Mint Choco Elixir

Constellation Wolf Mama. Romulus was thoroughly confused.

What the hell is going on?

And he had every right to be. This was his sanctuary — his own sacred domain. There was a reason they called it a sanctuary. It was a place no one could casually stroll into. Even among Constellations, trespassing on another's sanctuary was no easy feat.

And yet, there were Constellations who had done exactly that.

…And not just one or two of them.

"Haha, using Heavenly Punishment like that… No. How can you abuse it so freely?"

A man who had somehow appeared behind him.

"How did you even get here…?"

"There is nowhere in this world I cannot go. That aside — would you kindly stop the Heavenly Punishment?"

He wore a smiling face and laughed lightly, but a vein was bulging on his forehead.

Just as Romulus was about to answer, bubbles began boiling up from a glass of wine, and from within it, another Constellation emerged.

"Haaah… Hey, you."

By ordinary common sense, this was an impossible feat — but this was the world of the Constellations, a place where beings of every bizarre and extraordinary power existed.

…Though even Romulus had never expected a Constellation to pop out of a wine glass.

"You completely killed the fucking mood. You gonna take responsibility ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for that?"

The wild-eyed Constellation started closing in as if ready to kill him on the spot.

KRAAAANG!

A hole tore open in the ceiling, and a four-armed Constellation appeared.

"Constellation. Cease the Heavenly Punishment. Or I shall destroy everything here."

"Hoho, a stream is meant to be watched as a stream. Getting that invested isn't healthy, you know?"

Yet another Constellation appeared from the light pouring through the broken ceiling.

"It seems the other Constellations are quite furious as well. I need not even speak, then."

And then came one more — a Constellation whose aura was far too savage for someone who had once been merely human. The moment he arrived, Romulus raised the white flag.

"I'll stop the Heavenly Punishment! Enough already!"

The combined spiritual pressure of the other Constellations had rendered his sanctuary completely meaningless. Their killing intent was so thick that if he didn't stop the Heavenly Punishment immediately, they looked ready to end him on the spot. He halted the punishment and surrendered.

KWAANG!

As if things weren't bad enough, a Constellation kicked the entrance hard enough to nearly smash it off its hinges — Zeus had arrived.

And when a giant robot and a colossal octopus showed up as well…

"Haha……."

Romulus finally, fully, felt just how thoroughly fucked he was.

"…I'm sorry."

"Well, thanks to you I got to leave my sanctuary for the first time in a while, so I suppose that's a silver lining."

Which, translated, meant: I'm not so free that I'd come all the way out here for someone of your caliber, so don't get cocky.

The four-armed Constellation chimed in as well.

"Still, you canceled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Heavenly Punishment quickly enough, so that is that. As for the unauthorized invasion of your sanctuary while consumed by rage… wait, no, thinking about it, this was your fault. Get over here."

"Whoa, hey! Somebody stop him!"

"Hold it! Hold it! If you go berserk right now, he'll die!"

"The sky! The sky is collapsing—!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

As the heavens rumbled and cracks spiderwebbed across the sanctuary, one Constellation still wore a gentle smile.

"Haha……."

What a mess. Namu Amitabha.

Whatever the Constellation muttered was lost beneath the uproar.

And so, one way or another, a council of Constellations convened.

Being transcendent beings, they conducted the entire meeting through pure intent rather than spoken words, finishing it in an instant. Under normal circumstances they would never hold a meeting like this — but they rushed it through so they could get back to watching Park Sohee's stream.

The meeting lasted only a few seconds, yet the content packed into those seconds was worth dozens of minutes.

"I will never again attempt to rule through threats of Heavenly Punishment."

Having extracted Romulus's apology and arranged for Coins to be paid to Park Sohee as a gesture of contrition, the Constellations dispersed once more.

"Next time, please prepare gifts for the guests as well."

A female Constellation descended on a shaft of sunlight, left with a smile, and was gone.

"I'm watching you."

"From now on, if you're gonna drink, you ask me for permission first."

"Just shut up and type in chat. You know what that means, right? Heh heh."

The four-armed Constellation, Dionysus, and Zeus all returned to their respective sanctuaries.

Xiang Yu was already racing back to his own as well.

The Constellation riding a machine vanished shortly after.

"…?"

The colossal octopus's form grew steadily more transparent until it vanished entirely, leaving Romulus alone in his sanctuary.

"Ha… haha."

It was summer.

I had the screen split three ways, wiping my tears as I stared at the chat.

"…?"

What the hell is this guy's deal.

Dropping a thousand Coins in one go just to apologize?

The same bastard who was about to drop Heavenly Punishment on me a minute ago, and now he's doing this?

"……."

Something. There's something here…….

I spun my brain into overdrive.

Right before the Heavenly Punishment dropped, the Constellations all vanished at once.

The ones who'd been there since my very first stream.

And the moment the Heavenly Punishment disappeared, they were all back in an instant.

It had been a short window — roughly ten seconds.

So what the hell actually happened?

In ten seconds, they put enough pressure on another Constellation to force an apology?

Is that even possible?

I had no idea what the world of Constellations was like, but I doubted they all lived clustered together like an apartment complex. Constellation literally meant a constellation of stars, after all.

Then again… if it's Constellations, maybe it is possible.

"Since you apologized, I'll let it slide this once. *sniffle.*"

I answered Wolf Mama's donation and kept thinking.

Fuck it, I don't know.

Even if they really had helped me, they weren't making a show of it — so I couldn't go acknowledging it first. If I did, next time something similar happened, I might not get any help at all.

…And honestly, I still couldn't believe bastards like this were the ones who helped me.

"Go find a reaction from your legs, you asshole… *sniffle.*"

"I can't even sell that, what are you talking about… wait. It's in the shop, isn't it."

It cost ten times more than the other items, so I'd never even considered buying it.

"I'll get this later. I need to buy the elixirs first."

I had about three thousand Coins. Everything I'd saved up so far, plus what Wolf Mama just gave me, put me at three thousand. Precisely 3,140 Coins.

"They told me to buy three of these anyway, so I'll grab them all at once."

My tears had stopped, so I turned off the three-way split.

Then I opened the shop and bought three elixirs.

They appeared in a flash of brilliant light.

"…This color looks like poison, though?"

An elixir with a faint mix of green and purple. It looked like something you absolutely should not drink.

Feel-Good Potion vouching for it somehow made me want to drink it even less.

"If you're gonna say shit like that, change your username first and come back."

"Anyway, no more stalling. Bottoms up."

I cracked the elixir's lid and brought it straight to my mouth.

"!!!!!!"

Holy shit, I almost sprayed it everywhere.

It tasted like absolute garbage.

This fucking elixir tasted like mint chocolate.

Son of a bitch.

Why the hell does an elixir taste like mint chocolate. This is poison. This is literally poison.

And it was thick. No joke — it flowed only slightly better than toothpaste.

I forced it down purely because I couldn't waste the Coins.

"Ugh, fuck."

A curse slipped out before I could stop it, but the Constellations seemed to find my reaction hilarious.

"Get the fuck out."

I couldn't hold back the swearing.

If it were just mint or just chocolate, I could choke it down fine — but why the hell would anyone combine the two? This was a crime against food itself. Like eating cake with kimchi. Or, put another way… soup rice? Something like that.

Anyway, drinking this mint-choco elixir did make me feel different, that much was certain.

First of all, my mood got worse.

Beyond that, I could feel my overall stamina and strength increasing.

"Can I just stick these in the fridge so they don't go bad? If I drink them now I'm gonna throw up."

"Haaah……."

Fine. This is all for my own good.

I had to drink the elixirs and get stronger if I was going to grow as a hunter.

Thinking about how other hunters must have gone through this same miserable process made me feel a little better.

So I forced down the remaining two as well.

Just as the Constellations said, they absorbed straight into my body — my stomach didn't churn at all.

Thank god.

Come to think of it, I feel like I'm forgetting something…….

Ah. Right.

Username: I Pulled Out a Mountain. True name: Xiang Yu.

I needed to turn that guy into my personal money bin.