Chapter 3: But you will die (2)

“What did you just say?”

“It was a lie. You know what bluffing is, right? I don’t have a lie-detecting Skill, I bluffed to make the Saintess talk.” The Fire Emperor laughed quietly. “Oh, man. You and the Saintess are so naive. I can’t believe you two actually fell for it.”

“Th-then...” My lip quivered in shock. “...does that mean you killed the Saintess without any proof?”

Unlike the psychopath standing in front of me, the Saintess, the heroic Hunter who was in ninth place of the official ranking, was a decent person. Most of her earnings were donated to orphanages, which was what had eventually earned her the title of Saintess. Did he seriously kill her because she was a little suspicious?

Then...he’s the lunatic of the century, not the Hunter of the era.

“Hey, give me some credit here. I do have proof. The Saintess actually tried to kill me. If I hadn’t killed her first, she would have poisoned me to death tomorrow.” The Fire Emperor spat on the ground. “Fuck! Just thinking about it makes me feel like shit again.”

“H-how would you kno—”

“I know,” the Fire Emperor answered right away. “I just know. I have a way, but it’s none of your business.”

I was rendered speechless. It was...not just because the Fire Emperor was absurdly confident. There was certainty I could see from the Fire Emperor’s eyes; he actually had a reason for killing the Saintess. That was what it looked like to me at least.

“Well, judging from all your talk about the lie-detecting skill, I guess you’re really innocent.”

“Ah...”

“I remember all eighteen of the rat shitters that were crawling around here. Eighteen. It was like they wanted to prove they were a group of fuckers.[1] Mmm... Anyhow, it’s my first time seeing you. Yeah, I don’t remember seeing a softie like you among them.” The Fire Emperor stroked my head with a grin.

Did he finally believe I was innocent?

“Th-thank you—!”

“But you know I’m the Fire Emperor and you saw me killing the Saintess.” The Fire Emperor stroked my head once again. “So you should die.”

The Fire Emperor stopped stroking my head. “My name is Yoo Soo-Ha. Goodbye.”

At that instant, it felt like someone put a hot frying pan on top of my head. ...No, it was inside my head. My brain was devoured by fire, its fluids boiling and sizzling like a barrel of oil. That was how I learned that a human couldn’t scream in the face of true pain.

This...is how I die—killed by a lunatic.

Kim Gong-Ja was the name that the director of my orphanage had given me, hoping I would become a great person like Confucius.[2] However, my life and death were nothing like Confucius’s.

Ah.

It was sad. Nothing changed in my wretched life even until the day I died. If my life was a game, nobody would buy it.

[You have died.]

I hated it.

[It has been determined that your death met the requirements for Skill activation.]

Why did I have to die? No, why did I have to live like this? It was unfair. Everything was unfair. I could have lived a better life—actually, my life should have been a little better. I just made mistakes, that was all.

I died because of the three mistakes I had made today. My life was full of mistakes. I had been born because of someone’s mistake; maybe my birth itself was a mistake too.

[Duplicating Hunter Yoo Soo-Ha’s Skills at random.]

[Creating Skill Cards]

I couldn’t hear or see anything except for faint points of light, which buzzed in front of me like a swarm of bronze fireflies. They looked fairly easy to catch. There were silver fireflies in lesser numbers, but there were still many of them. I would be able to get them too, but there was one singular golden firefly that shone like the sun. It was fast. It actually flew so fast that I felt like it would be impossible for me to catch it.

[Choose a Skill Card.]

I still reached out for the only golden light.

[You have chosen a Skill Card.]

I got it.

[Copying the Skill.]

And I embraced my death.

[The Skill is active.]

Name: I Want To Be Like You.

Class: S+.

Effect 1: It will automatically activate after an enemy kills you.

Effect 2: You will be able to copy and turn one of their Skills into yours.

Effect 3: You can’t copy your enemies’ Skills more than once.

Effect 4: The Skill you copy will be chosen at random.

※ However, you will die!

Now I could tell others what hell looked like with confidence. There was no inferno, nor even ordinary fire. There was a gas stove lying around, but it wouldn’t be enough to start an inferno. To my surprise, hell gave me a little fridge, a small bed, and...a second-hand television.

“Huh.”

In other words, it looked like a replica of my studio. ...Wait, I wasn’t in hell. This was my twelve-square-meter studio with a charming rent.

“Huh... Uhh... Uhhh?” I felt around my head with my hand.

It was fine. Just in case, I checked my reflection on my smartphone’s screen and I saw a face that looked like God had given up just before they completed their masterpiece. In other words, it was moderately handsome and ugly at the same time—but I didn’t have any burn marks.

...What? What happened? What in the world happened? Did the Fire Emperor treat me and then dump me here?

It was ridiculous as fuck, but...it was the only explanation that came to my mind. Maybe the Fire Emperor was kinder than I had thought. Sure, he was a lunatic, but perhaps he wasn’t a psychopathic killer. He may have pretended to kill me and ended up sparing me instead.

「Breaking news!」

Then was the Fire Emperor the one who had left the television on?

「Breaking news! The Black Dragon Guild confidently declared that they’d clear the Tower’s fortieth floor and show everyone the skill of one of the best guilds in the world. Unfortunately, the Black Dragons ended up coming back without any achievements once again.」

However, the Fire Emperor wasn’t in my twelve-square-meter studio. It wasn’t like he had left the TV on and stepped outside for a moment.

「Yet the Fire Emperor, the number one ranked Hunter, has singlehandedly taken down another boss monster!」

Instead... Instead, the Fire Emperor was on the screen with his brow furrowed.

***

「Hello, Mr. Fire Emperor!」

「Ah, yeah. Hi... 」

「You set a new record once again! And I must say, you’re the only Hunter who’s made this many feats on your own. How do you feel about it?」

「First of all, I want you to stop calling me that shitty name.」

「I’m sorry?」

The LIVE logo was in the corner of the screen. I blankly watched the interview on my old television.

「I’m talking about you people calling me “Fire Emperor”. I have a name, you know. What’s with that bullshit nickname? I’d honestly prefer Fucker to that cringe-ass name. I swear I’m going to hunt down the bastard who came up with that someday and bury him alive.」

The world’s Rank 1 Hunter, the hero of the current generation, the person I had been jealous of... Yoo Soo-Ha was there. Perhaps I was putting it too mildly given that he had killed me.

“Impossible.”

Despite what I said, I was already reaching for my smartphone. When I checked the date, it was the same date I saw yesterday. My hands trembled, but I got to the online communities.

—Guys, the Fire Emperor is talking shit again!

It was the same here.

—Would it kill him to watch his words? The whole world is watching this interview

It was also the same here.

—WTF?! The Fucker has a girlfriend now! He’s dating the Saintess!

The websites, communities, SNS... everything was the same. The posts I saw yesterday were being posted in real-time. I swore that I had seen those posts yesterday, but people acted like it was their first time.

“Ha...”

Nevertheless, there was one difference.

—I want to become like the Fire Emperor.

The comments I had written weren’t there. It was only natural—around this time yesterday, I had been busy writing comments on every post, but right now I was zoning out after I realized that I really had returned to yesterday.

“...Show me my Skill Card.”

I Want To Be Like You (S+)

The golden Skill Card appeared in front of me. I had read it several times since yesterday, so I remembered every word in the description. It was supposed to be a Class S Skill, but it was trash of the century because it cost me my life to use it. But...

“Oh my god.”

...there were two glittering cards shining in front of me right now.

I Want To Be Like You (S+)

Returner’s Clockwork (EX)

How?

I stared at the two floating golden Skill Cards, my heart pounding. The Skill I had was the one I would never get to use, but that was all. I.... wasn’t supposed to have a Skill named Returner’s Clockwork, especially if its Skill Card was golden. It was my first time seeing this Skill Card; I hadn’t had it until the Fire Emperor had killed me yesterday

How did it happen?

I didn’t know how the Returner’s Clockwork became mine. I couldn’t understand it yet. However, I could tell that this card was mine.

It’s mine.

Mine.

And I also had a feeling that it might change my life. I reached out for the card and grabbed it, flipping it around.

Returner’s Clockwork

Class: EX

Effect: It is activated automatically upon your death. You will return to twenty-four hours before your death. Your memory and abilities will be preserved even after your return.

※ You will receive a penalty after the Skill activation.

※ The higher your Class is, the stronger the penalty is.

※ This Skill has been copied from Hunter Yoo Soo-Ha.

Return. He returned to twenty-four hours before his death.

“Ah...” Goosebumps spread over my skin as realization sank in. “Th-this is the Fire Emperor’s secret...”

The Fire Emperor was the world’s Rank 1 Hunter. The boss monster in the Tower’s tenth floor had previously thought to be undefeatable, but he had taken it down on his own. And for some reason, he was so certain that the Saintess was going to kill him.

I finally understood the truth behind everything he’d said and done.

“The Saintess actually tried to kill me. If I hadn’t killed her first, she would have poisoned me to death tomorrow.”

“I just know. I have a way, but it’s none of your business.”

That was what the Fire Emperor had told me. The Saintess had actually killed the Fire Emperor. Just like he had said, she had poisoned him, causing him to return twenty-four hours before his last death. That was why he had a vendetta against the Saintess.

And he also killed me. I clenched my fists. I didn’t do anything wrong, but he killed me just because I got in the way of covering up his murder!

He had toyed with me like a bug before he killed me. My feet had been severed, and my head had been burned.

The TV interview was still ongoing.

「 But before we finish the interview, can you say something to our viewers out there?」

The Fire Emperor scratched the back of his head in annoyance. 「Phew.」

The man I had seen yesterday was a hero, but all I saw today was a psychopath. It didn’t matter if he was the world’s Rank 1 Hunter or a renowned hero. He was my enemy now.

The Fire Emperor scowled at the camera. 「Those who are destined to succeed will be successful no matter what. 」

I glared back at him.

「But don’t get cocky with me even if you do.」

I clutched the golden Skill Card. I had copied this Skill from the Fire Emperor, so he would have the same card. The Fire Emperor was the first place in the official Hunter ranking, and I wasn’t even on the ranking. However, our start would always be the same from now on.

「I’ll crush you.」

It was my turn for revenge.

1. The raw is ?? ???? ???? ? ??? ??? ???... ??(Sibal) means fuck in Korean, and it sounds incredibly similar to the number eighteen(Sibpal). ☜

2. Confucius’s Korean name is Gongja. ☜