I swallowed.
From the dozens of Juror Seats lining both sides of the dark Courthouse, the Disaster Management Bureau agents of Sekwang Metropolitan City looked down at me, appearing exactly as they did at the moment of their deaths.
A gruesome feeling crept up my spine.
Their gazes were not the kind that suited modifiers commonly associated with agents, like ‘full of conviction,’ ‘resolute,’ or ‘gentle.’
'…It's a ghost story.'
Something contaminated.
The real agents... they had probably already been wiped out across Sekwang Metropolitan City while conducting rescue operations.
Those forms, already dead, yet bound to this court by some unknown power.
For this meaningless survivor selection process...
They stared at me.
Any who wish to testify regarding Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■, please raise your hand and speak.
Naturally, my companions quickly raised their hands.
But I saw it.
Others had raised their hands as well.
From all across the dark Juror Seats, bizarrely dead figures were raising their hands.
"...!"
Juror No. 5, you may speak.
A spotlight remained fixed on that numbered Juror Seat.
A person whose body was in pieces.
From within the Darkness, an agent whose organs and limbs remained arranged in a geometric pattern looked at me and whispered.
"That person is wanted at the casino."
…!!
"He's a wanted criminal. He earned a lot of Coins there, but he didn't help a single one of the many addicts in the casino."
I took a step back.
Who'sgoingtotakeresponsibilityifproblemsarisefromrescuinggamblingaddicts?Getagrip.It'srightnottorescuethem.Ihadnochoicebuttoturnawayandgosomewhereelse.
A strange guilt pressed down on my chest.
What is this?
Juror No. 17, you may speak.
Another person rose from a Juror Seat.
A pale, swollen face.
Their clouded white eyes couldn't focus, so even though they were looking at me, it felt as though they were staring at something else.
"This person has already attempted suicide."
I swallowed.
"He hanged himself in the forest near City Hall. Since he has already given up his own life once, humane execution is more appropriate than rescue."
…This.
'This is what I did at the stations in Sekwang Metropolitan City.'
There'snotimetostopsuicidalpeopleorcollectbodies.Wehavetomove... Be quiet!!
I planted my feet, swallowed, and endured the strange mental shock...
And I mulled over a chilling realization.
'They're testifying to my sins.'
The choices I made at every station.
Every action that could be judged as socially or morally wrong.
'A rebuttal,'
I have to rebut them.
A strange guilt kept my mouth from opening. What is this feeling? These strange thoughts? Where in the world are these feelings of indignation and grief coming from...
Will the one who wishes to testify about Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■, please raise their hand and speak.
In the midst of it all, a new juror was selected. They were raising their hand. Ah...
Juror No. 32, you may speak.
From a distant Juror Seat, a dead person in an agent's uniform rose. That person was...
Burned pitch-black.
Burned so thoroughly that their facial features had been destroyed. Even the agent's uniform was little more than a recognizable silhouette, as though it had crumbled into black dust...
...
'Ah.'
My heart grew cold.
An ominous premonition welled up within me, threatening to suffocate me.
"I will speak."
Wait, just a moment…
"Arsonist!!!"
I staggered.
"Thatpersonsetfiretoaresidentialarea.Countlesscitizenswhowantedtoberescuedburnedtodeath.They'redead,they'redeadbecauseofyou,takeresponsibility,die,die,die."
"Ugh."
An immense pressure crushed my heart, and an overwhelming sense of burden and guilt threw my mind into confusion.
I felt like I was going to throw up.
I clung to the platform to keep myself from collapsing. Thinkingofthecountlesspeoplewhodiedintheresidentialareamakesmyheartfeellikeit'sbreaking,sobsandresentmentringinmyheadlikeastab,IwaswatchingthatscenerightbeforeIdied,uuuugh.
Whose memory was this?
"Hup!"
Will the one who wishes to testify about Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■, please raise their hand and speak.
"Hic."
The pressure eased, if only for a moment.
I forced myself back to my feet. Something hot was streaming from my eyes. When I wiped it away, it wasn't tears, but blood.
As I barely managed to lift my head, another person was raising their hand from the Juror Seats.
Agent Bronze.
Juror No. 37, you may speak.
"The objectivity of the preceding testimonies is questionable."
The gazes from the Juror Seats turned toward Agent Bronze. But Agent Bronze continued speaking with the pale face of a dead man.
"Therefore, to objectively verify the truth of those testimonies,"
His gaze fell on me.
"I propose we weigh them on the Scales of Evil. …As per the original regulations, using 'Unmotivated Murder' as the weight of sin."
…!
"If the testimonies so far are true, then this person has committed an evil greater than Unmotivated Murder, so wouldn't the scales be able to determine that?"
Agent Bronze's voice echoed through the Courthouse.
"Please use the Scales of Evil as they were originally intended."
Its original purpose.
To brand as evil only those who had committed a sin greater than killing a person for no reason.
If I proved that I was not that kind of evil person, then I was a good citizen.
An ordinary person, not subject to requisition as a sacrifice to a ghost story.
Someone qualified to be rescued.
...
Ah.
"You cannot judge a person by the current method. It is a contaminated and distorted method, something the Management Bureau would never have originally done..."
"No."
I wiped away the blood from my nose and the spit from my mouth as I straightened up.
"…Agent Grapes?"
"That's not it, Agent..."
I looked around at the faces of the jurors.
At their broken forms.
"The method you judged to be 'distorted' was, in fact, probably also a decision made by the Disaster Management Bureau."
"…Pardon?"
"Because under the original 'How to Use the Scales of Evil' regulations, it would have been impossible to determine rescue priority."
"...!"
"In the city, countless people were dying in an Extinction-class Disaster. Manpower was limited... In the end, they had to choose."
Who to save.
–Who'sgoingtotakeresponsibilityifproblemsarisefromrescuinggamblingaddicts?Getagrip,it'srightnottorescuethem.Ihadnochoicebuttoturnmyheadandgotoadifferentplace.
–There'snotimetostopsuicidalpeopleorcollectbodies,wehavetomove.
–Thinkingofthecountlesspeoplewhodiedintheresidentialareamakesmyheartfeellikeit'sbreaking,sobsandresentmentringinmyheadlikeastab,IwaswatchingthatscenerightbeforeIdied.
The traumatic, overwhelming emotions that had poured into me.
…Those must have been the immense burden and guilt the agents carried before they died.
"Whether to choose the most virtuous person, the most useful person, the weakest person... All sorts of proposals were probably brought up."
"Then."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje asked.
"Who did they choose as the target for rescue?"
...
"The least dangerous person."
"…!"
"They probably believed that was the best way to save even a few more people."
Someone who wouldn't cross the line.
To put it more bluntly, they would have chosen people who wouldn't abandon their principles and 'troll' in this unprecedented disaster.
Someone who wouldn't endanger those around them with sudden, impulsive actions during this crisis.
...Someone who wouldn't prioritize what they loved over ethical standards.
"Isn't that why 'what you love' is placed on the other side of the scales?"
Silence fell, as if time itself had stopped.
"Yeah… that makes sense."
Assistant Manager Eun Haje nodded.
"Then shouldn't this whole trial be nullified?"
…!
"Since they couldn't save anyone. This principle was useless."
In the silence, the Courthouse trembled.
Dozens of spotlights flickered, and in the darkness, the agents' forms blinked in and out of existence...
"In the first place, with what authority do they arbitrarily decide rescue priority? The Scales of Evil? I understand wanting to rescue good people over bad ones, but a state institution shouldn't be the one to establish that as a principle."
The pans of the scales swayed.
A scraping sound echoed across the metal floor where they touched the bench.
"It's one thing for public servants to secretly rescue those they're inclined to, but this whole process of setting rules and selecting people is wrong in itself..."
Cease your statement.
The spotlight on Assistant Manager Eun Haje went out.
"…!"
This is Juror No. 37's turn to testify; Juror No. 38 has no right to speak.
Juror No. 37, please continue your testimony.
The spotlight returned to Agent Bronze.
He opened his mouth again, his eyes looking as though they were crushed by fatigue.
From the seat beside him, Assistant Manager Eun Haje's hand gestures, as if urging him on, were faintly visible at the edge of the light.
However.
"...There are no revisions to my statement. Please verify the testimony using the Scales of Evil."
"…!"
"'Let the individual agents decide'... Citizen, your statement is something I myself have heard often, and it's a topic I've been thinking about a lot lately. But..."
In the darkness, Agent Bronze looked back toward Eun Haje's juror seat and spoke calmly.
"If that happens, all responsibility falls on the individual agent."
"..."
"The guilt, and the death."
Agent Bronze looked at me.
"Even if it seems unreasonable at first glance, if it's necessary, it's better for it to be a principle, and there are times when adhering to that principle is better for the individual."
"..."
Agent Bronze had said something similar before.
But it carried much more weight than it had back then.
It was the voice of someone who had experienced and contemplated many things.
"In that sense, I understand why the rules of the Scales of Evil were modified. But it remains true that, in the current situation, they are distorted and serve no purpose. As a concerned party, I formally propose that we return to the original principle."
And Agent Bronze stood tall, as if he wouldn't sit down until his message had gotten through.
But the trial simply continued.
Will the one who wishes to testify about Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■, please raise their hand and speak.
And so.
"I'll do it."
I raised my hand.
"…!"
There's a method I came up with based on what I've experienced so far. It feels like sparks are flying through my head.
"Can't I testify on my own behalf?"
Normally, in a criminal trial, you can't.
A witness is meaningful because they are a third party who bears the penalty for perjury; the person on trial is not qualified to testify as a witness.
'But this isn't a real criminal trial.'
It's a selection process, and a contaminated version of the Disaster Management Bureau's Scales of Evil.
'The trial format only exists because Assistant Manager Eun Haje demanded it.'
So, if I can persuade this Scales Tribunal ghost story, it might be possible.
Even more so if it has enough emotion and ego to be swayed by my words.
"Am I not the one being judged? As the party being judged, I have something I wish to say."
...
Permission to speak is granted.
"Yes."
I took a deep breath.
And I spoke.
The words I'd been thinking about for a while now.
"Don't rescue me."
"...!"
""No, not just me, but don't rescue any of the citizens waiting to be selected here. That is the right thing to do."
A huge commotion erupted from the Juror Seats. The lights flickered, and it felt as though anger,guilt,despair,indignation,hope,pity,altruism,andhatred were boiling over and spilling out.
Gulp. Something hot that had formed in my heart rose into my nose and mouth.
"Because!"
But I clenched my teeth and spoke the next words.
"The Sekwang Metropolitan City Disaster Management Bureau branch no longer exists."
[Oh!]
The commotion in the Courthouse ceased.
"...You all know that this city is under lockdown. It is already impossible to recognize or access this place, and, of course, the Sekwang Metropolitan City branch officially no longer exists."
I spoke with difficulty.
"This is a clear fact, even if I don't prove it. Anyone can deduce it. So..."
...
"It means there is no longer any duty to rescue anyone."
I lifted my head.
"Therefore, not based on what the branch specially designated, but based only on the original principles of the Disaster Management Bureau!"
I shouted.
"Through the Scales of Evil, if I just prove that I am not an evil person..."
I finished with difficulty.
"Without execution or rescue, just let me go."
...
...
The gazes disappeared.
Click.
All the spotlights came on.
And one more appeared.
Right in front of the bench where the giant, ash-gray Scales of Evil rested.
Selection Candidate No. 370614, Management 202■.
Place the weight of sin on the Scales of Evil.
It worked.
On trembling legs, I stepped down from the platform and walked forward.
Is this the right thing to do?
'Somehow, it feels like I'm directly denying all the desperate hard work of these agents...'
No, I have to keep going. Endure it.
As I walked, I saw the faces of my companions.
Agent Bronze's slightly relieved yet tense face, Assistant Manager Eun Haje's complex and thoughtful expression, and Agent Choi's profile, strangely turned toward somewhere else...
Passing them all, I stood before the scales.
And I saw the black weight that had appeared at some point.
A strange weight, with the faces of screaming people carved into its surface.
The weight for the scales is set as 'Unmotivated Murder,' and if the opposing weight is heavier, the person is classified as a requisition target.
It was the object from the description.
I picked it up. Its lighter-than-expected weight filled me with a strange sense of unease.
And...
I carefully stepped onto the bench and placed it on the scale opposite my silver heart.
"..."
One side of the scales lowered.
The side holding the 'Unmotivated Murder' weight.
"…!"
It descended smoothly, and the balance beam tilted without hesitation.
Thud.
The scale holding the weight struck the floor with a light sound.
My silver heart, resting on the opposite scale, floated gently in the air above...
...
Pass.
My legs almost gave out from the immense relief.
'It really worked.'
I did it, even in this strange state. I'm okay. It's resolved now!
'I just have to leave like this.'
Then I'll be treated as having cleared it, I can gather information, and get the Dream Potion...
"..."
At that moment.
I saw it.
A single hand.
From the Juror Seats, someone else was raising their hand.
The person sitting directly in front of the scales.
Juror No. 1, you may speak.
They rose from their seat.
It was someone with a strangely pristine appearance.
I recognized the familiar agent's uniform they were wearing, but even with the spotlight shining on them, their face remained strangely invisible.
But the silhouette was strangely familiar...
The person's mouth opened.
"I object."
"…!"
"That person's sins cannot be measured by the Scales of Evil."
What?
The unseen gaze of the agent seated in the Juror Seat turned toward me.
"Because he is passing his own sins onto something else."
...What?
"His own twisted desires, twisted thoughts, extreme emotions, all his abnormal judgments, he has passed them on to other personalities that he separated and isolated within himself."
"..."
"That person is an empty shell."
And they pointed a finger at me.
No,
"The real one is in there."
At my tattoo.
I looked down at the 'Contamination Cleanup' tattoo on my chest with a deathly pale face.
TL Notes: -
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