D-Rank Constellation Hunter… Stuck Without Internet! - Chapter 173

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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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Side Story 1-3
“She was never this jealous before.”
“It’s not that she’s jealous—she’s been suppressing her desires.”
Tasha looked at me with something like pity, as if I didn’t understand the obvious.
My Constellation knows everyone calls me a potato, but somehow it still hurts my chest.
“Why would she suppress her desires? I never told her to do that.”
“Back then, she definitely thought you weren’t her Constellation. But now that you’ve become a High Priest and she’s heard you say you love her, she must be certain.”
“So she got anxious when I suddenly said I was going to visit another Server?”
Tasha nodded while braiding my hair with delicate care.
Her meticulous touch, not missing a single tangled strand, made my body grow drowsy somehow.
“Not all Constellations feel affection for their clients.”
“But Ha Gyuhyuk has only encountered Constellations who feel suspiciously fond of their clients.”
“…”
Certainly.
There’s the Constellation who spent all their karma to make a single client into a Constellation.
The one who revealed their name and said the seat next to them belonged to you.
The one who abandoned the iron rule they’d upheld their entire life as atonement for a single person and reached out to humanity.
And in Sungdo, there’s a Constellation who fell in love with their client.
Even a Constellation who planned a Competition while exhausting all their karma to save their client’s world.
Cases like Pamang exist, but the probability of considering this an exception was high.
“How did I manage to encounter only such extraordinarily rare cases?”
“Your world has a saying—birds of a feather flock together, Se-um.”
“Right.”
“Because you’re such a rare case yourself, Constellations like that gather around you.”
I felt like I could argue back, but no counterargument came to mind.
I just rounded my lips and made a humming sound.
Tasha laughed as she tapped my lips with a tentacle.
“She’ll keep being anxious. She thinks she’s not suited for you at all. To her, you’re truly immense.”
“I know I’m a significant existence to her.”
“No, Se-um. You’re far greater than you think.”
As if I don’t know how greatly I regard myself.
But no matter how much I think of myself, the Se-um inside Ha Gyuhyuk seems to be something far more colossal.
I could tell just by looking at Tasha’s triumphant face. I narrowed my eyes, then soon let out a sigh.
“But I can’t just loaf around without earning karma. I have to keep entering Earth.”
My karma is essential to take Ha Gyuhyuk to Earth.
To do that, I need to earn it somewhere, but I can’t create another client on Earth, so I have to go elsewhere.
Ha Gyuhyuk isn’t the type to stop me if I insist on doing something with resolve.
But he’ll be deeply hurt and become dejected.
I don’t want to see that face.
“Tasha, I don’t want to deliberately hurt him or take shortcuts when there’s a way I could turn back.”
“Love is about adjusting your temperature to match theirs. If I were the original Se-um, I wouldn’t have cared whether you got hurt or not. Why should I concern myself with the trivial emotions of humans? That’s what I would have said.”
Tasha mimicked something I’d said long ago with mischievous amusement, laughing at me.
She was clearly trying to tease me.
And I fell for it completely. It was unfair, but I had to admit that such a reaction didn’t suit who I used to be.
“Ah, I have a rebuttal.”
“What could you possibly rebut?”
“Ha Gyuhyuk isn’t human anymore, so it’s not like I’m actually concerned with the trivial emotions of humans… wait, never mind.”
Tasha’s gaze turned so exasperated that I had no choice but to swallow the words I’d started so eagerly.
When will I ever manage to get the better of Tasha?
“So what kind of help do you need? You have to speak plainly for me to help you, Se-um.”
She always wielded the whip before offering the carrot.
My Constellation understood well how to train me. I blinked and got to the point.
“How to persuade him.”
“Persuade?”
“Yes, I wish I could persuade Ha Gyuhyuk in a way that doesn’t hurt him too much. So he’d understand why I have to do this… and wouldn’t worry.”
It was regrettable that I couldn’t give my High Priest certainty.
Even if I wanted to know how to give him that certainty, I wasn’t clever enough or eloquent enough to manage it.
Tasha fell silent as if thinking, then opened her mouth.
“Show me.”
“Show you?”
“Yes, show me how you treat your other clients. And let him know why you’re necessary to them.”
If anything, it was I who needed the clients.
Considering the karma I could obtain from them, naturally I was the one in urgent need, not them.
As I made an uncertain expression, Tasha tapped my head gently.
“You can do it. He was saved because of you, so he’ll understand you saving others too.”
I only truly understood those words after listening to two more hours of explanation.
By the time I’d heard all that, I felt a baseless confidence that it might actually be possible.
* * *
“Ha Gyuhyuk, did you have a good time today?”
Ha Gyuhyuk returned with a bright face, having apparently spent quite an enjoyable time.
It seemed that mediating the relationship between Franson and Kim Gyuwun suited his temperament.
Whenever I dealt with emotional Constellations like Franson, I never quite knew what to do.
I stroked Ha Gyuhyuk’s head as he eagerly sought out my embrace, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“I wouldn’t call it playing. I went to work. I’m not the kind of person who would play and leave Se-um alone… I mean, I’m not that kind of High Priest.”
“I know. You went to work. But sometimes, if you want to, you can go out and play. I’m tired of it, but Sungdo must still be incredibly fascinating to you.”
Being confined to my room alone was a waste of time.
I didn’t know how much longer I’d have to be trapped here.
But Ha Gyuhyuk insisted that he would naturally have to return to me and would always wait for me. With such steadfast resolve, how could I tell him not to?
I tickled his cheek gently before speaking.
“It’s a bit much to tell you this after you’ve come back from work, but it’s time I made a decision.”
“A resolution?”
Ha Gyuhyuk lifted his head from my chest, his expression momentarily flustered as he looked up at me.
I nodded with a rather serious expression.
This time it wasn’t showmanship—I’d genuinely prepared myself mentally, which made me tense as well.
“I know you’re reluctant about this, but I can’t avoid entering other Servers forever. I’m a Constellation, and you still have many connections on Earth.”
“….”
As if he’d anticipated my words, Ha Gyuhyuk’s expression grew melancholy.
There was something subtly embarrassing about having his true feelings exposed. If he’d been just a bit more careful, I might not have noticed.
But his nature—one that couldn’t keep many secrets from me—ultimately forced the truth to surface.
“I roughly understand what you’re worried about.”
“I know I can’t stop you from your work because of my jealousy. That wouldn’t make me a good High Priest, a good client, or a good Ha Gyuhyuk either….”
“I never asked you to remain a good High Priest, a good client, or a good Ha Gyuhyuk for me.”
“Still. I want to appear that way to you.”
He burrowed deeper into my embrace, his voice a soft murmur.
I stroked his hair while deliberately swallowing a sigh. If I gave in to this seduction now, all the plans I’d built over this time would crumble to dust.
“First, I’ll show you how I’ve treated the clients I’ve created throughout my existence, and why they need a Constellation.”
“Why they need one?”
“Yes. I won’t decide arbitrarily—I’ll let you see for yourself and make your own judgment. And if, after seeing everything, you still wish I wouldn’t enter the Server, then we’ll find another way.”
At that point, I’d have to consider some degrading method of obtaining karma.
I didn’t want to resort to such shameful tactics, so I hoped he’d be satisfied with this.
I offered him a smile as he carefully nodded, then turned my body toward the monitor.
“I’ll show you.”

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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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