King of Underworld - Chapter 27



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The Story of Phaethon – (1)

This is the afterlife, the place most feared by mortals who are about to experience inevitable death.

It is also the home of Hades, one of the three great gods who rules over part of the world.

“hmm..?”

That’s why all sorts of things happen here.

Things happen that humans can’t even imagine…

Hwaaaaah!

“What is this..!”

No one would have thought that the afterlife would be so brightly lit.

“Hades! Hades! Light has now come into the entire underworld!”

“I’m watching it too!”

The goddess Lethe rushes into my bedroom.

I quickly got dressed and went outside to check the situation in the afterlife.

“What is this? What is this?”

“Has the god Apollo descended to the underworld..?”

“What are you talking about! This wouldn’t have been possible without Zeus’ thunderbolt striking the underworld!”

“That can’t be! Where is Hades?”

The souls were bewildered, like vampires in the sunlight from Hades’ previous life, a creation of the 21st century.

Of course… the underground world is so deep that light cannot reach it at all.

Hestia’s braziers are placed here and there, and although the light is visible, it is a very faint light.

Most of the underworld is dark, gloomy, and cold.

“This is clearly the wrath of the god Apollo!”

“Zeus might be fighting Hades!”

The entire underworld was thrown into chaos in an instant.

Spirits were running wild and the officials were looking for gods while trying to calm the situation.

Does that mean the gods are calm?

“What is happening now!”

“Hades! Have you ever argued with Zeus?”

That wasn’t it either.

Starting with the god of sleep, Hypnos, who rushes into my office…

No, Goddess Styx. That has never happened.

“No one but Zeus could do something like this…?!”

Well, first of all, we need to get this situation under control quickly.

“Morpheus, go down to Tartarus immediately and make sure the Titans are safely imprisoned!”

“Yes, yep!”

Next, he ordered the officials of the underworld to calm the people’s confusion as much as possible.

Also, since I can’t feel any other abnormalities besides the light, I’m sending a lower-level god to this world to check if there’s anything wrong…

“Ugh! Hades!”

….? I just sent you to check on Lee Seung, so why are you coming back already?

“Ha… Hades! The sun… the sun is close!”

What are you talking about?

* * *

The lower-level god who went out to check on Lee Seung was bleeding ichor with his body covered in soot.

The sun is close, what are you talking about?

“Helios is driving his sun chariot closer to the earth! This world is already hell (Tartaros)!”

“No way… Could this be the work of Apollo, another sun god?”

Helios.

He is the son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and holds the status of the sun god.

He was able to maintain his position as joint sun god without being pushed out by Apollo because he drove the sun chariot that even Zeus could not handle.

Of course, during the Titanomachy, there were those who sided with us, including our sister, the goddess of the moon Selene, and the goddess of the dawn, Eos.

Anyway, Helios never stopped driving the sun chariot.

“But this was definitely not the power of Apollo! The horses of the sun chariot were running wild!”

Are you saying that the divine horses that are always on fire run wild?

I still believe in the ability of Helios to drive the sun chariot perfectly.

It is said that Helios, who was driving the sun chariot, was charmed by Aphrodite.

Were you attacked by Gigas? Or what the heck?

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the dark clouds… no, the light over the afterlife began to recede.

Upon returning to the dark, usual underworld, the spirits and gods breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now the light is fading away again. What on earth is going on?”

“How about sending a lion to Olympus now to find out?”

“The situation has calmed down for now, but…”

“There’s no need for that, I brought the culprit.”

The gods who had been exchanging opinions turned their heads toward the deep, deep voice resonating in the crowd.

There was Thanatos, the black-winged god with a ferocious expression, carrying the soul of what appeared to be the recently deceased.

* * *

That soul is the one who just brightened up the underworld?

As everyone’s attention focused on him, Thanatos frowned and continued speaking.

“…the soul of a man who was struck by Zeus’s thunderbolt and fell from the sun chariot to his death.”

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“First of all… Mnemosyne, please give me some water from the Fountain of Memory.”

A male soul that looks like it’s in its late teens or twenties at best.

With gorgeous blonde hair… he looks a bit like the god Helios. Could it be?

“Ugh! Where… is this place? I’m sure…”

“Yes, little one. This is the underworld. Did you drive the sun chariot instead of Helios?”

“I… the afterlife! If that’s the case, then…!”

“Tell me immediately how you came to be here. Everything, including why you fell from the sun chariot and died.”

The soul, who had been unable to come to its senses for a while, opened its mouth at Thanatos’s urging.

“I… I am Phaethon, son of the god Helios.”

I listened to the story that the soul told.

Phaethon, who grew up only with his mother without a father.

When Phaethon became an adult, his mother told him that his father was the sun god Helios.

After leaving home, Phaethon went on many journeys to find his father.

His father, the god Helios, was so happy to see his son that he told the River Styx that he would grant him any wish he wanted…

“The River Styx… ugh..”

As I said that, the goddess Styx next to me groaned as if she had guessed something. Most of the gods also seemed to have realized the cause of this situation.

First, I nodded to Phaethon to listen to the end of the story.

“Yes.. I made a foolish choice there.. I asked my father, who had sworn on the River Styx, to drive the sun chariot.”

“What?! You’re like a crazy person..”

“Ha! That’s a chariot that not even Apollo or Zeus can drive! You, the likes of you…”

“Have you heard the whispers of Dionysus?”

The horses of the sun chariot are handled only by Helios.

There was no way that Phaethon, who was of great divine blood but grew up as a human, could handle it.

It’s obvious what happens when the sun gets too close to the earth.

The world now would be filled with burnt corpses and dried up trees.

If Zeus had not thrown a thunderbolt and destroyed the sun chariot, all life on earth would have died.

“…and so the horses ran wild and the ground was completely…in the end, I was struck by lightning from the sky and ended up here.”

Phaethon, seemingly speechless, sobs softly.

It’s really a shame that he lost his life because of such an absurd request after finally meeting his father.

“Ugh… I’ll hold off on your judgment for a moment. For now, wait over there.”

But aside from that…

The sin of causing countless lives to suffer must be paid for severely.

First of all, Phaethon was sent aside because the souls of the dead in this world were constantly coming in.

His fate will be decided in a little while.

* * *

After a while, in heavy silence, Phaethon knelt with his head bowed and awaited the verdict.

In front of him was Hades, the god of the underworld, sitting at a large desk.

A low voice comes from the gloomy-looking god and reaches Phaethon’s ears.

“…I will pass judgment.”

While the other gods watched the judgment of the sinner who had a great influence on this world, they all remained silent.

Only Hades argued with him about his sins.

“The damage you have caused to this world through your reckless actions is truly enormous. The heat of the sun chariot that you could not control has dried up rivers, burned countless villages and castles, and taken the breath of countless lives.”

The son of Helios, with his head bowed, simply sheds tears.

No protest was made.

“Ignorance is not a sin, but one must bear the consequences of that ignorance.”

Phaethon was prepared for severe punishment.

Because he himself saw the scene of life on Earth dying on top of the runaway sun chariot.

“Ahhh! Apollo! Save me!”

“It’s so hot… my flesh… is burning…”

“Water.. water..”

“Zeus… why…”

All he saw was hundreds and thousands of people begging for their lives and being roasted alive.

Even excluding other plants, animals, nymphs, and various living things.

Although I never would have guessed that such a result would occur when I drove the sun chariot,

The price for killing so many lives must be paid.

“I command you to serve hard labor on the outskirts of the underworld for hundreds of years. It is the karma of having destroyed countless lives.”

For at least several hundred years, Phaethon’s mouth was tightly shut.

But it didn’t end there.

“Also, you will not be able to reincarnate, and even after your forced labor is over, you will never be granted the blessing of oblivion.”

The blessing of forgetfulness, governed by the goddess Lethe, is essential for mortals whose minds are limited.

No mortal can handle the ever-growing pile of memories.

The surrounding gods, who had tender hearts, looked a little sorry, but that was it.

They, too, thought that Phaethon’s punishment was appropriate.

But Hades’ words were not over yet.

“…..Only the fact that your father, the god Helios, neglected you, his child.”

uh…?

“And considering that you had no intention of doing so, and that he rashly swore the Oath on the River Styx, I will show you some mercy.”

Phaethon, who was in despair, raised his head without realizing it and looked at the lord of the underworld.

Mercy… you say?

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