Return of the Shattered Constellation

“Do not forget this. You will be regressing as a human, not a deity, so you will have no power or divinity. It will be a whole new start for you,” Yool warned Chang-Sun.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Chang-Sun replied.

“Additionally, your soul is still bound by Divine Steel shackles. Although their functions are inactive right now, they will be activated again if they sense any suspicious activity from you. So, be careful,” Yool added.

“When will you stop explaining things? My ears are going to hurt,” Chang-Sun grumbled.

“...Then, let us go now,” Yool responded.

“Let’s meet again if we have a chance[1],” Chang-Sun said.

“You must always remember that you are an agent empowered by the King of the Underworld,” Yool concluded.

Just like that, Chang-Sun’s previous life began again.

* * *

[Accessing a new server. Downloading necessary data for smooth operation.]

[Updating the system. Please wait for a moment.]

...

[Your current status is ‘Administrator’.]

...

It was dizzying.

That was the first thought that entered Chang-Sun’s mind after he passed through the Door of Reincarnation. He had been told that, since he would be entering a completely different world and timeline altogether, the pressure on his degraded soul would be immense.

Indeed, it truly was.

[This is planet ‘Earth’.]

Paah!

As soon as Chang-Sun came to, he opened his eyes without delay.

[Achievement unlocked!]

“A regressor with the memory of a previous life.”

Reward: Intact memory. All stats +5.

Marveling at the fact that even such a thing could be an achievement, Chang-Sun moved the information window aside and quickly observed his surroundings.

“W-What’s going on?!”

“A Gate suddenly appearing? I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

“Why isn’t the Council helping us?!”

Murmur murmur.

Chang-Sun was in a wide open forest. In the midst of an empty clearing, several people stood, perplexed. Every one of them had black hair and eyes, which would have been a rare sight in Arcadia. Even the language they used was familiar—it was Korean.

‘I’ve returned for real,’ Chang-Sun thought. For the briefest of moments, he was overwhelmed with emotion.

Soon, however, his gaze turned sharp. Technically, this place wasn’t Earth. It was a Dungeon that had broken out on Earth.

On April 6th, 2027, an Instance Dungeon had appeared in Jamsil Station Intersection.

“First, I believe I need to ask for your understanding in one matter.”

“Understanding?”

“You’re going to wake up on Earth, but it’s not really Earth. It’s not really easy to open a conduit to a world without being detected by anyone.”

“Then where will I wake up?”

“That’s…”

Before Chang-Sun went through the Door of Reincarnation, Thanatos had given him several precautions about things he had to keep in mind.

One of them had been about the location Chang-Sun would appear in when he regressed.

‘A Dungeon is a fragment of a shattered world… Thanatos said he would use it as a bypass,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Thanatos had also asked for Chang-Sun’s understanding about the delay before he could meet his family, but Chang-Sun actually preferred the idea of appearing in the Dungeon. It wouldn’t be easy to find a way to train his alcohol-wasted body if he went back home directly, so Thanatos had saved him a little bit of trouble.

Of course, the civilians who had gone out to a high street to spend their Friyay[2], wouldn’t be so happy to be swallowed up in a Dungeon.

“Sh-Shit…! Let me go!”

“Oh my god! What am I going to do?!”

Some faint-hearted people even collapsed on the floor and burst into tears.

A Random Break, otherwise known as an ‘Unpredictable Gate’, was a Dungeon Break that happened with no forewarning or telltale signs, and had a one-in-a-million chance of occurring. It would close only after inflicting dreadful damage on those unlucky people who got caught up in it. An outbreak in a big city like Seoul would have a bigger aftermath than usual because of how many people it dragged in.

However, as always, the Dungeon was apathetic toward the stories of those who had been pulled into it.

[Welcome to the Instance Dungeon ‘The Forest of Firewielders’.]

[Current number of participants: 431 people.]

Crackle!

For a split second, the message window that had appeared over people’s heads made an unusual noise.

[An error has occurred!]

[Found an omitted participant.]

[Counting again.]

[Current number of participants: 432 people.]

The ordinary civilians, whose faces had already turned paper-white, they could not afford to think too deeply about an ‘error’ that had only appeared for a brief moment.

[Evaluating the strength of the participants in the Dungeon. Assigning a quest at the appropriate difficulty.]

[Commencing the Dungeon Quest!]

[Quest theme: Pioneer.]

[Eliminate the monsters that roam in ‘The Forest of Firewielders,’ then climb up to the top of the hill that lies beyond the forest.]

[The forest is divided into five sectors. Different monsters reside in each sector. Be aware that the methods required to pioneer each sector will also be different.]

[To execute the quest, every participant has been granted access to the <Inventory>, <Status Window>, and <Skill Window>.]

[Instructions are clearly provided below, so please refer to the documentation.]

[Best wishes to all participants.]

[The first sector has been opened.]

As soon as the messages stopped popping up, Chang-Sun sprang forward.

“H-Hey, that man…!”

“Hey, it’s dangerous!”

The other people present were taken aback and tried to stop him, but Chang-Sun had already entered the danger zone.

“Is… Is he a Player?”

“Isn’t he too ordinary to be a Player…?”

No matter how low the rank of a Player was, their presence was different from that of an ordinary civilian. As they could not sense anything different about Chang-Sun, the ordinary civilians could not help but be concerned about him.

“But… Doesn’t he look familiar?”

“I think I saw him on TV.”

Just then, some people who frequently watched professional gaming broadcasts remembered Chang-Sun and were surprised.

“No way, is he the ‘Tyrant’?”

* * *

“My body is really a mess,” Chang-Sun said, frowning deeply as he ran.

The muddy ground that sank beneath his feet was a problem in its own right. However, he had a bigger problem—after running for only a short time, he was already out of breath.

First, he needed to accurately understand his condition. He called out, “Open system window.”

[Unable to open the system window.]

[No access to the system. Qualifications have been revoked.]

...

[The system has been partially updated.]

[Opening the system window with ‘Administrator’ status.]

[Lee Chang-Sun]

Divine Name: Divine Twilight?

Title: ??? (Error)

Faction: ??? (Error)

Strength: ??? (Unknown)

Agility: ??? (Unknown)

Stamina: ??? (Unknown)

Divinity: ??? (Unknown)

Acquired Skills

??? Lv.??? (Illegible)

??? Lv.??? (Illegible)

??? Lv.??? (Illegible)

...

Acquired Authorities

??? Lv.??? (Illegible)

...

Special note: A considerable amount of information is illegible and cannot be accessed.

Additional Stats: 5

The position of ‘Administrator’ was similar to that of the Underworld Reapers. Although Chang-Sun had been given a labor sentence, the Underworld had granted him some power to carry out his mission more smoothly on Earth. Due to that, he was able to check his status window. However, the contents left him dumbfounded.

“As expected, it’s an absolute mess,” he grumbled.

As Chang-Sun had been a deity before regressing into mortal form, it was no wonder that the status window failed to properly reflect his current status. Fortunately, his divine name remained, but he felt as if even that could go away at any moment.

‘Though… Where is the thing the King of the Underworld was going to give me?’

Chang-Sun squinted. Even after scanning through the status window multiple times, he was unable to find Thanatos’ ‘gift’. Wondering if he had gotten ripped off, he frowned.

[Renewing the window based on updated data.]

[Lee Chang-Sun]

Divine Name: Divine Twilight (Unusable)

Title: None

Faction: Underworld

Level: 0

Strength: 1

Agility: 3

Stamina: 2

Mana: 0

Acquired Skills

―

Acquired Authorities

Soul Exploitation Lv.1 (New!)

Execution Sword Lv.1 (New!)

Special Note: Upon the confirmation of degraded status, all previous information has been reset. Please check the newly granted authorities.

Additional stat points: 5

‘...Fortunately, I haven’t been ripped off,’

Chang-Sun thought. He quickly tapped on Thanatos’ ‘gift’ with his index finger.

[Soul Exploitation]

A privilege that can only be used by the emissary recognized by the King of the Underworld.

The soul of a being killed by the emissary can be locked in storage and burned in the fires of Purgatory, after which the emissary can extract its karma.

· Skill Level: 1

· Type: Authority.

· Effects: Wound treatment, body strengthening.

[Execution Sword]

A privilege that can only be used by the emissary recognized by the King of the Underworld.

The emissary will be able to substitute for the King of the Underworld in the execution of Divine Punishment, limited to the sinners who have broken the ‘Oath’. After being put through a ‘Trial’, the sinner will be sealed proportional to the gravity of the offense. As a reward, the emissary will be granted the opportunity to extract a portion of the sinners’ Authorities.

· Skill Level: 1

· Type: Authority.

· Effects: Execution of divine punishment, punishing evil, extracting authorities.

‘It wouldn’t have been easy for the King of Underworld to give me these skills. He must be really mad at the deities of the Otherworld,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Both of the Authorities granted by Thanatos were undoubtedly magnificent..

First, there was [Soul Exploitation].

The King of the Underworld’s mighty reputation was rooted in his dominion over souls. However, [Soul Exploitation] granted part of the King’s power to Chang-Sun and even enabled him to gain karma from burnt souls. After killing monsters, he would be able to gain not only their experience points, but also their souls, which could be converted into even more experience. Thus, his progress would undoubtedly be efficient.

‘If a soul has a high status in life, that means more karma for me. If I have to, I should be able to use that in place of a healing potion.’

While wandering across the battlefield in the past, Chang-Sun had sometimes been surrounded by many enemies. At those times, he had feared nothing more than exhaustion and the accumulation of injuries from Rolling-Wheel combat[3]. However, the proper usage of [Soul Exploitation] would be helpful in preventing those two dangers.

It was a perfect Authority for Chang-Sun, who was more at home on the battlefield than his own house.

‘I’ll be able to use it to torture enemies, too.’

If he had to interrogate an enemy, there would be no need to waste time, and there would be a lower probability of failure than by using normal means. All he had to do was kill the person, summon their soul using [Soul Exploitation], and constantly inflict pain on them until they answered.

‘So this will see the most use from now on. [Execution Sword], though... That will be hard to use for the time being.’

Based on its strength alone, [Execution Sword] was a few levels above [Soul Exploitation]. Not only was it capable of sealing a deity’s status, it was also capable of seizing their Authorities. As Authorities represented a deity’s power, its potential was almost inconceivable. In theory, Chang-Sun could seize innumerable Authorities, becoming omniscient and omnipotent.

It seemed that Thanatos had granted Chang-Sun such an absurd ability after carefully considering what he would need to continuously deal with deities from the Otherworld.

The problem was that the conditions to use [Execution Sword] were highly restrictive.

‘I have to prove that the subject is definitely a sinner who broke the Oath. Even if I do, they might counterattack right away if I fail to take them out.’

Deities were prideful beings, the stars that shone brilliantly in the sky above. To extinguish their light, Chang-Sun had to shine just as brilliantly.

‘So, I won’t use it for now.’

Fortunately, Chang-Sun had a secret method that would let him use [Execution Sword] against Celestials such as deities and stars even without his divinity. That method was only possible because he was none other than ‘Divine Twilight’.

‘Until then…’

After shutting down the screen window, Chang-Sun looked directly ahead at the Dungeon.

‘I’ll get stronger, as quickly as possible.’

At that moment, his eyes gleamed.

[A ‘Black Mamba’ has found you!]

Hiss!

Amid the thick branches above his head, a snake as wide as a human arm opened its mouth wide and pounced onto Chang-Sun.

‘And…’

Without a hint of nervousness, Chang-Sun grabbed an item from his inventory and quickly brandished it. Luckily, as a novice, there was only one item in his inventory.

[Pulled out a ‘Beginner’s Rusty Dagger’!]

[Initiating attack.]

The rusty dagger in Chang-Sun’s hand pierced deeply into the snake’s jaws and tore its body apart easily, and all it took was one neat strike.

Slash!

The snake was cut in two, spraying a fountain of blood and other fluids into the air.

Ding!

Ding!

[Successfully killed the ‘Black Mamba’ in a single strike!]

[It was undoubtedly a clean attack.]

[As a reward, the skill ‘Lesser Dagger Proficiency’ has been created.]

...

[Level up!]

[Strength increased by 2.]

[Agility increased by 1.]

System messages continuously popped up. However, only at the end did the message Chang-Sun had been waiting for appear.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ shows interest in you!]

‘...I’ll become a rookie they’ll drool over.’

Chang-Sun smiled coldly, thinking of the deities who would be watching him outside the Dungeon.

1. This is a common tendency in Korean culture. Koreans say things like ‘Let’s meet again in the future’ instead of saying ‘goodbye’, whether the promise will be fulfilled or not, because a simple ‘goodbye’ is seen as too plain. ☜

2. The Korean word is 불금, which is a slang term that has roughly the same connotation as ‘Friyay’ in English; that is, spending time off at the end of the work week. ☜

3. This is a kind of battle that appears in Korean and Chinese wuxia novels. When one strong enemy fights against an army, the army takes turns attacking the strong enemy to drain the opponent’s stamina. It got its name because they take turns endlessly, like a rolling wheel. ☜