REAPER SCANS
Five-Time Regressor Walks the King’s Path
[Translator – Anwen]
[Proofreader – Valirius]
Chapter 39
Preeminent Fury was sitting in her yard as usual, just blankly staring up at the sky.
Whenever she was here, old memories resurfaced.
The sight of the children chattering, laughing, and playing amongst each other.
Preeminent Fury had been happy watching those children.
However, that happiness no longer existed.
Everything had disappeared since that day.
Anger bubbled from deep within her chest again.
The explosive anger devoured her and tried to express itself toward the world.
Knowing that, Preeminent Fury pressed down on her chest.
Before, there was someone who would face and suppress this anger.
But that someone…
Could no longer…
“Huh?”
Preeminent Fury lifted her head, looking toward a certain direction.
She felt a familiar energy.
That energy was heading in a straight line, as if it was targeting her. Preeminent Fury stood up in disbelief.
It was impossible… He couldn’t have been able to rise once more.
His body couldn’t have endured the countless clashes and battles. It should have been broken beyond repair.
How could he…?
“Ho… Baek-San.”
The moment she uttered his name, her feet were already moving.
Preeminent Fury dashed out of the house that was constructed similarly to the one from before. The house she refused to leave ever since that day.
She ran.
She ran madly toward the energy that was coming toward her with furious speed.
After running, the end of the sanctuary was before her.
There he stood.
“How could you…”
Her mouth opened and closed.
The scene before her eyes was strange.
Preeminent Fury’s eyes shook. She saw a man standing in front of her holding a sword.
“Did I make you wait too long?”
Ho Baek-San spoke.
A tear fell from Preeminent Fury’s eye. It had been decades since she last heard that voice.
Preeminent Fury had lost her sanity after losing her children to the humans.
Unable to control her fury, she poured it out toward the humans, killing countless as a result.
There was no one who could stop her.
No human, Phantom, or Degenerate God. None could stand in her way.
He was the only one who was different.
Facing her anger directly, using his own body, he was different.
Ho Baek-San.
A fool who gave food to her children for five years.
A pitiful man who finally introduced himself to her after five years.
And the stupid guy who simply took on her disoriented anger for decades.
“What’s with you? Why do you look like that?”
Preeminent Fury spoke hoarsely and let out a breathless laugh.
Like she said, Ho Baek-San was a mess.
His human body was rotting with disease, and the half-Phantom body was barely supporting him.
He looked like he would collapse at any moment.
“I always looked the same when I stood in front of you.”
Ho Baek-San was speaking the truth.
Being constantly attacked by Preeminent Fury, he was always on the verge of collapsing.
But he was standing.
He confronted her without collapsing.
“You… Why did you stand up against me so foolishly for so long?”
Preeminent Fury asked a question she had not been able to ask previously.
This was the second time they had conversed. They hadn’t had a proper conversation since the first one in their fifth year of meeting.
“I did it to comfort you.”
“You, a human, comforting me?”
“Yes, a human. I wasn’t enough to appease you, but still, seeing how you’ve been quiet lately, I seemed to have helped a little, right?”
Ho Baek-San chuckled. Preeminent Fury followed suit with a small laugh.
“Yeah, as you say. I think I feel a little better after beating you up for a long time.”
“That’s a relief. I like the sound of a world that doesn’t fear you anymore.”
“You’re laughing a lot more now. The first time I saw you, there wasn’t a hint of happiness or a smile.”
“Because time has passed. There’s no more of the tactless guy that you knew. Thanks to you, I’m a hero to this world.”
Having said that, they stared at each other.
Perhaps it was because they hadn’t talked for so long, there were so many things they wished to say to each other.
Unfortunately, they decided to keep it that way.
“Preeminent Fury.”
“Yeah.”
Ho Baek-San took out his sword.
The sword’s blue blade glistened under the sunlight as he aimed it at her.
“I will stop you this time.”
The same sentence she had heard over and over again.
Preeminent Fury’s head lowered slowly.
But she soon lifted it back up, giving a large smile.
“Try me. I am Preeminent Fury, the one who will destroy the world.”
And the two clashed.
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Translator – Anwen]
[Proofreader – Valirius]
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* * *
Preeminent Fury turned into a huge scarlet hawk. Her wing struck Ho Baek-San, and Ho Baek-San’s sword swung to meet it.
Every time the sword, drawing an arc, and the wing collided, the earth rumbled and split in surprise.
The wind withdrew, alarmed.
The sky covered its eyes in fear.
These two were the strongest creatures the world had ever produced.
One was the strongest Phantom, and the other was the strongest Human.
The two who were bound by the string of fate had no choice but to meet once more.
One week.
Preeminent Fury and Ho Baek-San fought for a full week.
Blood flowed, and the area around them was obliterated, but the two showed no signs of ceasing their fight.
“Preeminent Fury.”
“Yeah.”
Ho Baek-San’s sword shattered.
“I liked how you looked for a future. Thanks to you, I realized there’s always a next.”
“It’s the opposite for me. I know now, thanks to you. The current present is the foundation for the future.”
Ho Baek-San’s hand caught her wing.
“That’s why I wanted to stop you. You, trying to destroy the future you longed for.”
“Yes, thanks to you, the present is saved. Without you, I would have gotten rid of everything.”
Ho Baek-San’s hand gave up and collapsed.
“Did I stop you?”
Ho Baek-San’s leg gave up and collapsed.
“Did I… did I stop you?”
Ho Baek-San’s body gave up and collapsed.
“…Yes.”
Ho Baek-San…
“You…”
Ho Baek-San…
“Stopped…”
Ho Baek-San…
“Me…”
Just like that, everything in Ho Baek-San gave way.
“You saved me.”
She cried out.
“You protected me.”
She cried one more time.
“You…”
She could tell him again.
“You saved me time and time again.”
She would tell him again and again.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Raindrops fell from the sky.
One traveled slowly down the cheek of Preeminent Fury and grazed the eye of Ho Baek-San.
His closed eyes did not open again. Preeminent Fury placed her hand on his cheeks.
The sound of children’s laughter tickled her ears.
“Thank you.”
She spoke quietly.
“Thank you…”
She told him from deep within her heart.
Under the pouring rain, like that, the world ended.
* * *
[Congratulations. You are the 2nd to clear Floor 28.]
[The ‘Proprietor of Floor 25’, ‘Cruelty-Stained Greeting’, expresses their deep gratitude to you and rewards you.]
[The ‘Proprietor of Floor 25’, ‘Cruelty-Stained Greeting’, would like to express their sincerity to you.]
[The ‘Proprietor of Floor 25’, ‘Cruelty-Stained Greeting’, chooses you.]
[The ‘Proprietor of Floor 25’, ‘Cruelty-Stained Greeting’, baptizes you.]
With the notification in front of me, I watched the finale of Preeminent Fury and Ho Baek-San.
The Floor ends here.
Once I left, Ho Baek-San would wait for death again, and Preeminent Fury would once again turn the world into one of despair.
However, that world would someday lead to its designed ending again.
Knowing that, I left the floor and headed to the next.
“…Ha Chun-Sung.”
Someone called my name.
When I turned my head, there stood Sword Queen. She came up to me.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, the Floor is cleared.”
“Yeah, well, I guess.”
Maybe my troubled heart was to blame, but I gave Sword Queen a cursory answer.
“Constellations always want to prevent you from escaping from their own world.”
“I know.”
“That’s why it’s so difficult to be on the frontlines. They don’t know how to attack a Floor at first, and when they finally manage to see the Floor’s ending, everything they accomplished vanishes.”
Sword Queen smiled bitterly as she reminisced about what she had experienced as Emperor’s bodyguard.
“That is why I climb the Floors with everyone else. Because you can escape quicker.”
Then, Sword Queen tightly held onto my hand.
“Ha Chun-Sung, it’s fine even if it isn’t now. But, someday, when you can’t escape, borrow my strength.”
Saying that, Sword Queen let go and returned to her teammates.
I stared at her fading back. I was annoyed by the warmth remaining on my hand, so I shook it off and turned around.
To advance to the next floor, Floor 29.
‘Second again.’
As soon as I saw the notification from the Constellation, I immediately knew.
Who the first was.
Ha Il-Sung.
He was still climbing Crown Road.
To prevent regressors trying to clear Crown Road from climbing the Floors.
“That son of a bitch, ahead of me on Earth and even here.”
I ground my teeth as I hurried up the stairs.
I’ve always been behind you, only being able to see your back all my life.
Don’t think I’ll only be able to follow you from behind even here…
Ha Il-Sung.
* * *
Around that time, in a house on an unknown Floor.
Yashin was there, looking at a letter he was grasping with both hands.
“He found Ha Chun-Sung.”
Rubbing his chin with one hand, Yashin read the letter without any expression.
The words in the letter were brief.
[Ha Chun-Sung cleared Floor 28. Sure enough, he did not die.]
That was something he expected.
After hearing about the clearing method for Floor 24, there were two ways to attack the Floor.
First was a person who needed to clear the dungeon. Second was a person who needed to have the dungeon cleared.
To be more specific, one had to clear the dungeon created by the strongest, Ivlgeria, or a dungeon created by another participant.
The other person, as a dungeon boss monster, had to have the dungeon cleared either by the Black Knight or by another participant.
These two were the clearing methods created by the Constellation, ‘Afterimage of You in Action’, of Floor 24.
Ha Chun-Sung was decapitated by Ha Il-Sung and luckily survived as a result of the Floor’s conditions being cleared.
In that regard, Yashin’s side was aware to some extent that Ha Chun-Sung was still alive.
“I didn’t hear any news about him for a while. Looks like he started climbing Crown Road again.”
Yashin laughed at the news of the lucky Ha Chun-Sung, as if he was favored by the Constellations or something.
Then he slowly rose from his seat.
He didn’t know if he should be happy or angry after hearing this.
One thing was clear. Things were going to get bothersome.
Still, he was planning to kill Ha Chun-Sung once more.
Because Ha Chun-Sung would definitely climb the Floors to clear Crown Road.
“I bet there isn’t anybody else who has their sibling squabbles in Crown Road.”
Yashin gave a silent laugh.
And the night of that world began to fade.
____
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