Welcome to My House in Hell

My father was the King of Hell. He complained that the underworld's schools were useless, teaching nothing but ghost nonsense, so he pulled some strings and sent me to study among the living instead. He forgot to exchange my money before I left, though, and I arrived in the mortal world with hundreds of billions in underworld currency stuffed in my pockets.When I started school, the teacher told us tuition was ten thousand dollars a year. I'd never seen such a small figure in my life, so with a wave of my hand, I handed the principal a million dollars.He thought he'd struck it rich, but the moment he realized it was underworld currency, he immediately filed paperwork to get me a need-based scholarship instead. Not only did he waive all my tuition and fees for the next three years, he made a point of telling every teacher to look out for me."The poor kid's all alone in the world at his age, and he's not quite right in the head either. It's just so sad."On the first day of scho

Tyler stepped in front of the two of us, blocking our way."Come on, Preston, look at you. Trying to sneak off to Nico's place and leave the rest of us behind? That's not how good friends treat each other."Preston shot him a venomous glare. "I can manage not being selfish as a good friend. Can you manage not being shameless as a person?"His words set off one of Tyler's flunkies."Preston, if you've got that much free time, go collect a few more bottles to scrape together some cash for your blind old mother instead of acting like a saint here!"Preston and I were both on need-based scholarships. I'd been to his house before. His mother had an eye condition, and once it got dark, she couldn't see a thing. The first time I visited, Marie Anders had carefully brought out the honey ham she only allowed herself at Christmas, just to treat me well. She'd been wonderful to me.Hearing someone insult Marie made me furious, and I snapped back."Say one more word about Marie, and I'm n

"The forecast said it'd be sunny today. What's going on?""Wait... is he actually the King of Hell's son?"Sensing something was wrong, Tyler cleared his throat."Don't be scared, everyone. He's obviously just putting on a show. There's too many of us for him to try anything.""Right! Nothing to be scared of!"The soul ferry was the vehicle that ran between the mortal world and the underworld, though it looked no different from an ordinary city bus. It pulled up in front of me, and Arthur Crowe waved me over."Prince Nico, the King of Hell heard you were coming home and sent me to pick you and your classmates up personally."I'd specifically asked my father to have Arthur dress in something less terrifying for the occasion.Standing nearby, Tyler overheard the exchange and gave a cold laugh."You even hired someone to play along with your act? Pretty convincing, I'll give you that."With that, he climbed onto the bus and asked Arthur how much he was getting paid to play the p

Tyler was first up. When I brought him in, he still thought I was just messing with him. It wasn't until the Judge of the Underworld began listing his crimes, one by one, that he realized something was seriously wrong."Age five: deliberately drowned the neighbor's dog.""Age seven: pushed a mother carrying her baby down a flight of stairs, killing them both instantly.""Age ten: spread lies that drove an innocent bystander to their death.""Age fifteen: bullied a classmate until they jumped to their death.""Age seventeen: deliberately swapped someone's eye drops for glue, blinding them for life."Crime after crime was read out, one after another. Tyler tried to protest, insisting he'd never done any of it, that I was slandering him.Thinking he'd simply forgotten, the Judge pulled out a mirror to help refresh his memory. Tyler's childhood self soon appeared within the glass, reflecting back every awful thing he'd ever done. A few flickering moments even showed him spreading ru

The underworld wasn't a place for tears, not while there were still sins waiting to be punished.By the time the ghost officers dragged Tyler out, he'd gone completely bald, without a single patch of intact skin left on his body, and his face had been torn to shreds. It was so gruesome that even I found it hard to look at.Of the group that had come with Tyler, the guilty ones stayed behind, while the innocent ones went to drink Agnes's broth and return to the mortal world.Once everything was settled, the Black Guard came to fetch me for a meeting with my father. I knew he wanted to ask how my trial among the living had gone."Was the mortal world beautiful?"I thought about it. "It really was.""Beautiful how?"Looking back on those eighteen years, I'd witnessed partings and deaths, grown used to the suffering of ordinary life, and also come to know what it meant to meet someone and fall in love. If I had to name the most beautiful thing of all, I supposed it was human conne