D-Rank Constellation Hunter… Stuck Without Internet! - Chapter 168

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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 168
Kim Gyuwun’s body crumbled as if in slow motion.
Every Hunter nearby froze in shock, their movements ceasing entirely.
Dan Yibum, whose life had been saved because of this, was in the worst state of all.
He stood rooted to the spot as though he himself had taken a fatal blow.
“Healer!”
“Yes!”
It was Ha Gyuhyuk who first regained his composure and issued orders amid the chaos.
Naturally, when the control tower became incapacitated, someone had to be ready to assume command.
Kim Gyuwun seemed to have anticipated even this scenario, having predetermined the succession of those who would take his orders.
He must have also prepared contingencies in case Ha Gyuhyuk failed to perform adequately.
“Everyone else, maintain formation and hold your positions. Dan Yibum, get ahold of yourself!”
A sharp voice cutting through the crowd.
Dan Yibum, still appearing dazed and hollow-eyed, stared blankly at only Kim Gyuwun, regardless of what the Healers were doing.
“It’s a corrupted attack! Healing alone won’t suffice!”
“What about antidotes or purification?”
“We’re working on it, but the efficiency is terrible. Can we get more Healers?”
Ha Gyuhyuk hesitated for several seconds.
In his heart, he too wanted to pour all the Healers onto Kim Gyuwun and save him by any means necessary.
At that moment, Dan Yibum spoke.
“Please send the Healer who was backing me up over there.”
“…No.”
Kim Gyuwun barely managed to murmur, his voice so faint it was questionable whether those nearby could even hear him.
His voice was scarcely audible.
“If the formation collapses now…”
The Healers currently attached to Kim Gyuwun were those on standby as a precaution.
The remaining Healers each had their own assigned Hunters to support. Dan Yibum was asking to reassign his designated Healer.
“But then you’ll die!”
“Even if one more Healer were here… that wouldn’t… change my fate. In fact, it would only put you in danger as well…”
Then Kim Gyuwun’s voice trailed off, as though consciousness was slipping away.
He was right. Even if they brought Dan Yibum’s Healer, it was uncertain whether Kim Gyuwun could be saved.
It was beyond human capability.
If one additional person could have made a difference, it wouldn’t have earned the name of apocalypse.
Ha Gyuhyuk fell silent for a moment, then lifted his head.
“Healers, hold your positions.”
“Guild Master!”
“Weren’t you just saying the same thing? Will you abandon the many for the few?”
Dan Yibum flinched.
“I’m the minority…”
“Surely you understand how many could be lost because of your injuries.”
“….”
Don’t say anything to Ha Gyuhyuk. My child is suffering far more than you are.
“Don’t let Kim Gyuwun’s choice go to waste.”
If the goal is an efficient clear with minimal casualties, there’s no other choice.
‘Even if he is precious to me, I cannot sacrifice many for his sake.’
In this moment, Dan Yibum realized he had been influenced by Kim Gyuwun, and Kim Gyuwun had chosen the path with Dan Yibum in mind.
Kim Gyuwun respected Dan Yibum and threw himself forward instead, so that Dan Yibum could save more lives.
But what use is such an epiphany when standing before death?
“If you wish, you may fall back for a time. But afterward, personnel control is my responsibility, so please follow my lead.”
Dan Yibum walked in silence toward Kim Gyuwun and the Healers attached to him, stumbling slightly.
If the Healers assigned now cannot save Kim Gyuwun, I will abandon him.
That too would be a decision that tears the heart apart.
“Fall back!”
Ha Gyuhyuk rushed forward first, blocking the attack, knowing he wouldn’t regain his senses in time.
Unlike the confused Hunters, the Constellations observing the situation remained remarkably composed.
“Oh dear….”
“What will become of that child.”
“A Celestial Golem’s antidote means poison, curse, and bleeding too…. My, this will be difficult.”
Some clicked their tongues as if watching a film, while others wiped away tears of pity.
Of course, there were Constellations who could save Kim Gyuwun in this moment.
Even without specializing in healing, changing a human’s fate was hardly difficult.
But the Constellations didn’t step forward because Kim Gyuwun’s life or death didn’t affect the Dungeon clear itself.
To resolve such a fatal wound, they would need to establish a temporary client contract for the duration of the Competition.
In the end, he simply hadn’t drawn enough interest for other Constellations to want to contract with him.
Yet I couldn’t blame the Constellations.
He was one of my own, part of Touch One, but to others he was just some unknown kid whose death didn’t matter.
“Se-um, are you alright?”
Tasha asked quietly.
“Alright about what?”
“That kid—if he dies, I think you’ll be upset.”
“Not upset enough.”
Tasha and the other Constellations would gladly grant my request for healing if I asked.
But if I’m to save Kim Gyuwun now, the choice is already made.
I turned my gaze toward the one standing rigidly beside me, already ashen-faced.
“Franson, won’t you save him?”
“Huh? Me… you mean me?”
“Yes.”
“To save him, I’d have to make a contract.”
His crimson eyes wavered.
Within them swirled pain and anguish, sorrow and despair.
Here I was, grieving so deeply over a single human’s death, yet still unable to move.
In three hundred years at my side, I had never seen my friend wear such an expression.
“Then make a contract with me.”
“With me?”
He laughed as though he’d heard something utterly absurd.
The hollow laughter filled the silence. Tasha slowly dragged herself to join us.
“If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
“This isn’t a request or a demand?”
“If anything, it’s a proposal.”
I hadn’t begged him to save Kim Gyuwun. All of this was their choice.
That Kim Gyuwun threw away his own life, and that Franson chose not to act.
“In a world like this, even acquiring a client is a luxury I don’t deserve.”
I could almost see the weight of guilt pressing down on his shoulders.
As though he had no right to contract with a life of value. The silhouette and regret of one who had let so much slip away.
“So you’ll just let him die? I suppose that too is the natural order.”
Franson’s body trembled faintly.
“Kim Gyuwun dying is the natural order?”
“By the standards of this Land, it would be. Left as is, he’ll die.”
Tasha’s voice was infinitely calm. My friend, always so coldly rational.
But perhaps this was precisely the moment when such words were needed most.
“Whether you let that boy die and regret it, or save him and regret it—that’s your choice.”
“You’ll regret either way. I’m simply asking you to choose how you’ll regret.”
“Your regrets made you a star.”
Franson’s wavering gaze turned toward me.
He would spend a very long time regretting, suffering, continuing his existence.
“And if I’m going to regret anyway, then I’ll do what I want right now.”
“”
“Because I was human once. They don’t think about distant futures. They do what they want now, hold what they wish to hold, and seek what they desire.”
He was a Constellation who had accumulated regret by turning away from countless lives.
There was nothing more we could say.
Franson’s eyes were reddened.
And golden radiance surged forth.
* * *
Death is truly a trivial thing.
The pain faded quickly, and my consciousness grew increasingly hazy.
Kim Gyuwun reflected on his not-so-long life.
Perhaps I should have died long ago, and somehow patching myself up to reach this point left no room for complaint.
Only a few regrets remained—not seeing this Dungeon cleared, and losing my comrades, those I loved.
‘So death makes humans sentimental.’
Kim Gyuwun, thinking thus, quietly closed his eyes.
Yet beyond my closed eyes, the system window gleamed.
[ ‘The Gatekeeper with Broken Wings’ requests a Client Contract. ]
― Kim Gyuwun.
The whispered voice was so desperately earnest that I found myself thinking without conscious intention.
I had been waiting.
[ The Client Contract is established. ]
In that same instant, brilliant golden light enveloped my entire body.
Holy power shattered the stone that had pierced through my body and mended the fractured bones and organs.
As the curse that had been consuming my body vanished in a single breath, I opened my eyes as if waking from a dream.
He stood before me.
His one broken wing began to restore itself naturally. A pair of wings unfurled magnificently.
[ There is an update. ]
[ The epithet of ‘The Gatekeeper with Broken Wings’ has been changed. ]
[ From now on, this Constellation is ‘The Wings That Bear Life and Death’. ]

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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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