4.

The time in hell stopped.

“……This can’t be.”

The artificially made Colosseum.

Beneath layers of sedimentary rock, in the very center, Mutia, [The Ox that Harvests Ruins], with her hair disheveled like a field of golden wheat, shouted.

“This can’t be, no way!”

Mutia took a step forward and swing her hammer swung in fury.

It exploded.

[‘The Ox that Harvests Ruins’ manifests its power.]

[‘A Music Box Only for You’ manifests its power.]

That explosion was blocked by Fox~nim.

“But, if you think about it, it wasn’t that such a thing couldn’t be.”

“This can’t be happening!”

“But, again, if you think about it well, it indeed wasn’t the case that it couldn’t be.”

Fox~nim narrated in a theatrical tone.

Mutia gritted her teeth.

“I am The Ox that Harvests Ruins! That is my alias, and my true name is ‘The Eye of the Typhoon that Whirls in the Sea of Governance’! Even if countless moments pass in the universe, I am like the eye of a typhoon, an absolute temporal coordinate that does not sway with any flow!”

“Absolute temporal coordinate? What’s that? There’s someone called Einstein in Gong-ja’s world, can’t you go argue with him? Stop doing this here……”

“Death King! I know how insignificant you are!”

Mutia glared at me with fierce eyes.

As the power vanished, the vigor in Mutia eyes subsided, and Mutia’s eyes regained their golden hue.

“I know your past!”

From those eyes, the scent of a blazing sun was emitted.

“Little child! You were but a seedling with nothing. A shabby one-room! A cramped bed! Portraits of idols hung on the wall like laundry! Weren’t you embellishing the void with idols that seemed to have [something] because you had nothing!”

“…….”

“You were a ruin, truly a ruin, because you had never achieved anything. Death King, no, before you were given the name Death King, you were indeed lacking nothing to become my follower! You were the perfect human to wish for a return!”

Indeed.

Mutia, the constellation who governs time and regression, knows everything about what kind of human I was before I entered the 4000 days of nirvana—- my entire history.

‘Well, of course.’

I accepted the opponent’s omniscience.

‘If Mutia didn’t know my past, then the [what if] world that unfolded just before wouldn’t exist.’

Mutia cornered me by manifesting her power.

She brought forth a version of me that had aged without gaining anything.

In that process, various hypotheses were formed by the power.

『What if you hadn’t met the Sword Saint.』

『What if you hadn’t met the Sword Emperor.』

『What if you hadn’t met the Flame Emperor.』

It’s possible with the Sword Saint. Just knowing me, proposing the hypothesis [What if you hadn’t met the Sword Saint] is feasible.

But the Sword Emperor.

Especially, the Flame Emperor.

‘Unless you know my entire past, it’s impossible to even hypothesize.’

Then, how was it possible?

How does [The Ox that Harvests Ruins] know about my regressed history?

‘Hamustra was a constellation that dealt with stories. It read the [story] of me as a human and figured out my regression. But how about Mutia? Because Mutia himself is a god dealing with time and regression?’

While my mind rapidly touched upon guesses and sifted through deductions, Mutia, still with an angry face, shouted.

“But what if your life, from the very beginning, was ruined by another regressor!”

It was a statement that inevitably shattered my thoughts.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. You must have thought about it.”

Mutia spread her arms.

“[Why am I so unlucky?]”

The words I had thrown out.

“[Why can’t I acquire even one skill?]”

The words that many people—had thrown.

“[Why can’t I get even a bit of a fateful encounter, not even once a proper opportunity?]”

I took a breath.

I exhaled.

“If I say I never thought that way, it would be a lie. Yes, I did. Not just thoughts, but I also harbored a lot of resentment, and when the day was colored with resentment, the night was colored with alcohol.”

“You’ve come this far with just one skill.”

Mutia said.

“With astonishing willpower, undying spirit, and relentless passion, pouring sincerity into everything that you encountered, you finally arrived in front of me, Mutia. Haven’t you ever found it strange? That you, without any notable talent, have paved your way here— haven’t you ever doubted it was too miraculous?”

“That is……”

“You would say it’s [thanks to meeting good people].”

Mutia smiled.

That smile was as radiant as melted gold, and it lingered.

“But no!”

In that moment.

I realized this was the [final card] she had prepared.

Breaking the ground, creating an inescapable Colosseum, attacking with two hundred apostles, using her power to age me. And if I still hadn’t been defeated by then.

A last strike, as if saying, try enduring this too.

-…I feel like I shouldn’t listen to this.

Bae Hu-ryeong muttered.

-I’m not sure what secret she’s about to reveal, but I have a bad feeling. When a Constellation harbors poison, it always brings about some useless disaster.

‘No, it’s okay.’

I looked straight at Mutia.

‘I’ll listen.’

I have delved into many people’s secrets until now.

I had seen them after I had taken responsibility, and even if I had taken responsibility, how could it not have been a form of violence?

‘If it’s a secret related to me, I want to hear it even more.’

My secrets cannot be the only sanctuaries.

Thus, as a Hunter who possesses [Returner’s Clockwork Watch], I boldly asked.

“What do you mean it’s not?”

“You could have originally succeeded!”

What does that mean?

Not understanding, I asked again.

“I don’t understand. Mutia. What do you mean I could have originally succeeded?”

“Foolish child! The reason you didn’t have a fateful encounter on the 1st floor and didn’t grab an opportunity on the 2nd floor is not because there were no destinies or opportunities there.”

Mutia’s laughter grew louder.

Like the laughter of an ancient king cursed to turn everything he touched into gold, the laughter unleashed by the golden Constellation was grotesque and also, desolate.

“You know about the tower! The tower up to the 10th floor is a refuge for those who have fled from their world, a comfortable island, a land of opportunities. How could there have been no destinies for you to encounter!”

“…….”

“Was the tower you looked up to such an indifferent being!”

Thump.

[‘The Ox that Harvests Ruins’ manifests its power.]

In the Colosseum, surrounded only by sedimentary rocks, thud, thump! Pillars of a temple rose from the ground.

They weren’t intact pillars.

The ruins of an abandoned temple.

Eroded by wind and rain, like the teeth of an old man whose gums have partly receded, white pillars were embedded throughout hell.

『What if you hadn’t met the Flame Emperor.』

Between the temple pillars, a scene faintly shimmered like a screen.

The first manifested power was already a hypothesis I had heard.

『What if the Flame Emperor hadn’t met ‘The Lady Who Walks the Mirage’.』

That was a completely new hypothesis I had heard.

Above all, the subject wasn’t me but the Flame Emperor.

『What if the Flame Emperor hadn’t obtained ‘Returner’s Clockwork Watch’.』

And.

『What if the Flame Emperor hadn’t regressed through ‘Returner’s Clockwork Watch’.』

A world unfolded before my eyes.

4.

『The Flame Emperor, having obtained the Returner’s Clockwork Watch, regresses and purchases a welfare lottery ticket.』

Through the gaps between the pillars, a scene where I and the Flame Emperor pass by each other was seen.

『Because of that, you arrive at the welfare lottery ticket seller one step later than in the ‘original world’, and the lottery ticket that was supposed to win the 4th prize turns into a dud.』

A minor misfortune.

Beyond the pillars, I was seen sighing lightly and heading to the hunting grounds.

『Challenging with poor equipment, you suffer injuries that last a day longer than in the original world.』

And it didn’t stop there.

『When you arrived after healing your wounds, the chest there was already empty.』

It wasn’t taken by the Flame Emperor.

Because to the Flame Emperor, who could regress at will, that chest was too trivial to care about.

However, for me, who was poor and weak, the equipment in there would have been a significant help.

『You fail to acquire a skill card.』

Like a grain of sand jamming well-functioning gears, my life gradually changed due to the regressor named the Flame Emperor.

『Your efforts repeatedly end in failure.』

It would be appropriate to describe it as a downfall.

『Your life becomes what what you know now.』

Until eventually reaching that small room.

『But, if the Flame Emperor had not regressed through the ‘Returner’s Clockwork Watch’.』

What unfolded next was a world without that tiny dissonance.

A completely different world.

『Your efforts are properly rewarded.』

A world with fruition.

『You acquire quite a good skill and reap the fruits of your efforts.』

There, I seemed to have acquired the ability to ‘communicate with all monsters.’

『You gain recognition from people.』

Thanks to the skill, people of the tower finally discover that among the monsters roaming from the 2nd to the 9th floor, there are intelligent beings capable of conversation, and they had been avoiding humans, secretly building a vast civilization city underground.

『You pave the way.』

A fact completely unknown to us even now.

On the 5th floor underground, the demi-humans had secretly built a city and were living in it.

『You prevent several tragedies.』

As the only one who could communicate with the demi-humans, as a representative of humanity. As a messenger. As a mediator.

『You make friends,』

After much trouble preventing incidents, the Black Dragon Witch lightly pats my shoulder and asks me with a smirk if I’d like to have a drink at a nice place she knows.

『You gain comrades.』

Although their martial skills are much inferior compared to mine now.

Undoubtedly, a fulfilling life was laid out in the gaps between the pillars of the ruined temple, receiving recognition from those around me, living alongside the people I cherish.

“Young child.”

Mutia said.

“This is your original form.”

“…….”

“This was the path you were originally supposed to walk, the destiny that was originally given to you.”

My heart raced.

“All of it, taken by that bastard the Flame Emperor! He hogged it all! He monopolized it!

“…….”

“The destiny that was rightfully supposed to be yours brushed past in vain, and the opportunities that were meant to be yours slipped through your fingers!”

…….

“In that world— in the [original] world. In the original. In the main stream, you had no reason to endure 4000 times of suffering. You could have lived a satisfying life, diligently honing your inherently diligent nature.”

Is that so.

“Do you understand, young child? It wasn’t that you were unlucky.”

Had I, too, been living a life distorted by Yoo Soo-ha?

“You had your luck stolen by someone else!”

A thunderous roar echoed through the hell’s cavern.

“I’ll send you back.”

Mutia.

“To the real life you were rightfully supposed to live.”

This is indeed a sharp poisonous hand.

But.

“The life you’re living now is fake. A mere illusion. This time, I’ll ensure no regressor interferes with your timeline, allowing you to fully walk through your time. I’ll let you walk a real life. Abandon your constellation. And join my retinue……

“It’s too late.”

“What?”

The moment Mutia retorted, my Infernal Heavens had already moved.

Whoosh!

The blade I drew sliced horizontally through hell.

Where the aura passed, the pillars of the temple misaligned.

They collapsed.

Like slicing through a white radish, the temple pillars blossomed by Mutia’s power were too easily bisected.

“It’s far too late.”

“Now, you bastard! What……!”

“[Fake life] or [real life]. If you wanted to play word games, you should have come to me before I met Raviel, dazzled me before I met my master, persuaded me before I saw the smile of the Black Dragon Witch.”

I glared at the blazing gold and said.

“The Tower Master said I didn’t live my best life. You say I didn’t live my true life.”

I spoke towards the beyond.

“What makes a life fake or real isn’t determined by the order of time. The Ox that Harvests Ruins. If there are people influenced by me, people I’ve been influenced by, turning into love, friendship, and a hand that walks with me, that is precisely my true life.”

I held my sword expressionlessly.

“I am us. There are people who made me into us. And, we exist nowhere but in this world.”

“…….”

“Our true world is only here.”

The Ox that Harvests Ruins.

“Self.”

Mutia.

Power, regression.

“I have heard all the music your constellation could produce.”

The first strategy.

Breaking the ground to trap.

Destroyed.

The second strategy.

Forcing into an inescapable artificial Colosseum.

Destroyed.

The third strategy.

Mobilizing a hundred apostles for a combined attack.

Destroyed.

The fourth strategy.

Using the power of the constellation to age the Death King.

Destroyed.

The fifth strategy.

Showing the original time to tempt, to make one join her retinue.

Destroyed.

Aiming for at least two objectives at once, and thus, to defeat me, a successor to the Sword Emperor, with five strategies, the constellation now had nothing left but a hammer to block my path.

“First.”

“…….”

“I will take your pride.”

A single strike.

Surely, Mutia swung her hammer, likely attempting to counter my attack, but the result revealed in this world after a moment was tragic.

Thud.

Long horns.

Among the things attached to both sides of Mutia’s forehead, the right horn, listlessly rolled away, caught in a sandstorm.

“Ah…….”

And then.

[‘The Ox that Harvests Ruins’ existence becomes blurred.]

The radiant golden light dimmed a bit.

*****