< 163. Hate to Hate (1) >
The prisoner, 'Asif-26,188,280', considered himself a man far removed from hatred or animosity.
In his judgment, hatred only breeds more hatred.
From one person to another, from one group to another.
An endless chain of hatred leading from hatred.
Unproductive and inefficient. Such negative emotions offer no benefit to life. Especially not in his situation. Unlike many senior prisoners, he had decided not to hate the committee that had put a collar around his neck. He made that decision the moment he woke up.
Though he did not remember, he must have committed some crime deserving of punishment. The labor reeducation sentence was the price he had to pay, and the committee was merely returning the cost of his wrongdoings. A returned karma. He was confident that by diligently paying off his retirement funds, he would eventually obtain freedom.
It wouldn't take long.
Jump complete! Arrival at 'Earth'.
Have a pleasant journey to your destination.
An artificial voice welcomed him. He had arrived at his deployment site. He fiddled with the ID card he had received during socialization training. It had been issued along with the dimension-style clothing and belongings he had brought with him.
'William Evans.'
The identity he would use here.
He repeated the pronunciation he had learned during training a few times. It was probably a common name. William. If he shouted it while walking down the street, a few people might turn around. It had always been that way.
'Will I be able to earn a lot here?'
His first assignment was in a dimension called 'Ashtal', where the earnings he made were not satisfactory due to being overshadowed by long-term prisoners with impressive abilities.
The next few decades spent at the second deployment site were also unlucky.
How would it be here?
"······."
When such anxiety arises, he takes out his medication. Opening the cap and letting it fall into his palm, a blue pill popped out. The pill container was smaller than a fist, but the prisoner knew it contained a 20-year supply of prescription medication.
Asif-26,188,280... or rather, William Evans swallowed it with a resolute expression. The wave of anxiety calmed like a placid lake.
'I can achieve freedom. As long as I work hard at what I'm told... someday that day will come!'
Door open.
Creeeak!
The jump ship's door opened, and the air of the unfamiliar world welcomed him.
'Hmm?'
A troll was waiting at the door. The troll had the brutal horns characteristic of its species with interdimensional symbols floating above them. Only beings of his kind could read them.
'Prisoner.'
It was the expected procedure. The troll was here to guide William. He envied the one who had received a troll's body. It would have been nice if he had ended up with such a species.
William had never experienced symptoms described as "feeling like my mind is melting and dripping out of my nostrils" or "feeling as if the gap between my soul and body is loose and itchy with oozing fluid." He had never felt discomfort during the two body changes.
Only... it was a bit tedious. The human bodies experienced three times in a row were too weak. He had a strong desire to wield the troll's formidable strength himself.
'That fellow must have it easy.'
He muttered to himself and extended his hand for a handshake, following socialization training.
"Nice to meet you."
The troll glanced at his hand but, instead of shaking it, turned its back.
"Follow me."
William grumbled inwardly.
'What an impolite fellow.'
William followed the troll and looked around the terminal where he had arrived. He soon noticed something strange.
This place... That is, this jump facility called the 'New York Terminal' was known to be the largest on Earth, but it was incredibly empty. Instead of staff or passengers, only security personnel patrolled with heightened vigilance.
And the symbols floating above their heads were conspicuous. The ratio of prisoners was too high. Unable to contain his curiosity, William asked.
"What exactly happened?"
The troll's brief response startled William.
"Escapees?!"
It was an incident he had never heard of before.
An escape!
'There were crazy people who planned and executed something like that?!'
An escape... it was unimaginable.
Why was it unimaginable?
He didn't know. Anyway... such a thing was beyond imagination.
'Crazy people... lunatics.'
From the continuing explanation, it seemed William's timing was quite unfortunate.
Currently, all jump facilities on Earth, except for the New York Terminal, had been closed, and all ships except the committee's military-purpose jump ships were banned from traveling here.
"If the departure had been even slightly delayed, you wouldn't have been able to board the jump ship at all."
When the New York Terminal declared a partial lockdown, the ship William was on had already jumped from its departure dimension.
"No, no. That's not the problem…"
William realized.
If the dimension wall had been blocked while he was penetrating it for hours, the jump ship would not have reached Earth and would have disintegrated and vanished. William inside it would naturally have met a gruesome end.
He sighed with relief and muttered.
"I should be grateful to the committee. For keeping me alive... by breaking the rules and granting permission, right?"
The troll snickered. Then, without even looking back, it said sarcastically.
"Well, who knows if it was for the sake of one prisoner's worth or if it was because it was too costly to destroy a perfectly fine jump ship."
William muttered to himself.
'Impolite and talks with such a bad attitude.'
The troll led him to a remote building and said.
"This is where you'll start your first mission on Earth."
William was surprised.
"What? Here, right now?"
"As I said, it's a special situation right now."
Normally, he would have unpacked his belongings at a prepared residence for his undercover identity and gone through a few steps, such as starting work at a government agency he was undercover at, to pass as an ordinary Earthling before beginning his actual work.
It seemed the situation had become serious because of the escapees.
"Currently, all the dimension prisoners here are on high alert. With one hand short, there's no time for leisurely orientations."
After briefly introducing himself as a US immigration officer who was undercover, the troll said.
"Currently, all interdimensional and human movement has come to a halt. The same applies to criminals. According to the extradition treaty, even the prisoners who were preparing to be forcibly transported to the committee... are stuck at the terminal."
Illegal immigrants from other worlds and aliens fleeing after committing crimes usually wait in the terminal's prison right before deportation.
William soon realized his task.
"Do you want me to act as a guard?"
"Yes. It's that one."
When the door was opened, a pale scream was heard.
"What? What's that sound... You clearly told me that today I would leave Earth. So... you said you would take my soul to the committee headquarters and implant it in another body! Why the delay?!"
What am I hearing?
William blinked slowly in disbelief.
Based on what was being said, it seemed like the desperate cries of a criminal whose sentence of 'labor reeducation' had been confirmed without trial.
But the appeal didn't make sense.
No matter how you looked at it...
"Please... Please transfer me quickly. I've confessed. I admit my guilt. I deserve punishment. So take me to another world, take my body, and give me another body. I don't want to endure another day. Please... give me... a new body..."
No matter how he heard it, it sounded like a plea to be taken away quickly.
William clicked his tongue.
"Wow… What kind of lunatic is that?"
They were inside a massive shelter building that dwarfed an aircraft maintenance hangar. In an isolated area within, there was a young-looking blue-scaled dragon. His large eyes, bound by an artifact that prevented him from using any magic, were filled with despair and frustration. He was protesting to what William assumed was another prisoner, who was explaining something through a speaker beyond a glass wall.
The troll said:
"There are no signs of violence, but from what he's mumbling, it sounds like he's gone completely off the deep end. I suspect it might be a brain deformity. You know, there's a saying that one out of ten of those monsters is a total nutjob, though it's up to you whether you believe it or not."
Then, as if to say he was done with the matter, the troll turned his back.
"Since this is a criminal being transferred to the Committee's headquarters, it's not right to leave it to just artifacts and machines. You're to keep an eye on him."
William raised an eyebrow.
"Just him?"
The troll laughed as if it were absurd.
"Do you think there's only one of that kind of creature? You're supposed to monitor the entire building."
William's face darkened at the words.
It was clearly a tedious and high-maintenance task, one that would be a nightmare if things went wrong and would earn him no rewards if successful.
'Already facing territorial issues? Rookie hazing?'
But since it was an emergency situation, he couldn't protest or refuse.
It was his first day… so he decided to endure for now.
He looked at the empty space to update himself on the current situation. An information network accessible only to prisoners was displayed in a schematic. As William quickly read through it, he made a bewildered sound.
"What? It's not here?"
The most crucial information wasn't listed. Although he was new to the escape incident, with the situation being this severe, the headquarters should have issued a 'high-priority mission' and offered a bounty to hunt down the escapee...
'But it only talks about guarding the terminal? No mention of the escapee at all.'
Reluctantly, William asked:
"Hey, but… who is this escapee?"
The troll, about to leave, spoke over his shoulder.
William's face froze upon hearing the answer.
"Asif-666."
—Come here. Look here.
He moved toward the disembodied, drifting voice.
He couldn't know who he was. He only felt. It was dark, narrow. He was trapped.
—Yes, here. Don't lose focus. Yes. Don't let yourself be distracted. Cohere. Remember.
The authority in the voice was frightening and heavy.
He had no choice but to submit to it.
—Yes, very good. Remember. All your memories… all of them to me.
In an instant, an indescribable memory… or pain crashed into him.
And he realized who he was. He remembered. He was Todd, a member of the External Tax Evasion Tracking Unit under the Tax Collection Command.
Once he remembered one thing, the rest followed in a chain.
He soon recalled the last memory or the one just before it.
—No… not that one.
He was startled when the prisoner drew out the Dusky Blade just before capture. He hadn't expected anyone to dare defy the Committee.
Such attempts had never succeeded in history. Since Asif-1, the most notorious criminal, knelt and became the first prisoner, no one had resisted in any meaningful way.
Even self-harm was difficult due to the influence. Until their worth and abilities were squeezed out and they served.
—Wait, that's not the memory we need?
But Asif-666 resisted. In a very effective and threatening manner. Having already lost a few subordinates, he now debated whether to release the spatial condensation and request support.
At that moment, darkness enveloped everything.
He could see nothing.
Just like now.
At that time, he also saw nothing.
—No, that's not it. You're not listening.
The voice mumbled as if clicking its tongue.
------!
Pain that seemed to shatter existence surged through him.
He realized again.
Yes, I am dead.
I… I…
=Ah, ah! Please… please…!=
He screamed. As distant memories returned, madness surged.
At this very moment, there was only one thing he wished for.
To leave. He wanted to leave this place. It was not where he belonged.
Todd realized he had become a wraith.
=Send me… to where I need to go… send me… please…!=
The voice promised.
—Yes, I will send you. So, tell me everything you remember… about why you came to Earth… what you were plotting here. Everything related to the Committee.
The wraith could not doubt the voice. It clearly had the power to open the door to where he needed to go and to guide him in the right direction. The possibility of betrayal seemed nonexistent.
So, he did not resist.
"Ah, are you done?!"
Yumptus, sitting on the sofa watching TV, jumped up.
The Avatar responded.
"Yes, it seems to be about done."
Yumptus couldn't take his eyes off the Avatar.
'How… do you keep changing so much every day!'
Both mind and body had been sanctified.
When he lost consciousness in the darkness and woke up again, he was in the Amazon jungle. In the darkness, where nothing was visible except a half-roasted dragon, the Avatar gave him instructions, and the priest treated the dragon as directed.
After finishing his tasks there, they moved once more to… Hong Kong on the other side of the Earth. Until then, Yumptus didn't understand why they had to return here. He simply followed the will of the great one, moving as instructed.
Only after arriving in Hong Kong did Yumptus again see Min-jun's holy body and then fainted, pouring a waterfall of blood from his forehead.
Min-jun then revived him, and seeing his face, the priest fainted again, spraying more blood. After reviving him once more… another fainting spell with massive bleeding.
After repeating such incidents several times, the priest finally managed to stay sane in front of the Avatar.
'He doesn't seem to have changed much in appearance… No, he's exactly the same. Even though the images perceived by the brain are the same… why does it feel so different!'
The divine truth must have manifested in an esoteric and mysterious way.
"…"
The Avatar's gaze was fixed on the TV. The news reporter was explaining the global terminal blockade reappeared after several months with a serious tone.
Since the Committee and various governments had not given a clear reason, the media was speculating wildly. The most plausible theory was that there was a terrorism threat.
He muttered.
"Terrorism…"
He turned his head and asked.
"What about the elves?"
Yumptus replied apologetically.
"They haven't awakened yet. It will take some time for their vitality to return…"
"Understood."
Min-jun turned his back to Yumptus and spoke in a nonchalant tone.
It sounded like a very ordinary and mundane sentence.
"Well then, I'm going to get something to eat."
< 163. Hate to Hate (1) > End