INPCD 02

Chapter 02

“Ha… my life.”

A dry laugh leaked out of my mouth automatically.

Did someone like me, drowning in debt, really have the luxury to be picky right now? This offer was far too big to refuse.

“Fine, whatever, I’ll sign the contr—No, no, no—! Not yet!”

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ grins and asks if you’ve changed your mind.]

“You said what Mom was telling me earlier was a lie! Why was it a lie? Show me proof first, and then I’ll think about the contract!”

That was a close call.

My vision had almost gone blind after seeing such a massive item in the middle of all this mental chaos.

‘The bigger the crisis, the more cautious I have to be.’

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ snorts, asking if giving you an S-Rank item in advance wasn’t enough of a trial run of his authority.]

So giving me that S-Rank item as a down payment wasn’t just a preview of his power?

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of crazy entity this constellation was, which only confused me further.

“Suit yourself. Sure. I like trial versions.”

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ grumbles, saying you sure are picky, but grants you a temporary vision.]

In an instant, a scene I had never witnessed before unfolded right in front of my eyes.

Since I hadn’t formed a contract yet, I couldn’t know the exact details of the constellation’s authority. The shattered status windows flickered wildly, and then a faint smoke veiled my vision.

[Temporary Authority: ‘Glimpse into the Present’ is activated.]

Visible through the gaps in the white smoke was…

‘It’s Mom and Dad.’

The two of them were arguing outside the convenience store under my dad’s name near my parents’ house.

It was a scene I saw all the time, so I just thought they were fighting again, but…

The words coming out of their mouths were utterly appalling.

“How are you going to fix this! I don’t care anymore. Solve it on your own!”

“Don’t be like that, help me out a bit… You said you needed money too!”

“Even if you lie, how could you come up with a lie like that?! What? Cancer? Saying you made a bad investment would sound a hundred times more realistic! Huh?!”

“I only did it because she’s been refusing to give us money lately! I thought if I said I was sick, she’d go somewhere and scrape up some quick cash for us…”

“Didn’t you hear the kid say she’s selling her organs? Do you even grasp the situation? What about the money? Did she deposit it?”

“Not yet…”

“Haa. For now, tell her to send whatever money she has!”

Dad, who was shouting in a fiery rage, brought up money at the very end as well.

The bottom line was that Mom having cancer was a complete lie.

‘My life is truly cursed.’

Mom had lied just to wring a huge sum of money out of me to hand over to my brother.

A fire raged in my chest. Because the anger was so intense, I couldn’t even bring myself to scream.

As I collapsed onto the ground under a broken streetlight, the constellation asked me impatiently.

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ asks how it feels to see the truth.]

How did it feel? He was practically the savior of my life. If it weren’t for him, I would have been foolishly tricked again and…

I pressed my palm against my forehead. Feeling my hand get drenched with moisture, I realized only then that I was pouring buckets of cold sweat.

By this point, my feelings toward the constellation had softened quite a bit. Although he had given me massive psychological damage by constantly pushing himself on me, what he just did was big enough to make up for it considerably. At least enough for me to take the contract option much more seriously.

“…What do I gain if I contract with you?”

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ puffs out his chest proudly, declaring that he can give you supreme power, fame, wealth, and eternal health.]

Could I live like Qin Shi Huang?

“I… don’t really need fame. As long as wealth and health are guaranteed, I’m good. Tell me just how much wealth is guaranteed.”

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ grins and says you can just go conquer the Gate dungeons.]

As expected, he had ulterior motives.

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ adds in a serious tone that humanity will perish in ten years anyway, so you need to gather wealth and get strong quickly.]

“Humanity will perish? What are you talking about?”

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ sighs, saying that the reason he sought you out—an F-rank Awakener—in the first place was due to a single divine revelation.]

“What revelation?”

Was it because of his sudden statement? My guard snapped right back up.

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ says the revelation stated: ‘If you want to change the ruined world line, contract with the F-rank Awakener.’]

“Change the revelation? Is that possible? So you’re saying we should change the future right now?”

At my question, the status window chimed in eagerly, as if waiting for this exact moment.

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ says that to do that, you need to see the future first, and activates a temporary authority!]

It was just like a moment ago. There wasn’t even time for me to say anything.

A dizzying, unfamiliar landscape unfolded before my eyes.

What appeared this time was a temple of immeasurable scale. A temple shining so brightly in white that all four directions seemed to blink. At its center sat three tall-legged chairs symbolically placed.

Thick smoke, incomparable to before, filled my view, and an unfamiliar scent paralyzed my senses. In an instant, space warped softly around me as if sucking me in, transferring me elsewhere.

Soon, a scene both familiar yet alien and red appeared before me.

There was no trace left of the neighborhood I lived in; the city had collapsed. The ground was entirely a hue of crimson. Inside the swaying flames, people were swaying their bodies as if dancing.

No. They weren’t dancing—they were merely swaying, abandoned to the flames and pools of blood. Things built by humans were being kicked into dust by non-human entities.

A apocalyptic scene right out of a movie.

I had just witnessed the impending future.

21st-century humanity was experiencing a whole new kind of extinction crisis.

Gates opened through rifts, magic beasts poured out of those Gates, and natural disasters occurred where people awakened as Awakeners.

‘When I was young, I thought I’d be traveling to space stations by the time I reached this age.’

Now, 10 years later, things had progressed to the point where bottom-tier Gate dungeon tours targeting non-Awakeners had been created. YouTube videos of people handling and raising E-rank slimes as pets hit a million views. This was an era overflowing with ordinary people struggling to awaken as Hunters rather than trying to become civil servants.

In such a world, I had become my family’s emergency fund pocket, or rather, their financial cash cow.

But that nonsense ended today.

“Mom, I can’t give you money.”

– Why?!

“Because I have to pay off my debts, to the point where I’m looking for places to sell my organs. Sorry for only telling you now.”

– W-what?!

Of course, the story about selling organs was a blatant lie.

Why on earth would I sell my organs? Selling just two of the S-Rank items the constellation gave me—the Essence of the Black Magic Dragon Gailard—yielded enough cash to buy two prime real estate apartments in a brand-new city.

“I’m going to become credit delinquent soon, too.”

– No, how on earth?! You were sending us living expenses fine until last month!

This, of course, was another blatant lie.

With the money from selling those two S-Rank items earlier, I had paid off all the remaining debts registered under my name, including student loans and second-tier financial loans.

Even after that, a massive amount of money remained in my bank account.

“I borrowed that from a coworker. Aside from that, I took out another loan and invested my entire fortune into stocks, but I lost it all. The revolving credit interest is too hard to handle, so I’m moving into a cheap goshiwon today. I called to tell you before I go.”

Mom seemed too flabbergasted to speak.

They probably thought I’d always manage just fine on my own so they could leech off me whenever they wanted, never expecting me to pull something like this.

I recited my pre-prepared script smoothly like a crazy person.

“If selling my organs can raise the money for Mom’s surgery, I’m thinking of trying it. For now, there’s actually someone whose kidney matches mine. When is Mom’s surgery again?”

– I-I… Eun-sol. Is there really no other way? Is your situation really that bad? What on earth have you…

“So, that’s why I’m asking, Mom.”

– Huh?

“Lend me some money.”

Silence followed.

“I don’t have immediate living expenses right now. Just a few hundred thousand won—just send me 500,000 won ($370), please?”

There was no answer returning.

“You can’t? I’m really having a hard time now. It’s so, so tough that I can’t give you any more money. Didn’t Oppa sell his studio apartment? Tell him to sell it quickly, okay?”

– Why are you telling your brother to pay for your stupid mistakes in the stock market?!

…Ah.

It reminded me of the time when there was no money at home, so they told me, a high school student, to get a part-time job. I thought they were just talking, but I ended up actually working at a meat restaurant owned by Mom’s friend.

It was only much later that I found out all the money I earned from that job went toward my brother’s retaking-exam academy tuition and textbook fees.

I didn’t care if our house was poor due to Dad’s frequent business failures. Yet, even in the middle of all that, my brother went to college without a hitch, while unlike him, I almost couldn’t go to college at all.

What kind of era were we living in for them to use their daughter as a cash cow just to send their son to college? Even when Gates opened and the world almost split in two, those things remained exactly the same.

‘Not even 500,000 won? After everything I’ve done for you all this time.’

I was going to sever ties with this damn Kim family once and for all.

This might be an opportunity no different than dying and regressing. Besides, knowing the future of humanity’s destruction, I was no longer in my right mind anyway.

“…You’re too much. Did I ask you to pay off all my debts? I just asked for a little living expenses. I’m serious about selling my organs.”

– …

“Even though most of that debt was taken on because of our family. And yet, when I say I’m selling my organs, you don’t care at all?”

– Then wh-who told you to spend money so recklessly?! We have so many places that need money, why on earth did you…!

“You talk as if my money was your money.”

It was always like this anyway. Oppa and Dad weren’t any different.

“Don’t look for me anymore. Just live as if I don’t exist. This is my last act of filial piety.”

Barely suppressing my churning stomach, I continued.

“The next time I visit our parents’ home will be the day I’m fully determined to get my money back. Even if you don’t open the door or try to hide, it won’t work. Be prepared to call the police.”

– Are you threatening me right now?!

“I’m just going to reclaim my own money. If Oppa doesn’t give me the money, I’ll show up holding an axe, so brace yourselves.”

– Wh-what…

“Mom and Dad raised nothing but unfilial children for half your lives.”

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t sad. Tears felt ready to pour out from between my eyes like an open faucet.

But this sickening family drama ended right here.

Having just lied my way into becoming ‘Unfilial Child #2’, I quickly wrapped up the conversation.

“Let me know when the date is set. I’ll make sure Mom gets her surgery with the money from selling my organs.”

– W-wait a minute…!

Of course, I obviously wasn’t going to sell them.

Without any lingering regrets, I hung up the phone and blocked all my family members’ phone numbers one by one. Then I tossed my phone onto the bed.

“Alright. The soap opera drama is officially over!”

[Constellation, ‘The World’s Best Handsome Guy,’ claps and commends your decisive action.]

My wish had always been to sever ties with my family. To think I achieved it like this.

I glanced sideways at the message window with the constellation.

Even if I didn’t want to believe it, I could feel it. The constellation that had contracted with me was a high-ranking entity.

‘Why on earth did someone like that come to an F-rank like me?’