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The main character’s younger brother is resurrected as a constellation Episode 7
“What are you doing not coming? It’s going to close soon.”
Kim I-gyeol, who I thought had left, had come back and placed a hand on my shoulder.
Although I didn’t know exactly what that ‘light’ was, at least this warm feeling didn’t seem like it would harm me.
As soon as Jin Se-rin and Kim I-gyeol exited, the dungeon entrance closed as if it had been waiting.
Right before the dungeon dissipated, it displayed a window that no one could see.
ERROR! ERROR!
Due to an unknown error, the existence of this dungeon is being erased.
“That’s strange.”
“What is?”
As I was looking around the unfamiliar place I was seeing for the first time, Kim I-gyeol frowned and spoke.
“There’s no one outside.”
“Why is that strange?”
“It’s a guerrilla dungeon, but it’s weird that there aren’t even any controllers, let alone rescuers.”
“Huh?”
“Oh. It means the people who should be here aren’t here. Don’t worry about it.”
When I asked back, not understanding, he glanced at me briefly and glossed over it.
“Are you going to the memorial service?”
“Memorial… service?”
Ah, why does it feel like all I can do is ask back?
But really, I don’t know what he’s talking about. What is it a memorial for?
“It’s the 10th anniversary soon, of the First Incident.”
“Cough, 10th anniversary?! Hahahaha, right. That’s right!”
The First Incident was the day I had that dream.
The day the original ‘Jin Se-rin’ died for Jin Se-hyuk’s awakening.
In the original work, many people died and were injured on this day, and it was later named the ‘First Incident’, with victims being commemorated every year.
But that was 10 years ago?
Even to me, my reaction seemed incredibly awkward, but Kim I-gyeol just smiled casually and responded.
“It’s okay, it’s understandable not to know well.”
It was definitely a smile, but for some reason, goosebumps rose on my arms.
He took out his phone, checked the time, and started speaking.
“Let’s go home for now. It’s late, so I’ll walk you.”
“Huh?”
If 10 years have passed, would the house still be the same? Do I even know where ‘Jin Se-rin’s’ house is in the first place?
Suddenly, the structure of a house, unfamiliar yet familiar, rapidly flashed into my mind and then disappeared.
Along with the memory that the room close to the living room bathroom was my brother’s room, and the room across from the master bedroom was my room.
Why do I know this?
“Jin Se-rin?”
Only after my name was called could I break free from my thoughts.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just remembered I have somewhere to stop by, so let’s go home separately!”
At my refusal, Kim I-gyeol hesitated, then after a brief silence, gave a faint smile and agreed.
“Alright. Wait a moment.”
He looked up at the sky and spoke as if to someone.
“Please give me a pen.”
And that someone seemed to be me, the constellation.
At his sudden request, I looked up at him. I couldn’t see his face, so I couldn’t read what he was thinking.
The constellation ‘Nobility Returned from Death’ gifts you the item ‘Basic Pen (C)’.
I bought the pen from the shop without Kim I-gyeol noticing and handed it to him.
Pen in hand, he suddenly tore his clothes and wrote something on the fabric, then handed it to me.
“Here, this is my number.”
When I just stared blankly without taking it, he personally placed the piece of cloth in my hand.
His eyes crescent-shaped from smiling, Kim I-gyeol whispered.
“Contact me if anything happens. I can help you now.”
He can help me now? What does that mean? Unable to understand the continuous stream of incomprehensible words, I couldn’t say anything.
“Well, I’ll go first. Get home safe, Se-rin-ah.”
Before I could question him, Kim I-gyeol left first.
As I stood still, staring at his receding back, the system, which I hadn’t even called, appeared.
There is a space granted to the constellation. Would you like to move?
I can’t go to Jin Se-hyuk anyway.
If this really is the future, 10 years after the First Incident, then it’s the point where <The End of Extinction> is in full swing.
If I, a younger sister thought to be dead, showed up to Jin Se-hyuk in that situation, it would obviously ruin the original story. The world might really be destroyed.
I told Kim I-gyeol I had somewhere to go, but actually, I had nowhere to go from here.
With no proper place to go, I nodded lightly to the system in agreement.
As soon as I accepted, my body instantly moved. It was a space with no windows, but it glowed white.
“So it’s like a subspace.”
There, there was only a large screen, a desk, and one book.
“What’s that screen?”
It was a mutter to myself, but information immediately appeared. To summarize, it said it provides a streaming service to observe the contractor.
“How do you turn it on?”
I wondered if there might be a remote control, but looking around, there was nothing in the silent space except the screen.
The system replied that it would only work after meeting the contractor at least once after entering the subspace. It was an unusually picky activation method.
Staring at my reflection in the dark screen, I glanced around the seemingly endless space and muttered to myself.
“They could at least have a bed.”
As soon as I left the dungeon, my body felt incredibly heavy, and I was barely standing even now.
Just as I was about to despair slightly at the empty space, wanting to lie down on a soft bed, light flashed before my eyes as if to soothe me, and a bed appeared.
As my body lay on the bed, drowsiness mentally overwhelmed me.
Before falling asleep unintentionally, I decided to tackle the things I had been putting off since the dungeon.
What should I look at first? The book? My profile? Or something else?
With so much to check, even deciding the order was daunting.
I decided on the book as the first order and brought <If You Just Read This, You Too Can Be a Constellation!> from the desk.
As I turned the first page, a neatly organized table of contents was visible.
According to my principle of reading novels but not non-fiction books, I opened the table of contents to first find the part that could resolve my curiosity.
Well, that was the intention.
{1. What is a Constellation
2. The Beliefs and Mission of a Constellation
3. The Abilities of a Constellation
4. The Relationship Between Constellation and Contractor
5. Shop
.
.
.}
What I’m curious about is what a constellation does, so maybe I should go to chapter 2.
Thinking that, I tried to turn the pages, but the book was a bit strange.
No matter how I flipped through the book, the parts I could read were limited.
The table of contents was visible, but the content inside had Korean coexisting with broken, illegible characters.
All I could read right now were the duties of a constellation.
“‘The constellation guides the contractor to clear the dungeon’?”
This single sentence was all I could read from the book; from the next sentence onward, it was unreadable due to the broken characters.
“Is this telling me not to read it?”
I shook the book vigorously and checked if there were hidden pages. There was nothing. Just what looked like broken characters everywhere.
“How am I supposed to see the rest?”
If you want to read more of the manual, awaken as a constellation!
Current Awakening Rate: 7.2%
It was a small, cute figure. Having a decimal point makes it oddly more infuriating.
Awakening as a constellation… It probably means I need to help Kim I-gyeol grow so he can clear dungeons. According to the constellation’s duties written in the book.
The phrase ‘Main Quest 2 (In Progress)’ written at the bottom of the status window was very annoying.
It bothered me more because it was a setting that wasn’t in the original work.
Even if <The End of Extinction> is a novel with unfriendly narration and many hidden things, would it hide something like this?
‘Well, it was only told from Jin Se-hyuk’s perspective.’
Maybe that’s why things like world-building explanations were sparse.
I examined the reward for Main Quest 2 again. Would it also grant my wish to send me back to reality?
Then I noticed very small print written below the reward.
Condition 1: Conceal the fact of your constellation awakening for a certain period
Condition 2: Do not proceed with the contractor’s Hunter registration for a certain period
In the original work, upon awakening, one must report to the Hunter Management Agency within two months to have their rank measured and register as a Hunter.
After receiving training there for a certain period, they then participate in dungeon attacks.
The Hunter Management Agency, a national institution, gained fame for nurturing Hunters, and it was a decent structure because awakened individuals could receive training.
That is, until the Director messed things up in the later part.
But the system’s demand to ‘prevent Hunter registration’ meant they wanted him to learn by directly experiencing things without such training.
“I don’t know anything about growth and development!”
I sprang up from the bed and tore at my hair.
Even though I’m helping Kim I-gyeol because the system made me a constellation, I don’t have the knowledge to help him grow in the first place.
In this situation, the thought of whether I could help him reach S-rank without the Agency’s help felt overwhelming.
But what else can I do? I have to do it.
I also needed to check the newly unlocked skills, but I stretched out on the bed and sent a message telling Kim I-gyeol not to reveal the fact of his awakening.
Lying down, I only turned my head sideways to stare at the black screen showing nothing.
To activate that too, I need to go meet Kim I-gyeol…
Facing the mountain of things to do, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Ding-dong!
At the sudden notification sound, I opened my eyes and a message appeared.
