Chapter 343: Absolute Music (4)

Time passed. I felt the kids’ heartbeats slowing as I moved my fingers across the keys more quickly.

Why is this fun? I can’t hear anything, so why am I fascinated by these kids’ reactions?

In this world, breath was limited. The musician and their audience shared an already limited amount of air. As my hands moved more quickly, the kids’ breath became slower. When my hands moved slowly, the kids finally let out the breaths they had been holding.

How far...?

I kept on pressing the piano keys.

“■■...”

“■■■? ■■■?”

A couple passersby paused as they climbed the big staircase, so I spread more of my aura around. I felt not only the six kids’ heartbeats, but also the pulse of the young man who paused next to me and that of the woman with the dark bags under her eyes.

How far can I go?

My thoughts soon faded away as I inhaled the World Tree’s scent. Though I could not hear, my nose, sharper than usual due to my aura, caught the faintest and foulest smells. The greenery seeped into my nostrils and drenched them.

The smell of animals...

It wasn’t just humans who paused on the big staircase to hear my play. Animals were here too. Owls. Thrushes. Sparrows. All sorts of birds. Some of them had ears as long as goblins, lips as thick as hippos, or front legs atrophied like those of dinosaurs. Birds whose names I didn’t know craned their necks and looked down from the low branches of the World Tree as I continued playing.

The scent of life.

It wasn’t just the animals from the World Tree that blinked at me and watched me play piano. The flowers were doing it too. Azaleas, hydrangeas, lilies, mountain hydrangeas, lotus flowers, cherry blossoms, pear blossoms—their white petals stared like unblinking eyes. Like children who had carved their fingernails into petals, they curled their fingers to hold a handful of sky. The souls who had lost everything but their color were looking down at me.

The scent of aura.

This place was a paradise. Not even a petal that could hear had aura. Who had given them this gift? In the Musical Heaven Realm, the flowers knew how to hear sounds using aura, just like they knew how to drink rain without someone else telling them.

[Activating

A Torn Goddess’s Salvation

.]

I used the Skill without even realizing it. The Skill briefly boosted my aura at the cost of my memories. I never intended to use it lightly, but I couldn’t help doing that right now.

More.

Even after becoming a Constellation, my aura wasn’t enough to sense all the kids, passersby, and flowers under the World Tree. I just wanted to hear the hearts of everyone who was listening to my music.

More.

By giving up the memories of the last three seconds, I played on for three more minutes. Aura was a power with endless possibilities. The more parts of myself I gave up, the more my aura grew.

[

A Torn Goddess’s Salvation

is active.]

Even if I were a deaf musician, a colorblind painter, or an ignorant poet who didn’t know what a verse was, I would have still read the emotions on these people’s faces to perform songs I couldn’t hear, draw paintings I couldn’t see, and write poems I didn’t understand. That was how I would have lived.

Alright.

Perhaps it was a pathetic life compared to those who were born being able to hear, who knew what harmony and music were, and who could just write tunes that were very familiar to them. However, this was the only way I knew how to live.

I was glad to be alive.

Yes, okay. Everyone... is beautiful.

That was what I had learned after giving up my life over four thousand times. Yes, I loved living. Even if I were a stone meant only to crack, or a white flower that had to let go of the white petals I had grown since spring when winter arrived, I would gladly enjoy the moment of my end.

[The Heaven-Singing Conductor opened their eyes.]

[The Heaven-Singing Conductor looks down at you.]

The wind blew. It wasn't a naturally created wind. The twigs shook a bit, and many leaves fell like feathers. The World Tree, the one covering the sky, was moving. As it nodded, a soft wind blew.

[The Heaven-Singing Conductor listens to your melody.]

The wind blowing through the tree’s boughs was their heartbeat, the sound of leaves rustling against each other was their breath, and the blooming flowers were the tree’s eyes.

[The Heaven-Singing Conductor sings along to your melody.]

A flower petal whiter than the piano keys fell near my hand from very high in the sky. The World Tree shook their branches, dropping flowers on the piano keys. With sky-blue speed and the green-earth gravity[1], the white flower petals fell and pressed on the keys. Each time a flower fell, it tapped on a key. My performance became a joint concert.

When I leaned left and played the left side of the piano, the flowers fell to the right, sliding across the keys like rain and blooming on the white keys. When I pressed certain keys, I ended up crushing some white flowers.

As I played the piano, my fingerprints remained on the petals. Crushed, the petals wilted a bit, moisture staining my fingers.

A faint smell hung in the air. A very, very faint scent—the tree’s tears. When I looked around, I saw a heap of blooming flowers around me. Before they were pressed, the petals had no idea how to shed water. Even after they learned, they gave off no bad smell, only a sweet one.

This was the power of this heavenly tree.

How beautiful.

Someone had to have planted this tree. What did they think about as they did that?

“■■■...”

“■■...”

The kids, passersby, and animals opened their mouths. Maybe they were chanting alongside the flowers. Sadly, I couldn’t hear the world’s chorus, but it didn’t matter. It really didn’t matter.

[The Heaven-Singing Conductor blesses you.]

[The hidden stage has been cleared.]

[The Heaven-Singing Conductor says you shouldn’t stay here long.]

[Teleporting you to the seventieth floor.]

[

The Heaven-Singing Conductor sends you off.

]

[May luck be with you.]

Drenched in a rain of falling flowers, I closed my eyes.

***

I woke up in the seventieth-floor lobby to see Patricia staring at me. She kept opening and closing her mouth, unsure of what to say.

After a long pause, she said, “

Um,

Gong-Ja.”

“Yes?”

“I won’t accept it since using aura is cheating.”

“Why the heck did you pause for so long if that’s what you wanted to say?” I asked in disbelief.

“I don’t know, but praising makes me feel shy. Do I need to bear that embarrassment just to praise you? That’s selfish and arrogant.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

Patricia sighed. “You didn’t need to try so hard. I told you. Even if you hadn’t done anything, I would have given you a pass. As a matter of fact, when you failed your first try, I gave you a pass immediately.”

“You really don’t care if you’re harsh...”

“Your performance... How should I put it?” Patricia pondered for a bit before nodding slowly. “I’ve always thought that it was good to have you by my side. But when I heard this performance, I thought it might be okay to die with you.”

“

Uh...

”

Wasn’t that more embarrassing to say out loud? Like, by an overwhelming amount? I couldn’t understand my friend’s odd feelings and had no idea what to say in response to that.

The Primordial Staff chimed in. “Yes, this was a good start. You did a great job even though music isn’t your specialty. Congrats on gaining your first follower since becoming a Constellation.”

[You have gained a follower!]

[The Paladin is now your follower.]

[You have no blessings to grant to your follower.]

[You have no authority to grant to your follower.]

These messages came one after another, but they still didn’t feel real. Blessings? Authorities? Only after reaching the seventy-ninth floor and securing my position as a Constellation could I have access to those features. Even then, I didn’t plan to act like a god around Patricia, nor did I want to be treated like one.

“Good luck, Gong-Ja. Stay strong.”

White light enveloped Patricia’s ankles. Her role as the examiner had ended, so she was being sent back to the first floor. Upon a closer look, I could see a bitter smile on her face.

“The pillar explained that I won’t remember any of this. Memory is an island inhabited by our lone selves. It feels uneasy to leave you on a lone island, but I trust you’ll swim through the sea and travel as you wish.”

“Patricia.”

“Yeah?”

“Seventeen plans won’t be enough to kill me,” I said.

Patricia looked like she was caught off guard. In under a second, she realized that she had lost control of her facial expressions, but it took her a quick moment to choose what to do. It was only a flash, yet her eyes showed her conflict.

She then chose to leave her expression as it was. “I see. Are you disappointed?”

“No, I knew you were like that. I just know you a little better now.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ve seen people change. I’ve lived through it. The Sword Star, the Black Dragon Master, and many old Hunters who are now dead... I don’t believe a person will forever stay the same, so just in case—”

I smiled. “Yes, I know what you meant when you said it might be okay to die with me. I feel honored.”

Patricia let out a hollow laugh. “There is just no winning with you.”

Splash!

The ground under Patricia’s feet turned squishy and gave way, swallowing her. The Primordial Staff sent her back to Babylon. In a room with spinning cubes, only the Pillar and I remained.

“Okay, do you want to go to the next floor right away? Or do you need time to rest?” she asked.

“Either is fine with me.”

“Then let’s proceed.” She tapped the white floor with her thin staff. “You had a bit of an advantage in the Musical Heaven Realm. Music may not be your specialty, but it’s not like you knew nothing about it. I wonder how things will turn out this time.”

A flash of light burst forth where Patricia had stood. Past the bright column of light, a person’s shadow emerged.

The Pillar said, “The next place you must go is the world of money. And the top expert on money in your Tower seems to be this person.”

I also knew this person. The new examiner summoned to the seventieth floor blinked, confused. This Hunter had a deep connection to Patricia, who had just left.

“

Hm? Huh.

What’s happening? This is odd. Can you tell me where I am, Death King?”

This Hunter was none other than the MA Master, the Countess.

1. From what I can tell, since Gong-Ja can’t hear anything, he’s more focused on what he can see and feel, hence the author’s decision to use these colorful (hah, get it?) metaphors. ☜