Episode 51 < Paradise after the ending. (2) >
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“Now you have to think a little more about your future path!”
said the witch.
She kept hitting my forearm with a rolled up newspaper. Tuk! Tuk! Her whole body exuded that she was so excited that she couldn’t control herself.
“Where are you going?”
“huh. You are now a member of all five major guilds. But in reality, it is no different from being independent. Now that things are going so well, it would be a good idea to create a new guild yourself.”
The witch laughed happily.
“If you are a hunter with a reputation that is ranked 3rd, you should have a title like ‘guild leader.’ “Even if you are a member of all five major guilds at the same time, you still don’t fit in as an ordinary guild member.”
It didn’t really feel real.
“He’s the guild leader.”
I can’t believe I’m becoming the head of some guild. Not only did it not feel real, I couldn’t even imagine it. Is there a need to have hunters as subordinates in the first place?
I have an army of skeletons.
“but.”
The witch must have noticed that my complexion was not good, so she shrugged her shoulders. Over her shoulder, Geomseong was silently looking this way.
“Maybe solo playing suits your personality like that old man. There are surprisingly many people who have a dream of destroying everything with a single blow. “If you don’t have any ideas, I won’t force you.”
“Uh huh. “Are you going to gossip about me now?”
“That aside… .”
The witch turned her head, ignoring the Sword Saint.
“What are those?”
Beyond the acacia forest road.
In a small plain, soldiers from the continent were building something. It was a barracks. Instead of giving up attacking the hungry ghost’s paradise, they will rest today and then retreat.
“ah.”
I stroked my chin.
“Those soldiers come from all over the continent.”
“All over the continent?”
“Let me tell you this….”
My explanation continued. Of course, I left out the story about monkfish. I only told you how I deceived the continent’s military.
The witch and the Sword Saint listened together, and the longer the explanation continued, the more strange their expressions became. The witch’s words represented the thoughts of the two people.
“Death King… . “You seem to have a knack for lying.”
“what. Thanks to that, I cleared it without any bloodshed.”
“No, I’m not blaming you. “On the contrary, you did really well.”
The witch’s eyes narrowed.
It was the look in the eyes of a businessman who remembered a sinister plan.
“From now on, we can also trade with this continent. There is no longer any need to bow down to the old people of the outside world. Bad guys! They always beat the price of food. “We’ll see if we can do that in the future.”
Resentment dripped from his voice.
“Basically, trade between the tower and the outside world is unfair.”
Geomseong said.
“Capital, resources, technology. No matter what, the outside world is richer than the tower. Of course, there are elixirs and ingredients in the tower that cannot be obtained in the outside world… .”
“food! “Food is always a problem!”
The witch kicked the ground.
When I first saw him, I thought he was a blunt person. Is it because the three of us broke through from the 12th to the 19th floor together? In front of us, the expression of emotions became very diverse.
I guess that means we have become close friends.
“Black Dragon Master. Anyway, you’re saying you’re going to start trading with people on this continent?”
“huh? of course. “The outside world has to taste some bitterness, too.”
“then.”
I grinned.
He then pointed to a military camp set up on the plain.
“I guess I’ll have to talk to those people from now on. If we just blindly say, ‘Let’s trade,’ won’t it work? “To the people of the continent, we are strangers, and to us, the people of the continent are from another world.”
“yes.”
“Let me lend you my name.”
I said.
“In this world, I am the former Emperor of the First Emperor and the Apostle of the Goddess. “If you make it up like you are an apostle sent by the goddess, it will at least be useful in starting trade.”
“…….”
The witch’s eyes narrowed.
“Thank you for the offer. It’s a valid offer. But there’s no way I’m offering to lend your name for free… what do you want?”
“On the 20th floor.”
“what?”
I looked around.
Acacia forest road. small plain. Esther’s hometown.
This small world was everything on the 20th floor.
“I want the 20th floor.”
For a moment the witch was speechless.
“…wait for a sec. The 20th floor. Are you sure you want to own the entire 20th floor?”
“yes. To be precise, I wish the entire 20th floor was mine.”
“that… .”
“instead. I will not receive anything in return for clearing floors 11 to 19. “Other hunters should share the profits gained from trading with the continent.” The witch’s lips closed again.
It was an unconventional proposal.
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Usually, when hunters conquer a stage, the results are shared among the participants. Ownership of items. Furthermore, even ownership of resources. However, about half of the rights are shared by all hunters.
There is no precedent for someone having an entire floor.
“This… “It’s not a matter I can handle alone.”
The witch made a perplexed expression.
“We need to call other guild leaders and discuss this.”
“what. “I have nothing to do for the next 24 hours, so let’s wait.”
“… “Do you really want to have a stage here?”
The witch glanced around.
“Even at first glance, the land doesn’t seem to be worth much. Acacia flower road… is pretty though. There is little land available for farming. The size of the stage is also cramped.”
“hmm.”
“This is just my experience, Death King. In this case, it is much more beneficial to just receive the rewards for clearing floors 11 to 20. “You could make a lot of money.”
I laughed.
“I like real estate better than money. “Land is the best.”
“call?”
The witch sighed.
I’ll gather the guild leaders. “Let’s discuss it on the first floor.”
“Of course.”
“huh. After all, you have to show your face to people at least once. however… .”
The witch slowly looked away.
“There was something I wanted to ask you earlier.”
“yes.”
“…What is that again?”
I also looked in the direction the witch pointed.
“f*ck, feet… Black… Hey, stop this… ! Please stop! Is this such a difficult request, damn it! Do you have some kind of grudge against me, that I did something wrong… !!”
There, the top dancer was showing off his skills.
The dancers’ sweat and tears flowed down and beautifully moistened the acacia forest path.
It’s beautiful.
“Black Dragon Master.”
I smiled brightly.
“The Black Dragon Master didn’t see anything.”
“huh?”
“You didn’t see anything. “You know.”
“…….”
The witch made a strange expression.
He had the same face as a biologist facing the mystery of a lifetime.
“okay. There are all kinds of people in this world. I’ll understand. But, the witch muttered.
“As expected, you are not in your right mind… .”
That too was a minority opinion.
2.
I placed the anglerfish and the flame emperor on the 20th floor and sent them to the 1st floor with the hunters.
“Is it okay if the meeting place is the coffee shop from last time?”
“yes. “I don’t mind anywhere.”
I returned to the first-tier city after a really long time. Babylon.
To others, it may seem like I returned after only five days, but to me, it wasn’t.
Literally hundreds of days. Returning to the city after several years.
“ha.”
“what’s the matter?”
“no. “Now I feel like I’ve beaten the stage.”
The witch chuckled.
“well. “Maybe I should listen a little more.”
“yes?”
“I told you. Now at the tower, people only talk about you. “Prepare your mind.”
There was no need to ask, “What kind of mental preparation is this?”
“uh?”
“Is that… .”
Not long after I stepped on the transmission box on the first floor, the surroundings began to buzz.
Passersby walking up and down the street. People who set up stalls on the roadside and do business. The hunters who were preparing to leave for the hunting ground began whispering one by one.
“It’s a witch and a sword saint.”
“Then that person…” .”
“It’s Death King!”
someone shouted. That became the starting point
“The Death King has appeared!”
A customer who had been carefully examining the used weapons at the stall turned his head. A man and a woman who were enjoying coffee at an outdoor cafe stood up. Dozens, hundreds of people, including merchants selling rare flowers and hunters chatting with colleagues, all looked in this direction.
In an instant, a crowd gathered.
“Wow, wow—.”
“There is a rumor that you cleared the 20th floor by yourself. Is this true?”
“Look here! Wait! Here you go!”
Murmur.
I didn’t even have time to react. Just blinked once and people surrounded our group. It didn’t end there. When I blinked twice, the siege net had become twice as thick.
“uh… .”
“Don’t say anything.”
The witch whispered softly in a voice that only I could hear.
“You have no experience dealing with the media yet, right?”
“Yeah, whatever. of course.”
“Mysticism? Popular star?”
“yes?”
“The concept. Do you want to go with a mystic concept or a popular star concept?”
Even as the witch whispered, the crowd tripled. Our group’s walking speed seemed to have slowed down by about 30 times. click! click! Every time I took a step, my cell phone camera beeped loudly.
oh my god.
I was completely out of my mind!
“Once a concept is set, it is difficult to change. “Do you want to answer now?”
“uh. “I understand the concept of mysticism, but what about popular stars?”
“It’s similar to a movie star.”
said the witch.
“First, I need to open a new SNS account. There is a separate secretary who manages the image and a secretary who handles the press. Of course, you should also hire someone to take care of your appearance and fashion. Oh, don’t worry about money. “Black Dragon will take full care of it.”
I lost even more sense of spirit than I already had.
Next to us, Geomseong was frowning.
He muttered.
“He goes alone because he doesn’t want to do that shit.”
It sounded like a wise thing to say.
“Let me ask you with a mystical concept… .”
“are you okay? People change when they are managed. It’s natural that you’ll become much better than you are now, and you’ll also see the way you treat other people with new eyes.
In the case of the Heretic Questioner, you appear as a magazine model and have a personal photo shoot?”
I knew that well too.
Wasn’t that what I was doing before my 4,000-day regression, collecting magazines and pictorials? The black witch in front of me was a regular model on magazine covers.
“no. Mysticism! Please be mystical.”
But if the person involved was me, it was a different story.
“why? “You don’t want to take a photo shoot?”
Did I get shot in the head?
“I’m dying of shame!”
“Originally, everyone is shy at first. No, the Heretic Questioner didn’t know shame from the beginning… He’s the exception. Death King. Actually, if you’re embarrassed, the fact that you shouted from the top of the Aegim Empire’s pavilion is even more… .”
“Either mysticism or I will leave the top five guilds.”
It was something I said with sincerity.
The witch laughed slightly.
“okay. I guess so. “You seem to have that kind of personality.”
“What should I do with the concept of mysticism?”
“It’s simple. “Keep a straight face.”
For the first time in my life, I heard advice like, ‘Be good at keeping a straight face.’
“Activities on social media are absolutely prohibited. Prohibited from appearing in magazines or broadcasting. Even if a personal broadcaster or media company requests an interview, I decline. It’s okay to interview twice a year. “I will only send you reporters that I have vetted in advance.”
hmm.
“…is that all?”
“You still don’t know how difficult this is.”
The witch giggled.
“Attention is a drug. “The most addictive drug.”
Geomsung took over her words.
“It is also the drug that destroys people most thoroughly.”
“okay. Even if only 10 people pay attention to him, he will feel happy. But when you get to this position, even if you just say a few words, tens of millions of people respond. “There are very few people who can resist drugs like this.”
More people came.
It seemed as if the entire city’s population had gathered here.
“It’s all in vain.”
Geomseong said so.
“huh. “But it’s pleasant nonsense.”
The witch said so.
“Maybe knowing how to enjoy drugs like this is a trait of someone who has become famous. Until you get tired of drugs. Or you can hold out for a little while before you become disillusioned with your fellow drug users. “What will Death King do?”
I looked around.
human tent.
It was packed with people without a single space. The camera flash kept going off, so I had to squint. When seen with narrow eyes, the procession of flashes looked like a mirage, and the curtain of seals almost looked like a shadow.
“…No one is as thirsty for other people as I am.”
I opened my mouth.
“What I want to get is recognition. And even if you don’t know… “I think receiving attention and receiving recognition are somewhat different.”
I thought of the Flame Emperor.
The Absolute One who monopolized all the attention of the tower before returning 4000 times.
“I’m okay with not having the attention of millions of people. Just receiving attention from people around you is enough. Whether it’s hundreds of thousands or millions, what I want to gain from the people in the world… “It’s not about attention, it’s about recognition.”
“okay.”
The witch smiled.
“I am of the opinion that the two cannot be completely separate. “If that’s your answer, I’ll respect it.”
“yes.”
“I’m glad you are that kind of person.”
That’s something I heard sometime ago.
“So how do you keep a straight face?”
“I’ll tell you the secret.”
Crowds erupted from all directions.
Slowly, our group’s speed decreased to about 10 centimeters per second.
“Reminds me of a really bad memory.”
“A bad memory?”
“huh. In my case, my father died in a civil war while I was in the outside world.”
The witch said calmly.
“When I was seven years old. She ran away with her parents, probably pursued by soldiers. His father stayed behind. At that time, my father shouted, ‘Go quickly and don’t look back.’ however… .”
The witch walked ahead through the crowd.
“I just ran and didn’t really look back. I heard a gunshot, but I didn’t turn around. “I kept running.”
click! click!
The camera didn’t stop flashing.
“It happened when I was young.”
“It happened when I was young.”
The witch muttered.
“It’s not that I don’t like the fact that you ran away. I was a child. But why didn’t I even look back? That would have been easy. “Just take a look.”
“……..”
“Whenever I have to keep a straight face, I think of that time. When I think back on the memory of my heart beating so fast, I become very good at keeping a straight face. “It’s my own little magic.”
The witch looked at me.
“You have one or two memories like that too, right?”
there is.
Dark alley.
I remembered the time when my head was grabbed by the Flame Emperor and my whole body was burned.
“Iknow, right.”
I could tell without looking in the mirror.
I’m making a perfect expression right now.
“Please look here for a moment!”
“Please tell me something!”
“Black Dragon Master, when can we hear the official announcement… .”
“What kind of relationship do you two have?”
“Sword Saint! What do you think about the Death King!”
When I looked around again, my eyes had become accustomed to the camera flash and I could see my surroundings clearly. It was my first time being surrounded by so many people. It was my first time receiving flash baptism like this.
but.
“The effect is direct, isn’t it?”
I wasn’t out of my mind or anything like before.
I just feel calm as usual.
The witch raised the corners of her mouth slightly.
“You learn quickly. “You’ll get used to it soon.”
Clearly, the world changed in 5 days.
But I didn’t change to the extent that I needed to.
etc,
