"The deeper you dig into justice, the closer you get to its graves."
Location: Outer Codex Ring – Layer 0.0X: Memory Rift Zone
[Mission Objective: Locate Archive-Bearers – Carriers of original judgment consciousness]
[System Note: These entities are neither living nor code-bound. Approach with moral clarity.]
Jiwoon, Yura, and Ryu pass through an unstable corridor of cascading memories—where sin is not just information, but residue.
The system no longer speaks.
Only the echoes do.
🔹 Encounter 1: The Weeping Executioner
A black-robed figure stands before a field of empty nooses.
His mask is cracked. His chains whisper.
"I judged them all.
Then I remembered their names."
"I asked to forget.
But the system said: You must live with what you called justice."
Yura approaches.
"Are you an Archive-Bearer?"
The figure turns.
"I was the first who broke… because I believed the system too much."
He places a shard of code into Jiwoon's hand.
[Memory Fragment: Sorrow in Absolute Judgments]
[Effect: Jiwoon can now see when punishment causes disproportionate trauma.]
🔹 Encounter 2: The Child Without Voice
They find a small girl drawing sigils in the dirt.
But she has no mouth.
Only eyes full of unbearable memory.
When Jiwoon kneels, she touches his forehead.
Suddenly, he sees:
People erased for doubting
Children condemned for questioning
Empathy labeled as subversion
[Memory Fragment: Silence of the Condemned]
[Effect: Jiwoon can now detect "System-Censored Thought Crimes" in others.]
Ryu's Realization
Ryu lowers his head.
"These are not just old pieces of code.
They're consequences I never faced."
Jiwoon:
"And now we must use their pain… to stop something worse."
🔹 Final Encounter: The Mirror of All Sins
They arrive before a monolith of reflective glass.
The reflection does not show appearance…
It shows the version of you judged by your worst enemy.
Jiwoon sees:
Himself as tyrant.
As hypocrite.
As executioner.
The glass speaks.
"Can you still call for justice…
Knowing what you might become?"
Jiwoon answers:
"Yes. Because I've already become worse… and came back."
[Memory Fragment Acquired: Duality of Judgment]
[Effect: Jiwoon gains access to "Split Sin Perception" – the ability to weigh an action from both the victim and the perpetrator's view.]
End Scene
[System Notification: 3/5 Archive Fragments Collected]
[Unlock Progress: Forgotten Layer 62%]
[Warning: Inverse System Corruption Rate Now at 9.4%]
The group prepares to seek the final Archive-Bearers—
Before the system no longer recognizes what judgment is supposed to protect.