Chapter 357: Origin Regression (2)

“How can you do this to me?!” I shouted.

Yoo Soo-Ha didn’t even blink. “There are hundreds of reasons I’m doing this, you fucker.”

I shuddered. Was this man truly heartless? Did he lack any trace of compassion or guilt? Well, this was Yoo Soo-Ha, after all.

“Yoo Soo-Ha, I helped you get a job at Cafe Planetarium...”

“

Oh

, yeah. I’m unfuckingbelievably honored, but I never asked for it.”

“I even gave you the seat of the OJP Sect Master’s disciple...”

“Because of you, every muscle in my body aches and screams at night and dawn. Thaaaaank you very much.”

“I even gave you your life back! Wake up! Open your eyes!”

Yoo Soo-Ha scoffed. “Unless my memories have gone to shit, you’re the one who killed me, you fuck. You’re a heartless bastard lacking any kind of conscience or emotions. My mind and eyes can’t be clearer than they are right now.”

Technically, he had been the first to try to kill me on the second-floor hunting ground! Actually, he really did kill me before my regression! If I took this to court, everyone—the judge, the juries, the audience, the reporters—would stand up and admit my innocence and his cruelty!

“Change...” I covered my head with my hands and groaned toward the Primordial Staff, “Change the examiner, please...”

“No. That won’t happen, Death King,” the Primordial Staff answered coldly. “The Tower favors your destiny, but there are times they want to screw you over, even if I don’t intend it. Think of this as the price for wreaking havoc on the seventy-fifth floor.”

“T-that can’t be! The one most deeply related to me can’t be Yoo Soo-Ha! Uburka! What about Uburka? My son should have the first turn!”

“Do you know that the Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig won’t have an afterlife?”

“Why?! Are you discriminating because of his species? The Tower said that they would give everyone a second chance, but they ignore and disregard my Terra children?!”

“No. The muscle pig just thinks that once he’s dead, that’s it. He doesn’t think an afterlife is necessary,” the Primordial Staff replied calmly.

Damn it, Uburka! Who raised you to be such a cool, immoral kid? Uburka! I’m screaming your name here! Can you not hear me?!

“Ra-Raviel. Yes, I have my love.” I pinned my last hope on her. “It doesn’t make sense for Raviel not to be my examiner. This is invalid! Please call my duke at once!”

The Pillar nodded. “The Silver-Plated Heart...

Ah

, I guess that name was revoked. Anyhow, the Duke of Ivansia doesn’t want an afterlife unless she can spend it with you. Her memories with you are far more important than an afterlife.”

Ah, Raviel! I think the same! I’m so happy! But... if the result of this happiness is that psychopath guy with a ponytail within a two-meter radius of my presence, my heart aches so much for some reason!

“Are you guys done talking? So, when are you going to dance?”

Shuuut uuuuuup.

“Alright. I’ll accept the examiner.” I looked up, my face rigid. “But I’ll never dance, Yoo Soo-Ha.”

“What? Didn’t you hear me? If you don’t dance, I’ll never give you a pass. Ever.”

“Then don’t give me one.”

Yoo Soo-Ha frowned. “What?”

“Do as you like. You’ll give me a pass eventually.”

Yoo Soo-Ha looked dumbstruck. “You’re such a ridiculous bastard. Why would I give you a pass? I like nothing about you.”

“First, you’ll watch me to see how long I’m going to last, but you’ll get bored soon and will skip ahead. When you see that I’m the same as ever, your boredom will surpass your desire to get revenge. In about two days, you’ll think, ‘Why am I doing this? I feel like an idiot. I should just go.’ And then you’ll say, ‘Pass. Pass. Pass. I don’t care if you pass or paddle in the sea.’ And then, you’ll stop caring.”

“

Uh...

” Yoo Soo-Ha blinked. “That is so me.”

“Yes, so I’ll never dance. Wake up.”

“How the heck do you know what I’m thinking so well? It’s unsettling.”

I tilted my head and shrugged. “Perhaps it’s because I stabbed you in the abdomen through and through before. In a way, I can’t help but know what’s going on inside you better than you do."

“You fucking bastard...”

I had no business left with the ponytail man who couldn’t go a single sentence without cursing.

I turned and looked at the Primordial Staff. “Hurry up and send me to the next floor, please. I’ll just spend some time there. You said things will be tricky this time, right? You’re wrong. I’ll go to the seventy-sixth floor and numb my sense of time. A week will seem like a second and a year like a minute. By then, the floor will be cleared before I even realize it. What do you think, Lady Mage? My victory is guaranteed.”

“Unbelievable.” The Primordial Staff looked genuinely shocked—or perhaps horrified. “You’re truly unbelievable...”

I accepted that as praise.

[The Primordial Staff is teleporting you.]

As the two people watched me with cold eyes, I was sent to the next floor.

***

[You have entered the seventy-sixth floor.]

[You aren’t allowed here.]

What I told the Pillar wasn’t a bluff. As soon as the white light faded and my feet touched the ground of the new floor, my first thought was to numb my sense of time. Of course, that’s exactly what I did. I knew who Yoo Soo-Ha was and how to render his temper powerless. However, before I meddled with time, I wanted to know what kind of place this was.

I tapped the snake on my wrist. “Snakey, let’s get the info first.”

“

Kieeee.

”

Snakey, now a guide, flicked their tongue.

[The Labyrinth-Dwelling Eye has activated their power.]

[Revealing the information about the floor.]

—Vision Heaven Realm

—Floor: 76

—Constellation: Surface-Reflected Lotus

—Difficulty Level: C+

—Information (Level 1): Everyone in this world will see you as you wish! You control everyone’s gaze. Do you want to appear beautiful? You will. Do you want to appear rich? You will. All you need to do is decide how you want to appear to others. No more work is needed. You have full freedom over yourself. However, you have no control over others. You cannot decide how to view others, only how they wish to be seen.

The more I read, the more I felt like laughing.

“This is the kind of heaven Yoo Soo-Ha would like.”

That was my first thought. If I had to pick one place for Yoo Soo-Ha to spend eternity, this wouldn’t be so bad.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“Okay, Snakey. Hurry up and show me the rest of the hidden information.”

Just as I was about to give the order to Hishimit Kritz, another thought came to me.

Wait. Heaven? A heaven for Yoo Soo-Ha?

Something troubled me. It felt like I had suddenly bitten into an eggshell piece while munching on a delicious fried egg.

Because I stopped talking so abruptly, Hishimit Kritz looked at me and tilted their head.“

Kieee?

”

I remained silent. Despite my closed lips, my doubts grew. I then recalled the words of the Chemist before she left the seventieth floor.

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

That was true. Yoo Soo-Ha would see this world as heaven and be reborn here, so that was why he was the examiner for this floor. Everything seemed to make sense so far, so why did this bother me this much? Why didn’t it feel right?

I thought about the casual chat I just had with the Pillar.

“What about Uburka?”

“Do you know that the Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig won’t have an afterlife?”

“Why?!”

“The muscle pig just thinks that once he’s dead, that’s it. He doesn’t think an afterlife is necessary.”

I narrowed my eyes, blurring my surroundings. Because of this bonus information, my thoughts were racing.

“It doesn’t make sense for Raviel not to be my examiner.”

“Anyhow, the Duke of Ivansia doesn’t want an afterlife unless she can spend it with you.”

Without even realizing it, I muttered, “This can’t be Yoo Soo-Ha’s heaven.”

Snakey raised their chin and looked up at me. They seemed to think I was speaking to them. “

Kieeeee?

”

Instead of clearing up the misunderstanding, I let my thoughts flow and spoke them aloud.

“According to the Primordial Staff, not everyone within the Tower goes to heaven when they die. Those with no lingering feelings for an afterlife and those who refuse to let go of their past-life memories, like Uburka and Raviel, only face death instead of being reborn in heaven.”

The more I spoke, the more sure I became of my theory. My mind was racing while the world around me remained motionless. The thoughts that I spoke cooled and hardened as they left my lips.

“In that case, Yoo Soo-Ha should be open to going to one of the Nine Heavens of the Tower after his death. Otherwise, he would merely accept death when the time comes, like Uburka and Raviel, who do not meet the requisites to be the examiner of the seventy-sixth floor.”

Snakey looked at me. My fox god also turned their head and looked at me, and so did the Guardian. Though I could not see them, I assumed that many more eyes were watching me.

“That’s the problem,” I said with conviction. “Yoo Soo-Ha would never see this place as heaven. Even if he dies, he’ll want to be reborn in the same world.”

It wasn’t because he liked the world he was born into. It was the complete opposite.

“He doesn’t like other worlds either. He doesn’t think in the slightest that if he and the world change, he’ll become a better person. He just values himself, his life, and his memories. As long as he can keep these things, he doesn’t care what happens to the world. If he can’t have these, no world will ever satisfy him.”

I looked up at the clear blue sky, addressing the Primordial Staff, who was watching my every move in the lobby.

“I object to your examiner appointment.”

I got no answer back.

“If you didn’t choose Uburka and Raviel for the reasons you mentioned in the lobby, then Yoo Soo-Ha can’t be an examiner either. Their exact reasons are different, but they’re very similar. None of them would accept being reborn in a heaven without their memories. Don’t you think so?"

There was still no answer.

“If I’m wrong, please tell me, but I don’t think you can refute me on this one.”

Silence.

“As Yoo Soo-Ha said, I know him better than he does.”

[The Primordial Staff closes her eyes.]

[The Primordial Staff has accepted your objection.]

Pzzzzzzz—!

[Terminating the seventy-sixth stage.]

The blue sky of this world split in two.