Chapter 3
【Skill: Close Defeat Chain grants target (Aunt) persistent Misfortune (D+).】
【Target’s luck will drop for 6 months. Until the target sincerely reflects and apologizes to you, the misfortune will not disappear.】
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ adjusts their position in their chair: ‘Did you just lend her money to ruin her?’]
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ opens their mouth in shock: ‘…Are you a terrifying child?’]
“Well, I wonder.”
It wasn’t as if she had ever cared deeply about her aunt to that extent. Responding nonchalantly, Oh Ji-yoon spoke up.
“Can it be interpreted that way too?”
A passive skill triggers permanently the moment it’s acquired. Even canceling the skill relies on specific conditions rather than the user’s own will. Just as this system window had reminded her moments ago.
Was it right to question her intentions regarding an uncontrollable matter? Her aunt wasn’t someone who reflected on her actions, and the system had merely judged Oh Ji-yoon as being unfortunate. Deciding it was open to interpretation, Oh Ji-yoon snapped her fingers.
A signal asking them to focus.
“More importantly, I’d like to talk about the imprisonment.”
It wasn’t that she disliked her aunt. It was just that she hadn’t had the time to mess with her; given a bit more leeway, she would have tormented her directly.
However, she was busy.
Oh Ji-yoon turned up the TV volume. With a flick of her finger, the pile of blankets slid smoothly off her.
Her appearance, which had been pouting while wrapped tightly inside the blanket, instantly became sharp and neat.
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ nods: ‘Ah, work mode.’]
[Your Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ shouts: ‘Working! Ji-yoon is working!’ while standing on two feet.]
[Your Constellation chose a weasel as today’s avatar. Standing upright like a meerkat.]
“That’s right.”
Because it was time to work now. Oh Ji-yoon nodded while pulling down her sleeves. The well-tailored semi-suit tightly hugged her silhouette.
After a few blinks of her eyes, she looked completely like her professional work self.
[Anchor Kang Myeong-hwa │ “…Criticism regarding the negligence toward this ticking time bomb, capable of generating a super-large Fracture, is equally intense. At a press conference held at 9 AM today, the Ranker Support Headquarters released a statement maintaining that they place the public’s safety as their highest priority, though their current policy is to discuss her treatment through proper procedures.”]
‘Complete lack of safety awareness.’
Oh Ji-yoon clicked her tongue.
If the opponent is an owner of ‘Scenario Preview,’ you should lock them up even if it means severing their limbs. Even though she knew procedures were necessary.
“To be honest, a little delay doesn’t really matter, you know? Public opinion seems like it’ll keep worsening anyway.”
Frankly, an active ranker asking to be imprisoned because of a skill was certainly an unusual occurrence.
And it was true that public anger was needed.
However, with this much attention drawn, she had thought things would proceed easily…….
Oh Ji-yoon let out a sigh.
“You know, right? How much expectation I placed on the trash journalists and cyber-wreckers.”
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ nods: ‘Yeah. You were going around hunting down those wreckers.’]
[The Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ agrees: ‘You really tried hard to get cursed at.’]
Right. At first, she had gone out of her way to catch every single newtuber for interviews. She had answered reporters promptly too.
Yet what was the result?
“No imprisonment happens, I’m the one getting cursed at, and those people are the only ones making money.”
A complete dud.
What on earth is this? What is this?
Oh Ji-yoon glared sullenly into thin air.
‘They won’t imprison me, nor are they taking any other measures.’
It was a week that merely proved how messed up Korea’s administrative power was. As well as the fact that rewards come to those who make an effort. Oh Ji-yoon clenched her fists tightly.
“So now, I have to take action myself.”
The time for grumbling while clutching a blanket had passed. If the Ranker Support Headquarters was waiting for the uproar to die down, there was only one course of action left.
“I need to show them that I will move even if they stay still.”
It was time to act. Oh Ji-yoon pulled out her car keys.
“Let’s go to prison.”
[Your Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ peers at you: ‘Are you going right away?’]
[Your Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ asks: ‘If you’re going right away, should I show you my paw pads? Baby weasel paw pads.’ then thrusts out a paw.]
[Says that looking at cute paw jellies will bring good luck.]
“Thank you.”
Our kind and adorable Constellation-nim. It probably won’t have much of an effect, but she appreciated the thought. Oh Ji-yoon smiled sweetly.
“Don’t I look pretty good today?”
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ tsk-tsks: ‘So that’s why you’re in a good mood?’]
[Your Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ stares at its paw: ‘Eek. It’s not because of my paw jellies?’]
Aww. The paw pads played a part too. It’s just that her neatly tied necktie accounted for 99% of it.
Looking in the rearview mirror, looking in the side mirror. No matter how she looked at it, she really looked great today. Hehe. Feeling happy, Oh Ji-yoon opened the front glove compartment of the car.
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ narrows their brows and leans forward: ‘? What is that?’]
[‘Head, quar, ters, per, son, nal… Personal details file?!’ screams while jumping up.]
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ points a finger: ‘Why do you have that?!’]
“Ah. Representative-nim got it for me.”
Fufu. Oh Ji-yoon blew a gust of air from her mouth to dust it off. Did ‘Representative-nim’ manage her car?
Even though a long time had passed while it was neglected, the document didn’t have a single speck of dust on it. Flipping through the file, Oh Ji-yoon thought to herself:
‘Do other people usually not have things like this?’
Like personal profile information on enemies or allies?
What a shame. Before getting down to business, completely digging up personal info and taking hold of their weaknesses makes things three times easier. Oh Ji-yoon clicked her tongue in pity.
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ opens their mouth wide: ‘Your representative did?’]
[The Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ raises an objection: ‘Isn’t that illegal?’]
“Of course. He told me he would take full responsibility, so I should tear them to shreds.”
Because our Representative-nim was a cold perfectionist. He always said that since she was an F-rank, she had to seize their weaknesses first before being looked down upon…….
To the point where it was a mystery why someone who demanded such perfection kept an F-rank around. The only person who believed in Oh Ji-yoon for 10 years had a somewhat creepy side to him.
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ recalls your representative: ‘…A man that handsome?!’]
[‘He’s sensitive. Prickly. Living up to his looks…!’ opens their mouth in shock.]
[The Constellation, ‘Impartial Gauge,’ raises a hand: ‘He was someone who fed us well though! I once received an ancestral ritual table spread from him.’]
“He cooks really well.”
Oh Ji-yoon tapped the steering wheel and nodded.
“He’s also very handsome. And with that face, he cooks well too.”
And he’s always calm.
Honestly, the reason Oh Ji-yoon chose her representative was clear.
When Oh Ji-yoon was young and starving, she had once hunted a passerby on the street and locked him in her house to cook for her…….
Even back then, he really cooked deliciously well.
“Anyway, Representative-nim said so. Always fight with everything you’ve got.”
Oh Ji-yoon started the car engine and stepped on the accelerator. Honestly, why the guild leader—no, why Representative Noah Roshan had chosen her was a bit ambiguous.
It was a guild where Oh Ji-yoon was the sole member. Even when Oh Ji-yoon asked for an answer, he merely supported her by whispering things like, ‘You possess overflowing potential and talent.’
Why such a rational person chose an F-rank and raised her for 10 years remained unknown.
Right now, he was probably left chasing shadows. A pity. Oh Ji-yoon shrugged her shoulders.
“I wonder what he’s doing right now?”
Oh Ji-yoon had relatively little driving experience. The moment she set the car in motion, the tires shrieked terribly. Thump. A metal plate scraped over something heavy.
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ stammers: ‘……Wasn’t what you just ran over a person?’]
“It’s fine. There are no ordinary civilians around here.”
Unless they are Awakened, they are personnel wrapped head-to-toe in relics to the point where an F-rank looks like a joke. Since no targets requiring special protection were detected, it was fine.
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ leaps out of their seat: ‘No, f*ck! That’s your guild representative!!! Ji-yoon!! How could you run over your representative!!!’]
“Ah, really?”
[The Constellation, ‘Promiscuous Gambler,’ points and screams: ‘Don’t just say ‘Ah, really?’! Argh, this person is totally insane! Stop the car!! Let me out!!’]
“Aww.”
How embarrassing. Oh Ji-yoon offered a gentle smile.
In the meantime, her representative was attempting to stand back up. Oh Ji-yoon stepped on the gas a bit more. Crunch. The wheels turned fiercely as the car went over the speed bump.
If she got caught, she was bound for a mental hospital at minimum. He wouldn’t let his only guild member be executed. Making her an incompetent declared legally unfit to protect her was his way of doing things.
Through the rearview mirror, their eyes met for a moment. Eyes as yellow as a beast’s grazed pale gray eyes.
That was the end of it. Oh Ji-yoon averted her gaze.
‘Live your own life, Representative-nim.’
The car carrying Oh Ji-yoon blared its horn and vanished. Person A from next door, who had stepped out for a long outing with her child after a while, froze upon noticing a tall man standing upright and asked in surprise:
“Oh my! Are you okay?”
He was a remarkably large man. Person A inadvertently blushed. Perhaps because he was wearing a perception-disruption relic, his face couldn’t be discerned, but the man’s fit and aura exuded a sense of striking handsome grace.
Staring like a totem pole at the spot where Oh Ji-yoon had disappeared, the man turned his head. Specks of thin blood were scattered over his muted, somewhat pale blonde hair.
This was a high-crime area. Ever since Fractures began manifesting simultaneously, public security in Korea had gradually deteriorated.
Normally, A wouldn’t have helped a blood-stained man like him either.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Should I call an ambulance?”
It was an impulsive action. A swallowed hard and took a step closer. The man was immensely attractive, feeling worth the risk. No, perhaps there was no risk at all.
That was how worn-out and exhausted the air surrounding him felt. Like someone who had been robbed of something vital, yet plunging quietly without resistance, no aggressiveness could be read from his demeanor.
That was why. A even entertained the thought of offering him a room. Putting the man inside her small, narrow house.
A face blurred by noise turned to look at A. From his dry face that neither opened its mouth to produce a voice nor nodded, A felt a sense of quiet fury.
“Or should I…… Huh?”
It happened at that moment. A’s eyes widened in shock. A light breeze blew, and the man’s figure vanished into thin air without a trace.
It felt almost like a dream.
“Uhh? Where did he go?”
In the empty alleyway, the scent of skin mixed with perfume lingered. A shook her head blankly. Looking around her surroundings, she even called out aloud to search for him.
Even so, there was no way the man would return.
At the spot where he had departed, as if testifying to his neat nature, a single neatly arranged business card was left behind.
Inscribed with the name: ‘Representative Noah Roshan.’
