Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 16

16. Whispers of the Stars (2)

Inner force?

Hyeon-woo was taken aback by the term he’d only heard in martial arts novels.

‘If it’s like in the books, it means imbuing your body with energy.’

In the moment of his last attack, he had felt something thick, like it was coming from inside him. Was that inner force? Hyeon-woo tried to recreate that moment, but he couldn’t feel the same sensation again.

‘Should I use Battle Helper?’

He was already exhausted and didn’t feel like fighting anymore, but he couldn’t suppress his curiosity.

Hyeon-woo tapped the scarecrow again. As soon as the scarecrow took its stance, Hyeon-woo activated Battle Helper.

A bullet-like sonic boom echoed. A fierce battle with the scarecrows ensued, similar to before.

Hyeon-woo couldn’t feel any difference yet. But as his cooled-down body started to heat up again, he felt something wriggling inside him.

Before he could even grasp what that sensation was, Battle Helper instantly drew upon that energy.

“Hah!”

With a bang, Hyeon-woo’s fist struck the scarecrow. Hyeon-woo’s fist broke through the scarecrow’s guard and hit its chest directly. The scarecrow’s forearm shattered and scattered in all directions.

Hyeon-woo stared blankly at the collapsing scarecrow. Renian watched the scene and exclaimed.

“Wow, Butler! What did you just do? That arm-waving thing. It looked so cool.”

“Arm-waving…….”

She was describing martial arts as if stirring a drink with a straw. Renian was mimicking Hyeon-woo’s movements with a curious expression, literally waving her hands around.

No, since she was doing it in the air, perhaps ‘flailing’ would be a more appropriate term.

“I don’t really know what it is either, but it’s not something easy to imitate…….”

Bang! The moment Renian’s fist touched the scarecrow’s head, the scarecrow’s head shattered into pieces. Unlike what Hyeon-woo had done, only a narrow, long hole remained, as if it had been shot by a bullet.

“Oh, I think I was kind of close, Butler!”

“…….”

Hyeon-woo raised his guard against Renian and began to contemplate the value of humans in this world. Hyeon-woo approached the scarecrow he had defeated to examine its condition.

This was the scarecrow that hadn’t been damaged internally even after days of fighting. Even as an ability user, it was impossible for Hyeon-woo’s level to damage steel. He was just a little stronger than an average person.

“Target acquired.”

Then, the remaining scarecrows stopped moving and spoke.

“Confirmed as an Awakened. Lockdown released.”

Hyeon-woo was horrified and took his stance again, but the scarecrows didn’t move.

They simply stopped moving completely and stood there blankly. Only one of them raised its arm and pointed in one direction.

Hyeon-woo wondered what kind of trick this was and cautiously took a step. The direction the scarecrow was pointing was blocked by all sorts of furniture and materials.

Dust had piled up so thickly that Hyeon-woo hadn’t been able to examine it properly.

Hyeon-woo pulled out the materials and cleared them away, feeling a strange flutter in his heart.

It wasn’t fear or curiosity. It was just a stirring of his heart.

As soon as the materials were completely cleared away, a door was revealed. The door was open. As he stepped inside, the stirring grew even stronger.

Inside the door, a skeleton was lying face down on a desk. It was his first time seeing a skeleton, but it wasn’t as scary as he had expected. He had seen much more grotesque sights on his own body.

Hyeon-woo instinctively thought that this skeleton was the person who had created this facility.

“What’s this? Is it a dessert?”

Renian picked up a shin bone lying on the floor, licked it, and began to gnaw on it. She really was a man-eating fairy.

Hyeon-woo snatched the bone away.

“Aww, it tasted so nutty.”

“I told you not to eat people.”

“Not even dead people?”

“No.”

Hyeon-woo said firmly and examined the desk. He found a piece of paper under the skeleton. It was a letter.

Hyeon-woo carefully began to read the letter.

「There were many mistakes.」

The content started with regret. The handwriting was neat and angular, suggesting that the skeleton was a man. He continued to read the letter.

「There was no way to undo the mistakes. The situation worsened, and hope was just a prelude to tragedy. Difficulty: Nightmare, 3 years in, not a single child has been born. Children who didn’t awaken as ability users all died in this toxic air, and even those who did died in the fetal stage. Children can’t level up. Hope keeps dying. We, humanity, are dying out.」

Hyeon-woo stared intently at the letter. Difficulty: Nightmare? The extinction of humanity?

Hyeon-woo recalled the message he heard every time he entered this place.

【Difficulty: Hell

Entering the Star of Extinction.】

“……Is it true?”

It meant that humanity had already gone extinct and the world had entered the highest difficulty level.

Based on the contents of the letter, Difficulty: Hell was the future of the world Hyeon-woo had lived in.

No, he actually already knew it. He had just been trying not to face the truth.

In the end, even if he trained and suffered like this, the future that humanity would face was this worst-case scenario.

There were already plenty of clues from before. Even Hyeon-woo’s titles were like that.

Strongest in Hell.

The title he received when he reached rank 1 in Difficulty: Hell. At that time, Hyeon-woo was only level 1. It meant there was no one above him.

The Last One. Nothing more, nothing less. It meant that Hyeon-woo was the last human. A race with only one member was as good as extinct.

This rotting skeleton blatantly showed him the reality he had been trying to ignore, even though he already knew it.

“Haha…….”

Hyeon-woo let out a hollow laugh and continued to read the letter.

「Since there’s no way to turn back, all that’s left is regret. What if I had done that back then? What if I had done this? These fantasies kept swirling in my head. Most of the survivors besides me are thinking the same thing. Three days ago, Priest Johann, and yesterday, Professor Park Hyo-seok, took their own lives. My most feared enemies are not the monsters, nor the Thorn Crown Society, nor the fanatics obsessed with the stars.

It’s the lack of hope.

There were too many mistakes. If we had systematically nurtured ability users when the difficulty was Tutorial. If we had helped more ordinary people become ability users. If the Chepesh Case hadn’t happened because the attack on Cheonru didn’t turn into a national competition. If we had put more effort into controlling Plude of the Baekdu Dungeon. If we hadn’t neglected Leviathan destroying China. If we hadn’t branded Adam Paul as a madman.

We consistently envied, feared, and guarded against each other.

The fact that we couldn’t trust each other. That whole history was a mistake.」

Hyeon-woo found familiar words. They were words he had found in newspaper articles he had scrapped to gather information about this place.

He still didn’t know the overall context, but it became clearer that a big mistake had occurred. And it was also a warning about what would happen in the ‘present’ in the future.

「Since there’s no way to turn back now, the last stronghold, Chrome, has fallen, and even Priest Johann, who had purification skills, has committed suicide, so everyone’s life is now on borrowed time. Moreover, a difficulty increase is expected soon. Even in a situation facing extinction, there’s a higher difficulty to come. It’s as if time is mocking us.

I created this facility for any future generations who might exist, but I don’t even know if it will be useful. If there are any humans left who discover this place even after entering Difficulty: Hell, I hope they will forgive our incompetent generation, and me.」

In the end, the identity of this skeleton was not written down. But he seemed to have survived almost to the very end, so he must have been quite strong. Perhaps he was a person who remained in the present.

Hyeon-woo reached out to the skeleton, wondering if he could identify who it was. At that moment, the balance that had been maintained for years was broken, and bone fragments poured out from under the old clothes.

Thud. He heard the sound of something dull falling in between.

“……Return Stone?”

Hyeon-woo was taken aback when he saw the stone that had fallen on the floor. There was something similar to a Return Stone among the bone fragments.

But upon closer inspection, it was slightly different from the one Hyeon-woo had. This one had a perfectly balanced, sculpted shape and emitted a faint blue light. There were no traces of carving.

Hyeon-woo carefully reached out to the stone. The moment his fingertips touched the stone, a strong blue light burst out.

It was a light so intense that it seemed to blind him. Hyeon-woo couldn’t move, his vision was paralyzed. But he heard a clear voice.

[Fragment absorbed.]

‘Fragment?’

Hyeon-woo thought something was happening and tried to grab the Return Stone. But the moment he touched the Return Stone, he screamed in pain as if he was being burned.

In his vision, blurred by the light, he could vaguely see his palm. There was a mark as if it had been branded or seared.

‘The letters engraved on the Return Stone.’

Then, suddenly, the narrator began to shout as if warning him.

[The stars are watching you.]

And at the same time, he heard Renian flapping her wings. Like a beast fleeing from an earthquake, Renian disappeared in an instant. But Hyeon-woo couldn’t move.

Space expanded infinitely. Hyeon-woo suddenly felt like he had been thrown into the middle of the universe.

He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move. He couldn’t feel anything. A moment of panic flashed through him, but he felt a dull, weak pain.

Hyeon-woo felt that he had fallen. Soon he was able to realize his condition.

He hadn’t been dragged somewhere, but his senses had simply been stolen.

[The Advancing Star, Baruel, has recognized that a fragment of the star has been absorbed into you.]

The narrator’s voice was heard clearly. But now that he thought about it, the narrator’s words were more like conveying meaning in his head than a voice.

[Baruel is disappointed in your values.]

[Baruel abandons the fragment and leaves you.]

‘Hey, what’s with the arbitrary disappointment?’

Hyeon-woo grumbled. He didn’t know what the being that had appeared just now was, but it was clearly something powerful enough to easily subdue Hyeon-woo.

In his current state, having lost most of his senses, even a child could kill him.

Flickering lights surrounded Hyeon-woo in the darkened vision. But there was no warmth to be found in any of those lights.

[The stars are curious about your achievements in difficulty compared to your level.]

“Awoo…….”

Hyeon-woo was flustered when he tried to speak unintentionally. Moving his body in a dulled state was more difficult than he thought. Hyeon-woo barely managed to stammer out the right words.

“The stars…… what the hell are they?”

Hyeon-woo didn’t expect an answer. The narrator was convenient, but it didn’t answer everything. Especially not vague questions.

[Lockdown released.]

But the narrator answered. In detail, too.

[The Star Owners are beings who occupy their own absolute territories somewhere in the universe. They lend out the powerful power that can be exerted within their territories through ‘fragments’, and expect him to become the ruler and expand the territory.]

Hyeon-woo was taken aback by the narrator’s detailed answer, but his curiosity was even greater.

‘Why are those guys interested in me?’

[The stars are amazed by your achievements in difficulty compared to your level. In addition, user Kang Hyeon-woo possesses one of the stars’ fragments. Therefore, they want to bring you into their fold.]

Only then did Hyeon-woo confirm that some of the phrases engraved on his Return Stone were glowing orange.

Until now, only incomprehensible phrases were written on it, but they had not been glowing. In other words, the ‘fragment’ that the narrator was talking about seemed to be the stone fragment that Hyeon-woo had just absorbed from the skeleton.

In other words, that’s why all the stars were flocking to him.

Then, loud noises began to be heard.

[The Wailing Star, Verde, prophesies that you will become the ruler of all death.]

[The Shattering Star, Gaul, suggests that you rule the world from behind the shadows.]

[The Starving Star, Yogulem, says he is looking for a snake to devour the whole world with.]

[The Whispering Star, Monstril, finds in you the charm to captivate all people.]

[The Conquering Star, Ardan, offers to command an army of steel and fire.]

***

At the same time as the stars’ proposals, Hyeon-woo gradually felt his senses returning.

But his vision was still dark, and only the stars surrounding him were slowly spinning.

Hyeon-woo realized that he had not been freed from his restraints, but had only been released in part to hear the answers.

“What is all this talk about?”

[They are investing in your potential for success.]

“Investing?”

Hyeon-woo was puzzled. Since when did they see him and invest?

If a stranger suddenly offered to do him a favor, it was one of two things. Either a petty swindler or a terrible swindler. People who were confident that they could fleece him for dozens of times his minimum investment.

[Choose a star to follow.]

The narrator whispered as if urging him. Hyeon-woo fell into 고민 [agonizing thoughts]. Hyeon-woo himself knew his own value well. He was nothing yet. Especially here, in Difficulty: Hell.

He didn’t think that he, who couldn’t even catch a goblin, had attracted the attention of such grand beings.

‘Maybe if they knew that I could come back to life no matter how many times I died, they might.’

“I need to know what these guys are before I can follow them.”

[The Shattering Star, Gaul, is a ruler who plots and laughs from behind. He rules the masses from behind the shadows with daggers, poison, and conspiracies, and operates through a blind secret society made of shadows.]

[The Wailing Star, Verde, is the father of all sorrow and gloom. He commands an army of death and enjoys watching the despair, vain hope, and helpless struggles that flood in after destruction.]

[The Starving Star, Yogulem, is a snake of greed and desire. All the inhabitants of his territory suffer from constant hunger and want to devour everything in the world.]

[The Whispering Star, Monstril, is one who incites in the light and captivates in the dark. He shines brightest even in the brightest places, and captivates any powerful person to kneel at his feet.]

[The Conquering Star, Ardan, is a conqueror who advances with fire and slaughters enemies with iron. He wants to burn the world with causeless hatred and resentment, and is satisfied with ruling the ashes.]

“Why are there only things like this? Are all the stars psychopaths?”

[Stars are interested in beings similar to themselves.]

“…….”