Chapter 151: First Date (1)

Chapter 151: First Date (1)

A Milky Way composed of lamps embroidered the city as if the night sky was turned upside down.

The cold night wind breezed through the rooftop garden that had a dazzling night view.

Looking at the hair that swayed like a gently burning bonfire, Lee Shinhyuk gulped down his saliva.

—The confession he'd held onto for three years.

He reminisced on the moment his body shook like it was struck by lightning when he'd first met her inside of a gate.

Before becoming a high-ranking Awakener... before he was a man who could confidently protect her... he had forcefully suppressed his feelings, but thanks to recently taking down the 'Hippocampus' faction that was controlling all of Japan, he was able to confess with confidence.

"..."

Ha-eun looked at the palm-sized box that Lee Shinhyuk was holding out with a blank look.

A beautiful necklace could be seen inside the slightly opened box.

Gentle blue light was flowing out of the necklace that looked to be made of expensive starstones.

"Sigh."

A deep breath left Ha-eun's mouth.

She looked up at the night sky with bitter eyes and slowly opened her mouth.

"Ohjin just so happened to have told me something."

"...What did he say?"

"About how I should consider going out with you since it seems like you like me."

Lee Sinhyuk widened his eyes and tightly clenched his fist.

Ha-eun nearly never mentioned anything about her 'little brother' who she usually took care of, which caused Lee Shinhyuk to vaguely believe that he disapproved of him, but he had said such a thing before he knew it.

"Th-Then!"

Lee Shinhyuk took a step towards Ha-eun with excited eyes.

Ha-eun vacantly looked at Lee Shinhyuk and slowly shook her head.

"Sorry. I appreciate the thought... but I can't go out with you."

—A blunt refusal that cut like a knife.

Like there was not the tiniest bit of hope, her voice and eyes were endlessly cold.

"I know that you've done a lot for me, and I'll make sure to pay that back no matter how long it takes."

"..."

"But... that doesn't mean that I can go out with you when I have no feelings at all. Shinhyuk, it's also something that would affect you negatively."

"...Ha-eun."

Every single word that left Ha-eun's mouth became a sharp blade that dug into his chest.

Lee Shinhyuk looked at her with trembling eyes.

—No feelings at all.

Was the fluttering feeling and excitement he felt during the long time he'd spent with her just from his own misunderstanding?

"And it's not like we're in a situation where we can peacefully have a relationship, right?"

Ha-eun patted Lee Shinhyuk's head like she was soothing an emotionally wounded child.

"Those Pseudo Star Cult bastards are running wild lately... and they even say that the 'Owls' and the 'Toads' have joined hands."

"That's..."

"There won't be much time that we're able to spend peacefully like this in the future."

"..."

Lee Shinhyuk shut his lips tight and bowed down his head.

The gentle touch on his hair... the words of consolidation... they all felt like they were crushing his heart.

"I... can't give up on you."

"Shinhyuk?"

Lee Shinhyuk roughly grabbed her hand that was patting his head and looked at her with determined eyes.

"Even if it isn't now, I'll get you to like me back one day."

"..."

"I want you to have this until that day comes."

Lee Shinhyuk gave the box containing the necklace to her and faintly smiled.

Ha-eun held the box with an awkward expression.

"Shinhyuk, I..."

"Please accept this. There's protection magic on it."

"..."

"Even if your thoughts don't change..."

With eyes containing firm determination, he added strength to clenched fists.

"I'll make sure to protect you."

With those words that rang out gently...

Pzzzzzt!—

Ohjin's vision started to twist.

"Fua!"

Ohjin exhaled the breath he'd held in and fiercely furrowed his brow.

"Lee Shinhyuk, that fucking bastard dared to go for Ha-eun?"

Simply the fact he dared to ask Ha-eun out caused him immeasurable displeasure.

Well, though he was dumped right away.

'Also, I told Ha-eun that it'd be nice if she went out with that Lee Shinhyuk bastard?'

That part was the hardest to understand.

Not anyone else, but Ohjin had told Ha-eun to go out with Lee Shinhyuk?

'Just what the fuck happened back then?'

His head hurt the more he thought about himself in the 1st round. How unfathomable was the despair he'd felt for him to say those words to Ha-eun?

"Fuck off."

Ohjin vaguely imagined himself from his past life and swore.

How much despair his past life went through didn't matter.

Regardless, that miserable future would be changed by the hands of the 'Heaven-defying Star'.

'And in order to do that...'

Ohjin focused his mind while looking at the black clouds entering his body. Once the clouds were all sucked into his body, the clear sound of bells rang out in his ears.

-Ring!

[Part of Awakener Lee Shinhyuk's memories have been successfully transmitted!]

[You do not have enough understanding of 'Spearmanship of Pyxis' for the skill to level up!]

Ah—

An exclamation of shame left Ohjin's mouth.

'Like Riak said, it seems like skills aren't able to hit level 10 without some special process.'

He wasn't dependent on spearmanship, but he couldn't help but feel that it was a bummer when, deep down, he was looking forward to the change that would occur once it became level 10.

'But something will probably have changed since the Black Heaven has gone through its sixth awakening.'

Putting the bummer behind him, he confirmed the other messages that showed up consecutively.

[The Black Heaven has reached the sixth awakening.]

[Portions of the sealed stigma of Lyra and dragon vein have been released.]

Once he was informed of what he was waiting for, a portion of the power that was slumbering in his heart spread out across his body.

Without even the time to feel the electrifying thrill, more messages showed up in succession.

[The effects of the Black Heaven's traits have been enhanced.]

[The effects of 'Transformation' have been enhanced. You can now use transformation on a part of your body that is from your main body.]

[The effects of 'Black Curtain' have been enhanced. You can now not only hide the presence of the Black Heaven but also transform your presence into one of a different stigma.]

"Wow, what's all this?"

After confirming the messages that appeared in front of his eyes, an exclamation subconsciously escaped from Ohjin's mouth.

It was literally a 'scam'.

The effects seemed to blatantly spell out "deceive the world to your heart's content".

'I can use 'Transformation' on a part of my body that's separated and even change my presence at will?'

Ohjin slightly cut the tip of his finger and let his blood drip to the floor for confirmation.

Swoosh!!!—

Once he used 'Transformation' on the blood on the floor, it turned into the shape of a sharp awl and soared up.

"It looks like I'll be able to use this in combat."

In the first place, if you thought of how the demon beast used 'Transformation' in the fight, it was obvious that the skill wasn't simply for disguising purposes but actually for combat.

After deciding to find out ways to utilize 'Transformation' in combat at a later date, he started experimenting with the effects of 'Black Curtain'.

"Stigma of Hippocampus."

Owooong!—

Black mana that felt sticky and ominous flowed out once he used the stigma of Hippocampus.

It was the feeling that all stigmas of the Black Stars had in common.

Ohjin used 'Black Curtain' on that energy.

Gurgle—

"This really works."

The mana that gave off an ominous and sticky energy and felt like a sweaty t-shirt sticking to your skin in the summer changed into one that felt clean and refreshing.

From a fierce and angry beast, it turned cold, like a snowstorm in the winter.

'There'll be a lot of opportunities to utilize this.'

Ohjin looked at the clear droplet floating on top of his palm and nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Let's see... that seems to be about it for the Black Heaven."

It was hard to immediately confirm if he could use 'Heaven Unfolding' with the dragon vein's mana that'd been slightly unsealed.

However...

'I need to confirm if I can use 'Water Affinity' with the stigma of Hippocampus.'

The truth was, it was the thing he looked forward to the most when he got his hands on the stigma of Hippocampus.

It seemed that it would synergize greatly with the skill 'Water Affinity', as it was a stigma that could freely create water.

Slash!—

Ohjin raised his spear and made a long cut on his forearm.

He put the large bubble of water made using the stigma of Hippocampus next to his torn and bleeding forearm.

The injury absorbed the water and gradually regenerated.

"It works!"

Ohjin's eyes sparkled.

'This is fucking overpowered!'

Thinking about how he would be able to heal any severe injury instantly using the stigma of Hippocampus made his heart flutter.

"Uh... but..."

Ohjin's eyes furrowed while looking at the injury that was gradually regenerating.

'Why is the regeneration speed so slow?'

Just a few moments ago, he was able to recover as soon as he was injured as if he was a reincarnated slime, but now the speed was very clearly slower.

'Is it because the surrounding area isn't full of the energy of water?'

Or it could also be that there was a penalty on the regeneration efficiency when it was using water made by himself.

Well, in any case, increasing the ways he could recover injuries regardless of the environment was a big harvest.

"Should I stop here?"

A lot of time and calm experimenting was needed in order to get familiar with the newly obtained abilities.

Ohjin looked down at Sosuke's corpse, the headless body limp in front of him.

"...Hm?"

At that moment, he could see that something circular had fallen out of Sosuke's pocket.

'A horse requisition tablet?'

No.

Engraved on top of the palm-sized medallion wasn't a horse, but the shape of a creepy snake.

'...Is this something related to the Snakes again?'

Ohjin furrowed his brows and looked down at Sosuke's corpse.

He didn't know if it was because there was a collision with Lee Shinhyuk's memories or because of a separate reason, but Sosuke's memories weren't transmissed, making it difficult for him to figure out precise information.

"Should I have done some interrogation?"

Ohjin thought about it for a moment and soon shook his head.

Even if he'd tried to interrogate him, he would've had a limiter on him like Cheon Doyoon.

* * *

* * *

"Snakes, huh..."

When Ohjin was lost in thought with the snake medallion in his hands, a loud voice rang out in his head.

"Ohjin!!! Are you there?!"

He could see Sakaki urgently approaching him.

With both of his hands crushed, he looked around while catching his breath.

"Where's that Sosuke bastard...!"

"I killed him."

"...Are you saying that you defeated Sosuke by yourself?"

Sakaki's mouth fell open and his eyes widened in shock.

Ohjin smirked and nodded his head.

"Didn't I tell you that I could beat him alone?

"Wow... I've heard many stories about the apostles of the North Stars being strong, but I didn't imagine that it would be to this extent."

Well, Sosuke innately had a severe advantage in this case, but there was no need to point that out.

"How is Osaka doing?"

"We've finished subduing everyone in Osaka, and we're in the middle of heading to the last digestion facility in Tokyo."

"That's a relief."

Once that place was dealt with, it was safe to say that the Hippocampus faction was basically annihilated.

"There are still some things left to do... but it seems everything has been more or less tidied up."

Ohjin smiled slightly while looking up at the night sky.

Unfit for the name 'Star-forsaken Land', the stars covering the night sky were shining radiantly.

* * *

After destroying the last digestion facility in Tokyo, a huge announcement regarding the Hippocampus faction was made by the clan members of Kuroushi.

Ohjin requested that Sakaki take credit for killing Sosuke. If rumors of Ohjin killing Sosuke after Cheon Doyoon spread out, he would stand out to the other factions of the Black Star Organization.

Especially, with there being a chance of getting intertwined with the 'Snakes' that Cheon Sanggil had warned about, it was best to lay low when the opportunity was given.

'He did make a fuss about how he couldn't steal someone else's achievement...'

But at the end of several persuasions, he was able to get Sakaki's consent.

-I'll swear upon my name and make sure to repay this debt!

It was killing two birds with one stone, as he was able to stay unnoticed by the Black Star Organization and make Sakaki Ryo his reliable ally.

"So... what happened to Koshiro?" Ha-eun suddenly asked while leisurely spending her time with Ohjin after the cleanup that lasted several days was over,.

"Well... I don't think that they're killing him for now. Though he was kicked out of the clan."

"Tsk, I guess that's a given."

Regardless of the reason, they couldn't hold onto a clan member that had a record of betrayal.

Before Koshiro had left, he'd said, "I'll return after becoming a real man this time," and taken his recovered younger sister with him.

"It's a relief that he didn't die since that would really leave a bad taste in my mouth."

"The day we meet him again will probably come."

"Hehe. I hope he gets along with old man Sakaki when that time comes. Watching the two of them being dramatic was kind of fun."

"I agree."

"Ohjin!! Are you inside?!"

Boom!—

At that moment, Sakaki entered the room while breaking the sliding door.

It made them wonder if he didn't know how to open doors.

"Has a problem arisen?"

"No, there isn't really anything going on... and since the urgent matters have all been dealt with..."

Sakaki abruptly held out a card and laughed out loud.

"Haven't you two come all the way to Japan and only seen unsightly things? You can spend as much money as you'd like, so how about you two go looking around the city?"

Ohjin got his hands on the Black Cow's card!

T/N: Reminder that Black Cow also means Pushover/Sucker.