SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 61

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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 61. An Expedition Without Dreams or Hope (3)
The two of them stared silently at the medicine each had made.
The others said nothing as well. They’d used identical ingredients down to the last detail, yet the results were so drastically different that everyone’s minds had simply gone blank.
“Huh.”
The Pharmacist was the first to move.
With fingers whose joints stood out prominently, she pressed her Glasses firmly into place and tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Is this truly a medicine you made, sir……?”
Yak Wang said nothing.
The Pharmacist reached over and took Yak Wang’s potion, turning it over in her hands to examine it from every angle.
“Mm.”
She tilted it this way.
“Hmm.”
Then she held it upside down.
Returning the potion to Yak Wang’s hand, she adjusted her Glasses.
“This level of skill, you say……?”
Mm.
‘Could this person be the type who grows infinitely stronger the moment they sense an advantage?’
In other words, harboring the seed of madness just like all the other elite Hunters?
No. That couldn’t be it.
Surely not…….
While I wrestled with my faith in humanity, Yak Wang finally showed a reaction.
“Hmm…….”
The height difference between them was striking.
The woman’s frame was as tall as the days she had left to live—long and promising. The old man’s body was as shrunken as the years he had lived through—small and diminished.
And so the Pharmacist looked down at Yak Wang, while Yak Wang looked up at the Pharmacist.
“Could it possibly be that you, sir…….”
“Could it possibly be that you, young thing…….”
They spoke simultaneously.
“……are simply lacking in skill?”
“……just incredibly lucky?”
Mm.
“Pardon?”
If the Pharmacist tilted her head in confusion, Yak Wang nodded his.
“You’re quite lucky.”
“Pardon?”
“Tsk, tsk. Young people, I swear. It reminds me of the time when I was in my thirties and made around seventeen billion dollars on Wall Street in just ten minutes. I used to think that was all my own skill too.”
“…….”
The Pharmacist tilted her head. Her Glasses tilted along with it.
From her slanted lips came a voice brimming with genuine irritation.
“Would you like to go again……?”
“Should we? Fortune’s lady does not smile a second time, after all. Tsk, tsk, young people these days…….”
Three minutes passed.
“You’re extraordinarily lucky. But surely Fortune’s lady does not smile a third time. This time, I shall show you the difference that comes with experience…….”
Three more minutes passed.
“You’re incredibly fortunate. But Fortune’s lady does not smile a fourth time…….”
“Enough…….”
At last, the Sword Saint seized Yak Wang’s shoulder.
“Stop it, Yak Wang…….”
“Marcus, what are you saying!”
“You’re being quite ugly right now…….”
“No! This time! This time my skill! My experience will shatter that novice’s luck! Can’t you see it—the Victory Road of this Sean McAllister!”
“I apologize, miss. You’re truly an excellent Pharmacist. It was my fault for not immediately trusting the Yak Wang’s endorsement.”
The Sword Saint bowed his head in apology.
The Pharmacist, who had been regarding Yak Wang with eyes like one observing a water flea, composed herself with a small hum.
“Your… friend does seem to give you quite a bit of trouble…….”
“Well, this friend of mine does have some redeeming qualities. He can make medicines too—not to your level, of course, but he manages something…….”
“I see… I suppose it’s better than nothing. Since he has some grasp of the fundamentals, he might not be entirely useless as an assistant…….”
It was just as the Pharmacist adjusted her Glasses and murmured these words.
“You!”
Swift as a cat pouncing on catnip!
The Count, master of the land of Sanglian, had seized the Pharmacist’s wrist and refused to let go.
“A contract!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“A contract! Immediately! An exclusive contract! Sign with me!”
“I… I…”
“Top-tier industry compensation guaranteed! I’ll even let you pet cats—no, I’ll let you roll around in entire fields of them! What do you say? How does that sound?”
The Pharmacist, bewildered, couldn’t get a word out.
But the Count was just getting started.
“Me too!”
“Pharmacist! Since the Yak Wang has blessed you, you shall be the Pharmacist King!”
“No wait, drop the ‘King’—just Pharmacist!”
“Divine Healer! Won’t you spare some medicine for us?”
It was the same thing I’d received back when I solo-cleared Floor Ten.
Countless requests for handshakes buried the Pharmacist.
4
“P-please, wait!”
The Pharmacist stammered and pushed people back.
“Anyone wanting to trade medicine with me should first speak with the Yak Wang! Of course, those with existing arrangements—the Holy Paladin, for instance—that’s fine! But otherwise, I can only sell to those the Yak Wang permits, so… as long as it doesn’t cause him any trouble…”
At those words, the Hunters—the Count among them—turned their attention to me.
The Holy Paladin alone quietly raised his arms in a victory pose, then quietly lowered them again.
I let out a soft laugh.
“Let’s think about that after we’ve cleared the Apocalypse of the Heavenly Demon.”
“Ah! Yes, of course!”
Talk of climbing the tower always works on Hunters.
Even the Count retreated, his expression turning sour.
‘Good.’
Now we had our full roster.
First, the Sword Saint.
And the Pharmacist.
Most importantly, myself.
“This can’t be! It absolutely cannot be! My experience, my years of wisdom—I won’t be played for a fool by some greenhorn’s dumb luck!”
That Yak Wang or whatever—well, as the Pharmacist said, having him around beats having nothing.
“Ah! It seems all our cast members have taken their positions.”
The Librarian, who had been watching our little spectacle unfold, spoke brightly.
“Let me remind you once more: if you die in the Apocalypse, you will truly die. There is only one way to escape safely! You must overcome the crisis of serialization ending, in whatever form it takes. And you must reach a proper Ending!”
“What exactly is a proper Ending?”
“That depends entirely on your judgment.”
The Librarian grinned at my question.
“Perhaps you will eradicate the plague and save Jianghu. Or perhaps you will use the plague to become masters of Jianghu yourselves. The possibilities are nearly infinite! Whether which is the best Ending—you must decide that for yourselves.”
In other words, he was handing the choice entirely to us.
I nodded.
“All right then. Send us to the Apocalypse of the Heavenly Demon right now…”
“Wait!”
Someone called out.
“Isn’t Viper coming with us?”
“You’re right. If we’re venturing into Jianghu, isn’t this the perfect chance for Viper to shine?”
Cheonmumon.
The guild’s Hunters—those who served under Viper—had spoken up.
Viper, who had been holding his breath quietly within the Jianghu group, blinked.
“Hmm?”
Viper’s followers each threw a word his way.
“When I think about it, this world was made for you, Master…”
“I agree completely, Master Viper. When we speak of Jianghu, isn’t it you we think of?”
“I feel the same way, Master. You should be the one stepping forward.”
Viper’s brows narrowed.
Slowly, he crossed his arms.
Beneath his heavy brow and single eye burned the steely resolve of a man.
“Very well. I was about to volunteer anyway. Had you forgotten who I am?”
“…”
I was left speechless.
That’s strange. There’s no way he’d have any interest in the Jianghu world.
Something felt off, so I pulled up the character information window to read his psychological state… and sure enough.
“Damn it, these useless disciples of mine!”
“Why are they trying to send me to some backwater town like this?”
Viper was screaming inwardly.
Yet his outward appearance remained composed. As if waiting for his disciples to give him one final push, the one-eyed swordsman spoke softly.
“Those who revere martial prowess and righteous wandering—the world of Martial Artists and Wandering Knights, that is the Jianghu! Though I may have been born in distant lands, I have long since made the Jianghu my true home.”
“That place probably doesn’t even have flush toilets. I suffered enough from that in the Aickim Empire, and now this shit…”
Good heavens.
“You must understand why I named my school Cheonmumon.”
“Before I, who possess the cheat skill of being unparalleled under heaven, reached the tower, it was literally just a 32-year-old picture of nothing, but everyone kept calling it Cheonmumon, and the sign-makers made it that way too. I can’t exactly clarify it now, damn it all…”
Good heavens indeed.
“I must go myself.”
“I absolutely don’t want to go!”
I was at a loss for words.
Even Backhoe Spirit, who shared consciousness with me, seemed to have lost all words.
[Sparkle reports that she too has nothing to say.]
Before us stood a being who rendered human, spirit, and constellation alike speechless.
The Hunters let out a thunderous cheer.
The Cheonmumon guild members were especially overjoyed.
“Of course, Master!”
“We knew you’d respond this way!”
“Our idol! The true Hunter of this age!”
“We’ll follow you for life, Master!”
If I hadn’t possessed the ability to read minds… I might have been impressed too. By any measure, Viper’s appearance was that of a Wandering Knight who had devoted his entire life to a single sword.
Much like the Sword Saint himself.
That Sword Saint crossed his arms.
“Hmm… Viper, I can understand why you’d feel compelled to go.”
“No need for further talk.”
“Yet there’s no reason this man should yield, it seems.”
The Sword Saint drew up his Aura.
Viper had already begun gathering his momentum. The two swordmasters’ auras clashed. With a sound like a balloon bursting—Popp!—the surrounding air convulsed violently. The bookmark maids, sensing the danger, either scattered in a panic or were swept up in the pressure and sent tumbling through the air.
The Hunters grew even more frenzied.
“The Sword Saint and Viper are clashing!”
“This is a battle of pride!”
A truly absurd spectacle.
For me, who knew Viper’s true thoughts, it was absurd in an entirely different way.
In that moment, a clanking sound rang out.
“Sword Saint. Master of Cheonmumon. Enough.”
It was the Holy Paladin stepping forward.
The clanking sound came from the fact that the Holy Paladin had been one of the few who had wagered money with the Pharmacist during the recent bet. Her once perpetually lean Money Pouch had now swollen to forty-seven times its original size in dividends.
The reason the Holy Paladin’s utterly serious expression seemed slightly strange was doubtless due to the magical weight of that bulging Money Pouch.
“You’re not actually going to start swinging swords here, are you?”
Money Pouch aside, the Holy Paladin’s voice was grave. As she always did, she was stepping in to mediate between the two fighters.
As she always did…?
‘Wait, did she always do this…?’
-That’s what I’m saying, Zombie. If that’s been the case and we just never noticed…
‘This world really does seem to be full of forbidden knowledge one shouldn’t discover…’
Viper let out a snort.
“If we’re going to cross blades, then we cross blades. Hell, I’m a Martial Artist and so is he. Whoever’s stronger goes—what’s the problem with that?”
“Let him win on purpose!”
“If we lose too obviously it’ll be embarrassing, so make it as close as possible!”
“Losing to the Sword Saint—the disciples will accept that. Obviously.”
Truly a spectacle of the highest order.
The Sword Saint, utterly unaware of these machinations, wiped the sweat beading on his brow.
“Forgive me, Viper… against a formidable opponent like yourself, I have no choice but to go all out. As a result, in our last sparring match, I did take your eye. I cannot guarantee the outcome this time will be any different.”
“I’ll return the favor in kind, old man. If you come at me thinking of who I was back then, you’ll end up in a coffin.”
“Damn it! Damn it all! Damn it all to hell!”
Viper’s outward appearance was that of an intrepid swordsman without the slightest flaw.
Sword Spirit, hovering beside me, wiped the sweat from his brow as well, just like the Sword Saint.
—Zombie.
‘Yes, Sword Spirit.’
—High-level Hunters are all crazy, as they say. But here’s the thing. The thing is, among them… this bastard is… how do I put it……
‘Truly something else……’
My forehead was drenched in cold sweat as well.
Truth be told, if you isolated just the part about ‘cold sweat beading on the forehead,’ everyone was doing it. Every Hunter present was watching this scene with sweat streaming down their brows. The crowds gathered at Babylon Plaza watching the broadcast were surely sweating too.
The Holy Paladin’s forehead was slicked with it as well—beads of perspiration rolling down his cheeks and landing with a soft patter atop the bulging Money Pouch at his hip.
“I tell you, Viper, you’re a remarkable man……”
Viper’s laugh came rough-edged and bold.
“For a Martial Artist, there are moments you simply cannot back away from.”
「Holy Paladin! Do something!」
Though that urgent cry of the heart surely never reached him, the Holy Paladin did indeed do something.
Specifically, he addressed the Sword Saint.
“Sword Saint… might I ask you to yield this time?”
「No, wait—why should he be the one stepping back!」
‘No, wait—why should he be the one stepping back!’
Ah, it overlapped.
My thought had tangled with that genuine one……
[Sparkle trembles their blade-spirit, massaging the Hero’s waist.]
The Sword Spirit gripped my shoulder in support.
While I received this wordless comfort, the Holy Paladin continued addressing the Sword Saint.
“I know you’ve always wished to charge first into the fray. But haven’t you already refrained from participating in the conquest of floors twelve through nineteen alongside the Four Kings and the Witch? Should you then thrust yourself forward into the conquest of floor twenty-two, it would surely be shameless.”
A measured tone. Logic woven tight. A face etched with utmost seriousness.
Only the plump Money Pouch bulging from his waist was vaguely grating.
“Moreover.”
The Holy Paladin gestured toward Viper, and toward the bedridden men who had urged him to take this burden—that the Lord of Cheonmumon should go.
“The Master of Cheonmumon is the head of an organization. Though he is not a man given to worrying overmuch about appearances before his disciples, his position is not the same as yours, standing alone. Cannot you show him some respect?”
“Hmm……”
Sword Saint Marcus Kallenberry let slip a low murmur.
The old man, honed hard as steel, furrowed his brow, then smoothed it. His eyebrows rose and fell several times in succession.
Then he folded his arms across his chest.
“When have I ever cared about the honor of your five major guilds?”
The Holy Paladin made a sharp sound through his teeth.
“Sword Saint, you really—!”
“However.”
The Sword Saint, cutting off the Holy Paladin’s words, turned his gaze toward me.
Wait—why was he looking at me now…?
“These days, I’ve been thinking I might as well cultivate a bit of dignity.”
It was a fine sight. An obstinate old man bending his will—a beautiful thing. I wished that the Yak Wang or whoever was still grumbling at my side about ‘this can’t possibly be happening’ would learn even the smallest fraction of such grace.
But why was he showing me this now…?
“Understood.”
The Sword Saint stepped back one pace.
His eyes tracing the Apocalypse of the Heavenly Demon were full of longing, yet the old man severed that feeling from his heart and spoke.
“Viper, this time I yield to you.”
Viper’s eyes flashed. But only for a moment. Then he kindled his aura higher, and a grin spread wide across his face—like a gambler who’d won exactly as he’d wagered.
“Smart choice. You’ve saved your neck, old man.”
「No! What—why are you backing off all of a sudden! Marcus Kallenberry! You’re not the type to yield to anyone! I don’t accept this! I won’t go!」
An indescribable, forbidden scene unfolded there.
The Holy Paladin regarded the Sword Saint with the same expression of speechlessness. The Heresy Inquisitor, who’d been watching with bright, eager eyes, suddenly sprang forward and embraced the Holy Paladin’s arm.
“Magnificent! Holy Paladin, you’ve persuaded the Sword Saint!”
“No, rather—the Sword Saint chose to accept my persuasion.”
“Ahahah, is that so! Then I must embrace the Sword Saint as well!”
“I categorically refuse.”
The Sword Saint put up a wall of steel. Of course, no steel wall holds against a naturally born psychopath, so the old man endured some considerable anguish for a time.
“Indeed… everyone grows a little, bit by bit.”
The Black Dragon Lord’s voice came soft with laughter, her hand pressed to the corner of her mouth.
In an atmosphere that seemed almost warm and settled, the three who would venture into the Apocalypse of the Heavenly Demon prepared themselves for the expedition.
“Tsk. If we’re decided, let’s move. I’ll waste away waiting at this rate. Still the same as when I was young…… Can’t help it, I suppose. Ah, well. What can I do but go? I took a beating from that pup’s luck streak earlier, but I’m Yak Wang, the unparalleled, universally acknowledged greatest pharmacist since ancient times—so naturally.”
“U-ugh, Yak Wang sir. I’m so scared…… Will someone like me really be able to keep up? Ah, of course I’m obviously superior to that water-flea-looking old codger you call Yak Wang, right? It’s proven as firmly as Galileo’s heliocentric theory, though that stubborn water-flea refuses to acknowledge the results—but still, someone like me……”
“You non-combatants. When blades are flying, protect yourselves. Necks get severed in a heartbeat, understand?”
“I don’t want to go…. Switch with me…. Sword Saint, even now, won’t you trade places with me….?”
I stared blankly at the expedition members who had become my companions.
The Sword Spirit spoke in a rare, comforting tone.
—Don’t worry, Zombie. If it feels wrong, just die! Catch a disease, throw yourself off a cliff, whatever—rewind this moment to before today! I’m serious about this reset; I’m acknowledging it with my very soul. Even if I’m nothing but a soul right now, that’s what I mean.
I nodded weakly.
“Yes… let’s go….”
“Very well.”
The Librarian snickered and snapped his fingers. Snap! The Apocalypse that had been in the Sword Saint’s hand flew of its own accord into the Librarian’s grasp. As though to say he’d merely lent it to us briefly—the book had always been his—the Librarian opened it with practiced hands.
“Count, Viper, Yak Wang, Pharmacist.”
Light burst forth from the book.
“I hereby designate these four persons as new characters in the Apocalypse of the Heavenly Demon. When you open your eyes, you will find yourselves in a world ten days before this chronicle meets its unfortunate hiatus.”
And light enveloped us.
“I trust you will show me a splendid ending.”
The expedition—stripped of all dreams and hope—was dispatched in that instant.
S-Rank Hunter: Must Die to Live (Serial)
Author │ Shin Noa
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 204 Daeryung Posttower 1, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
© Shin Noa 2019
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. No part of this work may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company 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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