Return of the Shattered Constellation

Chapter 44: Star, The Training (7)

“…Deal?” Baek Gyeo-Ul repeated, his expression changing slightly when Chang-Sun mentioned the word. His burn marks—no, his half-spirit curse—made his expression unreadable, but his trembling voice made it clear that he was shocked.

“Yes, a deal. It seems you’ve investigated the Jigwi in your own way. Am I right?” Chang-Sun asked.

“Yes…?” Gyeo-Ul cautiously answered.

“Lend me your knowledge—no, not just that, I hope you can cooperate with me in killing the Jigwi,” Chang-Sun said confidently. He was sure that Gyeo-Ul had not merely investigated the Jigwi.

‘Gyeo-Ul would have investigated everything about the Jigwi, and maybe even learned something I haven’t figured out,’ he thought.

Unlike Chang-Sun, Gyeo-Ul had to have staked his very life on curing his curse. As he had been born a half-spirit, he no doubt had various methods of obtaining information. Thus, it was highly likely that Gyeo-Ul knew things about the Jigwi’s habits that even Chang-Sun had been unable to confirm. After all, Gyeo-Ul had found the Jigwi’s nest with a completely different method, even though he was severely lacking in Skills compared to Chang-Sun.

“…How can I trust you?” Gyeo-Ul asked warily.

“Would demonstrating th right here and now suffice?” Chang-Sun replied, reaching out with a hand.

“What?” Gyeo-Ul exclaimed in surprise.

“Give me your hand,” Chang-Sun said, waving his hand up and down.

For a moment, Gyeo-Ul hesitated, wondering whether it was alright to be swayed by Chang-Sun that way even though he had zero trust in Chang-Sun.

Chang-Sun thought it was natural for Gyeo-Ul to react that way, as he had an idea of what kind of life the other man had lived until now, but he had no time to persuade Gyeo-Ul gently.

“It doesn’t matter if you trust me or not, does it?” Chang-Sun nonchalantly added, making Gyeo-Ul bite his lower lip. In truth, he was right; Gyeo-Ul had no other choice.

Gyeo-Ul held out his right arm and Chang-Sun grabbed it with his left hand, feeling the man’s pulse. Although he could sense Gyeo-Ul flinching, Chang-Sun fixed his gaze on Gyeo-Ul’s hand and said, “It’ll be pretty hot, so you’ll have to endure it.”

“…?” Gyeo-Ul was about to ask what Chang-Sun meant, but he had no time to say anything as fire energy suddenly poured into him through his wrist. “…!”

“Even the slightest wrong breath will mess up your magic circulation, so don’t open your mouth,” Chang-Sun warned Gyeo-Ul.

He was wrong about one thing, however. Gyeo-Ul would not have been able to open his mouth in the first place, even if Chang-Sun had not warned him against it. Elemental energy surged through Gyeo-Ul’s body like a wildfire, completely filling his magic organ; the horrific pain it caused forced him to grit his teeth, unable to speak.

Gyeo-Ul felt as if he had swallowed a ball of fire; his body so hot that he almost fainted. He had gotten his name because he had been born in winter, but ‘Gyeo-ul[1]’ was gone. He felt as if he had become summer, his ice and snow melting away.

Crack.

He heard a sound that resembled a hard lump of ice cracking.

Crack, crack―!

Paaah!

The cracks slowly spread across the entire lump of ice, connecting to each other in various places until the ice’s surface resembled a cobweb. It then melted into water that slowly seeped into Gyeo-Ul’s magic organ.

The ice was his half-spirit curse, and the melted water was what remained of his yin energy and ghost energy after the curse was broken, instantly increasing his mana significantly.

Now, Gyeo-Ul was even more shocked by the fact that the half-spirit curse that gave him both power and misfortune was breaking apart than the pain caused by Chang-Sun’s fire energy.

[Your ‘Half-Spirit’ state is changing!]

[Your curse is being wiped away.]

[Your misfortune is being undone.]

Previously, Gyeo-Ul had put tremendous effort into breaking his half-spirit curse, but the curse had remained as hard as a rock. However, it was being undone easily, as if it had just met its complete antithesis.

‘A bit more… Just a little bit more…!’ Gyeo-Ul thought, desperately hoping the fire energy would continue to power through.

Only twenty percent of the half-spirit curse had melted due to Chang-Sun’s fire energy, but eighty percent remained; apart from that, his heart, the core of the curse, remained frozen.. He continued hoping against hope that the ‘wildfire’ would melt his frozen heart, and it seemed more than possible that it could do so.

However…

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Pzzzzz―!

…as if to mock Gyeo-Ul’s wishes, the ‘wildfire’ died down gradually, slowly being reduced to cinders. Chang-Sun’s fire energy exited his body the same way it had entered.

‘N-No…!’ Gyeo-Ul cried frantically in his mind.

He tried to hold onto the fire energy in any way he could, but it quietly drained away, taking the fierce heat and pain with it. All that remained was a subtle, refreshing afterglow and the sensation of his mana, which had been increased by one and a half times, circulating fiercely within his body.

“Ah…!” Gyeo-Ul exclaimed, staring blankly at empty air for a moment. However, Chang-Sun’s next words brought him back to reality.

Chang-Sun instructed him, “Don’t just stand there. Check your face first.”

Gyeo-Ul touched his face with his hand, and found that most of the turtle shell-like scales and twisted burn marks he was used to feeling on his face had faded away significantly. He ran to a nearby river to look at his face in the water, and saw a face that had long been obscured by the half-spirit curse looking back at him.

Previously, his nose and mouth were disfigured beyond recognition by burns, but now they had regenerated enough to be distinct. The scales that once covered part of his face had faded substantially, giving way to a more defined appearance. From his eyes and nose down to his jawline, he had a strong, masculine silhouette.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is surprised to see such great changes!]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ thinks he needs to conduct new research on the Fire of the Eight Trigrams Brazier’s abilities.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ laughs in satisfaction after he sees the positive change in his subordinate.]

The animosity and rage that had previously filled Gyeo-Ul’s eyes were replaced by a powerful thirst, stemming from his desire to receive more treatment. He quickly turned to Chang-Sun, a silent plea for help in his gaze.

However, Chang-Sun shook his head and explained, “That’s all I can do right now. Of course, your curse will weaken more if I repeat the treatment regularly, but I still won’t be able to fully cure you.”

“Then…?” Gyeo-Ul asked quietly.

“Help me kill the Jigwi. That way, I’ll be able to strengthen my fire, and curing you fully won’t be impossible,” Chang-Sun replied.

“In that case...” Gyeo-Ul began.

“I’ll even make a [Mana Pledge] if you want me to,” Chang-Sun said with a shrug.

However, Gyeo-Ul shook his head as if to indicate Chang-Sun did not have to go that far. He knew he had encountered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and decided to seize the chance. He breathed deeply to calm himself down, then said, “No, that’s enough. I’ll trust you.”

The mixture of joy and longing that briefly filled his gaze vanished, replaced with his usual calm as if it had never been there. However, what soon took its place was a strange spark, his eyes burning with determination to do whatever was necessary.

‘He’s truly something, more than I thought.’ Chang-Sun thought, observing Gyeo-Ul.

Seeing Gyeo-Ul maintain his composure even through the events unfolding, Chang-Sun felt he had to reevaluate the man. He concluded that Gyeo-Ul was talented enough to become an important figure in the future, and that was not simply because Gyeo-Ul was the son of his former colleague.

“How can I help you?” Gyeo-Ul asked, wondering what to do next. He looked forward to hearing Chang-Sun’s requests, expecting that no such request would be ordinary.

Crossing his arms, Chang-Sun began, “First…”

“…?”

“...Speak to me formally,” Chang-Sun nonchalantly requested.

Gyeo-Ul was left speechless for a moment, utterly dumbfounded by the unexpected request. However, that was what mattered more to Chang-Sun than anything else at the moment, as he found it unpleasant to hear his friend’s son speaking to him casually.[2]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ calls you a geezer, clicking his tongue.]

* * *

“In order to track the Jigwi, we have to study its habits first. It is known that each Jigwi has different preferences and personalities,” Gyeo-Ul explained, following Chang-Sun’s instruction without question. Although the difference in their ages was minimal, he showed no sign of displeasure.

“Habits?” Chang-Sun repeated.

“Yes, sir. We need to search the nest,” Gyeo-Ul said with a nod.

“…?” Chang-Sun tilted his head in confusion, as there was no part of the nest that he had not seen during his ten-day stay. However, when he saw what Gyeo-Ul was doing, he quickly understood what the man meant.

Gyeo-Ul moved to the center of the nest, tapping the ground in several places, before suddenly thrusting his spear downward in a reverse grip. His strike created a powerful wind that swept through the nest and overturned the ground, revealing a deep pit that was filled with a large assortment of items.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ examines the pile with sparkling eyes, as she can see many good things within.]

The items in the pit ranged from ordinary weapons and expensive-looking artifacts to treasures such as skill books and magic scrolls.

Chang-Sun’s eyes sparkled as he said, “These are the belongings of the people killed by the Jigwi.”

Among the Players who had gone missing in the training institute during each round of training, not all of them had been killed by other Players; others had been killed by the Jigwi.

“Much like crows, Jigwis often collect sparkling things, and are proficient at gathering treasures as if they were collecting trophies. However, they often forget about their trophies,” Gyeo-Ul answered as he overturned the soft ground.

Chang-Sun was amazed by Gyeo-Ul’s discovery, as even though he had installed and uninstalled countless traps during his stay, he had not even come close to discovering the pit. It was as if Gyeo-Ul had some kind of treasure detector.

“By going through the buried items this way, I can roughly estimate where the Jigwi was heading,” Gyeo-Ul said as he examined the pit.

Just like Gyeo-Ul, Chang-Sun examined the items the Jigwi had gathered. He picked out a weapon that caught his eye.

[White Magpie Bow[3]]

A nameless hunter made this bow using the wing bones and feathers of his biggest, fastest, and strongest prey.

The bow’s fierce spirit is a match for any bird of prey, giving it great potential in the right hands.

· Type: Bow

· Damage: 100~300

· Effects: Bullseye Piercing, Quintuple Volley.

‘It has [Bullseye Piercing], which can make an arrow always hit the bullseye, and [Quintuple Volley], which can be used to shoot five arrows simultaneously?’ Chang-Sun thought in satisfaction.

Slinging the [White Magpie Bow] over his left shoulder, Chang-Sun also took the quiver that appeared to match it. He had already been considering carving a wooden bow for long-range attacks; it seemed the new acquisition would be very useful.

Apart from the bow, he picked out everything that looked decent and threw it into his inventory. Some even had Effects such as [Yijin Jing[4]] or [Fire Storm] that he could use immediately in combat.

‘I’ll take some for myself and sell the rest of them,’ Chang-Sun thought with a nod.

The pit was like a gold mine; it was a shame that each inventory had a limited capacity. While searching through it, Chang-Sun found an ordinary-looking orange sphere rolling around. However, its unusual scent drew his attention; it was the scent of death, which he had previously only smelled in the Underworld.

[Dream Sphere]

This sphere that contains unusual energy was created by mixing Death Flowers and Destruction Flowers with another substance in a specific ratio. It contains the grudges of those killed by the Hohwan Mama[5].

· Type: Marble. Miscellaneous.

· Effect: ???

‘Hohwan Mama?’ Chang-Sun thought, tilting his head.

‘Hohwan Mama’ was the ancient name of a horrifying plague that was as terrifying as a Hohwan—an incident in which a tiger killed a human. It did not merely refer to an ordinary plague; rather, it indicated a strange phenomenon with an unknown cause.

‘This seems fishy,’ Chang-Sun thought, speculating that he had perhaps unexpectedly found something related to the White Tiger Clan.

“I think I figured out where it went,” Gyeo-Ul said, approaching Chang-Sun.

After putting the [Dream Sphere] in his inner pocket, Chang-Sun looked at Gyeo-Ul in surprise, asking, “Already?” He had previously assumed that it would take a while for Gyeo-Ul to find the Jigwi’s trail, but it had taken less than an hour since Gyeo-Ul began his search.

Despite the look of disbelief, Gyeo-Ul nodded nonchalantly, seemingly not displeased. He explained, “It was easier than I thought. It seems this Jigwi has been using its fire energy a lot for some reason, which means it has been focusing on eating.”

Chang-Sun’s eyes sparkled for a moment.

A Jigwi created fire by burning up the souls it swallowed. The more souls it swallowed, the stronger its fire energy would be. If it used up much of its fire energy despite that, it would go somewhere else to consume many new souls.

The question was, where would the Jigwi go to find them?

“So it would have gone deep into the mountain range, and specifically, somewhere full of high-class creatures. That means it must be in a place where mystical and demonic creatures live, right?” Chang-Sun conjectured.

“Yes, sir. You are right,” Gyeo-Ul replied, calmly affirming Chang-Sun’s guess.

‘He isn’t just useful. He’s very useful,’ Chang-Sun thought with a nod.

If Chang-Sun, who had almost become the strongest Celestial, thought of a person as‘ very useful’, that meant the person was very talented and had high potential. His desire to keep Gyeo-Ul by his side only grew stronger.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go,” Chang-Sun said. He gestured to Gyeo-Ul with his chin, letting the other man take the lead.

* * *

Swoosh―!

Chang-Sun and Gyeo-Ul swiftly passed through the woods. It was not difficult to locate the habitats of mystical and demonic creatures. Such creatures would have the largest territories in the religion, which meant they simply had to follow the nearest trail they could find.

The farther they traveled, the more Jigwi nests they came across. They passed by forests and mountains that were completely parched, as if they had been ravaged by powerful flames that swept across them.

“It will be tremendously gluttonous and greedy, more than you might expect,” Second Elder warned him.

The Jigwi truly was more gluttonous and greedy than Chang-Sun had expected. However, the fire energy left behind in the ruined nests had only grown hotter the deeper they went. Thus, the two companions became certain that the more often they found such places, the closer they were getting to the Jigwi.

After continuing their chase for four days…

Kieeeehh!

…they finally ran into a gigantic firebird with black and red plumage. A single one of its wings was between two hundred to three hundred meters long; if it lowered both of them, it could practically cover an entire mountain.

[The Rank Four Disaster Jigwi is causing a drought!]

The words ‘Catastrophe’ and ‘Disaster’ were used to refer to monsters that could never be killed by an ordinary Player. Although they said nothing about their plans, Chang-Sun and Gyeo-Ul quickly prepared for a fight.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is surprised by the bird’s size.]

[The Celestial’ A Good Season to Hunt’ smacks her lips, feeling that it will be fun to hunt such a firebird.]

Gripping his long spear, Gyeo-Ul sprang forward. Meanwhile, Chang-Sun aimed an arrow at the bird using the [White Magpie Bow]. Their coordination reflected the amount of time they had spent working together.

When Chang-Sun activated [Viper Eyes], the skill showed him the weak points that covered the Jigwi’s large body.

At that moment…

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ proudly gives his two subordinates a bonus reward for spreading his glory!]

Whoosh!

‘He’s suddenly giving us a bonus reward?’ Chang-Sun thought.

Although he was slightly surprised by Heoju’s unexpected bonus reward, he was not shaken up at all; he continued to focus on tightly drawing back the bowstring. However, he somehow felt as if he could concentrate more effectively and see farther—no, more than that, it seemed every one of his senses had somehow leveled up. Heoju’s bonus reward had to be either Sense Opening or Sense Magnification.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is surprised by Heoju’s bonus rewards.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ is nervous about the way other deities keep giving you bonus rewards.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ quickly looks for better bonus rewards.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ pulls out her hair because she has nothing good. She has a bonus reward she previously planned to give out in order to show off, but it does not look good enough now.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ tries to come up with something good, anxiously pacing back and forth.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ wants to give you an Authority as a bonus reward!]

Just then, Chang-Sun unexpectedly received a jackpot, making him smile. He thought inwardly, ‘Pabilsag pulled a Pabilsag.’

Swoosh―!

With that thought, Chang-Sun let loose the arrow.

[The Authority has been applied!]

1. ’Gyeoul’ (겨울) means ‘winter’ in Korean ☜

2. This may be confusing to English-speakers, but in Korean culture, it is considered very important to address one’s seniors formally. ☜

3. In Korean culture, white magpies are said to represent good fortune. They are also known to be fierce enough to fight off birds of prey despite their small size, which is what this bow’s nature alludes to. ☜

4. This is a qigong manual that pertains to breathing exercises, and is well-known in Chinese martial arts. In Korean wuxia, it is often said to make the user invincible. ☜

5. An ancient Korean name for smallpox. The ‘Mama’ here is actually a Korean term that roughly corresponds to ‘Your Majesty’ or ‘Your Highness’. ☜