Chapter 13
It was good that Joo So-jeong had found the motivation to climb the Tower.
She could do a lot with the magic stones and other materials she received as rewards.
Of course, some people had used them for smuggling, but the Bureau had conducted a major crackdown, and it had become much less common.
Even so, there were still Awakened people who harbored twisted intentions...
"Do you think it makes sense to climb the Tower just because you want to die?"
-All I can think is that they're an idiot.
-But surprisingly, quite a few Awakened climb for all kinds of reasons.
-Wasn't there an Awakened who wanted to lick every kind of rare metal?
-?
-Lick them?
-You mean you want to lick the smooth thighs of a super-sexy maid automaton made of rare metal?
-Me too!! I'm gonna lick them too!!
"You perverts."
As the conversation with the viewers about Joo So-jeong veered off in a completely different direction, Han Mi-reu gave a knowing, wry chuckle and leaned back in her wheeled chair.
And then there was the gallery. All kinds of vulgar talk flew around there, but these days it was especially heated because of So-jeong's Tower-climbing streams.
[Title: It's Pretty Tasty.]
[Posted by: I Am Empire]
(A photo of Joo So-jeong eating the Great Lava Slime's corpse and its shattered core at the same time)
Why the hell are you eating that?!
-Clacker Maniac: Anyone else in the gallery able to eat Lava Slimes?
└Deep Sea Diver: Aside from dragons, probably only a tiny handful can.
-Dragon Chicken: (stunned emote)
-Turtle King: Come to think of it, I think Fire Chicken saw a few tactical nukes besides granny porn pics. Anyone see how she reacted?
└Fashionista: I saw it by accident. She asked if the guy had something wrong with his digestive system and told him to go to the hospital. Completely left the guy who posted the gross pic speechless, holy shit.
-World Peace: Damn it!! No matter how I look at it, she's perfect deputy-mod material!! Should we just draft her by force and make her a deputy mod!!?
└Environmental Protection: Go ahead if you want to see her in the papers and on the news tomorrow.
└World Peace: Aaaaaagh!!!
Future Archmage Pro: Every time I see her, my mind goes blank. The difficulty's already gone up across the board, so why would she want to do that?
└Caw Caw: For real, even among Awakened, she's on a whole different level.
Since she kept doing such outrageous things that even Awakened people in real life were shocked, the online community had started treating her as 'a crazy bitch who's gone 360 degrees off the rails.'
Some even said that if she made one of those fourth-wall-breaking remarks, she could become Deadpool.
Even now, with the Tower on the move, there were still feminists who hadn't gone extinct. They got riled up over a pretty Awakened woman and tried to make her their punching bag, but after seeing the news about her reviving following a fall from an apartment building—and then her suicide-by-subway stunt and all her other bizarre antics—they watched her chubby body slim down and began acting as if she didn't exist.
Ilbe had tried to drag her into politics somehow, but was left speechless when they heard that government researchers had gotten scared and run away.
Arca Live, well... seemed to treat her like a suicidal, mentally ill menhera girl.
Apparently, people had already started making porn of her, too. Honestly, that was kind of impressive.
Though Mi-reu couldn't understand why people were pairing her not only with a vampire she'd never even met, but with a succubus, too.
The real problem was that art sites were making gore pictures of her as well as porn. Of course, as an immortal, she wouldn't be harmed by them.
And even the people who drew by hand seemed to have figured out her condition. In most pictures, So-jeong was either expressionless while being brutalized, or wore a face full of madness and joy.
"So, what do you think?"
[About what?]
"Our So-jeong. You've been watching her, too, haven't you?"
A deep, resonant voice came from the large jewel in her room.
It was none other than the special item called the 'Dragon's Orb,' which let her communicate with others of the species she'd transformed into.
Awakened people with high-level special classes would acquire one at some point if they kept climbing the Tower.
In other words, it meant their connection with the constellation associated with them had grown quite strong.
Anyway, the presence beyond the orb sighed and answered Han Mi-reu's question.
[She's mentally ill. That birdbrain already told me about her, anyway.]
"Oh... Are you the constellation connected to her?"
[The phoenix came to me complaining that she'd found a young member of her kind but didn't know how to comfort her. Honestly, I don't know what to do about that, either.]
Joo So-jeong's mental state was so serious that not only the real phoenix, but even a dragon, had no answer for her.
The fact that even those constellations were at a loss made Han Mi-reu feel as if the world had gone dark around her.
[But I can tell you this much for certain. Now that she's connected to that birdbrain, she'll never be able to reach the outcome called death again.]
"Then what should we do?"
[If there's no answer, then make one. Get rid of her suicidal urges or turn her attention elsewhere. Isn't that the sort of thing you humans are best at?]
Just as a once-proud, supreme species had met its physical end at the hands of insignificant humans.
At the dragon's words, Mi-reu let out a small laugh.
"That's true."
"...What are you eating?"
"Hydrofluoric acid."
Splat. Splat.
"......"
[Uh... Well...]
As she gulped down the hydrofluoric acid, her flesh and bones thinned like paper under its effects, and something like chunks of meat could be heard sloughing off.
Han Mi-reu squeezed her eyes shut, swallowing the words, Why the hell are you eating that? Even the constellation was left speechless.
Hydrofluoric acid and its gas were dangerous even to Awakened people, but Han Mi-reu overcame them with the raw stats of a dragon and a top-class Awakened.
A short while later, Joo So-jeong reappeared, revived and perfectly fine behind the melted corpse. Mi-reu snapped her fingers and made a tiny black hole, sucking up all the hydrofluoric acid, gas, and melted flesh to dispose of it.
She could take care of the floor by sprinkling one of the holy waters she'd gotten from the saintess last time...
"Whoa. What was that little black ball just now? Use it on me, too."
"No."
"That's mean..."
Mi-reu wondered what exactly was mean about that.
"Anyway, where did you even get hydrofluoric acid? It's a hazardous substance, so you can't get it through ordinary means."
"An Awakened person wearing strange clothes was carrying it. When I approached, they screamed, threw it at me, and ran away. I read the label, saw it was in English, looked it up, and figured out what it was, so I drank it."
"Ah... I see."
Could it have been Jumyeolhoe?
They must have been planning another terrorist attack with hydrofluoric acid, but apparently they'd seen So-jeong and gotten scared enough to run away.
Well, if she was sure to charge straight at them and ask them to kill her, no matter how many times she died and revived, what else could they do? Avoiding her was their best option.
The good thing for them was that Joo So-jeong herself didn't know the person belonged to Jumyeolhoe.
If she had, she would've chased them all the way to their headquarters, begging them to kill her...
Still, judging by how the acid had melted her flesh and bones at the same time when she drank it, they must have treated it with some kind of special process...
"By the way, did you hear something just now? I heard a deep, resonant voice."
"Huh? You heard it?"
"If you're going to take care of elderly people who live alone, you need good hearing, too."
Come to think of it, she'd said she used to live in a one-room building that later collapsed in a fire.
Apparently there'd been a lot of elderly people living alone in that building.
They'd said Joo So-jeong was the only survivor...
Anyway, how had she heard his voice when she wasn't even of the same species?
[Tsk. It seems that coming into contact with me and that birdbrain made it possible for us to communicate.]
"Oh, I heard that."
[Sigh... How did I end up involved with a lunatic like this young girl...?]
The presence beyond the orb let out a deep sigh and lamented.
"I'm crazy? Do I seem that way to you?"
[Humans and the others over here would all think so. I do, too, of course.]
Joo So-jeong had become an Awakened person whom even the constellations considered insane.
Her case was all the worse because she was mentally ill without appearing that way on the outside.
[Tsk... How did a lunatic like her end up with the makings of a phoenix...?]
"The makings?"
[You don't need to know yet. As you climb the Tower, you'll get an item that lets you talk to that birdbrain. Ask her all about it then. Now, I'm going to sleep.]
With that, the light inside the orb went out.
"Who was that?"
"That? A constellation."
"The orb?"
"No, I mean special classes get an item that lets them talk to their constellation if they keep climbing the Tower. And they can learn skills directly from the constellation, too."
"I see... Are there other special-class Awakened who can talk to constellations?"
"A few, besides our cute succubus and vampire. Sawako abandoned hers completely, so she doesn't count."
The vampire had complained about the constellation, saying that if they'd ever gotten the chance to meet it in person, they'd have beaten the hell out of it.
From what Mi-reu had heard, the constellations were in a position where it was difficult for them to intervene, even if they wanted to.
Considering how strong the special classes were, the constellations had to be formidable themselves, so it was a mystery why they couldn't intervene.
"Oh, right. Are there any broken elevators? I want my neck to get caught and torn off. Or maybe a broken laser machine?"
"As if there'd be any."
At times like this, Mi-reu couldn't help wishing the phoenix's constellation would just step in and do something itself.