[Thwack!]
[W-Wait!]
"Die!"
[Crack!]
[No, let's talk—!]
"Die!"
[Gah!]
"Please, just die!"
Kim Joohyuk's limbs moved without rest, pummeling Varche's entire body and filling the empty void with a symphony of screams.
How long did it last?
[Now, stop—]
[Wham!]
"Stop? Who said anything about stopping! You need to get hit more!"
[Smack!]
"This is for the sin of destroying my future!"
[Bam!]
"This is for the sin of blowing away half of my Secret Vault!"
[I didn't do that—! Ack!]
"Shut up!"
[Thud—!]
"Just die, you bastard!"
Despite a significant amount of time passing since he began dismantling Varche, Kim Joohyuk did not rest for a single moment.
"Phew..."
[Ughhh...]
Only when he felt enough time had passed by his own standards did Kim Joohyuk cease the assault. He looked down at Varche, who was sprawled out in a wretched state.
"By the way, why are you here?"
His voice was refreshing, as if his stress had completely evaporated.
[...Are you a psychopath?]
"Wrong."
[Then what is it?]
"I'm not a psychopath. You are the one making me into a psychopath. OK?"
[...]
Varche looked at him with dead, tired eyes, but Kim Joohyuk genuinely believed his own words. Even if his personality was utter trash, he wasn't the type to throw a punch the moment he saw someone's face without reason.
That bastard deserves to be hit.
How much damage had he suffered because of this guy? He had accumulated status, money, and honor to live a decent life. Not stopping there, he had even raised five disciples to smoothly take responsibility for his retirement.
How much time had he poured into raising those five? Honestly, he had rolled them hard, but thanks to that, his disciples were strong enough not to get beaten up anywhere they went.
In short, Kim Joohyuk had went all-in on his previous life solely for a happy retirement.
But this bastard?
"Ah, thinking about it pisses me off again."
[Smack!]
[Ack!]
By killing Kim Joohyuk, Varche had ensured he couldn't enjoy any of the things he had built.
Decades of preparation for retirement! Gone without a single moment of enjoyment!
[Ugh... Isn't it about time you stopped? If you attack me any further in this state, I will also...]
"You will also what?"
[Flinch.]
Even though this was a mental world without magical power, a sensation like rising killing intent emanated from Joohyuk's body. Varche quickly changed the subject.
[More importantly, aren't you curious about this place?]
"...This place?"
Only then did Kim Joohyuk look around, noticing the strange abnormality of their surroundings.
"What is this place?"
All he saw was a gray space. A void where truly nothing existed, just endless gray.
[This is the Mental World.]
"Mental World?"
[Yes. To be precise, it would be faster to understand if I called it the space inside a Holy Relic. I don't know how much information you have, but do you know about Holy Relics?]
Kim Joohyuk recalled what he learned in the last class and nodded appropriately.
"So, this is inside a Holy Relic?"
[Correct. The form you are seeing now is merely a manifestation within the Mental World. My physical body perished 300 years ago.]
"...Wait. In short, you are inside the Holy Relic?"
[Right?]
"So that means you're a Constellation?"
Varche grinned at the question.
[Correct. I have become a Constellation.]
"Look at you smiling. You're damn unlucky."
[...]
"What are you looking at?"
[You always have to ruin the mood when we talk.]
"I want to ruin other things besides the mood. Can I do it now?"
Varche quickly averted his gaze, feigning ignorance. Kim Joohyuk looked at him with an incredulous expression.
"Are you really Varche? You seem very different from 300 years ago."
Kim Joohyuk recalled the last time he saw Varche three centuries ago. Possessing power overwhelming enough to be called the Destruction King, he had dragged the Tower of Destruction down to Earth and perished together with Joohyuk.
At least in Kim Joohyuk's memory, the Varche of that time, while rude, was incredibly serious and taciturn.
[Well, if you ask which one is my real personality, this side is closer to the truth than that one.]
"Bullshit."
[What do you mean?]
Kim Joohyuk shook his head as if tired.
"Forget it. Just start explaining."
[...Explain what?]
"?"
[?]
[Thwack!]
[Ack! Why are you hitting me?! It didn't matter 300 years ago, but now I have no power, so getting hit once hurts immensely!]
"Stop exaggerating. If you don't talk, I'll hit you again."
[Fine! I got it!]
Kim Joohyuk lowered the hand he had raised at Varche's scream-like shout. Watching him, Varche sighed.
[Good grief, I can't even make a joke... I'm asking just in case, but what you want to know is about the notification window, right?]
"Right."
[Then, can you tell me what was written on that notification window?]
Kim Joohyuk frowned as if the question was strange but opened his mouth anyway.
"At the very top, it said something about the Tower of Destruction reappearing. Then it told me to go to the Constellation Room to find the Armament and Memory."
[Are there no other sentences?]
"There are, but they're all blacked out with squares, so I can't read them."
Varche nodded instead of answering, letting a moment pass before speaking.
[First, I intend to tell you what I have grasped. Will you listen?]
"Grasped what? Didn't you make this System Window?"
Varche shook his head with an expression that asked what kind of nonsense that was.
[How could I have done that? After being killed by you, I have spent 300 years inside here without any power.]
"...Then what is it?"
[I mean I will tell you what I have figured out on my own.]
Varche looked at Kim Joohyuk. Joohyuk stared back with a strange expression, then jerked his chin.
The story began.
Kim Joohyuk listened to Varche's explanation for a while, then nodded and summarized the content.
"So, to summarize: You were killed by me and annihilated. When you opened your eyes, you had become a Constellation, trapped inside a Holy Relic with all your power lost?"
[Correct.]
"So, while you were bewildered and didn't know what the hell was going on, a System Window appeared for you too?"
[Correct. In my case, a System Window appeared telling me to contact you and recover my memories.]
"Nothing else appeared?"
[Regrettably, that is all. At least in my System Window, nothing appeared other than the instruction to contact the reincarnated 'Kim Hyeonoh'.]
"So, your theory is that all of this is the doing of 'Him'—the one who made you the Master of the Tower of Destruction... Is that it?"
[Right. To be honest, I only remembered that there was someone who made me the Tower Master after I encountered you.]
"Who the hell is he?"
[I don't know. It is truly strange, but it is as if that part of my memory has been erased; it is a blank slate. All I know is that someone made me the Tower Master.]
"...Then eventually, the guy who made you the Tower Master reincarnated me and trapped you here?"
[Well, at least that is my conjecture. By the way, do you have any memories surfacing?]
"Me?"
[Yes. If my memory is correct, didn't your status window say to find the Armament and Memory?]
"It did..."
Kim Joohyuk rummaged through his mind, but nothing in particular came up.
No, do I even have lost memories in the first place?
Varche claimed to have missing parts as if his memory had been cut, but Kim Joohyuk didn't have any such gaps. From the events in the Tower of Destruction to his memories before that, nothing was missing. Everything was intact.
What is it?
Seeing Kim Joohyuk tilt his head in confusion, Varche shrugged.
[Well, if no specific memory comes to mind, perhaps recovering your memory comes next.]
"Next?"
[Yes. Didn't you say your status window mentioned Armament and Memory?]
"I did."
[Then, since you have found the Armament, wouldn't finding the Memory be the next step?]
"Ah, so you're saying this place is inside the Armament?"
[Correct.]
Kim Joohyuk frowned for a moment at Varche's answer, then, realizing something, wore an incredulous expression.
"Don't tell me... the place you are inside right now is..."
[That 'don't tell me' is correct. I have become a Constellation using one of the weapons you used, the 'Chongeom', as my Holy Relic.]
Ha.
"This is bullshit."
❋ ❋ ❋
"...You didn't do anything strange, right?"
"I didn't."
"...Really?"
"No, didn't you say I could die from mental corruption if I went down to the basement level 2 anyway?"
Outside the Constellation Room building.
Kim Yi-gun looked at Kim Joohyuk standing before him and nodded strangely.
Certainly, he doesn't look like he suffered mental corruption...
"Anyway, I'm going now?"
"...Understood. You may return."
Thanks to Kim Joohyuk speaking before he could ask anything else, Kim Yi-gun found himself nodding and answering unwittingly.
...What is this anxious feeling?
Kim Yi-gun tilted his head as he watched Kim Joohyuk walk out of the building normally.
And.
As Kim Joohyuk walked toward the dormitory, organizing the events that happened in the Constellation Room—
"Hey, rude bastard."
"...?"
—he saw a gang of delinquents popping out as if they had been waiting.
"I told you we'd see each other often, didn't I?"
Reric from the Sunrise family approached with a twisted smile, surrounded by his laughing lackeys. Forming a group of eight, they walked up to Kim Joohyuk and stood before him with expressions intoxicated by a sense of victory, as if they had already won.
"Glad to see me here?"
Kim Joohyuk glanced around at those words. All he could see was a single unpaved road. Since the Valhalla grounds were vast and the Constellation Room was located far from other buildings, they were currently in a blind spot where no gazes could reach.
"..."
Realizing that Kim Joohyuk had looked around and grasped the situation, Reric opened his mouth with a sadistic smile—
[Wham!]
—but couldn't finish.
As Reric was sent flying in an instant, the lackeys, unable to grasp what had just happened, froze and stared at him blankly.
"Ah, this heavy and cool sensation. It's been 300 years."
Kim Joohyuk...
"I was getting sick of enduring my anger for so long."
...smiled like a demon.
"It's time to return to being the Skull Smasher, Kim Joohyuk!"
He drew the Chongeom (Short Sword).
(End of Chapter 10)
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