CHAPTER1: I Became the Successor of a Constellation.
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Chapter 1
The distinct, rotten stench of toxic gas stung his nose.
Minho checked his gas mask one more time and shouldered the bag containing his cleaning equipment.
It has been the same routine for over three years.
“The Cleanup Team has arrived.”
Members of the 「Iron-Blooded Legion」 Guild turned their heads. They were dressed in the red combat uniforms of apprentices. Their gazes swept over Minho and Jiyeon.
“Oh, the esteemed cleaners have arrived, have they?”
“You should have gotten here earlier. Tell them to hurry it up.”
Jiyeon flinched at the mocking voices from behind.
Minho approached the guild administrator, his expression unchanging.
“I’d like to confirm our work area.”
Just as the administrator was about to hand over the checklist, a young man cut in.
“Hold on, I'll assign them myself.”
The administrator looked reluctant, but the man ignored him and snatched the checklist.
His eyes were fixed on Jiyeon.
A smile crept onto his face as he took in Jiyeon’s neat appearance and composed demeanor.
“Oh? Your father is ‘Lightning Spear’ Han Seok-jin, isn’t he?”
Jiyeon nodded, a look of surprise on her face.
“I knew it! To think the daughter of an A-Rank Hunter is doing this kind of work.
The toxic gas levels are high here, so you should just handle the safe areas. I'll show you the way.”
“No, you don’t have to…”
“Ah, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Kim Taehyun.”
Taehyun cut Jiyeon off, feigning politeness.
“As the son of the 「Iron-Blooded Legion」 Guild Master, I'm leading the apprentices. Even if it's a job, I can't leave a woman alone in such a dangerous place.”
His tone was friendly, but Minho saw the hidden intention behind it.
It was a classic move, using his background to hit on her.
“Such a dangerous place is…”
Taehyun’s gaze shifted to Minho.
He looked him up and down with cold eyes, then sneered.
“F-Rank, right? You’re a hunter, at least in name, so you probably won’t die.
There are mutant toad carcasses in the deepest part of the swamp. Go take care of them quickly before they decompose any further.”
It was the most dangerous and filthiest area.
‘Here we go again.’
Minho sighed inwardly.
How many times has this happened over the past three years?
Relatives of famous hunters, rich heirs, sons of guild masters… Those with powerful backgrounds always flaunted their superiority in the same way.
‘Whatever, as long as I get my pay.’
Getting angry wouldn't change anything. In fact, it would only make things worse for him.
With his sister's medical bills for the month still short by two million won, emotions were a luxury he couldn't afford.
Jiyeon looked angry and was about to speak, but Minho stepped forward first.
“Understood.”
“Minho. You can't do it alone. That place is…”
“Don't you worry, Jiyeon.”
Taehyun cut her off again and tried to place a hand on her shoulder. When she took a step back, he gave an awkward laugh.
“Don't be so cold. Didn't you start this job because you want your father's approval? What will you do if rumors spread that you can't even handle this properly?”
It was a blatant threat. Jiyeon's face turned pale. Taehyun smirked at her reaction before turning back to Minho.
“Hey, F-Rank. You know your pay gets docked if you're late, right?”
“I'll follow the terms of the contract.”
Instead of arguing further, Minho put on his gas mask. Like the veteran he was, he quickly assessed the risks and gathered the necessary equipment.
“Minho….”
Jiyeon called out in a worried voice.
“I'm fine. You take care of yourself."
Minho gave a brief nod and headed into the depths of the toxic swamp. He could hear Taehyun talking to Jiyeon behind him.
“So, tell me more about your amazing father. Ever thought about joining our guild?”
It was disgusting, but this was reality. The guild master's son and the F-Rank cleaner. The powerless get trampled. Minho looked out at the swamp, where toxic gas was rising, and checked his gas mask one last time.
Survival comes first.
*
The deepest part of the swamp was worse than expected. The carcasses of mutant toads were piled on top of each other, and the concentration of toxic gas far exceeded the safety limit.
Despite this, Minho worked systematically. He dealt with the most decomposed carcasses first and sprayed a neutralizing agent to prevent the toxic substances from spreading further.
“This should take about five hours.”
He muttered to himself as he stood before the largest mutant toad carcass. It was big enough that it would take three grown men to lift it. But he had to do it alone. Just like always.
‘Better hurry.’
It was a habit ingrained in him from his days as a firefighter: identify potential hazards and secure the area before starting work. But he didn't have that luxury now. Time was money.
The moment he lifted the carcass's head and took a step…
‘Huh?’
Something felt wrong under his feet. The swamp's surface felt softer than he'd expected. He sensed the danger instantly, but it was too late.
Ruuuumble!
The ground beneath him suddenly gave way. The soil, unable to bear the weight, had collapsed.
‘Ah, no!’
Minho's body plummeted into the darkness. As he fell, what flashed through his mind wasn't fear, but a cold sense of despair.
‘Dammit, there goes today's pay.’
With every collision against the rocks as his body tumbled, a calculator seemed to run in his head. If he got injured, he'd be out of work for at least a week. And with hospital bills on top of that…
‘Suyeon? How am I going to pay for her treatment this week?’
In the past, his first thought would have been ‘I have to live.’ Now, it was about the money. When had he changed so much?
THUD!
Sharp rocks dug into his back and side in succession. He heard a sharp crack from his ribs. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth.
‘Ugh….’
A groan escaped his lips, but he clenched his teeth. This was better than the time he'd suffered a spinal compression fracture while rescuing a civilian from a collapsed building during his firefighter days. Back then, he'd really thought he was going to die.
The moment his back slammed against the rock, the memory of that day three years ago came flooding back.
The hot smoke as he ran out of the crumbling building, carrying a child on his back. The child's mother, crying and repeating, “Thank you. Thank you.” The praise from his colleagues.
His heart had swelled with pride back then. With the sense of accomplishment from having ‘saved someone’.
But a week later, their fingers pointed at Minho, accusing him of being the arsonist.
‘No one came to save me.’
Not the police, not the fire department, not the media. They all needed a scapegoat, and Minho was cast in that role. The trust and honor he had built over five years crumbled overnight.
‘What if I had just left them behind back then?’
It was a cowardly thought, but an honest one. What had his sense of justice brought him? Dismissal, a mountain of debt, and nothing but worry over Suyeon's hospital bills.
Another crack from his back snapped him to his senses. Right, the past is the past. Getting out of this situation comes first.
“Huh? What's going on down there?”
Taehyun's voice came from above.
“A cleaner fell down here. What was he even doing?”
‘A cleaner.’
Minho's fists clenched unconsciously. The bastard was treating him like a piece of cleaning equipment had fallen, not a person.
“Minho!”
Jiyeon's urgent cry echoed. At least she was genuinely worried about him.
“Kim Taehyun! We have to rescue him, quickly!”
“Rescue?”
Taehyun scoffed. The sound alone was enough to picture his expression: a mixture of ridicule and contempt.
“He'll be fine. Even an F-Rank has a hunter's constitution; a fall like that won't kill him. Hey, down there. You can climb back up on your own, right?”
“But he's a person…”
“Jiyeon, be realistic. Are we really going to waste our time over one cleaner? We're on a tight schedule.”
‘A waste of time.’
He had expected that reaction, but hearing it still made his chest tighten. A man falls and gets hurt, and instead of a rescue, they call it a waste of time.
“I can hear him squirming around down there.”
Taehyun's mocking voice continued.
“Let's go, Jiyeon. If the schedule gets delayed, it'll be a problem for us.”
“But…”
“Are you going to halt the operation for a single F-Rank? If you keep this up, I won't be able to cut you any more slack.”
‘Endure it. Think of Suyeon first.’
Hearing them leave, Minho pushed himself up. His ribs throbbed, but it was bearable. The priority now was to find a way out of here.
Just then, he saw a faintly glowing space in the darkness.
‘What... is this place?’
A wall engraved with ancient runes. A stone slab that looked like an altar. And resting upon it, a broken crown.
‘Could there be a place like this inside a dungeon?’
In his three years of cleaning dungeons, he'd never seen ruins like these. This kind of discovery was usually monopolized by a guild or sent to a research institute under the Hunter Bureau.
A faint light began to emanate from the broken crown.
‘What is this?’
Minho instinctively drew back, wary. Unidentified objects in a dungeon were almost always dangerous. But...
‘An item that glows on its own?’
Suddenly, he recalled a rumor that circulated among hunters.
Luminous items found in dungeons. The story went that some of them could trigger an Awakening upon contact.
Of course, most of the rumors in this line of work were just nonsense. But…
‘Could it be real?’
Minho hesitated for a moment. There was a 99% chance it was a dangerous trap. But considering his current situation, he couldn't even get out of this pit.
‘Should I take the gamble?’
Just then, a wet, squelching sound came from the other side of the ruins.
Thump. Thump.
‘Something's coming.’
A cold sweat ran down Minho's spine. Something huge was moving. One of the creatures he thought were all dead had survived down here.
Two yellow eyes flashed in the darkness. A massive toad, twice Minho's size, approached, dripping toxic saliva.
‘Nowhere to run…’
The walls were too high to climb in his injured state, and there was no other exit in sight. With his F-Rank abilities, he stood no chance against a creature like that.
‘Should I scream for help?’
But he quickly dismissed the thought. Shouting might attract other hidden mutants. Besides, even if the hunters on the surface heard him, they would never risk their lives to save an F-Rank.
KROAK!
With a massive cry, a glob of toxic saliva melted the rock next to Minho. The sizzling sound of the dissolving rock was horrifying.
‘If I'm going to die, I'd rather…’
In that desperate moment, Minho's gaze returned to the crown. The light seemed to have grown brighter, as if it had sensed his crisis.
‘I'll die if I just stand here anyway. Might as well bet on this one possibility.’
It was a gamble. A logical calculation, not an emotional one. His current survival probability was 0%. Certain death.
But if he touched that crown? Even if there was only a 1% chance of survival, it was worth a try.
Having finished his cold calculation, Minho decisively grabbed the crown the instant the mutant toad shot out its tongue.
At that moment, an intense light erupted.
Ting!
[Successor detected]
[Commencing connection with the Nameless Constellation]
[Warning: Incomplete succession process]
[Current Constellation status: Missing]
Translucent windows appeared in his vision as his consciousness began to fade.
‘The System? Was it... real….’
With that last thought, Minho lost consciousness.
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