Chapter 353
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 353
Chapter Title: Starlight (5)
"[Wh-wh-wh-what...!]"
Vega stumbled backward, her eyes wide like a startled rabbit.
She touched her lips in disbelief, her cheeks flushing bright red.
"[What have you done!]"
Vega exclaimed, her face so red it looked like steam might rise from her head.
Oh-jin watched her flustered state with a faint smile.
"Should I do it again if you're not sure?"
"[Th-that's!]"
Vega's shoulders trembled slightly as she recalled the lingering sensation on her lips.
She touched her lips with her fingertips and lowered her head.
"[Haaah.]"
Her mind was a mess.
Countless emotions swirled and tangled, leaving her unsure of what expression to make.
Listening to her heart pound louder than ever before, she looked at Oh-jin with trembling eyes.
"[You truly are...]"
A faint smile spread across Vega's lips as her words trailed off.
Letting out a deep sigh, Vega approached Oh-jin.
She cautiously reached out and placed a hand on his forehead.
Oh-jin's body flinched.
"[Stay still.]"
Wooooong!
A brilliant silver light seeped into Oh-jin's body, and his tattered form began to heal rapidly.
The pain that had wracked his entire body quickly faded away.
"[Are you all right?]"
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine."
Oh-jin nodded, looking dazed.
Vega gently stroked Oh-jin's cheek with a faint smile.
"[When I heard that Spica had given her heart to her child, I scolded her for being so foolish. But it seems the real fool was someone else.]"
Even though she knew he had been deceiving her from their very first meeting.
Even though she realized the man she had known was a false image hidden behind a mask.
She couldn't sever her feelings for him.
*'Truly, what a foolish woman I am.'*
She stroked Oh-jin's cheek with a self-deprecating smile.
A gentle warmth spread from her fingertips.
Seeing his wide eyes and the way he averted his gaze, as if embarrassed by the situation, an indescribable happiness blossomed in her chest.
To use a cliché, she felt like she could fly.
"[I have a few things I wish to ask.]"
"Yeah, go ahead."
"[Why did you lie to me about being a Regressor at the beginning?]"
"That's... "
Oh-jin wore a troubled expression.
"[I want an explanation, not an excuse.]"
"Hmm."
After a moment of thought, Oh-jin nodded.
"Well, at first, it was because I was scared."
"[Of me? What is there to be scared of about me?]"
Vega looked at Oh-jin with an aggrieved expression.
"I didn't know you well back then. And... I thought you might misunderstand and think I killed Lee Shin-hyeok."
"[Lee Shin-hyeok...?]"
Vega furrowed her brows at the unfamiliar name.
"When we first met, there was a dead man there, right?"
"[Ah, I remember.]"
"The Regressor wasn't me, it was him."
"[What?]"
Vega's eyes widened at the unexpected twist.
Oh-jin gave a bitter smile and slowly explained what had happened with Lee Shin-hyeok.
How they had encountered a group of Ant-horns while exploring a gate, how Lee Shin-hyeok had suddenly had a seizure and died, and how he had coincidentally awakened Black Heaven at that moment and absorbed the Stigma of Lyra that had been inside Lee Shin-hyeok.
"[Hah.]"
An incredulous sigh escaped Vega's lips as she listened to Oh-jin's story.
"[How could such an absurd coincidence...]"
"To be precise, it wasn't a coincidence."
"[Not a coincidence?]"
Oh-jin nodded with a heavy expression.
"This was all intentionally orchestrated by the 'Heavenly Demon'."
"[...What do you mean?]"
Having secluded herself in the Sanctuary immediately after the events in Niflheim, Vega, unlike Ha-eun and Isabella, hadn't yet heard about the Heavenly Demon's true identity and purpose.
"The Heavenly Demon is me. To be exact, the 'me' from a past life."
"[Wh-what?]"
Vega's eyes shot wide open at the unimaginable bombshell.
"[Wh-what are you saying?!]"
Vega moved closer to Oh-jin, asking in an urgent voice.
Oh-jin calmly explained the Heavenly Demon's identity.
"[Such... an unbelievable thing.]"
To think the Heavenly Demon was Oh-jin from a past life, and that he had sent Lee Shin-hyeok to the past to awaken Oh-jin's Black Heaven.
Vega touched her forehead, her expression one of confusion.
"[For what reason would he do such a thing...?]"
"Hmm... This might be a long story."
To properly explain the Heavenly Demon's purpose, he couldn't leave out the story about Ha-eun, which meant he would have to recount his entire past.
"[It's all right. No matter how long it takes, please tell me everything you couldn't say until now.]"
Vega grasped Oh-jin's hand, her eyes intense.
The truth Oh-jin had hidden all this time.
The desire to know the story hidden behind the mask filled her mind.
"Alright."
And so, Oh-jin's story began.
The stories he couldn't tell her until now.
"[...Ah.]"
Vega listened intently to his story, letting out short gasps or sighs of sorrow.
"...So, the Heavenly Demon sent Lee Shin-hyeok to the past to protect my sister."
The end of a long story.
[...]
After hearing everything, Vega looked at Oh-jin with trembling eyes.
Every part of the story was shocking, but the most shocking of all was about the events that had just occurred in the kingdom of Niflheim.
"[Then... are you saying you gave up the chance to kill the Heavenly Demon in order to save me?]"
Vega asked, tightly gripping the hem of her dress.
Oh-jin avoided answering, his expression uneasy.
"[...My child.]"
Tears streamed down Vega's cheeks.
How could she possibly put this feeling into words?
The torrent of complex, tangled emotions stole her voice.
"Don't worry. I'll stop him."
He spoke with a confident expression, but Vega knew what an immense burden he was carrying.
*'If I had died at the hands of the Heavenly Demon.'*
Black Heaven would have been extinguished, and the Constellations of the Black Star and the demon lords threatening the world would have all vanished.
Oh-jin had been on the verge of ending it all, but he had turned back.
To protect her.
"[I-I... didn't know.]"
To think that she had made a promise with the Heavenly Demon in the past, agreeing to extinguish Black Heaven through her death.
How could she have ever imagined it?
The truth was so shocking it felt like her mind was burning white.
*'Then, the reason Oh-jin revealed the truth back then was also...'*
To save me?
[...]
Vega clasped her hands over her chest.
It hurt.
Her chest ached as if a sharp knife were carving into it.
*'A-and without even knowing that, I...'*
For the sole reason that Oh-jin had deceived her, I pathetically holed myself up in the temple and vowed never to see him again?
"[Ah, ugh.]"
Her head felt feverishly hot.
Her heart felt like it was rotting away with scorching guilt.
What a foolish, selfish woman, thinking only of herself.
*'I can understand now why Oh-jin deceived me.'*
Oh-jin had said it wasn't unavoidable, but from his perspective, it was practically an 'unavoidable situation'.
To the Constellations, Black Heaven was the most malevolent power, one that would bring about the world's destruction.
It was something that had to be eliminated first and foremost, no matter the sacrifice.
Oh-jin couldn't have been unaware of that, so how could he have been crazy enough to confidently tell a Constellation—and not just any Constellation, but Polaris, the one at their apex—that he possessed Black Heaven?
"[It was unavoidable, wasn't it...?]"
Vega embraced Oh-jin, tears streaming down her face.
"[I am the one who should be apologizing.]"
She had never imagined that Oh-jin was carrying such a massive burden all by himself.
"[It must have been... so hard for you.]"
Vega stroked the head of the man she was holding and cried.
"[I am sorry. Without knowing anything... I needlessly lashed out, saying you lied.]"
"No, whatever the reason, the fact is that I deceived you."
Oh-jin shook his head and carefully stepped back from Vega.
"I could have told you sooner... but I was afraid to tell the truth."
Because that's how he had lived.
Because he didn't know any other way.
He had continued to hide the truth from her.
"I won't deceive you again."
"[...My child.]"
Tears welled in her golden eyes.
Vega carefully placed a hand on Oh-jin's left chest and asked.
"[Then, does this mean you have the same Black Heaven as the Heavenly Demon inside you?]"
Strangely, even with her hand placed directly on him, she couldn't feel the aura of Black Heaven at all.
The only thing she could sense from Oh-jin was the aura of the Stigma of Lyra, which she herself had given him.
"It's not exactly the same. I have your Stigma, Vega."
According to the Heavenly Demon, the Black Heaven Oh-jin possessed was in a 'complete' state.
Though, seeing how it had been acting up quite a bit lately, he wasn't sure if 'complete' was the right word.
"[...I see.]"
For some reason.
Upon realizing that it was thanks to her Stigma that Oh-jin wasn't being dominated by the power of Black Heaven, a sense of pride she couldn't explain brought a smile to her lips.
*'To think I never knew the Stigma of Lyra held the power to control Black Heaven.'*
In any case.
The reason Oh-jin could possess Black Heaven and still be fine was because of her.
[...]
That fact made her unbearably happy.
"[I swear on the name of Vega.]"
Vega placed a hand on Oh-jin's cheek and slowly drew his face closer.
"[Even if a black sky slumbers within you.]"
She gently kissed Oh-jin's forehead.
"[I shall become the starlight that illuminates the black sky and shine upon you.]"
Forever.
She engraved the unwavering vow in her heart.
"...Vega."
"[Fufu. If the other Constellations were to learn of this, I would surely be stripped of my position as Polaris.]"
Having sworn on her star's name to protect the master of Black Heaven, it was a grave act of treason, one for which she could be exiled from the Sanctuary just like the 'Satellites' of the past.
"That will never happen."
Oh-jin said, his eyes glinting sharply.
"[I shall trust you.]"
Vega nodded with a faint smile.
"[A-and. One more thing.]"
"Hm? What is it?"
Vega blushed and averted her gaze.
Fidgeting with her fingers, she spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper.
"[D-don't I have a sin I committed against you?]"
Unaware of Oh-jin's circumstances, she had holed herself up in the temple and put him in a difficult position, all because he had deceived her.
Was that all?
She had unilaterally refused to speak with him, deeply hurting him in the process.
"[S-surely, this requires 'punishment'!]"
The goddess's eyes sparkled as she moved closer.
The uncomfortably close proximity made Oh-jin instinctively flinch back.
"...Again?"
Why is this goddess always so eager to be punished?
Oh-jin gulped, and his gaze naturally shifted toward Vega's rear.