Chapter 447 – Part 2 – Side Story 4. Paradise

Paradise.

A resting place in the underworld and Min Do-jun’s masterpiece created over 10 years.

That small world was a dream paradise where all worries and concerns could be set aside.

“Wow, is this Paradise?”

Kim Na-yeon’s family was busy looking left and right with sparkling eyes.

A rainbow stretching across the ridge, cool breeze, flowers that changed color depending on the angle, and green trees.

It was a scenery so peaceful that it might be considered an earthly paradise.

[Beautiful, isn’t it? This is Paradise, a paradise designed and created by Min Do-jun, the master of the underworld.]

“I really feel at peace.”

Was it a feeling of being compensated for all the hardships they’d endured?

Hot tears flowed down the cheeks of Kim Na-yeon and her family.

Elbrando smiled gently watching them.

[Please don’t suffer mentally anymore. In this place, you don’t need to work, and you don’t need to worry about aging and dying. You just need to enjoy infinite rest, eat delicious food, and spend your leisure time.]

“What? There’s food?”

[Of course. Though we can’t implement all the food from the earth, you can eat most of it here. It’s special food made so you can taste it even in soul state. Not only that, we’ve implemented various leisure activities and amusement parks, and you can even watch earthly cultural content on smartphones, so it’s truly no different from paradise.]

“S-smartphones too?”

“Hehe…”

“Woah…”

The family all opened their mouths in unison.

They thought they had died miserably, but what awaited them was a world like heaven.

Kim Na-yeon and her family felt fortunate to have lived kindly.

[Smartphones will be distributed one per person later. We made them similar so you can contact each other as well as watch earthly content, so the usage won’t be difficult.]

“Thank you… truly thank you. For letting us enjoy such benefits…”

[I’m just a guide. The one you should really thank is Min Do-jun, the master of the underworld.]

“How can we meet that person? I’d like to express our gratitude…”

[Hmm, that’s…]

Elbrando scratched his cheek with a troubled expression.

After briefly considering whether to tell the truth.

He answered while recalling the established manual.

[He’s very busy. He probably doesn’t have time to meet.]

“Ah… that’s unfortunate.”

It wasn’t a lie. He was indeed busy.

Just busy in a different sense.

* * *

[Dad! How about this outfit?]

[Yeah. It’s fine.]

[What about this?]

[That’s fine too.]

[Then what about this?]

[That’s also…]

[Oh, what. Don’t answer halfheartedly.]

Min Do-jun massaged his temples because of his daughter who changed clothes every time she blinked like a magical girl from old cartoons.

[Isn’t this enough? Do you know how many outfits you’ve changed into?]

[Still. There’s no one here except Dad to look at my clothes.]

Indeed, it’s not like there were department store staff or close friends in Paradise.

[Wear anything. There’s no one to look at you anyway.]

[How can you say that when I’m finally on a date with Dad? And why is there no one to look? There will be lots of people at the amusement park.]

[I blocked other residents from using it just for today.]

[Is that allowed?]

[What’s not allowed? I’m the one who made this place.]

50 years ago.

The underworld was such a boring place, unlike now.

Even Min Do-jun, a transcendent and master of the underworld, was going crazy with nothing to do.

‘At least making Ye-rin into a transcendent helped reduce the boredom.’

As soon as he returned to the underworld, Min Do-jun had Dayna make Cha Ye-rin into a transcendent.

Of course, she didn’t need to kill anyone or absorb traits like himself.

She only needed a little Divine Force and Dayna’s skills.

‘Ye-rin was incredibly happy then. She said she could touch me too.’

She was happier about being able to touch and feel Min Do-jun rather than the fact that she had become a transcendent.

Though they became the same transcendents and could touch each other, their authorities weren’t the same.

Dangerous functions like Soul Regression, Soul Possession, Clone Technique, and Illusion Prison were all set so only Min Do-jun could use them.

‘The functions I allowed for family were things like looking down at the human world or maintaining a 20s appearance and changing clothes like now.’

It wasn’t much, but the family still liked it.

They became transcendents so they could touch each other, and thanks to Min Do-jun, they gained eternal life.

But even making family into transcendents couldn’t relieve the boredom.

‘So I decided to build Paradise.’

Over 10 years, Min Do-jun used Elsis to create Paradise.

A massive theme park reproduced to resemble the living world.

In the underworld lacking entertainment, there was no better resort than this.

‘We can’t use such a nice place just for our family.’

Min Do-jun didn’t indiscriminately annihilate souls that came to the underworld.

He built a courthouse to understand their deeds in the living world and categorized souls.

‘Kind souls to Paradise, evil souls mercilessly annihilated.’

Souls that were neither good nor bad were just left to wander the underworld.

Compared to Derkius who massacred everyone like a dictator, it was fairly just treatment.

‘I was worried at first. Whether I’d earn less Divine Force.’

But there were more evil souls than expected, so he earned enough Divine Force to not be lacking.

‘Rather, it accumulated so much that now it’s overflowing.’

Thinking about it, Min Do-jun opened Elsis’s information window.

-Name: Min Do-jun

-Existence: Transcendent

-Authority Level: Administrator

-Divine Force Held: 3,658,201,238

Even after 50 years, Divine Force hadn’t decreased.

‘Even though I used quite a bit to build Paradise, it actually increased.’

Since guides are annihilating evil souls, it’s still increasing in real time.

‘Even though I give it to Dayna like an annual salary every year, there’s no sign of it decreasing.’

He gives 1 million Divine Force monthly because he felt bad using her for free.

As a result, Dayna’s current Divine Force exceeds 700 million, but it doesn’t compare to Min Do-jun.

[Dad, what are you doing? Looking at the information window?]

[Huh, why?]

[You should look at my clothes. How about this?]

[You’re pretty in anything.]

[Tsk, I told you not to answer halfheartedly.]

[It’s true.]

Though it might sound like empty words, it wasn’t.

Currently, both Min Do-jun and Min Seo-yeon are maintaining appearances from their 20s.

Anyone would think they’re lovers, they’re such a handsome man and beautiful woman.

They chose faces from the most radiant period of their lives rather than wrinkled faces.

[I decided on this outfit.]

[If you’re going to decide yourself, why did you ask me to look?]

[Still, I wanted you to look for reference. How is it?]

[It suits you, it suits you.]

Though he spoke as if annoyed, Min Do-jun’s lips curved into an arc.

‘I couldn’t be happier than this.’

He achieved his dream of spending eternal life with his family.

For Min Do-jun, whose life was filled with revenge and murder, each day was like a dream.

The same went for his family.

[Thanks, Dad. Thanks to you, I became a transcendent and can try on various clothes.]

[Now that I think about it, I should have blocked the clothes-changing function.]

[Ah, why? This is the joy of my life.]

Min Do-jun found his grumbling daughter Min Seo-yeon only cute.

[Are you all done now?]

[Yeah. I’m ready.]

[Then let’s go. Let’s ride all the attractions together.]

* * *

Did they say people become children as they age?

He thought he was past the age to like amusement parks, but it was clearly a misjudgment.

[Kyaaahhhhh!]

[Waaahhhhh!]

The roller coaster that rotated a whopping 15 times consecutively was Min Do-jun’s masterpiece and the most popular attraction in the amusement park.

[Haa… so fun. Let’s ride again, Dad.]

[Again? Shouldn’t you be getting tired by now?]

[What are you saying, Dad. How can a soul get tired?]

‘I’m getting tired though…’

He felt mentally drained.

In some ways, dealing with his son was more comfortable than his daughter.

[Your brother Su-ho is working outside, but is it okay for you to just play and eat here?]

[Of course it’s okay. Brother gets Divine Force as salary instead. I just get pocket money. Besides, it’s work brother likes. When he finishes work, he brags so much about punishing various souls.]

[……]

His daughter doesn’t back down from a single word.

‘Who did she take after to have such a personality…’

He shook his head, but honestly there wasn’t even a mouse tail’s worth of dislike.

That’s what a parent’s heart is like.

[But where are the grandchildren doing what?]

[They’re all probably playing somewhere in Paradise. My son has gotten into climbing lately, so he’s probably there.]

[As a mother, aren’t you worried?]

[What’s there to worry about? They’re not three-year-old kids. Paradise is a place without worries or concerns. Don’t worry too much about the grandchildren, Dad. They’ll play well on their own.]

He’s not worried.

His grandchildren, who are souls and transcendents, wouldn’t get hurt anywhere.

‘I just want to see them.’

It was his honest feeling as a grandfather wanting to spend time with his grandchildren.

But his grandchildren, who had already discovered the taste of Paradise, were very hard to see.

Even though time was all they had, the time spent with grandchildren wasn’t very much for some reason.

[The great-grandchildren would need about 20 years to come to the underworld, right?]

[They’d be about 100 by then, so probably? But why? Don’t tell me you want to see them soon?]

[How could that be? Our great-grandchildren should enjoy a full lifespan before coming.]

‘Actually I want to meet them soon, but I can’t wish for them to die…’

Min Do-jun decided to console himself by occasionally watching with Clairvoyance.

That’s when it happened.

Min Do-jun felt a vibration at the hem of his pants.

[Huh?]

[What’s wrong, Dad?]

Min Do-jun took out a smartphone from his pocket.

It was a smartphone for the underworld that he had directly developed and distributed.

[Just a moment. A guide contacted me?]

After asking his daughter for understanding, he answered the phone.

[What’s the matter, Daemon?]

*Reporting to the master of the underworld. The soul from the specimen world you instructed about has just ascended to the underworld.*

[Oh, really? Got it. Tell them to wait there. I’ll come get them myself.]

When Min Do-jun hung up, Min Seo-yeon, who had been listening, asked with a curious expression.

[What was it that you answered with such a bright expression?]

[Oh, Dad told you before, right? That I possessed someone else’s body in another dimension.]

[Yeah.]

[There was someone I owed a debt to then, and I instructed the guides to call if they ever came to the underworld. It seems they’ve come up now.]

[Oh, really? Then you waited 50 years?]

[Something like that.]

[Do you need to go see them now?]

[Yeah.]

[Someone Dad owes a debt to… What kind of person are they?]

[Someone like a mother.]

[Really? I want to meet them too.]

[Never mind. They won’t remember me anyway.]

[Huh? Why?]

[Because I erased their memory.]

He had felt sorry about erasing memories with Choi Seong-min, but now it was time to repay that debt.

‘I’ll personally guide you to Paradise, Mother.’

Min Do-jun left his daughter behind and started walking.

After a long time, memories from when he was Choi Seong-min came flooding back.

-End of Part 2 Side Stories-