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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: A Miracle Occurs
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By slicing off bits of flesh one by one.
Or severing nerves strand by strand.
Or forcing the blood in his body to flow backward.
Or flipping his organs inside out entirely.
Even if he endured pain that surpassed death itself, he wouldn't actually die.
That was the torture technique the Seven Dragon Society had elevated to the realm of art—a method born from their psyonic abilities, unmatched in probing the human body and mind.
Rimon drawled on in boredom.
'Th-this guy...'
Even as he foamed at the mouth from the agony, Park Hyeon-gun shuddered.
It wasn't because of his unique skill specialized in deception, 『Prestige and False Name』, which let him know Rimon's words were true.
The moment he saw those languid golden eyes, gazing at him as if he were a bug wriggling on a pin, he understood instinctively.
The essence of that languor.
It wasn't fatigue or boredom.
It was the weariness born from killing people—over and over and over.
The tedium reserved for those who had grown not just bored with murder, but annoyed by it.
And so, he miraculously realized it.
The true nature of the Sword Master, hidden beneath the heroic facade.
Thud!
"Grk?!"
"Who told you to think about something else?"
Suddenly kicked in the anus, Park Hyeon-gun forgot everything as a shock like lightning striking his head exploded through him.
As Rimon plunged his sword into Park Hyeon-gun's spine, he spoke.
"Keep this in mind."
It was less a warning than advice.
A declaration meant to snuff out any lingering hope.
"You no longer have time for escapism."
No regrets, no reflection, no atonement, no deliberation, no fainting, no madness.
Nothing would be allowed to Park Hyeon-gun, and from now on, there would be only one thing he could feel.
"Begging to be killed—that's all you'll be able to do for the next four days."
Rimon moved his sword lazily as he spoke.
Amid the pain of his body being shredded by the blade, Park Hyeon-gun tried to think. Tried to believe. Tried to give up.
This was all a dream.
When he opened his eyes, reality would be waiting.
By letting his mind slip away and separating his consciousness, he tried to flee the torment of body and soul.
But as he had declared, Rimon didn't even give Park Hyeon-gun the chance to go mad.
With precise swordplay, he stimulated the pain nerves to forcibly keep him fully conscious, methodically slicing his body down to the cellular level.
In that agony, Park Hyeon-gun despaired.
And he yearned.
For someone—anyone—to save him...
No, even just to grant him a merciful death.
If they did that, no matter who they were or what they demanded, he would pay any price.
At that very moment.
A miracle occurred.
The constellation contracted with you responds to your desperate plea.
The constellation contracted with you proposes a contract renewal. If you agree, you will gain the power to escape this crisis.
Do you accept the contract renewal?
'This is...!'
It was an utterly bizarre system message.
Even for Park Hyeon-gun, a high-level player who had seen countless system messages, receiving a contract renewal proposal from a constellation was a first.
Not even rumors of anything similar had reached him while running Infinity Guild.
Normally, he would have doubted it.
Having deceived countless people to climb this far, he wasn't the type to easily trust unexpected fortune.
But now, with everything lost and only a horrific death ahead.
His judgment, already eroded by pain, despair, and fear, left no room for suspicion.
Like a drowning man clutching at straws, he answered hastily.
"Y-yes! I accept! Renew the contract!"
Thump.
The moment he shouted.
Park Hyeon-gun felt it clearly.
A hole pierced through the laws of the world.
A brilliantly shining star plummeting toward him.
And as that star drew closer, an immense power enveloped him.
Even when stealing Lee Cheongi's abilities to wield dozens of skills at once, he had never felt a storm of such overwhelming force. In it, he realized.
Even the lord hailed as an absolute being was merely human, nothing compared to a truly transcendent existence.
And that great being was now approaching to lend him its power without reservation.
'The constellation hasn't ignored my efforts after all!'
So Park Hyeon-gun rejoiced.
His prayers had reached.
With this immense power, he could escape death, kill Lee Cheongi and Rimon, and seize Infinity Guild.
Above all, unlike the filthy old monster's nonsense, his efforts were finally rewarded.
This belief set his despair-filled heart pounding with joy.
As Park Hyeon-gun, beaming with ecstasy, offered worship filled with utmost respect and reverence, welcoming that constellation's light—
Krunch.
Crunch, cruuunch.
Gluuuuuurk.
The star devoured him.
'What the...?'
When Park Hyeon-gun suddenly screamed about renewing the contract, Lee Cheongi thought he had finally lost his mind.
People cracking under pressure was common enough.
But at this moment.
Lee Cheongi had to admit his judgment was wrong.
Thud!
It wasn't just that Park Hyeon-gun, who had been wriggling like a bug impaled on the sword moments ago, suddenly sprang up and kicked Rimon away.
Nor that his half-severed waist—from forcing movement while skewered, a side effect of Overheat—had knit itself back together in the blink of an eye.
Nor even the explosive surge in his aura, prickling Lee Cheongi's skin just by sharing the space.
—The atmosphere.
It was unmistakably Park Hyeon-gun.
Yet it felt like gazing at something else wearing his skin—a profound sense of wrongness.
A horrific dissonance, like peering into an abyss he shouldn't see.
A visceral disgust that shaved away at his soul just by facing it.
It twisted even Lee Cheongi's face, who had remained composed even when 『Prestige and False Name』 stole his abilities.
'What... the hell...'
Did he sense the gaze?
Park Hyeon-gun suddenly snapped his head 90 degrees to look at Lee Cheongi.
Their eyes met, and Lee Cheongi involuntarily stepped back.
What he felt in that instant was a terror beyond even facing death.
Beyond raw power or danger, it was a physiological dread—like having his cheek licked by a writhing mass of bugs, filth, and entrails squeezing his heart.
Crack.
Seeing Lee Cheongi like that.
Park Hyeon-gun laughed.
His lips stretched wide from ear to ear until they tore at the corners, blood beading out, which he licked away with a slithering tongue as he sneered.
A repulsive grin that muddled the mind just looking at it.
He wanted to look away. Erase that horrific smile from memory. Flee this place and pretend it never happened.
But it was futile.
Whether closing his eyes or running away, that etched image on his retinas would never fade.
And in perfect timing, realization dawned.
Ah, yes. That's right.
If it's etched in the eyes, just rip them out.
If the brain remembers, dig it out.
If the guts twist, pull them out.
That was the perfect solution.
To escape this horrific feeling by enacting the only way out, Lee Cheongi...
"『Wave Cannon』."
Boom!
He fired an intangible wave.
Perhaps because 『Prestige and False Name』 hadn't returned his abilities yet, the skill was pathetically weakened compared to normal.
But Park Hyeon-gun, caught off guard and defenseless, was swept fully by the wave and sent flying backward.
Thanks to blasting Park Hyeon-gun away?
The intrusive thoughts clouding his mind faded, normal cognition returning at last.
Even amid the lingering disgust—like dipping his brain in lard and pulling it out—Lee Cheongi gritted his teeth.
"What did you do?"
It wasn't some mental skill.
Like being pulled to the ground by gravity.
A horrific sensation of erosion, plunging him into chaos just by facing it, convinced Lee Cheongi.
"Or rather, what have you become?"
It merely wore human form.
Park Hyeon-gun was no longer human—something else entirely.
But the thing that used to be Park Hyeon-gun didn't answer Lee Cheongi's question.
As if annoyed that a mere human dared defy it, it merely glared with gleaming eyes and extended one hand.
"『Wa...ve...Can...non』."
Boooom!
"...!"
Lee Cheongi widened his eyes.
Not just because it mimicked his skill perfectly, or that its power surpassed the original.
He had reflexively used 『Space Leap』 upon seeing the hand extend.
But when their eyes met, the skill fizzled, freezing him in place instead of crossing space.
As if bound head to toe by invisible serpents.
Missing the dodge timing, just as the intangible wave—enough to crush a human body—threatened to engulf him...
Slash.
A sword flash cleaved the air.
The intangible wave split apart.
The bindings on Lee Cheongi unraveled.
Even having escaped danger, he couldn't relax.
No, his expression grew even more chilled.
It wasn't just that Rimon, who had parried the transformed Park Hyeon-gun's ambush and stepped back, was now suddenly in front of him.
Nor the overwhelming pressure—like a blade at his throat—that he hadn't felt even during his deathmatch with Rimon.
Like receiving a surprise gift.
Or winning the lottery.
Rimon's face, beaming with an innocently bright smile.
And contrasting that smile, his eyes—icy cold without a trace of warmth, rippling with black luster—sent chills racing across Lee Cheongi's skin.
"Man... Living righteously really pays off with luck like this."
Lee Cheongi couldn't understand.
No one could.
Why Rimon was so delighted, even though collecting the blood debt he had anticipated was delayed.
"I was just wondering if I should wrap up the blood debt like this."
Of course, in any other situation, Rimon would have been pissed.
Especially since some constellation had clearly intervened in his revenge, defying his warning.
Yet the reason Rimon wasn't angry—in fact, was thrilled—was simple.
He had seen it.
The moment Park Hyeon-gun accepted the contract.
The unmistakable form of the constellation descending from the sky to devour him.
"Thanks a fucking lot for jumping right in front of me like this, you snake bastard."
The constellation contracted with Yuna Kyung.
The one that mocked her death and tried to steal something like a orb of light from her corpse.
The culprit that first instilled in him wariness toward these so-called constellations.
Gazing at the Serpent Connecting Ends, Rimon wore a chilling smile.
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