Chapter 354: Interlude - A Three Way

The living room had been expanded through renovations.

“So...” Sitting on the couch, Song Ha-Eun narrowed her eyes as she glanced from Kwon Oh-Jin to Vega.

Call it a woman’s intuition, but she could tell something had changed between the two of them.

Song Ha-Eun deeply sighed. “

Haaa

. First it was Isabella, and now it's Vega?”

“That’s....” Kwon Oh-Jin trailed off and avoided Song Ha-Eun’s gaze.

She narrowed her eyes sharply at him and twisted her lips into a crooked smirk. “You snuck off to the Sanctum all alone and came back as a pair?”

He could only remain silent.

“At this rate, you’ll go in two and come out three!”

“

Ahem.

”

Just like with Isabella, he couldn’t make a single excuse. Like a criminal awaiting judgment, he lowered his head solemnly in silence.

Vega, acting as his defense attorney, suddenly raised her hand in protest. “I-It wasn’t my child’s fault!”

“

Oh?

It wasn’t his fault?”

“I was the one who confessed first.”

“Is that so?”

“I knew he was dating you, but I just couldn’t hold back. So, that is my fault.” Vega swallowed hard and shrank back timidly.

Song Ha-Eun groaned and slumped back on the couch, rubbing her forehead as if she had a headache. “Yeah, I figured this might happen. I saw it coming.”

When Kwon Oh-Jin said he was heading to the Sanctum to apologize, she had a hunch that there would be a new addition to his list of lovers. However, knowing something and accepting it in one’s heart were two very different things.

“Still... it pisses me off,” Song Ha-Eun said.

Kwon Oh-Jin bowed again like a guilty man turning himself in. “I’ll take whatever punishment you give me.”

“N-No! If there must be punishment, I’ll take it in his place!” Vega shouted.

“Alright, our lovely masochist goddess, let me talk to Oh-Jin first.”

Vega cocked her head in confusion at Kwon Oh-Jin. “Masochist? What does that mean?”

He leaned in and whispered the meaning in her ear.

Like a rabbit accidentally touching fire, Vega sprang up in alarm. “H-How could you say such a thing! I’m not that kind of shameless woman!”

“

Oh,

really?” Smirking, Song Ha-Eun crept up behind her.

“W-What are you trying to do?”

“

Shhh

. Just stay still for a sec.”

Vega, in her true form, stood there in a dress.

Like a mischievous boy teasing a girl he liked, Song Ha-Eun grabbed the hem of Vega’s dress and flipped it up. The fabric flew up, exposing the goddess’s milky-white and tempting round butt.

Vega shrieked unlike anything they’d heard before, “

Kyaaah!

W-W-W-What do you think you’re doing?!”

Her face burned red in embarrassment as she fumbled for words.

Song Ha-Eun glanced at her red, puffy butt and smirked knowingly. “Looks like you two had quite a time before showing up here.”

“T-That’s not true!” Vega protested.

“

Oh,

really? Then what’s this cute little red handprint on your butt,

huh?

”

“H-How dare you!”

“You want to talk about daring? Says the person that locked themselves up in their room like a sulking brat, only to stick their butt out for a spanking the moment you guys make up.”

Vega became speechless.

Song Ha-Eun had utterly destroyed her with facts. At this point, it would have been better to get hit with a blunt weapon than to experience this humiliation.

Completely out of it, Vega collapsed to the floor with vacant eyes. “I-I didn’t mean... I-I was trying to...”

“Vega,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“

Hic...

What did I do so wrong...?”

“Vega!”

She didn’t respond as if she were a corpse.

Kwon Oh-Jin gave Song Ha-Eun a scolding look. “Ha-Eun...”

Song Ha-Eun scratched her head awkwardly with a sheepish smile. “

Ah

, s-sorry. Guess I went too far.”

Teasing Vega was so amusing that she had gone overboard without realizing it. Song Ha-Eun walked over to where Vega curled up on the floor, hugging her knees.

“Anyway, take good care of Oh-Jin.”

“T-That means... you’re accepting me?” The emptiness in Vega’s eyes sparkled with golden starlight.

Song Ha-Eun deeply sighed again and nodded. “I said from the beginning that I’d respect Oh-Jin’s choices. So yeah, I’m accepting it.”

At least he hadn’t brought home some rando out of nowhere. Vega had been around from the start. In a way, it was a relief. Honestly, Song Ha-Eun couldn’t just let this slide like the easiest thing in the world.

“His thing needs to be cut off, seriously,” Song Ha-Eun chillingly muttered and roughly pinched Kwon Oh-Jin’s side.

“What...?”

It felt like his skin would get torn off, but he took it without complaint since he had done something wrong after all.

Just then, the front door opened, and a woman stepped into the house. She looked so stunning that, for a moment, it felt like the whole room lit up. Isabella neatly arranged her shoes before fully stepping inside.

“I’m home.” Her announcement sounded warm and breezy like the spring wind.

She cocked her head when she noticed Vega.

“

Hm?

Oh my, did you two make up?” Isabella asked.

“Make up? They were practically all over each other, so in love,” Song Ha-Eun said.

“What are you talking about, unnie...?” Isabella’s gaze chilled as she glanced between Kwon Oh-Jin and Vega.

Song Ha-Eun clicked her tongue and held up three fingers. “That makes three of us now.”

“Ah...” Isabelled sighed quietly.

“

Umm...

I-I’m sorry,” Vega apologized.

“Oh, there’s nothing to apologize to me for.” Isabelled smiled brightly as she shook her head. “It’s not really something I like to admit, but I’m not all that different from you too, Lady Vega.”

Even though Isabella knew that Kwon Oh-Jin and Song Ha-Eun were together, she had still inserted herself between them. That made her just as guilty.

“I-I see. Well, thank you for saying—”

“But,” Isabella cut Vega off. Though her lips were smiling, her eyes contained absolutely no warmth. “I do think that there needs to be a clear order even in situations like this.”

“Order...?”

“A hierarchy, to put it simply.”

“Hierarchy? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked in disbelief.

Just as he tried to interject, Isabella instantly shut him down. “You stay out of this, Mr. Oh-Jin. Without a doubt, first place goes to Ha-Eun unnie since she met Mr. Oh-Jin first, and they were the original couple.”

“W-Well, I suppose that’s true.” Song Ha-Eun puffed out her chest unnecessarily. She looked like a figurehead emperor with no real power.

Isabella gently clung to Kwon Oh-Jin’s arm and raised two fingers. “And I’m second.”

“I guess if we’re going by order of becoming his lover, that makes sense.” Vega nodded as if the hierarchy didn’t really concern her.

“So that means...” Isabella trailed off and mischievously grinned as she pressed herself against Kwon Oh-Jin’s arm. “There’s no more room left on the sides of Mr. Oh-Jin.”

With Song Ha-Eun on the other side, that really left no other space beside him.

Vega narrowed her eyes at Isabella, who clung to him like a dog marking its territory. “

Hmm

. So, that’s what this was all about?”

She suddenly glowed and, in a flash, transformed into her small, palm-sized form.

Woong!

“Then I’ll just take this spot.” Vega fluttered up and landed softly on his shoulder.

A seat only she could claim, where she could pull on his earlobe or caress his cheek whenever she pleased.

“

Hmm

, I guess that works too.” Isabella bit her lip as if she’d lost.

Not wanting to let things end like that, she pondered for a moment.

Then, with a spark in her eye, she snapped her fingers. “And from now on, Lady Vega, you have to call us unnie.”

Vega’s face stiffened. “What...?”

A North Star Celestial had to call someone else unnie? That sounded more absurd than the Minister of National Defense calling a fresh recruit hyung[1].

“

Ooh

, yeah. Say it! Just once, call us unnie,” Song Ha-Eun said.

“W-Why are you doing this too?”

Song Ha-Eun’s eyes sparkled with glee as she playfully poked Vega’s side.

Seeing the two women joyfully tease Vega made Kwon Oh-Jin feel like he was watching senior soldiers haze a new recruit.

“M-My child.”

“

Ahem

. Well... It’s not really my place to interfere.”

Honestly, he also wanted to hear Vega call them unnie.

“

Ugh

.” Vega bit her lip with a frown before cautiously opening her mouth and taking a few deep breaths. “Please take good care of me... u-unnie.”

“

Pfft!

”

“

Puhaha!

”

Song Ha-Eun and Isabella clamped their hands over their mouths and squirmed as if bugs had crawled down their shirts. The two burst into high-pitched laughter, teasing Vega without mercy.

“

Kyahahaha!

She really said it! Did you hear that?!” Song Ha-Eun said.

“

Ahahaha!

That was even worse than I imagined!” Isabella added.

“T-That's why I said I didn’t want to do it!” Vega shouted, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Isabella wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and gently patted Vega on the shoulder. “

Aww...

I’m sorry, Lady Vega. I honestly didn’t think it would be that bad.”

“

Ugh

, I’ve got goosebumps from hearing her say that,” Song Ha-Eun teased.

Though they tried to console her afterward, Vega’s pride as a Celestial had already crumbled beyond repair.

“How dare you all mock me like this?!” She put on a stern expression and shifted back into her true form. “Even if I’ve been gracious enough to treat you casually, I am still a Celestial!” Unable to hold it in any longer, she launched into a fiery rant. “A Celestial is a divine being born from the Titan—”

As her lecture dragged on, Song Ha-Eun and Isabella looked at each other like they had just stepped on a landmine.

“M-Mr. Oh-Jin?”

“Where the hell did he disappear to?”

They desperately looked for Kwon Oh-Jin, only to find that he had vanished like smoke.

“Where do you think you’re looking! Eyes up here! I’m explaining the divine origin and history of Celestials!”

Now trapped by Vega’s lecture, the two women wearily sighed.

Still hiding in the Black Curtain after quietly slipping away the moment Vega began her rant, Kwon Oh-Jin watched his three lovers with a faint smile.

Just then, the image of the Heavenly Demon, staring at him with eyes full of hatred, flashed through his mind.

“How dare a guy who couldn’t even protect one person act greedy?”

Kwon Oh-Jin dryly chuckled with a bitter expression.

Maybe you’re right. Maybe this is just me being greedy for something I don’t deserve.

Still, what if he were a little selfish? What if he were a bit greedy?

Unlike you, I’m not giving up. No matter what.

Etching that unshakable vow deep into his heart, he stepped forward toward the three women—No, his three lovers.

1. A term used by males to address or refer to an older male whether he's an older brother, a close friend, or someone older in a professional setting. ☜