The Portal

‘…Ah.’
I remembered.
Before the regression, when the sky turned red and the crows cried.
When that incarnation, with its twenty eyes and human heads screaming from inside its wings, came to tear me to pieces.
I saw it then.
A white portal contrasting with the red sky, a pillar of white light extending from it, a staff with a blue jewel embedded in it.
Fluttering black hair, white snow falling from the sky, and…
‘…….’
That woman who was so terribly quiet.

“Magic Tower Head-nim! Finally, the experiment succeeded…”
“No.”
“What? But that scenery is…”
“There’s… nothing here.”
That’s how she defined Korea, which had been reduced to a desolate ruin where everything was broken.
And she used healing magic on the fallen Yeon Taeseon.
The portal closed just like that.

“I won’t be coming back here again.”
I vaguely heard those words before the portal closed.
Yes, the Constellation.
The Silent Calamity.
She was terribly similar to that strange magician woman.
To the point where you could say they were identical except for their hair and eye color.
A single, but strong impression, a relationship where I was unilaterally saved.
A relationship she wouldn’t even remember.
But he remembered it clearly.
Thanks to that, Yeon Taeseon forgot his purpose for coming here, and the Constellation, forgetting that she wasn’t wearing her veil, confronted him for a long time.
That confrontation ended when the Constellation suddenly startled and became flustered.
Only then did Yeon Taeseon come to his senses.
Thump. Thump.
His heart was still pounding, but he had to separate public and private matters.
‘It must be… a coincidence.’
He wondered if a Constellation and a human could be so similar, but many things happen in the world.
There must be at least one human who resembles a Constellation.
‘…Come to think of it, I should get my hands on that woman too.’
Magic beyond the standard, strength enough to blow away an incarnation in one shot.
He didn’t know where that woman was or what she was doing, but he had to have her.
Engraving a new goal, Yeon Taeseon spoke.
“Constellation. I need to get my hands on Cheon Sanho.”
“…”
“It seems you also opened a teleportation gate and sent your contractors first, am I right?”
“…”
“I’ll skip over how a Constellation manifested and even opened a gate. I need the appraiser Cheon Sanho, and you also need the appraiser Cheon Sanho. Am I right?”
“…”
“So cooperate with me, Constellation. I know a sure way to save him. Your contractors have become a variable, but I am a Regressor. I can handle that much of a variable.”
“…”
“…Why don’t you say something.”
“Well…”
The Constellation hesitated slightly and opened her mouth.
Her voice, heard again, was clear and truly beautiful.
Just as he was wondering why even her voice resembled that woman’s.
Cough!
Blood trickled from the Constellation’s mouth.
Yeon Taeseon froze.
“…Constellation? Why?”
She spoke fine last time, so why now?
Why is she coughing up blood?
While Yeon Taeseon was frozen, the Constellation also seemed to be in a panic.
She covered her mouth and continued to cough up blood.
“Ah, why… cough!”
“Constellation, don’t speak!”
Yeon Taeseon urgently hugged the Constellation.
But her seizure only worsened.
Her breathing became ragged, as if she couldn’t breathe properly.
It was then.
A veil was hastily summoned from the air and fluttered down, landing near the Constellation.
‘Don’t tell me…’
Yeon Taeseon realized.
‘Because she didn’t cover her face?’
Does the Constellation have some kind of trauma?
Constellations are great beings.
They observe the world from the starry sky, treating humans as chess pieces or accessories, and assigning them value.
They are perfect and flawless, and they cannot have trauma.
Even if their personalities are terrible.
“Ve, cough. Veil-“
“I know. Don’t speak.”
Yeon Taeseon roughly put the veil on the one who might become his Constellation and hugged her tightly.
He seemed to remember reading somewhere that it was good to make a seizing person feel warmth.
A little while later, the seizure finally subsided.
As soon as he felt her breathing stabilize, he asked.
“Why did you cough up blood?”
The Constellation pointed to her throat and made an X with both hands.
“Does that mean you can’t tell me?”
She shook her head.
“…Don’t tell me you can’t speak now?”
She nodded.
The simple answer made Yeon Taeseon’s head ache.
‘She spoke fine last time…’
Is there some kind of restriction on her language?
Or did she injure her throat in the meantime?
Yeon Taeseon felt his heart tighten.
He wanted to hear her voice a little more, but if she can’t speak-
‘No, that’s not it.’
He almost fell into pity, but he came to his senses.
Since the Constellation was here, he had planned to communicate with her, save Cheon Sanho, and join up with her contractors…
If communication was impossible, there were quite a few difficulties.
‘Do I have no choice but to go with my original plan?’
After organizing his thoughts, Yeon Taeseon spoke again.
“Constellation, answer my words. But don’t speak.”
“…”
“Where does the teleportation gate you opened lead to? The place where Cheon Sanho was transported?”
Her head nodded.
It was an affirmation.
“Then the risk of transportation is too great. There’s a high probability that the S-rank hunter Han Siyoon is at the place where Cheon Sanho was kidnapped and immediately transported. This is information I obtained before my regression. To explain it to you, Han Siyoon is the 4th-ranked hunter in South Korea.”
For a moment, the Constellation froze.
“As you know, your contractors are talented, but they’re almost half-baked. Han Sion has good combat sense but no defense, and Baek Jiye, who just awakened recently, not only hasn’t had her hunter’s license ink dry yet, but she also hasn’t received a stability assessment. Meaning, she lacks practical experience. Am I right?”
The Constellation’s head did not move.
Yeon Taeseon continued.
“Even if they are two S-ranks, they lack practical experience, their abilities are half-baked, and they are two dealers without a satisfactory tank. And one of them is a magician. But over there, there’s Han Siyoon, the 4th-ranked damage dealer in South Korea. He’s not a person of the light, so his hands are merciless. Meaning, your contractors are in danger.”
The Constellation tried to stand up abruptly.
But Yeon Taeseon stopped him by hugging him a little tighter.
“Reopening the teleportation gate they just entered is a bad move. You might be able to be with your contractors, but I don’t even have a contracted Constellation. Even if I’m a Regressor, it’s an undeniable fact that I’ll be a useless force if I join them.”
Silence.
“So instead of teleportation, we’ll fight with a physical breakthrough.”
The Constellation lifted her head.
He wanted to see what kind of face she was making beyond that white veil, but there was no time for that now.
“Prepare yourself, Constellation. If possible… open a teleportation gate to the place I tell you. And don’t leave any traces of mana. You’re a Constellation, so you can do it, right?”
The Constellation clenched her fists tightly.
And nodded her head.
Crack.
A refreshing magic circle appeared beneath her feet.
“Listen carefully, the coordinates of the place are…”

***

Meanwhile, at that time.
“Pion.”
There was another person in a panic.
“Pion, Pion is gone.”
“Han Sion! Get a grip!”
“Pion is gone…”
Tears streamed down from his golden eyes.
Han Sion’s body trembled.
He grabbed his head and didn’t move for a long time.
Even when Baek Jiye tried to pull him, he was unmovable.
Han Sion was in a state of panic, as if he was suffering from separation anxiety, and couldn’t hear anything.
He, one of the only two combat personnel, couldn’t be like this.
‘We’re in the middle of enemy territory!’
Baek Jiye was relatively fine.
She was a magician who had to prioritize rationality, and because of that, even though Pion was not visible right now, she predicted that he would be at Cheon Sanho’s house where they had just moved, and quickly calmed down.
But even when she told him that fact, Han Sion couldn’t calm down.
“Pion…”
Unable to watch any longer, Baek Jiye raised her hand.
SLAP-!
The sound of a slap echoed in the concrete hallway.
Since she was an S-rank physical type and a magic type, Baek Jiye’s hand smarted, but it was not without effect.
Han Sion looked at Baek Jiye with empty eyes.
“Get a grip!”
“But Pion is…”
“Pion will be at Cheon Sanho’s house. It’s safer there than here. We’re in the middle of enemy territory!”
“…”
“And we have a scenario that we have to prioritize over Pion!”
At those words, Han Sion’s eyes widened slightly.
Yes.
They have a scenario.

[NO.5 Find the Appraiser Again!]
The great Pion has worked hard to find a way to remove the ‘brand’. If you go to the appraiser again, you will be able to remove their brand.
Do the appraiser a favor and accept him as a guild member.
Success: Recruit a Companion
Failure: The Silent Calamity’s Disappointment
My light.
Our light.
The Constellation who pulled me out of the pit of my life.
His command.
I had to follow him and save Cheon Sanho.
Pion is important, but more important than that.
To carry out the command of our Constellation.
‘The Silent Calamity’.