Chapter 12: The Tower of Destruction (2)

The weed-haired thug’s head burst open like a watermelon.

Too easy.

Should I go easier?

The splattering brains and blood are gross.

“You… you crazy bitch! You killed Chul-soo!”

Next up is the guy with the buzz cut.

Their hairstyles are all ridiculous.

They look like they’re begging to be killed, with faces saying ‘Please, take me out.’

They’re just extras—like one of those monsters that appear in games, nothing more, nothing less.

Wait, did he say the dead guy’s name is Chul-soo?

Now I’m curious—if he’s Chul-soo, then what’s the buzz cut’s name?

“Your name’s Chul-soo? Then are you Yeong-sik?”

“You filthy bitch, you won’t die a peaceful death!”

While Yeong-sik was yelling, I moved behind him.

“Look, I don’t like showing off by bullying people like you, but if you target my body, it’s a different story.”

Smash!

The second head was shattered.

Now, who’s left?

One thug is trembling, scared out of his mind, and has wet himself.

Is that a bowl cut?

Weed-hair, bowl cut, and buzz cut—what a trio.

They’re definitely just extras.

No one will notice if they die.

“I… I… Please… spare me. I was just following orders.”

Just following orders, huh?

Poor thing.

Well, sure, that’s pitiful… if you look at it that way.

But he ended up serving the wrong master, didn’t he?

And in war, even soldiers who follow the wrong leader often get executed, don’t they?

Besides…

“Hmm. But you saw, didn’t you?”

“!!”

“You just stood by while they committed crimes, didn’t you?”

Being a bystander is a crime too, you know.

“I… I was threatened…”

“Oh, it’s not a crime to just watch? And earlier, the way you were looking at me was definitely the gaze of a criminal.”

Let’s be real.

He was ogling me earlier too.

If the tables were turned, wouldn’t he be beating me up right now?

My body is perfect, but it’s inconvenient being a woman sometimes.

“A… ahh…”

“Your friends already left for the afterlife. It wouldn’t be right to leave you behind, now would it? And if you ran your mouth about me, it would be a hassle.”

I twirled my mace while grinning.

Every drop of blood that dripped from the spinning mace made his face turn even paler.

“I… I’ll give you anything! Money! Information! Anything!”

“Hmm, that’s tempting. I don’t need money. I have plenty. So, what else do you have?”

I already shook down a small-time guild for cash.

What really matters to me is information.

Let’s see what this loser knows.

He rummaged through his clothes and handed over some documents.

The papers listed the names of guilds and hunters.

I raised an eyebrow at the papers, and the bowl-cut guy nervously gulped before explaining.

“T-this… it’s a list of guilds and famous figures involved in the Tower of Destruction’s expedition!”

“Hmm. How did nobodies like you get your hands on this?”

How did losers like you manage to get this?

“W-well, we were going to kidnap—”

Such a rotten soul.

“Guess killing your pals was the right call. So, what else do you have?”

“T-the first floor’s already been cleared! You need to go to the second floor!”

More and more, it feels like this place was artificially set up by someone.

The first floor has been picked clean, and the monsters are weakened.

The hunters have already looted the items left by the Demon Lord.

Since the hunters are strong enough, there’s no reason for the Demon Lord to keep raising the difficulty of the first floor.

“How far have they cleared so far?”

“The… third floor.”

This guy knows quite a lot.

“And how did scumbags like you get tickets to the tower?”

“You… you can buy them for a high price on the black market!”

“That’s insane.”

But I guess they thought they’d make something worth their money here.

Were they planning to kidnap someone?

How could fools like this, who I easily wiped out, think they could accomplish anything?

“S-so… are we good now?”

“Sure, why not.”

“S-s-spare me…”

I grinned.

He grinned too.

But I wasn’t going to spare him.

Why would I?

Crack!

That’s the last of them.

I casually wiped off my mace and tucked it back into my sleeve.

Then I heard the uncomfortable voice of the goddess.

-No, why are you turning a goddess into a demon? I preside over death, but I don’t tell you to go around killing people!

“Well, this way, it looks cooler.”

If you preside over death, you should act the part.

Are you trying to say you’re a holy goddess of light or something?

-You’re really turning this into a cult!

“Well, I don’t have any other followers. How about you just become a demon goddess?”

-Gods change based on the desires of their followers! If you keep this up, I’ll really turn into a demon goddess! That’s not good!

Oh, seeing the goddess fall into corruption sounds fun.

“I want to see you as a fallen goddess.”

-You’ve already fallen so far yourself that I can’t even stay in the other world anymore. Why do you think I’m stuck here?

So, she’s already fallen?

A round of applause for the poor goddess of hope.

Now, what’s left is looting the bodies. Let’s do our best, yum yum yum.

“How kind I am, talking about corruption and all.”

-What are you doing now?

“Well, you’ve got to loot the stuff from the dead, right?”

-You’re really diligent.

I worked hard looting, but it’s all useless.

Just a bunch of pamphlets for bar girls and business cards.

What kind of stuff are these guys carrying around?

Basically, they were just petty criminals hanging out in bars.

“This is all so useless. Why so many bar names and business cards? Or maybe they’re professional scammers?”

Looks like they were planning some kind of kidnapping.

-How about checking the list of potential victims instead?

“Should I?”

I scanned through the documents I got from the bowl-cut guy.

Seems like it lists most of the famous hunters in Korea.

This tower seems pretty well-known.

“Ma-seong Yoon Pil-seung. Pfft, what kind of name is that?”

-He’s ranked number 1.

“Ever since a washing machine romance topped the charts, I’ve given up on the whole idea of number 1.”

There are all sorts of guilds listed too.

Interestingly, there aren’t many returnees on the list.

Why’s that?

I’m curious, but I’ll figure it out later.

-Aren’t returnees usually rich, like our saint? Maybe they’ve already hit it big in their world.

That could be.

After all, they’re funded by the government, so they can pretty much live easy.

-Look, the guild Seolhwa is marked with an X.

“If it weren’t for me, they’d have been raided. They should be thanking me, right?”

There’s a name that bothers me.

“Baeksaek Guild’s Park Yoo-jung?”

Park Yoo-jung.

Park Yoo-jung.

That name really irritates me.

Who is it?

It sounds so familiar.

-Isn’t that your sister from when you were Park Si-woo?

“Oh, right. But that was in a past life.”

It’s annoying, but I don’t really feel anything.

-For someone who wants to return to their past life’s world, you’re surprisingly indifferent.

“If I had stayed, things wouldn’t have turned out well anyway.”

The reasons I want to return are complicated.

Even after defeating the Demon King, the Hero’s party still had challenges left.

I left them with some incredibly difficult trials, after all.

If you ask what kind, it’s simple.

I committed marriage fraud under the hero’s name to swindle funds from nobles.

Under Elf Erin’s name, I mass-produced magical herbs, infused them with mana, and sold them as drugs.

Under Mage Maria’s name, I took part in illegal clinical trials and got paid for it.

I had no choice.

After all, what is the purpose of a hero?

To defeat the Demon King.

It’s only natural to cause some damage along the way.

Anyway, the real crime is on those who squandered all the money, those wretched party members.

-What if the hero crosses over to take revenge?

“Don’t jinx it like that.”

That would be a curse.

It’s not like I was living in luxury myself.

Those jerks were like trees that kept giving and giving to others.

If they had indulged in luxury, I wouldn’t even care.

I could’ve joined in and had a comfortable life.

There are plenty of records of such scumbags, but no, our party’s hero was annoyingly virtuous.

-But Park Yoo-jung is here.

“Screw that, just hearing it makes me angry.”

-Do you even have a girlfriend?

“Wow, the goddess is really testing me.”

-It’s true though. If she’s in this tower, you’re bound to meet her sooner or later, right?

“I’ll just pretend I don’t know her. Do you think they’ll go out of their way to find me?”

Just a tiny fragment, like a shard of memory from the past, but I don’t fully remember.

I don’t even recall her face.

And frankly, I don’t want to.

These are people I have no desire to see again, and I certainly don’t want to get involved with them.

As for my aunt, if I run into her one day, so be it.

But for now, I’m Karina, not Park Si-woo.

“Should I just bury these criminals?”

-Leave them be. They don’t seem like ordinary thugs.

“Huh?”

-Look at the weird emblem on their chest.

An emblem, huh?

The corpse does have a strange one.

It’s a gray background with something that looks like a lightning bolt and a shoe.

“What, I thought it was just a brand logo or something?”

I just assumed it was a brand logo, but yeah, it feels off.

In the world of the hero, there were criminal guilds and whatnot.

The hero smashed most of them, but never broke their heads.

They wore badges with crescent moon symbols, too.

Are these guys the same?

-I don’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt to check.

This is where a community forum comes in handy.

—

[Username: HeadSmasherSaint]

[Title: Got Attacked on Floor 1 of the Tower of Ruin]

I smashed all their heads, but what’s this?

[Picture]

[Comments]

From24thCentury: Isn’t that the Silver Thunder Clan? – LaundryManNotHere

└ HeadSmasherSaint: Silver Thunder Clan?

└ From24thCentury: They’re a villainous group, known for kidnapping, rape, and robbery in dungeons. – LaundryManNotHere

└ HeadSmasherSaint: Oh, so it’s fine that I killed them.

└ From24thCentury: But they’ve made it all the way to the Tower of Ruin. -LaundryManNotHere

SirenIsABaby: Killing people? You’re scary ;;

└ HeadSmasherSaint: If I didn’t, I’d be dead ;;

MermaidPrincess: That Siren chick’s been singing in the ocean for 150 years, crazy.

└ HeadSmasherSaint: Siren, the granny.

└ SirenIsABaby: Shut up, clueless brat.

MermaidPrincess: Did you play the game with your fins, you tone-deaf old fish? LOL

WeaponMaker100Years: Got anything good from them?

└ HeadSmasherSaint: Not really. I guess I have to go up to the 3rd floor.

PureElfHere: Let’s team up, damn it.

└ HeadSmasherSaint: I’ll look around first. This isn’t going to be over in a day or two.

└ PureElfHere: My wife says if you want forgiveness, do something constructive.

└ OverweightOrc: LOL She’s a saint to forgive you for having kids with someone else LOL

└ PureElfHere: I told her I was reincarnated, come on LOL

└ OverweightOrc: That’s probably why she let it slide.

RealBattleMage: Silver Thunder Clan are punks, they only target the weak and avoid rankers.

└ HeadSmasherSaint: Have you fought them?

└ CatDemonLord: Fought alongside people who took them down.

└ RealBattleMage: They’re like cockroaches. Should we just exterminate them all?

—

They seem to be pretty infamous.

Should I just break more skulls?