D-Rank Constellation Hunter… Stuck Without Internet! - Chapter 123

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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 123
The landscape inside the Dungeon bore little resemblance to its name—Black Darkness Hell.
Golden rice fields, heavy with the abundance of harvest season, stretched endlessly in every direction.
And in the distance, countless fruit trees hung heavy with nameless fruits.
“Is this really Black Darkness Hell?”
“Doesn’t quite match the name ‘hell,’ does it? But then again, the hell you humans know is just something you invented yourselves.”
Ha Gyuhyuk gazed around as if entranced.
The landscape was peaceful and fantastical, like something from a fairy tale.
If only there weren’t the complete absence of any trace of life, save for the crops themselves.
Watching the leaves sway in the breeze, I opened my mouth slightly.
“You know about Yama, right? Black Darkness Hell is related to those Ten Kings of Hell.”
“Yes, Black Darkness Hell is where souls receive judgment from the King of the Third Darkness exactly three years after death.”
“…Right.”
I had prepared to explain something with great flourish, but found myself embarrassed without meaning to.
He already knew.
Well, there has been quite a lot of content about Eastern hell lately.
Things like Kangnim and Haewonmaek, and apparently fan art too.
Ha Gyuhyuk, noticing my embarrassment, quickly continued.
“But what kind of judgment they receive, I, uh, don’t really know.”
If you’re going to lie, at least put some effort into it.
It was obvious he was making things up as he went, uncertain what to say.
Absurd, but endearing enough to overlook. I composed my expression and continued.
“It’s the hell where those who stole from their parents or teachers are sent.”
“Then that old man…?”
“Don’t worry—his wife wasn’t his mother or a teacher’s woman or anything like that.”
Ha Gyuhyuk’s expression grew embarrassed, realizing his thoughts had been read so easily.
Spaces that incorporate the concept of ‘karma’ and possess notions of Buddhism or reincarnation are indeed special.
‘Constellations don’t reincarnate after clearing their karma—they simply vanish. So why?’
‘In the end, reincarnation occurs when there’s much life remaining. Ceasing reincarnation and vanishing is quite similar to clearing karma and a star reaching the end of its lifespan.’
Tasha had spent hours telling me countless stories when I was a young Constellation.
What it meant to live as a star, the constraints imposed upon them.
‘Does Tasha explain things like this to all new Constellations? She’s quite kind.’
‘Knowing too much alone is rather lonely, after all.’
A paragon of solitary knowledge.
One who has reached depths of understanding that ordinary clients could never attain.
Sharing that with others would shatter their minds, so she embraced all that knowledge alone—ultimately becoming the System itself.
Understanding everything that ordinary beings should never know is a lonely thing.
Perhaps that’s why Tasha enjoyed being asked questions.
Unlike me, who buffers and rolls my eyes when someone asks something.
Back then, I simply accepted it as enjoyable, like listening to an old story.
I never thought the day would come when I’d share this with another client.
“Is there a connection between the Karma that Constellations use and Buddhism?”
“Well, they’re not entirely unrelated. Though the existence of Constellations did precede Earth, after all.”
In any case, the ‘Karma’ discussed in Buddhism isn’t completely disconnected from this.
It can be understood as the deeds accumulated during one’s lifetime.
“So it’s a similar concept, then?”
“Right, which is why ordinary clients can’t enter this Dungeon.”
“Because it’s a place that judges karma…?”
“Sharp. If I hadn’t claimed you first, Tasha might have coveted you. Though to be precise, only transcendents can enter here.”
When I praised him playfully, Ha Gyuhyuk laughed with embarrassment.
Only those who belong to a realm unreachable by ordinary humans can cross this threshold.
“Transcendents?”
“I’ll explain that once we’re outside.”
Ha Gyuhyuk accepted without further questions.
“Dungeons are created when Earth connects with other Servers that exist outside of it.”
As I walked and spoke, he followed a few steps behind me as always.
“I see.”
“And among Servers, there are rare cases where everyone in that world transcends the rank of client.”
“…Everyone?”
I nodded lightly.
Those who had built a rank beyond client, though they hadn’t reached the realm of Constellations or Divine Officials.
Servers that had accumulated such Karma are recognized as special Servers by Sungdo.
So that when later connected to other worlds through Dungeons or similar means, only those who ‘meet the conditions’ can enter.
“This isn’t a Dungeon you clear by defeating a boss or anything like that.”
I’m just saying it that way for easier understanding.
If anything, it’s closer to an ‘out-of-specification Dimensional Space’.
A Dungeon, yet an otherworld without monsters of any kind.
Ha Gyuhyuk wore an expression of half-understanding.
I smiled slightly and continued.
“So it’s like a bonus stage, in a sense. While we’re here anyway, we might as well rescue the trapped existence.”
“Se-um, may I ask one question?”
“I can’t promise I’ll answer well. But go ahead.”
“How did you know that person was trapped here?”
I fell silent for a moment.
How should I explain this?
After thinking it over, I turned around.
“Actually, they’re not trapped. They came in alone and got stuck.”
“Pardon?”
“The one inside here originally lived on a different Server.”
Ha Gyuhyuk blinked.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“It’s not Earth, but a different Server—though it’s still a love story connected to Earth’s tale.”
“Love stories are wonderful, but listening to Se-um’s account, it doesn’t seem to have ended happily.”
Ha Gyuhyuk’s expression darkened as he already imagined a tragic romance unfolding.
His innate imagination was something I could never match, no matter what I tried.
Look at Tasha—even after living so long, she possessed neither romance nor imagination.
Perhaps sentimentality truly was a matter of talent.
“No, the love story itself had a happy ending. It didn’t conclude tragically—the woman simply grew old and passed away naturally.”
And when she died, she held the hand of the man she loved, departing without pain.
When her body, well over ninety years old, could no longer move easily, her husband obtained a wheelchair and pushed her up that mountain every single day.
“The couple watched the sunset from that mountain every day, I heard. And when the sun set, they would carefully make their way back down.”
“In a wheelchair on such treacherous mountain paths?”
“The woman was a Hunter, and the man was a being from a different Server.”
“So… a Dungeon boss married a human and lived together?”
“If we’re going to call that place a Dungeon, then yes.”
The idea of a Dungeon boss and a human marrying and living together struck me as oddly amusing.
As I laughed, Ha Gyuhyuk forgot what he was saying and stared intently at my face.
“What? Did I say something strange?”
“No, I just… I like the sound of Se-um’s laughter.”
“You like everything.”
“What kind of sounds does Se-um like?”
“Sounds?”
I gazed blankly upward, lost in thought.
The wind blew, yet the clouds remained still—a strange world indeed.
This place was terribly narrow.
Beyond this field, past the trees, lay a void of nothingness.
The current master of this place possessed only this much capacity.
The wind scattered my hair.
“I think I like having my name called.”
“Regardless of whose voice it is?”
“Yes, but those who call my name are usually people I care about.”
Of course I would be happy to hear my name from someone I cherished.
Tasha, Franson, and Ha Gyuhyuk.
As I resumed walking, Ha Gyuhyuk’s footsteps followed, as if he were lost in thought.
Entering the gaps between countless fruit trees, the light vanished as if it had never existed.
“Ha Gyuhyuk, light.”
“Yes.”
He was now someone who understood my intentions instantly.
The moment I spoke, he activated a light skill like a flashlight, as if he had been waiting.
Our vision brightened, and what came into view was a figure sitting with their back turned toward us.
Branches sprouted from his back, and roots grew from his lower half where he sat, anchoring him to the earth like a tree rooted in place.
“Transcendent Emel, or rather… Kim Young-won, Hong So-gyeong’s husband.”
The old man turned his head with agonizing slowness.
“Emel? Kim Young-won?”
Ha Gyuhyuk tilted his head in confusion, opening his mouth.
“My true name is Emel, and the second name—given by the one I love—is Kim Young-won.”
At my explanation, he seemed to respond, his lips parting.
“You are a Constellation.”
“Yes.”
Ha Gyuhyuk flinched at the weight of ages in that voice and moved to block my path.
I pushed him aside as if to say it was fine, and bowed my head.
His pale violet eyes gazed upon me.
“Kim Young-won, Hong So-gyeong is dead.”
….
[ The Constellation of the Entangled Apocalypse’s Finalizer proclaims: ]
【 So now, go and die. 】

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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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