Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 286

286. Whispering Star (8)

“The end?”

Hyeon-woo folded his arms, blocking Gaul’s path. He wasn’t planning on letting him take another step until he explained what that meant.

Gaul made a sharp, metallic screech.

Hyeon-woo couldn’t see his expression, but he knew it was a sign of annoyance and dissatisfaction.

“I’m tired of getting vague explanations. Tell me without hiding anything, you shady bastard.”

[It is exactly as it sounds.]

Crackle, crackle, crackle.

The crumbling arm dripped metal fragments as it pointed to the hill behind Hyeon-woo.

[The Whispering Star drove humanity to its end. She divided Chrome and plunged it into hell. And her sins aren’t limited to that. All the stars outwardly claimed to serve the greater good, but the Whispering Star only sought her own personal gain and rushed towards destruction. The hell we have created in later generations is a sin incited by her.]

Hyeon-woo thought the sound of the metal breaking was like grinding teeth and sobbing at the same time.

The one who appeared now must be an agent of the Shattered Star.

Hyeon-woo figured he was probably as deeply involved in this world as Monstress’s agent, and that there must be a deep story between the two.

“Anyway, you bastards are really good at blaming others. Explain what you mean by the Whispering Star bringing about the end. Don’t expect me to understand just because you’re talking vaguely.”

[She.]

Gaul muttered, grinding his teeth.

[Gave birth to the Star of the End.]

The Star of the End.

Hyeon-woo had seen most of the Earth covered in something black.

Looking at it, it was clear that the map of this world was closer to the victory of the one called ‘Star of the End’ than any other star.

And Gaul saw it as ‘the end.’

“So what? Weren’t you guys just messing around as if you were playing a game? It seems like any star would be responsible for making the world such a mess, so why are you so upset with only the Whispering Star?”

[The Star of the End is not the kind of star you think it is.]

Gaul raised his hand. His crumbling arm created a round sphere.

The sphere changed into all sorts of bizarre shapes. It was a beast, then a human, then a building, and sometimes it took the form of a tree or an artificial satellite.

Every time Gaul spoke, metal powder crumbled from the sphere.

[The Star of the End is just ‘the end’ itself. That world disappears and becomes as empty as if nothing had ever existed from the beginning. Everything high in that world becomes low, everything hot becomes cold, and everything complex becomes simple. That is the end.]

And finally, nothing remained in Gaul’s hand. He looked at his empty hand and said.

[There is nothing. Without a winner or a loser, returning to an emptiness where nothing can be born.]

Gaul raised his eyes and stared at Hyeon-woo.

[Who on earth would want such a future? Even those who just want the world to burn dream of a hell full of heat and malice.]

Especially in an era full of stars that can directly realize their desires and ideals.

If you dream of burning ruins, you will choose a conquering star, and if you just want quiet rest, you can dream of a wailing star.

[But why dream of a cold void? Even those who die alone want to leave a trace in the world.]

Hyeon-woo tilted his head at this point.

How does the Shattered Star know what a person in despair dreams of?

Whether it’s cold or hot, hell is just hell.

Even an empty void will be a cradle for someone.

But the Shattered Star seemed to believe in his words without a doubt.

[But the Whispering Star encouraged one of the humans to have such a future, and she succeeded. How many people did she lead to ruin by whispering about wealth and success? But the biggest and worst of them all is that she incited the despair of a human and gave birth to the Star of the End.]

“Gave birth to the Star of the End?”

[An empty human who cannot imagine any future.]

Gaul whispered.

[The result is this world, Difficulty: Hell. The Star of the End.]

“That’s wrong.”

Someone said as if refuting Gaul’s declaration.

It wasn’t Hyeon-woo.

Hyeon-woo turned his head at the familiar voice. Opening the door of the shelter, someone who shouldn’t be here, someone who shouldn’t be, was showing his face.

“Shattered Star, you bastard. Everything you say is wrong from start to finish.”

Yoo-min glared at Gaul with his red eyes shining.

***

Gaul was the first to react convulsively to Yoo-min’s appearance.

[How dare you.]

Gaul’s entire body bristled like a hedgehog all at once.

The moment he swung his arm, sharp metal thorns shot up from the location of Yoo-min to the location of Gaul.

It felt like his arm was stretching out.

Crash, crash, crash.

Just as Yoo-min’s body was about to be torn apart by the sharp metal fragments, Ha-hyeon quickly pulled Yoo-min’s body away.

The thorn barrier passed Yoo-min and directly hit the golems behind, splitting them in half. The moment Gaul tried to move again, Hyeon-woo swung his fist.

Bang, Gaul’s face, struck by the hand consumed by the Constrictor Yael [a powerful artifact], shattered into fragments and distorted.

But soon it rose up as if to devour Hyeon-woo’s arm and attacked. Hyeon-woo roughly pulled out his hand and stepped back.

“I said let’s talk, Gaul. Don’t worry about anything else and focus on this side.”

[…….]

However, Gaul did not take his eyes off Yoo-min. Yoo-min staggered as if it was difficult to move his body, but he showed his face over the hill.

“Thank you, Hyeon-woo. I’m…….”

“Shut up!”

Hyeon-woo pointed his finger at Yoo-min, or rather, Monstress in her form, and shouted.

“I never allowed you to take that form. I know what you’re trying to do by taking that form, but stay quietly in Sang-hyeon’s form. If you pull any more tricks, I’ll tear you apart myself, not Gaul.”

“…….”

Monstress received Hyeon-woo’s cold eyes and slowly changed back to Sang-hyeon’s appearance.

Her appearance, made up of small spiders, could be changed as much as it was not bound by form.

“And Gaul, whether you are an agent or an apostle in this place, if you lie, I will shatter you into the world so that your form cannot be known.”

Gaul could have laughed at Hyeon-woo’s words. But he showed no reaction and simply chose to remain silent.

After shutting up the two stars, Hyeon-woo opened his mouth.

“Gaul, if you hate Monstress so much, why are you making such a fuss now? It seems like you had plenty of time before you got involved with me, so what were you doing then?”

[I killed her.]

Gaul answered grimly.

[I was the one who killed the agent of the Whispering Star. No, I thought I killed her.]

“Did you hear that, Hyeon-woo!”

Monstress shouted, grinding her teeth.

“That guy killed your lover! It wasn’t me who created the Star of the End! It was that guy! The Shattered Star murdered Yoo-min, so you were reborn as the Star of the End! And he’s trying to keep blaming me because of his hatred for me!”

Gaul’s body rattled for a moment. Gaul trembled his pieces as if he had misheard something and whispered.

[Yoo-min had to die! Everything was inevitable!]

“Accept my power, the power of the Whispering Star, Hyeon-woo! With the power you have now, you can become my agent right away! If you and I join forces, we can crush the Shattered Star’s plot and disinfect these shady bastards!”

[Nonsense, that man will not choose any star! Especially you!]

“Avenge your lover! Destroy the guy who screwed up your world!”

In the midst of the noisy shouts, Hyeon-woo let out a long sigh.

It could have been a humiliating situation for the stars.

But even if they are stars, in the end, those who are standing in this world are agents who were once human.

The moment their personal relationships are twisted, even stars have no choice but to be dragged down to the position of humans.

You may eat elegantly, but in the end, you have to sit on the toilet when you poop.

Bringing the stars down to earth was something Hyeon-woo had always dreamed of, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as he thought.

It was just unpleasant.

Hyeon-woo looked at Gaul, then slowly turned his body and started approaching Monstress.

Gaul raised his thorns sharply, and Monstress smiled with joy.

“Hyeon-woo.”

She reached out and stroked Hyeon-woo’s cheek.

“I knew you would come back. My lover, my beloved, a piece that is always empty in my heart.”

Monstress whispered so and slowly changed her form back to Yoo-min’s appearance.

Hyeon-woo stroked Monstress’s cheek. The moment Monstress tried to grab his hand, Hyeon-woo’s hand grabbed her neck.

Monstress’s eyes widened, and Ha-hyeon rushed in, flustered. Hyeon-woo immediately injected a coercive will into Ha-hyeon, stopping her.

Ha-hyeon could only watch helplessly as Hyeon-woo’s hand tightened around Sang-hyeon’s neck.

“Cough, huh, uh.”

Hyeon-woo’s hand was squeezing her neck tightly. It was enough pressure to break the neck of an ordinary person. But the Sang-hyeon and Ha-hyeon sisters do not die from being strangled.

They just lose their ego.

To prevent that, they had no choice but to endure the pain and maintain their form.

“This deception is too boring to bear any longer.”

Hyeon-woo whispered, glaring into Monstress’s eyes.

“The story can’t go on, so I need to talk in a more honest place. Monstress, no.”

Strong pressure was applied to Hyeon-woo’s hand.

Crack.

A sound of something tearing echoed.

It wasn’t the sound of Sang-hyeon’s neck tearing. Someone appeared through her back, as if shedding a skin.

It was a naked human with a completely black body. There was no appearance anywhere on the body that could identify the gender, but only the appearance was familiar to Hyeon-woo’s eyes.

“Lee Seo-yeon.”

Hyeon-woo muttered, raising the corners of his lips.

“Yes. Now you’re going to be a little more honest.”

***

“……Since when did you know?”

Monstress had been meticulously preparing to seduce Hyeon-woo for a very long time.

To be exact, it was from the day she first seduced Hyeon-woo and he answered, ‘I have a girlfriend.’

Monstress constantly talked and spied on his thoughts, emphasizing that she was the most important person to Hyeon-woo.

However, the only information she could find was fragmentary information such as glasses and clothing.

She had been leaking clues to Hyeon-woo with such information and deliberately maintaining secrecy. In fact, these were actions to extract information from Hyeon-woo.

“It hasn’t been long. I’ve been narrowing down the candidates, but I only thought of you as one of them. The reason I was sure you were Lee Seo-yeon was from today, from meeting you. From the moment you claimed to be Yoo-min.”

Lee Seo-yeon had an expression that she didn’t understand.

“Why is that?”

“You made a mistake in a very basic part.”

“A mistake?”

“Yoo-min doesn’t even fall into a situation where she would ask me for help in the first place.”

Lee Seo-yeon closed her mouth.

She had an expression asking if that made sense.

Of course, Hyeon-woo’s words were a bluff.

Hyeon-woo had already seen Lee Seo-yeon’s right arm being consumed by the Constrictor Yael in Difficulty: Normal.

Because it was still a low-level item, the name was different, but Hyeon-woo had already seen the item’s name change as the level increased.

It was ‘Constrictor Yael’, which Hyeon-woo had already received as a gift from the Whispering Star.

Therefore, in Hyeon-woo’s mind, Lee Seo-yeon was already at the top of the list of suspects as Monstress’s agent.

“Does the reason matter? You’ve already been caught.”

Lee Seo-yeon’s eyes shook rapidly. Then, a desperate look spread.

She and Monstress had poured almost all of their assets into seducing Hyeon-woo.

Contacting the Sang-hyeon and Ha-hyeon sisters was also for this purpose.

She was also able to confirm that Hyeon-woo was more vulnerable to affection than she thought.

It was also her intention to have Hyeon-woo kill Sang-hyeon with his own hands. And when Sang-hyeon was conceived and grew in Ha-hyeon’s body, she stole the information that Ha-hyeon saw in the world of Difficulty: Normal.

That’s how she found out the name of Hyeon-woo’s lover, ‘Yoo-min’.

However, she did not know how much Hyeon-woo and Yoo-min trusted each other.

“No way. But you…….”

“The me in this world that you’ve seen must have been an incompetent loser full of inferiority complex.”

Hyeon-woo answered quietly.

“I know Yoo-min. There’s no way Yoo-min would fall for the Whispering Star, and she’s not foolish enough to be attracted to such a loser. Maybe in this world, Yoo-min and I were nothing to each other.”

At that moment, Lee Seo-yeon’s eyes blazed. She shouted with an angry hiss.

“No, you son of a bitch!”

“What’s not?”

“Kang Hyeon-woo was not an incompetent loser! He was my only success!”

Hyeon-woo wondered what Lee Seo-yeon was talking about. Then, he came up with another possibility that he had never considered, a possibility that he had never even thought of.

“What, you mean.”

Hyeon-woo’s mouth slowly opened.

“Was Kang Hyeon-woo in this world in a romantic relationship with you?”