Chapter 43
A bright and energetic morning.
"Wow, my body's performance is ridiculous."
He had drunk a huge amount of alcohol,
yet he had woken up feeling perfectly refreshed.
Kang Ha-min couldn't help admiring himself.
Goodbye to the days when his Team Leader forced him to drink until he suffered from terrible hangovers.
Now he could drink as much as he wanted
and live a happy, hangover-free life.
More importantly,
there was a lot to do today.
At last,
it was time for Baek Cheon-myeong to challenge the Twentieth Floor.
"That bastard will appear again."
Baek Cheon-myeong's eyebrows were already furrowed with irritation before he even entered.
That bastard was the person who had repeatedly mentioned the Heavenly Slaughter Star throughout the Second Floor Realm.
The entire Second Floor Realm followed one continuous story.
Every time Baek Cheon-myeong climbed a floor,
time also passed inside that world.
Each time one of the Nine Venerables Under Heaven died,
the season changed.
The Sword Venerable had been the last of the Nine Venerables Under Heaven.
Kang Ha-min could roughly guess who their final opponent would be.
The mysterious person who always mentioned the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
He would likely be the final boss of the Second Floor Realm.
"I'll return."
"Yes. Be careful."
The door to the Twentieth Floor opened.
[Hunter Kang Ha-min's entry has been confirmed.]
[The difficulty of the Twentieth Floor has been set to Hell.]
[Rewards will increase according to the increased difficulty.]
The usual Hell difficulty.
Baek Cheon-myeong entered
and raised his head.
Through Baek Cheon-myeong's shared vision,
Kang Ha-min saw the surroundings.
Blood-red rain was falling.
The sky had sunk into a dark ink color.
The falling red rain soaked the earth.
On ground mixed with mud and blood,
a single man stood alone within a flowing red stream.
His red hair was soaked with rain
and clung to his forehead and cheeks.
His face was chaotic.
Different features constantly mixed together.
It was as though he had forgotten his own face
and kept changing it again and again.
But one thing never changed.
His blood-colored eyes.
They were far too calm.
That calmness felt disturbing.
His black martial robes were soaked by the wind and rain.
An old longsword hung from his waist.
It had no elaborate decoration.
Blood dripped down
and splashed against the tip of the sheath.
Splash.
The man stepped through the bloody water
and turned toward Baek Cheon-myeong.
"You've come?"
It was the playful voice of a middle-aged man.
"You must have suffered on such a long journey."
The beautiful voice of a woman.
"Then again, you've experienced all of this before. I suppose it isn't particularly new."
The voice of a young boy.
He spoke using the various voices and appearances he had shown before.
Baek Cheon-myeong watched him quietly,
clicked his tongue,
and drew his wooden sword.
"No need for a long conversation. Come at me."
"Why so impatient? Since we both carry the fate of the Heavenly Slaughter Star, shouldn't we talk a little?"
"I already told you."
"Ah. Is it because of the time?"
The man raised one hand.
Stop.
Kang Ha-min's eyes widened.
The timer floating in the Tower's sky had stopped.
[00:00:51]
A resident of the Tower could stop time?
Kang Ha-min looked confused.
[It's all part of the performance.]
Baek Cheon-myeong dismissed it without concern.
[Master, don't place meaning on the Tower's trials.]
[They're nothing more than entertainment created by the gods.]
His answer was cold.
To Baek Cheon-myeong,
this entire thing was nothing more than a play.
A play.
After hearing that,
Kang Ha-min looked at the man again.
His face showed countless overlapping expressions.
Were the emptiness and resentment in his eyes really nothing more than something fabricated?
"Great Swordsman, what do you think the fate of the Heavenly Slaughter Star truly is?"
The man slowly began walking across the blood-soaked ground.
"People say it is a fate that grows stronger through a Slaughter Calamity (殺劫), eventually becoming connected to a great disaster."
Baek Cheon-myeong's gaze followed him.
"But I see it differently."
"The Heavenly Slaughter Star is a weight placed by heaven to maintain balance."
Baek Cheon-myeong's eyebrow twitched.
"The world constantly seeks development."
"But development cannot occur without trials."
"Humans invent new technologies and advance because wars happen, don't they?"
War caused many things to advance.
It was an undeniable truth recorded throughout human history.
"The Heavenly Slaughter Star is that kind of balance."
"A trial sent down by heaven to prevent humanity from becoming lazy."
"It is like how even more plants grow after a forest fire."
A cynical smile appeared on the man's face.
"Of course, if this truly were fate, perhaps we could have accepted it."
"Unfortunately, we know the truth."
His eyes turned toward Baek Cheon-myeong.
"This fate was created by someone."
His voice changed again.
Baek Cheon-myeong suddenly swung his sword.
A slash powerful enough to divide the world struck forward.
The blood-soaked ground split,
and the man was cut in half.
But he didn't die.
Even while divided in two,
a mocking smile remained on his face.
"Heavenly Slaughter Star Lord, was it enjoyable?"
"Was it fun deciding our fate however you pleased and watching the world grow because of it?"
Kang Ha-min's eyes slowly widened.
What was he talking about?
"You madman, obsessed with the Tower!"
"You ruined my life!"
"Your desire to climb the Tower made me lose everything!"
A woman's desperate scream echoed next.
It was the voice of someone who seemed to have cut down even the person she loved with her own hands.
