<h4>Chapter 58: Bibliomania (3)</h4>


    I asked the Hunters to find good apocalyptic books.


    “Do you understand?” I said as I went around their groups. “The books shouldn’t be too easy or too hard. It has to be somewhere in the middle and give the right rewards.”


    Two hundred fifty Hunters followed my lead and began to read the apocalyptic books. Since each of them was the history of an entire world, they were all long. All of the Hunters were dedicated to their reading, but they were still far from being finished.


    However, the Inquisitor was an exception because he had no book to read. “Fairy tale” was still written on the back of the natural psycho’s hand.


    “Death King, something is strange.” The natural-born psycho raised his hand.


    “What is?”


    “I haven’t received any apocalyptic books. Are fairy tales not a popr genre?”


    “It can’t be. There are many people who haven’t read fantasy or romance, but everyone knows fairy tales. It’s one of the most popr genres,” I answered.


    “You’re right. Hmm. But why haven’t I received any books...?” The psycho tilted his head.


    Because no fairy tale would end with the destruction of the world, you psychopath.


    I almost said that out loud, but I held myself back. “I’m not sure,” I told him, pretending I didn’t know anything. “Why don’t you wait a little longer? There are a ton of books, so at least one fairy tale is bound to be lying around somewhere.”


    “Yes, that’s true. I must have gotten a little impatient. I’ll wait quietly!” The psycho bounced away and sat himself in the corner.


    I, the ck Witch, and all of the other Hunters knew that the Inquisitor wasn’t going to get a fairy tale book ever.


    “Hey, preacher.”


    I stood corrected. It looked like the king of light novels didn’t know.


    “Yes, Mr. Viper?”


    “This one looks like a fairy tale. I got it from the pile of <i>murim</i> novels.”


    “I see! Thank you!” The Inquisitor took the book from the Viper with a bright smile on his face that had the holiness of an angel and a saint.


    It was a little scary.


    “Then I’ll get to reading, Mr. Death King! Hehe. I wonder what kind of apocalyptic book it is!”


    “Ah, yes... Um. Can I ask what the title is?” I asked the Inquisitor.


    “It’s <i>Our Victim</i>!”


    The title was also a bit scary.


    Eventually, every group had their books to examine and resumed reading.


    After who knew how long, it was time to eat.


    “Urghhhh.”


    “I f-feel like my eyes are going to burst.”


    The Hunters groaned. They were so tired that they ate the sandwiches and drank the ck tea from the bookmark maids without remark.


    “Death King...” The ck Witch, in the romance group, was just as bad; she looked much more tired than thest time I had seen her. “I can understand the Constetion.”


    “What do you mean?”


    “All of these stories stopped right at their climax. Meteors suddenly fall when the female lead confesses her love to the male lead; the moment the lead couple is about to hold hands and kiss, aliens suddenlyunch their invasion. They’re all disasters! No, I can ept the meteors, but why would an alien invasion suddenly start in an imperial pce?


    “And it’s supposed to be a romanticedy! Besides, the cruelest part is that the books are really good until they get cut off. The lead characters are charming, the storylines are so interesting... Only the endings are trash! It’s like I’m enjoying a perfect, full-course meal, and I got my main dish, which is a cutlet. I cut that open, and the inside is—”


    “You don’t have to tell me what’s in it. Can’t you see that I’m eating a pork cutlet sandwich?”


    “Oh, I’m sorry, Death King. It was inconsiderate of me to say that while you’re eating... No, I have to tell you! So it feels like the inside of the cutlet—”


    “It’s all broadcast live, ck Dragon Master. Live broadcast!”


    The ck Witch flinched in realization and closed her mouth. Ever since I saw her so desperately wishing to pop the zombie cyclops’s eye, I got the impression that she tended to get worked up at strange moments.


    Anyhow, I took a bite of my pork cutlet sandwich, relieved.


    After looking around for a moment, she whispered, “The inside of the cutlet is...”


    How would the crowd watching from the za react? Would they be holding their breath as the ck Witch whispered into my ear? Her whispering actually took my breath away. I didn’t want to look at another pork cutlet sandwich for at least a month.


    <i>Oh, god. Please save me...</i>


    <strong>[Shiny tries her best to save you.]</strong>


    I would prefer a goddess who couldn’t even save her own world to stay put... And yes, the god of this great library didn’t save me either. Instead, the Indoor Librarian floated about us, grinning.


    “It looks like you finally understand my pain.”


    The Indoor Librarian looked like a child, but his grin was nothing like one. It was the empty smile of a gourmet who lost his sense of taste after enduring life’s carrots and sticks.


    “I have nothing to hide. The 683 apocalyptic books I allowed you to read are some of the most evil ones in my great library, and they will take a great toll on you all.”


    “Books are evil?”


    “Yes, they’re so fun and exciting, leaving the readers no choice but to love them.” The Indoor Librarian’sughter was dreary. “But that’s it! Despite how fun they are, you’ll never be happy. No, that’s exactly what makes them so miserable! All of these evil books met crappy endings!”


    The ck Witch swallowed. “Did you pick these on purpose? So we’ll suffer just like you...?”


    “You can think of it like that.”


    “That’s the only way I can think of this situation right now...”


    “You should fall into the hell of discontinued serialization too. Suffer eternally like I do! Go on! Suffer!” The Indoor Librarian burst intoughter.


    I saw some of the Hunters shiver in fear.


    “Is he a demon?”


    “He’s crazy. He purposefully made us read masterpieces that stopped serialization.”


    “He’s going to hell...!”


    Iter found out that those Hunters enjoyed reading as a hobby. Although I didn’t really get it, those who loved books seemed to find the Indoor Librarian’s remarks horrifying.


    “Ah, M-Mr. Hunter.”


    That voice was familiar. I turned around to discover a Hunter from the fantasy group waving her hand at me. I briefly wondered who she was, but soon, I was able to match her face with a name.


    “Oh, it’s you. Did you also receive a title?” I asked.


    She was the Hunter who was going to be the Master Alchemist in the future—the chemist, who had supplied me with elixirs.


    “O-one thing led to another, but my title is Chemist. It’s pretty boring... Hehehe.” The chemist who was now The Chemistughed awkwardly.


    I was a little surprised. <i>The Master Alchemist already got her title?</i>


    Yes, she had high potential, but she had been stuck in the slums until recently. A title was given to those who achieved something recognized by the Tower, so it was quite early for her to make an achievement like that. I had only gotten my title after arming myself with overpowered Skills and repeating an endless cycle of madness. I guessed that those with potential made greater progress in the early stages of their lives.


    “You’re amazing. How did you get a title so quickly? I knew my judgment wasn’t wrong. It was obvious that you were going to make that someday. My investment was worth it.” Iughed, feeling pleasantly surprised.


    “N-no! It’s not amazing at all!” The Chemist waved her thin right hand. “I mean it. I’m not trying to be humble... I literally did nothing, but I got a title.”


    “Huh?”


    “I-I don’t understand what happened either. Several days ago, I suddenly heard the message, ‘The items you made have contributed to the salvation of the world’, and I got a title. Ahhhhh. I’m sorry. It’s really random, isn’t it...?”


    The Chemist looked confused by her own story, but I was not. I instantly understood what had actually happened.


    <i>Oh, it’s because of the elixirs she made for me!</i>


    When I had been battling the Demon King of Autumn Rain, the Chemist’s elixirs had been super helpful. Thanks to her elixirs maximizing my senses, I could observe the Demon King’s attacks in slow motion.


    <i>What? Did... I give her a boost?</i> I wondered.


    I didn’t mean it, but that happened.


    Although that was unclear if she knew that or not, the Chemist squirmed her fingers. “You a-are the remarkable one, Mr. Hunter! Oh, yeah. I should call you Mr. Death King... Anyway, you’re truly the amazing one. Several days ago, you were outside the ranking, but you instantly became the Rank 3 Hunter! I’m very, very, very honored to know you in person! I really wanted to say this!”


    “Come on. I was also just lucky...” I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.


    The Chemistughed brightly and held her sped hands behind her back. “Please tell me if you need anything, Mr. Death King! I’ll help you in any way I can!”


    <i>What? Is she an angel?</i> I wondered.


    <i>—Zombie, would you please raise the standard of an angel a little higher?</i> The Guardian buried his face in his hands.


    <i>Mr. Sword Emperor. I just believe in people. I can’t stop no matter how many times I’m betrayed. It’s not my fault that I have such a big heart.</i>


    <i>—Your bullshit is extra hot today. Do you know what that makes it? Still bullshit.</i>[1]


    I pretended I hadn’t heard thest part.


    ***


    It had been four days since the Hunters and I had begun to read when all of the Hunters dered that they were finished reading their share of the books. We had sessfully read all of the apocalyptic books.


    “The romance group will rmend these four novels.”


    “The SF group has these two as rmendations.”


    “The mystery group...”


    Each group presented a list of rmendations that had well-bnced difficulty levels and rewards.


    “My fairy tale group will rmend this! It’s the only book my group has though!”


    <strong><i>Our Victim</i></strong>


    <strong>Genre: Fairy tale</strong>


    <strong>Difficulty level: A</strong>


    <strong>Required challengers: More than 2 people</strong>


    <strong>※Serialization is currently discontinued.</strong>


    <strong>Description: In this world, humanity has sessfully created a utopia, but maintaining it requires a special power source—the painful screams of innocent, sinless children.</strong>


    <strong>Although it is unfortunate, one innocent child can guarantee seventeen million people’s perfect happiness, so it’s obvious that the child endures such suffering. Thanks to highly developed torture techniques and life-sustaining care, it’s possible to delicately extract one child’s screams for five years. Efficiency, baby!</strong>


    <strong>Reason for discontinuation of serialization: It has been 118,000 years since the foundation of their utopia. All of the innocent children have been consumed. The utopia has run out of innocent children and has stopped functioning.</strong>


    <i>Hmm, I should drop by this apocalyptic book regardless of the difficulty level and rewards,</i> I thought.


    However, there was another apocalyptic book that caught my eye more.


    “The <i>murim</i> group strongly rmends this novel,” the Sword Star said, speaking as the leader of the <i>murim</i> group. Unlike someone who looked like a <i>murim</i> reader but was actually the king of light novels, the Sword Star actually had extensive knowledge about <i>murim</i>. He opened an apocalyptic book. “It’s this one.”


    <strong><i>Heavenly Demon Chronicle</i></strong>


    <strong>Genres: Murim, fusion fantasy</strong>


    <strong>Difficulty level: B</strong>


    <strong>Required challengers: 2~4 people</strong>


    <strong>※Serialization is currently discontinued.</strong>


    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    <strong>Description: This is a world where people admire, practice, and master martial arts! The Heavenly Demon shows up and tries to unify <i>murim</i>, leading the Heavenly Demon Cult. The other factions rise against him and fight for the world’s future... Well, they would have done that if it hadn’t been for a super gue.</strong>


    <strong>Reason for discontinuation of serialization: A mysterious gue breaks out, killing the Heavenly Demon and wiping out the Heavenly Demon Cult and the other factions. The end.</strong>


    “The reason why we rmend the Heavenly Demon Chronicle is simple,” the Sword Star said. “This world has a character named ‘Heavenly Demon’. That title is usually given to a martial artist who gathered every manual in <i>gangho</i>. That is how a giant manual library was built in the Heavenly Demon Cult’s base.”


    The Hunters who weren’t in the <i>murim</i> group loudly asked, “What manual? <i>Gangho</i>? What is that?”


    The Sword Star looked a little embarrassed and had to stop using the <i>murim</i> terminology and switch to more colloquial words.


    “It’s safe to say that these martial arts manuals are like books that exin how Skills work. Once we save this world, we’ll get a library stocked with the best Skills we could ask for. It’s the chance for us to be stronger.”


    The Hunters’ eyes shone.


    “Martial arts manuals...”


    “So we’re getting new Skills?”


    “Well, a chance to learn new Skills is really rare...”


    “This is a chance to learn the principles of <i>gangho!</i>”


    The priority right now was for them to be stronger, so the rmendation was received well, especially by those who valued individual strength like the Sword Star.


    <i>That’s a good one,</i> I agreed, stroking my chin. <i>Murim will have martial arts masters who can actually fly. If those masters kill me... Wow. Won’t I get at least one ss A Skill?</i>


    <i>—Zombie, do you really have to live up to your nickname every time? Why are you always looking for a way to weasel through things?</i>


    <i>There is a world I want to challenge, but it’s difficult to do that at my level right now.</i>


    The Sword Emperor went quiet, but someone else began to talk.


    <strong>[Shiny reports she has detected the presence.]</strong>


    The sword on my waist suddenly shook.


    <i>Presence? What Presence?</i>


    <strong>[Shiny says her sister is very close.]</strong>


    <i>Your sister?</i>


    The Constetion, Goddess of Protection, had been divided and sealed away in the five swords. Shiny was one of them. Shiny had told me that she didn’t know where the rest of the swords were, but she could sense her sister nearby now.


    <i>Where? Where can you sense her? </i>I looked around.


    The bookcases of the Great Library of All Life stretched beyond the horizon. Each of them was huge. When I looked up, it felt like they were as high as the Tower. I could see nothing except books.


    <strong>[Shiny rmends you to look in front of you, not elsewhere.]</strong>


    <i>In front of me? The Sword Star is the only one... Wait.</i>


    Each apocalyptic book held a world.


    <i>Is she inside there?</i>


    The holy sword vibrated.


    <strong>[Shiny affirms your statement.]</strong>


    <strong>[Shiny says that she can feel the presence of her sister from the book the Sword Star is holding!]</strong>


    Our next destination was decided.


    1. The raw is ???? ???? ????. ??? ???? ??? ????.(Literal: Your dog sound is extra hot today. In English, it’s a hotdog sound. ?