SSS-Class Revival Hunter-Chapter 208: Cheat (1)

Raviel put down a pile of newspapers with a thud. “I investigated it like you asked.”

“Were you able to find anything about her?”

“Yes, she’s quite famous.”

Certain words from the newspapers had been marked with a light green highlighter, words like “Miss Ja,” “Miss J,” and “Ja Su-Jeong.” What was the media of this time period thinking by releasing a minor’s full name?

“She’s more famous for her nickname—the Detective Who Sees Ghosts. If you ask anyone on the street, it’s a coin toss if they heard about her or not.”

“She’s never been on a public broadcast channel, yet she’s still that famous?”

“The younger people are, the more they tend to know about her, especially high school and middle school students. Almost every student here knows about her. They don’t exactly know what she did, but they at least heard of the Detective Who Sees Ghosts.”

I assumed that the attention wasn’t very positive.

“Most people responded with ‘Oh, that fraud?’ I feel bad. It seems like the person you claim to be the Tower master isn’t very popular.”

“A fraud, huh?”

Two days ago, on the day I met the Tower master, Uburka and Raviel tracked down my aura and found me. I introduced Ja Su-Jeong, a student from Year 3 Class A of Shinseo Middle School, as the Tower master. Although the two were surprised, they decided to stay at her hanok with me for now.

When I asked her if it was okay for us to stay, Ja Su-Jeong impassively nodded.

“Yes, it’s okay. There are a lot of empty rooms, so please stay for as long as you need. But please ask for my permission before you enter the warehouse. Also, please refrain from moving around the house from 1 A.M. onward. That’s when the children play.”

I obediently followed her advice. No matter how brave I was, that didn’t include messing around with ghosts. Considering my aura didn’t work at all on them, they were huge mysteries.

Raviel narrowed her eyes. “Twelve administrative dispositions, and eight pending civil lawsuits. Considering her young age, she’s going through too much. I now see why people think she’s a fraud. Seeing ghosts is a truly amazing ability, but Gong-Ja, is that child really the Tower master?”

“Yes, I’m sure of that.”

In this world, the Tower master was a middle school student named Ja Su-Jeong. Right now, she was cutting raw chicken with a kitchen knife, her back turned at us.Uburka was helping her.

“Actually, there were a few strange things that happened here while I was clearing this stage.”

“Strange?”

“Yes, this world is the recreation of the Constellation Murderer’s trauma.”

Early on, I had faced the Constellation Murderer on the fiftieth floor. Although I had managed to kill one of his puppets, I was ultimately defeated and died. That was when I got a glimpse of the Constellation Murderer’s trauma. This was what The Story of the City of Ascension: Side Story was.

“The moment the trauma materialized, I heard the Tower’s voice.”

I wrote it down in my notebook.

[Warning.]

[Recreating your killer's trauma.]

[Extracting the required data for recreation from your memory.]

The last sentence was important.

“This world drew the Constellation Murderer’s trauma, but my memories became the paint strokes. All the characters of the trauma changed to people I knew.”

The class president had been the Black Witch, the student council president Raviel, my mother Teacher, and my father the Guardian. However, there was one person I didn’t know.

“Only Kim Yul remained who he was,” I said.

“Hmm.”

“I had no idea what the Constellation Murderer looked like in the past, so I had no memories of him. Yet, from the beginning, Kim Yul remained who he was in the world of trauma.”

Raviel stroked her chin. “That’s certainly strange. If the data had been extracted from your memories, Kim Yul would have become someone else as well.”

“Yes, that’s what I’m trying to say. Only one conclusion can be drawn from this: the Kim Yul of this world was extracted from other data—another person’s memories. I’m certain that this person is the Tower master.”

“Do you have proof?”

I picked up the pencil again. “I do. When I cleared this world, the Tower said something strange.”

[The quest's clear requirements have been met.]

[Requesting a decision to be made due to the stage’s unique characteristics.]

[A decision has been made.]

[The Master of All Life acknowledges that the stage has been cleared.]

“Until now, the Tower has left the Constellations in charge of the stages to decide whether they’re cleared. The Constellation in charge of the twenty-first to the thirtieth floor was the Indoor Librarian, Hamustra. For some reason, the Master of All Life was the one to make the decision this time. It means the stage was under the Master of All Life’s management.”

There was more.

“I got another odd message even after the stage was cleared.”

[The twenty-ninth floor has been cleared today.]

[The Master of All Life speaks on behalf of the Tower.]

[Thank you for your hard work, everyone.]

[May luck be with you.]

There had been many long messages in between, but I didn’t remember all of them. Still, what I remembered was enough. The Master of All Life had made an exception and delivered her congratulations.

“There is no doubt about it. The Tower master manages this floor and is the one who recreated the Kim Yul of this world. According to what the Mirage-Walking Princess said, the Tower master lived here on behalf of the most unfortunate person in this world. Coincidentally, that girl, Ja Su-Jeong, knew Kim Yul.”

“Because she took care of the school farm with him.”

“Exactly.”

That was why it was possible to recreate Kim Yul using the Tower master’s memories, making up for the lack of data.

“It makes sense. But if that girl is the Tower master, why has she lost her powers and memories?”

I looked at Ja Su-Jeong. She was watching the chicken boil on the stove.

“I can think of many possibilities, but...”

“But?”

“The Tower master I’ve seen so far is the type of person who doesn’t intervene too much in the Tower’s affairs unless there’s an actual emergency. Maybe she voluntarily set a restriction on herself, like remaining an ordinary human except in moments of crisis.”

I scribbled down in the notebook. Raviel leaned against my shoulder to check what I was writing.

About trauma.

“I can see the trauma of the person who killed me. This is the rule established in my Skill Returner’s Clockwork. However, the problem is how the trauma is determined.”

I wrote down two possibilities.

1. The trauma that the person remembers.

2. The trauma that has had a significant impact on the person’s life, even if they can’t remember it.

“At first I thought it was number one, but...”

“Did you cross out number one because of this world?”

“Yes, because the Constellation Murderer didn’t remember his trauma as Kim Yul at all.”

The correct answer was number 2, the event that impacted one’s life significantly, regardless of whether the person remembered it. That was the kind of trauma that my Skill showed me.

“The Tower has a tendency to try resolving any contradictions that arise, no matter the cost. When the Constellation Murderer’s trauma was created, a contradiction occurred too.”

1. The Constellation Murderer’s past trauma should be recreated.

2. However, the Constellation Murderer forgot his entire past due to his Skill.

3. A trauma should be recreated because of Kim Gong-Ja’s Skill, but the Constellation Murderer’s Skill gets rid of memories. The two Skills conflict with each other.

4. A contradiction arises.

“The Tower considered this a crisis, so the Tower master, who lived as an ordinary middle school student named Ja Su-Jeong, temporarily awakened to solve the problem. She came up with a way to resolve the contradiction.”

5. Make do with extracting data from Kim Gong-Ja’s memories, not from the Constellation Murderer’s.

“Just before completing the puzzle, the Tower master would have wondered if it was really right to recreate Kim Yul, the owner of the trauma, as someone else. This place is Kim Yul’s trauma. Even if it is inevitable to recreate the characters around him using different people, it can no longer be called Kim Yul’s trauma when he also becomes someone else. It becomes a lie.”

The Tower master couldn’t allow herself to change Kim Yul into a different person. That was who she was.

6. Restore Kim Yul’s appearance using the Tower master’s own memories.

7. After the stage is cleared, the Tower master puts back the restriction on her power and memories and lives as Ja Su-Jeong, an ordinary middle school student.

“This is what I think is the truth about this world.”

Raviel stroked my head. “I see. There are still many unanswered questions, but this is great. Just climbing the Tower would be hectic, but you try to reflect on the path you took and get closer to the truth. This kind of diligence is your biggest talent and the reason you shine. I believe there is no other Hunter who pays more attention to the Tower than you.”

“I’m just doing the bare minimum.”

“No, only you are capable of this kind of deduction. If it weren’t for you and your Skill, it wouldn’t have been possible to gather information about the Tower master or run into her. Be proud of this.”

Raviel was praising me.

Hehehehehe.

“Gong-Ja, what do you plan to do next? Even If that girl is the Tower master, she doesn’t have her power or memories. Her ability to see ghosts is amazing, but that’s it.”

“Hmm. Supposing my guess is correct, there is one way to make the Master of All Life awaken again.”

“Oh?”

“The Tower can’t resolve contradictions that arose from Skills. That requires the Tower master’s judgment. That means the Tower master will awaken again when there is another contradiction.”

“That makes sense. What kind of contradiction are you trying to create, exactly?”

“I’ll die at Ja Su-Jeong’s hands.”

Raviel pursed her lip.

I went on. “Then a problem arises in the trauma recreation. The trauma in my trauma recreation highlights an event that had a significant impact on the person’s life, regardless of whether they remember it. That means...”

The trauma of Ja Su-Jeong (Tower Master).

1. The trauma of Ja Su-Jeong, a middle school student living in this world.

2. The trauma of the Tower Master before living Ja Su-Jeong’s life.

“The two conflict with each other. The Tower won’t be able to decide which side’s trauma to recreate. Following the example of the Constellation Murderer, it’s right to show the Tower master’s trauma because she’s the original. I haven’t even cleared the fiftieth floor, but I’ll get so close to discovering the truth about the Tower and the master who has built and rules this Tower.”

Raviel was still silent.

“Maybe this is my one and only chance.”

Raviel tapped her fingers on the table. “Can you say for sure that this is your only chance? Maybe once you get past the fiftieth, sixtieth, and seventieth floors, you’ll learn the secret about the Tower master.”

“Yes, I can. I’m sure this is my only opportunity to find out the truth.”

The Guardian was listening to our conversation with his arms crossed. His nose wrinkled as he scrunched his face.

—Mmm. I went up to the ninety-ninth floor, but I’d never met anyone like the Tower master. I also heard about the existence of Pillars only after meeting you, Kim Zombie.

—If I compare this to a game, getting to the hundredth floor means seeing the ending. There will also be a prize waiting for you since that’s the last floor. But the game developers have nothing to do with the ending. The developers themselves or their life story is useless. Getting to the hundredth floor won’t necessarily lead you to the Tower master’s story. Still, I didn’t get to climb to the hundredth floor, so I can’t guarantee it.

I nodded. “Yes, my Guardian says there is no information about the Tower master until at least the ninety-ninth floor.”

Figuring out information about the Tower’s creator, the stage developer, had nothing to with clearing the Tower’s floors. It was an easter egg, so to speak. Raviel was listening to me intently.

“I want to know the Tower master’s identity, how and why she built the Tower, and why she wants to live on behalf of the most unfortunate person in every world. If there is an opportunity to find out some answers, I definitely want to take it.”

“And this is your only chance?” freёnovelkiss.com

“Yes, that’s what I think.”

Finding out the secret about the creator’s Tower was worth risking my life once.

“Raviel, please allow me to be killed by that child,” I asked politely while looking into her eyes.