Chapter 3 : Choosing a contractor

What are you asking? Of course, it’s a yes.
If I make the winner here my contractor, won’t I get a powerful coin-making machine? I immediately turned my view to the association.
The tournament hosted by the association was indeed full of formidable people.
Since it was impossible for an ordinary person to wear an Awakener’s equipment, they had to compete with pure physical ability.
I wondered what the magician-types would do, and it turned out they take a written test.
It was a bizarre system.
Anyway, a hand-to-hand combat match was going on, and soon, a person who looked ordinary at initial glance yet seemed to have worked out a lot took the victory.
That’s the one!
‘How do I make a contract?’

[You just need to send your will to contract!]
How do I send my will?
My question was brief, as a strange sensation was naturally added to my body.
Is this the will?
I pulled out the will like a thread and shot it at the winner.
And then…

[This is the tournament winner.]
[10,000 Coins are required to contract.]
[ERROR!]
[Insufficient Coins!]
[Contract offer has been canceled.]
‘What?’
What the hell?
It costs coins to make a contract?
And what?
Ten thouuusaaaaand?
‘I’ve never seen such crazy loan sharks.’

[T.T]
The system threw a tantrum, but I ignored it.
10,000 wasn’t some dog’s name, and even if it was, dogs are at least cute.
10,000 coins were not cute at all.
‘Can’t I reduce the coin consumption?’

[If you choose an ordinary person or a Scavenger who has entered gates for a long time but has not been chosen, the coin consumption will decrease!]
Oh. Scavenger.
I knew the word from searching the internet.
Scavengers were workers who collected Magic Stones from monsters after Awakeners beat them down.
It would be better to have a Scavenger who has been in and out of gates than a complete novice.
I turned my eyes to look for a suitable person, and in the process, I found out that the Sun’s Eye could also see inside gates, so I explored them as well.
‘A newbie?’
‘That one… no, his personality is a bit off.’
‘He doesn’t seem desperate enough. My contractor should grovel like a dog to earn me coins.’
‘What’s that? A pair of panties?’
After contemplating for three hours.
The system, which had been quiet for a while, started sending notifications after two hours, saying [When are you going to choose?], and when I ignored , it began to throw a little fit.

[Excuse me?]
[Are you going to abandon this poor system just like this?]
[Even though I’m a cute system just for you?]
[So mean!]
I completely ignored it.
Then the system, which had quieted down a bit, shoved a bright red window in front of my eyes.

[A burning time event just for you!]
‘What a stupid burning time event.’
As soon as I thought that.
KWWAAAAAANG———!!
One of the walls of my house collapsed.

Han Sion. 27 years old. Male.
He wanted to become an Awakener so badly that he jumped into being a Scavenger right after graduating high school.
The Awakener Association’s tournament was too expensive for an orphan with no parents to participate in.
He had no choice but to become a Scavenger, join a small-to-medium-sized guild, and spend his days collecting Magic Stones, only his butchering skills improving day by day.
Sometimes, when he had saved up enough money as a Scavenger, he would participate in the tournament, but he failed every time.
After being eliminated in the minimum requirement of the round of 64 every time, he would drink, and sometimes miss his dead family.
That was Han Sion’s day.
But it seemed like that routine would end today.
“What is this?”
Today was the day he was participating in a B-rank Gate.
The colors of the gates varied, from a stabilized blue, to green where a few monsters appeared, to red where a Gate Break would occur immediately.
The gate he was about to enter was a yellow-status gate, moderately filled with monsters.
But an anomaly occurred.
“Uh, uh?”
The surrounding Awakeners’ bewildered cries were brief.
Some of them stepped back, glanced around, and then started to abandon their comrades and run away.
“Hey!”
An association staff member in charge of the gate tried to stop them, but it was not enough to hold back B-rank or higher Awakeners.
The situation became chaotic in an instant.
Han Sion, who was preparing, looked at the gate with a puzzled expression and then realized the reason.
The gate was orange.
And not only that, it was getting redder and redder.
‘There’s no way monsters would spawn this rapidly in a gate!’
People were thrown into a panic by the unprecedented situation.
The public official from the association urgently reported to his superior, and among the Awakeners gathered to conquer the gate, more and more people started to flee.
This was because monsters that appeared from a Gate Break were 1.5 times stronger.
It was impossible with this number of people.
Han Sion forced his stiff legs to move and tried to run away just like them.
It was then that the gate turned completely red.
KWWAAANG!
“KIEEEEEEEEK——!”
An explosion erupted from the gate, blowing away the surroundings, and monsters began to pour out.
Some people were sent flying into walls, some were thrown to the ground, and a few ordinary people were killed instantly.
Everyone was in bad shape.
“Kyaaak!”
“The gate has gone berserk!”
“Report it, report… Uwaaak!”
The surroundings turned into hell in an instant.
Alligator-type monsters chewed and swallowed people.
Since it was a well-managed gate, there were a few shops around, so the foot traffic wasn’t bad… but all those people walking around began to be torn apart by teeth and claws.
“Ugh…”
Han Sion was lucky enough to be thrown to a side with no debris or buildings, so his injuries were minor.
Gathering whatever courage he had left, he tried to run away again.
“Grrrrrrr…”
But he shouldn’t have.
As he lifted his head, blood streaming down, his gaze fell upon a huge, red monster looking down at him.
At the murderous eyes, he reflexively grabbed his butchering dagger.
He felt it instinctively.
He couldn’t escape.
Then?
‘I have to fight to live!’
Indeed, fighting was the right thing to do.
Since Constellations were interested in ordinary people who overcame adversity, this was also a chance to be chosen by a Constellation.
But even without that calculation, he had to raise his sword to live.
‘That monster has no intention of letting me live, and I don’t have the ability to escape, so…’
So he had to fight.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah—!”
He grabbed his dagger and charged forward. His courage lasted a few moments as the monster’s thick tail whipped him off, and he crashed through the wall of a building.
It was a serious injury, a miracle that he was still alive.

I was first terrified by the sight of my sweet home being smashed to pieces, and second, by the monster I saw beyond the wall.
But what terrified me even more was the fear that I might show myself to a person.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just thinking about it made my heart pound.
Cold sweat trickled down.
It was then.
The system appeared like a savior.

[Emergency! Emergency!]
[An abnormal reaction has been detected in the Constellation’s incarnation!]
[Don’t you want to be seen by humans?]
[Don’t worry! The management system has everything!]
[Switch to Minimal Mode?]
[YES/NO]
‘Yes! Yes!!!’
Fortunately, the person who had just broken through the wall didn’t seem to have noticed me yet.
No, before that, is that person even alive?
Who I had assumed was an Awakener was in a state like a half-dead corpse.
Did he… even notice me?
My question was brief.
The view, after I switched to minimal mode, turned white and then returned.
Don’t tell me this thing also has a bright light that draws a lot of attention, does it?
As soon as I thought that, my eyes met with the monster’s.
Uh…
‘I guess… I got its attention.’
A dead silence fell.
‘…….’
“…….”
Um…
‘Hey, System.’

[Yes!]
‘Am I marked?’

[Lv.56 Alligator King has marked the Silent Calamity!]
Are you for real?
“KWWAAAAAAAH—!”
‘You said it was a burning time! You said it was a burning time, you son of a bi*ch!’
What burning time!
My life’s burning time?!
The Alligator King reached out its hand towards me, as I counted my last few moments.
I’m f*cked.
What do I do?

[Make a contractor!]
The system window sparkled.

[A talented, determined, handsome, and hardship-enduring talent is right in front of you!]
‘Where?!’

[Right in front of you!]
Don’t tell me it’s that half-corpse that just broke into my house?!
It was absurd, but this was no time to be picky.
KWANG!
A fist slammed right next to my head, creating a crater in the wall and sending fragments falling.
It was no ordinary force.
I had no choice.
‘Contract! I’ll make a contract! I’m making a contract!’

[Do you want to offer a contract to Han Sion?]
‘Yes! Yes! Please!’

[100 Coins will be consumed for the contract.]
It was the exact limit.
The regret of whether this was right, on top of being broke, washed over me, but it was a choice I couldn’t help but make.
I saw a huge fist flying at me right now, what was I supposed to do!
“KUOOOOOH….”
KWANG! KWAAANG!
Lee Seonbaek (former Magic Tower Head, current Constellation) thought as she dodged the roaring monster’s punches with divine skill.
Hey ! Contractor of mine, hurry, get up and save me !!