Chapter 103: A Scammer's Winning Strategy (5)

Like melting ice cream on a summer day, the man's skin sagged and dripped. Flesh and muscle twisted together. In an instant, his face shifted yet again into that of a curly-haired young man with warm but eerie blue eyes.

Cheon Woo-Seong stared at him, dumbfounded. “Thunder Wolf?”

“It's been a while since we last met, but not long enough. How have you been, kid?”

“Who are you calling a kid?”

“You, obviously. Do you see anyone else here?”

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled as he walked toward Cheon Woo-Seong, his footsteps echoing faintly in the dark tunnel.

Step, step.

“I’m far too old for that,” Cheon Woo-Seong replied. He bit his lip and stood up. He was still bleeding from his side where Black Lion had slashed him, but it wasn't severe enough to prevent him from taking up arms.

“Getting older doesn't automatically make you an adult.” Kwon Oh-Jin pulled out a metal rod the size of a flashlight. As soon as he poured his mana into it, it transformed into a spear.

“Was all of this... your doing?”

“Who knows?” Kwon Oh-Jin grinned as he twirled the spear in his hand.

Cheon Woo-Seong’s gaze turned icy. “Do you think you'll get away with provoking the Black Star Society?”

“Of course not.”

That’s why...

“I’ll crush you all,” he declared.

So thoroughly that you’ll never rise back up.

Cheon Woo-Seong scoffed in disbelief.

Crush the Black Star Society? As a mere five-star Awakener, all by himself?

“You think being chosen by the North Star gives you the right to be this arrogant?” He glared sharply at Kwon Oh-Jin. “You know nothing about the Black Star Society.”

“And do you know?”

“What?”

“I’m asking if you know anything about

me

, dumbass.” An eerie blue flame flickered in Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes.

“You're the Weaver's apostle—”

“Not that,

pfftt!

” Kwon Oh-Jin’s shoulders shook as he laughed. “Do you know who I am? What I’ve lived through? What I have, and what I can do?”

Although he only knew a little bit about the Black Star Society, that went both ways.

“You don’t know, do you?” he asked, then smiled as he saw Cheon Woo-Seong at a loss for words. “You asked me earlier if I thought I’d get away with provoking the Black Star Society, didn’t you? Well... do you think you guys can get away with provoking

me

?”

He activated the Stigma of Lyra and released blue lightning that illuminated the entire dark passageway.

Crackle!

Cheon Woo-Seong merely scowled at him like he was a bug. “

Ha

... How dare a mere five-star be so audacious?!”

Hatred flared in his eyes—not just toward Kwon Oh-Jin but all Awakeners worldwide. Like an owl, massive black wings spread out from his back.

Swoosh!

A barrage of sharp, black feathers shot toward Kwon Oh-Jin.

Boom!

Kwon Oh-Jin grinned and raised his spear. “You can see for yourself if I’m being audacious or not.”

Whoosh!

He spun his spear rapidly in front of him, forming a barrier of blue lightning.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

“It’s no use!” Cheon Woo-Seong yelled, crisply crossing his arms. The barrage of black feathers exploded all at once.

Boom!

Kwon Oh-Jin was knocked backward, skidding across the ground.

“Ugh!”

The explosion utilized the same technique Ashad Khan had used before. The intense impact tore open his palm that was gripping the spear.

Cheon Woo-Seong extended his hand to the side, wherein black feathers gathered to form a two-meter-long sword. “You dared to be so impudent when this is all you’ve got?!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

His black wings beat vigorously, lifting him slightly off the ground, from where he swung his enormous blade.

Kwon Oh-Jin raised his spear to block the strikes.

Clang! Clang!

Each blow hit like a multi-ton truck, and the ground beneath him gave way, leaving him buried knee-deep in the floor.

Hovering in the air, Cheon Woo-Seong gripped the sword with both hands and swung it down repeatedly, as if wielding a hammer.

“With!”

Clang!

“Merely!”

Clang!

“This much!”

Clang!

“Skill!”

Clang!

“You thought...!”

Clang!

“Agh!”

The massive force rippled through Kwon Oh-Jin's arms, rattling his insides. A drop of blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.

Drawing a sharp breath, he channeled lightning into his legs.

“Hmph!”

Explosive Lightning!

His legs tore free from the ground, launching him backward in the nick of time.

Boom!

Cheon Woo-Seong’s blade crashed down where he'd just been, burying itself deeply in the ground.

Crack!

Having created some distance, Kwon Oh-Jin squinted as he examined his adversary.

To be this powerful even with those injuries... The King's Proxy really does live up to his reputation... but he’s not a nine-star.

If Cheon Woo-Seong were among the transcendent monsters known as high-ranking Awakeners, he would never have received those wounds from Lee Woo-Hyuk.

He’s probably in the upper tier of eight stars... or at its peak.

He was likely on par with Lee Woo-Hyuk in skill or just a notch below.

Perfect,

Kwon Oh-Jin thought. The anticlimactic fight against Park Geon-Woo had left him thirsting for a real challenge.

“Exceed.”

Blue lightning surged out from him.

Crackle!

“

Ha

, so you’ve still got a trick or two up your sleeve

?

” Cheon Woo-Seong smirked, raising his sword. “Let’s see just how useful those gimmicks really are!”

He swung his sword, causing condensed black feathers to shoot forward like waves of sword energy.

Swoosh!

Kwon Oh-Jin leaped back and spread his arms wide. Charged wires shot out from his wire shooter, weaving through the tunnel like a net and blocking the passageway.

Clang!

The black feathers were blocked by the wires and fell to the ground.

“Do you think flimsy threads can stop me?!” Cheon Woo-Seong sneered. Spreading his wings wide, he flew toward the tangled net and swung his sword down.

Slice!

Just as the blade cut halfway through the complex web of wires—

Lightning Flames.

Blue flames surged along the wires, engulfing Cheon Woo-Seong’s sword.

Fwoosh!

“Arghhh!”

He grimaced as the lightning coursed through his blade and into him, causing his hand to shudder in pain. “Damn it!”

He frantically released the sword and flapped his wings to retreat.

Kwon Oh-Jin gripped his spear tightly and sprinted along the tunnel walls after the winged enemy. He fiercely thrust his spear at Cheon Woo-Seong’s neck with a clean, picture-perfect strike. However, Cheon Woo-Seong’s black wings sprang out to block it.

Clang!

Kwon Oh-Jin’s spear recoiled, but he didn’t fight it. Instead, he let the momentum carry him.

Explosive Lightning.

Slamming the spear into the ground for balance, he twisted mid-air and drew back his left leg. In one fluid motion, he unleashed a powerful kick aimed straight at Cheon Woo-Seong’s wounded side.

Whack!

Cheon Woo-Seong groaned in agony as the kick landed squarely beside his long wound, which his wings failed to protect. He tumbled backward, rolling ungracefully on the ground.

Thud!

“Ugh...”

Clutching his wounded side, he tried to get back up, but Kwon Oh-Jin pulled his spear out of the ground and thrust it forward.

Azure Lightning, Explosive Lightning.

The two skills fused and fanned out toward Cheon Woo-Seong.

The corridor quaked with a deafening explosion.

Boom!

“Aaargh!”

Cheon Woo-Seong tumbled across the ground once more, coughing up blood. He was entirely drenched in it, save for his black wings, as he gasped for air. Gritting his teeth, he clutched the wound in his side, pressing down hard.

“Haa... Haa...”

He wouldn’t normally have been pushed to such a pathetic state, but his earlier injuries made it difficult to fight properly.

He glared at Kwon Oh-Jin with piercing eyes. “No matter how much you act like a hero, in the end, you’re just a scammer... one who deceives and exploits others.”

He swayed as he painstakingly stood up. “Well, I already knew... that all Awakeners are the same. Arrogant, prideful, and cruel—pure scum who know nothing other than to trample on others.”

His eyes burned with hatred as they locked onto Kwon Oh-Jin's, who remained silent.

“That’s right... You won’t change. People like you never do.” Grinding his teeth, Cheon Woo-Seong recalled memories from nine years ago. Amidst swirling ash and dust, surrounded by screams and cries, his mother frantically gestured at him to flee.

“Run, Woo-Seong!”

His mother was then brutally killed, but not by monsters that spawned in a gate.

“Hahaha! What a tear-jerking scene!”

“What, you don’t think it’s fair? Should’ve been chosen by a Celestial, then.”

Awakeners—the beings who had received enlightenment from the stars—didn’t aim their weapons at monsters but at powerless non-Awakeners. They abused their terrifying power to devastate and humiliate those who were too weak to resist instead of protecting them. That was the true nature of the Awakeners—one that wouldn’t change.

Tears streamed down Cheon Woo-Seong’s face. “If not for people like you... my mother would still be...!”

He had eventually received the Stigma of Owl Nebula through his father's help, but he'd already lost everything by then.

“Do you... DO YOU EVEN KNOW the despair of someone with nothing left to protect?!”

All that remained was endless hatred. His resentment for the Awakeners who had brought him to this state was all that kept him going.

Kwon Oh-Jin stared at him with sunken eyes.

“And?”

“... What?”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

Cheon Woo-Seong was stunned.

“Do you want me to sit here and listen to your tragic sob story?" Kwon Oh-Jin added. "Should I go, ‘Holy fuck, what a sad thing you went through!’ And shed a tear?”

What does it matter to me if he lost his mother or his father to Awakeners?

“Fine. Since we’re on the topic, let me ask you something.” Kwon Oh-Jin's voice turned cold. “You claim to hate Awakeners, so why did you kill non-Awakeners this time?”

Cheon Woo-Seong flinched. “Th-That was a... noble sacrifice—”

“For the greater good,

huh?

Pfft!

I was there for that, don't worry.”

Kwon Oh-Jin recalled the terror of the Guro-dong incident. The battlefield was filled with the terrified screams and cries of parents holding onto their children, children holding onto their parents, and lovers holding onto each other. Tears streamed down all their faces.

“What makes you any different from the Awakeners who killed your mother?” he asked.

“I-I’m different!”

“How?”

Cheon Woo-Seong clenched his fists tightly. “It was... a sacrifice that had to be made.”

If he could take control of the association, he could build far more centers than they had now. He could use his governmental authority to punish every single Awakener who abused civilians.

I can save and protect more people, so it was all necessary—

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Stop whining, you little brat,” Kwon Oh-Jin coldly demanded. He slowly walked toward Cheon Woo-Seong. “What’s with all the yapping?”

He glared down at Cheon Woo-Seong, who was trembling uncontrollably, and continued, “I’m not criticizing you. Revenge against Awakeners? Go right ahead. Taking down the association chairman through a terrorist attack? Sure, whatever.”

The willingness to use any means to achieve a goal was something he could empathize with.

“But you see...” He grabbed Cheon Woo-Seong by the hair. “If you’re going to trample on others in the process...”

He raised his fist, around which blue lightning sparked.

Crackle!

“You shouldn’t have used your pathetic belief as an excuse.”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s charged fist viciously struck Cheon Woo-Seong on his cheek.

Smack!