The Constellation's Game [Laika]

Lee Siyul was in an exceptionally good mood today.

It wasn't because it was the weekend.

Nothing was as pointless to a job seeker as a weekend, which passed about as usefully as wireless earbuds with a dead battery.

No — what made Siyul happy was a single LMS text message.

She had never once imagined a day like this would come.

Out of nowhere, a million won — an absolute fortune — had been deposited by her own household-registry roommate.

After thirty years, it seemed he had finally grown up.

In high spirits, Siyul decided to clock out of the study room early that day.

Her wallet was this flush, and on top of it the weather was warm and gloriously sunny.

There was simply no way she could resist a steaming pot of malatang.

She summoned her best friend — a girl who adored malatang (Siyul had never once seen her skip an ingredient) yet always had to put up a token protest first.

Then Siyul headed home, threw together a modest going-out look, dropped her bag carelessly on the bed, and stepped out the door again.

"Siyul-ah, where are you off to?"

"Plans!"

"Meeting who? Minjung?"

"Yeah."

"Don't be late!"

"I'll bring home jokbal!"

"Take your time, then!"

"Okay, Mommy!"

With her wallet suddenly plush again, Siyul felt vitality coursing through her entire ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body.

Haah, this is what life is about.

Her excitement got the better of her, and she actually high-fived a utility pole. Wincing, she stuffed her stinging hand awkwardly into her puffer jacket pocket and crossed the crosswalk humming a tune.

Five minutes later, when she arrived at Chamji-mara,

she found the back of her best friend, already there and holding tongs and a serving basket.

"Minjung-sshi, we can't just strip the whole rack of wang Mandu skewers, can we?"

"Gah, you scared me! Why are you so early?"

"……? You got here before I did, no?"

"My house is right in front, so."

Siyul boldly selected spice level 2.5, then plopped down at the window seat Minjung had snagged in advance.

After the usual round of meaningless chatter, she set the smartphone from her pocket down on the table.

And then, the very next moment.

"Hold it. Minjung-sshi. Freeze."

"What?"

Siyul's hands had begun to tremble.

"Your… your phone. Flip it over. Slowly. Very, very carefully."

"Huh? Why?"

"AGH!!!!!! You maniac!!! I said flip it GENTLY!!!!"

"Whoa, jeez! Why are you screaming?"

Her gaze had happened to land inside Minjung's phone case — where the treasured legendary 100,000-won unreleased photocard of her ultimate bias was sitting.

"You… what is that? The thing in that case — that's my oppa's unreleased photocard, isn't it?"

"Oh, this? A friend bought an album a while back, pulled a duplicate, and gave it to me."

KTG — the current top male idol in South Korea, and the idol Siyul had been stanning for five whole years now.

And of all things, her bias's unreleased photocard was sitting in her friend's hands. There was no possible way Siyul could keep her composure.

"Hey… do you have any idea what that's worth on the market right now? That's five whole fried chickens. And you're keeping that most precious being… locked up raw, with no sleeve, in that cramped little case? If a single scratch appears on oppa's face, are you going to take responsibility for that?!"

"It's a scrap of paper! I just stuck it in there because he's pretty, okay?"

What's more, Siyul's bank account at this very moment held more than enough ammunition to rescue her beloved bias.

Call it fate, then.

"Shut it. Take the case off. Right now."

"No thanks? It's a pain to pry it out."

"I'll buy the full course today — malatang, guobaorou, and tanghulu for dessert. Hand it over. This isn't a negotiation, it's a threat."

"Excuse me, would you like that to go?"

"Give it here."

Granted, if the benefactor who had provided those funds had witnessed this scene… it would have been a spectacle of pure fury.

"Haah… oppa… to think you suffered in such a lowly, cramped place…"

Siyul snatched the photocard from her friend's hand in one swift motion, produced a microfiber glasses cloth, and began wiping it with the tenderest of care.

Minjung, watching this whole display, shook her head in sheer disbelief.

"Seriously, why do you people even do the idol thing?"

At that reaction, Siyul's face twisted into an expression of pure incredulity.

The very person who had first dragged her into the world of fandom had been Minjung herself. From Siyul's standpoint, being exasperated was only natural.

"I don't think you're the one who gets to say that…"

Watching Siyul enshrine the photocard like a sacred relic, Minjung quietly slipped her smartphone out from her clothing.

Because, in truth, all that 'idol stanning, ugh' talk had been nothing more than setup for right now!

Tap—

Having located the photo she'd prepared, Minjung slid her phone across the table, screen full and glowing, toward Siyul.

"Hey, park that paper boyfriend of yours for a sec and look at this."

Siyul, of course, kept the photocard clutched tightly in both hands without so much as glancing over…

"Ugh, not now, I'm purifying my eyeballs. You put that away."

Undeterred, Minjung opened her sales pitch.

"If your oppa is a crisp, refreshing ion drink… this gentleman right here is a well-aged whiskey. Completely different genre, let's start there."

"Wh-what, who?"

"Look at this jawline. Sharp enough to shave with, right? If you rode a slide off this thing you'd straight-up land in Busan."

A flicker of interest sparked by Minjung's sales pitch, Siyul sneaked a sidelong glance at her friend's phone screen and slid the photocard into her pocket.

It meant she'd decided to hear this sales pitch out with a little more seriousness.

"Who… is he? A rookie actor?"

"Not an actor. A Hunter."

"A Hunter?"

"He hit me out of nowhere just recently too, so I'm currently down bad. The honorable name is Lee Seong-hwan."

"He's… actually pretty handsome."

"Pretty is just the beginning? Look at those shoulders — they're the size of the Pacific."

"Hmm."

The moment Siyul's eyes refused to leave the screen, Minjung smiled sweetly and lowered her voice into something even more seductive.

"You always say you stan idols like you're raising a son, right?"

"……Don't I?"

"Then once the parenting's done, it's time to go husband-hunting."

"Th-that… is also true."

"You've raised one son; now finding a husband is basically national protocol, isn't it?"

Nodding along as if under some spell, Siyul suddenly snapped her head around, realizing she'd been played.

"Hey, Minjung-sshi. Did your mouth just unseal itself? Were you always this smooth a talker?"

But Minjung's offensive was far from over.

At some point she had quietly picked her phone back up and pulled up a poster she'd downloaded in advance onto the screen.

"And here's the kicker — the man never goes hungry. A teaser dropped just last week."

"What? Hunters get teasers too? Are they making some kind of variety special?"

At Siyul's question, Minjung gave a slow, knowing shake of her head before continuing.

"Hunters School 3 is starting soon. Don't tell me you don't know it?"

"For real? Holy…"

Even for Siyul, who had next to no interest in Hunters, Hunters School was impossible not to know.

For the past five years, the most successful series across the entire landscape of Korean variety television had been exactly that — Hunters School.

Season 2 in particular had been a historic blockbuster, and Siyul herself had watched every single episode live.

Only, the scale of the production was so enormous that the gaps between seasons ran long, and she'd genuinely forgotten about it.

"So this gentleman is the producers' one pick for the new season, then?"

"It'd be kind of hard for him not to be?"

"Why?"

"Because his specs are all-time records too."

Now fully fired up, Minjung poured out information like a rapid-fire barrage.

"You remember Yoon Gimyung from Season 2, right?"

"Of course. I even voted for the guy."

"He was level 47, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, that's right. His level was way above everyone else's on his own."

"This man is 49. They're saying it's a level that shouldn't even be possible."

With her gaze locked onto Minjung's phone screen, Siyul swallowed dryly without realizing it.

The moment her eyes met the jaw-droppingly handsome man in a pristine white knight's uniform, her heart began galloping entirely on its own.

"Phew, the outfit is insane."

"Agreed……"

"That knight-order uniform is genuinely unreal, right? It's not a concept costume — it's actual combat wear. And get this, he's Silver Knights royalty."

Facing a face of a kind she'd never seen before, she could feel her heartbeat accelerating by the second.

"Insane. His name — no, wait… his honorable name, what is it?"

Certain now that her friend had completely crossed over, the corners of Minjung's mouth had quietly begun to curl upward.

"Let's eat the malatang first, Siyul-ah. Once we move to the café, I'll give you the full briefing."

Before anyone knew it, the first day of filming for Hunters School 3 was right around the corner.

And as that day drew closer and closer, a worry I'd been putting off for a long time was slowly rising to the surface.

"Hoo."

Worried I might not perform well out there, you ask?

No, that wasn't it.

Well, sure, it would be a little disappointing to get cut off too early… but there was nothing to lose either way, and I could simply return to my daily life.

Could that really be called a worry? Hardly.

No, my actual worry was this.

How on earth am I going to tell Father and Mother.

It had come about because the time had finally arrived to open up to my family about my real line of work.

I had laid down a little groundwork here and there whenever the opportunity presented itself, but…

"Mom. After working at Jungmin's place for a bit, gates don't actually seem all that dangerous?"

"That nonsense is forbidden, eldest son."

And yet the moment I stood before my parents, the words ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just wouldn't leave my mouth. What could I say — some things can't be helped.

"I-I wish I'd been born with a talent too."

"Wh-what kind of off-the-wall talk is that?"

"Hunters, I mean. They really do make serious money, Dad."

"Son."

"Yes?"

"Don't trouble yourself over money. Even now, I'm managing to scrape a little together and pay it down bit by bit, aren't I?"

And so, this is the thought I arrived at.

Act first, beg forgiveness later — in every way, wasn't that the fastest road?

That was the shape of my thinking, anyway.

Once the first episode airs and the two of them find out, I'll present them with the money I've been setting aside — a nice, weighty lump of it — and that should smooth things over, right?

If I cashed out roughly half of my banked LP and stacked my appearance fee on top of it,

I figured I could pay off everything up through the mid-tier bank loan of three to four hundred million won.

Of course, even a generous envelope of cash wouldn't make a mother's worry for her son evaporate…

But there's a saying for exactly this: when a problem refuses to be solved with money, one ought to stop and consider whether the amount was simply insufficient.

Well then, I suppose I'll just have to actually take first place.

After my appearance was confirmed, I had in fact sat down and thought it through with real seriousness.

And the more I deliberated, the more I came to a conclusion: taking first place in this Hunters School would, more than I'd expected, resolve a great many of the practical problems I was carrying.

First and most obviously — the prize money.

Back when Jungmin first floated the offer to apply, most of the money I earned was being swallowed whole by the 'Night Pursuer'…

But now that I had a shield called the Sword Princess, I could use the winnings to clear my family's debt first.

Which brings me to the second reason.

If I actually took first place here, my parents would lose any real grounds to object.

After all, I'd be wiping out the household's debt with this very ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thing, while simultaneously 'proving' my ability among genuinely talented ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hunters.

So — full power it is.

It's not as if I'd be competing against actual rankers, after all.

Think about it — isn't this just a matter of shoving aside a bunch of equally green tadpoles?

Tossing these thoughts around, I squirmed in bed and drifted off a little later than usual.

And then — beeeep! Beeeep-beeeep!

With the blare of my alarm, the morning of the very first day of filming for Hunters School 3 had finally dawned.