Chapter 245: Celebration Party (1)

His vision slowly returned to normal.

The past and present overlapped, or perhaps it was more accurate to say the future and the present.

Kwon Oh-Jin sat curled up in the empty living room like an insect scorched by fire.

“

Ah, ugh...

”

A wave of nausea hit him, and the sour taste of stomach acid stung his throat.

“Goddamn it...”

He had suspected that Song Ha-Eun died in the first timeline, which changed him. If not, the future where he became the Heavenly Demon wouldn’t make any sense.

“

Haa, haa!

”

Knowing and expecting it didn’t suddenly make it any less painful.

Lee Shin-Hyuk.

Kwon Oh-Jin furiously clenched his teeth, and his eyes widened with rage.

After inheriting the memories, he burned with the urge to rip Lee Shin-Hyuk to pieces. His alternate self would have felt it even more.

Whether I was there at the time or not...

He would’ve heard the news eventually. The moment he found out that Song Ha-Eun had died, what would’ve happened to him then? How broken would he have been?

“

Urgh...!

”

Kwon Oh-Jin clutched his head and curled up further. A crushing pain bore down on his skull like a steel plate pressing into his brain.

Ring!

[Awakener Lee Shin-Hyuk’s records have been successfully inherited.]

[The eighth enlightenment of the Black Heaven has enhanced the performance of Inheritance.]

[The Black Heaven has acquired the Deja Vu trait.]

“Deja Vu?”

Kwon Oh-Jin pressed the glowing blue panel displaying the newly acquired trait.

[Deja Vu - Under specific situations and conditions, Kwon Oh-Jin may acquire fragments of memory from absorbed Awakeners.]

In other words, Inheritance could occur through actions other than the Black Heaven’s enlightenment.

“But what are these specific situations and conditions supposed to be?”

The explanation was quite vague.

Staring at the message window, Kwon Oh-Jin reached for the folding knife tucked at his waist.

If Deja Vu means exactly what the name implies...

Then, he wanted to test something.

With a swift motion and pulse of mana, the folding knife turned into a long spear.

Clack!

He tightly gripped the shaft and steadied his breath.

Lee Shin-Hyuk, furiously swinging his spear in a nameless forest, flashed through his mind.

“It’s my fault... If only I’d been stronger!”

Memories related to spearmanship burst forth like water from a faucet.

[Kwon Oh-Jin’s understanding of Pyxis Spearmanship has deepened significantly!]

[Pyxis Spearmanship has reached Lv10.]

His head throbbed in pain. It burned as if a red-hot iron had been jammed into his brain.

“

Ugh!

”

Gritting his teeth through the pain, Kwon Oh-Jin opened his eyes slightly.

So those specific situations and conditions meant this, huh?

Just as the name Deja Vu implied, the memories would flow into him if he found himself in a situation similar to what Lee Shin-Hyuk had experienced.

It’s not a trait I’ll be able to use easily.

The spear was Lee Shin-Hyuk’s main weapon, so just grasping it had triggered the trait. Recreating other memories of someone he barely knew would be far more difficult.

“Guess I’ll have to rely on random chance that those situations overlap naturally.”

He stood in the living room for a while, trying to replicate the sensations from Lee Shin-Hyuk’s memories. With a quiet sigh, he returned the spear to its knife form.

The moment he stopped moving, a crushing silence settled over the room.

The ticking of the clock echoed like thunder.

Tick, tock.

The silence he normally didn’t mind felt unbearably suffocating now.

Get a grip.

Song Ha-Eun’s death had only happened in his past life. It was a crumpled page from a fate that never came to pass. Something that had already become a non-event. He didn’t need to feel this anxious.

“

Haa, haa.

”

Cold sweat ran down his forehead. He slowly exhaled and tried to steady his trembling hands.

The left path that wasn’t chosen. The image of Song Ha-Eun dying alone there played in his mind like a relentless nightmare.

“Ha-Eun...”

He missed her. At the very least, he wanted to hear her voice. With shaking hands, he picked up his phone and dialed her number.

Ring, ring.

The ringing echoed, continuing for what felt like eternity. Song Ha-Eun didn’t answer.

“Goddamn it!”

Kwon Oh-Jin hurled the phone across the room and bit his lip in frustration.

Had something happened to her while he was away? Had she been taken by someone like when Cheon Do-Yoon kidnapped her?

“Shit!”

He prepared to dash out and head to the association when the front door opened and Song Ha-Eun stepped inside, drenched in sweat. She wiped her forehead with a towel hanging around her neck and turned to him.

“Oh? You’re back already from the baptism?”

He felt as if color had returned to the gray and lifeless world.

As she cocked her head and walked toward him, the crushing fear that had consumed his heart melted away like snow.

“Ha-Eun...” Kwon Oh-Jin walked over and pulled her into a tight hug.

“

H-Huh?

I-I just finished training, so I’m all sweaty, you know?”

He didn’t care and trembled slightly as her warmth enveloped him.

“Did something happen during the baptism or...?” Song Ha-Eun stopped mid-sentence and looked up at him. “Are you... crying?”

She saw the tears trailing down his cheeks as he held her and slowly reached out to wipe them away. He suddenly started crying, but she only smiled softly and patted his back.

“It’s okay, dummy. I’m right here.”

She felt his arms tighten around her.

“

Aww

, my poor baby. What’s gotten into you?” Song Ha-Eun teased him as if comforting a crying child.

Kwon Oh-Jin remained silent with his head lowered. He had already told her about the Black Heaven and could’ve been honest, but he didn’t want to say it.

“It’s nothing.”

Even if it was from the first timeline, he didn’t want to tell her that she had died after being abandoned by Lee Shin-Hyuk.

“I see.” Song Ha-Eun nodded as she gently caressed his trembling cheek. “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”

Truthfully, she did want to know why he was so shaken, but she had no intention of forcing him to say anything. Right now, she only wanted to comfort him and make him smile again.

But what can I do?

She could only hug him while being all sweaty. Even though they had been together for so long, or maybe because they had been together too long, she didn’t really know how to comfort him.

Wait, come to think of it. I saw something online once!

She read something about “A One-Hundred Percent Effective Way To Cheer Up Your Sulking Husband.”

Of course, they weren’t married, and he wasn’t exactly sulking.

It should still work!

Song Ha-Eun looked up at him with serious eyes. She slowly ran her hand down his back and moved closer to his face as if to kiss him.

“Oh-Jin.”

“Yeah?”

She gently moved her hand from his back and placed it lightly on his arm.

“Wanna touch my boobs?”

“Excuse me?” Kwon Oh-Jin stared at her with his jaw dropped.

His hands stopped shaking.

I knew it would work!

Song Ha-Eun nodded proudly, satisfied with the results.

***

After taking great care to comfort Kwon Oh-Jin, Song Ha-Eun playfully poked his cheek as he lay asleep on the bed.

“

Hehe

, cute little punk.”

Most of the time, she didn’t really feel like the older one between them. Today, she felt like she’d taken the lead for once, and it filled her with a deep sense of satisfaction.

Kwon Oh-Jin turned to his side and called her name. “Ha-Eun.”

“

Hmm?

” Startled, Song Ha-Eun quickly pulled her hand back, thinking she had woken him up.

Luckily, he seemed to just be sleep-talking as his eyes remained closed.

“

Phew

.” Sighing in relief, she quietly looked at him lying next to her.

Was he having a nightmare? Cold sweat trickled down his face as he curled up like a shrimp.

“

Ugh, ugh.

”

With a concerned expression, she scooted closer to him.

“Ha-Eun...”

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m right here.”

She gently patted his shoulder as he slept.

“Don’t...”

“

Huh?

”

“Don’t die...”

Song Ha-Eun’s expression froze. What on earth had made him this anxious?

Didn’t he say before that Lee Shin-Hyuk’s memories could be transferred to him?

Had something bad happened to her in those memories?

“This brat, getting worked up over nothing.”

Song Ha-Eun chuckled softly and lay down beside him. She gently wrapped her arms around his trembling, curled-up back. So what if she had died in the past? Right now, she was alive and well right beside him.

And I always will be.

She tightened her embrace. Back when she thought he was just saving up money to go to Paradise, she figured that they could live apart if they had to. Things were different now.

I’m not letting you go anymore.

She would do anything to stay by his side and give him whatever he wanted or needed.

“Oh-Jin...” She hugged him even tighter.

His warmth seeped into her, and with that comfort came a ticklish sense of desire.

“

Ahem

.” She cleared her throat awkwardly as the sudden desire within her unexpectedly rose. “You’re asleep... right?”

She gave his cheek a gentle poke. At this point, he wouldn’t wake up easily.

“

Hehe

.” The corners of her lips rose into a mischievous grin.

She slowly reached toward Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Ha-Eun?” Kwon Oh-Jin groggily opened his eyes and turned toward her.

Song Ha-Eun visibly panicked. “

O-Oh?

Y-you’re awake?!”

He squinted as his eyes drifted toward the rather questionable position of her hand. “Why are you so flustered?

She frantically pulled her hand back and fumbled for words. “Well,

um

, you see!”

“Were you trying to do something weird while I was asleep?”

She shot up from the bed. “It’s not like that!

Ahem!

I mean, I let you touch me earlier!”

“What?”

What the hell is this woman talking about all of a sudden?

“I-I figured it’d be fine if I touched yours too since we both have two of them anyway!”

We both have two? What?

“I’ll be gentle!”

“Shut up.”

“I won’t pop them or anything!”

“Shut up, please.”