Dhammapada 136

This is a story of how the teachings of the Dhammapada manifest as an inescapable consequence of karma after an endless passage of 20 years.

The Karma of the 20th Year

Chapter 1: 2004, Amidst Darkness and Torrential Rain

Twenty years ago, in 2004. Back when flip phones were still the mainstream, the man was young and arrogant.
On a night when heavy rain lashed against the windshield, the man was talking on his phone with one hand, laughing. He was barely looking at the road ahead. The moment his car reached the crosswalk—
“Thud!” “Crash!”
With a dull impact, the front of the car violently struck something.
In the light of the headlights, for just a fleeting moment, he saw a small, light-brown dog collapsing onto the rain-slicked asphalt, letting out a pained cry.
“Tch, how unlucky...”
After confirming that no one was around, the man kept his phone in his hand and pressed hard on the accelerator. He left the suffering dog behind in the darkness and drove away as if nothing had happened.
A foolish person does not realize the weight of the evil deeds they have committed at the time.

Chapter 2: 2024, After 20 Years Have Passed

Twenty long years have passed since then. The times have changed; flip phones have turned into smartphones, and the shapes of cars on the streets have changed as well.
The man is now at an age where his hair is turning gray, and he has lived peaceful days, having completely forgotten his past sins. The events of that rainy night had become something that “never happened” to him.
One sunny afternoon, the man was walking out of a train station gate while staring at his smartphone screen.
“I recognize you. You’re that man from that night.”
A low, sharp voice echoed from behind him.
When the man turned around in surprise, there stood Kaito, a young man in his 20s with a sharp gaze, wearing a leather jacket. Kaito pointed straight at the man, his voice filled with anger and conviction.
“You... who are you? Aren’t you mistaking me for someone else?”
The man was shaken, his hand holding the smartphone trembling.
“There is no mistake. I could never forget the face of the man who hit me with his car while holding a phone on that rainy night 20 years ago, and then abandoned me to die.”
“What are you saying, 20 years ago...!? Don’t tell me, you’re that dog!?”
At Kaito’s words, the vivid memory of that torrential rainy night in 2004 flashed back into the man’s mind. Kaito was the reincarnation of the dog whose life was taken that night, and he had appeared after 20 years to make the man face the consequences of his karma.
“Why, why now...!”
The man was seized by intense terror and tried to run away, but his legs were frozen and would not move.

Chapter 3: The Hellfire That Consumes the Soul

From that day on, the man’s daily life completely collapsed.
At night, when he lay in bed, an abnormal “heat” began to assault his body.
“Hot...! It’s hot...!”
It was not a visible flame. The sin he committed 20 years ago—his “karma”—was burning his soul from the inside.
As the man writhed in agony in the darkness, a shadow in the corner of the room flickered eerily, looking down at him.
“That dog...! That night...!”
The shallow fool is tormented by their own actions—just like a person scorched by fire.
The man was being forced to fully re-experience the pain of the life he had heartlessly trampled 20 years ago, now in his own body and mind. No matter how much time passes, one can never escape the retribution for evil deeds. As he was scorched by the inextinguishable fires of karma, the man sank into an endless darkness of regret.