Chapter 152. Shine (1)

A truly strange thread connected people. It could be something trivial, like how my new friend had turned out to be the grandson of the supermarket owner in the neighborhood. Or how the Hunter I had been a fan of for ten years was actually a crazy psychopath who had ended up killing me. And then I had killed him, and now we lived together...

No, I should stop with this analogy. The Fire Emperor’s case was a very peculiar one. Anyway, my point was simple. Human relationships were a real mystery. So far, I had met all kinds of strange and mysterious people, but I was still amazed by the sort of people I ran into.

I was specifically impressed with the man I was on a video call with.

—Hey. Kim Gong-Ja. Long time no see. You’re looking better than ever, though. For some reason, you’re more handsome than when you were younger. The Tower life suits you, doesn’t it? I’m jealous! Well, I guess I should have just followed you into the Tower when I left the orphanage. Gong-Ja, the air and the people here are bad. It’s not a good place to live.

He was my age, but man, he chattered non-stop. His suit was neat, and his hair was neatly combed with a side-parting.

“Kim Hanbija...”

—No, no. It’s Kim Han-Bi now, okay? I changed my name.

“I heard from the director that you now have a National Assembly member badge. Congratulations, my friend.”

This guy was probably the most successful among my peers at the orphanage. He was now a proportional representative councilman or something like that.

“He got lucky and made the right decision at the right time,”

the director had casually criticized before, but it wasn’t easy to do something like that for someone at such a young age.

—Come on. Compared to you, I’m just the king of a hill. Don’t you surf the Internet, like, ever? You’re really popular. You contributed greatly to raising our country’s prestige.

“Sorry. I’ve not been online lately, so I don’t know much.”

Kim Hanbija smiled bitterly.

—Oh, really? That’s surprising. Anyway, my friend, please do me a favor. I’m going to run as a district representative councilman in the next general election. But, other than the fact that I’m young and new, I have nothing to appeal to people. Do you mind if I promote the fact that you and I were best friends at the orphanage?

“Yeah, no.” I bowed. “Good luck, Councilman. Please practice clean and honest politics that put the people first.”

—

Huh?

Hey! Hey!

Kim Hanbija now sounded distressed.

—Gong-Ja! Please, please! Help me! Sorry for not calling you until now! Who would have thought you would become so successful in the Tower?

Um...

one poster! I’ll make just one poster! Please help me keep my National Assembly badge...

I hung up the call immediately. The last thing I saw was my childhood friend crying and pleading, which got me thinking again.

I’m really successful in the Tower.

A childhood friend I had never spoken to after entering the Tower called me. I couldn’t believe I even received a trivial request from a member of the National Assembly. It was something I couldn’t dream of before my over four thousand regressions.

Brrrr—!

As soon as I hung up, my smartphone rang again. Of course, it was Kim Hanbija. I accepted the call.

“Hello,” I greeted, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

—Mr. Gong-Ja, I’m sorry. I forgot my place even though we just hung out a bit when we were little.

This bastard had become amazingly shameless, likely due to his years as a politician. There was something to be learned from his shamelessness.

—I know you’re really busy, but could you please listen to my story for a moment?

“As long as it’s just a story.”

—Mr. Gong-Ja, I know that nationality is meaningless in the Tower. Still, aren’t we still fellow Koreans? You can use this to build new connections. There are so many people in the National Assembly and my party who favor you.

“That kind of goodwill often turns someone into a pushover

.

”

—Just tell me what you want...

“

Uh,

honest politics? Aim for global peace, please.”

—Don’t ask for the impossible, you nuthead!

I see... It’s impossible. I guess it can’t be helped, then.

An idea crossed my mind.

“Ah, I have a favor to ask you.”

—I knew it! The Tower is also where people live, so we can exchange favors. What is it? You can ask me anything. I’ll use my party to get it done. I already received a blank check from them before I called you.

I smiled. “That sounds reliable. Do you know someone named Hwang Eun-Seo?”

I, Kim Gong-Ja, would say the ties connecting people were so strange that sometimes the dead took revenge.

***

“Well,

that

happened.”

“That’s to be expected,” the Sword Star responded after hearing my story. “I also received numerous requests when I became the Rank 1 Hunter. Not only people from my family but also politicians and businessmen called me thousands of times.”

“Oh, are Swedish people like that too?”

“It’s the same all over the world.”

Claaaaang!

My sword clashed with his.

We talked leisurely as we sparred to improve our sword skills. Not only was I up against the Sword Star, but I was also receiving life advice from him.

“You’re undeniably a person of power now. One with special power, even. You didn’t gain this strength through political strategy but through your sheer skills and accomplishments. People in the outside world like you. The Hunters in the Tower admire you.”

“You’re flattering me too much, sir.”

The Sword Star swung his sword. “That means you have to be more careful, young man.”

Whoosh!

His sharp sword strike aimed for my wrist. I held Shiny slightly diagonally and deflected his strike. Before, I couldn’t even follow his sword’s movements, but now, I was able to parry and deflect his attacks while leisurely chatting with him.

“Aren’t I being careful in my own way?” I asked.

Whoosh!

I channeled my aura into Shiny to hold onto the Sword Star’s sword tightly.

He frowned. “How you use your aura is incredible.”

“I heard that I’m more talented at utilizing my aura than I am at swordplay.”

“I don’t know who told you that, but they’re right. Aura is all about mental power. The power of one’s aura greatly depends on how strong the image in your mind is. What did you just think of?”

A mansion burning in flames. The children inside, their hands and feet tied up. No matter how much they struggled, their restraints didn’t loosen.

“It h-hurts...”

“Please forgive me...”

I circulated my aura, thinking of the children’s hands and feet. By picturing their handcuffs, chains, and struggles in my mind, I firmly held back against the Sword Star’s sword with my own.

“Well, it’s a trade secret. I can’t tell you for free,” I said with a smile.

A strange emotion appeared in the blue eyes of the Sword Star. “There is something I deeply regret. I gave up going to the

Heavenly Demon Chronicle

in favor of the OJP Sect Master. The person you were before going to that world and the person you are now are completely different warriors. Even if it meant I had to be unreasonably stubborn, I should have followed you into the book.”

“Are you the type of person who regrets the past? That’ll tire you a lot.”

The Sword Star laughed. “Don’t be cocky! I have no intention of handing over first place in the Hunter Ranking!”

Blue aura exploded from the Sword Star’s sword.

Baaaaaang!

The impact was similar to a compressed air explosion. I quickly created a barrier with my aura to suppress it.

The old man laughed energetically. “

Haha

! Good, good!”

Amid the explosion, he continued to pour out his blue aura like a typhoon. In response, I carefully stepped back and blocked his sword strikes one by one.

Whoosh, whoosh!

“I never thought having a rival could make me this happy!” the Sword Star exclaimed sincerely. “When we ran across the Aegim Empire together, I had no idea you would become the warrior you are now! You never know what life has in plan for you. I’ll forever be grateful to have met a young man like you!”

His sword strikes rushed in like a storm, second after second.

Clang!

I somehow managed to counter them using a combination of my sword and aura. However, I was getting impatient, which was obvious based on my movements.

“Aren’t you enjoying this too much?”

“Of course, I’m enjoying this! The Sect Master is improving day by day, and so are you. The speed of your growth is remarkable. Life feels so beautiful right now!”

The old gentleman’s laughter flowed across the field. We were on the Tower’s first floor, Babylon the Ascension City. Many Hunters were recording and watching our sparring with wide eyes. They even took notes in admiration.

“Amazing...”

“If I master aura, will I be able to fight like that too?”

“No way! Only those two can pull off something like that...”

“As expected, the Sword Star is still a level higher than the Death King.”

Competitiveness boiled in my heart.

So that’s what most people still think, huh? Alright, I’ll show them.

I still considered myself inferior to the Sword Star. But what I thought and what other people believed were two very different things.

“Mr. Sword Star.”

“What is it?”

“Personally, I don’t like presenting incomplete martial arts forms because I believe that is inconsiderate of my sparring partner.” After I blocked the Sword Star’s sword, I retreated backward, putting a considerable distance between us. “But you and I aren’t ordinary sparring partners.”

Instead of cornering me, he lowered his sword, waiting for what I would say next. “I don’t know, Death King. Do we share any special connection?”

I grinned. “Sure, we do. We’re sect brothers, aren’t we?”

The old gentleman’s face turned serious. The sect I was talking about wasn’t the Heavenly Demon Cult. It was the Guardian, the Sword Emperor. Just like me, the Sword Star had a Guardian of his own.

In the Heavenly Demon Chronicle, the Sword Emperor used every knowledge of martial arts against Teacher.

The Guardian and Teacher’s Verbal Match had been aired in the Tower, so any Hunter could watch it if they wanted. Of course, the Sword Star had been among the viewers.

There’s no way he didn’t recognize it.

Most Hunters wouldn’t have understood the match that day. However, even if no one else knew, the Guardian by the Sword Star’s side would have recognized the martial arts. He had created them himself, so how could he not?

We both have a Guardian of our own.

Now, both my Guardian and the Sword Star’s knew of each other’s existence.

He didn’t ask me about it, though... He’s probably been waiting for me to bring it up first. He was being considerate.

Still, he had never imagined that I would bring up this story at a time like this. What he likely envisioned was a secret confession in a quiet place.

Just as I had expected, the Sword Star became very flustered, urgently looking around to see if anyone from the audience had heard what I said. “Young man... Death King, if you say that here...!”

“Are you embarrassed?” I beamed. “Good! Please get even more embarrassed, sir!”

“W-what...?”

“I haven’t completed this form yet. Please accept it!”

I charged at the old man. Yup, I brought up the topic of the Guardian for the sole purpose of bewildering my opponent!

—Whoa, you cheap bastard. It’s said that there is no right or wrong in a fight, but this is...

The Guardian, who was second to none when it came to ill temper, was impressed. Letting him compliment me, I raised my holy sword before bringing it down.

The fire in a certain mansion. The suffocating smoke.

My aura exploded. It covered our surroundings like tentacles, engulfing the field with its blazing fire. Everything alive within it was smothered. The vacant lot quickly became an inferno.

Only then did the Sword Star react. He quickly pulled up his blue aura to fight back. I felt bad, but I wasn’t done yet.

“I don’t want to die.”

Resentment.

“I’m hungry.”

Desire.

“I want to live...”

Hope.

I channeled all of my wandering emotions into my aura. Each strand of it that had spread out carried the voice of a different child, and so it burned in different directions and with different intensities.

The fire attacked the Sword Star as if it was alive.

“

Hmm?

” The Sword Star hurriedly acted to stop the fire. Since the waves of flames coming from all directions had to be stopped one by one he naturally left an opening in his defense. I aimed for that opening like a beast.

New Demonic Heaven Arts,

First Form: Fireblaze.

This was my Demonic Heaven Arts. Its first form made the Sword Star’s eyes widen.

“I’m sorry, Senior Brother. I’ll win this fight!”

I swung my sword down toward the Sword Star’s head.