Chapter Text
Lady of darkness.
Lady of justice.
Lady of vengeance.
Queen of the underworld.
They called her by many names, whispered with fear in their eyes, uttered with reverence at the tip of their tongues.
They said she was cruel.
They said her heart was made of ice, frozen with sorrow.
They said she wasn’t always like this.
They said grief had turned her cold and ruthless.
They said, once, she was the daughter of the sky, born divine, a protector of humans.
They said her face was perfectly crafted out of marble, ethereal in everlasting youth.
They said, her beauty caught the king of the underworld’s eyes and, because of that, she was forced to be his consort, ripped away from the warmth of light to spend the rest of her long immortal life in the cold darkness.
They said she was miserable and her tears filled with woe.
What a lie it was…
It was her choice to go with him.
It was she that took his offered hands, not because of a lure of sweet words from his mouth nor a promise of things.
It was the genuine interest in his eyes that moved her heart.
For the first time, someone sees her for what she is, an avenger for the hopeless.
Her soul had grown restless from the unfairness of the world, and he offered her salvation, settling her soul into a lull of contentedness.
For a while, they were happy. Her soul rejoiced and thrives in the darkness of the underworld.
Until, tragedy hit and her husband, the king of the underworld, vanished without traces.
And thus, Lady Justitia reigned in her husband’s stead, ruling over the dead, all alone sitting on a throne made of thorns, waiting and hoping for a time when her husband would be back in her arms.
Long burgundy hair, falling in waves, perfectly framing a face that is no less perfect. Pink lips. Big, sparkling eyes. Delicate nose.
‘What a beauty,’ Justitia never got tired of admiring her own reflection in the mirror.
Using her finger, she drew a name in the mirror. Cha Min jeong.
Images start to appear in the mirror. A woman was sitting on a church pew, pleading and crying to God hopelessly.
Her lips slowly turned up into a smile. Finally, something interesting happened. Everything has been so tedious lately.
A sudden gust of wind blew her hair gently. Spiders were crawling across the floor, and she knew exactly what would follow. Her good mood suddenly dampened, her smile faded instantly as she saw his reflection in the mirror.
“You can’t do this, Lady Justitia,” he said, rigidly, biting out the word ‘Lady’. It must pain him to call her with respect like this.
“I could do whatever I want, Bael,” she replied with no less bite, in an airy tone she knew he hated so much.
They never see eye to eye, her and her husband’s second in command, Bael. She hated how dull and strict he was. He hated how unrestrained she was. He hated that she was once part of heaven. Even now, he still treated her like an outsider inside her own domain. The day they saw eye to eye must be the day the world ends. Justitia was sure of it.
“Human affairs are not our concern. It was the rule,” he started his lecture, boring and always brought her to tears because of how sleepy it made her. "You must remember that,"
“That’s what makes it fun. The thrill of the hunt and breaking rules,” she remarked, grinning. “They deserve that, aren’t they?” laughter burst out of her mouth, elation filling her as she remembered the sinners she sent to Gehenna. Their blood in her hands was the only thing that could satisfy her need for vengeance. "What's wrong with speeding up their judgment a little bit?"
“You used to obey rules,” he said, a jab at her old self, the girl who everyone underestimated.
“Ah, that girl,” she scoffed, her laughter died down. “She grew up,” maybe it was true, what they said, the loneliness she bear for hundreds of years had made her colder and ruthless. “You should use your chance back then. That girl was easier to dispose,”
He didn’t rise to the bait, instead he said, “Remember your duty, Lady Justitia,” and he disappeared in a gust of wind.
She rolled her eyes, ‘Dramatic asshole’.
Justitia knew her duty. Her duty was to judge, in the underworld and on the earth she roamed now as Kang Bit na. Being a criminal court judge made it easier to find unrepentant sinners. Good thing she had foreseen it before fabricating her human identity.
“All rise!”
But, sometimes there was a case that wasn’t worth her time at all.
“Please be seated,”
Abuse of authority. What a joke. She should send whoever thinks it was a good idea to trial a petty case like this in her court to hell, for a sin of wasting her time.
“I’m busy. So let’s make it quick,” sitting on the bench, she opened her laptop and said, “Defendant, state your name and affiliation,"
"Violent crime investigation team 2-
His voice sounded familiar, her eyes shifted from her laptop to see the defendant as she opened her cola can with a loud pop.
A shaky gasp escaped her mouth after seeing his face. She knows this face everywhere, even if hundreds of years have passed.
His mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear any words.
It felt like time had stopped. Her breath caught in her throat. If she was capable of crying, she knew she would.
-sa nim, pansa-nim?” sounds rushed back to her ear and she turned her head to the source of it.
"Pansa-nim?" the prosecutor repeated.
Disoriented, she turned her attention back ahead.
To him.
To the man wearing her missing husband's face.
His name sounds like a fabric softener brand.
“Nobong police station, Violent Crime Investigation Team 2, Han Da on,” Justitia read the words on his name card and looked up at him. “I’ll remember it,”
There is no recognition in those eyes. The eyes that used to look at her lovingly were now of a stranger. Her heart clenched painfully inside her chest, the sensation she hadn’t felt in a long time.
He didn’t remember her.
Worse, this man was a mortal. Life so short and fragile. Humans always die so easily.
‘Is he really her husband if he was a mortal and doesn’t remember her?’
Justitia never ran away from problems, she liked to face everything head on. But, just this once, she needed to escape.
She drove her car away, seeing his figure getting smaller in the rear-view mirror. Every cell in her body begged her to stop, to run back to him. She swallowed her emotion and drove on. She didn’t spend 400 hundred years ruling over the underworld to be overcome by her feelings.
She needed time to find out if he was really her missing husband.
And, she still has Cha Min jeong’s case to take care of.
Cha Min jeong was stubborn. Hopeless, but still so stubborn. What is so hard about telling the truth? Justitia never understand human tendency to lie. Demons, she could understand, it was their prerequisite, but, human? The truth would cost her nothing, but lies would cost her everything, including her life. Her stubbornness was already costing Justitia precious time and ended up sending her to Nobong police station.
There, she met him. Again. Like fate intertwined.
"Kang Bit na, age 35, judge, right?”
It was strange, seeing this face, hearing this voice after missing it for so long.
“I thought we were closer than this,” she remarks. “Weren’t we?” she adds after seeing a confused look in his face.
‘We are married. Don’t you remember that?
He turned around to look at his colleagues and said, “It’s not what you’re thinking,”
He flusters just like him, so easily and naturally.
The corner of her mouth quirked up. ‘Is it really you, my darling?’
Han Da on made her curious. This human with the same face as her husband. She found herself scouring for information about him and often, without meaning to (lies) she drew his name on the mirror just to see him. It became a habit that drew the curiosity of her assistant.
“Is that the detective?” she heard Valak, or he was known as Koo Man do here, asked, one day when he caught her stalking. “Did he annoy you that much, pansa-nim?”
“Do you know who he is?”
Man do look puzzled for a moment before answering, “Detective Han? Is he your next target?”
She rolled her eyes, a little disappointed. But, it couldn’t be helped. Valak is too young and too low in hell’s hierarchy to know his face.
There is darkness in Han Da on. She sensed it. In his anger. In his frustration. It lingered on the earth where he stood and in the shadows that surrounded him. It felt familiar, this darkness.
Justitia decided she needed to test for herself if he was really her husband.
But first, she must take care of Moon Jeong jun.
She applied mascara to her lashes, blush to her cheeks, lipstick to her lips. She was dressed to kill.
Her mouth curved into a smile as she saw her own reflection in the mirror.
'Perfect,'
It was almost too easy to lure Moon Jeong jun. He was so pathetic it disgust her.
"Welcome to my world," she said, as she grasped his collar. "You are about to be on the receiving end of what you've done. That's the rule in Hell. Understood?"
Justitia saw him nodding his head in a trance and excitement filled her being. She was going to have so much fun.
The world swirls into illusion as she takes his role, and he steps into Cha Min Jeong’s shoes. She was going to let him feel what Cha Min Jeong went through.
With each hit, each break of bones, each splatter of blood, exhilaration rushing through her veins.
“How is it? Is it fun?” she asked cheerily, a smile blooming on her lips as she saw her reflection in the puddle of his blood. "I only hit you a fraction of how much you hit her. But, you're down already? Get up,"
“Please, Stop," he moaned in pain.
"Cha Min jeong asked you the same thing. But did you stop?"
"Please forgive me this once. Don't you pity me? I was wrong, your honor," he knelt and pleaded for his life. It’s no use. His soul was already damned.
"Do you think she would forgive you?" she asked, as she crouched down in front of Moon Jeong jun’s cowered and battered figure. He flinched away from her.
"No," he shook his head vigorously. "I wouldn't forgive me either,"
"Are you really remorseful?"
"Yes, I really am,"
"Mmm... And you admit you deserve to die?" she asked.
He sobbed. "Yes, I deserve to die,"
The more he cried, the more she felt revolted.
"Then die," she said, and his sob stopped. Slowly, he raised his head to see her. Confusion and fear were clearly seen in his eyes.
"Do you know what kind of human I hate the most?” she continued. “The one that uses love as justification to hurt others. You said you love her, but all you do is hurt her. That isn’t love, you bastard,”
"Vai all‘inferno," she summoned her knife and stabbed him in the stomach. She felt his life fade, and she pulled out her knife, letting his blood gush out of his body.
She raised to her feet and kicked his lifeless body before she stamped his forehead with a mark of a sinner. Gehenna mark.
The gate of hell appears on the ceiling, ready to reap his damned soul.
"Court is adjourned," Justitia smiled, scrunching her nose in glee, relishing in a job well done.
There was something satisfying about letting the world see her masterpiece, to let the world know that bad deeds will always be punished.
And, maybe Justitia wanted to see his reaction, she wanted to see if he remembered her signature.
To her disappointment, he doesn’t. He was just as clueless as all mortals do.
She decided to finally go find him. She knew she could easily find him by tracing his name on the mirror. But, she finds herself stalling by doing this the human way.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" a man speaking with dialect asked.
She turned around to see Han Da on’s colleague approaching her. The curly haired one. "Yes, I'm looking for Detective Han. Is he here?"
"You are- he trailed off. She saw that he recognized her.
“We've met before. I'm Kang Bit na, his girlfriend," she lied, painting a pleasant smile on her lips.
She finds it amusing how easily he believes her lie and even more amused at the face Han Da On made after hearing her story.
"Why would you lie like that?"
Smirking, she stepped closer to him. "If you don't like I lied, let's date. Then it wouldn't be a lie,"
It wasn't a lie, technically. If he was really her husband, they were married already.
"I care more about personality," he said, and it reminded her of the words she said to back then when she followed her husband to the underworld. She love him for the warm soul she saw inside of him, hidden under the darkness that was his domain. She misses him...
"Pansa-nim?" his voice broke through her reminiscing, curiosity palpable in his face.
"Let's talk over some grilled pork and soju," she diverted his attention, and raised the grocery bags in her hands, shaking them lightly.
“Do you have a secret, Han Da on?”
He blinked slowly to her direction, clearly drunk. “I killed people,"
"Yes, yes. I know. It's not a secret," she huffed. "Any other secret?"
"It's true," he slurred. "I killed three people-
"You kill more than that," she cuts. "It's part of your duty,"
"I stabbed them with a knife and I can still smell the blood here,” he continued and pointed at his head. “It never goes away. It might have even gotten more vivid,"
She perked up and scooted closer to him. "So you began to remember? Do you remember me?”
He squinted at her and reached out to her, flailing a little before he managed to hold strands of her hair. “Your hair- he mumbled unintelligibly - golden. Not red. And… longer,”
Her breath hitched. Her hair used to be golden. “Do you remember me?" she eagerly waited for his answer, almost hopeful.
"I deserved to die," he said instead.
"What?" she frowned.
One moment, he was awake and the next, his head lolled to the side. He was out cold.
She scoffed. He was such a lightweight.
One lone tear was falling from his closed eyes and reflexively, Justitia swipe it away with her thumb. Her heart clenched inside her chest at the sight.
“What happened to you? How come you become a mortal?” she whispered, even though she knew he wouldn't hear it. "It's hard being mortal, isn't it?"
It was strange, seeing the once a king of the underworld reduced to this, a mere mortal, so utterly helpless, so fragile, and so pitiful.
She brushed his hair away from his face. The tips of her fingers traced his skin, gently smoothing over his frown.
“Don’t worry. I will protect you this time,”
Morning light breaking through the darkness of night, dawn will come soon.
Justitia stood looking at the sky, a sense of nostalgia filled her heart.
It was dawn when they met for the first time.
Two lonely souls who should never meet.
Daughter of day and Son of night.
But, they meet and they fall in love. Forbidden and impossible.
“You are still here?” she heard his voice and his footsteps coming closer.
She turned around and walked towards him. "Do you remember what happened last night?"
"What happened?" he asked unsurely as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"You don't remember it?" she stopped in front of him.
"Remember what?"
"Your hand," she said, as she offered her hand, palm up.
"What?" he said, brows furrowed and giving her a quizzical look.
"I said I'd take you on a walk,"
"Where do you want to-
She didn't let him finish his question as she pulled his hand and grasped his collar before pressing her lips to his.
Gently, she coaxed his lips until they began to move with hers. He let out a surprised gasp as she bit his lips and slid her tongue inside his mouth.
Glimpses of their life playing behind her eyelids as their kiss grew heated. She knew he was experiencing the same thing. His mind might forget, but his soul would remember her.
He pulled back and gasped, eyes wide and flashed gold. There it is, the eyes she misses dearly. The mark of his soul.
"W-what was t-that?" he took a step back and stammered, blush crept across his cheeks.
"Kissing. What else?" she shrugged and blinked innocently. "We've done more than that, you know,"
"W-what?!" he shouted. His entire face grew red.
Seeing the panicked state he was in, she burst out laughing. “Aww. How cute, Han Da on,”
“Why did you say things like that!” he exclaimed. His eyes narrowed at her in irritation. “Is this fun for you?”
“This is fun,” she agreed, ceasing her laughter. “But, everything I said is true. You see that too, right? When we were kissing,”
He gulped. “Th-that’s not-
"I miss you. I’ve been waiting for you to come home," she cut, as she moved her hand to caress his cheek.
“Who are you?” he asked, his hand caught her hand before she could touch him. His eyes filled with curiosity and uncertainty, like deep down he knew he supposed to know her.
"Me?" she smiled, a genuine one for the first time in a long time. "I'm your wife,"