Chapter 2: Chapter 2

“While you don’t have a girlfriend anymore, I still do. And I also have a family to feed. Honestly, being a hunter probably sounds appealing, but aren’t we really no different from a fly that doesn’t know when it’ll die? I’m worried about who’ll be responsible for my family if I die in a dungeon. We don’t even have insurance.”

The other members nodded in agreement with the clan leader.

He was right.

The hunters were seen as brave people that dared risk their lives to attack uncharted dungeons. In truth, however, hunters cared about their lives more than anyone else. No matter how much money and glamor they had, it would all be meaningless if they died.

“Get another girlfriend, Yeonseung. Don’t just focus on work.”

“I prefer training...”

“Hey! Listen to your hyung! Take him away!”

The clan members grabbed Choi Yeonseung’s arms and dragged him away.

Choi Yeonseung was the one who trained the most within the clan.

Eat, sleep, train, eat, sleep, train!

While the other hunters played and rested?upon getting paid, Choi Yeonseung was so focused on his training that he became ascetic. Thanks to that, he managed to reach?C+ grade, but…

B-grade wasn’t easy to attain. In terms of magic, B-grade would be in the same league as using 5th-circle magic. 5th circle magic and higher had enough power to?eliminate?monsters over a large area.

It was like a dream for Choi Yeonseung, who still had to fight every monster with all his might.

***

Constellations were beings with god-like abilities and personalities. They appeared when the gates opened and dungeons were created.

Some lucky hunters had the honor of hearing their voices, receiving their revelations, and contracting with them. There was a rumor that one of the hunters achieved the great feat of meeting a constellation in person, but that hadn’t been confirmed yet.

Aside from their names, which they were famous for, there was no other information about the constellations. The only way to know more about them was to enter a contract with one. However, that was harder than winning the lottery, considering they could only pray for one to speak to them.

That was why Choi Yeonseung never thought he’d be able to enter into a contract with a constellation during his days as a hunter. It was better to practice martial arts than to have such fanciful dreams. Much to his surprise, however, he one day received a revelation from a constellation in his dream.

-Choi Yeonseung-ssi. I am the ‘Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead.’

-!!!!

-I know you’re surprised, but we don’t have that long. Let me be upfront. I want you to enter into a contract with me.

-Okay.

-That’s a perfectly normal reaction. Anyone is bound to have questions during their first encounter with a constellation—wait a minute. Did you just agree?

-Yes!

-No... Uh... Aren’t you going to ask why?

-Won’t I gain power if I sign a contract with you?

-T-That is true.

-Then that is all the reason I need.

The goddess was taken aback. Who was this human? The goddess coughed once and began to give an explanation anyway. She had prepared it in advance out of fear he’d question her reasons.

-You are aware of my title, aren’t you? Accordingly, one of my powers is the ability to predict the future.

-I think I’ve heard of it.

-In a few years, Earth will be in great danger.

-You mean more monsters and dungeons?

Rather than answering him, the constellation showed a vision—a terrible one.

Monsters they had never seen before poured out from the gate, and the dungeons left uncleared all over Earth ripped apart, letting even more monsters leak out from them. Among these monsters were household members sent by evil?god?constellations with wicked intentions.

The vision essentially showed Earth being destroyed.

-... What is this?

-It is the future that will soon fall upon Earth. The Abyss doesn’t just have?good and neutral?constellations. It also houses evil gods that want to prey on the souls on Earth. They’re just looking for a chance to get to Earth through the gates.

-......

This shocking?revelation?left Choi Yeonseung speechless. For so long, he had only ever had to think about himself. Yet in a quick turn of events, he had just witnessed the world’s end.

-The reason why I picked you is to prevent this future. I received a prophecy that I could stop this future through you.

-Me?

-Yes. To be more precise, it tells me to make you stronger.

Choi Yeonseung couldn’t understand what she meant. How could he stop this huge crisis?

-I mentioned earlier that you can get power from signing a contract, did I not? However, obtaining that power isn’t easy. I’m going to train you to become stronger. It will be a very difficult and painful process, and only when you’ve finished it will you become a member of my household.

The goddess was worried that Choi Yeonseung would refuse.

None of the other constellations had such a contract. After all, signing a contract with a constellation meant binding one’s soul to them. Hence, it was only natural to reject a contract if they wouldn’t gain anything from it. While other constellations shared their power just by entering into a contract with them, the goddess was telling him he had to train hard and become stronger first before he could sign a contract with her. Such a contract wouldn’t attract anyone.

However, there was one thing the goddess wasn’t aware of: Choi Yeonseung really loved training!

-What type of training?

-There is a training ground in the Abyss. That’s where you’ll be training endlessly. As you probably already know, time flows differently in the Abyss. You will be training alone for decades or even hundreds of years. And if you leave during the process, you won’t be able to return.

-Is it like that room in Dragon Ball?

-What is that?

-Forget I said anything.

Choi Yeonseung roughly understood what the goddess meant.

‘I get to grow stronger for free? This is a steal.’

Other people thought they would become several times stronger just by entering a contract with a constellation, but Choi Yeonseung didn’t really believe in that. To him, that just seemed like a really terrible story. On the contrary, he found it more plausible that he would have to train alone for decades or even centuries if he wanted to become stronger.

‘All the household members of other constellations have gone through this process.’

That wasn’t really the case, though. Other constellations’ household members just needed to sign the contract to become stronger. Why would anyone need training when they could just download power?

-I understand how concerning this is. I will give you a week to think about it and come up with an answer for me. However, please keep this to yourself. I don’t like my secrets being leaked.

-I’m not fearless enough to leak the secrets of a constellation. On another note... Do you have any other household members?

-No. Hence, asking other humans about my secrets is useless.

-I don’t intend to do that. I was just wondering if there was anyone else I was training with.

-There wouldn’t be, Choi Yeonseung-ssi. If you fail, however, then I’d have to find a new candidate at that time.

‘But I don’t know if anyone else will accept my proposal...’ The goddess thought. No matter how she looked at it, Choi Yeonseung was a bit strange.

‘You’re going to be trapped for hundreds of years and train alone!’ If she said that, any human would likely reply, ‘Thank you, but I'd rather not do this on my own!’ before coldly refusing.

However, Choi Yeonseung was different. He nonchalantly agreed in an instant!

-I’ll do it.

-Really? You can think about it a bit more... I don’t think this is a decision you can make lightly...

-I don’t see why I should waste more time thinking about it, considering I can’t ask anyone about it anyway. I’ll just leave a letter. For as long as I can become stronger, I won't regret leaving this life behind.

Choi Yeonseung was desperate for strength. He didn’t want money or honor. He just liked being strong. He’d been that way ever since he was a child. Hearing he could become stronger aroused Choi Yeonseung’s greed. And as a bonus, he could even prevent the world’s end for humanity’s sake. He wasn’t sure how he could stop it just by training, but...

-Fortunately, my foresight is right this time.

-Wait, why does that sound like you’ve been wrong before—

-I will send you to the training ground in the Abyss. Train there until the time comes. When it does, I’ll contact you and make you my household member.

-Thank you.

Using a powerful magic in exchange for an enormous amount of magic power, the Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead created a gate and sent Choi Yeonseung to the Abyss.

‘I’ve found the right person,’?the Goddess of Balance thought to herself.

Having heard that most humans on Earth were greedy and cunning, she grew worried he’d turn down this offer. However, Choi Yeonseung accepted it without even thinking about it. He was worthy of becoming her household member! His personality was clearly the reason why the future chose him.

‘Pass this ordeal, Choi Yeonseung, and I will make you my household member.’

The Goddess of Balance saw the future through her blindfolded eyes. Her power wasn’t flawless, but the fragments of the future she saw everywhere caused her to be revered as a prophet. Peeking at the future was something even the constellations of the Abyss couldn’t easily do. According to the future she saw, she’d need to train Choi Yeonseung if she wanted him to thwart the invasion of the evil constellations.

‘If I can make such a strong human being my household member... Everything would be perfect.’

Stop the evil constellations and increase her own power.

The Goddess of Balance Who Walks Ahead admired her own plan.

‘Did she really see the future correctly this time?’ One of the angels next to the goddess wondered.

‘If she makes another mistake...’ Another angel thought.

The other constellations feared the Goddess of Balance due to her ability to see the future. However, she couldn't really see it properly. She just saw fragments of the future and predicted the rest! Since her predictions were based purely on her skills, the Goddess of Balance had already made countless mistakes.

The angels couldn’t help but be anxious.

***

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Barely regaining his senses, Hunter Choi Yeonseung stood up. The motion sickness from flying from Earth to the Abyss was no joke.

“Is this the Abyss?”

He could deduce from the sensation on his skin that this wasn’t Earth. The magic power density in the air was different, and the sky wasn’t blue. It was black and red. It was like being in a dungeon.

‘Scientists did say that the dungeons were fragments of the Abyss.’

Choi Yeonseung looked around but found nothing around him.

“? ?”

‘Uh, is this the training ground?’

Choi Yeonseung thought about it for about five minutes, then gave up on looking for his way. He took a stance and started practicing his punching technique.

If the angels saw him, they would’ve hit their chest and shouted, ‘No! Find the training ground, idiot!’

Choi Yeonseung moved rapidly along with the sound of breaking through the air. Choi Yeonseung’s skill was martial arts. It was an unusual choice, considering most hunters chose magic.

In fact, there wasn’t much of a reason behind it. He just found a martial art in the dungeon. No one was interested in it, so he obtained it. In addition, martial arts were cheap. Hunters who used magic had to put in a lot of effort to learn one spell or get their hands on an artifact that contained new magic.

The former took a long time to do and was unlikely to yield great results, and the latter was terribly expensive. The prices of 1st to 3rd-circle magic used by D and E-grade hunters already started from hundreds of millions of won, and 4th-circle magic was even more expensive. And the government managed them. In comparison, once he had mastered a martial art, he could continue using it without having to get new artifacts.

‘There is a limit to what I can do, but...’

While others teleported, created ice storms, or summoned monsters, he fought alone in front of the monsters as a physical tanker. Due to its obvious limitations, martial arts weren’t popular.

However, Choi Yeonseung didn’t care about that at all. It wasn’t that he believed in martial arts. Rather, he just wasn’t the type to regret his decisions. In addition, martial arts had one advantage. It was straightforward. The more he trained, the more achievements he got. This was a very good fit for someone like Choi Yeonseung.

“Huh?” Choi Yeonseung, who had been throwing punches for quite a while now, grew puzzled. He just saw something that looked like a storm descending from the dark red sky.

What was that?

‘Ah. Is this a trial prepared by the goddess?’

Choi Yeonseung took a stance. It seemed dangerous, but there had to be a reason why it was sent his way. After all, it was prepared by a constellation.

When the storm swept through his location, the magic power it contained shattered an illusory magic, revealing a white tower approximately 10 meters in height right in front of Choi Yeonseung. It was the training ground the goddess had prepared. It was complete with food, clothing, shelter, and even toys.

However, it was useless now. The storm had caused Choi Yeonseung to disappear without a trace!