CHAPTER 204: INTERLUDE - NEW HOPE (1)

Isabella softly sighed. “Ah.”

She looked at Kwon Oh-Jin with trembling eyes.

He stood silently with his lips tightly shut. His gaze didn’t contain a single trace of pity or sympathy as if he were saying that he didn’t kill Paolo because of her. He simply looked at her calmly.

“Mr. Oh-Jin...”

How could she not know that he killed Paolo for her? That he had used his spear on her behalf because she was too afraid of losing the hope she had held onto for so long.

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me.”

Kwon Oh-Jin loosened his arms around her and stepped back, putting a small distance between them.

“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for me,” he said.

Isabella’s eyes wavered.

For some reason, his unconvincing lie that he did it for himself seemed to ease the storm of fear inside her.

The tears began to fall again. “Hic.”

She had never shed a single tear even when that horrific thirst for blood tormented her.

When did I become such a crybaby?

Even she didn’t know why her heart softened so easily around Kwon Oh-Jin.

Isabella looked down at Paolo’s corpse with his head severed. A faded memory flickered in her head of her gentle father, kind mother, and older sister she had loved more than anyone. The memories of a time that would never return drifted through her mind like a lingering scent.

Isabella stepped closer and leaned her forehead against his chest.

“Mr. Oh-Jin... what do I do now? The hope I had always dreamed of... It’s gone now.”

Her sister had gone missing, and her parents were dead. Even if she found her sister again by some miracle, she could never return to the past she once longed for.

“It’s your fault, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

Her faint laugh sounded almost absurd as if she found her words a little ridiculous herself. Her hope had disappeared because of Kwon Oh-Jin? She knew better than anyone how unreasonable that sounded.

“Yeah. It’s my fault.” Kwon Oh-Jin nodded calmly.

He had killed Paolo and crushed the tiny shred of hope she had buried deep in her heart.

Isabella looked at him with trembling eyes. Her heart pounded wildly.

Thump. Thump.

It wasn’t because of the bloodthirst. Her heart had forgotten how to beat properly.

“Then... since you’re responsible, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

She lowered her head as if to hide her flushing cheeks and gently wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Please be my new hope,” she said like a child complaining.

She knew she was being childishly unreasonable.

“Okay.”

Kwon Oh-Jin gently stroked her hair as her head rested against his chest. Her platinum blonde curls softly slipped through his fingers.

“Hic... hic...” Isabella’s shoulders trembled. “Waaaaaahhh!”

She finally released all her bottled-up emotions and wept in his arms like a child. Kwon Oh-Jin silently patted her back so she could say goodbye to her cherished hope and send it off along with her tears.

“Hic, sniff.

”

After a few minutes, Isabella finally looked up with her red, swollen eyes.

“Do you think... I’ll be able to forget this?”

No, she wouldn’t. This would remain like a thorn in her memory for the rest of her life, forever haunting her.

He gently held her trembling shoulders and whispered a sweet lie in her ear, “Yeah. You’ll be able to forget. Everything... will be okay.”

Even if it wasn’t true, sometimes a lie could be more comforting than a thousand truths.

***

News of Damien Salvatore’s death, the Sword of Justice and a Seven Stars, spread like wildfire all around the world.

According to the testimony of Isabella Colgrande, the new head of the Colgrande Family who was present at the scene, the summary of the incident went like this.

The Black Star Society’s Leech faction had their eyes on the Colgrande Family, who held immense power and basically ruled over Italy. Paolo Colgrande sensed the Leech faction’s movements and invited Damian Salvatore for help.

However, the Leech faction had already deeply infiltrated the family. They took Paolo and Isabella hostage and attacked Damian. Though Damien fought as hard as he could, he ultimately fell in battle.

This was the truth revealed by Isabella’s testimony. The shocking story was difficult to believe, but few doubted it given Isabella’s reputation. The Thunder Wolf had also been present and gave a supporting testimony.

The world was in utter shock upon hearing that the Black Star Society had the power to take down one of the Seven Stars. Public calls for the immediate pursuit and capture of the organization quickly gained momentum.

As the world continued to honor the Sword of Justice, all eyes turned toward the remaining Seven Stars to see how they would respond.

Amid all this, Song Ha-Eun kicked off her shoes without a care and bolted inside.

“Haa! It’s been so long since I’ve been home!”

It had been a month, no, almost two since she had last been home. She had a hectic schedule being dragged around as a key witness in the incident. Though her struggles couldn’t be compared to Isabella’s or Kwon Oh-Jin’s.

“Hehehe. I’m telling you. Nothing beats home,” she said.

After the Colgrande mansion was destroyed, they stayed at a luxurious five-star hotel in Rome owned by the Colgrande Family, but nowhere felt as comforting as her own place.

“Hehe, I missed my bed.”

She flopped face-down onto her mattress and wriggled like a worm.

Kwon Oh-Jin came in behind her after neatly arranging the shoes she had tossed aside.

“Are you that happy?” he asked.

“What? Are you saying you liked staying at Isabella’s hotel more?”

“Of course not.”

Sure, the five-star hotel was extravagant in both amenities and accommodations.

“But our home is still the best,” he said.

“Right?”

Kwon Oh-Jin sat down beside her on the bed and gently ran his fingers through her hair. She pressed her cheek into his palm like a cat rubbing up for affection.

“Hehe. I love it when it’s just the two of us.”

With a smile as sweet as sugar, she tugged him down onto the bed with her. Just as he let himself be pulled down, a blue spark snapped between them.

Zap!

Vega, who had been perched on Kwon Oh-Jin’s head, crossed her arms and frowned. “Just the two of you, huh? Have you forgotten that I’m here?”

Song Ha-Eun looked up at Vega and scoffed. “Ha, I didn’t see you cause you’re so tiny.”

“What was that?” Vega flew into the air and smacked Song Ha-Eun’s forehead with her small hand.

Despite her coin-sized hand, the force behind it was surprisingly strong.

“Ow! Why did you hit me?!”

“Hmph. Consider it a lesson in showing proper respect to a Celestial.”

“You little pipsqueak with freakish strength...”

“P-Pipsqueak!?” Trembling with fury, Vega smacked her forehead again and again. “How dare you? You insolent child!”

“Ahh! Stop! Stop!”

This scene felt too familiar to Kwon Oh-Jin.

He watched the two bicker with a faint smile. “Well, I’ll go do some cleaning. Call me when you’re done fighting.”

“You little—!” Song Ha-Eun shouted.

“Oh? Are you defying my sacred etiquette lessons?” Vega said.

Clearly, they didn’t hear him. He quietly chuckled and stepped out of the room.

“Phew.”

After quickly cleaning the living room, he stepped into the spare room they used as storage.

Now then.

He slowly raised his hand and focused. A radiant light began to gather in his palm.

Woong!

It was light created by the Stigma of Libra that he had absorbed from Damian.

“Now, how can I use this well?”

Kwon Oh-Jin stared at the bright light, lost in thought.

Light made from the Stigma of Libra could solidify mana into crystals.

The problem is, it’s way too obvious.

No one else could crystallize mana other than Awakeners of Libra, which made it hard to use without drawing attention.

I’ll only be able to use the ability to crystallize mana when Vega’s not present, but...

When it came to purely manipulating light, he could use it in plenty of ways.

In a pretty unreal way too.

He concentrated and moved the light in his hand.

Woong!

The light began to shift and slowly turned into the shape of something. Standing before him was a perfect copy of himself.

An illusion.

As long as he could precisely control the light, he could create hologram-like illusions.

“This will come in handy.”

This ability had limitless possibilities, especially for someone like him who had a talent for deceiving people.

“I’ll still need to practice to get fully used to it.”

When he reached out toward the reflection of himself, his hand passed right through. Ripples of light spread out like a stone thrown into water, and the illusion of Kwon Oh-Jin scattered like smoke. Creating illusions from light required such fine control that he wasn’t used to maintaining its form yet.

Still, with enough practice, I should be able to make good use of this.

Kwon Oh-Jin smiled in satisfaction, pleased with his newly acquired Stigma.

“Why the hell didn’t that bastard Damian use such an amazing ability?”

Sight was one of the most important senses for humans. Properly utilizing illusions to deceive the eyes could completely change the dynamics of a battle.

“Ah, don’t tell me...”

He changed the color of the light on his palm. Like customizing color options in a game, the light morphed into a multitude of colors.

Just like that, Kwon Oh-Jin realized why Damian hadn’t used such an overpowering ability.

It’s not that he didn’t use it...

Damian simply couldn’t change the light’s wavelength to transform its color like Kwon Oh-Jin could with the Transformation skill.

Now that I think about it, Damian’s light was just white.

“Does that mean this ability to create illusion is something only I can do?”

Kwon Oh-Jin summoned his clone again with sparkling eyes. This time, his clone looked more threatening while glaring and gripping a jet-black spear.

“Damn, you’re one good looking bastard.”

Song Ha-Eun would've fallen over from laughing if she heard that.

Muttering to himself, he dispersed the illusion. He wanted to practice more right now, but knew Song Ha-Eun wouldn’t let him after just returning home.

“Oh-Jin! Since we’re finally back home, let’s order some delivery!”

She was right on cue. As he had that thought, Song Ha-Eun burst through the door into the room.

Vega sat perched on her head like they hadn't been fighting just moments ago.

“Delivery? We’re ordering food instead of cooking?” Vega asked.

“Yup! Let’s order pig trotters, pizza, and chicken! Let’s order it all!” Song Ha-Eun said.

“Ooh! A surprisingly good idea coming from you.”

“What did you just say?” Song Ha-Eun frowned and was about to reach for Vega on top of her head.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Ding-dong.

“You already ordered it?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

“Huh? No, I haven’t ordered anything yet...”

Cocking his head, Kwon Oh-Jin opened the door.

Isabella smiled sweetly and waved. “Hello, Mr. Oh-Jin.”

A group of muscular bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses stood behind her with large suitcases.

“What is this?” Song Ha-Eun pointed to the large suitcases.

“My luggage.”

“You’re luggage?”

“Yes. There’s a spare room in your house, right Mr. Oh-Jin?”

Isabella stepped inside with sparkling eyes.

“W-Wait! Who said you could move in?!” Song Ha-Eun shouted.

“Oh my, didn’t Mr. Oh-Jin tell you?” Isabella lifted the hem of her dress elegantly as she formally bowed to Kwon Oh-Jin. “My name is Isabella Colgrande, officially appointed as Mr. Oh-Jin’s exclusive maid.”

“Excuse me!?” Song Ha-Eun exclaimed.

Exclusive maid? Appointed by whom?

“W-Who exactly appointed you to do that?!” Song Ha-Eun asked.

“Hehe. Mr. Oh-Jin did, of course.”

Huh? I did? When?