The Constellation's Game [Laika]
It had been a busy morning from the crack of dawn.
Not that I was short on time—I'd woken up early as always. It was just that getting from Seongsu to Sangam by call time turned out to be more of a slog than I'd expected.
And by the time I arrived on site, my state of mind was considerably more grimly determined than usual.
What do I mean by that?
First place. I have to take first place. No exceptions.
The reason was simple: while stamping my seal on the ancillary contracts for the filming that morning, I'd laid eyes on a clause that made my heart pound out of control.
* Any player who survives all competitive missions and achieves a 1st–3rd place ranking may select one of the following privileges as a reward:
[1. Guild Membership Choice]
[2. A-Rank Hunter License]
[3. 500,000 LP]
Selection proceeds in order of final ranking, and once a reward has been claimed, it becomes unavailable to all other participants.
Three hundred thousand LP alone would have been enough to make my nostrils flare, and this prize pool had somehow swelled to nearly double that. A frankly insane payout.
If I got my hands on five hundred thousand LP, I wouldn't just wipe out my family's debt in one stroke—the unlock for my signature equipment would come hurtling into range as well.
Which meant I had to take first place here, by any means necessary.
Wouldn't top three be good enough, you ask? Wouldn't that at least leave open the possibility?
Possibility doesn't pay the bills.
Scraping into third and missing the reward entirely would leave me so bitter I might actually shed tears.
Of course, when I shared these ambitions of mine, PD Lee Jungmin just snorted at me.
"First place? Are you out of your… mind?"
"I'm perfectly sane."
"No, did you not hear what I just said? The average participant level is what, almost forty?"
"And I grinded my way to thirty-five, thanks for asking."
"Yeah, that part's genuinely impressive, but… you know who Lee Seonghwan is, right?"
"I do."
"There are at least ten of those kinds of monsters in this batch."
"Whatever. I'm taking first place, so just remember that, Mr. PD, sir."
"You're actually insane."
"I know. If you get the chance, maybe try sneaking in a little cheating for me."
"Don't be ridiculous. Don't say stuff like that even as a joke——"
"Aw, come on. We're friends, aren't we?"
At any rate, after meeting up with Jungmin and knocking out a quick lunch, filming time was suddenly breathing down my neck.
"Participant Lee Gunyul?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Right this way, please."
And so, wearing my grimmest battle face, I followed the staff's guidance and slowly made my way into the stage area.
President Jung had kept boasting about the staggering scale of the production, looking more confident with every pitch…
He actually rented out an entire dome stadium.
The sight that greeted me as I stepped onto the stage could only be described as spectacular.
"Filming starts in about twenty minutes, so feel free to relax for now."
"Your spot is over here—please don't leave it. You might want to hit the restroom ahead of time."
High above, at the top of the dome, dazzling lights and dozens of drone cameras swiveled to capture the stage from every angle, while most of the participants had already found their assigned positions and stood arrayed in neat rows.
But what truly stunned me was the sheer ocean of spectators packing the stadium to the rafters.
Wasn't this supposed to be just an entertainment show starring a bunch of no-name rookies?
Sure, the mentors were famous rankers, but…
What kind of crowd turns out in these numbers to watch a bunch of fresh-faced kids?
"Whew."
I swept my gaze around while mulling that over, and found quite a diverse cast of participants loosening up in their own spots. Since the mission would kick off the moment the first shoot began, they seemed to be preheating their bodies in advance.
A few of them, apparently already acquainted, were making small talk and exchanging pleasantries.
I had zero interest in any of that. I simply waited for the filming to begin.
And so, after about twenty mildly boring minutes had slipped past—
"All right! Thank you for waiting!"
A cascade of brilliant white light poured down onto the podium, and a high-tension voice boomed across the arena, snapping me out of my reverie.
Oh.
The man who strode up onto the podium was someone even I recognized.
Kim Shinwoo, Korea's foremost hunter caster, immaculate in his tailored tuxedo.
How does a returnee know who someone like that is, you ask?
Simple—I spent every evening after work scrolling Shorts until I fell asleep, so I picked these things up naturally.
My algorithm was flooded with nothing but gate-related content, so anyone famous in this industry somehow acquired a false sense of intimacy with me.
Anyway…
He walked out to the center of the stage and began the proceedings with that famously crisp voice of his.
"The ultimate survival showdown to crown Korea's greatest hunter! The entrance ceremony of Hunters School 3 begins now!"
WAAAAAH―!
The instant Kim Shinwoo finished speaking, a thunderous roar erupted from all directions, and I flinched yet again.
I'd already noticed the stands were packed before filming started.
But actually hearing all those people screaming at once sent a shiver racing down my spine.
Hmm.
That's… suddenly a little intimidating.
This isn't going to reach my parents before the first episode even airs… right?
Meanwhile, this Kim Shinwoo character certainly has a set of lungs on him.
He's clearly holding a top-tier mic, and yet his voice refuses to drown even in this wall of noise.
"Now, no need for a long speech, right? Ladies and gentlemen—the stage where you'll take your entrance exam, revealed before your eyes!"
The moment Kim Shinwoo thrust his hand skyward, a majestic sound effect swelled and the floor of the arena beneath the waiting mentees turned crystal clear.
And from deep underground, a colossal three-dimensional projection began to rise.
GUUUUUMBle―!
OOOOH―!
Another wave of cheers rolled through the stands.
This time, I was pretty startled too.
If I had to guess, it was a dungeon rendered in virtual reality…
But the quality and scale were nothing to sneeze at.
"Whoa…"
A forest of collapsed skyscrapers, roads buried under creeping vines, Namsan Tower snapped clean in half.
This was, in other words… a city of ruins—Seoul—rendered at absolutely overwhelming scale.
It occurred to me that if Seoul had failed to contain its initial gate outbreak, like some South American nation or other, this might well be what the city actually looked like today.
But the longer I stared, the more a strange, unplaceable sense of déjà vu crept in.
Just my imagination, surely?
"This is insane, for real."
"Look at that quality."
The other mentees standing around me were apparently just as rattled, each muttering low, involuntary exclamations of awe.
But I was studying the holographic map's details with growing intensity.
The uncanny angle at which the wreckage of 63 Building had toppled.
The placement of that rusted pipeline cutting across Gangnam-daero.
Even the positions of the manholes punched through the roads here and there.
What the—? Why does this all look so familiar?
But my thoughts couldn't travel any further down that road.
The emcee had resumed his explanation.
"The theme of this mission is [Virtual Dungeon: Frozen Seoul]! And the meaning of this mission is none other than…"
Two enormous characters materialized on the screen.
"Your very first position decision match."
The moment Kim Shinwoo finished, the hall fell silent.
Especially the participants' eyes—they began to gleam with a completely different light than anything before.
And this was the natural reaction.
Anyone who knew the Hunters School series could predict exactly what the words "position decision match" meant.
The franchise's signature format: every participant receives a personal ranking, and from then on, every privilege and treatment is doled out according to that grade.
On top of that, the higher you rank from the very start, the more chances you'll get to build name recognition…
For the mentee participants, this was a mission guaranteed to light a fire in their eyes.
"Inside [Frozen Seoul], where you will enter shortly, you must survive for 240 minutes…"
The emcee continued with a brief rundown of the dungeon's rules, and honestly, the contents were rather fascinating.
And those contents were…
DIIIING―!
All of it, packed into this system window that shimmered up like a hologram.
∎ BASIC RULES
* Each participant will be summoned at a random coordinate on the dungeon's outskirts.
* This is a farming-type dungeon. External items cannot be used inside.
∎ VICTORY CONDITIONS
Survive the 240-minute time limit.
Final rankings are determined by survival time.
In the event of a last-survivor tie, rankings are decided through the mentors' [Final Judging].
All participants who achieve last-survivor status receive a [Badge of Honor] as a reward.
∎ CORE OBJECTIVE: MAINTAIN BODY TEMPERATURE
Starting temperature: 37.0°C
The 'Frozen Seoul' dungeon grows progressively colder as time passes.
The deeper you move toward the dungeon's center, the more varied the means of preserving your body temperature—but the more dangerous the monsters that appear.
Participants are encouraged to overcome the dungeon's trials through cooperation.
Those who decipher and exploit the dungeon's hidden systems will achieve better results.
Death condition: If your HP is fully depleted through combat, or you lose consciousness from hypothermia, you will be moved outside the dungeon.
Recovery method: Absorbing a [Heat Bead].
* Each [Heat Bead] restores 0.1°C of body temperature.
* Slaying a 'monster' grants [Heat Beads].
* Slaying a 'participant' grants that participant's [Heat Beads].
∎ DUNGEON BOSS
The Frost Monarch, General Winter
(General Winter)
Upon the boss's defeat, the body-temperature drop rate for all players is reduced by 50%.
The player who lands the kill no longer loses body temperature at all.
※ Warning!
Defeating the boss is not a requirement for clearing the dungeon—and that is precisely what makes it so powerful.
The instant every rule was laid bare, the hall began to buzz.
"Hmm… random spawns, huh?"
"That makes forming teams tricky, too."
"It's pure solo play."
"Yo, they said PK's allowed. This first mission is gonna get bloody, isn't it?"
Uneasy voices erupted here and there across the floor.
The faces of the healer- and support-class participants in particular had gone ashen.
If you got dropped alone and ran into a powerful monster—or worse, a combat-class participant…
Depending on the situation, you could end up nothing more than a rat in a poison jar.
It's definitely going to be spicy, no two ways about it.
Once the explanation of all the rules concluded, several participants threw their hands up and began firing questions.
"At what body temperature does the death judgment trigger?!"
I was genuinely curious about this one myself.
It was the single most important rule in the entire mission, after all.
"That varies from person to person."
Kim Shinwoo let the pause hang for a moment before continuing.
"The production team set the limit at around 25°C, but the mentors say they'd still be perfectly comfortable down at 17 or 18."
Oh ho.
So it wasn't a system-enforced cutoff after all…
The hall murmured anew, and another question followed.
"What exactly is this Badge of Honor we get for winning used for?"
The answer came without a beat of hesitation.
"For the duration of Hunters School 3, the Badge of Honor will function as currency. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you for now."
The questions kept coming after that, but none of them struck me as particularly nutritious.
"Are parties allowed?"
"Absolutely!"
"Could every single participant survive?"
"Theoretically, yes—but in practice, I'd call it nearly impossible."
Except for exactly one thing.
One question sank its hooks into my ears on pure instinct.
"Can Heat Beads be traded, by any chance?"
"They can. All trade between participants inside the dungeon is completely free."
For a cash-farmer, there might be no more critical piece of information in the entire world.
First place… is still the top priority here. But if the opportunity presents itself, I'll be cash-farming on the side, obviously.
I stoked my determination even hotter while imagining the curses the Constellations would hurl at me if they heard that thought.
Though, come to think of it… it seemed I wouldn't be able to turn on streaming during the entrance mission.
This wasn't a real gate, after all.
Kind of a shame, that.
I'd heard the Constellations' sponsorships absolutely pour in whenever you streamed during a Hunters School mission…
While I was lost in that little daydream, the Q&A session drew to a close.
"But fret not, everyone!"
Perhaps because the participants' expressions had turned into such a variety show of despair, emcee Kim Shinwoo was beaming from ear to ear.
"Not a single person will be eliminated in this first mission."
Oh. So there's a conscience in there after all?
"For some of you this may be an opportunity, and for others it may feel unfair…"
"But your mentee rankings will shift freely in the missions to come. Give it your all, and another chance is certain to find you."
And then, the very next moment.
VMMM―!
On the largest of the screens suspended over the center of the dome, the images of five mentors appeared.
"Because these five mentors standing before you will never evaluate you on your 'strength' alone!"
The mentees' faces brightened, if only slightly.
Nobody knew yet exactly what would be done with the rankings assigned here.
But the single fact that there would be no 'elimination' was comfort enough.
And to be honest, those words from the emcee hyung-nim were no small consolation to me either.
This meant, at minimum… episode one and episode two both.
Four thousand in appearance fees, locked in. Right?
Heh heh.
I was busy savoring that thought when—
"Now then… let the entrance ceremony of Hunters School 3 begin! Transmit!"
With the emcee's thunderous cry, a pillar of blinding light erupted and swept the participants up in its whirl.
FLAAAAASH―!
And then…
The real show had begun.