Chapter 34. My Death (1)
Chapter 34. My Death (1)
1
Yeah. I was back again.
Now I could say I had "returned" to this place.
[Randomly copying a skill from the monster Demon King of Fall Rain.]
The pit where my consciousness had fallen. The underworld.
My hell.
People called me a loser. I was a loser. This place was what had given me a chance. When I burned to death in the flames of the one called Flame Emperor, I hadn't missed the last chance the Tower had gifted me.
Why?
[Forming a skill card.]
Why had the Tower given me, of all people, this kind of chance?
It was the same question as "Why did it allow a psychopath like Yoo Soo-ha to have that kind of power?" Why? Why had it gifted this chance to a human like me, someone so insignificant that he just scrolled through forums burning with jealousy?
-I saw all the skills you've got.
The guardian spirit said.
-Want me to read them off now?
"Yes, please."
-Okay!
Maybe the Tower had felt regret.
Listening to the skills the guardian spirit recited, I thought.
Maybe the Tower had been disappointed by the attitude the hunters had shown.
+
[Resentment Flows Like Rain]
Rank: S-
Effect: You do not see. It is not seen. People believe that if something is not visible before their eyes, it does not exist. "They are ones who have gone blind." Yes. "They are ignorant."
Then show them.
Show them plainly how many lives have died in their ignorance. As much as the blood that has flowed innocently in this world, the sky will willingly pour down red rain.
※However, only the blood you have personally witnessed becomes rain.
+
Flame Emperor Yoo Soo-ha had undoubtedly smashed the 10th-floor stage.
Not smashed in the sense of clearing it. The resentment, the grievances, the bitter curses the dolls carried. He would have ignored all of it and literally smashed through.
Wouldn't the Tower have found that regrettable?
Wouldn't it have been disappointed?
"What's the next skill?"
-This one.
The guardian spirit said.
+
[The Heart Echoes and Cries Out]
Rank: A+
Effect: Strengthens your aura using your emotions as fuel. The stronger your emotions, the more your aura responds. Vengeance, hatred, sorrow, joy, anger, pleasure. It does not matter what emotion it is. A fire will burn without choosing its firewood.
※However, you will gradually become addicted to that emotion.
+
"......."
I took my time deliberating.
Yes. The Tower had surely been disappointed.
"Every floor has a hidden quest."
Just as the Hellfire Mansion had a quest to comfort the dolls.
Perhaps... the 12th floor might have a hidden quest as well.
If only to find that out, I listened intently to the guardian spirit's words.
+
[Hundred Ghost Summoning]
Rank: SS
Effect: Summons those you have personally killed as monsters. The dead do not inherit the abilities they had in life. Nor do they inherit memories. They are merely summoned as monsters such as goblins, orcs, zombies, or skeletons.
※However, you may only summon once per week.
+
There were many other minor skills besides these.
But the three skills that weighed on my mind were those.
"...Good."
I nodded.
"I've decided."
Which skill to choose.
How to clear the 12th floor—no.
How to clear the stages up to the 20th floor.
"I'll go with this one."
-Huh?
My choice must have seemed unexpected.
The guardian spirit tilted its head.
-You're going with that? Hm? I don't really know about that.
"No. At least for clearing up to the 20th floor, this will be the best."
-I dunno... Well, whatever. Do as you like. I don't know what you're thinking, but. You'll probably scheme something up again anyway.
"Look forward to it."
As I reached toward the card, I said, oh, right.
"Sword Emperor, sir. You know Sword Saint's daily routine inside and out, don't you?"
-Huh? Well, I do know it. Old man Marcus has his schedule set in stone from the moment he wakes at dawn until he sleeps at night. A total old-timer.
"Tell me his evening schedule. I have a use for it."
-Sure, why not.
I grabbed the card.
A voice rang out in the dark space.
[Selection complete. Copying skill.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
And so I returned to one day earlier.
[Your current hunter rank is D-grade.]
[A penalty from the skill is being applied.]
[Reproducing the trauma of the enemy who killed you.]
Of course there was a penalty.
I ended up seeing the trauma of the one called Demon King of Fall Rain.......
But right now was the time to first resolve the problem of the 12th floor.
[Penalty depth is medium.]
[It is the Hungry Ghost Realm.]
That nightmare—
let's talk about it a little later.
2
The guardian spirit had taught me the life of one second.
That originally, a person finds it difficult to properly live even a single second.
This time, I keenly felt that it was truly so.
"...You're leaving already?"
A café.
The Witch looked up at me from her seat.
It wasn't only the Witch. The heads of the major guilds each wore different expressions as they stared at me. Even the Count, who had died on the 12th floor from the Demon King's blow, smiled faintly as she sipped her tea.
A café in the 1st-floor city.
The place where I had formed an agreement with the guild masters.
That was where I had returned to.
"One day."
I realized anew how vast a span of 24 hours was.
It was dizzying.
In one day, we had opened a new era, cleared the 11th floor, and fought the Demon King on the 12th floor. And yet, good lord. All of it had happened in less than a day.
"...Yes. The 11th floor opens soon, doesn't it."
My throat was a little choked.
I cleared it with a cough and spoke.
"If I don't want to fall behind the others, I need to start preparing now."
"How do you plan to prepare when you don't even know what kind of place the 11th floor is?"
"......."
The 11th floor has no problems at all.
The problem starts from the 12th floor, where the Demon King intervenes.
There, you all will split apart.
Someone will betray the rest, and because of that betrayal, you will be divided.
People will even die.
"...Kim Gong-ja?"
The Witch narrowed her brows.
"Are you okay? Your expression suddenly looks strange. Does your stomach hurt?"
"Hm. I'm fine. It's just, everyone here leads a guild and is so impressive, and me being in a place like this got me a little choked up. I guess you could say I felt the weight of how much things have changed."
I continued calmly.
The guardian spirit watched me silently.
"Anyway, yes. That's right. Everyone, I know what the 11th floor is like. Not only that, I even know the quest details of the 11th floor."
"......!"
The guild masters' eyes changed.
Information was as important as life itself. What I had said to them was no different from this: I know the hint to a matter that concerns your lives. They had every reason for their faces to change.
"When I cleared the 10th floor, I received information as a reward."
"...The reason you're deliberately revealing that here, in this place."
The Witch parted her lips.
"May I interpret it as you being willing to share that information with us as well?"
"Of course."
I raised my index finger.
"However, there's a condition."
"Tell me. I'll listen gladly."
"If I ever make a [request] of you, please grant it just once."
I looked at the hunters seated around the table one by one. Hearing my words, the hunters' faces fell into deliberation. A request. A word that was easy and yet heavy.
"What kind of request?"
"I can't tell you right now."
"......."
"But I can swear to this here and now. It will never be a request that threatens your lives. Nor will it be a request for money. Nor will I ask you to take someone else's life. If you decide the request is impossible, you can simply refuse when the time comes."
"Hmm."
The Heretic Questioner stroked his chin.
His right hand.
The hand that had been sent flying by Sword Saint's sword in the previous round.
"To my ears, it sounds fair. To be honest, the terms are extremely good! Ah-ha. If we have information, we can prepare in advance, and if we can prepare in advance, there is almost no problem we cannot solve. I am in favor!"
"Hmm. If we retain the right of refusal... I too am in favor."
The Heretic Questioner agreed, and the Count concurred.
The remaining hunters finished their deliberations one by one and promised to accept my condition.
"Okay."
Stage 1 cleared.
"Then I'll tell you. From the 11th floor to the 20th floor, the stage is another world called the Aegim Empire. That place is under invasion by the Demon King, and the 11th floor is a battlefield fought over a supply route......."
My voice flowed softly through the café.
Once they had heard all the information about the 11th floor, the guild masters murmured among themselves.
"...I see. So up to the 10th floor was a tutorial. From the 11th floor onward, we'll be joining large-scale battles."
"Information worth its weight in gold."
"Yes! The nature of the fighting will change completely!"
"We'll have to leak some information to our guild members as well. Goodness. But our Merchant Alliance kids have no talent for fighting......."
The hunters exchanged opinions actively.
I nodded.
"With this, we can clear the 11th-floor stage much more comfortably."
Things were already changing.
Unlike the previous round, this alone had already changed a great deal.
But it still wasn't enough.
"Then I'll be going now.... Ah. Paladin."
"Hm?"
Paladin turned her head. She was drinking her third Americano through a straw.
"Why do you call?"
"Paladin, you're the vice-captain of the Vigilante Corps, aren't you. Would you like to walk outside with me for a bit? I have something to consult with you about while we take a short walk."
"Hmm."
Paladin glanced around once and shrugged.
"Well, I was thinking of getting up soon anyway. As long as the walk doesn't take too long......."
"It won't take long. Thirty minutes is plenty."
"Then I don't mind either."
Paladin set down her coffee cup.
"I shall gladly accept your request for a date."
3
A city teeming with people.
In the plaza, on benches by the fountain, at outdoor restaurants, hunters were chattering about the 10th floor.
"Seeing as there's still no announcement, an unknown rookie cleared it!"
"No way. The top guilds are probably just coordinating something among themselves."
"Who actually cleared it......."
"I want to clear a stage too."
Murmur, murmur.
For those whose tomorrow had been erased, the clearing of the 10th floor was an event that had just happened moments ago.
You could say it felt like walking through time without being erased, alone.
-Hey, zombie.
No, strictly speaking, I wasn't alone.
-He's following. Following.
Because the guardian spirit was attached to me.
"Are you sure?"
-I'm sure. But don't turn around.
To safely clear the 12th floor, two conditions were necessary.
One was the cooperation of the major guild leaders.
The other was... that Sword Saint not be hostile toward me.
"If I go to the 12th floor and clear up Sword Saint's misunderstanding, it's already too late."
I had felt that bitterly in the previous round.
"I have to clear up the misunderstanding before climbing the Tower."
Sword Saint was on very bad terms with the guild masters.
If he pointed his sword at me, I would automatically fall out with the guild masters too. They were already dying to tear each other apart, and now a bomb called "traitor" drops on top of that?
That was a shortcut to ruin.
-Wow, he's flawless. Look at that tailing skill. Zombie, you probably wouldn't notice even if you turned around. Old man Marcus has stealth-type skills too, you know.
"Got it, so just check that he's following properly."
And so I was currently [fishing] for Sword Saint.
I had heard about Sword Saint's daily routine from the guardian spirit and deliberately made myself visible to Sword Saint according to that schedule. Sword Saint had been eating dinner at his regular outdoor restaurant when he spotted me. He stopped eating and immediately began tailing me.
Of course.
"Kim Gong-ja, where are we going?"
Paladin, walking beside me, didn't know about it.
"If we enter this alley, there's nothing but a rather dim neighborhood......."
"There's a shop I want to introduce you to, Paladin."
"A shop?"
"Yes. It's run by a nameless pharmacist. Her skills are truly excellent. If her name got out even a little, she'd hit it big right away, but that hasn't happened, so she's been stuck in a rut. Take a look, and if you think she's good, please help her business a bit."
"Hmmm......."
Paladin studied my expression as she walked alongside me.
I knew what she was doing.
"She's activated her Lie Detector skill."
Paladin opened her mouth.
"Is what you just said true?"
"Yes, of course. Why would I lie to you, Paladin."
I really was going to introduce her to the pharmacist's shop, so it wasn't a lie.
"I ask out of an abundance of caution, but you're not scheming something suspicious, are you?"
"I'm trying to get help from you, Paladin. If something dangerous happens, it'll be my life in danger, not yours. Try to trust me."
"Hmm."
Paladin slowly nodded.
It would all have been determined to be true.
"I'm sorry."
Paladin smiled.
"I'm often told I have a bad case of paranoia. Let's keep going."
Okay. Passed.
We passed through the alley and arrived safely at the pharmacist's shop. As it happened, the pharmacist was moving heavy luggage, perhaps because she had brought new equipment into the shop. Seeing the two of us approach, the pharmacist tilted her head at first, then recognized my face and beamed.
"Ah! Customer!"
"Are you still open, boss?"
"Ahaha. Business hours are over, but for you, I'll open the shop anytime! You're my first regular. Heave-ho!"
The pharmacist set down her load.
Just a few days ago, her hair and clothes had been a mess, but now she had completely transformed. She must have gone to a salon and bought new clothes, because she finally gave off the air of a proper shop owner.
"Phew. Ah, sorry. Customer. And this person here is......?"
"This is a hunter who serves as vice-guild master of the Vigilante Corps. You've heard of her, right? Her alias is Paladin."
"...Excuse me?"
The pharmacist's eyes wavered behind her glasses.
"Th-the vice-guild master of the Vigilante Corps?"
"Yep."
"She's someone so far above me!"
As expected, from the perspective of ordinary hunters, this kind of reaction was normal.
"Wh-what brings the vice-captain of the Vigilante Corps to our humble shop... Eek! Drugs? Is this a drug crackdown! I-I haven't manufactured any drugs! I may be doing business in an alley like this, but drugs—no, not just drugs, I have never manufactured even a single gram of any bad medicine!"
"......."
"I've lived with a clear conscience! I'll continue to live with a clear conscience! So please, just spare me the investigation!"
The pharmacist prostrated herself flat on the floor.
This was not a normal reaction.
"Hm......."
Paladin wore a troubled expression. According to her [Lie Detector], all of that would also be true. She seemed to be deliberating whether to regard the pharmacist before her as an odd lunatic or as a conscientious merchant.
"Now, now. Boss. Don't worry."
Pat, pat.
I patted the pharmacist on the shoulder.
"I didn't come here to rat you out to the Vigilante Corps. You're so skilled and so pure-hearted, boss."
"Is that so......?"
"Compared to your skills, the shop isn't doing well at all, is it. I felt so bad about it that I came to introduce you to the vice-captain here."
The pharmacist raised her head and opened her mouth blankly.
"An in-introduction......?"
"An introduction, literally. Give the vice-captain some of each type of potion so she can test them. Who knows? If she thinks the effects are good, she might sign an exclusive contract with you."
"......."
"If you start supplying potions to the Vigilante Corps, wouldn't things get much easier for you too, boss?"
The pharmacist blinked.
It seemed to take her a moment to understand my words.
A moment later, she grabbed my hand.
"A-an angel......!"
Not an angel—Gong-ja.
"You helped me when my shop was about to be sold, you placed a huge order, and. And. And now even a sales channel... Customer, are you an angel.... How could I ever repay this kindness......?"
That was the moment the shop owner who would later come to be called the Alchemy Ministry Head's eyes lit up.
Step.
In the quiet alley, someone set down a footstep. The footfall was unusually heavy, so all of us—including me, Paladin, and the pharmacist—turned to look.
"...There."
The owner of the footstep was dressed in a black suit.
"Everyone except that man, clear the area."
And he glared coldly at me.
Sword Saint.
The old man of this round, who still did not trust me.
The veteran swordsman's low voice echoed through the alley.
"This old man wishes to speak quietly with that person, just the two of us."
Good.
It was time to clear the stage 2 condition.