The Constellation's Game [Laika]

Five days had passed.

And in that time….

I had reached a full Level 35.

"Leo, what level are you at now?"

"I'm 38, hyung-nim."

"Ah, so you're only now catching up."

"Come on… if this pattern keeps up for another week or so, you'll overtake me, won't you?"

Even in party play, Laika didn't split experience points evenly among members.

The system had a surprisingly rational streak running through it, and the experience distribution was designed to scale with combat contribution.

So even if I kept growing alongside Leo, it would only be a matter of time before his prediction came true. My contribution was always going to be higher than his, given how I played.

Then again, maybe the impressive one was Leo—for more or less keeping pace with my leveling speed when I threw every last trick in the book at it.

Anyway.

"This is where I stop for today, Dave."

"Thank you for your hard work, Novin."

And so our four-member Lumentis party wrapped up here.

On a very ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠warm and cordial note, at that.

"I had fun too. I managed to gather plenty of ore thanks to you."

"Thank you for your hard work as well, Lowell."

Perhaps because we'd spent quite a long time together, I'd picked up all sorts of things about Lowell and Novin along the way.

First and foremost, I learned that both of them were European players.

I also learned that English-speaking players typically had their real names registered directly as their player names.

"So even if we run into each other outside of a gate, you can just call me Novin."

"Sure, why not."

"I'll be visiting Korea soon, so if I reach out, don't pretend you don't know me, okay?"

On top of that, I discovered that Novin was apparently a K-pop fan(?).

"Wait, why are you coming to Korea, Novin?"

"That K-pop… what was that singer's name. KTX, was it?"

I'm sorry… what?

In today's idol landscape, are even trains debuting as K-pop idols?

"Anyway, there's something I need to go see in person."

Only later did I learn that the male idol Novin had been referring to wasn't KTX at all, but a group called KTG (Keep The Glow)—famous enough that their posters hung on the wall of my own flesh and blood's bedroom.

"Will you be coming along too, Lowell?"

As for Lowell… I also learned the rather unusual fact that hunter wasn't actually her day job.

"Hmm, probably not me. I'm busy with my thesis."

"You write theses about hunting in England…?"

"Oh, I'm less a hunter and more a researcher who happens to love research."

Her true profession was a graduate student at a prestigious university, currently completing her doctorate.

"So, once my ore runs out, it's fine if I contact you again, right?"

"Of course. I can probably hunt here from time to time until the early level 40s."

"Oh! Then please sell me every scrap of ore you gather while hunting!"

The fact that Lowell entered gates solely for her "explosion experiments" and "Lumentis ore mining" was, if anything, even harder to believe than her being a grad student.

What is she, the J. Robert Oppenheimer of the hunter world…?

But watching her eyes literally sparkle as she explained her research, it didn't seem like she was lying.

"If this experiment I'm running right now succeeds, we'll actually be able to reproduce complete combustion in the real world!"

And what exactly would that mean?

"If we can suppress thermal dissociation—the kind that occurs above 2,000 degrees Celsius—with mana…"

No matter how passionately she lectured, a humanities major like me just couldn't….

"So to put it in perspective, in theory, this could raise flame temperatures to something close to the surface of the sun—"

According to Lowell, the most efficient, highest-performing medium for her explosion experiments was precisely this Lumen ore.

Once I knew all that, I couldn't exactly deny how well the hidden class Pyro Sorcerer suited her.

It's definitely unusual. Maybe you really do need an eccentric playstyle to earn a special hidden class.

Astoundingly, of every class I'd seen since I started playing on the Earth server, the Pyro Sorcerer was the one and only class I had never seen before—completely and utterly new to me.

Could it be that Lowell, even more than Novin, was a player with a monstrous level of hidden potential?

"Well then, I'll be in touch soon!"

"Let's keep in touch."

In any case, with some reluctance, the two of them logged out first.

Left alone, Leo and I returned to the Lumis Territory and settled our inventories as we prepared to clock out.

"Ooh! Today was pretty juicy, hyung-nim!"

"Oh?"

"I ran the numbers, and I think we came out about 65 LP in the black."

Having partied with me for so long, Leo had apparently soaked up my playstyle too—he settles the day's profit and loss every single time before logging off.

"Well, I'd rather not."

And unpaid? Excuse me?

Leo earns exactly what he puts in, doesn't he?

No, honestly, donations aside, our earnings are basically identical!

Leo just burns through so many potions that his net ends up slimmer.

"Well, I happen to love capitalism?"

If it bothers you that much, go find yourselves a people's streamer.

"…."

With that in mind, I checked my bank balance—which had built up quite a bit again—and suddenly felt a warm, cozy glow spread through my chest.

With the leading digit restored to a five after my balance had dipped down into the thirty-thousands, it felt like vitality was coursing back through my whole body.

If I sweetly sip down the Hunters School ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠appearance fee on top of this, I might recover into the six figures in no time…?

Oh, and how did my application to Hunters School 3 go, you ask?

I submitted it the day before yesterday, timed to the deadline down to the day, obviously.

When Jungmin was putting that much effort into it for me, common sense dictated I at least send in the application, even if I didn't expect to make it.

"Hyung-nim, did that thing still not have results?"

"Hm? Hunters School?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Nothing yet. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The announcement deadline's tomorrow, so we'll just have to wait a little longer."

I'm thorough about this sort of thing, after all.

Back in my job-hunting days, I sent out more resumes than I care to count….

"Wow, hyung-nim, I really hope you get in."

"Why?"

"Because it'd be entertaining, obviously. And honestly, I'm curious what would happen if you went up against a super-rookie like Lee Seong-hwan."

"Ahh. Seong-hwan, huh. I'd like to meet him myself sometime."

I am curious just how incredible the guy has to be for the awakened community to worship him like that.

His overseas fanbase was monstrous too, from what I saw.

"And if you build up your name recognition on that show, you could become a real influencer too, hyung."

"If you wanted that so badly, you should've applied yourself. You easily meet the requirements."

"Honestly, I did think about it for a second. But you know how it is, hyung."

"What?"

"My dream is joining the Silver Knights."

"Ahh."

To understand what Leo meant, you first had to know the most fundamental format of Hunters School.

Specifically: what the hundred mentees who appeared on the show—people like me—were actually competing for.

And it was refreshingly simple.

The goal for everyone who applied to Hunters School was to make it into the final five….

And the reward for those final five was nothing less than a contract with one of the elite guilds ranked in the global top ten.

So from Leo's perspective—as someone who dreamed of joining the Silver Knights specifically—there was no reason to apply to the show….

Wait, guild contracts are ultimately something you're free to decline, aren't they? Couldn't I just suck up the appearance fee and then go take whatever knight-order selection exam they have afterward?

I almost said it out loud, but held my tongue.

It felt like I'd be staining Leo's pure, earnest passion somehow.

At any rate, with our inventories squared away, Leo and I stamped our clock-out cards and promised each other tomorrow.

We wouldn't have Novin and Lowell along from tomorrow on, but knowing us, the two of us would probably still party up and hunt.

Our hunting grounds might change now that we'd broken level 30, but whatever….

I was mulling over these thoughts as I stepped out of the gate when—

Ziiing-!

The smartphone in my pocket gave a short buzz, and when I casually pulled it out, I couldn't help but wear a rather flustered expression.

Wearing a dazed expression, I found my footsteps grinding to a halt.

Jungmin had bragged that I'd get in, sure.

"Hoh."

But this… this was actually happening?