Surviving Among the Entities

‘Finally, it begins.’

The Supreme Chief Justice held the Scales of Good and Evil close.
He did not remember how it happened, but he had finally accumulated all the virtuous deeds and could realize his ultimate goal.

『I shall summon fair, wise, higher-dimensional judges who can understand humanity.』

At last, he activated the Scales of Good and Evil.
Just as he had previewed, his consciousness was drawn somewhere, eventually cast adrift in the midst of the universe.

‘I must find them.’

The space between dimensions and dimensions.
His consciousness seemed liable to tear apart amidst the innumerable dimensions.

‘For humanity.’

A world where the virtuous are rewarded.
A world where the wicked are punished.

‘For a righteous world.’

He summoned the compass.
Connected to his consciousness, the compass functioned even here, moving in the direction of his desire.

‘Oh no, the direction is not fixed?’

Infinite dimensions meant infinitely many beings matching his desire.
The needle did not fix, so the Supreme Chief Justice soon added another condition.

‘The closest place from here!’

The needle stopped.
Advancing in that direction, he soon encountered one dimension.

『Ah, I’m bored.』
『Is there nothing interesting to do?』
『I want some dopamine hits, but there’s no drama lately.』

Almost human-like conversations and reactions.
They certainly understood humanity, but the atmosphere was too light.

‘Are they really suitable?’

Had the compass malfunctioned?
Enduring the pain, he decided to search for another dimension.

『Oh? Someone’s snooping around?』
『One? No, two? One is certain, but the other is ambiguous.』
『Whether one or two, who cares! Drama has arrived! Wohoo!』

At that moment,
countless eyes glared at him.

『Ooh! Earth? Humans? So much information!』
『You were seeking higher-dimensional beings to judge your fellow dimensional inhabitants, weren’t you?』
『Ah, we are fair and impartial kkk You’ve come to the right place.』
『There’s too much information, can someone give me a 3-line summary?』

They instantly grasped humanity, recognizing not only the location of his dimension of origin but even Earth’s civilization.

『You said you wanted fair and wise beings to judge humans, right? We’ll do it.』
『Open a portal!Gazu!』
『But you know, looking at your records, you’ve committed quite a few misdeeds yourself? Despite being virtuous, killing potential spies, and killing wicked people under the pretext of rectifying them as you please.』
『Oh, if you can just kill wicked people as you wish, why have laws at all?』
『Vigilantism is wrong. Would society accept such behavior?』
『If you’ve committed wicked deeds, you must be punished, right?』
『Just how many people have you killed? And you’re leading an organization too? That’s organized crime, so you’ll receive aggravated punishment, won’t you?』

They said:

『We are the Just Constellations.』
『So from now on, we shall judge your crimes.』
『Mass murder, organized crime, private judgments, all combined……』

The Supreme Chief Justice’s consciousness and body disintegrated.

『Death sentence.』

『Ugh, we finally made it through.』

It was sudden.

『Why is this passage so narrow?』
『For real, it took us a whole day just to get through.』

A voice resounded in everyone’s minds.
The voice that had suddenly started also abruptly declared:

『Alright, enough chatter, let’s all quickly begin our work as the Just Constellations.』
『You criminals, enjoyed your good life until now? You’re all finished.』

The changes were swift.
The first place to change was the courtrooms.

“Therefore, the defendant is sentenced to 1 year in prison.”
『Hey, is this right?』
“!?”
『But he has three prior DUI convictions, didn’t he? And in the midst of that, he committed another DUI and caused an accident. No one died, but there were injuries with hospitalization over 4 weeks required. Just 1 year in prison for that?』

They intervened in the court’s rulings.

『These kinds of bastards never reflect. Even if you lock them up, they’ll just come out and DUI again anyway.』
『Right, why waste money locking them up? No, they don’t even deserve to live. They’ll probably kill someone next time they DUI.』
『Therefore, our judgment is!?』

And they also carried out sentences on the spot.

『Death sentence!』

The body of the DUI offender burst like a balloon.

『Oh! A scammer? Scammed 100 million won? You get the death sentence too!』
『Drunk and assaulted someone? The victim was hospitalized for 8 weeks? Death sentence!』
『Distributing internet porn? You get the death sentence too, bitch!』

The bodies of numerous defendants on trial exploded and died.
This occurred not just in Korea but worldwide, and within a day, the scope had expanded.

『Do we even need to keep repeat offenders alive?』
『It’s a fact that repeat offenders are highly likely to commit crimes again, isn’t it?』
『Leaving such dangerous seeds in society is also a crime. Those bastards should just die.』

Next, those with prior convictions began dying.

『Hey, but aren’t we being too casual about killing them?』
『You’re right. If they just explode and die, they might not even realize they’re dead.』
『If they committed crimes and harmed others, it’s only fair they die in agony, suffering all sorts of torments before dying.』

Someone suddenly burned to death.
Someone drowned while still alive.
Someone had their skin flayed and salt poured over their entire body before dying.

『Ah, refreshing!』
『This is justice!』
『Hey, society is finally running properly now!』

Countless humans trembled in fear.
With gentle voices, they spoke to the humans:

『Hey, don’t be scared, we’re not the bad guys.』
『That’s right, we’re the Just Constellations, remember? We only punish the bad guys.』
『Why? Why are you so afraid? Is there something pricking your conscience? Are you afraid because you have something pricking your conscience?』

People could no longer engage in social life.

『You there! Jaywalker apprehended! Hey! It’s because of bastards like you that good drivers get hurt! Death sentence!』
『Public urination? Do you have no sense of shame? Wow, what’s even the point of living? Just die.』
『Fare evasion on the subway? Tax thief! Die!』

No matter how minor the crime, they showed no mercy.

『Don’t we need to re-try those in prison too?』
『You’re right? We should properly re-try them too?』
『Retrial, gazuu!』

Within a day, all prisoners worldwide had died.

『Phew! This is so refreshing!』
『For real lmao Isn’t it great we don’t have to waste taxes locking up criminal bastards anymore?』

A world without any remaining criminals.
Then, one of the Just Constellations spoke up:

『But you know, doesn’t the concept of a ‘criminal gene’ exist?』
『Ah, I’ve heard of that. An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.』
『The children of criminals have a very high probability of becoming criminals too. Why would beans sprout from mung beans, or mung beans from beans?』
『Let’s kill the children too. We’ll cut off the criminal DNA.』

They implemented guilt by association.

『That’s right! For scammers, we should kill not just their children but all their other families too!』
『You’re right! They all lived luxuriously off the money the scammer stole, so it’s only fair we kill them all!』
『For scammers’ families, shall we exterminate their ninth paternal ancestry?』
『Let’s just exterminate the ninth paternal ancestry of any criminal’s family.』

The families of criminals died.
Even distant relatives whose faces they did not know were no exception.

『Shall we take a look at physiognomy too?』
『Physiognomy? Why?』
『Well, a person’s face reflects their life, doesn’t it? If we look at their physiognomy, can’t we roughly guess what kind of life they’ll lead?』
『Oh, then through physiognomy, we can preemptively remove the seeds of those likely to become future criminals?』

Even those who simply resembled existing criminals died.
According to them, physiognomy was scientific.

“Stop this!”

In response to such actions, a lawyer stepped forward to block them.

“Your actions are nothing but merciless violence! The law must be fair and just, meting out punishments proportionate to the crime! How can you make killing your primary act!”
『…..What?』
『What is this bastard saying right now?』
『Huh? A lawyer? Are you defending criminals right now?』

All the Just Constellations swarmed the lawyer.

『Hey, so if a criminal beat your mother, you could forgive that?』
『If a scammer stole all the money your parents saved up their whole lives, you could forgive that?』
『If your father died in a traffic accident, even if it was from DUI, you could forgive that?』
『This guy is really talking nonsense about it not being his business?』
『Hey……』

All the Just Constellations shouted in unison:

『Just imagine if it happened to your family!!!』

Unable to withstand the unified voices of all the Constellations, the lawyer exploded and died.

『While we’re at it, let’s judge the lawyers too.』
『All this time, blinded by money, they even defended criminals, didn’t they? There are no more evil beings than lawyers.』
『Any lawyer who has ever defended a criminal, even once, dies.』

All the lawyers in the world died.

『Peace has finally arrived.』
『Yes, this is peace.』

After countless deaths, all societies on Earth collapsed and ground to a halt.
Those who remained were mostly virtuous people, but fearing they might become involved in crime and die, they could not move.

『Why is everyone so quiet?』
『Right? Why is it so quiet?』

Even without any intention of committing crimes, humans could not accept the risk.

『Did we kill too many?』
『They were all just criminal bastards anyway? This is how society should properly function.』

Afraid of accidents due to their own mistakes while driving, they could not drive.
Afraid of being considered jaywalkers if the pedestrian signal changed while crossing, they could not cross the road.
Fearing their romantic relationships might be considered sexual assaults, or actually suffering sexual assaults but being falsely charged with malicious prosecution, no one could pursue romantic relationships.

『Ah, I’m bored.』
『So boring. Is there nothing to get some dopamine hits?』
『Right. Are there any remaining Foundationremnants or something? Some drama for us?』
『We already killed them all last time.』
『Boring!』

Above all, they feared the risk of guilt by association.
Even if they lived virtuously, if any family member or even a distant relative they did not know committed a crime, they too would die.

『…..Sigh, I think we messed this up?』

No matter how low the probability,
humans always lived aware of that possibility.

『…..I guess so?』

Half a year since the Just Constellations’ descent.
Two-thirds of humanity had died.
One-third died at the hands of the Just Constellations, and the remaining one-third comprised those who died due to destroyed infrastructure leaving them unable to receive treatment, starvation, and severe stress and fear leading to suicide.

『It’s completely ruined, isn’t it?』
『Ugh, how many years will it take to recover from this?』
『It won’t take less than a hundred years, will it?』

The Just Constellations fell silent.
Then, someone cried out:

『…..Wouldn’t it have ended up ruined anyway, even if it wasn’t us?』
『You’re right, I saw that society was utterly rotten to the core.』
『Well, it was just going to end up ruined, we just hastened it a bit.』

They left Earth.

『Ah, I’m bored.』
『Is there nothing to get some dopamine hits?』
『Bring out some drama.』

All that remained was the ruined human society, where everything had collapsed.

『……』
“I know of them.”

I informed the Supreme Chief Justice of what I knew.

“They are called the Just Constellations, but their other alias is the Community Constellations. They possess immense power, but do not take responsibility for that power. They simply wield it.”

The Just Constellations.
Their motive is the community’s public opinion, and according to their creator, ‘an entity modeled after the comments that appear in online communities whenever an incident occurs.’

‘But it’s a bit different from what I know.’

In the game, the Just Constellations were a single entity.
As such, they were an entity that would simply flee if people gathered to create counter public opinion against them, which was why they only received a hazardous rating.

‘But in the world beyond my right eye, there were multiple identical entities.’

Instead, the Just Constellations shaped public opinion, running more rampant than in the game and destroying everything.
Hearing my account, the Supreme Chief Justice spoke:

『Thank you, now I know what I must do thanks to you informing me of the future.』
“What will you do?”
『I must challenge it. Since you have informed me of the future, I now know to simply avoid them, so my chances of success have actually increased compared to before, have they not?』

The Supreme Chief Justice activated the Scales of Good and Evil.

『I will certainly succeed.』

Shortly after,
his corporeal body turned to dust and disappeared.

“Oh dear.”

It seems he failed after all.

‘He must have prepared, but still failed.’

I took a photograph of the dust piled on the wheelchair using the enhanced Polaroid camera.
On the back of the developed photo, I wrote a title:

[The End of Beliefs]

Perhaps my right eye’s vision of the future allowed the Just Constellations to perceive the Supreme Chief Justice in advance.

‘The Munchkin Merry Constellation and Dr. Janus had also noticed my right eye’s gaze, hadn’t they?’

Which is why they may have found the Supreme Chief Justice first immediately upon accessing this dimension.
In any case, with this outcome, preparations were now necessary.

“Was it 24 hours?”

The time it took for them to cross over?