Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 1

EP.1 There is no country for sinners

The carriage stopped at the end of the road.

A barren wasteland without a single tree. Without shade to block the scorching sun, all beings on the ground groan from the heat. In the wilderness, where even the piles of dirt exhaled from the heat, a towering signpost was announcing the end of this road.

When the two officers saw the sign, they realized they had come to the right place and that they had to move on to their next task.

The officers parted. As one approached the sign, the other headed for the back of the vehicle, fiddling with a steel tripod slung from his waist.

The policeman who headed to the back of the vehicle nervously clutched his only weapon, a steel bar, in one hand. The steel bar kept slipping because of the sweat on my palms, but I had no time to worry about it.

Convoy vehicles are usually used to escort criminals, and large humans who break the military law will rebel whenever they show an opening. So far, the officer has given such criminals a bitter taste of steel bars, and has been quite satisfied with the effect.

Today, however, for the first time since the epaulettes were attached to his shoulders, he wondered if these steel bars were not enough.

They arrive at Tantalus, the prison of the bottomless pit. A legendary land where only the heinous criminals who can never blend into society are imprisoned, and people only enter and never leave.

It is said that to find out about the prisoners trapped there, it is faster to find them in history textbooks than in newspaper articles, and even the military, which boasts a mighty military power, could not kill them and imprisoned them. A land of sin where a monster whose fighting power is comparable to that of a country is said to have defeated an army alone by the king of beasts, and a warrior roams like an ordinary villager.

What they brought today was the criminal who was to be imprisoned in Tantalus.

‘Damn, I heard he was a first-time offender, but what heinous crime did he commit so he was immediately sent to Tantalus?’

I also eagerly agreed with his idea. Why on earth would he be sent to Tantalus without a trial because of what crime he committed? Such a harmless and wholesome person. It was clear that there had been a grave mistake.

The officer took a long, deep breath and banged on the back door with a steel bar.

“Get out of the door if you don’t want to be beaten!”

The military government’s treatment of criminals is similar to that of explosives to be disposed of. In terms of being extremely careful and tightly wrapped in wrapping paper.

Even petty criminals, no matter how trivial, are basically put on a hood over their limbs, and at the discretion of the police officer, they are gagged or even put on a straitjacket.

After being informed that the person to be escorted was a criminal who was destined for imprisonment in Tantalus, the officer set up the maximum restraints he knew. Eyepatch, hood, gag, and even a straitjacket. It was a measure that would not be strange for an ordinary person to die from breathing difficulties.

And since I’m a normal person, I actually had trouble breathing. help me.

The officer did not relax even with the prisoner who was not free to exercise the lungs, which is essential for life.

You shouldn’t expect common sense from the other person. Aren’t they nobody, but criminals destined to be imprisoned in the notorious Tantalus?

Given that he had given the job to a low-ranking officer, he wouldn’t be a high-risk criminal, but he couldn’t afford to be vigilant. Not for duty, but for his own life.

In fact, it wouldn’t matter if I neglected it.

I didn’t even have the ability to untangle the properly tied rope, let alone the straitjacket.

“Open!”

The damn officer didn’t show a crack. The officer opened the back door and quickly stepped back. With his whole body full of strength, he grabbed the steel bar and aimed at the criminal.

The back door opened and the damned felon appeared once again…

Rolling on the floor, still trapped in a straitjacket, just like the first time.

The policeman, a little relieved to see the same appearance as when he was imprisoned, tried to approach him… but suddenly lifted a steel bar over his head. I let out an inaudible moan as I read the thought.

Oh wait. Pause…

“Oops!”

A steel bar hit me in the stomach. I let out a painful moan from the shock that reached my bones, but it was blocked by the gag and could not come out. I couldn’t resist and was hit by a steel bar.

The policeman who hit the steel bar five or six times as if to confirm death was relieved to see my reaction.

‘Fortunately, it seems that the restraint has not been released. I don’t want to be surprised.’

Convinced, the officer pulled the belt of the straitjacket. My body, which had been sprawled on the floor of the car, was hit and run and tumbled to the ground. The policeman was puzzled when he saw me being dragged helplessly.

‘I heard that he is a vicious criminal who will be imprisoned in Tantalus, but what is it? Doesn’t the taste of the hand resemble that of an ordinary petty criminal?’

After reading the officer’s thoughts, I swallowed the rising anger and twisted my body.

That’s natural.

I am neither a criminal destined for imprisonment in Tantalus nor a terrorist of the century. It’s not a crime that will be recorded in the history books , it’s just a petty criminal whose ability to read minds is all there is to

cheating in the back alleys !

***

As usual, I was playing a card game with the hukou and the house documents.

It is a prejudice that gambling is bad. If you have money, or if you have money, or if you are a bit unusual, but if you are a mind reader like me, gambling is like sweeping money from the ground. There are plenty of idiots out there who are willing to pay their entire fortune for a fleeting thrill. I was like a priest at a confessional who fully understood their secret desires. Instead of tithing, he took half of the money he earned.

As usual, he was preparing a house for the hukou. Suddenly there was a commotion outside.

The old lady downstairs, who was being reviewed without getting involved in the board, sent a signal, and Hogu, who had been groaning at the back plate that didn’t stick, turned over the board. I put off my dream of owning a house and waited while hiding the traces, but the military policemen I hadn’t seen burst through the door.

The military police conducting surprise inspections and the gamblers organizing the game. It had always been there. As always, I put my hand in my arms to share my opinion with the military police.

At that moment, the military police grabbed my wrist.

‘According to military law, all of you will be arrested.’

The military police, who came out of the raid, beat everyone here and arrested them.

The military was a much crazier country than I expected. I tried desperately to defend myself, but they put me on trial without any evidence or witnesses. It took less than a day for me to become a felon. In a courtroom without observers, I could not resist and was sentenced to hard labor in Tantalus.

My ability to read my thoughts was of no help in an absurd courtroom. The gendarmerie claimed that we were playing cards and pretended to be doing something, and the judge beat the bar even though he knew there was no hard evidence.

land land land guilty. No one raised their voice while the wooden mallet, symbolizing justice, apologized for their injustice and hit their heads three times.

logic? rule? If it had, the military government wouldn’t have staged a coup.

I was thrown on the cold floor of the detention center.

And he was escorted to Tantalus, the worst prison in the world.

***

Thinking of the past while being tied up made me sadder, but the policeman didn’t care and dragged me along. Thanks to that, I could feel the ground with my whole back. Every time the officer pulled the belt, sand mixed with rocks scratched my back.

Oh, Mother Earth. Your skin is a bit rough. I need to moisturize.

I prayed profanely to the Earth Mother and hoped that I would be rolled like a piece of luggage. The officer who had stood in front of the sign for a while looked worried when he saw the officer who had dragged me along.

“Inspector, is that okay?”

“What’s wrong? He’s a criminal anyway.”

“No, I mean. He’s about to be imprisoned in Tantalus, is that okay? If he escapes later and retaliates…” ”

He’s been wearing an eyepatch ever since the authorities delivered us. This bastard has my face and name. You don’t even know?”

The inspector grabbed the belt attached to my straitjacket and then released it. As a result, my body hit the ground. I shuddered at the shock that I felt all over my body.

I’m a mind reader Inspector Evian of Edelphite. See you when I jailbreak. I will go to you first and avenge your blood.

“And you’re trapped in Tantalus, how are you going to get out? Don’t worry about it and send me a telegram.”

“It’s because I’m worried about the Inspector. There’s a story about an accident in Tantalus last time. If this guy escaped…” “If this guy

had the ability to escape there, he would have escaped from our convoy. Call the person in charge on time. Let’s deliver the recruits and go back quickly. It’s too many times to come to Tantalus.”

“The telegram has been sent. If you wait for a reply…”

At that moment, the arrow on the sign began to shake. As I read the two officers and their thoughts, I was momentarily nervous.

An arrow drawn with paint on a steel body. For some reason, the arrow that must have been a picture is vibrating like crazy. Everyone watched the sign in silence. The arrow drawn on the sign started to shake more and more, then it spun as if an earthquake had occurred – then

pointed to the ground.

I hear the sound of something breaking.

At that moment, the two officers looked at the scenery in front of them and doubted their eyes.

In a place that had been a wasteland a while ago, there was an abyss with no bottom or end in sight.

The abyss that suddenly appeared was so heterogeneous.

Wilderness with you. It is difficult to find a single tree or a single blade of grass, but thanks to that , there is a bottomless hole without any context in the open flat land where you can clearly see the horizon .

It is too big and deep to be called a trap dug by someone else, and too unnatural to be called a natural object.

The officer, as well as me, who was reading their thoughts, suspected that it was an illusion for a moment, but the endless darkness that only the void could create and the flow of the wind moving inward insisted that it was reality. The officer was speechless and looked down into the abyss.

The moment when I wondered if the two officers were dreaming of each other.

[Confirmed.]

A dry voice came from the sign. The sign continued talking in a mechanical manner while the two officers started a match at an unknown voice.

[Confirm mission accomplished. Please complete the mission by leading the criminal’s recruit to us.]

The officer, overwhelmed by the scenery, saluted at the sign. It was a funny look, but the two of them were obsessed with the sign, as if they were the people who created this abyss.

“Chu, loyalty. Inspector Evian of Edelphite. Where can I lead the sinner?”

[Your duty is to escort the criminal to Tantalus.]

Tantalus.

A prison in the abyss that God created to imprison a giant.

Of course, the name was taken from mythology, but it was easy to infer that Tantalus was in that deep darkness. I gulped down my saliva as I looked down at the abyss where the scenery was far away.

“Well, do we have to go down ourselves?”

[You don’t have to accompany me. I’ll leave the method of delivery to your discretion.]

Hey sign. wait for a sec.

The officer smiled faintly. It’s because I understood the true meaning of the words.

No, I can’t even say that I figured it out. In fact, the officer was intent on throwing me into the hole from the start.

The words of the sign seemed to justify his plan.

“Hey, listen to that.”

The officer who understood what I was saying hesitated and grabbed my leg.

“Eh, is this okay? If you fall, you won’t even be able to collect the bones…” ”

What if you can’t collect some bones? It’s garbage that can’t be regenerated anyway, so you’re going to lock it up in Tantalus. It doesn’t matter if it’s destroyed like this.”

Wait no sir. Calm down.

because you will be reborn From now on, I will read my thoughts moderately and cheat a little less, so please tie it to a rope and throw it…

“No matter how much…”

“If you don’t like it, shall we hold hands and go down there? Huh?”

As if he didn’t like that, the subordinate immediately lifted my leg. I struggled desperately, but my body, tightly restrained by the belt, could not resist.

The two who lifted me from both sides swayed left and right in sync. One two. Each time I moved from left to right, I rose higher and higher and then came back down.

And right after I reached the top of the third, something holding me disappeared.

A feeling of complete release enveloped my body.

…ah.

That’s how I was thrown into the bottomless pit.