

『Until then, lament your sins while screaming in agony.』

Despite the excruciating burning, she regenerated once more.

『That is the stern punishment for sinners.』

Her regenerated body was engulfed in flames again.

『Now then……』

The furnace door closed and a broadcast played inside the train.

『You have all worked hard today. Please take a rest until the next batch of sinners arrive.』

The train carrying only monsters powerfully raced along the tracks.

『We are proxies, judges who pass judgement in the mortal realm on behalf of the busy hell. The busiest public officials in this era rife with sinners across the world.』

Within the black shadow, the conductor’s eyes chillingly gleamed.

『Then, let us recruit the next batch of sinners.』

“Ah.”

At a late hour, a man appeared at Suwon Station.

“I hope it manifests today.”

The man with a Polaroid camera hanging from his neck stepped onto the platform.

“The 0 Line Express Train to Hell.”

With lighter steps than anyone else.