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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 83
Chapter Title: Reunion on the River of Sorrows
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A gloomy, ashen sky.
Below it, the River’s Abyss—the lower reaches of the Sanzu River, teeming not with water but with ferocious snakes—flowed with unnerving calm.
The dense mist made it impossible to see even a few feet ahead, and the path was a dangerous one, studded with sharp reefs.
Upon the dark currents of the River’s Abyss, a small wooden boat made of paulownia wood drifted along with the flow.
“You fiends!”
The boatman, dressed in shabby clothes that looked to be patched together from rags, swung the oar in his hands in every direction.
“Will you not back away!”
With each swing, the snakes that leaped high into the air were struck by the oar’s flat side and sent flying, but…
“Aaaaaah—!”
The little girl, cowering on the boat’s deck with her hands clamped over her ears, could only let out a continuous stream of screams.
“Hush! Can’t you be quiet!”
The boatman, after snapping at the child, bit his lower lip and tightened his grip on the oar.
“Did I not say it would be alright?”
Though he maintained a gruff demeanor, the boatman was desperate to protect his passenger, the little girl.
The child…
She was a passenger that Old Lady Taluipa, a deity of a much higher standing than himself, had repeatedly asked him to look after.
“You know well enough why children so young must cross the River’s Abyss.”
“She is but a child who died a wrongful death, with no time to build any significant karma.”
“The only sin she’s committed is dying before her parents, the poor thing…”
“Old Man Hyeonui and I looked after her like our own grandchild, so I only ask that you see her off safely.”
Old Lady Taluipa had even pressed a hefty sum into his hand, nearly fifteen times the usual fare.
“Tsk, the poor thing…”
He, too, was fed up with the utterly inflexible laws of the underworld.
Of course, was there any greater filial impiety than dying before one’s parents…?
But how could they force such a helpless child to cross the River’s Abyss?
“Anyway, those fucking bastards upstairs…”
Muttering curses under his breath, he swung the oar wide again, knocking away a few more water snakes.
“Damn it all. The Sanzu River may be wide and deep, but it’s still just a river. How in the world is a tidal wave forming…?”
In the distance, a great tidal wave had risen and was surging toward them with its maw gaping wide, ready to swallow the boat whole.
It was a tidal wave not of water, but of snakes, their venomous fangs glinting menacingly.
The boatman, staring at the wave with a dumbfounded expression, whipped his head around to the child and shouted in an urgent, booming voice.
“Child, close your eyes!”
Then he added.
“If… if you’re that scared, just squeeze your eyes shut…”
The child squeezed her eyes shut.
“Cover your ears tightly and hum a song…”
The child covered her ears with her small, fern-like hands and began to hum a nursery rhyme she faintly remembered.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star…”
As her fear-laced voice echoed softly, the boatman kept his eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching wave.
“How I wonder what you are…”
The child could no longer even recall her own name, but for some reason, she remembered the song’s melody perfectly.
“Up above the world so high…”
At night, someone used to gently pat her chest with a tender hand, singing her nursery rhymes in a low voice.
“Like a diamond in the sky…”
As the child tenaciously clung to the hazy, formless memory and continued to hum the tune, the ferryman spoke.
“Child, with the fare I received, I wanted to get you across the Sanzu River safely, one way or another…”
He stared at the tidal wave, which had closed the distance in an instant, and added in a helpless tone of resignation.
“But it seems your fate is to die and be remade a dozen times more while crossing this place…”
Just as the tidal wave, having surged forward at an incredible speed, was about to swallow the small boat bobbing precariously on the water…
*Fwit, fwit, fwoosh-!*
Suddenly, someone dashed across the river’s surface with all their might and landed as softly as a cat on the boat, whispering quietly.
“I’m sorry.”
Then, pulling the child into her arms, she said.
“I’m sorry I’m late…”
With a practiced hand, she stroked the back of the terrified child.
The child naturally buried her face in the woman’s chest…
And the woman held the child tight with all her strength.
“Mommy’s sorry she’s late…”
It was as if she were trying to hide the child from the entire world.
No.
It was as if she were trying to hide the entire world from the child.
*Sniff, sniff…*
The child smiled at the woman’s familiar scent.
Forgotten memories began to resurface one by one.
Like throwing a heavy stone into a muddy pond.
Memories that had sunk below the surface rose like silt.
“Mommy…”
Yun Hui-su finally answered.
“Yes, it’s Mommy…”
The child asked.
“Mommy, you can’t live without Hyesu?”
For a long time, the child had sat on the riverbank, waiting for her mother while gazing at the Sanzu River.
It was because the words her mother used to say like a habit kept coming to mind, echoing in her head.
“Mommy can’t live a single day without my Hyesu.”
The words she would say every night while holding her tight, as if unable to contain her overwhelming emotions.
Because those words kept coming back to her, she had held on, unable to cross the river she was supposed to cross.
There was something the child desperately wanted to say to her mother if the day ever came when they met again.
“Mommy, you have to live.”
The child moved her tiny mouth, letting out the words she had held in for so long.
“You still have to live.”
It was just to say these words that she had endured for so long, staring at the quiet river.
At that moment.
The tidal wave that had crept right up to them was about to swallow the boat whole…
A ‘story,’ neither written nor spoken, echoed low and clear throughout the area.
「The ferocious water snakes inhabiting the River’s Abyss, the lower reaches of the Sanzu River, were seized with fear and scrambled to swim upstream.」
「This was because the most powerful serpent in the world, ‘Ouroboros,’ had descended, warning them to hide their fangs and clear the way.」
「And so, upon the calmed waters of the River’s Abyss, the thunderous horn of a great warship that heralded ruin echoed loudly.」
The small boat they were on began to rock helplessly back and forth from the impact of the tidal wave…
But that was all.
The water snakes, as if they had no intention of causing harm, quickly swam past them without once baring their fangs.
“How… how is this…”
Just as the ferryman was muttering to himself, looking around at the water snakes passing his boat and swimming upriver…
*BWOOOOOM—!*
The blare of a massive ship’s horn, powerful enough to shake the very earth, began to resound…
A colossal ship parted the thick mist that permeated the area and revealed itself.
“Truly a masterpiece…”
It was a vessel so overwhelming that his own small boat, which he had painstakingly crafted through endless sawing and planing, seemed shabby in comparison.
While the ferryman was captivated by the appearance of the suddenly materialized ship, a figure standing on the prow spoke in a commanding tone.
“Ferryman, bring the child here.”
The ferryman, with a dazed look, began to stare intently at the speaker…
“I have come to personally escort the child you carry to her ‘destination.’”
Feeling an unfathomable difference in their standing, one he felt he couldn’t even dare to look up at, the ferryman bowed deeply and replied.
“A-As you command…”
Though he was a low-ranking deity whose only skill was ferrying the dead across the Sanzu River as ordered by his superiors…
It was not difficult to discern just how noble and dignified the being before him was.
“This humble and insignificant ferryman of the Sanzu River belatedly pays his respects upon meeting ‘the ruler of an underworld’…”
He was clearly someone of very high rank.
The child had been very curious when she was little.
“Mommy, what’s this?”
She had many questions. Her mother answered every one of them. She explained things over and over again.
“Hyesu, my dear Hyesu…”
Now, the roles were reversed.
“Were you all alone and scared?”
Now, it was the mother who had so many questions.
“Have you eaten? Are you hungry?” She was just worried about her meals.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” She was worried about her child’s well-being.
“Yes, Hyesu is okay.”
The child, in contrast, was composed.
“Mommy, you have to stop crying.”
How had the child, who couldn’t even sleep at night unless she was by her side, become so composed?
The mother felt a deep resentment for the world that had forced her child to become so.
“Hyesu, my Hyesu…”
The mother and daughter, finally reunited after many trials, seemed lost in catching up in the cabin of the Naglfar.
Yun Hui-su changed her daughter out of the blood-stained dress and into a clean one she used to love when she was alive.
“Mommy, isn’t Hyesu pretty?”
“Yes, you’re so beautiful…”
She carefully combed her disheveled hair and tied it up neatly, and replaced the one remaining shoe with a pair of dress shoes she used to wear.
Kang-jun, unable to easily compose his welling emotions, could only watch the scene in silence.
“Hey.”
As Kang-jun spoke, the ferryman, who had been bowing his head continuously, answered with a start.
“Yes…?”
Kang-jun stared intently at the ferryman and asked a few questions, as if puzzled.
“What happens to the child?”
At his words, the ferryman looked out at the Sanzu River, clearly visible beyond the deck of the Naglfar, and began to speak softly.
“At this rate, we will soon reach the dock, where she will be taken by the reapers and brought to trial before the judges of the underworld.”
“A trial?”
“It is a trial to assess her karma from life and mete out a punishment accordingly. Since she committed the grave sin of closing her eyes before her parents…”
The ferryman trailed off before adding.
“She will receive a harsh punishment…”
At those words, Kang-jun glared at the ferryman as if to kill him and replied in a growling voice.
“What kind of bullshit law is that?”
The ferryman answered, intimidated.
“Such are the laws of the underworld…”
He quickly added.
“I dare say there is no one who does not know that the laws of the underworld sometimes lack flexibility and fairness.”
“And?”
“But it is a law agreed upon and established by all the gods of the underworld in assembly, so we have no choice but to follow it. Even a bad law is still the law.”
To that, Kang-jun replied.
“Like hell. I never gave my permission.”
Then he declared forcefully.
“While I’m at it, I’ll have to fix that so-called law today.”
The ferryman’s eyes went wide as he responded.
“But to do so, you must take the time to summon all the gods of the underworld and seek their permission…”
Just then, Kang-jun glared murderously at the ‘dock’ that was coming into view in the distance and shot back.
“Permission?”
A group of ‘reapers,’ holding what looked like ledgers, were clustered together, waiting for the dead to arrive.
“My word is the law.”
The ferryman replied.
“To gather all the gods of the underworld in one place, it is believed that a date must be set with considerable time and planning…”
“Who has time for that?”
“The noble and dignified gods of the underworld are always burdened with their duties, so it is absolutely impossible to get them on short notice…”
Kang-jun then looked at the reapers with a sinister glint in his eyes and said.
“If they’re slacking off because they think they can afford to be leisurely, then I’ll just have to create a situation where they can’t be.”
He then added, stretching as if to warm up.
“I bet if I just beat the shit out of a few of them, they’ll come running out here, foaming at the mouth.”
Having said that, Kang-jun suddenly leaped from the ship.
“Poochie, let’s go.”
At his words, Marbas also leaped down, barking excitedly.
“Woof, woof!”
Kicking up a fierce spray of water, Kang-jun ran across the surface of the Sanzu River and grabbed one of the dumbstruck reapers by the collar.
“Hey, tell your boss to get out here.”
With those words, he swung with all his might and slapped the reaper, whose collar he had suddenly seized, square across the face.
*SLAAAAAAAAAP!*
At the same time, the entire underworld resonated.
[The ruler of the underworld ‘Spring of Eternal Rest’ has revealed his hostility to all gods of the underworld!]
[He threatens to kill the reapers here one by one if they do not reveal themselves at once!]
