Chapter 336
Chapter 336
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 336
Chapter Title: Interlude - Encounter (2)
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I am you.
My breath caught at the low voice echoing in the darkness.
“…Cheonma.”
Oh-jin stared with trembling eyes at the young man who looked identical to him, as if reflected in a mirror.
No, perhaps saying ‘reflected in a mirror’ wasn't quite right.
While their appearances were similar, the aura he exuded was completely different.
Eyes filled with deep exhaustion.
If the very essence of a human were worn down to its absolute limit, perhaps this is what it would look like.
It felt alien, as if facing a doll in human form, not a human at all.
“I don’t particularly like that name.”
Cheonma, how embarrassing.
The young man shook his head with a smirk.
“But calling you Oh-jin would be a bit weird, wouldn’t it?”
“True, we need something to distinguish between us.”
Cheonma nodded slowly and sat down naturally, as if there were an invisible chair in the empty space.
“You should sit too. This might take a while.”
Cheonma gestured with his chin, tilting his head toward the opposite side.
Hiding his confusion, Oh-jin shrugged his shoulders with the most nonchalant expression he could muster.
“Why don’t you bring out some tea, then?”
“This is the space of your subconscious. If you need it, you can just make it.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Is that so?”
Cheonma nodded and flicked his hand lightly.
In the space that had been filled with darkness, a table appeared along with a steaming teacup.
Oh-jin’s eyes narrowed.
‘So, he can interfere with my subconscious too.’
Watching Cheonma casually create an object within his own subconscious, Oh-jin clicked his tongue inwardly.
Cheonma took a sip from the teacup on the table and smirked.
“I used to use that method often myself.”
“…What method?”
“Probing the other person by making pointless conversation.”
*Clink.* The teacup he placed on the table slowly vanished.
“The truth is, you can create one too, can’t you?”
“…Ha.”
Oh-jin let out a dry laugh and sat down across from Cheonma.
*Snap.*
With a light flick of his fingers, the teacup that had disappeared was created once more.
Cheonma smiled knowingly, as if he had expected it.
‘Tsk.’
So, shallow tricks won’t work on him.
In that case, there was no point in testing the waters. He had to be direct.
“How did you get into my subconscious?”
“I made some arrangements with Deimos.”
“So you could interfere with the Heukcheon when I absorbed his corpse?”
“Exactly.”
If that was the case.
Did that mean that from the moment Deimos received power from Cheonma decades ago, he had predicted that Oh-jin would kill and absorb Deimos?
“I believed you could make it this far. No, should I say ‘I’ in this case?”
Cheonma let out a hollow laugh and leaned back against the chair.
Oh-jin asked in a deep, subdued voice.
“Is that why you did that to the Dragonian Kingdom?”
“The Dragonian Kingdom?”
Cheonma frowned and touched his forehead.
“Ah, right. A promise… To keep a promise… Wait, who did I make that promise with?”
“……?”
Seeing Cheonma muttering to himself with a confused expression, Oh-jin narrowed his eyes.
That expression.
He remembered seeing it somewhere.
No, to be precise, he remembered ‘making’ it himself.
“Don’t tell me… you’ve lost your memories.”
“……”
Cheonma’s lips tightened.
He gave a bitter smile and nodded slightly.
“Because there were too many things that couldn’t be done without giving something up.”
“Just how many memories have you….”
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that.”
Cheonma slowly shook his head.
“Because I haven’t forgotten the most important thing.”
The most important thing to him.
The most precious thing to Oh-jin himself.
The two were one and the same.
“So, what was your reason for invading my consciousness, going to such lengths?”
“I just wanted to have a chat.”
“A chat?”
“Yes, I was curious to see what I would be like in the changed future.”
Cheonma shrugged and looked at Oh-jin.
“Having spoken with you directly, I feel relieved.”
“Relieved?”
What was there to be relieved about?
“That even though the future has changed, in the end, you are still me.”
Even if the past had changed.
Even if the present had been overturned.
Even if the future had been twisted.
You.
Were me.
“Well, I happen to think a little differently.”
Oh-jin glared at Cheonma with sharp eyes and continued.
“I’m different from you.”
To be precise, he had to be different.
As long as he lived the same life as him, the future would not change.
“So what, if you and I are the same, are you planning to take over my body or something?”
When he had realized Cheonma’s identity.
He had briefly thought about what his purpose might be.
The first thing that came to mind was the idea that he might try to steal his body to have Ha-eun for himself.
From Cheonma’s perspective, Oh-jin’s current self was the very future he had desperately longed for.
“Huh? Pfft! Hahahaha!”
What was so funny?
Cheonma clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.
“I have no intention of doing that, so you don’t need to worry.”
“Then what is your purpose?”
If he wished for Ha-eun’s happiness.
The entire problem would be solved if the existence known as ‘Cheonma’ simply disappeared.
“Who knows?”
Cheonma shrugged as if he had no intention of telling him.
“Well, you’ll find out naturally anyway.”
Cheonma leisurely rose to his feet.
“It’s about time.”
Perhaps he couldn’t remain in another’s subconscious indefinitely, as Cheonma’s form began to dissipate into a black cloud.
“Wait, we’re not done talking.”
He barges in, offers nothing but vague answers, and now he’s trying to leave?
“I’d like to stay longer, but I’m reaching my limit.”
“…You.”
“Oh, right. I did prepare a gift, so you won’t have time to be bored.”
He prepared a gift?
“…What did you do?”
“Isn’t the fun of a gift not knowing what it is until you open it?”
Cheonma let out a smirk and waved his hand.
“Don’t be disappointed. We’ll be seeing each other again soon anyway.”
“What’s that supposed to….”
Before Oh-jin could finish his sentence.
Cheonma’s body completely dispersed into the darkness and vanished.
“Dammit.”
Oh-jin stared into the empty darkness and let out a deep sigh.
A completely unexpected encounter with Cheonma.
His first impression of Cheonma after their conversation was slightly different from the image Oh-jin had of him.
‘He was more sane than I expected.’
He had vaguely assumed that Cheonma, having destroyed the world in his past life, would be a raving lunatic, but that assumption had been proven splendidly wrong.
“Though I still don’t know what he’s thinking.”
Oh-jin pressed his forehead as if he had a headache.
For now, he said he wasn’t after his body.
‘But can I trust him?’
His opponent was none other than ‘Oh-jin’.
Frankly, he couldn’t believe a single word that came out of his mouth.
“To think my own karma would come back to bite me here.”
Was this how the boy who cried wolf felt?
He had lived a life of telling lies as easily as breathing, so now he couldn’t distinguish what was true and what was false.
‘Still, if I assume it’s the truth for now.’
What could Cheonma’s objective be?
“……”
No matter how much he pondered, an answer didn’t come easily.
If his only goal was truly Ha-eun’s happiness, there was no reason to gather the forces of the Demon Realm and invade Earth.
‘What’s certain is that I can’t just trust him and stand by idly.’
Just because he seemed more normal than expected didn’t mean he could obediently play along with his plans.
Even if he appeared sane on the surface, he was still ‘Cheonma’.
A monster who had destroyed an entire world and devoured countless lives.
“…I guess I’m not one to talk.”
Oh-jin let out a self-deprecating laugh and a short sigh.
In any case, as long as he didn’t know Cheonma’s objective, he couldn’t let his guard down.
‘A gift, he said.’
Normally, the word ‘gift’ would make one’s heart flutter with excitement.
But the moment the qualifier ‘Cheonma’s’ was attached, it only brought a sense of foreboding.
‘There’s no telling what kind of trick he’s pulled.’
He might have pretended to disappear but was actually still here.
Or perhaps he had set a trick to make the Heukcheon go berserk or be forcibly controlled.
“Hoo.”
Oh-jin closed his eyes and searched for the ‘gift’ he had left behind.
He spread the energy of the Heukcheon throughout his entire body, checking for any minute changes from his subconscious to his physical form.
‘Something has changed.’
But that was simply because the energy of the Heukcheon had grown stronger with his tenth awakening; it wasn’t a change that felt like Cheonma’s doing.
“What the hell…?”
He checked over and over in preparation for any potential danger, but the result was the same.
Oh-jin tilted his head and slowly opened his closed eyes.
‘Time to get out.’
There was nothing more to be gained by remaining alone in this empty darkness.
Oh-jin focused his mind and roused his submerged consciousness.
The surrounding darkness scattered, and the scenery around him came back into view.
*Rumble!*
As he opened his eyes, he saw that black clouds had completely enveloped his surroundings.
Just as he was gathering the black clouds that covered the treasury like a fog back into his heart.
*KABOOOOM!*
With a deafening roar, the firmly shut doors of the treasury burst open.
Through the wide-open doors, a black shadow poured out like a tidal wave and wrapped around Oh-jin’s body.
“Ugh!”
In the sudden situation, Oh-jin quickly drew upon the mana of his Seongheun, but the unidentified assailant was a step faster, climbing on top of his body.
“There you are. I thought you’d be hidden a little better this time.”
A long, flickering tongue.
Radiant platinum blonde hair and eyes that shone like emeralds.
The slender woman, who seemed incapable of overpowering Oh-jin in an instant, raised her arm.
*Slither!*
At her snow-white fingertips, the head of a snake made of shadows formed.
The woman’s emerald eyes gleamed coldly.
“Die, Lord Cheonma.”
The shadow snake opened its maw wide and lunged.
“Wait, wait, waaaaait!”
Oh-jin shouted urgently, shaking his head.
“You’ve got the wrong person, Cassia!”
“…Mr. Oh-jin?”
Cassia’s eyes widened in a bewildered expression.
“Huh? W-Wait? That’s strange. I definitely sensed Lord Cheonma’s presence here…”
Watching her tilt her head in confusion, Oh-jin finally realized what the ‘gift’ Cheonma had prepared was.
‘Thought he was more sane than I expected?’
Bullshit.
Just as Oh-jin had first thought, Cheonma was completely and utterly insane.