SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 323

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 323: A ■■■ Just for You (2)

──────

I have heard your wish.

Every wish requires a price.

First, I will take your name.

Second, I will take your face.

Third, I shall take your fear.

If that's alright with you.

And still, you're fine with it.

May fortune be with you.

"......."

Silence flowed between us.

However, the direction of the silence was different.

I closed my mouth to wait for an answer, and the Constellation bit its lip, unsure of how to respond. The ■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■, now with emerald hair and ash-grey eyes, slowly exhaled.

“...But.”

But,

“I don’t know either.”

The breath was toxic.

“I can’t remember what I looked like. Even if you, the King of Death, say you will find me, it's simply impossible. What tone I used, what clothes I wore, if I could even wear them. I can't recall.”

How can you find something that doesn’t exist?

The breath murmured so.

Exhaling a poison that had long been festering in the lungs.

“I can’t find myself because I abandoned it. You, the King of Death, can't find me either.”

“That’s right."

I nodded.

“It might indeed be difficult to find the original you. Even if we think we found it, there’s no guarantee it's the right one. It's like planting a red flag claiming you’ve found the South Pole in the middle of a snowfield without any equipment.”

“Yes, so...”

“But you don’t need the original you.”

I caressed the Constellation's cheek.

Tick.

[The skill has been activated.]

A white outline appeared.

The smudge was peeled away, and ■ crumbled.

Another bar of the cage that covered the constellation broke.

“Finding the original you, I don’t think that would make you happy.”

“...Why do you think so?”

"You abandoned it, didn’t you? There must have been a reason."

I smiled faintly.

“I don’t know where you were born. What you experienced in the distant past, your childhood, the wounds you received or the embarrassing things you did. I don’t know those trivial details.”

I could not see those things even through the trauma.

No skill could easily reveal them.

“But I know what you like, how much you like it.”

You like adventures.

You love a life of smashing through enemies with someone you chose, experiencing thrilling dangers, enduring true pain to leap over death, and keep moving forward.

To the extent that you’d abandon your original name and face to achieve it.

“You like me.”

"......."

To the extent that you'd be okay with losing your existence by using your last third wish on me.

“Then, please choose [the face you want to show me].”

"......."

“I will see you as you wish to be seen by me. I will see what you show me. What else matters?”

"......."

“You like me. You like adventures. You chased what you like, threw away the unnecessary burden, and came all this way. That’s you.”

Tick.

“You haven’t lost yourself.”

Tick.

“You came all the way here to find the self you want.”

『Everyone travels.』

『In a five-pyeong little room, an infinite desert lies.』

"......."

Startled.

The Constellation shuddered once and looked at me.

[The skill ‘The Universe's Wild Expanse ’ has been activated.]

That's right.

I was now using the power of The Universe's Wild Expanse to create a world.

Just as the Constellation had brainwashed me to show the world.

This time, I became this child's Constellation, showing it the world.

『A young fox.』

『A fox born in the desert knows there's no water and no toys. As the wind blows overnight, hills flow away, valleys are filled and with every passing day it loses its home.』

『Not every child of the desert can love themselves from the moment they are born.』

『But the night sky.』

"......."

The Constellation looked up.

[The skill has been activated.]

With the help of my imagination and The Universe's Wild Expanse, a vast night sky spread above our heads.

Even in an empty desert, if you look up, stars are scattered.

“It’s okay.”

I whispered.

『Children without landmarks in their birthplace have no choice but to walk using the night sky as their map.』

“I won’t deceive you.”

"......."

The world is imagined.

A young fox's journey begins.

『When it listens closely, the only sound it hears is desert sand rustling dryly. Rustle, rustle.』

『Just the parched wind.』

『The fox walks, accumulating sand in its heart, layer by layer.』

“It’s okay.”

『The fox walks because it has nothing.』

『The food is unsatisfying. Always.』

『Everything grown in the desert always contains sand, so when you bite, sand sticks to your lips. No matter how much you eat, the thirst doesn’t quench. Though something accumulates in the once empty heart, it's not the starlight of the night sky but the dried sandy soil.』

『Have I become the desert?』

"......."

『Am I also becoming the desert?』

"......."

『The countless grains of sand that cover the world are infinite and boundless, evidence of all that have died on this land make up the sands of the Ganges, and what will die from now on will count the Nayutas*, but am I just a grain of sand being added to the already infinite sand?』

*Originally taken from the Sanskrit word meaning "a very large number," one nayuta is generally acknowledged as 10 to the power of 60, though some people argue that it's to the power of 72.

『The desert remains a desert.』

『There’s nothing but traces of death wherever you look.』

『Everyone is dying.』

"......."

『The fox chooses a cactus due to lack of food.』

『Because it's thirsty.』

『Sometimes, as you cross the desert, cacti stand like telephone poles. The child knows there's water inside. Water. The only comfort that washes away the deadly thirst.』

『The thorns are well-developed.』

……To protect even a handful of water…… in this sandy hell…… you’ve developed so many thorns……

『The fox tears into the cactus with tears in its eyes. It is barefoot. Thorns pierce its soles. Edges graze its toes. Blood flows. Sometimes its hide is punctured. But it feels it will die if it does not drink, so the fox cuts into the cactus flesh.』

……I’m sorry……

『It sucks up every drop of water.』

……I’m sorry……

『Thorny water.』

『The fox is quenched. For a while, it can walk a bit more. But its throat hurts. A sharp thorn is stuck inside.』

『The young fox paid the price.』

『The cactus didn’t forget to take revenge on the beast that stole and drank from it.』

"......."

『After drinking the water for the first time, and then the second, the fox realized.』

『Maybe.』

『Maybe I'm the one making the desert?』

『The fox, its nose buried in the flesh of a cactus, suddenly looks up at the sky. The sun is painful. It had always wondered why the world was a desert, curious where the desert came from, and thought perhaps it was because the sun was so hot.』

『Perhaps, after the sun, I am the next sinner in this desert?』

"Ah......"

『I've killed so many cacti.』

"Ah,"

『I have even cursed the cacti for not being an oasis.』

"Ah... uh..., ah."

『To those who bristled with thorns to protect even a handful of water, I questioned why they wounded the soles of my feet, breaking their black thorns. Those thorns were merely blackened with dried blood.』

『When I walk on a sandy path, corpses of thorns lie scattered.』

"......."

『The desert becomes even more of a desert.』

"……No. ……No, King of Death. I am......."

『Prick.』

『The fox's throat hurts.』

"No! I-I did nothing wrong."

『I ate too much sand.』

『I swallowed too many thorns.』

"……Why……."

『But.』

『That was all there was.』

"......."

『Please save me.』

『Someone, please, save me.』

『There's nothing here.』

『Not even I exist.』

"...Mm..."

『The only thing its feet have learned is how to break thorns.』

『Now its feet are no longer hurt when it drinks from a cactus. If that is something to boast of, then perhaps it can boast.』

『Not bleeding.』

『Proof of adulthood.』

『At some point, it discovers that it has grown accustomed to this desert.』

"……I hate it.”

『I've also become accustomed to drinking water.』

『The trick is not to cut the cacti entirely.』

『You don't need to remove all the thorns.』

『Just one or two.』

『At most three.』

『Then, just peel the skin where the thorns were removed a little and drink the juice. Just a bit. A tiny bit of indulgence.』

『It doesn't hurt.』

『The cactus doesn't die.』

『There's no sinner, no corpse.』

"I hate it!"

『Just a dry throat.』

『An unquenchable thirst that grows little by little on the inside, until it becomes as big as a heart.』

『One night, I vomited.』

『What came out of the heart wasn't blood, but sand.』

"I loathe it……."

『Even the things I thought were stars in the night sky.』

『Looking back, they were sand grains that had already died.』

『Sand sparkling in the sunlight.』

『Both this desert and the night sky were nothing but graves.』

"......."

『The fox, having walked the desert for thousands of years looked up at some starlight and slowly let out a breath,』

"I…"

“I hate this world.”

The breath was poisonous.

“It's boring. Tedious. No, meaningless. Why? Why is there no meaning? How can you laugh? What's so funny? There's nothing. It's lacking. In fact, everything is lacking. Why are you here? Why do you keep being there? How? In this utterly empty world,”

Why is there nothing for me?

"……Mister."

[■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■.]

Tick.

[■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ activates its skill.]

"Mister, you will make me happy, won't you?"

Before long.

At the fox's feet, an oasis unfolds.

"Isn't that so?"

The mirror of the desert.

The unscarred white sands gleam as they grow wet.

With each ripple, the grains of sand tick and softly rustle.

"......."

I did not answer the fox right away.

Walking from the middle of the oasis, parting the shallow water.

Crossing the water that barely covered my ankles.

I went behind the fox.

"Yes."

I held the fox's shoulder.

"It's okay for you to drink me."

I put a little strength into my hand.

The fox, whose shoulder was grabbed from behind, naturally dropped its head.

The water's surface.

"If you wake today and drink a sip, I will draw that much water while you sleep. One day, then another. Until the day I finally run dry."

In the mirror of water so clear that it could break upon touch, the fox was reflected.

The fox's face was reflected.

Its fur was shining like gold.

Its ash-gray eyes too.

Even the ■.

"So."

I held the fox's back, supported its shoulder, and whispered in its ear.

"Please tell me your name."

"......."

"Let me see you. Your face. Tell me the face you want to show me and the name you want me to pronounce. Choose them. Then..."

As long as you wish.

"It's okay for you to live by drinking me."

Drip.

A ■ fell from the fox's face.

It was black rust that flowed.

"……I deceived you……."

The part where the rust fell turned black.

The oasis became slightly muddier because of it.

But the water was still clear enough to swallow the rust shed by the fox and reflect its face transparently.

Yeah.

It's fortunate.

"I brainwashed you. I fragmented your memories. I tore apart the voices that reached you and cut off every touch that reached you. Yet, me…"

"I told you, it's okay."

I stroked the head of the young fox.

"My daughter is a Demon King who has killed me hundreds of times."

I could stroke it without a hint of falsehood.

"And my son is a warrior who challenges me to a duel whenever he's bored."

It was also fortunate that I could do so.

"My lover has stabbed my heart with a knife and killed me."

"......."

"Brainwashing? Memory manipulation? Sorry, but that's nothing to me."

I smiled.

"I don't hate someone just because they harmed me."

"......."

Silence flowed between us.

Eventually, the fox opened its mouth.

"But a person named Yoo Soo-Ha..."

"Can we talk about that later? It'd be even better if we didn't at all. Anyway, it would be nice if you could tell me your name."

Silence flowed once more.

But the direction of the silence was different.

"……My name is……."

I closed my mouth to wait for the answer, and the fox bit its lip, unsure of how to respond. The young fox, now with golden fur and ash-colored eyes, slowly let out a breath.

"■ ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■......."

The fox's lips reflected on the water surface moved slightly.

"Only for you."

Perhaps.

The fox seemed to ponder the pronunciation of the seven syllables it was free to choose.

The young fox thought about the seven blank spaces the world had allowed it.

And suddenly looked down at its ash-tainted eyes.

"......."

The fox nodded.

"Yes."

Click.

Finally, all the rust peeled off from the fox's beautiful face.

With a face cleansed of ink, a voice free of thorns, and a heart devoid of sand.

"Just for you,"

The child of the desert said.

"I am A Music Box Just for You."

And so, it became.

[A Music Box Just for You activates its skill.]

The desert crumbled away.

Like an hourglass turned upside down.

The sand that formed an infinite horizon fell endlessly before disappearing.

"I will sing for you, King of Death."

[The skill has been activated.]

"As long as you care for me, I will do nothing but sing according to the engraving you carved into me, King of Death. I will become an instrument no one but you can play, an instrument that remembers only one piece of music. That is how I will remain.”

strument that no one but you can play, remembering only one piece of music, that is me."

Swoosh.

The golden fur settled down.

"So."

"Yes."

I held the fox's paw.

"From now on, the only constellation I serve is you."

To the child who will become my god.

[Congratulations.]

['A Music Box Just for You' has become your Constellation.]

[You are the sole believer of 'A Music Box Just for You'.]

At an oasis in a desert spanning about five pyeong.