Chapter 138: Star of Celestial Pivot (1)
“S-Star of Celestial Pivot?!”
Ha-eun’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open.
Star of Celestial Pivot, Cheon Sanggil.
He was the ruler of the Ganghwa Special Autonomous Zone, also commonly known as ‘Paradise’.
The person who came looking for Ohjin was both Korea’s strongest Awakener in name and reality and also one of the ten strongest Awakeners worldwide.
And it wasn’t through ordering an attendant or guild member, but the Star of Celestial Pivot himself.
“What business does the Star of Celestial Pivot have with Ohjin…?”
When Ha-eun was alternating looking at Cheon Sanggil and Ohjin with a dumbfounded expression, Cheon Sanggil approached Ohjin with slow steps.
“Even if I am a dying oldster, thankfully, my ears haven’t gone deaf yet. I’ve heard a lot of stories about the Lightning Wolf.”
“It’s an honor.”
Ohjin respectfully bowed his head and accepted the handshake offered by Cheon Sanggil.
He could feel serene energy from his wrinkly palm.
His mana was clean and pure like distilled water without any impurities mixed within.
‘Is he an actual Taoist?’
Ohjin had come across many Awakeners to date, but it was his first time encountering such pure mana.
“I came looking for you because I wish to share a conversation with you. Do you have time?”
“Of course.”
He didn’t know what Cheong Sanggil was going to talk about, but he couldn’t say he was busy and turn them down when one of the Seven Stars came looking for him personally.
‘Star of Celestial Pivot…’
The superhuman who he’d heard of countless times to the point it was tiring had come looking for him. Ohjin started to think that the influence contained in the name ‘Lightning Wolf’ was bigger than he thought.
“Thank you. I’ve already prepared a location, so follow me.”
Cheon Sanggil turned around with a faint smile.
“Ohjin, is it really okay for me to go along?”
“Well, it probably doesn’t matter. It’s not like he said wants to meet me one-on-one.”
He followed Cheon Sanggil with Ha-eun.
The place Cheon Sanggil guided them to was a quiet teahouse built in a traditional Korean wood-frame style. The store in the middle of Seoul was so luxurious and grand that it made them mistake it for a palace built in the Joseon Dynasty.
‘What kind of teahouse is this big?’
It was a store that made him wonder if they would be able to maintain upkeep even if they sold decocted opium instead of tea leaves.
“Let’s start by getting ourselves a cup of tea. Is there any kind of tea you wish to drink?”
“I don’t know anything about tea.”
“Then I shall order something appropriate.”
Once Cheon Sanggil lightly shook the bell on top of the table, the sliding door opened as an employee wearing delicate Hanbok entered the room.
“Please give us three cups of astral tea.”
“Of course.”
‘Astral tea? Did that kind of tea always exist?’
“It’s a tea made by deconditioning tea leaves grown from manure that was mixed with finely ground starstones. The taste is exceptional, but it also has the effect of helping mana circulation in the body.”
“…”
He didn’t know what it was, but just listening to it made him think that the tea would be shockingly expensive.
Slide—
Soon after, the door opened, and an employee holding three cups of steaming tea came in.
“Thank you for the tea.”
Ohjin took a sip out of the tea that gave off a gentle blue light.
The scent of pure mint spread out in his mouth and his head felt like it was becoming clear.
“Is the tea to your liking?”
“Yes. It feels like my head is becoming clear.”
“That’s a relief.”
With a benign smile, Cheon Sanggil took a sip out of his tea.
As Ha-eun, who was sitting down next to Ohjin copied the way he drank his tea, her eyes opened wide, and she chugged down the tea in one shot.
‘Ha-eun, that isn’t beer.’
“First off, the reason I came here to find you is that I wanted to pass on my thanks to you.”
“Pardon?”
‘His thanks?’
Ohjin didn’t have any memory of doing something that warranted him hearing those words from Cheon Sanggil.
“It’s only rightful for me to pass on my thanks when you stopped my undisciplined younger brother before he committed even more heinous deeds.”
“…”
“Pfff!!! Wh-What? Younger brother?”
Ha-eun, who was sneakily drinking Ohjin’s tea, roughly spat out her tea and looked at Cheon Sanggil.
“…Are you the brother of Cheon Doyoon?”
“Yes, although we weren’t in the kind of relationship where we asked about each other’s well-being.”
Cheon Sanggil held up his cup of tea with a bitter expression.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know my younger brother was alive until recently. Eight… no, it’s already been nine years. Please understand that I’ve lost my sense of time due to my old age.”
Tak—
He lowered his cup of tea and continued.
“I lost contact with Doyoon after the door leading to the Demon Realm was opened in the North Pole. I thought he was unmistakably dead, but…”
“You discovered that he was alive from the recent incident.”
“That’s right. I also discovered that he became an Executor of the Black Star Organization and committed treacherous deeds.”
Cheon Sanggil’s eyes shone coldly.
* * *
* * *
‘Is that why the Heaven’s Grace guild took direct action in the Owl uprooting operation?’
It would explain why they suddenly mobilized when they would normally refrain from coming out of Paradise.
“I was going to personally punish my ill-behaved younger brother before he committed any more deeds… but unfortunately, he escaped to an unknown place.”
Cheon Sanggil sighed deeply.
“And during that time, I ended up hearing your story. That is why I came looking for you personally to give my thanks.”
The fact that Ohjin defeated Cheon Doyoon wasn’t known to the public, but it appeared that it couldn’t avoid the Heaven’s Grace guild’s net of information.
“Thank you. You took this old man’s place and dealt with what I should’ve done.”
Cheon Sanggil got up from his seat and bowed deeply.
Ohjin attentively observed his expression in case he knew about the Heaven Unfolding he’d used in the middle of the fight with Cheon Doyoon, but it didn’t seem like that was the case.
“No. I only did what I had to.”
“Haha! Indeed, you’re a young man worthy of being called a hero.”
In any case, It seemed that Cheon Sanggil was mistaken and thought Ohjin had punished Cheon Doyoon because he was engulfed in a burning sense of justice.
‘Better for me.’
There was nothing better to exploit than the title of ‘hero’.
Humans were bound to be attracted to ‘good people’ by instinct.
No, to be exact…
‘They’re bound to be attracted to people they believe are good.’
The truth wasn’t important.
All that was important was making it seem like the truth.
“How could I possibly compare to the Seven Stars?”
“It is an excessive title for this old man.”
Cheon Sanggil sat back in his seat.
“No. I’ve heard so much about the feats achieved by the Star of Celestial Pivot that my ears started to bleed.”
In honesty, there weren’t many feats by the Star of Celestial Pivot he knew about, as he didn’t have much interest in the Seven Stars. Out of them, the only thing he knew in detail was the incident that caused him to start being called the Star of Celestial Pivot.
Ohjin shouted out in a needlessly excited voice.
“The high-rank Awakener of Capricorn who’s said to be able to control sound as he wills! There shouldn’t be a single person in the whole world who hasn’t heard of the anecdote of you subduing thousands of monsters that escaped out of a gate and indiscriminately attacked people with just a whistle six years ago!”
“K-Khm. Is… Is that so?”
‘I don’t know, but it is really goddamn famous.’
It was a story that even Ohjin, who didn’t have the slightest interest in the Seven Stars, knew.
“To Koreans, Sir Cheon Sanggil is a hero who should be admired to a great degree.”
“Hoho. Stop it. I’m so embarrassed I can’t raise my head.”
Despite saying that, Cheon Sanggil couldn’t hide the smile on his face.
Indeed, one of the Seven Stars or not, he was still human.
“So… Did you come to find me just to give your thanks?”
‘A Seven Star wouldn’t end things with only words, right?’
“That’s the biggest reason. Ah, naturally, I don’t intend to pass over this with just my thanks. Of course, I have prepared an appropriate reward.”
“N-No!”
‘Yeah! This is fucking it!’
“Being able to meet the hero I admire is more than enough!”
‘I don’t know what you prepared, but hurry up and take it out.’
“Take this.”
“You really don’t need to do this…”
‘This is what you needed to do.’
“Fuu. Since I cannot disregard your sincerity, I’ll take it with gratitude.”
Spouting out things that weren’t on his mind, he opened the small box he’d received from Cheon Sanggil.
Inside was a rectangular card that looked like a passport.
“It’s an entrance ticket to Paradise.”
“Ah… I see.”
Ohjin nodded his head as his expression rapidly cooled down.
—The right to enter Paradise that could be obtained for $10,000,000.
He might’ve been entranced by it in the past, but the item didn’t really draw his interest in the present.
“Well, it’d be right to call this an invitation in this case.”
“An invitation?”
“I want to invite you to Paradise.”
Paradise…
He had always wanted to go there at least once since the place was covered in a veil and was so mysterious, but…
“I apologize, but there is something else I have to do.”
Getting rid of the restriction on Vega came first.
“There’s no need to be in a hurry. Just pay me a visit when you have time. It’ll probably be a good experience for you, too.”
“Yes, I understand. I’ll make sure to visit you later.”
There was no reason to refuse the invitation when Cheon Sanggil went out of his way to invite him.
“Would it be okay if I asked what you’re preoccupied with?”
“That’s…”
Ohjin thought for a while and then answered as he narrowed his eyes.
“There are matters I have to take care of in Japan.”
“Japan, huh… are you going to hunt the ‘Seahorses’?”
As expected, he also knew about the Hippocampus faction.
“If so, try paying this guy a visit.”
Once Cheon Sanggil lightly tapped the table, an attendant wearing a delicate Hanbok appeared from somewhere and lent out a piece of paper and pen.
He took the pen and wrote some contact info on top of the paper as if he was performing calligraphy.
“He’s an Awakener I’m fairly acquainted with. His personality is… a bit unique, but he’ll probably help you.”
The name ‘Sakaki Ryo’ was written.
“Thank you. I’ll give him a call.”
Ohjin needed to make connections with the natives in order to hunt the Hippocampus faction in earnest anyways. A person who had connections with the Star of Celestial Pivot would be trustworthy.
“Then this old man shall take his leave now. Ah, I’ll pay the bills in advance, so have a meal with the young lady before you leave. The Korean cuisine here is very famous for that.”
“That?”
Cheon Sanggil alternated looking at Ha-eun and Ohjin, and then put on a mischievous smile.
Slightly extending his wrinkly mouth, he whistled.
-I’m talking about stamina for that!
A voice echoed out in his head.
It was hard to believe those words came out of Cheon Sanggil, who looked like a Taoist who’d achieved Nirvana or a guardian spirit of a mountain.
‘…What is this old man saying all of a sudden.’
-Fufu. Enjoy the meal and go out for fun tonight. Your feisty pillar will go —boom!
Cheon Sanggil suddenly thrusted his tightly clenched fist upwards.
‘Stop it, you bastard.’
Ohjin urgently looked at Ha-eun, but it seemed that he was the only one who could hear it, as Ha-eun didn’t show any kind of special reaction.
He looked at Cheon Sanggil with a dumbfounded expression.
“Hahaha! It seems that his old man was too immodest!”
Cheon Sanggil laughed heartily and got up from his seat.
Slide—
Right before opening the door and going outside—
“Oh right, and for last…”
—he looked back at Ohjin with a serious face.
-Be careful of the Snakes.
Simultaneously with his low voice that rang out in his head, the sliding door closed.
“…The Snakes, huh.”
Mumbling the sticky, ominous name, Ohjin shook the bell that was placed on top of the table.
“Yes, I’ll take your order.”
“Please give us the Korean cuisine full-course meal.”
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