Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Constellation Gallery EP.2
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Shut up and lurk. That means zip it and just lurk for three days.
It's the basic rule of any community, but I screwed up.
No, wait. Didn't they say something's about to blow up in 30 minutes?
But how the hell am I supposed to lurk for three whole days?
Finding essential info as a human is a total pain in the ass.
That's basically telling me to just die, right?
No helping it at this point.
Sweat trickled down his back, but he left the comments even more brazenly.
And the replies started pouring in fast.
He flinched for a second.
Come to think of it, was that a question a human would ask?
They told him not to get caught.
What the hell was that about a 100 million gold Divine Message?
Does sending a message cost 100 million won?
And they mention gold, then divinity pops up.
It's a slang party only they understand.
He slowly read through the comments, keeping his mouth shut.
Whatever it was, if his raw power was good enough, it was doable?
He checked his post again.
No one even said "What the hell are you talking about?" after seeing this.
Everyone treated this insane situation like it was the most obvious thing in the world, enjoying it fully.
'This... something really about to pop off?'
Just in case, he set an alarm for the time the gallery mentioned and kept reading posts.
How much time passed?
Bzzz!
The alarm rang.
"...Fuck, you scared me."
He patted his startled chest from the alarm he set and started watching the situation.
But outside was quieter than expected.
'What? Nothing's happening?'
Why was he so tense?
He picked up his phone to check the time.
It was exactly the time the gallery mentioned.
"Events my ass. Just my damn delusion after all."
He laughed at himself for getting worked up over nothing.
The community, what they said—it was all just game-like delusions in his head.
Of course stuff like Constellations, Incarnations, contracts wouldn't show up in reality.
'If I'm going crazy, might as well go all the way. Half-crazy doesn't cut it.'
The moment he tried to let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
"Kya啊啊啊!!"
An ear-piercing scream echoed out.
His heart dropped again in an instant.
'...What the sudden hell?'
His body shrank back on instinct.
Shit was hitting the fan, so maybe robbers?
Or... could it be...
He cautiously approached the window.
When he parted the curtain gap tensely and looked outside.
"...F-fuck, what is that."
An unreal sight entered his eyes.
In the middle of the street. Something writhed.
Twisted limbs, abnormally long fingers. Wrinkled dark blue skin.
At first, he thought it was a person. But when the creature lifted its head, his whole body froze.
Huge round eyes without eyelids. Pupils slit vertically like a cat's.
And its mouth stretched from ear to ear, packed with sharp teeth.
It was something that could only be called a monster.
Clutching a rusty dagger, the monster panted roughly as it staggered toward a human.
'Crazy...'
His body trembled.
The scene his eyes witnessed was far too unreal.
The monster looking down at a fallen person on the street swung the dagger without hesitation.
"...!"
Blood sprayed. That was real.
His mind went blank, hands shaking, but the first thing that came to mind was the Constellation Gallery.
He quickly checked the community again.
The gallery had already exploded.
There, posts chattered leisurely as if it had nothing to do with them.
His fingertips grew cold.
'...This was real?'
He quickly scanned the posts.
He closed the window and looked outside again.
Wails came from afar, unfamiliar shapes faintly visible amid fleeing people.
A few bodies on the street, but right now, the important thing was that monster clearly in his sight.
'Ghoul? That's a ghoul?'
What the gallery was buzzing about.
They talked like it was easy, so not impossible.
Problem was the blade in its hand.
Dagger? Short blade, but definitely not a bare-handed fight once reaches match.
'More importantly, they said the Perk's key...'
Not sure if he got it right.
But if he did...
First Kill. First hunt.
Thought it was just gamer term, but with the gallery hype, it meant something.
Reward for the first to kill.
'Even without reward, killing that stamps my name.'
Didn't matter if wrong.
At least killing a ghoul gets Constellations' attention.
Then higher chance they'd offer a contract or whatever.
'Contract prolly guarantees more safety than now.'
They said hiding pointless later, so easiest now is the shot.
But couldn't go out bare-handed...
Weapon... need a weapon.
He looked around. One-room bachelor pad. Typical solo setup.
Bed, desk, small kitchen, fridge.
No storage, so weapons from daily stuff.
'Ha... Never believed in apocalypse, no preps at all...'
Baseball bat would be nice.
No such luck.
Went to kitchen, opened knife drawer.
Kitchen knife. Most threatening, but vs dagger, similar reach means high chance he'd get hurt too.
'Knife fight no good.'
Need something else.
Rummaged fridge top shelf, something grabbed.
'This is it...!'
Heavy weight. Blunt texture gripping perfectly.
'Frying Pan!'
Solid heft, sturdy weapon.
Iron, hard swing could deal damage.
Even games used pans as good shields sometimes?
'Alright, this'll do.'
Gripped frying pan handle tight.
Resolve set, heart pounded.
Really doing this?
Looked out window again.
Ghoul still shambling, rummaging remaining bodies on street.
Now he could go out and take it.
Steadied breath, checked Constellation Gallery again.
Still hyped on where Perk drops.
Watching their chat frenzy, he slowly raised the frying pan.
'Prep your contracts tight and watch close.'
The First Kill's mine.