SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 87

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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 87. A Reader’s Heart (3)
Light spilled from my blade, engulfing the Black Dragon.
[The Sword of Compassion resists absorption!]
But the force pushing back against me was formidable. A surge—black venom flooded forth like sewage during the summer monsoon, like a black leopard jolting awake from quiet slumber, startled by sudden contact.
[The Sword of Compassion is bewildered.]
[It accuses the Goddess: have you betrayed Repantar Aikeem?]
[The Guardian Goddess soothes her sister.]
My Holy Sword Light and the Black Dragon’s shadow swirled together in dizzying confusion.
[The Sword of Compassion demands that you prove your qualifications as the new master.]
White and black.
Neither yielded easily.
[The power of a Constellation is formidable. It must never fall into unworthy hands. The Sword of Compassion does not yet recognize you as its new master.]
“Fair enough.”
I gazed quietly at the blade lodged in the Black Dragon’s chest.
“There’s logic in that. But how am I supposed to prove my worth?”
Murky essence leaked from the corpse. Roiling, undulating—a venom far thicker and more tenacious than anything before. It took form.
A dark angel.
An angel composed of murky water from toe to crown.
[It is a fragment born from the Goddess’s compassion, cast away and made whole.]
[If you have proven yourself capable of becoming someone’s ideal…….]
[Then you must now prove you can show compassion to someone else.]
The expressionless angel spread its wings.
Even those wings were clouded.
Dark, murky spittle dripped from the unfolded pair—drop, drip, falling.
[It asks that you entrust your body and heart to it for a time.]
“Why should I?”
[To glimpse your memories.]
The light radiating from the Holy Sword grew fiercer.
[The Guardian Goddess cannot consent. You will come to understand naturally, as you travel together, whether the hero has the qualifications of a new master. There is no reason to assume unnecessary risk.]
“No. Enough.”
I sheathed the blade.
“I can’t carry a sword that won’t trust me. Not even a legendary blade of legend—I’d be too uneasy to bear it. Come on. Come here and steal whatever you need to see—my memories, anything—until your heart is satisfied.”
In the moment I opened both my arms.
[The Sword of Compassion tests your compassion.]
The angel’s two wings covered my vision. Like a mother bird cradling her chick, vast wings of dark luminescence wrapped around my body.
Darkness enveloped everything.
And dream-like visions flowed before my eyes.
«A kind old man.»
A garden burning in flames.
«Bear it just a little longer……»
«Poor things.»
A paradise shrouded in smoke.
«All under heaven has become emptiness.»
A snow-covered field where a single peony bloomed crimson.
«My disciple.»
The garden, paradise, and snow field flowed past in swift succession.
Suddenly, darkness gave way to brilliant light.
The angel’s wings that had covered my vision vanished.
[…….]
The black angel hastily folded its wings and looked toward me. The fragment of a Constellation remained expressionless. Yet beyond its dark brows, in those black eyes, lay an unmistakable confusion it could not hide.
[You are…….]
“I’m not perfect.”
I spoke first.
“I’m weak to kindness. I want to earn favor, and I’ll push myself a little too far to do it. I love being praised, and I struggle to be seen as a ‘good person’ by others. That might be my weakness.”
The Constellation’s fragment pressed its lips together.
“And your old master was just as imperfect.”
[…….]
“I still don’t know how grandly Repantar Aikeem thinks while slaying Constellations. Perhaps it is something noble. But even if it is, I will question him for his wrongs.”
I raised my blade and aimed it at the black angel.
“If you believe your old master was perfect and committed no errors, then don’t follow me. I have no need for a sword like that.”
The black angel spoke slowly.
[Do you intend to kill Repantar Aikeem?]
“If he’s a man who deserves to die.”
[Can you promise that personal feelings will not cloud that judgment?]
“I don’t know.”
I spoke with honest conviction.
“My master is dead. The Murim is broken. Too many people have been hurt and killed, so I can’t say for certain. But I can promise you this—I’ll do my best.”
[…….]
“So if I stray from the path, do your best to set me right. I’ll give my all. You give yours. That’s what it means for us to stand together.”
The black angel’s wings collapsed.
[My power is suffering.]
[Those who bear my mark feel pain, yet carry no wound upon their flesh, and death shall not claim them.]
[Agony without injury—that is my gift.]
The angel’s form crumbled.
It became black water.
[New master.]
[I swear to serve you with all that I am.]
Shriek—
Black saliva spiraled and poured into the Holy Sword I held, like a violent flood. The blade drank it all in, thirsty as a fox lost in the desert.
[The presence of the Guardian Goddess grows clearer still.]
The transformation did not end there.
—O, oh…….
The divine beast that once graced this Murim as a Constellation.
When the blade lodged in its breast finally flowed free and was drawn into my sword, the Black Dragon groaned.
—Ohhh…….
The Black Dragon had died long ago. There was nothing left in it that wished to speak. It only whimpered like an ancient crone exhausted by life itself.
—Ohhhhh, oh…….
At last the Black Dragon’s corpse became essence and flowed away.
Its horns crumbled to dust. Its scales melted like candle wax. A beast that had ruled as myth in one world now met its end.
And winter collapsed.
The eternal snow of Snow Mountain came cascading down. An avalanche.
I stood at the mountain’s peak and watched the snow break apart beneath my feet, pouring out into the world below.
“Winter is the season of death.”
The Librarian stood beside me, gazing down at the earth.
“You have at last ended this lonely season.”
White avalanche covered the white world. But where the snow had passed, the earth was white no longer.
The brown of the land shone through.
Brown was the true flesh of this world. At last, the long winter had ended, and the earth began to bare itself.
…….
Why does the spring breeze smell so different from the winter wind?
Did my master know where the scent of spring came from?
“…Librarian.”
“Speak.”
“I have the Clear Privilege. I can see a person’s nature—the plots they favor, the characters they prefer.”
“I know.”
The Librarian exhaled.
Our breath no longer froze white as we breathed.
“This one oversees Floors twenty-one through thirty. The privilege you received was prepared by this Librarian. Well, since I gave you the gift, naturally I would know what it shows.”
“Among the characters you favor, Sal Cheonseong appears.”
“That would be so.”
“Why do you favor Sal Cheonseong? Repantar Aikeem is a man who kills Constellations. If you disliked him, that I’d understand—but I don’t see why you’d prefer him.”
“Hmm.”
The Librarian closed his right eye.
“Since you’ve asked, I’ll answer you specially. I have a very old dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yes. To appear directly in the novel that I love!”
The Constellation’s eyes shone with innocent delight.
I was puzzled.
“If you appeared directly… couldn’t you do that anytime? You can travel through the Grimoires freely.”
“Heh heh. You don’t understand the reader’s heart. There’s a difference between interfering with a story and appearing in one. A real, genuine difference.”
The Librarian covered her mouth with the sleeves of both hands and laughed.
“From the Grimoire’s perspective, I am no different from a Foreign Matter. A Foreign Matter, an invasive species… a being that should never have existed in that world to begin with. Whether it’s Sartaensung, who killed the dragon of the Murim, or I myself, we are the same in that regard — Foreign Matters.”
“…….”
“I do not wish to intervene in the novel as such a Foreign Matter! No, that will not do. I wish to appear as though I had always belonged to that world, equal to all other characters, as a proper Character in my own right! This is my dream as the reader of all things!”
I still did not understand.
Noticing my confusion, the Librarian smiled knowingly.
“Then let me ask you this time, Gongja. Why did you not kill the Heavenly Demon?”
“…….”
“The Heavenly Demon attained the realm of Heart is Kill in his final moment. Though he could not inherit his former strength, by inheriting his memories alone, had you claimed him through your Hundred Ghosts, he would surely have become an army of ten thousand soldiers for you. Because the Heavenly Demon’s affection for you was so earnest, he would have remained as both a loyal ally and an excellent master. Why did you not kill the Heavenly Demon?”
“…That is…”
“Hush.”
The Librarian raised her index finger and sealed my lips.
“It is well. You need not speak. I already understand.”
Gently.
The touch of her finger pressed against my lips.
“You did not wish to interfere with the end your master had reached. It is the same. I do not wish to directly intervene in the conclusions the worlds have met. Your heart and my heart are not so different…….”
By then, the entire world had begun to melt toward the horizon.
As the ice cracked and the water surface of the Lake was revealed, the sun shone upon it.
“I refuse to intervene. Then, there is only one way left to become a character in this story.”
“…And what might that be?”
“It is simple if you think of it the opposite way. Rather than I seeking out the characters of the novel, the characters of the novel must seek me out.”
The Librarian whispered.
“Repantar Aikeem. Sartaensung constantly crosses between worlds, killing Constellations. Someday, he will visit my world as well — the Grand Library of all things.”
The Librarian smiled.
“To kill me.”
The Constellation drew something from her breast. A book. It looked different from the other Grimoires. Above all, it was worn. Had it been taken out and read dozens, hundreds of times? Like an old author’s notebook, the leather cover of that book was frayed and tattered.
[Repantar Aikeem Epic]
Such a title was inscribed in golden thread upon the leather.
“…….”
“I am waiting. For the day Sartaensung visits the Grand Library. I trust that he will eventually stand before me of his own will, according to his own story. On that day, I will finally appear in the story of Repantar Aikeem.”
“Even if the ending of that story is your own death?”
“Of course.”
The Librarian smiled brightly.
The Constellation looked down upon the land where the snow had melted.
A crane’s sleeve fluttered as though dancing.
“To die by the hand of the protagonist — is that not the finest epilogue?”
4
There is an epilogue to tell.
“Ah, Young Sect Leader.”
Before returning to the Library, I stopped by the disciples. I urgently needed to confirm that my master’s funeral rites were proceeding properly.
“Welcome!”
“Please, come in, Young Sect Leader.”
The moment the disciples saw me, they clasped their fists in salute. Yet I sensed an unmistakable air of panic among them. It was not just one or two — all the disciples seemed flustered.
I tilted my head in confusion.
“Has the funeral already concluded?”
“Ah, no, Young Sect Leader. The funeral rites have not yet begun, but…….”
“What has happened?”
The disciples exchanged glances.
“It is just that…….”
“The Heavenly Demon’s body has disappeared.”
Blood Demon, one of the Four Guardians, spoke. He was a disciple whom my master had often called the Blood Ghost’s Chief.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You will understand more quickly if you see it yourself, Young Sect Leader.”
I hurried forward, leading Blood Demon ahead.
Before long, we arrived at the place where I had laid my master’s body.
And I found myself at a loss for words.
“Suddenly the snow all across the world began to melt. The Heavenly Demon’s body vanished as well… We are deeply sorry. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and we had no time to respond.”
Where the snow had melted away.
My master’s body was nowhere to be seen.
No matter where I looked, it was gone.
“We believe that the Heavenly Demon’s Internal Force was so utterly pure that, as time passed, the corpse naturally dissolved into the vital energy and vanished…….”
Yet a crimson flower had bloomed.
“…….”
The spot where my master’s body had lain last. Where his arm had fallen. Where his foot had stirred. Where his hair had spilled. There, brilliant peonies had burst into full bloom, scattering across the ground.
-Remarkable.
The Backhoe Spirit, who had been silent, murmured.
-This world’s Constellations left behind nothing but curses when they died, yet your master left behind flowers. Your master was finer than any foolish Constellation.
I approached the garden and bent down. I touched the peony’s petals with my fingertips. The petals trembled softly, pressing their rosy warmth against my index finger.
It was the first spring ever born in this world.
“Of course, we continue preparing for the funeral rites.”
The Blood Demon spoke from behind.
“We hope that you, our sect leader, will attend…….”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“That won’t be necessary. We won’t hold a funeral.”
“Pardon?”
“This is enough.”
I rose to my feet.
I turned and looked out at the disciples.
“I may have inherited the lineage and become sect leader, but there are surely those among you who still harbor doubts. Survival of the Strongest—in our Sect, it has always been custom for the mightiest martial artist to hold the highest rank.”
“…….”
“Let us replace the petty ceremonies with a Martial Trial instead. The truest way to honor the dead is to offer what we hold most precious. And what do we treasure above all else? Our blades. So let us offer our steel to my master.”
I smiled.
“Come.”
Spring arrives.
As it does for all who live.
My next story will begin on a stage higher than any before.
S-Rank Hunter: I Live Only When I Die (Serialized)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Post Tower 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, and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from our company and the author.
Violations of this prohibition 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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