Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 325

325. RESUME

“It was just a lucky shot. There were too many unexpected variables.”

Maria Keller spoke as if making excuses.

“What they actually accomplished was due to Kang Hyun-woo and the Teacher, their will. Or, should I say, their stubbornness… That’s the only way I can interpret it.”

But Samuel didn’t seem to care much.

“The result is all that matters. We collided two Stars of the Apocalypse, ultimately eliminating both. Along with the Turned Star. It wouldn’t have been possible if you hadn’t agreed to the plan for you and the Teacher to eliminate Kang Hyun-woo. In the end, even the Teacher was deceived by you.”

Samuel looked around at the other priests with a joyful expression and said,

“Did you check the number of regressions? How many times have we regressed?”

“Including the minor ones less than a day, 798 times. They really did it like eating a meal. There’s no penalty except for the limitation that they can’t reverse their own time, which is the axis of time… It wouldn’t be strange if we didn’t even notice over ten thousand regressions.”

“It was the longest three days of our lives.”

“It was also a crazy three days. When Helen took out Telgram from the Starving Star’s vault, I thought I was going crazy.”

“We need to ask the Starving Star how they left such a thing where game participants could reach it. No, how did the Starving Star get it in the first place? Wasn’t it all destroyed?”

“So, they must have been flustered and had their snake swallow the apostle. It’s fortunate that Kang Hyun-woo knew what he was doing. If he had started using it….”

“They wouldn’t have been safe either.”

“It’s a bit disappointing to think that no one will know that we helped from behind until this result came out.”

The priests chattered noisily, competing with each other. It was as if they had watched a great movie. Only Maria remained silently quiet.

“But now these ‘errors’ have been corrected.”

Samuel declared with a somewhat bittersweet expression.

“Tell the Stars that the game will now proceed normally without any special errors. And don’t forget to record this case in the error resolution cases, so that it can be referenced in future games.”

The priests began to prepare to move busily again.

It was time to announce the end of the Leviathan Mission and raise the difficulty to: Hard.

Samuel had unexpectedly become deeply involved in the game because of the ‘errors,’ but now that things had turned out this way, he intended to accelerate the process a bit more.

Having confirmed that the ‘errors’ were not what they were looking for, their business in this world was over anyway.

Once they quickly handed over the Star to someone, the priests could move on to the next world.

“You look happy.”

At that moment, Maria approached and spoke.

***

“Does this happen often?”

“Ah, Stars of the Apocalypse and Turned Stars?”

Samuel shrugged and replied.

“It’s the process of unifying the entire world into a single game board with one rule. It’s a gambling den where the power of countless Stars is gathered on one planet, so of course, all sorts of things happen. In fact, it should be called a singularity rather than an error.”

“How often does it happen?”

“Stars of the Apocalypse are roughly one out of three? When you think about it, 1/3 of the worlds where the game is played are destroyed. Fortunately, the Stars of the Apocalypse don’t remain and simply disappear into the dust of the universe.”

Samuel casually spoke about the destruction of a world as if it were nothing. Maria widened her eyes and asked again.

“…That happens quite often.”

“There are plenty of worlds at this level in the universe. We can’t even get close to places with Guardians or other Star representatives. We tend to chase after places where errors are likely to occur on purpose.”

But here, Samuel narrowed his eyes and stared at the screen again, continuing his words.

“Still, Turned Stars… are really unique. It’s recorded as the third time since we started wandering. If it weren’t for Kang Hyun-woo, we wouldn’t have even noticed. Moreover, the Star of the Apocalypse is a Turned Star at the same time, and it collides with another Star of the Apocalypse and disappears. We were really lucky.”

Samuel looked at her and raised the corners of his mouth.

“You answered modestly, Professor Keller. This plan would have been impossible without you. Thanks to taking control of the UN Special Inspection Unit, we were able to control the flow of ability users around the world, and we were able to utilize a large number of observation devices. On top of that, we used Adam Fault as bait to lure out Kang Hyun-woo and the Teacher. No one would have thought that the ultimate goal was these two ‘errors’.”

Samuel added, as if asking if she wasn’t happy.

“Moreover, Adam Fault even survived. I thought this was unexpected, but aren’t you happy? He’s the dog you raised.”

However, Maria Keller did not show a happy expression, but simply replied coldly with a blunt face.

“I am not satisfied with simply solving the ‘Leviathan Mission.’ I gave up everything I had for this plan. The price you have to pay will not be cheap.”

“Of course.”

Samuel smiled and replied.

“We will provide as much convenience as possible without being noticed by other Stars. I’m glad I consulted you when I first realized Kang Hyun-woo’s existence.”

“You mean the Taean Dungeon incident?”

Maria recalled the Taean Dungeon disappearance incident.

The first incident in which a priest was killed in a dungeon and the dungeon disappeared.

It was the moment when she realized that a priest, who she thought was immortal, could die. But after that, such a thing never happened again.

“Yes. Thanks to that, I learned that an existence with the power of the Apocalypse had appeared. Logically, there was no way that only an existence with that power would appear, so I also learned about the existence of the Turned Star. Naturally, I was able to recognize the existence of the Teacher as well.”

However, Maria was not letting go of her interest in this matter.

More than anything else, about the ‘power of the Apocalypse’.

If this was so dangerous, the priests should have immediately suppressed Kang Hyun-woo.

But after that, they didn’t even approach Kang Hyun-woo, let alone contact him. Maria knew the reason.

“So, you were scared and didn’t want to come out at all. Because you were afraid of dying from the power of the Apocalypse?”

Maria sneered and shot at Samuel.

“You’ve figured that out too. Well, if you have basic knowledge, it wouldn’t be difficult to deduce that much.”

But Samuel surprisingly admitted it readily. It was as if Maria was not a threat at all, even though it was information that could be their weakness.

“Death is troublesome for you and us alike. What can we do?”

Maria was a dwarfed old woman with a disability, and even though she was an ability user, her level was at the bottom.

Moreover, the priests were within the area where ‘commands’ worked. Within this area, their abilities were absolute.

But Maria continued to speak.

“That’s why you call the ‘power of the Apocalypse’ an ‘error.’ If this damp code interferes with your commands, the commands become useless. You’re saying that you’ll no longer be in a state where commands work, right?”

Samuel’s eyes narrowed as he watched Maria continue to speak about something that had never been explained.

“You know too much.”

***

Samuel placed his hand on the pistol he had on his waist. If Maria knew this much, he really had to make her a priest or kill her.

But Maria was too dangerous to be made a priest, and at the same time, too precious to kill.

‘She’s the perfect talent to exploit until the game is over.’

As if understanding his thoughts, Maria chuckled and leaned her chin on her hand, looking at him.

“I didn’t figure it out. The Teacher explained it to me.”

“…The Teacher? Are you talking about Kang Hyun-woo, who regressed with the power of the Turned Star?”

“Let’s call him the Teacher so we don’t get confused. You heard the story that he came to me first and proposed the ‘best future,’ right? That’s right. But that’s not all he talked about. He also talked about how the ‘best future’ specifically unfolded.”

The priests looked at each other.

The priests were also curious about the future.

But even if there was such a thing as the ‘best future,’ now that the Teacher was dead, such a future was as good as non-existent.

“He said that Kang Hyun-woo would meet those he called the ‘worst enemies’ and sacrifice himself there. I don’t know the specific circumstances, but the Teacher said that those ‘worst enemies’ were you, the priests.”

“What….”

Samuel frowned.

“That’s impossible. No matter how much power of the Apocalypse he has, are we just going to gather in one place and wait for him to kill us? Do we look that stupid?”

“Well. Aren’t you all gathered here in one place right now?”

Samuel felt a chill run down his spine for a moment.

As she said, most of the priests who should be managing dungeons around the world were now gathered inside the UN Special Inspection Department headquarters.

Of course, this wasn’t all of them. But if a situation like the one Maria mentioned were to occur, the game’s progress would be immediately halted.

“But now that Kang Hyun-woo and the Teacher have been excluded from the game board, there seems to be no possibility that such a future will come.”

Samuel tried to calm down as he spoke. At the same time, he prepared the priests for any possible situation.

Maria smiled as she watched the scene.

“You seem nervous. Samuel. Is my storytelling not very good?”

“You seem to have a talent for telling chilling stories.”

“That’s nice of you. Other government officials all say that my apocalypse horror novel skills are not very good. They say the pattern is always the same.”

Maria moved towards the center of the conference room, dragging her wheelchair. The sound of the old wheelchair felt particularly loud.

Maria continued, looking at the screen that still showed the battlefield where Kang Hyun-woo and the Teacher had fought.

“And the Teacher told me one more interesting story.”

Samuel watched Maria with a sharp expression. No matter how he thought about it, it was troublesome for Maria to be alive.

She was a person who would only be inconvenient to kill, but could be a great threat if she was alive.

He went behind Maria to finish her off.

“The Teacher said that it wasn’t him who came, but me. I was the one who first went to the Teacher and proposed a plan for the best future, and he liked the plan so much that he turned back time to come at the most appropriate timing.”

“I see.”

Clink.

Samuel’s pistol touched the back of Maria’s head. But Maria didn’t flinch or move at all.

“I’m sorry. Maria. If you had a plan, you should have been quieter.”

“So, I threw UN Special Inspection Department members, Chrome, Adam Fault, Kang Hyun-woo and the Teacher, and even myself as bait for that plan. To lure you in.”

Maria slowly turned her head.

“It seems that about that many lives have to be put on the scale to replace one Kang Hyun-woo from the future to be fair.”

Samuel didn’t feel the need to listen anymore. He pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang.

With a short gunshot, Maria’s head drooped.

The knowledge and experience that the world’s top scholar had accumulated over decades flowed out through the hole in vain.

Samuel put the gun away with a queasy expression. In addition to the fact that he had no choice but to kill Maria, he felt uncomfortable with the fact that she had been defeated too easily.

“She might have been up to something. Investigate all the people Maria Keller has contacted in the past week. And….”

It was then.

Maria’s body slowly slid down, and a blanket fell to the floor.

Samuel found a large, sealed box hidden between Maria’s emaciated legs.

A thing hidden in a place that no one would ever look.

Samuel’s expression twisted as he immediately recognized the identity of the box.

A bomb.

“Command: Prevent body damage, fire res….”

Bang!

The command that was being entered to prevent the explosion was rendered useless, and the box in the wheelchair exploded with a deafening roar.

Shards and iron beads hidden inside the box tore through the priests’ bodies.

The priests, who had already entered the commands to prevent body damage and immortality, were relieved, but soon screamed in the face of the terrible pain that followed.

The command was not working.

The fragments contained the power of the Apocalypse.

Samuel couldn’t understand.

How?

Did Maria somehow gain the power of the Apocalypse? But when?

But Maria, who would have had the answer, was already dead, and countless priests were about to become her companions.

“Everyone, take out the fragments! The fragments are interfering with the command! The priest who has recovered the fragments should come out….”

Clatter.

Samuel heard the sound of glass shards being stepped on. Someone was walking in through the glass exterior wall that had been broken by the explosion.

He thought it was a guard who had come after hearing the explosion, but it wasn’t.

“Well, it ended up like this after all.”

Samuel tried to figure out who the woman was. But her impression was so vague that he couldn’t remember her well.

That’s because she was rarely at the center of events.

Mostly on the outskirts, or behind someone.

Nevertheless, she was a person who was always present at important moments.

The woman looked at Maria Keller’s severely damaged body on the wheelchair before turning her head to the priest who was lying next to her.

The priest struggled to get up, trembling. The woman turned the automatic rifle she was carrying on her side and pulled the trigger once.

Thud.

The priest, who had been shot through the head, slumped down. At the same time, his body crumbled like mud.

Samuel realized that she wielded the power of the Apocalypse. And that these fragments, these bullets, were magic bullets that could contain attributes.

There was only one group that could make such magic bullets.

The Almighty Union.

There were more people with the power of the Apocalypse besides Kang Hyun-woo and the Teacher.

“Mr. Park Hwi-so, please take care of Professor Keller’s remains.”

“Yes. Then, Ms. Yoo Min….”

The woman called Yoo Min slowly turned her head to Samuel.

“I have to finish the work that Professor Keller was doing.”

Samuel remembered what Maria had said.

‘I gave up everything I had.’

Soon, the muzzle of the gun touched his forehead coldly. Samuel could feel the sensation of the muzzle that Maria must have felt at the end.

‘The price you have to pay will not be cheap.’

Flash, roar, vibration.

Samuel’s body collapsed.

Yoo Min walked around the conference room and dealt with them one by one. By the time the recovery of Professor Keller’s remains was completed, Yoo Min had also completely finished her business.

Park Hwi-so was looking at the screen that the priests had been watching. He opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“But Ms. Yoo Min, is Kang Hyun-woo really dead?”

“Yes? Who’s dead?”

Yoo Min asked as if she was puzzled. It wasn’t that she was denying it because she didn’t want to believe it, or that she didn’t know.

“He’ll come back. It looks like it will take a little longer this time.”

***

【Difficulty: Hell

Entering the Star of the Apocalypse.】

Kang Hyun-woo opened his eyes.