Above Your Head

When I finally exited the stage, the place I came back to wasn’t Earth.

Mumble.

There were countless lights scattered across the black abyss. The sight was reminiscent of the Milky Way in the night sky.

Entering the Curtain of Ignorance.

“Curtain of Ignorance?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but my thoughts were not expressed as actual. I was already a figure of light as well, and no longer taking human form.

“What is this?”

But I looked different from the other lights scattered across this darkness.

Gao--!

An enormous light illuminated the surroundings. The source of the light was none other than myself, and the endless darkness was pushed back by the light I emitted.

“What? Who are you? Let me out!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Who would believe such a contrived remark? A god?”

“Are you an angel…?”

The figures of light residing in my spreading light took on human forms. Only then could I finally recognize the identities of the myriad of lights floating in the darkness.

“Are those all people’s souls, or minds?”

I concentrated my consciousness and observed the figures. The number of lights that entered my domain easily exceeded hundreds, and all of them were facing the same three beings.

‘That is.’

The three figures looked human, but they were not.

A beautiful, blindfolded woman.

An angel with six giant wings.

An old man holding onto a black, glowing, stone tablet.

They declared in an arrogant voice to those they faced.

- I am Justice.

- I am Truth.

- I am Honor.

Their voices resounded from everywhere, perhaps because they were standing in front of all the lights residing in my domain.

“Wow, that’s.”

I groaned without thinking.

Juan

Level 30

Justice

Juan

Level 30

Truth

Juan

Level 30

Honor

‘I can’t believe they’re level 30.”

When a human grinded and polished their abilities to finally reach level 10, they stepped into the realm of Compléters. When they reached the level of transcendence past the level of a Compléter, they rose to the level of a lower-rank god, level 20. In other words, level 30 represented passing the threshold of transcendence and once again reaching a new realm.

It means that they belonged to the emperor-class, that they were intermediate-rank gods. It was a level of power that was uncommon even in the Great Universe. There was no question of where they came from, since their affiliation was telling me everything.

“It’s Juan.”

I had known he was an extraordinary being ever since he came to the Albatross, but even so, this was simply beyond common sense. How could he create three emperor-class beings so easily? Weren’t beings of emperor-class hard to find even if one searched through the entire universe?

I calmed myself down and focused on the conversation they were having with people.

- The Lord has mercy on mankind at the crossroads of destruction. He has decided to give you a chance.

- But we have judged that it is hard to judge whether humanity is worth that much.

- Therefore, we will discipline you. We will sort you out, reward you, and punish you. We will make you into fitting beings to receive the grace of the Lord.

It was closer to a one-way notification rather than a dialogue. People begged, denied, and even criticized them in sarcastic voices, but the three of them continued talking without regards for the humans’ responses.

You really aren’t affected by the Curtain of Ignorance.

“Hmm?”

I concentrated my consciousness on the voice of a woman from nearby. There was nothing near me, but when I focused on the voice, she appeared in front of me.

“Justice… Is it?”

I am honored to have been recognized by you, Newborn Son.

‘Newborn Son.’

I smiled vainly with distaste at the title, but I asked a question instead of contradicting Justice, the beautiful blindfolded woman.

“What is the Curtain of Ignorance?”

It is a tool for revealing the Original Position. It isolates oneself from their own information.

“Isolating from their own information?”

In this place, the retain their values from the original world. But they are unaware of their own information. They don’t know if they were a man or a woman, rich or poor, black or white, Christian or Muslim.

I looked around once more while listening to her explanation. People were conversing loudly all over the place. Just a few minutes ago, they had been facing the three intermediate-rank gods, but the atmosphere seemed completely different now. The flow of time appeared to have been all tangled up in this space. The people were gathered together to talk, and strangely enough, raising their hands to express their opinions.

“I understand where you are coming from, but isn’t that way too harsh? It’s not like they actually killed someone. They just got into an accident by themselves.”

“I agree. Their boss forced them to drink. Besides, it was so early in the morning that there wasn’t much traffic.”

“And it would have been a burden for them to call a chauffeur service. They weren’t very well off.”

Some people were sympathizing, but not everyone was on the same page.

“Isn’t drunk driving a crime equivalent to attempted murder?”

“Yeah! It’s basically the same thing!”

As I focused on the people talking, a new scene appeared in front of me. A person was getting in a vehicle after drinking, then crashed into a shopping mall. The people started talking once more after seeing the scene.

“Isn’t that too much hate?”

“What do you mean? Am I not allowed to hate a drunk driver?”

“Drinking and driving is hella dangerous. Even to me, who doesn’t have a license, it looks super dangerous.”

Some people became flustered and shouted. I realized something peculiar as I looked at the people engaging in a debate. The one who was shouting that drunk driving was the equivalent of murder was the same person in the scene, the one who drove under the influence of alcohol.

“huh.”

I finally understood the effects of “The Curtain of Ignorance.”

“It works to prevent people from being hypocrites.”

Human beings are as strict as they can be to others and endlessly generous to themselves. Therefore, we forced them to take a basic position free from their own interests, belonging, ideas or positions.

I looked across the vast darkness and saw countless figures, perhaps the entire human race. They were talking and discussing with each other, then voting while being completely free from the constraints of time and space, even their own positions.

Justice explained.

The Lord judged that it was unreasonable to value anything unrelated to a deed on the scales of justice. Because the concept of justice varies from time to time and from environment to environment. Therefore, the Lord decided to have the humans make their own judgements about ambiguous concepts.

“What do you mean by judging deeds on the scales of justice?”

It refers to the things where realistic providence is involved. To make it easier to understand, bad deeds would be acts such as killing, good deeds like self-sacrifice, and neutral deeds such as achieving enlightenment while training. Such things are real phenomena, so the Lord has no intention of interfering with them, merely reflecting them for what they are.

I looked over the people while listening to her.

“Oh my goodness! He said he would dedicate his life to the nation, but to think he was this shameless!”

“Huh. This person wasn’t as bad as I thought he would be…”

“Wow! He was innocent? He was forced to rot away his entire life!”

“That murderer! Piece of human waste! Scum like that should be judged!”

Countless people were watching countless incidents and raising their hands to express their thoughts. There was no such thing as privacy. Secrets, sins, and hidden good deeds – everything was being revealed to everyone.

The discussions and voting process has been ongoing for 300 years now. Voting aside, the discussions are taking a lot of time. Everyone is more motivated than I thought, so I think we would need another 1,000 years at the least.

“300 years already?”

I felt that the flow of time was arbitrary in this place, but this was even crazier than I expected.

“The entire planet is going through this?”

I expressed my bewilderment, and Justice replied.

Their memories are being updated every day anyways, so there will be no impact on their egos. Moreover, all the memories from this place cannot be transferred outside. The only thing they will remember is the initial guidance and the answers.

“…..”

I observed the people for a moment. There were celestial symbols floating above the people’s heads, and the symbols were leaning to one side, either by others’, or by one’s own opinion.

“What are you trying to do?”

Helping mankind according to the will of the Lord.

The human race was in dire need of help now. After reaching level 10, the End Project reached a level beyond the grasp of humanity. I wouldn’t find it strange if the next stage’s enemy was a Sword Master.

‘Strictly speaking, I would not be able to beat it fair and square, let alone the rest of humanity.’

I had defeated the boss of level 9’s hard stage, Ogre Warrior, uncountable times. But that was only possible because I strategized to beat him, or because I used the powerful magic power and abilities available from Napoleon’s Iron Heart.

Novice, Expert -> Master -> Compléter -> Transcendent.

In terms of my own strength, I was still floating around the level of a master.

But.

“…This is an act helping mankind? I think what humans need right now is the strength to survive another day, not the restoration of morality.”

But Justice laughed as if she had expected my question. Her unblemished skin and cheery red lips looked quite attractive.

The act itself will not be helpful. This is only a process of classification before we help humanity.

“Classification?”

That is right. If they act with justice, if they speak with truth, if they fight for honor, we will give them strength.

If her words were true, anyone who worked for justice, truth, and honor would receive power. It would surely be of great help to the whole of humankind, since the best way to save humanity was to give them strength.

But there was a problem.

“What happens if they don’t?”

If mankind is not lawful, truthful, and honorable?

“Yes.”

It was such a simple story.

There were bound to be more people who did not fight for justice, and it was easier to lie and harder to fight for honor.

Shhk.

The other two beings appeared beside Justice at my words. It was an angel with six wings with a strong impression and an old man holding a large, black slate.

Justice spoke first.

We do not intend to impose ‘real’ punishment yet. It would be unreasonable for us, after descending just a moment ago, to retroactively hold everyone responsible for all their sins.

Truth spoke.

But that does not mean they will be forgiven for their transgressions.

Honor spoke.

Hahaha. Right, right. If we did that, all we would be doing is giving them indulgence in the name of the Lord.

Woong!

A strong energy exuded from the three intermediate gods. The golden scale of justice, the silver sword of truth, and the pitch-black stone of honor began to hum.

Those who acted with injustice will not be able to conceal it from anyone. It will be engraved in their bodies.

Those who liked will not be able to conceal it from anyone. Their noses will be elongated.

Those who were dishonorable will not be able to conceal it from anyone. They shall not sit and lie in peace at any place, any time.

At that moment, I could feel it. The moment they declared, a new law was set in place – something that never existed on Earth before.

‘This is.’

I became dumbfounded and inhaled sharply/

‘This is not their doing.’

It was not a power available for intermediate gods to wield. It was an act of high-ranking authority that could be exercised by a figure of considerable rank among the untouchables. Juan’s face naturally came to mind.

‘I already knew he was an untouchable, but to this degree?’

Justice continued speaking while looking at me.

It is likely that the new law will not apply to you. You are standing on a different level than the average human being as the Newborn Son.

But be careful. If you do anything foolish.

The Lord, and we will not stand still.

Pat!

The background started to change. Before I knew it, I was standing in Gwanghwamun Square.

“Uaggh! What is this!?”

Screams burst out immediately. I looked back to see a neatly dressed man screaming with a blue face.

“This.”

He had a tattoo on his face depicting a man hitting a young child. The tattoo was so vivid, that it felt like it was moving.

‘No, wait. It’s really moving, right?!”

The man in the tattoo was actually striking the child.

That was not all.

“No, no, no! This is a lie! This is a sham!”

The screaming woman’s nose was ridiculously long. She looked like a regular person, but her nose was more than 15 centimeters long.

“Agh! It stings! What is this chair!?”

A pastor hurriedly rose from a thorny chair. He had been shouting with a picket before the stage had started. As he stood up, the chair slowly disappeared.

“M, my nose! My nose!!”

“What is with this tattoo!?”

I stood up while listening to the bursts of screams from the entire square. I wasn’t sure if I was lucky or not, but my skin was clean, even though I had slaughtered 100,000 people in this place.

“Really, could this… help, become salvation?”

I clicked my tongue as a suspicious feeling struck me, but I decided to not care anymore. I didn’t know what Juan did, or what happened to the people as long as it didn’t interfere with how I cleared the stage.

“I have my own way of saving humankind.”

My heart started to pound. I had finally finished preparations.

Today, or perhaps tomorrow, The Barracks Build would be completed at last.