Return of the Shattered Constellation

“Wh-what…?”

“Why’re people suddenly…?”

The guard post that had been protecting the gate leading to the Black Blood Mountain Range was in chaos. The guards had already been in disorder due to Director Gwon and the Inspection Department members barging in. On top of that, the probationers and instructors had all been forced out of the dungeon due to the gate closing. Among the crowds, there were also Inspection Department members who were there to investigate the blown-up lab.

Everyone looked perplexed. Nobody had expected that the Dungeon Mission would be concluded. Some were so confused that they thought they must have been forced to exit the Dungeon to carry out a new Dungeon Mission, but those with sharper judgment realized the true reason. It was due to the person that had ranked first in the Dungeon Ranking, with an overwhelmingly higher score than the White Tiger Clan Leader. The person whom people couldn’t easily refer to by name.

“Lee Chang-Sun…! Someone get Lee Chang-Sun…! Come on!” Someone shouted at the top of their lungs.

* * *

<The Black Blood Mountain Range protecting the White Tiger Clan for the past 20 years has finally closed!>

<The unsolvable and unconquerable Dungeon has been cleared by the Tyrant!>

<After showing his SSS+++ Grade talent, L continues to advance, even clearing the Dungeon! >

―BabyPot: Man, my hyung-nim has done it again! It’s fucking great, sick, five, six, seven, awesome, and cool.[1]

↳Hey, mister. How old are you?

↳Beep. Turn right to find the senior citizen center.

―UNKNOWN: What’s this? Are my eyes malfunctioning or something?

―Gaudium: The Black Blood Mountain Range is the White Tiger Clan’s training institute, right? The cursed place where ten probationers go in and only eight come out?

↳Gosh, my hyung-nim is definitely on another level.

↳I heard the Dungeon is really famous among foreign Players too. The difficulty level differs by sector, and the Dungeon is so freakishly large that they almost starved to death before completing the Dungeon Mission.

↳He even beat Sword Sky Tiger and ranked first place in the Dungeon Ranking. How did he clear a Dungeon like that?

―Steak: I once saw a video clip that showed the inside of the Dungeon, and it was freaking crazy. He cleared that Dungeon? In less than a month?

↳How could you fall for that, you idiot? It’s obvious the White Tiger Clan and the Tyrant planned it all from the start.

↳Our resident conspiracist appears again.

↳I’m not sure why they continue to live.

↳lollolloll Do you have any idea how valuable the Black Blood Mountain Range is? lollolol so you’re telling me the White Tiger Clan threw it all away to make one rookie into a hero? Well, I guess the White Tiger Clan is so filthy rich that they have money to burn!

―Steak: The Tyrant fans are going crazy nowadays, so they’ll definitely go berserk again.

↳Ah, things will get hectic if they go crazy. They’ll fight like hell again.

―Kkyong: I think the White Tiger Clan are probably the most bewildered ones in this situation. Are they not releasing an article or something?

<The White Tiger Clan says “Currently investigating the situation. Planning to release an official announcement after the investigation is complete.”>

―Renein: lmao they’re panicking.

↳They must be, since the estate they’ve been using for over twenty years disappeared overnight.

↳Press X to express joy.

↳X

↳X

↳X

―ApplaudTyrant: All the people that yapped about how they can’t believe what happened will finally shut up. Hahahaha, the comment section is gonna clear up.

As the internet went berserk over the news articles and comments related to Chang-Sun, the White Tiger Clan were also in a state of mayhem. The inspection of the Secret Tiger Lab had intensified the battle of nerves between Executive Director Oh and Director Gwon, so the clan members were already on thin ice. The sudden news about the cleared Dungeon was like a bucket of hot water poured all over it.

Executive Director Oh’s faction and Director Gwon’s faction were having problems of their own, but it was the Personnel Section that had the biggest trouble to deal with. Only a fourth of the training period had passed, so according to the curriculum, there were many probationers that hadn’t gotten through the basic training. However, the training institute had disappeared overnight, and they had nowhere else to train. The Personnel Section members had to quickly send cars to pick them up.

Afterward, they summoned Chang-Sun to the head office to figure out what exactly had happened. However, when the Personnel Section Chief asked Chang-Sun about how he had cleared the Dungeon, Chang-Sun’s answer was very simple.

“I just did it.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

His answer was so blunt that the Personnel Section Chief and the executives, who had been watching Chang-Sun, were rendered speechless. Chang-Sun spoke like the artist from that old educational video clip who would say, ‘It’s easy, right?’ [2]. They could not even think of what other questions to ask.

Meanwhile, Baek Gyeo-Ul, Shin Eun-Seo, and Shin Geum-Gyu just watched quietly. Due to his unfortunate childhood, Gyeo-Ul wasn’t one to be fazed easily, and he looked on with a calm expression. Eun-Seo and Geum-Gyu, who had led more normal lives, fidgeted nervously.

‘What am I supposed to do here?! Do something!’ Eun-Seo mouthed at Geum-Gyu.

‘What am I supposed to do?! All I did was follow him around!’ Geum-Gyu responded indignantly.

Eun-Seo’s eyes shone. ‘You always say you’re my older brother, so act like one!’

‘You only treat me like your older brother in times like this!’ Geum-Gyu gritted his teeth.

Although they silently argued, in the end, they couldn’t come up with a solution. Just like Geum-Gyu had said, the Shin siblings hadn’t done much.

After teaching Joo-Han a lesson, Chang-Sun had proclaimed that he would clear the Dungeon within a day. The Shin siblings had obviously thought that he was bluffing. Eun-Seo knew how confident Chang-Sun had become during his professional gamer year, so she had just thought that was how he was expressing it. Geum-Gyu had worried, thinking that Chang-Sun had become overconfident after his string of successes. However, they had just followed him since they had no other choice…

‘It was…dope.’ Geum-Gyu thought.

It was the only word he could come up with to describe what he had seen. Chang-Sun had been a sight to behold in the Dungeon: the way he relentlessly ran forward and swung his sword, sending dead monsters flying through the air like fallen leaves. When he used the whip in his right hand, the sound of explosions filled the air like a thunderstorm. The ground shook every time he thrust the spear in his left hand.

Gyeo-Ul had been there to occasionally take care of the monsters that Chang-Sun had missed, so the Shin siblings had been left with nothing to do but follow Chang-Sun around. When they returned to reality, the group had already gone to the next mountain, diligently carrying out the Dungeon Mission. After half a day, they saw the message that the Dungeon Mission had been concluded. Therefore, even if the Personnel Section Chief looked at them, silently urging them to explain further on Chang-Sun’s behalf, the Shin siblings didn’t have much information to offer.

Thud!

In the end, one of the executives slammed the desk hard in frustration. It was the Human Resources Department Head, a ranker.

“Are you kidding me?!” he shouted.

Since the Personnel Section was under the jurisdiction of Human Resources, the Personnel Section Chief’s face turned pale as he watched his superior shout. It seemed like he was threatening Chang-Sun’s group, even though they hadn’t summoned him here to intimidate him.

The problem was that Chang-Sun was not the kind of person that could be intimidated like this. He looked at the department head nonchalantly, but everyone could see that he was starting to feel annoyed. The tension in the air caused everyone to fall silent, except the department head, who continued to shout with a reddened face.

“Why’re you looking at me like that? Are you going to rebel…Urgh!”

Smack!

The department head suddenly stopped when someone smacked him in the back of his head.

“How dare you yell in here? Do you want to die?” said the man that had smacked him. He had a husky voice and spoke like a thug.

All the people inside hurriedly stood up to greet the man formally.

[The ‘Tiger Kill’ is raging!]

Their faces turned pale as the husky-voiced man’s [Tiger Kill] continuously suffocated them. How could he use [Tiger Kill] this heavily in such a narrow space? There was absolutely no reason to do that, unless he actually intended to suffocate them.

“Team 2 Leader…!” After belatedly realizing who had smacked him, the Human Resources Department Head frowned and glared angrily. He felt humiliated to be smacked like a kid in a room full of his subordinates.

However, Seo Jeong-Gwon just smirked, as if challenging the department head to do something about it. “Team leader, huh? Wow, you’re talking awfully casually today. How come? Are you planning on going toe to toe with me? Well, I’m actually glad to hear that.”

“…What are you doing here… sir?” The department head could do nothing but hold back his anger.

Although a department head seemed to be a higher rank than a team leader, he couldn’t walk all over Jeong-Gwon since the Clan’s cores were actually the Raid Team Department, which operated in the public, and the Future Strategy Department that worked in the shadows.

Above all, as the Raid Team 2 Leader, Jeong-Gwon was the right-hand man of Executive Director Oh, who was the most influential person within the Clan. Jeong-Gwon’s level was also much higher than the Human Resource Department Head’s, so there was a high possibility that squabbling with Jeong-Gwon would only lead to more humiliation.

Jeong-Gwon smirked even harder at the dispirited department head, then gestured at Chang-Sun with his chin. “I’m here to take him.”

“We aren’t done investigating…!” The department head started.

“Investigation my ass. You were interrogating him. Anyhow, I’m taking him, do you have a problem with that?”

Jeong-Gwon stepped forward menacingly, bringing himself face-to-face with the department head.

Although the department head still looked upset, he had to take a step backward. Even the Personnel Section Chief had been quietly urging him to back down. Technically, the Human Resources Department members weren’t in a position to question Chang-Sun’s group, since they were the ones that had confidently urged the probationers to clear the Dungeon if they could. If Chang-Sun had simply said ‘I did what you asked me to do’, they would have had no response.

However, they could not have possibly expected that someone would really close the ‘Black Blood Mountain Range’. As a result, now that he was in charge of settling the damages that had occurred after the Dungeon closed, the annoyed department head was just meaninglessly releasing his frustrations on Chang-Sun’s group.

Besides, Executive Director Oh had likely instructed Jeong-Gwon to personally bring Chang-Sun’s group. All the Clan members already knew about how Chang-Sun had decided to side with Executive Director Oh, so the department head had to let them go.

“I’ll take that as a no. Everyone, follow me.” Jeong-Gwon gestured at Chang-Sun’s group.

The people between Jeong-Gwon and Chang-Sun made a path for them, pressing themselves up against the walls. As if it was only natural to do so, Chang-Sun passed by the Personnel Section Chief and the Human Resource Department Head without saying goodbye, making the department head frown again. Still, no one could stop Jeong-Gwon and Chang-Sun’s group. Gyeo-Ul instantly followed Chang-Sun out, while Eun-Seo and Geum-Gyu tentatively began walking before scurrying out behind them.

“You three follow my team members for a moment. Lee Chang-Sun, you follow me.” Jeong-Gwon instructed.

At that moment, Eun-Seo’s and Geum-Gyu’s eyes lost focus because they weren’t sure what to do. Gyeo-Ul’s eyes were fixed on Chang-Sun. It was only after Chang-Sun nodded at them reassuringly that they followed the Raid Team 2 Members’ lead.

“They must be the team members that you took under your wing in the training institute, huh?” Jeong-Gwon asked.

As Jeong-Gwon moved forward, Chang-Sun walked beside him. They were in a random hallway of the building, all alone, as if Jeong-Gwon had intentionally emptied it out beforehand. Chang-Sun wondered for a moment about how to answer. Then, he nodded—it seemed strange to say no at this point.

“That’s pretty much what happened.”

“Yeah, that’s how you start. A team is first formed by a freakin smart leader gathering up like-minded people.” Jeong-Gwon looked at Chang-Sun with interest.

Although he had wanted to have Chang-Sun as his team member for a while, and he had no problem with revealing his desires, he didn’t outright ask Chang-Sun to join his team. This was partially due to the promise he had made to Executive Director Oh, his cousin. Plus, there was another plan he had on his mind.

Even if Jeong-Gwon acted cool, Chang-Sun couldn’t care less. He didn’t want to bother paying attention to Jeong-Gwon’s every action. Therefore, Chang-Sun just randomly chatted with Jeong-Gwon for a bit, quietly wondering where he was being taken, expecting that it was Executive Director Oh that had called for him. However, he suddenly noticed something.

‘Executive Director Oh’s office isn’t in this direction.’

He turned to Jeong-Gwon and asked, “Where are we going?”

“Ah, did I not tell you?” the corners of Jeong-Gwon’s lips curled upwards. “We’re going to the Clan Leader’s office. He wants to meet you himself after hearing your story.”

“…!”

Chang-Sun’s eyes shone for a moment when he heard that Munseong, the Sword Sky Tiger and the Clan Leader, had summoned him.

1. The raw was 지렸다리. 오져따리. 육져따리. 칠져따리. The word 오져따리 is slang and means it’s great. 육(six)져따리 and 칠(seven)져따리 are puns because 오 in 오져따리 sounds like five. (오.) Old Koreans often make this kind of joke. ☜

2. The author is referring to Bob Ross. ☜