Ticket to Hell

The lights in the spacious hall flickered as they illuminated the thousands of figures standing in queues.

In front of the hall, a row of glass window counters stood. Men in suits that looked to be staff moved their hands tirelessly on the other side, seemingly struggling to accommodate the endless stream of people.

It was the busiest hour of the day. Almost every counter was packed, their lines extending to the entrance.

In this place where everyone seems to be eager to squeeze themselves to be on the line, one counter stood out.

The middle-most counter, with the words special counter pasted on its glass, looked desolate with only two people on it.

Among these two people, one was a grim reaper in a black cloak holding a two-meter gleaming scythe, and the other was a seventeen-year-old boy in school uniform with blood dripping from his forehead.

Kai watched the pale-skinned, missing limbs, bleeding orifices, and all kinds of injured people surrounding him, carefully observing his surroundings.

One might wonder how he wasn't spooked by his current environment and think it was due to death severing most of his emotions. Although this might be the case for most people, it's not quite the same for him.

When he was a child, his father always worried about him due to his ability to see things ordinary people could not. Not only is it a normal thing for him to see ghosts and spirits, he can even see spiritual, dark, positive, and negative energy in the air.

Dark energy, as he named it, was black clusters of energy that destroy, corrupt, and leave a negative impact on living. It is the opposite of spiritual energy that gives, nurtures, and produces life.

Positive energy were an aura that envelopes the human body when they feel positive emotions. When in large amounts, it can give birth to a small amount of spiritual energy. Negative energy is its counterpart.

As he looked around, Kai once again glanced at the door. When he came in, he remembered seeing a two-meter long and one-meter wide plaque with the words Hell Admission Hall written on it.

The plaque was especially memorable for him due to the huge amount of spiritual energy it had to the point of even forming a golden aura.

This spiritual energy was also quite different from the usual ones he see. Not only was it denser, it even gives off pressure and attraction, making Kai deem it was especially put there to grab the attention of everyone entering, letting them know their circumstances.

Taking back his eyes, he then sized up the hall. The hall is about the size of two basketball courts combined. It doesn't have an exit, only an entrance.

Those who went to the counter would always disappear in place after the staff gave them a card, making him marvel at where they go.

At this time, the grim reaper and the staff's conversation in front of him drifted to his ears, pulling his attention to them.

"Mission code."

The staff's voice was impatient and he had an obvious frown between his brows.

"F-56294."

The grim reaper's skeleton fingers tapped on the surface of the counter, seemingly anxious as he replied.

In front of the staff was a thick black book floating in the air, its cover densely filled with mysterious ruins.

Hearing the grim reaper's response, the staff flipped through the book's pages, his brows furrowing deeper as he went through the content.

"State the reason for your mission failure."

The grim reaper moved his body uneasily, speaking in a small voice. "Well, I- I was careless and mistook the time."

The staff continued to ask without looking up. "Anything else?"

The grim reaper was silent. A few seconds later, he tentatively replied, "...The target was too difficult to find?"

The hands of the staff flipping the book paused. Closing it completely, he lifted his head, staring at the grim reaper as he spoke with emphasis. "This is an F-grade mission."

His meaning was, the mission had the lowest and almost non-existent difficulty. How can the grim reaper find it difficult to find his target?

The grim reaper bowed his head, unable to look up. He also knew how lame of an excuse that was. But what can he do? He can't think of anything else!

The staff sighed, writing a note on the grim reaper's file. "Your penalty is in the twelfth level. Go to your superior to go through the process."

The grim reaper hurriedly nodded, wanting to end this matter soon. However, halfway through his act, he suddenly realized what the staff said and abruptly raised his head, increasing his volume. "... Are you mistaken? How can my penalty in the twelfth level?!"

The staff raised his eyebrows at his exclamation, speaking in a flat voice. "I'm not mistaken. How can it not? In your opinion, is sending someone to death a matter not serious? Is that why you guys are so careless in your jobs? How many failed missions have your department done this month including this one?"

The grim reaper was abruptly stumped. Indeed, even if this was his first offense, he also knew how frequent accidental deaths like this happened these past few months. Even he felt like it was too much.

The staff continued. "The administrative department had enough tolerating you. If it weren't for Hell lacking staff, do you believe if I say you would've all been already sent to the thirteenth?"

The word thirteenth made the grim reaper desperate. The thirteenth is a hundred times worst than the twelfth! He really should have known to confirm his target a hundred times.

The grim reaper tried to plead. "Can't you give me a reconsideration? I'm willing to do anything!"

The staff saw his desperation and thought for a bit. He was not a cold-hearted man. Although the grim reaper made a mistake, it wasn't worth sending him to have his soul dispersed. Writing something in the profile, he finally conceded. "I can only lower your penalty to the eleventh. Don't think of asking for any lower. This is a warning for your department. If you have anyone to blame, blame it on them and your bad luck."

The grim reaper didn't expect the staff to relent this easily. Thanking him with all his soul, he finally left to report to his superior.

With the grim reaper gone, Kai became the only one remaining in the line.

"Please follow me."

The staff's words had just fell when Kai disappeared from his place, appearing again in a small room that looks to be an office.

Kai was momentarily stunned, subconsciously looking back. Following this action, he saw the overwhelming amount of people in line, separated from him by a glass wall as well as a conspicuous space.

He actually came to the other side of the window counter! So this was where everyone go?

The office looks relatively empty with only a desk, an office chair, and a bookshelf with a few books in it. He couldn't see the floating book in front of the staff from before, instead, a computer was standing in its place.

"This way, please."

Kai walked over silently to the man's side, who was standing beside a black door, inadvertently glancing at the name tag pinned on his chest which read 'George'.

George turned the doorknob but didn't open the door immediately. Instead, he began to introduce.

"First of all, I would like to apologize on behalf of the grim reaper who irresponsibly took your life. You can rest assured that you would get the compensation you deserve. However, since you're already part of the dead, before anything else, you need to receive your judgment first."

The judgment was the virtues and vices everyone accumulated in their lifetime handed in the form of cards known as hell cards.

The card's purpose was for soul identification and restraint. Identification is for everyone in Hell while restraint was for the souls who needed to go to the punishment levels to pay for their sins.

Usually, everyone would have their card made at the same time they were born on Earth. This was because a person's fate was established the moment their soul entered the reincarnation cycle, making all their future actions and choices pre-determined.

But there were cases where a transcendental being intentionally or unintentionally interfered with a mortal's fate by killing them when their time hasn't come yet or preventing them from being killed when their time has already come, disrupting their fate's original trajectory and making their initial judgment invalid.

"Receiving no judgment won't do so the special counter was set up to guide special cases like you."

George pushed the black door open as he completed his introduction and a strong blinding light washed over them.

Kai instinctively squinted his eyes.

It took him a while to adjust to the brightness and see the appearance behind the door.

They were in a long corridor. In front of them was a wall filled messily with strange decorations.

George looked at a certain corner of the wall, knitting his brows. "Tsk, playing pranks again."

Kai followed his gaze and saw skull-shaped sconces neatly lined up. Inside, instead of candles, were small light balls that constantly hop from the skull's holes.

Kai thought, 'They looked so cute.' Following after, the cute light balls shone with a bright light for the second time and his eyes got blinded once more.

When Kai's eyes adjusted again, the sconces were no longer there, replaced by jade statues carved with indiscernible appearances whispering strange sounds to each other.

"Don't look for them. They always disappear after playing their pranks." George saw Kai looking around and spoke.

"Do they do that often?" Kai asked.

"Yes, many get blinded by them every time," George responded, taking the lead to walk.

Their destination was a long distance in the corridor. Along the way, Kai saw many other strange things like giant fish skeletons swimming in the air and different colored bubbles jumping on people's heads.

Kai felt like a child in an amusement park, marveling and in awe at the rides from all sides.

George stopped in front of a room near the end of the corridor. When he opened the door, a room divided into two colors of black and white with a three to four-meter-tall golden traditional scale placed in the middle greeted their vision.

"The scale in front is called fair judge." George acquainted as he walked towards the scale.

"You only needed to place your hand in its body and wait for it to stop tilting to either side. After that, you will receive your judgment. One judgment would usually take four hours. In your case, an hour should be enough."

He turned to look at Kai. "Hell is very busy. One hour is too long and I can't be with you. Please understand."

Kai nodded in understanding. "Yes. Thank you, Mr. George."

George waved his hand, turning his back to leave.

Kai watched the other's back before turning to the scale and putting his hand on its body according to the instruction.

The moment his hands made contact with the scale's body made of unknown material, the scale tilted heavily to the right. A second later, stopped moving.

Following after, a transparent ball of light that was almost completely invisible floated in Kai's hands, sinking into his palm, and disappearing without a trace.

The series of events happened too fast Kai had no time to react. Looking at his palm and then at the already unmoving scale, he wondered in confusion, 'Uh, it seems I just received my judgment?'