Chapter 1: The Undertaker’s Burden

There were 108 heroes.

– Please, defeat the Demon King and protect this world, O hero.

We were forcibly summoned by the goddess of this other world.

– If you defeat the Demon King, I will send you back to your original world.

There was no way to return on our own.

The goddess gave us a weapon called ‘the system,’ and we were left with only one choice.

– If you see the ending, you can return home.

We had to become heroes to return to Earth.

One year.

We defeated the Demon King.

108 heroes fought, risking ‘some’ of their lives, and we took down the Demon King.

And now.

Only five of us remain.

The ruins of the Demon King’s castle.

On the desolate land, the goddess and the five remaining heroes stand.

[Thank you, heroes from another world.]

The black sky cleared, and the goddess descended to the ground, spreading her white wings.

[Thanks to all of you, this world has been saved. I sincerely thank you.]

There were many things I wanted to say, but I didn’t have the strength to speak.

I was half-dead, after all.

Even someone like me, a support-class worker, had to be mobilized to defeat the Demon King.

The final assault team, 16 people.

I was one of them.

– You can still fight, right? You may not be the strongest in the world, but even if you’re not that strong, you’re still a man who can fight with us.

The only thing I could do was carry the luggage.

I had just enough strength to protect it while the others fought.

…At the very least, I was strong enough to not drag down the party from the rear.

At the beginning of the summons.

That was during the time when we had to go through the ‘tutorial.’

All I could do was carry a backpack stuffed with potions.

– What? An undertaker? What kind of job is that?

– …A job that buries us when we die?

My job was a special class, worse than a commoner’s, and it was completely useless in combat.

– I feel like I’ll die if I stick with you. Sorry.

– It’s life and death, so please understand.

– Just rest in the back. We’ll do the fighting.

So, as soon as the tutorial was over, I was abandoned.

And now, I defeated the Demon King together with ‘the people of this world.’

I did the best I could.

To return home, to survive, I did everything I could.

And once, I was wiped out.

– You’re weak. Get stronger and come back.

After the entire final assault team was wiped out.

– You’ve come back. And…you’ve gotten stronger. This time too, you survived alone, but you defeated me. I acknowledge you, hero. You, no… you all have defeated the Demon King.

I was the only one among the summoned heroes, but with my comrades from this world, I challenged the Demon King again and killed him.

[Now, you may return to your world. I will send you back to the time you were summoned.]

The moment the goddess finished speaking, tears began to flow.

It was the joy of knowing that everything was finally over.

I felt overwhelming sorrow for the countless comrades whose funerals I had conducted myself.

“Wow, damn…! Finally, we can say goodbye to this filthy world!”

“Hah. Damn. No more pretending to be nobles, huh? Maybe I should just settle down and live here.”

“Are you crazy? You said you’d go back to Korea and use the magic you learned here to live the easy life.”

“……Just send me home already.”

And then, anger boiled within me as I saw those vile ones had survived.

Everyone else died. They all died fighting.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Got a problem?”

“If you were so upset, you shouldn’t have killed the Demon King. Why are you glaring like that after killing him all by yourself?”

“Come on, come on. Let’s not do this. We’re all comrades, right? Uh…what was your name again? Sorry, it’s been a year, and my memory’s a bit foggy… My bad!”

They had done nothing, yet they stood there like that.

While everyone else fought the Demon King, these people did nothing to help, and yet they were laughing.

“What? The Demon King’s been defeated, right? We did our part too, didn’t we? You want a thank you? Well, thank you. Really.”

“You didn’t even defeat the Demon King by your own strength; you only managed because the people of this world helped you. Why act like that? Sure, you defeated the Demon King, so good for you. Why don’t you write that on your resume when you apply for a job? ‘Defeated the Demon King in another world.’ That should make for a stellar portfolio. Hah!”

“Hey, stop it. Thanks to him, we’re going back to Earth, remember?”

“Whatever. Just send me back already. I don’t want to stay here any longer.”

We had defeated the Demon King.

But the ones who talk about ‘us’ defeating the Demon King aren’t the ones who really did it.

It was the people of this world.

The annihilated final assault team.

And the heroes who fought with me until the end.

I, along with the people of this world, had defeated the Demon King.

Those others? They weren’t there.

Objectively speaking, from the perspective of the people of this world, what role did they play in defeating the Demon King?

Could they even claim to have contributed in the slightest, even against the Demon King’s army?

While my countless comrades were dying, buried by my own hands, where were they? What were they doing?

[Now, I will send you all back to Earth. However, a problem has occurred.]

My heart sank.

[The Demon King has destroyed the connection between this world and your world.]

What do you mean, a problem? We just defeated the Demon King, and now you’re telling us this?

[As a result, only two of you can be sent back to Earth right now.]

The remaining five of us turned pale at the goddess’s words.

“You’ve got to be kidding…”

I wanted to let out a string of curses, but the pain stabbing through my chest made it impossible to speak.

“Then send me back! I worked the hardest!”

“Even if I didn’t fight directly, do you know how much effort I put in behind the scenes? It has to be me, right? I deserve to go back to Earth!”

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you say you’d rather live here than go back to Earth? You know my parents are in the hospital! If anyone’s going back, it’s me!”

“Hah. Two out of five? Then…”

The atmosphere grew tense.

Even though these people had no ability to fight the Demon King, they still possessed the ‘system.’

Their four gazes all fixated on me.

In a world governed by survival of the fittest, it’s always the weakest that end up devoured.

Especially when that weakling, although stronger than they are, is critically wounded and on the verge of death.

Given that they all have the system’s support, it would be nothing for them to snap the neck of a man who’s about to die, even if they’d never killed a goblin before.

“…Damn it.”

It’s unfair.

Even my fallen comrades would be cursing in disbelief at this situation.

These people, who had never even shown their faces at the Demon King’s castle, now wanted to kill me and split the tickets back to Earth amongst themselves.

They had only appeared before me *after* the Demon King was defeated, when the goddess summoned us.

And now, they wanted to take me down to secure their passage home.

[Calm down, everyone. The decision on who gets to return isn’t mine to make.]

“What?”

[This decision has been made after careful consideration. While I no longer possess much divine power, I still have the ability to determine which two of you will return to Earth.]

What’s she dragging this out for? If she’s not deciding, who is? Is she going to say the dead Demon King gets to decide?

[I will give the decision to the person who played the most decisive role among the five remaining warriors.]

“What…?”

[To the ‘Undertaker.’]

That was my job.

The ‘Undertaker.’

One who commemorates the dead.

– Occupation: Undertaker. The one who holds funerals for fallen warriors and sends their bodies back to Earth.

…When the 108 summoned heroes died, I was the one who ensured their corpses didn’t rot in this world but were sent back to Earth instead.

It was a job designed for someone assuming that warriors would die—an unpleasant profession, to say the least.

No one wanted to team up with an undertaker, believing it meant they’d die before the end.

[You are the one who must choose the two. I leave this divine power in your hands.]

“What? Wait! Why does *he* get to choose?”

[Because he contributed the most to defeating the Demon King.]

“And who decided that?!”

[I did.]

The goddess had been watching.

She had seen everything.

[Though I am a powerless goddess who could not affect this world, I will use the last of my divine power here.]

With a soft sound, light dust fell before my eyes.

The dust transformed into jewels and rested in my hand, forming two rings: one black, one white.

[Thank you for saving this world.]

The goddess, too, became light and faded away.

Like ash scattering after a fire has burned out, she dissolved into the air and disappeared into the sky.

Suddenly, the gazes toward me shifted.

Where before they were filled with anger, contempt, pity, and disdain, now they were mixed with confusion and desperation.

“Hey…”

“Hey.”

“What…? I’m a year older than you–”

“Shut up.”

I felt like I was going to die every time I spoke, the pain in my wounds bursting from within.

But this was something I had to say.

“Trying to freeload in the real world wasn’t enough for you, huh? Now you want to freeload here too?”

“What, what are you…!”

“Not a chance.”

I clenched the rings in my hand. There were two of them.

The moment they landed in my palm, the knowledge of how to use them naturally seeped into my mind.

“I’m going first.”

I slipped the rings into my pocket.

As soon as my hand touched my chest, my body began to shimmer, bathed in the glow of mana.

“Let’s never see each other again.”

“Hey, hey!! There are two! Give me one, you damn—!”

With the last of my strength, I whispered, “…[Teleport].”

I tore the teleportation scroll I had in my pocket.

“A strange ceiling…”

An older friend had once said this.

He was a bit of an otaku. He told me that if I ever opened my eyes to an unfamiliar place, I should say those words.

He never explained why.

He tried to give me some grand explanation, but in the end, I never heard the reason.

Because he died.

He died saving me from the demons.

He was attacked by orcs, and I ended up conducting his funeral myself.

“Are you awake?”

That voice… so familiar.

So comforting that I instantly felt at ease.

Even though the ceiling was unfamiliar, I felt like I knew what had happened after I passed out.

“How long was I unconscious?”

“Three days.”

“Three days…”

I struggled to sit up. My body was wrapped in layers of bandages, and healing charms were stuck all over me.

“Saintess.”

“Undertaker.”

“Just call me an undertaker. That grand title makes me cringe.”

“That’s the name you earned as a hero. You should be proud. You took down the Demon King.”

‘…I couldn’t have done it without the help of others.’

Being an undertaker is enough for me.

“What about my comrades?”

“Which ones are you asking about?”

“The ones who went with me to the Demon King’s castle.”

The saintess gave me a complicated look and glanced outside.

“I’m sorry, but… they’re all dead.”

“…What?”

“The survivors, including you, are five.”

“What?”

That can’t be right.

“Five? Our entire party, except me, was wiped out—”

“The warriors we found alive after the battle with the Demon King…”

The saintess grimaced, spitting the words out like they left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“…There are five. One undertaker. And four women.”

No.

“Right now, the other warriors are recovering in another—”

“Saintess.”

I grabbed her hand firmly.

“Those four women, throw them all in prison.”

“What? Why all of a sudden…?”

“They’re after my life.”

Hyenas, circling for a ticket back to Earth.

“Those women are not my comrades.”

Even if one of them happened to be my ex-girlfriend.

“They’re strangers to me now.”