Cursed Fangirl Luck
Truth be told, Kwon Yul had never once won a concert ticket or fan signing event in her life.
With her superhuman dynamic vision alone, it should have been harder to fail than to succeed. But somehow, right before the payment screen, her internet would cut out, the servers would crash, or she'd make some stupid mistake. Every time she tried ticket hunting, bad luck dogged her relentlessly.
No wonder her dedicated fangirling had never yielded any real harvests.
...My Luck stat must be in the negatives.
At this point, it felt like the world itself was dead set against her otaku life. She'd even groveled before her Star-nim once, begging for a luck potion or something.
"Whoa, General, you're just cursed, huh? Maybe give it up?"
And her so-called friend Ryu Shin-ah cackled, teasing her mercilessly.
She wanted to deny it, but it was true. In the end, she'd smack his back in frustration, leaving their banter with nothing but bruises.
With Luck like that, canceled tickets? Fat chance.
And scalping? Her fan heart wouldn't allow it. So naturally, she'd never met her faves in person.
The God of Timing... If there's a Constellation for that, they'd probably hate my guts.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' is horrified, insisting there's no one who could hate our Yul.]
Yul snorted and looked away.
She scrolled past the finished video and refreshed the recommendations. Not that it mattered—Double Black clips filled the screen anyway.
Clink.
The ice in her grapefruit ade on the desk had started melting.
Yul hit up cafes whenever she wanted to feel a bit more human. She wasn't big on going out, but lounging at home sometimes pricked her conscience. Even if she ended up lounging there too.
I came out to clear my head a bit today, but...
When she had as many worries piling up as lately, getting out of the house helped.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' whines that she should stop watching those boys and talk to him instead.]
"I'm outside right now."
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' sniffles that that's why she should wear earphones.]
Ding ding ding. A status window popped up over her phone like a shield.
Agh.
Yul frowned.
Since you're watching anyway, watch with me. Here.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' grumbles that just watching what our Yul watches is enough for him.]
The blue-haired one's the leader, Kim Yu-jun, and next to him is the eldest hyung, Seo In-ah.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' asks if you know why that eldest hyung creature isn't the leader.]
He stepped down before debut. Said the current leader suits it better.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' clicks his tongue, unsure if that's quick self-awareness or slow.]
What was that supposed to mean? Yul blinked in confusion at the unexpected reply.
She'd tried pitching Double Black to her Constellation plenty of times before, but this was the first time it'd asked a question like that.
"I think it's humble, personally. The leader's doing great now, but I bet he'd have been good too. Just four years older and already so mature..."
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' adds that maturity and leadership are different things.]
"Fair point."
Yul nodded along. She was quietly pleased by the Constellation's serious tone over its usual playfulness. It felt like chatting with a dad seriously engaging with his daughter's silly hobby.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' sulks that our Yul only gets excited when the topic is those boys.]
Her little protest fell on deaf ears, of course.
By the time more than half the grapefruit ade was gone and the ice had mostly melted into a puddle, plip. A water droplet from the cup's surface hit the desk.
And Yul's conversation with the Constellation cut off abruptly.
"...!"
Yul's head snapped up. Her black eyes locked onto the ground right beyond the glass window.
Boom—!
The cafe floor caved in, everything sucked into a dark purple hole below.
Hunter Management Bureau, Emergency Disaster Response Division—aka the Sudden Gate Squad, or "Gateheads" for short—office.
"E-emergency! Sudden gate outbreak reported! Mid-to-large size, absorption phenomenon confirmed!"
"Holy shit... Where?!"
"Gangnam-gu, Nonhyeon-dong! Reported two minutes ago at 32 minutes past the hour!"
The office buzzed with frantic shouts and keyboard clacks.
Gates came in various subtypes, but by manifestation, there were two: precursors or sudden outbreaks.
The former could be roughly predicted with the Bureau's advanced tech—developed in the frantic aftermath of the incident five years ago. Now, blending hunter powers, they could detect most gates early and send disaster alerts.
Those were the "guild-reserved" gates everyone talked about.
The latter? Total wild cards. High-rank heavy, and the worst ones featured absorption or annihilation—making them deadliest.
In those cases, they alerted the nearest available guilds or hunters first, then blasted out disaster texts.
"Guilds nearby?! Who's fastest to deploy?!"
"One guild just volunteered on the hunter channel! Says ten minutes to arrival!"
"Good, we'll back 'em up! Which guild?"
The woman pounding her keyboard and headset swiveled around.
"Guild 'GiveMeBackMyDailyLife'!"
Skreech—!
Yul's sneaker sole scraped the ground. Her body halted, hand braced on the near-vertical floor.
That startled me...
She quickly scanned around. A gate had ripped open under the cafe, swallowing half the building whole. Looking up, she saw shattered glass framing a black void where the sky had been. Tree bits and asphalt chunks rained down sporadically.
Absorption type. Hope it doesn't go annihilation too quick...
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' subtly coughs, hinting it'll be too late before other weaklings arrive.]
Probably ten to twenty minutes at least.
Too many civilians swept up. Yul glanced back.
The cafe patrons lay groaning in shock, most out cold.
No hunters inside, looks like. Monsters are the issue in a dungeon...
Leave 'em, and mobs would swarm soon. Best to act while they were unconscious.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' can't hide his excitement.]
[His eyes gleam, calling this heaven-sent chance to wash away yesterday's shame.]
I'm not showing up in front of people anyway. Just clear the trash mobs that can reach here first.
Even telling him it wasn't something to celebrate, the Constellation was too busy shedding joyful tears.
Creak.
Yul pushed open the tilted door. A dark cave-like dungeon. Damp, musty air seeped deep into her lungs.
Grrr... Keeek...
From the shadows came scraping metal on stone and low growls.
Yul intoned flatly.
"'Blind Sovereign of Judgment', activate."
Splat.
A spider-like monster flopped lifelessly into a weird slime puddle. It was only half the size of an adult man. More mangled corpses like it littered the area.
Yul muttered indifferently.
"A lot of 'em, huh. Annoying."
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' beams proudly, unable to hide how cool our Yul is.]
"No need to get all heartwarmed..."
Yul scratched her head awkwardly. She heard it often, but not lately in a situation like this.
Her bandage-wrapped eyes swept the area. Black-and-purple stone walls, dry floor. Unknown mold-like plants sprouted here and there.
The dungeon felt like a cave-maze hybrid. Arcing stone walls from floor to ceiling screamed cavern, but the twisting paths inside were pure labyrinth.
"The small fry are mostly cleared. Left: boss and... three B+ ranks, about fifty B to C ranks."
Yul murmured while checking her system window. No terminal meant no fine details, but rough estimates worked.
Projected dungeon rank: A-.
S-ranks are rare enough that fingers count 'em, so this is top-tier...
Gates two days in a row. Yul sighed flatly. Road crews were screwed.
Not a wave-spewing type, but absorption meant roadside half-destroyed by default.
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' suggests wiping them all with a big move.]
"Not advertising my skills neighborhood-wide."
[Constellation 'Blind Sovereign of the Sky' sulks.]
"Other hunters probably entered by now, so let's head b—"
Yul trailed off.
Her bandaged eyes sharpened.