SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 55

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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 55. The Apex of Fandom (3)
4
In any field, latecomers are at a disadvantage.
A Red Ocean already conquered by veterans.
The latecomer must plunge into that sea and prove their worth—like a foot soldier grimly clawing up a City Wall seized by the enemy.
The Tower was no exception.
“…Welcome!”
White light faded, and when I opened my eyes again.
It was not a goddess’s voice that greeted us.
“Warriors who climb the Tower!”
It was a child—whether girl or boy, impossible to say.
A small figure in clothes several sizes too large.
At first glance, the garment resembled Eastern traditional formal wear.
“This humble librarian has waited with bated heart—A Day Like Three Autumns!”
But upon closer inspection, it was entirely different.
Aside from the length of the sleeves, the outfit bore no resemblance to Eastern ceremonial dress. In fact, the sleeves themselves were extraordinary—the cuffs stretched a full five meters or more.
“Yet all is well! For life is a journey that begins in meeting and ends in meeting. In the end, when we look back, what gives life meaning is nothing but the people we have encountered. And waiting—waiting is a seasoning that steeps the soul in the depths of existence!”
There is a saying that the completion of fashion is the face. No matter how extraordinary the garment, in the end its value depends entirely on who wears it.
By that measure, the small figure fluttering those five-meter sleeves was undeniably extraordinary.
“Allow me once more to express my sincere welcome!”
Empty air.
“Welcome to the Grand Library of Ten Thousand Thoughts!”
The child hovered high in that empty space.
Looking down at us, suddenly summoned.
[The Bookworm Librarian welcomes you all!]
A Constellation—the Bookworm Librarian.
The one who governs floors twenty-one through thirty.
This world’s custodian spread both arms wide and beamed.
But unfortunately, no one accepted his greeting. Murmurs rippled through the crowd. The Hunters had not yet grasped the situation, and gazed about in bewilderment.
“Uh… uh….”
“What? Why did we just get teleported out of nowhere?”
“Where is this?”
By rough count, several hundred strong.
The Hunters murmured in confusion. Most had been gathered in the Plaza just moments before, counting down together.
But there were also those who had been spending “private time” elsewhere.
“Kyaaaa!”
“D-don’t look here!”
Embarrassed shrieks erupted from various corners.
A Hunter caught mid-shower. Lovers transferred naked. Someone summoned while sleeping, rubbing bleary eyes in confusion. Hunters who had suddenly fallen victim to this calamity were everywhere.
“Oh my.”
The Constellation Librarian chuckled softly.
“I fear this librarian was a touch thoughtless.”
While the Hunters fluttered about in distress, the Librarian snapped his fingers—snap! Enormous Book Cases came flying through the air. Those cardboard-like cases, riddled with holes for head, arms, and legs, found the naked Hunters one by one and fitted themselves over them.
“Ah….”
“Th-that’s a relief.”
The watching Hunters exhaled in relief. I too felt the embarrassment keenly and was grateful.
“Wh-what on earth is this….”
The ones actually wearing the massive Book Cases—looking like Gundam suits made of cardboard—made pained expressions, though theirs was the minority opinion.
And so a wave of embarrassment washed over us and receded. People gradually recovered their composure. One by one, they began to look up at the hovering figure.
“…Who are you?”
The Black Dragon Lord spoke, as if representing all the Hunters.
“And where is this place….”
“Ah, this librarian is merely a nameless nobody who tends a rather large library, Black Dragon Lord. Compared to one such as yourself, I am scarcely more than a bit player. If you would be so kind as to treat me as though I barely exist, I would be most grateful.”
“…….”
The Black Dragon Lord’s brow creased.
A stranger whose identity she did not know had somehow learned hers. That fact gave her a sense of ill omen.
It could not be helped.
I had already taken the Demon King of Autumn Rain and the Guardian Goddess under my wing, and had grown somewhat accustomed to Constellations. But for the other Hunters, Constellations remained unknown entities.
“…Merely a rather large library, you say.”
I seized the moment when the Black Dragon Lord’s lips closed, and opened my mouth to speak.
“Well, it doesn’t seem to be quite that high a level?”
Floor 21.
This place was an enormous library. Perhaps “enormous” alone wasn’t even adequate to describe it. From the immediate vicinity all the way to the distant horizon, from the floor beneath my feet to the ceiling high above, bookshelves laden with countless volumes stretched in every direction.
It was closer to a world constructed entirely of a library.
“My, my.”
The master of this world turned to look at me.
Eyes innocent and guileless.
The pupils of a child utterly untainted by the world glimmered with wonder.
“Indeed. So you are the Four Kings.”
Hmm.
“Ah, I beseech you, do not be so wary. Gentlemen and lady, I assure you this Librarian means no harm. I simply wish to welcome you most sincerely. To me, you are nothing less than heroes of epic tales.”
Heroes of epic tales.
I knew what that phrase meant. After four thousand days of regression, I understood. This was no ordinary library. Yet I played ignorant and asked back.
“Heroes of epic tales, you say?”
“Like this, if you please.”
Snap!
The Librarian flicked their fingers. At once, two hardcover books were drawn from the countless shelves around us. They drifted gently through the air and orbited around the Librarian’s form.
Titles were inscribed upon each cover.
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[Chronicles of the Aigim Empire]
[Tales of Ascending Sky City]
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The Librarian smiled softly.
“My hobby is reading books. Yet the volumes that gather in my library are by no means ordinary records. They are your histories—accounts of the worlds in which the Tower stands.”
The Librarian ran a delicate finger along the spines of the books.
“You must wonder why, among all the warriors, only you were summoned. The answer is simple! In your respective worlds, only you alone possess a Distinctive Name as a character.”
“…A character’s name?”
“What you call a Distinctive Name.”
The Librarian smiled down at us.
“All 302 gathered here are warriors bearing a Distinctive Name.”
The hunters began to murmur among themselves.
“Only hunters with Distinctive Names were summoned?”
“Then what about the others…?”
“Wait. You mean we have to clear the Tower by ourselves?”
That’s right.
Not the real names used in the outside world, but a name bestowed entirely by the Tower upon the hunter. A Distinctive Name. That was the admission ticket that held sway from the 21st Floor onward.
‘…Before I regressed, that’s why I couldn’t even set foot beyond the 20th Floor.’
The vanguard who possessed Distinctive Names.
The stragglers who did not receive them.
‘The gap between the two groups would only widen.’
I ran my fingers along the hilt of the short dagger at my waist. It was a method I relied upon to calm my mind deliberately—my own small ritual.
‘I am not who I was before.’
The laggard who, lacking both skill and Distinctive Name, could never set foot beyond the 20th Floor, no longer existed here. What remained was only a hunter newly ascended to third rank.
‘I won’t fail to take part in the clear. I won’t be culled.’
Yet few hunters besides myself maintained their composure.
The Black Dragon Lord was the same.
She couldn’t hide her bewilderment and murmured under her breath.
“This is insane. Three hundred people? Clearing the Tower with such a small number…?”
“Have no fear!”
The Librarian seized the Chronicles of the Aigim Empire and laughed.
“Three of you alone once protected the Aigim Empire. With three hundred, that’s a hundred times as many! The stages I’ve prepared are well within your capacity to overcome. Take heart!”
“……”
Most of the hunters exchanged uneasy glances. In the midst of the Grand Library of Ten Thousand Thoughts, stretched out to the horizon, some three hundred hunters seemed nothing but a handful of sand.
Before the anxious air could spread further, I took the initiative.
“Let’s move forward then, Librarian.”
“Oh?”
“I understand you’re thrilled to meet living people again, but we’re eager to climb the Tower. We haven’t even received a quest yet. I’m asking for us to proceed.”
“Aheh, aheh-heh.”
The Librarian chuckled lightly.
“Quite so! In my enthusiasm, I neglected to issue the quest itself. Well, but explaining every detail in words is not my nature…”
Bang!
Hundreds of books came flying through the air.
The hardcover volumes orbited the Librarian, spinning lazily around him.
“Let me see. Which work will strike the deepest chord, I wonder? This apocalypse is rather tedious, and this one’s annihilation is far too quiet… Ah, yes! This one will do nicely.”
The Librarian plucked a single volume from the air.
“I offer fair warning, mind you.”
Then he opened it.
White light erupted from the pages as they spread wide.
“It’s merely a taster, so do brace yourselves.”
Whoooosh!
A wave of luminescence washed over us.
5
Every hunter was transported elsewhere.
Wherever we were, one thing was certain: it was not our world. Buildings of a style never before seen rose around us—structures that resembled termite mounds enlarged a hundredfold, creating a forest of architecture.
We hung suspended in the air, all of us hunters including myself. We floated in the vast heights above, and far below on the distant ground, buildings of unfamiliar design stretched to every horizon.
“H-help!”
Someone cried out. Did they suffer from acrophobia? Despite our perfect stillness, the hunters instinctively grabbed at each other’s sleeves.
The Librarian watched their panic and laughed.
“I am the Bookworm Librarian. But as I’ve said, the records that gather in my library are no ordinary histories or novels. I dare say they belong to a far, far loftier class!”
The Grand Library of Ten Thousand Thoughts.
A repository where the chronicles of countless worlds converge.
In that place, worlds are preserved in book form.
“This is the world you conquered.”
The Librarian tapped the spine of a hardcover volume bearing the title “The Aigim Empire Chronicles.”
“And this is your own world!”
There was also a book titled “Tales of Ascending Sky City.”
Hundreds of volumes more circled the Librarian. The constellation, bearing the form of a small child, gazed upon his collection with an affection that seemed almost unbearable.
“These books are called by many names. Some speak of them as epics. Others as novels or chronicles. Still more call them annals or sagas. But the term this curator most prefers is something else entirely.”
The Librarian turned to face us.
“Apocalypse.”
The constellation smiled.
His laughter echoed strangely through the sky.
“Your apocalypse is… precisely as I said. In the terminology I favor, it is still in Serial Publication. The lengthy prologue has ended, and now you’ve begun climbing in earnest. We’re reaching the part where the reading grows most compelling, wouldn’t you say?”
That was when it happened.
“But not every apocalypse progresses as smoothly through Serial Publication as yours does.”
Crrrunch—
Something began descending from the sky. No—descending was far too genteel a word. They were tearing the very heavens asunder.
“Though lamentable it may be.”
Meteors.
“Some apocalypses meet with Serial Discontinuation.”
Massive stones fell blazing from above, raining down upon the world.
The meteors struck the termite-mound buildings with direct impact. The explosion was catastrophic, shaking the entire world. The fractured sky rent the earth below. The city where other intelligences dwelled was obliterated without a trace.
The hunters screamed.
The dust cloud born from the meteor impacts swept over us in an instant, plunging us into darkness.
“There is not merely one.”
In the absolute black, only the constellation’s voice rang clear.
“There are very many indeed.”
Snap!
Somewhere, a book closed with audible finality. In that same instant, the dust vanished. The ruined city disappeared. The shattered earth healed, the torn sky mended.
Instead, new worlds unfurled beneath us.
“If that apocalypse’s reason for Serial Discontinuation was stone…”
A tidal wave.
“Then this apocalypse’s reason is water!”
A tsunami that reached to the very dome of the sky swallowed the city whole.
It was too vast to call a wave, too violent to call a tsunami—it was catastrophe itself. Staring at the deluge bearing down upon us, the hunters cried out once more.
“Ah.”
The constellation sighed with profound sorrow.
“What tragedy it is.”
A world where plague spread and all humanity perished.
A world where sand buried the earth and every last drop of water evaporated.
Volcanoes erupting, their smoke and ash choking out the sky.
Worlds ravaged by zombie viruses running rampant.
“Those people are human, just as you are. Alive, just as you are. Weaving their own stories, just as you do. Yet before they could reach a proper ending, before they could compose a grand finale, everything shattered for reasons utterly unjust.”
The Bookworm Librarian closed the book.
“I call this a Serial Discontinuation.”
Hundreds of volumes still orbited around that constellation.
“You would simply call it Annihilation.”
Somewhere along the way.
We had returned to the vast library.
“Ugh, huuuuurgh…….”
“Bleeeegh!”
Retching sounds echoed from every corner. Dozens of worlds crumbling into oblivion before our eyes. Though our bodies bore no wounds, many of the Hunters teetered on the edge of psychological collapse.
“The Quest I grant you is simple.”
The constellation gazed down upon us.
“Choose eight volumes from among those Apocalypses left discontinuous.”
Select eight from all the annihilated worlds.
“I wish to finish reading the Apocalypses I abandoned!”
To see those stories of fallen worlds through to their end.
“You yourselves shall enter eight of those Apocalypses,”
Step directly into eight worlds.
“and rescue those Apocalypses from the brink of discontinuation!”
Prevent their annihilation.
“This is the Quest I, as Librarian, bestow upon you all.”
This was the Quest for floors twenty-two through twenty-nine.
As retching continued to echo through the library, a voice bloomed in the minds of every Hunter.
[You have been assigned the Quest for Floor 22.]
Text materialized before our eyes.
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[Remake the World. Volume One]
Difficulty: Undetermined
Objective: Countless worlds exist, and countless annihilations befall them. The constellation known as the Bookworm Librarian terms these Serial Discontinuations. The Bookworm Librarian wishes that worlds which have suffered discontinuation for unreasonable causes might resume their narratives once more.
First, select one volume from among the discontinuous Apocalypses!
Should you succeed in saving that world, it shall be registered as your personal Floor 22.
※However, should the Quest fail, Floor 22 will not be opened.
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That was it.
That constellation was nothing but a world-obsessed bookworm.
“So, in other words…….”
I opened my mouth slowly.
“Because the ending displeases you, you want us to rewrite the story in your stead?”
“Precisely so!”
The Bookworm Librarian laughed, a soft, rippling sound.
“I do hope you will satisfy my literary tastes!”
To Remake the endings of worlds for this voracious reader.
That was our mission.
SSS-Rank Must Die to Live Hunter (Serial Publication)
Author | Shin Noah
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Publishing House | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelyung Post Tower 1)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
© Shin Noah 2019
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and no part of its contents may be used in any form or manner without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this may result in civil and criminal 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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