Chapter 193

Isn’t this just an attempt to make me angry?

Is there some kind of… some kind of massive conspiracy at work here?

It happened as I pondered these questions.

The words were directed at me.

Sting!

I felt a sudden burning sensation on my cheek. It was utterly inconceivable; even if someone were to brand my skin with a hot iron now, I wouldn’t feel it.

“Jaeyeon-ssi?”

“What is this…?”

Seeing F-D’s bewildered reaction, I activated Cheddar’s mirror mode mid-air.

And there it was. A tattoo etched on my cheek:

“This is insane…”

It bore the likeness of a man hanging from a noose—the unmistakable image of my father who had taken his own life.

“The… Mark of Sin!”

“The grave sin of patricide…!”

I could hear the people’s commotion. It was understandable; this was an event of tremendous proportions. Everyone had only ever heard about the Mark of Sin in stories—it rarely appeared anywhere, not even in movies or dramas—and now it had been bestowed upon me, a Transcendent celebrity.

My face contorted into a frown.

This… now of all times?

It made no sense. This couldn’t possibly be happening.

For something that hadn’t even been considered a mark for over twenty years to suddenly become a “sin” now—this did not align with my understanding of justice.

Has something befallen the God of Justice? This shouldn’t happen unless a deity from another dimension has invaded.

The Three Gods—Justice, Truth, and Honor—possessed mid-tier divine ranks but wielded powers rivaling those of high-tier deities. They had strengthened their abilities by limiting the directionality of their power, essentially becoming a type of ‘system’.

“Stop! What are you doing right now? Surely you’re not trying to arrest Jaeyeon?”

At Love’s sharp voice, the security guards approaching my side looked perplexed.

“But Mr. President. A sinner must be detained at least temporarily. We won’t handle him roughly…”

However, the security guards’ hands already held guns, swords, and mirrors—these were the symbols of authority for Justicars, far more potent than any high-grade magical devices.

Justice weapons… These are tools of righteousness.

Saram was speechless at their appearance.

“Don’t be absurd. Do you really think holding those ‘justice weapons’ gives you the right to arrest Jaeyeon?”

“Sir, that statement is incredibly dangerous. Refusing arrest will only compound your offenses.”

“Oh boy… So we’re just standing here quietly, looking like fools? I knew Earth-34’s transcendentals would mock us, but this is taking things too far.”

“I’m genuinely curious. If all five of us decided to cause a ruckus… would we really get arrested? Without even needing the Game Master to intervene?”

F-D growled, blocking the path of the Justicars. Even the notoriously stubborn Justicars hesitated before his ferocity. After all, these were not prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s office, but mere security guards from the research institute.

However, knowing that an outright fight could escalate the situation, Bae Saram stepped forward to diffuse the tension.

“Please calm down,” he appealed. “And you two, don’t jump at this opportunity without thinking it through. Can’t you see how strange this whole situation is?”

“But…”

“I’m not trying to defy justice! I want to understand the exact situation here! Besides, look at this mark! Sure, they call it a ‘great sin,’ but it’s hardly that big! There’s absolutely no way it could grow enough to warrant hostility from Transcendents!”

While she was persuading the security guards…

Whooshhh…

Magic energy rippled outside the research institute. It was an emergency teleportation.

Oh, come on. Has the prosecutor’s office really moved?

As her expression furrowed at this sudden development, the door of the men’s dining room opened, revealing a massive figure…no, a massive polar bear.

“It’s Director Chen Xianyi!”

“Did you come because of the mark?”

“No, if it were about the mark issue, then the Prosecutor General should have come, why is the Mercenary Command Center director…”

Director Chen Xianyi observed the bewildered researchers and spoke up:

“Under Article 5, Section 3 of the Mercenary Management Act, we’re initiating emergency control procedures for cosmic mercenary Han Jaeyeon. Details will be posted on the Mercenary Command Center’s website, so please check there for more information.”

After issuing this statement, Director Chen approached me.

“And what about you?”

Ruby frowned and moved to block his path. Despite the vast difference in size between Ruby, who stood at middle school height, and the massive polar bear, their statures seemed equally matched in terms of presence.

“I see you’re F·D. I’ve been enjoying your songs.”

“I’m into both variety shows and documentaries myself,” I replied.

The small girl and the enormous polar bear faced each other. And then…

Slap!

The hands and forelegs met as Ruby made way for us.

Xianyi spoke up, “Let’s move out. There’s no reason to stay here long.”

”…I suppose so,” I agreed.

Chief Chen Xianyi pulled out his multi-colored mercenary registration card.

I also took out my black mercenary registration card.

Whoosh!

We crossed through space. In an instant, I found myself in Xianyi’s office where we had been when registering as mercenaries.

“So this is the rumored Mercenary Command Center.”

“Indeed, there’s nothing but mountains around it…”

“Wow! Isn’t that a cosmic monster carcass over there?”

However, Xianyi and I weren’t the only ones who had moved. Around me were the members of FD. Surprisingly, they had ridden along with our spatial movement.

“You have greater magical abilities than what was known.”

“I won’t deny it since it’s undeniable,” Sapphire chuckled softly.

Flower glanced around briefly before asking with a serious expression, “So what exactly is going on here? The renowned system of the God of Justice has delivered an utterly absurd verdict.”

Flower looked at my face—or more precisely, at the mark embedded there.

“Hmm… Fortunately, I can surmise the reason for this.” As Xianyi waved his hand in the air, a hologram materialized before him.

It depicted an enormous ship. As it descended onto the ground, countless people emerged from within.

“This is…”

“A massive immigrant fleet—the Eden III. It transports refugees from civilizations that have either been destroyed or abandoned due to monster-related incidents.”

Earth-34 was still maintaining its peace… but this was an exception. Countless civilizations were suffering from monster-related incidents.

And many of them were facing extinction.

“Mercenaries are saving them even as we speak. And quite a few have been brought here. There’s been a massive influx of new immigrants.”

Xianyi’s words triggered a thought in my mind.

“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me the number of new immigrants is…”

“It’s currently at 2.3 billion.”

“Wow. That’s incredible for just one planet.”

“The strength of Earth-34 is truly remarkable,” I remarked, my tone filled with admiration.

While the other members of the F-D team marveled at this display of power, I realized what the problem was.

“They’ve… overextended themselves.”

“Yes.”

The God of Justice’s verdict did not stem from some vast, clandestinely compiled legal code. If it had, Earth-34 would never have been able to maintain its current peaceful state.

The God of Justice’s standard was very simple:

All intelligent beings incorporated into Earth-34 judged each other’s sins while covered by a “veil of ignorance” in a spiritual realm one might call the afterlife or sacred space. They were unaware of whether they themselves were male or female, Christian or Muslim. A sin would only be stamped with an “evil mark” if more than half of those judging deemed it sinful.

Though commonly referred to as the judgment of the God of Justice…

In truth, both the judges and those being judged were human.

Judgments were made irrespective of potential gains or losses due to their sinful nature.

However, since one could never be certain if they themselves might commit such acts, overly harsh standards weren’t applied.

This system was nearly perfect, resulting in Earth-34 having remarkably high levels of public safety and trust—almost unparalleled throughout the universe.

Alas, there is no truly flawless system in this world, so even this “Judgment of Ignorance” had its weaknesses.

Ultimately, it was susceptible to human perception.

Those newly arrived immigrants… They’re skewing judgments with their harsh views.

Someone drinks alcohol and drives under the influence, crashing into a streetlight.

In this case, they would face fines ranging from tens to possibly hundreds of millions of won.

This constitutes legal punishment.

However, some might argue:

Drunk driving is no different from murder! He’s a potential murderer, so he should be punished as if it were an attempted homicide!

This was a subjective standard. Someone might wish for the drunk driver to lose their job and have their life completely ruined.

And there are more of those people than you think.

Of course, this in itself isn’t wrong. Such a yardstick can exist.

But when the person who claims such things ends up drunk driving themselves, the story changes.

It was just a one-time mistake!

There weren’t any victims, right?!

I had no choice given the circumstances!

This isn’t the result of someone being particularly evil.

Humans are naturally selfish creatures.

Those who are ruthlessly strict with others tend to be infinitely lenient with themselves, while conversely, when they’re certain it doesn’t concern them personally, their retributivism can become endlessly cruel.

They were people who wished for others’ deaths simply because someone had parked poorly.

”…Then I’m not the only one with such a mark?”

“No. The God of Justice has been tainted… ‘Strict Punishmentism’ is turning actions that weren’t crimes into sins.”

Just as my actions, which led to the father’s suicide by knocking him down, were judged as a crime against me, other individuals’ actions—though slightly less than half—had also been branded as sins.

Hwakyu clicked his tongue at Xianyi.

“What? Then isn’t the Mercenary Command Center greatly responsible for this current situation? Wouldn’t these problems arise precisely because they recklessly brought in immigrants?”

“If you want an excuse, it’s not just about immigrants. Earth-34’s population was once merely hundreds of millions; it grew to eleven billion… There have been large-scale immigrations several times before.”

In other words, there was another problem at hand.

Above all else, it seemed too much of a coincidence for the documentary targeting me to have aired just then.

“Someone had a hand in this?”

“Yes. And it seems like something that’s been planned out over quite some time… Wait a moment.” Xianyi tapped on Gaori’s belly as she flew towards him.

”…Indeed. We’ve found evidence that they showed Jaeyeon’s documentary to the new immigrants who arrived recently. It must be the work of the Immigrant Legislator Conference.”

“The Immigrant Legislator Conference…?” Flower asked.

Xianyi answered, “It’s a group made up of existing immigrants. I heard so many immigrants came here that jobs meant to control them were given to these legislators, but why would they do something that amounts to terrorism…?” His expression hardened.

“What is wrong?”

In response to my question, Xianyi silently pointed towards the wall. At his gesture, one entire section transformed into a display, showing news channels.

“What is this about? A massacre?”

“Did enemies invade or something?”

The F·D members couldn’t grasp the situation and were puzzled, but as someone from Earth-34, I understood it immediately along with Xianyi.

”…This is serious.”

When the mark of sin was stamped upon me,

Even the mere disciples of Justice, who were no more than guards, showed hostility towards me. They acted like that even against me, a Transcendent, let alone others.

The disciples of the God of Justice… can raise their rank by carrying out justice. There is even a quicker way to do so.

It was this:

Time passed.

A week had flown by in a blur, yet Earth-34 remained mired in chaos. The Soil saw countless debates and arguments erupt, accompanied by an endless stream of protests and lawsuits.

An overwhelming crowd spontaneously gathered at Gwanghwamun Square, their voices reaching a fever pitch as they chanted these slogans.

On the banners they held aloft were written these words: