Chapter 352: Starlight (4)

“Vega.” Kwon Oh-Jin’s low voice echoed through the empty temple.

The silver-haired goddess stood with her back turned as if she couldn’t hear Kwon Oh-Jin.

He took one step toward her.

“Stop right there.”

A silver light brilliantly flared.

Woong!

Kwon Oh-Jin froze in place as if he had hit an invisible wall.

Sacred Ground.

He carefully pressed his hand against the invisible barrier blocking his path. The moment his palm touched it, a powerful recoil flowed through him, sharp enough that it felt like his hands would tear open.

Zzt, crackle!

Not sparing him so much as a glance, Vega said emotionlessly, “Take even one more step and you'll be seriously hurt...”

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, Kwon Oh-Jin took a full step toward the Sacred Ground she had created.

“

Hup

.”

Blue lightning crashed straight into him.

Zap!

“

Kugh!

”

Like throwing himself onto a high-voltage fence, electric torrents ravaged him. Already tattered from his battle against Riarc, Kwon Oh-Jin flew back. The agonizing pain tore open his still-healing wounds, and blood soaked through his clothes.

“M-My child!” Vega shouted. She quickly turned around and rushed toward him, but soon bit her lip and turned back around. “I-I told you you'd get hurt if you came any closer!” she scolded him.

Kwon Oh-Jin staggered to his feet and took another step forward toward Vega’s Sacred Ground.

Crackle!

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

As soon as he touched the barrier again, he flew back violently from its force.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

He pushed himself back up and pressed his hand against his trembling leg to steady himself. “Vega...”

He could have used the Black Heaven to partially resist her Sacred Ground, but he chose not to. Instead, he took another step toward her and endured the pain.

Crackle!

Blue lightning flared as he rolled across the floor again.

“Why...?” Vega bit her lip as she looked down at him, crumpled and ragged on the ground.

His bloodied figure etched itself into her mind, refusing to leave.

“Why... why won’t you listen to me?!” She clenched her fists as she stared at him with teary eyes. “I told you not to come!”

It hurt. Every word she said throbbed in her chest like a blade stabbing through her heart.

“What more could you say to change the situation!” she shouted like a wounded animal. “You deceived me from the very beginning!”

From the moment they first met at the gate, Kwon Oh-Jin had lied to her. He had worn a mask and hidden his identity as the Black Heaven’s master. The man she had come to care for, the one who had stirred her heart with such sorrow and longing, was nothing but a masked illusion.

“I have nothing more to say to you!”

The betrayal tore at her heart. Every memory she shared with him flashed through her mind like a panorama. His trembling hand that gently touched her cheek the first time they met, whispering how much he had missed her. He had regretted not being able to save the future and vowed to save the world this time. With every memory, the thought that none of it was real made her feel like going mad.

“I...” Vega trailed off and bit her lip, unable to finish her sentence.

Without saying a word or making any excuses, Kwon Oh-Jin walked toward her again in silence.

Vega’s face twisted with fury as she reached out toward him. A wave of blue lightning surged toward him, one far more powerful than anything she had ever used in the Demonic District.

Crackle!

The Weaver’s lightning, no longer limited by the restrictions of the Law, roared forward to devour Kwon Oh-Jin.

Boom!

Kwon Oh-Jin didn’t even try to defend himself and took it head-on. He flew violently across the room and slammed into the temple wall.

The sharp stench of burning flesh filled the air. His skin twisted grotesquely as the lightning seared through him. Even his internal organs began to cook from the inside.

“

Ah...

” Vega’s face turned pale as a ghost as she stumbled toward where he had fallen. “W-Why didn’t you block it?!”

The attack could have easily killed him. He knew, so why...?

Kwon Oh-Jin didn’t answer. Instead, he used his spear like a cane and forced himself to his feet.

“

Kugh!

” He coughed out blackish blood with charred bits of his innards also spilling out across the floor.

Ah. I might actually die from this.

Vega wasn’t called the North Star for nothing. Freed from her restraints, her powers were nothing short of amazing.

Still.

He took another step toward her, but the Sacred Ground’s barrier flung him back again, causing him to tumble across the ground.

“

Agh

.” He didn’t even have the strength to get up anymore.

With trembling hands, he raised his arm and fired his wire shooter at the ceiling.

Bang!

Like a puppet on a string, he slowly pulled himself upright.

Vega stumbled back. “S-Stop.”

Kwon Oh-Jin clung to fading consciousness and took another step toward her. With each sway of the wire, his battered self moved closer to the Sanctum to be repelled again.

“Stop! Stop it already!” Vega desperately screamed. “You said you had something to tell me, didn’t you? Then say it! Let’s hear it!”

What did he want to say so badly to push himself this far? Vega’s eyes burned as she glared at him.

Kwon Oh-Jin slowly raised his head.

His lips, soaked in blood, trembled as he forced out the words. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled faintly, on the verge of collapsing, and took another step toward her.

“I’m sorry for lying... all this time.”

He knew an apology wouldn’t fix anything and didn’t expect her to forgive him. Still, he wanted to say it. No, he had to say it.

Vega stared at him, utterly stunned. “T-That’s it? After all this, all you have to say is sorry?”

His body had become a mess, ripped apart by claws and burned to a crisp by lightning. He could die from these fatal wounds at any moment, and yet he only wanted to say sorry after going through all that.

“Yeah.” Kwon Oh-Jin nodded with a faint look of relief as if he had nothing more to say.

“You...” Vega’s delicate brows twisted in anger, and she raised her arm. “You stupid fool!”

Smack!

She slapped him across the face and grabbed him roughly by the collar. “There had to be a reason you lied to me!”

He could only remain silent.

“At least say something! Tell me it wasn’t your choice! Tell me you had no other option!” She trembled as a single tear traced down her cheek. “Why... why won’t you say anything?”

Her grip loosened around his collar as she collapsed to her knees and sobbed.

“

Hic, sob.

”

When she first realized that he had deceived her and that everything she knew about him had been a lie, the feeling of betrayal cut so deep that she swore she would never see him again.

“That’s why I shut the temple doors...”

Like her life before she met him, she would spend her days alone in the temple without seeing or speaking to anyone.

“I thought that would be okay, but...”

She would merely return to the life she had a few years ago. If she told herself that meeting Kwon Oh-Jin had been a lie, that it was all an illusion like he said, surely a solitary life would be more familiar to her.

“But... I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s face had been etched into her mind and wouldn’t disappear no matter how hard she tried. If anything, it only grew clearer with time.

“So, when you came to me... I opened the door before I knew it.” Vega trembled slightly and smiled bitterly.

When she realized he had arrived at the front of the temple to see her, when he gently knocked on the door, she opened it despite Riarc’s request to keep it closed under any circumstances.

“

Haa

. What a foolish woman I am. Even after all that, I still couldn’t let you go.” Vega smiled faintly and grabbed his hand.

She had promised never to see or speak to him again, but she knew that was impossible from the beginning. By now, Kwon Oh-Jin had become a thorn buried in her life. Something that couldn’t be removed.

“Please... say something.” She clasped his hands between hers, pleading.

Why had he lied to her all this time? Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter.

“Just say that you had no choice...”

Kwon Oh-Jin shook his head. “No.”

Maybe in the beginning, when he knew nothing about Vega, that was true. Later was a different story.

“I did have a choice.”

He had plenty of chances to tell her. Vega would have believed him whether he was the Black Heaven’s master or not. He hadn’t said anything until now simply because he was a coward.

Vega’s expression hardened, and she bitterly turned away. “You’re just as foolish as I am.”

Hadn’t she already admitted to opening the temple doors herself?

“Even if you said you had no choice, I would have believed you—”

“No.” He placed his hand gently on her shoulder. “I won’t lie anymore.”

He hadn’t come here to make excuses.

“You said you couldn’t give up, right?” He reached out and gently lifted Vega’s chin as she turned away from him. “I feel the same.”

With that, he pulled her in and pressed his lips softly against hers.