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Translator: penny
Chapter: 001
Chapter Title: A Mad Shaman Lives in the Afterlife
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The average human walking speed is about 5 km/h.
And that's exactly how fast the truck was going when it hit An Young-hee and killed him.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
It's a scene you see all the time in dramas or cartoons.
There's a crosswalk.
A car speeding through a red light is about to hit a woman, an old person, or a kid.
That's when the hero dashes out heroically and saves them.
Real life isn't that forgiving.
In the few seconds before the car arrives, you have to make a split-second decision, grab a kid or elderly person—who weighs at least 20 kg—and yank them out of the vehicle's path.
Humans aren't gym weights.
When someone grabs you, you resist, and your center of gravity shifts.
Therefore.
Saving someone from getting hit by a car like in dramas or movies is incredibly difficult.
An Young-hee had seen something like that on some TV show.
Even so, he stepped up to save the kid.
An Young-hee had his reasons.
First, the approaching truck was moving really slowly.
Second, the kid was young.
The truck, which had slowed for the red light, was crawling along at walking speed.
If the kid had just kept walking, the truck would've passed right behind him.
But the kid suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, and An Young-hee realized the danger about five seconds before impact.
Up until then, he hadn't thought it was dangerous.
The kid looked under ten.
Six at most.
He was confident he could scoop the kid up and move him before that crazy truck hit.
An Young-hee ran.
His hand touched the kid's shoulder, and his body froze stiff.
He was struck by the slowly approaching crazy truck without stopping and tumbled over.
That was An Young-hee's last memory.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
When An Young-hee opened his eyes, two Afterlife Officers stood before him.
A male-female duo of Afterlife Officers.
The male Afterlife Officer was squatting down, peering at An Young-hee, while the female one stood beside him.
"Am I dead?"
"Nope."
"...?"
The male Afterlife Officer spoke.
"This is the Purgatory Surface. Know what that is?"
"A place for good people who aren't quite ready for heaven but too pure for hell?"
"Oh. Smart cookie."
An Young-hee frowned slightly.
Was he really getting praised for that? Or was it high-level sarcasm?
The female Afterlife Officer spoke up.
"It's not sarcasm. And no, we're not reading your mind."
"Then?"
"Lots of people don't know what the Purgatory Surface is. Even more these days. For reference, this conversation happens every time. Our Chief is just... pretty casual."
An Young-hee glanced at the male Afterlife Officer.
"What? Why?"
Casual... Yeah, he looked the part.
The female Afterlife Officer said,
"Chief."
"I was gonna get to it. Here, take this first."
The male Afterlife Officer pulled a smartphone from his robe and tossed it over.
An Young-hee caught it reflexively.
"Look over there."
The male Afterlife Officer pointed to a cityscape.
Aside from the red sky and black clouds, it was Seoul as An Young-hee knew it.
"Dead people go to the afterlife. So where do dead civilizations go?"
An Young-hee didn't answer. He didn't know.
The male Afterlife Officer continued.
"Civilizations die too. This is where dying civilizations stop over. The Purgatory Surface."
"Civilizations die?"
"Details are on the Purgatory Wiki. Turn on the phone and check it out. If you need help, follow this road down to the General Teahouse. There's a shaman there called the MacArthur Shrine Maiden. Go find her."
An Young-hee powered on the smartphone.
It was last year's model.
Better than the one he used.
"Is this trackable?"
"Of course. You're a regular person who's just stepped into the hidden world. Your daily life is about to change completely. Keep using it if you want national protection. Or swap it out if not."
An Young-hee mulled over the man's words.
'National protection.'
These two seemed like civil servants.
Afterlife Officers under the Republic of Korea.
The phone booted up.
An Young-hee navigated to the internet familiarly and searched for the Purgatory Wiki.
"So where is this place?"
An Young-hee had died at a crosswalk. But this was outside some abandoned building on a mountain.
Industrial waste everywhere.
"Dobong Mountain. There's an array here that pulls in everyone from the Korean Peninsula who unintentionally falls into the Purgatory Surface."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The two civil servants dressed as Afterlife Officers watched An Young-hee descending the mountain.
"Chief, did you notice? I couldn't tell."
Male Afterlife Officer and Chief Yoon Hyun-yoon shook his head.
"It's not a ritual using a medium. Not someone half-dead from imitating some random internet ceremony either. A near-death experience from an accident?"
Hundreds of people get pulled to Dobong Mountain every year.
Newly descended shamans.
Talented—or unlucky—folks who succeed at baseless rituals floating around the internet.
And people on death's doorstep, who could die any moment.
You could list the types dragged here endlessly, but those three were the main ones.
"Not a near-death experience. It's a Deep Dive."
"I like my term better."
"Terminology matters. If a soul in a near-death state actually dies because of sloppy wording, it's a pay cut."
Those on the border between life and death who realize they're dead get bound to the Purgatory Surface.
Their real-world body dies too.
The two civil servants' job was to help people who fell into the dying civilization adapt.
Not to declare death to the dying and drag them to the afterlife.
"No thread connecting him to reality."
"Me neither."
Deputy Kim Se-yeon looked shocked.
"You didn't see it either, Chief?"
"That's why it's weird. Should've at least asked his name."
"Dobong Mountain Three Rules. Don't pry. Don't hold. Keep explanations brief. Break it again, and it's more than a pay cut."
"Tch."
Chief Yoon Hyun-yoon pulled out his smartphone.
Deputy Kim Se-yeon did the same.
Idle civil servants fiddling with phones was the same in reality or the Purgatory Surface.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
An Young-hee walked the mountain path for a good while.
A cityscape came into view, and at what you'd call the entrance stood a rundown teahouse.
Red sign with black letters.
In brush strokes reminiscent of a shaman's ritual banner: General Teahouse.
"General Teahouse... MacArthur Shrine Maiden, right...?"
MacArthur Shrine Maiden?
That General MacArthur?
An Young-hee cautiously opened the teahouse door.
Unlike the outside, the interior resembled a modern cafe.
A hunched old woman sat at the counter.
The old woman glared and bellowed.
"Army! You serve?!"
"Pardon? Yes! I did!"
"... Sit anywhere."
An Young-hee sat near the entrance, and the old woman brewed coffee.
The machine's hum echoed in the quiet teahouse.
An Young-hee pulled out his smartphone.
He'd been too busy watching his surroundings on the walk to think about it.
'Purgatory Wiki.'
The Purgatory Wiki opened to huge text.
-Guide for Newly Arrived Travelers.
-First-timers, read the guide thoroughly.
-All disadvantages from ignoring the guide are your responsibility.
The stern warning made An Young-hee tap the guide.
-Strictly speaking, this isn't the Purgatory Surface.
-A border where dead souls linger briefly. In magic and sorcery terms, it's called the Purgatory Surface or Shell. The difference between Purgatory proper and its surface is vast—always remember that.
-Don't let your guard down just because it's a border. It's still the Purgatory Surface, the realm of the dead.
-Newbies reading this fall into one of three categories.
-Someone's curse. A disaster you brought on yourself. Or a Deep Dive from an accident.
'Deep Dive' was highlighted. Tapping it linked to the near-death experience entry.
'Am I... in a near-death state?'
He'd been hit by a truck.
Even a slow one could pulp an adult easily.
'Maybe a concussion or something.'
His body hadn't moved right up to the impact.
If he'd been shoved over by the truck, his head might've cracked open.
An Young-hee read the near-death entry but found no sign of the characteristic thread linking to reality.
Coffee was shoved in front of him.
"Chocolate frappe. Just drink it."
The MacArthur Shrine Maiden, holding her own frappe, sat at a table away from An Young-hee.
Her back was slightly hunched, but otherwise, no signs of age.
A pistol hung from her waist.
The grip gleamed differently from ordinary metal.
"I was told to come here for help."
"Help with what?"
"I don't know why I'm here."
"Curse. If you don't know, it's always a curse."
"I got hit by a truck..."
"Who says the truck wasn't cursed?"
An Young-hee was speechless.
A cursed truck?
The relentlessly advancing truck. The unmoving kid. His body freezing when he touched the kid.
Yeah, the circumstances of his death weren't normal.
"One thing's for sure. You're alive. Those with no chance of returning go straight to real Purgatory. And don't utter how you got here. It invites negativity, and some exploit that."
"How do I get back?"
"When the curse wears off, or a sorcerer wakes you."
"... Isn't that dangerous?"
"Fifty-fifty."
"Fifty-fifty?"
Falling here from a wicked sorcerer's curse—how could that not be dangerous?
"If they get caught trying to kill with a curse, they're wanted immediately. Korea's Purgatory forces are Asia's strongest. Amateurs who can't even cast properly get done in quick."
The MacArthur Shrine Maiden mimed slitting her throat with her thumb and stuck out her tongue.
Her wrinkled face made the act vividly realistic.
"I haven't wronged anyone."
"That's why. Getting killed by a stranger hurts more, right? That's their fuel."
The MacArthur Shrine Maiden asked,
"You got a job?"
"... No."
"If special forces handle the aftermath perfectly, you're as good as hired at a big corp."
"Big corp?"
"Why ask an old lady when you've got the wiki? You a freeloader?"
He never expected "freeloader" from someone his grandma's age.
An Young-hee checked his phone.
No need to search.
Right below the traveler's guide:
-Endlessly harping on dangers isn't helpful for new travelers.
-Here's the upside.
-The Purgatory Surface makes money. One weed here, a bone shard from real Purgatory—they trade for hundreds, thousands, even billions of won each.
-Money worries are a thing of the past for you. Unless you go overboard with luxuries.
-All sites related to Purgatory mean this place, the Surface, by 'Purgatory.' Real Purgatory has its own term—this distinction is crucial.
-Remember this well.
The MacArthur Shrine Maiden asked,
"See it? Yeah, look at that grin splitting your face."
An Young-hee touched his upturned lips.
No worries about money.
Who in modern times hates hearing that?
If the wiki was true, An Young-hee was one step into a worry-free life.
'Assuming I make it back to reality safe.'
His mood soured.
"You said fifty-fifty chance of safety. What about the other half?"
"You become the sorcerer's puppet. But don't worry about that."
Why?
Before he could ask, the MacArthur Shrine Maiden drew her waist pistol and fired faster.
Bang!
A bullet lodged in his thigh.
Black smoke rose from the wound. No pain, but his body wouldn't move.
The MacArthur Shrine Maiden approached, spinning the pistol with powerful steps despite her hunch, her waist bent but stride firm.
She twisted her face wrinkles into a grotesque grin.
"You're no substitute, no Deep Dive, not even a soul. You're as close to real flesh as it gets! Flesh and blood! Who knew someone could bring a physical body to the Purgatory Surface! Even the General in hell is amazed."
The General Teahouse shook.
Cups fell from shelves, chairs and tables toppled.
The chair An Young-hee sat in tipped sideways.
He ended up in that thinking pose kids do when punished at school.
The MacArthur Shrine Maiden grabbed his cheeks in his awkward frozen pose.
She pursed her lips.
"We'll put that body to good use, me and the General!"
Her face drew near.
An Young-hee screamed silently.
This can't be! Everything happened so fast he didn't even know what was what, but he couldn't let a monster shaman demon suck him dry like this!
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