"Straight ahead, huh?" Jude mumbled as he looked at the long road ahead of him.
The underworld was not as Jude expected. The sort of thing that he had in his mind was straight up hell and all. And yet, that wasn't meant to be. In fact, the underworld was quite similar to the Earth. The city looked quite developed. Well, if there is one thing different about this place, it would be the fact that the face of a single person was plastered all over the place. No matter what the product or the building was, it had that person's face. It wasn't that difficult to guess who that was for Jude.
"Hades, huh..." Jude mumbled as he looked around.
"So, I guess you are Jude, huh?" All of a sudden, a person popped out of nowhere to greet him.
"Ah, yes. And you are?" He asked.
"Well, I'm someone who's tasked with bringing you to my boss." The guy spoke.
"Hades' underling. Got it." Jude gave out a thumbs up as he replied.
"Yea. Anyhow, there's a car waiting for you over there. So, if you could just follow me..." The man pointed towards the rather luxurious car as he walked towards it.
"Hmm, I didn't know that you guys got luxurious cars for escorting guys like me!" Jude was honestly surprised when he saw that. Rather than riding in a car like that, he fully did expect to get beaten all the way until he reached Hades. However, reality tends to be different at times.
"Well, this is how things usually go." The guy smiled as he replied.
Jude felt like there was a lump stuck in his throat or something. Well, he was not usually someone emotional, but the fact that the underworld was treating a person like him like that, honestly made him sad. He wondered about why someone should do good in the normal world if they were to be treated like that, no matter what they did in the other world.
"We don't usually do this, you know?" The guy tracked back on his words at that point.
"What are you talking about? Weren't you the one who said that this is how things usually go? Then why are you changing your statement now?" Jude asked.
"I mean, I didn't want you to get the wrong idea about the underworld, to be honest. Good people are the only ones that are rewarded here. Based on the good merits that you collected in the other world, you know?" The guy shrugged.
"Then why am I treated like this? Shouldn't I be whipped or something like that?" Jude asked.
"I don't know. It's not like I'm the one judging your sins and all. And the guy who does has asked me to bring you over to him with the utmost respect. So, I'm gonna do exactly that." The guy replied.
"So, I guess I won't be getting any more answers from you then," Jude sighed.
"Well, not about this. If it is something that I can answer, then I'm fine with talking about it and all, you know?" He shrugged.
"Fine, let me ask you something else then. Where the hell are all the people?" Jude asked, as he looked around. The one thing he noticed about the place other than Hades' face was the fact that the place was insanely empty for some reason. He could see no people or hear no noise from anywhere, which made him incredibly suspicious of this entire setup.
"Ah, you seem to have a knack at asking me questions that I can't answer, huh?" The man sighed this time around.
"I mean, rather than me being skilled at that, I feel like you are unable to answer any questions in general." Jude spoke.
"Hmm, I got no comments on that." The man mumbled.
"See? Mandem, you can't even hold a normal conversation at this point." Jude chuckled as he spoke. "Never mind, I understand where you are coming from, so I'm not gonna ask you any questions."
"Oh, I guess I should be thanking-" Before he got a chance to finish his sentence, the man was interrupted.
"Instead, I'll just be making a rough guess of what might be happening over here, and you just have to nod your head or something if I come to the right conclusion," Jude replied.
"I would do no such thing, but you can guess stuff. No one's stopping you from doing that." The man spoke. "But it would be much appreciated if you were to enter the car, you know?" He asked, upon which Jude nodded his head and hopped into the car.
"So, back when I was a child, I used to hear stories about how sinners are shown nice scenery only for them to be tricked into getting punished. I mean, sinners are innately greedy, so it would only make sense if they followed after their greed, right?" Jude asked.
"And you think this is a similar case as well?" The man asked.
"Possibly. I mean, the eerie atmosphere tells me that just might be the case." Jude spoke.
"Well, you just might be right." Jude was about to rejoice since it looked like he was right about what he said, before he was cut short. "Or it could be hello wrong as well. Who knows?" The man had a smirk on his face as he said that.
"Yea, you look like you're having quite the fun confusing me like that." Jude looked really annoyed at that point.
"Well, to be quite honest, you are the one confusing yourself. I did nothing that you accuse me of." The man replied. "Also, if you are in dire need for answers, you just have to wait for a bit, you know? After all, you're gonna be meeting my boss right about now." He spoke.
"We're here already?" Jude looked quite surprised, since it seemed like quite a short journey for him.
"Yes. From here, you're gonna have to go at it by yourself." The man smiled as he opened the door to reveal the massive building to Jude.
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