SSS-Class Revival Hunter-Chapter 190: Prima Donna (2)

“So what now?”

A Fingill could splash very aggressively in water. In just a second, the bathtub was emptied. The Black Witch had to refill it under the Paladin’s order.

“If anyone sees us, they’ll think I’m the bad one. I also helped you clear the quest,” the Black Witch grumbled.

The Paladin just sighed in resignation, as if she was used to the Black Witch’s shamelessness. “What did you call me here for? Do you need my Lie Detector?”

“I told you that’s not the case. What I need is your musical talent, not your Skill.”

“My musical talent?” the Paladin asked with a frown.

The Black Witch nodded. “Yup, you played a lot of instruments before you joined the Watchmen League. You made a lot more than your current salary in the league, right? Didn’t you rake in a lot of cash?”

“That is so old news... That was before I even got my title.”

I was confused. The Paladin was the Rank 7 Hunter and the assistant leader of the Watchmen League, in charge of setting order in Ascension City. Since the position of league leader was vacant after the Sword Star announced his retirement, the Paladin was now the leader. I knew she was a Venezuelan refugee and that she majored in music, but that was it. Like my other colleagues, the Paladin didn’t really talk about her past, so I knew very little about her.

“Raked in money? What are you two talking about?” I asked.

“It’s nothing. It’s all in the past.”

“This isn’t common knowledge, but she made money through jazz concerts.”

Despite the Paladin’s efforts to gloss over the topic, the Black Witch exposed her right away. The Paladin gave the Black Witch an intense glare.

However, the Black Witch simply shrugged. “When we first came to the Tower, there really wasn’t much entertainment. A lot of people drank liquor or took drugs, but when the Paladin held a concert, all Hunters flocked—”

“Black Dragon Master!”

“I don’t know why, but whenever I bring up this topic, she gets so angry and fussy. Ah, the Paladin’s nickname back then was the Night Sky—”

“If you speak another word, I’m really going to fight you!” the Paladin growled.

“Alright. Sorry.”

Even I didn't know this. Before my regression, I stanned quite a lot of famous Hunters, although not as zealously as the Fire Emperor. I regularly collected magazines that featured the Black Witch, the Saintess, and the Inquisitor. But very little was known about what the Tower had been like in the beginning. I had no idea the Paladin used to perform jazz concerts even after combing through my memories.

Come to think of it, the Paladin doesn’t have a single photobook of her own.

She had never been a cover model for a magazine, despite being the symbol of the Tower’s conscience like the Saintess and the Chemist.

Does she wear her helmet to hide her secret? I thought it was just a fashion choice on her part.

I could feel the heart of a ten-year-old Hunter stan pounding inside me. Still, I held back because I thought I was maybe intruding on the Paladin’s privacy.

When our eyes met, the Paladin cleared her throat. “I still haven’t received an answer as to why I was brought here, Black Dragon Master. If you just wanted to show the Death King that I turned into a mermaid, then I’ll gladly expose you too.”

“Hmm? There’s nothing problematic about me that you can expose.”

“Whenever you have time, you write and publish anonymously—”

“Death King! Why don’t you show the Paladin the play?” the Black Witch blurted out.

What? What was the Paladin about to say? Why were there so many secrets that only I didn’t know about? I thought we were colleagues. Curiosity was eating me alive.

“What are you writing anonymously?” I asked.

The Black Witch grabbed my shoulders, emanating her black aura. She wasn’t joking. The twitching corners of her mouth curled into an unusual smile.

“Mr. Kim Gong-Ja, everyone has secrets they don’t tell others. Don’t you think so? Even you often make excuses about being a clairvoyant whenever you want to get away with something.”

“Eek.”

Did she know I was lying?

“But I don’t press you more than necessary because you’re my comrade. True friendship is proven not by what we say to each other, but what we don’t.”

“T-That is a good saying.”

“Mr. Gong-Ja, are we friends?”

I nodded slowly. It would have been easier to do so if she wasn’t digging her fingers into my shoulders. “Y-Yes. Of course we are.”

“Good to hear that, bestie.”

Suddenly I was the Black Witch’s bestie.

“I think I would be very happy if my bestie showed the Paladin the Cavefire play as well.”

I would make her happy. How could I say no to a request from my bestie?

The Paladin was silent the entire time she watched the Cavefire play. The troupe members were a little embarrassed to practice in front of a Bloodborn and a Fingill as soon as they got to work early in the morning. It was obvious the troupe members were bothered by the Fingill’s presence as she flapped her tail in the bathtub.

Ignoring the stares, the Paladin commented, “This is amazing. Death King, did you come up with this yourself?”

“No, Cavefire plays have been around for a long time.”

“Really? A play that has both dance and music has been around for that long?”

“Oh, no. I just thought it would be a good idea to introduce things like choreography and music now...”

The Paladin’s eyes gleamed sharply. “Why did you think that?”

“Cavefire is the art of aura. If the actors learn choreography based on martial arts forms, they’ll become more familiar with using aura. When they learn how to play music with their aura, their aura precision will become marvelous—”

“Ah, I see. So you had an entirely different idea!” The Paladin’s merfolk tail swayed, making the surface of the bathwater ripple. The gesture reminded me of a dog wagging its tail, so I assumed she was pleased. “Death King, don’t you know what an interesting discovery this is?”

The Paladin’s sparkly eyes were on me. This was the first time she had shown this side of her.

“W-What?” I stammered.

“You created a composite art of aura,” the Paladin said, her voice carrying fervor. “Operas and musicals are usually viewed as composite arts. However, the proper way to incorporate music has always remained an unresolved question. No matter how hard you try to blend music in naturally, there is always a distance between the music and the actors.”

“Uh...” I scratched the back of my head. What was she talking about?

The Paladin became even more excited as she went on. “The actors can’t interfere with the music. Whether it’s background or orchestra music, the melodies played in the theater aren't created by the actors. They can sing in musicals, but they still have limits.”

My instincts told me to nod, so I did. “Hmm... ”

“Even though the audience knows that the music they hear is actually coming from the speakers, they’re tacitly forced to accept the illusion that the melody is part of the story. However, in the Cavefire plays you created, the actors even play the music themselves using their aura! This is great advancement!”

The Paladin snapped her fingers. A rhythm infused with her aura rang out all around us. The melody was much more colorful and sharper than what I had been playing.

I was genuinely impressed. Professionals were truly on another level.

“Wow. Oh, yeah. Can I learn music from you, Miss Paladin? I want to play this for Raviel.”

The Paladin pounded her chest, frustrated. “That’s not important now!”

That was harsh.

“You have to understand what a wonderful discovery you have made, Death King! Dancing or acting while immersing oneself in someone else’s music is still meaningful, of course. But being able to manifest all these elements—music, dance, and acting—by yourself is amazing! It’s innovative! Imagine a figure skater who can not only perform but also play music using their aura. How—”

“I’m sorry, but can you summarize what you’re saying in a way I can understand you?”

“It’s awesome! Do you understand now?”

It was a compliment after all. She could have just said so.

I scratched the back of my head, smiling from ear to ear. “Thank you. It’s no big deal, though.”

The Paladin looked up, pounding her chest. I wasn’t sure why she was so upset. “I can’t believe it. You’re the one who invented this Cavefire style, yet you couldn’t grasp its significance... Death King, this can possibly start a trend called aura art in the future. This is a huge deal.”

I waved my hands, thinking the Paladin was exaggerating. “Come on. It’s common to strengthen your voice with your aura and sing, right?”

“I’m not saying you came up with something no one had thought of before. People have been doing this for a long time, but no one pays attention to them. Yet you weaved all of these elements together.”

The Paladin sighed. “While Hunters only see aura as a means for combat or physical enhancement, you discovered that aura can also be an invisible instrument. Now actors can play their inner music without relying on props or devices. In fact, actors won’t be the only ones to do this. Musicians, dancers, singers, everyone—”

The Black Witch held the Paladin’s shoulder and grinned.

“And we’ll have something to brag about to the outside world. People trash-talk us every day. When we fight, they say we are barbarians who only know how to fight. If we fail to make enough money, we’re beggars. Now that we make good money, we’re shallow people who only care about money. I don’t know what they’ll call us if we make something marvelous out of art too. An artist who makes good money? I wonder if that can be an insult.”

I had mixed emotions about this. I murmured, “Black Dragon Master, I’m not the one who should say this, but you try too hard to prove our Tower’s worth to the outside world. It’s actually sad to hear you say these things from time to time.”

“Be quiet. You don’t know how much our Tower has been belittled over time.”

Despite her harsh tone, her expression was soft. She looked at me as if I was a huge moneybag. With an honest smile, she placed her hands on both the Paladin’s and my shoulder at the same time.

“Death King.”

“Yes?”

“Paladin.”

The Paladin frowned. “What is it? You sound kind of ominous.”

“I want to make this project one of the Tower’s public projects.”

The Black Witch’s smile was like an angel’s. She never showed this kind of smile to her colleagues. It reminded me of one thing—capitalism. She only flashed this smile when giving interviews or taking photos for magazines.

“I looked into it a bit, and it turns out that the Death King over here dramatized what he has gone through until now into Cavefire plays. The Death King also happens to be our Tower’s most popular, proud star rookie.

“I think it’ll be really great to take these plays and perform them at the Tower. We can also film them and distribute them to the outside world. The artists on the outside world would be shocked and start rushing to the Tower, feeling eager to learn how to use aura. Don’t you think so?”

The Paladin’s disapproving gaze gradually changed. “Umm... “

“We’ve already received a few movie offers, but I’ve turned them all down. I didn’t want them to ruin the Death King’s image with weird adaptations.”

Movie offers? For real?

“Now that I think about it more thoroughly, I think Cavefire plays are much better than movies. Yup, portraying the stories of our Tower’s superstar with an art that our Tower created is an excellent idea!”

Somehow, I had a hard time following her. “Wait a minute. I don’t really—”

The Paladin nodded slowly, her flounder tail waving in the water. “That certainly sounds like a good idea. Everything aside, our Tower is not the best when it comes to art. There are quite a few things to enjoy in jazz and novels, but we rarely have large-scale performances.”

“That’s what I’m saying. We tried to promote artistic performances a few times, but all attempts failed. The royalties for bringing in the outside world’s movies are enormous. They charge us more than they should. Assholes, am I right?”

“Hmm.”

“It’s time to even the score. Only we, Hunters of the Tower, can use aura. Now we can stop exclusively importing culture and export something instead.”

“Not bad...”

The Black Witch and the Paladin both stared at me, nodding and smiling.

Huh?

“Death King, you are truly amazing.”

“She’s right. You must be a genius to think of something like this.”

Uuuh. What? I don’t like the way they’re looking at me.

I slowly distanced myself from them. “W-What are you trying to say? You’re embarrassing me...”

“No, I’m serious. You can rival the Sword Star in martial arts. When it comes to aura mastery, you match my level, but you even came up with a new form of art. I used to be the Rank 2 Hunter, but I really can’t compete with you, Death King.”

The Black Witch snatched my hands and looked into my eyes. “Death King, how high are you going to soar with your talent?”

Wait.

“He’s the Tower’s best genius! The best rookie of all time! Ah, talent may be a word created just for you, Death King. I always think that when I look at you.”

“Shit. Why did the heavens give birth to you first and then to me?[1]” the Paladin asked, pounding with her fist on the surface of the bathwater.

I feel dizzy.

“Wait a minute, guys... Wait...”

“If it weren’t for you, we would still be unable to clear the tenth floor.”

“It’s true. That sucks so bad. Actually, we skipped past the thirtieth floor because of him.”

“Exactly! No wonder I lost my rank to him. What would I have done if I stayed as the Rank 2 Hunter?”

“As a starting member of the Tower, I feel ashamed... Death King, you overshadow me. If I were a shadow, you’re the sun. When you rise, I have no choice but to hide behind someone.”

The fuck?

I buried my face in my hands. “Guys, wait...”

I’m really dizzy.

“You’re so cool, Death King! You are my comrade in arms, too! I’m so moved that you’re my comrade! Our camaraderie will be the pride of my life!”

“Hmm. Even if I die, climbing the Tower with you will remain a legend and make people jealous. This is a great honor.”

“Please,” I begged.

“You’re phenomenal!”

“Incredible.”

“Awesome!”

“Death King, you’re a legend.”

“I’ve always believed in you, damn it!”

“I can’t believe it!”

I had trouble breathing. “T-Thank you. I appreciate the compliments, so please pipe down...”

“Then is it okay if we create an art guild and appoint you as the leader, Death King? Would it be okay to borrow your divine name?”

“Yes. Do whatever you want, just please stop... I think I’m going to die from all the cringe.”

“I also plan to join the guild as the assistant leader. Don’t worry. All you need to do is lend us your name. We’ll take care of the rest. I wouldn’t dare to trouble someone as great as the Death King.”

“I’m on the verge of dying...”

“Yes, yes, put your seal here please.”

Guild leader? I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I stamped the seal that the Black Witch gave me.

“Thank you, Death King. A lot of money may suddenly be deposited into your bank account, so don’t be too surprised about that.”

“We’ll use it well.”

The Guardian sighed as I buried my face in my hands.

—Tsk, tsk, you’re damn easy to manipulate...

Meanwhile, Sonia was watching us with an unreadable expression.

1. The Paladin compares the Death King to the oldest sibling while talking about herself as his younger sibling. ☜