Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Adam’s Apple (1)

Ohjin picked an adequate box of apples in the supermarket.

He took out one of the apples and placed it on top of the table.

After drawing a long line across his palm using a knife, he lightly coated the apple’s exterior using his blood.

‘Transformation.’

The apple that gave off an appetizing red hue changed into an apple that looked to be made out of melted gold.

A strand of cold sweat ran down Ohjin’s forehead.

‘It’s not easy to maintain it.’

Using Transformation on an object that wasn’t connected to his body consumed quite a lot of mental strength.

—It was somewhat like moving his hands using a mouse and keyboard rather than his head.

It was possible to freely change its shape to a degree, but maintaining that transformed form for a long time took a lot of his mental stamina.

‘It would’ve been better if it consumed mana.’

Nothing could be done about its effect on his mind.

“…The problem doesn’t stop here.”

Ohjin frowned and looked down at the golden apple in his hands.

He couldn’t stick the grand name ‘Adam’s Apple’ on an apple that simply had its color changed and make others think it was a divine item.

Just like the ‘Dragon’s Heart’ that was discovered in the dungeon, a star relic containing an abnormal amount of power emitted suffocating pressure just by existing.

“An overpowered item that can reduce the Commandment’s Restriction shouldn’t give off a bland aura.”

Ohjin sent mana into the golden apple he’d made using ‘Transformation’.

If he used ‘Black Curtain’ to change the presence of the mana—

Crack!—

The apple in his hand exploded into pieces.

“Fuck.”

Ohjin sighed and threw the demolished apple into the bowl that already had a ton of ruined apples within it.

‘A box isn’t even close to enough.’

He exhaled a deep breath and put a piece of apple in his mouth using a fork.

According to Vega, he was said to have marvelous talent in controlling mana, but he was struggling to merely control his mana in a way that wouldn’t destroy the apple.

‘It would’ve been easy if all it needed was a bunch of mana.’

The problem was that he needed to make an aura that fit the name ‘Adam’s Apple’ using the tiny amount of mana the apple could endure.

The aura it gave off was too weak with little mana, but the apple would end up breaking if he sent in too much mana.

“This is driving me nuts.”

Ohjin crushed the empty apple box and sighed.

“Can’t you just use something that isn’t an apple?” 

Ha-eun, who was observing him, asked as she tilted her head.

There was no need for it to be in the shape of an apple because its name was ‘Adam’s Apple’.

Using the Dragon’s Heart as an example, it just looked like a translucent crystal that gave off blue light when it had ‘heart’ in its name.

“Still, I want to make it using an apple if possible.”

“Why?”

“Well, I’m just taking it slow and using it as an opportunity to train.”

—The new, enhanced abilities of Transformation and Black Curtain obtained from the Black Heaven’s sixth awakening.

Those two traits would become Ohjin’s most important abilities in the future, as they were necessary in order to act as a Regressor and deceive the celestials.

‘I can’t despair because of a mere apple.’

Ohjin himself knew well that there were other methods to make ‘Adam’s Apple’, but he felt like he would regret it later if he didn’t use the opportunity to learn how to meticulously control his ability.

“Hmm, is that right?”

Ha-eun, who was laying on the sofa and fiddling with her phone, shook her pale legs and nodded her head with an expression of dissatisfaction.

When their monumental first date finished on a good note, her boyfriend didn’t pay attention to the police outfit that took a considerable amount of consideration to buy but rather put all his attention on some apples.

She moved her long legs and poked Ohjin with the tip of her bare, white foot.

“What?”

“I’m just a bit annoyed.”

“What did I do?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, you don’t have anything to do now that you finished the box of apples, right?”

“I’ll need to go buy more.”

“It’s 1AM. If you’re finished doing everything besides nonsense, why don’t you massage my leg?”

Ha-eun raised her body from the sofa and placed her left leg on top of Ohjin’s lap.

Ohjin narrowed his eyes, caught the ankle of her slim leg, and started to tickle her sole.

“Kyaa!! Wh-What are you doing!!”

“We need to pack our luggage and prepare to go home. What do you mean, massage your leg?”

Ohjin smirked as he looked at Ha-eun writhing on the sofa with tears in her eyes.

Thinking about it then, a similar occurrence had happened in the past.

‘I guess not everything changes once you start going out.’

He liked exchanging jokes like they did before.

—It made his mind be somewhat at peace.

“Kyaaaa! Stop! I said stoooop!!”

Though the same couldn’t be said for Ha-eun.

* * *

“Hmm. Are you leaving already?”

Sakaki sat in silence like it was a shame.

“You should stay a couple more days.”

“There’s something we have to take care of back in Korea.”

“Well… I guess it can’t be helped if there’s something you must do!”

Boom!—

Sakaki stomped his foot and laughed broadly.

“A man must laugh the most when they bid their farewells! It was an honor to meet you, little brother!!”

“I also received a lot of help.”

“Kuhaha! What have I done compared to the help you’ve given me?!”

He patted Ohjin’s back using his large hand.

Without any exaggeration, a shock that felt like it would cause his intestines to burst out of his mouth shook Ohjin’s body.

“Then have a safe trip home! Contact me whenever you require my help! I’ll be there in an instant!”

If it was Sakaki, it really seemed plausible for him to sprint across the ocean to help him.

“I’ll make sure to contact you later.”

“For sure!”

Putting Sakaki behind them, they entered the airport.

On the way to drop off their luggage after getting their tickets, Ha-eun stuck right next to him and whispered with a low voice in his ear.

“You said that the Black Heaven’s stage increased, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then will you be able to use Heaven Unfolding without my help now?”

“It’ll probably be possible.”

He hadn’t experimented yet, but when considering how much of the dragon vein’s mana was released, it seemed like it would be enough to use Heaven Unfolding on his own.

‘Though that isn’t the complete Heaven Unfolding.’

An incomplete skill had made the 6th ranking Executor of the Black Star Organization wet his pants like a baby…

At that point, it couldn’t even be called a ‘skill’.

‘Should it be considered something like an Authority?’

Well, whatever its term, it should’ve been possible to remove the Commandment’s Restriction from Vega using Heaven Unfolding with his own powers.

-My child!

The appearance of the silver-haired goddess patting his head with a gentle smile crossed his mind.

Although he wanted to remove the Commandment’s Restriction from her as soon as he could…

‘Making Adam’s Apple comes first.’

Ohjin ordered apples through the shopping app before he got on the airplane.

* * *

“Hey! Gwon Ohjin!!”

A loud voice rang out in the house starting from early dawn.

Ha-eun, who came in after roughly opening the room door, pointed at the front door with a shocked expression.

“Wh-What is all this?!”

In front of the slightly opened front door were stacks of boxes as if someone was preparing to move in.

“They’re the apples I ordered.”

“…Just how many did you order?”

“Two thousand boxes, for now.”

“…”

Ha-eun looked at Ohjin like she thought it was ridiculous.

Despite ordering two thousand boxes, the words that left his mouth were “for now”.

“Argh, seriously…”

Ha-eun shook her head and helped him move the apple boxes stacked in front of the front door.

“Well, then…”

Ohjin took out an apple from the box and grasped it in his hand.

He drew a line using a knife and thoroughly smeared his blood on the apple.

‘Transformation.’

The apple turned into a radiant gold color.

Little by little, he sent his mana into that apple.

‘Black Curtain.’

When he used Black Curtain to change the aura of his mana—

Crack!—

—the apple exploded into pieces.

“Ugh.”

A groan left Ohjin’s mouth.

“Looks like I’ll have to go through some trouble.”

Rather than anything else, the fact that he had too much mana was the problem.

If you were only taking the amount of mana into account, Ohjin had such an overwhelming amount that he would easily exceed even high-rank Awakeners.

‘But ignorantly having only a lot of mana doesn’t make you strong.’

If victory and defeat was decided from only mana capacity, he wouldn’t have been one-sidedly pushed back by Cheon Doyoon in the first place.

An immense amount of mana was one of Ohjin’s strengths, but there also existed problems that were caused by it.

—A good example was when he needed meticulous control.

‘Flowing in mana while trying to not crack the apple is too difficult.’

Using an analogy, it felt like he was trying to pick up an egg using an excavator that weighed several dozens of tons.

Due to him having too much mana, the control he needed for meticulous movement was incomparable to others.

“Well, it’ll probably work at some point.”

Ohjin exhaled a deep breath and reached out for another apple.

Crack, Crack, Crack—

One by one, apples were destroyed.

He put destroyed apples on plates because it felt like a waste, but that act didn’t last long.

The boxes containing apples started to get stacked with sliced apples.

“Huff, huff.”

Ohjin’s breathing started to get ragged.

It felt like he was sculpting a tiny grain of rice using the tip of a needle.

His brain felt like it was going to melt as he concentrated his mind without rest for several hours.

However…

Crack, Crack, Crack, Crack, Crack—

He didn’t stop.

There was no reason to stop.

After all, anything that could be solved by enduring was nothing to him.

Even if a head-splitting headache came over him, he concentrated and continued to pick up the apples, one by one..

* * *

Translator – Maccas

Proofreader – ilafy

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* * *

When all he had done besides sleeping was repeatedly grasp and destroy apples in his room for over two weeks…

Owoooong!!!—

—An apple that emitted radiant golden light.

The object was just an ordinary apple, but the aura it gave off was spiritual and miraculous like the Forbidden Fruit that was told of  in mythology.

“…I did it.”

With dark circles deeply settled in his eyes, Ohjin’s shoulders trembled with the golden apple in his hands.

“I fucking did it!!”

It wasn’t even possible to count how many thousand… no, tens of thousands of apples they’d eaten during the past two weeks.

“Apples… no more apples…”

Ha-eun was surrounded by dozens of boxes filled with sliced apples and eating them like a broken machine.

“Ha-eun! I did it!”

“…What? You did it?”

Ha-eun’s gaze headed to Ohjin.

—A golden apple emitting radiant light.

Just looking at it was suffocating, and a miraculous energy started to fill the house.

“H-Holy shit. That’s really an apple?”

Ha-eun’s mouth was half-opened, as no more words could be formed.

“How is it?”

“How is it…? I can’t believe it despite seeing it with my own eyes.”

Ohjin smiled with satisfaction after confirming Ha-eun’s reaction.

‘It’s finished.’

All he had to do was bring it to Riak and remove the Commandment’s Restriction from Vega.

‘Before that…’

Ohjin’s body slowly dropped down.

“O-Ohjin?”

“Let me get some rest.”

Without being able to confirm the blue message that just happened to pop up, Ohjin fell unconscious on the living room floor.

-Ring!

[Your understanding of the stigma’s mana has increased greatly!]

[You have accomplished an unbelievable achievement!]

[You have achieved part of the conditions needed to unlock ‘Heaven Unfolding’]

Would he come to realize the outrageousness of what he had just done?

____