Chapter 207: Interlude - New Hope (4)

Chapter 207: Interlude - New Hope (4)

“The Heavenly Demon... isn’t human?”

In that case, just what were they?

‘A celestial?’

No.

You could think of them as a celestial in the ranks of the North Stars if they were just revered by the Black Stars, but it became a completely different story the moment the word ‘created’ came into play.

To his knowledge, there was only one being that could make celestials.

‘Titan...’

He thought of the giant born into existence at the beginning of time that created worlds and celestials to hand the duty of managing those worlds to.

Titan was undoubtedly the closest being to the ‘Creator’ that commonly existed in everyone’s fantasies.

‘The Heavenly Demon is Titan?’

In that case... had he killed Titan and taken the title ‘Heavenly Demon’ from them in his past life?

“...”

“Ohjin?”

He didn’t answer and continued thinking.

‘Something’s... strange.’

The puzzle pieces connected, but the completed image felt hideously distorted.

An unpleasant sensation ran down his back and spread across his body.

‘I don’t understand. Just what... did I get wrong?’

It felt like he was walking down a pitch-black street at night.

He was able to instinctively realize that something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out the cause behind it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah.” Ohjin stopped thinking and raised his head.

He noticed that Isabella was looking at him with worry.

“It’s nothing.” Ohjin shook his head with a bitter smile.

It didn’t seem like there was anything he could figure out by racking his brain at the moment, but there was one thing he was certain about...

‘The Heavenly Demon...’

It was absolutely necessary to find out who and what they were.

“You... don’t happen to know where the Heavenly Demon is, I assume?”

“I heard that they’re in the Demon Realm.”

“The Demon Realm?”

It was the land of demonic beasts that hadn’t even been 5% explored.

“Yes. They say that the Heavenly Demon is the master of that world.”

“The Master of the Demon Realm, huh...?”

There were a couple of things he could ascertain with that.

‘The Black Stars, Heavenly Demon, and Black Star Organization are all connected to the Demon Realm.’

Visiting the Demon Realm himself would be the best way to find out more concrete information on how they related to each other, but there was a problem.

‘It’s dangerous.’

Humanity had little to no information about the Demon Realm.

Just about the only things they knew were treacherous rumors about how humans should never dare set foot there.

Either way, it wasn’t a place Ohjin could go at the moment.

‘I need to get stronger.’

The bare minimum was being a 9-Star Awakener.

There was a need to achieve the explosive increase in power obtained after the body went through reconstruction.

“Come to think of it, what rank are you right now?”

“Ah, me? I’m a 10-Star Awakener.”

—A 10-Star Awakener.

“It’s the same as Damien.”

“Correct.” Isabella nodded her head.

“Well... there’s still a big difference between us.”

“That’s true.”

Ohjin was very familiar with the fact that the difference in strength between Awakeners of the same rank became more uneven the higher the rank.

“What do you think would happen if you fought Damien one-on-one?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure.”

Isabella gently touched the end of her plump lips and became lost in thought.

“I think I would lose in the day and win at night.”

“Does the time of day make such a big difference?”

“It’s a characteristic of the stigma of Hirudo.”

“Hmm. I see.”

He had indeed become stronger at an unprecedented pace, but it was nowhere near enough when he considered the foes he would have to face in the future.

“I’ll help you.” Isabella pulled his finger and gave him a charming look. “Naturally... I could help you with other things, as well.”

She slowly dragged his hand to her chest.

The moment it was about to fall into the deep ocean—

Bang!—

“How long does it take you guys to organize the luggage?”

—Ha-eun opened the door and entered.

She discovered Isabella pressed against Ohjin and frowned ferociously.

“I guess you aren’t called a leech for no reason. Look at this bitch not being able to hold her urges for a second and trying to get close to Ohjin.”

“...”

He thought sparks would appear between them again.

“I’m sorry. Cleaning the table alone was tiring, wasn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“Sit down here.” Isabella quickly stood up and led her to sit down on her bed.

“Looking at it now...”

“Wh-What?”

“You’re really beautiful. This red hair and... oh my, your skin is also so lovely.”

“Eek!” Ha-eun stayed guard like a cat that had its tail caught as Isabella suddenly stroked her face.

“Wh-What the hell?! Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“Fufu. It’s just that I want to get closer to you. Aren’t we a family that’ll have to live in the same house now?”

Isabella sat right next to Ha-eun with a gentle smile on her face.

“Oh, right. How old are you?”

“Me? I... I’m twenty-nine.”

“Ah, you’re three years older than me. That makes you my senior.”

“H-Huh? Your senior?”

“Yes.”

Ha-eun looked perplexed at Isabella’s sudden change in attitude.

“Ooh, what lotion do you use?”

“Me? I don’t really use lotions...”

“Eh? You don’t use lotions?” Isabella raised her brow like she’d heard the unimaginable.

She rummaged through her trunk and took out cosmetics that clearly looked luxurious.

“This is a product from Cosme Decorte. Try it out.”

“C-Cornsome Teriyaki?”

“Cosme Decorte. It’s a brand I use often.”

Ha-eun took the lotion Isabella gave her and asked her a question with a bewildered expression on her face. “How much is a bottle of this stuff?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know the exact amount, but it should be around €3,000 per bottle.”

“Let’s see, €3,000 is... what the fuck?! What kind of daylight robbers sell a single bottle of lotion for that much?”

Ha-eun’s mouth fell open once she searched for the transfer rate on her phone.

“Fufu. That much is nothing to me. Here, I’ll give you this mist spray and mask pack, too. Ah, don’t you also smoke cigarettes?”

“U-Uh, yeah.”

“Please wait a moment.”

Ring—

Isabella took out her phone and called someone.

“Ah, Roberto. Didn’t you say before that you were collecting cigars from Cuba? Can you bring all of those here right now? Oh my, you want to know why? Bring every single one of them. Hm? It was hard to build up that collection? Hmm. Since when were you allowed to speak back to me?”

Isabella’s eyes shone coldly.

“Bring them all. Immediately.”

‘...Cheer up, Roberto.’

“Fufu. I’ll also gift you limited-edition cigars from Cuba if you would wait just a moment.”

“C-Can I really accept all of this?”

“Of course. Aren’t we ‘family’ now?”

“R-Right.”

Ha-eun looked at the cosmetics and gulped.

Considering her heated gaze, it appeared that she just never had the opportunity to get interested in cosmetics until then.

“Here, everything here is now yours,” Isabella whispered in a sweet voice and handed over the expensive cosmetics she took out from her trunk.

“...”

A memory crossed his mind as he watched the two of them.

-I don’t mind being your second.

‘She... wasn’t serious, right?’