The Time Before (Undertale)

29 ~ New Job

With the king having acquired the fourth of the seven Souls necessary to break the Barrier, the Underground was again filled with hope.

Sans, for his part, was pretty happy. Business was better than ever at the hotdog stand, he hadn't told anyone about his part in the human's death so he wasn't swamped in people with questions, and Papyrus was safe.

So in his opinion, everything was great.

On top of that, he had managed to get a job, a real job. There was a fancy apartment building being built near the CORE, and a fancy diner off the side of that. They were looking for entertainment in the diner, and Sans had signed on as a comedian.

His puns were horrible and his first few shows had kinda flopped, but he was practicing now outside of work, to flip that around.

And then, one day after dropping Papyrus off at preschool, he was walking to his hotdog stand, when he heard a voice.

"Excuse me? Sans?"

He froze. He had heard that voice...

Turning around, he saw it was none other than the goat bossmonster king himself.

"d-- uh- y-your majesty!" Sans stammered.

The king waved a paw. "Please. There is no need for that. Call me Asgore."

Sans blinked a little. "o-okay. asgore."

King Asgore nodded and smiled. "Yes! Now, you are Sans, right?"

"yeah...?"

"And you are the one who killed the human before I could get there?"

Sans remembered. That's where he had heard this voice! It was the one he had heard right before passing out.

"yeah. that's me." He said, slowly, ready to decline any offers to fame.

"Ah, good. I will be straightforward, then. I am in need of someone to fill the position of Judge."

Sans frowned. He wasn't familiar with the position. He said so.

Asgore smiled patiently. "Come, we can get some food, and I will tell you."

~o0o~

They ended up at the little spider bakery in Hotland. It was expensive, except the baker lowered the price considerably for Asgore.

They sat at a bench a little ways away.

"The Judge," Asgore began slowly, "is a difficult position to fill. Most of the time, the Judge does not have to do anything. But, if a threat comes to the Underground, and makes it to the Final Corridor, it is the Judge's job to see if they are worthy to proceed. If they are not, if their sins weigh too heavily on their backs, then it is the Judge who sentences them to punishment, and then it is the Judge who carries out that punishment. So, you see, it needs to be someone strong enough to kill a human."

Sans flinched a little. He wasn't strong enough to kill a human. It was only because of the whole go-back-and-change-things ability that he had that allowed him to not die.

Asgore saw him flinch, and must have thought it was about something else. "There is also the matter of pay." Asgore continued. "Even when the Judge is not required to do anything, you would receive a monthly stipend of five thousand gold."

Sans blanched. Five thousand gold a month?! With that much money, he could- he could--!!

Asgore noticed his shock. "The judge is a very dangerous position, even if it is rarely. As such, it requires a generous pay."