D-Rank Constellation Hunter… Stuck Without Internet! - Chapter 154

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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 154
Ha Gyuhyuk froze solid at my sudden confession of love.
Had I never expressed affection toward him in all this time—never once told him I loved him?
Even if I had, this time felt different in its resonance.
And I was showing tears he’d never seen from me before.
“I’m not crying because of you. Not because the recovered memories are unhappy.”
“They’re not unhappy?”
“If I hadn’t found this memory, I would have regretted it forever.”
I would have believed I died alone in solitude for all eternity.
I wish she had told me sooner. Then perhaps we would have had more to share over these three hundred years.
But Tasha must have had her reasons for staying silent.
As if reading my thoughts, several messages arrived from my Constellation.
[ Tasha: I wanted to be your friend, not your Constellation. ]
[ Tasha: I wanted to be your ally rather than your savior. ]
[ Tasha: I simply wanted to be the older sister you could rely on without restraint, not someone whose debt you had to repay. ]
[ Tasha: That’s my true heart, but I couldn’t delay any longer since recovering this memory seemed necessary for the future you envision. ]
In truth, if I had known from the beginning that Tasha was my Constellation, we might never have maintained this kind of relationship.
I might have felt an unavoidable sense of debt, and I would have sensed formality before familiarity with her.
In that regard, Tasha was wise.
Now that I knew, such feelings didn’t arise. We had grown too close to feel any distance.
[ Se-um: You’re still my most precious and wisest friend ]
[ Se-um: That will remain true no matter what world awaits us ]
[ Tasha: You’ve finally shed all your childishness completely. ]
[ Tasha: The road ahead is long, but I’ll keep watching over you from your side. ]
A promise from my omnipotent being—true in the past, true now, and true in the future.
Though I still had no sense of how to resolve the crises ahead, the oppressive fog that had clouded my vision lifted slightly.
After forcibly closing the option that I might cease to exist, I focused entirely on Ha Gyuhyuk.
“Ha Gyuhyuk, what if I had never revealed myself to you and only communicated through system windows?”
“You mean if you hadn’t descended in an incarnate form and only used the chat window?”
“Right. If I had only helped you as a Constellation without letting you hear my voice—would you still have loved me?”
He and I are not the same being.
Even if he faced an identical situation, he might not have forced himself to find a way out as I did.
So I was curious.
Not doubting his love, but what he—not me—would think.
With what feelings he loved me.
“No, I think I fell in love from the moment Se-um was watching over me.”
“From that moment?”
“From the moment Se-um showed interest in me without even revealing your true nature. I didn’t realize it then, but… it couldn’t have been anything but love.”
Whether I was human, alien, or whatever form or life I had lived—he would have loved me.
Since it was something that would never happen, I couldn’t verify the truth, but his words alone brought me joy.
I nodded with a slight smile.
“Looks good.”
I turned my gaze toward the Gate.
I showed Ha Gyuhyuk traces of myself, and he recovered his memories.
Truth be told, I gained far more from this than he did, which bothered me somewhat.
It was perhaps natural that Tasha’s attention was focused on me rather than my client.
I thought it would be helpful for Ha Gyuhyuk.
“Should we head back now?”
I needed to go back and have a conversation first.
Still, at least I showed him the Gate, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
As for what to do about Ha Gyuhyuk, I could figure that out starting now.
“Se-um, wait a moment.”
“Hmm?”
But Ha Gyuhyuk suddenly stopped me.
His expression was troubled, as if there was still something we needed to do here.
“What? We’re done with what we came for.”
“No, well… Are you really going to leave Se-um here?”
“Of course I’m coming with you.”
The conversation kept circling strangely.
It took me quite a while to grasp what he meant.
The realization struck like lightning, sweeping through my mind with tremendous force.
“Are you talking about that corpse over there?”
“Yes.”
“Are you insane? If we remove that, the Dungeon opens immediately. That’s absurd.”
“Isn’t there a way to bring her with us? To me, she’s also Se-um. And since I’ve already seen her, heard her, I can’t turn away.”
“What did you hear?”
Only then did a look of realization flash across Ha Gyuhyuk’s face.
“What are you hearing right now?”
Ha Gyuhyuk finally relented, admitting it straightforwardly.
“Another Se-um’s voice.”
* * *
The power Ha Gyuhyuk inherited was the third ability: the power to hear the voices of the dead.
Hearing the voices of the departed seemed to have no particular utility on the surface, but he found it difficult to ignore.
He had a feeling it would be useful someday.
Beyond that, Chae-ah had sent him a sudden message before coming here.
[ Hunter Ji Chae-ah: Our Constellation says that if you’re ever troubled, it would be good to traverse both the boundary between life and death. ]
[ Hunter Ji Chae-ah: Honestly, I don’t even understand half of half of half of what he’s saying, so it’s difficult to explain what he means! ]
It might not have been an instruction to choose this ability.
But when he came to the Universe with Se-um, he knew his decision was not wrong.
The being he perceived as the human Se-um was speaking endlessly.
I want to stop.
I want to stay here and end it.
Let me disappear in the natural order of things.
You already understand the loneliness of human Se-um now. So please stop saving me.
Since there would be Jin Che, who had become a Constellation beside me, this must be a lingering thought or memory left in the human body.
Over three hundred years, unable to rot or vanish, it had fought back calamity alone—and now it desperately yearned for dissolution.
Se-um, who had endlessly waged an unacknowledged battle at the edge of the Universe, was exhausted.
“They say they want to stop now…”
“Me? I never said anything like that.”
“Perhaps… the corpse is the one speaking.”
At the mention that she could understand the corpse’s words, Se-um’s expression twisted into something grotesque for a moment.
Her Constellation, who had been staring into empty space as if conversing with someone, let out a short sigh as if realizing something.
“Since I’m holding back the calamity with a Constellation’s power, some fragments of my soul must have attached themselves there.”
“Fragments?”
“Well… memories from that moment of death, or the soul from that instant. That’s what I just read. Since removing it won’t interfere with blocking the Dungeon, I’ll make it inaudible.”
Se-um spoke without hesitation.
As if it were natural to erase even her own soul if it became an obstacle to Ha Gyuhyuk.
Ha Gyuhyuk urgently turned his back on the corpse and blocked Se-um’s path. Bewilderment flickered across Se-um’s gaze.
“You can’t do that, Se-um.”
“Hm…? You keep insisting we need to save that thing. But it has to guard that place for at least fifty-four years. Then it will naturally dissipate. It’s not that long.”
That was a Constellation’s measure of time.
Human Se-um’s soul was suffering.
An already shattered specter, forced to become a hero and hold back calamity.
There was no way he could turn away from something he loved.
“Please find a way.”
“What?”
Se-um’s expression went blank, as if she hadn’t expected such words from his mouth.
“You’re my Constellation, Se-um.”
Se-um fell silent for a moment.
She thought she might be scolded, but the instant she met his gaze, she read something indescribable in his expression.
Se-um stared at him as if trying to suppress the turbulent emotions, then burst into laughter as if exasperated.
“I thought you and I were different.”
“Pardon?”
“I ended up picking up someone just like me.”
After laughing like that for a while, Se-um extended her hand toward Ha Gyuhyuk.
“Fine, I’ll find a way. I’m a god too, after all.”

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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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