Chapter 72.

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Translator: thursdays Editor: Sasha

1.

What word in the world matched the least with [zombie]?

I knew that it was a strange question.

But this world was occupied by zombies. As I fought against zombies and practiced martial arts, I naturally had to worry about zombies. So I just realized which word was the worst combo with a zombie.

-Guuuoh!

That was [Hadouken].[1]

-Uwaaa, aaaah!

A zombie in a black robe gathered his hands and fired a Hadouken at me.

I wasnt kidding. It was real.

Ill say it again. This [zombie], who had lived as a person of the Murim world, screamed and fired [Hadouken] at me.

This is crazy.

Whoos.h.!.+

The Hadouken easily pushed me back. I flew through the air like a tossed wooden stick. What had happened so far already left me dumbfounded, but it didnt end there.

-Wooooohh!

The zombie kicked the ground with a tap. It was a strange technique for movement. He sleekly activated a lightness skill. As if his body was filled with helium, the zombie soared into the air. In a moment, the zombie flew all the way to right in front of my nose.

Insanity.

Hey! Wait, this cant be real!

I swung the Holy Sword urgently. But before I could wildly cut the zombie, a voice stopped me from swinging.

Wrong! Dont swing your sword randomly.

It was the voice of the Heavenly Demon.

She was looking down at my fight from above the pit.

Did I not say this? Think of the hunger, death by starvation. Think only of the gnawing in your stomach. If you just swing your sword, the Infernal Heavens Demonic Art is nothing more then a useless sh.e.l.l.

B, but!

The zombie opened its mouth in front of my face. Crack! I barely managed to twist myself away and avoid the zombies teeth. I didnt have the time to fall properly, so I just ended up on rolling on the ground. Was it more angry because I avoided it? The zombie roared and rushed at me again.

Im not really hungry right now!

Fool.

The Heavenly Demon shouted as if she was frustrated.

Cant you think of the color red in your mind even if it isnt in front of your eyes? Just because youre not hungry right now doesnt mean you cant remember the feeling of hunger.

-Guuuoh!

While the Heavenly Demon talked to me, the zombie continued to attack me with its nails. If I was scratched by those nails even once, it would be over for me. If I became infected with the zombie virus, I would become Kim Zombie in the truest sense of the word.

Chaang! Clink!

The zombies nails struck my sword with a horrible sound. I couldnt attack, busy as I was with trying to defend myself. I could taste death.

If you cant do this, it is because you arent yet used to the sense of hunger. Your stomach is too full. Those who learn the Infernal Heavens Demonic Arts must be able to freely recall their senses!

A sense of hunger.

Memory of hunger.

Remember the longest time you were starved for. Go over your senses from back then. Where were you then? What did you want to eat the most? How long had you been hungry?!

The longest time I starved for was 3 to 4 days

What? Three to four days?

The Heavenly Demon was dumbfounded.

You mean that the longest youve ever starved was for only three days? Thats ridiculous. It has been a long time since the world has become so turbulent, and the harvest has been bad. How could you only starve for three days, unless youre the child of a n.o.ble family?

Well, the place beyond the walls were more abundant than the central regions

Of course, the Tower, where people from all over the world gathered, was more abundant than the Murim world. Furthermore, it was also a place where you could enjoy modern civilization. There probably were quite a few Hunters whove never starved for more than two days.

Oho. Huh. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

The Heavenly Demon sighed.

I see that this isnt getting through to you. Hunger is the most pressing sensation. That is because it is a pain that cannot be skipped for even a day, a pain that no man can reject. People live to soothe their hunger. There is no difference between the hunger of an emperor and the hunger of the lowest caste. How can you awaken the Infernal Heavens Demonic Art if you dont even know this?

No, but

I lived as an F-cla.s.s hunter for over 10 years and have gone hungry quite often.

When I bought tteokbokki while living outside the Tower, I counted how many rice cakes there were per serving and only bought from a shop that gave 4 more pieces.

Enough.

The Heavenly Demon turned around.

This was my fault! For a moment, I had hope. As I thought, you are a man whos only talk.

I was at the bottom of the huge pit. So, the Heavenly Demons figure quickly disappeared from my view. Chaaang! Clink! Barely blocking the zombies teeth and nails, I shouted at the already distant Heavenly Demon.

Heavenly Demon-nim!

There was no answer.

Heavenly Demon-nim?!

Again, there was no answer.

The Heavenly Demon was a warrior who didnt look back.

Please wait! Oh my G.o.d, its not like being hungry is something special! Does that make any sense that you cant learn martial arts because of that?! Huh?!

The Hadouken zombie opened its mouth wide again.

Ah.

Oh fu

Chomp!

[You have died.]

[You are regressing to 24 hours ago.]

ck!

I regressed to a day ago and stomped my feet. As I returned, I saw the skill card of Hadouken Zombie, suffered trauma, and received system verification that my ego was maintained, but that wasnt important now.

But I also lived through a lot of hards.h.i.+ps!

I was fuming.

Indignant. Wanting to win.

Only those two emotions, like red and blue fireworks, burned in my heart. They went beyond just burning. They blazed.

-Wow.

Bae Hu-ryeong rested peacefully next to me.

-Shes educating you in a very traditional way. Well, shes teaching you an arcane art, so thats only right. Zombie. Humans have been eating more since olden times, so they become more simple

Fine. So shes coming at me like this, huh?

I ignored Bae Hu-ryeongs words and left the hot spring cave.

If you come out like that, do you think Ill cower and surrender? Am I supposed to be thankful? Im a man who has burned to death! I was scorched from my head down! Do you think I wont die from starvation?!

-Uh

Bae Hu-ryeong wore a rare, embarra.s.sed expression.

-Zombie? Why are you like this? Hey. Instead of this, learn swordsmans.h.i.+p only from me, not the Heavenly Demon woman or something. Im much more tolerant when it comes to being a teacher

She wants me to feel hungry? Then Ill starve!

-d.a.m.n it.

Bae Hu-ryeong muttered.

-What a dilemma. This guys completely gone nuts. Oh, hes a crazy kid who cant see anything in front of him when he gets mad Well lose out on so many days

From that day on, I entered the road to h.e.l.l.

Im going to find the items needed to clear this stage.

Thats what I told the party. With that, I left.

Alone, I went as far as I could from the hot spring cave and isolated myself on a snowy mountain.

Doing nothing. I just stayed there.

-Youre crazy

Did he even know what I was trying to do?

Bae Hu-ryeong looked at me with judgemental eyes.

-Youre just going to stay here until you starve, right?

Yes. Thats it.

-Ah, man.

Bae Hu-ryeong lamented.

-Everyone else should have to know how dumb this guy is. Ah, poor me! Im the only one who knows this, alas. I regret becoming a ghost when I died. I regret it!

He was noisy.

-Zombie. No, Gonja. Please. I dont care that youre so crazy immersed in your training, but what did I do wrong that I have to keep watching you from the side? Huh?

Hey, I told you youre being noisy.

-Let me ask one thing. How many days do you intend to do this?

I sat in a small cave on a snowy mountain. It was different from the cave where the Heavenly Demon and the party stayed. Of course, there was no hot spring, and there were no grains or energy bars. It was just a dark and cold cave.

I dont know. At least 112 days.

-What?

I saw it in the Heavenly Demons trauma. She hadnt eaten anything for 111 days and endured with just air. So Ill hold on for 112 days.

-You d.a.m.n sas.h.i.+mi-like

Bae Hu-ryreong continued to curse at me for over a minute. But it was pointless. No matter what he cursed at me, my mind was unaffected. I had already started to sit in a lotus position.

-You cant last for more than 100 days, no matter how much you want to!

Bae Hu-ryeong cried out.

-Look at the weather now. Its cold! Its super cold! Youd freeze right away if you didnt have Aura, but how are you going to keep circulating your aura for over 100 days? No matter how much you try, 20 days will be the limit.

Seeing how I didnt respond to abusive language, he was now trying to speak persuasively.

-Besides, Gongja. Enduring for more than 100 days is no longer in the realm of hunger. Youve never starved for more than 100 days, right? Since you havent, stop talking.

Have you ever starved like that?

-Yup. I know it because I practiced fasting in my youth. I felt like I was going to die of hunger for a few days, but after a while, I didnt even feel hungry! Its not starvation, its just mental discipline. Mental discipline!

Then theres my answer, I replied flatly.

I just need to fast for 15 days, then keep repeating the 15th day.

-.

Bae Hu-ryeong huffed.

-What are you saying?

I wont eat anything for 15 days. Ill hold on until my hunger peaks. Then Ill kill myself to stay on the 15th day. My hunger level wont change.

I looked at Bae Hu-ryeong.

I repeat until I have 112 days like that. How does it sound? I wont run out of Aura. Ill continue to feel hunger. Its the perfect solution.

-You Madman

Bae Hu-ryeong was astonished.

-Just learn from me Dont take a strange master as your teacher. I told you, my martial arts is superior. If you really need a teacher, you can learn from me. What the h.e.l.l is making you do such a crazy thing!

I will learn the Infernal Heavens Demonic Art perfectly.

My heart was ablaze.

Do you know why the Heavenly Demon lost hope in the world? Do you know why this world, [The Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon] ended? Its because she felt that it was meaningless to live longer.

When the Murim Lord was lying in his sickbed.

The Heavenly Demon muttered to herself.

The whole world has become empty.

That was the end. If the world was a book, that was the final sentence written on the last page.

That it was all meaningless.

Even if people continued to talk, none of their words mattered. Even if people moved, no matter where they went, no matter what they felt, none of it had any meaning. Even if there were hundreds of lines after that sentence. Even with thousands of lines of description. It was to no avail.

It was the same as a white sheet of paper.

Then, the novel dies, and the world dies.

It would perish.

That was what the Librarian meant by [serial discontinuation].

-.

But I didnt want this world to perish that way.

I didnt want the Heavenly Demon to end like that.

Its easy to live while avoiding things.

I looked outside the cave. There was a white snowy field.

Lets say I have a thug-like skill. Im the greatest. If I win, I win everything by skill. Hunters that are inferior to me are like that because they are idiots. I dont need to care about the idiots, so I just pick a stage thats comfortable for me to target. No matter what happens, I laugh at them. I look down on them, cynically

I circulated the Aura all over my body, still in the lotus position.

It does look cool, I admit.

Then, I began.

And while cynicism isnt childish in itself, people who live while being cynical are childish.

I started to starve myself.

Fairness is childish, but the people who live fairly are not childish.

I starved for a day.

I am a person too. I have to live.

I starved for two days.

Then, the answer is obvious as to how I should live.

I starved for three days.

I starved, and starved again.

~~~

[1] Hadouken: A move from Street Fighter, colloquially known as Fireball because of how it looks, though it doesnt always use fire.