[ Episode 297. Those who did not transcend]
The road from bankruptcy hell to the next hell was not difficult.
Just follow the path down the hill and go all the way down.
As I went down the road, the surrounding scenery, which was made up of only achromatic colors, gave a cool feeling, as if I had copied an ink painting as it was.
– Woo woo woo …….
– Kkeuk! What a profit!
The chilly feeling was further strengthened by the cries of ghosts and the sounds of unknown beasts.
Ttolong-
As I was going down such a strange hill mountain road, I heard an unknown sound of bells in front of me.
After a little while, I saw a skinny egg ghost holding a lantern from below.
“Are you Adrias Cromwell?”
I have no mouth, but I speak.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I am called the living Buddha who guides the way to hell.”
Having heard the name, I didn’t know much about hell, but I didn’t know the exact identity of the living Buddha.
Saengbul had no facial features and looked like he was wearing a hat, but he shook the lantern once and pointed inwards.
“Follow me.”
There was a road, but I wanted to be guided, but it was better than not having it.
I silently followed the living Buddha and examined his appearance.
“It’s not uncommon for the undead to come this far, but it does happen. And most of those people say they came in through a relationship.”
I quietly looked at the live Buddha who started talking out of nowhere.
“As far as I know, Adrias Cromwell was sent by the Thousand Arms Guanyin, is that right?”
“It’s ambiguous.”
It was ambiguous to see that it came because of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.
I think I came here because of a box that seems to be a bodhisattva’s sacred object, but that is different from the fact that the bodhisattva sent it.
“There is nothing complicated about it. Being entangled with the Thousand Hands Guanyin is in line with the meaning that he sent it.”
“yes.”
“I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but Siwang Hell is made up of 10 themes. And if you can, you will go through the sixfold reincarnation in the seventh hell.”
I didn’t know what the Six Paths Reincarnation was, but I cut him off.
“I was told that I have to take 10 tests.”
“You must have had other people come with you, right? And Adrias-sama must have chosen to handle it alone.”
“No, I said 10 tests from the beginning.”
“Adrias. It’s not that Bodhisattvas don’t lie.”
It’s different from the image of a bodhisattva I think.
I don’t know if Saengbul’s words were true, but I nodded my head.
“Of course, the Thousand-Handed Guanyin is a person who has accumulated the highest merit, so he must have suffered a serious blow just by lying to Adrias-sama.”
“damage? Are you saying you were harmed by lying to me?”
“That’s right.”
I didn’t understand.
Why did you even do that?
To be honest, even though it was said to be 7 tests, I intended to take on it alone in place of the others.
The thought of Luna or Vivian going through these terrible tests makes me sick.
“To be honest, I don’t understand.”
“As I said before, Thousand-Handed Guanyin is the one who accumulated the highest merit. You know so many secrets of the world that we don’t know. There must have been a reason why he had to act that way.”
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva said that all of this was meant to be.
If so, it was also interpreted to mean that his actions were also a frame to fit the relationship.
To be honest, how can I fathom the intentions of the Transcendentalist?
It was good for the image that I was just going to do it.
“The next hell is the fire pit hell. It’s a good place to warm up.”
For a moment, his expression hardened.
Could it be that you just said that as a joke?
I couldn’t read his expression because he didn’t have a face, but I could tell from his high-tension gesture that he was really joking.
You’re just saying that it’s not your test.
The pain he suffered in bankruptcy hell was as painful as the penalty he suffered for failing to evolve.
I wouldn’t say that the pain is a different hell or weaker.
“Probably Adrias-sama will pass right away. In fact, in terms of difficulty, it is easier than bankruptcy hell.”
“Is that so.”
“As he is the one who broke the record for the shortest passage, our interest in Adrias is great.”
Has the information already spread?
It seemed that there was a source I didn’t know about.
As we talked, the scenery gradually began to change.
The mountain ranges and forests made up of ghosts disappeared, and I felt the acrid smell of sulfur and the rising temperature around me.
“It’s all here.”
Said the living Buddha, who lit a lantern.
“It’s a fire hell.”
Bubbling–
A completely different scene from bankruptcy hell.
If the previous one felt like an ink-and-wash painting, this place was a place where the word hell was very appropriate.
The scorching heat, the red earth, and unknown liquids boiling everywhere.
And in the distance, there was only one chair and one person sitting.
“That person is Chogang, the great king of this place.”
The person called Chogang was a woman.
The woman with a waterdrop-shaped tattoo on one corner of her eye had blue hair that contrasted with the seething earth.
“Adrias Cromwell.”
As he approached her with the Living Buddha, Chogang opened his mouth.
“You have no test to take here. pass by.”
“Super strong king?”
Chogang’s sudden words made Saengbul rather embarrassed and called her name.
But she didn’t even look at the living Buddha and spoke again.
“Pass by.”
“thank you.”
It’s me. Thank you.
At first glance, it looked like it was a test related to being hot, but I wouldn’t hesitate if you just let it go.
However, Saengbul was still restless and called Chogang’s name.
“Super strong king, if you pass like this, the other great kings……”
“He doesn’t need my test.”
Chogang said firmly.
“The reason he came here is not to accuse him of sin. Literally for the test. But my tests do not help him.”
crime? help?
What are you talking about?
Chogang’s words suggested many meanings.
First of all, the reason I fell into hell was not to ask for sins, but purely to take a test.
And I’m trying to figure out whether the standard for taking the test is helpful to me.
‘Jin-gwang seemed to have no idea…’
Cho-gang, who had a cold impression, seemed to know something.
“The next hell is the Cold Ice Hell. This is where Songje is waiting.”
“Can I ask you one question before you go?”
At my question, Chogang nodded calmly.
She had never shown a change in her expression until now, but she looked like a doll.
It’s more like a doll than Immortal, which is a real doll.
“According to what you just said, it sounded like there was another reason why I was being tested in hell. Can you guess what it is?”
“I do not know either.”
Chogang cut it at once and said.
But the answer was that it didn’t end there.
“But I have a guess.”
“Can you give me your guess?”
“Hell is a place where the dead are judged. All the tests you go through while paying for your sins are tests of pain and endurance.”
I’ve felt it since Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, but these guys had long tongues.
What are you talking about spinning around?
I couldn’t blow the candle though, so I listened to her in silence.
“Patience and pain are elements that are the foundation for human growth. But it’s meaningless to those who are already dead. Because they can’t grow any more.”
Chogang raised his hand and pointed at me.
“But living people are different. There are often cases where living people like you enter this place, but when they returned to the world, they returned as completely different people.”
“You mean for growth?”
“It’s a little more fundamental than that.”
“Basic?”
Chogang turned the hand that had pointed at me and pointed at himself.
“Among the great kings in Siwang Hell, all but two were people of the world. The Eight Great Kings, including me, are the ones who went from such a human being to a god.”
Beings who have not become transcendental.
It sounds like you’re talking about original sin.
I don’t know what happened to him either, but it seems that he didn’t become a Transcendentalist after all.
“Being fundamental means that. Can you become a god or not? Can you transcend the limits of a species?”
“Are you saying that the test of hell determines whether or not you can become a god?”
“similar. But only a small part can be judged. Therefore, even if you pass all the tests here, you cannot accurately determine whether you can become a god.”
Chogang said calmly but confidently.
“But we can confirm that possibility.”
“It must mean that those who do not even pass the test of hell cannot become gods.”
“okay.”
But when you think about it, it was too sudden.
I have no desire to become a god or a transcendent, so why am I taking this test?
‘Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.’
What on earth was he thinking to drag me to hell?
“Has your curiosity been resolved?”
“Yes, thanks a little bit. I still don’t know why I’m here.”
“I don’t know. But…”
Chogang turned his gaze to the road to the next hell.
“Yeomra or the Great King of Odo may know the reason. They are the non-humans I spoke of earlier. In particular, Yeomra is different from us.”
she said quietly.
“He is the real god who ate the former Yeomra.”
damn
Are you talking about King Yeomra?
Somehow, it felt like Jin-gwang or Cho-gang were their names, but Yeom-ra sounded like a position name.
The person standing in that position would be the right position since King Yeomra actually existed in the previous generation.
‘Is Jin Gwang or Super Strength actually a position?’
It wasn’t a very important thought.
Looking at me like that, Chogang continued to speak with his characteristic expressionless expression.
“You will meet them when you take the test anyway. Go and ask yourself.”
“All right. Thank you for your words.”
The conversation was over.
Chogang immediately closed his eyes and caught his breath as if he had fallen asleep.
“Shall we go?”
Saengbul, who had been listening to him all this time, asked in a whispering voice.
I nodded and moved on.
Lastly, I looked at Chogang, who seemed to be sleeping, with the scenery of Hell of Fire in my eyes.
A human who has not become a transcendent.
I don’t know how she became the great king who guards the Hell of Fire, but when I remembered the original sin, I felt strange.
‘Are you the original sinner?’
I tried to talk to him, but as always with original sin, he didn’t say anything except when he wanted to.
I knew original sin was something that prevented me from becoming a transcendent, but was he really human?
‘There are many things I don’t know.’
The more I dug into it, the more this world was full of unknown things.
In the first place, when you enter the worldview of the transcendentalists, it has become more complicated because it is not the story of the world in which I exist.
“Next, as you have heard, is the Ice and Ice Hell. It is a very, very cold place.”
It was only then that Saengbul spoke up when he reached the point where he could no longer see Chogang.
“And King Songje the Great there is a bit tricky.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes yes. How tricky it is, the last soul to pass through the freezing hell was 258 years ago. Of course, if they were not guilty after being tried, they would have passed, but those who did not continue to suffer.”
258 years?
I’m getting a little anxious…
The air around me changed as soon as Saengbul’s words ended.
The temperature was the exact opposite of the hot fire hell that was so hot that it was hard to stay still.
Blasphemy!
I felt my body freeze in an instant.
“this this. Now that I see it, it must be a hardship to go.”
The live fire strangely scratched my nerves.
More than that, I can’t do anything about this cold.
Soon, huge canyons and ice snowballs began to appear in front of my eyes.
Ice cold hell was approaching.
[Episode 297.Those Who Couldn’t Transcend] End
