Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Paradise (2)
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“Ugh.”
The cold wind seeping through the window.
Lying in bed under the covers, Song Ha-eun shivered.
‘It’s freezing.’
It was a temperature that could have been life-threatening if not for her superhuman body.
‘I shouldn’t… turn on the boiler.’
Oh-jin had said it was fine to turn it on if it got too cold, but remembering how he’d groan every time the utility bill came, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
“Sigh. I'll just have to make do with the electric blanket for now.”
After living like this for several years, she had grown somewhat used to it.
*Click.*
She fumbled for the switch and turned on the electric blanket.
“Haaah.”
With a short sigh, she looked for her smartphone.
Though she couldn't see the screen, she was familiar enough with handling her phone like this that she could easily play a video summarizing the latest news.
[Following the incident at Seoul Station yesterday around 4 PM, public interest in the Association's Awakened, Mr. Kwon Oh-jin, is surging.]
[Netizens who saw the article have dubbed the Awakened Mr. Kwon Oh-jin 'Noerang' and are showering praise on the birth of a new hero.]
The news was all about Oh-jin.
“Wow… I had a feeling, but I can't believe it's really happening.”
From the moment he told her he’d become an Apostle of Polaris, she had expected this day would come, but hearing his name on the news felt incredibly strange.
‘If he’s this famous… he’ll be able to save up the money quickly.’
A bitter smile formed on Song Ha-eun's lips.
She had a gut feeling that the time for them to part was not far off.
“…Alright then.”
This time, she searched for and played a different video.
[The list of Holy Relics to be presented at the Yongsan Auction in two days has been finalized.]
[Notable items include the 7-star Holy Relics 'Dawn's Sword' and 'Twilight's Knot,' and the 6-star Holy Relic 'Yongmaan' will also be making an appearance for the first time in a year and three months. In addition….]
*Beep.*
She turned off the video.
“Yongmaan….”
She uttered the name, her voice trembling slightly.
*Squeeze.*
Veins popped on her clenched fist.
Just then.
[Have you awoken?]
“Aaaahhh!!”
A voice came from right beside her.
Ha-eun screamed and shot up in bed.
“Wha-what was that?”
[Why are you so startled?]
“D-didn't you go out with Oh-jin?”
About an hour ago, Oh-jin had left, saying he had business at the Association.
She had naturally assumed Vega went with him.
[He left the pendant behind.]
It seemed his errand didn't require Vega's presence.
“…I-I see.”
An awkward atmosphere filled the room.
This was the first time she'd spoken with Vega alone.
“But isn't a Constellation restricted by some kind of law if they manifest on Earth like this?”
[A few hours a day is permissible.]
“Hmm.”
[I wish to take this opportunity to ask you something.]
“Ask me something?”
Ha-eun tilted her head.
[My child seems rather obsessed with money.]
“Ah… well, yeah.”
[Do you know the reason why?]
“……”
Ha-eun's lips pressed into a firm line.
A bitter smile touched her lips.
The reason Oh-jin was so desperate to save money.
Of course, she knew.
How could she not?
She had heard it directly from his own mouth, after all.
“To go… to Paradise.”
She said it as if swallowing a harsh liquor.
[Paradise?]
Vega blinked at the abstract word.
“Ah, 'Paradise' is just what people call it. The official name is the Ganghwa Island Special Autonomous Zone.”
[Hmm. Even hearing that, I do not quite understand.]
“Um… so.”
Ha-eun began to explain step by step.
The Ganghwa Island Special Autonomous Zone.
A place colloquially known as 'Paradise.'
It was one of the few 'safe zones' in this crazy world teeming with monsters.
There were no gates, common as they were elsewhere, and no monsters.
Not even heinous criminals and illegal organizations could set foot there.
And.
“Once you move in, I heard you even get three square meals a day.”
A place where you didn't have to worry about food, clothing, or shelter.
The only place that preserved the peaceful and comfortable Korea from before the gates opened.
“—Oh-jin is saving money to buy residency rights there.”
The price for residency in 'Paradise' was 10 billion won.
If you could just pay the 10 billion and get in, you wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again.
You could just live a peaceful life, laughing and smiling.
[…Such a place exists?]
Vega narrowed her eyes, unable to comprehend.
[I find it difficult to understand. How can that place be called a 'safe zone'...]
“Because Tamrangseong Cheon Sang-gil and his guild members live there.”
Tamrangseong Cheon Sang-gil.
The only Korean member of the Seven Stars.
The Ganghwa Island Special Autonomous Zone was a place directly managed by Cheon Sang-gil and his guild, 'Cheonhye.'
If you couldn't call that place a safe zone, where else could you?
“Wealthy entrepreneurs, celebrities, and Awakened are all scrambling to get into 'Paradise'.”
[So my child is earning money to enter that place?]
“Yeah.”
[Hmm.]
Still looking as if she didn't understand.
Vega hummed thoughtfully.
Song Ha-eun spoke with a faint smile.
“…Do you know what his dream has been since he was a kid?”
A low, subdued voice.
Her empty gaze wandered through a forest of memories shrouded in a hazy fog.
The image of a child appears.
Black hair and slightly drooping eyes.
A boy, huddled over, touching a cheek full of bruises.
[What was it?]
“To live in a place where he wouldn't be hurt, cold, or hungry.”
[……?]
“Kyahaha! Pretty simple, right?”
She laughed, her shoulders shaking.
“But…”
she continued, as if spitting out the words.
“That simple happiness felt so far away for us.”
[…….]
Vega was silent.
Emotions.
A deep, immeasurable torrent of emotions could be felt.
[Was there someone who persecuted my child?]
“Yeah. The director of our orphanage.”
Song Ha-eun bit her lip, recalling memories from her childhood.
“He was beaten every single day. The other kids got hit sometimes too… but Oh-jin was beaten especially badly.”
[Was there a reason?]
“…Yeah.”
Her voice trembled.
“Originally… it was me. I was the director's main target, not Oh-jin.”
[…….]
“Hehe! I had quite a temper, even as a kid.”
A self-deprecating laugh.
“But… getting beaten every day like that was really hard. I even thought about just hanging myself to screw the director over.”
[Could you not ask others for help?]
“What help could a bunch of 10-year-old kids give? Besides, that bastard director had good connections, so even if we asked for help, we were completely ignored.”
[…That must have been difficult.]
“Yeah. It was really… really hard.”
Recalling the nightmare, Ha-eun gently bit her lip.
“Then one day, I bit the director's arm really hard. I was getting beaten all day long… Pfft! Do you know what that crazy bastard Oh-jin did then?”
Vega shook her head.
It wasn't like she could see it, but Ha-eun continued.
“He suddenly yelled that there was a fire in the kitchen and we had to escape. So the director ran outside, screaming his head off.”
[And what happened?]
“What do you think? The director just ended up completely humiliated.”
[……?]
“Heeheehee! It was a lie. The fire.”
Ha-eun giggled as if she still found it funny.
“That kid Oh-jin tricked the director constantly. No matter how much he was beaten, he'd find some new, outlandish way to mess with the director the very next day.”
[So… the target shifted from you to Oh-jin?]
“…Yeah.”
Song Ha-eun brought her knees up and rested her head on them.
“Honestly… I was relieved. The thought that I wouldn't be beaten anymore… made me so, so happy.”
*Drip.*
A tear welled in her eye and trickled down her cheek.
Her arms, hugging her knees, trembled slightly.
“I knew he was doing it for me… but… but still, I was happy about it…!”
[It is not your fault.]
“……”
A short silence.
“Yeah. That's what Oh-jin said, too.”
[…….]
“Anyway. What he's wanted… has been the same since he was a kid.”
Not to be hurt, not to be cold, not to be hungry.
“A life where he doesn't have to lie… to survive.”
That was his wish.
His craving, his desire.
“Oh-jin will go to Paradise.”
And.
He would part ways with her.
[Are you not going with him?]
“…I can't go.”
Song Ha-eun shook her head.
[Is it because of the money?]
“That's part of it… but even with money, I wouldn't pass the test.”
[A test?]
“Yeah. To get into 'Paradise,' you have to go through various screenings and pass a test.”
She stared blankly into the air with her gray, unseeing eyes.
“A cripple who can't even see ahead wouldn't be allowed into Paradise.”
A self-mocking laugh.
Vega looked at her with deep, somber eyes.
[Then what will become of you?]
“Well, I'll have to survive on my own somehow.”
[But.]
“Kyahaha! Goodness, are you worried about me, Goddess?”
[…….]
“I was still a 7-star Awakened until five years ago. If I have to live alone, I'll find a way.”
Though she had lost everything now.
In the past, she had been an Awakened who ranked among the 'strong'.
[…How did this happen to you?]
“This?”
Song Ha-eun pointed to her missing right leg below the knee and her eyes.
She let out a small laugh and continued.
“About five or six years ago. I fought a ridiculously strong monster and ended up like this.”
Cheonjuryong Barbatos.
A dragon-type monster that was a staggering 9-star class.
Defeated in her battle with it, she was 'cursed'.
A terrible dragon's curse that stole her sight and sealed her magic.
“Anyway.”
*Flop.*
Song Ha-eun lay down on the bed.
The warmth of the electric blanket drove away the cold.
“I made a promise with Oh-jin. Five years ago.”
[What kind of promise?]
“To be precise, it was less a promise… and more of a one-sided demand.”
Ha-eun smiled bitterly.
Naturally.
The memory of that time surfaced in her mind.
In a small, dark.
mold-filled room, they'd made a brief deal.
-You're going to buy residency rights to Paradise?
-Yeah.
-…Then stay with me until then.
-Stay with you?
-You owe me for the past three years, don't you? I rescued you and took care of you all that time, right?
-…….
-Once you save up the 10 billion. You can go wherever you want then.
-…Alright.
She recalled Oh-jin's low, subdued voice.
Yes.
That day, she had placed a curse on him.
A curse just like the one that had stolen her entire life.
The shackles of the name 'Song Ha-eun.'
“Hahaha! Wow, thinking about it now, what a bitch I was!”
As if something was terribly amusing.
She clapped her hands and laughed.
“How could I ask something like that from a guy who wasn't even an Awakened? How was he supposed to save 10 billion?”
The promise was just an excuse.
To avoid being left alone.
To trap him with her—in this pitch-black darkness where she could see nothing.
“…It's my punishment.”
She never imagined Oh-jin would become an Awakened.
She had never dreamed he would become an Apostle of Polaris.
At least.
She thought she could be with him for at least a few more years.
But he became an Awakened of Lyra, so famous that every news outlet was clamoring to report on him.
Saving 10 billion won wouldn't take him long.
—Divine punishment.
Yes.
This was her divine punishment for trying to use him for her own selfish reasons.
“Hehe. So—”
Song Ha-eun clumsily got up, leaning on her crutch.
*Bow.*
She bowed politely and spoke.
“Our Oh-jin… please take good care of him from now on.”
In a heavy, somber voice.
As if pleading, as if begging.
she said.
[…….]
Vega crossed her arms and looked down at Song Ha-eun, who was bowing deeply.
‘My child's wish is to part with this girl and go to that place called Paradise?’
With a look of continued confusion.
‘If that is so—why did he make such an expression then?’
The first time she met Song Ha-eun.
She recalled the look on Oh-jin's face right after she'd asked about her eyes.
Like someone wandering an endless desert in search of water.
An expression filled with desperation and longing.