D-Rank Constellation Hunter… Stuck Without Internet! - Chapter 11

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

Chapter 11
As expected, I fell asleep and missed the message that came four hours later saying “You’re the best.”
Sleep was something simultaneously too familiar and utterly foreign.
If my life spans roughly 350 years, I’ve actually slept for just over twenty of them—the rest spent lying in bed.
Even after becoming a Constellation, maintaining proper posture proved difficult, so I remained horizontal throughout.
Around a hundred years in, I started sitting up.
Simply because I grew tired of the same position.
After ascending to Constellation, sleep felt remarkably inefficient.
Naturally, it would.
‘Why waste time sleeping when something entertaining might happen instead?’
‘Though I suppose when the body grows weary or after staring at monitors endlessly, one doesn’t resist the urge to sleep.’
‘Not at all? Initially, I thought I’d become some sort of monster and considered mimicking human behavior, but… I am a monster, aren’t I? Might as well enjoy it.’
Gradually becoming unlike the way I once lived.
I too began adopting their lifestyle, and now that I’ve reverted, it feels as though I’ve become human again—strange, really.
Curious, isn’t it?
Honestly, it’s completely different from human sleep.
Even in the unconscious realm they call dreams, I remain perfectly lucid.
I simply allow my body to rest while my mind continues thinking in that unconscious space. Endlessly.
‘Ha Gyuhyuk has become my client.’
I murmured it once more to myself.
Ha Gyuhyuk has become my client.
Returning to my homeland, I became the Constellation patron of someone who would walk this same earth and grow.
The feeling was strange.
‘Se-um, your body will never be found. Should anyone come seeking your remains, this apocalypse will resume.’
‘Without divine intervention, humanity cannot prevent it—yet if your sacrifice alone can stop it, where could greater nobility exist?’
A hazy memory.
Thinking back now, it wasn’t an inevitable flow.
It was merely difficult for humans—Earth still had numerous active Constellations, many with sufficient karma.
Had I requested their aid, perhaps the apocalypse could have been prevented.
But they wouldn’t waste their resources rescuing someone who wasn’t their client.
[ Remember this—your death will be rewarded. ]
I died without a single Constellation, or anyone else, coming to my rescue. Anticlimactically.
What was my final thought as I died?
Perhaps the clichéd desire to live?
At the very least, I hoped my client would feel that life was profoundly happy when facing death.
If they thought they wanted to live even one more day because of that happiness, then nothing could be more rewarding for a Constellation.
“Come now, Se-um. Wake up.”
The effect of Goodnight was nearly wearing off.
‘Perhaps I wanted to find someone whose situation mirrored mine and make them my client.’
One rank below C-grade, with no one to help them.
I suffered from loneliness, born with an ability that no one could appreciate at the time.
Yet I believed that even with such vague talent, I could accomplish anything.
I understand the heart of a human trapped in such a low place.
‘Why do Constellations favor high-ranked Hunters? If they’re always interested in those with high potential, why do they demand a narrative?’
‘Isn’t it unreasonable that without a story, you can’t even catch a Constellation’s eye? In the end, those who live painful lives and die unseen in the darkness are ordinary, unremarkable people.’
‘I won’t become like that. Even if I die now, if I’m reborn or given a second chance, no matter what happens….’
Se-um, the human from the lowest depths, thought and resolved at death’s doorstep.
To become someone who extends a helping hand.
The suicide note I wrote in a notebook while holding back tears alone to ease my despair, and how I postponed death day by day with excuses like eating something delicious the next day.
I am a Constellation who understands Ha Gyuhyuk’s life better than anyone.
There were countless Constellations who lived painful lives like mine and died, but at least he and I share a common homeland, don’t we?
I closed my eyes once. I felt my soul gradually returning to my physical body.
“Ugh….”
I stretched my body this way and that.
Usually when you wake up from sleep, your whole body should feel refreshed, but instead it felt sluggish.
I immediately pulled the monitor toward my bed.
I’d developed the habit of sitting and watching a monitor for hundreds of years, and now it’s become like this in an instant.
Whatever, let me just lie down.
Checking the time, there were about 4 hours left before Ha Gyuhyuk would wake up.
[ Sponsored ‘Growth Accelerant’ to client. (Quantity: 300) ]
[ Sponsored ‘Won’ to client. (Quantity: 50,000 Karma converted) ]
Karma exchange rates differ depending on the world’s tier.
The more Constellations that enter a world, the higher its tier is determined to be, so even spending a lot of Karma doesn’t give good value.
But this world is different.
Here, I’m the only Constellation.
A space so corroded that the connection with other Constellations is nearly severed.
Even this much should be a sufficient gift for him.
‘When will it arrive?’
Since it’s a powerful item, the transmission is delayed.
So I only sent a tiny amount of Karma. Really, just a tiny amount.
Defeating an ancient nemesis in one world nets about 20 million.
So sending just this should definitely be fine. It has to be.
Why isn’t it transmitting again?
“No, now there’s not even a percentage showing. What on earth is this?”
I stared intently at the spinning circle that appears during loading.
It would be better if the percentage went up one by one.
It makes it look like everything’s transmitting, then tortures me with false hope like this.
I gripped the monitor with both hands and banged my forehead against it repeatedly.
Grinding my teeth while glaring at it. This is going to wake up my kid.
“On Earth, there’s something called a Christmas present. When you wake up and there’s a gift, you feel amazing, right? I mean, even a client without that kind of thing would be happy waking up to find a gift.”
First, my plan is to give him anything that looks good.
Then, if something happens to him, I’ll step in magnificently and help him out. I’ll even clear Dungeons for him.
Or maybe not? Since he might want to grow stronger, I could do a little manipulation to adjust his grade.
I felt his body stirring as he began to wake.
I suppressed the corners of my mouth from rising.
‘Tell me what you want, and I’ll make it happen for you, no matter what.’
Though it would be different if he asked for world conquest or to become an SSS-rank Hunter not yet in the rankings.
In that case, I’d have to ask him to wait here, venture into a one-off world to accumulate some karma, and return.
Wandering through various worlds, I’d carefully select clients with good odds of earning karma, sponsor them diligently, withdraw the rewards, and funnel them back into Ha Gyuhyuk.
It’s such a petty thing to do that I want to put it off until the very last resort.
Still, he doesn’t seem like the type to have such greedy ambitions.
– Ah, um….
[ You awake? ]
I typed the message like a machine, without hesitation.
He stretched grandly, as if he’d had a truly pleasant dream.
Only after a few seconds did he gasp and sit up.
– Constellation? Constellation!
[ I’m glad you slept well. Accept my gift first. ]
[ And send me a list of everything you want to have, want to do. ]
[ Or things you want to become. ]
Ha Gyuhyuk paused briefly, then lifted his head with a determined expression.
While I wondered what he could possibly be asking for with that face, his lips moved.
– I want to save people.
[ You want to save people? ]
How is this walking mass of karma so pure.
– Yes, well, actually there are many Hunters in the world struggling like me, more than you’d think. Ah, and Constellation. You gave me so much money.
[ Just use it. You need to find a new place to live anyway. ]
I couldn’t tell if that grateful expression came mechanically every time or if he was genuinely moved each time.
But from the perspective of the giver, it’s truly joyful to receive such sincere reactions.
The fact that someone who’s weathered all of life’s storms still wants to save and help others is almost moving.
I’ve seen countless children harboring resentment….
I decided to open an information page I hadn’t been checking regularly.
If I confirmed things like expected lifespan, I’d inevitably feel uneasy as that time approached, and that wouldn’t do.
If a Constellation actively intervenes in the world, it’s possible to change a client’s expected lifespan again and again, but honestly, I’ve never felt that level of attachment to a single client before.
‘It’s right to let them go according to their natural course. It’s better to make them as happy as possible within that span.’
I can influence fate, but when the moment of death arrives, I let them go without hesitation.
I earnestly hope that the small, gentle, and fragile children I’ve carefully nurtured will live happily in the heaven they believe in.
This time, I plan to make Ha Gyuhyuk the same way.
[ Querying client information. ]
[ Announcing the new client of the Constellation of the Entangled Apocalypse’s Finalizer. ]
[ In the world of ’34R7h’, Ha Gyuhyuk, human race. Age 27. Occupation: D-rank Hunter. Estimated remaining lifespan: -1 day. ]
[ However, since this world has shown no prior data of Constellation intervention, the final lifespan is being recalculated. ]
‘-1 day?’

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