Chapter 61. Aftermath of the Battle (1)
With my current abilities, taking responsibility for the entire Hwaseong Sect would be difficult.
I had actually thought about leaving the Hwaseong Sect to Jason quite early on.
Once Han Sewon's faction was driven out, there was a high chance the Hwaseong Sect would no longer be able to receive Shi Jin's support.
To solve that problem, another Constellation had to replace Shi Jin.
However, handling the entire Hwaseong Sect with my current ability would be too much of a burden.
The Hwaseong Sect was a fairly large organization.
If someone as inexperienced as me took responsibility for all of them, I would probably have far too many things to worry about.
Then I might end up neglecting other matters.
For now, I plan to operate with Kang Yujin's group as a small elite team.
That was why I decided to leave the Hwaseong Sect to Jason.
Jason was already contracted with a large number of Contractors and provided all of them with standardized support.
He was the perfect person to take over Shi Jin's role of supporting the Hwaseong Sect.
Normally, a B-rank Constellation could not interfere with a Contractor already contracted with an A-rank Constellation.
However, Jason possessed a Constellation Skill that allowed him to terminate contracts with A-rank or S-rank Constellations and form new contracts himself.
That meant there was no problem with him re-contracting the Hwaseong Sect Contractors who had previously been contracted with Shi Jin.
Jason and I are already in the same boat.
At the moment, Jason and I were allies.
We had also agreed to continue cooperating closely in the future.
Of course, I still had to consider the possibility that Jason might betray me someday.
But even taking that risk into account, leaving the Hwaseong Sect to him was still more beneficial for me.
From my perspective, I'm basically dumping the responsibility on Jason.
Just as I thought that...
Another communication window opened.
"Hey, Brother. Everything's finished on my end."
It was Li Kui.
Earlier, he had descended to Earth, borrowed Lee Sion's body, and helped Kang Yujin.
"You met Shi Jin?"
"Yeah."
"What happened?"
"He's asleep."
Li Kui's expression became slightly serious.
"He won't wake up for quite a while."
That was close to what I expected.
The Count had previously told me that if I used [Avatar Descent] and suffered damage while descended, the damage would also affect my true Constellation body.
So I assumed Shi Jin, who had used the similar Constellation Skill [Demonic Star Descent], would also suffer damage to his true body.
Good thing I already arranged for Jason to take over the Hwaseong Sect.
With this...
The Hwaseong Sect Contractors had little choice but to re-contract with Jason.
They could no longer expect Shi Jin to support them.
"But..."
Li Kui sighed.
"It left a bad taste in my mouth."
"A bad taste?"
"Yeah."
Li Kui scratched his head.
"It sounds strange coming from me since I was fighting against him, but..."
"I felt sorry for him."
"I also understand why he ended up doing all this."
Li Kui sighed again.
"That bastard really..."
"If Song Jiang Hyung had been around, I don't think Shi Jin would've ended up like this."
"..."
"Then again..."
Li Kui laughed bitterly.
"If Song Jiang Hyung were here, I probably wouldn't be living like this either."
Song Jiang, the leader of Liangshan, had not become a Constellation.
His absence seemed to have had a major effect on the Constellations originating from Liangshan.
Li Kui had also said before that he had no motivation because Song Jiang wasn't around.
In a way...
That could be considered one of the root causes of this entire incident.
People who existed in the Material Realm cannot become Constellations...
What a strange rule.
Honestly, it didn't make much sense to me.
Why couldn't people who had genuinely existed in the Material Realm become Constellations?
Only people who existed solely in the Fantasy Realm can become Constellations.
In other words, people who never actually existed in the history of the Material Realm and only appeared in stories.
Why does that happen?
I had investigated the subject in many places while I was alive.
I had never found an answer.
And that hadn't changed even after becoming a Constellation.
It felt like there was some enormous secret hidden behind it.
Meanwhile, I was a person from the Material Realm...
And yet I became a Constellation.
I really don't understand what's going on.
That was the biggest reason this issue continued bothering me.
I had come from the Material Realm.
The fact that I had become a Constellation without any great achievements was already strange enough.
But the fact that I seemed to be the only Constellation originating from the Material Realm bothered me even more.
"Anyway, Brother."
Li Kui called out to me while I was lost in thought.
"Thanks for wrapping everything up properly."
"I had fun too."
"I usually just stay as an observer, but occasionally interfering directly like this is pretty entertaining."
"I'm the one who should thank you."
I answered honestly.
"If you hadn't helped, Kang Yujin would've gone down there."
"Hahaha!"
Li Kui laughed loudly.
"If I hadn't helped, you would've prepared something else, wouldn't you?"
He grinned.
"Lee Sion will stay with the Hwaseong Sect anyway."
"So if you ever need my help again, just say the word."
"All right."
"I'll be counting on you from now on too."
"And even if you don't need help..."
Li Kui laughed.
"Call me if something interesting happens!"
Through this incident...
I had gained the B-rank Constellation "Murderer with Two Axes," Li Kui, as an ally.
He couldn't influence public opinion in the Spirit Realm the way Jason could.
However, through the Constellation Skill [Demonic Star Descent], he had the advantage of being able to interfere directly on Earth.
Maintaining a good relationship with him would definitely be useful in the future.
Especially because I want to keep my [Avatar Descent] hidden from other Constellations as much as possible.
Either way...
Kang Yujin's group's battle over the Hwaseong Sect was now over.
From this point onward...
It was time for me to show what I could do as a Constellation.
Because I had to turn Kang Yujin's group into stars of the Capital Region's Contractor society.
The Constellations' reaction to the recent battle was explosive.
"General, I think there were quite a few Constellations watching this time that we usually don't see."
"Indeed."
"It appears we received many new viewers."
"Why do you think that happened?"
"Kang Yujin's group has received considerable attention through Constellation Tube."
"But there are also many Constellations who have no interest in Constellation Tube at all."
"That's true."
"And until now, Kang Yujin has been active in the central-western region of Korea."
"A remote place among remote places."
"So Constellations who don't watch Constellation Tube rarely had a chance to see him."
"Ah."
"So that's why there were so many new viewers this time!"
"Exactly."
"The Capital Region is the area of Korea that receives the most attention."
"Among Constellations who normally pay attention to Korea, I would guess that half only check incidents occurring in the Capital Region."
"So many Constellations who never knew about Kang Yujin's group finally saw them."
"Now I understand."
"Defeating Nine-Tattooed Dragon Shi Jin..."
"Kang Yujin really is incredible."
"Is it really that surprising?"
"He already defeated Jason before."
"What an ignorant thing to say."
"Jason isn't a particularly strong combatant."
"He's bad at fighting."
"But Nine-Tattooed Dragon Shi Jin was famous for his martial arts."
"I heard he suffered a fair number of humiliations while alive, though."
"You can't ignore the fact that he's an A-rank Constellation."
"That alone raises his basic specifications considerably."
"Wait."
"Wasn't he borrowing the body of Han Sewon?"
"Would his Constellation-level specifications still affect him?"
"Who knows."
"Either way, he must've been weaker than his true Constellation body."
"I wonder how that compares to Shi Jin when he was alive."
"Even taking all of that into account, it's impressive."
"Kang Yujin defeated a Constellation."
"But Kang Yujin didn't beat him alone."
"Right."
"Black Whirlwind Li Kui helped him."
"Even taking that into account, it's still impressive."
"Li Kui only created one opening."
"Exactly."
"The Contractor Li Kui possessed was already injured too."
"He probably couldn't even use his full strength."
"Kang Yujin still did most of the work."
"But Li Kui still helped."
"Give me a break."
"Do you think your Contractor could defeat Shi Jin just because someone created one opening?"
"Why are you bringing my Contractor into this?"
"You're ridiculous."
"I'm saying Kang Yujin was that impressive."
"Enough fighting."
"Jason just uploaded a new video."
"Let's go watch that instead."
"What?!"
"Why didn't you say that sooner?!"
"Your Excellency."
"It appears Jason has taken control of the Hwaseong Sect."
"Yes."
"He is publicly promoting that fact through Constellation Tube."
