Chapter 2 : A Strange Yet Romantic Return Report (2)

In 2045, Gates opened in the world.
From the first Gate that appeared in Russia, never-before-seen monsters poured out, and the military, dispatched urgently, mobilized all its weapons.
It took hundreds of bullets to kill just one monster.
While killing one took an eternity, hundreds poured out from the Gate.
The world paid attention to the unprecedented situation in Russia, but that wasn’t the only Gate that opened.
In the blink of an eye, many people died.
Gates appeared suddenly anywhere in the world, sparing neither cities nor countryside.
The monsters’ teeth and claws also did not discriminate.
Adults, children, the elderly, men, women, everyone died.
Since the first Gate incident, half of the world’s population has been annihilated.
Then, a ray of light appeared for the people who were wailing that it was the end of the world.
It was the emergence of ‘Awakeners’.
Awakeners were beings who contracted with entities called ‘Constellations’ and received power from them; they used this power to save the world from the monsters’ dens.
There was also news that thrilled the public: the discovery that a stone called a ‘Magic Stone,’ extracted from the heart of a monster, contained enough energy to replace electricity.
The fight for survival against monsters devolved into a battle filled with the desire to make money, but ironically, this resulted in driving out the monsters more quickly.
Decades have passed since then, and the world now officially recognizes and spares no support for Awakeners, and civilization has returned to a state no different from before the Gates appeared.
…This was the current state of the world I found on my phone.
There were more than a few things to take issue with.
First of all.
‘Why am I a Constellation?’
A Constellation!
An unknown being of immense power, who contracts with talented humans, sponsors them with ‘Coins’, grants them enormous abilities according to their own power, and whose guilds, established in their names, enjoy all sorts of authority… that being!
Why!
Is it me!

[We inform the Constellation, Silent Calamity, that the rank you have accumulated was too vast to be incorporated into the world as an Awakener.]
The blue window blinked, changing its text as if in reply.
Incorporated?
No, putting that aside.
‘I’ve never accumulated any rank.’

[As a result of reading your soul’s memories, all the achievements you built as the ‘White Magic Tower Head’ have been converted into rank. These are achievements unattainable by a human.]
Sure, when I was the Magic Tower Head, I did split the sky and walk on the sea a bit, but are you serious?
Just for that?
I was dumbfounded.
‘Then why is my mouth blocked?’
I had just resolved to finally open my mouth and live confidently right before I died, but now I’m back on Earth and can’t speak.
The system window squirmed as if embarrassed.

[The Constellation, Silent Calamity, cannot control your own abilities, so a ‘Beginner’s Restriction’ has been placed by the Administrator. You cannot use your authority or speak until the restriction is lifted.]
‘What is my authority that you have to restrict my speech?’

[It is an authority generally classified as ‘Word of Power’. Whatever you say comes true. Do you want to kill someone? Do you want to restore a collapsed building? Do you want to control something? Just say the word! If you say it, it will happen!]
‘But you’ve made it so I can’t speak right now.’

[Yes, that’s right!]
This son of a bich!
Having died once, I had nothing left to fear, so I grabbed the system window and beat it up.

It was twenty minutes later that I, after wrestling with the translucent window for a while, finally calmed down.
‘So, how should I live from now on?’
‘I’ never wished to become something like a Constellation.
If I were an Awakener, that would be a different story.
I had the experience I’d built up as the Magic Tower Head, and my abilities wouldn’t just disappear, so I would have welcomed being an Awakener.
Because they make a lot of money.
The ‘White Magic Tower Head’ was terrible at administrative work, but her magic skills were real!
‘But a Constellation!’
I didn’t know the first thing about Constellations.
I’d read a bit about Awakeners in novels, but stories about Constellations weren’t my taste.
So all I knew was that some protagonist with a Constellation like an hourglass regressed.
That’s not it?
Whatever.
First, I wasn’t an hourglass Constellation, and I didn’t have my own regressor.
Just then, the system window blinked.

[A burning time event just for you!]
‘What?’
My confusion was brief, as a long quest window, not a short message, appeared before my eyes.

[NO.1 Let’s Make a Contractor!]
You, a rookie Constellation! Are you at a loss as to how to live from now on?
It’s okay! The world is all about capitalism! Coin-ism! All you have to do is create a contractor and assign them a scenario! A portion of the contractor’s achievements will be converted into Coins to help you live a comfortable life as a Constellation!
It would be best to choose someone with the highest possible potential, right?
Completion Condition: Contract with 1 uncontracted human
Failure Penalty: ‘Title’ Beggar Constellation

The system window blinked as if winking.
I had to ask again.
‘Can I live with just Coins? Isn’t cash the standard in the world?’

[Nope! The world is in the Great—Coin Era! Coins can also be exchanged for cash!]
It blinked again, this time displaying a graph showing the coin exchange rate.
My eyes nearly popped out.
‘1 Coin for 100,000 won?!’
If this wasn’t some bullsh*t like 0.2 coins like some weird cryptocurrency, then this was a huge gain.
‘What are my current Coins?’

[The basic coin amount is 100 Coins!]
Ten million won!
This is crazy!
At this point, I fell into a dilemma.
Do I invest in an Awakener—that is, contract with a normal person to make them an Awakener—and increase my Coins?
Or do I exchange all these Coins for cash?
It’s ridiculous that I, a Constellation, am having such worries, but I was both a Constellation and a person.
No matter how much I wore the Constellation tag and had a non-human appearance, I was still a person who needed to eat and have a home.

[Of course, other Constellations live in the starry sky, a life where they don’t need cash.]
‘I’m jealous, but that’s not my story, so I’ll ignore it. How do I make a contract?’

[Please wait a moment!]
I made a decision.
Instead of cashing out these Coins right away, I decided to find a contractor.
There was the long-term perspective, but my current appearance was the problem.
With white hair and such unique pupils, where could I possibly go?
I would draw attention everywhere I went.
The mere thought of receiving everyone’s gazes gave me goosebumps and made it hard to breathe.
I would never go outside.
Never!
‘I should just watch a contractor and earn coins like those voyeuristic Constellations from novels.’
And live a comfortable life.
Just then, with a “ping” sound effect, the system window reappeared.

[Confirmation complete!]
[The Constellation, Silent Calamity, is the owner of the ‘Sun’s Eye’!]
‘I asked how to make a contract, and suddenly… What is the Sun’s Eye?’
Don’t tell me it’s called the Sun’s Eye because of the sun in my eye that’s still moving subtly when I look in the mirror?
I tilted my head before facing the system.

[‘Sun’s Eye’ is an eye possessed only by a very small number of Constellations, allowing you to look down upon the world at will without the system’s broadcast.]
[When using the Sun’s Eye, you do not have to pay a broadcast fee to the system.]
[When using the Sun’s Eye, you cannot use the convenience features provided by the system.]
I set everything else aside and let out a sigh of relief at the words ‘broadcast fee’.
‘Saved some money.’
I don’t know how much the broadcast fee is, but even 1 Coin is precious to me.
In that sense, the system’s broadcast, which could take who knows how many coins, was not an option for me.
I immediately used the Sun’s Eye.
For some reason, I could use it as freely as if it were my original body.
My vision changed in an instant.
As soon as I used it, I began to see myself as if from a third-person perspective.
‘This is the Sun’s Eye?’
Oh, this is nice.
I fumbled with the controls a bit, but soon my vision left the room and headed for the city streets.
I took in all sorts of places in Seoul, and what was surprising was that there were many people with colorful hair.
The system said they were Awakeners whose appearance had changed under the influence of a Constellation.
Still, no one had white hair or unique pupils like mine.
Seeing the colorful hair, I had a brief flicker of hope about walking around outside, but then I cursed these pupils and neatly folded that hope away again.
I was people-watching and city-gazing at the same time.
As I was doing so, a rather unusual building caught my eye.
‘What’s that?’
It was a circular building that looked like a colosseum.
It had a bizarre look, mixed with modern design, and stood out from anywhere.
At the main gate, I saw a stone monument that read

<Awakener Association>.

[The Awakener Association building is where Awakeners are registered, or where ordinary people who want to become Awakeners pay a hefty participation fee to compete in a tournament to show off their skills. The latter case is often observed by the Constellations of the starry sky!]
[A tournament is happening right now! Would you like to go watch?]