Chapter 6: You Can Only Contract With Me

It seemed serious enough for him to personally summon a constellation, yet it didn’t look all that urgent.

Baek Eun-hoo, dressed in a black uniform, was leaning back against the sofa with his legs crossed.

As if confirming the connection, his blue eyes slowly swept across the screen.

–Constellation-nim, I missed you.

It wasn’t me he missed, it was my coins.

You bastard.

His low, resonant voice drilled straight into my ears, paired with a gentle expression.

If someone who didn’t know Baek Eun-hoo’s true nature saw him now, they’d easily mistake him for a genuinely kind person.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, asks what kind of help is needed.]

I hurriedly conveyed, with slightly softened wording, that he should get to the point and log off.

At that, Baek Eun-hoo smiled.

His pretty lips curved smoothly upward, and the firm muscles of his jaw twitched faintly.

Joo-an stared at his face as if entranced, then quickly snapped out of it.

Baek Eun-hoo was designed to look like a gentleman on the outside, but inwardly he was the most insidious character of all.

During the “Betrayal of an Ally” questline, he was notorious for stabbing the constellation in the back and making the quest far more difficult.

If his current personality matched his original settings, Baek Eun-hoo was someone who absolutely had to be kept at arm’s length.

–Straight to business already?
–That hurts. Do you know how hard I worked to get matched with you, Constellation-nim?
–My lifesaver, you know…

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, says they merely did what had to be done.]

Baek Eun-hoo uncrossed his legs and leaned forward.

It was a trivial motion, yet it somehow made me feel pressured.

–Well, if that’s how you see it, I’m grateful.
–But, Creator, you do know other constellations have a lot of complaints about you, right?

How does he know that?

Can incarnations see constellation chat too?

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, expresses confusion.]

–Ah, don’t worry about it.
–Even though I was matched with other constellations, I never wavered.
–You know I only have you.

What the hell is he saying?

Is this lunatic for real…?

It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but my curiosity was satisfied.

When he got matched with other constellations, they must have offered contracts while talking trash about me.

I could guess what they’d said well enough, so I didn’t ask.

–There’s no way I’d contract with another constellation when you’re my lifesaver, right?

I swallowed the urge to correct him, that it wasn’t because I saved his life, but because I had a lot of coins.

If not for his handsome face and the burden of contracts, I would’ve logged out on the spot.

The fact that I couldn’t was the real problem.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, expresses gratitude.]

–Gratitude from a constellation, what an honor.
–Then shall we stop wasting time and make a contract?

Baek Eun-hoo opened his inventory window as if he were about to finalize the contract immediately.

If the system allowed multiple contracts, he’d be a necessary card to have.

But if only one contract was permitted, then Baek Eun-hoo wasn’t needed at all.

If I had to choose just one, the most rational choice was Mo Jun-young, the exemplary S-rank incarnation.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, says they have a question.]

–A question, huh…
–Looks like you’re finally getting interested in me.
–That’s something to welcome.
–You’re new, so you must be curious. Ask anything. I’ll answer sincerely.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, asks how many Awakeners one can contract with.]

Baek Eun-hoo’s expression stiffened for a split second before smoothly returning to its relaxed state.

Perhaps thinking I hadn’t noticed, he even smiled, making him look extremely suspicious.

Important questions should be asked of someone trustworthy.

At this rate, no matter what answer Baek Eun-hoo gave, I couldn’t help but doubt it.

–Shouldn’t that be something you’d know back when you were an Awakener?

Baek Eun-hoo suddenly narrowed his eyes.

He seemed to have sensed something was off.

Thank goodness that, as a constellation, he couldn’t tell unless I explicitly made a move or spoke.

–Well, sometimes people lose their memories of being human when they become constellations.
–So it’s not entirely strange.

The way he said it matched what the other constellations had implied.

In this world, constellations weren’t ordinary users, they were former Awakeners.

But if memories could be lost in the process…

Wouldn’t that mean some constellations didn’t even realize they’d become one?

–As for the answer… contracts are-

Please.

Just say four, like the original settings.

Then I could at least justify contracting with someone like you.

Judging by the mood, he’d probably push for a contract again today, and if I rejected him one more time, who knew what kind of retaliation I’d face.

–Of course, you can only make a contract with one person.
–That’s the only way to provide full support, don’t you think?

It was impossible to tell whether he was lying just by looking at his face.

But there was clearly a section for party members in the status window…

Could it be that contractors and party members were separate concepts?

If so, limiting contracts to one person would make sense.

If only one contract was allowed, rejecting Baek Eun-hoo was the right call.

But what if he was lying to monopolize a coin-rich constellation?

That would mean multiple contracts were possible, and I’d regret antagonizing him later.

How could I refuse without hurting his pride?

–Why aren’t you answering?
–You’re not planning to reject me again like last time, are you?

The question carried an unmistakable threat.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, is distressed.]
[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, complains of pain.]

–Oh dear, how pitiful.
–If I could, I’d nurse you myself, but…

As Baek Eun-hoo offered his mockingly gentle comfort, his expression suddenly turned terrifying.

–Constellations don’t have physical bodies, do they?
–Then how exactly are you feeling pain?

In other words, don’t lie to me.

I’m screwed.

Before he snapped, apologizing was the smartest move.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, offers a sincere apology.]

Baek Eun-hoo’s eyebrow twitched.

He looked one step away from exploding.

Afraid h’d make another mistake, Joo-an hastily pressed the log-out button.

The window vanished, and peace finally returned to my heart.

I hadn’t fought or battled, yet I felt drenched in cold sweat.

Thank goodness I didn’t have a physical body…

Feeling like I’d walked straight into Baek Eun-hoo’s trap while trying to sleep, I kicked off the bed and went outside.

Thinking a new quest might’ve appeared, I tapped through NPCs, but instead of quests, all I got were nasty attitudes.

What am I, a neighborhood punching bag just because I’m a constellation…?

Just as I turned back to head home empty-handed, a new message appeared.

[Awakener, Gong Se-yoon, wishes to connect.]
[Awakener, Gong Se-yoon, summons the Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice.]
[Awakener, Gong Se-yoon, requests assistance.]
[Awakener, Gong Se-yoon…]

More than ten messages poured in at once.

Just reading them made my ears feel noisy.

Did his mood suddenly swing upward?

If so, with that excess energy, he might’ve gone looking for trouble, and ended up in danger.

Gong Se-yoon was exhausting to deal with, but he was the youngest incarnation.

And when he got depressed, he became fragile, which made me worry.

But to my surprise, when I accepted, I saw an energetic Gong Se-yoon hopping around inside a dungeon.

Not only was he uninjured, there wasn’t a single monster in sight, like he’d frozen them all to death.

So what, was he just waiting for the boss to spawn?

His skills were already maxed out.

Why on earth did he come to a solo dungeon?

Sure enough, when I checked his status window, it read Energetic.

He wasn’t hunting because he needed to, he was hunting because he had too much energy to burn.

At least it wasn’t a dangerous situation.

“Ha… fooled again.”

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, says they were fooled.]

I should’ve kept that to myself.

Please don’t nitpick this too…

–What do you mean, fooled?
–Why are you saying that?

Leaning against the dungeon wall with his arms crossed, Gong Se-yoon glared sharply at the connection window.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, says they have a question.]

At that, he immediately forgot his irritation and smiled innocently.

–What is it?
–If the constellation asks, I’ll tell you everything.

As I was choosing my words, Gong Se-yoon suddenly twisted his body and flushed red.

He was young and pretty, so it was cute, but why was he acting like that all of a sudden?

–You can ask anything, but not things like my underwear color.
–Or whether I like someone right now.
–That’d be embarrassing.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, says they are not curious about any of that.]

–Tch, what a letdown.
–So what is it? I’ll answer, so go ahead.

[Constellation, Creator of Sacrifice, asks how many people one can contract with.]

–Contracts?
–Contracts are…

The brown eyes staring at the screen suddenly glinted.

But this dungeon was dark, what light was there to reflect?

–Contracts are obviously only with me.
–Not “how many,” just me.
–From the very beginning, we were destined to be that way.

What kind of bullshit is this now?

Gong Se-yoon was the incarnation most obsessed with constellations, but he was also naïve.

He wasn’t good at lying.

Then does that mean contracts really are limited to one person?

And party composition is something else entirely?

Instead of resolving anything, the questions just kept piling up, making my head feel like it was about to split.

At times like this, Mo Jun-young really did seem like the only reliable one.

And right then, Gong Se-yoon started spouting nonsense again.

–You must’ve fallen for me when you saw how I cleared the dungeon in record time and was resting.
–So you decided to propose a contract first…

Twisting around with his face flushed, he looked unmistakably shy.

What is this?

What kind of misunderstanding is this now?

That’s not it, so please stop embarrassing yourself.

I was getting tired.

Should I just log out?

While I hesitated, Gong Se-yoon’s voice, no, his threat, rang out.

–You’re thinking of logging off, right?
–You’re planning to contract with someone else.
–Try it.
–I’ll find you and freeze you solid!