Chapter 322: ■■■ only for you (1)
1.
[You are regressing 24 hours back.]
Tick.
Somewhere, the second hand seemed to move.
"...."
"Then, Gong-ja~nim. Where shall we head to this time? We have quite a few options. We could directly attack the headquarters of the Demonic Cult! Or, taking a break by returning to the city is another method!"
I looked around.
Slowly.
As if savoring this world.
-Terror be gone, death stay far away.
There was one ent.i.ty that didn"t need to be savored first.
Bae Hu-ryeong was reciting the world"s most nonsensical verse with a sullen expression. His tone was full of annoyance and boredom.
I made eye contact with Bae Hu-ryeong.
-....
As soon as our eyes met, Bae Hu-ryeong shut his mouth. Instead, his eyebrows raised slightly.
-Right.
Bae Hu-ryeong smirked. In no time, his annoyance turned into acceptance, his boredom into understanding. As if looking at an inevitable nuisance, Bae Hu-ryeong shrugged his shoulders.
-Welcome back.
"Yes."
There was no further conversation. Neither from Bae Hu-ryeong nor me.
Even if I had glimpsed into the trauma of ■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■ and regressed a day, I was still under the influence of [Universal Sovereign]. The Constellation was exerting its power on me.
Words that would interfere with ■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■ were automatically filtered out. Just like before, memories would be erased and distorted.
"It"s better to speak less."
If possible, even thoughts.
Without harboring any hostility towards ■■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■, I just continued to look around.
The Constellation was grinning ear to ear.
"If we go to the city, um, that"s right! So far, Gong-ja~nim has subdued many evil spirits. The city residents, who have been troubled by the pseudo-cults, might welcome you quite a bit!"
Beyond the shoulder of the Constellation.
"They might be weak and cowardly, but they will not forget the grace of Gong-ja~nim!"
Tick.
A wall clock was turning its second hand.
"...."
Only then did the true appearance of this world come into my sight.
There were no dense forests here.
No twelve great evils either.
No Blood Demon, G.o.d Demon, White Demon, or Mad Demon ruling the hidden and visible sides of the world, and neither were there any pseudo-followers of them. There were no headquarters of sects holding vast secrets, no cities, no villages, no streets, hence, not even a small clothing store.
Tick.
Just one wall clock.
"Oh. While Gong-ja~nim is pondering which choice to make, a moment ago, near the destroyed headquarters of the White Demon Sect, an old man approaches. He recognizes you. No, it seems like he specifically followed Gong-ja~nim here!"
A shabby attic room.
s.p.a.ce barely 4 pyeong large.
Wooden floor tiles were filled with dust in every crevice. It was dilapidated. The floor seemed coated with dust rather than bleach, s.h.i.+ning faintly white. There was a window, but no outside, only the incandescent light illuminating the room day and night.
In the vague light, particles of dust fluttered.
Too small and too faint to replace petals, the dust, taking up most of the attic, fell on the bookshelf and disappeared.
Wall clock, wooden floor, window, bookshelf, and dust.
"...."
This was the 60th-floor stage.
The entirety of this world.
"The old man says, [Ah, are you the Death King? I am not a suspicious person. I was just a common hunter, enslaved and forced to labor by the White Demon Sect until now]."
Lastly, the Constellation had no face.
Not to say it had no head.
Just where a face should be, in its place, as if a child had playfully scribbled with a crayon, it was distorted in black.
■.
Or ■.
It was either a window without an outside or bars that imprisoned the outside.
"[There are many others in the same situation as me. Oh, Death King. I"m truly ashamed to ask, but if you ever find the time, would you visit our slave village? It would be a chance to offer our thanks… We would like to have you over at least once.]"
Tick.
The only thing left on the face of the Constellation, painted in black ink, was the corner of the mouth.
The small lips moved slightly, sometimes forming a smile, sometimes firmly closed, earnestly mimicking the old man"s tone.
"[Please do come to visit us!]"
Even though there were no eyes or nose.
It looked happy.
The Constellation was happy now.
"Alright. The speech ends. The old man checks your complexion. Perhaps he has not told you everything about their circ.u.mstances. Gong-ja~nim! What will you do now..."
Swoos.h.!.+
Just as the Constellation was about to raise its voice, a burst of light spread next to the chair I was sitting on. Emerging from the light was a hunter whose ident.i.ty was unknown.
The hunter looked around with a slightly bewildered face.
"Where is this..."
"...."
The corners of the Constellation"s mouth turned down.
It looked just like a child, who was busily building a sandcastle in a playground, getting interrupted.
"Right, congratulations. You"ve cleared the 60th floor."
"...What?"
"What do you mean, "what"? It means there"s nothing more for you here."
The Constellation waved its hand in annoyance.
"Get lost."
[■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■.]
Then, the burst of light wrapped around the hunter again.
The hunter disappeared wrapped in light before he could even react.
"Really. These types who interrupt the flow midway are the most annoying."
The Constellation sighed.
"Ah, Gong-ja~nim. Don"t worry. You will forget everything that just happened! Hehe. Anything that interferes with our story between the two of us gets automatically deleted!"
"...."
Is that so.
"That was… someone who cleared the 59th floor and came up here."
I realized what was happening.
After the Magic Tower collapsed by our hands, the number of challengers aiming for higher stages has noticeably increased.
Some of them would have reached the 60th floor by now, and others are on their way.
The hunter who briefly appeared in [this world] was exactly such a case.
"And ■■■■ ■■ ■■■ is granting them a pa.s.s no matter what. As soon as the hunters arrive, it acknowledges their stage clearance and then drives them away."
That hunter"s memory must have been distorted.
He probably thinks he had a plausible adventure on the 60th floor, received a plausible quest, and successfully completed it.
"Even the Sword Emperor had incorrect memories about the 60th floor."
Needless to say, the same would be true for other hunters.
Without a doubt.
This attic room has become a sanctuary exclusively for us two.
"What! Shall we refresh the mood!"
The Constellation spoke brightly.
"As the silence without a reply grew longer, a nervous aura enveloped the old man"s face. Still, as someone who has stayed on the 60th floor for quite a while, it seems like the luxury of managing expressions has long vanished. The old man—–."
Pet.
"...."
The Constellation paused.
After seeing the Constellation pause, I finally realized that I had reached out and stroked its head.
"It works."
I murmured.
"Even if you"ve lost your form, you can still be touched."
"...."
"That"s a relief."
The lips of the Constellation parted slightly.
"...Huh? Uh? ...Eh?"
A stuttering like a music box with a broken spring.
As if not understanding what was happening at all, the Constellation shook its head once, twice, left and right.
"Huh...?"
A noise buzzed in my head.
I could now understand that this was the message from the tower notifying me of the Constellation"s power manifesting. About the constellation that had no name and whose coordinates had vanished, the tower tried to notify its existence, even if just through a buzzing noise.
Had it been before the regression, I too would have forgotten the memory of just now.
But somehow, I haven"t lost anything now.
The times I spent half a life with Raviel and Master, the conversations with Bae Hu-ryeong in a white s.p.a.ce, and even the incident where an unknown hunter was mercilessly expelled as soon as they arrived, I remembered them all vividly.
"Huh? What?"
The Constellation was fl.u.s.tered.
"Why? …How? This shouldn"t be happening, hmm. Hmm!"
[■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■.]
It was futile.
"Huh?"
It was also meaningless.
"...."
[■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■.]
No matter how much the Constellation exerted its power, no matter how much it requested oblivion through a skill, my gaze remained unchangingly fixed on the Constellation"s face. Unchanged. The face of the Constellation, smeared with ■ and ■, was reflected in my eyes.
"...."
The shabby 5-pyeong attic room remained a world of 5 pyeong, and the wall clock was still just a wall clock. The situation where [Universal Sovereign] erased or interfered with my memories did not occur.
Nor did my hand, placed on the head of the Constellation, retreat.
"Why, why is this…"
"Because I don"t feel any hostility towards you right now."
I said.
"There"s no chance I will harm you. I have no intention to ruin you, nor do I wish to shatter your joy. I am harmless."
"...."
"You must have been praying using [Universal Sovereign] to exclude any being or event that disrupts our playtime. Thanks to that, anything that could obstruct our time together, even the slightest voice or thought, could be eradicated."
Stroking.
My hand groped the head that had lost its face.
Something had been deprived and vanished… Only traces remained.
There should be creases unique to each person, but even those marks were invisible on the Constellation.
At the very least, I hoped my touch would prove that something had been there.
"However, your wish does not reach me. No. It does reach me, and that"s why it cannot further damage my memories. The skill would judge that maintaining my memories rather than erasing them is [for your sake]."
"What...."
"I wish for you to be happy."
"...."
The Constellation"s movement halted.
"Have I become hope for you?"
I continued speaking.
"Has no one satisfied you for thousands of years? Walking through life, having discarded your original name and even your original face, yet there was no voice that fully reached you. Have you lived like that?"
"I didn"t come here to be meaningful to you. Yes. I can"t lie. I"ve forgotten most of what you told me. To me, a human, you still have no name, and you will continue to be nothing more than noise whose location I can"t even determine."
However.
"If you choose to make me a meaning today."
If that"s the case.
"I will dedicate today to you."
"...."
"You"re not perfect."
[The skill is activating.]
"When you first sought a contractor and gave faith, even in the moment of giving faith, you must have known you"d be betrayed. Surely, you have your faults too."
[You are designated as a target of Universal Sovereign.]
"So, you"re a bit rash."
[The skill is operational.]
"Probably the kind of person who regrets things soon after starting them, gets deflated, but still can"t give up their own pleasure and continues to challenge humans."
Tick.
A small crack appeared in the black paint smeared on the Constellation"s face.
A gap opened.
"Your eyes might be slightly sharp, right?"
[The Death King exerts a skill.]
The eyes I imagined, the tips of the eyebrows, peeked through the opened gap.
My imagination was realized exactly as it was by Universal Sovereign.
"....."
"The hair, perhaps, green."
Tick.
I touched his eyebrow.
"Because it seems you"d have a lot of jealousy.
"...."
Tick.
The black ink cracked a little more.
Within the broken sh.e.l.l, the l.u.s.ter of emeralds was hidden.
"...It"s no use."
Tick.
"I"ve already lost it all. My name. My face. No matter how much Gong-ja~nim… Death King tries to search, how can you find what is not there."
"Then I will imagine it until it is found."
Tick.
"I will give you silver hair. I"ll imagine black hair. See the appearance I"ve imagined in a mirror, confirm it, and then tell me. [Yes]. Or, [No]."
"...."
"Not just the hair but also the eyes. The ears. The nose. Everything."
[The skill is operational.]
"Summoning countless colors and countless shapes, one by one, to carve them out, someday, what was once you will be found. Your name too. Ga, Na, Da, Ra, p.r.o.nouncing every letter, surely the sound that was your name will echo."
[The skill is operational.]
"I will find it."
Tick.
"I will find it for you."
One more layer of black husk crumbled.
Eyes.
The Constellation"s pupils were gray.
****