WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Returned as a God ◈
Chapter 126: The Clock of Death (2)
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I kept my mouth shut, and Park Siyu jabbed my side with his elbow.
"You can just tell them the truth."
"I don't even know if I can block that at full power right now."
"Are you ignoring me? I'm still fine."
"You're bleeding all over the place. That doesn't exactly sound convincing."
Blood ran down Jin Sangbyeok's forehead.
Jin Sangbyeok had a habit of putting on a tough front over nothing.
"This is nothing. Though, I see you've dropped the formalities."
"Too much trouble to keep using honorifics for everyone."
The answer could've come off as rude, but Jin Sangbyeok didn't seem to mind.
Jin Sangbyeok looked like a wreck.
Next to Park Siyu and Choi Suhyun, who barely had a scratch on them, the difference stood out even more.
Anyone looking on would think he'd taken on all the suffering by himself.
Well, I mean...
He probably had suffered the most, honestly.
He'd fought everything from Yeongno to Hresvelgr, every one of the biggest monsters.
Standing next to Park Siyu made the comparison obvious, apparently, because Jin Sangbyeok flushed red and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. What I meant was, don't underestimate Transcendents. Setting me aside, isn't Representative Park here too? And Choi Suhyun?"
"I'm here too, you know."
Jeong Choa, who'd been grabbed by Jin Sangbyeok and left in Choi Jaebyung's care, walked over.
Choa shook off Choi Jaebyung's attempt to treat her without a second thought.
Jin Sangbyeok frowned at the sight of her.
Jin Sangbyeok was strangely uncomfortable around Choa.
"A-Rank, stay out of this."
"Weren't we talking about Transcendents? I'm a Transcendent too, so I've earned my place in this conversation."
Jin Sangbyeok's face went incredulous.
Someone who became a Transcendent and still stayed an A-Rank Hunter was rare.
S-Rank and A-Rank Hunters got treated completely differently.
Thinking about the privileges that came with becoming an S-Rank Hunter, staying an A-Rank was borderline foolish.
Jin Sangbyeok clicked his tongue, looking at Park Siyu.
"More trash than I imagined."
Park Siyu's mouth hung open, too stunned to get a word out.
Jin Sangbyeok had gotten a wildly wrong idea about the relationship between Park Siyu and Jeong Choa.
The real reason Choa never made S-Rank was that she hadn't cleared the minimum number of required dungeons. Nothing more, nothing less.
Jin Sangbyeok, oblivious to all that, seemed convinced Park Siyu had deliberately kept Choa from reaching S-Rank.
Sure, their relationship was unusual, but Jin Sangbyeok's read on it looked even less sane.
I waved a hand through the air, steering the topic away.
"That's not what matters right now."
The god Beritaas rose, and the sky went dark.
Countless arms sprouting from its body shielded Gross.
"Let's figure out how to deal with that first."
"A god who broke a taboo is uglier than I imagined. Guess I never expected to end up fighting something like that."
"Ugh, I want to go home! If I'd known things would blow up like this, I never would've joined the raid!"
"To destroy that Gross thing, we need to take down the god Beritaas first."
"Can we even fight that thing? It was insanely strong even back at the temple."
Everyone was too busy throwing out their own opinions to listen to anyone else's.
Some of it wasn't even opinions, more like just noise.
Arms crossed, I met Choi Suhyun's eyes. He had a hand on his hip.
"You're sitting this one out."
"Park Siyu's out first."
Choi Suhyun and I said it almost at the same time, both pointing at Park Siyu.
Out of nowhere, singled out, Park Siyu's eyes went wide.
He looked more shocked than when Jin Sangbyeok had called him trash.
"Don't joke around in a situation like this."
"You think this looks like a joke to me?"
"Suhyun-hyung's right."
Park Siyu's taboo was "Do not seek revenge."
If Seo Jihoon and Yu Seyeon's target for revenge was Raon Guild or Park Siyu, the ones they blamed for driving Yu Chaeyoung to her death, then the real revenge Park Siyu had in mind wasn't Raon Guild. It was the god Beritaas itself, the one Yu Chaeyoung had served.
Park Siyu caught on to what Choi Suhyun and I were getting at.
"That's overstepping. I'll handle that myself."
"You and Kim Gangwoo, get behind the line."
"I said I'll handle my own business. You don't want to make me repeat myself."
"I said get out. I've already said the same thing three times."
Choi Suhyun gripped his ma-total, refusing to back down.
Park Siyu wasn't backing off either, hand tightening on the hilt of his Light Saber.
A heavy tension settled over them, like they'd come to blows any second.
The people who didn't know the full story looked lost.
"I get you're excited to be back in the field after so long, but you don't seem to grasp the situation. I'm the one in overall charge of this operation."
"Bullshit."
"You're the raid party leader, not the leader of this fight."
"Step aside, Choi Suhyun."
"If words won't work, I'll have to make you."
"What kind of mess is this now?"
Unable to just watch, Jin Sangbyeok stepped between Choi Suhyun and Park Siyu.
I sided openly with Choi Suhyun.
Sorry, but this once, I couldn't stand with Park Siyu.
A taboo.
The whole reason it was called a taboo was because when that moment came, there was no way to act otherwise.
Thinking "I just won't break it" wasn't enough.
A taboo that even a so-called absolute being like a god couldn't withstand. There was no way a mere Transcendent could hold it back.
In that light, Yu Chaeyoung really had been an exceptional case.
If Park Siyu hadn't shown up in that moment, she would have broken her taboo and taken her own life, no question.
"Siyu's taboo is not seeking revenge."
"What are you..."
"And Siyu thinks the god Beritaas bears a lot of the blame for Yu Chaeyoung's death."
Choa's sudden reveal left everyone speechless with shock.
Choa walked over toward Choi Suhyun and me.
"I don't want Siyu to die."
"So that's how it is. Then I'm against it too. The last thing I want is another idiot breaking a taboo and turning this into a bigger mess. Not that I'm saying this for your sake or anything."
Once Jin Sangbyeok heard about Park Siyu's taboo, he sided with Choi Suhyun faster than anyone.
What a fair-weather opportunist.
"One more thing. If any of you tell anyone else about Siyu's taboo, I'll kill you myself before anyone else gets the chance."
Choa's smile was bright and refreshing, and at the same time chilling enough to raise goosebumps.
Choi Jaebyung's face went white, sensing the killing intent behind it.
"I, I'll never say a word!"
"Hmph, I couldn't care less about other people's taboos."
"Anyway, either fight the four of us here and then go join the battle, or back off."
With Choa joining in too, Choi Suhyun's shoulders squared with confidence.
Park Siyu loosened his grip on the Light Saber.
"If the majority feels that way, I suppose I have no choice but to go along."
On the surface, Park Siyu looked like he was backing down reluctantly.
What a dishonest guy, seriously.
Once things settled, I quietly walked over to Park Siyu.
"I think you'll be fine, and I know this is me overstepping, but..."
"Just say it."
Park Siyu could be surprisingly impatient when you actually paid attention.
Not sure if it was impatience or just his habit of jumping to conclusions.
"Never let that thing bait you into anything."
"What are you talking about... Ah."
Something seemed to click for Park Siyu, and he bit his lip slightly.
This wasn't just Park Siyu's problem alone.
Yu Chaeyoung knew Park Siyu's taboo.
She was a follower of the god Beritaas.
Which meant the god Beritaas knew Park Siyu's taboo too.
"What would it gain by provoking me?"
"How would I know? I can't read a lunatic's mind. Whatever the reason, I'm with Choa on this."
I couldn't bring Park Siyu in as a follower the way I had Choi Suhyun or Eunyoung-noona, but Park Siyu had his own kind of worth regardless.
"If you go all out against the god Beritaas here, you're going to regret it. I guarantee it."
"If it's something I have to do, I don't see another option."
"I told you not to create something you'll regret."
I drew my sword and turned my back on Park Siyu.
Park Siyu wasn't alone right now.
"When you first started talking to me like we were equals, I thought, who is this guy. Turns out I made a decent new friend."
"Did I ever say I thought of you as a friend?"
"You're the one who started acting like my friend without asking."
Well, that part was true, at least.
I'd just been doing whatever felt right in the moment, but I didn't dislike Park Siyu either.
"Still, I wish you wouldn't be so casual with me."
"Depends on how you act."
My answer left Park Siyu tilting his head, looking like he didn't quite follow.
Leaving him behind, I turned to face the god Beritaas.
As the god Beritaas kept taking shape, the gathered Hunters started watching for their opening.
While everyone worked through the situation in their own heads, a quiet whisper reached me from the side.
It was Eunyoung-noona.
"Hey! Choi Suhyun!"
"Huh? Me?"
"Who else would I mean?"
Choi Suhyun's face went blank at her answer.
"What? Why do you keep talking to me like we're friends, anyway?"
"Should I call you oppa instead, then?"
"That'd just be annoying in its own way. No thanks."
"Bastard."
"What? What's going on?"
Eunyoung-noona held her hand out to Choi Suhyun.
Ishtar's Ring sat on her palm.
Choi Suhyun snorted and pushed her hand aside.
"Keep it. I don't need it."
"Do you have any idea how much this ring is worth?"
"Why does it matter how much it's worth? I told you I don't need it. And you were already wearing it like it was yours anyway. No refunds on used goods, so just keep it."
"Wait, are you serious? I'm actually keeping this?"
"Sure, go ahead! Keep it!"
"Why are you shouting! Don't come crying to me later! Even if you beg for it back, I'm not giving it to you!"
Eunyoung-noona huffed and slipped the ring onto her finger.
Refund, my ass.
Choi Suhyun had solid close-combat skills even without relying on his gun.
Depending on weapons was normal for any Hunter, but a marksman who used mana bullets tended to lean on their weapon even more than most other Hunters.
Knowing that made it clear just how skilled Choi Suhyun really was.
I'd noticed it before, but Choi Suhyun's movements resembled Eunyoung-noona's a lot.
Especially in how he threw punches.
At first I'd chalked it up to a coincidence in fighting style, but watching Eunyoung-noona use Ishtar's Ring confirmed it for me.
That wasn't the only odd thing, either.
Choi Suhyun, back when he was still an Unaffiliated Hunter, had once looked down on Eunyoung-noona for charging monsters like she was ready to die, telling her she didn't have what it took to be a Hunter.
That Choi Suhyun?
Back then, Choi Suhyun wasn't even working as an Association Hunter like he did now.
He'd been out in the field, his stock steadily rising, with no real reason to get that worked up over some Unaffiliated Hunter who was, at the time, nobody in particular.
Eunyoung-noona had once said her father, a Hunter, taught her how to throw a punch.
I'd never asked, but the resemblance in how the two of them fought was probably no coincidence. Chances were high they'd shared the same teacher.
Whatever else you could say about Choi Suhyun, he was pretty loyal to people.
He could've just told her it was a keepsake from her parents.
Looked like there was another dishonest guy around here after all.
Birds of a feather, I guess.
Booooom.
The fully risen god Beritaas's back blotted out the sun hanging in the sky.
The hundreds of hands on its belly, the monsters of unknowable shape, gave physical form to the god Beritaas's rage, plain and clear.
Footnotes:
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