Chapter 72: The Death Gleaner (1)

Chapter 72: The Death Gleaner (1)

What was the last word that came to a person’s mind when you thought about zombies? It was a strange question, but zombies dominated this world—and I suddenly had to learn martial arts by fighting a zombie, so I couldn’t help but think about zombies. That was how I realized what the last word was.

It was “Palm Wind.” The zombie in the black training suit held its hands together for a moment and then shot Palm Wind at me. I wasn’t joking. The zombie—who used to be a martial artist before its death—actually screamed and shot Palm Wind at me.

“Shit...” I cursed.

Its Palm Wind easily tossed me into the air like so much chaff. Just that was enough to leave my mind whirling. Unfortunately, the zombie wasn’t done.

The zombie kicked off the ground using a unique foot art, executed with obvious proficiency. It soared into the air as if it were filled with helium and instantly flew right to me. It was crazy.

“Hey! Wait, wait. This isn’t right!” I hastily swung my holy sword.

Before I could cut down the zombie, the Heavenly Demon’s voice stopped me.

“Don’t! Don’t swing your sword indiscriminately.” She was watching me fight from above the pit. “I told you to think about the hunger and the pain of those who starved to death. Ruminate on what it is like to be hungry. If you just swing your sword, the Demonic Heaven Arts is just an empty shell.”

“B-but!”

The zombie’s maw yawned right in front of me.

I barely managed to twist my torso to avoid the zombie’s bite. I couldn’t properly break my fall and ended up rolling on the ground. Angry that I had evaded its attack, the zombie roared and charged again.

“I’m not really hungry right now!”

“You fool!” the Heavenly Demon shouted, frustrated. “Can you not picture the color red just because it’s not in front of you? How can you not recall what it feels like to be hungry just because you aren’t hungry right now?”

Even while the Heavenly Demon was berating me, the zombie continued to swing its claws. If those claws touched me even once, it was over. I would be infected with the zombie virus and truly become Kim Zombie.

The zombie savagely battered at my sword with its claws. I only managed to block the attack, never mind strike back. I felt like I was going to die.

“If you can’t remember it, that’s because you aren’t used to the feeling of hunger. You’re basically a pig. Those who learn the Demonic Heaven Arts should be able to recall the feeling at will!”

The feeling of hunger. The memory of hunger.

“Remember the time you were hungry the longest. Dwell in that moment. Where were you? What did you want to eat the most? How long were you hungry!”

“The longest time I’ve been hungry was three to four days...” I answered.

The Heavenly Demon was dumbstruck. “What? Three to four days? You’re saying that the longest you’ve ever starved in your life was just around three days? That’s impossible. The world has been lawless for a long time, and famine was rampant every season. How could you have starved for only three days? What were you, the son of a major noble?”

“O-outer murim was more prosperous than the Central Plains...”

The Tower was naturally more abundant in resources than murim, the world of martial artists. After all, the Tower was a place of modern civilization; quite a few Hunters probably hadn’t starved for more than two days.

“There’s just no talking with you. Hunger is the most urgent pain that you feel every day. No one can avoid the pain, so they live to lessen their hunger. The emperor’s hunger and that of the commoners are no different from one another. If you don’t even know this, how will you learn the Demonic Heaven Arts?”

I-I lived hungry for quite a long time. I spent over ten years as a Class F Hunter! I used to count how many pieces of rice cake go into one serving in tteokbokki shops at the Tower. And I only bought tteokbokki at stores that gave me four more pieces!

“Forget it.” The Heavenly Demon turned her back on me. “It’s my fault! I had hopes for you for a moment, but you’re all talk.”

The pit I was in was deep, so the Heavenly Demon quickly disappeared from my sight.

“Lady Heavenly Demon!” I shouted, barely fending off the zombie’s teeth and claws.

I got no answer.

“Lady Heavenly Demon?”

—What kind of fucking hippy-ass horseshit are you ta...

The Guardian cursed at me for about a minute. But no matter what he told me, it wouldn’t affect me, so it was meaningless. Besides, I was already in the lotus position.

He then tried to persuade me. Perhaps he thought that swearing wasn’t going to get him anywhere.

—You can’t last more than a hundred days even if you try! the Guardian shouted. Look at the weather right now. It’s cold! It’s damn cold! If you don’t cover yourself with aura, you’ll freeze to death. How are you going to use it for one hundred days straight? However hard you try, you’ll only be able to last twenty days at most.

—Besides, Gong-Ja, fasting for more than one hundred days isn’t just about starvation. You haven’t starved like that, have you? If not, then you have no idea.

“Have you done it before?”

—Yeah, I know because I did fasting training like the monks back in the day. For a few days, I felt hungry and thought I was gonna pass out, but you can’t feel anything after that. That isn’t starving. It’s just mental training. Mental training!

“There’s the answer,” I nonchalantly said. “I’ll starve until the fifteenth day and then repeat it.”

The Guardian opened and closed his mouth several times.

—What?

“I won’t eat anything for 15 days—that’s when I’ll be the most hungry. After that, I’ll commit suicide and stay on the 15th day. That’ll keep me hungry.” I looked at the Guardian. “I’ll repeat it until 112 days pass. How’s that? I won’t run out of aura, and I’ll still feel hungry. It’s the perfect solution.”

—...You crazy motherfucker... The Guardian’s jaw dropped to the ground. Just learn from me... Don’t take that weird cult leader as your teacher. I told you my martial arts are better. If you need a teacher, learn from me. What in the world is driving you to this madness—!

“I’m going to learn the Demonic Heaven Arts perfectly.”

A fire was burning in my heart.

“Do you know why the Heavenly Demon fell into despair and this world, the Heavenly Demon Chronicle, ended? It’s all because she felt like there was no point in surviving anymore.”

When the Murim Alliance's leader had been confined to his deathbed, the Heavenly Demon had muttered to herself, “The world has no meaning.” That was it. If a world was considered a novel, her muttered words would be the last line written on the last page.

All of the characters’ many lines of dialogue meant nothing. How they moved, where they went, or what they felt had no meaning. It was all pointless even if hundreds or even thousands of sentences were used. At that point, the novel and the world was dead. The novel was as good as blank paper, and the world was doomed. That must have been what the Indoor Librarian meant when he spoke about discontinued serialization.

I didn't want this world to end like that. That wasn’t how I wanted the story of the Heavenly Demon to end.

I looked outside the cave at the endless expanse of snow. “...It’s easy to live like the Fire Emperor. Since I have a killer skill, I’d have no problem convincing myself that I’m the best. When I win, it’s because of my skills. Other people do worse than me because they’re idiots, and I don’t need to worry about idiots. I can just pick the stages that are easy for me to clear. Whatever happens, I sneer and stay cynical...”

I trailed off.

I circulated my aura throughout my body and began my fast.

“It sounds cool. It does. Although cynicism isn’t childish, people who live cynically are childish.”

I starved.

“Idealism might look cheesy, but people who try to live ideally aren’t.”

I didn’t eat for a day.

“I’m also human, so I have to live.”

I starved for two days.

“Then the answer to how I should live is obvious.”

I fasted for three days. And on, and on.