Chapter 76

[System: Memory Fragment playback complete. (3/7)]

My eyes flew open.

I think I fainted in the imperial garden, but when I opened my eyes, I was in my own bed, in my own room.

Did Alex bring me here?

‘Ah, no, that’s not what’s important right now…’

The last thing I remembered was Shinwoo falling into a coma.

“But Shinwoo woke up?”

And with the help of a new drug made from the cores of seven S-rank bosses?

“Wow, I really went to great lengths…”

The new drug caused Shinwoo to grow at an incredible rate. His height, which had been only 170cm, surpassed 190cm, and his weight increased accordingly.

His body became muscular, too. Not the bulky, bulging kind, but efficiently compressed muscle.

‘If only that had been all.’

Unbelievably, Shinwoo awakened as a Hunter.

To be precise, he hadn’t awakened as a Hunter, but the new drug enabled him to use a Hunter’s power.

He had become a being who was a Hunter yet not a Hunter, human yet not human.

Having bypassed the normal awakening process, Shinwoo was an exception to every system related to the apocalypse.

The Constellations could not influence him in any way, nor could he hear their messages.

He wasn’t even included in the Hunter rankings. Only his physical strength had grown abnormally powerful.

Shinwoo accepted his transformation calmly.

Not only that, but he stubbornly insisted on clearing gates with me.

Of course, I firmly objected.

Gates aren’t some child’s game… Having the ability to deal with monsters and actually dealing with them are two completely different things.

Just like being strong doesn’t automatically make you a good fighter.

But.

“You ignored my request and saved me anyway. Now I’m going to do what I want.”

“What is it you want to do? Make money? Or become famous?”

“I want to protect you.”

It was a shock.

Until then, I had always been the one doing the protecting. The thought that someone might protect me had never even crossed my mind.

In the end, I started clearing gates with Shinwoo.

I had fallen for the sweet temptation of his promise to protect me.

A new presence suddenly appeared beside the number one ranker, who had always refused not just parties, but even duos.

That alone would have drawn attention, but Shinwoo was also jaw-droppingly handsome.

It was only natural that people’s eyes were drawn to him.

Shinwoo became known to the world at an incredible speed.

His looks were so exceptional that a fan cafe was created in no time, and obsessive fans began to follow him around.

Soon after, the fact that he came from an orphanage was revealed, but his popularity didn’t wane in the slightest.

Just as he was receiving more attention than most top stars, the news broke.

Shocking! The Truth About Hunter Y!

Revealed to be a new drug test subject from K Labs, not a Hunter.

A reporter, suspicious of Shinwoo’s absence from the Hunter rankings, had irresponsibly exposed him, mixing fact with personal speculation.

The attention that had been showered on Shinwoo changed overnight.

People started calling Shinwoo the ‘Apoca-beast.’

The Monster Born of the Apocalypse.

Even so, Shinwoo never blamed me.

He paid no mind whether people avoided him or stared at him with strange looks.

He was even relaxed enough to laugh, asking if the nickname wasn’t a bit too hard to pronounce.

“I’m really okay. In fact, I’m happy I can protect you now.”

How could he be okay when people everywhere avoided him like some disgusting monster?

How could a life where he fit in with neither ordinary people nor Hunters be good?

He said that, but his true feelings must have been different.

He was just pretending to be unfazed so I wouldn’t get hurt.

“So damn kind…”

Saving Shinwoo had been my own selfish desire.

Because of my selfishness, Shinwoo had to live the life of a monster.

So it was only natural for me to feel guilty toward him.

After all, I was the one who had ignored his final wish and turned him into a monster.

But I didn’t regret it.

If something like that happened again, I would save Shinwoo without a doubt.

Even if I had to struggle with the heavy weight of guilt afterward…

I let out a deep sigh, then my eyes widened.

The chat window, which had been frozen for a while, was now running normally.

“Huh? What’s this! Is the chat window working now? Did you fix the error?”

— Anonymous Constellation: Aha!

— Anonymous Constellation: Aha!!! We missed you ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ

[System: The Anonymous Constellations have sponsored 250,000 points.]

“Gasp! Sponsorships are back on? Thank you for the 250,000 points! Pwing pwing, cutie cutie, wink! Firing my love bullets!”

— Anonymous Constellation: Astell, your mouth is going to rip from smiling so wide…

— Anonymous Constellation: You’re happier to see the sponsorship than us, aren’t you?

— Anonymous Constellation: Capitalism, ptooey!

“Oh, come on, why state the obvious…? Anyway, what happened? Was it really an error?”

— Anonymous Constellation: Error, my ass. The Administrator froze the window because we were dropping too many spoilers.

— Anonymous Constellation: Man, for real, no sponsorships, no missions, it was so damn frustrating.

— Anonymous Constellation: When your dad got hurt. I totally freaked out thinking he was going to dieㅠㅠ

— Anonymous Constellation: I almost died wanting to curse out that bastard emperorㅗ

So the Constellations had spoiled something, and that’s why the Administrator had frozen the chat window.

“Then why would you do something like that? Spoilers are totally thoughtless.”

— Anonymous Constellation: Huh? That’s ridiculous. It was because of you, what are you talking about?

— Anonymous Constellation: You’re the one who asked!!!!

The chat window’s speed became terrifying. The messages were scrolling up so fast I could barely read them.

I shot the Constellations a look of pity and teased them.

“Hey, let’s not blame others. If you did something wrong, just admit it, okay? You should humbly accept the penalty, too. What’s with you higher beings acting like this?”

— Anonymous Constellation: Ah, my blood pressure…

— Anonymous Constellation: This is so damn unfairㅜㅜ

— Anonymous Constellation: We didn’t even know Ye Shinwoo was a spoiler!!

— Anonymous Constellation: NONONONONONO we agreed not to say that name!!! You wanna get gagged again????

— Anonymous Constellation: Is he Hong Gildong…? Can’t even call a spade a spade.

“Huh? Was it really because of me? Because I asked about Shinwoo?”

The chat window was flooded with ‘yep’.

Not wanting to be frozen again, it seemed, none of the Constellations mentioned Shinwoo’s name, even by mistake.

It was an unexpected reason, but it made sense.

“Ah, so that’s what the spoiler was about.”

That must be why the system returned to normal only after I found my memories of Shinwoo.

There was only one reason why talk related to the memory fragments had been designated a spoiler.

It was blocked to prevent me from finding out ahead of time, which might have made me less motivated to search for the fragments.

‘So, the Administrator wants me to collect all the memory fragments.’

But why?

I need to collect them all for my second awakening, but the Administrator has no reason to, right?

“I don’t get their intention.”

— Anonymous Constellation: Anyway, the time has finally come!

— Anonymous Constellation: I’ve been waiting for this dayㅜㅜ

— Anonymous Constellation: RXN.

— Anonymous Constellation: RXN.

— Anonymous Constellation: RXN.

A line of the initials RXN scrolled up the chat window.

Reaction.

I had promised the Constellations a reaction in exchange for their help.

Once when Duke Ruthius was injured, and again when the gate opened in the imperial garden.

‘Damn it! That’s twice, isn’t it?’

I was in such a rush back then that I didn’t have time to think straight. To think I’d regret it like this.

“I remember, so calm down. Thank you for your help! Pwing pwing, cutie cutie, wink, take my arrow of love!”

— Anonymous Constellation: Nice try, no.

— Anonymous Constellation: Not a chance.

I tried to get away with my usual reaction, but it didn’t work on the Constellations.

“Haaah… so picky. Fine. Who said I wouldn’t do it? I’ll do it, okay? What do you want me to do?”

— Anonymous Constellation: Hug your dad and brother and say, “I love you.”

For a moment, I thought I’d read it wrong. I rubbed my eyes.

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

— Anonymous Constellation: We’ve never been more serious.

— Anonymous Constellation: “I. Love. You.” Only the exact wording will be accepted.

— Anonymous Constellation: You must hug them. Knocking them over and pouncing on them or attacking from behind is N.G.

— Anonymous Constellation: Follow the conditions exactly. If you try to pull any tricks on the first go, we’ll chop your wrists off.

“Are you from the Official Recognition Association? Why are there so many conditions!”

A hug isn’t enough, I have to say I… that word?

Just imagining it gave me goosebumps all over.

“You’re crazy, you’re crazy! If I did that, they might actually lock me up in a mental hospital this time! Pick something else!”

— Anonymous Constellation: kekekekekeke But that’s the only thing we want?

— Anonymous Constellation: If you don’t do it, we’re gonna ignore any requests you make from now on.

— Anonymous Constellation: tsk tsk tsk Is it really that hard? You guys are family.

“We’re not that kind of family!”

I tore at my hair.