Chapter 293
Chapter 293
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 293
Chapter Title: Interlude - Banquet (3)
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“Are you alright?”
After putting Ha-eun to bed, I headed to the stream and found Isabella, who had just finished washing her face.
With eyes now much clearer, she looked at Oh-jin, covered in vomit, and let out a chuckle.
“…Are you laughing?”
Oh-jin, drenched in sour vomit, shot a sharp glare at Isabella.
Isabella covered her mouth, trying her best to hold back her laughter, her shoulders shaking. Soon, she was clutching her stomach, bursting into giggles.
“It seems she had a bit too much to drink.”
“A bit is an understatement.”
Oh-jin sighed and shook his head.
As he approached the stream, he checked Isabella’s condition. She seemed much better off than Ha-eun.
But if they were drinking together, for only Ha-eun to get that plastered…
“…Don’t tell me you got her drunk?”
“Oh my, of course not. The banquet’s atmosphere was just so good, she must have gotten a little excited and drank too much.”
Isabella shrugged with a sly expression.
Oh-jin swallowed a groan and took off his vomit-covered shirt.
His upper body was revealed under the moonlight.
He wasn’t as tall as Allen or Lee Woo-hyeok, but his body boasted a clearly defined six-pack, as if sculpted by a master craftsman.
“…Gulp.”
Gazing at Oh-jin’s torso under the moonlight, Isabella swallowed hard.
She fidgeted, twisting her thighs as if she felt an itch somewhere.
“H-How is she doing?”
Isabella subtly averted her gaze from Oh-jin, as if to hide her flushed face.
“She’s sleeping now.”
“Hmm. I wonder what her reaction will be when she wakes up tomorrow.”
“Don’t tease her too much.”
*Because I’m going to.*
“Give me the shirt. I’ll wash it for you.”
“It’s fine. I’ll do it.”
He couldn’t let Isabella wash a shirt covered in vomit.
Oh-jin squatted by the stream and began to scrub the shirt.
He hadn’t been in the right mind to bring any soap, so he just rinsed it with water, spread it out wide, and laid it on a rock.
“I’m going to wash up a bit.”
Oh-jin gestured to the vomit on his body with a slight glance.
It was a hint that he was going to wash now, so she should head back first, but…
“Then I’ll help you wash.”
Isabella’s eyes lit up like a predator that had spotted its prey, and she scurried over to Oh-jin.
“I don’t need help just to wash…”
“You haven’t fully recovered yet either, have you, Oh-jin?”
She had a point.
The Constellation’s blessing had put a significant strain not only on Vega but on Oh-jin as well.
He wasn’t in a state where he couldn’t lift a finger, like after using Gaecheon, but it was true that his body wasn’t in its normal condition.
“Or… do you not want to get in with me?”
Isabella’s eyes welled up with tears, a sorrowful look on her face.
He knew they were crocodile tears, meant to get him into the stream with her, but her expression was so convincing it made his heart sink.
“Ugh.”
In the past, he might have refused, but now that he had accepted Isabella as a lover, he couldn’t think of a good excuse.
“Alright. Ah, but let’s keep our clothes on.”
There was a chance that drunk beastmen might come to the stream, just like before.
“Yes!”
Isabella beamed and followed Oh-jin into the water.
The icy water chilled their bodies.
“Whoa. Damn, it’s freezing.”
Oh-jin shivered as he washed off the remnants of Ha-eun from his body.
As an Awakened, he could tolerate heat and cold to some extent, but the sensation of cold itself remained, making it quite agonizing.
“Last time, Ha-eun warmed the water for us.”
“And it’s because of the person who would have warmed that water that we’re here in the first place.”
He could heat the water with electricity, but…
With Isabella in the stream with him, he couldn’t use his lightning.
“Then… how about this?”
Isabella wrapped her arms around Oh-jin’s chest with a seductive smile.
The warmth of her skin could be felt through the thin fabric.
“W-Wait.”
“Don’t move, Oh-jin.”
Isabella tightened her arms around his waist, pressing her body even closer.
An unbelievable softness spread with a gentle warmth.
“Oh my?”
Isabella glanced down slightly at a certain part of Oh-jin’s body, which was now radiating heat beyond mere warmth.
She smiled playfully and moved her pressed body slightly up and down.
“Kugh!”
Oh-jin bit his lip, swallowing a groan.
‘One Riak, two Riaks, three Riaks.’
He desperately pictured Riaks running across a vast meadow in his mind, but his aroused body wouldn’t cool down.
“You don’t have to hold back…”
“…Someone might see.”
“Hehe. True. If any other woman were to see your body, I’d have no choice but to kill her, after all.”
*Why would you kill them?*
“Stay still.”
Isabella pulled back slightly and began to wash his body with a gentle touch.
Oh-jin’s shoulders twitched every time her delicate hands touched him.
Enjoying his reaction, Isabella chuckled and meticulously washed his body over and over, even after the vomit was long gone.
“I think I’m all clean now.”
“Just a moment.”
Isabella stopped Oh-jin as he tried to stand, pressing herself against him again.
She rested her cheek on his chest, placing her ear over the Stigma on his left side.
*Thump, thump.*
The sound of his beating heart reached her.
“…Hearing this sound calms my heart.”
“My heartbeat?”
“Yes. It makes me feel that you’re alive.”
Isabella smiled softly.
She closed her eyes gently, listening to the sound of his heart.
The two held each other in silence for a long time.
Isabella carefully opened her eyes and spoke.
“…I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For lying to you before.”
*This again.*
He had heard that apology so many times since that incident, he was sick of it.
“I told you it’s fine. Besides, it all worked out in the end.”
“……”
Isabella closed her eyes again, feeling Oh-jin’s hand patting her back comfortingly.
“Oh-jin… I never thought a day would come in my life when I could be this happy.”
Ever since the Stigma of the Black Star was carved onto her left breast.
No, perhaps even long before that.
She had given up on finding happiness.
Days spent sobbing, clutching shattered fragments of hope in her hands.
Then, she met him.
The one who would make happiness bloom from amidst those broken shards of hope.
“It’s all thanks to you, Oh-jin.”
What would have become of her if not for him?
According to Oh-jin, her past self had been captured and killed by the Marco Family.
But even if she had miraculously survived, could she have lived as happily as she was now?
Could she have lived her days filled with such hope?
‘No.’
It was all thanks to Oh-jin.
Her life had been reborn the day she met him.
Therefore.
“You… are my everything, Oh-jin.”
She would do anything for him.
She would offer him her body, her heart, even her very soul.
“…Isabella.”
“Mmm.”
Isabella, who had been listening to his heart, gently lifted her head and pressed her lips against his.
In the quiet stream, illuminated only by the moonlight.
Isabella clung to Oh-jin like a leech, greedily sucking on his tongue.
“Hehe.”
After a long kiss, Isabella pulled away with a soft giggle.
“……”
Oh-jin felt a powerful urge boiling up from the depths of his chest.
He had tried to hold back as much as possible.
But this was going too far.
“Ah, screw it.”
“O-Oh-jin?”
Oh-jin wrapped his arms tightly around Isabella’s waist.
He cupped the full peaks of her breasts, about to unleash his boiling desires, when…
“Sir Oh-jin!”
“Where are you! Come have a drink with us!”
“We want to hear the great warrior’s tales of valor!”
Voices calling for Oh-jin echoed from afar.
“…What clueless mutts.”
Isabella glared murderously in the direction of the voices.
The voices were getting closer, too close to ignore.
She sighed and pulled away from Oh-jin.
“Shall we go back?”
“…I guess we should.”
Oh-jin, having regained his senses, also gave an awkward smile and got out of the stream.
He returned to the hut to change his wet clothes and then headed toward the Silver Mane tribe members who were shouting his name.
He asked Isabella if she wanted to come, but she said she would stay in the hut and look after the passed-out Ha-eun.
And so, Oh-jin went alone to the center of the village.
In the spot where the banquet was at its most lavish, a crowd of tipsy, boisterous beastmen were gathered.
“You’ve come!”
“The great warrior is here!”
“The warrior who defeated Kalike!”
The moment Oh-jin arrived, the Silver Mane tribesmen’s eyes lit up, and they rushed toward him.
“Alright, alright, I know you’re all excited, but calm down.”
Leoru stepped in, blocking the tribesmen who were flocking to him like moths to a flame.
Leoru filled a large cup with liquor and offered it to Oh-jin.
“First, have a drink.”
“Thank you.”
Oh-jin downed the contents of the bowl-sized cup in one shot.
The fiery scent of alcohol spread through his body from his throat.
“Khahaha! As expected of the great warrior!”
“Whooo!”
“You’ve got to be this tough to defeat that Kalike!”
The Silver Mane tribesmen clapped and cheered at the sight of Oh-jin chugging the strong liquor.
Oh-jin, who didn’t usually enjoy hard liquor, felt a nauseating discomfort in his stomach, but…
‘I should play along with the mood here.’
For Oh-jin, who had fought against the formidable foe of the Demon-kin, building a good relationship with the beastmen was important.
The strength of the beastmen was indispensable for his small party of five to continue fighting against the Demon-kin in the future.
“I heard the great warrior came from the world beyond the veil. What is that place like?”
“Rumor has it that it’s a place swarming with terrible demons…”
The beastmen warriors, gathered closely around Oh-jin, bombarded him with questions, their eyes filled with excitement.
Oh-jin chuckled and told them a story they would enjoy.
“Just like your kingdom, the world I lived in also faced a great threat once.”
Well, what kind of story would the beastmen, who worship warriors and strength, want to hear most?
Oh-jin embellished the story of the time when the first rifts opened and monsters flooded the world like a tsunami.
“I knew it! You have to survive in such a harsh place to gain strength like you, warrior!”
“Warriors who inherited the power of the stars to stand against the monsters… what a moving story.”
They say there’s nothing better than finding common ground to build friendships.
Oh-jin compared the monsters that invaded Earth to the Demon-kin and slowly unfolded the tales of the Awakened who fought against them.
Just as the atmosphere of the drinking party was reaching its peak.
“We’re out of snacks.”
Leoru stood up, holding an empty plate.
“I’ll go get some fruit or something simple to eat.”
“Chief! You can just have Leo do that…”
“Haha. Isn’t it about time for the children to be in bed?”
Leoru left his seat for a moment with a good-natured smile to get more snacks.
While Leoru was briefly away.
“Huh? Isn’t that Riru?”
“What are you doing there instead of going to bed?”
The Silver Mane tribesmen spotted Riru hiding in the distance.
Riru, who had been squatting next to a cask as big as herself and peeking over, jumped in surprise and looked around in a fluster.
“W-Well…”
Riru stammered, looking at Oh-jin.
“Do you want to hear the warrior’s tales of valor too, Riru?”
“N-No! It’s not that!”
Seeing Riru shake her head, her face turning bright red, one of the beastmen warriors smirked.
“Come and sit here.”
“…Yes.”
Riru scurried over and sat down at the gathering.
The beastman warrior who had put his arm around Riru’s shoulder gave Oh-jin a suggestive look.
“By the way, what do you think of our Riru?”
“Pardon?”
What did he mean, what did he think?
“Compared to your wives, she’s still a greenhorn… but she has a very bright future ahead of her.”
“Haha! The chief’s late wife was the greatest beauty in the village!”
The drunk old men started spouting nonsense.
“W-What are you saying to Oh-jin-oppa?!”
Riru swung her small fists with a horrified expression.
The beastman warrior holding her shoulder whispered in her ear.
“Are you just going to sit back and watch, then?”
“B-But.”
Riru hung her head, her face as red as an apple.
“O-Oppa already has wives…”
“A great warrior is bound to attract many females.”
The beastman warrior goaded Riru in a suggestive tone.
“My wife told me something before we got married…”
The warrior whispered something in Riru’s ear.
Hearing his words, Riru leaped up from her spot and exclaimed.
“H-How could I say something like that?!”
“Khuhuhu! Just try it, I’m telling you. A hundred out of a hundred males will fall for it!”
What could he have possibly said to provoke such a reaction?
Oh-jin was quite drunk himself, so he couldn’t hear what was said.
“R-Really…?”
“Yeah. I fell for those words and now… haa.”
The married man let out a deep sigh, chewing on his regret.
Riru glanced at Oh-jin and cautiously stood up.
“U-Um, Oppa…”
“Hm?”
Riru approached Oh-jin and clenched her fists.
“I-I-I want to be your bitch!”
“…Pardon?”
*What did I just hear?*
The bombshell that came out of Riru’s mouth made Oh-jin’s mind go completely blank.
*Crash!*
The sound of a breaking plate was heard.
“What… did you just say?”
Where the good-natured smile of Leoru had been, there was now a wolf exuding a vicious killing intent, like a demon, glaring at Oh-jin with murderous eyes.