Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: The Land Forsaken by the Stars (1)
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“Oh-jiiiiin! Wake uuuuuup!”
“Keuk!”
A dull impact resounded through my stomach.
Forced to bend into an L-shape, I opened my eyes to see Ha-eun perched on top of me.
She was wearing dolphin shorts that revealed much of her thighs and a loose, white boxy t-shirt, a combination that made it hard to know where to look.
“Wha-what is it?”
With a bewildered expression, Oh-jin checked the smartphone he’d left by his head.
The time was 5:38 AM.
The sun hadn’t even risen yet.
“Heehee! You’ll miss the airport bus if you keep lazing around!” Ha-eun exclaimed, her eyes sparkling like an elementary schooler the night before a field trip.
Oh-jin looked up at her on his stomach, an expression of disbelief on his face.
“Come on, our flight isn’t until noon. How are we going to miss it?”
“You little punk, you don’t know anything! That’s how everyone ends up missing it, you brat!”
“There are limits, you know. Limits. Hey, sis.”
There were still over six hours until the flight, and she was already making such a fuss.
“Anyway! No backtalk, just get up and get ready!” Ha-eun shouted, forcibly snatching the blanket and tossing it far away.
Oh-jin sighed as if he had no choice and tried to sit up.
“Ah, wait a minute.”
“Huh?”
Just a moment ago, she was nagging him to get up, but as he actually tried to, she suddenly pressed her hand firmly against his chest.
When he tilted his head and looked up at her, he saw Ha-eun blushing, hesitating.
“What’s wrong?”
“J-Just wait a sec, you punk. I need to prepare myself mentally.”
Mentally prepare for what?
“Hoo. Okay.”
With her hand on his chest, Ha-eun took a deep breath in and out, then swallowed hard.
Still on top of him, she slowly leaned down and gently pressed her lips against his.
“Hmph.”
Her hair tickled his cheek. With her warm breath, the sensation of her lips meeting his was unbelievably soft.
The tip of Ha-eun’s tongue lightly prodded his before darting inside like it was hiding in a mouse hole.
“Phew!”
Ha-eun pulled away, letting out the breath she’d been holding.
She quickly turned her head, avoiding Oh-jin’s gaze, then fiddled with her index finger and mumbled.
“A mo-morning kiss…”
“……”
Well, I’ll be damned.
Where did my dear sister learn such a seductive move?
‘This is driving me crazy.’
To exaggerate a little, his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would break through his ribs.
He thought that after spending so much time together, his heart wouldn't pound like this even after they became a couple.
But as if mocking that thought, his heart trembled so much from a single small touch from Ha-eun that he could barely keep his composure.
‘If anyone else saw this, they’d probably foam at the mouth from how cringey it is.’
But who cared?
Even if it was cringey and embarrassing.
Not when he felt so deliriously happy.
“Ha-eun.”
“Y-Yeah?”
Ha-eun glanced at Oh-jin before turning her head away.
The air in the room grew hot, as if the yet-to-rise sun was already shining inside.
He reached out, gently stroking her cheek, and opened his mouth.
“You’re heavy.”
“You son of a bitch?”
Ha-eun’s face contorted into a scowl.
“You clueless bastard…!”
A fierce fist struck his chest.
Oh-jin felt a sharp pain radiate from his chest, but he burst into laughter.
He was happy.
So happy his brain could melt, his tongue could go numb.
—*Be wary of the snake.*
Cheon Sang-gil’s ominous warning echoed in his mind.
“……”
He gently grasped Ha-eun’s arm as she continued to playfully hit his chest.
This warmth in his hands.
He would not let it slip away.
* * *
“The airport! So this is the legendary Incheon Airport I’ve only heard about!”
Ha-eun’s eyes sparkled as she looked around like a country girl who had just arrived in Seoul.
“Oh-jin! Oh-jin! This place is soooooo damn huge!”
“…Ha-eun.”
Please stop, you’re embarrassing me.
“Wow, to think the day would come when we’d travel abroad together like this! You really have to live a long life to see it all!”
He had to admit it.
Back when they were at the orphanage, he never would have imagined a day like this, the two of them going overseas together.
“I told you, it’s not a trip. Oh, right, did you bring the translation device?”
“Of course! I’ve had it on since this morning!”
Oh-jin let out a small smile and checked the flight tickets he had booked.
‘It would have been more convenient if we could go through a Sanctuary.’
Unfortunately, Japan was not accessible via a Sanctuary.
There were no entrances to Sanctuaries in Japan at all.
‘The land forsaken by the stars… I think that’s what they call it.’
It was a derogatory term used to mock Japan for its lack of Sanctuaries.
‘They might not have Sanctuaries, but it’s not like they don’t have Awakeners.’
However, perhaps due to that influence, Japan had a remarkably low number of Awakeners.
And those who did exist were mostly low-Star Awakeners.
There wasn’t a single high-ranking Awakener above 9-Star in the entire country.
‘Which is probably why they were taken over by the Hippocampus Faction, the lowest-ranking faction in the Black Star Guild.’
According to the information he got from Cheon Do-yoon, the Hippocampus Faction was pathetically weak compared to the Noctua Faction.
The difference was stark, starting with the fact that the 7th-ranked Executor of the Black Star Guild, the man called the King of Hippocampus, Kusanagi Sosuke, was only an 8-Star Awakener.
‘The difference between being a 9-Star and not is night and day.’
He knew that for sure, now that Ha-eun had ascended to 9-Star.
‘In any case, he’s the perfect prey.’
If Kusanagi Sosuke had been a 9-Star Awakener like Cheon Do-yoon, he wouldn’t have been able to embark on this hunt without hesitation.
Even though he had just reached 7-Star, it was a fact that he was still not ready to fight a 9-Star Awakener.
“Oh-jin! Oh-jin! Let’s go check out the duty-free shops!”
Excited by her first time at an airport, Ha-eun pulled Oh-jin along.
A faint smile spread across Oh-jin’s lips.
“Is there something you want to buy?”
“Cigarettes! I heard they’re cheap here!”
Ah, right.
His sister was a smoker.
He’d almost forgotten, since she rarely smoked when she was with him.
“Okay. I’ll see if there’s anything I want to buy, too.”
Oh-jin followed Ha-eun towards the duty-free shops.
In the past, he would have nagged her about smoking, even as a joke, but now that Ha-eun was a high-ranking Awakener, there was no reason to.
‘Her body was reconstructed, so waste products don’t accumulate anymore.’
For her now, cigarettes were a perfect guilty pleasure with no ill effects, as long as she smoked away from other people.
‘It’s just so ridiculously overpowered.’
Two more steps to becoming a 9-Star Awakener.
Suppressing the urge to quickly climb the remaining two steps, he followed her inside.
After buying cigarettes at the duty-free shop, they passed through the gate to board the plane.
As they were walking down the jet bridge after their tickets were checked, Oh-jin turned to Ha-eun as if he’d just remembered something.
“Oh, by the way, you remember what I told you yesterday, right?”
“Huh?”
Ha-eun tilted her head for a moment, then clapped her hands as if she remembered.
“That I have to take my shoes off before getting on the plane?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmph. You punk… who do you take this big sister for?”
Ha-eun looked at Oh-jin as if she were utterly baffled, then stuck out her left foot, which was clad in a sneaker.
“I even wore sneakers so they’d be easy to take off!”
“That’s my girl.”
“Heheh! This is what you call ‘being prepared,’ you brat!”
Oh-jin shrugged and watched Ha-eun walk ahead with a fond smile.
* * *
And so they arrived at Osaka International Airport.
“Oh, Oh-jin, you son of a biiiiiitch!!”
As soon as they got off the plane, Ha-eun glared at Oh-jin, her cheeks flushed with shame.
He could see the flight attendants smiling as they watched her from behind.
“Wow, I really didn’t think you’d actually believe that.”
“You, you wretched…!”
She viciously twisted Oh-jin’s side as he chuckled.
Oh-jin felt a pain like his flesh was being torn off, but he still shook with laughter.
“D-Don’t you ever get tired of teasing me? Huh? Don’t you ever get tired?”
“Not really.”
It’s fun every single time.
Feels new every time I do it.
“Argh, seriously!!!”
“Hahaha!!”
He led the fuming Ha-eun out into the city of Osaka.
After dropping off their luggage at a hotel near Namba Station, they went back outside.
“Alright, shall we go find those Hippocampus or sea cucumber bastards?”
Having cooled down a bit on the way to the hotel, Ha-eun stretched and cracked her knuckles.
“What’s this? I thought you’d want to go sightseeing right away.”
“Well, I’d like to, but we have to undo Vega’s seal first.”
Ha-eun said with a bitter smile.
“By the way, if your Black Heaven reaches the next stage this time, can you definitely use that Gaecheon thing?”
“I don’t know about that yet.”
In the first place, it wasn’t even certain that hunting the Hippocampus Faction would cause the Black Heaven to bloom for the sixth time.
“Whether it works or not, we’re just doing what we can.”
“…Don’t you think it’d be better to just absorb a little of my eye?”
“I told you no.”
“But still.”
Ha-eun touched the area around her eyepatch-covered left eye and let out a short sigh.
Honestly, this girl is always so careless with her own body.
“You two used to be at each other’s throats.”
“Well… if you trace it back, it’s my fault for getting kidnapped like an idiot.”
She scratched her head and continued.
“And, you know, I kinda miss her buzzing around like a fly, whining ‘My child~ My child~’.”
When it came down to it, she was actually quite close to Vega.
“We’ll be able to break the seal soon, so don’t worry too much.”
“Tch. I guess you did lie about coming here to get that Adam’s Apple thing, so it would be weird if we went back too quickly.”
Ha-eun clicked her tongue and nodded.
“So, how are we going to find those Hippocampus guys?”
“I was told the locations of a few of their branches.”
The original plan was to secretly infiltrate their branch in Osaka to gather information on Kusanagi Sosuke, but…
“First, I’m going to try and meet a man named Sakaki Ryo.”
Oh-jin held up the contact information he had received from Cheon Sang-gil.
“Okay. Have you contacted him?”
“Yeah. He said he’d send a car to the hotel and that we should come in it.”
“What kind of person is he?”
“I don’t know… Nothing seemed particularly strange when we spoke on the phone.”
Other than a slightly gruff voice, there was nothing particularly distinctive about him.
‘He did say his personality was a bit unique.’
It seemed he’d have to meet him in person to find out what was so unique.
“Hmm, well, I guess we’ll find out when we get there. When is the car coming?”
“It should be here soon.”
Oh-jin checked the time on his smartphone.
Their meeting was scheduled for 4 PM, so it was about time for it to arrive.
—*Vroooom.*
“Ah, is that the car?”
He looked where Ha-eun was pointing.
A magnificent limousine was heading their way.
“Wow, a limo. How styli—huh?”
Wait a fucking minute.
What is that?
—*Vroooooom!*
—*Vroom!*
—*Hoooooonk!!*
Behind the limousine, ten black vans swarmed in as if in formation.
When the limousine stopped, the vans surrounded it as if to protect it.
—*Click!*
The doors of the black vans opened, and a flood of menacing-looking men in black suits poured out.
A legion of over a hundred suited men spread out in a perfect line, as if performing a military drill.
*Thud!*
“We have come to escort the Oyabun’s guests!!!!”
““““We will serve you with utmost care!!!””””
The legion of suited men bowed in unison.
“……”
Oh-jin and Ha-eun stared at the army of suits, their mouths agape.
“What the fuck…?”
The contact he introduced me to was a yakuza?