Chapter 400: SSS-Class Suicide Hunter (2)

By the time my glass was full, I received the bottle and poured the drink into the Tower Master's glass.

"Do you still have the same intention of appointed as a pillar, Screaming Sky?"

"Yes."

Gulp, gulp, gulp, as I poured the drink, I continued.

"Not only that, I am still determined to aim for the position of Tower Master."

"Uh-huh. Well, it's common for all new employees to aim for the CEO position. It's a legitimate aspiration."

While looking at the rising drink, the Tower Master spoke.

"Be careful not to shatter that aspiration. You have barely been assigned to manage just the [Netherworld] among the portfolios overseen by the pillars."

"......."

"If you wish to challenge me, Screaming Sky, plunder the territories held by all the pillars."

The glasses were now filled.

I put down the bottle.

"What territories do the other pillars have?"

"That's for you to find out in the future. It's good to have ambition, but let's not talk business any more as this at a welcome party; it kills the mood."

"Well, that makes sense."

I lifted the glass filled by the Tower Master.

The Tower Master also lifted the glass I had filled.

"Please wait a bit."

"I will wait."

Our glasses clinked.

With a clear sound, our reflections smiled on the rippling surface of the liquid. Thus, I drank the alcohol filled by the Tower Master. Initially cold, the drink heated up my blood as it went down my throat. A feeling of fullness, relief, and anticipation for tomorrow.

There was no specific message, but I realized that I had become a pillar, and that I was formally in charge of managing all the netherworlds of this tower.

While I was absorbed in this reverie, the Tower Master also poured for the Sword Emperor.

"Thank you for coming."

The Sword Emperor received the bottle and in turn filled the Tower Master's glass.

"Don't mention it."

The bottle was placed on the tray.

They clinked their full glasses and drank. After a sigh laden with the spirit of alcohol, the Tower Master said,

"Screaming Sky was appointed to a pillar position. You've accepted the assigned position."

"Congratulations, Gong-ja. You've joined a major corporation as an executive."

"But Sword Emperor. There is no specific promise made to you."

The Tower Master looked straight at the Sword Emperor.

A purple mirror reflected the Sword Emperor.

"What do you desire?"

"Nothing in particular."

The Sword Emperor replied plainly.

"If there is a difference between a tower and a mountain, it would be whether there is someone who built it or not. But the work done by those who reach the summit is the same, whether it's a tower or a mountain, right?"

The Sword Emperor picked up the bottle again and filled the Tower Master's glass.

"It's time for me to go down now."

The Tower Master hesitated.

To that, the Sword Emperor said,

"Give me the [Authority to Leave the Tower]."

"Ah."

The Tower Master sighed.

"I knew you would say that."

"You guessed it?"

"From the beginning, the reason you entered this tower was to have a drink with me."

Purple breaths piled up like the first snow on the white extremity.

"I am possessive. I don't want to let go of any treasures I hold. Literally, even if my skin rots, my flesh crumbles, and my bones break down, I hope they mix within my box, even if mixed with dirt."

That was something I also realized when I learned there was an netherworld in the tower.

"But even so..."

While sipping the drink, the Tower Master muttered, looking down.

"You can't leash a warrior."

The Tower Master, obscured behind the glass, lacked the forcefulness she had hinted at when talking about the territories of the pillars just moments ago.

Instead, she seemed infinitely weak and desolate.

I realized that this sight felt strangely familiar.

'Ah.'

It's the Director.

The Tower Master's current expression reminded me of the Director, who used to watch us from behind as we left the orphanage.

'.........'

Looking back, Amethyst in the side story world also had such a face when she sent me away.

Perhaps all parents who send off their children wear the same expression.

"I'll visit occasionally."

After downing his drink in one go, the Sword Emperor tapped my head a few times with his large hand.

"I'll come to see this guys garden of grey, and if this fellow is wallowing in self-pity again, I'll have to kick his butt."

"Ah, what do you mean I wallow in self-pity......"

Ignoring my muttering, the Sword Emperor looked at the Tower Master.

"So I'll come by occasionally to drink with you like this, so don't worry."

"Yes."

The Tower Master said, her loneliness evident despite her efforts to suppress it.

"Please visit occasionally."

For the Tower Master, who had encompassed countless numbers of worlds within the box called the tower, and watched over even more lives and deaths, farewells were always a painfully new thorn.

I thought of Fox. During my climb through the 90s floors, Fox, along with the Lady and the Serpent, had hidden herself and was dying suffocated by loneliness. The Grey Spider, the Sword Emperor here beside me, and even my master and Raviel, their greatest enemy wasn't someone with stronger power, but the fact that they had no one beside them.

Indeed, even the strongest among us face the blade of loneliness.

I deeply felt that the Tower Master was struggling with that blade.

I bowed my head.

"Thank you."

The Tower Master looked up.

With a face still marked by loneliness, she looked at me, and like the time I had thanked her before, I said,

"Thanks to you building the tower, we were able to come this far."

I said,

"I could become someone."

I spoke of what I learned.

"Sword Emperor was not the only one."

I spoke of the things I learned.

"Estelle didn't have to become a devil king."

One by one.

"Shiny wasn't wrong to establish that nation. Kim Yul wasn't born trash. Master,"

One by one.

"Master have could avoided a meaningless death. Raviel could become a little happier, and Sylvia could find happiness without hurting or belittling others. Anastasia could smile more sincerely, and the Crusader could pursue justice without actually killing anyone. Bambolina wasn't an incomprehensible monster. Liao Fan,"

Each name seemed to pour into me like raindrops from somewhere other than here. With each word overflowing from my heart, there were people I had met. I,

"Lefanta Aegim,"

"Hamustra,"

"Fox,"

"The first wave,"

"The Director,"

"Yoo Soo-ha,"

I said.

"We were not born wrong."

I deeply bowed my head as I filled the Tower Master's glass.

"Thanks to you building the tower, all of this could be proven."

The drink overflowed from the glass. My face reflected in the spilled drink on the tray.

It soon ceased to be visible.

It was disturbed by tears falling from my chin.

"Thank you, Mother."

I said to the Tower Master.

"Thank you, Brother."

I said to the Sword Emperor.

"I am fortunate to have met you both."

Silence ensued.

"Hmm."

The silence was broken by the Tower Master.

"Hmm."

With arms crossed and head bowed, the Tower Master repeated this several times.

Hmm, hmm.

And then.

"I am pleased!"

The Tower Master's face, as she spoke, was shining brighter than the sun that floated above the Sword Emperor's floral tribute.

Suddenly, a hand touched my forehead. With the same warmth as that touch, the Sword Emperor said,

"Contact me anytime."

"Yes."

I wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded.

"I will."

Time passed.

We shared a few more drinks together.

When the fried rice was all gone, naturally, the bottle was empty too.

"Then........."

"Yes."

Both the Sword Emperor and I carefully stood up.

The Tower Master did not. She sat there just as she had been while drinking, because this was her home.

Because that was her place.

But the Tower Master watched us with her hands clasped together.

"May luck be with you all."

And then she let us go.

3

There's nothing particularly noteworthy to say about what followed. What I've said is everything.

I became a pillar.

I didn't start working right away. Even I need a break, don't I? The souls that waited for me while I climbed to the 100th floor, I'm sorry, but they would have to wait a little longer. I planned to meet those still alive and waiting for me first.

The Wand Of Ages was incredulous, wondering how I could skip out on the first day. I joked, asking if he was already upset over this, how was he going to endure the many days ahead with me? The Wand Of Ages just sighed.

I parted ways with the Sword Emperor.

The Sword Emperor received the [Authority to Leave the Tower]. Amazingly, this authority applied to "all worlds that the tower encompassed." Essentially, the Sword Emperor could not only return to the World of Myriad Swords, where he was originally from, but he could also go to modern Earth where I was born, outside the tower where the Grey Spider lived, and even to the world where the Tower Master was born.

Due to an incident on the 10th floor, the Sword Emperor, who surprisingly harbors a competitive spirit, said upon parting that he would visit the world of the Tower Master. Previously, when The Lady Who Walks the Mirage answered the Sword Saint's question, he wanted to challenge an entity called the Absolute Sword Master, deemed the most powerful swordsman across all worlds.

However, it seemed it would take some time before that plan could be enacted. Because the Sword Emperor had been stuck on the 99th floor for a long time, he had many accumulated tasks. First, he would visit his homeland in the World of Myriad Swords to meet living connections. Next, he would come to Babylon on our tower's first floor to share a drink with the Sword Saint. If there were others he was close to, he would likely share a drink with them too. Then he would come to my garden to pay his respects to the Grey Spider. Only after that would he travel to the Tower Master's world.

It would be a lie to say I am not envious of the Sword Emperor's unburdened demeanor. But just as he made his choice, I made mine. I have a responsibility to live my own life.

I talked with my colleagues.

To be honest, I never imagined... no, to be more honest, I did imagine that I would get so much criticism in my life. I think it's only fair to receive criticism for making others wait and worry. This, too, is part of the responsibility of living my life.

Despite the distress caused by the countless harsh words I had heard, I was able to calm myself thanks to being able to touch the fluffy back of Fox who had appeared before me. That I got my fingers bitten by Fox later is a secret just between us. While talking with my colleagues, I shared the experiences I had been through. My colleagues also shared what had happened to them during this time. As much as I had seen and experienced while ascending the 90s floors, we managed to sort out the situation rather quickly. Serpent, who was summoned by Fox, seems to have evolved to something akin to an anaconda, gathering divinity in my absence, and its sporadic revelations of secrets it knew helped fill in the gaps. Truly, I am grateful.

After we settled the situation, the topic of what to do next came up, and that's when this press conference was planned. It was Anastasia's suggestion. I gladly followed the proposal of a friend wiser than me.

"That's all."

Most of it, I spoke to the journalists looking at me from beyond the projector screen. I hid what needed to be hidden and omitted what needed to be omitted, but still, it took a considerable amount of time to talk.

The journalists probably won't struggle for stories for a while. Whether that's good news or bad news for them, I'm not sure. If there are those who feel it's the former, they might be a little happier. I was willing to gladly answer all the questions coming from this press conference.

Eventually, a journalist asked,

"What do you plan to do now?"

I raised my head.

I see the journalists looking at me, the cameras capturing me, and the many people who will be watching me through those cameras.

"What am I going to do now?"

Initially, I plan to enjoy being alive while playing with Raviel. That is my absolutely truthful future plan.

But I did not say that.

Because surely, there is someone like the old me, cooped up in a room, watching me on television with the same expression I had when I watched the Flame Emperor.

There is something the Flame Emperor of that time could have told me. Of course, the Flame Emperor of that time never said it in any interview. And now, I can understand that it's not something to resent. The Flame Emperor lived as an emperor and thus spoke as one.

If there is something I wanted to hear, then I must be the one to say it.

"Hmm."

A word that my thirty-three-year-old self wanted to hear.

Something I wished my idol would have told me.

"I..."

I said something that everyone could relate to.

"I plan to live through today."

That too, was an absolutely truthful future plan.

-End of SSS-Class Suicide Hunter-

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