Stars, and Stars (1)
“What the hell is this?”
Inside the box was some kind of tiny glass shard.
A fragment transparent up to the fingertip, with a faint iridescent glow drifting across its surface. One look was enough to tell it was no ordinary object.
“Figures… you don't know what it is either, huh.”
“Come on, give me some kind of explanation. It's not like this is a quiz.”
“That is something I received directly.”
Kim Jin said flatly.
“While I was preparing for our match, someone came looking for me at the Silla Guild's training grounds. And they told me this.”
The answer that followed was quite the interesting one.
“If you want to beat Lee Tae-hyun, use this.”
“…Use it?”
The story was taking a decidedly ominous turn. Nobody hands you a shard like this just to hide it away and end up getting your face slashed over it.
“According to him, if you absorb this shard, you gain access to transcendent power. I suspect it's some kind of elixir-class item.”
“This thing, an elixir?”
I picked up the shard from the box and examined it closely. There was definitely an unsettling energy radiating from it. On the outside it seemed calm, placid, even—but
'The pressure I feel from inside it is no joke.'
It was as if the shard itself were speaking to me. Whispering that if I just absorbed it, I could become stronger than I was now. Someone with weak self-control, or an obsession with power, would have gulped it down without a second thought.
“Impressive restraint, not eating the thing.”
“Hmph. What do you take me for? To grow stronger, one must cast off temptations like this.”
“If Seong Ju-ah had given it to you, you'd have swallowed it without a shred of doubt.”
“……”
Kim Jin went silent for a moment, then coughed awkwardly a few times.
“Anyway, I thought you might know something about it. Whoever handed this over seemed like he wanted to see you suffer.”
“Who was it?”
“Yoo Sung-wook.”
A name I never expected came flying out of his mouth. Why was that guy suddenly showing up?
“I heard you and Yoo Sung-wook aren't on good terms.”
“Something like that.”
More like I'm unilaterally ignoring him into oblivion. He's thrown out a few more provocative remarks aimed at me since we ran into each other in front of the gate, but I genuinely couldn't care less, so he automatically slipped out of my field of vision.
'…Hold on. I need to step out for a sec.'
It was Baek Seo-ha who reacted more sharply instead.
“Yoo Sung-wook gave you this?”
Had that guy ever dealt in elixirs like this before? I knew Seongun Guild would later get embroiled in a scandal over the illegal abuse of elixirs. But I had no memory of ever seeing an elixir shaped like this…
“…Huh?”
That's when it happened.
“What the—what is this?”
The shard in my palm melted like ice, seeping straight into my skin. I glanced at Kim Jin to see if this was normal, and—
“What the hell?!”
He was gaping, eyes and mouth wide open. Hmm… apparently not a typical reaction, then.
You have absorbed the Otherworldly Fragment.
You have gained 30 EXP!
…What?
After sending Kim Jin on his way, I found myself turning the transparent shard over in my mind again—the Otherworldly Fragment.
“My experience went up again this time too.”
Just like when I killed that worshipper near the subway station a while back. The moment I took the shard in hand, it absorbed itself into me and granted me experience points. Which meant one thing: this shard was connected to the Monarchs.
“Yoo Sung-wook.”
How on earth had that guy gotten his hands on one? Saying he'd gone out and earned it himself didn't fit with Yoo Sung-wook's tracks from before my regression. Among all the incidents exposed after his death, there had been nothing about fragments.
'Which means…'
This was a product of a reality that had shifted along with my regression.
'Connected to the Monarchs, and targeting me.'
Only one conclusion remained. They had started moving.
“Took you long enough.”
They had handed the fragment to Yoo Sung-wook. The goal, most likely, was my destruction.
“To turn me into a broken wreck like in my past life… or to kill me outright.”
Apparently, my being alive was a major thorn in their side—why else would they be poking their heads up this brazenly?
'So that's why they distributed the fragment to Yoo Sung-wook, who despises me.'
They probably figured that even without spelling out the objective, a guy like Yoo Sung-wook would use that power to do me harm.
“……”
Before my regression, I'd become a broken shell after nearly dying, so I'd never had reason to stick my tail outside. Unlike now.
“Khehehe.”
A frivolous laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it. Thanks to Kim Jin, my target list had just gotten crystal clear. Who to destroy next.
“I didn't have much feeling about you either way. But that's over now.”
I'll catch you, Sung-wook, and make you cough up every last organ, buddy.
Advancing to the Round of 32 — Seongun Guild!
The arena ran slick with blood. The man dyed crimson swept his bangs back and broke into a refreshing smile. A remarkably handsome face, considering he had just slaughtered three hunters single-handedly moments before.
“WAAAAAAAH!”
The roar of the crowd, eyes full of admiration, gazes thick with envy.
“Haaaah…!”
Hot breath spilled from Yoo Sung-wook's lips. At last, the world felt like it was righting itself. It was as comfortable as sinking into the most luxurious of beds.
'That's right. This is where I belong.'
Lately a certain mud-sucking loach had muddied the waters and made him forget all of it—but ever since the fragment had been implanted, he was sliding back into his rightful place.
“Oppa, I love you!”
“Yoo Sung-wook, you're SO hot!”
“Yousungdan forever! Let's go all the way to the championship!”
Yoo Sung-wook raised his hand and answered the cheers of his fans.
“Thank you! I'll do my best!”
“WAAAAAAAH!”
They'd swooned over a single sentence. This. This was the feeling. The pleasure of being superior to them in every possible way. Yoo Sung-wook smiled darkly behind the mask.
[Hunter Yoo Sung-wook's growth rate lately is no joke.]
[That's right. Experts are saying it rivals the pace of an S-rank.]
[An S-rank?! Truly remarkable!]
On the screen, the highlights of the match replayed over and over. Two members of the Seongun Guild team went down early, overwhelmed—but then came the scene of Yoo Sung-wook toppling all three opponents alone and shattering their crystal.
It was the moment public opinion flipped on its head. From a merely handsome A-rank hunter, to a hunter whose skill was now undeniably exceptional.
[In the upcoming Round of 32, Seongun Guild will face— oh! Oh, this is good!]
[What is it?]
[The guild facing Seongun in the Round of 32 is none other than Shinseong! The hottest guild in the scene right now!]
[Guild Leader Lee Tae-hyun versus Hunter Yoo Sung-wook! Hoo boy, that's going to be hard to wait for!]
By the Round of 32 of the Guild War, there wasn't a single match that wasn't a spectacle. The Hunter Academy, displaying flawless, airtight matches that showed off true S-rank caliber. The Cheongnyong Sword Sect, a one-man team that had recruited a prodigy newcomer skilled in the art of swordsmanship. And beyond them, the Magic Tower, and the Guardian guild, which had taken a Saintess on a fixed-term lease.
Even setting those aside, this was the stage where true contenders, having fought through a gauntlet of formidable rivals, finally ascended—and the curtain on the real matches began to rise.
But among them all, the guild drawing the most attention was, naturally, Shinseong. They had felled Silla, a championship favorite—of course it was.
And their Round of 32 opponent:
Shinseong vs Seongun
Seongun Guild. Compared to Silla, it could be considered a relatively minor guild—but by no means one to be dismissed. Above all, now that the leading championship contenders had fallen, Seongun was being touted as one of the candidates to claim the vacant throne. And at its center stood Yoo Sung-wook.
An A-rank hunter, a former idol trainee. His dazzling looks and considerable potential were more than enough to drive up his market value. That was why a fanclub called the Yousungdan had formed even without any notable achievements under his belt.
Seongun's meticulously manufactured poster boy! The idol of the hunter world!
He had transferred over gladly, aiming for a position unrivaled among hunters—but reality proved far less accommodating.
Equal potential did not mean equal results. If Jeon Seo-yeong of Silla ran at the very top of the A-ranks, Yoo Sung-wook was merely stuck dead in the middle.
Granted, that alone would have made him a solid first-team asset.
'Not enough. It's not nearly enough!'
To a natural attention-seeker like Yoo Sung-wook, the label of "middling" was profoundly repugnant. And yet he made no particular effort to grow stronger as a hunter. Wasn't effort, after all, the vulgar pastime of the talentless?
So he had pulled a scheme instead—one designed to make the world look at him.
Chaebol Prodigy Lee Tae-hyun Assaults Rising Star Yoo Sung-wook!
How far does chaebol thuggery go… Exclusive Interview with Yoo Sung-wook
He had deliberately provoked that bee-hive-headed bastard, then cried victim. All he'd actually done was needle the guy with a few half-mocking remarks, then graciously take a few swings that didn't even hurt. But everyone fixated on him regardless.
It was exhilarating. Everyone talking about him. Kneading the public's minds exactly according to plan.
'I'll become the protagonist of the media, just like this!'
But the moment his pitch-black ambition began to creep out into the open—
Lee Tae-hyun Shatters Records in C-Rank Gate!
Lee Tae-hyun changed. He stacked record upon record, siphoning away every drop of the attention that should have been his. And as if that weren't enough, he'd openly slapped him down—right in front of the assembled press.
At the time, his teeth had chattered with rage and he'd wanted nothing more than to snap the bastard's neck then and there. But—
“It's fine now.”
Yoo Sung-wook muttered to himself as he gazed down at Seoul's night skyline.
“As long as I have this power, a nobody like Lee Tae-hyun won't even register as an opponent.”
His heartbeat echoed in his ears. The Light's operation was now fully one with him—part of his own body.
“A shame that bastard Kim Jin didn't absorb his fragment, but….”
Through the Advent Church, Yoo Sung-wook had received a second fragment to pass along. The intent had been to draw Kim Jin over to his side. The man had shown no small hostility toward Lee Tae-hyun, so he'd assumed he would come easily.
“Honestly, these stiff-necked bastards are so tiresome, you know? Why refuse when you could get this strong this easily?”
Not that it mattered—an unabsorbed fragment simply vanished. By now, the one sent to Kim Jin would have evaporated without a trace, so he could simply aim for another opportunity later. And if he got Kim Jin hooked on this power, bringing him to heel wasn't an impossible dream.
'Better yet—I'll put every strongman in the hunter world beneath me!'
From beautiful female hunters to prideful top-rankers. They would all crave his power, groveling at his feet. The mere thought made his chest swell.
There was only one person who had no place in that future.
“Lee Tae-hyun.”
He didn't even want that bastard beneath him. A dog that bites people isn't worth fitting with a leash, after all…
“In this Round of 32, you die.”
At the very least, he would break him beyond all recovery and make sure he never caught anyone's eye again. He had the power to do it now, after all.
“Just you wait.”
He was going to tear that insufferable face apart.