Chapter 345
Chapter 345
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 345
Chapter Title: Black Sky (9)
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"...What?"
My head was spinning.
Nausea churned in my stomach.
A bizarre sense of dissonance, like facing a mannequin molded in my own image, crawled down my spine.
"What's with the surprise?"
Cheonma tilted his head, genuinely unable to understand.
So casually, so leisurely.
He spoke as if reciting a mathematical formula, a matter of course.
"You think the same way, don't you?"
"..."
"As long as you can protect your sister, who cares what happens to anyone else?"
A single ray of starlight that illuminated a life like a black sky.
Yes, to Oh-jin, Ha-eun was an irreplaceable, precious existence.
He didn't care if he had to sacrifice everything else to protect her.
That's what he thought.
That's how he had lived.
The Oh-jin of the past life, and the Oh-jin of now.
"..."
Oh-jin's lips were sealed shut.
Now, he could be certain.
Now, he could declare it.
"I... am different from you."
Even if we are both Oh-jin.
The lives we've lived are different.
The events we've experienced are different.
The lives in our hands, the weight we carry—it's all different.
"I am not you."
Oh-jin glared at Cheonma with sharp eyes.
Cheonma scoffed, as if asking what nonsense he was spouting.
"No, you are me. No matter how different a life you've lived, that fact doesn't change."
He shook his head and continued in a low voice.
"A moment ago, you asked why it had to be Vega, didn't you?"
"...What about it?"
"You were asking if it couldn't be one of the other North Stars to be devoured instead of Vega, right?"
"..."
He was at a loss for words.
If it had been Deneb or Polaris who had to be sacrificed, not Vega.
Would he have been this furious?
Would he have felt it was this unfair?
"Right now, you're just throwing a tantrum."
Because you've found something else you want to protect besides Ha-eun.
It was nothing more than a childish fit.
"You know what's most important, don't you?"
If you can protect her.
If you can save her.
Nothing else matters.
"...A tantrum?"
Just as he said.
Maybe I am throwing a fit.
Maybe I'm being stubborn because I want to protect not just Ha-eun, but Vega, Isabella, Riak, and Cassia too.
But.
"So what?"
"What?"
"What's wrong with being stubborn?"
You don't have to have only one precious thing.
There's no reason to abandon something else to protect one thing.
Life isn't a mathematical formula.
You can't calculate happiness by adding and subtracting.
"Hmm. You're just as stubborn as I am."
Cheonma let out a chuckle and rose to his feet.
"Well, it doesn't matter whether you're being stubborn or not."
Vega will die.
And I will fade away.
"Because now... it's all over."
With a look of relief, Cheonma turned to look at Vega, who was maintaining her Sanctuary.
When time, now frozen, begins to flow again.
She, along with her Sanctuary, will be swallowed by the Black Heaven.
"Who decided it's over?"
Oh-jin's expression twisted fiercely.
He couldn't just let everyone die like this.
'I have to stop it.'
Before Cheonma's Black Heaven could swallow Vega, he had to save her.
Cheonma glanced at Oh-jin's furious glare and shrugged.
"Do you think you can break through Vega's Sanctuary right now?"
"..."
"Or what, are you going to try and talk her out of it?"
A sneer spread across Cheonma's lips.
No matter how he tried to persuade her, she wouldn't listen to him.
"Because Vega thinks you're the Star of Revolution."
She believes you are the only way to save the world.
She won't hesitate to throw herself into the Black Heaven to protect you.
"You've already become too precious to Vega."
Just as he had thrown his life away to save Ha-eun.
Vega, too, would unhesitatingly choose sacrifice to save the Star of Revolution.
'After all, you went so far as to send Cheonma to the past to protect this world.'
Gazing at the star of Vega burning brilliantly in the darkness, Cheonma smiled faintly.
As long as Vega believed Oh-jin was the Star of Revolution, she would never stop.
Oh-jin clenched his fists, biting his lip.
"I'm... not the Star of Revolution."
"At least, Vega thinks you are."
Cheonma chuckled and continued.
"You know it too, don't you? The truth doesn't matter."
What matters is.
"Only what appears to be the truth."
"..."
I know.
How could I not?
The life of the man named Kwon Oh-jin has always been riddled with lies.
"Do you think you can tell Vega the truth now?"
Cheonma approached Oh-jin, a sneer on his face.
A lie is like a bird falling without wings.
You can't stop it, can't slow it down midway.
'Until it crashes into the ground and shatters into pieces.'
The only way is to keep adding more lies.
Cheonma brought his face so close their foreheads almost touched and opened his mouth.
"You are me."
Therefore.
You won't be able to say it.
You won't be able to stop her.
You won't be able to prevent it.
"You... no, we have lived that way."
Because we knew no other way to live.
"Well, it's about time we parted ways."
Cheonma turned away with a bitter smile.
Oh-jin stared blankly at his retreating back.
"Still, it was quite fun talking one last time."
He let out a dry laugh and walked into the black clouds.
"Take good care of my sister."
With those last words.
The frozen time began to flow again.
Vwooooom!
A brilliant, burning silver light.
Vega brought her hands together as if in prayer and drew out her true power.
[Ugh...!]
The restriction of the Law washed over her, followed by excruciating pain.
[My... child.]
As long as she could protect Oh-jin.
As long as she could save the Star of Revolution.
This much pain was nothing.
"..."
Oh-jin stared blankly at the brilliantly burning silver light.
If he just stays still, all his problems will be solved.
He'll lose Vega.
Riak, Isabella, and Cassia will disappear.
But still.
'My sister will still be here.'
As long as Ha-eun is safe, isn't that enough?
Whether others die or disappear.
What does it matter?
"Ha, haha."
A dry laugh escaped his lips.
Once Cheonma dies and all beings who received the power of the Black Heaven disappear, there will be nothing left to worry about.
The monsters that have crossed over to Earth can be handled by the other Awakeners, even without him.
There's no need to fight anymore.
No reason to struggle anymore.
No point in suffering anymore.
He can just go home and live a quiet life with Ha-eun, just the two of them.
He doesn't have to worry about money anymore, so they could travel to resorts all over the world and spend the rest of their lives relaxing.
Yes.
Just as Cheonma said.
It's all over now.
"...Don't give me that shit."
Grit.
He grinds his teeth and bites his lip.
Who the hell does he think he is, ending the story on his own terms?
Vwooooom!
He takes a step toward the brilliantly burning silver light.
His body is thrown back as if blocked by an invisible wall.
The strong repulsive force tears his skin, and blood trickles down.
Again, and again.
He repeats the same action.
[S-Stop it!]
He could see Vega hastily turning toward him.
"You're the one who needs to stop, Vega."
Oh-jin said in a low, sunken voice.
"Release the Sanctuary."
[That... will be difficult.]
"Release it."
[My child...]
Vega looked at Oh-jin with sad eyes.
Maintaining her Sanctuary, she slowly flew toward him.
[I do not wish to part with you either.]
Tears well up in her golden eyes.
She doesn't want to leave Oh-jin.
She knows it's shameless, but hadn't she just confessed the feelings she had kept hidden deep in her heart?
She wants to be with him a little longer.
And if possible, she wants to get Ha-eun's approval, like Isabella, and grow a little closer to him.
She wants to be childish in his warm embrace, whispering words of love like any other couple.
But.
[Before I am a woman, I am the North Star Constellation.]
A Constellation has a duty to manage and protect this world.
She could not allow the Black Heaven to swallow the Star of Revolution, who would prevent the world's destruction.
[Do you not have a more important mission?]
"...A mission?"
Vega smiled faintly and nodded.
[Have you not seen the world swallowed by the Black Heaven once before?]
Oh-jin was a Regressor who had traveled back in time.
[A Regressor who has defied time... Only you, who carries the fate of revolution, can stop the Black Heaven.]
"..."
[Do not worry. Even without me, I am certain you can save the world.]
Salvation of the world.
The Star of Revolution.
Regressor.
"Ah, uh."
Oh-jin's lips trembled, his face pale.
He wanted to deny it, but for some reason, his voice wouldn't come out.
-You... no, we have lived that way.
Cheonma's low voice echoed in his mind.
It was just as he said.
The truth was too bitter; you had to mix it with sweet lies just to swallow it.
"...Vega."
[There is not much time left.]
Vega turned her body, gazing at the approaching tidal wave of black clouds.
[My child.]
With a faint smile.
[Be happy.]
Vega moved toward the Black Heaven.
"..."
Oh-jin stared blankly at her retreating figure.
In his dazed consciousness, as if intoxicated, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
'What will I tell my sister?'
What can I say to trick her without hurting her?
"...Ha."
A dry laugh escaped Oh-jin's lips at the question that had arisen like an instinct.
Again.
Again, again, and again, the first thing he thinks of is a lie.
'Like this.'
Just like always.
Just like every other time.
Must I live on, unable to speak even a single grain of truth?
Oh-jin's face twisted in disgust.
'What does he mean, 'we have lived that way'?'
He's dressing it up nicely, but.
Isn't he just a coward, terrified of facing the truth and trying to look away at all costs?
If that's the life of the man named Kwon Oh-jin.
"Then he can go to hell."
He placed a hand over the left side of his chest.
"He who passes through me..."
He recites the incantation in a low voice.
Rumble!
Black clouds erupted from Oh-jin's body as if in an explosion.
Amidst the black clouds, blue will-o'-wisps flared to life.
"Hmph!"
Crack!
He grabbed Vega's Sanctuary with both hands and pulled it apart.
He could feel the invisible wall blocking his path begin to crack.
[M-My child? W-What is this...?]
Vega looked back at Oh-jin, who was engulfed in black clouds, her expression filled with shock.
Oh-jin walked toward her and spoke in a low voice.
"No."
[W-What do you mean, no? More importantly, that appearance...]
He had lived a life riddled with lies.
He had denied the truth, following only what seemed true.
He didn't know any other way to live.
No, he hadn't even tried to know.
"I..."
Now.
"I am not a Regressor."
I won't live like that anymore.