WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 86: The Reader’s Heart (2)

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Goosebumps. A favorability of 95.

And now I was witnessing what happens when someone reaches a favorability of 95.

"Radiant Sir! Until I saw you, I was no better than blind Sim Bongsa!"

The Head Librarian shouted while clutching and kneading the sole of my foot.

"Until I heard your words and dialogue, I was deaf!"

As they attempted to clip my toenails with the nail clippers, the Head Librarian's eyes shone.

"You are my light! You are my music!"

Their gaze was frighteningly intense.

"Since your name is Gong-ja, I will gladly convert to Confucianism! I will become a scholar devoted to you alone! Ah, is it not a joy to have a friend come from afar? From this day forward, I am a Confucian scholar who reveres Master Gong-ja!"

"Hey, hold on, stop!"

What kind of goddamned scholar covets another person's little toenail?

That's what I wanted to retort, but looking into the Head Librarian's eyes, I realized. Those eyes were not normal. They were eyes that would gleefully ignore whatever I said. Their breath was already heavy.

"If you keep doing this, I'm not entering any more Apocalypses!"

"......."

The Head Librarian froze while still holding my foot. The horrifying part was that even with everything else stopped, those hands continued kneading it. Was the Librarian insane?

The Head Librarian pondered deeply, like a troubled scholar.

“……Indeed. That's a valid threat.”

For a moment, I felt relieved that my words had an effect.

“But that threat is impossible once I analyze your character, Gong-ja.”

“Because you know there must be characters in other Apocalypses who are withering away unjustly, just like the Heavenly Demon. Given your personality, you could never bear to leave them without help.”

The Head Librarian smiled.

"Do not underestimate a Gong-ja fanatic. I know you in greater detail than you know yourself! I could spend two full pages describing which hand you used and what expression you wore when you ate the fasting pill on the first day of ‘The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon’..."

Were they really crazy? This was madness.

"Okay, Gong-ja. Just hand over what I need to take from you! Even though I didn't put you to sleep with the sleeping scent, it's a testament to how incredibly conscientious I am."

"I'm shocked at your so-called conscience."

"You would not understand, Gong-ja. You have never known this kind of devotion to someone. Ah, what a tragedy! How pitiful is a life that has never once felt a fan's heart go thump? How cold must such a person's heart be? And yet I must be the one to understand our Radiant Sir..."

"Back off before I say [I dislike you]."

They stopped immediately.

"Move five steps away from me. If you don't, I'll really say it."

"......."

The Head Librarian obediently backed away.

"Use your usual hao-style speech. This is honestly revolting. And please give me back my hair and nails."

"No way! That's utterly unreasonable!"

Their usual tone returned.

The Head Librarian clutched the silk pouches and made a mournful face.

"Rather, take my head! No, wait, Gong-ja. That was an exaggeration. Don’t seriously consider taking my head... It really hurts me..."

They mumbled like a deflated hamster.

Eventually, I managed to calm the Head Librarian down.

After burning the silk pouches containing the creepy contents (I heard terrible screams), the Head Librarian and I finally started having a proper conversation.

"It was tremendous."

The Head Librarian first reviewed the newly completed 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon'.

"Your devotion to the Heavenly Demon was truly admirable! Simply becoming the Heavenly Demon's disciple would have been enough to reach the [Ending]. But you did not stop there! The final Great Orthodox-Demonic War... the finest duel... Ah, I feel as though I have tasted a sweet chocolate ice cream bingsu."

"Does this mean the world of 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon' is now incorporated into the 22nd floor?"

"That's right."

The Head Librarian smiled.

"Other hunters may now freely enter and leave the 22nd floor. They can even acquire skills by studying the martial arts manuals stored in the Heavenly Martial Library. All of it is thanks to your achievement, Gong-ja."

"......."

I propped my chin.

"I've been curious about something while in the Apocalypse. I want to ask you, Head Librarian..."

"Ask anything! I'll answer almost everything!"

"Just stop trying to take off my shoes sneakily. Why is 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon' an Apocalypse?"

The Head Librarian tilted their head, seemingly puzzled by my question.

"Why? Hmm. Is there a specific reason why 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon' should be an Apocalypse?"

"In my opinion..."

I put my shoes back on.

"Do you prefer happy endings, Head Librarian? Or do you prefer bad endings?"

"Neither is superior to the other."

The Head Librarian answered immediately.

"An ending is the harbor where characters' lives ultimately arrive. Life can be happy or arduous! While readers generally hope for happiness, I want to embrace their sadness and failures too."

"So a bad ending is a legitimate conclusion too."

"Hmm. Of course."

"That's why I'm even more puzzled."

I grabbed the Head Librarian's wrist as they tried to come behind me again and snatched the scissors. The Head Librarian hopped trying to take them back, but couldn't reach them.

"Even if I hadn't intervened, 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon' had a proper ending. A bad one, but still."

"The Heavenly Demon, along with the Head of the Martial Alliance, did her best to the end. She tried. Even if the Head of the Martial Alliance died first and the Heavenly Demon went mad... That's the conclusion she reached."

I looked into the Head Librarian's eyes.

"Why is ‘The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon’ included among the Apocalypses, Head Librarian? If the Head of the Martial Alliance dies and the Heavenly Demon loses sanity and takes her own life, does that not even count as an ending?"

In fact, this question arose when I saw the fairy tale 'Me and Our Scapegoat'. Regardless of whether I could accept it or not, it seemed like a world that had naturally reached its conclusion according to its course.

The Constellation was silent.

In the library, only the breaths of unconscious hunters flowed quietly. Amidst the rising and falling chests of hunters, the Head Librarian remained expressionless.

"Maybe I just wanted to see a happy ending. Is that reason not good enough?"

"If you don't like the ending, you could have changed it yourself."

"......."

"You are powerful. To me, you seem omnipotent. Yet, instead of directly changing the Apocalypse, you sent us."

Therefore, this Constellation is a 'reader'.

A reader who abhors intervening in stories and merely accepts them. A reader who never wishes to assume the author's position and refuses it even when capable of doing so.

A reader who never intervenes.

Namely, the 'Holed-Up Head Librarian'.

"I could analyze your character too, couldn't I? Someone as thorough as you wouldn't classify something as an Apocalypse just because it ended weirdly. There must be some other reason why 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon' and other Apocalypses are classified as such."

“……Indeed, you're not easy to convince.”

The Head Librarian gave a bitter smile.

"Follow me."

The Head Librarian took my hand and picked up a book with the other.

The title was 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon'.

“---I will show you the truth of the Apocalypses.”

The Constellation opened the book.

And a light engulfed my vision.

3.

When I opened my eyes, we were in a world of snowfields.

But there was no need to walk through the snowfields. The Head Librarian still firmly held my hand, flapping their long sleeves like the wings of a goose, flying through the winter sky.

“Suppose.”

We flew over the snowfields.

“Suppose the zombie virus was a naturally occurring epidemic in 'The Veritable Records of the Heavenly Demon'. If that were really the case. As you said, I would never have made this place an Apocalypse.”

We crossed the snowy mountains.

"That means..."

"The zombie virus wasn't a disease that occurred naturally here. It's a contagious disease introduced from the outside world. Much like the New World being invaded by external forces."

Ha. The Head Librarian let out a white breath.

"Look there."

We were at the peak of a high mountain.

The spiritual peak of this world.

At the top of the mountain, touching the ceiling of the sky, lay something enormous.

[Shiny detects an ominous presence.]

The holy sword at my waist trembled.

Noticing this, the Head Librarian said,

"Oh, your sword feels it too. Not strange, considering your sword was once a full Constellation. It's natural for beings in similar situations to recognize each other."

"Similar situations..."

"Gong-ja, have you ever seen a Constellation falling from grace?"

The Demon King of Autumn Rain. Preta.

"Yes, I have."

"But have you ever seen the corpse left behind by a dead Constellation?"

"......."

"Thought so."

The Head Librarian smiled sadly.

"It's a rare sight, so take a good look this time."

It was a dragon.

A dragon's corpse.

At the peak of the mountain lay a dead dragon.

The hide that had once been smooth as silk was burned black. The horns on the dragon's head crumbled like coal. Its wish-fulfilling orb, broken into two pieces, lay buried in the snow.

And then.

[Shiny senses the presence of her sister sword.]

A sword was stuck in its chest.

[Shiny says that it's the second sister sword, the Sword of Pity!]

Black corrupt energy flowed from the sword.

It could be considered Aura. But it wasn't ordinary Aura. It was similar, no, even darker than what surrounded the Demon King of the Autumn Rain. The swirling corrupt energy enveloped the dragon and covered the peak of the snowy mountain. As white snowflakes landed on the peak, they were immediately infected by the corrupt energy, turning black.

-It hurts......

Black eyes.

-I feel wronged......

From the lifeless eyes of the black dragon, moans escaped.

-It hurts. It's painful......

-It's agonizing.

-I feel wronged. It's bitter. It's stinging. It hurts......

I momentarily lost my words.

"...You said it was dead. But that, it's still alive."

"It's already dead. What you see and hear there is nothing but the resentment of the corpse. When a being reaches the status of a Constellation, it can't die peacefully."

We both landed on the snowy peak.

The black dragon continued its endless moaning nearby.

The Head Librarian looked sorrowfully at the end of this Constellation.

"The epidemic you called the zombie virus is a curse."

"A curse......"

"Indeed. It is the curse left behind when this martial world's Constellation, [The Golden Dragon Who Dwells in the Great Lake], died. A grudge unable to die even after death. A corpse whose body remains despite already being dead, forced to endure its pain. When the people of the martial world were infected by that curse, they became gangsi."

I looked up at the dragon's corpse.

-It hurts......

The host of the epidemic. The source of the curse.

The disease that destroyed this world started right from that corpse.

Ultimately, it was because of this dragon's curse that my teacher passed away.

"...If the Constellation didn't stab itself in the chest, then someone killed it."

"That would be the logical conclusion."

"Who's the culprit?"

"You've already guessed the perpetrator."

I gritted my teeth.

"Leafanta Aegim."

"That's right."

The Head Librarian nodded.

"The Constellation Killer. A being who traverses the boundaries of worlds, slaying Constellations."

Shiny had said that a Constellation was a being who represented its world.

"And a world that loses its Constellation is like a castle without its walls. Such worlds become highly susceptible to catastrophic destruction."

The Apocalypse.

A world where its representative is gone, and its inhabitants have disappeared.

"Why would someone who founded the Aegim Empire and should be content ruling as emperor wreak havoc on innocent worlds?"

"That, I cannot answer."

The Head Librarian scrutinized my face.

"I am merely a reader. You called me omnipotent, but that is not true. If anything, I am omniscient but powerless. I can know the truth of a world, yet I do not intervene in it."

The Head Librarian spoke self-deprecatingly, then suddenly pointed at my waist.

"But you are different."

My waist, where I carried the sword.

"You can intervene, and you are intervening. Whether you want to or not, you are fixing things one by one that someone else has broken."

"Once could be a coincidence. Twice could be fate. But thrice becomes inevitability. You saved the empire abandoned by the Constellation Killer, collected the shattered Constellation, and now you have arrived in a world destroyed because of the Constellation Killer."

The Head Librarian said,

"The method used to kill [The Golden Dragon Who Dwells in the Great Lake] was vicious and cruel. An ordinary person cannot even touch that sword. But you can, Gong-ja. Coincidence and fate have overlapped within you to form an inevitability."

I looked again at the corpse of the black dragon.

Muttering in my mind.

'Shiny.'

The holy sword vibrated slightly.

[Yes, Hero, Shiny responds.]

'How do I collect your sisters?'

[Shiny says to draw Shiny and touch the blade to the sister sword.]

'Alright.'

I drew my sword.

The winter air split.

I struck down on the sword embedded in the black dragon's chest with mine.

[The Goddess of Protection absorbs a fragment of herself.]

Instantly, my sword was surrounded by light.

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