[Your Contractor is feeling furious.]
There’s a saying: “Strong to the weak, weak to the strong.” Unfortunately, I was witnessing that exact cliché unfold before my eyes. Where did that cocky bastard Kim Ki-won go—the one who sneered and spat at me just moments ago? So this is what it sounds like when bones snap.
[Your Contractor is thinking about killing Kim Ki-won.]
You can’t kill him. Hold it in.
A Contractor who comes running at the first sign of danger to their Constellation? Even if it’s petty, so what? I am petty. If someone stronger than me is panicking to protect me, wouldn’t it be weirder not to take advantage of that?
Lee Myung-won gripped my chin and looked around.
“Are you in a lot of pain?”
“It hurts less than getting stabbed with a knife…”
I trailed off, and Kim Ki-won’s screams grew even louder. Lee Myung-won let out a sigh.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to leave you alone.”
“You expected this?”
“Yes. I’ve had some friction with Hunter Kim Ki-won in the past. But I assumed Choi Ga-hyeon had some sense. Why did you just let yourself get beaten up?”
“Well…”
Baek Tae-beom hitting him would hurt a lot more than me doing it. But I swallowed those words, only rolling my eyes instead. Lee Myung-won narrowed his gaze as if he already knew exactly what I was about to say. Under that probing stare, I muttered bluntly:
“I was worried it wouldn’t count as self-defense.”
“You were worried about that while getting your ass handed to you?”
“Well, it’s not like he hit me that much, right? You showed up so fast.”
“Baek Tae-beom suddenly bolted, and I thought he’d finally lost it—no, gone completely off the deep end.”
Isn’t that basically the same thing?
“Do you two have some other way of communicating? No radios? If you did, you should’ve said something earlier…”
“Apologies.”
“…Anyway, just stay still for now.”
With that, Lee Myung-won pulled a potion from his inventory. As he smeared the stuff all over my face, I closed my eyes. Off in the distance, the sound of Baek Tae-beom beating Kim Ki-won with his sword’s sheath echoed like a backdrop.
Jeon Pil-soo stood nearby, flailing, completely at a loss.
“Aren’t you going to stop him?!”
“Why should I?”
“Your Hunter is beating up our Hunter!”
“The victim is on this side. So what if he wants a little payback?”
Lee Myung-won’s calm response was oddly restrained, and Jeon Pil-soo thumped his own chest in frustration.
“Over a couple punches to the face…!”
“Think about it carefully, Mr. Jeon.”
Lee Myung-won’s voice turned cold.
“The victim is a Hunter with an immeasurable rank. Kim Ki-won is B-rank. He didn’t even lift a finger out of fear he might injure someone. That’s a fact. Am I wrong?”
“……”
“And now, an S-rank Hunter is retaliating against Kim Ki-won. It may seem unfair, sure… but so what?”
“Excuse me?!”
“If it’s really eating you up that badly, we’re in the same city—how about a good old-fashioned brawl? If I smash in your mouth, even if you have complaints, you won’t be able to voice them. I like that. Makes things way less annoying. That’s what using force is all about, isn’t it? No need to stress over the little crap—just beat people up and be done with it.”
Wait—did he seriously just suggest a brawl if we’ve got a problem?
My jaw dropped. Was Lee Myung-won always like this? Then, I started getting a weird feeling because Apollo hadn’t said a word this whole time. I typed into the chat.
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : Apollo?
[CH.#990O3/One More Dazzling Than the Sun] : Yeah.
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : I’ve got a question.
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : When a Constellation gets angry, does the Contractor feel it too?
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : I mean, we’re connected in a way, right?
[CH.#990O3/One More Dazzling Than the Sun] : Why not just ask if I’m pissed?
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : Did you tell Lee Myung-won to do something?
[CH.#990O3/One More Dazzling Than the Sun] : Why do you think you got your ass beat and didn’t fight back?
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : …Wait, is that why you’re pissed?
[CH.#990O3/One Who Guides the Dead] : Damn right I’m pissed.
[CH.#990O3/One Who Guides the Dead] : Right now. So fucking pissed I’m about to lose it.
[CH.#990O3/One More Dazzling Than the Sun] : Shut up!
I could feel the swelling on my face slowly going down as the healing potion did its job.
[CH.#990O3/One Who Seeks to Escape Destruction] : Are you… feeling embarrassed or something?
[CH.#990O3/One More Dazzling Than the Sun] : I said shut up!
Lee Myung-won furrowed his brows as he continued applying the potion.
“What’s wrong?”
“My Constellation… Never mind.”
With a deep sigh, Lee Myung-won turned to Kang Si-hoo, who was awkwardly standing off to the side.
“Mr. Kang Cheol-su.”
“Huh? M-me?”
“If you weren’t one of the people who beat up Choi Ga-hyeon, then I don’t see why you’re standing there like that.”
“Ah…”
Kang Si-hoo hung his head and shuffled over hesitantly.
“I’m sorry…”
“For what?”
“I-I just… didn’t do anything… I-I’m really sorry…”
Suddenly, Kang Si-hoo started crying through the mask. Even Lee Myung-won looked taken aback. And I was no different.
‘What the hell is wrong with this guy?’
Was it not an act? Is that actually his personality? But that can’t be right, can it? Maybe he went through something in the past that completely changed him. Watching that big guy lower his head and sniffle like that made me feel unexpectedly sympathetic, like I was watching the old Baek Tae-beom again. I gently pulled him into a hug and patted his back.
“You don’t need to apologize.”
“B-but still…”
“I’m fine, really.”
But as soon as I gave his shoulder a soft push to let go, Baek Tae-beom was suddenly standing right next to me with blood dripping from him, wearing a blank expression.
I nearly screamed from surprise.
“Beom-ah?”
“Hyung.”
Baek Tae-beom wiped the blood off his cheek with the back of his hand, then casually shoved Kang Si-hoo away from me with the same hand. Leaning in close, he spoke.
“I want comfort too.”
“Huh?”
“My fists hurt from all that punching.”
You beat him with your sheath, though. As if to confirm my thought, blood was still dripping from the sheath hanging at his hip. Wait—that sword… isn’t that the one I gave him ages ago? He’s still carrying that around?
“Hyung.”
Baek Tae-beom called me again, clearly trying to pull my attention back to him. His golden eyes locked onto mine. Hesitating for a moment, I slowly placed my hand on his head and gently stroked it.
Only then did his expression finally begin to relax, as if he were pleased.
That reaction just now…
‘Was he… jealous?’
Because I comforted someone else and not him? That realization left me with mixed feelings. This wasn’t just some attachment—it felt more like a form of separation anxiety, like he couldn’t stand being apart from his Constellation.
Come to think of it, ever since I came back, Baek Tae-beom kept saying he wanted to stay by my side. He even joined the Hansung Guild just so he could be near me.
Was the reason he liked me also tied to that anxiety?
‘I’ll have to train that out of him later.’
As that thought passed, I continued stroking his hair and looked over at Lee Myung-won.
“By the way, did you find anything during the search?”
“Ah.”
Lee Myung-won pulled something from his inventory.
“We did find this…”
It was a broken key. I took out the same item from my inventory, and as we brought the two pieces together, they aligned perfectly to form a complete key. With a soft glow, the fragments fused.
[Key to the Tomb F]
“Seems like this is the key to the boss room.”
“And that’s probably where the others are too.”
“There was nothing at the end of the corridor, so this staircase looks like our best bet.”
Baek Tae-beom pointed to the staircase ahead of us.
“Then we’ll need to head up… Mr. Jeon Pil-soo?”
“Y-yes?”
“I think you’ll need to help support Mr. Kim Ki-won. Doesn’t look like he can get up on his own.”
At Lee Myung-won’s dry tone, I turned my head—and my expression twisted into something strange. Kim Ki-won was barely getting to his feet, face so swollen and mangled that he was almost unrecognizable.
“Y-you f-fucking… bastards…”
Even his lips were jutting out like a fish’s, making it hard to speak. I was genuinely impressed that someone could get beaten so thoroughly and in such a variety of ways.
“We can’t just leave him here, can we?”
Honestly, leaving him sounded like the better idea.
Apparently, Jeon Pil-soo thought the same. He shook his head fiercely and backed away.
“N-no! He looks really bad, so it’d be better if I stayed behind!”
“Is that so?”
“Y-yes! Instead, you should take Kang Cheol-su here!”
With that, Jeon Pil-soo gave Kang Si-hoo a hard smack on the back. The man stumbled forward, barely keeping his balance as he ended up standing in front of us.
“M-me? I’m going?”
“Yes, you idiot. Just go already, okay? Please.”
Jeon Pil-soo spoke in a syrupy, coaxing tone as he kept pushing Kim Ki-won’s shoulder back down whenever he tried to stand.
“Shall we go then?”
Baek Tae-beom glanced at Kang Si-hoo with an unreadable expression before looking down at me, his face melting into a sweet smile.
