D-Rank Constellation Hunter… Stuck Without Internet! - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1
“Se-um, are you having problems again today? You’re going to pull all your hair out at this rate.”
“If I could, I’d tear my hair out myself just to fix this.”
“I’d like to help too. Let me try logging in next time.”
“Please, I’m begging you.”
“My world’s already fallen apart anyway, so I’ve been bored lately. I’m happy to help. Oh, but Se-um—that’s not your origin world, is it?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’ve been checking in on it after a long time. Though it hasn’t been less than a year since I last looked properly.”
“Right, even we constellations have nostalgia, I suppose. Well, I’ll be going then.”
I watched him leave with a smile, then turned back to shaking the monitor.
I threw myself into a dungeon break that lasted 330 years, prevented a catastrophic loss of life, and died.
As a mere C-rank awakened one heading to register with the Hunter Association, I happened to save the world and was recognized for my contribution, becoming a constellation.
In any case, I’m now just one of countless constellations wandering from channel to channel as a constellation.
Why had I suddenly wanted to look in on the world I came from? It was a world that held not a single good memory for me.
[ Connection Error. ]
“Please, just let me see it.”
Since the channel hadn’t connected for over 300 years, it takes quite some time to locate that world again.
All the diligent visits over these past few months don’t change that.
I poured mana into the screen and struck it with all my strength.
[ Connecting. ]
[ System Enhancement Authority granted to world #34R7h. ]
For reference, this was content I transmitted 30 days ago by human world standards.
Me, a constellation.
With omnipotent power, I harbored grand dreams of accessing the world where I once lived and strengthening it.
Until the day another constellation is born in this world.
[ Connection unstable. Transmission suspended temporarily. ]
But the internet isn’t working.
* * *
“How was the broadcast you watched this time?”
“Well, viewers kept dropping, and since I wasn’t sponsoring it anymore, they seemed ready to shut it down. A massive earthquake happened, but earthquakes are so clichéd that I just left.”
“Maintaining a channel is troublesome, isn’t it.”
What sustains the universe is the balance of equilibrium.
For one world to be born, another must collapse.
Endless creation and destruction are ultimately the attempts of countless universes to maintain their total quantity.
To those contained within, it would be a meaningless death and a calamity that strikes without warning, but standing at this vantage point, one comes to understand.
It is merely the flow of an immensely vast world, and when that world disappears, somewhere else a cradle for new life is created.
The extinction of a world whose time has come is inevitable.
“Wasn’t the place you entered this time your original world? Your primordial home.”
“It was. I thought I should at least bid farewell to where I came from, so I went to see it. Back then, it felt like I couldn’t live without that place.”
Now, well, it just seemed like a tedious landscape.
The voice coming from behind carried an air of indifference.
That person underwent a total of 800 regressions to save their world.
Without understanding why, they died 799 times to prevent the approaching annihilation, lost their beloved, and repeatedly parted from those they cherished.
In the end, they succeeded in saving the world.
And at last, they breathed their final breath surrounded by loved ones and became a Constellation.
“They kept begging me to let them live, so I sent painkillers. Hallucinogens too. At least their final moments were reasonably peaceful.”
Now, that person had become an existence that watched the planet’s destruction as mere entertainment.
After all, everything they had loved left not even a trace.
It wasn’t that they had become particularly cold-hearted.
Hadn’t they shown compassion to the dying in their final affection for their homeland?
If among them there exists one who puts up meaningful resistance against the destruction, they will become a new existence and cross beyond that blue gate.
Of course, it’s hardly a matter that concerns me.
Those who hold worlds in the palm of their hand and view them as entertainment.
Transcendents who simultaneously lost all concepts of pity or suffering regarding their ends.
If there are those they favor, they shower them with affection-laden patronage, making it impossible for them to refuse their commands.
Our ability is to plant fear and reverence in the hearts of humans, and that becomes the power through which we dominate them.
Terrible to them, but irrelevant by our standards.
We are Constellations.
We suddenly descend upon a world one day, wielding almighty power and pouring out gifts.
Sometimes it takes the form of a status window, sometimes it’s an oracle.
Those who express their will in accordance with that world’s culture.
Living beings fear it, saying there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
But they will probably never understand that what Constellations desire is neither wealth nor their lives.
I would have been the same.
* * *
[ Your client in the H46or world has departed to where the martial brothers who cherish and love him reside. ]
[ Jong-nam here will not forget the grace you showed by guiding the master who awakened many paths and led Jong-nam toward greater enlightenment. ]
[ As your client’s life has ended, settlement is being processed. ]
“My Jong-nam whom I raised from when you could barely toddle… Farewell… I thought you were perhaps a very ancient ancestor of Jong-nam appearing in my dreams until the very end.”
Behind satisfied murmurs, I wiped away tears that shouldn’t have come.
Why does my chest swell with emotion whenever my chosen client meets such a beautiful death?
Perhaps I still retain a human heart within me.
I was certain this time I would become a Constellation, but it seems I was wrong.
A Constellation I often make wagers with quietly interjected from beside me.
“Se-um, there’s a fascinating universe—why don’t you take a look? There are truly interesting lifeforms there.”
“…Is that so? As it happens, the H46or world I was observing is also coming to an end. My client has died.”
Constellations’ inclinations divide into several categories.
Those who pour out gifts while seeking to create Constellations like themselves.
Those who merely observe for amusement, then focus support on a particular existence when something interesting occasionally occurs.
Those who want to provide support but lack sufficient resources, so they do nothing, or borrow resources from those around them.
“Aren’t you going to pick a new client?”
“Ah, I have plenty of confirmation rights.”
If a Constellation doesn’t have enough Karma—the currency of the Constellations—they must randomly draw a life form to sponsor.
I have so much Karma that I always choose with ‘confirmation rights,’ but.
“I’m envious. Then again, Se-um loves nurturing clients, so the returns must be substantial. Right?”
“To some extent. But this time, I’d prefer to just observe.”
Clients refer to life forms who receive sponsorship from Constellations.
They scramble desperately to catch the eyes of Constellations, receive better sponsorship, survive, and grow stronger.
Some sponsor them purely for entertainment, while others obsessively pursue the goal of displaying ‘My client became a Constellation!’ with considerable fervor.
“It seems Franson doesn’t have confirmation rights. So you’ll be drawing a client now? Or just observing?”
“I was observing at first, but the more I watched, the more entertaining it became. This world is collapsing too, but an Awakening happens right here.”
“An Awakened One? How classical. Nothing particularly remarkable about that, is there?”
“But the Awakened One is a zombie. The ones who haven’t Awakened are zombies too, and they’re fighting against creatures that use superhuman abilities.”
There’s certainly a minor element to it.
Franson moved forward, fluttering the wings attached to his shoulders.
The most foolish ones are those who mistake themselves for being exceptional and believe they were chosen by a Constellation.
I glanced sideways at the machine, which resembled a crude slot machine.
Franson, who occupied a seat among the other Constellations, manipulated the button.
[ Proceeding with client selection. ]
A Constellation without currency cannot choose their sponsored client.
The only freely permitted choice is selecting the planet; everything else is what they call a random draw.
The reason was to prevent conflicts among Constellations over obtaining capable clients.
But what if one fails to obtain the desired client?
One might wonder what happens if that Constellation harbors ill intent and schemes slander… but.
“Hey, Franson. Sorry about killing your client last time. You seemed to like that one because it had potential.”
“Don’t worry about it. If it wasn’t going to work out anyway, it probably died to something like a Kraken.”
A Constellation would never concern themselves with the life and death of such insignificant beings.
It’s not as if I’ve fallen in love.
Besides, Franson’s basic style was to keep clients on each planet.
It seemed he thought of it as a kind of cultivation game.
For all that, his results were consistently poor, leaving him struggling with Karma shortage.
[ Revealing the new client of the Constellation ‘Broken-Winged Gatekeeper.’ ]
[ Remitory of world ’47pH5,’ lizard-kind. Age 47. Occupation: thief. Estimated remaining lifespan: 2 years. ]
“Ugh!”
Franson, seemingly in distress, clutched his head as raucous laughter erupted mockingly.
I too joined in among the Constellations laughing.
He pulled out a portable device with an expression of horror, fumbling with it.
It seemed he’d replaced his equipment again—it gleamed brilliantly.
That’s why he wastes Karma on such things and can’t obtain confirmation rights for clients.
“Franson, it’s quite a talent to draw only terrible clients every time. With 2 years, you won’t even have time to try anything.”
“This universe itself only has 3 years left anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. Hey, Se-um. Stop just observing and bet with me on whose client survives longer.”
“Hmm, it’s tempting, but I’ll have to decline. I prefer a world where my clients live long and prosper. I’d like to see returns matching my investment.”
I cast a glance at the screen.
In a world descended into chaos, creature-like beings screamed for salvation.
Those who were once friends and family now rushed at me with murderous intent—naturally so.
I watched the screen with my arms crossed. Three hundred years ago, I would have felt sympathy for them.
Now it was merely a tedious sight I’d witnessed thousands of times over.
“Didn’t you say Franson’s world also perished from plague?”
“It did. That’s why I keep finding myself drawn to worlds ravaged by disease. I’ve often entered channels with facilitators, and whenever I do, I deliberately insert plague-eradication quests.”
“And your own world?”
“It collapsed long ago. I tried accessing it once, but a thousand years after my death, a mutant virus swept through and destroyed everything.”
Server terminated.
His mouth twitched slightly.
‘I see. Of course, when a world perishes, server termination is inevitable.’
Had I not heard those words that day, I likely would never have considered accessing my world of origin.
Franson, unaware he’d just hurled an enormous bomb at me, began bestowing modest gifts upon his client with two years remaining.
“Why are you using such high-end equipment? You’re using it all up—won’t you run out of gifts for your client?”
“Well, they’ll die soon anyway, but my broadcast will endure forever, right? It’s an investment in myself. An investment. This makes access faster.”
“What’s the point of faster access? Besides, there shouldn’t be server issues in the first place. You’re thinking like a human.”
“That was the most insulting thing I’ve heard in the past hundred years, Se-um.”
He made a light jest, then casually turned toward my room.
Franson became absorbed in tending to his own client.
He seemed to realize I had little interest and didn’t press me further.
Back in my room, I activated the viewing device.
I call it a computer for convenience, though it has some other complicated designation.
– You are not currently subscribed to any world. Would you like to access a world? If not, random recommendations will proceed.
[ 34R7h ]
My forgotten homeland.
[ Accessing now. ]
It hadn’t perished.
Though I’d been certain I held no lingering attachment to that world, I found myself anxiously holding my breath.
What if I accessed it only to find ruins?
Three hundred years—everything I once knew would have been torn down and rebuilt anew.
This felt entirely different from observing some unfamiliar world, some irrelevant space.
If I’d known such tenderness would remain, I should have done this long ago.
‘Could I actually create a constellation this time? What do I do?’
While I was naturally indulging in premature optimism as a newcomer of Korean origin, the screen flickered once.
[ Connection is unstable. ]
“What?”
[ Reconnecting for optimal system performance. ]
It began that day.
[ Estimated Time Required: 1 day 18 hours ]
That a constellation like myself had become so fixated on the internet was—

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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