Chapter 137: Extinguished Starlight (3)

Chapter 137: Extinguished Starlight (3)

"—Ah."

Remembering a fact he had forgotten, Riak's blue pupils dilated.

"Kyahaha!! Yeah! That's right!!"

His expression was as if he had discovered a thread of light inside pitch-black darkness.

Riak's body trembled from thrill as he opened his mouth.

"You were a Regre—"

Flinch—

Riak, who was going to shout out of joy, suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at Ha-eun with a surprised expression.

"I already told her that I'm a Regressor."

"Ah, I... I see."

Riak exhaled a deep breath of relief from the stroke of good luck.

"Y-Yeah! Ohjin's a Regressor!"

Ha-eun suddenly looked at Ohjin and nodded her head like a broken machine.

'Please don't do anything, Ha-eun.'

Ohjin grasped his forehead like he had a headache as he looked at how overwhelmingly awkward she looked.

"So, what exactly is this thing called Adam's Apple?" Riak asked as he gulped.

Ohjin continued explaining.

"When we fought with the Heavenly Demon, he was so strong that even celestials directly participated in the battle. The star relic we used to weaken the restrictions back then is Adam's Apple."

"But I've never heard of a star relic like that before..."

"Of course you haven't. It's a star relic no one had been able to discover yet at this point in time."

"Hmm."

Riak narrowed his eyes.

"But according to what I've heard from Lady Vega, she said that the future has started to change... does that thing called the Adam's Apple exist for certain?"

"We're able to obtain it right now because the future has changed. Originally, the omen of the 'Divine Tree' is supposed to appear in the distant future."

"Omen of the Divine Tree...?"

"You said that the chains of light restraining Vega suddenly reduced to fifty, right?"

Ohjin looked at the tightly shut door and continued.

"That is the omen that indicates that the Divine Tree bearing Adam's Apple has grown. It's also something we discovered back then after looking for the cause of the Commandment's Restriction decreasing for no reason."

"I... I see."

Riak nodded his head with a dumb look.

It wasn't easy to believe, but Ohjin was a Regressor who went against the currents of time.

He was the Heaven-defying Star who would save the world.

No matter how groundless it sounded, the amount of trust varied infinitely depending on who told the story.

'He doesn't have a choice but to accept it, even if it's hard to believe.'

Ohjin recalled a psychological experiment he'd seen a while back.

—An experiment where they tested if patients who came to be diagnosed by a doctor would spin around on the spot with their nose blocked if they were told it was needed in order to diagnose the illness by the doctor.

Despite knowing that spinning on the spot with their nose blocked had no relation to diagnosing an illness with their common sense, surprisingly enough, most people listened to the doctor and conducted the absurd order.

Was it because the patients were simply stupid?

'It can't be.'

—The authority the profession 'Doctor' held.

They had naturally followed the order because of that authority.

Riak obviously wasn't a human, but he had the same intelligence and sociability as humans.

He couldn't help but succumb in front of the authority that a mere doctor couldn't compare to, the Heaven-defying Star.

'And this isn't even as out of the blue as diagnosing an illness by having to spin around with their nose blocked on the spot.'

Riak also knew that there were fifty chains instead of what was supposed to be one hundred. Not even Riak thought that the phenomenon happened for no given reason.

For a phenomenon with an unknown cause, it was natural to believe when an ostensible reason was presented.

"Then are you saying that we'll be able to save Lady Vega from the restriction if we obtain Adam's Apple?"

"Most likely."

"But... from where are we going to obtain such a precious star relic?"

"Leave that to me."

With his eyebrows slightly raised, and unwavering eyes...

Shoulders spread wide, and a voice full of conviction...

It was basic expression acting that was used in job interviews, but an ambitious spirit as if a veteran general was on his way to take over enemy territories emitted out when Ohjin used it.

"I'll obtain Adam's Apple at all costs."

"Rookie..."

Riak looked at Ohjin with shaking eyes like he was touched.

"Grrr! I cannot stand idle when you're doing this much! I will lend my hand in the quest to obtain Adam's Apple!!"

'Huh? Fuck, this isn't going as planned.'

"No. You should stay here, Riak."

"What do you mean!"

"Isn't a lot of your power restricted since Vega's affected by the Commandment's Restriction?"

"Th-That's..."

"And we can't leave Vega alone here in that state."

"...Ugh."

Riak, who couldn't think of any words of refute, groaned silently and dropped his head.

"I'll leave Vega to you while I'm out obtaining Adam's Apple, Riak."

"Grrrr."

Riak growled fiercely and nodded his head.

"Do not worry. This Riak shall personally rip apart anyone who dares come to the sanctuary with the intent of harming Lady Vega."

"I trust you."

Ohjin laughed heartily and extended out his hand.

Riak put strength in his hands and grasped Ohjin's lent-out hand.

Crunch—

'My bones are going to break, you insane bastard.'

The pressure on his hands felt like it was going to break his skin, but Ohjin desperately maintained his smile and turned around.

"Then I'll start trying to find Adam's Apple right away."

"How long do you think it'll take?"

"I don't know, either."

Not even Ohjin himself knew how much time would be required to be able to use Heaven Unfolding with his own strength.

However...

"In the least, it won't take fifty years, so don't worry."

Fifty years? He was confident that it wouldn't even take a year.

'I probably won't need to raise the awakening stage that much.'

The amount of power he'd absorbed from Ha-eun's Dragon Eye was an extremely small portion in the first place. It was likely that there weren't many steps left until he could use Heaven Unfolding on his own since he was able to use Heaven Unfolding with just that.

"Then I'm going now, Riak."

"Hmpf. Don't mess up like a rookie because you're not with me," Riak said bluntly as he puffed air out of his nose.

Ohjin smirked and started to walk away from the sanctuary with Ha-eun.

* * *

* * *

"..."

Riak stood in front of Vega's room like a gatekeeper and stared at Ohjin's back as it gradually grew more distant.

"I'll be waiting, rooki... no."

Like a knight bowing to their king, he got down on one knee and respectfully dropped his head.

"Oh, Heaven-defying Star who will brighten the Black Heaven's darkness."

* * *

"...Ohjin."

On the way back home after leaving the sanctuary, Ha-eun, who was walking silently next to him, opened her mouth.

"That Adam's Apple thing. Is it real?"

"Of course not, it's a lie."

"...Hah."

Ha-eun chuckled with a look that expressed how absurd she thought it was.

"Wow, you're seriously crazy. That was a lie? I believed it despite knowing all about you."

As Ohjin had said it with an expression filled with such conviction, even Ha-eun, who knew the truth, ended up falling for it.

'This guy was born with a gift to a scam.'

Ominously, a worrying thought crossed her mind.

"Ohjin you... saying that you'll take responsibility for me wasn't a lie, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

Ohjin smiled and pulled Ha-eun, who was walking next to him, in by the hip.

"Even if I live off lying, I wouldn't do that to you."

"K-Khm. Th-The people who say that always end up being scammers."

Even while poking Ohjin's side, Ha-eun smiled sheepishly.

"Well, anyway. So what are you planning to do? You said that the Adam's Apple thing is a lie. Then how will you get rid of the restriction on Vega?"

"I just need to use Heaven Unfolding."

Ohjin passed on the truth he found out recently.

"But aren't you able to use Heaven unfolding if you absorb a bit of my eye? Then..."

"No."

Ohjin firmly shook his head.

"As long as we don't know what kind of side effects it could cause to you, I refuse to use that method."

"But there was nothing like that last ti—"

"There's no guarantee that there won't be any side effects because it didn't happen once."

Just because you passed across a frozen river once didn't mean that the ice would be able to endure the load next time.

"It's not like there's no other method."

"Hmm. That Black Heaven thing; is there a method to increase its stage?"

"Of course."

The edges of Ohjin's lips tilted up.

A smile of a hunter at a prey was placed on his mouth.

"There has only been one method to increase the Black Heaven's awakening stage until now."

—Devouring more stigmas and devouring stronger stigmas.

"You aren't planning to indiscriminately ambush any Awakener, right?"

"Why would I do something so inefficient?"

There was no way that the Black Heaven would awaken by devouring low-rank stigmas.

"...Then putting the efficiency problem aside, what are you going to do?"

Ha-eun tilted her head and looked at Ohjin.

Ohjin shrugged his shoulders.

"Ha-eun, have you ever eaten seahorses?"

"...Would anyone have eaten something like that?"

"Right?"

Ohjin licked his lips while his eyes shone.

"So I was planning to use this opportunity to try them out."

The Hippocampus faction that was said to be energetic recently in Japan was the prey Ohjin was aiming for next.

"Hmm. I don't know what you're thinking of doing, but you aren't going to say that you're going alone this time as well, right?

Ha-eun stared at him sharply.

"I need your help this time."

"Oh, wait! Those Hippocampus guys aren't in Korea but Japan, right?"

"That's right."

"Ooooooh!!"

Ha-eun's eyes sparkled.

"An overseas trip!! Finally, I'm going on an overseas trip!!"

'And with Ohjin, at that!'

Ha-eun shouted out of joy and suddenly raised her arms up high.

She was feeling distressed because of the guilt she felt about Vega becoming sealed just moments ago, but it appeared that she was able to return to her original condition once she found out there was a method to get rid of the seal.

"Hehehe. I'll have to take a bunch of photos and tease Vega once she wakes up~♫."

"...Though we're not going there to have fun."

Ohjin put on a bitter smile and walked out of the sanctum.

At that moment—

"Are you Gwon Ohjin?"

—an old man wearing a white garment approached him.

"Ah, yes. That's correct."

Ohjin tilted his head and looked at the old man.

The old man had a gentle face that made one reminiscent of a Taoist.

It was a somewhat familiar face.

"Hoho. It's nice to meet you like this."

The old man respectfully bowed his head and extended out his hand.

"I'm Cheon Sanggil."

—Star of the Celestial Pivot, Cheon Sanggil.

One of the strongest Awakeners known as a Seven Star had come looking for him.