SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 228

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 228: Hatred. (1)

──────

'I'.

Slowly looked around.

-Home run! Home run!

-It's a home run! Ah, the ball is soaring over the fence!

In the Yoo Soo-Ha Guild.

On the second-floor terrace of a building occupying the prime spot in Babylon, the sound of a Korean baseball game being broadcasted flowed calmly. The voices of the commentators, like the cries of cicadas in summer, seemed more like a distant backdrop than part of a conversation between people.

"Ah."

Yoo Soo-Ha was sitting on a sofa.

Fiddling with his head where he had pierced it himself just moments ago.

"Baseball is damn boring."

"......."

"Guys, I'm going to have a drink. I feel like drinking alone, so don't follow me. I'm staying out tonight, so don't call me. Even if you do, I'll ignore it."

"Don't drink too much, Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha."

Tap, tap.

On the opposite side, Jaa Soo-Jeong was tapping on her laptop keyboard.

The early summer wind from Babylon Square fluttered her hair.

"If you don't want me to roam all over Babylon looking for you again."

"Okay."

Yoo Soo-Ha didn't glance at us.

He simply waved his right hand while turning his back.

Soon, Yoo Soo-Ha's figure disappeared down the stairs.

"......."

I clenched my teeth.

"Manager Jaa Soo-Jeong."

"Yes, Mr. Kim Gong-Ja."

"Viscount Jaa Soo-Jeong."

"Yes, Advisor."

"Tower Master."

"Yes, King of Death."

Three titles were exchanged, and three understandings passed.

"Is this the possibility you're showing me?"

"That's right."

Beyond the terrace, the square was bustling with people.

11 years into the future of my world.

Or, 11 years into the past from my current time.

A world established under the assumption of [What if Jaa Soo-Jeong had been there].

"……In a world like this."

I glared at Jaa Soo-Jeong.

"The world I built is far more peaceful than a world like this!"

"......."

"What is this! It's a complete mess! The Black Dragon Master, Anastasia, is still lonely! The Heretic Inquisitor... Bambolina hasn't changed! He's broken, living without even realizing he's broken!"

But…

"[I] restored the guild masters' relationships to where they belonged!"

In my world.

The Sword Saint let go of his arrogance and prejudice.

The Black Dragon Master began to see the Paladin as a friend again.

The Paladin put aside the distrust caused by past purges.

The Heretic Inquisitor acknowledged his shortcomings and bowed his head to me.

They started to communicate and recognize each other.

"In this world, nothing has changed! The guild masters are still holed up in their thrones, the Tower is still a mess. It's just being swayed by the outside world. This is......"

"But..."

Jaa Soo-Jeong raised her head.

Her purple eyes met mine in a straight line.

"Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha was killed by you."

The wind blew.

"You could not change Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha, could you?"

Ding.

The wind chime at the terrace window rang.

"That's because,"

"Is it because Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha was an incorrigible villain?"

The background noise of the baseball game fluttered in the wind.

"Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha was the worst of villains, a psychopath among psychopaths, so you had no choice but to kill him. Since it was unavoidable, it's not your fault or incompetence."

"......."

"But, look, Mr. Gong-Ja."

In the early-summer wind, the scenery weathered and the background congealed.

"In this world, Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha is moving for someone else."

The Flame Emperor.

After Jaa Soo-Jeong and I died, he undertook a [Return].

He reversed 24 hours at the cost of his own day.

And just now, he disappeared somewhere under the excuse of [going for a drink].

"The terrorist who caused the bombing. The traitor infiltrating the Pantheon. The assassin who stabbed the Black Dragon Master in the back. Above all, the Saintess who attacked him. Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha is moving now to eliminate them."

Jaa Soo-Jeong looked at the square distantly with an expressionless face.

"Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha is worse than you, less active than you, bears less responsibility than you, has less will to change the world than you, and has less impact on the world than you. Even though he's a much worse person than you."

The square.

In the midst of the bustling crowd.

The black hair of a hunter fluttered.

"Yet, he became someone who moves for someone else."

"He could have become that person. Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha."

Ah.

"When you killed Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha. When you 'hunted' Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha according to your own words. That Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha wasn't the same person as the Flame Emperor who killed you. He was merely the young F-rank Hunter Yoo Soo-Ha, the Flame Emperor's past self, someone who might yet have become like the Flame Emperor in this world."

I closed my eyes tightly.

"……I."

A grinding sound came out.

"I also gave him a chance."

In my attempt not to kill him,

"I performed a play. I didn't just kill him abruptly; I gave him a chance. To see if he could feel compassion for a wounded person, to see if he wouldn't harm a vulnerable person despite demanding a price for help."

"As if toying with humans like a god, you put him through such a [difficult] test."

The Tower Master spoke calmly.

I…

"Difficult? If he had just quietly treated me, if he had just not tried to kill me......"

"Is that really such a [special] thing?"

The Tower Master looked at me.

"Is [a person desperate for money killing an injured person and taking their property when there are no witnesses] really something only a [uniquely evil person beyond forgiveness or reform] could do?"

"If you're human......"

"Can anyone pass that test?"

Silence.

"Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha's death went unnoticed, a mere [disappearance of a low-rank hunter], a [common occurrence]. Don't you see what this implies, Mr. Gong-Ja? Especially since you were a low-rank hunter yourself?"

"......."

"How many people would have passed your test?"

The scent of early summer was intoxicating.

The air was sticky, and the wind was humid. The air around me did not feel like untouched air that no one had breathed yet, but like breath someone else had already inhaled and exhaled. The oxygen entering my lungs was the remnants of summer that had been chewed over once.

"Yes."

Among them was a breath tinged with purple.

"Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha didn't help you. He didn't save you when you collapsed in the hunting ground; instead, he tried to harm you. He tried to kill you."

"But what about Preta?"

Jaa Soo-Jeong murmured.

"What about the Demon King of the Autumn Rain? Preta also tried to kill you. Preta actually did. Dozens, hundreds of times, you were slain by Preta's sword. The continent was destroyed once by the torrents of blood scattered by the Demon King of the Autumn Rain. Yet, Mr. Gong-Ja, you granted the Demon King another life."

I gave life to Preta.

"Lady Goldencup? Constellation Killer? Heretic Inquisitor? What about the Black Dragon Master? What about the Sword Saint? Among them, was there even one person who wasn't a [murderer], even one who killed fewer people than the young Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha?"

"......."

"The King of Death changed all those people."

But…

"Except Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha."

He was the only one.

"Because, King of Death. You will forever remain ignorant."

That son of a bitch.

"When the Demon King killed you, you saw the Demon King's past. You saw how a doppelgänger became a Saintess, how the Saintess came to be branded a witch, why the witch had no choice but to become a Demon King. You saw every reason that person became evil."

In some dark alley.

"When the Constellation Killer killed you, you saw Kim Yul's past. The sunset descending over the rooftop. The evening light falling across the schoolyard. The shattered phone and the text message destined to be forgotten."

Once, not so long ago, I had admired the top-ranked Hunter. I witnessed that Hunter kill someone in an alley.

"You heard the Sword Saint's story. You heard the Black Dragon Master's story. You learned why the people who killed you, the people beside you, became what they were. That is why you cannot abandon them."

That Hunter killed me.

"Only Yoo Soo-Ha's past remains a blind spot to you."

That goddamned bastard.

"You could never peek into Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha's trauma."

Was there no need to kill me?

"And you never tried to."

Why.

You could have explained.

You could have told me your situation.

"You didn't want to know."

I admired you so much.

Yet why did you…

"Mr. Gong-Ja."

Treat me like that......

"You felt betrayed by Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha."

I closed my eyes to the darkness.

Jaa Soo-Jeong's voice quietly crossed over.

"And so you hate Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha."

Silence fell.

The broadcast of the Korean baseball game stopped.

The wind ceased.

The wind chime at the window stood still.

Time passed.

The sunset smeared among the crowd in the square.

The sunset had no nationality, nor did the people receiving it.

"No."

I murmured.

"It wasn't like that."

I shook my head. Several times.

"He would have become a monster. He would have been a monster anyway."

My voice leaked out as if I was feverish.

“No matter where he was born or how he was raised, whatever he experienced, that guy would have become a monster. I had no choice but to kill him. I had to. It was necessary. Not for me. Not because of how I feel. Not because I couldn't accept it. For the Tower. For the world. Because his existence couldn't be allowed. So, I..."

I…

"I... that bastard..."

I admired you.

"You were weak."

"That's because you were weak at the time."

My heart pounded.

"If I had been there, it would have been different."

My heart pounded loudly.

"Mr. Kim Gong-Ja, you couldn't forgive Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha. You couldn't accept him. Even though Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha had his own past and circumstances, you didn't have the capacity or the leeway to understand. Simply put, you were too weak at the time."

The Tower Master spoke.

"Were you resentful because you were weak?"

"Feelings of inferiority and betrayal towards Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha. Anger over your own murder. A sense of helplessness that nothing can be changed. The anxiety that, no matter how much you cherish and admire someone, they never consider you. The sensation of being absolutely worthless."

I don't know when I'll be abandoned.

"So I must become meaningful to someone."

Yes.

"I'm not powerless. I'm different from Yoo Soo-Ha. I have to be different. The people I save, my subordinates and allies, they can't be villains like Yoo Soo-Ha. They mustn't be."

No.

"Saving the children in the burning mansion too."

No.

"The opposite choice you made to Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha's decision to kill the Sword Saint, Mr. Gong-Ja. Choosing to save people instead of abandoning them. Accepting the Heretic Inquisitor as a subordinate and the Black Dragon Master as a friend."

I...

"Kim Yul's pain, the orphanage director's regret, even your devotion to the Heavenly Demon and your love for Duke Ivansia. All the things you've done since your return, you did them because you didn't want to be abandoned. You didn't want to be weak again. To prove that you and others are different from Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha..."

"It's not true!!"

It's not true.

That's not how it is.

I glared at Jaa Soo-Jeong.

"......."

How dare.

How dare she describe it like that.

"Why is that?"

The Tower Master spread her arms.

Her robe fluttered like the wings of a butterfly.

I…

"Yoo Soo-Ha, that guy, can't be the meaning of my life."

I was weak.

I had been weak.

Convinced that I shouldn't become a psychopath, no matter how successful, that I mustn't ignore the children burning in the mansion. I reminded myself over and over, [I mustn't become like Yoo Soo-Ha].

"I have already overcome Yoo Soo-Ha."

But not anymore.

"In my life, the significance that Yoo Soo-Ha holds is now so trivial, I'd rather scoff and laugh at it!"

I met the Guardian Spirit.

Met my master.

Met Raviel.

Met the orphanage director.

"In my life,"

Such beautiful people.

"Who becomes meaningful to me,"

The ones I chose to be by my side.

"Is for me to decide!"

"I choose who will be the reason for my life."

I become stronger only for them.

Not because of someone like Yoo Soo-Ha.

I no longer live with feelings of inferiority towards Yoo Soo-Ha, betrayal towards someone, or anxiety about others.

I won't let them be the reasons for my life anymore.

I've become stronger than yesterday.

"......."

Jaa Soo-Jeong looked at me.

"Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha is no longer your reason?"

"Yes."

I affirmed confidently.

"I do not think about that bastard even once a day. He can fuck off."

"But you still hate Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha."

"Damn it."

"Mr. Gong-Ja, in your life, he still holds so much significance. So much so that you can't forgive him. No, you shouldn't forgive him. You treat Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha as the most vicious psychopath in this world."

"Fine."

I gritted my teeth.

"Thank you so fucking much for proving that Yoo Soo-Ha was capable of changing."

"......."

"Now I'll prove that he means nothing to me."

That damn guy.

"Viscount Jaa Soo-Jeong."

I glared at her.

"You changed Yoo Soo-Ha, only you could, you showed off in front of me, right?"

"Yes."

"I'll always hate Yoo Soo-Ha, and I can't change that, so I'm weak. So I admit I'm weaker than you, and you're the one who can change all the miseries of the world?"

"Yes."

"Get lost."

I stood up.

"I won't even give hatred and contempt to someone like Yoo Soo-Ha anymore."

I looked down at Jaa Soo-Jeong, sitting against the sunset.

"He is, in my life, now meaningless."

No.

I won't let him be meaningful.

I'm sick of even hating such a guy!

"I've become stronger."

I took out a card.

The first skill I received.

My starting point.

[I Want to Become Just Like You]

Rank: S+

Effect: Automatically activated when killed by an enemy. You copy one of the skills of the enemy that killed you and make it yours. You may not copy from an opponent you’ve already copied from. The copied skill is selected randomly.

*However, you will die!

"I'll change Yoo Soo-Ha."

I glared at the Master of All Lives.

"I changed Preta, who destroyed a continent. The Sword Saint, the Black Dragon Master, the Heretic Inquisitor, all of them changed. Yoo Soo-Ha... such a lowlife scumbag, do you think I can't change him? Me?"

"Yes."

"I don't need your IF world."

My voice was hot as if I had swallowed fire.

"I changed Preta, Elder Callenbury, Anastasia, Bambolina, Raviel. I will make them the happiest. I don't need your hypothetical existence. The reality they are in with me is their best scenario."

"......."

"You can't make the master as happy as I can."

I don't need your salvation.

"You can't make Raviel as happy as I can."

We don't need to patch our weaknesses with you.

We're not weak anymore.

We don't need gold.

"And you."

I declared.

"You won't be able to change Yoo Soo-Ha the shithead as much as I can."

"......."

"Yoo Soo-Ha, who's pathetically drinking cheap soju around in this world, I wouldn't take him even if you gave him to me. The scumbag I change will be far greater and happier than the scumbag you changed. Because I'm more capable. Stronger."

"Ah."

Hearing my declaration of war.

Jaa Soo-Jeong laughed. Laughed again for a long time.

Then asked.

"Can you prove it? Anyone can build a heaven with words."

"I've never been a guy who only talks."

"Right. That's true. Then, is this a challenge to me, Mr. Gong-Ja?"

"It's a duel."

"I always welcome a duel."

The god with an eighteen-year-old face hummed joyfully.

“Only warriors engage in a duel. Only warriors carry the weight of their own lives. I love all humans, praise all blood as beautiful, and find joy in frustrating all challengers. Because I am strong.”

“I am strong too.”

“I am the strongest of all beings in the universe.”

The expressionless girl was rejoicing.

“I melted the heart of the Sun King, who was isolated for sixty years. I comforted the heart of Duke Mu Wi-Sik, decaying for a thousand years. I thawed the frozen time of the Dragon Emperor, stagnant for seven thousand years. And all these were just the prologue.”

The Tower Master tilted her head.

“I built the Tower. In doing so, I came to embrace all the unfortunate, the unhappy, the weak, the wicked, the slaughterers, the murder fiends, the cannibals, every weak person and every villain, and let them live again. My heart is infinite and my life eternal, so I can soothe the wounds of every child torn apart by the world. Mr. Kim Gong-Ja, even you could finally breathe only after setting foot in the Tower I built. How dare you ask me for a duel?”

“Then.”

I spoke.

“Make Raviel happier than I can.”

Just as your life proves your strength.

My life also proves my strength.

“Make my master laugh more brightly than I can."

The people with me are my proof.

“Go ahead.”

“Ahaha.”

Jaa Soo-Jeong laughed.

“Alright.”

Laughter spread in the sunset.

“Very well, then.”

Her purple eyes half-opened.

A fragrance of purple mingled in the early summer air.

“So? How?”

The scent of a rotten poisonous flower wafted.

“What's your plan?”

The fragrance approached me.

The violet fragrance caressed my cheek.

“How exactly will you change Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha more than I can? Hm? Do you have a method? A way?”

The royal courtesan whispered in my ear.

With the voice that had enchanted countless nobles, royalty, and the Dragon Emperor, she whispered sweetly.

“You've already killed Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha.”

"......."

“Ah, will you return to a time before you killed Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha? You've done it over 4000 times already. A few hundred days might not be impossible. But then, all the relationships you've built with the Black Dragon Master, Sword Saint, Heavenly Demon, Constellation Killer, and many others in the meantime would all disappear, right?”

"......."

“To change Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha, you'd give up other relationships. Really, how [meaningless Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha must be to you]. Isn't it? How meaningless must he be, if he outweighs the meaning of the past several hundred days?”

That damn.

My head heated up.

Heat surged from my heart.

I didn't suppress the heat but let it out.

“Compensation.”

“Huh?”

Jaa Soo-Jeong tilted her head.

“Compensation?”

“Give me compensation.”

I didn't take out the card for nothing.

“You still owe me.”

I flipped the card over.

The skill description was written there.

Automatically activated when killed by an enemy.

You copy one of the skills of the enemy that killed you and make it yours.

“Your rule.”

Your Tower.

“A rightfully earned method.”

The dagger I left in the Tower.

“Based on this, I demand compensation from you.”

“Hehe.”

Jaa Soo-Jeong smirked.

“You’ll steal a skill from me and become stronger than me?”

“Yes."

“Thinking of stealing [All Lives]? Too bad. That skill only makes sense when several skills are combined. If you had [The Golden Dragon’s Gaze] and [Ice River Dragon's Breath], maybe you could perform miracles like me... How will you manage?”

Jaa Soo-Jeong hummed.

“Mr. Gong-Ja, you can only take one skill, right?”

Her delight was intensifying.

“Even if you take one of my skills, will you really become stronger than me, let alone change Mr. Yoo Soo-Ha? To become a munchkin like me, you need a lot, quite a lot of preparations. Mr. Gong-Ja.”

“Scared?”

I can't let the god have all the fun alone.

“Ah?”

“If you can't give it, just say so. You're scared, right? Admit defeat if you're scared. The skill's penalty forced me to witness your entire life, but you won't give compensation? What a way to run the Tower.”

“Cute provocation. Really.”

Jaa Soo-Jeong laughed deeply.

“And I can't help but fall for it.”

Her fingers played in the air.

“Alright. King of Death. Take whatever you want.”

The Tower's voice echoed.

[The condition for your skill has been fulfilled.]

[Randomly copying a skill from the 'Master of All Lives'!]

Clap!

Jaa Soo-Jeong snapped her fingers.

“Go ahead and take a piece of the life I've walked, and prove your words, King of Death. Advisor. Mr. Kim Gong-Ja.”

Swoosh.