“Help? In the Heavenly Demon Realm?”
“Yeah. You were going anyway, right?”
Jang Seohyeok did not deny it.
He had never been good at lying, but he must also have known that the Righteous Sword Sect entering the Heavenly Demon Realm was not something that could be concealed simply by pretending otherwise.
“I cannot act without first hearing what you want me to do and how you want me to help. Because I owe you, I wish to grant your request as much as I can. However, matters involving a Required Gate are not my personal concern alone, but concern the entire Righteous Sword Sect. I hope you understand.”
He still talked far too much.
But he was right. I had not honestly explained what I wanted help with, nor did I intend to.
In that situation, a Guild Master responsible for leading others would be an idiot to immediately shout, “Yes, I will support you in every way possible!”
But I knew how to make people into idiots.
“Can you look at this?”
“Hmm? This is...a contract. Why are you suddenly showing me this...?!”
Jang Seohyeok’s eyes widened.
He recognized it as the contract Sa Ujin and I had signed, then quickly read it from beginning to end.
“Who is this person named ‘Yu Danyeong’ mentioned in Clause 43?”
“Ah. That is...”
At this point, I brought out the Skill that had faithfully remained with me throughout all my lives.
The so-called S-Rank Skill, 「Drama」.
【There is no such Skill, Master.】
Good things were good things.
Tears naturally welled up in my eyes, and my expression collapsed into misery.
I wore the sorrowful expression one would see only in a drama and forced myself to breathe out shallowly through my lungs.
“...She is my benefactor. Sa Ujin found out that she exists.”
How to make someone stupid.
Give them a reason to curse what they hate most.
Nothing stimulated a person’s catharsis like turning the b×stard one person hated into the b×stard hated by everyone.
As far as I knew, few could resist that temptation.
Even Jang Seohyeok, who was called the most even-tempered S-Rank Hunter.
【That is just like you, Master. I wondered whether you had grown up a little while I was gone, but you are still a proper piece of trash.】
Stop saying things that will make people misunderstand.
BANG!
The table Jang Seohyeok struck with his fist split in half.
My act had worked perfectly.
“That beast...”
Jang Seohyeok muttered with killing intent, then tightly gripped my hand.
That hurt a little.
“Forgive me for doubting you. Yes, in a situation like this, it would be natural that you could not easily tell others. Do not worry! I will help you!”
“Really?”
“Yes. Until the Heavenly Demon Realm Gate is over, I, Jang Seohyeok, will help you!”
Click.
- “Yes. Until the Heavenly Demon Realm Gate is over, I, Jang Seohyeok, will help you!”
“...Huh?”
Jang Seohyeok looked bewildered at the recorder in my hand.
“Thank you, Jang Seohyeok. I am truly relieved that you promised me that.”
“...Huh? Uh...”
“The Guild Master of the Righteous Sword Sect would never break a promise. I can trust you, right?”
“...T-That is true, but what is that recorder...?”
I sprang to my feet.
“Then I will prepare immediately. There is much to do before entering the Heavenly Demon Realm! I will come get you at two in the morning tomorrow. See you then!”
“W-Wait. Kang Seon. Hey.”
There was no taking anything back in this world.
I grabbed Flappy by the scruff and ran out of the Righteous Sword Sect.
***
“Master, I have two questions.”
“What are they?”
Since the road was empty, Flappy spoke freely.
“You fainted while stopping Hwa Yejin this time, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“That Skill you used then. 「Memoir」. Will it really be all right?”
I knew what Flappy was asking.
The stronger and more convenient a Skill was, the greater the price it carried.
It might consume enormous amounts of Mana, damage the mind, or...
“It might be a type of Skill that consumes lifespan. We do not know anything about this Skill.”
“Flappy. I owe you a great deal, and I rely on you.”
I looked down at Flappy.
“But you know that my goal has changed from when I first met you, right?”
Flappy let out a low growl before finally lowering his head.
“Right. Your goal is to die. And that goal is right in front of you now.”
“Yeah. So it is fine. Even if this Skill consumes lifespan, it will not change much. Besides...what does it matter even if it does?”
Though Flappy understood what I meant, he said nothing. I continued anyway.
“My lifespan ends at forty-five, no matter what. I only have twenty years left.”
Both Flappy and I knew.
It was a fact we had tested countless times and tried to deny.
My maximum lifespan was forty-five. It had been a predetermined outcome even before my regressions began.
I think it made me a little sad back then, but I did not care anymore.
I was sick of long lives.
“Come to think of it, you said you had two questions. What was the other one?”
“Um, well. Will it be all right?”
“「Memoir」? Like I said earlier—”
“Not that. I mean, you stayed at Hwa Yejin’s house for several days.”
What could have happened just because I stayed at her house? I got beaten up, caught an intruder for her, and fainted. Was there anything else?
“Why?”
“I mean, I am beyond used to your obliviousness by now, to the point that I am sick of it. I do not particularly intend to comment on it, but if you stayed in Hwa Yejin’s house for several days...”
Flappy groaned and climbed onto my shoulder.
He said nothing for a long time, perhaps waiting for me to realize something. Only when we reached home and I grabbed the doorknob did he finally speak into my mind.
【Leia went hungry for several days, did she not?】
“Huh?”
Click.
At the same time I turned the doorknob, killing intent burst from beyond the door.
“Shall we have a little talk, Benefactor?”
[Leia has used the Skill 「Winter’s Touch」(B+).]
A hand made of ice grabbed my body and pulled me inside.
“Gaaaaah!”
What happened after I was tormented and punished for quite some time by Leia, who had gone without food for three days, was another story.
***
“So this is what you meant by ‘preparations’?”
“Right. Put them on.”
Jang Seohyeok looked bewildered at the clothes I handed him.
Black clothes, a hood, and a mask, similar to what Jeong U-myeong had worn when he attacked Hwa Yejin. No matter how I looked at it, it was not clothing befitting an S-Rank Hunter, much less the Hunter ranked first.
But Jang Seohyeok was still Jang Seohyeok.
True to his rigid and honest character, he had no intention of breaking a promise he had personally made. He quickly changed into the clothes.
“This makes us look like thieves or robbers. So where are we going?”
“Right.”
“I was not asking whether we are going somewhere. I asked where we are going.”
“No, not that.”
“Hmm?”
I pointed at Jang Seohyeok with a kind smile.
“We really are going to commit robbery.”
Jang Seohyeok froze while fastening a blue longsword at his waist.
“...Kang Seon. I am the Sect Leader and Guild Master of the Righteous Sword Sect.”
“Right?”
“The ‘Righteous’ in Righteous Sword Sect means righteousness.”
“I know.”
“As the Master of a Guild that pursues righteous swords, I cannot commit such lowly crimes...”
- “Yes. Until the Heavenly Demon Realm Gate is over, I, Jang Seohyeok, will help you!”
“...”
Jang Seohyeok’s mouth closed.
***
“W-Who are you?! Security Team, where is the Security Team—!”
“Who are we? Can you not tell? We are robbers, obviously.”
“Be quiet.”
WHACK!
It was not even a Skill, merely a simple thrust.
The man crumpled to the floor after being struck by the tip of Jang Seohyeok’s scabbard.
The suspicious man holding a sword pulled down his mask and let out a deep sigh.
“Haa...”
“You should be getting used to this by now. Stop suffering over it. It is pitiful to watch.”
“I do not believe one should become accustomed to such things.”
For someone who said that, he had already knocked down twenty-one people.
Forty minutes had passed since we infiltrated the research building of an ordinary electronics company, . We were steadily making our way underground.
There had not been many people on the first floor, but each floor we descended, the number of people guarding this place increased exponentially.
[The Ability 「Rapid Reading」(D) is activated.]
[Reading the ‘presence’ on the ‘seventh basement floor.’]
“There are thirty people here. Can you handle them?”
“If you are asking whether I can, the answer is ‘of course.’ But when do you intend to tell me why we came here?”
I shrugged.
Without waiting for my answer, Jang Seohyeok subdued the security guards and hidden personnel who came at us one by one.
I answered him only after we had subdued everyone on the seventh basement floor, though I did so with a question.
“Why do you dislike S-Rank Hunters?”
“...I do not particularly dislike S-Rank Hunters. I merely dislike Hwa Yejin and Sa Ujin.”
“Then why?”
Jang Seohyeok began descending the stairs first.
“Before Hwa Yejin established the All Magic Tower and Sa Ujin began operating as a one-man Guild, they belonged to the same Guild. Have you heard of the Guild called ?”
“I have.”
“Only some Hunters affiliated with know this, but they wore human faces while committing acts no human should be capable of. They massacred civilians in Required Gates and abused the people of our world under the name of Hunters.”
“Can you really say that so freely?”
“All Hunters who knew that truth were silenced by contracts. But the A-Rank contract that bound me when I was a low-Rank Hunter became ineffective once I became S-Rank.”
This was why it was always good to raise one’s Rank.
The stairs continued farther and farther down.
“But has already been disbanded, right?”
“Correct. Divine Star disbanded, and Hwa Yejin and Sa Ujin, who had been Rankers there, found their own paths. I found that behavior contemptible. Sa Ujin was not much different from how he had been in Divine Star, while Hwa Yejin’s attempt to act clean now felt hypocritical.”
“That is a harsh judgment.”
“But it is the truth.”
The stairs finally came to an end.
At the end of a stairwell roughly three floors long stood an iron door secured by five or six layers of locks.
“You asked why I brought you here, right?”
“I did.”
I stepped back several paces.
There were two reasons I had come here.
Crack...
A cross-shaped line appeared on the iron door.
The first was to retrieve the item located here on the tenth basement floor.
Screech...
The other reason was—
“I wanted you to clear up your misunderstanding about Hwa Yejin.”
“Huh...!”
CRASH!
The iron door shattered along the carved lines, and Sword Aura poured toward Jang Seohyeok beyond it.
“This cannot be handled with the basics alone.”
[Jang Seohyeok has used the Skill 「Myriad Weapons, One Sword」(S).]
FZZZT!
A transparent longsword appeared over Jang Seohyeok’s hand.
Holding one sword in each hand, Jang Seohyeok fired an X-shaped Sword Aura toward the incoming Sword Aura.
It was not a Skill.
That, too, was merely raw power.
The moment he swung his sword, he loaded Mana into the tip. At the end of the motion, he released the Mana.
KRAKRAKRAK!
The two Sword Auras collided and shattered in midair, scattering as blue particles that drifted around us.
“Do you remember that person?”
“Ah... Of course I remember.”
Jang Seohyeok’s eyes slowly narrowed and sharpened as he saw the person before us.
Long blond hair, a scar on his jaw, and a thick beard.
The relaxed-looking man yawned as he stared at us.
“Who are you two? I did not hear anyone was coming today.”
The former number-one Guild, .
A Hunter who had once ranked eighth there.
Known as the Hunter’s Greatest Sword.
Tyr.
“Oh, you are...”
The pressure of the Sword Aura tore Jang Seohyeok’s hood and mask away.
Jang Seohyeok crossed his two swords and raised them, drawing up his momentum.
“Who am I? Can you not tell by looking?”
Toward the man who had been a disciple of his father, Jang Han-gyu—
“A robber.”