Artifact-Devouring Player

Chapter 189: Eyes on Me - (2)

At that moment.

In a small room, a faint moan escaped from a woman who had been dying alone, and a radiant light descended upon her.

Then, her heart, which had been losing strength, began to beat again, and she started to gasp roughly for air.

“Haah. Haah. Haah. Haah.”

She had been living on borrowed time.

Though she was only twenty-eight this year, cancer was too formidable an enemy for an orphan like her to endure.

More than anything, she, who had always treated poverty like a close companion, didn’t even have the means to focus on treatment.

So she had accepted death and was quietly fading away in an unknown place, but then, a beam of light descended and everything changed.

Her body, which had felt like it was endlessly sinking to the bottom, suddenly became warm, as though infused with the life force of all existence.

More than anything, the endless pain that had tormented her vanished as if it had all been a lie.

And that wasn’t all.

The face that had been growing dull and flaky, and the skin that had been losing its vitality, now glowed with a radiance that hadn’t been there before.

At that moment, she saw it.

A beam of light from the sky shone down upon her, and as if a staircase had opened, someone began to descend.

Ah, I must be dead. That was what she thought.

It wasn’t a miracle.

It must be a vision or hallucination that comes right before death. She had heard of such things, so she wasn’t disappointed.

But then, the angel who approached her cautiously extended a hand and said this.

“May I... borrow your body for a little while? I need you for a secret journey in this world.”

An unexpected, surprising request.

“This really is... kind of a strange feeling.”

“Same here. There’s a big difference between watching from afar like you’re seeing a distant dream and experiencing it directly like now.”

“Then what about the Constellation's message?”

“I can send it. It’s just that I’d have to return to the dimensional realm and come back, so it’s faster to speak directly.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Hold on a moment.”

A short silence passed.

Maybe about ten seconds?

[The Goddess of Luck says she is happy to see you, her contractor, up close and personal.]

[Words spoken by her body, which is not that of a player, cannot be heard by any Constellation or divine throne.]

A message from the Goddess of Luck had arrived.

Sanghyun could feel her warmth through the message, and at the same time, he saw her in the woman standing before him.

Of course, her appearance was slightly different from how he had indirectly seen the Goddess of Luck through the private channel.

If her striking features before had been the long blonde hair flowing down past her waist and her blue eyes—

Now she looked like a young Korean woman with soft brown eyes and a casual ponytail.

Aside from the slightly foreign feel of her original appearance, her looks were nearly the same.

To the point one could even say they looked like sisters?

Perhaps that’s why she had chosen her—it occurred to him suddenly.

“Still, I’m glad we could get in touch so quickly. And her location matched as well.”

“I was surprised. I did expect you would come, but I didn’t think it would be today.”

“Hoho. Just so you know, I didn’t forcibly take over her body. I received her consent.”

The goddess lightly tapped her chest as she spoke, and her gesture felt unfamiliar.

Until now, it had always felt like talking to an incorporeal spirit, but now, he could actually meet her gaze.

In any case, as soon as the Goddess of Luck acquired a body, she sent a message to Sanghyun, and he went to pick her up.

Sanghyun met her in a very small, run-down room. A place obviously overrun by poverty.

After talking with her later, it felt to Sanghyun like the goddess’s choice had been a kind of salvation.

Thanks to divine power, all her incurable illnesses were healed, and she had gained a vitality unlike anyone else’s.

After the Goddess of Luck finished her relatively short journey on Earth, she would be able to start a new life.

Sanghyun was thankful for every small, invisible act of consideration from the goddess. Only she could think that way.

“Let’s clearly define our relationship first. I’m not worried about others, but there’ll always be contact.”

“She said her name is Lee Siyeon!”

“Lee Siyeon. Twenty-eight years old. Then you’re older than me. Let’s say you’re my cousin—my older cousin. That works best.”

“Sounds good! Oh wow, this is so nice! Just lying on this fluffy bed makes me feel sleepy!”

“Goddess—no, Siyeon noona. From now on, when we speak publicly, please talk casually.”

“To you, Sanghyun-nim?”

“This isn’t how normal cousins talk to each other, you know.”

Sanghyun scratched the back of his head.

It was the kind of conversation that would make anyone suspicious.

Of course, even if someone got suspicious, it wouldn’t cause serious problems, but being natural was still better.

“Got it. Let’s do that.”

“Mmh. Sounds good.”

As expected of a goddess, she was quick to understand and agree. Their relationship setting was wrapped up swiftly.

Since this was a time originally meant for rest, the appearance of the goddess—no, Lee Siyeon—had perfect timing.

Just when he had been in the mood for a drive, Sanghyun took her in the passenger seat and sped down a road heading toward the outskirts.

Even just feeling the cool breeze on his face was enough to completely lift his mood.

How should he put it?

He wondered if he had ever felt the wind so peacefully like this before.

The goddess chatted away about the life Lee Siyeon had lived and the path she had taken.

It wasn’t that she started talking on her own; she shared it because Sanghyun had asked her to.

Lee Siyeon’s life, lived in total solitude, had been full of hardship.

Especially the illness that had almost brought her to her end—it had truly been the very definition of despair.

It made Sanghyun feel like he had saved a life. One that had fallen into the depths of misery.

“By the way, I’ve got more information about the Late Bloomer Model Student Constellation. Since I’m borrowing a human’s language instead of using Constellation-speak, it’s actually more convenient.”

She was now fully adapted to speaking informally.

Sanghyun also responded comfortably.

“Tell me, Siyeon noona.”

“As a sheriff of the Dimensional Council, he didn’t achieve much success in the pursuit, so lately, the ‘Black Honor Guard’ has started to move.”

“What does that mean?”

The Black Honor Guard.

It was a term he had never heard before.

Not just the use of the word “honor guard,” but the fact that it was prefixed by “black” made it all the more ominous.

“If the sheriff’s purpose is to bring in the wanted Constellation alive, the honor guard is entirely different.”

“To silence them permanently?”

“Yeah. They don’t mind killing.”

Sanghyun’s gaze deepened.

The Late Bloomer Model Student Constellation was the one who had made a contract with him in his previous life and shared a deep bond.

He thought he already knew quite a bit about him, but the things he kept hearing were nothing but new revelations.

In other words, the Model Student Constellation had hidden quite a lot even while they were in a contract together.

‘Well, he didn’t even give me a hint that I’d regress, so maybe it’s not that surprising.’

“This kind of thing is rare. No—I've never heard of it happening before. Not even the ones called villains of the Dimensional Council were assigned an honor guard.”

To Sanghyun, Siyeon’s words were full of implications.

‘He touched a nerve.’

That’s what Sanghyun thought.

This wasn’t about order or balance—it meant that the Model Student Constellation knew something tied directly to the core secrets of the Dimensional Council.

Something that absolutely had to remain hidden, or a weakness the sovereign of the Council would never want revealed.

It was very likely the Model Student Constellation knew that. No, Sanghyun was almost certain.

“The more I learn, the more it feels like I’m falling into a maze.”

“I feel the same.”

Siyeon nodded.

Even she, as a Constellation, couldn’t begin to guess the reason behind the current situation.

Why exactly was the Late Bloomer Model Student Constellation constantly being pursued?

What did he know?

After getting a breath of fresh air and refreshing himself,

Lee Siyeon quickly fell asleep in the small room Sanghyun had prepared for her.

A god doesn’t need to sleep, but a human body does.

According to her, since she was possessing a human body, she would end up sleeping along with it.

Of course, if necessary, she could return to the Dimensional Council and commune directly with Sanghyun again.

But going back and forth like that consumed too much divine power, so it was something to avoid.

Thanks to Sanghyun, she had continued to grow rapidly and now even stood on the brink of becoming a divine throne.

So neither of them wanted to waste even a small amount of divine power if they could help it.

If the Goddess of Luck ascended to a divine throne, the benefits Sanghyun would gain as her contractor would increase dramatically.

Even from an investment standpoint, the goddess’s divine power was a precious asset of immense value.

“……”

Sanghyun looked at her sleeping figure from outside the door for a long while.

Not because he had any lewd or improper thoughts—it was simply that the scene before him was so surreal.

A Constellation from that far-off Dimensional Council had come to form a faster and closer connection with her contractor.

And here he was, someone who trusted that Constellation more than anyone else, ready to run forward with everything he had.

‘Feels like I’ve found the best running mate. If I’d signed a contract with a different Constellation, I might’ve walked an entirely different path.’

He truly believed that.

When he was on the verge of falling into cynical thoughts or leaning too far in one direction,

It was always the Goddess of Luck who added a pause, a breath, and warmth to his otherwise desolate momentum.

And during the contract with the God of Storms, hadn’t she also staked her fate alongside his?

‘I really want to succeed. And I don’t want to lose either. I hope I can grow faster overseas than I did at home.’

Sanghyun gazed out beyond the horizon visible from the window.

Just vaguely imagining somewhere overseas where he might go.

Part of why he decided to go abroad was to tighten the reins on his own growth.

But in truth, it was also because he had already gauged his position and power within the country.

He still couldn’t completely overpower the renowned swordsmen like Do Kyungsoo or other outstanding named figures.

But at the very least, he didn’t think he would lose to them. At worst, he could fight them to a draw.

It wasn’t arrogance. It was certainty.

Since he had that calculation down, he saw no need to recklessly push himself further in Korea.

Reaching their level was enough.

There was no point wasting effort trying to sort out hierarchies through rivalry.

If he looked at things from a global perspective instead of a domestic one, it was all just petty power struggles among local kings.

But just then—

KUUUUUNG!

“……?”

The ground shook.

It felt exactly like the tremor one might experience during an earthquake.

But unlike an earthquake, the shaking didn’t continue—it came just once, violently.

“No way.”

An event like this in the heart of Seoul was far more likely to be something else than an earthquake.

For example—

“A rift?”

That’s what it was.

The problem was, as far as Sanghyun could remember, there shouldn’t be any rift at this point in time.

In other words, something unexpected had happened. For the first time since his regression.