They were still mocking Hyun Woo, their voices sharp, trying to act strong. They didn't even understand where they were standing. They didn't see it yet. The Hall of Judgment.
"SHUT UP."
Hyun Woo raised his hand and waved it down. At once, their mouths closed. No sound came out. They tried to speak, but nothing.
"Your voices are not allowed here. You speak only when I command."
Only then did they feel it. Only then did they realize where they were. Their eyes went wide. They looked at each other and froze.
They were glowing. Their bodies see-through, shining. They could see through each other's forms, like glass. They were not flesh anymore. They were only souls.
But they could not sweat, they could not cry, they could not even scream. Their mouths sealed, their hearts gone, their breath gone. Only silence.
Hyun Woo's golden eyes glared at them.
"Judgement Strike!"
His voice thundered, and the words echoed through the void.
[ Verdict: Guilty ]
[ Sentence: Experience the suffering you created ]
[ Protocol: Re-enacting pain of the victim ]
[ Commencing Judgement Strike ]
The chains rattled, glowing brighter.
[ Sentence: Begin re-enactment ]
Kang's body shook first. The golden chains pulled tight around him, and then his eyes rolled back. His soul was dragged into the illusion.
He opened his eyes and found himself standing in the school hallway. His chest hurt, his legs weak. He looked down — the uniform, the bruises — it wasn't his body. It was that boy's.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of laughing, it came from behind him, loud and sharp. He turned slow, his neck stiff, and then he just stopped.
There they were. His own gang. His own face, his own friends, standing together. Laughing. Mocking. Looking straight at him.
"Pathetic. You gonna cry again?" one of them said.
"Why are you even alive? You're nothing."
The laughter turned into words that kept coming back, over and over, like an old song stuck on repeat.
"Pathetic… you gonna cry…"
"Pathetic… you gonna cry…"
Those words rang in his ears, the same words, louder and louder, until they felt like punches.
Kang slammed his hands over his ears, fingers pressing hard to block the sound, but the words slid under his palms and crawled inside his head.
He squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip, trying to hold it back.
"Stop… stop…" he said aloud, but no sound left his lips.
The voices kept on, the same cruel lines, again and again, like someone throwing stones at a window until it broke.
Every repeat pulled something cold from his chest.
He felt small, small and heavy, like he was folding in on himself.
The words would not stop. They pushed and pushed until he could not breathe.
The voices didn't stop, but the place around him changed. The hallway twisted, and when he opened his eyes again, he was standing near the locker room.
His stomach dropped. He saw it — himself. Kang Ji-ho. His own face. His own hands. And that body was shoving him hard, slamming him against the cold metal locker.
"Get in," the other Kang growled, forcing him toward the small locker. The metal door rattled loud.
He struggled, shaking his head, his hands trying to push back, but the body was weak. His legs had no strength. His chest felt crushed.
The other Kang laughedm. With one last shove, he was forced inside, his shoulders scraping, knees bent up tight.
The door slammed shut on him, trapping him in that tiny dark space.
It was too small. Too dark. His breath hit the metal and came back hot against his face.
He pushed his palms against the door, but it didn't move. The laughter inside his mind still echoing.
"Pathetic… you gonna cry…"
He blinked and found himself bent down on all fours. His palms pressed against the dirty classroom floor. His knees hurt. His back shook.
Then the weight came. He looked back and his chest turned cold. Another Kang — himself again — was sitting on his back, laughing, like he was riding a dog.
His hands trembled, his legs shook under the weight. Every bone screamed to push, to stand, but he couldn't. The laughter from around the room didn't stop.
The food was gone. The money was gone. His stomach growled again, louder this time, like a beast inside him clawing to get out.
He held his stomach with both hands, pressing it tight, but the emptiness didn't stop.
His throat was dry, his lips cracked. He swallowed hard, but there was nothing to swallow. Only air.
Around him, the other students opened their lunch boxes. The smell of rice, meat, soup, it filled the air, and it stabbed at him worse than any fist.
He could see them chewing, laughing, eating full bites. His stomach twisted so hard it hurt.
He bent forward, dizzy, his head light. His hands shook on the desk. He wanted to beg, just one bite, but his voice didn't come out.
"Pathetic… you gonna cry again?"
The voice of Kang — his own face — whispered near his ear, and the lunch box in that hand was lifted up, waved like a prize, before being eaten piece by piece in front of him.
He sat there with nothing. Only the growl inside him, and the shame that he was nothing more than a dog to them.
The chains rattled again, and it wasn't only Kang.
One by one, Min Dae-ho, Joo Sang-woo, and Park Il-jin were pulled into the same torment. The locker, the classroom, the hunger — everything the bullied boy once felt, they now felt with their own souls.
All of them went through the same pain, the same shame, the same despair.
[ Sentence Complete ]
The illusions shattered. The classroom, the lockers, the hunger — gone in an instant.
They were back in the Hall of Judgement. The chains still bound them, glowing faint, but their bodies were bent, their heads low.
Their souls shook, their eyes wide with despair. They had lived it. They had felt everything the boy once felt.
Their mouths opened but no words came. No mocking, no laughter. Only silence. The pain clung to them, still burning in their souls.
Then, slowly, the Hall faded too. Their bodies were back in the real world, in the empty construction building site.
But their eyes were not the same. Empty, broken, staring at nothing. Their legs gave out, and they all collapsed to the ground.
[ Process Complete ]
[ Awaiting Final Decision ]
[ Question to Host: Forgiveness or Punishment ]
Hyun Woo's chest rose and fell, his golden eyes flickering.
He had seen it all, every humiliation, every laugh, every hunger pain.
He had watched it like a movie, but his heart still felt it. The victim's pain was now his pain too.
The voice came again, inside his head. Cold and heavy.
[ Host, deliver final verdict. ]
[ Forgiveness or Punishment? ]