Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 290

290. The Ninth (2)

“I’m the ninth?”

Chosen instead of Lee Ji-tae and Red Butterfly?

Hyeon-woo asked, seemingly bewildered.

He had received the Return Stone under the guise of his father’s keepsake.

A father he had never spoken to or seen since birth.

Even when he interrogated Robert Lee, the alliance lawyer who handed over the Return Stone, he hadn’t heard this information.

“Even if it’s Lee Ji-tae, Red Butterfly?”

Red Butterfly was just one of the disciples of someone called ‘Teacher,’ whom he barely remembered.

Adam stared at Hyeon-woo silently.

“What’s wrong with Red Butterfly?”

“Lee Ji-tae is undoubtedly one of the strongest in all of humanity, and his character is impeccable, but Red Butterfly… she had talent, but her experience was as short as mine.”

“Your words contain the answer. We’ve entered Difficulty: Hell. Does previous experience or level seem important? You’ve grown to the point where you can look at the stars as equals in just one year.”

“…….”

Adam was right.

Having entered Difficulty: Hell, previous levels, experience, equipment, skills, and items were completely irrelevant.

Because all of that was inferior to what was given in Difficulty: Hell.

The only thing that mattered was:

Could you survive in Hell, or not?

Rather, he should have asked why Lee Ji-tae was even on the list.

“And Red Butterfly was one of the heroes who fought for humanity until the very end. She died young in the Leviathan War, but without her sacrifice, humanity would have perished sooner.”

She valued Red Butterfly highly but didn’t seem to think the outcome would change. That’s how overwhelming the time she had experienced must have been.

“…The other eight are dead or insane?”

“Yes. But I can’t know who came and went. Everything is recorded in the Return Stone.”

“Who was supposed to come originally?”

Adam opened her mouth as if to explain, then closed it again.

Tiredness flashed across her face, but she let out a long sigh and said.

“To explain that, I’d have to go back a bit further.”

“Can’t you just tell me?”

“Then you’ll ask why I made such a selection. We’ll end up explaining in reverse chronological order. Then you’ll get confused, and I’ll get confused. It’s better to explain the flow of events in order.”

Adam Fault showed a blatantly annoyed expression but spoke as if she couldn’t help it.

The Adam Fault of this world seemed quite kind, unlike her grotesque appearance.

If it were the Adam Fault of Difficulty: Normal, she would have ignored him, saying, ‘Why should I explain such things one by one?’

Whether it was loneliness that changed her, or the things she had done with countless people while experiencing the end, he couldn’t know.

‘I thought she was just a pet following Maria Keller around.’

Hyeon-woo suddenly remembered what Monstrill had said.

As the situation turned desperate, Maria Keller left Chrome. And Adam Fault was left in the wasteland with only the order to ‘Protect humanity.’

Even as her body was distorted and altered, she had been carrying out that order until now.

Then where did Maria Keller go?

“I should first talk about the person who created the Return Stone.”

“The person who created the Return Stone?”

“Yes. The one who created the Return Stone, and the originator of the promise. The greatest intellect of humanity, who abandoned the unnecessary beast and decided to bring in a new beast. The person who collapsed the rules and established new rules on top of them.”

Adam Fault let out a long sigh and said one person’s name.

“The Falling Star, the agent of Gaul. It’s Professor Maria Keller.”

***

After a period of silence, Adam finally spoke.

“Before that, I know you were protecting the Whispering Star. She probably mixed lies and truths skillfully. I don’t like the Whispering Star either, but I think she’s better than the other stars at least. She wanted to protect many humans and be loved by them.”

“Gaul said that Monstrill created the Star of Doom.”

“That’s right.”

Adam nodded, quietly gazing at Hyeon-woo.

“That’s an unforgivable act. But it’s not something I can condemn. It was around the latter half of Difficulty: Hard. The Leviathan [a massive sea monster] had turned about 60% of the sea into a salt desert, and a nuclear war broke out. From that point on, Professor Keller’s plan to ‘suppress war with powerful force’ had completely failed.”

Adam looked down at her hands and said.

Adam was the ‘powerful war deterrent’ that Maria Keller had raised. But her power was insufficient to deter war and only repeatedly failed.

Hyeon-woo couldn’t know what a failed weapon thought of itself.

“Professor Keller thought a different approach was needed. A brilliant means to completely reverse the situation. She thought it would be difficult to carry out such a plan while protecting people one by one in Chrome, so she left Chrome. But… Professor Keller wasn’t the only one who thought that way.”

Chrome, which Maria Keller abandoned.

However, Chrome had many capable and talented people to simply perish helplessly because Maria Keller had left.

And there was enough madness and desperation.

“At the time, people were trying everything to reverse the situation. There were many crazy things. Even a plan to raise me as a clone. That’s when the Whispering Star… Lee Seo-yeon, brought new information.”

Adam Fault clenched her hand tightly and then spread it open.

“About the Star of Doom.”

Hyeon-woo leaned forward and listened. The sound of stone fragments crumbling around Adam Fault was like the sound of burning firewood.

“It was the story that an unprecedentedly powerful star still remained. A star with the power to devour and sweep away other stars. A star beyond Adam Fault, surpassing Adam Fault, such a star.”

She smiled bitterly and lowered her eyes.

“I was educated and raised as a weapon. If another such powerful weapon could be created, my burden would be much lighter, and Professor Keller’s plan might also succeed. Of course, I would become useless, but if Professor Keller’s plan was recognized and successful, I thought it would be okay.”

So she agreed to the creation of the Star of Doom.

Lee Seo-yeon didn’t say where she got the information or how she found out such things.

She just persistently and steadily carried out the plan.

Selecting one person from their group and driving them into the most depressed and miserable situation.

“…But even if I try to think positively, I can’t describe what she did in a positive way. They were things I don’t even want to mention in detail. I didn’t want to get involved, and Lee Seo-yeon said it was enough for me to just ignore it.”

“Hmm.”

“The emotions that the Whispering Star draws out are not just love or affection. She could also draw out hatred, depression, and all sorts of dark emotions. But despite her efforts, not many people showed signs. Most people either committed suicide when they fell into that much despair, or they gave up and entrusted themselves to another star. But…”

Adam Fault looked at Hyeon-woo and said.

“Only one person showed the potential to become the Star of Doom. It was a person named Kang Hyeon-woo.”

Hyeon-woo chuckled.

It was the first time he had heard definitively that the Kang Hyeon-woo of this world was the Star of Doom. But it felt stranger to refer to a third party as if he were addressing the person in front of him.

Even though that third party was the subject of harsh emotional and physical experiments.

“Actually, this result was unexpected. Lee Seo-yeon had no intention of making Kang Hyeon-woo the Star of Doom. In fact, Kang Hyeon-woo was an unrelated person to her experiments. I don’t know what drove Kang Hyeon-woo. But once he showed signs, we had no choice but to continue the experiment. But, as you know…”

Adam Fault looked up at the sky.

A terribly red sky. A swarm of insects filling the sky and unidentified beasts beyond the horizon.

A poisonous atmosphere where humans who were not familiars could not survive, and rampaging monsters.

The current world was showing the results of that experiment.

“…We created a beast that was too strong. Countless starlight faded away because of that beast. That’s when Professor Keller returned. She was also horrified by the results we had created. Professor Keller, who returned as the agent of the Falling Star, killed Lee Seo-yeon as soon as she returned. No, that’s what we thought.”

Adam Fault opened her dry lips and said.

“At that time, it was already Difficulty: Nightmare. We were preparing to die in the hell we had created. But Professor Keller suggested a plan that she had come up with while becoming an agent, rather than being completely destroyed. To all the agents, apostles, and familiars who had even a little affection for humanity.”

A stone fragment floated in the air. The stone fragment was cut exactly in half and then crumbled.

“Before humanity is destroyed, we must separate this world.”

“Separate?”

At Hyeon-woo’s question, Adam nodded.

“Yes. We must cut off the rotten part before it eats away at the rest. Of course, this was a completely different dimension, but that’s why Maria Keller left Chrome in the first place. To return to a world in a specific time period that was still intact.”

It was what was called regression.

“Is that possible?”

“It was impossible with the power of the Falling Star alone. It required a lot of power, a lot of sacrifice, and a lot of tears. But Professor Keller’s method not only recovered this world but also instilled hope in people that they might be able to save the many people who had died up to this point and regain their original lives.”

Time reversal is a fraudulent method used in many creative works.

It is a very effective method that creators who have driven the story to a hopeless and terrible situation use to create a happy ending without much thought.

Of course, it would be an understatement to say that it is very unfair to the villains who have been fighting hard for destruction until then.

Anyway, if possible, it could only be the only hope for humanity.

“With the sacrifice and effort, or tacit consent, of many stars, Keller finally succeeded. Unlike the artificially created Star of Doom, she created an artificially created star full of hope. She created the only star that would save humanity.”

Adam Fault picked up Hyeon-woo’s Return Stone again and said.

“The name of this Return Stone is ‘The Star That Turned Back’.”

She turned her gaze and stared into Hyeon-woo’s eyes.

“It is the star itself that Professor Keller created, made by grinding in the power of countless agents and apostles, and condensing all the power to the extreme.”

***

Hyeon-woo maintained a long silence before opening his mouth again.

“There are still a few things I don’t understand, but if I ask about everything, twenty-four hours won’t be enough. So I’ll just ask one important thing. So, if Maria Keller created this Return Stone… did Maria Keller also use it?”

“No. We chose one of us. A strong person with no flaws in personality and who can steadily strive for the goal even if they regress to the past.”

“What, don’t tell me it’s me…”

“It was Lee Ji-tae in this world. Stop being so shameless.”

Before Hyeon-woo could finish speaking, Adam quickly cut him off.

Hyeon-woo was surprised to hear that Lee Ji-tae had used the Return Stone.

From what he had heard so far, it was highly likely that the ‘Teacher’ of the alliance was the first user of the Return Stone.

‘If that’s Lee Ji-tae of Difficulty: Hell, who is that skeleton in the gym?’

The records and traces all resembled Lee Ji-tae. But Adam’s answer only confused Hyeon-woo.

“After Lee Ji-tae used the Return Stone, good news was delivered. That the end was no longer progressing.”

Adam continued calmly.

“The cessation of the end gave hope and instilled an opportunity to respect the promise in other stars. There was fear that if they broke the promise, the end might start again.”

“Did Lee Ji-tae do a good job?”

“Well… one of Lee Ji-tae’s missions was to train talented people in Difficulty: Hell and nurture them as saviors. There might be more promising talents than Lee Ji-tae, who had already grown as much as he could. If he traveled back and forth between Difficulty: Hell and Difficulty: Tutorial and collected fragments of stars, he believed that this hell could be salvaged.”

Since the end had stopped, if they conquered all the other stars, it would be possible to create a paradise even in the remaining land.

But this place had not changed.

Only the quick death had changed to a slow one.

“Is there anything else Lee Ji-tae changed?”

“No. But… when it was deemed impossible to continue his mission due to unavoidable reasons, he was supposed to choose a successor and pass on the Return Stone. The successor has changed eight times so far, including you, so it doesn’t seem like it was an easy task.”

“Wait, then the previous owners all committed suicide or went crazy. Then didn’t Lee Ji-tae also become like that?”

“No. Lee Ji-tae is the manager of the Return Stone. He is not someone who would commit suicide, even if he went crazy. Seeing that the Return Stone is being steadily managed, it seems that someone who understands and knows the Return Stone well is still looking for a successor. I can’t think of anyone other than Lee Ji-tae. No, wait…”

At that time, Adam Fault thought about something carefully.

“Something is strange. Seeing that you, who were not even on the list in the first place, are here, there seems to be a problem.”

“I wasn’t even on the list?”

“Of course, the successor must be someone with no flaws in personality and a strong will. But you don’t fit in anywhere. I don’t know if you have a strong will or a strong grudge.”

“Then who is there?”

Only then did Adam slowly recite the list.

“Personality is a given, and those who are too famous or have important positions were removed from the list as much as possible. If they fail, it could mean eliminating the possibility of that world surviving.”

The list that Adam mentioned included names that Hyeon-woo knew and names that he heard for the first time.

Even Yoo-min and Father Johann were there. Surprisingly, Adam Fault was not there.

She didn’t seem to be particularly offended by that fact.

But as he went further back, the names of famous powerhouses were mentioned. Hyeon-woo lightly scoffed.

“No matter how much you pretend to be considerate, it seems that the salvation of this side was more urgent than that side.”

Anyway, Hyeon-woo thought of the alliance after hearing these conditions.

And he seemed to know why the alliance was obsessed with the personality of the ‘Savior’.

It didn’t seem like all the alliance members knew about the Return Stone. But at least the person called Teacher clearly knew.

He had been constantly gauging whether he was suitable as the successor of the Return Stone or not.

‘I think I know why those guys are always saying the best future like a habit.’

In the end, they are guys contaminated with Maria Keller’s ideology.

Branching-style future cultivation.

“It’s very interesting to find out how this world was destroyed.”

“Is that so? Is it interesting?”

Adam Fault muttered with a bitter smile.

“There are many parts that I haven’t talked about. There must be many parts that haven’t been explained.”

“Unnecessary.”

In the end, the story that was ultimately needed for the future in Adam Fault’s story was the identity of the person presumed to be the Teacher.

And about the reason for creating the Return Stone.

Minor settings were enough to write down in the notebook of an obsessive-compulsive patient.

Adam Fault let out a long breath as if relieved after finishing the long story.

“There was no one to tell this story to. It feels like I’ve finished a long mission. Now that there are no humans to protect or promises to keep… I think I can sleep well for the first time in a long time.”

“Sleep?”

“Yes. I don’t even remember how many years ago I slept. Now…”

Adam quietly nodded and narrowed her eyes. It seemed like she could rest for a long time this time.

But at that moment, Hyeon-woo suddenly reached out his hand. With a cracking sound, Hyeon-woo’s arm was messed up and broken by Adam’s power.

Adam quickly withdrew her power as she came to her senses.

“What are you doing! Do you want to die!”

“Who said you could fall asleep as you please?”

Hyeon-woo replied, rubbing his broken arm to reshape it. Adam frowned and said.

“I have been carrying out a long mission for a long time. I’m tired enough now. I barely finished the mission, but I made time for you. So now I’m going to take a break, is there still anything you’re curious about?”

“It’s not that.”

Hyeon-woo smiled and said.

“I’m still human. The last human. You are a dog that protects humanity. A dog should follow the words of its new master, right?”