Surviving Among the Entities

Yun Si-woo (aged 40) lived a stereotypical life of misery.
Growing up under parents who didn’t get along well, he went down the wrong path from a young age, dropped out of high school, and became a full-fledged criminal.

“Is this what they call the internet these days?”

He was quick-witted.
Seeing the internet grow through the IT bubble, he immediately thought of how to swindle people with it and put it into practice, earning lots of money.

Setting up fake banking websites for phishing, stealing people’s financial information and embezzling their deposits.
Luring people with free products, conducting surveys to steal their personal information, and selling it to Chinese companies or corporations.
Deliberately provoking conflict in online communities, getting the other person to curse at him, then suing them for defamation to obtain settlement money, etc.

He committed various internet crimes, and as the internet developed, his criminal acts became even bolder.
Finally, after making a fortune through a scam coin, he tried to live a quiet life in the Philippines after quitting crime, but ended up having a heart attack.

“Ugh!”

Right there on the street.
Right before dying, a cross entered his sight.
Seeing the tiny church cross on the street, he thought:

‘God, I will repent even now. So please send me to heaven.’

He did not believe in God.
He figured, “If God doesn’t exist, then I lose nothing. But if God truly exists, then repenting means I’ll go to heaven, so it’s worth a shot.”

“Damn it! I got the God to pray to wrong!”

So Yun Si-woo continued diligently crawling on the floor, dragging the chain around his neck.

“The answer was Buddhism!”

The guards in the form of goblins.
The occasional remark from the goblins, “I wonder when the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha will come again?”
And the story that if the set duration passes or one sincerely repents, they can be reincarnated.

‘If I had known this, I should have repented to the Buddha instead!’

Isn’t Christianity more famous than Buddhism?
It was right in front of him too.
But who could have guessed it would stab me in the back like this!

‘This is why Christians are no good!’

Those scumbags who only think about taking tithes and whatnot to extort money.
Brainwashing their followers to lord over them like kings and sexually assaulting women.
Spouting nonsense about love and compassion while committing all sorts of crimes under the name of God, hypocrites.

‘Christianity was a scam after all. Buddhism was the right answer! The reason I fell into hell is all because of those Christians! If there had been a temple there, I could have repented to the Buddha and gone to heaven!’

He thought Christianity was a scam.

[“Hey! Yun-saekppi! Why aren’t you answering?”]

Even when the giant figure of Jesus appeared before him, Yun Si-woo stared blankly at the sight of Jesus, who looked like he had been injected with anabolic steroids since infancy with his towering height exceeding 3 meters and an imposing physique covered in chiseled marble-like muscles and a masculine jawline and broad shoulders.

“Jesus?”
[“Noooo! Yun-saekppi! It’s Giga-Christ! You look fine, but you just don’t listen to others! That’s why you didn’t listen to your doctor and lived recklessly, leading to your heart attack, right?”]
“But this is the Buddhist hell, so why are you……”
[“Whether it’s the East or West, what does it matter? The important thing is that there’s a lost Sheep like you, Yun-saekppi. I came to guide lost Sheep like you to the right path!”]
“I’ve already fallen into hell, so what right path are you going to guide me to……”

He wanted to argue more, but the extreme hunger prevented him from talking further.

“Grr… So hungry……”

The punishment of hell inflicted a hunger that even caused the dead souls to tear off and eat their own flesh.
As Yun Si-woo crawled diligently toward the food, Giga-Christ asked him:

[“Yun-saekppi, are you satisfied with your current state?”]

After that day, Giga-Christ wandered around Yun Si-woo.

[“Yun-saekppi! You’re great! Your crawling skills are fantastic! Did you do some ranger training in the military? You must have been a top-class warrior! Oh, right! You were exempt because you’re an ex-convict?”]
[“The memories inside Yun-saekppi’s head are mostly useless, so there’s no meaning in stealing them. But thanks to that, there’s a lot of space in your head to learn new things, so this is a lucky break, right?”]
[“Relax, Yun-saekppi! To get past the wall, you need to press [X] accurately! Don’t rush and press it calmly!”]

He didn’t show up to the other sinners.
Not even the goblins could see him.
So Yun Si-woo thought this was a new kind of punishment.

‘A punishment that subtly gets under your skin.’

Or perhaps he had finally gone insane and was seeing things.
Either way, he didn’t think Giga-Christ was worth paying attention to.

‘Guide me to the right path? Save me from hell? What nonsense.’

He was clever enough to know that he wasn’t worth being saved.

Did he become a criminal because of poor family circumstances?
Many people were born in similar environments but became great figures or at least lived ordinary lives.

Was it because he didn’t receive a proper education?
Basic legal and moral education is a fundamental part of modern education, and no one is ignorant of it.

Was he born with an evil nature?
He understood others’ suffering and knew empathy and compassion, but chose to ignore them and indulge his desires for an easy, fast, comfortable, and luxurious life.

He just liked money.
He wanted to live comfortably.
He wanted to have a special status that others didn’t have.
He wanted to earn more money than others in this world where money is supreme.

So he committed evil deeds, and while he regretted it, it was a regret for wanting to escape hell’s punishment, not sincere remorse.

[“Yun-saekppi thinks too much. Hey, Yun-saekppi! It’s been 5 years since you came here, right? How many times have you regretted and repented in those 5 years?”]

That’s why I cannot be forgiven and cannot forgive myself.
Repentance is like a dog barking, and it is impossible and undesirable for me.

[“Do you really think that? There is no life without regret, Yun-saekppi. Have you truly never regretted your sins? No, you can repent, but you don’t. You give up, thinking the process is too painful and unbearable.”]

Yet why was this monster reading his thoughts?
Engulfed in hunger, pain, anxiety, and anger, Yun Si-woo listened to Giga-Christ’s words as he struggled to download a security certificate.

[“Don’t distort your view of the world by only looking at extreme cases, like pigs proudly spouting the Nobel Prize-worthy bullshit of ‘I gain weight just from drinking water!’ How can you see the true face of the world if you only seek out horrific monsters? That’s no different from closing your eyes and searching for light.”]

‘Me, worthy of forgiveness?’
[“Of course! If you were alive, you could have atoned for your sins through endless service, repentance, and atonement. But now you’re dead, right? You’re already receiving punishment in hell and suffering, right? Then all you need is one thing – sincere atonement, a.k.a. repentance!”]
‘To whom should I repent?’
[“Of course, to the people you tormented, the people you deceived, the people who became unhappy because of your sins!”]
‘I don’t know who suffered because of me, who I deceived, or who became unhappy because of me.’
[“Oh! Foolish Yun-saekppi! That’s where I come in! Did you think I would just spout nonsense like false prophets?”]

Giga-Christ stretched his hand toward the sky as if stretching.

[“GIGA-Sins!”]

Lightning struck, and a thick, sturdy whip made of rugged leather appeared in Giga-Christ’s hand.

[“I’m going to whip you with this. Then you’ll be able to directly feel the sins you committed and the emotions and memories of those who suffered because of you. Brace yourself, Yun-saekppi!”]
“W-Wait!”

The whip struck his body.
Yun Si-woo, who thought he had experienced the heights of torment after enduring various punishments in hell for the past 5 years, realized Giga-Christ’s whip was on a different level.

“Ugh!”

A torment that shook his soul.
With each strike of the whip, the resentment and anger of the victims who suffered because of him, their life’s hardships, were directly etched into his soul.

“Please, please stop!”
[“Yun-saekppi! You can do it! You are worthy of repentance! Feel their suffering and sincerely apologize to them!”]
“I was wrong! It was my fault!”
[“Empty apologies to avoid suffering are not repentance! With your soul! Sincerely! Repent for your sins! You can do it, Yun-saekppi! I believe in you!”]

After that day, Giga-Christ whipped Yun Si-woo daily.
The relentless whipping that tormented his soul day after day, without a single day’s rest, depleted his mind, but it also awoke something deep within him that had been lying dormant.

‘This pain is the suffering of the victims because of me?’

It was the emotion of conscience that he had been steadfastly ignoring.
Conscience held many things inside it like a box.
Compassion, pity, empathy for others, consideration for others, and even the heart to forgive others.

[“Yun-saekppi, I believe everyone can change. Of course, there may be those who don’t change. I’m talking about innate psychopaths or those born with evil natures. You probably thought the same. In today’s world, horrific stories spread too easily and seep into people’s minds.”]

He had never felt these emotions when receiving hell’s punishments before.
But Giga-Christ’s whip was different.

[“Don’t distort your view by only looking for extreme monsters. How can you see the true face of the world if you only seek out horrific monsters? That’s no different from closing your eyes and searching for light.”]

His whip was more painful than punishment, but at the same time, Giga-Christ’s heart was embedded in it.
That heart that worried about him, encouraged him, and trusted him.

‘Why are you doing this to me?’
[“Yun-saekppi, you ask the obvious.”]

Yun Si-woo had long forgotten its name.

[“Because I love you! But don’t misunderstand, I don’t mean I like you sexually or platonically.”]

Not a parent’s love.
Not romantic love.
Not the love of a friend.

[“I love you unconditionally, without any reason or expectation.”]

Unconditional love.

[“But I don’t love sin. So hurry and repent! You can do it, Yun-saekppi!”]

At first, that love was burdensome.
Just as one who has never tasted meat cannot eat well, Yun Si-woo, who had never experienced love, didn’t know how to receive it.

‘You believe in me?’

Can I really do it?
No, let me try.
Giga-Christ’s love moved Yun Si-woo’s heart, and he began the repentance he had previously abandoned.

‘I am truly sorry, and I apologize, albeit belatedly, to those who suffered and were harmed because of me.’

He didn’t succeed at first.
However, the fact that he responded to the expectations of the one who loved him unconditionally tickled his heart and momentarily made him forget hell’s torment.

“I’m really sorry.”

From that day on, he sincerely repented for the victims.
Through the whip, he empathized with them sincerely, apologized to them sincerely, and repented his mistakes sincerely.

[“Good boy, Yun-saekppi.”]

As if their suffering was his own.
At some point, Giga-Christ no longer needed to wield the whip, yet Yun Si-woo continued to repent for his sins.

‘Now I can see the world properly.’

Hell’s torment could no longer distort his mind.

‘This place wasn’t hell.’

He was no longer deceived by the punishment.

‘My heart was the real hell.’

He calmly overcame the Wall of Ad Spammers.
There were no mistakes. The pain was the meaning of repentance, the whip for reflection, so he even wanted more suffering, but Giga-Christ scolded him.

[“Yun-saekppi! Asceticism is good, but don’t become obsessed with it! Don’t confuse the means with the end!”]

That’s how he first overcame the Ad Wall and seized food.

‘Then how about this? Not eating the food, but sharing it instead.’
[“Do you want to get hungrier?”]
‘No, I want to give to others even now.’
[“Good idea, Yun-saekppi!”]

He shared the food he had seized with the other prisoners.
When he overcame the Security Certificate Wall, he also shared his rest time with the other prisoners, and never complained when receiving punishments.

“Ah.”
[“Congratulations, Yun-saekppi.”]

Then, one day.
He no longer felt any pain.
The hunger that had never left him since arriving in hell was gone, the hatred that had lingered in his mind like fog had disappeared, and the anger that had made him resent the world had washed away.

[“You have sincerely repented? It’s time for reincarnation.”]

A beam of light from the heavens shone upon Yun Si-woo.
Even the goblins were startled, as it was the first time they had seen this, while the prisoners sensed that the light was unusual and rushed towards it.

“Take me too! Take me too!”
“Why do you get to escape alone!”
“Why are you the only one escaping!”

He wanted to share it too, but Yun Si-woo’s body was fixed in place by the light, leaving him unable to do anything.

[“It’s time for us to part ways. I won’t say ‘See you again,’ because I still have more Sheep to save here. If we meet again, it will mean you have committed sins once more, so I hope that does not happen.”]

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him.

‘I’m sorry. For doubting and insulting you.’
[“What? For insulting Christianity? Well done! I told those guys not to do business in churches and deceive others, but they did it anyway.”]
‘But……’

I insulted you.
At that moment, Yun Si-woo saw a burning cross behind Giga-Christ.

‘Ugh!’

It was a truly horrific blaze.
It seemed like a hellfire that could devour the entire world, an unspeakable sacrilege.
Just looking at the sacrilege, as if it had gathered the immorality and ugliness of all humans who had existed, currently exist, and will exist in the future, made it seem like it could corrupt one’s soul.

‘Giga-Christ!’

In the backlight, the gigantic flesh formed from memes had disappeared.
There stood a person of average height and build, yet covered in many wounds as if he could collapse at any moment.

[“Yun Si-woo.”]

The burning cross he carried on that frail body continued to weigh him down.
His flesh was constantly burned and regenerated.
Even though he could have discarded the burning cross at any time, the emaciated figure never let it go.

[“Even if you insult me.”]
[“Even if you despise me.”]
[“Even if you mock me.”]
[“Even if you don’t believe in me.”]
[“Even if you hate me.”]
[“I will always love you.”]

His face was obscured by the backlight.
As Yun Si-woo ascended following the light, he could barely make out his lips.

[“So don’t worry.”]
[“Even if many impersonate me and disobey my teachings, taking the form of snakes.”]
[“Engrave this in your soul.”]
[“The only important thing is love.”]

He was sm iling.

[“Love your neighbor as yourself.”]
[“Hate the sin, but not the sinner.”]
[“Even if you have the power to move heaven and earth, the ability to change the world, and possess all wealth, without love, you are nothing.”]
[“Even if you are the Creator.”]

A mischievous smile.
Like a naughty child who would drive his parents crazy.

[“This time, live a life where you can love others.”]

“It’s a son!”

At a maternity hospital in Korea.
In the late dawn, a child was born with a thunderous cry.

“He has a very loud cry, so he must be a future general.”

The child, born as a gifted child, cried for a long time.
No one knew what made him so happy.
No one knew what made him so sad.

Scrunching his eyes that couldn’t shed tears as hard as he could.
He cried for a long time.

“Waaah!”

This time, live a life where you can love others.
Engraving in his soul someone’s sincere advice.