WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 134: ■■ (2)

──────

“Mas...”

I could not finish saying the word “Master.”

My heart pounded violently.

In an instant, numerous emotions intertwined. It felt as if my heart had become a rag, wrung tightly, ready to spill dark emotions.

Master. My extraordinary bond. The peony who became my master.

“Mother.”

"......."

Master looked at me. Her always composed eyes wavered for the first time. I had called Master ‘mother’ for the first time, and she was addressed as such for the first time by me.

“……How strange.”

Master put down her stub of a pencil. Had she been writing a manuscript? Sheets of manuscript paper covered in her handwriting lay across the living room table. Sentences that had failed to become writing. Words that had failed to become sentences. Fragments that had failed to become a complete piece lay scattered across the red manuscript paper.

“I cannot remember how long it has been since you called me that. No. Even saying it has been a long time feels somehow wrong... It is almost as if...”

“I love you, Mother.”

Master's fingers stopped.

“I wanted to see you again. Did you know? I’ve found someone to love for a lifetime. That it’s possible to love someone sincerely and be loved completely. I wanted to introduce you first to Raviel, the one I’m holding hands with.”

"......."

“Mother, you would have been good friends with Raviel. I… I am alive. I'm living well. Trying my best to live well. I often think of the words you told me.”

Master.

“I wanted to see you once more.”

Master slowly stood up and approached me. Her long, slender fingers wiped my eyes.

“Are you having a nightmare?”

“I am in a nightmare.”

“Life is no different from a dream. Yet that changes nothing. If you rename malice ‘coolheadedness,’ does the malice become good? If you excuse wrongdoing as ignorance, does the wound heal? My son, do not be deceived by words. Always examine your heart. Do not entrust your heart to fanciful words and flimsy sentences.”

Master wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

“Whether you call me mother or not, I remain in your heart as me. Likewise, you do too. Being human is not about memorizing a few words or spouting a few lines. Humanity is about how much weight of others one can carry in their heart.”

I fit snugly into Master’s embrace.

My mouth opened and closed several times.

“Mother wouldn’t have raised a child… Yoo Soo-Ha like that.”

“Yes.”

“He lashes out with his fists simply because he is angry, and yet... You would never invite a person like that to the dinner table. You would have thrown him out of the house. Before throwing him out, you would have corrected him. Before needing to correct him, you would already have raised him to be a good child.”

“That’s right.”

“So.”

I opened my mouth.

“Mother, you’re not So BaekHyang.”

Master smiled.

“Survive. Gong-Ja. You must live strong.”

As she smiled, she disintegrated.

"......."

Master’s face melted away.

Her smile dissolved.

The hands that hugged me vanished.

All that remained was a shadow.

-■, ■■■ ■■■.

The shadow had no face, no clear outline. Slithering like a giant worm, the shadow left the living room.

Another layer of the world was peeled away.

That was [my mother's] true face in this world.

"---Ugh."

I rushed to the bathroom. Leaning over the toilet, I bowed my head. A sense of loss, guilt... dark emotions surged back up.

My heart vomited.

“Huh?”

Behind me.

A voice came from near the bathroom door.

“What, did you eat something bad? Why are you throwing up as soon as you get home? Kid. You must have picked up some crap outside again. Didn’t I tell you to take care of your food properly?”

It was Yoo Soo-Ha.

“Should your brother give you a back rub?”

"...Yoo Soo-Ha."

“Well, look at that. Did you vomit up your brains along with your food? Dropping the honorifics with your big brother, are you?”

I sat on the bathroom tiles and looked up at Yoo Soo-Ha. He was munching on squid legs, standing there.

“You damn idiot…”

“Ah, you really did throw up your brain. Hey, it's normal for people to get into fights sometimes! I was scared after the news broke yesterday. Got a real earful from mom and dad too. But family should support each other, right? Eh?”

“That crazy bastard…”

I muttered, holding onto the toilet bowl.

“You're a fucking piece of shit.”

“Huh?”

“If beating up a stalker was all you did it’d make you an angel. The kind of guy who, after beating a stalker to pulp, would bury them in the mountains and then start a forest fire.”

“Wha… That's psychotic. You saw your big brother like that?”

“You are that psychopath! You damn dog!”

My head spun.

“An idol? A singer? You think you could do a job like that? You don't know the first thing about fan service, you curse your head off in every interview, and then top it off by insulting people's parents. What kind of idol or singer could you possibly be? Don't make me laugh.”

“Uh…”

“And you say your parents scolded you? Honestly, are you even the kind of bastard who takes a scolding? It would be a miracle if you didn't slap your parents across the face. Damn it! Yoo Soo-Ha, you would never pat your little brother's back just because he was vomiting. If only you were. If you had at least been that kind of bastard...”

I glared at Yoo Soo-Ha’s face.

“I wouldn't have killed you.”

"......."

“I said I wouldn't have killed you, you bastard. I wouldn't have. If you had been even that decent... All the things I did to kill you...”

Sometimes, I dream.

“The things I did, the truly vile things I did, all because of you...”

All the things I did so that I would not have to kill you.

『Hey, Hunter! Please save me!』

I scream.

『Huh?』

Yoo Soo-Ha turns around.

『I was attacked by wolves.』

『Geez, really. Did you mess with these monsters? Damn it, my hunt is spoiled for today.』

Yoo Soo-Ha clicks his tongue.

『Please, give me a potion...』

I plead, and

『Be more careful next time. Fuck. Now it looks like I won't even make my daily quota.』

Yoo Soo-Ha gives me a potion.

Sometimes, I dream.

『I'll give you a potion, but we still have to settle what your life is worth.』

Yoo Soo-Ha says that, and

『For… forty gold,』

I say.

『Forget that. Hand over everything you have right now.』

Yoo Soo-Ha says, so I give everything, and then

『Good. Be careful next time, mister.』

Yoo Soo-Ha gives me a potion.

Sometimes I dream that Yoo Soo-Ha of eleven years ago was still that kind of bastard, swollen with greed but not yet someone who would kill a wounded weakling, and that I therefore did not have to kill my former hero with my own hands.

I dream....

“You damn dog…”

Yoo Soo-Ha’s black hair fluttered.

“Get lost. Your place is in my shadow. If you’re thinking of setting up a new address in this hell and washing away your sins, forget it.”

And the black hair collapsed.

-■■, ■■ ■■■.

[My older brother] became a wraith and uttered a sound in a gloomy tone.

Yes. A wraith.

Souls that could not even become ghosts, spirits that had lost their very existence within this world of trauma. Having lost the appearances extracted from my memories, they were now nothing more than shadows.

"......."

I washed my face at the sink.

Water dripped from my eyebrows.

“Okay.”

My mutterings quietly settled in the house of spirits.

“It’s okay. I can do this. Kim Gong-Ja, you can do it.”

This is not my home. This is not my world.

It's just that the life I wanted to save is trapped in this hell.

I left the house and returned with the Constellation Killer.

"Ah....."

Constellation Killer did not perceive the wraiths as wraiths. To him, the wraiths seemed to be my father, my mother, and my older brother.

Or maybe the opposite.

-■■■?

-■■ ■■■.

Perhaps my father, mother, and older brother had always looked like wraiths to Constellation Killer. To him, the people of this world may have been no different from wraiths, and every sound those people made may therefore have been nothing but noise.

“Hello…”

“Don’t greet them.”

I cut off sharply.

“There’s no need to be polite.”

I grabbed Constellation Killer’s wrist and entered the room. Constellation Killer couldn’t finish his greeting and was led by me.

-■, ■■■ ■■■.

The older brother, who had just been wearing Yoo Soo-Ha's face, followed us. He tried to enter the room with us, but I pushed him out, making sure he couldn’t come in.

“Don’t come in. I’m warning you.”

-■■■?

“For a while, I'll be taking care of this kid. I'll handle everything, so no one else needs to interfere. Don’t come in or talk to him unless he allows it. I’ve made myself clear.”

I locked the door.

-■■. ■■■?

The wraiths muttered outside the bedroom door. I ignored them and prepared a place for Constellation Killer to sleep. He stared fixedly at me, still wearing the backpack he had carried home from school.

“Is it okay to talk to your family like that?”

“Every family is different. To you, they’re the family of your bully.”

“……Don’t speak formally. It’s weird. It feels bad. Really, I don’t know what big scheme you’re planning, laying groundwork like this.”

“Think what you want. Just get some sleep for now.”

“Where will you sleep?”

“Anywhere. Rest. You’ll feel a bit better after some rest.”

"......."

From that day on.

I began to erase the existence of each person in this world, one by one.

-Who are you? Eh? Soo-Ha’s younger brother? Why would his younger brother call me…?

I stealthily used my older brother’s phone to call Preta.

-Eh? Oh, I’ve heard from Soo-Ha. Didn’t we meet once before? But what’s the matter? Surely, Soo-Ha isn’t sending his younger brother to apologize on his behalf?

I used the same method to call Goldencup.

With just one call, I disintegrated Preta and Goldencup.

Occasionally, the idol group they belonged to appeared on TV, but their faces weren’t shown. Like smeared with black graffiti, only shadows flickered.

[The implementation of the trauma is deteriorating.]

Finally, there was a response.

[Trauma material has been corrupted.]

[Extracting data from your memory to restore… Failed.]

[Data restoration failed.]

The gap I created began to open a hole in the world.

[Extracting data from the owner’s memory… Failed.]

[Data restoration failed.]

I accelerated my actions.

The Four Demon Lords disintegrated. The children frolicking in the Hellfire Mansion disintegrated. I turned every character from the trauma I encountered into spirits.

With each one, the world of trauma crumbled a bit more.

“Hm? It’s rare for you to come to the faculty room, Gong-Ja.”

Even Viper, the homeroom teacher.

“Student G-Gong-Ja? Why did you call me alone to an empty classroom? Eek. A relationship between a teacher and student is fundamentally forbidden, it's against t-the rules...!”

Even the math teacher, Apothecary.

“I heard you requested a meeting. You’re quite a unique student, so I arranged this at the request of the student council president. What do you want to talk about?”

Even the principal, the Sword Saint.

One by one.

[The implementation of the trauma is deteriorating.]

[Data restoration failed.]

About two weeks later.

Most of the students and teachers in the school had turned into spirits.

But it wasn’t just the school that was affected.

-■■ ■■■■■.

No matter which television channel I selected, a wraith occupied the announcer's seat. The people appearing on the broadcasts likewise had shadowy faces and merely muttered soundless words, so I could understand nothing.

I even tried taking the subway to go outside the city once.

After a while, the cityscape continued, but then darkness enveloped everything outside the window. When we reached the dark area, the subway disappeared.

[The implementation of the trauma is deteriorating.]

[Requesting data from Zuraqua… Failed. Request denied.]

[Data restoration failed.]

A broken world.

A failed monstrosity.

“……Gong-Ja. I need to talk.”

One day, after class, Paladin approached me.

She seemed unusually tense.

“What’s the matter?”

“I can’t talk about it in the classroom. No, more like I don’t want to.”

Paladin glanced behind her.

-■■■! ■■ ■■■■.

There, already turned into a spirit, someone sat at a desk. It was the Countess. She had a conversation with me two days ago and then disintegrated. After glancing at her friend’s condition, Paladin lowered her voice.

“Let's go to the hallway.”

We stepped out into the hallway.

“So, what’s it?”

“…It might sound strange. No, it is strange. But somehow, I feel I need to consult you about this.”

In the middle of the hallway, surrounded by spirits, Paladin looked around nervously.

“Something is wrong.”

"......."

“If you ask what, I can’t exactly answer. But it's clear. This isn’t normal. Last weekend, I planned an outing with my family. We were supposed to go. I prepared lunch from morning. But then I blinked, and it was evening.”

Paladin shivered slightly.

“At first, I suspected memory loss. But then, at the dinner table, my family talked about how great the outing was today. I have no memory of it, no recollection of what we did…”

Paladin looked around again. Really, apart from a handful of students, there were only black, oozing spirits in the classrooms, hallways, and playground.

“…Something is wrong. Something’s gone wrong. Maybe I’m the one who’s become strange. Sorry, Gong-Ja. I’ll book an appointment with a psychiatrist. Maybe it'll get better after the consultation.”

“The back of the classroom.”

I spoke up.

“The student sitting by the window. Do you remember?”

“Um…?”

Paladin furrowed her brows.

“Of course I do. He's our classmate, isn't he? I believe his name was ■■.”

“Do you know he received these messages?”

I pulled out the Constellation Killer’s phone and showed her.

"......."

“I should mention this is not manipulated.”

As she read the messages, Paladin’s face turned pale. She was shocked. But the shock was short-lived, and soon she burst out in anger.

“What. This kind of behavior… No, there’s no way that kid would send such messages. It’s unthinkable! This is not something to be taken lightly!”

“Are you angry?”

“Of course! There are things one can excuse because the perpetrators are children, and things one cannot. A wound is still a wound, whether an adult or a child suffers it. In fact, the wounds children suffer are even more severe!”

“What are you going to do now?”

“We have evidence. We must report to the police! I know how it works. If we complain to the school, they'll just take the evidence and tell us to resolve it among friends. Just the two of us going to the police won’t be enough, so we need to gather as many people as possible and go as a group…!”

“That’s right.”

Paladin.

“That's the kind of person you are.”

Someone who tries to minimize victims.

“If there had been even one person like you in that wide classroom, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“…What?”

“You wouldn’t overlook such deeds. You wouldn’t just let it go, and you couldn’t have missed it. Since there wasn’t a single person like you in that classroom.”

I closed the phone.

“That’s why this happened.”

"......."

“It's all right. Please disappear. I will take care of everything that remains.”

I blinked.

-■■, ■■ ■ ■■■.

A faceless spirit fluttered.

"......."

Slowly.

I stood in the hallway, surveying the surroundings.

-■■ ■■■?

-■■ ■. ■■ ■■■.

The students passed by, conversing. They chatted. Laughed as if it were fun, and even when it wasn’t. They shared a season of youth with each other. When a teacher passed, they bowed in greeting.

That was…

-■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■ ■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■■? ■■ ■ ■■?

-■, ■■?

-■■! ■■■ ■ ■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■!?

-■■... ■■ ■■■. ■■■■■ ■ ■■■ ■■■ ■ ■ ■■■

-■■ ■■■■ ■ ■ ■■■■■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■! ■■ ■■■■■■■ ■■ ■ ■■! ■■ ■■■■■ ■■

-■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■■. ■■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■.

-■ ■■ ■■ ■■. ■■ ■■.

-■■ ■■■ ■■.

Just noise from people.

Words didn’t form sentences, and sentences failed to become writing.

On the stairs, a cheerful slogan was posted.

[■■■ ■■■♪]

[■■■ ■■■♪]

[■■■ ■■■■♪]

That was…

The Constellation Killer’s world.

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