Calm… let's be calm.
In this station, I will thoroughly investigate this Scales Tribunal ghost story and collect information and Dream Essence Liquid.
Let's just think about that.
I was boiling with anger at my companions for doing something as dangerous as following me with their dead bodies, but I held it in.
If I couldn't persuade them, getting angry would only hurt our feelings.
The same went for Agent Choi, who had refused to sell me his Dream Essence Liquid.
'I just have to do well.'
I just have to do my best while making sure no one dies.
Isn't that what I've been doing all this time?
That's all I have to do….
[How beautiful, my friend, doing his best to have no regrets. Oh, but it is a pity to see how heavy his shoulders look….]
It's fine.
[Hmm. In that case, let us advance. This is one step toward receiving judgment, no, a trial!]
I climbed the stairs leading from the platform to the Scales Tribunal.
And I looked inside the door, which had opened wide at some point.
I thought the inside of the Scales Tribunal would be revealed, but….
"..."
There was nothing to see inside.
A pure white void.
No color, no sound, no form. If anything, it felt similar to a dark, lightless basement.
"…Are you scared, Grapes-ie?"
"No."
Actually, I was scared.
But being scared wouldn't change anything, so I stepped inside.
Segwang Metropolitan City Day of Disaster. 370614th rescue request confirmed. Registering rescue requester as a Selection Candidate.
202■ Management No. 370614 Kim Soleum.
The subject is to be judged for rescue value through the Scales of Evil.
The next moment.
I snapped to my senses to find myself standing at the end of a line in a massive courtroom.
"...!"
A modern, almost grand space composed of brown, navy, and other colors.
In the center of the courtroom, people were standing in a long line, as if waiting for a summary judgment.
A low murmur.
The citizens in ordinary clothes made it feel somewhat like they were here for some administrative task.
A space that almost felt stable.
But if you listened closely…
"...isth meco ingto getme..."
"How gerlon must Iitwa?"
A chill ran down my spine.
I reflexively looked behind me.
My companions were also in line behind me now.
A hint of tension crossed Agent Bronze's face.
"Agent Grapes, I know this place looks like a courtroom. But what's happening over there isn't a real trial, it's…"
202■Management 370601, Selection Candidate Jeong Ho-jong, please come forward.
"…!"
A voice came from the front of the line.
But because of the line, the people, and the strangely hazy scenery beyond, I couldn't see anything clearly.
Just the shape of a person walking out from the very front of the line.
Thud.
…I heard the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.
And then silence.
"..."
"…What's happening here is probably the Disaster Management Bureau's emergency selection process."
He swallowed the rest of his words, but I felt like I'd already heard them.
'Contaminated.'
202■Management 370603, Selection Candidate Kim Ja-hoon, please come forward.
The number of people ahead of us dwindles.
The people in line walk forward.
We, too, moved helplessly forward.
Before I knew it, the line behind our party was packed with figures who looked like ordinary citizens, and only four or five people remained in front of us…
And then...
Thud.
I finally saw the source of that sound with my own eyes.
202■Management 370611, Selection Candidate Lee Hye-mi, please come forward.
At the very top center of the courtroom was a giant, ash-gray scale. The dust- and filth-covered scale was a balance, its two concave pans level with each other.
A person walks toward it, placed upon the judge's bench.
No, is that a person?
"isth meco ingto save myghterdau. aseple, me."
A figure that looked like a middle-aged man in a lightweight padded vest staggered forward blankly.
We will now conduct the 8312th re-evaluation of the corresponding rescue requester's suitability for rescue.
Selection Candidate, please submit your evidence.
As the voice echoed from a speaker beyond the bench, the person standing before the scales shook their head as if trying to come to their senses.
"Ye-yes…"
Then, fumbling, they grab a long object placed next to the scales.
An ashen knife.
The knife was tied to the scales, much like how public offices tie down pens for public use to prevent theft.
The middle-aged person lifted the knife and stabbed their own chest.
"...!"
And pulls something out from within.
[Oh, it's a heart!]
The sight of the pulsating organ, speared on the knife and pulled out, was grotesquely clear.
I heard Deputy Manager Eun Haje's pained groan.
"You public servants, you used that for public use?"
"We did not! The Management Bureau uses the candidate's fate and name…"
I heard Agent Bronze's urgent denial, but I knew.
This was also a correct way to use the Scales of Evil.
"Bronzie, it was used like that sometimes though?"
"..."
"The Scales of Evil was originally a Supernatural Disaster that was processed for a supposedly good purpose."
Agent Choi's eyes sank.
"Technically speaking, that's the original, pre-processed way of using it."
The symbols of the subject that could be weighed on the Scales of Evil varied from their fate, heart, to ■■, but they all represented the subject's conscience.
The person's ethics and good deeds, embodied by the heart, were impaled on the knife, still beating.
Place it on the scales.
Surprisingly, despite having had his heart ripped out, the middle-aged man staggered and moved, placing the crimson organ speared on the knife onto one of the scale's pans.
Yes, we have confirmed.
And the pan on the opposite side of the scales begins to tremble….
Originally, a weight symbolizing sin should have been placed there.
After all, the Disaster Management Bureau mainly used the Scales of Evil to punish villains who would be used as scapegoats.
But in this contaminated Courthouse of Segwang Metropolitan City, the Scales of Evil instead selected people who were worthy of rescue, and thus…
The thing you love most is placed on the opposite scale.
In place of sin, something materialized.
A small-statured figure in a tracksuit, looking like a university student, was fidgeting on the right-hand scale, looking around anxiously.
The middle-aged man, seeing the blurry, wavering figure, staggers to get a closer look.
"Hye-min!"
The scales shake.
The balance, which had been level, begins to tremble.
Checking the scale's reading.
"I can't wait anymore! No! No more! Someone please die instead of me!! Someone die for me! I have to get rescued and see Hye-min!"
A scream rang out.
"Wait, if he says something like that…"
The crimson heart of the candidate on the left scale turns blackish, then shrivels up strangely.
"Gasp."
The right scale tips, slanting downwards.
The result of the 8312th evaluation for 202■Management 370611 Selection Candidate is…
failed rescue selection.
The balance loses its equilibrium and collapses.
It has been determined through the Scales of Evil that the candidate's heart contains a psychological value that overrides ethical and moral judgment.
This individual is deemed an irredeemable villain under the current circumstances. The re-evaluation is permanently terminated…
The dispassionate voice comes from the speaker.
and a humanitarian execution is sentenced.
Thud.
The right scale crashes to the floor.
The balance is completely broken. As a rebound, the heart on the left scale is flung into the air.
"Argh-aaaaaaaaah!"
Ssssk, blood spurted from the chest of the wailing middle-aged man who had lost his heart, and his body tumbled down below the bench.
"..."
Screeeeeeeak.
The scales move again.
The balance finds its equilibrium once more, and blood drips from beneath it.
202■Management 370612, Selection Candidate Park Kyung-ju, please come forward.
"…I think we're f*cked."
I hear Deputy Manager Eun Haje's low, urgent voice.
"What is that? Does something precious go on the other scale? So what, if it's precious enough to commit a major crime for, you fail?"
It's similar, but the standard probably isn't as simple as whether one is capable of a major crime.
It must be asking if you have something you prioritize so twistedly that it pushes aside your ethics, beliefs, and conscience.
"You public servant, this is different from what Chief Goral said…"
"Just a moment. Did you two hear about this from Goral[1], I mean, Agent Peppermint?"
"Yes."
Tension filled Agent Bronze's face.
"We heard a 'rumor' that they use the Scales of Evil here to select rescuees by sorting out those worth saving…"
But it seemed the fact that those not selected were killed was unknown.
Agent Bronze gritted his teeth and muttered.
"...Don't worry. The fact that all these people are undergoing re-evaluation means that the standard… while strict, probably isn't that distorted."
[Hoh, what do you think of that statement, my friend?]
I just kept my mouth shut.
In the meantime.
202■Management 370613, Selection Candidate Seon Yu-seok, please come forward.
The person in front of me stepped up to the judge's bench and…
Thud.
Once again, they lost their heart and tumbled below the bench.
"..."
There was no one in front of me now.
And I could finally see the courtroom properly…
The floor was made of glass.
"...!"
Piled high beneath it were corpses.
A mountain of bodies. The hearts and corpses were discarded like trash, projected from beneath the floor like a grotesque sculpture.
At the very top, I caught a glimpse of the lightweight padded vest of the middle-aged man who had just tumbled from the bench…
A sense of terror that made my hair stand on end.
And.
202■Management 370614, Selection Candidate Kim Soleum, please come forward.
My turn had come.
'Ha.'
I took a deep breath and, stiff as a board, moved my foot forward…
"Wait a minute!"
"…!"
Someone jumped in front of me.
The person who had been standing behind me.
'Agent Choi!'
"Can I go first?"
Is he insane?
"Agent, are you cra—,"
"No, this person is shaking so much… It looks like you're proceeding with a summary process, so if you're an agent, you can afford to be a little lenient, can't you? Look. This person is really…"
Agent Choi grabbed me and squeezed a veiny part of my forearm. Making my hand tremble reflexively.
This…
"Yeah, he's in really bad shape."
"…!"
The other two companions from behind me pulled me in as if to support me.
Wait, what is this…
"Grapes-ie, you know it's more dangerous if you scream and cause a scene here, right?"
Agent Choi whispered.
"Watch me go first, then think and act. You're not in your right mind right now. Got it?"
"..."
It didn't really matter who went first.
But not in my right mind, what on earth does that…
"I'm asking you. Judge, no, Selector!"
After a piercing silence and stare.
Confirmed. 202■Management 370615, Selection Candidate ■■■, please come forward.
"Yessir."
Agent Choi, who grinned at the speaker's voice, stepped forward.
I held back a string of curses.
The only reason I stayed quiet was because I was confident Agent Choi wouldn't fail this evaluation.
We will now conduct the evaluation of the corresponding rescue requester's suitability for rescue.
Please submit your evidence.
"…Of course."
Agent Choi lifted the knife connected to the scales and plunged it into his own chest.
The organ revealed between the sliced flesh… shines with a silver light.
"…..!"
Right.
The Silver Heart originated from that…
The symbol of the subject extracted to be placed on the Scales of Evil can be observed in various states depending on the course of their life.
Most agents' would probably be a similar form.
That must be why the Silver Heart, inspired by it, was created.
Place it on the scales.
Agent Choi did as he was told.
And what appears on the opposite side is...
Flutter.
A warm windowsill with a curtain swaying, and an old sofa.
A table.
A familiar scene…
It was the Team Hyumoo 1 waiting room...
Checking the scale's reading.
The balance tilts.
But in a different direction than what I had observed before.
Agent Choi's heart goes down heavily…
Thud.
Finally, it touches the floor.
"…!"
The scales vibrate.
The evaluation result for 202■Management 370615, Selection Candidate ■■■ is…
passed rescue selection.
",,,!"
The corresponding rescue requester has been selected through the Scales of Evil and is qualified to be rescued.
We will now dispatch an agent to respond to the request.
"Oh."
The scales tremble as if greeting a true result.
The courtroom somehow seemed a bit brighter than before, and the atmosphere opened up as if one could breathe.
The hopeful atmosphere that comes with a pass.
[Hmm, a successful candidate has appeared! Let's see if he's not just trying to steal Mr. Roe Deer's glory.]
...No. That won't happen.
[Hmm?]
Agent Choi collected his heart from the scale and, with a strained smile, said.
"Wait a minute, about that…"
At that moment.
The staticky speaker suddenly spits out a rapid, dispassionate voice.
Rescue impossible
"…What?"
Rescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossibleRescue impossible
There are currently no additional personnel available for rescue at the Segwang Metropolitan City ■■■■ Bureau branch.
Due to a lack of space, the screening results will be discarded.
The scales, which had been weighed down, return to their original balanced state.
A massive, ashen scale, covered in dust and filth.
Resentencing.
A voice comes from the speaker.
The screening result for selection candidate number 202■-Management-370615 is postponed.
Please follow the procedure again and wait for a future re-screening.
"Wait a minute."
"..."
"Then..."
Watching Agent Choi's procession, his eyes widen with a look of realization.
That's right.
"Agent Choi."
I opened my frozen mouth.
"This screening was impossible to pass from the start."
"...!"
"...You heard it earlier."
The voice that had been announced to the middle-aged person being judged before us.
–We will now conduct the 8,312th re-screening for the rescue eligibility of the aforementioned rescue requester.
"That person... has been re-screened 8,312 times."
"...!"
"'Currently unable to rescue' and 'no vacancy for the rescued,' they keep getting postponed... "
They are judged here, endlessly.
In this infinite cycle of the Scales of Evil.
Tortured by the hope that one day, a 'vacancy for the rescued' might open up here.
"...And then, if their Contamination worsens or they can't endure it and their judgment of good and evil becomes clouded."
When they show an 'unethically strong' obsession with what they love, by the standards of the Scales of Evil.
"They're executed."
"..."
"They can never escape from here... until they're sentenced to death."
I looked back at the people in the procession. "The people here have probably been on trial endlessly since the day Segwang Metropolitan City became like this."
But.
"Still, it'll be okay from now on."
"What?"
"I'll figure out a way to solve this."
I've done it so far, after all.
I'd already thought of a method to try and clear this Courthouse this time, too.
And really, wasn't it just a matter of using whatever method I could?
Desperately trying everything possible, finding a loophole, and clinging to it.
Even if it's terrifying enough to kill me, it's all just part of the process.
I can use Contamination, I can die, as long as the result is good, that's all that matters.
"Don't worry."
"Selection candidate number 202■-Management-370614, Kim Soleum, please come forward."[2]
"Wai..."
I stepped forward.
This time, it was before the two could grab me.
We will now conduct a screening for the rescue eligibility of the aforementioned rescue requester.
Selection candidate, please submit your evidence.
I tore open my chest and took out my heart.
...Surprisingly, a silver light leaked out.
'So, they still count me as an agent?'
That was a relief.
If I were in state 130666, or some other state of Contamination, I probably wouldn't have received this kind of judgment, right?
Still, I'd never intentionally killed anyone or taken pleasure in harming others...
In any case, this was good.
'It'd be great if I get postponed.' That would make things easier.
I placed my heart on the scale.
Yes.
Confirmed.
The scale trembled, and on the opposite tray, something began to take shape…
...it didn't.
'...Huh?'
There was no form there at all.
No person, no scenery.
'What is this?'
Does it mean there's nothing I love?
'...That's not entirely out of character, though.'
I unconsciously bent my body to look at the opposite tray.
The scale was shaking.
It seemed like there was something inside it. Something like a stain.
A black circle...
A Pop-socket.
Confirming the scale's reading.
The balance shatters.
The screening result for selection candidate number 202■-Management-370614 is...
failed rescue selection.
The scale plummeted downwards.
[1] Mountain goat (Go Youngeun)
[2] idk why this one got “” and not the others