Chapter 251
Chapter 251
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 251
Chapter Title: Heavenly Dragon (3)
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The next day.
Oh-jin, Ha-eun, and Isabella headed to the Relic Research Institute at the Association.
“Why are you tagging along?”
Ha-eun asked, glaring at Isabella.
“Oh my, I have to see if there are any relics that might be useful for me, don't I?”
“Yesterday, you said you didn't need to come, that just Oh-jin being there was enough.”
“I changed my mind.”
Isabella wrapped her arms around Oh-jin's arm with a faint smile.
No matter how you looked at it, she didn't seem like someone heading to the Association to find a relic.
“Ugh.”
But she couldn't just kick her out when she claimed to be looking for a relic for the subjugation mission.
Ha-eun swallowed a groan and grabbed his other arm.
Caught between the two women, Oh-jin could only sigh with a troubled expression.
“This way, hyung!”
As they neared the institute, Kim Si-hoo, wearing a white lab coat that reached his thighs, waved at them with a bright smile.
“What's this, hyung? Quite the popular guy, huh?”
Kim Si-hoo looked at Ha-eun and Isabella, each clinging to one of Oh-jin's arms, and a playful smile crept onto his face.
“Sigh. My boss has lived his whole life without a single girlfriend, yet someone here has two and that's still not enough...”
“This girl, Isabella, isn't Oh-jin's girlfriend.”
“To be precise, not ‘yet’, unni.”
“Who said he's yours for the taking?”
“Oh-jin isn't an object to be given or taken, is he?”
A tense war of nerves erupted between the two women.
“That's enough, both of you.”
Oh-jin sighed and pried Ha-eun and Isabella off him, who were clinging to him like glue.
‘At first, they seemed to be trying to get along.’
When they first started living together, she'd showered Ha-eun with gifts, trying to win her over.
Maybe it started after she was trapped in the Demon Realm.
Isabella's actions had become much more provocative.
It was like watching a track athlete who had been casually coasting in second place, content with a silver medal, suddenly start sprinting like mad, aiming for the gold.
‘But it's not like they have a terrible relationship, either.’
If the two of them really didn't get along, Oh-jin would have stepped in to stop them.
But aside from their few skirmishes a day, Ha-eun and Isabella's relationship wasn't bad.
In fact, it was quite good.
They had even gone shopping together and gotten spa treatments before.
It felt like some kind of subtle, friendly rivalry.
A relationship wasn't a sports competition, and being caught in the middle was just awkward for Oh-jin.
‘And to top it off, this is all my fault.’
Oh-jin pressed a hand to his forehead as if he had a headache.
He was dating Ha-eun, so he should have rejected Isabella outright, but while he was making excuses and failing to push her away, they had already become irreversibly close.
‘I don't know anymore. It'll work itself out somehow.’
Since when did I live my life worrying about every little thing?
For now, as long as Ha-eun was okay with it, he planned to maintain this relationship.
Of course, he would ultimately prioritize Ha-eun's decision.
“Is this what they call ‘a hero and his beauties’? Feels like I'm watching a martial arts drama.”
“Shut it, kid.”
Do kids these days even know what martial arts dramas are?
“My boss watches them all the time, so I know.”
Kim Si-hoo chuckled and turned around.
“Come on in. Everything's already set up.”
Oh-jin followed Kim Si-hoo into the lab.
After undoing three complex locks, they entered the research institute.
Inside, dozens of monitors were arranged like a Go board, just as he had seen before.
“Let's start with yours, hyung!”
Kim Si-hoo's eyes sparkled.
Oh-jin nodded and pulled the folding knife from the sheath on his hip.
“Dantalion.”
At the call of its name, the folding knife's blade trembled.
A chilling aura filled the lab, as if they had entered a haunted ruin or an abandoned hospital.
“Place it on that shelf.”
“Okay.”
Once Dantalion was on the shelf, Kim Si-hoo sat at the computer and began typing rapidly.
On the dozens of monitors, strings of unknown characters cascaded down like waterfalls.
“Wow. I thought he was just a brat, but he's different from how he looks...”
“Quiet.”
Kim Si-hoo cut Ha-eun off with a voice that felt almost cold.
The atmosphere shifted as if he had become a different person.
Far from being offended, Ha-eun observed the transformed Kim Si-hoo with interest.
While examining dozens of monitors simultaneously with a focused expression, Kim Si-hoo's head suddenly dropped as if he had fainted, and he slid out of his chair.
“Hey, kid! What's wrong?!”
Ha-eun rushed over to Kim Si-hoo, who had collapsed on the floor.
His face was pale, his breathing was ragged, and beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead.
“O-Oh-jin, an ambulance! Call an ambulance, quick!”
“...Noona.”
Kim Si-hoo grabbed Ha-eun's arm.
“H-Hold on! I'll call an ambulance right now!”
“Noona, I...”
he continued in a faint voice that sounded like it could give out at any moment.
“Need... something sweet...”
“Oh-jin! Why aren't you calling an ambulance... Huh? What did you say?”
“Candy, chocolate, cookies, anything... hurry.”
“......”
Ha-eun stared down at Kim Si-hoo with a dumbfounded expression.
Isabella, who had been about to call an ambulance in place of the motionless Oh-jin, also froze.
“Here.”
Only Oh-jin calmly pulled a calorie bar from his pocket and offered it to him.
“Thanks, hyung!”
Kim Si-hoo shot up and began munching on the calorie bar.
“What the hell? Did you just pull that stunt because your blood sugar was low?”
“Sugar is vital for a researcher. Calling it a stunt is too harsh.”
“You're the one who's harsh, you little brat.”
“Ow!”
Ha-eun scowled and smacked Kim Si-hoo on the head.
Kim Si-hoo clutched his head and cried out indignantly.
“I didn't do it on purpose!”
“Yes, you did.”
“...Ah, you caught me?”
Oh-jin chuckled and helped the fallen Kim Si-hoo to his feet.
“So, did you find anything out?”
“Mhm. A few things.”
Kim Si-hoo sat down and pointed at a monitor.
“First off, Dantalion is the name of a ‘King’ from the Demon Realm.”
“What?”
A King of Demonic Beasts.
He knew of their existence from Cassia, but why was this spear suddenly a ‘King’?
“To be precise, the soul of one of the Kings of Demonic Beasts resides within it.”
“So it wasn't that the weapon had a will of its own from the start...”
“Right. It gained a will when the soul inhabited it. Think of it as a haunted object, that might be easier to understand.”
“......”
Oh-jin's eyes narrowed.
A spear inhabited by the soul of a Demonic Beast King.
“Why would the Living Armor have that...”
“I don't know that much.”
Kim Si-hoo shook his head.
Oh-jin examined the black spear with sharp eyes.
‘Is this Cassia's doing?’
Since the Living Armor was Cassia's subordinate, it was a possibility.
“But for something inhabited by the soul of a Demonic Beast King, its performance is...”
“That brings us to the second point. The formula carved into it is less than 10 percent active.”
“Less than 10 percent active?”
“You mean its power is sealed?”
“In simple terms, yes. Its faint consciousness is likely due to that as well.”
“How can the seal be broken?”
“That... I'm not sure.”
Kim Si-hoo shook his head, running a hand through his shaggy hair.
“For now, its consciousness needs to return as much as possible for the formula to activate, so you should call its name consistently and use it often.”
“Hmm.”
So there was no way to break the seal quickly.
“Thanks.”
Still, just learning that the soul of a Demonic Beast King resided within this spear was a huge gain.
“Oh, and one last thing. I can show you what Dantalion roughly looked like.”
“You can figure that out too?”
“A soul is always influenced by the body it had in life.”
Oh-jin let out a sound of admiration as he watched Kim Si-hoo nod calmly.
He knew he was a genius, but not to this extent.
“Here, this is what Dantalion looked like when it was alive.”
The monitor Kim Si-hoo pointed to showed a 3D model of a beast with the head of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the tail of a snake.
“...Poppy?”
“Hm?”
“No. It's nothing.”
Oh-jin shook his head, looking flustered.
“Oh-jin, that demonic beast... that's the one that was chasing you in the Demon Realm before!”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Now that you mention it, it does look similar.”
“Hmm... Could they be the same species?”
Isabella frowned, unable to make sense of it.
‘Why is Poppy showing up here?’
Oh-jin was just as confused.
Why on earth did Dantalion's living form look exactly like Poppy?
‘Like Isabella said, they could be the same species.’
It wasn't uncommon for demonic beasts to look similar to each other.
Oh-jin put the thought aside for now, changed Dantalion back into a knife, and put it in his pocket.
“So, is it time to make a relic for noona now?”
Kim Si-hoo turned to look at Ha-eun.
“Yep. I'll pay you well, so make me something good.”
“Alright, first, get in there and move around like you normally would in a fight.”
Ha-eun entered the cube equipped with dozens of cameras, just as Oh-jin had done before.
-Mind if I pull out a cigarette?
Ha-eun's voice came through the speaker.
“This is a non-smoking area... why?”
-This is my weapon.
Ha-eun grinned, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
The tip of the cigarette burned like an incense stick.
Flowers blooming from the cigarette's tip began to swirl around her body.
Ha-eun moved swiftly, unleashing a barrage of flames, careful not to damage the walls.
“Hmm.”
Kim Si-hoo's eyes gleamed with interest as he analyzed Ha-eun's movements.
After about five minutes.
“That's enough.”
-Can I come out?
“Yep.”
Click.
Ha-eun stepped out of the cube.
“First off, you're a long-range mage type who doesn't need a separate weapon.”
“Well, yeah. That's why I've been fighting just fine without one until now.”
“Materializing the image of ‘fire’ through a cigarette is pretty innovative.”
Kim Si-hoo replayed the recording of Ha-eun, nodding with a thoughtful hum.
“Oh, but your close-quarters combat doesn't seem half bad either. Did you learn martial arts somewhere?”
“Learned a bit of boxing back in the day.”
Ha-eun grinned and threw a light punch.
“In that case, the relic should be in the form of gauntlets... no, gauntlets are a bit much. Gloves would be perfect.”
“Gloves sound good.”
“But there's... a bit of a problem.”
“A problem?”
Ha-eun tilted her head.
“For you to get the full effect of a relic, one that boosts the Stigma's magic output itself would be best...”
Kim Si-hoo scratched his head, looking troubled.
“The thing is, the price is... pretty steep.”
“How much are we talking? I've got plenty of money, kid.”
Ha-eun puffed out her chest confidently.
Thanks to consistently selling Relic Stones, she had already amassed nearly 2 billion in her bank account.
“The Relic Stones alone will cost around 30 billion.”
“...Excuse me?”
Ha-eun's jaw dropped.
Seriously? 30 billion wasn't pocket change. You're saying it costs tens of billions to make one piece of equipment?
“Relics that boost magic output are always the most expensive. It's like in games, items that increase attack power are the priciest, right?”
“B-But still, 30 billion...”
Ha-eun's face fell as her voice trailed off.
It was a sum three times more expensive than the Dragon's Demonic Eye that had healed her eyes.
No matter how much money an Awakened makes, a person with that kind of cash...
“Shall I pay for it, unni?”
Isabella calmly pulled a black card from her wallet.
A spark ignited in Ha-eun's eyes.
“Y-You'll pay? Really?”
“Yes. In exchange...”
Isabella gave a deep smile, her alluring gaze shifting towards Oh-jin.
“I'd like to go on about ten dates with Oh-jin? Alone, of course.”
“Th-That's!”
That's like selling Oh-jin for money!
“I-I can't possibly...”
“Think carefully, unni. It's 30 billion. Even for a high-ranking Awakened like you, that's not an amount you can easily save up.”
“But!”
Ha-eun clenched her fists, her expression indignant.
“Are you trying to buy my Oh-jin with money?! No! I can't accept that money!”
But it was far too much money to refuse so righteously.
“F-Five times... would that work?”
Ha-eun ducked her head, her voice barely a whisper.
“Huhu. Very well.”
Isabella beamed and took Ha-eun's hand.
The hand she held was trembling slightly.