SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 152

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 152: Skyrocketing (1)

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Human connections are truly mysterious.

From minor connections, like becoming friends with someone and later discovering that he was the grandson of the old man who used to run our neighborhood supermarket, to connections like spending ten years obsessing over a hunter who turned out to be a deranged psychopath, being killed by them, then killing them in turn, and now sharing both home and hardship with them...

No, let's stop there. That's an exceptional case.

Anyway, my point is simple: human connections are unpredictable. I've met all sorts of bizarre and fascinating people, yet I still marvel at the mysteriousness of these connections.

"Hey, Kim Gong-Ja. You look even more radiant than before!"

Specifically, I'm marveling at the person I'm video chatting with right now.

"You look even better than when you were younger, your face has become so strikingly handsome. I'm jealous! Really, I should have followed you into the Tower when I left the orphanage. This place, Kim Gong-Ja, the air is bad, the people are bad, it's just not a good place to live."

A man in a neat suit, with his hair neatly parted 9:1, kept talking non-stop. I murmured his name.

"Kim Han-Bi-Ja..."

"No, no. It's Kim Han-Bi now. Okay? I've changed my name."

"I heard from the Director that you earned yourself a National Assembly pin. Congratulations, my friend."

He was probably the most successful of our fellow orphanage alumni. A proportional-representation member of the National Assembly, apparently.

The director mentioned in passing that 'he just rode the right coattails and was at the right place at the right time,' but it's not easy to grab onto the right coattails at our young age.

"Compared to you, Gong-Ja, I'm just a small fry. Haven't you seen the internet? You're incredibly popular. You’ve greatly contributed to raising our country's prestige."

"Sorry, I've been off the internet recently, so I don't know much."

"Oh, really? That's unexpected. Anyway, friend. Can you do me a favor?"

Kim Han-Bi smiled warmly.

"I'm planning to run for a district seat in the next general election. But apart from being young and fresh, I don’t have much to appeal to the people. So, how about promoting the fact that you and I were close friends at the orphanage?"

"Yeah, that’s not possible."

I nodded politely.

"Best of luck, Assemblyman. Please practice good politics. Politics that put the people first. Honest, clean politics."

"What? Oh, hey! Hey!"

Han-Bi's expression turned desperate.

"Gong-ja! Please, I'm begging you! Help me! I'm sorry I never contacted you! How could I have known you would become so successful in the Tower? J-just one picture! I'll only use it on one poster! Please help me win that National Assembly pin one more time..."

Click.

I cut off the call without hesitation. The last image on the screen was the face of my childhood friend, crying and begging. It made me realize something anew.

'I really made it big in the Tower.'

A childhood friend who had never contacted me was calling, and I was even receiving petty requests from a National Assembly member. I could never have dreamed of this before my four thousand regressions.

Buzz, buzz...

The phone rang again immediately after hanging up. It was Han-Bi. I answered, clearly annoyed.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Gong-ja, my apologies. I acted presumptuously merely because we played together a little as children."

This guy...

He's become quite something since becoming a politician.

There's something to learn from his shamelessness.

"I know you must be busy, but could you just listen to us for a moment?"

"Listening is the least I can do."

"Mr. Gong-ja. I know nationality is meaningless in the Tower. Even so, are we not fellow Koreans? That is a connection too. In our National Assembly and our party, there are many people who feel genuine goodwill toward you, Mr. Gong-ja."

"I'd rather not be a fool who gets happy over favor and ends up being used."

"Tell us what you want..."

"How about clean politics? Working for the peace of humanity?"

"Something possible, you idiot!"

Really. Was it an impossible request?

If it's impossible, what can be done...

"Ah."

An idea flashed through my mind.

"I do have a favor to ask."

"Finally! People always have favors to ask. What is it? Tell me anything. I’ll push it through at the party level. I called you with a blank check in hand."

"Trustworthy, indeed."

I smiled.

"Do you know a person named Hwang Eun-Seo?"

Thus spoke Gong-ja: human connections are indeed mysterious.

Sometimes, someone you thought was dead comes back for revenge.

"Well, that happened."

"It's a natural and expected process."

The Sword Saint responded after hearing my story.

"When I rose to the number one rank, I also received countless solicitations. Not only members of my own family, but politicians and businesspeople contacted me hundreds, even thousands, of times."

"Really? Even the Swedes do that?"

"People are similar everywhere."

Chaaaang!

Our swords crossed as Sword Saint and I conversed leisurely while our hands and feet moved busily. We were sparring to improve our skills, and simultaneously, I was seeking advice on life.

"You are now a person of real power, and an unusual one at that. You did not win that power through political maneuvering, but earned it purely through ability and achievement. People in the outside world like you, and the Tower's hunters look up to you."

"You are flattering me too much, sir."

"The more reason to be careful, young man."

Sword Saint swung his sword. Whiiiik! The sharp attack targeted my wrist. I tilted Shiny slightly to deflect Sword Saint's strike.

An attack I couldn't follow with my eyes before.

"Don't I live cautiously enough?"

But now, I could parry while chatting. I've reached that level. Whoosh! I channeled aura into Shiny, firmly grabbing Sword Saint's sword.

"Hmm."

Sword Saint frowned.

"Your use of aura is impressive."

"I guess I have more talent in aura than in swordsmanship."

"Whoever said that was accurate. Aura is mental. It varies greatly depending on how strongly you can visualize in your mind. What were you thinking about just now?"

A mansion engulfed in flames.

In it, children were tied up. Desperately struggling but trapped in unyielding restraints.

『It hurts...』

『Please forgive me...』

I thought of the children's hands and feet and moved my aura. Handcuffs and chains. Struggle and thrashing. With the aura shaped like that, I grabbed Sword Saint's sword firmly.

"I don't know."

I smiled.

"Trade secret. I can’t share that for free."

"......"

A gleam flickered in Sword Saint's blue eyes.

"......There is one thing I deeply regret: yielding my place in [The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon] to the Celestial Martial Clan Master. You are an entirely different martial artist from the person you were before entering it. I should have followed you, even if I had to be unreasonable about it."

"Are you the type to regret things that are already past? That sounds exhausting."

"How cheeky!"

Sword Saint laughed.

"I have no intention of giving up the number one rank!"

The Sword Saint's sword erupted with blue aura. Kwaang! The pressure felt like the sudden burst of compressed air. I quickly erected a barrier of aura to cut off the explosion.

"Haha!"

The laughter of youth came from the elderly man's mouth.

"Wonderful!"

Sword Saint didn’t stop at the explosion. Whooosh! Whooosh! Like a typhoon wielding wind pressure, he continuously poured out blue aura. I cautiously backed away, severing each of his sword strikes one by one.

"The existence of a rival is such a joy!"

Sword Saint was purely delighted.

"When we were racing through the Aegim Empire, I had no idea you'd grow so much! Human affairs are unpredictable. I'm endlessly grateful for a young man like you!"

A sword wind raged. The blade came at me, cleaving one second after another. Chaaang! I somehow parried with sword and aura together, but my movements were beginning to grow a little frantic.

"Aren't you, enjoying this, a bit too much?"

"Of course I am enjoying myself! The Celestial Martial Clan Master improves by the day, and your skill is rising at a terrifying pace. This makes life feel worth living!"

The old man's laughter filled the plains.

The Tower’s 1st Floor, City of Ascension, Babylon outskirts. Many hunters gathered to watch our duel. They watched our battle with wide eyes, recorded it, and even took notes in their notebooks, marveling.

"That’s incredible..."

"Can you fight like that if you master aura?"

"That’s not possible! It's because they are who they are..."

"The Sword Saint is still a step ahead of the King of Death."

Hmm.

'That seems to be the general opinion, isn’t it?'

My competitive spirit boiled in my chest.

'Fine. I’ll show them.'

I still personally consider Sword Saint to be better than me. But what I think and what others think are two different matters. Very different.

"Sword Saint sir."

"What is it!"

"I personally don't like to show off an 'unfinished technique'. I think it's inconsiderate to my sparring partner."

After knocking aside the Sword Saint's blade, I sprang far backward, opening a gap between us.

"But you and I aren’t just ordinary sparring partners, are we?"

"Oho?"

Sword Saint didn't chase me but lowered his sword instead, interested in what I was about to say.

"I am not sure I follow, King of Death. Do we share some special connection?"

"Of course."

I grinned.

"After all, are we not disciples of the same school?"

"......"

The old gentleman's face stiffened.

The martial lineage I meant was not the Demonic Cult. I meant our Guardian Spirit, the Sword Emperor.

Like me, the Sword Saint also has the same Guardian Spirit.

‘[The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon] showed the Sword Emperor sparring against the master.’

The sword debate and martial bout between my Guardian Spirit and Master had been broadcast throughout the Tower. It had aired for anyone to see. Any hunter who wished could watch, and the Sword Saint was naturally among them.

‘He couldn’t have missed it.’

Most hunters wouldn't understand that sparring session.

But even if no one else understood, the Guardian Spirit possessing the Sword Saint certainly would have.

‘Of course.’

It was a martial art that very spirit had created.

How could he not recognize it?

‘Both of us are under the same Guardian Spirit.’

Now, both [my Guardian Spirit] and [Sword Saint's Guardian Spirit] know each other's existence.

They had become aware of each other.

‘Yet the Sword Saint didn’t ask me anything, meaning... He waited for me to speak first. He was considerate.’

But he probably never imagined I’d bring it up at this timing. He must have thought I would confess in a quiet place like a secret conversation.

As proof, Sword Saint was quite embarrassed, looking around nervously.

"No, young man. King of Death. You shouldn’t say such things here...!"

"Are you flustered?"

I smiled broadly.

"Great! Elder, please be more flustered!"

"What, what...?"

"I haven’t finished my technique yet! Please, take this!"

I rushed towards the old man.

Yes.

I brought up the Guardian Spirit topic purely to fluster Sword Saint!

"Wow. You dirty bastard. They say a fight knows no distinction between highborn and lowborn, but this is a bit much..."

The notoriously vicious Guardian Spirit admired me. Ignoring his praise, I raised my holy sword high and brought it down.

'The visualization is the flames engulfing that mansion.'

The fire that raged there.

'The suffocating smoke.'

Aura exploded from my body. Red tentacles enveloped the surroundings. The aura turned into blazing flames, engulfing the plains, suffocating everything alive within it.

The field instantly transformed into a hell of fire.

"......!"

Only then did Sword Saint react. He quickly raised his blue aura to counter.

Sorry, but my technique isn’t finished yet.

『I don’t want to die.』

Resentment.

『I’m hungry.』

Desire.

『I want to live...』

Hope.

I filled my aura with all these yearnings.

Each strand of the rising aura carried the voice of a different child, burning with different paths and intensities.