Chapter 356: Origin Regression (1)

The Primordial Staff sighed.

“I cannot recall the last time I felt shock. Sword Emperor. I can’t see you, and you wouldn’t probably speak to me either. But I’ll tell you this: there’s a good reason you failed to clear the Absolute Heavenly Peak.”

Fed up, the mage pressed a palm on her forehead. She rarely showed her true feelings, so seeing her react so strongly seemed to indicate how much of an impact the Guardian’s Mind Sword had left.

I shook my head to clear my mind. “

Um

, what exactly happened?”

The aftereffects of being sent back from the two-dimensional world to a three-dimensional one hadn’t ended yet. Slight nausea kept clinging to my head.

The Primordial Staff frowned at the question. “What happened, you asked? Well, something unbelievable happened. The floor almost collapsed.”

“Collapsed?”

“I mean it literally. Some floors are Constellations themselves. When a floor falls, the Constellation is also hurt, but the ghost hanging by your side... actually cut through the floor.”

The Chemist blinked. This was her first time hearing the story. “What? Mr. Gong-Ja has a ghost by his side?”

Perhaps finding it bothersome to explain, the Primordial Staff ignored the Chemist’s question. “If I had left you two on the stage, the cut your ghost made would have grown bigger in no time. The Truth Heaven Realm would have been torn like thin paper! Yes, many worlds can replace the seventy-fifth floor, but why would you condemn the souls resting in the Truth Heaven Realm?”

The Primordial Staff glared at where she believed the Guardian was. If she could slap him, she would have. “I’m not sure if you even considered that before cutting at the world.”

The Guardian crossed his arms and laughed.

—No, I simply trust all of you. Even if the world were to collapse, you would try to stop it. Yes, you could say I trusted your goodwill, so you should actually be grateful to me. After all, it’s not every day that someone like me admits your goodwill.

“What did your ghost say?” the Primordial Staff asked.

I had to pause one whole second to think about it. “

Oh

, he said he’s sorry for swinging his sword without thinking.”

The Primordial Staff nodded. “At least he knows some shame.”

I felt a twinge of guilt for lying... Well,

that

would be a lie. Relaying the Guardian’s words and passing on that headache would make anyone feel more guilty than just lying, unless their conscience was rotting.

While we talked, the Chemist appeared to be deep in thought. I wondered if she was thinking about my ghost, so I asked, “What’s wrong?”

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. “

Oh

, it’s nothing.

Um

, I was just wondering why I was chosen as the examiner for the seventy-fifth floor. It’s been on my mind for a while. Mr. Gong-Ja, can you tell me about the examiners before me and what their floors were like?”

It wasn’t a hard request, so I explained everything in detail. The Chemist’s eyes, even though they were hidden behind her thick glasses, clearly darkened as she listened to my explanation.

“I see,” the Chemist muttered. “Mr. Gong-Ja, if I die, I’ll probably go to the Truth Realm Heaven.”

“

Huh?

”

“That’s how the examiner is chosen. It depends on which heaven they’ll go to after they die.”

My eyes widened.

On the other hand, the Chemist narrowed her eyes. “Think about it. You said that the world where Miss Paladin was in charge of judgment is the heaven of music, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The Chemist’s voice was quiet. “Miss Paladin is, of course, an expert in music, so it makes sense that she would be the examiner in the Musical Heaven Realm. But if that rule were followed, the world where I should be the examiner would be the heaven of medicine. After all, my field of expertise is medicine. But the place I was appointed to be the examiner was the Truth Heaven Realm. It has nothing to do with my domain. I’m not good at telling the truth, and I don’t know much about two-dimensional planes, so appointing the examiner isn’t based on whether or not they’re an expert on the floor’s specialty. Absolutely not.”

I also narrowed my eyes. “If the Paladin dies, she will be reborn in the Musical Heaven Realm. The Countess will go to the Golden Heaven Realm. The Viper will go to the Martial Heaven, and the Inquisitor to the Legal Heaven for the Inquisitor. And you...”

“Yes, if I die, I’ll go to the Truth Heaven Realm. I was thinking about this while you were on the stage. If I were to die and go to the afterlife, what life would I want? It was hard to imagine, but I decided I would like a world where I don’t have to guess what others think.”

“I see.”

“The Truth Heaven is probably the afterlife I would like to spend my eternity.”

I looked away, and so did the Chemist.

“Is that true?” I asked the Primordial Staff.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

“Yes, she’s right.”

[The Primordial Staff confirms that your speculation is correct.]

[You have found the secret information that the Primordial Staff was withholding.]

She even displayed the messages to confirm it. How kind.

The Primordial Staff looked like she had been forced to use her secret trump card. “My original plan was to reveal everything when you reached the seventy-ninth floor. ‘Actually, the heavens you’ve seen so far are just...’ I wanted to act like a final boss monster. But you figured it out much faster than I expected. Now there’s no point in surprising you.”

“Is the heaven I will go to after I die already decided?”

“

Hmm,

that’s not something I can answer at the moment. It’s not up to me.” The Primordial Staff smiled mysteriously before she turned to the Chemist. “Your title is Chemist, correct? Good work. You may leave.”

The mage tapped the floor with her staff, and the ground under the Chemist’s feet began to turn squishy as if it were a swamp.

The Chemist stumbled. “

Ah!

M-Mr. Gong-Ja, stay strong! I heard that I’ll forget about this moment, but you will remember...”

I smiled. “Yes. I look forward to the special potion you’ll make next.”

Plop—!

In an instant, the Chemist sank underground. Only white ripples remained where she had been, but they quickly faded. A moment later, the seventieth floor’s lobby was wrapped in cold white light.

Only I can remember these floors...

Well, it wasn’t anything new. After a shrug, I turned to the Pillar. “Very well. Who’s the next examiner? Anastasha? Mr. Carlenbery? Since only top Hunters have been called so far, rank has to be one of the standards in choosing examiners.”

“To be exact, examiners are picked from people you’re deeply related to.”

“Then is it Uburka? Or Raviel?”

“Both do know you very well, but neither of them wants the afterlife, Death King.” The Primordial Staff tapped the ground with her staff once more. “Your examiner this time may be a little tricky.”

Swoooosh!

Light bloomed around the tip of her staff. If I looked closely, I could see that the light was shaped like a lotus flower. As the petals parted, a human form appeared through the gaps in the light beams.

“

Uh...

What is this?”

Like with all the previous examiners, I was also familiar with this person. There were a few people I thought I would never forget even after death, and this person was one of them, but this wasn’t a compliment.

“Summoning? What kind of rude asshole would summon someone during his part-time job? I want to see that son of a bitch’s face.

Huh?

What? Are my eyes failing me? It seems that the man with the most boomer name in the universe is standing before me. Well, who else would summon me? Yeah, I was an idiot to think otherwise. Why did you call me this time? Do you want me to dance again?”

“Yoo Soo-Ha...” I mumbled, feeling a headache creeping in.

“That’s my name.”

Why did it have to be him?

***

Yup, I did indeed get a headache. This guy was certainly deeply related to me.

“Of all people, why did it have to be you?” I grumbled.

“

Ha?

I don’t know why you would ask me that. You’re the one who summoned me.” Yoo Soo-Ha narrowed his eyes. His sharp, thick eyebrows arched. “No, wait, I don’t live in your shadow anymore. How did you still summon me? Is this even legal?”

Yoo Soo-Ha had long since escaped being a summoned entity of the

Monster Legion Reincarnation.

He had gotten a new body through the

Earthbone Dragon’s Skull

, the Skill I had gained from the Tower master. He probably thought the days of being summoned against his will at any time to follow orders were over, so being summoned again was enough to make him frown.

“Stop working my ass off, you little shit. I’ve turned over a new leaf! Can’t you see what I’m wearing? This is my cafe uniform. Right before you summoned me, I was in the middle of my shirt at Cafe Planetarium.”

Yoo Soo-Ha seemed to firmly think that I was the one who had used summoning magic. Maybe he was afraid that I would make him dance the hopak again.

“After work, I have to go running to the OJP Sect. Do you know how much I suffered after you made me a disciple there? If you have a conscience, you’d—”

“Are you scared?”

“What?”

“Are you scared I’m going to make you do something strange?” I asked again.

Yoo Soo-Ha grimaced. “You bastard... Just because you’re a Rank 2 Hunter, have the Rank 1 Hunter as your guard, know the heads of the Five Guilds, and are married to the most beautiful person in the world, do you think that you can treat me like shit?”

“Yes.”

Yoo Soo-Ha seemed to admit defeat. “Fuck.”

“But I didn’t summon you this time.”

“So who did?”

“It’s a long story.”

I told him that I was in the process of clearing the seventieth to the seventy-ninth floors. To pass these floors, I needed the approval of the chosen examiners, not just to perform well. Un-fucking-fortunately, Yoo Soo-Ha was the chosen one this time.

He crossed his arms. A hint of worry had sat between his brows before, but now it was gone. His dark eyes scanned me from head to toe, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“To sum it up, you need my approval if you want to reach the next floor, correct?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Whether it takes ten or a hundred years, I can stay here and watch you bust your ass on the stage.”

“Yup.”

“Time flows differently for us, so I can skip ahead if I want?”

Yoo Soo-Ha’s series of questions made me very uneasy, but I couldn’t go ahead and tell obvious lies. Even if I kept silent, the Primordial Staff would offer the much needed explanations.

“...Right.”

Yoo Soo-Ha smiled devilishly. “Alright. Here's my answer. Dance for me first, Kim Gong-Ja.”

“What?”

Yoo Soo-Ha scoffed. “

Oh

, and of course, when I say dance, I mean the dance you made me do. Was it cognac? Hopak? Well, you would know it the best since you told me to do it. Show me your dance skills first. We’ll talk about the stage later.”

Hey.

He smirked. “What? You don’t want to dance? Then don’t. Let’s just start spending one hundred years there. Even if you’re monstrously strong, you’ll eventually want to dance after you stay on the stage for a hundred or two hundred years. Don’t you think so?”

Heeeeey.

“I don’t plan to be done with just one dance. That would be too much of a waste. There are a lot of things to settle between the two of us, right, Kim Gong-Ja?”

You son of a bitch.