SSS-Class Sui**de Hunter - Chapter 9

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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 9. The Identity of Mutterings (3)
4
“Send me back to him right now!”
The Background Spirit thrashed about in fury.
The Studio Apartment was cramped to begin with—a space so inhumanely small that even one person shouldn’t have to live there. Now with a ghost flying around, it was as if a three-meter-long mosquito were buzzing through the room. You understand the feeling?
“Look, I’d send you back if I could, but I can’t!”
“You copied me with your own skill, didn’t you? Then you should be able to cancel it! What’s this about no refunds? What kind of world is this where we can’t even get a refund?”
“The cancellation won’t work!”
I explained how the Background Spirit had ended up copied. But even after hearing the full account, the ghost remained stubborn, demanding to be sent back to Geom-sung and complaining endlessly.
“Bwahahaha! Marcus, my disciple! Your master has been kidnapped! Your one and only master has been taken by this useless wretch!”
The spirit even flipped upside down in mid-air and began to wail.
“Alas, what a pathetic disciple. This catastrophe is all because Marcus disrespected and looked down on his precious teacher! I’ve told him countless times that he should revere his master like heaven itself.”
“Listen, I…”
I was done. The terror of seeing a ghost for the first time in my life had already evaporated. Fear? What’s that? No matter how terrifying a ghost looks, if it behaves this loudly, all you get is a headache.
“Please, can we just be quiet for a moment?”
“How can I live quietly? I’m already dead!”
“Then be quiet while you’re dead.”
“You rotten bastard! Not only am I dead and miserable, but now you’re cursing me to die again? Everyone, look at this guy! On our first meeting and he’s already got no filter!”
“Wow.”
My jaw dropped. What is this? It was my first time seeing a ghost, but it was also my first time encountering such an insufferable chatterbox.
And now I finally understood. I grasped why Geom-sung kept muttering to himself at the Bar. Yes, looking back on it now, he’d been constantly grumbling, but the content of those mutterings had been monotonously repetitive.
‘Shut up.’
‘Don’t make noise.’
‘Too loud. I’ll handle it, so leave me alone.’
Ninety-nine percent of the mutterings were just pleas for silence.
To any observer, he’d looked like he was suffering from some kind of mental illness, constantly grumbling under his breath.
“Yeah, he had every reason to keep muttering. With a spirit like this attached to him…”
“Wait, what? Did you just mock me? How old are you? You should be honoring me as your elder, yet here you are, bold as brass with your criticism?”
“Damn it.”
My shoulders sagged despite myself. The future looked bleak indeed.
“I’m going to have to avoid Geom-sung for the rest of my life. And no matter what skill I gain, something like this shows up.”
“Huh? Avoid your master? That’s nonsense.”
The Background Spirit tilted his head, confused.
“There’s no kinder Hunter than Marcus. I’m his disciple, and he’s stubborn as they come. But listen—never, ever bring up his grandchildren, all right? Normally he’s so calm and collected, but the moment kids are mentioned, he goes absolutely berserk.”
“I already know that well enough.”
I sighed.
“That skill Geom-sung has—you know, the one that shows how many people someone has killed?”
“Oh, the Detective’s Insight? That’s an absolute garbage skill.”
The Background Spirit answered at once. So the Kill Count skill’s official name was Detective’s Insight. The ghost seemed to know all of Geom-sung’s abilities inside and out.
“It’s useless—all it does is figure out whether your opponent’s an assassin or not. And even if someone has a high kill count, it doesn’t mean they’re necessarily an assassin.”
“4091.”
“Huh?”
“That’s the Kill Count floating above my head. 4091.”
The Background Spirit’s expression shifted to disbelief, his entire face twisted with skepticism. Somehow, the ghost’s face was far more expressive than any living person’s could be.
“What the hell? Are you insane?”
“If I spend one more day with you, I really will be. You’re incredibly loud.”
“No… you’re completely inexperienced.”
The Background Spirit’s expression grew slightly more serious.
“A complete novice. From what I can see, you haven’t even developed an Aura yet. How the hell did you kill 4091 people? Even when I reached the 99th floor of the Tower, I never racked up a body count like that.”
“Because I didn’t kill 4091 people.”
“What?”
I shrugged.
Then I explained, piece by piece.
“See, the thing is—I actually only hunted one person. He’s a terrible guy who’ll eventually be called Yeom-je, and…”
That Yeom-je killed me.
Fortune smiled on me, and I managed to copy the Regression Skill.
If I just stayed as I was, I’d have no way to get revenge on Yeom-je.
…
So I made the decision to regress over 4000 days.
And I carried out that decision.
—…What?
Bae Hu-ryeong, who’d been listening quietly, opened his mouth.
—You’ve killed yourself over four thousand times? And you want revenge on him?
“Yes.”
—……
Bae Hu-ryeong fell silent. Until a moment ago his face had been incredulous, but now it shifted. His eyes narrowed as if he were mulling something over with great concentration, studying my face intently. The seriousness in his expression was so profound that I found myself doubting whether this spirit—the one who’d been howling loudly enough to shake a two-square-meter room—could possibly be real.
—Hey.
Breaking the long silence, Bae Hu-ryeong spoke.
“Yes?”
—What’s your name?
“Kim Gong-ja.”
Bae Hu-ryeong let out a soft hum.
—Gong-ja, then. Why’d you choose to copy the old man Geom-sung’s skill first, of all people?
“I’m sorry?”
—Why did you decide to copy the old man’s ability the moment you finished settling your score with that bastard Yeom-je?
“That’s… only natural, isn’t it?”
I felt uneasy. I didn’t understand what he was getting at.
“He’s a Hunter ranking first in the world right now. You have to get the strongest person’s skills first.”
—So you can get as strong as possible, as fast as possible?
“Yep.”
—…The reason you’re answering my questions so honestly is probably because there’s no risk of the information leaking, right? After all, it says on the skill card that no one but you can perceive me. You’re completely safe. Isn’t that right?
“Well, obviously.”
Silence settled over the small room again.
—Hmm.
Floating, drifting.
Bae Hu-ryeong circled through the empty space around me. He moved to my left and peered at my face, then to my right and seemed to measure my height. His expression was extraordinarily serious the whole time. I frowned, wondering what manner of bizarre examination this was.
—Let’s see. Mm, your build’s nothing to complain about once it’s refined. Your stubbornness is remarkable. You’ve got decent ambition too. You can think straight and use your head when it counts… Hmm, yes. Indeed. Mmm, with potential like this……
Bae Hu-ryeong muttered to himself.
‘What’s he going on about?’
Listening to him talk, it seemed this ghost was Geom-sung’s teacher. Master and student were both champion muttererers.
—Hey, Kim Gong-ja.
Whoosh. Bae Hu-ryeong flew right up to my face and spoke.
“Yes?”
—Show me how you hunt monsters.
5
I hunted a few ordinary monsters.
“Is that enough?”
Since I was stuck in the room anyway with nothing else to do, I headed for the Hunting Ground as soon as dawn broke. Truth be told, since Geom-sung had killed me and I’d regressed to one day prior, I had to hunt Yu Su-ha one more time today. There were several reasons I needed to go out.
—As I thought……
Bae Hu-ryeong nodded his head.
—My prediction was right.
“A prediction?”
—Yes. In life, I was called the Sword Emperor.
In the early dawn, when no one yet stirred, Bae Hu-ryeong’s voice fell quietly over the nearly empty Hunting Ground.
—My homeland isn’t here. You’d probably call it an Other World, from your perspective. Anyway, a tower appeared in my homeland just like here, and I conquered it faster than any Hunter from my region.
“So this was just you bragging?”
—Guilty as charged.
Bae Hu-ryeong chuckled.
—Well, in the end, we failed to break through the hundredth floor in our world. But it’s written on your card, isn’t it?
It was.
+
[Sword Constellation]
Rank: A+
Effect: Hailing from an Other World. Cleared the tower of that world up to the 99th floor but fell short before the 100th, consumed by despair. The regret that remained prevented him from achieving peace, binding him as a Background Spirit instead. He cannot physically interfere with this world, but he may intervene in the mind of his owner.
Seek counsel from his rich experience and remarkable skill!
※However, no one except the owner can perceive the Background Spirit.
※This skill was copied from Hunter Geom-sung Callenberg.
+
‘When you think about it, it’s something extraordinary.’
Before I regressed, Yeom-je, who had conquered the 40th floor, was revered as a legend.
And yet the ninety-ninth floor? The specter before my eyes had truly stepped into uncharted territory.
-Me? If I’m doing well, I can tell just by looking. How much talent a Hunter has. Whether they’re hitting the jackpot or striking out—it shows right away. That’s why I asked Kim to show me how he hunts monsters.
“I see.”
At Bae Hu-ryeong’s words, I managed a bitter smile.
“So you wanted to see if I had any talent for the sword?”
Why not? Aren’t there plenty of such stories? Tales of people living their entire lives without discovering their true gift, only to suddenly plummet off a cliff one day or meet a master and awaken to their genuine power.
A fortuitous encounter.
“I’m afraid you’ve wasted your effort.”
Unfortunately, that kind of luck never came my way.
“I have absolutely no talent for combat. A complete dud, really. That’s why I’ve been desperately trying to copy other Hunters’ skills. If I’d had any talent at all, I would’ve escaped F-Rank ages ago. Would I really have lived this way otherwise?”
Bae Hu-ryeong’s brow furrowed.
-That’s nonsense. You have talent.
“Excuse me?”
-And it’s tremendous talent at that.
That was unexpected.
His response was nothing like what I’d anticipated.
“Come on. You’re joking with me, aren’t you?”
-I don’t joke about things like this.
Bae Hu-ryeong shook his head quietly.
-Of course, you have no martial talent whatsoever. Your movements are clumsy, your build is mediocre. By the look of it, awakening your Aura through ordinary means will take you quite some time. But setting all that aside—entirely aside—you possess one extremely rare talent.
His eyes burned with sincerity.
-You have no fear of death.
“…….”
-You simply don’t. Not a trace, truly astonishing.
Bae Hu-ryeong stroked his chin thoughtfully.
-I imagine dying over four thousand times wore away your fear naturally. That’s part of what I’d expected. You wouldn’t understand, but when you charge at monsters, you’re completely reckless. Most people hold back, just a little, out of fear of dying or getting hurt. But you—you don’t have that.
“Wait, that counts as a talent?”
-Of course it does.
The answer came without hesitation.
-Talent isn’t just something you’re born with. A person can awaken talents through living. And among all talents, the hardest one to cultivate is overcoming the fear of death. Yet you’ve already mastered it.
“…….”
-It’s remarkable.
I felt a strange confusion wash over me.
Not a single soul in my entire life had ever told me such a thing. I’d never even thought of myself that way. It was only because Yeom-je treated me like an insect—the humiliation burned so fiercely that I threw caution to the wind and surged past four thousand deaths without thinking.
To die.
So that was my talent.
-I have one question.
“…What is it?”
-You said you died at the hands of Geom-sung’s master. What were you thinking in that moment?”
I recalled my last death, which had happened only hours ago. Fresh enough that the memory and emotion remained vivid.
The night sky and the moon.
A strike so silent there was no sound at all.
“…I thought it was beautiful.”
That was when it happened.
-Khahahahaha!
Bae Hu-ryeong threw his head back and laughed. Laughed with such force that the word “wild laughter” wouldn’t be an overstatement—the specter’s voice boomed across the empty dawn meadow, filling it completely and spilling over.
After a long time, Bae Hu-ryeong’s laughter subsided.
-This is fun.
His eyes glittered with delight.
-You don’t steal skills; you copy them. That means Geom-sung’s master carries [another version of you] bound to him as a Background Spirit. Between him and his master—which of them will flourish as a true Hunter? Now that’s something I’m curious about.
“…….”
-I’ll help you.
The Sword Constellation. A specter who had once conquered the Tower to the ninety-ninth floor and earned the title Sword Master—Bae Hu-ryeong looked directly at me.
-I’ll make you strong enough not to lose to Geom-sung’s master. No—stronger than him by far!
And he extended his hand.
-Let’s conquer the Tower together!
It was the moment my partner came into being.
SSS-Rank Hunter: Dying to Live (Serialized)
Author │ Shin No-a
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Publisher │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 204, 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Daelung Posttower 1st)
Email │ [email protected]
Homepage │ www.jayplemedia.com
© Shin No-ah 2019
※ This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. No part of this content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violations 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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