Chapter 04
The Mo0on Bath Constellations Have Appeared
The place I arrived at was a real hot spring.
Thick fog hung in the air, so I couldn’t see the surroundings very well, but it seemed to be deep in a mountain with hardly any people around.
It was a bit eerie, sure—but hey, there was an actual hot spring, right?
Only after confirming the words “Hot Spring” written on the old signboard of a fairly large building did I finally put my doubts to rest.
“So it wasn’t a lie when you said you awakened as a hot spring owner.”
“Of course! I would never speak falsehoods!”
I thought I was alone, but suddenly I heard a chirping voice from somewhere.
It sounded like it was coming from below….
When I lowered my gaze toward the sound, I saw a tiny chick with silver feathers holding a blue egg.
“Who would abandon a chick in a place this remote? That’s so heartless. If you leave it here, it’ll be perfect food for wild animals.”
Just as I was about to stroke its feathers out of pity, the chick suddenly hopped back and slapped my hand away with a sharp smack.
“I’ve been listening and listening, but who are you calling a chick? I told you not to compare me to such a lowly creature!”
If nothing else, I could tell it was a bad-tempered chick. But still…
“The chick talks?”
This felt like a scene I’d seen somewhere before.
“I am not a chick—I am the great Spirit Beast!”
A Spirit Beast… like the dragon that gave me the golden key?
So this chick was that silver dragon that had been flying around the sky, creating whirlpools of water just moments ago?
I stared closely at the chick that claimed to be a dragon.
No matter how I looked at it, it was a chick….
“Then what’s that egg you’re holding? Or I guess, from your point of view, it is an egg?”
“How dare you! To look at the Yeouiju I obtained after thousands of years of cultivation and call it an egg!”
Judging by its brilliant glow, it definitely didn’t look like an ordinary egg.
“Well, either way, I can’t eat it.”
“Of course not!”
The chick—no, the Spirit Beast that had turned into a chick—chirped irritably.
My interest in an egg I couldn’t eat cooled faster than ever.
“I thought you were holding it so carefully because it was emergency rations.”
A Yeouiju doesn’t exactly feed you.
“What on earth was Constellation Sharenian thinking, choosing someone whose head is full of food as a successor?”
The Spirit Beast looked at me with a puzzled expression and muttered something, but as expected, it was outside my area of interest.
“I’m starving to death. Let’s go inside and order something to eat first, then talk.”
Awakening is something you do to survive, but at this rate, I felt like I’d starve to death before even awakening properly.
“So I just open the hot spring door with this key, right?”
I took out the hot spring master key I’d received earlier.
“Wait! Before that, let me explain—”
If you’re Korean, skipping the tutorial is practically a rule of life.
Before the Spirit Beast could finish speaking, I inserted the master key into the hot spring door’s keyhole.
[Reading information for ‘Hot Spring Master Key’.]
[Hidden Field ‘Parched Hot Spring (EX)’ has been opened.]
Click.
At the same time as the sound of the lock disengaging, a window popped up announcing that the entrance to the hot spring had opened.
I rubbed my eyes with both hands and checked the message again.
No matter how many times I looked, the hot spring was marked as EX-rank.
A real hot spring is EX-rank?
I wondered if I’d misread it because it flashed by too quickly… but no.
Even the world’s number-one hunter is only S-rank, and I’d never heard of an EX-rank anywhere.
And on top of that, I wasn’t even S-rank—I was an F-rank Awakened. Isn’t the gap way too big?
“Spirit Beast, no matter how I look at this, I think the balance needs fixing. If the hot spring owner is F-rank, how can the hot spring be EX-rank?”
I figured this was a good chance to persuade the Spirit Beast to raise my rank, even just a little.
“Well, that’s because this hot spring is a place of rest for very special beings. It has to be at least EX-rank.”
“Special beings?”
Before my question could even be fully answered—
[Upon hearing that the hot spring has opened, the fatigue-weary Constellations rush in like a wave, cheering enthusiastically.]
What is this now?
[Constellation ‘Do You Believe in Fortune?’ rushes over happily, saying, “Has the old hot spring man returned?” upon hearing that the hot spring has opened.]
[Constellation ‘Yama of the Underworld’ opens the Book of the Dead and says, “The old hot spring man crossed the River of Death long ago.”]
[Constellation ‘Do You Believe in Fortune?’ asks, “Then who is the one holding the hot spring master key now?”]
[Constellation ‘Immortal Killing Ghost’ explains, “The successor newly recruited by the Spirit Beast.”]
[Constellation ‘Yama of the Underworld’ says, “As long as the hot spring is reopened, it doesn’t matter who the owner is.”]
[Constellation ‘Immortal Killing Ghost’ complains, “I haven’t had a hot spring bath in so long that my whole body aches.”]
[Constellation ‘Do You Believe in Fortune?’ looks at the successor’s fortune and says, “His manual dexterity is bad, so as long as he’s careful about what he eats, he should be fine.”]
Constellations read fortunes too?
Even in the middle of all this, I was secretly impressed by how accurate the fortune reading was.
I really am infamous for having terrible hands.
So bad that people who ate the ramen I cooked ended up in the emergency room.
After that day, Park Siwoo never asked me to cook ramen again, and Jiho would step in first and volunteer to make it whenever I even reached for a pot.
It worked out well for me, so I didn’t mind.
“But why are there so many Constellations? Isn’t the standard one person, one Constellation?”
As I frowned, feeling my ears getting noisy just from watching them talk, the Spirit Beast continued explaining.
“The Constellations you’re seeing right now are the special guests I mentioned earlier. This hot spring exists solely for these four Constellations.”
So it’s EX-rank because it’s a hot spring only for Constellations?
That also explained why it was a hidden field.
Which meant there were only four guests total—and I really liked the idea of a hot spring used by only a few people.
Owning a hot spring had been my dream anyway, and now that I’d awakened, if I ran it well, I might be able to achieve the healing, flower-path life I’d always wanted.
No land costs, and a perfectly functional hot spring dropped right into my hands—maybe not a lottery jackpot, but still a pretty good haul.
“So that means there are four Constellations you’ll be contracting with.”
At the Spirit Beast’s words, my peaceful fantasy of soaking alone in the hot spring, relaxing my weary body, shattered into pieces.
“What should I do? I don’t need four Constellations.”
It was already noisy enough—I didn’t have the confidence to listen to all four of them talking all day long.
[Constellation ‘Immortal Killing Ghost’ initiates the hot spring successor vote. All four Constellations, please close your eyes and raise your heads according to agree/disagree.]
[Morning has dawned. Those in favor, please raise your heads.]
[Night has fallen. Those opposed, please raise your heads.]
I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere before.
Regardless of my opinion, the Constellations held their vote among themselves.
[As a result of the successor vote, with a majority in favor, authority of ‘Owner of the Parched Hot Spring (F)’ has been granted.]
[Constellation ‘Ruler of the Hot Spring’ struggles, shouting, “Are you all insane?”]
If nothing else, I was certain my very first contractor had voted against it.
They clearly didn’t like me very much—what should I do about that?
Still, the stamp had already been slammed down, so this hot spring was mine now.
I smiled the smile of a victor at the voting results.
[Hidden Skill ‘Hot Spring Ticket Sales Counter’ has been unlocked.]
What is a hot spring ticket sales counter?
When I tapped the exclamation mark icon, a list appeared of things like Moon Bath membership passes, the kind you’d normally see sold at bathhouses, laid out by duration.
The maximum was 30 days.
No matter how good a hot spring is, who comes every day for 30 days straight?
After skimming the list and quickly losing interest, I closed the window.
“Fortunately, it seems most of the Constellations have taken a liking to you.”
“No, even so, I have no intention of contracting with four of them—”
I was just about to express my displeasure to the beaming Spirit Beast when—
[Constellation ‘Do You Believe in Fortune?’ has purchased a 30-day hot spring pass from the ‘Hot Spring Ticket Sales Counter’. You have obtained 30,000,000 gold.]
[Constellation ‘Yama of the Underworld’ has purchased a 30-day hot spring pass from the ‘Hot Spring Ticket Sales Counter’. You have obtained 30,000,000 gold.]
[Constellation ‘Immortal Killing Ghost’ has purchased a 30-day hot spring pass from the ‘Hot Spring Ticket Sales Counter’. You have obtained 30,000,000 gold.]
Wait—30 million gold? Not 300,000, not 3 million, but 30 million?
And that happened three times, so that’s 90 million gold.
If 10 million gold equals 10 million won, then 90 million gold is 90 million won?
Once money entered the picture, my mind started spinning at full speed.
Earning 90 million won just from selling hot spring passes before even opening…
It’s not like the hot spring water is made of gold—yet they’re casually throwing around money in the tens of millions?
These guys are total big spenders, aren’t they?
As I instinctively started counting the number of zeros that would soon appear in my bank account, I quickly put on a gentle smile.
‘Thank you for using our hot spring today, dear customers.’
[You have acquired the skill ‘Capitalist Smile’. The desire to consume of those who see it increases.]
