BXBX NOVEL Chapter 50: After The Ending (1)
Chapter 50: After The Ending (1)
For crying out loud... I sighed. Do you know how many nicknames you’ve given me already? Kim Zombie, Zombie King, and Kim Wacko. You’ll fill an entire page with my nicknames at this rate.
—That sounds good! Let’s go! Become a wacko with dozens of nicknames!
The Guardian’s laughter filled the sky. Fortunately, not everyone in the world was out to tease me.
[The boss stage has been cleared.]
I heard the Tower telling me that I cleared the twentieth floor, just like the time I had cleared the Infernal Mansion stage on the tenth floor.
[The champion is Hunter Kim Gong-Ja.]
[Calculating the reward for clearing the twentieth floor...]
[The calculation is complete.]
[The reward will be given after you enter the twenty-first floor, which will open in twenty-four hours.]
I slowly raised my head and, grinning, drank in the blue sky through the acacia trees. Yeah, what does it matter if I’m a wacko? I did my part.
—Whoa, look at that confidence.
I cleared the eleventh floor all the way to the twentieth the way I wanted to.
My goal from the beginning was to make sure no one died. That hadn’t changed, but now that I thought about it, it was a ridiculous idea.
Not a single Hunter died while I cleared the twentieth floor.
The Hunters had turned on each other because of the Demon King of Autumn Rain’s temptation. Now that was never going to happen because I had eliminated the source of that tragedy; she was my minion now
No one from the empire or the rest of the world died.
While time had been frozen, I had been fighting for a world that wasn’t mine.
And... I took her in too. I placed my hand on Preta’s head. She was now a prisoner in my shadow. At the moment, she was sitting on the ground, vacantly watching the army. They were supposed to burn her little home, but history didn’t come to pass today. Preta’s paradise was saved. The moment the paladin leader had dropped to his knees, believing that I was the goddess’s apostle, the army had abandoned the hostilities and the mission.
I was just thinking... I quietly stroked Preta’s head. I would have probably... cleared the twentieth floor even if I just stood by and watched.
—Huh? Why? the Guardian asked.
The village being burned down and disappearing is also one of the endings.
I had realized as I cleared the stages that the Tower didn’t care if we reached a happy ending or a bad ending. As long as it was a proper ending, the Tower acknowledged that the floor had been cleared.
Otherwise, Yoo Soo-Ha would never have gotten to the fortieth floor.
The Fire Emperor had chosen to smash the dolls in the Infernal Mansion. On the other hand, I had chosen to play with them. Both of them were recognized as endings.
The Tower doesn’t decide a world’s future. I turned and looked at the village. And it doesn’t force me into an ending.
The wheat glowed golden under the sun. The old man was normally quiet and stern, but he now leisurely smoked his cigarette, overlooking the children stealing some of the apples from his orchard.[1]
This place was the haven of those whose sicknesses were thought incurable.
This is the ending I chose.
The sky wasn’t going to pour rain today nor would the land catch fire. I was deeply content. However, the Guardian had an odd look on his face for some reason, as if he was looking at a poor child.
—I see...
What’s wrong?
—You said that this is the ending you chose. The Guardian lifted his finger and pointed. Is that part of the ending you chose?
And there was Yoo Soo-Ha.
“Fuck! You fucking piece of shit! You son of bitch! Stop this right now! Do you hear me?! Stop it right now... Fuck! Why can’t I stop!”
The handsome man was still dancing the hopak at the entrance of the rural village. The crops were ripening beautifully under the blue sky. If I took a video of this sight and uploaded it online, a masterpiece like that would get millions of views.
Hmm? What’s wrong with that? I tilted my head. Isn’t it freaking beautiful?
—You’re a true freak... the Guardian mumbled.
[The twentieth floor has been cleared today.]
The voice was heard everywhere between heaven and earth. I wasn’t the only one who could hear it this time.
[Announcement]
[The twentieth floor has been cleared today.]
It was the official announcement. Just like the time I cleared the tenth stage, the same voice would probably be speaking all over the Tower.
I smacked my lip. It’s a shame.
—What is a shame?
I don’t have access to the internet here.
My smartphone was safely tucked away in my bag. It had been five days in the world’s time, but in my time, I hadn’t so much as touched my smartphone for hundreds of days. The first through the tenth floors were the only places in the Tower where people could access the internet.
It’s gotta be so crazy on the internet now...
—Huh? Didn’t you stop caring about other people’s reactions? the Guardian asked.
When did I say that?
—You said that you want to earn recognition from people like the Black Witch and Gramps Marcus more than you do from the public.
I shrugged. Come on, the more the merrier. Earn the recognition of people like the Black Witch and Sword Star, gain popularity, and proudly say my conscience is clear. I want all three.
—Wow, you’re a greedy pig.
That’s what drives me.
Fortunately, something arrived quickly to take my mind off of the lack of internet.
[The twenty-first floor will be unlocked in twenty-four hours.]
[24:00:00]
It was just like the last time. Brilliant fireworks bejeweled the sky, and the first firework that had gone off turned into a countdown of light. As soon as it happened, two Hunters—the Black Witch and the Sword Star—arrived on the twentieth floor as if they had been waiting for it.
“Death King!” The Black Witch used her teleportation Skill and immediately jumped at me. With her arms around my head, she gave the glowing smile I was growing accustomed to. “This is insane! You’re insane!”
“Argh! Arghhh! Hold on, Black Dragon Master. You’re hurting me—”
“You’re just a kid! You’re less than thirty years old!”
I tried to break free, but it was no use. The Black Witch was so strong that I couldn’t escape from her headlock. My god, how much elixir had she consumed?
“You actually cleared the twentieth floor in five days! It’s crazy! Crazy!”
“Umm... Black Dragon Master. Why don’t you calm down now...?”
“You have no idea how wild it is in the Tower! Here!” The Black Witch showed me her smartphone, a model that was at least five years old. Its screen showed a low battery notification and a screenshot of an internet news article, which wasn’t supposed to be accessible here.
“Is this...?”
“I stopped by the first floor to take screenshots!” The Black Witch sounded genuinely excited. “There were so many articles I couldn’t screenshot everything! Sorry! But you have to understand, Death King, the Tower and the outside world are going crazy! Look! Even though I only screenshotted the articles with the most clicks, there are so many of them.”
The Black Witch swiped her screen, showing me a collection of news headlines.
—Breaking News: The fourteenth floor has also been cleared at the speed of light!
—The rising star has been given the title of Death King.
—The Black Dragon Guild officially announces that the Hunter Raid Team is currently composed of three people.
—Who is the star behind these accomplishments? The Sword Star? The Black Witch? The Death King?
—Exclusive: Solo Coverage on the Death King.
There were a lot of news articles. I couldn’t even finish reading the headlines.
“I know it may not look like it because of the titles.” The Black Witch giggled. “But they’re all about you!”
“Umm...”
“Where you’re from, what kind of life you led, how you entered the Tower, how you instantly became a High Ranker. Every article is really about...”
“W-wait.” I was stunned.
Not because of the news articles. The flood of articles about me was only natural, and I had already been through it before. I was sure that the internet had been dealing with thousands of fires over the past five days. But I was stupefied because...
“...Did you screenshot all these yourself?”
“Yes!” The Black Witch nodded. Her headlock was still in place, so our faces were close. “Of course!”
“To show me?”
“What? Why else would I do it?”
“Umm... So...” I narrowed my eyes. “After you went all the way to the first floor, you searched and screenshotted all the articles so you can show me?”
“I guess you could put it that way!”
I imagined the Rank 2 Hunter, also the leader of the Tower’s biggest guild, going all the way to the first floor, and then hammering away at her smartphone to take all those screenshots. And now she was back here, proudly showing off what she had gathered. It was pretty adorable, but I still didn’t understand it.
“Why would a person like you go through all that trouble...?” I quietly asked.
“What in the world are you talking about?” The Black Witch beamed. “Because I wanted to do something for you, of course! Oh, yeah. Don’t read the comments later. Those jealous people wreaked havoc in the comment section. They’re saying that it’s all fabricated.”
She sighed quietly. “Seriously, I don’t know why there’s always people like them. They just don’t know how incredible it is to do it without any casualties! Death King, don’t worry about nobodies. The Black Dragon Guild will help you deal with the media.”
What? Is she an angel? I wondered.
—People immediately become angels in your eyes if they’re nice to you even once, don’t they... I know you’ve lived a pitiful life, but get used to people’s goodwill. You have no problem handling malice, so why do you get all mushy when it comes to people’s goodwill? The Guardian clicked his tongue.
If she isn’t an angel, is she a goddess?
—You’re nuts... The Guardian gave me a look of disgust. I knew it was going to happen someday, but we’re already here.
Then you could’ve given me some praise before this. Don’t you know how much I love compliments? The little attention you get during your life in this cold world is very dear. A person like you doesn’t know that feeling, do you?
—No, it’s... icky... The Guardian actually retched. I’d rather work on finding my eternal peace.
You psychopath, I bet all my money that you didn’t have a single friend before you died.
—Hey! What the heck are you talking about? I have a friend!
Exclude the Sword Star.
The Guardian looked elsewhere, tacitly admitting my victory. It was unclear what I was victorious in.
“And look at this, too!” The Black Witch finally released me from her headlock. Instead of showing another screenshot, she opened her small backpack and pulled out a thick pile of newspapers.
“Look!” She opened the papers wide. “It’s the front page of yesterday’s newspaper!”
The long list on the newspaper’s first page was what caught my eye first.
Updated Hunter Ranking!
Rank 1: Sword Star
Rank 2: Black Witch
Rank 3: Death King
Rank 4: Countess
Rank 5: Inquisitor
Rank 6: Viper
Rank 7: Babel Linguist
Rank 8: Broadband Communicator
Rank 9: Paladin
I was speechless. I finally realized what had happened to the world below the twelfth floor while I had been trapped in my prison of time on my own, fighting the Demon King.
“I’ve never seen anything like this since the Tower opened up!” The Black Witch laughed. “A Hunter not in the ranking instantly reached the top ten!”
I was the Rank 3 Hunter. Just like Hunters’ titles, our ranking was decided by the Tower and prominently displayed on the obelisk in the first-floor plaza.
“I’m sure you haven’t felt it yet... But try heading down to Babylon today. You’ll know your current standing immediately.” The Black Witch rapped my shoulder with a roll of newspaper. “Congratulations, Death King! You also represent all of the Hunters now!”
Yes, the world had changed in only five days.
1. It’s called ??(seori). In the past, children stealing a little bit of crops was condoned and considered a game in Korea because it was a difficult time and people lacked food. And they only stole a small amount anyway. ☜