Chapter 030 — The Evil Ghost Doctor from Unit 731
There was a place called Sword Punishment Hell, where the souls of sinners were punished by having their bodies cut apart with blades.
On the lowest level of Sword Punishment Hell, the eighth floor, there was a place known as the Great Hell of Decapitation.
The evil ghosts imprisoned there had committed crimes so horrible that forgiveness was impossible.
Serial killers who murdered people purely for pleasure.
Shameless criminals who repeatedly committed rape.
And evil ghosts who had committed acts that violated even the most basic morals of humanity.
They all suffered endless punishment in this place.
On one side of the Great Hell of Decapitation stood an enormous hall that looked as though it had been carved directly into a towering cliff.
Above its massive stone entrance, huge raised letters were engraved.
[Great Hell of Decapitation Palace]
The Hell Palace was like the headquarters of the Underworld Reapers stationed on each level of Hell.
It managed the records and histories of the evil ghosts undergoing punishment, but its most important function was storing their soul power inside the Lost Soul Vault.
By separating and storing away their soul power, even the most vicious evil ghosts were reduced to ordinary spirits that could never resist the Reapers.
The stored soul power could also regenerate the bodies of evil ghosts damaged during punishment.
That allowed Hell to inflict the same painful punishments on them again and again without end.
Because of this, every Hell Palace considered protecting the evil ghosts' stored soul power its most important duty.
Deep beneath the Great Hell of Decapitation Palace was an underground stone chamber.
There stood a massive stone door with huge letters carved into it, identifying the place as the Lost Soul Vault.
Five Underworld Reapers stood side by side in front of the door, guarding it.
The uniforms they wore had images of Heavenly Dragons soaring into the sky embroidered over their chests.
Unlike ordinary Reapers who managed Hell, every one of them was a combat-class Underworld Reaper.
Combat-class Reapers were divided according to their fighting ability into White Tiger Rank, Heavenly Dragon Rank, and Arhat Rank.
The five men standing there were all Heavenly Dragon Rank.
Normally, a Heavenly Dragon Rank Reaper could comfortably deal with a Mad Ghost, while an Arhat Rank Reaper was said to possess strength comparable to a Violent Ghost.
One of the Reapers standing guard suddenly spoke.
“I heard they introduced a new punishment in the Great Hell of Decapitation recently?”
Guarding the Lost Soul Vault day after day was incredibly boring.
In all of Hell's history, no one had ever dared approach this place.
Another Reaper answered.
“Apparently they developed it after borrowing some Western method called the Iron Maiden. They throw the evil ghosts into a giant stone coffin, then slam down a lid covered with countless blades all at once.”
“Ugh... That's terrifying.”
“As soon as their bodies regenerate, they crush them again. I heard their bodies barely even have time to return to normal.”
“Wow. Those evil ghosts are going to suffer like crazy.”
Another one joined in.
“Who the hell decided to introduce a punishment like that? Even if this is Hell, isn't that insane?”
Soon the other Reapers joined the conversation as well.
“What are you talking about? It's the price they pay for the crimes they committed in the living world. Think about the pain their victims suffered. Isn't that much only natural?”
And so the chatter of the Reapers guarding the Lost Soul Vault continued.
For countless years, not even an ant had dared approach this place.
There was hardly anything else for them to do.
Then—
“You fools! How dare you stand around chatting in the Lost Soul Vault, the most important place in the entire Hell Palace?!”
A thunderous shout suddenly echoed through the chamber.
The five Reapers flinched and immediately turned toward the voice.
A stern-looking middle-aged Reaper was walking toward them.
On the chest of his uniform was the clear image of a glaring Arhat.
“Urk! Security Captain!”
The faces of the five Reapers instantly turned pale when they realized who he was.
The middle-aged Reaper was the Security Captain responsible for the protection of the entire Hell Palace.
He was said to be stricter and more terrifying than the evil ghosts themselves.
And they had just been caught slacking off by him.
They were finished.
“Do you idiots even understand how important this Lost Soul Vault is? Or are you genuinely that stupid?”
It looked like a long lecture was about to begin.
The Heavenly Dragon Rank Reapers lowered their heads in advance.
The Security Captain clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. I'm busy too, so let's finish this quickly. Single file! Line up in front of me! Move!”
The Reapers looked at one another in confusion.
“Did you bastards not hear me?!”
The Security Captain shouted again when they hesitated.
The Reapers quickly formed a single line in front of him.
“Good! From this moment on, all of you are comrades!”
The Security Captain placed his hand against the chest of the Reaper standing at the front.
The Reaper blinked.
“What? Comrades in what, sir?”
At that moment—
“Kugh... Kuaaagh!”
“Aagh! Kugh! Aaaagh!”
Screams erupted from the Reapers one after another.
Black smoke poured from the Security Captain's hand.
At the same time, holes suddenly appeared straight through the chests of all five Reapers.
The Security Captain grinned.
“You asked what kind of comrades? Comrades who'll enter the Infinite Dark Cave together.”
The bodies of the five Reapers crumbled into powder.
Five black dots appeared where they had stood.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Their souls were immediately dragged into those black points.
The fake Security Captain waved casually.
“The real Security Captain should already be there, so make sure you treat your senior properly. Oh, right! Give the Minister of Internal Affairs my regards too.”
The Lost Soul Vault was now completely empty.
The Security Captain's body began to soften and distort.
His figure rippled like liquid.
When it formed again, he had taken on the appearance of Kangcheong, the Minister of Internal Affairs.
He approached the stone door and placed his hand against the round jewel embedded in its surface.
Soul power identical to Kangcheong's flowed from his hand.
The jewel reacted.
Rrrrrumble!
With a deep grinding sound, the gigantic stone doors slowly opened to both sides.
Kangcheong's body turned soft and distorted once more.
This time, it transformed into a woman with long hair tied behind her head.
She had sharp eyes and wore skin-tight black leather clothes.
The woman smiled.
“Hohoho. Even the Lost Soul Vault of a Hell Palace is no different from my own bedroom to me, Soul-Returning Explosive Ghost Mongra.”
Mongra leisurely walked inside.
As she did, she took a black bead from inside her clothes.
It was a treasure of the Heavenly Realm capable of imprisoning souls—the Spirit-Sealing Black Jade.
—Wooooooo!
—Kuaaaaaagh!
Mongra smiled at the screams coming from within.
“Nice sound. I like it.”
The deeper she went into the Lost Soul Vault, the louder the cries of the evil ghosts became.
When she finally reached the end, an enormous black lake appeared before her.
As Mongra approached, the surface of the lake began to churn violently.
The screams of countless evil ghosts became so sharp and fierce that they almost tore her ears apart.
“Wow~ What an incredible welcome.”
Mongra whistled in admiration.
“So this is the Lake of Lost Souls? If I had to find that bastard among all these evil ghosts without the information from the Underworld Database, it would've been impossible.”
The Lake of Lost Souls.
It had earned that name because the soul power of countless evil ghosts had been mixed together until it formed something resembling a lake.
It was also a security measure.
Without a summoning talisman, the evil ghost's exact true name, and their precise date and time of birth, finding a specific soul inside the lake was impossible.
Mongra took a yellow talisman from inside her clothes.
One name and a date and time of birth were written on it.
She read them aloud.
“Born October 3rd, 1902, at 4:42 a.m. Name: Murayama Kenji. Korean name: Kim Junseop...”
A flame appeared at Mongra's fingertip and ignited the summoning talisman.
The burning talisman flew toward the lake.
Although flames still covered it, the talisman no longer burned away.
The black lake began to churn violently.
Suddenly—
A hand rose from the surface.
The hand desperately stretched toward the summoning talisman.
The talisman flew toward it.
The moment the hand grabbed the burning talisman, its owner began rising out of the lake.
Soon, an evil ghost appeared.
He was a middle-aged man with a thin, dried-out face that almost resembled a skull.
Pulled along by the summoning talisman, he walked across the surface of the lake toward Mongra.
