Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Night That Falls During the Day (2)
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“We’re eating out?”
Oh-jin’s eyes widened.
“Finally decided to give up on your catastrophic cooking skills?”
“What the hell did you just say?”
“Hehe. Just kidding. But why eat out all of a sudden?”
“Uh… well.”
Ha-eun twirled a strand of hair around her finger, avoiding his gaze.
“No special reason. Just thought it’d be a nice change of pace.”
“Sounds good.”
He’d been worried anyway, since Ha-eun had seemed down recently.
If eating out would lift her spirits even a little, he was all for it.
“Are we going for dinner?”
“No, let’s go around lunchtime.”
“Hmm. Then I’ll go train for a bit.”
“I’ll text you, so don’t come home. Go straight to the restaurant.”
“Huh? What for?”
*They lived together, so why not just leave from home together?*
“No back talk. Just listen to your big sis, punk.”
Ha-eun poked him in the side.
“Hmm. Alright, fine.”
Oh-jin nodded and turned away.
“See you later then, sis.”
“Hehe. It's my treat today, so you can leave your wallet at home.”
Ha-eun puffed out her chest proudly, placing a hand on her hip.
“Pfft. Guess I'll have to order something expensive, then.”
“Bring it on, bring it on. I got a hefty commission from that Isabella woman.”
“Hey, but that’s my money.”
“Since when is there ‘your money’ and ‘my money’ between us? We share everything.”
“This is outrageous.”
*Is this how a husband feels when his wife takes his bonus?*
“Kyahaha! Just kidding, you punk. I'll pay with my own money, so don't worry.”
“It's not like I was worried.”
He was just playing along, pretending to be upset. Honestly, he didn't really care.
Money wasn't that important to him anymore, anyway.
“Oh, but what about your prosthetic leg, sis?”
“They said it's finished, so I'm heading to the Association to pick it up in a bit.”
“Want me to go with you?”
“No, I'll go alone.”
*Hmm.*
Well, the Association wasn't far. She could get there and back quickly by taxi.
“I specifically asked them to focus on durability this time, so it shouldn't break like before.”
“Got it.”
Ha-eun grinned and nodded.
Seeing her much brighter expression, Oh-jin smiled faintly.
*That’s a relief.*
After returning from the dungeon, she'd looked so dejected for a while that he'd been worried, but it seemed she had sorted out her thoughts. Her expression had brightened considerably in just a day.
*This is more like my sister.*
Confident, upright, and uninhibited—this was the Ha-eun he knew.
He recalled an image from the worn album of his memories, from a time he could no longer place, of a girl who had shone more brilliantly than anyone.
*She really hasn't changed a bit since then.*
She was still.
Dazzlingly beautiful.
“Alright, text me later.”
“Yep.”
He left the house and crossed the street.
He entered the mixed-use apartment building Isabella had given him.
The interior, modified so that even high-ranking Awoken could train comfortably, was as spacious as a sports field.
“Vega.”
He channeled magic into the pendant around his neck.
[It is I!]
*Fwoosh!*
A silvery mist of light exploded behind him like fireworks, and Vega appeared.
She spun around once with her arms spread wide.
*Why is our goddess so hyper?*
“Did something good happen?”
[Huhu. You have been summoning me every day recently, have you not? Though… it is only for training.]
So that's why she was so energetic.
“Well, I'll be counting on you again today.”
[Hmm. While I enjoy seeing your face every day… is there nothing else besides training?]
Vega pouted.
[It is good to work hard, but it is also necessary to relieve accumulated fatigue from time to time.]
“Pfft. Actually, I was planning on keeping it short today.”
[Oh? Until what time do you plan to train?]
“Until around one?”
[Ooh.]
Vega's eyes sparkled.
[Then perhaps you would like to go sightseeing with me today….]
“Ah, let's do that next time.”
[Hmm? Do you have other plans?]
“My sister asked me to have lunch with her.”
[Hmph. So you intend to meet with her alone?]
“Well, yeah.”
No matter how dense he was, he couldn't bring Vega along to a lunch Ha-eun had gone out of her way to suggest.
[Hmph.]
Vega narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
She sat perched on his shoulder, nervously shaking her leg.
[I see. So you are meeting Ha-eun alone.]
she muttered in a small voice.
-Fzzt!
[Let us begin our training.]
Her golden eyes flashing, she floated into the air.
Fzzzzzt!!
Vicious bolts of lightning swirled like a storm.
“Uh… Lady Vega?”
*This is fucking terrifying.*
[Shall I attack you as usual, until you can evade the lasers and touch me three times?]
“Uh, yeah. That's the plan, but.”
[Then let us raise the difficulty a little today. We shall continue until you have touched me thirty times.]
“What?”
*What the.*
*Since when is ten times 'a little'?*
*'Is this crypto?'*
*Mom, are we going to Mars?*
“Wait, thirty times is too much—”
[We begin!]
*Click!*
As Vega flipped a switch, hundreds, thousands of lasers shot out from all directions.
Of course, he hadn't used 'Lie' yet, so touching the lasers wouldn't cause any real injuries, but.
[Hyaaaaaaap!]
Fzzzzzzzzzt!!
Vega's attacks were a different story.
As the Constellation of Lyra, she possessed a wondrous ability to control lightning with precision.
In other words.
she could adjust the lightning so that it wouldn't injure him, but would hurt like hell.
“Aaaaaaaah!!”
Oh-jin ran until his feet were sweating, dodging the chaotically moving lasers and blue lightning.
***
“Phew.”
After finishing a shower in the training facility's shower room.
He dried his wet hair with a towel and turned on his smartphone.
“Hm?”
There were no messages in his notification window.
*What's going on?*
He'd expected a text with the location of their meeting place.
-Oh-jin: Where are you, sis?
He sent a message to Ha-eun, but there was no reply.
Calling her didn't work either.
No matter how many times he called, all he got was the mechanical tone of an unanswered call.
*Is she sleeping?*
Oh-jin tilted his head in confusion and headed home first.
*Click.*
He opened the front door, but there was no sign of anyone inside.
“……”
A sense of unease began to creep in.
Oh-jin checked the last message he'd received from her.
-Sis: Goin' to pick up a leg~♬ ε⌯(ง ˙ω˙)ว
-Oh-jin: Take a taxi.
-Sis: OK, already got a ride.
His message was sent at 10:39 AM.
Other than that message from about two hours ago, there was nothing else.
Oh-jin immediately tapped his contacts and called Department Head Han.
-Ah, it's been a while, Mr. Oh-jin. I hear you've been focusing on your training. How's it going?
“Department Head, did my sister stop by there?”
he asked, cutting Department Head Han off.
-Yes. She was here about two hours ago.
“When did she leave?”
-She just picked up the prosthetic leg and left immediately… Is something wrong?
*Click.*
He hung up without answering.
“Dammit.”
A cold sweat ran down his spine.
A sinister premonition spread like ink dropped on white paper.
*I have to go to the Association.*
The last place her whereabouts were confirmed was the Association.
Oh-jin walked to the balcony window. He didn't have the luxury of taking the elevator down.
*Crack!*
He forcibly ripped out the window, which was designed to only open halfway to prevent a person from passing through.
-Thwang!!!
He fired his wire shooter toward the opposite apartment building.
A wire stretched between the two buildings.
“Hup!”
He kicked off the ground violently and jumped toward the other building.
His body fell in an arc before the wire pulled him taut, launching him upward.
*Faster…!*
Oh-jin bit his lip, his expression anxious, as he headed for the Association.
Whoosh! Whoooosh!
It took him only three minutes to reach the Association.
“Hoo.”
Oh-jin stood before the entrance to the Association and took a deep breath.
*'Stigma of Canes Venatici.'*
Wooooong!
Light burst from his left chest, and all his senses were amplified to their limits.
“Keuk!”
Countless smells assaulted his nostrils.
Oh-jin suppressed the throbbing pain in his head and searched for Ha-eun's scent.
*…It's not here.*
Two hours had already passed since she left the Association.
She hadn't stayed for long, so it was unlikely her scent would remain.
*No.*
I can find it.
They say high-ranking Awoken of Canes Venatici can track the scent of someone who passed by hours ago.
He wasn't a high-ranking Awoken, but that meant it wasn't impossible.
*In that case.*
Oh-jin gritted his teeth.
He closed his eyes gently and focused all his senses on his nose.
*"Snnnnnff."*
An uncountable number of scents flooded his nostrils.
“Keoheok… Keok!”
*Throb, throb.*
His head throbbed as if it were about to explode.
Too much information was flooding his mind at once, and his brain couldn't process the deluge.
“Kuaaaah!”
Blood poured from his nose.
No, not just his nose.
His eyes became bloodshot, and tears of blood streamed down his cheeks.
Blood flowed from his ears, soaking the nape of his neck.
*Still, not enough.*
Even amidst the torrent of countless pieces of information.
there was no trace of Ha-eun.
*More, more, more!*
Fzzzt!
Blue lightning sparked and spread out around him.
A technique Vega had shown him once, using faint lightning that was no more than static electricity.
-Ding!
It flowed in.
Uncountable, unfathomable.
━A distant tidal wave of information.
“Hah, hah!”
The smell of exhaust fumes from the parking lot. The smell of a discarded cigarette butt on the street. The smell of a half-finished coffee.
The smell of ginkgo leaves, the smell of a pigeon run over by a car, the smell of a passing woman's shampoo, the smell of sewage in the drain, the smell of ice cream in a child's hand, the bad breath of a man rushing by, the smell of a rotting insect under the sun, the smell of laundry drying on an apartment balcony, the smell of paper in a file folder, the smell of drying pen ink, the smell of filth clogging a pipe, the smell of gum stuck to concrete, the smell of dust inside an AC unit.
And, and, and.
The one that was always by his side.
The scent that was endlessly familiar, and more precious than anything else. Her scent.
“Found… it.”
A blue will-o'-the-wisp ignited in Oh-jin's eyes.
Kwaaaaaang!!
With a roar like an exploding cannonball, his body shot forward.
[The Stigma of Lyra and the Stigma of Canes Venatici are connecting!]
[You have acquired the synthesis skill <[Hound of Vega Lv. Max]>!]