Chapter 139: Star-Forsaken Land (1)
“Oooh-Jiiin! Waaaaake uuuuup!”
A sudden impact struck Kwon Oh-Jin in the gut.
“Kugh!”
He doubled over and his eyes snapped open only to find Song Ha-Eun sitting squarely on top of him. She wore a loose, boxy white T-shirt paired with dolphin shorts that exposed her thighs. The kind of outfit that made it hard for him to know exactly where to keep his eyes.
“W-What the hell?” Confused, he grabbed his phone from under his pillow. The time was 5:38 A.M. The sun wasn’t even up yet.
“Hehe! If you keep snoring, we’re gonna miss the bus to the airport!” Her eyes sparkled like those of an elementary school kid the night before a field trip.
He looked up at her completely dumbfounded. “What are you on about? The flight’s at noon.”
“You don’t get it, do you? That’s exactly how people miss their flights!”
“Jesus, Ha-Eun. You can be a little more sensible, y’know?”
She was making a fuss when they had more than six hours left till the flight.
“Whatever! Stop yapping and get ready!” She yanked the blanket off him and tossed it across the room.
He sighed in defeat and prepared to get up.
“Wait a sec,” she muttered.
“Huh?”
Despite rushing him just moments ago, she pressed her palm against his chest to keep him from getting up.
He looked up to see a hesitant look on her flushed cheeks.
“What’s wrong?”
“J-Just hold on, okay? I need to prepare myself mentally.”
Mentally prepare?
She breathed in and out deeply, then swallowed hard. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Sitting on his stomach, she slowly bent down and pressed her lips softly against his.
“Mm.”
Her hair brushed against his cheek, and her warm breath tickled his skin. Her lips felt unbelievably soft, and for a second, her tongue flicked against his before darting away like a startled mouse.
She pulled back. “Pwah!”
Then, she quickly turned her head to the side and twiddled her fingers. “M-Morning kiss.”
He felt as if his heart was about to break through his ribs and burst out of his chest.
Haha, holy shit. Where did she learn such a cheeky move?
They had been together for so long that he figured nothing would really make his heart race even after they became a couple, yet she had proved him wrong. Even a touch from her was enough to shake him to his core.
If anyone saw this, they’d cringe to death. But do I care?
Even if it was unbearably embarrassing, he felt so happy he could go insane.
“Ha-Eun.”
She turned her head back and glanced at him. “Y-Yeah?”
The air in the room felt hot as if the sun had already risen and was shining straight in.
He reached out and gently stroked her cheek. “You're heavy.”
Her expression distorted in a matter of seconds. “The fuck did you just say? Read the room, you idiot!”
She slammed her fist on his chest.
He chuckled despite the stinging pain. He was so elated that his tongue was going numb, and his brain felt like it was melting away.
Then, Cheon Sang-Gil's ominous warning echoed in his mind.
—Beware of the Serpent.
While she playfully smacked his chest repeatedly, he tightened his grip around her wrist without a word. He would never let this warmth slip away.
***
Song Ha-Eun’s eyes sparkled as she scanned the massive terminal, gawking like a countryside girl visiting Seoul for the first time.
“The airport! So this is Incheon Airport, huh?! Oh-Jin! Oh-Jin! This place is freaking huuuuge!”
Kwon Oh-Jin sighed. “Ha-Eun...”
Please stop. You’re embarrassing me.
“Wow, who would’ve thought we’d get to travel abroad together?! Guess life really is full of surprises!” she exclaimed.
She has a point.
Back when they were stuck in the orphanage, the idea of an overseas trip together had never even crossed their minds.
“It’s not a vacation, though. Oh, right, did you pack the translation device?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
“Of course! I’ve had it on since this morning!”
He laughed and checked their flight tickets.
It would've been easier to travel through the Sanctum... but it doesn't have any entrances in Japan.
Japan was also mockingly called the "Star-Forsaken Land" for not having access to the Sanctum.
That doesn't mean they don't have Awakeners...
Japan had an unusually low number of Awakeners, and most were low-ranking stars.
There's not a single high-ranking Awakener in the country... which is why the weakest faction in the Black Star Society managed to take over.
According to the information he got from Cheon Do-Yoon, the Seahorse faction was laughably weak compared to the Owl faction. Their leader, Kurosaki Sosuke—the "King of Seahorses" and the seventh-ranked Executor in the Black Star Society—was only an eight-star Awakener.
The gap between an eight-star and a nine-star is like night and day.
Song Ha-Eun’s recent advancement to nine stars made that difference painfully obvious to Kwon Oh-Jin.
Either way, he’s the perfect prey.
If Kurosaki Sosuke had been a nine-star Awakener like Cheon Do-Yoon, Kwon Oh-Jin wouldn’t have set out on this hunt so easily even though he had reached seven stars himself.
Song Ha-Eun eagerly grabbed his arm, excited by her first time at the airport. “Oh-Jin! Oh-Jin! Let’s go check out the duty-free shops! Quickly!”
He smiled faintly. “Do you have anything you wanna buy?”
“Cigarettes! I heard they’re cheaper here!”
Oh, right. She smokes. I'd forgotten since she doesn't do it around me much.
“Okay. I guess I’ll take a look and see if there’s anything I need,” he replied.
He would have nagged her about smoking in the past, but she was a high-ranking Awakener now.
Since she underwent internal reconstruction, toxins don’t even build up in her system anymore.
As long as she didn’t smoke near others and disturbed them, cigarettes were nothing more than a harmless indulgence for her now.
What a joke, honestly.
He was only two levels away from becoming a nine-star. Suppressing the urge to close that gap soon, he trailed behind her into the store.
After buying her cigarettes, they proceeded to the gate for boarding when something suddenly crossed Kwon Oh-Jin’s mind.
“Oh, right. Ha-Eun, you remember what I told you yesterday, right?”
“Huh?” She cocked her head for a moment, then suddenly clapped her hands. “Ah, the thing about having to take my shoes off before boarding the plane?”
“Yeah.”
“Hehe, of course. What do you take me for?” She looked at him like he was being ridiculous before sticking out her left foot. “I even wore runners to make it easier!”
“That’s my girl.”
She boastfully giggled and shrugged. “This is what you call being prepared!”
He smiled as he watched her march forward.
***
The flight arrived at Osaka International Airport.
The moment Song Ha-Eun stepped off the plane, she turned to glare at him, her face flushed red with embarrassment.
“Y-Y-You son of a bitch!”
A few flight attendants behind her smiled.
“Wow. I really didn’t think you’d actually fall for that,” he said.
“Y-You fucking...!”
She grabbed his side and twisted viciously. Even through the sharp pain, he continued to laugh.
“Don’t you ever get sick of making fun of me?! Huh? Ever?!”
“Nope. Not at all.”
It's fun and fresh, every single time.
“Ugh, seriously!”
“Hahaha!”
Song Ha-Eun kept fussing as they headed to downtown Osaka and dropped off their luggage at a hotel near Namba Station.
She seemed to have calmed down a bit on the way as she stretched her arms and cracked her knuckles. “Alright, let’s go find those seahorses or sea cucumbers or whatever the hell they’re called.”
“What’s gotten into you? I thought you'd wanna go sightseeing first.”
“I mean, I want to, but we should unseal Vega first.” She smiled bitterly. “If you advance the Black Heaven this time, can you finally use that Open Heaven or whatever?”
“I’m not sure yet,” he answered. He wasn't even certain that hunting down the Seahorse faction would bring about the Black Heaven’s sixth enlightenment. “Regardless, I’ll try everything I can.”
“Wouldn’t it be faster if you just... absorbed a bit of my power?”
“I said no already.”
“Still...” She sighed, running her fingers over the eyepatch covering her left eye.
Some things never change. She still has no intention of taking care of herself.
“Funny. You and Vega used to be at each other’s throats all the time,” he remarked.
“Well... when you think about it, it was kinda my fault for being dumb enough to get kidnapped,” Song Ha-Eun muttered, scratching her head. “Plus... I kinda miss her buzzing around twenty-four seven and whining, ‘My child, my child.’”
She had grown pretty close to Vega.
“Don't worry too much. I’ll break the seal soon enough,” he said.
“Tsk. You did bullshit your way here saying you were after that Adam’s Apple thing, so it'll be weirder if you return too fast. How are we supposed to find those guys?”
Kwon Oh-Jin had planned to sneak into one of the Seahorse faction's Osaka branches and gather information on Kurosaki Sosuke, but he found a new approach.
“I’ve heard where a few of their branches are, but I’m planning to meet a guy named Sakaki Ryo first.” He held up the contact information he'd gotten from Cheon Sang-Gil.
“Okay. Have you reached out to him yet?”
“Yeah. He said he’d send a car to the hotel, so we'll just get on that.”
“What’s this guy like?”
“I’m not sure... He didn’t seem weird or anything when we talked over the phone.”
Aside from a somewhat blunt voice, nothing really stood out. Cheon Sang-Gil did say the guy had a "unique" personality, though.
“Hmm. Guess we’ll see when we get there. When’s the car supposed to show up?” she asked.
“Should be here soon.” He checked the time on his phone.
Vroom.
“Oh, is that the one?” She pointed to a sleek limousine approaching them.
“Wow, a limo?" He whistled in awe. "Dang, that’s kinda sick—Huh?”
Hold on a fucking minute. What the hell is that?
Vroom!
Vroom!
Beep!
Behind the limousine, ten black vans followed in formation. When the limousine came to a stop, the vans positioned themselves around it like escorts.
The doors of the vans opened.
Thud!
And a swarm of men in black suits swarmed out with intimidating faces. Over a hundred suited men lined up in perfect formation like some sort of military ceremony.
“We have come to escort Oyabun’s[1] guests!” one yelled.
“We will escort you comfortably!” the row of suited men all shouted and bowed in unison.
Kwon Oh-Jin and Song Ha-Eun's jaws went slack as they stared at the army of suited men.
“What the actual fuck...?” he mumbled.
He introduced me to a goddamn yakuza?
1. A Japanese term for the boss or leader of a yakuza group. Oyabun can also be directly translated as ‘a person who acts as a parent.’ ☜