Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Blue Marble.

A board game in which players roll dice, move their pieces according to the numbers rolled, buy land, and construct buildings.

Perhaps because it included educational elements that taught children the importance of real estate and the dangers of reckless investment from an early age, even parents of that generation, who recoiled at the very mention of games, didn't particularly object to Blue Marble.

But look a little deeper, and it contained gambling elements that surpassed those of most casino slot machines.

It relied entirely on luck, allowing no skill(?) whatsoever beyond rolling the dice, and the harsh reality was that the game ended only when everyone except the winner had gone bankrupt.

Once the game began and property deeds and money were placed in my hands, it became something beyond a mere board game.

No actual cash changed hands, but once the game started, this place might as well have been Kangwon Land or Las Vegas.

-Rattle, rattle, rattle.

"Aaah! I'm doomed! I finally rolled doubles, and now I'm on the deserted island again!"

And despite becoming excessively absorbed in the game, this grim reaper was extraordinarily unlucky.

Every space she landed on invariably had someone else's building, and the land she'd finally resolved to purchase was frequently subjected to forced sale.

Unfortunately, beginner's luck didn't seem to favor this grim reaper.

It had reached the point where I felt sorry whenever my turn came around.

But once the balance of the game shifted, it was difficult to reverse, so victory naturally fell into my hands.

Even if I'd wanted to go easy on her, there wasn't much I could do besides roll the dice, making it practically a forced victory.

"Bankrupt..."

"Me too, hehe."

"Shall we play another round?"

"S-Shall we?"

"Yes. It's fun playing again after so long."

I thought inviting her to join us had been the right decision.

On her first visit, she'd had companions, so I hadn't thought much of it, but today she'd come alone.

Of course, customers visiting a coffeehouse alone weren't particularly unusual. I'd simply served her ssanghwa tea, but the problem was that she behaved exactly like a curious child.

Several times, she'd pretended to adjust her silver-rimmed glasses while stealing sideways glances at the immortals' tablets and the Blue Marble game we were playing.

Eventually, the quick-witted Lia invited her to join the game.

Why a grim reaper had come to our coffeehouse wasn't important.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.

But I'd never gone out of my way to ask anyone who visited the coffeehouse why they'd come.

That included the Elder Nine-Tailed Fox, Sani, Lia, and the other extraordinary beings who had first arrived here.

Everyone had their own story.

A reason they couldn't help coming to this shabby coffeehouse for a cup of coffee.

And so we enjoyed Blue Marble with the grim reaper, who couldn't conceal her emotions, until late into the night.

"I lost again! Good grief, how can I not win even once?"

"We've only played three games. I'm sure you'll win the next time you visit."

"Huh? We're stopping?"

"It's too late! If I oversleep, I'll be late for school!"

I'd been trying to find a roundabout answer that wouldn't disappoint her innocent face, but Lia gave her a perfectly clear one.

"Next time you visit, please bring the people who came with you before. Games like this are more fun with more people."

"Is that all right? I mean, it's not as though I'd be coming here to play games..."

"Of course. Oh, and I noticed earlier that the gate floating in the sky might be too conspicuous to ordinary people. Would it be possible for you to come another way?"

I didn't mind her visiting often, but having a huge gate appear in the sky every time would be troublesome.

"Should I come through another gate?"

"If that's possible."

"A gate connecting to the underworld only needs to contain the thoughts and wishes of many souls. After all, the underworld itself is a world created from the belief that another life awaits after death."

"Then we just need to place such a gate somewhere near here."

"You're smart! See you tomorrow!"

-Rooooumble.

No sooner had she finished saying goodbye than another gate appeared in the sky.

And just like that, the deadline for dealing with that gate had been firmly set for tomorrow.

_____________

The National Intelligence Service's main conference room.

Although the nature of their work meant there was no distinction between day and night, it was still unusual for the lights in this conference room to remain on during weekends.

After all, NIS employees were human too, and they generally tried to avoid weekend meetings whenever possible.

But that was now a thing of the past.

The employees had begun using the conference room as a hideout, gathering under the pretext of work so they could play games.

"Heal! Where's the healing? Oh, I'm dying! Heal me, quickly!"

"They've run out of mana."

"Already? What are those healers doing with their mana management? Is this their first or second raid?"

"A lot of the damage dealers were hit by that area-of-effect attack pattern."

"Hey, it's not like we wanted to get hit! The positioning was bad just now."

"Huh? Team Leader Choi, was that directed at the tank?"

"Enough, enough. Let's take it slowly and try again."

"Yes, Director."

NIS Director Oh Taesu calmed the increasingly heated atmosphere.

It had already been three months since they'd started playing Hero's Path.

Their original goal of discovering the Dragon Pearl's abilities and establishing contact with Jinseong had long since faded into obscurity.

All that remained were game-obsessed fiends who wanted to enjoy gaming legally at work.

"By the way, the coffeehouse owner hasn't logged in at all lately, so we're out of potions."

"Wouldn't it be better to do some gathering?"

"We don't even have time to run dungeons! More importantly, Deputy Director Choi, doesn't the coffeehouse owner play games these days? Give Director Baek a call. No, wait! There he is!"

-Knock, knock.

Just then, the NIS director spotted Director Baek Mahyeon hurrying past through the blinds and cheerfully knocked on the window.

"Speak of the devil, Director Baek! I was just about to call you. Where are you rushing off to on your day off? I was just..."

Director Oh Taesu trailed off.

Several reasons Director Baek Mahyeon might be rushing somewhere on his day off crossed his mind.

"Don't tell me. Surely not?"

"Apparently, another customer visited the coffeehouse. I'll report the details once the team members have assembled."

"But we're in the middle of a raid..."

-Click.

Ignoring that utterly worthless objection, Director Baek Mahyeon switched off the conference room lights and began preparing his presentation.

Yet the expressions of Director Oh Taesu, the deputy director, and the other personnel involved were strangely calm.

After all, not a single visitor to the coffeehouse so far had been ordinary.

"Who's it this time?"

"A grim reaper. Apparently, a very high-ranking one."

"Well, of course. It's not like that's an ordinary coffeehouse. Didn't you say most supernatural creatures can't even touch the doorknob?"

Only two kinds of visitors could enter Jinseong's coffeehouse.

Ordinary humans with no divine power whatsoever, or beings powerful enough to withstand the Divine Tree's energy.

That was why the grim reaper who had visited being a high-ranking official wasn't particularly surprising.

"Well, there's nothing we need to do separately, right? The coffeehouse owner always handles things himself."

"There's a problem this time."

-Beep.

The projector connected to Director Baek Mahyeon's phone switched on.

The screen showed a massive traditional gate, the sort one might find at the entrance to a Buddhist temple, floating in the sky above the coffeehouse.

It was a photograph Jinseong had taken the moment Yama departed.

"Were there any witnesses?"

"Fortunately, because it was the weekend, there were none. However, he said we can't allow a gate to appear in the sky like this every time, so he asked us to find a solution. Apparently, we need a place that as many people as possible believe to be a gate leading to the underworld."

"I don't even know where to begin with something like this. I mean, we'd have to know what kind of gate it is before we could bring one over from somewhere."

"At present, this gate is the most promising candidate."

-Beep.

The next slide displayed an enormous bronze gate.

"This is The Gates of Hell, currently owned by the Samjeong Group Art Foundation. It's one of Rodin's representative works and meets the conditions Jinseong described more closely than anything else."

"So what you're saying, Director Baek, is that we need to buy or borrow that thing and place it near the coffeehouse. And by tomorrow, no less!"

"Yes."

"..."

It was impossible.

Obtaining a historical artwork from a corporate art foundation would be difficult enough, but they couldn't simply erect it in plain sight near the coffeehouse. They'd also need to construct a temporary building to conceal it.

All within a single day.

"Director Baek, is this even possible?"

"As soon as I received the call, I dispatched the facilities team. Fortunately, there's a public facility site nearby, so they're installing a temporary shelter there. They say it will be completed by early tomorrow morning."

"Excellent! Phew, that's one less thing to worry about. No, wait. But what about the gate itself?"

Director Oh Taesu, who had briefly relaxed thanks to Director Baek Mahyeon's swift response, raised the fundamental question.

Unfortunately, the answer to that question rested with him.

"The artwork cost the art foundation over ten billion won when they purchased it. I believe you'll have to resolve that part personally, Director."

"M-Me?"

And so Director Oh Taesu found himself standing before the Gates of Hell before they'd even obtained them.

______________

"Ahem, hmm."

Having returned to the underworld, Yama continued humming happily to herself.

It was the first time she'd ever gone on an outing to the mortal world for anything other than work.

Despite having lived for countless ages.

It was only natural that beings of the underworld couldn't remain in the mortal world.

Even ordinary souls were subject to that rule, and she was no exception simply because she ruled the underworld.

But that teahouse was different.

It belonged to the mortal world and the Celestial Realm at the same time, and it could even open a gate to the underworld.

Besides, wasn't it the very teahouse she'd desperately wished to visit, even if only once?

Since time flowed faster in the mortal world than in the underworld, she intended to visit as often as she could.

But it didn't take long for her to realize that she couldn't.

As soon as she entered the Palace of Yama, the attendants who spotted her rushed forward and prostrated themselves.

"Your Majesty! You must not go to the mortal world again!"

"Indeed! To venture out alone when your mind isn't entirely sound! We fear something terrible may happen! Please reconsider, Your Majesty!"

"Please reconsider!"

'Right. I'd forgotten for a moment. They were like this before too.'

Even when she found a suitable excuse, an excursion to the mortal world was something that happened only once every few hundred years.

And even then, whenever she returned to the palace, her attendants would gather in a frantic rush to stop her like this.

She had come into existence at the same time as the underworld.

In a sense, Yama herself was the underworld.

Her attendants knew that too, which was why they prostrated themselves and desperately tried to stop her. They were worried about the possibility of an accident.

And so that brief moment of happiness became a dream once more, while the cold reality unfolded before Yama's eyes.

Mountains flowing with lava, a sky engulfed in flames, and the screams of sinners.

This was where she, Yama, belonged.

Her cheerful promise to return tomorrow, having momentarily forgotten her duty, had become something laughable.

"Let us go to the courtroom."

At her cold, subdued command, the prostrated attendants rose and followed behind her.

They seemed unaware that having to watch the filthy deeds of sinners through the Mirror of Karma every day was an eternal, unending hell for Yama herself.

'The teahouse owner will be waiting for me. I feel bad.'

She deeply regretted having casually made a promise she couldn't keep.

But there was something Yama didn't know either.

What Jinseong was capable of doing when a customer who visited his coffeehouse needed help.