Chapter 182: Interlude - For a Better Past (1)

Chapter 182: Interlude - For a Better Past (1)

Pzzzzt—

Static noise rang in his ears.

His field of view distorted as Lee Shinhyuk's memories flowed into his head.

"Ha-eun's little brother went missing?"

"...Yeah."

Lee Shinhyuk nodded with a stiff expression.

Lee Woohyuk's surprised eyes looked at him.

"Then how is she doing...?"

"She's in a state of complete panic."

He sighed deeply and sat across from Lee Woohyuk.

"Ha-eun hasn't replied since yesterday. I think she's still looking for him."

"...Sigh."

Lee Woohyuk grasped his forehead with a shocked expression.

"But didn't you say that her little brother couldn't even get off the bed?"

"It appears that he ran away as soon as he recovered enough to walk."

Lee Shinhyuk quietly bit his lips.

The way she was happy like a little child when her little brother was finally able to stand up on the bed crossed his mind.

—Her happy smile that would never be directed at him.

Every time he saw her elated smile, it felt like a knife was slicing away somewhere deep inside his heart.

"Why did he run away?"

"That's..."

Lee Shinhyuk slurred the end of his sentence.

Unable to bring himself to say it, he dropped his head and sealed his lips.

Lee Woohyuk looked at him and frowned.

"But why hasn't she contacted us? Isn't it strange?"

It was common sense to ask for help from others when someone dear to you went missing, but Ha-eun didn't speak a word about her little brother.

His name, appearance, and even age all remained a secret.

"Just what is she thinking...?"

"So this is just my speculation, but..."

Lee Sinhyuk, who was lost in thought, slowly raised his head.

"I think... that her brother joined the Pseudo Star Cult."

"...What?"

Lee Woohyuk's eyes widened.

Killing intent instinctively flowed out of his body as soon as he heard the words 'Pseudo Star Cult'.

"Then are you suggesting that she isn't saying anything in order to hide the fact that he's a part of the Pseudo Star Cult?"

Lee Shinhyuk slightly nodded his head.

If her little brother really was connected with the Pseudo Star Cult, the way she hid his identity so thoroughly was understandable.

At that time, the Pseudo Star Cult was literally the 'common enemy' of the world.

"What other reason could there be for a paralyzed person to suddenly recover enough to walk?"

"There's... probably nothing other than awakening."

Lee Shinhyuk nodded his head.

The Pseudo Star Cult had the ability to grant stigmas to ordinary people who were unable to awaken.

Needless to say, you would have to pay a hideous price in return, but would that price really mean anything to a paralyzed person who couldn't move an inch from his bed?

"No way... to think that her little brother was in the Pseudo Star Cult..."

Lee Woohyuk sighed deeply and chewed his lips.

Ha-eun was a core member of 'Guardian' along with Lee Woohyuk and Lee Shinhyuk. If the fact that her little brother was a part of the Pseudo Star Cult became known, that news would not only unsettle Korea but the whole world.

"So that's why she wasn't saying anything."

"It's still just a theory. I'll tell you more about it once I gather more information on it."

Lee Shinhyuk got up from his seat.

Lee Woohyuk called him as he was about to turn around and leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to go help her."

"But..."

"I know."

Lee Shinhyuk smiled sadly.

He knew that, no matter what he did, she would not look at him as he looked at her.

But still...

"I'm going. Contact me if there's an emergency."

Lee Woohyuk looked at his back with bitter eyes.

Click—

Lee Shinhyuk left and went up to the rooftop of the Valhalla guild house for a moment.

He wanted to rush to help Ha-eun find her little brother, but resolving his complicated thoughts came first.

"Sigh."

Lee Shinhyuk frequently went up to the rooftop to clear his head and organize his thoughts, but for some unknown reason, it didn't work on that day.

"So what if I became a high-rank Awakener...? It's not like that will draw her attention."

He had become a 9-Star Awakener through treacherous training in order to protect her, but Ha-eun kept her distance from him and rarely spoke to him after she turned down his confession.

Pain throbbed in his chest.

The deep sigh that leaked out of his mouth echoed out.

"Hm?"

When he was in a daze on top of the rooftop, he discovered an envelope that was placed upright in the rooftop's corner.

"What's this?"

It was placed too neatly for it to be an envelope that someone dropped by accident. There was also no way anyone could have dropped it since he was the only one in the Valhalla guild that used the rooftop.

"'To Lee Shinhyuk'... huh? Me?"

Lee Shinhyuk's eyes widened as he discovered his name written on the envelope.

"What?"

He tilted his head and opened the envelope.

There was a single sentence written on the pure-white letter.

-Please take good care of my big sister.

It didn't take long for him to realize who wrote the letter and the person it was referring to.

"Ah..."

His eyes trembled after reading the letter.

He clenched his fists and desperately suppressed the tips of his lips that were trying to rise on their own.

"Yes. I'll make sure to protect her," Lee Shinhyuk vowed with a determined voice to her 'little brother' that he didn't know the face, age, or even name of.

With that final scene—

Pzzzzzzt!—

—Ohjin's field of view distorted with the familiar sound of static noise.

What appeared before him wasn't the rooftop of the Valhalla guild house but a pier filled with gray smoke and the smell of something burning.

Translator - Maccas

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

"..."

"..."

Ohjin blankly looked at the Living Armor's half-melted corpse and pursed his lips.

'What...?'

He chewed his lips as his fists trembled.

'What the fuck was that?'

It wasn't hard to grasp the situation.

The Ohjin of the 1st Round that was paralyzed and getting nursed by Ha-eun...

He would've thought...

He would've contemplated and suffered...

—How can I protect her?

—What do I have to do to save her?

'You're telling me the conclusion I reached... was to disappear from her side?'

"Don't... fuck with me."

Bzzzt!—

Blue lightning flowed into his fist, and azure fen fires raged deep in his eyes.

"Don't fuck with me, you bastard!"

He yelled out to his past... no, to his future self.

Despite knowing better than anyone who she needed next to her the most, the best he could think of was abandoning her and running away?

'Dumbfuck.'

Rage heated his head.

He thought about how idiotic those actions were and questioned if they were really the same person while feeling a wave of nausea.

Ohjin knew the despair his other self had been in.

Since he was paralyzed, he was probably living miserably while getting nursed every day by the woman he wanted to protect.

He would have felt despair.

He would have felt disheartened.

He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself for staining her life that was supposed to shine brightly.

However, despite all of that...

"You... shouldn't have given up."

It felt like his stomach was turning.

Strength left his legs and his body staggered.

"O-Ohjin? What's wrong?"

Ha-eun approached him and held his arm.

"..."

Ohjin felt the warm sensation on his arm and looked at her face.

An indescribable feeling and an irresistible impulse rose up within him.

"Ohj— hmpf?!"

He roughly pulled her hips in and kissed her.

As she tried to walk back with her eyes open wide, he pulled even harder.

"Hmf... uub."

He put his tongue in her slightly opened mouth, and Ha-eun carefully sucked on the tongue that dug past her lips.

Ohjin put strength in his arms as if saying he wouldn't ever lose her and continued the kiss.

"Puha! Wh-What are you d-d-doing all of a sudden?"

Ha-eun's cheeks grew beet red after she barely managed to escape from his arms.

She rubbed her thighs like she was constipated and wiggled her fingers in embarrassment.

"..."

As if washing away the unpleasant memories that flowed into his head, he looked at her lovely gestures.

A raging azure fen fire blazed in his eyes.

"I'm not going to be the same as you," he firmly said to his other self that abandoned everything and ran away without protecting her.

"What are you— hmf!"

He pulled in her hips once again like he would never let go.

"O-Ohjin, seriously, you...!"

Ha-eun pinched Ohjin's stomach with her cheeks reddened.

The way he kissed her ravenously like he desired her made her chest flutter, but there was a time and place for everything.

"D-Do stuff like that at h-h-home," Ha-eun said in a muttering voice as she looked away.

If she could have it her way, she would immediately go home with Ohjin to continue their unfinished business...

"Fuu. First off, let's report to the Heaven's Grace guild."

But they still had a heap of work to take care of such as reporting the matters regarding the Living Armor and Bufo faction.

Since there were even deaths during the operation, the process would naturally become complicated.

Common sense told her to return to the Heaven's Grace guild as fast as possible—

"No, Isabella will take care of that on her own."

—but Ohjin shook his head like it wasn't needed.

His actions were extremely unlike his normal, meticulous, and calculative behavior.

Ha-eun looked at Ohjin with a shocked expression.

"You said we should do stuff like this at home, right?"

Ohjin held her wrist.

"Let's go home."

"Kyaa! W-Wait, Ohjin!"

Ha-eun yelled as Ohjin pulled her hand.

She looked around with panic and soon walked right behind Ohjin.

They walked to the motorcycle that Ha-eun rode there.

'You couldn't protect her, but I did.'

Within his head, he spat out words to his future self that would never be heard.

'You couldn't save her, but I did.'

He gently touched the elixir in his pocket.

The person who returned Ha-eun's eyes and leg wasn't Lee Shinhyuk—it was him.

'You gave up...'

His blue eyes looked to the black sky settled in darkness.

"But I won't, you son of a bitch."

For a past that's better than the future...

For yesterday that's better than tomorrow...

Ohjin gripped Ha-eun's hand tighter.