Chapter 3: The Compensation of the Underworld
The man who had bravely thrown himself forward to save a child—Seo Juhwan—regained consciousness in a pure white space that was neither a hospital nor the afterlife.
And now, several hours after waking up.
Seo Juhwan was struggling to collect his thoughts amid the confusion.
In front of him sat a handsome white-haired man, smiling leisurely, and beside him was an old man with a dignified presence, groaning with his head pressed against the ground.
As for what was going on—
the white-haired man had just introduced himself as a demon god from the Seventh Dimensional Realm and proceeded to tell a long, elaborate story.
'Is he insane?'
That was what he had thought at first.
But when the man casually produced flames from his hands and summoned lightning in empty space, he had no choice but to believe it. Moreover, everything he said seemed beneficial to Seo Juhwan, so even if it were a lie, it was something he wanted to believe.
After taking a deep breath, Seo Juhwan carefully spoke.
"Dream Demon God Russ?"
"Just call me Russ. You can speak comfortably too. Even if it was a past life, you were my older brother."
"…Haha. I appreciate it, but I'm more comfortable being polite."
Seo Juhwan maintained a respectful attitude. Even if he had been his older brother in a past life, that wasn't the case now. Honestly, the idea of a past life didn't feel real to him at all.
Russ, seemingly not intent on forcing the matter, simply nodded.
"If that's what you prefer, then fine. But remember this—like I said earlier, in your past life, you were a hero worthy of praise."
"…It's still hard to believe that I was a hero."
"Not just any hero—you were the leader of all the surviving humans. You had strength, character, and leadership. Though in the end, Earth was destroyed by the Void."
"E-Earth gets destroyed?"
That was something he hadn't heard before. The sudden revelation left him stunned.
Russ chuckled as if amused by his reaction and waved his hand.
"Haha. Don't worry—I destroyed the Void after I reincarnated. Oh, and by the way, the Earth you're living on now is a different dimension. Completely unrelated."
"Ha… ha…"
Seo Juhwan laughed awkwardly. From the very beginning, it had been hard to follow the flow of the story.
Noticing this, Russ smirked.
"Just remember that much. That's not what's important right now anyway, is it?"
"Ah."
Each piece of information was so overwhelming that he had momentarily forgotten the main point.
Shaking off his stray thoughts, Seo Juhwan asked again.
"S-So, in any case… you're going to bring me back to life?"
"Yeah. The return point will be five years ago, and the misfortune that was wrongly placed on you has already been removed. Of course, your memories will remain. This is the compensation offered by the underworld."
Compensation meant making up for damage caused by violating someone's rights. In other words, the underworld had previously violated Seo Juhwan's rights and caused him harm.
'So that miserable misfortune… wasn't even mine.'
According to Russ, Seo Juhwan had originally been a great hero in his past life. Yet he had lived such an unfortunate life because of a mistake made by the underworld.
And the one responsible for that mistake—the ruler of the underworld—was the very old man trembling beside Russ with his head slammed to the ground.
Seo Juhwan's gaze toward him turned cold.
'All that suffering… because of a mere clerical error…'
Just thinking about it made his blood boil. His clenched fists trembled with anger.
At that moment—
Bang!
With a thunderous sound, the old man's head was slammed even harder into the ground. Even Seo Juhwan, who had been quietly seething, was startled.
Russ had risen at some point and was now pressing the old man's head down with his foot. The old man writhed like a worm, groaning.
"Ugh…!"
"Honestly, what a joke. Even if it was a soul from another dimension, how do you mix that up and assign the wrong karma? Souls from destroyed dimensions must be furious—should I destroy this place too, huh?"
"S-Sorry!"
"Be honest. Is my brother really the only one who got the wrong karma? I have a feeling there are more. Should I investigate while I'm at it? Hmm."
At Russ's suspicious tone, the old man trembled as if struck by lightning, cold sweat pouring down his face.
'Interference from the Dream Demon God, infamous across dimensions? Absolutely not!'
As far as he knew, this was the first time such an error had occurred. But how could he be sure what his subordinates might be hiding? Even this incident had been unknown to him until Russ barged in.
If more cases were discovered, it would be the end.
Panicking, the old man endured the pain and spoke quickly.
"Lord Russ, I'm truly sorry! I will personally conduct a full investigation—please trust me!"
At those words, Russ smiled as if he had been waiting for them, though he kept his tone low.
"Shouldn't you be apologizing to the person you wronged? Did you wrong me?"
Realizing the implication, the quick-witted old man lifted his head and looked at Seo Juhwan. The foot pressing him down had already disappeared.
Looking at Seo Juhwan, he cried out desperately.
"I sincerely apologize, Seo Juhwan. Our underworld has committed a grave mistake. Please, I beg you to forgive us."
"Y-Yes?"
"It would be hard to trust mere words. By my authority, I will turn back your return point by another five years—ten years in total. If you wish, possession or reincarnation is also possible. This is the best I can offer, so please…!"
He slammed his head into the ground once more with a loud thud.
It was an astonishing sight.
The judge who determined the good and evil of life, the ruler of the underworld who commanded eighteen generals and eighty thousand underworld soldiers, was bowing and kneeling before a mere human.
Anyone from the underworld witnessing this would have doubted their own eyes.
Seo Juhwan recoiled in shock at the old man's desperation, while Russ winked at him and mouthed silently.
[He can't hear me, so don't react.]