Chapter 141
Chapter 141
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: Don't Die
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Lily tossed aside the laundry she'd been hanging and bolted outside. If she didn't get it done now, the clothes would start to smell.
She knew she'd get an earful from Lee Seong-hoon and Raphael for this—absolutely reamed—but she couldn't have cared less.
She could sense magic. Not just any magic, but an overwhelming amount. Far beyond anything she could handle.
Truth be told, Lily wanted to stay put. Ignore whatever was happening and just finish hanging the laundry at home.
She figured Lee Seong-hoon and Raphael would sort it out anyway. Sure enough, the wild surges of magic had died down several times already.
So she'd relaxed and focused on her chores—
Until she felt it. Thanks to her contract with Lee Seong-hoon, she knew. It was a lord-vassal contract.
She couldn't ignore a threat to her lord. Especially not someone like Lily, a transcendent being.
That's why she was running.
Running so frantically she'd even forgotten to transform.
"The one who hasn't fallen..."
She burst onto the road and scanned her surroundings frantically. People were collapsed everywhere. Not a single one of Justitia's countless residents had been spared.
Pedestrians sprawled on the sidewalks, people who'd dropped whatever they were carrying, folks who'd keeled over mid-bite.
It was a miracle, really. A high-ranking demon had been summoned, and this was all that happened. But Lily needed to find the one person who hadn't collapsed.
'He's dying.'
Lee Seong-hoon was dying in real time. She'd tried to fly to him before calling out, but she couldn't.
If even she, a demon, couldn't reach him, it had to be some special space created by the summoned high-ranking demon.
To break into a place like that, she'd need a massive amount of magic. That's why she was searching for a person—but there was no one.
'Evolve me first, then die.'
Evolution was a demon's destiny. For Lily, a low-rank demon who'd survived a long time, it was an insane obsession.
It was evolution on a species level. Her body transcending its limits, her very soul evolving.
A feat she'd failed at for centuries, even millennia—he could make it happen. She didn't want to let him die.
Or maybe it was that she couldn't let him.
'If it's come to this, kill everyone else—'
She stopped there. Any magic or souls she gathered would just go to Lee Seong-hoon anyway.
She needed someone alive, someone who could give her enough mana to not die. Anyone—
After running for a while, something entered her field of vision.
In this chaos, people who hadn't collapsed. Two of them, even.
Lily approached them. She recognized one of the faces.
A woman with silver hair and another with black hair.
Death.
The moment a living being's life ends. The permanent cessation of all its functions.
It's the moment every living creature wants to avoid. Death means the end. Nothing after.
Even if you'd confirmed the existence of the Heaven Realm or knew about reincarnation. Death is still terrifying.
Because in that instant, the "I" that is you ceases to exist. Humans are defined by their personality. Personality is built on memories.
Without memories, living a new life—could you even call that you?
No. It's just another person with the same soul.
That realization hit me, and suddenly I understood this space.
I understood what the [World's Most Painful Death] meant.
"The erasure of one's personality."
It kills your personality, then stops your vital functions—double death. The cruelest death in the world.
After all, hitting someone where they're already hurt is the lowest of the low.
"You got that right."
I nodded vigorously. Before entering this space, the demon had sliced me to pieces, but somehow my body had reformed.
Which is why I was floating here in this empty void.
[Annihilation?]
Oh. Right, I wasn't alone. Levatein had gotten dragged in too. Lachesis got bounced out, though.
Maybe Levatein counted as a weapon, not a living being? I pondered as we drifted aimlessly.
"Hmm."
I'd read about this once. Humans can't last more than 48 hours in a sensory deprivation tank.
After that, they stop thinking altogether, and their personality collapses.
Seems the demon was banking on that.
"Wrong address, buddy."
[Wrong address?]
"Like a house number."
I've got Levatein, after all. No idea how long we'd been here, but it felt like ages.
I hadn't just been sitting idle. Sure, I'd played around with Levatein a bit, but not that much.
I'd checked if Mana Eye could find an exit, opened Retainers to summon Lily or Lachesis here.
Tried waking Benia. Swung Death Reaper at empty air.
But all I got was despair. Nothing worked.
Mana Eye showed no mana. Lily and Lachesis didn't even respond.
Benia couldn't wake up anyway—that was wishful thinking. And Death Reaper? I swung it, but I couldn't even sense where the walls were.
"No way out."
[Daddy. Wanna go home.]
"Daddy does too—no, I mean, me too."
Levatein clung to me with a pouty face. I patted it gently. God, I really wanted to go home.
The demon was still ages away from showing up properly, and here I was in this mess. Outside must be total pandemonium by now.
I spun twice in midair. I was getting used to the near-zero gravity here.
"Wait for Mom. She'll save us. Probably Aunt, though."
[Auntie?]
"Auntie. She scares me."
[When's auntie coming?]
This kid's got a stubborn streak if you look closely. Wonder who it takes after.
I chuckled and patted Levatein's head twice. Then I lay back in a comfy position.
"Is this really the world's most painful death?"
Too comfortable. Right as I said that—
A blue window and a wall of fire appeared before my eyes.
[Threat detected. Unique mana—]
I was too startled to even look. The barrier was familiar by now. I hurriedly opened my Inventory to grab Death Reaper, but—
The wall of fire vanished, and my vision spun wildly.
"Huh?"
[Daddy!!]
My second death.
"Kuhuk!! Hngh... Hak!!"
I clutched my throat the second I opened my eyes. Good—my head was still attached.
I coughed endlessly. It still felt like blood was gushing from my neck. No time to process what was happening.
The memory of death wouldn't fade. This was different from my first time. That had been a gentle death—I hadn't even registered being torn apart.
This time? Beheaded. I'd just experienced exactly what I'd done to others.
My eyes burned red, but the coughing wouldn't stop.
[Daddy!! You okay?!]
Levatein rushed over and patted me. After heaving for what felt like forever, I finally calmed down.
Levatein looked at me with worried eyes, so I forced a smile.
At that exact moment, the blue window and fire wall reappeared.
As if waiting for me to calm down.
That's when it clicked. Why my mangled body had reformed. Why my severed head was back on. What this space really meant.
The [World's Cruelest Death] wasn't about erasing personality.
That would've been just two deaths, at worst.
This was simply—
"Just killing me over and over, huh."
Brutally straightforward. But effective. Primal methods work best for this sort of thing.
"Can't wait for Raphael."
The barrier faded. I was ready. My death-sharpened nerves triggered Hyper Sense.
Time slowed. In the crawling seconds, I tried to dodge the incoming attack.
But—
"Ah."
I couldn't. Death's blows came from every blind angle—no escaping that.
My third death approached.
Death doesn't get easier.
Each one sharpened my nerves. My heart raced like mad, adrenaline pumping full throttle.
It never dulled. Never got familiar. Each death made it more vivid, etching the moment deeper into my eyes.
That was Lee Seong-hoon's conclusion after two experiences.
I didn't want to die anymore. I couldn't.
In comics or novels, protagonists die repeatedly and shrug it off with sheer willpower.
I didn't have that kind of mental fortitude.
If I did, I wouldn't be stuck here—I'd be out slaying the Demon King. That's a privilege for world-savers.
Me? Just an average Joe.
So I wanted to escape this death. Any more, and I might not hold onto my sanity.
And who knew? The next one could be permanent. I might actually die for real.
I couldn't die. My head and body knew it, even if there was no way through.
Levatein's Auto-Defense was already used. No Lachesis.
The robe was too slow. No trick up my sleeve could dodge it.
Lee Seong-hoon kept thinking. What now? Time was short.
This slowed time was Hyper Sense at work—visual perception maxed out, creating subjective time.
Even slowed, there were limits.
"Ah."
Glancing around anxiously, I saw it. Levatein had buried its face in my chest.
Eyes squeezed shut, clutching my clothes tight.
'Can't die.'
My resolve hardened. I had to escape this space. I hugged Levatein fiercely.
Staying here meant eventual death. That's the endgame.
'If I die, what about Levatein?'
What happens to this small, fragile child?
That wasn't all. Other thoughts flooded my mind.
—The idiot angel who can't do anything without me?
—The cat whose fate I twisted?
—Benia in super recovery?
—Isia, who hasn't even met the protagonist because of me?
—Sophia? Yang Min-ji? Shin Ga-yeon? Shin Chae-yeon?
"Dying a few times really clears the head."
Lee Seong-hoon gave a bitter smile. This was reality. A world from my setting, augmented by God, sure.
But a real world. Reality. Death means game over.
Not some VR game.
—You need to value your life more.
—Our God isn't omniscient or omnipotent.
Die, and it's over. I'd come here, done reckless things. Talked big about life being precious while contradicting myself constantly.
The game-like system had made me treat it lightly at times.
'This is reality.'
That's why I didn't want to die. Too much unfinished business. Mountains of tasks. Insane responsibilities.
This wasn't some game where you wreck shop and quit—no save points.
There's an old saying:
Even rolling in shit beats the afterlife. Even if it means selling your soul to a demon.
Being alive is best.
Time resumed. I felt Levatein clinging tighter, trembling in fear.
"Levatein."
Lee Seong-hoon wrapped his arms around it. It fit perfectly in his embrace.
Warm. I could feel the heat. The sensation of reality hit vividly.
"Don't worry. I won't die."
Tsang—!!
The words barely left my mouth when a hand burst from empty air. A pale white hand. One I'd seen before.
The incoming deaths shattered and vanished at its appearance. Magic rippled outward.
"Are you alright?"
The voice came with a blue window that filled my vision.