Chapter 360: Three Part Vacation (6)

Spica’s mouth hung open like a goldfish, opening and closing in shock. “What the hell...?”

It didn’t last long.

Soon, she shot Kwon Oh-Jin a razor-sharp glare. “I didn’t think you were that type of person, but how disappointing!"

As the goddess of Virgo, the symbol of pure love, Spica didn’t bother hiding her distaste.

However, even standing before Spica, the shameless Kwon Oh-Jin replied calmly, “I decided after thinking it over very carefully.”

“Oh, so it’s suddenly not a crime if you thought it over before deciding? That makes it worse! It’s premeditated!”

“Love isn’t a crime,” he replied.

Wait a minute...

Wasn’t this the same garbage line he once heard from some scumbag male lead in a drama?

“Having three lovers is a crime, you jerk! What kind of pathetic excuse is that?!”

Well, fair enough, he’d probably think the same thing if his lover cheated on him and tried to say, “Falling in love isn’t a crime.”

“You were the one who suggested that Vega sneak into my tent wearing that outfit even though you already knew I had two lovers,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“

Ah

.”

In truth, Spica had been the one egging Vega on from behind the scenes. For her to start preaching about how three-timing was a crime felt more than a little hypocritical.

He looked at Celestials walking around the Starlight Plaza. “And besides, just looking around here, it doesn’t seem like people here are limiting themselves to one lover either.”

Some walked in pairs, but many men also walked around with several women, or one woman with several men.

In their case, it’s probably just one Celestial with multiple Awakeners clinging to them.

Like he had said before, Celestials possessed traits that made them arguably the most desirable partners imaginable. They were so far above the typical alpha male or alpha female that those labels weren’t even in the same league.

Why would Celestials like that tie themselves down to just one lover? No laws or social norms among Celestials demanded monogamy.

“T-That’s because they’re Celestials,” Spica stuttered.

“So it’s fine for Celestials, but not for humans?”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“That’s exactly what you’re saying. It’s fine for a Celestial to have multiple lovers, but a lowly human like me has no right to three-time, is that it?”

“T-That’s...”

“That’s discrimination. Speciesism against humans!”

You fucking racist!

Being gaslighted by Kwon Oh-Jin, Spica turned to Vega as if he were being unfair.

“

Ugh

. U-Unnie, you’re okay with this? He has three lovers! Three!”

On top of that, Vega, a North Star Celestial, wasn’t even first or second. She was third. In medieval society terms, it was akin to an empress marrying in as the mistress of a rural noble.

“I’m grateful, actually. He accepted my feelings even though I knew it was a difficult thing for him to do.”

When the so-called empress herself expressed her gratitude, Spica could only stare at her in disbelief.

“

Haha

. Do not make such a face. This is what I wanted, and the other two girls are both kind and admirable,” Vega said with a radiant smile.

She looked so happy that even Spica, who had known her for centuries, had never seen her like this.

“Well... I guess that’s all that matters as long as you’re happy.”

If the people involved felt fine with it, then Spica could say nothing more.

She let out a long sigh and brightened up again. “So, where are you going? From the way you were headed earlier, it didn’t look like you two were headed toward the Starlight Plaza.”

“That’s...”

“If you go that way... the grave? Don’t tell me you’re going to the Grave of Stars?” Spica’s eyes widened at Vega.

Vega looked momentarily flustered, glanced at Kwon Oh-Jin, and nodded with a sigh. “You’re correct.”

“No one goes there, so why would you...?”

“D-Don’t worry about it.” Flustered, Vega quickly turned away and tugged Kwon Oh-Jin’s arm. “Let’s go.”

“

Oooh

, what’s the big secret? Tell me too!” Spica begged.

“Do you wish to be struck by my lightning again?”

“

Eek!

N-No, I’ll pass!” Spica turned pale white.

Vega walked forward decisively, and Kwon Oh-Jin followed behind after bowing politely to Spica.

“What’s the Grave of Stars?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

“Just... follow me, and you will see for yourself.”

He had no idea why she was being so mysterious about it.

I’ll find out soon enough.

Kwon Oh-Jin followed her toward the so-called Grave of Stars.

The Grave of Stars was quite far from the Starlight Plaza. If they had just walked leisurely, it would’ve taken far too long. Halfway there, Vega ended up summoning a sphere made of lightning for them to ride on.

“This is...”

The starlight that filled the Sanctum began to fade, and the surroundings gradually grew darker. In the far distance, a massive black rift loomed, swallowing the surrounding starlight like a black hole.

“That is the Grave of Stars.”

With a light snap of her fingers, the lightning sphere they had ridden disappeared.

“Follow me,” she said.

Carefully holding Kwon Oh-Jin’s hand, Vega led him toward the black rift. Once they crossed the rift, countless stars lit up the dark space.

“

Whoa

...”

It felt as though they had stepped into an area filled with the autumn night sky.

Kwon Oh-Jin instinctively reached out and brushed his hand through the star-filled void. Although it seemed like nothing was there, he felt something soft.

Rumble.

“What’s this...?”

“It’s the Black Heaven.”

“What?”

The Black Heaven?

Did he hear her wrong? His eyes widened at Vega.

“To be precise, it would be better to call it remnants of the Black Heaven.”

“Remnants of the Black Heaven?”

“Remember when I told you, in the past, the Black Heaven had once devoured all the Celestials?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I remember.”

In the distant past, before Vega and the current Celestials were even born, different Celestials called Ancient Constellations had once existed.

And the Black Heaven had devoured all of them.

After the Black Heaven devoured all the stars, the newly born ones were known as today’s Celestials.

“This is what the Black Heaven left behind after devouring the stars.”

“

Oh...

”

That’s why it’s called the Grave of Stars.

“This is the very Black Heaven that once destroyed the world?” he asked.

Kwon Oh-Jin reached out and touched the black clouds that filled the space. He tried absorbing some of it using his own Black Heaven.

There’s no energy left in it at all.

It was nothing but an empty shell now. Not even a trace of power from the Black Heaven of the past remained.

“In truth, the exact events of the past are unknown,” Vega said.

Why was the Black Heaven born, or why had it devoured the Celestials? Countless theories existed, but nothing had ever been proven.

“Well... someone has to survive to leave behind a record in the first place.”

Clicking his tongue lightly, he gazed around at the corpses of stars filling the grave.

“Still, among the possible theories, there’s one I’ve heard.”

“What kind of theory?”

Vega looked quietly over the Grave of Stars. “Perhaps the Black Heaven exists for the birth and death of stars.”

Here, stars likely referred to the Celestials created by the Titans, the creator, not the actual stars in the universe.

“What do you mean?”

“The Black Heaven may have destroyed the Celestials of the past, but it also gave birth to the Celestials of today.”

“Wait, then...”

Vega nodded. “I, along with all the other Celestials, was born here in this Grave of Stars.”

The death and birth of Celestials were both tied to the Black Heaven.

“Didn’t you once say the Titans created the Celestials?” he asked.

The Titans were the primordial giants said to have created this world. In gaming terms, they were like the developer, and the Celestials were the administrators running the game.

“What they created were not the Celestials of today, but the Ancient Constellations.”

That means the Black Heaven is like a reset button.

It was like the great flood in the Bible, destroying the world once for it to be born again.

“

Hmm

. You don’t look surprised at all,” Vega said.

“It’s just that this scale is so big that it doesn’t feel real.” Kwon Oh-Jin bitterly smiled and shook his head.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Even after hearing that the power inside him could destroy and rebirth the world, he couldn’t even react properly due to the absurdly huge scope of it.

“

Haha

. In truth, I feel the same way.”

Even to Vega, a North Star Celestial herself, it felt like a story far beyond her grasp.

“In any case, what I just said is only baseless speculation.” Vega chuckled and shook her head. “Still, the reason I told you this is because...”

She approached him slowly and stroked his cheek with a gentle expression.

“I wanted to let you know that the Black Heaven you possess is not necessarily an ominous thing that only destroys and brings ruin.”

“Vega...”

“Lately, I’ve begun to wonder.”

“About what?”

Her hand slid from his cheek to rest over the left side of his chest.

“If you might actually be the real Heaven-Defying Star.”

“The Heaven-Defying Star isn’t me, it’s—”

“Who says the Heaven-Defying Star must be a Regressor?”

According to prophecy, the Heaven-Defying Star would be a savior who traveled back in time to rewrite the world’s fate. Kwon Oh-Jin had not traveled through time himself, but hadn’t he absorbed Lee Shin-Hyuk’s Stigma, who had gone back in time, and changed fate?

“Unlike the Heavenly Demon’s Black Heaven, your Black Heaven may not have been created for destruction, but for birth. That is what I believe.”

With a faint smile, Vega took in the countless stars floating in the black void.

The beautiful sight of the silver-haired goddess gazing up at the starlight momentarily took Kwon Oh-Jin’s breath away. He couldn’t help but stare at her in a daze.

“You brought me here just to tell me this?” he asked.

Vega nodded with a smile as warm as the spring sunlight. “That’s right.”

Though this date was supposed to be for her, the thought that she only thought of him made his heart beat faster.

“Ah, a-and one more thing,” Vega hesitated. “I wanted to tell you about a myth passed down in this place.”

“A myth?”

“Well, it’s more of a legend among the Celestials. No, perhaps it’s closer to a superstition.”

A superstition among the Celestials, huh.

“T-This is a place where stars are born, right?” Glancing at Kwon Oh-Jin, Vega gripped the hem of her dress tightly. “There’s a saying that stars who... c-come together here will be together forever.”

Wait. By coming together, she doesn’t mean—

“S-So, what I’m trying to say is...” Vega clenched her fists as if steeling herself. “I-I want to form a s-star’s union with you here!”

A star’s union?

“

Oh

.”