WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 388: The Time He Waited, The Time He Walked (1)

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一.

In the beginning, it existed.

There was nothing else.

It alone was whole and complete. Thus, it was fully capable of bearing eternity by itself.

But being able to and having to are not the same. Just as it needed nothing else to be itself, it also thought it need not be alone.

For one to become two, it must be split.

It too chose to be cut. With the greatsword it had forged by tempering itself into itself, it split itself apart. The lower portion of its long horizontal divide sank and became the earth, while the upper portion rose and became the sky.

To commemorate the birth of the heavens and the earth, people named the moment of the first cleave the ‘Year of the Sword.’

1.

Silvia.

Formerly the Goldencup Lady of Sormewin Academy, currently the chamberlain of the King of Death's household and a gardener in its rear garden.

She was oversleeping again today.

“Ugh… Hmm… Did you see… My Lord, no, Kim Gong-Ja… This is, [My True Power]…”

She must be having a pleasant dream.

She was starting to confuse whether her family name was Evanair or Evanile. Dreams were the only drug this world permitted her.

But of course, the bizarre and nightmarish world crafted by the merciless evil god that had ruined her life in its entirety did not wish for her to indulge in such sweet slumber.

“Lady Silvia.”

The voice that awoke the deeply slumbering Silvia belonged to a woman with a gentle demeanor.

Once the Immortal Dragon Emperor, once the Goddess of Protection, once the empire's Holy Sword of Protection, once a blade called Shiny, and once all sorts of other things, this woman had amassed a hell of a collection of disconnected careers in unrelated fields. Her name was Hwiya.

Now, she spends her time in the King of Death's household, having tea with Ester, her former nemesis who drove the world to ruin, or playing old Smash Bros games with her previous partner, Kim Yul, whom she helped lead a life worthy of a title like [The bullied boy in school reincarnates into another world, meets a goddess, forgets his memories, and steadily walks the path of a God Slayer with his overpowering skill]...

Among those activities, one was to wake up the oversleeping Silvia.

"Silvia, it's time to get up."

“Hmm..."

“Silvia.”

“Five more minutes…”

Silvia mumbled as she clutched her goblin doll pillow tightly.

“Five minutes... Please, shut your fucking mouth and wait just five more minutes...”

Not getting angry was one of Hwiya's virtues.

She quietly waited for another five minutes before speaking again.

“Silvia, five minutes have passed.”

"Five minutes? That’s commendable… If you waited five minutes… then you can wait ten… I believe… in your… [Will to Wait]..."

Being able to be convinced logically was another of Hwiya's virtues.

After another ten minutes, she said,

“Silvia, ten minutes have passed.”

“Nyeh..."

“It’s time to wake up.”

“Why…?”

“You have work to do.”

“What if… I don’t want to work…?”

Without lifting her face from the pillow, Silvia briskly raised one hand.

“Think about it... Goddess of Protection... Hwiya... Baldy... whatever. Just think...”

“I am not Baldy. I am Shiny.”

“Ah, fuck, those are basically the same thing, you shiny-headed bastard... Anyway, think about it... If I... do not want to work... if I possess such a golden will... what will you do? Will you force me to work...?”

Silvia then spread just one finger and wagged it back and forth.

“No, no, no... Of course you would not... You would never do that... Baldy...”

“I am not Baldy.”

“Hwiya, you’ll just let me sleep… And then, you will… gladly do my work for me...”

“Hmm… And why is that?”

Was calmly responding even to bullshit like this another of Hwiya's virtues?

Or, perhaps, it’s a flaw.

Either way, Silvia answered in a dreamy voice, as if she was half-asleep.

“Because you are… a goddess...”

"......"

“Goddess… please help… If you’re going to look like Verdandi anyway, might as well earn your keep… It’s Silvia… That’s all..."

“Silvia…”

Silvia didn’t respond further. Her hand, previously raised, dropped down.

She had drifted off. Back to the world of dreams. Leaving a goddess waiting for 15 minutes.

"......"

Even after such treatment, Hwiya did not get angry. That was indeed a virtue, a strength.

Because not getting angry meant [There's no need for her to personally get angry]. Just as Silvia said, Hwiya was a goddess, and there were plenty who would get angry on her behalf.

So many that there might even be a few within Hwiya herself.

“Please, sister…”

“Understood. Leave it to me, sister.”

[The Goddess of Protection transforms into Goddess of Protection Alter ~Sympathy Form~.]

Hwiya's hair and wings turned black.

[The Goddess of Protection's Constellation rank is being adjusted.]

[The skill set of the Goddess of Protection is being changed.]

The robe Hwiya was wearing tightened around her, transforming from a flowing dress to a plain, dark-colored habit. Even her once platinum-like nails darkened.

A black angel had descended.

If Hwiya looked liable to be sued by Verdandi for trademark infringement, then [The Stance of the Pity Sword], one facet of Hwiya's sword-face, looked liable to receive a copyright infringement complaint from Advisor Gu Won-Ha.

Even the personality seemed similar, judging by the way she spoke.

“Pain without injury.”

“Aaaahh!~”

Silvia leapt up like a cat that had just encountered a cucumber. The power of the Pity Sword, the ability to inflict pain, had snapped her awake.

“Ah, what is this! This is abuse of Silvia!”

“Are you awake now?”

“Awake? No. It’s like my sleep got scared off so far away that it’s never coming back. What the hell is this, really? Can’t you treat Silvia a bit more preciously!?”

“Shall I give you another?”

“I’ll go wash up and come out.”

Silvia hurried off to the bathroom.

A while later, a refreshed Silvia emerged to find the original version of Hwiya had set the table for breakfast.

Silvia grumbled as she mixed her egg rice bowl thoroughly.

“You know what? That habit of refusing to dirty your own hands kept piling up until the Aegim Empire did that to the advisor. Reflect on your actions.”

“Ah, indeed. Could that also be related…?”

Hwiya lowered her head with a gloomy expression.

Silvia stared at her, then banged her rice bowl with a spoon until it clanged.

“What… are you even talking about? You were sealed by that guy you summoned. And now you're saying [Could that also be related]? What’s that about?”

“But still…”

“Stop blaming yourself. I was just ranting because I was annoyed. Gods aren't supposed to be this naive, right?”

Having inhaled the egg rice and guzzled down the sungnyung*, Silvia finished her meal in a flash. She stretched as she stood up, while Hwiya silently waited by her side, still wearing a somber expression.

*Sungnyung is a traditional Korean infusion made from boiled scorched rice.

Silvia clicked her tongue and draped her gardener's uniform over her shoulders, then asked,

“Come to think of it, what exactly did you fight?”

"Excuse me?"

“Kim Yul or Kim Yulmu-cha, whatever his name is. You must have had a reason to summon him. I heard you kept fighting for quite a while even after you summoned him. What was the reason? Now I am curious.”

"Ah, well."

Silvia overslept so often that the director moved the assembly to nighttime. Ester flew into a rage, saying she was inconveniencing the elder, while Kim Yul pressured Silvia by standing silently beside her. Silvia, however, was the very spirit of a nation that refused to bow to unjust authority, and she endured it calmly.

In short, there was still plenty of time before the assembly. Silvia carried a spade on her shoulder, and Hwiya balanced a bucket full of sunset on her head as they walked toward the garden and talked.

Hwiya answered,

"I fought with another version of myself."

"Good heavens. After all that tea time and camaraderie with the advisors... and now this alter form, when did the Viper virus spread that far..."

"No, no! Really, I mean it! I truly fought with another me."

Hwiya, unusually flustered, waved her hands in denial.

Silvia, skeptical, crossed her arms and said,

"Explain, please."

Perhaps due to her innate kindness, or shocked by the alarming accusation of being infected by the Viper virus, Hwiya willingly explained the fight.

According to Kim Yul, who joined them in the garden, the explanation went like this:

"Hwiya was split into two at that time. There was a bad Hwiya and a good Hwiya."

"Are you a slime creature?"

Kim Yul, who had recently begun to reclaim his emotions, wasn't as tolerant as Hwiya. He shot a rubber band at Silvia.

Feeling the physical sting, Silvia gritted her teeth.

"Ouch! What are you doing!"

"Head maid. You may insult me, but do not insult my former comrades. That is truly testing my patience."

“Oh, is that so? But Lord Gayeong, just as an observation, who was it that gave that deeply respected former comrade of yours one hell of a blow to the back of the head?”

"…Above all, a slime? Either a minor monster or a formidable foe that's hard to kill without magic and fire, such ambiguous titles should be avoided. Clear language leads to a clear mind. Silvia, as the head maid, you're responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the household. It's something you need to be more aware of."

"You're changing the subject, aren't you?"

Kim Yul cleared his throat and began rifling through his notebook.

"Anyway, there are two types of sanctuaries. There are sanctuaries that are [created] by someone, like this one or the Constellation Killer’s, and those that are simply [born]."

"Oh?"

"Cheomsan World... Or Hwiya's world was a [born] sanctuary. Everything there originated from Hwiya's body. The entire mountain range covering the continent was formed from the decaying corpse of a giant dragon."

"Ho?"

"That dragon was also one of Hwiya's true forms. Thus, the long battle with herself ended with only two factions of Hwiya remaining. I was summoned by the weaker, kinder Hwiya to fight against the stronger, evil Hwiyas."

Hwiya chimed in with nods and hums, crossing her wings as if they were arms.

"In a way, it was a process of [rebirth]. The battle that would ultimately decide what Hwiya would become. Just as the Lord cleared the trials of the 70th floor and became a complete constellation, Hwiya went through a similar process."

Kim Yul shared the lengthy tale of how he broke each of the evil Hwiyas' wings, one by one, converting their strength into his own, how he transformed Cheomsan World in the process, and how he gathered more people under his and Hwiya's banners.

"It sounds like a story that, if the cruel parts were cut out, would make for a perfect 24-episode animation to be aired in the morning."

Hwiya reminisced with a nostalgic look.

Kim Yul tilted his head.

"Really? I think it sounds like a story that, if made into an SRPG, could sell about 100,000 copies."

Silvia merely made a thoroughly disgusted face and offered no comment on the maddening duo's self-assessments.

Kim Yul asked,

"So, that's the story. Any more questions?"

"So, you did change the subject earlier, right?"

A brief skirmish ensued, with rubber bands flying and the spade slicing through the air.

"Anyway, get to work! It's almost mealtime."

"Yessir. Oh, my fate."

Thus, the three of them delved into tending the garden.

While Hwiya fluttered around, hanging up and gathering sunsets, Kim Yul wrapped long pruning shears in Aura and trimmed an elongated rock. Silvia crouched nearby, turning over the soil and grumbling.

“Ah, seriously... I wish I could fight myself too. Since I am Unlucky Silvia, Lucky Silvia could defeat and absorb me... No, now that I think about it, that would piss me off in its own way. If anyone is doing the absorbing, it should be me. I will suck every drop of luck out of that Silvia and become the one true lucky woman... Mm.”

Silvia stopped mid-sentence, her own soliloquy perhaps too pitiful even for her.

"Ugh."

At the end of Silvia's gaze lay a small marigold.

She had noticed its roots slightly exposed.

“You cried so much yesterday... You are not some big-eyed cartoon frog. Ah. Come to think of it, you did say you had once been a frog... Tsk.”

Silvia scooped up some soil with her spade and covered the exposed roots, grumbling,

"Lord, come back soon. How long are you going to stay up there, leaving the flowers like this?"

Of course, there was no response to her grumbling, as Hwiya and Kim Yul were far away.

Regardless, Silvia continued to tenderly cover the marigold's roots while muttering,

"Or are you already there? Given how elusive you are, maybe you're hiding there with your invisibility skill... Oof. If by any chance you're there, please shake that carrot flower over there... Whoa, damn, that scared me!"

Silvia was startled.

A sudden breeze had shaken the carrot flower.

"It's really shaking... Are you there?"

Once startled by Raviel, now startled by Kim Gong-Ja, Silvia calmed the heart that the sudden breeze had set racing.

"There's no way, now that I think about it."

Silvia scratched the back of her head.

"Damn."

The grumbling continued.

“You made me this way. And being this way, well, it is not bad... It is not bad, but especially when I see young Kim Hwang-Tae gradually going beyond hwangtae, dried pollock, and becoming dongtae, frozen pollock, I think, ‘Ah, I still have it better’... Even so.”

Silence.

"I’m not the only one you've made like this."

Silence.

"There are many of us... so."

And then,

"Come back soon. Please."

[Key manifestation complete.]

Somewhere, such a declaration echoed.

[Every resident from the 81st through the 90th floors is thinking of you.]

[The 91st floor stage has been cleared.]

Such proclamations of the Tower did not reach Silvia.

What Silvia heard was merely this,

"Silvia, let's go have lunch together!"

"Ah, yes."

Responding to Hwiya's call, Silvia got up from her spot.

After giving the well-covered marigold one last look, Silvia stretched her limbs.

"What's for lunch today?"

"Today, we're eating out. Let's go to the Planetarium."

"Ah, okay. Understood. …Well then."

With a flick of her finger, Silvia activated a power granted to the vassals of the King of Death's household, opening a staircase connected to another layer of the sanctuary.

"Let's go chew on some salad while looking at that annoying hamster's face."

Silvia, Hwiya, and Kim Yul made their way down the staircase, one step at a time.

And following them, someone who had heard the Tower's declarations also began descending the stairs.

[You are entering the 92nd floor.]

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