Chapter 297
Chapter 297
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 297
Chapter Title: Sky Mountain Range (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Then I shall take my leave.]
Having bid Oh-jin farewell, Vega returned to the Sanctuary.
Back in her familiar temple, she gently stroked Riark's head.
[You must still be collecting your thoughts. Go and rest.]
“Yes, Lady Vega.”
Riark bowed his head and returned to his quarters.
“…”
Alone in the temple.
Was it because she had just been chattering boisterously with Oh-jin?
An unfamiliar loneliness filled her chest.
[…In the past, I could be alone for years and feel nothing of the sort.]
To feel this way only a few minutes after returning to the Sanctuary.
Vega gave a self-deprecating smile and stared blankly at the temple wall.
A few hours passed like that.
[He should be asleep by now.]
A sudden impulse to see Oh-jin's sleeping face washed over her.
Glancing around the empty temple as if she were being watched, Vega cleared her throat with an "ahem" and focused her mind.
Her body glowed with a silver light and dispersed like mist.
And what appeared before Vega, now manifested in her physical form, was…
“I am now fighting Kalike.”
The sight of Oh-jin, his eyes closed, concentrating with all his might.
Vega, who had expected him to be asleep, flinched.
She instinctively flew behind a nearby tree to hide.
Perhaps because he was concentrating with his eyes closed, he fortunately didn't notice her manifestation.
“Hoo.”
Oh-jin exhaled deeply, stomped his foot fiercely, and thrust his spear into the empty air.
As if in a real battle, he blocked unseen attacks, was struck, and sent rolling across the ground.
Anyone else would have scoffed, wondering what kind of ridiculous show he was putting on.
[My child…]
She knew.
That Oh-jin was fighting a ‘real’ battle.
[…]
Image training pushed to its absolute limit.
No, could this even be casually dismissed as mere ‘training’?
“Keuk! Keoheok!”
With groans of pain, the wounds on Oh-jin's body multiplied.
His clothes weren't torn, nor did blood spurt out.
But the wounded areas turned dark, the flesh visibly necrotizing.
He felt the pain and sustained the injuries.
The only final line of defense was that he wouldn't die.
This was the training Oh-jin repeated alone, every night while everyone else slept.
Every single day.
Without a single day of rest.
[His body hasn't even fully healed, yet how could he…]
Vega clenched her fists, her expression anxious.
She wanted to rush out and stop him right this instant.
She wanted to scold him, to tell him that he needed to rest when it was time to rest.
But how could she?
“Hah, hah! You ask why I go this far?”
Oh-jin spoke to someone unseen.
He gripped his spear, the corners of his mouth twisting into a savage grin.
“Because if I don't, I can't protect anything.”
And then, a clash.
After a fierce exchange with his imaginary foe, Oh-jin clutched his chest and collapsed to his knees.
“Keoheok! Kuck! Uweeegggh!”
Oh-jin writhed in agony, vomiting his guts out.
Convulsing on the ground like a man in the throes of a seizure, Oh-jin staggered back to his feet.
“Ah, shit… So damn strong. The difference between having a blessing and not is huge.”
Taking a potion from his sling bag and drinking it, Oh-jin closed his eyes and continued to meditate, as if replaying the previous battle in his mind.
But only for a moment.
“Alright, let's try fighting while keeping our distance this time.”
Despite having writhed in enough pain to vomit.
He nonchalantly created another imaginary foe, as if nothing had happened.
[…]
How many times must he have repeated this to be so composed?
How accustomed must he have become to be so unfazed?
While she had been spending meaningless time alone, guarding her temple, what kind of life had he been living?
‘My child.’
Her heart ached as if a nail had been driven into it.
Hiding behind the tree, Vega watched Oh-jin endlessly before dispelling her manifestation and returning to the Sanctuary.
[…I never knew being unable to do anything could be this agonizing.]
If she could, she would have given him even a fraction of her power.
But a Constellation's role was merely to plant the seed of a Stigma in an Awakened.
It was up to the Awakened to take root and grow a stem from there.
It was a domain where the Constellation themselves could not, and should not, intervene.
[Haa.]
Vega let out a deep sigh and stepped outside the temple.
She had nothing particular to do.
She just wanted to sort out the overwhelming emotions that filled her heart, thoughts of Oh-jin making it feel numb.
She walked slowly, as if taking a stroll along the path connected to the Milky Way.
Here and there, she could see other Constellations wandering the streets.
Most Constellations preferred to stay cooped up in their temples, but that didn't mean they never went outside.
Constellations had emotions too, and beings with emotions were bound to seek others to share them with.
Among them were even Constellations who preferred wandering around the Sanctuary to staying in their temples.
“Sister Vega?”
Indeed.
Like the Constellation of Virgo, who, upon spotting Vega from a distance, came charging over like an excited bull.
“No way, Sister, you’re actually outside your temple! Is the Sanctuary going to be swallowed by the Black Heaven tomorrow or something?!”
Spica, a goddess with a freshness like a sprout in spring, made a huge fuss, as if she couldn't believe Vega was outside her temple.
[I-I just wanted to get some fresh air.]
“Heeh. You, Sister?”
She never showed up to large banquets or festivals where many Constellations gathered, let alone on a normal day, and now she suddenly wanted fresh air?
Spica looked Vega up and down suspiciously.
As the Constellation of Virgo, representing purity and love, she instinctively noticed the faint pinkish aura of emotion emanating from Vega.
“Is it because of that child, by any chance?”
[…I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.]
“It is! I heard a rumor that you were traveling through the Demon Realm with him lately!”
Spica clapped her hands and burst into giggles.
Vega’s expression immediately soured.
[I don’t know where you heard such a rumor, but we are not having a leisurely time that could be called a trip.]
“But you are together, right?”
[W-well, that is true, but.]
“Ahh~ To think the once lofty star of Jingnyeoseong would fall into the hands of a mere human~!”
Spica wiped away imaginary tears with exaggerated, theatrical motions.
Vega, her face flushed red, exclaimed.
[S-stop joking! How could a Constellation possibly be with their own child?!]
“Hm? Why not? I have a cute darling of my own, you know?”
[W-what?]
She had heard something about a fated person before.
But she never imagined they were close enough to call each other by the affectionate term ‘darling’.
“Besides me, there are many other Constellations who have ended up with their Apostles. The number has only increased since the Laws weakened.”
[How could those calling themselves Constellations lay a hand on their own children…!]
“It’s not like there’s a Law that says we can’t get involved with humans, is there? And didn’t you say you had a special relationship with that child in your past life, Sister?”
[T-that is.]
Vega bit her lip and avoided Spica’s gaze.
[Perhaps… it was my own misunderstanding.]
“A misunderstanding?”
She and the Oh-jin of her past life had a special relationship that went beyond that of a normal Constellation and their Awakened.
She had heard it directly from Oh-jin’s own lips, so it had to be true.
However.
[…A special relationship doesn’t necessarily mean they were lovers, does it?]
All Oh-jin had said was that they had a ‘special relationship’.
He never specified what kind of relationship it was.
[And even if they were lovers, that was all in a past life, was it not?]
Vega shook her head with a bitter smile.
Spica’s eyes narrowed.
“Then what about your heart now, Sister?”
[What do you mean, my heart?]
“Putting aside the past life and everything else, what are your feelings for that child right now?”
[That is…]
Vega averted her gaze, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
[…I do not know.]
“You don’t know?”
[When I think of that child, my heart sometimes swells with pride, and at other times, it aches with worry as if pierced by a nail. I want to watch over him, to protect him, yet at times, I also want to rely on him.]
Her life stretched back from the distant past.
So long that she could no longer even remember how long she had existed.
But for most of that long time, she had simply been cooped up in her temple, silently fulfilling her duties as a ‘Constellation’.
A life like that of a machine.
Back then, her life was filled with monochrome, like a black-and-white film.
And then.
She met that child.
Into her inorganic life, like a windless lake, a ripple named Oh-jin appeared.
That ripple, which was at first but a gentle breeze, gradually grew into a great typhoon that raged within her heart.
[What that child is to me… even I do not know.]
It was an utterly unfamiliar emotion.
For her, who was no different from a toddler just learning to walk when it came to emotions, she couldn't tell where her own heart was headed.
“Wow…”
A short exclamation escaped Spica’s lips.
[What is it?]
“Ah, yeah. It’s nothing. It’s just that even for me, this is a little… embarrassing.”
Spica shook her head back and forth as if she couldn't bear to listen anymore.
She never thought Vega was this serious.
It was a love confession so blush-inducingly raw that it was painful for the listener.
“Well, anyway! Since it’s come to this, as the goddess of purity and love, I can’t just stand by and do nothing!”
Spica’s eyes twinkled like stars as she approached Vega.
[W-what are you planning to do?]
“It’s not me who has to do something, it’s you, Sister!”
Her role was only to give advice.
“Let’s figure out how you should confess!”
[C-confess! What are you talking about!]
Vega shook her head, her face flushing.
Spica pounded her chest in frustration.
“I mean, if you want to get anywhere, you have to confess first! Or, you could just sneak up on him while he’s sleeping and make it a done deal so he can’t back out!”
For a goddess of purity, her way of thinking was far too radical.
[O-Oh-jin is just a precious child to me.]
“Hmph. Now you say that? A minute ago you said you didn’t know.”
[And…]
Vega lowered her head, her expression crestfallen.
[That child… already has a lover named Ha-eun.]
“Eh?”
Never imagining that Vega would have feelings for a man who was already taken, Spica’s eyes went wide.
“Heeh. What’s this? Don’t tell me you were aiming for a man who’s already taken?”
[A-aiming for him! I told you it’s not like that!]
“This just got interesting.”
A grin spread across Spica’s face.
“It’s fine, don’t worry, Sister! Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean you can’t score! I don’t know who this Ha-eun girl is, but compared to you, she’s nothing more than starlight next to a full moon.”
Who was Vega?
Wasn’t she the Constellation of Polaris, ranked among the top three of the hundreds of Constellations?
In terms of ability, as well as looks, no other Constellation could compare to her.
[…A-and.]
“Hm? What else?”
[It seems he recently acquired another lover named Isabella.]
“…What?”
There are two goalies?