However, You Die (1)
Translator: Neria
Formatter: Geass606
Editor: Nyamh
Skill.
A word that reduced many Hunters to tears.
Conditions for awakening a skill vary from person to person:
I struck a scarecrow 10,000 times in the training room. Then, it naturally appeared.
One day, I suddenly heard a voice from God!
Magic? I was able to use it soon after entering the Tower.
Hunters with good personalities and strong willpower struggled to climb to higher heights because they lacked skills. In contrast, there were Hunters with dog shit personalities living good lives thanks to their skills. The Flame Emperor, who represented Rank 1, was the latter.
If we compared life to a game, wouldn’t the Flame Emperor be playing a game where luck was a skill? He could get anything he wanted with his luck skill.
In contrast… my life was comparable to a typical shitty RNG game.
I grumbled and heaved as I stumbled along who knew where. I’d left the bar after getting shit-wasted, but I couldn’t remember when that was. I entered an alley and more sludge spewed from my mouth. I swayed, my eyes focusing on my vomit: I recognized some of the food I’d eaten before.
“You are unlucky” is what my vomit seemed to be telling me.
“Shit…” I slurred. “If I am supposed to be unlucky, then don’t give me any luck at all. This false hope has killed me.”
When you play a game, when do you feel despair?
Those who have played gacha games on their phones would understand. It is not when you can’t get a single 5-Star unit after multiple pulls—It’s when you get that 5-Star that just happens to be utter garbage. A 5-Star that’s worse than a 3-Star.
Hell, my 5-Star was worse than a 1-Star.
I hurled again but nothing came out except a sob. “Fuck!”
Yeah. My life was truly a shitty RNG game.
Normally after awakening a skill, you had to report it to the Hunter Bureau. But I didn’t report it. Like hell I would. This shit was too depressing. Too embarrassing. Why the hell should I show them such a trash skill? Like, what would I say or how would it go:
“Hello, Hunter-nim,” they would say. “ How did you awaken your skill?”
What could I say? “Uh—I was envious of the Rank 1.”
“Excuse me?” Their faces would distort in confusion.
So, just to make it all better, I’d expound further. “I thought I would go insane because of my envy and jealousy. Then the Tower tossed me a skill like it was telling me to eat this and get lost.” Here was where I’d flourish my hand as if I was discussing a fine reward I casually got. “It even told me that I’m an ugly person with the greatest envy,” I’d say with a laugh. Haha. Right.
It’s not like I could say that! As if there was any way to tell anyone about this. I alone would laugh and be miserable at my unlucky, shitty life.
So I drank to my heart’s content and ended up wobbling around in a remote alley.
Though, nothing had changed—I was still failing. I couldn’t even wobble properly. Without realizing, I’d staggered into an unknown alley. I couldn’t remember how or when I got here. Where the fuck I was, that was anyone’s guess.
Could I just fall asleep on the floor like this? ‘Ah. This is sad.’ So unlucky. I held back my tears.
A faint scream rose on the night’s air. It came from the other side of the alley.
The pained voice begged, “…please, ugh! Why are you…”
Instantly, my drowsiness disappeared.
That voice was too real to be mistaken as a drunken hallucination. While I could not know who it was, I understood that what was happening was life threatening.
‘What’s going on?’ I wondered, treading silently. Instinctively, I held my breath. One step at a time, I quietly stepped towards the alley where the scream originated.
As I approached, the voices became clearer.
This was—
“F-Flame Emperor-nim. Why are you suddenly—” a female voice said.
“—No use. No one is nearby to—” a male voice said.
—This was—the second stupid mistake I made today.
The first mistake—drinking until my mind fuse broke. Throughout my entire life, I never got dead drunk. However, today was an exception. I was extremely furious to find out that my first S-Rank skill was shit, so I ended up drinking makgeolli like water. [1]
My second mistake—not running away as soon as I heard the scream.
“I’ve poisoned your drinking cup in advance,” the male voice said. I couldn’t figure out why he sounded so familiar.
“P-poison? Flame Emperor-nim, I can’t understand what you are saying.” Even the woman’s voice. She sounded altruistic.
“Hey, your acting is pretty good. If someone else saw you, they would be fooled.”
A dead end.
In the dark alley without any street lights, there was indeed a man and a woman. Perhaps it was weird to describe them as simply being there. The man was threatening the woman and the woman was being threatened.
“Basilisk’s stomach acid,” the man said. “Originally, you would have poisoned my drinking cup with this. Wow. If it wasn’t for my skill, I would have been in deep trouble. Hm? What’s wrong? You look pale, Miss Saintess.”
“Is it the Ten Thousand Poison Immunity (萬毒不侵)…? I-impossible! You shouldn’t have such a skill.”
“Of course not.” The man laughed, the up and down of it echoing softly. “But I have a skill that’s slightly better than the Ten Thousand Poison Immunity.”
Finally, I realized who this man was. No matter how dark the alley was, I could see the man’s back—I couldn’t possibly miss that ponytail. I’d seen him and his feats surround me in my room every single day for the last ten years. And I’d seen him from TV just last night. I’d always wished to be just like him.
‘It is actually the real Flame Emperor!’ I goggled.
The Rank 1 Hunter. The protagonist of this era. An idol who tens of thousands of people looked up to. And because of that, he was the hero who received all the attention and envy… especially my envy.
Additionally, ‘Isn’t she the Saintess!?’
I covered my mouth to hold my breath. The Saintess. A Rank 9 Hunter who was selected by the Bureau. She is rumored to be dating the Flame Emperor. It was her recent behavior that sparked the entire scandal. The greatest beauty, who I’ve only seen from Internet photos and videos, was right there.
“But playtime is over,” the Flame Emperor said. “It’s time to pay the price for going against me.”
And she wasn’t just standing there. She was being threatened. “W-wait a moment, Flame Emperor-nim,” she begged. “You must have misunderstood… I only wish to clear the Tower with you as a team!”
“I thought so too, but that wasn’t the case,” the Flame Emperor said.
“Please wait a moment! Think about it. If we team up, we can easily clear up to the 40th floor! We might even clear up to the 50th floor in a year! That’s right! It’s the place that humanity has not reached yet, but if it’s the two of us—”
“I thought so too, but that wasn’t the case,” he said again.
Dumbfounded, I thought, ‘Weren’t those two… dating?’ The Internet said so. Even broadcasters discussed the two heroes’ passionate love. But the scene in front of me had no elements of romance whatsoever. It was difficult to even joke about it being a lover’s quarrel.
Murderous intent (殺意).
I only saw a man who wanted to murder and a woman who clung on for dear life.
“Please! Let’s just talk to clear up the misunderstanding,” she cried.
“Talk? Ah, talk. Alright. It’s the courteous thing to do.” The Flame Emperor seized the Saintess’ neck.
Her voice let out a loud choking noise before her air was completely cut off. After that, only small groans sounded.
“But, I’ll decide the rules and who gets to talk,” he growled.
The Saintess struggled as she suffocated. I watched her struggle and I also felt like suffocating. Unbelievable. Oh my God. Something that shouldn’t be happening was happening in front of me.
“I’ll ask the questions. Just answer me. Ah, you don’t need to talk. Simply nod your head to answer. Okay?”
She strove to nod, whimpering. I gulped in fear and sympathy.
“If you answer sincerely, I’ll let you live. I’ll even give you the antidote. But if you ignore my personal consideration… Well, do I need to explain further? I heard you graduated from Oxford. Use your smart head.”
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