Chapter 2. But, You Die (1)
Chapter 2. But, You Die (1)
1
Skills.
The word that made countless hunters weep.
The conditions for awakening a skill differ from person to person.
-I hit a scarecrow ten thousand times at the training ground. And then it just appeared on its own?
-One day I suddenly heard the voice of God!
-Magic? I just went into the Tower and it worked.
There were hunters who had both character and grit, but no talent, so they scraped along at the bottom. On the other hand, there were hunters with absolutely rotten personalities who coasted by on talent alone.
The prime example of the latter was the rank 1 Flame Emperor.
If you compared life to a game, Flame Emperor's life was probably a skill-god hype game, wasn't it? Since he could obtain anything he wanted through his own ability.
My life was... just an ordinary shit-luck game.
"Bwaaaargh!"
How long had I wandered aimlessly after leaving the bar?
In an alley with no one around, I finally ended up puking my guts out.
"If I'm gonna have bad luck, damn... at least have none at all."
When is the most despairing moment while playing a game?
Anyone who's played a paid mobile game would know well.
That moment isn't when you keep rolling the gacha and no 5-star comes out... it's when a 5-star does come out, but it happens to be the most garbage 5-star possible. Like a 5-star that's worse than a 3-star.
My 5-star was even worse than a 1-star.
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[I Want to Be Like You]
Rank: S+
Effect: Automatically activates when you are killed by an enemy. Copies 1 skill from the enemy who killed you and makes it yours. You cannot copy the same opponent twice. Which skill is copied is determined randomly.
※However, you die!
+
"Hic. Damn it...."
Yeah. My life really was a shit-luck game.
Normally, when you awakened a skill, you had to report it to the Hunter Management Bureau. But I didn't even report it. Because it was too unfair. Because I was too embarrassed to show this off as my skill.
-Hello, Hunter. How did you come to awaken your skill?
-Because I was jealous of the rank 1.
-Pardon?
-I was so envious and jealous I felt like I was going insane, so the skill appeared like it was telling me to choke on this. Apparently I'm the most hideously jealous person in history. Haha.
There was no way I could say that!
In the end, all I could do was drink myself stupid like now and stagger through a back alley.
'...Where am I?'
But I couldn't even do that right. Before I knew it, I had wandered into a completely unfamiliar alley. I couldn't remember where this was or how I'd gotten here.
Was I seriously going to end up sleeping on the alley floor like this?
'Ah, how miserable.'
The moment I swallowed my tears.
From the far end of the alley, I faintly heard a scream.
"...please, agh! Why all of a sudden......!"
My drowsiness vanished in an instant. The voice was too vivid to dismiss as a hallucination from being drunk on makgeolli. Whoever it was, it was a scream torn from someone genuinely fearing for their life.
'What the?'
I silenced my footsteps. I instinctively silenced my breathing too. One step, one step. I walked quietly toward the alley the scream had come from. The closer I got, the more vivid the voice became.
This was.
"H-hey, Flame Emperor. Why are you suddenly doing this to me......"
"...no use. There's no one around here anyway......"
This was the second stupid thing I did today.
The first mistake was... obviously, drinking until the fuse in my head blew out. I had never been blackout drunk in my entire life. But this day was the exception. Furious that the skill I'd finally obtained was S-rank garbage, I'd guzzled makgeolli like water.
The second mistake was not running away the moment I heard the scream.
"I coated the glass you drank from with poison in advance."
"P-poison? What are you talking about, Flame Emperor?"
"Wow. Nice acting. Anyone watching would think you really don't know."
The dead end of the alley.
In that place, dark with not even a streetlight, there was a man and a woman. Maybe it was strange to simply say they "were there." Because the man was threatening the woman, and the woman was being threatened by the man.
"Basilisk gastric fluid. Originally, this is the poison you slipped into my glass. Man, if it weren't for my skill, I'd have been in serious trouble. Oh, what's wrong? Your face has gone pale, Saintess."
"Don't tell me... Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity......? Th-that's impossible. You shouldn't have a skill like that."
"I don't."
The man's laughter spread low and quiet.
"But I do have a skill that's a little better than Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity."
And I recognized the man. No matter how dark the alley was, there was no way I wouldn't recognize that man's back... the ponytail tied back and swaying. Because just last night, I had seen an identical back view on television.
'It's really the Flame Emperor!'
The rank 1 hunter. The protagonist of this era. The idol revered by all. And precisely because of that, the one who received everyone's jealousy and envy... and among them, the hero who received my jealousy in particular.
And on top of that.
'Isn't that woman the Saintess?'
I covered my mouth to keep from letting out a breath. Saintess. The world rank 9 hunter selected by the Management Bureau, and the very person who'd recently caused a scandal over whether she was dating the Flame Emperor. The legendary beauty I'd only ever seen in videos and photos online was right there.
"But the games end here. If you touched me, you have to pay the price."
She wasn't just there—she was being threatened.
"W-wait, Flame Emperor. You're misunderstanding something...... I have nothing but the desire to team up with you and conquer the Tower!"
"I thought so too, but it turned out not to be the case."
"Please wait! Think about it. If you and I form a team, floor 40 is a given, and we might even conquer up to floor 50 within a year! Yes! It's a place humanity has never conquered before, but if it's the two of us!"
"I thought that might be the case too, but it turned out not to be."
I was shocked.
'Those two. They weren't... dating?'
The internet had been buzzing about it. Broadcasts had covered the love scandal between the two heroes. But the scene unfolding before my eyes now had absolutely zero elements of romance. Even as a joke, it was hard to call this a lovers' quarrel.
Killing intent.
All I could see was someone trying to kill, and someone trying not to be killed.
"Let's please talk! Let's resolve this misunderstanding through dialogue."
"Dialogue? Ah, dialogue. Sure. How gentlemanly."
The Flame Emperor grabbed the Saintess by the throat.
"Ghk......!"
"But I set the rules of the dialogue."
The Saintess thrashed, choking. Was she suffocating? The more she struggled, the more my own breath caught as I watched in secret. Oh god. Oh my god. Something that should never happen was happening right before my eyes.
"I ask the questions. You just answer. Ah, you don't necessarily have to answer with words. If my question is right, nod. If it's wrong, shake your head. That's all."
"Hic, huff......! Ghk...."
"If you sincerely participate in the dialogue, I'll let you live. As a bonus, I'll even give you the antidote. But if you ignore my gentlemanly consideration even once... well, you know without me explaining further, right? You went to Oxford, didn't you? Use that smart head of yours."
The Saintess desperately struck at the Flame Emperor's arm gripping her throat. Thwack! Thwack! But nothing changed. For the Saintess, who had risen to prominence as a healer, defeating the Flame Emperor through force was impossible from the start.
"Actually, there's only one thing I want to ask you."
"Mmph, ghk. Hoooh......"
"Who ordered you to kill me? Just answer that. Was it the Black Dragon Witch's doing?"
Flinch. The Saintess stopped struggling.
"Think carefully and answer. I may not have Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity, but I do have a skill that detects lies. If I catch you bullshitting, I'll burn you to the bone."
"......."
The Saintess seemed to hesitate for a moment. The pitch-black alley. I couldn't see her face, but I felt her silence. Under the Flame Emperor's watchful gaze, the Saintess slowly nodded.
"I knew it."
A small laugh escaped.
"Farewell, Saintess Isabel."
Flames erupted.
The flames devoured the dead-end alley. From the Flame Emperor's hand to the Saintess's neck, and then to her entire body. Engulfed in fire, the Saintess began to thrash. It was a desperate struggle to live. But no matter how she writhed, the Flame Emperor didn't budge.
He simply stared expressionlessly at the burning Saintess.
"Hm."
Even amid the blazing flames, the Flame Emperor was composed. With utter calm, he never released the Saintess's neck until the end. The Saintess flailed both arms, scratched at the Flame Emperor's wrist with her nails, clawed at him, and finally reached her hand toward the night sky... but soon stopped.
She went limp.
She no longer moved.
'Insane......!'
She died before my eyes. A hero of humanity.
Maybe it was strange to simply say she "died." Yes. The Saintess hadn't died an ordinary death. She had been murdered. By the Flame Emperor, who was equally treated as a hero of humanity.
'He's a madman.'
The Saintess had already become a lump of charcoal. And still the flames didn't stop. The Flame Emperor himself didn't stop. He burned her until the Saintess's flesh and bones had all melted away into ash and charcoal.
With an expressionless face the entire time.
'He's out of his mind.'
I stepped backward.
'I have to run right now.'
And then I committed my third and final mistake of the day.
Crunch—
It was a small sound. Not even a can, just the noise of stepping on a piece of glass. Whether it was a shard from someone's broken soju bottle, or a piece of glass that had rolled here on the wind... I didn't know. I didn't even need to know.
What I really needed to know was something else.
That just now, I had made a goddamn stupid mistake.
"...Oh?"
And that the Flame Emperor was not a hunter who would miss another person's mistake.
"I thought I'd taken care of all the rat bastards nearby, but there's still one left."
"Gah!"
The moment my eyes met the Flame Emperor's, I ran.
I ran without looking back. Those eyes were the eyes of a killer. Not someone who'd killed one or two people, but dozens. Or far more. The eyes of a demonic bastard who'd massacred people. And that demon was trying to kill me.
"Ha, you little shit. Cute, aren't you?"
It was the instant the Flame Emperor sneered. Whoosh! I felt a burning sensation near my ankle, and the next moment, I was rolling on the ground. At first, I couldn't understand why I'd fallen.
Not until I saw my feet on the ground.
"H-hiik......!"
My feet had been cut off. My feet—my right foot and left foot—had been severed, shoes and all.
The famous brand logo printed on the side of my sneakers looked especially white.
"P-please spare me! Please spare me!"
"Then why'd you run? Scared the shit out of me."
The Flame Emperor was bending over. He had picked up my feet. He picked up my feet and played with them, like someone tossing and catching a baseball by himself. Toss. Toss.
"Hey, did you see?"
"I-I didn't see anything!"
The Flame Emperor approached.
"Didn't see what?"
"I don't know anything! Hngh. Please. I don't know anything......"
"Don't know what?"
"Please... Flame Emperor, please... spare me. I won't say anything. I won't tell anyone, anywhere......"
A presence loomed over my head.
The Flame Emperor had bent his knees and was looking down at me.
"Wow, so you saw that I'm the Flame Emperor, and you know that I'm the Flame Emperor. That's basically seeing everything. Knowing everything."
"Please......"
"Buddy, you're about to hurt my feelings. Why do you know but pretend you don't, you piece of shit."
The Flame Emperor fiddled with my feet this way and that.
"Tell me. Which bastard sent you? The Black Dragon again?"
"I... really don't know anything... anything......"
"You don't know anything, but you were over there watching me and the Saintess? Quiet as a rat? Wow. Buddy, your credibility is overflowing. If I were just a little more of a sucker, I'd actually believe you."
The Flame Emperor grinned.
"But I'm not a sucker, you piece of shit."
Flames erupted before my eyes. Whoosh! The fire spreading from the Flame Emperor's hand burned my feet. Everything burned away to nothing. The famous brand logo, the shoes I'd worn for so long. And the feet that had been part of my body for even longer.
Everything disappeared.
"Next is your skull. Answer properly."
My mind went blank.
This demon was... insane.
He was a madman. There was no point saying anything to a madman. He was a bastard who thought everything he believed was right, who was always absolutely correct. A psychopath who would kill innocent people without a second thought.
A person who was supposedly rank 1—how could a human being do that?
People had been infatuated with this kind of person?
People... and I—had I thought of this kind of person as a hero, even a little? Praised him for being honest, for having a refreshing personality? This madman?
"Th-that's a lie......"
"What?"
"The lie detection skill... you said you have a lie detection skill."
I desperately continued speaking.
"You told the Saintess you could tell if she lied. You told her to answer carefully."
"......."
"Test me with it. You'll see that what I'm saying is true. Flame Emperor, I just... I really just happened to pass by. Please believe me!"
The Flame Emperor's expression turned strange.
"That was bullshit."