Three days had passed since he had treated her eyes through the Dragon’s Cursed Eye.
Rattle—
An unusual scene unfolded in front of Ohjin, who had returned after finishing his basic training at early dawn.
“I-Is this how you do it?”
Sizzzzzzzle!!—
“Aah!! H-Huh!! Why did it become charcoal?!!”
Inside the cramped kitchen, Ha-eun wore an apron and performed some kind of alchemy.
That’s right.
It wasn’t cooking, but alchemy.
“…What are you doing?”
Ohjin looked at the room filled with burning smoke with an empty expression.
Flinch!—
Ha-eun’s shoulders suddenly shook.
“H-Huh? I-It’s nothing!”
“I don’t think that’s the case, looking at the state the house is in.”
Cough, cough—
Waving the foggy smoke away with his hands, he opened the windows.
Ohjin forced a chuckle while looking down at (what used to be) meat on top of the frying pan.
“Why are you cooking all of a sudden?”
Putting aside the fact of whether it could be called food or not, it was the first time he had seen her cook in his life.
“Ah~ um… I was just craving meat all of a sudden!”
“Is that why you alchemized charcoal?”
“I-It isn’t charcoal!! Damn it… that’s weird. It definitely said that the Maillard reaction or whatever would happen if you do it like this…”
Ha-eun scratched her head while looking at her phone.
“Well… whatever, here.”
She placed the burnt meat on top of a plate and handed it over to him.
“Have a taste.”
“… You’re telling me to eat this?”
‘Has she gone mad?’
“It’s okay if you cut off the burnt bits!”
He looked at the proud Ha-eun in silence and then raised his knife.
‘Alright. I’ll need to have a taste at least; it’s her first dish, after all.’
Otherwise, the meat would be wasted.
Ohjin slowly approached the meat with his knife.
Crack—
As the meat was cut in half, the black carbonized insides revealed themselves.
“…”
He threw it out.
“Hey!! How could you throw that out!”
“How did you get it that burnt in the first place?!!”
Ohjin couldn’t comprehend what method she could have used to make it that burnt.
“So… I used a little bit of my stigma because the stove in our house was too weak…”
“…”
‘Of course it’d get burnt. She’s only just started her rehabilitation training.’
The curse was dispelled, but her body hadn’t recovered completely back to normal yet. Ha-eun was still around the level of taking baby steps if you looked at it optimistically. There was no way she would be able to control her stigma properly in that state.
“…”
Having no words to say, Ha-eun turned her head away.
From the profile of her turned head, something disparate that didn’t fit in with her beautiful looks stood out in his eyes.
“Is your eye okay?”
“Ah, this?”
Ha-eun caressed her left eye.
Different from her normal right eye, a heinous yellow pupil like that of a reptile’s pupil was shining on her left eye; its size was much bigger in comparison of the right, and blood vessels sprouting out like tree roots around her eyes made it look quite hideous.
“Well, even if it looks like this… I have no problem with seeing. In fact, everything looks much clearer if I focus on my left eye.”
“That is a relief, but—”
Thoughts of concern came about whenever he saw the shining yellow pupil.
“—It shouldn’t be a side effect of the curse, right?”
[Do not be worried, as that is not the case.]
An answer came from an unexpected place.
Sparkle—
Vega, who had appeared out of the mid-air with rays of silver light, answered as she circled around Ha-eun’s body once.
“What’s happening if it isn’t a side effect?” asked Ha-eun while carefully feeling around her right eye.
[Hmm.]
Vega continued while looking at Ha-eun’s left eye carefully.
[Rather than a side effect… it could be called one type of ‘blessing’ in a certain way.]
“… You’re telling me this is a blessing?”
Ha-eun narrowed her eyes in doubt.
[Your stigma… the stigma of Draco and the dragon’s power released when the curse was dispelled interacted with each other, causing the ‘Dragon Eye’ to be created.]
“Dragon Eye?”
Ha-eun tilted her head and reflected her left eye on the mirror. She saw a yellow pupil with a vertical slit reminiscent of reptiles. You could call it a cool name such as ‘Dragon Eye’ since dragons were certainly reptiles as well, but—
“…It isn’t all that different from my normal eye for something like that.”
There was the difference of being able to see a bit more clearly if she focused on her left eye, but that was it. It wasn’t any different from her normal right eye during daily life except for the fact that it looked hideous.
[It is because you are not used to the strength that handles the Dragon Eye. Once your stigma returns back to the way it originally was, you will be able to use the Dragon Eye’s power in earnest.]
“Hmm.”
Ha-eun recollected the stigma engraved on top of her left chest.
The stigma of Draco.
It wasn’t part of the 12 Zodiacs, but it was a stigma powerful enough to not fall behind them.
‘Though there’s a massive difference in recognition.’
You could count the number of Awakeners that possessed the stigma of Draco with your hands. There were around 4~5 people at most in Korea, and they didn’t even surpass 20 people worldwide.
Even amongst them, there wasn’t an Awakener that showed exceptional performance.
‘It’s understandable that it’s not well-known.’
The fact that the stigma of Draco was powerful enough to match up with the 12 Zodiacs was something she wouldn’t have known without possessing the stigma of Draco in the first place.
“Well, I guess that means I should focus on rehabilitation training for now.”
“There’s no need to overdo yourself.”
“Hehehe! What do you mean ‘there’s no need’.”
Ha-eun smirked while she lightly pulled on Ohjin’s cheek.
“I’ll need to recover quickly and support you. You know as well, right? That I can’t live on being indebted.”
“You don’t mean that you’ll keep cooking like before, right?”
“Trust in me.”
“Fuck. Why are you doing this to me?”
* * *
* * *
“Ah right. Come to think of it, is the delivery that came a moment ago something you ordered?”
“Yeah.”
Ohjin opened a small box placed in the corner of the room.
“This is yours.”
“Huh? Again?”
Ha-eun had a taken-aback expression, as she hadn’t expected it to be an item he prepared for her.
Ohjin took out the item inside and handed it over to her.
“…An eyepatch?”
“Won’t it be iffy going outside with your eye like that?”
“I guess so.”
Ha-eun took the black eyepatch Ohjin handed over and wore it over her left eye. Though it was an eyepatch, it was able to cover all the root-like veins, as its size was quite large.
“H-How is it?” asked Ha-eun carefully as she wore the eyepatch.
“You look like a failed youth who has never dated at the age of 30 who got absorbed into otaku culture as an escape from reality, making them suffer from eighth-grade syndrome at a late age.”
“So I was thinking of making fried mint chocolate for dinner.”
“It looks so good on you. How do you look so pretty with an eyepatch?”
“Hehe. That’s right. It looks good on me, right?”
Ha-eun giggled while touching the eyepatch.
But, putting jokes aside, she looked quite nice with the eyepatch since her natural looks were so charming in the first place.
Though she did look like a chuunibyou.
“Does it feel comfortable?”
“Yeah. Not being able to see from one side is a little uncomfortable, but it’s nothing much.”
Well…
It did seem like it wouldn’t be a big deal to her, who couldn’t see from either eye not too long ago.
“By the way, are you okay? The money… you used up all the money you saved up,” asked Ha-eun with a low voice.
“I can earn it back anyways. There’s no rush now.”
“Khm. I-Is that so?”
Ha-eun cleared her throat as her face heated up.
Some kind of unbearable happiness came from the words ‘There’s no rush now’. There was a feeling like her entire body was being tickled by soft feathers; she had a hard time suppressing a smile.
“W-Who said to buy it at the buyout price anyways? You could have bought it at a much cheaper price through bidding.”
Ha-eun needlessly poked Ohjin’s side with her elbows in order to contain the unbearably ticklish sensation.
“Then what if someone else called the buyout price first?”
If that happened, the auction would have ended at once with the Dragon’s Cursed Eye in another person’s hands. As it was an item that you wouldn’t know if it would appear once a year or not if he lost that one opportunity, it would mean that Ha-eun would have to live locked up in that pitch-black darkness for the same duration of time.
“It’s better to buy it with certainty rather than enduring that risk.”
Money was nothing but a means in the first place. How much it took didn’t matter as long as the objective could be achieved.
‘Well, it was still stupid to call $10,000,000 at once…’
Ohjin hadn’t had plans on calling the buyout price at the start. He had planned on testing the waters and buying the Dragon’s Cursed Eye the cheapest he could.
However…
The moment he discovered Ha-eun with tears dripping down her face, some kind of anger soared up that made him end up calling $10,000,000 at once.
“Ah, uh.”
Song Ha-eun ducked her head with a beet-red face.
“He, hehehe.”
After she shook her shoulders up and down while giggling like a broken machine,
“I’ll go get some fresh air for a moment!”
Whoosh—
She exited the house in an escaping manner.
[…]
Vega gently looked at the back of Ha-eun getting further away and flew closer to Ohjin.
[It seems that you truly cherish that child.]
“Hm?”
[This lady has heard that you have protected that child from a young age… Do you have a separate reason for doing so?]
“Huh. Ha-eun talked about that stuff?”
The fact that Ohjin protected Ha-eun from a young age—it was half right and half wrong.
“I wasn’t the one that protected her. She was the one who protected me first. No… she protected everyone at the orphanage, to be accurate.”
[Hmm?]
Vega’s eyes sparkled from the story she hadn’t heard before.
“To the orphanage kids back then, she was akin to a leader.”
Ohjin wore a bitter smile on his face.
He recalled the old memories.
The young girl that pounced on the Director like an enraged beast for the kids that followed her.
The radiant appearance of Ha-eun, who was like a brightly burning gemstone.
“By the way, did you know that she’s a serious crybaby, even though she acts like that?”
On nights she was hit by the Director, she would cover herself in a blanket and secretly shed tears.
“So…”
[Is that why you stepped up in her place? To repay her?]
“I wonder.”
To repay…
There was that as well, but…
‘It wasn’t the only thing.’
Ohjin laughed bitterly while shaking his head.
“I’ll tell you that later.”
[Hmm.]
Vega pouted, her lips puffed out with a slightly sulky expression.
[Come on…]
Vega went on top of his head and pulled on his hair.
[…Still, it’s a relief.]
Vega, who was pulling on his hair, started to pat his head attentively.
[This is this lady’s first time seeing you smile this honestly.]
“…”
Ohjin lightly smiled and nodded his head.
[Did you fail to save Ha-eun in your past life?]
“That is…”
He didn’t know if the him from the 1st Round was able to save her or not.
‘I probably failed.’
Was that why he ended the world in the 1st Round?
‘I don’t know that either.’
There was no way for him to know since he didn’t have the memories of the 1st Round. He actually still couldn’t believe that he was the culprit who ended the world.
Anyways—
“Yeah. I couldn’t… protect her back then.”
—he decided to go along with the rhythm.
[So that happened, as expected.]
Vega looked down at Ohjin with a regretful expression and then soon tapped on his forehead.
[Cheer up. Haven’t you saved her this time? You have already changed destiny’s first page with your power!]
“Haha. Yeah, you’re right.”
Although he wasn’t a Regressor…
Although he didn’t possess the memories of the 1st Round…
He was still able to change his destiny.
[Khm! And do not forget that Ha-eun is nothing but your ‘friend’ at the end of the day!]
Why was it that she was emphasizing ‘friend' so much?
[Anyways! What are your plans now that Ha-eun’s curse has been dispelled?]
Vega quickly changed the subject.
‘My next plans…’
Ohjin had one thing he had in mind.
“Vega, can you do me one favor?”
Her help was a necessity for that plan.
Plop—
Vega, who had her legs crossed after moving to the top of his palm, straightened her back and answered.
[This lady will help out however she can as long as it’s something that can be done!]
Nodding his head, he lightly wrapped his hand around her body.
“A couple hours a day isn’t enough.”
[Hmm?]
“24 Hours—I want to be with you all the time.”
[W-What?!]
The Goddess’s cheeks burned up.
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