Chapter 239
Chapter 239
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 239
Chapter Title: Baptism of the Stars (1)
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“……”
“……”
An awkward silence descended.
The stillness in the room was so thick you could hear the second hand of the clock ticking.
Breaking the quiet that felt like it would last an eternity.
“Pfft.”
A laugh Oh-jin had been desperately suppressing escaped his lips.
“You little!”
Ha-eun, clad in a white lab coat, moved with the speed of light.
Her long, slender leg swung out, viciously striking Oh-jin’s stomach.
*Crack!*
“Keuk!”
A sound that shouldn’t come from a human stomach echoed as Oh-jin’s body flew through the air and slammed into the wall.
Ha-eun glared at Oh-jin, her face flushed crimson.
“Sh-shut up! If you so much as crack a smile from now on, you’re dead! Got it?!”
Oh-jin’s body slid down the wall, collapsing onto the floor.
“Hahahaha! Ah, that’s seriously hilarious!”
Io—no, Rebecca—clutched her stomach, unable to hold back her peals of laughter.
“Ugh…”
Seemingly unable to bring herself to kick a girl who looked no older than ten, Ha-eun flinched, biting her lip.
Her tightly clenched fists trembled.
“So… this little brat is Nokjonseong?”
Ha-eun shot a fiery glare at Rebecca, who was sitting on the sofa, kicking her legs back and forth.
Groaning in pain, Oh-jin pushed himself up and nodded.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Rebecca Dell.”
Rebecca smiled brightly, taking Ha-eun’s hand and shaking it.
Ha-eun frowned and asked in an irritated voice.
“What’s Nokjonseong doing here?”
“Hmm. To be honest, I got a little interested in Mister over there and followed him… but I never imagined I’d see something this entertaining.”
Rebecca smiled, a smile far too alluring for a young girl, and gazed at Oh-jin with profound eyes.
“…What? I-Interested?”
Ha-eun’s jaw dropped in horror as she whipped her head back to Oh-jin.
“You… you bastard. Have you stooped so low as to hit on a little kid?!”
Leaping gracefully like a cat, Ha-eun grabbed Oh-jin by the collar and shook him violently.
Oh-jin gagged as if he were choking, but still managed to send a sharp look toward Rebecca.
“That’s enough joking around.”
“Heehee. Alright. Sorry, sorry.”
Rebecca shrugged and flicked her hand.
From a decorative pot in the room, wide leaves grew out and wrapped around Rebecca’s body.
Enveloped in the foliage, Rebecca’s form gradually grew larger, transforming into that of an adult woman.
“Wh-what is this?”
Ha-eun stared at Rebecca with wide eyes.
With her deep green hair, she possessed a beauty so stunning that even another woman would gasp in admiration.
“……”
The words Rebecca had just spoken—that she was ‘interested in Oh-jin’—now displeased her in an entirely different way.
Rebecca shrugged and shook her head.
“You don’t have to worry about what I said earlier. It’s true I’m interested, but I’m not so lonely that I’d go after a man who’s already taken.”
Of course.
“Although, if you were interested, Mister, that might be a different story?”
Rebecca looked at Oh-jin with suggestive eyes.
Receiving her blatant gaze, Oh-jin let out a small chuckle.
“As you can see, I’m already taken.”
Oh-jin gently took Ha-eun’s hand and lifted it as if to show it off.
Rebecca crossed her arms with a slightly pouty expression.
“Oh my, you never know what tomorrow holds for a man and a woman, do you? You might be head over heels for each other now, but later on, things could cool down…”
“No.”
Cutting Rebecca off, Oh-jin slowly shook his head.
“That won’t happen. Ever.”
It wasn’t a vow filled with determination.
Nor was it a declaration burning with passion.
It was a calm, simple statement, as if he were merely explaining a foregone conclusion.
“…Hoh.”
Rebecca’s eyes sparkled with interest.
Unlike Ha-eun, who was blushing furiously and fidgeting, Oh-jin’s eyes, as he held her hand, were as tranquil as a lakeside at dawn.
Only then could Rebecca be certain.
Making this man’s heart turn to her was something that would be impossible even for a Constellation.
“This is making me a little jealous.”
Rebecca turned to Ha-eun with a mischievous look.
“Just what does one have to do to be so loved by him?”
“Wh-what do I have to do to get Oh-jinnie’s love… Th-that’s.”
“If you wear some sexy lingerie and strike a seductive pose at the door, saying ‘Is my baby home?’…”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Ha-eun screamed and lunged at Rebecca.
Rebecca burst into laughter and nimbly jumped behind the sofa.
“I-I told you to shut up!”
“Heehee. Teasing you is just too much fun.”
Rebecca looked at Ha-eun as if she’d found an interesting new toy.
Ha-eun scowled and said in an annoyed tone.
“Well, now that you’ve been so soundly rejected, why don’t you go back to your room?”
“I suppose I should. I have no intention of interrupting your cozy night together.”
Just as Rebecca nodded and began to stand up.
“There’s something I want to ask.”
Oh-jin stopped her.
“Hm? What is it?”
“In a week, I’m supposed to receive something called the Baptism of the Stars. I was wondering exactly how it works.”
“Ah, that.”
Rebecca nodded.
“When you enter the Sanctuary, the Constellations will guide you to a place called the Fountain of the Milky Way.”
“Is it inside the Sanctuary?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“You don’t know?”
Oh-jin tilted his head.
She must have been to the Fountain of the Milky Way before, so how could she not know?
“It’s kind of like a warp? Several Constellations have to gather and chant an incantation to travel to the Fountain of the Milky Way.”
“Ah.”
So it was a warp, not a place you could walk to.
“Once you’re there, you immerse yourself in the Fountain of the Milky Way for about ten minutes? Your patron Constellation will personally recite a blessing for you.”
“Is that it?”
“Yup.”
It was simpler than he’d thought.
“What’s all this about the power of the Stigma awakening when you’re inside?”
“Ah. That varies a bit from person to person.”
“Varies?”
“First, when you immerse yourself in the Fountain of the Milky Way, an enormous amount of mana fills the surrounding area.”
It was a place where no less than three Dragon Veins intersected, so it was only natural that a tremendous amount of mana would gather there.
“Then, depending on how ‘brightly’ the Fountain of the Milky Way shines, the amount of mana that flows into the Awakeners submerged in it will differ.”
“Hmm.”
So the amount of mana you could obtain depended on how brightly it shone?
“How bright does it get?”
“For me, it was about as bright as a fluorescent light.”
Was that considered very bright?
“Hmm. I don’t know all of the other Seven Stars, so I can’t be sure. But I heard that for Allen, it shone with the brightness of a torch.”
A fluorescent light was brighter than a torch…
“So you’re saying the fountain shone brighter for you than for Allen?”
He had thought Allen Oskar would have had something more special, being a Constellation of Polaris.
“Well, I’m a bit of a special case, aren’t I?”
Rebecca stuck her tongue out slightly and shrugged.
Come to think of it, Department Head Han had mentioned Nokjonseong a few times.
‘He said Nokjonseong became a high-rank Awakener in just two years.’
Her growth rate was astounding, nearly on par with his own.
“Though not as much as you, Mister.”
Rebecca shook her head with a bitter smile.
She, too, had been called a genius and blessed by the stars, but she couldn’t compare to Oh-jin.
He displayed such absurd talent that you could believe he was a Titan—the creators of the Constellations—reincarnated as a human.
“Anyway, you’re saying that even the brightness of a fluorescent light is a big deal?”
“Yup. Thanks to receiving the baptism there, I advanced to 10-Star.”
“…What?”
She became a 10-Star there?
‘Then… if I’m lucky.’
Did that mean he could become a 9-Star after the Baptism of the Stars?
‘Waiting a week is going to be torture.’
Oh-jin suppressed his rising excitement and curled his lips into a smile.
“Are you done with your questions now, Mister?”
“For the most part.”
“Heehee. Well then, I’ll be on my way. Let’s talk again later.”
“Ah, one last thing.”
“Hm?”
It wasn’t a particularly important question, but.
“What kind of title will I receive?”
With the positions of Tamrangseong and Cheonseongseong now vacant, would he receive one of them?
“Hmm… the Constellations will decide that separately. If it’s you…”
Rebecca, about to continue, shook her head with a playful smile.
“No. I’ll leave that as a surprise for you to enjoy then.”
“……?”
Oh-jin looked at her with a questioning expression, as she seemed to know something, but he didn’t press further.
“Well then, this third wheel will take her leave~ You two have a good time~”
“Ugh.”
Watching Rebecca’s retreating back as she left, Ha-eun swallowed a groan.
“I don’t like her.”
Ha-eun ground her teeth, glaring at the firmly shut door.
“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be on good terms with her.”
Building a personal connection with a member of the Seven Stars was something that couldn’t be easily achieved even with a nation’s budget.
Well, Oh-jin himself had become one of the Seven Stars now.
“Haaah. How is it that only women seem to gather around this bastard?”
Ha-eun sighed and pinched Oh-jin’s cheek.
“Still…”
She leaned against Oh-jin with a faint smile.
She pecked his cheek lightly, like a sparrow.
“What you said earlier… I was a little touched, you know?”
Watching Ha-eun’s bashful smile, Oh-jin slowly reached out to her.
He gently lifted the white coat she was wearing.
“Come to think of it, what did you say before? Was it ‘my baby’?”
“Aack! Y-you said you wouldn’t mention it, you bastard!”
She tried to back away in fright, but he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close.
“There’s no one else watching now, is there?”
“Th-that’s true, but.”
Ha-eun trailed off, avoiding Oh-jin’s gaze.
Oh-jin pulled her into an embrace and kissed her.
“You said you’d give me a special reward if I came back as one of the Seven Stars, right?”
“…Ugh.”
Ha-eun bit her lip and hung her head low.
Along with an indescribable sense of shame, the plan she had buried away slowly began to rear its head.
“Hoo.”
Calming her trembling heart, Ha-eun put on her most relaxed expression and caressed Oh-jin’s cheek.
“S-so, what kind of present does my baby want?”
The words were squeezed out.
At her heart-stoppingly adorable appearance, Oh-jin swallowed hard.
He gazed at her deeply and opened his mouth to speak softly.
In this situation, there was only one thing he could say.
“Waaah.”
I’m baby Oh-jin.
Feed me.