Chapter 35
Chapter 35 – My Death Is (2)
Sponsored Content
Translator: HH
“Sword Saint…?”
The Crusader frowned her forehead .
“What are you doing here?”
She probably didn’t expect to meet him in this small alley . It was an unexpected place and person . It didn’t seem to be a coincidence .
“A young lady is already having problems with hearing . ”
The old man was exuding a murderous intent towards me .
“I’m sure I said to move . I have something to do with the guy over there . ”
“Are you saying that you want to speak alone with the Kim Gong-ja hunter?”
“Huh . I’m not interested in his name . ”
“······ . ”
The atmosphere of the alley changed .
The Crusader didn’t frown anymore . She was expressionlessly glared at the Sword Saint . Her guard was definitely up .
“Move . ”
Sword Saint spoke .
“I already said to move 3 times . ”
“What doesn’t make sense three times wouldn’t make sense even after 30 times . Sword Saint . Did you lose your sense with your age?”
The Crusader grabbed her sword .
“Kim Gong-ja hunter already joined the five guilds, along with the Civil Militia . I don’t know what you’re thinking but…don’t think that the Civil Militia will stay still . ”
“Ha!”
The Sword Saint snorted .
“I knew it . The guilds were all working together . I knew it . ”
“…working together . I don’t know what you’re trying to say . ”
The atmosphere became worse as time passed .
“Sword Saint . I know because it was already reported that you hunt humans . Of course, if it’s something according to your morals, I won’t say much . But it’s different if you’re planning to do that right in front of me . ”
“Different?”
“I’ll stop it with my life . ”
“Are you confident you can do that?”
“No . ”
The Crusader looked at the Sword Saint expressionlessly .
“I’m going to fight with all my strength, and die . And the moment I die, you’ll be someone who killed an innocent player . Sword Saint . If you want to live the rest of your life as a murderer, be my guest . ”
“······ . ”
“The life that you don’t have long to live . I’ll show you . ”
The Sword Saint’s old face crumpled .
It was already evening . The sun set quickly in the alley . I could feel people walking her and there along the alley, but no one was here except for us . It was silent .
‘Yeah . ’
I brought the Crusader here to make this kind of silence .
‘Sword Saint is weak to innocent people . ’
And Crusader was probably the only innocent people of the large guilds .
When the Sword Saint tried to kill me in the last regression, the Crusader got in between Sword Saint and me .
-Ms . Crusader .
-You’re the only person here who hasn’t hurt anyone . Fine . I’ll trust you .
It was what he said in passing .
That meant .
‘The kill count of the Crusader is [0] . ’
Even the Sword Saint had violent morals…no . Because he had those standards, the Crusader would seem like an even better person .
‘The Sword Saint won’t ever be able to hurt Crusader . ’
To evil people, he was a murderer, but to good people, he was a harmless old man .
And…
‘It’s not just the Crusader . ’
Someone walked next to us . It was the pharmacist . At the appearance of the Sword Saint and Crusader, she was hesitating, and she spread her arms out .
“E, excuse me . ”
The pharmacist spoke . Even her chin was trembling probably because she was so nervous . She bit her lips several times and finally managed to speak .
“I don’t know what it’s about…but the c, customer here! He’s my savior!”
The future Lord of Alchemy spoke as fiercely as she could .
“It’s not like there’s laws in Babylon like the outside world but…protecting a customer is o, obvious…and even though you’re the Sword Saint! I can’t forgive you if you touch a customer here!”
“······ . ”
“A few days ago gangsters made a mess and I was in trouble! Sorry, but please leave from here!”
Sponsored Content
The pharmacist shouted . If she went against the Sword Saint, she would’ve died in a second . But he was still weak to her .
It was for the same reason .
‘Saintess . Crusader . Lord of Alchemy Castle . ’
These three hunters were famous for being kind .
‘Even when the Flame Emperor was in the slums, the Lord of Alchemy Castle arrived first . ’
Kind people .
They were always on the short side, and received more stress than other people .
But the only people who could stop Sword Saint were…kind people like them .
“What are you going to do?”
The Crusader spoke .
“If you want to make a mess, go ahead . ”
“······ . ”
The Sword Saint hesitated . If I was right, the result was already decided .
And, I was right .
Not too long after, the old sword user pulled his sword back .
“…Today’s not the day . ”
The Sword Saint took his murderous aura back .
Even when he was walking back, he was glaring at me .
“I hope we don’t meet again . If he didn’t have anything to do with you, his head would be on the floor . ”
Good .
Stage 2 clear .
With this, the Sword Saint wouldn’t swing his sword at me anytime . Even if he killed me, I would have the opportunity to speak .
“Sword Saint!”
Before the old man completely turned away, I shouted .
“I’ll be waiting in the empty field tomorrow morning!”
“······ . ”
“You can come if you want to . I’ll be waiting . Really! If you want to know what kind of human I am, come tomorrow morning!”
The old man turned his head around to glare at me . He examined my face with his blue eyes . But that was it . Without any particular response, he headed back out of the alley .
Once his heavy footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore, the Crusader sighed .
“Whew! That was close . To meet a murderer tonight . ”
Murderer .
“ . . is the Sword Saint famous for being a murderer?”
“Not famous . But the five Guild Masters know well . ”
The Crusader shook her head .
“I heard he lost his daughter to a murderer outside of the tower . ”
“······ . ”
“Because of that, the Sword Saint doesn’t let go of murderers . He’s ridiculously tough . Well, we didn’t have any evidence, so we were just watching…mm . And this is obviously a secret . ”
Bae Hu-ryeong got in front of me .
-Yeah . Grandpops Marcus told me that once before . His daughter and son in law were killed by a serial killer . His grandchildren barely survived .
‘Why are you saying that now?’
-Huh? What are you talking about? You didn’t ask .
Bae Hu-ryeong spoke shamelessly .
Yeah . He was always like this .
“Well . It’s not like I don’t understand the Sword Saint . ”
The Crusader looked around bitterly .
In the empathy alley, the evening set cast shadows of the buildings .
“Working at the Civil Militia, you met murderers . Sometimes, there’s times when you think that it was okay for them to kill…even I’m tempted sometimes as well . ”
The Crusader mumbled .
“All the guild masters have a behind story . Kim Gong-ja . Since you’re with us not, you’ll see that there are disgusting bits about us . How you’ll react…mm . ”
She shook her head . Was it because she thought she said too many things to an outsider?
“We got off subject . ”
She intentionally spoke in a brighter voice .
“So, how much is the potion here? The Civil Militia is also not funded well so it’s a bit tricky if it’s too expensive but…”
4 .
The next day .
I looked at my phone by myself in the empty field .
There was really not a single soul here . It was obvious . The hunters of Babylon were all in the square having a festival .
It was similar to the last regression .
Sponsored Content
‘But there’s something that’s different . ’
I looked at the news popping up on my phone .
-[Breaking] 11th floor, guild attack? Black Dragon gathering all their members .
-Guilds creating teams to clear…
-Heretic Questioner interview! “You have to have a team for the 11th floor . ”
-Source of the information is a puzzle…
That was right .
The world had changed a little .
Because of me .
“······ . ”
And it was going to change again .
“Hmm . ”
Sword Saint walked in from the other side . The sky behind him looked extra blue . People were shouting from the direction of the city .
[00:01:31]
The clock of light was floating up in the air .
A blue sky, people’s voices, and clock of light .
Sword Saint was walking towards me with all that behind him .
“You’re really alone . ”
Sword Saint stopped .
“Is this the confidence to be able to stand against me by yourself? Well, I guess if you’re a murderer that did all that, you would be confident . ”
His eyes when he was looking at me felt completely new . It was completely different to last time .
It was because there was acknowledgement and respect in his life last time .
But right now, there was none of that .
Enmity . Hostility .
It was like he was looking at a murderer .
-Zombie?
‘······ . ’
-Are you alright?
I nodded inwardly .
‘I’m good . ’
I was just a bit hurt .
“Sword Saint . ”
I folded my thoughts .
“I have something I want to say to you . ”
“Go ahead . If it’s your will, I’ll listen to it . ”
“I know why you’re being like this . ”
The Sword Saint lifted a corner of his mouth .
“I see . You know your own fault . ”
“It’s because of the skill you have . ”
“······ . ”
The Sword Saint’s face hardened .
“How do you…?”
“Please believe what I’m going to say . ”
I thought of how hard it was to get someone’s trust as I said that .
Everyone had their stubbornness . For the Sword Saint, it was his [Detective’s Insight] skill . The skill that showed someone’s kill count . The Sword Saint looked down at you if his skill said so .
That was why it was his stubbornness .
He lived according to that stubbornness .
The moment he threw away that stubbornness, he would throw away his lifestyle .
‘You have to convince people like that . ’
And I had to make him trust me .
I needed to make him ignore the lifestyle that he lived until now .
Thinking about it now, I realized how hard it was .
‘But . . I can do it . ’
I clenched my fist .
‘I can just put my life on the line as well . ’
I opened my mouth .
“Sword Saint-nim . I’m a prophet . ”
“What?”
“I have a skill that’s similar to prophesying things . That’s how I know you have that skill . If I stay like this, you’ll kill me, and I’ll ask why you had to kill me . ”
“······ . ”
“Then, you said that you have a skill called [Detective’s Insight], and there’s a number called [4093] above my head . ”
It was a small lie .
But I needed to convince him even by lying .
[00:00:00]
The clock in the sky was turning to zero . Fireworks exploded . I could hear cheers .
The old man and me .
We just looked at each other .
After a silence, the Sword Saint spoke .
“-guess . ”
“What?”
“I’m hiding my left hand behind my back . And I have my finger’s held . Tell me how many fingers I’m holding up . “
Okay .
So that’s how he was coming out .
I expected this .
“If you can’t guess, I’ll know that you’re ly…”
The Sword Saint was probably getting ready to attack .
But he didn’t expect something like this .
Before the Sword Saint could speak, I got out a dagger . Without any hesitation, I cut my throat .
“What?!”
The Sword Saint’s eyes widened .
He had only attacked others his entire life . He wouldn’t have expected that I would cut my neck . Because of that 1 second, I was able to kill myself .
And .
[You have died . ]
[You are regressing to 24 hours ago . ]
1 second was enough for me .
Again, I started my day .
I went down from the 10th floor stage and met the large guild members . The Crusader and I walked into the alley . We met the Sword Saint .
[00:00:00]
And time was in this moment again .
“-guess . ”
It was the same test as my last regression .
But my reaction wasn’t the same as last time . Instead, I spoke like I had expected it before .
“You’re trying to hide your self hand behind your back again . ”
“······ . ”
“You’re trying to ask me how many fingers you’re lifting up . It’s easy to kill me here . But you can’t clear the 12th floor stage like this . A lot of people will lose their lives . ”
“…wait . ”
The Sword Saint spoke .
“This isn’t enough . You could have another skill…”
Fine .
Once wasn’t enough .
I had already expected this .
[You have died . ]
[You are being regressed to 24 hours ago . ]
Of course it wouldn’t be easy to convince someone .
“That’s not enough evidence . It could be…”
“You’re thinking it could be another skill like clairvoyance or something else . ”
But it was okay .
If he wanted to test me, he could continue to do so .
[You have died . ]
[You are regressing to 24 hours ago . ]
He could suspect me as much as he wanted .
[You have died . ]
[You are regressing to 24 hours ago . ]
It didn’t matter if it took a week or a month .
[You have died . ]
[You are regressing to 24 hours ago . ]
I was confident I could convince him .
My death is longer than your life .
“······ . ”
Then, the Sword Saint closed his mouth .
All his suspicions had been answered .
I spoke calmly .
“Sword Saint-nim . Please trust me . ”
“······ . ”
“You can’t kill me here . Countless innocent people will die on the 12th floor stage . Really . I’m not telling you I’m innocent, and I’m not telling you to save me forever . ”
“…Then?”
“5 days . ”
I lifted my fingers .
“Please don’t just kill me for the next few days . Following me, you can judge with your own two eyes if I deserve to die . ”
The Sword Saint was silent .
I knew that he was hesitating .
The last final blow was needed .
And I knew what the ‘last blow’ was .
“You still don’t believe me . ”
“······ . ”
“You say something to me in the future . You know that I’m really a prophet if I say this . ”
“…what’s that?”
I answered .
“Sword Emperor . ”
The old man’s eyes widened .
I continued to speak, regardless .
“I don’t know who that is, but you said you would believe me if I said that . ”
“······ . ”
It was silent .
Cheers were still coming from the city far away . I could even see the image of the goddess descending .
When the goddess slowly began to fade away, the old Sword Saint spoke .
“5 days . Youngster . ”
“Yes . ”
“Fine . ”
The Sword Saint looked into my eyes .
“I’m going to follow you for 5 days . I’ll be observing you say and do without missing anything . After that, I’ll decide whether you’re a prophet or not . ”
“······ . ”
“Is this good?”
Very .
“…Yes . Good . That’s enough . ”
I bowed my head .
“Thank you, truly . ”
All the conditions were cleared .
First, getting the promise from the Guild Masters .
Second, stopping the Sword Saint from killing me right away .
Third, having the Sword Saint trust me for a while .
‘Finally . ’
Now, finally, even if we climbed up to the 12h floor, the Sword Saint and the Guild Masters wouldn’t clash .
Nor would the innocent hunters die .
“Then, Sword Saint . See you on the next stage . ”
I barely managed to speak through my tight throat .
The Sword Saint was looking at me strangely, but I couldn’t worry about that right now . I had to do what I had to do .
“Transmit . ”
White light surrounded me .
Feeling my heart beat faster, I thought to myself .
‘Now all that’s left is to hunt the Devil King . ’
The world changed .
‘Wait . Devil King . ’
And it was going to change a bit more .