Chapter 297: Sky Mountains (3)

“Then, I shall take my leave.”

After parting with Kwon Oh-Jin, Vega returned to her Sanctum.

Back in her familiar temple, she gently patted Riarc’s head. “You must still be sorting out your thoughts. Go get some rest.”

“Yes, Lady Vega.” Riarc bowed and returned to his quarters.

The temple was quiet now with Vega alone. Perhaps it was because she'd just been chatting noisily with Kwon Oh-Jin moments earlier, a strange sense of loneliness filled her chest.

“In the past, I could spend years alone without a care...”

And yet here she was, already feeling this way only minutes after returning. Vega made a self-deprecating smile and stared blankly at the temple wall. How much time had passed like that?

“He should be asleep by now.”

Suddenly, she felt the urge to see Kwon Oh-Jin’s face while he was asleep. She glanced around the empty temple as if making sure no one was watching. Then, she cleared her throat and focused.

Vega began shimmering in a silver light and dispersed like mist. In her materialized form, she could see Kwon Oh-Jin immersed in absolute concentration with his eyes closed.

“I’m fighting Kalike right now,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

Vega flinched since she had assumed he would be asleep. Without realizing it, she instinctively flew behind a nearby tree and hid herself. Luckily, he was too focused to notice that she had appeared.

Kwon Oh-Jin deeply exhaled and stomped the ground as he thrust his spear into the air. He blocked invisible attacks, was struck, and even tumbled across the ground as if engaged in a real battle.

To an outsider, it looked like some bizarre performance. They would’ve laughed at him, but Vega knew that Kwon Oh-Jin was engaged in a real fight.

“My child...”

He had reached the extremes of image training. No, did it still make sense to call this mere training?

Groaning in pain, fresh wounds formed across Kwon Oh-Jin.

“

Guh! Kuh!

”

His clothes didn’t tear, nor did blood gush out. However, the wounded areas turned dark and began to necrotize.

He felt pain as he sustained injuries. The only thing off the table was death. This was the truth behind the training Kwon Oh-Jin repeated alone every single night without a break while everyone else slept.

“You haven't even fully healed, so how can you...”

Vega clenched her fists with an anxious expression. She wanted to run out and stop him, scold him for not resting, but how could she?

“

Haa! Haa!

Why am I going this far, you ask?” Kwon Oh-Jin addressed someone invisible. With a savage grin, he gripped his spear tighter. “Because if I don’t do this, I won’t be able to protect anything.”

Another crash resounded. In the fierce exchange against his imagined opponent, he suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed to his knees.

“

Guh! Cough! Ughhh!

”

He vomited and twisted in pain. Convulsing on the ground like someone in an epileptic fit, he finally staggered back to his feet.

“Damn... That bastard’s insanely strong. Having the blessing or not makes a huge difference.”

Taking a potion from his bag, Kwon Oh-Jin drank it and resumed meditating with his eyes shut, replaying the fight in his mind.

“Alright, this time I’ll try fighting while maintaining distance.”

Despite vomiting and writhing in agony just moments before, he summoned the image of his opponent again as if nothing had happened.

How many times had he done this to remain so calm? How accustomed had he become to show no reactions? While she had spent her time idly guarding the temple, what had he been enduring?

My child.

Her chest throbbed like a nail had been driven into it. After silently watching Kwon Oh-Jin from behind the tree, Vega returned to the Sanctum.

“I didn’t know it could be this painful to not be able to do anything for him.”

If she could, she would have given him a portion of her power. However, a Celestial could only plant the seed of a Stigma in the Awakener. The Awakeners themselves had to nurture and grow that seed. A Celestial could not interfere.

“

Haaa

.” With a heavy sigh, Vega stepped out of the temple.

She didn’t have anything to do in particular, but just needed to take a walk to sort through the storm of emotions that Kwon Oh-Jin stirred up.

Vega slowly walked along the path that stretched out like the Milky Way. Here and there, she saw other Celestials wandering about. Most Celestials preferred to hole up inside their temples without moving, but that didn’t mean they never went outside.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Even Celestials had emotions, and emotional beings inevitably looked for someone to share those feelings with. Some even preferred roaming the Sanctum rather than sitting in their temples all day.

“Vega unnie?” the Celestial of Virgo called out, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps like an excited cow charging over. “No way, unnie actually left her temple?! Will a black hole swallow the Sanctum tomorrow or something?!”

Spica, who radiated the freshness of spring’s first sprouts, dramatically flailed at the sheer disbelief that Vega had ventured outside.

“I-I just wanted some fresh air. That’s all.”

“

Hehe

, you did?”

Someone who rarely showed up even at large festivals with many Celestials now suddenly came out to enjoy the breeze?

Spica narrowed her eyes and scanned Vega from top to bottom, clearly suspicious. As the Celestial of Virgo who represented purity and love, she instinctively caught the faint pink aura of emotion that Vega subconsciously gave off.

“Is this about that kid?” Spica asked.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, it is! I did hear rumors that you’ve been traveling through the Demonic District with him lately!” Spica clapped and burst into peals of laughter.

Vega’s face immediately scrunched into a scowl. “I don’t know where you heard such nonsense, but it’s not like we’re enjoying a relaxing trip together.”

“But you are with him, aren’t you?”

“T-That’s true, but—”

“

Aaa!

So even the star of Vega, once shining so nobly, has fallen into the hands of a human!” Spica dramatically wiped away imaginary tears as if performing in a musical.

Vega shouted back as her face flushed red, “D-Don’t be ridiculous! How could a Celestial possibly form a bond like that with her own child?!”

“Huh? Why not? I have a darling of my own, you know?”

“W-What?!”

Vega had heard some vague story about fated partners before, but hadn’t realized that Spica and her darling were close enough to use such affectionate nicknames.

“A lot of Celestials besides me have ended up with their apostles. Even more since the restrictions of the law have weakened.”

“How could a Celestial lay hands on their own child...?!”

“It’s not like the law specifically forbids being with humans, right? Besides, didn’t you say you had a special connection with that boy in your past life?”

“T-That’s...” Vega trailed off and bit her lip, averting her gaze. “That might’ve... just been my misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

She had heard it from Kwon Oh-Jin himself. In their past life, the two of them shared a relationship that was more than ordinary between a Celestial and an Awakener. That much was certain.

“A special relationship doesn’t necessarily mean a romantic one, does it?”

Kwon Oh-Jin had only said that they were close and nothing about what kind of relationship they had.

“Even if we were lovers back then, it was just a past life, wasn’t it?” Vega shook her head with a bitter smile.

Spica’s eyes narrowed. “Then, how do you feel now, unnie?”

“What do you mean, how do I feel?”

“Forget the past lives and everything else. How do you feel about him right now?”

Vega averted her eyes with complicated emotions. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“When I think of him, sometimes my heart swells with pride. Other times, I worry about him so much it feels like there’s a nail in my chest. I want to protect him, keep him safe, but sometimes, I want to rely on him too.”

Her life stretched all the way back through time, so far that she couldn’t even remember when she’d first come into existence. For most of that time, she had shut herself away in her temple and faithfully fulfilled her duties as a Celestial.

She had lived a life that resembled a machine. Back then, her life was gray like a black-and-white film. Then, she met him.

Kwon Oh-Jin had caused a ripple in her still, lifeless lake of a world. What started as a mere breeze turned into a storm and then a raging typhoon in her heart.

“I don’t even know what that child means to me anymore.”

It felt far too unfamiliar. To her, an emotional novice barely taking her first steps, she couldn’t understand her own heart at all.

Spica lightly gasped. “

Whoa

.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just... even I’m getting secondhand embarrassment from this. That was a lot.” Spica shook her head as if to say, “I can’t listen to this anymore.”

She hadn’t expected Vega to be so serious. That had practically been a tear-jerking love confession.

“Well, anyway! Now that things are like this, I simply must take action as the goddess of purity and love!” Spica’s eyes sparkled like stars, and she stepped closer to Vega.

“W-What are you planning to do?”

“I’m not the one who needs to do anything. It’s you!”

Spica would simply give advice and nothing more.

“Let’s figure out how you should confess together!”

“C-Confess?! What nonsense are you spouting?!” Vega vigorously shook her head, her face flushing red.

Spica smacked her chest in frustration. “Come on! If you want to do anything, you’ve got to confess first! Or just sneak into his bed while he’s asleep and make it a done deal!”

The so-called goddess of purity possessed a rather shockingly radical mindset.

“O-Oh-Jin is nothing more than a precious child to me.”

“

Hmph

. Now you say that? But earlier you said you weren’t sure.”

“And also...” Vega lowered her head and looked discouraged. “That child already has a lover named Ha-Eun.”

“

Eh?

” Spica’s eyes widened.

She hadn’t even considered the possibility that Vega would fall for someone who was already taken.

“Wait, what?! You mean you’ve been eyeing a taken man this whole time?”

“I-I’m not eyeing him! I told you it’s not like that!”

“Oh, this just got really interesting.” Spica’s lips curled into a mischievous grin. “Don’t worry, unnie! Having a goalkeeper doesn’t mean you can’t score a goal! I don’t know who this Ha-Eun girl is, but she probably doesn’t stand a chance against you.”

This was Vega, after all. Among the hundreds of Celestials, she was one of the top three North Star Celestials. No one could come close to her in terms of power and beauty.

“A-And also...”

“

Hm?

What now?”

“It seems he recently gained another lover named Isabella.”

“What...?”

There are two goalkeepers?