Chapter 356: Return to the Origin (1)

1.

The wizard, [The Wand of Ages], sighed.

"...I can't even remember the last time I felt astonishment. Sword Emperor. I can't see you nor can you speak to me, but I will tell you this much: there is a reason why you failed to conquer the Sky Piercing Extreme Point."

The wizard touched his forehead, as if utterly fed up.

Considering he's someone who usually doesn't show much emotion, his intense reaction must mean the aftermath of the 'Heart Sword' demonstrated by Bae Hu-ryeong was quite powerful.

"Hmm. What exactly happened?"

I shook my head to clear my mind. The aftereffects of having just hopped back from the flat world to the original world hadn't worn off yet. A sense of nausea clung to my throat, sticky and unpleasant.

"What happened? Yes. Something tremendous occurred."

At my question, [The Wand of Ages] frowned.

"We were on the verge of a stage collapse."

"Collapse, you say..."

"Literally a collapse. Some stages are the Constellations themselves. If a stage is destroyed, the Constellation is also damaged. But the ghost you carry around slashed the stage itself."

"What? Gong-ja ssi carries around a ghost?"

Next to me, the Alchemist blinked in surprise. It was completely new information to her. However, [The Wand of Ages], perhaps too annoyed to explain, did not answer her question.

"If left alone, the wound your ghost made would have expanded rapidly, growing larger. The true heaven world would have been sliced away like a piece of paper! There might be several worlds that could replace the 75th floor, but for the souls resting in the true heaven world, what a disaster it would have been, like being hit by a bolt out of the blue?"

The wizard glared at the empty air. If Bae Hu-ryeong had been there, it seemed he might have slapped him.

"I can't believe what you did with your thinking."

-No. I simply trusted you all.

Bae Hu-ryeong, arms crossed, chuckled.

-Even if the world falls apart, you would do your best to stop it. Yes. In a way, I trusted your goodness. You should thank me, for someone like me willingly acknowledging your goodness.

"What does your ghost say?"

"Uh."

Kim Gong-ja, a second of contemplation in his life.

"Sorry for swinging my sword without thinking."

"It's good you at least know shame."

The wizard scoffed.

Watching him, my conscience should have felt guilty right? Nonsense. Think about it. Translating Bae Hu-ryeong's nonsense directly to stress out the other party might actually be the fluffiest thing my conscience has ever done.

"...."

While we were talking, the Alchemist was lost in her thoughts. Hearing that I had a ghost made her ponder, I guessed, and asked her.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah. It's nothing. Hmm. Just wondering why exactly I was chosen as the judge for the 75th floor. It's been bothering me."

Fortunately, it wasn't a concern related to Bae Hu-ryeong.

"Um. Gong-ja ssi. Could you tell me about the judges before me, and what kind of stages they were responsible for?"

Since it wasn't a difficult request, I carefully explained. The Alchemist's eyes, even behind thick lenses, visibly darkened.

"...I see."

The Alchemist murmured.

"Gong-ja ssi. If I die, I will go to the true heaven world."

"What?"

"That's exactly the criterion for a judge. Where one goes after death, to which heaven."

My eyes widened. Conversely, the Alchemist narrowed hers.

"Think about it. The world Crusader nim judged was said to be the heaven of music, right?"

"Yes. That's correct but...."

"Crusader nim is of course an expert in music. So, it makes sense she was in charge of the Musical Heaven. Yes, but if that's the case, the world I should have been called to judge would naturally be the Medicine Heaven? My expertise is, after all, medicine."

The Alchemist whispered in a soft voice,

"But the place I was actually a.s.signed to was the true heaven. Completely unrelated to my field of expertise, you see. Especially since [not lying] is not my forte, nor do I have specialized knowledge about [two-dimensional planes]."

"...."

"So, who becomes a judge isn't decided by whether they're an expert or not. Absolutely not."

Indeed.

I, too, narrowed my eyes slightly, following the Alchemist's line of reasoning.

"If the Crusader were to die, she would reincarnate in the Musical Heaven. If the Count dies, she goes to the Golden Heaven. If the Venomous Snake dies, he goes to the Martial Heaven, and if the Heretic Questioner dies, he goes to the Judicial Heaven. And...."

"Yes. If I die, it would be the true heaven."

The Alchemist nodded.

"While Gong-ja ssi was conquering the stage, I wondered. If I were to die and go to the afterlife, which post-life world would I wish for? It was hard to imagine but Hmm. I concluded I want to go to a world [where I don't need to worry about what others are really thinking in human relations.h.i.+ps]."

"...I see."

"Yes. That was it. Therefore, the true heaven would be the afterlife world I wish to go to."

I turned my gaze away. The Alchemist looked in the same direction I did.

There, [The Wand of Ages] was silently accepting our gazes.

"Is that true?"

"...Yes. Right. You've hit the mark."

The wizard answered quite refres.h.i.+ngly.

['The Wand of Ages' acknowledges your pursuit of truth as correct.]

[You have uncovered the information hidden by 'The Wand of Ages'.]

A message appeared to confirm it. How considerate.

"Originally, when you reached the 79th floor, I planned to reveal [All the heavens you've experienced so far blah blah] trying to give off a final boss vibe."

The wizard looked as though he had lost a toy he had been saving in secret.

"But you figured it out much faster than I thought. Ha. The thrill of surprising you is gone."

"...Is the heaven I'll go to when I die also predetermined?"

"Hmm."

The wizard smiled knowingly, a glint in his eye.

"That's a question I can't rashly answer. It's not something I can decide. Anyway, you said you were an Alchemist, right? You've done well. Now, off you go."

As the wizard tapped the floor with his staff, the ground beneath the Alchemist rippled like a swamp. She was being forcibly recalled. The Alchemist floundered as she fell through the floor.

"Ah, me! Go, Gong-ja ssi! Cheer up! Fighting! I've heard I'll forget about this incident, but Gong-ja ssi, you will remember...."

"Yes."

I smiled and sent the Alchemist off.

"I look forward to the special potion you'll develop next time."

Plunk-.

In an instant, the Alchemist's figure disappeared below the ground. Only a ripple of white remained where she had vanished, quickly settling down.

A moment later, the 70th floor lobby was surrounded by a desolate white.

'Stages only I will remember.'

Nothing new, really.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to the wizard.

"Alright. So, who's the next judge? Anastasia? Marcus-nim? Considering only the best hunters have been summoned so far, rank must be included in the criteria for selecting judges."

"More precisely, it's chosen among those who have a deep connection with you."

"Then, Uburka? Or maybe, Raviel?"

"Both have deep ties with you. But neither wishes for an afterlife. Death King."

The wizard tapped the floor again with his staff.

"The judge evaluating you this time might be a bit tricky."

Whoos.h.!.+

Centered around the tip of the staff, light bloomed. At a closer look, the shape of the blooming light resembled a lotus. As the neatly arranged lotus petals split open, the silhouette of a person flickered between the beams of light.

"Uh. What's this?"

Just like the people who had been summoned as judges before, this figure was also very familiar. There were a few people whom I thought wouldn't forget even after I died, and he was one of them.

It wasn't in a good way.

"Summon? Is this what they call a summoning? Some morally bankrupt guy summoning someone who's just trying to make a living, what the h.e.l.l. Let's at least have the decency to greet each other."

"...."

"Eh? What's this? Are my eyes deceiving me? It seems like the epitome of a scholar, famous enough to be synonymous with the term, is standing before me. Well, who else but you would summon me? My bad for not realizing sooner. So, what is it this time? You want me to dance again?"

I murmured the name of the man summoned as the new judge while covering my forehead with my palm.

"Yoo Soo-ha...."

"That is indeed my name."

Of all people, why him?

2.

My head throbbed.

He was indeed a most fitting person to be summoned as "someone deeply connected to me."

"Why are you here causing a fuss...."

"Huh? I don't see why you're asking me. You're the one who summoned me."

Yoo Soo-ha narrowed his brows. His sharp yet bold eyebrows furrowed elegantly.

"Wait, hold on. Hey. I thought I was done living in your shadow. I can still be summoned to you? Is this even legal?"

Yoo Soo-ha had long since been released from being a summoned spirit under [Hundred Ghosts Reincarnation]. Through the skill [The Earth Bone Dragon's Skull] I acquired from the Tower Master, he had obtained a new body.

He must have thought his days of being summoned and following my orders were over, so it's no surprise he frowned at being summoned out of the blue.

"d.a.m.n it. Stop using me already. I'm trying to live my life anew! Don't you see what I'm wearing? This is my part-time job uniform. I was working at a planetarium before you summoned me, part-time!"

Yoo Soo-ha seemed to mistake that I had performed the summoning.

Perhaps he thought he might be ordered to perform some ridiculous dance again. He started to elaborate on his pitiful situation in a rather desperate tone.

"After my s.h.i.+ft, I have to go to Chen Mu-mun! Because you shoved me into becoming a disciple there, you have any idea how hard I've been slaving away? If you had any conscience..."

"Scared?"

"What?"

"Are you scared I might make you do something weird?"

"This guy...."

Yoo Soo-ha grimaced.

"Now you're rank 2 among hunters, have the rank 1 hunter as your personal bodyguard, are friends with all the big guild leaders, and married the most beautiful person in the world, and you see me as nothing more than water?"

"Uh."

"s.h.i.+t."

Yoo Soo-ha seemed to begrudgingly accept that he could indeed be seen as mere H2O.

"Anyway, I'm not the one who summoned you this time."

"Then?"

"It's a long story."

I went into the lengthy explanation.

About how I was currently breaking through floors 70~79. To breach this sector, it wasn't enough for just me to be good; approval from the selected judge was necessary. And, regrettably, this time it was you who were chosen.

"...Hmm."

Yoo Soo-ha crossed his arms.

Before hearing the story, a slight unease flickered between his eyebrows, but now it had disappeared entirely.

His dark eyes scanned me from head to toe, inscrutable.

"So, to summarize what you've said. To move on to the next floor, I absolutely have to approve, right?"

"Right."

"I can sit here for ten years, a hundred years, doesn't matter, and watch you fumble around on the stage?"

"Yes."

"And even between the stage there and me here, the flow of time can be applied differently, so if I wish, I could rapidly skip through long periods?"

Yoo Soo-ha's prying manner conveyed a strong sense of unease, but I couldn't just blatantly lie and be caught. Even if I didn't answer, [The Wand of Ages] would explain anyway.

"...Yes."

"Indeed. There's your answer."

Yoo Soo-ha smiled wickedly.

It was a devilish grin.

"First, let's see you dance. Kim Gong-ja."

What?

"Ah, but of course, by dance, I mean the dance I did. That dance. The Cossack dance or whatever it was You know the one. You're the one who ordered it, after all. Let's start by a.s.sessing your dancing skills. We can talk about the stage after that."

Hey.

"What? You won't dance? If you don't want to dance, fine. Let's casually start with a hundred years. Even if you're some monstrous guy, being trapped on the same stage for a hundred, two hundred years, you'd eventually feel like dancing, right? Don't you think?"

Hey.

"Of course, I don't plan to stop after just one dance. That would be disappointing. Ah, ah. Then. We have quite a lot of unresolved feelings between us, don't we, Kim Gong-ja~ssi?"

d.a.m.n you, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d.