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CHAPTER 15: I Became the Successor of a Constellation.
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Chapter 15
“You’re Kang Minho, right?”
The woman spoke first.
At the sudden appearance of strangers, Minho instinctively became guarded.
“Yes, I am… but who are you?”
“We’re from the Hunter Management Department.”
The woman took out her ID and showed it to him, and Minho’s expression hardened. The Hunter Management Department.
‘They came sooner than I expected.’
He sighed inwardly. He had anticipated that the incident with Taehyun would lead to something like this.
But now that it was actually happening, his mouth felt a little dry.
“The Hunter Management Department? Did I do something wrong?”
He let his voice tremble slightly. For an ordinary person, it was natural to be flustered in this situation.
If he acted too calm, it would only make him look more suspicious.
The woman raised her hand slightly in a calming gesture.
“You haven’t done anything wrong. We’re just here to confirm a few things regarding the Songpa-gu Dungeon incident from two days ago.”
The man standing next to her chimed in with an awkward smile.
A hint of displeasure still lingered on his face, but it seemed he had decided to focus on the task at hand.
“Hello! I’m Park Junhyeok. Dai insisted I come along… Could we talk inside for a moment? Heh heh.”
Junhyeok’s gentle tone eased the tense atmosphere a little.
Minho quickly calculated in his head.
‘If I refuse, they’ll be more suspicious. But being too cooperative would be strange too…’
“Ah, if that’s the case, there’s a café nearby. Shall we go there?”
He decided to appear moderately cooperative. Minho quickly threw on a jacket, and the three of them walked down the street together.
Dai subtly observed Minho’s movements.
‘His gait is more stable than I expected. For a cleaner, his sense of balance is too good.’
Meanwhile, Minho walked on, conscious of the gaze he felt from behind.
‘I’m being watched. I have to act as normal as possible.’
The system window’s warning about the 12 Constellations still lingered in his mind.
He couldn’t predict what would happen if they found out he was the Successor of the Nameless Constellation.
He consciously tried to make his steps a little clumsier, but it wasn't easy to hide the sense of balance that had become second nature.
***
The café was quiet, as it was still morning. The three of them sat at a corner table and ordered their drinks.
Minho chose an americano, Dai a latte, and Junhyeok a sweet caramel macchiato.
Dai took a tablet out of her bag and began to speak.
“First, let’s start with something simple. Could you explain the circumstances that led to you entering the Songpa-gu Dungeon with Hunter Kim Taehyun?”
It was the question he had expected. He mentally reviewed his answer one more time.
‘Keep the lies to a minimum. Don’t tell any lies that can be exposed.’
“It was a request that came to my company. They said it was a special request specifically for me, so I went in alone. Kim Taehyun followed me later.”
He answered as calmly as possible, staying within the bounds of what he could say truthfully.
‘Because of the Mark of the Vow, I can’t speak freely about what happened inside the Dungeon anyway. I just need to fudge that part.’
Dai nodded and asked her next question.
“However, the medical team noted that Hunter Kim Taehyun’s injuries were rather unusual.”
Dai turned the tablet screen toward Minho. A simple medical report was displayed.
‘So the medical staff noticed. Experts are on another level.’
“The report says the wounds seem to have been caused by an intentional blow, not a monster.
Could you tell us what happened in more detail?”
When he showed a moment of hesitation, Dai’s gaze sharpened.
‘This is where it gets important.’
He took a sip of his coffee before explaining.
“Inside the Dungeon, Taehyun suddenly… became strange.”
“What do you mean by ‘strange,’ specifically?”
“He didn’t seem to be in his right mind. His eyes were unfocused, and he seemed to see me as an enemy. It was probably due to the unique environment of the Dungeon…”
‘Please fall for it…!’
Just then, Junhyeok chimed in.
“Could it have been… symptoms of mana poisoning?”
‘It worked!’
Mana poisoning. An occupational hazard among Hunters.
Frequent exposure to high concentrations of mana inside Dungeons could overload the mana within one’s body.
Lower-rank Hunters with less mana were more susceptible, and it often caused mental confusion.
He had gambled that in the unique environment of a Dungeon, with no external trauma or other clear cause, ‘mana poisoning’ would seem like the most logical explanation.
Fortunately, one of the investigators had brought it up.
“Huh? So you two really fought? An F-Rank and a C-Rank?”
“It was less of a fight and more that I had no choice but to stop him to survive.”
At that moment, Dai’s eyes grew even sharper. Minho calmly met her gaze head-on.
‘This woman is no pushover. I need to be careful.’
“It’s not as easy as it sounds for an F-Rank to subdue a C-Rank.”
“I was lucky. Hunter Kim Taehyun was already injured, and as a former firefighter, I’m used to emergency situations.
It also wasn’t my first time seeing a Hunter with mana poisoning.”
He used his experience as a firefighter to make a plausible excuse, but from Dai's expression, she didn't seem completely convinced.
“First the Gangdong-gu Dungeon collapse incident, and now this… You have excellent judgment in a crisis.”
Dai said probingly, glancing at Junhyeok. Quick on the uptake, Junhyeok naturally continued the thought.
“That’s right! I saw it on the news, you were amazing. They said you evacuated everyone and were the last one out, right? People like you, Minho, are the true heroes!”
Listening to Junhyeok’s praise, Minho felt a strange sensation.
‘Are they flattering me to get a genuine reaction?’
“I just… did what anyone would have done.”
A slight wrinkle formed between Dai’s brows. Her expression told him it wasn’t the reaction she wanted.
‘Her expressions are surprisingly easy to read.’
Dai tapped on her tablet again.
“I looked into your personal information, Kang Minho.”
Her voice dropped a notch lower. Minho’s detailed personal file was displayed on the screen.
“Kang Minho, age 28. Younger sister, Kang Suyeon, currently suffering from stage 2 of a rare disease.”
The moment Suyeon’s name was mentioned, his heart sank.
He almost dropped the coffee cup he was holding.
‘Are they… trying to use Suyeon against me?’
His expression hardened before he could stop it.
He could endure anything that happened to him, but he would not tolerate anyone touching his sick sister.
“Are you telling me you did a background check on me?”
His voice was laced with anger. He could no longer maintain his composure.
Dai replied in the same calm tone.
“We are the Hunter Management Department. We can investigate anything if necessary. Especially if it concerns citizen safety and national security.”
Her words carried an implicit meaning: ‘If we want to, we can find out anything about you.’
‘So this is a threat, telling me to come clean.’
He clenched his fists. He was furious, but he knew he couldn’t lose his temper here.
At the sudden change in atmosphere, Junhyeok looked at Dai with a flustered expression.
“Senior, you looked into all this? I thought this was just a simple accident investigation…”
Dai ignored Junhyeok and continued.
“Suyeon is admitted at XX Hospital, right? Her attending physician is Professor Kim Seongho, and I understand her condition has worsened to stage 2.”
His mind went blank. They knew everything, even the state of Suyeon’s illness.
But at the same time, a cold rationality kicked in.
‘Wait. If their goal was really to threaten me, would they do it so openly? I feel like there’s another motive here.’
Unable to hold back any longer, he leaned toward Dai.
“So what are you trying to do? Don’t tell me you’re trying to blackmail me with this?”
His voice held both anger and a warning. It meant that if they touched Suyeon, he wouldn’t let it slide.
But Dai shook her head.
“This isn’t a threat.”
She tapped the tablet again, and a new screen appeared.
The title ‘Guide to Benefits for Clearing Tower Floor 30’ was written in large letters at the top of the screen.
“What is this?”
“Exactly what it says. These are the benefits you can receive by climbing the Tower.”
Below the title was a list of specific benefits.
Dai pointed to a highlighted section with her finger.
Full medical expense support for self and family
Junhyeok’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Are there benefits like this? This is the first I’m hearing of it. Senior, is this for real?”
“It was approved recently. The Director was very invested in it. Clearing the 30th floor of the Tower is that important of a task.”
“Why are you showing this to me?”
He asked cautiously. A thought of ‘No way’ crossed his mind, but his first priority was to figure out Dai’s intentions.
She met Minho’s gaze and opened her mouth.
“May I say something that might be out of line?”
“You’ve been out of line this whole time.”
Dai showed no reaction to his cold retort, as if she didn't care whether he disliked her or not.
“Yes, the Dungeon cleaning work you do, Minho-ssi, it’s not a bad job. In this day and age, it’s not easy to find work that pays that well.”
“But you know it too, don’t you, Minho-ssi? You need far more money to treat your sister’s illness.”
He had nothing to say. Everything she said was true.
The rare diseases that appeared with the Tower had three stages of progression.
And with each stage, the treatment costs increased exponentially.
To date, there hasn't been a single case of a complete cure. The best they could do was slow the disease’s progression.
In other words, Suyeon might never be able to leave the hospital.
And Minho would have to bear those enormous medical bills for the rest of his life.
“If you just climb to the 30th floor of the Tower, you can receive all these benefits. Not only Suyeon’s treatment, but you could live the rest of your life without any financial worries.”
“…Are you telling me to climb the Tower?”
He had a vague inkling, but hearing the words spoken aloud, he could hardly believe it.
Junhyeok shot Dai a look that said, *So that's why you brought me along.*
“To be honest, we need someone like you, Minho.”
“I don’t belong to any guild. And in the first place, I’m an F-Rank. I thought you had to be B-Rank or higher to climb the Tower.”
“That’s been the case until now. But it’s not like there’s no way around it.
When the Hunter Management Department was first established, the government created a special permit system to prevent the guilds from forming a monopoly.
Though no one has received a permit yet.”
“…What is it?”
A moment of silence passed. Without a word, Dai turned her gaze out the window.
A flyer seeking a missing child was posted there.
It was a common sight everywhere since the Tower and Dungeons had appeared.
Dai stared at the flyer for a long time, as if mulling something over.
Only the cafe’s soft background music filled the heavy silence between the three of them.
After a while, as if she’d come to a decision, Dai spoke.
“Kang Minho, would you like to become a Zero Hunter?”
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