SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 227

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 227: If. (5)

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As soon as martial law was declared, hunters flooded the streets of Babylon.

-Kill them all!

The hunters were dressed in black uniforms. The Black Dragon Guild. Among them were not the scouting or raid teams, but the conflict resolution and extermination teams.

These were hunters in the Tower, but they were certainly not trained [to climb the Tower].

-Anyone who cannot present a resident card will be killed, no questions asked! The same goes for those who received their resident card less than a week ago!

-The Guild Master has been attacked!

-This is war!

-All dissidents will be annihilated!

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out across the square.

In the Tower of Babel, the manufacture and storage of firearms were strictly controlled. Privately manufacturing a gun was treated as a crime on par with a capital offense.

However, the major guilds were an exception, always ready for war with their firearms.

-These damn Black Dragons! What the hell are they doing!

The Vigilante Corps was also among them. They drew their guns and aimed at the Black Dragon's suppression team.

-Move aside! We must carry out the Guild Master's orders!

-Shooting people indiscriminately, is that right!

-It's a necessary measure to protect the Tower! Even your Vice-Captain of the Vigilante Corps has been attacked and killed!

-Even so, the Vice-Captain wouldn't have wanted this!

-Our Guild Master wants this! Move!

The Vigilante Corps didn't move aside. The Black Dragon Guild didn't try to persuade them further.

The two guilds clashed. Other major guilds whose guild masters had been lost joined the fighting. In a situation where it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, they tore at each other like starving dogs.

-.......

Emerging from the half-destroyed Pantheon, Kim Gong-Ja faced such a hellish scene.

Kim Gong-Ja wiped his face.

-Ugh....

A person died.

People died.

Still more people were dying.

-Dammit...

There was no hesitation in the actions of people aiming at each other. Every time a gun spat fire, people were hurt. Died. Lives vanished so easily.

Kim Gong-Ja couldn't understand.

'They are all guilds supporting the Tower.'

He had heard rumors that the major guilds didn't get along. He didn't know what had happened in the past, and occasionally heard through gossip that old feelings had built up between the guild masters.

But to this extent...

'Were they really so ready to kill one another the moment they had a pretext?'

The top hunters, each a legend, so-called heroes.

Why hadn't these heroes resolved their feelings over the years?

Was there really not a single person who could mediate between them?

Kim Gong-Ja couldn't understand, but he knew that imagining such a [hypothetical mediator] now was utterly useless.

He felt like he was going to explode.

The dam blocking the center of his heart collapsed with a crash.

At that moment, the body of Jaa Soo-Jeong, which he had been carrying, slipped down his back.

-Eh.

Unintentionally, Kim Gong-Ja saw the body.

-...Deputy.

Jaa Soo-Jeong's body was torn apart.

The left leg, left arm, left chest, even the left side of the face. Jaa Soo-Jeong had died a death that did not allow any trace of humanity, her lips tightly closed. Only her lifeless purple eyes, like jewels, stared up at the sky.

-.......

Silence.

Lowering his head, this time, he saw the body of the Heretic Inquisitor.

Looking at the last moments of a man who tried to do something until the end, Kim Gong-Ja clenched his teeth.

-No. Right, first things first.

Do what needs to be done.

-Right.

Do what can be done.

-What can I do?

He reviewed everything he had.

The Idol. It seemed like something that could oversee the Pantheon as a proxy, but the Temple was in ruins. Even if he met the priests outside, it was uncertain if they would obey this Idol.

The Black Dragon Mirror. It seemed like a means to communicate directly with the Guild Master of the Black Dragon and other major guilds. But since the Black Dragon Master's declaration of war, it had been silent.

Himself. He was only an E-rank Hunter. He had no power.

-Power...

He knew of someone who had that power.

Kim Gong-Ja turned his head.

The first floor of the Tower of Babel, Babylon. In the central square, where land was as precious as gold, there stood a three-story building.

How much magic had been applied to it, it was relatively intact even after the explosions in the square.

The always seemingly unshakable face of that man also came to mind.

-The Yoo Soo-Ha Guild...

Kim Gong-Ja ran towards it.

-No, what the fuck? What happened to leave you in that god-awful state?

Yoo Soo-Ha spoke.

Annoyed at being disturbed from his nap, Yoo Soo-Ha was irritable.

-.......

Kim Gong-Ja felt his heart flutter again. The death of Jaa Soo-Jeong. The death of the Heretic Inquisitor. And countless other deaths. He had offered to help and wanted to, but the Black Dragon Master bluntly refused.

[You're young.]

[But you lack power.]

[Therefore, you're not needed.]

If he had been Yoo Soo-Ha instead.

If he had power comparable to the Flame Emperor.

-.......

Kim Gong-Ja clenched his teeth.

He had no time for self-pity.

He forced out his voice.

-It's an emergency... President Yoo Soo-Ha.

-I know about the martial law. But I also know I have the power to tell it to go fuck itself. Gong-Ja, why did you come here looking like a mess instead of taking care of your guild? Where is Jaa Soo-Jeong? Deputy Jaa Soo-Jeong?

-Here...

Kim Gong-Ja laid down the body of Jaa Soo-Jeong. And also the Heretic Inquisitor's.

Yoo Soo-Ha fell silent.

-When?

Yoo Soo-Ha's eyes were calm.

Kim Gong-Ja found it hard to gauge what that calmness meant.

-Right after we entered the Pantheon... There was a traitor inside. A bomb went off, and the Heretic Inquisitor died, and Jaa Soo-Jeong big sis also...

-Why are you unharmed?

-Jaa Soo-Jeong shielded me with her body.

-Thump!

Kim Gong-Ja was on his knees. Yoo Soo-Ha had kicked him in the shin.

-Ugh.

Enduring the pain, he looked up to see Yoo Soo-Ha still looking down at his subordinate with a calm face.

-And you call yourself a man.

-.......

-Big sis? Since when did you two get so close to call her big sis? Hey, Kim Gong-Ja. Jaa Soo-Jeong is much younger than you. She only seems older because of how she talks and carries herself. She is much younger than you. What are you...

-.......

-Never mind. So what? Did Jaa Soo-Jeong leave you any last words? Like, please do your best to resolve this situation. Or something about saving people...

-Secretary Soo-Jeong would have wanted that too.

-Of course, she would. That's why she still looked after trash like you.

Kim Gong-Ja couldn't bring himself to look up at Yoo Soo-Ha.

He had lost Jaa Soo-Jeong because he lacked strength.

On the other hand, Jaa Soo-Jeong had strength. The power to save a person's life if she ignored her own. Whether it was her innate reflexes or just that she had spotted the perpetrator before Kim Gong-Ja, the outcome was simple.

Kim Gong-Ja couldn't do it, but Jaa Soo-Jeong could.

-.......

Feeling bitter, resentful, pathetic, and sorrowful, Kim Gong-Ja couldn't look at Yoo Soo-Ha.

His gaze drifted into the void.

Because of that, he saw something else.

-Anyway, fuck. I think I more or less know what kind of temper you have. You two would have gotten along disgustingly well. So...

A flash.

Incredibly fast.

-Dodge it!!

Kim Gong-Ja interrupted Yoo Soo-Ha.

At the exact same moment, a blue spear flew out of thin air.

Whoooosh-

The spear, wrapped in blue aura, was immensely powerful. The Flame Emperor quickly raised his aura to protect himself, but he must have missed the timing by a fraction. The walls of fire he created were torn apart by the blue flame spear.

-Ah.

Kim Gong-Ja saw that moment.

And then.

-Ugh!

He planted his foot, straightened his knee, thrust his body forward, reached out, and struck the blue-flame spear.

The spear was swirling with a storm of blue aura. Like a blender, the storm of aura ground the approaching man's fist to pulp.

-Aaaaaah!!

After a scream, Kim Gong-Ja, who had lost his arm, knelt down. Several bleached fragments pattered onto the ground.

The slowly settling pieces were probably his bones.

-Damn it! Did you dodge it!

A hunter landed from the sky with a thud.

Yoo Soo-Ha glanced at Kim Gong-Ja, who was kneeling, then turned his gaze to the hunter.

-Who are you?

-I am the Saintess!

Yoo Soo-Ha looked at the bleeding Kim Gong-Ja, then back at the hunter who declared herself as the Saintess.

-What bullshit. Just shredded a guy in half and now you're a saintess? What a joke.

-It's a title given by the Tower.

-The Tower really has a shitty naming sense. So? Why is the Saintess here causing trouble?

The Saintess took a deep breath.

As if she had waited a long time for this moment, she shouted.

-Yoo Soo-Ha! You murdered my only grandfather!

The Saintess boasted brilliant golden hair. Yoo Soo-Ha had rarely seen such blonde hair. He had seen a few, but none who were old enough to be this hunter's [grandfather].

-A hell of a lot of brats lost their parents young because of me, so that does not narrow it down. Who was your grandfather?

-Marcus Callenbury!

The hunter claiming to be the Saintess's eyes blazed.

Yoo Soo-Ha raised an eyebrow at the name.

-The Sword Saint?

-Yes! That is the honored name of my paternal grandfather!

-Wow. That old name brings back memories. You're his granddaughter? Ah, right. He was already of that age, so it makes sense to have a granddaughter like you.

-You devil...

-Yeah, I'm a bit like that. Speaking of devils.

Yoo Soo-Ha glanced again at the body of one subordinate, then at the other subordinate who was becoming a corpse.

-Is this burning hell outside your doing?

The Saintess clenched her fist.

She wanted to tell him about the Callenbury family's fortune, the power that fortune had accumulated, and the fools enthralled by the mysterious phenomenon called the Tower. She wanted to explain how she had manipulated and mobilized them.

She also wanted to tell him about the Temple Master, whom anyone could persuade as long as they followed the rules and who was therefore easy to predict and exploit. And about the head of the Black Dragon Guild, who hated the outside world yet desperately wanted ties to its great powers. She wanted to explain how she had driven a wedge into those loose seams and brought them down.

But she didn't.

With the burning Tower behind her, the Saintess simply said.

-My grandfather died in the Tower, at your hands.

-"......."

-So, I will kill the Tower, and I will kill you.

Yoo Soo-Ha smirked.

-Then it's his fault. I was killed by him without knowing anything. He spouted some bullshit about being able to see how many people I had killed. Ugh. In reality, the murderer wasn't me but him.

-Bullshit!

-Bullshit is what you've been spewing. You can't fool blood. The murderer's granddaughter is a murderer too, young lady. Blood will tell.

-You are the murderer. The Flame Emperor. No, there's no point in talking to you. Die!

The Saintess, her golden hair flying, charged.

-Ha.

Yoo Soo-Ha looked at a white dot that had flown onto his palm. Whether it was dust from a collapsing building or a bone fragment from Kim Gong-Ja being sliced, he didn't know.

But.

-I feel filthy.

He felt filthy.

Yoo Soo-Ha always felt filthy when things he didn't know about happened.

-I don't really need to drag this out here. You should die.

Blue aura exploded, and red aura enveloped it.

A moment later, a scream echoed between the blue and red smoke.

-Aaaaaah!

-Yeah. Now I remember. The eyes are similar, the eyes.

Yoo Soo-Ha closed his eyes, then opened them.

-The way you look at people immediately as garbage murderers is similar. Ah, is being judgmental hereditary? Did your grandpa teach you to decapitate people first because they're murderers, as some sort of family lesson?

-Ngh, ngh... ah, ugh...!

-Anyway, this world teaches you to hate people, to talk shit about people, and even how to kill people. What's amazing is, after teaching all that, they expect the kids to love and cherish each other, to have kids and raise them well.

Even in the midst of stinging screams mixed with smoke, Yoo Soo-Ha kept talking.

-I just can't understand. Looking at your eyes makes it even harder to understand.

Yoo Soo-Ha.

He saw a hunter who had become a charred lump, completely burnt.

He bent at the waist, met her gaze, and looked down at her.

-How can a person like another person? Right?

The last remaining part also burned up.

A hunter who declared revenge for her grandfather and harbored a grudge for years, died just like that.

Yoo Soo-Ha slowly straightened up.

-Ah, so stiff.

He stretched his neck a few times, then looked around.

-What a mess.

Everything outside the mansion was burning. The ruins that met his eyes seemed enough to build a massive historic site. The world, filled with ash and smoke, was relentless with screams and gunshots.

-What a total mess. You think so too, right, part-timer?

Yoo Soo-Ha looked down at Kim Gong-Ja.

Kim Gong-Ja, having lost an arm and bled too much, couldn't even look up at Yoo Soo-Ha in his dazed state. Yoo Soo-Ha didn't demand his gaze.

-I don't know.

Yoo Soo-Ha muttered.

-You and Soo-Jeong both. I don't understand how people capable of loving others can do things like that.

Yoo Soo-Ha looked up at the sky for a moment.

-Well, that's why you're working under me.

-President, I...

-Ah, stop. Don't say anymore.

Yoo Soo-Ha stopped Kim Gong-Ja's feeble mumbling with a wave of his hand.

With annoyance.