The Celestial Returned From Hell

‘This thing… Isn’t it a good opportunity?’

Choi Yeonseung paused as he sensed the deep regret in the other person’s voice.

At the moment, Lee Changsik was helping Choi Yeonseung with his work in the Abyss. The recent raid on the chef constellation had ended with him going into seclusion, but that didn’t mean the aftermath didn’t present problems.

The races expelled from their realms roamed wildly the Abyss, and several monsters and hunter clans were wandering around, stimulated by the chaotic atmosphere and the random attacks…

The butterfly effect was stronger in the Abyss than anywhere else. Whenever a kingdom collapsed, dozens of nearby realms would be affected as well!

As a result, Choi Yeonseung’s subordinates, including Hwang Gyeongryong and Lee Changsik, were focusing on dealing with the monsters that prowled around the borders of his realm.

Choi Yeonseung had actually thought that Lee Changsik could return to Earth, but he figured that he wouldn’t be able to persuade him, given how passionate he was about helping.

...Was it because he found it hard to be a director in South Korea?

Choi Yeonseung asked the person on the phone, “Uh, can you give me more details? If it’s a really important opportunity, I could take over momentarily.”

The staff member of the Demon clan couldn’t help being surprised.

Choi Yeonseung had been very active as an A-grade hunter and had also succeeded in the recent Abyss raid. However, the staff member was taken aback for another reason…

In fact, Choi Yeonseung had used his own money to take over the Demon clan, which had been on the verge of collapse, so the staff member couldn’t help feeling nervous about the clan owner taking charge of the clan on behalf of the manager.

‘Uh... Will he disband the clan if we lose?’

The Demon clan’s employee was unaware of Choi Yeonseung’s situation and was worried about making a mistake. However, Choi Yeonseung had his own reasons for dealing with this himself.

He was doing this because of what Lee Changsik had told him.

-If there’s any important or urgent matter, you can take care of it for me.

-Can I do that?I’m more like an outsider.

-But you’re a constellation.No clan could match that advantage.

-...

Choi Yeonseung couldn’t refute Lee Changsik's argument.

Indeed, it would be incredibly unfair for a clan to fight other clans while being managed by a constellation that was disguised as a human. However, Choi Yeonseung had already abandoned his conscience in order to achieve victory.

-I understand.If that happens, I’ll try to deal with it as a constellation to the best of my abilities.

Now that the situation he had talked about with Lee Changsik had come, he would take charge and deal with it himself.

-Well… Uh...Our hunters aren’t at their best yet...

The clan employee was embarrassed and spoke hesitantly to Choi Yeonseung.

“I see. I understand.”

-But the process of getting stronger is never easy!We are getting stronger!

“Didn’t I say that I understand?”

-......

The clan employee seriously considered asking the hunters to risk their lives in order to win.

***

Surprisingly, the Demon clan’s opponent wasn’t a Korean clan this time.

Of course, it didn’t matter whether the opponent was a domestic or foreign clan as long as they both understood each other. However, it was easier to fight a clan from the same country.

In that sense, it was quite unusual for the American Awake clan to be their adversary.

“The Awake clan? Aren’t they pretty famous?”

“They are. This clan always comes up in discussions about clan battles in the United States.”

Nathan, a hunter from the United States, nodded in agreement.

At these words, the hunters of the Demon clan discussed with each other.

Of course, it was impossible to know whether they would win or lose before the match started, but knowing that their opponents were this strong wasn’t encouraging at all.

“Why did those guys choose to go against us? Are they that cowardly and cheap?”

“I’ve heard that all the Korean clans have declined their challenge.”

“Holy… Then we should turn it down as well!”

“Didn’t the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor think it was a good opportunity?”

“...”

The hunters went quiet at the unexpected voice.

The rigorous training of the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor was also famous among clan hunters. After all, was there any other manager those days that made hunters train in real dungeons against monsters?

Any other clan would’ve rebelled against such harsh training.

However, the Demon clan had been on the verge of collapse, and the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor was a bigshot among the A-grade hunters.

Moreover, the new owner of the clan had full faith in the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor, so none of the hunters could afford to complain.

The people who supported the clan didn’t complain either.

-The Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor, Lee Changsik, has been assigned to the clan?

-Wasn’t he the one with ugly results in his later years?

-Don’t talk nonsense when you don’t know anything!It wasn’t his fault! The hunters are to blame for not listening to him!

-You stupid bastards...!You wouldn’t even have been born without the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor...!

-Iron-Blooded this, Iron-Blooded that! Will you shut up already? He’s a retired A-grade hunter! The clan won’t magically start winning clan battles just because they brought in a star!

-No matter what, A-grade hunters are different. You think he’s just some other hunter?

-But the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor isn’t an ordinary person.

-I don’t know about anything else, but I hope that the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor trains clan hunters properly.Those bastards are not collecting my tax money so they can fight dirty!

The relationship between the hunter clans and the public was surprisingly complicated. It was similar to the relationship between sports clubs and their fans, but…

In the event of an emergency involving monsters or a dungeon explosion, these clans would be mobilized to take charge of the security of the surrounding area. As such, it was only natural that they would receive much more support than sports clubs.

Of course, that also meant that the public would rebuke them more vehemently if they failed to take action.

[The Red-Haired Spirit clan, a shocking defeat! Is Incheon safe?]

[The city’s budget is wasted by the Red-Haired Spirit clan...]

[Three years’ worth of budget is gone!]

As such, no matter how much the public genuinely supported the clan, they were bound to curse the clan if things kept going wrong. They had to trust the clan hunters to evacuate them during emergencies!

On that note, the public opinion had been very favorable when Lee Changsik had joined the clan. Given his status of a legend, the clan was bound to change in some way. It certainly couldn’t get worse than it already was…

“No matter how valuable this opportunity is, the fight is too disadvantageous. The money we bet on clan battles doesn’t fall from the sky.”

“I heard that the Awake clan isn’t asking for a lot of money for this clan battle. It’s almost like a friendly match.”

“What? If it’s not about the money, why are they coming all the way here to fight Korean clans?”

“Maybe… they’re trying to gain more experience?”

“...”

“...”

The clan hunters felt they were truly unlucky to get such an opponent. Of course, the fact that the Awake clan didn’t challenge them with malicious intent was definitely good, but the hunters still felt that they were unlucky.

It was hard to believe that such a popular clan in the US wanted to fight Korean clans just to gain experience. It was no wonder that all the other clans had declined their challenge. The opponent wasn’t weak and they wouldn’t gain much from winning, but they would be disgraced if they lost.

On the other hand, it was clear that the Demon clan had agreed to the clan battle because they had nothing to lose.

“Now, we just have to do our thing,” said Nathan in a deep voice. “We have to stop worrying about useless things. In any case, nobody will have any expectations for us.”

Within hunter clans, it was common for the tankers to be the leaders. Since they were on the frontline risking their lives against monsters, they had a higher sense of responsibility, and their words carried more weight as well.

In that regard, Nathan was a martial artist and always on the frontline, so all of his colleagues valued him deeply. Besides, several American clans wanted to recruit him.

Thus, when Nathan told everyone how they should go about this upcoming battle, the agitated atmosphere suddenly became stable.

“Nathan is right. We just have to do our jobs!”

“They won’t ask for anything beyond our capabilities, right?”

“But this time, Hunter Choi Yeonseung will lead the clan battle instead of the Iron-Blooded Ice Emperor…”

“...”

“...”

The atmosphere suddenly became shaky again. The hunters looked at each other with a mixture of nervousness and bewilderment.

It certainly didn’t bode well for the clan owner, whom they hadn’t seen in quite some time, to suddenly show up…

“D-don’t tell me… It can’t be…”

“Haven’t we been doing okay recently?”

“Yeah, okay for our standards, but having more losses than wins is objectively not a good performance.”

Gulp.

None of them had experienced it, but they had heard a lot of rumors.

The end of a clan was disastrous. First, investments and support were cut off, then the investors and the clan owner would eventually come up with an excuse to disband the clan, leaving all the hunters unemployed…

Was this the end for them…?

‘He’s not trying to use this clan battle to disband us, is he?’

Choi Yeonseung wasn’t thinking of something like that, but the hunters couldn’t help shaking in their boots, fearing that this would be their last clan battle.

Realistically, their track record wasn’t good.

Everyone turned to Nathan as their last glimmer of hope.

“Nathan, it can’t be, right? You’ve met Hunter Choi Yeonseung before.”

“...”

However, Nathan was struggling to find some words of encouragement, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

Seeing him like that, all the other hunters were horrified.

‘...Aren’t we screwed if we lose?’

***

"What is this?"

Ellie Strock, the ace of the Awake clan, firmly protested to the clan’s staff.

“I came to South Korea to learn from the top clans, not to play around. I’m not joking with you.”

“I’m sorry, Strock,” the staff member apologized with an embarrassed expression.

Contrary to their plans, several famous Korean clans had refused to participate in a clan battle against Awake.

Only the Demon clan had agreed to it, but all the Awake hunters started complaining when they learned who their opponents were.

All hunters had ears, and word traveled fast.

“But the Demon clan is a top Korean clan with a long history.”

“That must’ve been twenty years ago. Why would we fight them now?”

“I’m really disappointed in the Korean clans. I didn’t think they’d all be a bunch of scaredy cats.”

All the Awake hunters were dissatisfied. They had asked for a clan battle that would help them grow, but all the worthy clans had refused.

“I’m sorry. I will make sure to arrange battles with other clans, so please calm down.”

“...Yeah, we understand. It can’t be helped.”

In the end, the hunters accepted that they had no choice. They wouldn’t get a better opponent by throwing a tantrum.

Now that everything had been decided, they thought of their upcoming battle with the Demon clan as a warm-up.

They would make short work of the Demon clan while their managers looked for better opponents.

“They won’t find anyone else. I didn’t want to resort to this, but it can’t be helped.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Ellie Strock with a puzzled expression.

Her fellow hunter, Dmitry, explained with a stern expression, “I’ll provoke the Korean hunters on social media.”

“...Not bad. Do as you please.”

Ellie would’ve normally stopped him, but she let him do his thing this time. If nobody came out to fight them, they had no choice but to try and find some suitable opponents by trash talking online.

@Dmitry_Diesel

-Korean hunters are disappointing.I flew a long way for a clan battle. I didn’t expect everyone to turn down our challenge!

-Are you guys scared? Yeah, you’re absolutely scared of us, haha!

Dmitry cunningly ignited controversy on social media. Just minutes after he made the post, there were already a few famous hunters fighting in the replies.

‘Huhu!’

“Look!”

“Huh?”

The proud Dmitry looked up at his colleague’s shouting. A familiar hunter was chatting with the clan’s staff member.

‘Hunter Choi Yeonseung!’

Every hunter active in the US was familiar with Choi Yeonseung. They knew him as a hunter in his prime and as an up-and-coming entrepreneur.

Besides the fact that it was very beneficial to have a good relationship with him, everyone had to respect Choi Yeonseung as a hunter.

Dmitry admired Choi Yeonseung in a different sense. One of the civilians that Choi Yeonseung had evacuated before a raid in the United States was Dmitry’s relative.

It turned out that the government had been sitting back while Choi Yeonseung had personally evacuated the citizens.

Such altruistic hunters were incredibly rare, so Dmitry naturally revered Choi Yeonseung.

“Hunter Choi Yeonseung!”

Dmitry felt compelled to take this opportunity to express his gratitude, so he rushed over to speak to him.

Choi Yeonseung looked over from where he was chatting with the clan’s staff member.

A clan member whispered to him from the sidelines, “That’s the hunter I just mentioned.”

“Oh, the one who flamed South Korea on social media?”

“...N-no… Wait, no! I think there’s a misunderstanding, Hunter Choi Yeonseung!”

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