Prologue
“I finally beat it!!”
The message displayed inside the monitor, within the game itself, read [Last Judgment : You are not guilty……]. It was the message confirming that I had defeated the final boss.
Gray Judgment.
Commonly known as Gray Judgment, the game was infamous for being extremely difficult. More precisely, its difficulty was so unreasonable that it would not have been inaccurate to call it a trash game.
Yes, a trash game.
At some point, convenience had become the first thing people looked for in a game. Rather than games that were difficult, complicated, and filled with countless tasks like those of the past, people wanted something intuitive, easy, and quick—something they could enjoy with a simple press of a button.
In other words, the games commonly categorized as trash games were the sort that no one but a dedicated enthusiast would even consider playing.
“SKREEEEEE!!!”
I was so overwhelmed with joy that I could not suppress the monstrous scream that burst from my throat.
What I had cleared was even the game’s highest difficulty, ‘Irreversible’.
I had stepped into the realm of an accomplishment that no other trash-game player in the world had ever achieved.
―You actually beat this;;? How the hell did you do it??
―How many months did you burn just to see the ending? Haha, congratulations.
―You really cleared Irreversible difficulty? Congratulations in advance on going viral.
―You bastard…… Well done!! That was some damn impressive perseverance!!
The familiar messages of congratulations filled the chat.
The praise that appeared whenever I completed another trash game still sent a thrill through me.
There was no point hiding it. I was what people called a trash-game sommelier. More precisely, I was the sort of streamer who broadcast himself playing trash games and earned donations from doing so.
The Irreversible difficulty everyone was talking about was a mode packed so thoroughly with every kind of unreasonable mechanic imaginable that merely thinking about it was enough to cause a headache.
Everyone had at least one game they were good at. I simply specialized in seeking out games like these.
‘Still, this is moving…… I cannot believe I actually beat it.’
Messages continued pouring rapidly through the chat window.
Yet amid all of them, only one thought occupied my mind.
I had finally beaten it.
I had cleared the Irreversible difficulty that no one else had ever conquered. I had invested more than a full year into doing so.
I recalled the three warning messages that had appeared one after another when I first selected the difficulty.
To put them into simpler terms, there were no opportunities to save.
More precisely, only the player’s current progress was recorded, many situations that would have benefited the player were removed, and unexpected variables appeared at every possible opportunity.
The warnings had appeared before the game even began.
Because of those elements, nearly everyone who played the game had attempted the Irreversible difficulty at least once, but all of them had failed.
Yes.
I alone had seen the end of this game.
The countless messages continued to rise through the chat. As though someone had spread the news, the number of viewers and messages steadily increased.
It seemed that people were announcing throughout every online community that I had cleared the Irreversible difficulty.
“Ah, everyone. Thank you for watching the stream! The challenge I’ve been working on for more than a year is finally over! You can stop sending donations now! I only did it because I enjoyed it. Now that I’ve completed the game…… I’ll take recommendations for the next one!!”
Once the streamer known as the Trash-Game Sommelier finished a trash game, he discarded it without hesitation.
I had never broken that rule, and this time was no exception.
To be honest, I did not particularly understand the feelings of the Absolved character inside the monitor. After all, I was not the one experiencing them.
I merely produced the kind of stream a certain audience wanted and enjoyed myself while doing so.
―Play Excel Legion.
―Do Phantom School.
―Since you finished this one, how about Hunger and Starvation?? I heard the third game came out.
―Play Contaminated City.
These kindhearted bastards were recommending every maliciously difficult trash game they could find, clearly intent on tormenting me.
Still, what else could I do? They were the people who had enjoyed watching my streams.
I studied the chat and sank into thought, considering how best to satisfy the demands of my audience.
What should I play next?
Eventually, just as the credits were nearing their end and the message [THANKS FOR PLAYING] appeared, a donation arrived.
[‘TrashGameSommelierPantyThief’ has donated 1,000,000 won!]
―Could you play this one as well?
A million won for a single sentence.
Who in the world were you, you angelic human being?
With that thought in mind, I answered the message.
“Oh my goodness!! Mr. Chairman!!! Thank you for the million-won donation!! Of course I’ll play it for a million won! What game would you like to recommend, Mr. Chairman?!”
I tried not to make it too obvious, but when someone donated that much money, agreeing to their request was simply common courtesy.
That was what I was thinking when another donation message appeared.
I doubted my own eyes.
[‘TrashGameSommelierPantyThief’ has donated 1,000,000 won!]
―This time, please become the Absolved in the truest sense.
A series of chat messages appeared alongside the donation.
―What the fuck is this guy talking about?
―A second run of the game he just finished? Haha.
―I never saw the ending, so I would not mind watching him play it again.
―Immunity activated, haha.
As I read the message, only one thought came to mind.
What kind of nonsense was this?
Did he have any idea how much effort it had taken me to complete this game? He wanted me to spend another year—no, perhaps several years—challenging that difficulty again?
My confusion lasted only a moment.
[‘TrashGameSommelierPantyThief’ has donated 1,000,000 won!]
―If you protect the world as the Absolved, I will grant you one wish of your choosing. There is also an additional difficulty setting, so I would appreciate it if you selected that as well.
Those words had come from a man who had burned three million won on only three lines of donation messages.
Was this the legendary three-million-won offering I had only ever heard rumors about?
‘Wow, three million won…….’
Perhaps I should try it again.
For that much money, was it not worth attempting?
Moreover, there was apparently a new difficulty that no one had ever tried before.
For someone who carried the title of Trash-Game Sommelier, it was only natural that the proposal would interest me.
“Fine, let’s give it another try. Honestly, everyone, please leave an upvote if you think it’ll be entertaining too!!”
I was not particularly eager to replay a game I had already completed, but judging by how many people in the chat wanted an encore, refusing would have made me look like the villain.
Many of them were also curious about the new difficulty.
The credits ended, and amid the encouraging messages filling the chat, I selected New Continue once again.
A difficulty setting that had not existed before had been added.
[ The Final Clause ]
“This must be the newly added difficulty, right? Wow, I’ve genuinely never seen this one before.”
I exaggerated my reaction appropriately while watching the chat’s response.
Everyone was typing messages expressing their amazement when the donation alert sounded once more.
[‘TrashGameSommelierPantyThief’ has donated 1,000 won!]
―Then I leave it in your hands, Absolved. Please restore the laws that have gone awry.
The moment I read the message and selected the difficulty, I lost the ability to reverse my decision.
People often said that drinking too heavily could sever the thread of reason.
The phenomenon commonly known as blacking out.
As though I were collapsing face-first, the light of my consciousness dimmed, and all strength drained from my body.
Chapter 1
[Day 1, You awaken in your home on the outskirts of Salus.]
[Synchronization : 5%]
I regained consciousness alongside the familiar messages I had seen through my monitor.
“……Huh?”
What was this?
What had happened?
Startled, I abruptly pushed myself upright.
“What in the world was that?”
……First, I needed to organize my thoughts.
I vaguely remembered receiving an enormous amount of money and selecting New Continue to begin the newly added difficulty in Gray Judgment…….
Everything after that felt muddled, as though it were hidden behind a thick bank of fog.
“Ugh.”
My head throbbed with pain.
My vision was far from clear, and the objects around me appeared blurred. I rubbed my eyes and tried to force them back into focus.
“This place is…….”
My vision gradually brightened.
When I looked around, I found myself inside a building constructed from a crude mixture of wood and stone.
The scene also seemed strangely familiar.
“I feel as though I’ve seen this somewhere before……?”
A dreadful premonition suddenly passed through my mind.
A decrepit portrait hanging from the wall.
A fireplace that looked as though lighting a fire inside it would immediately cause a catastrophe.
A kitchen that seemed barely capable of functioning as a place to cook.
A workbench and research facility far too shabby to be used for making anything worthwhile.
“Ha. Surely not.”
The familiar scenery and my imagination overlapped, transforming into an undeniable reality.
“There’s no possible way, is there?”
My mind was filled with denial.
More precisely, I was given no time to remain in denial.
A dull sound lingered in my ears.
Someone was urgently pounding on the door, and there was something deeply unsettling about it……?
‘This is insane.’
A familiar situation flashed through my mind, and my body remembered it before my thoughts did.
The first event.
If I opened the door immediately after the game began, I would be branded a criminal and executed.
I remembered suffering several absurd forced game overs because of it when I first played.
Even changing the difficulty had never altered that event.
‘Something feels as though it’s missing…… What was it again?’
Even that thought lasted less than a second.
CRACK, CRUNCH.
The sound of the door being forcibly ripped from its hinges echoed through the building.
I hurriedly scanned my surroundings.
‘The wardrobe!’
I had to hide.
As soon as the thought occurred to me, I rushed to the wardrobe, opened its door, climbed inside, and quietly closed it again.
I was on the second floor.
It would take them some time to reach me.
CREAK, CREAK.
The floorboards produced an ear-scraping sound with every step taken by whoever was approaching.
The person outside was probably an Inquisitor, one of the hostile forces in Gray Judgment.
Before long, the creaking of the floorboards stopped.
Several seconds of silence passed before they began creaking again.
‘Haa, huff.’
My heart pounded strangely against my chest.
Had I been even a few seconds slower, I would have immediately been branded a criminal and lost my head.
‘This is driving me insane…….’
I still had no desire to leave the wardrobe.
It was not as though I were playing some game where I had to hide inside a wardrobe to escape a blue demon.
……To summarize the situation, it was this.
I had been playing Gray Judgment on its highest difficulty, only to find myself transported into the body of its protagonist.
‘This is beyond a joke……!’
The story began in Salus, a gothic city-state founded upon a system of magnificent and impartial laws.
Every citizen born in Salus was injected with the Serum of Order, compelling them to obey society’s rules. The city’s order was maintained through its Code of Law.
Then, one day, the sudden appearance of the Ashen Comet began distorting the laws of Salus.
The rules engraved into the bodies of its citizens twisted out of shape, and the once-prosperous city governed by law was driven mad in an instant by the Blood Curse.
‘This…… is everything I knew about the world of Gray Judgment.’
And it was the world in which I now had to survive.
‘That fucking donor…….’
The words came out naturally.
I was an idiot for allowing myself to be tempted by three million won, but how could anyone possibly have known that this would be the result?
Gray Judgment was a survival-horror roguelike.
Unlike other games, it did not have a convenient function that allowed the player to save and reload whenever they pleased.
The protagonist could not select a Perk at the beginning, nor could he choose any items.
He truly began empty-handed.
It was an appallingly unfavorable situation.
‘……Enough. I should stop complaining.’
The game’s entire structure was already the very pinnacle of unfairness.
It would be better not to expect any special benefits or advantages from the beginning.
The next problem was more serious.
In games like this, having many cards to play at least gave the player options to consider. At present, however, I did not possess a single usable card.
There were many ways to complete Gray Judgment.
The problem was whether any of them constituted the correct answer.
One example was the ending in which the protagonist escaped from Salus, the City of Law.
‘No, that is the wrong answer. It is highly likely to be the wrong answer.’
If the person who had sent the donation was also the one who transported me here, then should he not have at least told me what objective I was expected to pursue?
The only clue I could think of was the single donation message asking me to become the Absolved.
‘Whatever happens, I have to survive first.’
As I was thinking that—
《He……re.》
I should not have been discovered.
That was what I believed, but when something suddenly opened the wardrobe and revealed itself, I could not suppress a startled scream.
“Holy fucking shit!!”
My heart nearly stopped.
Fortunately, the creature was not an Inquisitor.
It was one of the Guilty.
The Guilty was the first monster to greet the protagonist in Gray Judgment. Its twisted body was comparable to the zombies or ghouls found in other games.
If there were not too many of them, I had a reasonable chance of winning.
If it was only the single creature standing in front of the wardrobe, I could probably defeat it through sheer physical force.
“Get out of my way, you bastard!”
There was no time to hesitate.
Time would continue passing, and I had to move if I wanted to survive.
As the creature lunged at me with its sharpened claws, I kicked it away and threw myself out of the wardrobe.
That allowed me to examine my surroundings.
Four.
Including the creaking sounds coming from below, there seemed to be approximately eight of them.
“What the hell is this……!”
I sounded bewildered, but reality had no intention of showing me sympathy.
Had it been a simple one-on-one fight, I would not have complained.
Every game had its own rules.
Unfortunately, the game I had entered was not turn-based.
It was a survival-action game.
‘Can I do this?’
Tension spread throughout my entire body.
In the real world, I had been frightened by the mere thought of getting into a fight.
Was it because I was weak?
No, that was not it.
However, this was the world of a game.
It was different from reality…….
Once my thoughts reached that point, I finally made my decision.
“To hell with it! I don’t know anymore!!”
There was no time to think deeply.
First, I would have to defeat them. I could consider everything else afterward.
Taken one by one, the creatures were little more than meat shields.
However, that had only been true within the game.
Would I genuinely be able to handle them?
‘I have to.’
Hesitation was a luxury.
Before the thought had even ended, the nearest member of the Guilty crawled toward me with its joints bent backward and reached for my ankle.
“Hup!”
I reacted instinctively, bringing my foot down with all my strength and crushing the crawling creature’s skull in a single blow.
CRUNCH.
Its head shattered cleanly alongside the sound of flesh being crushed.
The revolting sensation was like stepping on a mass of rotten meat.
However, that was only one creature.
The one that had been staggering behind it suddenly charged forward, as though realizing that its turn had arrived.
‘Damn it, I need a weapon!’
Even if they were the weakest enemies, smashing them apart with my bare hands would be impossible.
That was especially true in a game governed by levels.
I quickly searched my surroundings.
What I saw was…… an ordinary wooden chair with nothing particularly remarkable about it.
I immediately kicked the chair into the creature’s path, blocking its advance, before glancing toward it from the corner of my eye.
‘Damn it!’
It might work because this was a game.
Or perhaps it would not.
Despite my uncertainty, I had no choice but to decide.
It might have been the wrong move.
‘Please work!’
With all my strength, I stamped down on the chair at an angle, snapping off one of its legs and turning it into a club.
The moment I grasped the broken chair leg—
[Broken Wooden Chair Leg]
[Grade : Common]
[Attack Power : 10]
[Durability : 5/5 (Cannot be repaired)]
[A weapon that can be used as a makeshift club.]
……To my astonishment, the system log that appeared before my eyes did not lie.
This was Gray Judgment’s equipment system.
I had not known whether it would work, but fortunately, the broken chair leg appeared to have been recognized as an item by the game’s system.
‘All right. Let’s do this, come what may.’
I was not particularly courageous.
Anyone placed in this situation would have moved before they had time to think.
I could not dispose of the creatures using ordinary hands and feet, but the situation changed once I possessed a weapon.
Merely holding it gave me a sense of psychological stability.
THUMP, THUMP!
My heart began pounding rapidly, and the sensation of adrenaline flooding through my body took control of me.
No matter how sharp their claws and teeth were, as long as this remained a fight between humanoid beings, the armed side inevitably possessed the advantage.
“Hyaah!”
I swung the weapon at the head of the Guilty behind me, sending it collapsing to the floor with ease.
Then came the second creature.
Its vicious swipe grazed my shoulder.
“……Ugh!”
That hurt!
My body moved before I could finish crying out.
The creature attempted to swing its arm at me again, but—
“You bastard.”
I caught its arm and held it in place.
“Die!”
I struck with all my strength.
After smashing its head apart, I finally managed to clear the second floor.
“Haa, huff.”
Now I only needed to beat them down one by one as they came up the stairs.
That was what I thought as I placed my foot on the first step.
The Guilty on the first floor suddenly turned their gazes toward me on the second floor.
The creatures that had appeared ready to climb the stairs abruptly lowered their heads.
They looked like condemned prisoners.
《Ooh…… Ooooooh……!!》
A chilling sound suddenly traveled into my ears.
The creatures then raised their heads and stared at me, their eyes glowing with a faint crimson light.
“What……?”
I had never seen or experienced anything like this in the game.
It was an entirely unfamiliar event.
An unfamiliar pattern.
Not only the Guilty on the first floor, but even those I had killed on the second floor began rising to their feet.
“That’s impossible……!”
It felt as though I were witnessing a scene from a third-rate horror film.
Why in the world were the dead bastards getting back up?
At this rate, I would be attacked from both sides.
Just as I tried to force my frozen body to move, every member of the Guilty opened its mouth at once.
What emerged from the decaying mouths of the criminals was not a meaningless shriek.
《A sinner……》
《Cannot…… escape…….》
《Judg……ment……!》
Their chorus filled the house like a scene from a third-rate horror film.
A shudder ran across my skin.
That was not the cry of corpses that had lost all reason.
It was an unmistakable sentence being passed upon me.
Cold sweat ran down my spine.
As though responding to the creatures’ declaration, the world around me began changing rapidly.
‘What?’
I had intended to defeat all of them and escape, but darkness began spreading across my surroundings like ink rising from the abyss.
Within moments, every path of escape had been sealed.
As though something intended to prevent even light and sound from escaping, every possible exit—from the gaps in the windows to the front door—disappeared one after another.
“Damn it……!”
Dense darkness settled across the surroundings.
The only remaining illumination came from the faint crimson glow radiating from the creatures’ eyes.
The place where I stood was no longer merely a house infested with monsters.
It had become a perfect sealed chamber.
An improvised courtroom prepared to deliver a sentence.
After completing their chorus, the Guilty began moving, their dim crimson eyes flashing.
《Within the bounds of the law, the defendant cannot flee.》
The voice burrowed directly into my mind.
The Guilty approached me like an organized army, maintaining an equal distance from one another.
Their reddened eyes seemed to whisper to me.
《Confess every last one of your crimes.》
I swallowed dryly.
These were not mindless creatures moving in search of prey.
Their movements were systematic and carefully refined.
This was a trial convened solely for me.
‘……What in the world is happening?!’
I was so bewildered that I nearly dropped the chair leg in my hand.
At that moment, however, a fragmentary memory flashed rapidly through my mind.
‘Wait…….’
The developer had once mentioned something in an online community.
<If someone succeeds in clearing the Irreversible difficulty, a new law will be applied. Perhaps the player may even be able to create laws personally.>
At the time, everyone had laughed, asking whether the game could possibly permit that degree of freedom.
I had assumed it was nothing more than empty lip service from a boastful developer.
‘If those creatures declared a law and sealed this space…… then I should be able to do the same, shouldn’t I?’
……There was nothing in a game that could not be overcome.
After all, the developers must have created an ending.
Whether that was true in a positive sense or a negative one was another matter.
‘There is only one law restraining me right now…… The defendant cannot flee.’
Then I needed to reverse the premise.
What would happen if I assumed a role with the authority to resist that law?
There was only one way to end a trial under such circumstances.
I had to become 【The One Who Ends the Trial】.
“Wait…….”
The word escaped my mouth in a voice barely louder than a whisper.
I adjusted my grip on the chair leg.
There were no other choices available to me.
My palm was soaked with sweat, but I felt something other than fear.
It was anger and resentment toward the absurdity of the situation forced upon me.
As though they had no intention of sympathizing with my bitter outrage, the Guilty charged toward me in unison.
Instead of closing my eyes, I stared directly into their crimson gazes and opened my mouth.
I recalled the protagonist of a courtroom game I had once played.
“Objection!!”
It was not my voice.
An austere and commanding voice, one that would have belonged in a magnificent courtroom, erupted from my throat.
At that moment—
[Perk : The Absolved has awakened.]
[You are free from all laws of ‘Salus, the City of Law’.]
[Any ‘Objection’ you declare is classified as a new law.]
[You have acquired the Unique Skill ‘Objection’!]
[You have acquired the Unique Skill ‘Turnabout Trial’!]
I could only laugh helplessly at the system logs floating before my eyes.
Among all the classes the player could select in the original game, nothing called ‘the Absolved’ had existed.
It had been something that existed only in the game’s lore, an unattainable masterpiece of a concept.
Yet the sudden idea that had entered my mind had become reality.
“Ha…… What a situation…… So this is what he meant when he told me to become the Absolved.”
Whoever you are, you certainly prepared one spectacular possession-story benefit for me.
I slowly raised my head.
Without taking my eyes off the Guilty approaching me, I imitated the method they had used moments earlier.
“From this moment on, the defendant has the right to remain silent and the right to retain counsel!”
And…… that attorney—
“I will now begin the defense in this trial.”
—Was me.