SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 103. The Way He Loves (1)
1
A white dawn.
I rose and washed my face. Dressed in the black Butler’s uniform I’d grown accustomed to by now, I moved slowly toward the Mirror.
There, [I] was still reflected back.
“Mm.”
Once, the Black Dragon Lord had said of me—[a somewhat cunning impression].
The man in the Mirror opened his lips slowly.
“Rabiel.”
Thump.
“Rabiel Ibansia.”
[Character immersion is deepening.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 62%.]
I’d only whispered the name of the woman I love. And yet my heart raced, my breath quickened, and the face of the man in the Mirror flushed slightly. Even I could read the expression easily.
“…I truly do love her.”
Strange.
Marveling at my own emotions, I proceeded to the next task.
“Status window.”
Characters bloomed slowly before my eyes.
+
Name: Four Kings
Rank: D-rank
Skills (6/6)
1. I Want to Be Like You (S+)
2. Regressor’s Clockwork (EX)
3. Sword Constellation (A+)
4. Goblin High Society (F)
5. Hundred Ghosts Reincarnation (SSS)
6. Demonic Heaven Divine Art (A+)
※The Blessing of the Goddess of Beauty is in effect.
※The Blessing of the Snake God is in effect.
+
There, inscribed, was the path of a life I had traversed and left behind.
My jealousy. My secrets. My fortune. My wit. My will. Even my happiness.
The life of the man [Kim Gongja] expressed itself so plainly.
“…….”
I drew one long, deep breath.
“Character window.”
Then characters I had never seen before were carved into my vision.
+
Name: Kim Gongja
Affinity: 90
Preferred Genres: [Martial Arts], [Romance], [Mystery], [Adventure]
Disliked Genres: None
Preferred Characters: [Mentor], [Righteous Hero], [Victim], [Hard Worker], [Child], [Sage], [One Who Questions Himself], [One Generous to Others], [One Who Understands Me]
Disliked Characters: [Psychopath]
Preferred Plots: [Karma], [Friendship], [Love]
Disliked Plots: [Self-Loathing], [Surrender], [Escape], [Forgetting], [Mistrust], [Monopoly]
Psychological State: ‘I want to know how I appear to him.’
+
Gulp.
I swallowed.
“Okay.”
I still remained Kim Gongja. I hadn’t been consumed by the role, as the Heresy Inquisitor had been. My strategy would proceed smoothly.
Surely.
“Sword Saint.”
-Huh?
The ghost that cast no reflection in the Mirror answered.
“If I become buried in the role of Butler, there’s something I need to ask you. A favor, if you will.”
-What is it?
“If your immersion rate reaches one hundred percent, there’s a strong chance you won’t even hear my voice anymore. You’ll have the skills, but you’ll have forgotten how to use them entirely. No matter what happens, we have to prevent your immersion rate from hitting one hundred percent.”
I fingered the hilt of the short dagger hidden at my waist.
“Ninety-nine percent. That’s the line we cannot cross. Your immersion must never go higher than that. Understood? If there’s even the slightest chance I might exceed ninety-nine percent, stop me by any means necessary.”
A low hum.
Backhoe Spirit let out a soft laugh.
—Strange worries you have. Someone as proud and egotistical as you reaching ninety-nine percent? I doubt it.
“No. I will reach it.”
I made a final adjustment to my clothing, smoothing every fold into place.
The perfect butler’s appearance stared back at me from the mirror.
“Because I intend to raise it there deliberately.”
—What?
Backhoe Spirit gasped.
—Why? You’d fail the stage and become trapped in this world.
“I can’t explain why right now. Actually, no one but me can know. I’m going to exploit a loophole in the tower’s system to clear this stage.”
The tower was watching us even now.
If it learned what strategy I’d devised, it would rush to patch the vulnerability. That couldn’t be allowed to happen.
While the tower still held a systemic flaw—an oversight it hadn’t foreseen. This was the opportunity. I had to clear Solmewin Academy quickly.
“If I’m in danger, help me.”
……
“I’m counting on you. On you, who promised to become my master.”
And I realized the Black Dragon Lord had been right.
The man in the mirror was grinning with mischievous cunning.
“Then I’ll go help my beloved.”
2
The Silver Lily Young Lady and I had begun courting, but unfortunately we couldn’t enjoy outdoor dates. She’d taken to her bed.
The Silver Lily Young Lady had always been frail. She was sensitive to sunlight. Even consulting the Butler’s memories, she’d missed more days at the Academy than she’d attended.
Still, after burning the midnight oil these past few days, collapse was inevitable.
“Don’t worry. It was like this from the first playthrough.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady spoke from where she lay against the pillows.
“To be precise, I’ve always been this way since birth. I could never play outside, so I spent almost all my time in the Residence. Once my heart disappeared after I drove a blade through the mirror, it only got worse.”
……
“That’s why the Emperor granted a Distinctive Name not just to me, but to Gold Sparrow as well. Even if I become Empress, I’ll die not long after. Bearing an heir would be difficult. I’m not suited to be Empress……”
Cough. The Silver Lily Young Lady coughed.
The sound was a little drier than yesterday’s.
“It’s hot tea. Please drink it.”
I offered her the tea I’d prepared beforehand. The Silver Lily Young Lady said, “Thank you,” and took a sip. Then her eyebrows rose slightly—a look of mild surprise.
“…You’ve put in plenty of honey. It suits my taste perfectly. How did you know?”
I smiled.
“You told me before, didn’t you?”
When the Silver Lily Young Lady gave me her romance lessons, she’d mentioned it. In the sixth playthrough, an apostle had tried to conquer her with a strategy guide. It had been written in that guide.
+
1. The Silver Lily Young Lady is sensitive to sunlight.
2. The Silver Lily Young Lady has a dull palate and prefers strong-flavored foods.
+
I simply hadn’t forgotten and put it to use.
“Hmm. Then doesn’t that mean you’re also using a strategy guide?”
“You told me first, so I wouldn’t call it using a strategy guide. If you’d consider it consulting a reference book instead, I’d be grateful.”
“I’m beginning to see you have a rather irritating side to you as well.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady tilted her cup.
The soft sound of tea being sipped echoed quietly through the bedroom.
“So what scheme have you devised? Even this cozy time we’re sharing now is merely a brief indulgence. One of us must inevitably forget the time we spent together. There can be no solution.”
“You’ve never once in your life entrusted your future to another person, have you?”
“Hmm?”
“Trust me.”
……
“Even if this is a false romance, the man you agreed to court is not incompetent.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady gazed at my face intently.
“There are times in life when we need help from others. That’s where you are now.”
When I saved the Aigim Empire, I received help from the Sword Saint and the Black Dragon Lord. When breaking through the Cheonjma Records, I was aided by the Pharmacist, Viper, and the Medicine King. I’ll never say it aloud, but I’m always indebted to Backhoe Spirit as well.
I’ve never once thought of myself as alone.
Unlike the lover before my eyes.
“Until now, the Young Lady has borne far too much alone. [The Empire must remain steadfast even after I die], [I must set the Crown Prince right], [I must deal with the Blood Demon]. You’ve carried all of this for one hundred and forty days straight, haven’t you?”
“Do you think I’m exhausted?”
“Yes.”
…….
“Please rest, even for a little while.”
I gathered spring blossoms at dawn and placed them in a flower vase by the bed.
“I don’t think I’d like it if the person I love tried to shoulder everything alone. No—I wouldn’t like it at all. When I’m tired, I’d want the other person to share the burden, and when they’re tired, I’d want to carry it for them.”
“We’re only indulging in a counterfeit romance.”
“It doesn’t matter, because my feelings are genuine.”
“…Don’t you feel insulted?”
“Ah, so the Young Lady still doesn’t know me.”
How could someone be so endearing? I found myself smiling softly.
“I’m an optimist. Just because the Young Lady is pretending to date me—you think that would make me depressed or plagued by self-doubt? Not a chance. I see it as an opportunity. Eventually, the Young Lady will fall in love with me anyway.”
“Good heavens. Where does this confidence of yours even come from?”
“Because only I will spend time with the Young Lady. Until you tell me you’re tired of me, I won’t give you up, no matter what.”
…….
No matter what.
“I will do my best to be your support.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady didn’t answer. Instead, she sipped her tea quietly.
As the days passed, my lover grew thin.
Every night, at the stroke of midnight, the demons that materialized grew progressively stronger with each passing day.
At first, the demons had barely more than the shape of a tongue and lips. But the next day, and the day after that, things changed. Arms appeared. Legs emerged.
-Kyarr.
It was only after they’d gained limbs that I realized: the demons resembled the Silver Lily Young Lady. If you took her and simplified her slightly, shrinking her down, they would look exactly like this.
-Will you kill us?
-Will you kill me?
Night after night, I silently disposed of the demons. Though the Silver Lily Young Lady said she would help, I firmly refused. What she needed most right now was time alone, quiet rest.
All the paperwork requiring the Young Lady’s approval? I stopped it all.
There were only days left before this world faced annihilation anyway. If the Empire would crumble merely because a duchess didn’t attend to it for a few days, then let it crumble.
Rest.
A solitary respite.
That was the first gift I gave to the Silver Lily Young Lady.
“…Days like these are new to me.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady murmured, sounding somewhat troubled.
“Are you truly certain it’s all right to simply sit like this?”
Now we sat in the shade of cherry trees, gazing leisurely out at the Lake. I had carried the Silver Lily Young Lady here in my arms.
That was all.
No complicated documents, no Blood Demon, no students whispering as they ogled the Silver Lily Young Lady.
“It’s fine.”
“But…”
“It’s fine, Young Lady.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady closed her lips. This peaceful time that had come to her seemed almost unbearable for her to endure.
“I’ll make things feel all right for you.”
“I don’t wish to depend on you.”
“When did I ever say I’d help you forever? When I need help, you can help me. We should help each other, shouldn’t we? That’s how we live.”
…….
The day simply passed in silence.
That day marked the tenth day, as the Silver Lily Young Lady had said.
“You must be thirsty, yes? Today I added just a touch of honey to the milk tea. I think it will suit your taste.”
…….
“Once the sunlight grows a bit softer, we’ll take a rowboat out for a ride. I’ll row us.”
Throughout that day, the Silver Lily Young Lady did nothing.
In the morning, I woke her and had her wash. I brought her a simple meal. In the late morning, I read her favorite collection of poems by her side. In the afternoon, I packed refreshments and we took a walk to the Lake at the Academy.
Wheee—
The spring breeze whistled, dancing the magnolia and cherry blossoms. The white petals scattering across the sky—the Silver Lily Young Lady gazed up at them quietly. On the Lake’s surface, fallen cherry blossoms rippled across the water.
…….
For an hour, she said nothing at all.
Even when I lifted the Silver Lily Young Lady into the rowboat, she remained silent. Quietly, she watched the flow of falling blossoms drift past. Splash. Ripple. My rowing gave the Lake its gentle current.
“Spring is white.”
The Silver Lily Young Lady murmured softly.
“In the Empire, this season is called White Spring. There’s a time when cherry blossoms bloom before the magnolias fade. An old poet I admire once said: ‘White blooms within white, spring in full measure within spring itself. The last breath of winter’s unfinished white exhales at last.'”
The cadence of her voice matched the speed at which cherry blossoms fell through the sky.
“It’s a beautiful season.”
“It is.”
The sunset had arrived.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw a season like this.”
A gentle spring flowed past us.
“…….”
“…….”
We two were intoxicated by the season. A pleasant, dreamy numbness. The spring air hung thick and soft in my mind.
[The presence of the Silver-Plated Heart becomes more distinctly manifest.]
So when the hour of this world’s annihilation drew near, we felt no alarm at all. Indeed, we exchanged scarcely a word.
[The Silver-Plated Heart manifests.]
The flushed sunset deepened, burning crimson.
From beyond the Academy came the faint screams of students. Blood that had overflowed from the mirror swept across the Academy in an instant. It spilled into the edges of the lake and stained the water red.
“Butler.”
“Yes.”
“I am at peace when I am with you.”
We stood in a rowboat at the center of the lake.
The red blood creeping in from the edges had not yet consumed our sanctuary.
“May I truly trust you?”
I released the oar from my hands.
“You said yourself, Young Lady. We are like parallel lines, unable to meet, and whoever dies first will always regress first. That’s why the two of us can never be together forever.”
“Yes.”
“From now on.”
I took the Silver Lily Young Lady’s hand.
“My aura will envelop your body. Not just your body, but your mind as well. And my own body and mind will be wrapped in aura in exactly the same way.”
And then.
“At precisely the same moment, I will shatter both your head and mine.”
“…….”
The Silver Lily Young Lady’s breath caught.
Her pupils dilated as her breathing stilled.
“That is…….”
“It’s true that whoever dies first regresses first. It’s true that whoever doesn’t regress will forget the other. So there’s only one way for us to be together. We must die at exactly the same moment, in perfect synchrony.”
I gripped the Silver Lily Young Lady’s hand more firmly.
“Rabiel Ibansia.”
The person I love.
“Please die with me.”
A moment passed.
She nodded.
So that’s what we did.
SSS-Rank Must Die to Live Hunter (Serial Publication)
Author | Shin Noah
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 204-ho, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Posttower 1st)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Shin Noah 2019
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. The content may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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