Chapter 28

Chapter 28. D-Rank Constellation (3)

I had no intention of making a contract with Lee Jukheon.

Hearing my answer, Xiahou En seemed quite surprised.

“But… why?”

Xiahou En asked through the communication window, his voice trembling slightly.

“Like I said earlier, that guy has talent.”

“Yes, I know.”

“If he receives support from an S-rank Constellation and starts improving his skills again, he could become far stronger than he is now.”

“You believe Lee Jukheon still has room to grow?”

“I do.”

Xiahou En answered with a slightly uncertain voice.

“To be honest, I was never particularly skilled in martial arts when I was alive. So I doubt my words carry much weight… but if Lee Jukheon trains properly, he can become much stronger.”

“……”

“Lee Jukheon believes his current level is the limit of his ability. But that is a misunderstanding. At some point, he fell into despair and stopped training seriously. After living such a lazy life, rather than improving, his skills have actually declined.”

Lee Junseok had been sleeping comfortably inside his tent even while the attack was happening.

That alone was enough to guess what his normal lifestyle was like.

“If he comes to his senses and starts training again… if he learns from capable people and gains more experience, he will become stronger.”

“Then isn't that enough?”

“What?”

“Even without making a contract with me, he can still become stronger in his current state, can't he?”

Xiahou En seemed to lose his words.

“Of course, Xiahou En, I understand that you're worried about Lee Jukheon. I also want to help him.”

“But… you said you don't intend to make a contract with him.”

“Yes. That's right.”

“Then how will you…?”

“I'll have Lee Jukheon join Kang Yujin's group. He can travel with them and get his life back on track.”

“…!”

There was no complicated reason why I refused to make a contract with Lee Jukheon.

‘A contractor who made a contract with a D-rank Constellation, but possesses excellent swordsmanship and a powerful Constellation Armament… It would be a waste to ruin a character like that.’

Let's say I made a contract with Lee Jukheon.

Then I covered him in S-rank Enhancement Engravings and showered him with ridiculously powerful Blessings.

Even if that made Lee Jukheon much stronger, what would be interesting about it?

‘It's much more appealing if he stays contracted to a D-rank Constellation, surpasses his own limits, and overcomes hardships.’

Besides, Lee Jukheon was a rough, delinquent-like punk.

Imagine him following the almost stubbornly righteous Kang Yujin around, constantly bickering with him while slowly growing as a person…

That chemistry alone could create plenty of entertainment.

In other words, Lee Jukheon could become an important ‘supporting character’ in the content where Kang Yujin was the protagonist.

‘The problem is that even if Lee Jukheon performs well, my Source Power won't increase…’

As long as Lee Jukheon remained contracted with Xiahou En, only Xiahou En's Source Power would increase from his achievements.

But that was something I would simply have to accept.

Adding an interesting supporting character to Kang Yujin's story was more valuable.

‘Right now, sponsorship money isn't only coming in for Kang Yujin. Lee Jukheon is receiving sponsorships too. If he's getting Coins even after losing, that proves he has value as a character.’

And besides…

I could always make a new contract with Lee Jukheon someday.

Nobody knew what would happen in the future.

“Nameless Constellation, you…”

Xiahou En's voice trembled.

He seemed deeply moved that I had offered to help Lee Jukheon reform himself while allowing him to keep his existing contract with Xiahou En.

“You truly are a great man.”

“I'm doing this because there are benefits for me as well.”

“No. Truly… thank you.”

I could see Xiahou En bowing his head through the communication window.

Watching him, a thought suddenly came to mind, and I opened my status window.

‘As expected.’

It was probably because I had deeply impressed Xiahou En.

My Source Power had increased by roughly five million points compared to before.

“Wake up.”

“Urgh!”

Lee Jukheon woke up after receiving a light slap on the cheek.

“W-What?”

After regaining consciousness, Lee Jukheon struggled for a moment.

But once he realized that his arms and legs were tied, he stopped moving.

“Your group has been destroyed. Your hideout is wrecked, and except for a few of your men who managed to escape, the rest have all been captured alive.”

“…!”

Lee Jukheon looked shocked for a moment after hearing Kang Yujin.

But soon, he bit his lip.

“I see. So that's what happened.”

“The roads around here that your group controlled will be managed by the Black Dragon Society from now on. Of course, they won't extort ridiculous tolls from people like you did.”

“I'm sure you'll manage just fine.”

Lee Jukheon snorted and glared at Kang Yujin.

“So, what are you going to do with me? Offer me as a sacrifice to the demons of Pandemonium?”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“I heard you Black Dragon Society bastards do things like that.”

“First of all, I'm not a member of the Black Dragon Society. And I've never heard of the Black Dragon Society doing anything like that.”

“Really?”

“Anyway.”

Kang Yujin bent down until he was at eye level with Lee Jukheon.

“What?”

“Did you check the messages?”

“Messages?”

“The messages from the Constellations.”

“What?”

Looking confused, Lee Jukheon shifted his eyes.

Then his expression became slightly startled.

“What the hell? Why did I receive so much sponsorship money?”

“Is it a lot?”

“I can understand why you received a lot. You're a promising guy contracted to an S-rank Constellation, and you won the fight… but why did I get this much too? It's over ten million Coins.”

“Check the last sponsorship you received.”

“Huh? Why isn't there a Constellation name?”

“That's the ‘Nameless One’ who made a contract with me.”

“…!”

After Lee Jukheon collapsed, many Constellations had sent sponsorships.

But when Kang Yujin saw the very last message, he doubted his own eyes.

[S-rank Constellation ‘***’ sponsors Lee Jukheon with 2,000,000 Coins.]

It was the first time Kang Yujin had ever seen that person sponsor Coins to someone else.

Kang Yujin had spent quite some time wondering what it meant.

He had even asked Seok Taejun, who had been standing nearby, for his opinion.

“That person rarely reveals their existence, yet they sent you sponsorship money. What do you think that means?”

“Well, I…”

“Lee Jukheon, I think that person acknowledged you.”

“What?”

“Lee Jukheon.”

Calling his name once again, Kang Yujin spoke in a serious voice.

“Do you have any particular plans for what you're going to do from now on?”

“Not really…”

“If you don't have any plans, why don't you travel with us?”

“What?”

Lee Jukheon stared at him in disbelief.

At that moment, Seok Taejun leaned in from the side.

“Ah, I'll explain.”

“I seriously have no idea what's going on anymore…”

“Well, honestly, I don't completely understand how Kang Yujin reached that conclusion either.”

Seok Taejun scratched the back of his head.

“Basically, the S-rank Constellation contracted with us seems to have acknowledged your abilities, Lee Jukheon. Kang Yujin practically worships that Constellation, so he puts a lot of meaning into something like this.”

“…?”

“His logic is something like… ‘It would be a waste to let someone acknowledged by that person go, so let's bring him with us and realize that person's ideals together.’ Something like that.”

“No, seriously. I don't understand what the hell you're talking about.”

“Yeah. Honestly, I kind of feel the same way.”

Seeing Lee Jukheon frown in confusion, Kang Yujin spoke again.

“Lee Jukheon. You called yourself trash earlier, didn't you?”

“So?”

“You said you were trash because you made a contract with a D-rank Constellation. But from my perspective, that's wrong.”

“What?”

“If you're trash, it's because you've been doing trashy things until now.”

Lee Jukheon looked as if he had been struck somewhere painful.

“You called me a silver-spoon kid earlier. But just a few weeks ago, I was nothing more than a lab rat being used for human experimentation in an underground laboratory.”

“What?”

“I was lucky enough to be saved by that person and escaped from that situation… but even if I'd gained my freedom, if I'd simply wandered through life without any goal or purpose, that wouldn't have been much of a life. I wouldn't have been very different from the kind of ‘trash’ you're talking about.”

Kang Yujin continued seriously.

“Lee Jukheon, I was able to start living a meaningful life after I decided to follow that person's will.”

“……”

“If you truly decide to change, you can escape from this trashy way of living and live a meaningful life too.”

“…Are you part of some religion? Are you trying to convert me right now?”

Lee Jukheon muttered in disbelief.

“A meaningful life, my ass…”

“I'm serious.”

“Whether you're serious or not, that's still bullshit. In the first place—”

Lee Jukheon was still speaking when—

BOOOOOOM!!

A deafening explosion suddenly erupted beside the road.

“What the hell?!”

“A landslide?!”

The road they were currently on had been carved through the mountain.

An explosion had suddenly gone off on the mountainside, causing a massive landslide.

“What the hell is happening?!”

“Aaaagh!”

“S-Save me!”

Screams rang out around them.

Many of the Black Dragon Society members who had helped subdue the Ironblood Gang seemed to have been caught in the landslide.

Kang Yujin, Seok Taejun, and Lee Jukheon had been standing some distance away, so they were not buried beneath the dirt and rocks.

However, that didn't mean they escaped completely unharmed.

“Seok Taejun, are you okay?”

“Yes. Chimera helped me… What about you, Kang Yujin?”

“……”

“Gasp! Your shoulder…!”

Something resembling a chunk of concrete had flown toward Kang Yujin and left a fairly deep wound on his right shoulder.

Seeing that, Lee Jukheon spoke with a pale face.

“H-Hey, you. Did you get hurt just now because you were trying to protect me?”

“I don't know. I don't remember.”

“Kang Yujin, let's use a recovery potion first…!”

“No. Save the recovery potion.”

“What? Why would you…?”

“There might be people trapped under the landslide who are even more badly injured.”

“Hey, what the hell are you—?!”

Lee Jukheon shouted in shock, but Kang Yujin didn't answer him.

“It looks like someone is watching us from far away.”

“What?”

“Come to think of it, Ma Taesu mentioned something like this.”

Lee Jukheon specialized in one-on-one close combat against other contractors.

But in exchange, he was weak against long-range attacks.

Even so, there was a reason Lee Jukheon and the Ironblood Gang had not been wiped out by magic-type contractors long ago.

It was because the Ironblood Gang had an allied organization.

Since this attack was being carried out as a surprise attack without warning, Ma Taesu had said there was probably no need to worry about them.

However, if that organization appeared and joined the Ironblood Gang in a counterattack, they needed to be careful.

That was what Ma Taesu had explained.

“The organization allied with you… Did those guys come to help you?”

“Yeah, but…”

“No. Maybe that's not it.”

Kang Yujin immediately changed his mind.

If they had come to rescue Lee Jukheon and the Ironblood Gang, there was no reason for them to suddenly cause a landslide like this.

“Are they planning to use this opportunity to wipe out both the Ironblood Gang and the Black Dragon Society at once?”

“…!”

Immediately afterward—

Another explosion rang out, and a second landslide erupted elsewhere.

“Team Hecate… was that their name?”

They were one of the organizations occupying sections of the highway.

The group possessed an exceptionally skilled magic-attack-type contractor.

And now Team Hecate had betrayed Lee Jukheon.

They intended to massacre everyone here.

“Kugh!”

“Xiahou En?”

While I was watching what was happening through the observation device, a scream suddenly came from the communication window.

“What's wrong?”

Before I knew it, Xiahou En had disappeared from the communication window.

I tried calling Xiahou En again, but there was no response.

“……”

Something had happened to Xiahou En.

I was about to contact Number 36 first and ask them to check what was going on when I suddenly heard a voice.

“Hello, cute little friend.”

The person who appeared through the communication window was not Xiahou En.

A brown-haired white woman was smiling at me.

“You don't seem to have a name. What should I call you? Mr. Anonymous?”

“……”

“Well, it doesn't matter.”

When I remained silent and simply stared at her, she giggled.

“My Constellation Name is ‘Witch of the Eagle’… I'm the Constellation backing Team Hecate, the group currently attacking your contractors.”

After introducing herself, she narrowed her eyes.

“You and your contractors have been attracting a little too much attention lately, so I thought I'd crush you before you get any more annoying… You don't mind, do you?”

At last, the ‘Constellation trying to keep me in check’ that the Count had warned me about had finally appeared before me.