SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 88

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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 88. Chaos Is the Standard (1)
1
“We’re moving Cheonmun’s headquarters to the 22nd Floor.”
Viper said it flatly.
It had been several days since our party cleared the Heaven Demon Records.
“Pardon?”
“We decided to relocate. Moving the entire dojo. Just as you inherited the true lineage of the Demonic Cult, I became a disciple of the Murim Alliance Lord, my master. Cheonmun is my guild, so it only makes sense that we move under the Murim Alliance’s banner.”
Viper read her novel calmly.
As I’d seen before, Viper was quite the voracious reader despite her eccentricities. Though her tastes were decidedly peculiar, this place was overflowing with books to satisfy them.
Viper turned pages while wearing Frameless Glasses—just for show, worth 9,800 won—and holding a book covered in a Magic Cover, which could fit any volume and freely change its title and cover design, an S-rank item worth 2,000 gold.
“My master was also half-crippled at one point, but his limbs were intact. The Pharmacist managed to make it so he could move around somehow. So I’m planning to honor him as Grand Dharma Protector.”
“The Murim Alliance Lord as Grand Dharma Protector……”
“Yes. The Heaven Demon’s death hit him hard. Watching him like that makes me depressed too.”
Viper said it bluntly.
A Dharma Protector was a guardian of the sect—literally one who preserves the dharma. Grand Dharma Protector was the foremost rank among them. In essence, Viper was honoring the Murim Alliance Lord as her most revered elder.
“At times like that, it’s better to stay busy instead. Teaching the younger generation, keeping things moving. It’ll help strengthen our guild members too.”
I was genuinely impressed. That was a remarkably thoughtful measure.
Viper seemed to feel my gaze—her page-turning hand faltered.
“…Oy, Sa Wang. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just thinking that a leader of the Five Major Guilds really isn’t something anyone can manage.”
I’d wondered how someone with such outlandish tastes could command such deep loyalty from subordinates, but there was the answer: she genuinely looked after her people.
“Th-that so?”
Viper’s face reddened and she scratched her nose.
“Ahem. Mmph. D-don’t get the wrong idea! I’m just doing what’s natural, that’s all. When you get praised for doing something natural, the world becomes too lonely, doesn’t it? Phew, I can’t have the world getting lonely just because of me.”
“That’s annoying……”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
After hearing Viper out, I fell into contemplation.
Looking after one’s own people. That was something I’d been thinking about even before entering the Heaven Demon Records.
I’d reached rank 3 among Hunters. Was it enough to have a high ranking and some martial skill? Wasn’t this the moment to cultivate influence and virtue—that kind of care and consideration?
Let’s see.
Among those I could reasonably call ‘my people’……
-Ah, I wanna fight. I wanna fight so damn bad. An overwhelming, demonic duel. I’m starving for a life-or-death bout. Zombie, let’s do the next Grimoire martial arts style too. This time, let’s head to a Murim where the Heterodox Sects reign instead of the Demonic Cult! Expert Heterodox fighters here I cooooome!
Hmm.
No.
This person is definitely not it……
“Master Gongja! Your humble servant has graciously crafted custom nail files tailored to your fingers and toes! Once you experience my superior craftsmanship, you’ll never be able to tend to your own nails and toenails again! Just three minutes! Or rather, two! Please, I beg you—grant me but 120 seconds of your hands and feet!”
This sparkling thing isn’t it either.
Far from it.
[Sparkling sings on this day too. Of the hero’s brilliant deeds. Of the hero standing majestically upon the castle ramparts of the Aikeem Empire, roaring like a lion. Of the hero’s struggles in the martial realm, beautiful in their desperation. Ah, Sparkling is blessed to behold the hero’s visage this day. Ten thousand years. A hundred thousand years. A million years.]
“……”
Wait.
Is there… not a single normal person around me?
Is there really none?
For real?
This is strange. I’m normal. I’m a model student trying to live a proper life. So why are all the people around me deranged ghosts, mad Constellations, and airheaded swordsmen?
Come to think of it, all three of them weren’t even ‘human’ to begin with. I must be cursed. Is this my fate? If this is my destiny, isn’t it rather unfair? Could God be a dog? Like some Siberian husky……
“Aha, Sa Wang! What deep thoughts occupy your mind?”
“I was thinking it’d be nice if you went to the 13th Floor and negotiated with the Aikeem Empire’s priests. Newbie Hunters could take quests from them and such.”
“Oh! I’ve been harboring similar thoughts myself. Seeing you think of something beneficial to all—truly, you and I are kindred spirits, Sa Wang! I shall depart at once!”
After sending off that blonde Welsh Corgi of a man, my faith in my fortune took another nosedive.
“U-um. Sa, Sa Wang.”
A savior appeared before my despairing eyes.
“We’ve succeeded in mass-producing the Zombie Virus Vaccine. The ingredients are common enough to procure. W-with preventive shots beforehand, you’ll have no problems moving about the 22nd Floor.”
This one! This is the one!
“Boss.”
“Y-yes, yes. Sa Wang……”
“Would you consider relocating?”
As I voiced the plan I’d been holding onto since just after the Pharmacist and Herb King’s confrontation, the Pharmacist blinked.
“Pardon?”
“The shop is too cramped right now. Your reputation’s grown even more after clearing this stage, so you’ll need to expand. Orders are going to flood in—can you handle the volume with your current space?”
“Ah. Yes. I’ve been thinking about expanding too, but real estate on the first floor… well, you know how expensive it is. I’d have to take out a massive loan, so when the Count offered to cover it all and showed me some contract…”
“Don’t sign that. Absolutely don’t.”
This cat keeps trying to steal someone else’s fish and stirring up trouble.
“Real estate? I’ll take care of all of it.”
I said it generously.
“Plus moving costs and interior design—I’ll handle everything. You just bring yourself.”
The Pharmacist’s mouth fell open.
“W-wait. Really……?”
“Yes. You know the 20th Floor is my property, right? I’ll set you up in a prime location. Just bring yourself.”
The Pharmacist gaped wordlessly, clearly unable to believe the offer.
But I meant every word.
‘No point letting land sit idle.’
Investing in a colleague who’d one day become the Philosopher’s Stone Lord didn’t feel wasteful at all.
I smiled.
“In return, I’d appreciate it if you’d prioritize any medicines or potions I request. That’s fair, isn’t it?”
“O-of course! I’m already doing that… ah. Oh my. How am I supposed to repay all this……?”
The Pharmacist’s lips trembled. Whatever way you looked at it, a good deal was a good deal. Despite the bewilderment, joy flickered across his face—his clenched fists looked ready to burst into a silent “Yes! Jackpot!”
My own heart warmed.
‘So this is what it feels like to look after someone.’
That’s when.
“Ahem. Hmm! Cough cough. Ahhm, cough!”
“……”
“Ahem. Kid. You didn’t forget anything, did you?”
The Herb King had appeared without a sound. I hadn’t sensed him approaching from behind at all. Had this old man secretly learned the Light Body Technique from Murim? His mastery was extraordinary.
“I could use a bit more land myself in my twilight years……>”
Glance.
“Alas, my shop’s gotten so old the air smells musty. Humidity’s always creeping in, you know. Terrible for the back! It’s on the third floor, so my knees creak going up and down every day……>”
Glance.
“I do wish some diligent young man would just hand over ten hectares or so in a place with good air……>”
“My apologies. My friend’s being rude.”
The Sword Saint approached and grabbed the Herb King by the collar, then dragged him away.
Even as he was dragged off, the Herb King bellowed at full volume.
“No! My friend’s doing business, and instead of helping, you’re interfering! What kind of manners are those! That’s not how they taught us in Northern Europe! Marcus, this guy! A scion of a prestigious corporate family and he’s got the ethics of a beggar!”
“Friend. I’m already feeling wretched about getting old—please don’t make me ashamed as well……> Besides, you’re making plenty of money.”
“I’m running a deficit, a deficit! Orders have dried up these days! Pharmacist! Hey, you there! In my last match I dodged my duties, truth be told I don’t have the strength to block Herb King Sean McCallister’s victory road. Just say one thing! Tell him you’ll do it, come on, please!”
Hunters in the Grand Library looked at the Herb King. The Pharmacist, who’d come to call him “elder” after cooperative research and joint surgeries, now gazed at him again as if at a water flea, uttering an impressed “Wow……”
Viper, quietly reading a novel, grumbled.
“Seriously, why does every heroine in the novels I read have to die? Is that the trend now?”
There really wasn’t a single normal person in this group.
2
Setting up the Pharmacist’s new apothecary on the 20th Floor proceeded without issue. The construction materials were easily covered by gold from the lottery.
The labor was no problem either.
“Listen here, Sa Wang. You can negotiate material costs? That’s not all, surely. We could recruit plenty of workers too. Just have the Pharmacist sign right here on this contract……>”
“Enough!”
After brushing off the Count, who kept hovering around like a cat on a laptop, I turned to Agui.
“How’s it coming along?”
“Yes, my lord. Construction is proceeding smoothly.”
Agui, wearing a yellow hard hat, green armband, and pink whistle in mouth, directed the work. The construction labor was provided by skeletons summoned through the Hundred Ghosts Resurrection.
“Damn it! For crying out loud! Hey! You damned rags! What’ve I ever done to you?! Why’m I stuck hauling rocks between you bone freaks?! Say something, you bastards!”
A handsome man with a distinctly raspy voice and a ponytail was wedged among them, but with the vast majority of the labor force being orderly skeletons, construction progress faced no obstacles whatsoever.
As construction proceeded smoothly, the Pharmacist, Cheonmun’s lord, and I made an agreement.
“Well, this should do nicely.”
The agreement’s terms were as follows:
“There are still many corpses on the 22nd Floor. Plenty of monsters. And there are ruins of collapsed Taoist temples scattered everywhere. Lots of dungeons.”
“Right. So if our Cheonmun sets up a base right there……>”
“Then… hunters wanting to go to the 22nd Floor would first come to the 20th Floor… to my new pharmacy… get vaccinated… and then go, yes?”
“Exactly. And take a reasonable commission in that process… of course, within reasonable bounds.”
Me as the owner of the 20th Floor, the Pharmacist establishing his new home on the 20th Floor, and Cheonmun relocating its headquarters to the 22nd Floor—everyone benefits from this plan.
‘I never thought the day would come when I’d be collecting real estate commissions.’
It was genuinely a satisfying feeling.
But when the pharmacy actually opened, problems emerged with the plan. Specifically, far too many people crowded into the 20th Floor.
“Medicine God!”
“Pharmacist King!”
“Herb Sovereign!”
“Great Sage of Medicine and Heavens! Please, won’t you sell me some medicine!”
Access to the 20th Floor was permitted without an epithet. Therefore, not only Hunters seeking vaccination to reach the 22nd Floor came flooding in, but far more Hunters besides, all surging toward the 20th Floor.
Administering the Zombie Virus Vaccine required a rather complex procedure. While managing that, manufacturing ordinary medicines as well caused the workflow to tangle hopelessly. The Pharmacist, who had tried at first to handle it all on her own, let out a shriek.
“Sa Wang, this isn’t going to work!”
In the end, they had no choice but to call upon the final member of the 22nd Floor conquest team. Viper placed an arm around Herb King’s shoulders and spoke.
“Herb King, you’re not finding your business fun these days, are you? I can offer you a good position at the Cheonmun headquarters on the 22nd Floor. Why don’t you come be a full-time physician for us?”
“Ahem, Lord of Cheonmun! What do you take me, Sean McCallister, for!”
He spoke with great bluster, but in truth, Herb King’s business was struggling. The merit of the pharmacy he managed lay in handling high-grade medicines, but now that a vastly superior Pharmacist had appeared, that strategy had become a half-hearted attempt at premium positioning.
Everyone knew it, and Herb King knew it too. Eventually, after being prompted several times, Herb King heaved a sigh.
“Fine, I hear you. For a while I’ll work on the 22nd Floor giving injections and handling emergencies, and pocket some commission fees.”
“Yes, thanks. …I needed a personal physician for Master anyway.”
“Hmph. Well, he was at least more reasonable than that Marcus fellow. All right, I’m getting restless here anyway.”
As time passed, the conquest continued.
There were plenty of other Hunters rushing into the Stages besides us.
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21st Floor: Grand Library of All Things
22nd Floor: Heaven Demon Records (Genre: Martial Arts, Fusion)
23rd Floor: Space Iron Knight Chronicles (Genre: SF)
24th Floor: The Diary of Auroras Mountain Manor (Genre: Mystery, History)
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“Splendid. Truly, truly splendid.”
Black Dragon Lord smiled with satisfaction.
By now, she had begun meticulously directing the Hunters—deciding which Grimoires to clear, how to compose the teams for each attempt.
“Sa Wang, the impact of the magnificent way you cleared the Heaven Demon Records is enormous. Other Hunters don’t want to be outdone by you, so they’re burning with enthusiasm. People who used to let my words go in one ear and out the other! Ah, if only things had been like this all along.”
Black Dragon Lord gazed at me with affectionate eyes. The look one might give to a golden goose. By now, she was on the verge of saying that this tower’s existence itself was entirely my doing.
“If we keep this momentum up, we’ll be able to break through to the 30th Floor before next month arrives.”
Unfortunately, Black Dragon Lord’s prophecy fell wide of the mark.
Two weeks after the Heaven Demon Records had been cleared.
[Today, the conquest of the 25th Floor Stage has failed.]
Black Dragon Lord and hundreds of Hunters stared blankly upward into the void.
[We announce once more to all.]
[Today, the conquest of the 25th Floor Stage has failed.]
“What… what…?”
Black Dragon Lord faltered. Alarm flickered across her eyes, which held flecks of black.
“I sent the strongest conquest team… and they failed…?”
A hologram floated in the void above the Grand Library. The conquest was being broadcast in real time through the screen. Within the holographic display, countless demons cackled as they slaughtered human beings.
Among those being slaughtered were familiar faces.
Ranking 4th Hunter. Count.
Ranking 9th Hunter. Holy Paladin.
One was a Hunter who controlled Babylon’s financial flows, the other controlled human networks. They were our officers of economy and security—the strongest cards we could play, as Black Dragon Lord had murmured in her shock.
Yet they had failed.
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[The Story of Sormewin Academy]
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Difficulty Rating: D-rank
Participant Limit: 2–5 people
※ Serialization is currently suspended.
Description: Sormewin is a venerable magical academy. A place of ordinary friendship and rivalry, love and jealousy. This Grimoire might have remained an ordinary school story—had the world-annihilation-tier artifact not been sealed away beneath the academy.
Reason for suspension: The villain’s beloved daughter loses her fiancé (the crown prince) to a female student in her second reincarnation. Furious, she breaks the artifact’s seal, freeing a Great Demon who destroys the world.
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A Grimoire with merely a D-rank Difficulty Rating.
‘Magic has developed extensively, and ores like mithril are abundant’—that was the reasoning behind its selection.
“Alas, what a pity.”
The Librarian looked down upon the despondent Hunters.
“Yet spilled water is spilled water! If it could be gathered again, one might consider it, but I cannot overlook a failed conquest for you all. Friends, I trust you understand my position.”
The Librarian’s eyes were crinkling with amusement.
In other words, if there existed someone capable of gathering spilled water back into its vessel… she would recognize them as an exception.
It was painfully obvious who the Librarian meant by exception.
……
I made my way to the restroom in the library. I’d stopped by here once before entering the Heaven Demon Records as well. In the mirror above the sink, a man stared back at me—his face rigid, weathered.
“Damn it. I’ve never even read a romance novel.”
-Well, you’d never read martial arts tales either, but you managed just fine. What’s the problem?
“I suppose that’s true, but…”
I sighed and gripped the short sword tightly.
“I can’t just abandon the Count and the Holy Paladin to their fate. And I doubt sending someone else would clear it either. Looks like I’ll have to challenge it myself.”
One might argue that I could simply give up and tackle a different grimoire instead. But the situation isn’t so simple.
There’s a reason I cannot possibly skip this one.
[Sparkling cheers on your resolve, Hero!]
A fragment of the Holy Sword is hidden there too.
“…Okay.”
I steadied myself, running my thumb along the hilt of the short sword.
“Let’s give it everything I’ve got.”
And then I regressed to the moment before the clearing party was decided.
To the instant my next stage was determined to be [Romance].
SSS-Rank Hunter: Die to Live (Serialized)
Author │ Shin Noah
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
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. The content may not 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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