Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 347
Chapter Title: Interlude – I Am Not a Regressor (2)
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Smack!
A rough fist struck his cheek.
Even though this was a space of unconsciousness, not reality, his mouth split open, and the coppery taste of blood filled it.
Oh-jin looked up at the Cheonma, who was straddling him and raining down punches like a madman.
'The tables have turned.'
Despite the stinging pain from his torn lip, the corner of his mouth inexplicably curled up.
Just seeing the usually placid Cheonma so agitated was enough to know his plan had gone completely awry.
"Do you have any idea what you've just done?!"
The Cheonma's face was contorted as he slammed his fist down.
"I-I could have ended it all!"
If only he had absorbed Vega.
He could have gained control of the Black Heaven and annihilated it.
He could have brought down the curtain on this long wait, on a play that seemed like it would never end.
But.
But.
But.
"You! You ruined everything, you bastard!"
Instead of throwing herself into the Black Heaven, Vega chose to stop it by giving Oh-jin her blessing.
With only Vega's blessing dwelling in him, it was impossible for Oh-jin to destroy the Black Heaven.
When would another chance like this come?
No, perhaps a chance like this would never come again.
Even now, his Black Heaven was overflowing violently, consuming him from his very soul.
"This was the last time! The last chance!"
The last chance to protect Ha-eun.
The final opportunity to save her from the coming destruction had vanished into thin air.
"Why, why, why did you say you weren't a regressor!"
He screamed, a cry like a desperate howl.
Grabbing the fallen Oh-jin by the collar, he vented his pent-up fury.
"You... you shouldn't have done that."
Tears streamed down the Cheonma's cheeks.
Despair swirled in his dry, worn-out eyes.
"Anyone else could have... but you, you of all people shouldn't have."
Even if the lives we've lived are different.
Even if the paths we've walked are different.
If we are both Oh-jin.
"You... were supposed to be me."
The Cheonma's hand, gripping his collar, fell limp.
His slumped shoulders trembled faintly.
Oh-jin wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, looking up at the Cheonma with deep, sunken eyes.
"I was supposed to be you?"
What a strange thing to say.
He could understand being angry about having a long-prepared plan ruined.
He could even, grudgingly, understand the plan to sacrifice Vega to protect Ha-eun.
If he were in the Cheonma's shoes, he might have thought of something similar.
However.
'I was supposed to be you, huh.'
Oh-jin's eyes narrowed.
The strange sense of otherness he felt when he first saw the Cheonma.
That unpleasant feeling, like looking at a mannequin that perfectly resembled a human, returned.
"...You are."
Something about you is distorted.
Something is twisted.
Warped and contorted.
A bizarre discomfort, like encountering someone walking on their arms instead of their legs.
Looking into the Cheonma's trembling eyes, Oh-jin understood the source of that discomfort.
"Ha."
A dry laugh escaped his lips.
Oh-jin pushed the Cheonma off him and got to his feet.
With cold eyes, he looked down at the Cheonma, whose head was bowed like a puppet with its strings cut.
"You... were trying to become me."
Like parents projecting their unfulfilled dreams onto their child.
He was projecting his own impossible dream, his ideal, onto him.
Even if he himself would perish with the Black Heaven.
With the thought that 'Oh-jin' would live on.
"Is that why you were so obsessed with us being the same?"
"..."
"Because I had to be you?"
Only then could he find solace in his own wretched death.
Even if I die.
I can live on as you.
"...Shut up."
The Cheonma glared at Oh-jin, his face twisted like a demon's.
"What... What do you know to be spouting such nonsense."
He had defied the flow of time and returned to the past to save Ha-eun.
As the rampaging Black Heaven consumed his mind, he lost his precious memories one by one.
He had lived on, clinging to a tiny sliver of hope amid his fading memories.
That someday.
He could be with Ha-eun.
"I, I..."
But.
He soon came to realize.
That he had to die to protect her.
That the existence known as the Cheonma was nothing but an obstacle to her happiness.
"If I didn't do at least that..."
The Cheonma collapsed to his knees.
His head bowed, he clenched his fists so tightly they could have shattered.
"...I couldn't have endured it."
Without projecting himself onto Oh-jin.
Without thinking of you as me.
He couldn't have borne the crushing despair that weighed him down.
"..."
Oh-jin looked down at the bowed Cheonma, his lips pressed into a firm line.
A bitter taste spread in his mouth.
He didn't approve of his life, but he could empathize.
If he were in his position, he might have thought the same.
"We might have started the same."
He didn't know if a person's essence was innate or if it changed as they lived.
He hadn't received a high enough education or studied enough to answer such philosophical questions.
But one thing was certain.
"I'm not going to live like you anymore."
He would not follow the same path the Cheonma had walked.
To walk the same path.
The roads they had traveled until now were too different.
"I will not become you."
He said it decisively, as if striking with a knife.
"..."
The bowed Cheonma's shoulders flinched.
Rumble.
A black cloud that started from his left chest began to consume his entire body.
"...Is that so?"
The Cheonma slowly lifted his bowed head.
In his eyes, once like a barren desert, azure spectral flames now blazed ferociously.
"In that case, I'll have to change the plan."
Twisting his lips into a sneer, he slowly raised his arm.
Fwoooosh!
A jet-black flame ignited on his hand.
The black flame lunged at Oh-jin.
"Kugh!"
Oh-jin hastily rolled away to dodge the flame.
Though it was a space of unconsciousness and not reality, he could feel it instinctively.
'If it touches me, I'm dead.'
He would either be trapped in this unconscious space forever, or this entire space would burn to ash.
Either way, a gut feeling told him he wouldn't survive unscathed.
"Hup!"
Bzzzt!
Azure lightning blazed and clashed with the black flame.
"That won't be enough."
With the Cheonma's mocking voice, the azure lightning scattered and vanished into thin air.
"You've got to be kidding me...!"
Despite clashing with the lightning, the black flame showed no sign of damage or hesitation.
It was like throwing a cotton ball in front of a speeding truck.
"Burn."
With the quiet command.
Fwoooooooosh!
The black flames began to swirl, incinerating everything around them.
The flames moved like living creatures, floating freely through the air, targeting Oh-jin from all directions.
"Kugh!"
Oh-jin swallowed a groan, desperately dodging the incoming flames.
'This is.'
Watching the flames dance freely through the air, he bit his lip.
It was a very familiar sight to Oh-jin.
"Why do you... have the Stigma of the Dragon?!"
he shouted as he hurriedly rolled away.
Fwoosh!
The black flames swept through the spot where he had just been standing.
"Well, I wonder why?"
The Cheonma gave a bitter smile and snapped his fingers.
The flames that had been rampaging through the air suddenly vanished.
And then.
Fwoooooooosh!
A massive wall of fire erupted, centering on Oh-jin.
"Damn it!"
No matter where he looked, there was no escape.
'If Vega's power won't work!'
Tendrils of black lightning shot out from Oh-jin's hand with terrifying force.
The lightning that struck the curtain of fire vanished with disappointing ease despite its power, but it managed to create a tiny gap, just large enough for a person to squeeze through.
"Kugh!"
Oh-jin barely managed to throw himself through the gap created by the lightning.
As he passed through the curtain, his entire body was scorched.
He felt excruciating pain from his burned and distorted skin.
"Hah, hah!"
Oh-jin gasped for breath, glaring at the Cheonma.
He had expected it, but.
The gap in power between him and the Cheonma was so vast it was laughable.
"Hmm."
Despite demonstrating such an overwhelming difference in power.
The Cheonma frowned as if displeased, looking at the black flame burning on his palm.
"As I thought, it's difficult to use my full power inside someone else's subconscious."
A chill ran down Oh-jin's spine at the quiet mumble.
Difficult to use his full power?
That just now?
'...Damn it all.'
The back of his neck prickled at the thought of how much wider the gap would be if the Cheonma used his full strength.
The Cheonma turned towards Oh-jin and slowly took a step.
"Did you say earlier that I was trying to become you?"
There's no need for that anymore.
Because Oh-jin and the Cheonma were different.
Because you were not me.
"You've come to cherish too many things."
Even though you could have ended it all.
The reason Oh-jin revealed the truth to Vega was because she was a precious existence to him.
It's not just Vega.
"Riak and Casia... and was it Isabella?"
Ha.
A cold sneer escaped the Cheonma's lips.
"The guy who couldn't even protect a single person... not even one... is getting greedy?"
He shot a blazing glare at Oh-jin.
"The only reason you can be by her side now is all thanks to me."
If I hadn't sent Lee Shin-hyeok to the past to give you the Star of the Defiant.
Oh-jin wouldn't even be standing here right now.
"Everything you're enjoying now! Everything you have! All the times you laugh, chat, and have fun!"
Grrrrrrrumble!
The space of unconsciousness shook as if an earthquake had struck.
"It's all, all, all, every last bit of it!!! It's all because of me!"
The eerie, burning azure spectral flames stared at Oh-jin.
"...That's enough. I don't need you anymore."
Rumble.
The black cloud completely consumed his body.
"You don't deserve to be by her side."
The Cheonma, his entire body now a black cloud, spat the words at Oh-jin.