Chapter 37: From Here On, This Is the Wargod’s Domain (3)

These days, it’s better to meet the right Constellation than the right parents.

But Incarnations who have contracted with Constellations all say the same thing, there’s the inconvenience of “privacy invasion.” If you asked Hunters across the Republic of Korea about it…

Q. “Do Constellations invade your privacy a lot?”

A1. “Uh… I’m not sure. The angel doesn’t really do that. Even if he sees something, I think he pretends he didn’t. In the first place, we can’t choose what side of us to show a Constellation. So I think the Constellation’s consideration matters.” (Age 23 / Incarnation, S guild)

A2. “Ugh, I don’t know! I try to rest for a second and His Majesty, I mean the Constellation, starts nagging… Ow!!” (He clutches his head like he got a flick and grumbles.) “You saw that, right?! He does this to me! This Constellation!” (Age 20 / Incarnation, B guild)

A3. “Oh my, well, I’m not sure about that. Constellations choose Incarnations because they want benefits too. We’re a give and take relationship. If an Incarnation isn’t helpful, no matter how good the Constellation is, they’ll get dropped fast. It’s only natural for a Constellation to keep tabs on an Incarnation’s state, isn’t it?” (Age undisclosed / Incarnation, B guild)

And here is Shin Bitnari’s answer, world rank one.

“I don’t know. At first it was crap, but now I just use him like a period tracking app.”

Since the Lord of Chaos knows Nari’s body and mental state better than Nari does, he’s more accurate than any app.

At first, Nari hated it with every fiber of her being, but once she changed her mindset and used it, it was so convenient that now…

[You really ought to thank me, says the Lord of Chaos, shaking his head.]

“Yeah.”

[Do you know how obsequious I had to be to the Queen to get this for you? Seriously, Nari, who uses a Constellation like this. In our mythology I’m practically a symbol, and yet—]

“Yeah. I’m seriously on edge right now, so don’t talk to me.”

Whoosh, Lude dismissed the black indirect message without even reading all of it.

It had been exactly two days since the tension and anxiety began to creep up and since the entire world started to get on her nerves. Ever since she started taking that bizarre medicine.

[Nari, are you going to keep ignoring me?! Grumbles the Lord of Chaos.]

“Okay, okay.”

Clack. Lude pulled a pitch black pill bottle from his pocket and rolled it in his palm a few times, then let out a long sigh.

After he realized her period was due, the Lord of Chaos told her to wait a bit, then came back with the medicine from somewhere.

[I’ll repeat this once more. You should’ve started a week in advance, but we didn’t have time, so I asked the Queen and got it. Once a day in the evening. You won’t menstruate while you’re taking it. But your hormones will run wild, so be careful about mood swings, explains the Lord of Chaos at length.]

“What’s in it? Can I trust something your side’s Constellations hand out?”

Lude eyed the white tablets inside the unmarked black bottle with deep suspicion.

A brief silence stretched, and his brow twitched.

“…You won’t tell me?”

An indirect message popped up.

[Option A: stash used pads from Wargod without throwing them away by storing them in your inventory, with a very high chance of getting caught in an inventory check, or Option B: take the medicine from the Constellation who’s cherished Nari for years. Choose, says the Lord of Chaos, demanding an answer.]

“Okay, B.”

There was no way Lude was going to store used pads in his inventory. He shoved the bottle deep into his coat pocket and looked around.

Beyond a barbed wire fence that bore a grim sign reading “Danger Zone, Authorized Personnel Only,” Hunters with Wargod’s logo stared at him.

Beyond that fence lay the northern region. A public enterprise guild guarding a land no longer fit for human life, a land flooded with gates. The atmosphere was drier and more brutal than he’d expected.

“Lude! You’re early.”

“Ah, hey.”

At the familiar voice behind him, he turned. Kang Ihyun was dragging a rolling suitcase toward him.

“What’s with the suitcase? They said not to bring personal items.”

“Oh, this is um… a strategy for dealing with Wargod’s real powers?”

“Huh?”

Clack, Ihyun stopped the trunk, shrugged, and grinned.

“We’re going beyond the fence. ‘Thanks for your help.’ A little bribe, you know?”

“Isn’t anything over thirty thousand won a public service violation or something?”

“They still take it through backchannels. Ah, here they come.”

While Lude blinked at the trunk, a rattling sound approached.

A jeep with Wargod’s emblem rolled up on the far side of the fence.

The Hunters guarding the gate stepped to the machine in front of the vehicle and started manipulating it.

As Lude watched them chatter on their radios, Ihyun squeezed his wrist.

“Lude. You need to be careful. You handled everything I told you to, right?”

“Yeah. But is it really that serious?”

Yesterday, Ihyun had warned him, “Wargod will absolutely want Lude’s information, that’s why they’ll try to take you up there alone,” and had given him several instructions. Lude nodded lightly.

Ihyun’s grip tightened. Beep, beep, a few tones sounded, and the fence gate slowly began to open. The black jeep rumbled closer.

“My aunt only attached me to you so I could make sure Lude’s information leaks as little as possible. In Wargod, don’t talk much. Don’t have long conversations with anyone. I’ll speak for you. I don’t waste words either.”

Right, “maxed out social skill passive.” Lude lifted his head and looked up at Ihyun.

For the first time, he saw tension on his partner’s face.

“Wargod is… a real fox’s den.”

The black jeep with heavily tinted front glass rolled to a slow stop nearby. On its center, Wargod’s mark, two crossed pairs of guns over a shield.

Lude suddenly thought the headlights looked like fierce eyes, and the emblem like a third eye.

While he frowned at the sensation of that third eye staring straight through him, the driver’s door swung open.

“Well now, rank one and rank two, thank you for coming all this way~”

A smooth, playful male voice drifted out along with a long leg from the vehicle.

Out stepped a lean man in sunglasses, with long black hair tied in a high bun.

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Lee Jisung from Wargod, assigned to escort you. We may look like soldiers, but we’re more like quasi civil servants contracted on a military concept, so feel free to relax. I won’t use stiff forms with you either.”

He beamed at them, but beneath the amiable expression Lude felt steel and stubborn grit.

Lude knew at once who the “real power in Wargod” Ihyun had mentioned was.

Lee Jisung kept smiling as he studied Lude. After a long assessing look, he spoke in a light tone.

“My, it must’ve taken a lot to pry your heavy backside loose. Rank one.”

“…”

“Almost no Hunters come inside this fence. I suppose for you, it’s cheaper to volunteer up here than to keep training inside your guild.”

His tone was playful, but the barbs underneath were sharp. He was not like Min Jaewon.

When Lude didn’t answer, his dry gaze shifted to Ihyun. He noticed the trunk and grinned again.

“White Night’s guildmaster. Baek Jangmi, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Of course. The Crown Prince of Korea has connections to spare. Since you reeled in rank one, Sujin must be grinning ear to ear. That’s why the gifts came, not from Sanctuary, but from White Night. Hand it over~ I should accept the courtesy.”

When Ihyun passed him the trunk, Lee Jisung flipped it open and burst out laughing.

Lude glanced inside. There were all kinds of liquor and snacks, along with a game console.

“My boys will love it. Baek Jangmi really went all out, huh? Anyway.”

He tucked a loose lock behind his ear and straightened. Then he slowly took off his sunglasses.

A fierce gaze bore down on them. His tone went flat in an instant.

“We begin body search. Open your inventories. In honor of Baek Jangmi’s courtesy, I’ll overlook one suspicious item, if it’s in a single suitcase.”

[You have received a request from Awakener “Lee Jisung” to temporarily share a personal trait.

Shared trait, Identify Work Materials (passive)

Share duration, 30 minutes

Do you accept?]

[Y/N]

“Ah, this…!”

Lude hit Y with a quick glance at Ihyun, then flinched and stepped back.

His inventory had popped open on its own. He tried to close it on reflex, but Ihyun caught his wrist again.

With a sigh, Lude stopped resisting. He could feel Lee Jisung’s attention skimming through the contents one by one. One of Ihyun’s strict warnings before they came to Wargod.

‘Never put important items in your inventory. Hide them on your body.’

So, aside from the gold shears and the black shears, he’d stashed every personal item deep in his apartment. Of course, the pill bottle from the Lord of Chaos was jammed into his coat pocket.

“…Clean enough. No dangerous items~ No prohibited imports~”

After a long search, Lee Jisung shrugged and withdrew the shared trait.

Even though there was truly nothing to feel guilty about, Lude’s heart, rattled by the man’s aura, finally loosened.

Sunglasses back on, Lee Jisung looked at Lude again.

“But… isn’t it a little too clean? I’ve never seen a Hunter come with nothing but weapons in the inventory, not even spare clothes.”

“They said Wargod would provide everything. We brought only our bodies.”

Before Lude could answer the newly sharpened tone, Ihyun smiled and fielded it smoothly.

For a moment Lee Jisung’s expression froze, then he smiled again and opened the back door.

“Fine. Get in for now. Ah, and you there, rank one?”

Carefully setting the trunk on the back seat, he turned, lowered his sunglasses just a touch.

A strand of hair slid down. Those cutting eyes stared straight at Lude.

“The pill bottle in your coat pocket.”

“…!”

Lude jerked and stared at him. At the reaction he couldn’t hide, Ihyun quietly clenched and unclenched a fist.

One foot braced on the driver’s step again, Lee Jisung pushed his sunglasses up.

“That’s your ‘one suitcase.’ I don’t know what it is, but if you don’t want it lab tested, don’t let anyone else see it. I can’t cover for you beyond that.”

He dropped into the driver’s seat with a thump and turned the key.

The jeep rattled to life. He rolled down the window and pointed a finger toward the back seat.

“Get in. We’re moving. Northbound.”

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