The Celestial Returned From Hell

Choi Yeonseung clicked his tongue when he heard the news from the foreign hunters.

“There’s competition… Uh, there's nothing good about a competition between clans...”

Accidents occurred even in dungeons that could be cleared easily if the hunters became greedy and competed with each other.

It was a lot better these days, but whenever Choi Yeonseung was involved, there were fewer rules and laws in place. Thus, the competition was fiercer than usual.

Ugly rumors circulated that certain clans would stab each other in the dungeon if they got bored.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry. I’ll clean them up if they get in your way.”

‘The one I’m worried about is you.’

Choi Yeonseung was about to say that to Han Seha, but he held back because he felt she would be upset.

In fact, Han Seha wasn’t the only radical hunter involved in this.

“In any case, there's no one we can trust. Let’s just push them all away. After all, we’re the strongest in terms of sheer power!” the Icarus hunters shouted in unison.

Of course, the other countries involved had also been tricked, but it didn’t matter. The important thing was that they intervened in the dungeon that the Icarus clan was trying to attack!

Everything came down to that.

Moreover, it was the angel constellation who had been deceived by the Russian government. What mattered now was the dungeon and the benefits.

“This is very good. Hunters should be like this.”

“...Why is this Russian here?”

The hunters looked at Boris with bewildered expressions.

He was sitting quite confidently in the hotel lounge where only hunters related to Choi Yeonseung were sitting. For a moment, the Icarus hunters mistook him for a member of their clan.

Boris completely ignored them and said to Choi Yeonseung, “If I had known that you were involved, I would’ve told you beforehand. I’m sorry about this. So I have one piece of advice for you. Don’t enter the Chort dungeon first.”

“...”

“...”

The gathered hunters were puzzled by the old man’s words. What nonsense was he saying?

“He’s gone senile... Right?”

“It’s possible. After all, isn’t Hunter Chen Xiezhi the same?”

Boris glared at the young hunters who were casually insulting him.

***

“Wow… It’s disgustingly cold here.”

“What do the Russians do here anyway? Is there anything to do at all?”

“I heard rumors that some of the alcohol made by the Snake of Alcohol and Dancing flows here.”

The hunters of the Icarus clan, who had come to Vladivostok, a place they would normally never come to, grumbled about the boring appearance of the city.

It was certainly plausible for the alcohol made by the snake constellation to sometimes flow here, given that her land wasn’t far away from here, but…

“Can we really wait?”

“That's what the chairman said, so it’s probably right. Would the chairman make mistakes?”

“You’re a funny guy. Since when did you start calling him chairman like that?”

“I realized it the other day when I saw him taking over Peleza. This man is the god of management!”

‘How much did he earn from that?’

The other hunters were envious of their colleague’s praise of Choi Yeonseung.

Honestly, when Peleza joined hands with other large companies to overtake the high-tech materials market, everyone was whispering things like “Hey, are we going to collapse? Do we have to find another clan?”

However, during such tumultuous times, the hunter who had walked in the opposite direction of everyone else had been properly rewarded.

“I’m not necessarily saying that this just because he’s sitting in the chairman’s chair, but Hunter Choi Yeonseung’s judgment has never been wrong so far.”

“He succeeded in the Abyss raid last time as well. There’s a reason why rumors that he’ll become S-grade are circulating.”

“Did Schneider really say he’s going to keep up?”

“Antony? I’m sure he means it.”

The hunters kept chatting while waiting.

Choi Yeonseung had told them to wait because he had listened to Boris’ advice and delayed the attack operation in order to gather more intel.

In fact, if anyone else besides Choi Yeonseung had given such an order, the backlash from all the hunters would’ve been enormous. However, when Choi Yeonseung ordered them to stand by, all the Icarus hunters complied, convinced that he had a plan.

It wasn’t just about status or power. Choi Yeonseung’s recent achievements had elevated his dignity and authority.

“Whittaker, what’s wrong with you?”

Whittaker, the healer of the Icarus clan, was acting rather strange. The other hunters were puzzled and couldn’t help questioning him.

Whittaker was a selfish bastard who did anything for money, but he was the clan’s healer. They had to ask out of courtesy.

“...That Russian hunter.”

“Ah, Illeya Vse… something? What was her full name?”

“Illeya Vsevo... What was it? In any case, what’s wrong with that hunter?”

Since they were from the same clan, there was no way the hunters didn’t know about her. In addition, in Illeya’s case, she was a member of the clan’s first team, which mainly participated in real battles. Thus, there were several hunters who had fought together with her.

“She tried to kill me in the Abyss last time!” said Whittaker while pointing at Illeya.

During the mechanical dragon raid in the Abyss, Whittaker had also been part of the Icarus team that Choi Yeonseung had established.

However, unlike the other hunters, who had followed Choi Yeonseung’s orders unconditionally, having complete faith in him, Whittaker had been rather skeptical and kept saying things like “But will that work? Is this really possible?” He had even made up his mind to flee if it came to that.

In any case, that was the time Illeya threatened Whittaker. Or to be precise, it was the constellation Illeya served that threatened him.

Do your best to make this raid a success.If we fail, I will kill you.

Whittaker had been quite distressed at the time, but once it was over, he had come to his senses. He naturally reported it to his colleagues and superiors...

“What are you saying again? Whittaker, it’s your fault. You said you were trying to retreat alone.”

“That’s not it!”

“Otherwise, would someone have threatened you like that? I’m sure Hunter Vsevo was furious after seeing your attitude.”

“That’s right. I can’t believe you were trying to retreat when your own people could’ve died!”

“You idiots! You have to believe me!” Whittaker shouted in frustration.

However, no matter how indignant Whittaker was, his colleagues didn’t believe him at all. After all, he and Illeya were very different.

He was a selfish hunter who was crazy about money, while Illeya was rather reserved but always fought hard and fulfilled her duties in raids.

No matter how they looked at it, all they could see was that the greedy hunter had been caught messing around and slandered the earnest hunter who had exposed him.

“This bastard is so petty. If you keep doing this, I will officially report you to the clan higher-ups. Are you trying to drag her into this mess regarding the Russian clans scamming us? Are you blaming her just because she’s also Russian?”

“Have you ever seen such a despicable bastard?”

“That’s not...!”

As Whittaker watched his colleagues leave, he pounded his fist on the table.

‘Shit! If only I had won my last bet!’

If Whittaker hadn’t lost so much, his colleagues wouldn’t have been so distrustful of him.

Just then, Illeya passed by. She looked at Whittaker and smiled.

However, it looked more like a sneer.

“...!!”

Whittaker felt chills down his spine.

‘Th-that...’

Until then, Whittaker had thought of Illeya as a young Russian kid who was socially awkward and ignorant.

In fact, he was afraid of the constellation she served, not Illeya herself. Or at least that was what he thought, but when he saw her smile…

He was instinctively afraid!

‘What’s this bastard...??’

***

“If you measure the amount of magic power in the Chort dungeon, it's around A-grade. Nevertheless, the attempts kept failing. It’s not like we didn’t have information. Do you understand why?”

“Wasn’t it mentioned that the first half of the dungeon is different from the second half?”

The Russian government might’ve deceived everyone, but they didn’t withhold information. If someone hid that kind of information during such a high-profile raid, it wouldn’t be surprising if they got stabbed.

Choi Yeonseung also received all the relevant information.

It was a dungeon where weak monsters appeared in the beginning, but the monsters rapidly became stronger in the second half.

According to the analysis, the Russian hunters had failed to attack because the environment in the dungeon had quickly exhausted them and the monsters had become too strong unexpectedly.

That had caught them off guard, causing them to fail.

“So this is the analysis. Also, this is just my opinion, but... I think there's a nightmare demon in the depths of the dungeon.”

“...?!”

[The ‘Manipulator of Dreams and Desires’ is surprised!]

“What does that mean?”

“The technology, the analysis, and everything else really… I just have a feeling. After all, it doesn’t really make sense for so many great hunters to keep failing, right? Cough, cough.”

“Alright, slow down and tell me more.”

“In my opinion, there must be a monster that absorbs power, like a nightmare demon, or at least something similar. The hunters must’ve not seen it...”

‘If there really are nightmare demons in the dungeon, it’s going to be a massive headache…’

Choi Yeonseung frowned. First of all, monsters that had skills which drained energy or power were much more difficult to deal with than their level indicated. Those kinds of monsters became stronger by absorbing the power of others!

It would be even easier to trap their opponents in a dungeon, which was like their front yard.

In addition, the nightmare demons were good at hypnotic or hallucinogenic magic.

-Manipulator of Dreams and Desires, can’t you command them?

[The ‘Manipulator of Dreams and Desires’ says that not all nightmare demons serve her.]

‘I suppose so.’

If one or more of her nightmare demons were really dwelling in that dungeon, they had to be those who had run away and lived as they pleased, thinking that they didn’t need to abide by any rules.

The manipulator constellation focused on teaching them how to control their desires, not on ruling them...

Boris asked, “You see why I told you to wait? If there are monsters like the nightmare demons, you don’t need to bring a lot of people with you. A few quick-witted people are enough. Please, there are hunters from other countries. If you wait, they’ll make for good bait.”

After consuming a certain amount of desires, the nightmare demons would relax and lower their guards while they digested them.

Since it was an A-grade dungeon, top hunters from China and Japan had been mobilized. They would be great prey for those nightmare demons.

“I see. I need to warn them.”

“...Are you joking?!”

Boris was shocked. After all the advice he had given Choi Yeonseung, he couldn’t help voicing his surprise. Why would Choi Yeonseung bother to help those Chinese and Japanese bastards?

“No, I’m not joking.”

“Have you fallen so much during the time I haven’t seen you...?”

“...”

In fact, Choi Yeonseung had realized after a few similar experiences that warning them beforehand would be more convenient.

He would warn them, they wouldn’t listen, problems would arise later, and Choi Yeonseung would ultimately have more authority in the end when he told them, “I told you so!”

Rather than just jumping to save them at the end, it was much better to warn them beforehand and save them later after they disregarded his advice. That way, he could demand more rewards because of their disobedience.

“I can’t believe it… How can you tell the Chinese and Japanese...”

“I can make a fuss later that I warned them.”

“...As expected! I didn’t see the wrong person! I always thought you were as crazy as I was.”

“?”

Choi Yeonseung suddenly felt strange.

‘...How am I similar to him?’

***

Kohei Nakao, an A-grade hunter from the Namahage clan, was very dismayed when the hunters and officials who arrived first briefed him.

“Is there competition?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. But now that it’s like this, you’ll have to go in first. There's no time to hesitate.”

“...I understand. But let’s at least try to get the Korean hunters and the ones who serve the angel constellation to cooperate with us.”

Hunter Nakao was flustered by this unforeseen situation, but he didn’t lose his wits. There was a huge difference between competing by yourself and competing while having a few agreements and allies.

They should at least be able to get help in the event of an emergency or if anything unexpected happened in the dungeon.

The Chinese hunters couldn’t be trusted, but A-grade hunters like Choi Yeonseung and Amelia had proven several times that they were trustworthy.

“T-that...”

“?”

The Japanese hunters were always accompanied by officials from the Hunter Management Office of the Ministry of Defense when going overseas.

If there were any diplomatic problems abroad, the officials would step up and reliably solve them!

...Or so was the slogan, but reality was rather different.

Every time the hunters did something, they had to report it to the government and wait for permission.

The Japanese hunters were well aware of how ridiculous the system was, but they couldn’t do anything about a system that had been established generations ago.

Hunter Nakao urged the official once again.

“Please send a report to the higher-ups as soon as possible and get the commissioner’s permission.”

“About that... The commissioner is on vacation…”

“...I understand. Then get permission from the deputy.”

“Uh... Well, the rule is that the commissioner must personally approve any decision when it comes to raids that include A-grade hunters.”

“...”

The Japanese hunters were shocked when they realized what the official meant. If there was no one to grant permission, would they just hurry up and go in?!

rainbowturtle's Thoughts

TL Note: Illaphael will now be changed from male to female.

Since gender pronouns aren't used often in Korean, I often have to make guesses about the gender or determine it based on context. In Illaphael's case, I initially determined that Illaphael was male and have been translating it as such. However, the context of recent chapters I have been translating makes me believe that Illaphael is female, so I will be using female pronouns for her and going back through old chapters to change it.

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