SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 89

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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 89. Rock Bottom is Standard (2)
3
The moment I regressed a few days back, I spoke before the Hunters.
“I’ll be directing this Floor.”
…….
The Hunters fell silent as stones.
Among them were the Count and the Holy Paladin. Originally they would both die attempting the twenty-fifth floor, but I’d returned to a time before their assault began.
Of course, they had no way of knowing that.
“Hmm…….”
The Holy Paladin’s expression grew uncomfortable.
“I apologize, Zombie King. I didn’t realize you had expertise in Romance either.”
“No, please don’t apologize. I’m genuinely ignorant about Romance.”
“…And yet you wish to oversee this Floor? Are you serious?”
“Yes, I really do want to direct it.”
The Hunters began whispering among themselves.
I kept my composure to maintain my authority.
“Given the genre, it would be nice if a Hunter well-versed in Romance were selected. But that’s not an absolute requirement. I’ve never read a Martial Arts Novel. Yet I cleared the Heavenly Demon Records well enough.”
“That may be so, but…….”
“This Floor gives me an ominous feeling. I sense something terrible will happen. Please let me oversee it.”
A twitch.
Two Hunters reacted to the words “ominous feeling”—the Black Dragon Lord and the Sword Saint. They believed I possessed Prophetic Ability.
“…It shouldn’t matter, should it? Your track record speaks for itself, Zombie King.”
“I think we should heed the Zombie King’s judgment in this matter.”
With the second-ranked and first-ranked Hunters backing my opinion, things fell into place quickly. The others didn’t dare oppose us. I secured the command as intended.
“Now, let me assemble a strike team to enter the Apocalypse with me.”
I spoke with firm resolve.
“We’re taking only the absolute elite this time. Please don’t resent those I don’t select.”
“Hmm. Elite members, then.”
The Black Dragon Lord regarded me with an expressionless gaze.
“Right. Then I’d better go. I don’t know much about Romance, but if someone genuinely needs me, then I suppose I should.”
…….
“This is my first time with Romance, but… the romantic sensitivity, shall we say? The sensibility feels aligned with mine. I’m not claiming to be a Romance expert, understand. But if an elite team is what’s required, then perhaps I should be included—that’s merely my personal assessment.”
The person who’d introduced herself as a woman who watched dramas seemed in notably poor condition.
“Romance and Romance Fantasy are somewhat different. If Romance is a macaron, then Romance Fantasy is a chocolate mousse cake. Zombie King, I do believe a true specialist should take the lead…….”
It was the Holy Paladin speaking with hints of profound depth beneath her words. But in the previous cycle, she’d failed to clear a Floor. Taking her along would be risky.
“Isn’t love ultimately convertible into money? Those who spend generously love well. Love is power, and power is money—an eternal law. I should be the one fielded here.”
The Count opened his fan. Who in the world put this man in a Romance scenario?
“Mm.”
I calmly surveyed my surroundings. Then I spotted someone—a figure sipping orange juice that the Bookmark Maid had served.
“Heresy Inquisitor.”
I called out his name.
“Yes?”
“Come tackle a Romance stage with me.”
“Oh?”
The other Hunters stared at us in shock.
The Heresy Inquisitor. The Iron-Blooded Slaughterer. Whenever religious conflict arises, he tortures and executes without exception. In our tower, where abnormality is the norm, he’s treated as a certified lunatic—a genuinely natural-born psychopath.
If you surveyed the world asking who seemed least suited to Romance, this man would lock down first place. And yet, he broke into a smile as radiant as an innocent boy’s.
“Yes! Of course! Ah, if you ask it of me, Zombie King, I’d be delighted to comply!”
To those unfamiliar with his nature, it was genuinely angelic.
“Zombie King, have you lost your mind……?”
To those who knew the truth, it was a devil’s smile if one had ever existed. The Black Dragon Lord rushed over and whispered in my ear.
“The Heresy Inquisitor can’t empathize with others! Objectively he’s a psychopath, and even subjectively, a sociopath at best. What are you planning to do, taking a man like that into a Romance Apocalypse?”
“Black Dragon Lord.”
I replied in a hushed voice.
“I don’t know the first thing about Romance, but I do know what matters most.”
“What is it?”
“Looks.”
“…What?”
“Appearance.”
…….
I was serious.
“Um…”
“First, he needs to be handsome.”
“Wait, isn’t that a bit biased? There are plenty of characters described as ordinary-looking in romance stories.”
“They’re misleading with the cover art.”
“Ah, I shouldn’t have said that… you…”
“Look, in our tower, who looks the most angelic if we’re judging purely by appearance? The Heresy Inquisitor. I seriously thought she was an actual angel until I learned what she was really like.”
We glanced sideways at the Heresy Inquisitor.
From a distance, she was grinning brightly.
“You agree, don’t you?”
“Yeah… that kid’s looks are genuinely impressive. The problem is her personality is equally rough in the opposite direction.”
“And the Heresy Inquisitor is competent. She uses Holy Magic. She could handle most crises that come up, right? She listens well to what I say too.”
Above all, the Heresy Inquisitor’s surface and interior are aligned.
What she says outwardly matches what she thinks inwardly.
Perfect consistency.
This can actually be an advantage in romance stories.
People find it attractive when someone’s appearance matches their heart.
“You might actually be onto something brilliant.”
Someone overheard our conversation and spoke up.
It was the Holy Paladin.
She was nodding slowly, her eyes full of admiration.
“Romance fantasy works better the more unhinged characters appear in it. The Heresy Inquisitor isn’t bad from a romance fantasy perspective. It’s a shame she lacks obsessive love, but there’s still room for her to develop into a compelling crazed character. I see the appeal. Truly, you have a ghostly instinct even in romance narratives…”
The library fell quiet.
“Hm? Did I say something strange?”
Again, silence filled the library.
The Black Dragon Lord simply thought to herself.
「There’s some logic to it, but unlike Kim Gongja, the Heresy Inquisitor doesn’t look young at all—she looks far too young. Even if she looks young, she needs to have a boyish charm about her, but in this business, a completely childish appearance doesn’t sell…」
Fortunately or unfortunately, this expert opinion never made it into voice.
Thanks to that, the Heresy Inquisitor and I safely formed a two-person romance duo.
Seeing the party composition that had been decided, the Librarian’s eyes gleamed.
“Oho! Attempting a clear with an unusual combination, are we? Excellent! I am most curious what kind of story shall unfold this time.”
The Librarian reached out and grasped the Sormewin Academy Story.
“The season of love has arrived! It has become natural to praise love! Now we call it beautiful to seize love and transcend all differences—status, bloodline, nationality, everything!”
The Librarian’s robes fluttered.
“Perhaps that very reason is why love has become difficult. Love is not merely emotion—it is attitude and posture. Yet many people cling to romance instead.”
The Librarian chuckled softly.
“Romantic reality, or realistic romance—you too shall find it exceedingly difficult to strike that balance, Kim Gongja. Therefore, I have specially prepared a Clear Bonus for you!”
A Clear Bonus?
“In truth, you have essentially cleared the Heavenly Demon Records not just on the normal floor but on the hidden floor as well. You received the normal floor reward as floor twenty-two, but you have not yet claimed the hidden floor reward. I shall grant it to you now.”
“What is it?”
“Come here, my protagonist.”
I stepped forward.
“I shall give you three cards.”
With a flourish, the Librarian handed over the cards.
The cards read as follows.
+
[Face Blindness Card]
[What a Coincidence? Overhearing a Critical Secret! Card]
[Oops! I Shouldn’t Have Said This! A Slip of the Tongue I Can’t Control! Card]
+
“…”
Great.
The names alone were ominous.
Whatever effects these cards possessed, something felt deeply suspicious about them.
“Um, these are…”
“All wonderfully effective in romance stories. These cards shall surely become your allies and generals. So worry not!”
I’m doing nothing but worrying.
“The gift does not end there. I have prepared one more. When you enter the Apocalypse, you shall naturally encounter it.”
“Pardon?”
“Kim Gongja. Heresy Inquisitor.”
The Librarian didn’t answer my question. Instead, she opened the book. A brilliant flash erupted from the Apocalypse’s pages, brilliant and searing.
“I hereby designate these two individuals as characters in the tale of Sormewin Academy. When you open your eyes, you will find yourselves in a world seven days before that story met with an unfortunate Serialization Discontinuation.”
Light engulfed us both.
“I do hope you’ll show me a splendid ending! Silver Lily Lady! And butler!”
Silver Lily Lady?
Butler?
Before I could ask what she meant, my vision turned completely white.
4
I’d never devoted myself to Romance.
I didn’t have the habit of reading books, and I had no friends peddling Romance stories. To be more honest about it, I simply had no friends. Whether I could even call anyone a friend now is something I prefer not to dwell on.
But if someone asked me what the most common onomatopoeia in the Romance genre is, even a complete outsider like me could answer without hesitation.
Crack!
It’s the sound of a slap across the face.
“…How base and disrespectful!”
A sharp, crystalline voice carried all the way to the chandelier on the ceiling. Before the chandelier’s swaying had even stopped, another crack rang out—the all-time number-one sound of the Romance genre came again.
The fact that I could observe this sound with such composure told me one thing: I wasn’t the one being slapped.
“…Ah?”
It was the Heresy Inquisitor.
The Heresy Inquisitor tilted her head curiously. Both cheeks—left and right—had turned red, yet she smiled broadly, grinning at the person who’d struck her.
“Have I done something wrong? You certainly have quite the strong hand!”
The other woman’s expression darkened. She was clearly a noblewoman, judging by her bearing. She wore a dress embroidered with silver lilies in pale thread.
For convenience, I mentally affixed the name “Silver Lily Lady” to her.
“How dare you act so calm…! You vulgar creature! Don’t you know shame!”
“Aha.”
And it was from here that things went downhill fast.
The one in the dress wasn’t only the Silver Lily Lady.
“If there’s any error on my part, please do point it out! I listen, and should the criticism be fair, I’ll correct it at once! Violence is really best avoided whenever possible!”
The Heresy Inquisitor was wearing a dress as well.
Compared to the Silver Lily Lady’s, hers was far plainer—a color like the flesh of a lime, yellow’s innocence and green’s refreshing clarity split evenly between them.
Innocence could easily bleed into naïveté. Clarity could just as easily read as ignorance. But none of that mattered. The face was brutal perfection. True to form—having chosen her almost entirely for her appearance—the natural-born beauty of a gangster smiled brilliantly.
“Now then! Madam Unknown! Shall we have a word?”
Crack!
“So you truly mean to mock me till the very end….”
The Silver Lily Lady seemed to wring her entire body as she spoke, each curve of her twisted spine transmuting itself into her voice.
The Lady had dealt the blow, the Inquisitor had received it, yet somehow as time wore on, it was the Silver Lily Lady whose breathing grew ragged.
‘Hmm.’
I’d cleared away the confusion that followed my entry into the Apocalypse and grasped the situation reasonably well.
‘A social gathering? A ball? Either way, we’re in the middle of some kind of event.’
A ballroom hung with chandeliers.
Dozens of people stood about in formal dress, and they were all watching us from a distance with anxious faces. Their alarm and tension were plain to see.
A peaceful ball had become chaos. It was only natural.
‘The Silver Lily Lady is the villainous noblewoman….’
I looked at her.
‘She’s the highest-ranking person here aside from royalty.’
She’s also the one who will bring about the Annihilation of this world.
“Get… them… out!”
The Silver Lily Lady spoke haltingly, each syllable ground out between her teeth as if being chewed before spat forth. Just listening made your lungs ache.
“Yes, Lady.”
Servants in black tailcoats answered.
“I can’t bear the sight of them. Remove them. Now… away from my eyes, remove them!”
“Yes.”
The servants’ voices were not loud. They were hushed, muted. A subordinate adjusted the pitch of their voice to match their superior’s constitution. Anyone could see the Silver Lily Lady was sickly. For her ears, a loud voice was poison.
“Ah.”
So the Heresy Inquisitor was her perfect opposite.
“Are you feeling unwell, perhaps? How dreadful! Allow me to assist you!”
“Remove them at once… How can you not remove them? Lock away this master and servant… now….”
The Heresy Inquisitor was naturally bright and cheerful from the start, after all.
The servants in tailcoats surrounded us like a military unit.
“Pardon us.”
“You’ll need to come with us, if you please.”
Their words were genteel enough, but their actions told a different story. The servants were dragging us along by force.
Beyond the Ballroom, down a Corridor, we were hauled into some moonlit Storage Warehouse.
“Excuse me?”
I spoke as they transported us into the warehouse.
For the record, I was dressed in a tailcoat identical to those worn by the servants.
“Where exactly are you taking us? Hello?”
No answer came.
“Hello? Duke’s Household servants?”
Bang.
“…….”
“…….”
The Heresy Inquisitor and I exchanged glances. Then came a sharp *click-clack* — the sound of a key turning in the lock. We had been locked inside some unknown warehouse.
If my common sense wasn’t mistaken, a warehouse with a locked door was as good as a prison.
“Ah-ha.”
Bathed in moonlight seeping through the iron grating, the Heresy Inquisitor opened his mouth.
“Kim Gongja, we’re in serious trouble!”
The Heresy Inquisitor was grinning as though nothing serious had happened at all.
“I believe I’ve somehow become the female protagonist — the Silver Lily Lady!”
That was true.
And I was her butler.
SSS-Rank Hunter: Only the Dead Survive (Serialization)
Author │ Shin Noa
Published by │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Publisher │ J-Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 204 Daereung Post Tower 1st, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul
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, and its contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the 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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