Ancient Constellation IV

"What do you want to eat?" asked Ha-eun as she pulled his arm.

"I'm not sure."

There wasn't anything he was craving in particular.

"How about tteokbokki*?"

Ohjin had read in a news article that tteokbokki was ranked as the number one food that females in their twenties liked the most.

'Though she's not in her twenties anymore.'

Ha-eun had entered her thirties when the year had passed, but her looks would still pass off as someone in their early twenties.

'I heard that aging also slowed down as one's Star rank increased.'

He had even heard that aging would completely come to a halt for high-rank Awakeners above the 9-Star rank.

'Well, it doesn't really matter.'

Nothing would change from the present, even if she became a wrinkly old grandma.

"Tteokbokki? It's alright to pick something more expensive."

"It's just because I'm craving it."

"Hehe, alright! Then let's go with tteokbokki!"

They headed to a nearby casual dining restaurant.

During their meal of sundae, tteokbokki, and fried food—

"Did you hear? A new Unawakened Safety Management Center was constructed in Daerim-dong."

"Oh, really? Was it built by the Association?"

"Well, yeah. Guilds don't care about anything other than their own territory."

"You're right."

—the chit-chat of the two men seated next to them could be heard.

"When you look at things like this, there really isn't anywhere else other than the Association that takes care of the unawakened like us."

"But… that's not exactly correct, either."

"Hm? Why is that?"

The man with tanned skin sighed and continued.

"The ones that manage the centers are all board members, but they say that they'll need to reduce the number of centers because the oh so grand~ Association chairman says that it takes too much of their budget."

"What?'

"They say that there were supposed to be two centers built in Guro-dong and Daerim-dong, but due to the chairman's opposition, the board members spent their own money to construct one of them."

"Sigh, fucking bastard. Is he basically saying that he doesn't even see us as humans anymore?"

"That bastard is too busy walking on eggshells around large guilds that he doesn't even know who the fuck pays taxes."

The two men kept spouting vulgar language towards the Association.

'…The Association chairman opposed the construction of centers?'

He hadn't heard that from General Manager Han.

'I'll have to ask later.'

There was a need to confirm if they were simple rumors or if there really was an opposition due to circumstances.

'Nevertheless… the Association chairman's image isn't positive to the unawakened, as expected.'

It couldn't be helped.

One of the Black Star Organization's characteristics was continuously increasing the quality of life for the unawakened.

'The problem is that their goal isn't to purely help them out.'

He recalled the document he had received from Jang Sukho.

The unawakened that became Awakeners through receiving the 'Black Stars' Stigma' from the Black Star Organization would lose a large portion of their lifespan in return.

'It would be a relief if the only thing that happened was a reduction in lifespan.'

Ohjin furrowed his brow.

Information about the members of the Black Star Organization who weren't able to adapt to the Black Stars' stigma had filled the documents that Jang Sukho had given him. They would turn crazy as various spots of their body grotesquely melted down and morphed into something like a monster.

'It's only natural that there are side effects.'

Every person had a different kind of stigma that matched them.

Forcefully taking in an incompatible stigma would make the blood all over one's body reflux, causing their instant death.

'Just like Lee Shinhyuk.'

There were in fact a lot of instances where an unawakened was unable to be selected by a celestial as their 'stigma' wasn't compatible with the unawakened's body.

It would rather make no sense if there were no side effects when the Black Star Organization was forcefully granting stigmas despite that.

"Hm? What are you thinking of?" asked Ha-eun as she dipped one of the fried foods into the tteokbokki sauce and placed it in her mouth.

"It's nothing."

Ohjin followed her lead and put the remaining tteokbokki in his mouth.

"Fua! That was a good meal!"

Ha-eun stretched and patted her belly after paying for the meal and exiting the restaurant.

"What should we do now?"

"Go back home and train."

Ohjin hadn't been able to train satisfactorily as they had to visit the Association that day.

"Eh, but it's a shame to go home right away when we took the time to go out."

Ha-eun pouted and pinched his flank.

"Let's go for a drive!"

"Hm."

Mixing in rest time with his usual intensive training routine didn't sound so bad.

"Then let's bring Vega and Riak as well."

"Hm? Why?"

"We haven't even let them take a good look around Seoul yet. This is a good opportunity to show them around since they probably feel stuffy inside the sanctum all the time."

"Aw."

Ha-eun puffed out her cheeks like something wasn't to her liking.

"I wanted it to be just the two of us."

"Hm? What did you say? I couldn't hear you."

It was obviously a lie.

The words entered his ears easily, thanks to how his hearing had become more sensitive from promoting to 5-Star.

"Khm! It-It's nothing!"

"Alright, then I'm calling them."

Ohjin stopped the car in a parking lot and touched his necklace.

Owoooong!—

Light scattered out from the silver necklace as Vega and Riak appeared.

[Did trouble arise?]

"No, it's nothing like that."

Ohjin turned on the car's engine and continued speaking.

"We were going to go on a drive, so I called to see if you guys would be interested."

[Drive…?]

"It's riding a car and sightseeing the city or going somewhere to have fun."

[Ooh! That sounds good! I happened to want to take my time watching the human world!]

Vega's eyes shone as she sat on top of Ohjin's head.

[But… w-will you be the one driving?]

It seemed like she was reminded of a past nightmare as she asked the question with a worried expression.

"I'm good at driving now, so don't worry about it."

[H-Hmm. I'll trust in you.]

Vega gulped and nodded her head.

"Grrr. It's been a while since you contacted us, and it was for something like this?"

Riak clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"A true warrior must not slack on training for even a single day!!! What time do you have to go sightseeing?!"

Click—

Riak said those words and quickly opened the car door, sat on the backseats, pulled the windows down, and then stuck his face out.

"Stop pretending that you don't like it."

"L-Like it? Do you really think a true warrior would get excited over mere sightseeing?!"

Waggle, waggle—

Riak's words didn't hold much meaning when his tail was shaking so vigorously.

"Khm! J-Just a little! It's just that I've gained a very tiny bit of interest in the human world!" shouted Riak as he quickly lowered his tail.

"Haven't you been watching TV with Vega recently when only the two of you are at home?"

Riak and Vega had frequently been watching drama, news, movies, and etc., under the reasoning that they were studying the human world.

It seemed like Riak especially liked the sports channel as he had even once sat in front of the TV all day long and watched sports like baseball and soccer that were popular before the appearance of gates.

'He said he felt the fighting spirit of warriors or whatever.'

To be honest, Ohjin didn't even know if Riak was watching while knowing the rules.

[Fufu. Looking at it through TV and in person is very different!]

Vega puffed out air from her nose as she gently pulled on his hair.

"You're right."

Ohjin slowly drove the car around the downtown areas of Seoul.

—Around the densely packed skyscrapers and people that were busily walking around the streets.

[…So this many children live in this place.]

Vega, who was seated on Ohjin's head, looked at the streets with somewhat affectionate eyes.

"Is this your first time?"

[It's my first time observing this closely.]

"Hmm. But didn't you say before that celestials were Earth's administrators? Shouldn't administrators know more about what goes around on Earth than humans?"

[What the celestials know is the star's destiny and vague things like upcoming danger. The ones who live above the stars do not know how every single person lives their life.]

'Aha.'

[Well… there are still cases of celestials with a lot of apostles having profound knowledge of the human world. However, as I have not had a single apostle before you in the past… this is my first time observing humans this closely.]

"I should have shown you around earlier. I would've taken you around more often if I knew about it."

[Fufu. Do not think of it that way. Rather than the human world, I'm simply happy to be able to share time together with you like this.]

Vega smiled caringly as she patted his head.

[Let's go out and sightsee the world together like this often.]

"Of course."

Ohjin was reluctant to stay with Vega due to the pressure of having to act like a Regressor in the past, but that pressure had reduced by a lot after the trust they shared thickened.

Rather, it was to the point that he felt guilty for how she believed in his lies without any suspicion.

'Should I just… tell her the truth?'

—The fact that he wasn't a Regressor.

—The fact that he was the owner of the Black Heaven.

'…No.'

He had already passed the point of no return.

The feeling of betrayal that would be felt was naturally proportional to the thickness of one's trust.

He couldn't reveal all of the truth just because they had become close.

[Ooh! My child! What's that thing called a 'PC cafe'?]

'Let's just forget about the complicated things for now and enjoy the drive.'

"It's where you play computer games."

[Computer? Games?]

"Um."

'I think there'll be no end of it once I start explaining.'

"Grrr! Rookie! What's that place called Ramen Heaven?!"

"It's a restaurant specialized in making different kinds of ramen."

"Is it Valhalla?!"

"No."

'When did this bastard become such a ramen freak? Appearance-wise he looks like he would gobble down raw meat whole.'

[My child! What's that place called 'SlurpSlurpSlurpSlurpSlurp'?]

"It's a kalguksu* restaurant."

T/N: Handmade, knife-cut wheat flour noodles served in a large bowl with broth and other ingredients.

'But what the hell is up with the store's name?'

[Then what about the place called 'Kock'?]

"It's where they sell kimchi and cockscomb tea."

'…'

[Ho. Then what about the 'Adult Video' way~ over there? What do they sell?]

'I want to know, too. What the hell do they sell to come up with that name?'

[There are a lot of interesting stores!!]

'Yeah… I'm not so sure about the rest, but I'm damn curious about the Adult Video store.'

"…How do you keep only pointing out things like that?"

Ha-eun, who was seated next to him, placed her hand on her forehead as if she had a headache.

'I feel you.'

[My child! My child! What about—]

Vega, who was looking outside the window with eyes full of excitement, suddenly cut off her sentence. She looked in a certain direction and narrowed her eyes.

[My child. Smoke is rising from over there.]

"Hm?"

As Ohjin looked in the direction she pointed, he could see that black smoke really was rising up.

"Did someplace catch on fire?"

"That area is Guro-dong, right?"

Ha-eun lowered the windows and stuck her head out.

And then…

Beeeeeeeeep!!—

"Wh-What's going on?"

From the direction of the smoke, cars were driving on the wrong side and fleeing while honking their loud horns.

Boom! Bang! Crack!—

The roads became disorderly in an instant.

"What are you doing?! You crazy bastard!"

The drivers of the car accident exited their vehicles and started to swear.

"S-Save."

"What?"

"Save meeeeeeee!!"

The young man that exited the car driving on the wrong side of the road started to run away with a pale face.

"C-Catch that bastard!!"

The driver chased after him in a hurry, but…

Beeeeep!!—

"Get out of the way!! Fucking move!!!"

"Don't block the road, you son of a bitch!!!"

The other cars that were driving in the wrong direction crashed into him and continued to race through the roads.

"O-Ohjin, this is…"

"…"

Ohjin pulled over on the shoulder of the road with a stiff expression.

"Let's go."

"O-Okay!"

[Alright!]

Ohjin ran to where the smoke was rising with Ha-eun, Riak, and Vega.

And in that place—

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!"

"S-Save me!!!"

"Aahhhh! M-Monsters!! Why are monsters here!!"

"There aren't even any gates nearby!!!"

—were people screaming while running away.

Hundreds… thousands of monsters were wildly chasing after them.

"Holy shit! Just where did all these monsters come from…?!"

Ha-eun's mouth fell agape as she looked at the crowd of monsters that covered the entire street.

"…No."

Ohjin's eyes shone keenly as he shook his head.

"They aren't monsters… they're demon beasts."

Ohjin's expression distorted severely while feeling the distinct energy of the 'Black Stars' within the monsters.