Chapter 183: Interlude – For a Better Past (2)

Vroooom—

The motorcycle’s exhaust echoed out.

Ohjin quickly sped through the roads with Ha-eun sitting behind him.

It was his first time driving a motorcycle, but he was able to keep his balance without much difficulty thanks to his superhuman Awakener senses.

“…”

Ha-eun lightly pulled Ohjin’s hip and leaned on his wide back.

Thump, thump—

The sound of her beating heart thudded so loudly that she couldn’t even hear the motorcycle’s exhaust.

Her head heated up like there was a hot, wet towel wrapped around her neck.

‘Wh-What is going on?’

After absorbing the Living Armor with the Black Heaven, Ohjin suddenly changed and started coveting her even more.

It wasn’t only that…

He’d even pulled her arm in a slightly forceful manner and suddenly said they should head home.

Ohjin’s actions could only be described to be much bolder than how he usually reacted when she enticed him.

‘Is… it because of Lee Shinhyuk’s memories?’

She didn’t hear it in detail but knew that he gained the Regressor’s memories as the Black Heaven grew.

Ha-eun wondered if his actions were related to those memories.

“…Hmpf.”

She mumbled in a small voice with her forehead leaning on his back.

“There’s no need to pay attention to stuff like that.”

What meaning was there in what you did or what happened to you in a separate life that you had no memories of?

Ha-eun was there right behind him, hugging his hips.

She was with him in the past, she was with him in the present, and she would be with him in the future.

‘Well, I… I guess this is better for me.’

She recalled when he roughly pulled her in and went for her lips.

They had met lips a couple of times until then, but it was her first time experiencing him wanting her lips so intensely that it was almost like he wanted to devour them.

“Uhh.”

Ha-eun increased the strength in her hug as her cheeks reddened.

Her heart beat like she was dreaming, and it refused to calm down because Ohjin acting so aggressively was rare.

‘Wh-When we get home…’

Her face heated up every time she thought about what would be waiting for her at home.

When Ha-eun gulped and was licking her dry lips with her tongue—

Skrr—

“We’ve arrived.”

—a familiar apartment building entered her eyes as the motorcycle stopped.

* * *

Translator – Maccas

Proofreader – ilafy

* * *

It was the house she presented to Ohjin after saving her money and taking out a loan.

Needless to say, both the exterior and interior looked tacky compared to the luxurious apartment building Isabella gifted to Ohjin, but that house meant a lot to the two of them since they had basically lived in a shack.

“Huh? W-W-We arrived already?”

A nervous expression on her face, Ha-eun nodded and got up from the backseat of the motorcycle.

Ohjin took the lead, and she nervously followed him.

‘Ahhhh! This is driving me crazy!’

In normal circumstances, she would’ve made a joke to loosen up the mood, but it didn’t seem appropriate when she considered Ohjin’s stiff expression.

Ha-eun chewed her lips and followed him with anxious steps.

The time it took for the elevator to reach floor 7 felt so long that she thought it was taking them to floor 70.

Ding—

The doors of the elevator opened with the sound of a clear bell.

The interior of the house that was more or less 66 square meters entered their eyes.

It was no different than usual, but the house felt unfamiliar for some unknown reason.

“O-Ohjin.”

Ha-eun carefully held his sleeve while her eyes quivered.

Ohjin looked at her and gradually approached.

When the distance between them was so close that she could hear the sound of him breathing—

“Ah!”

—Ha-eun closed her eyes tight and jolted.

She felt something cold on her cheek.

It was as if a bottle containing a lukewarm drink was placed next to her chee—

“Huh?”

Ha-eun opened her eyes and looked at the transparent glass bottle Ohjin placed right next to her face.

“What’s this?”

There was a liquid emitting a mystical blue light within the bottle.

Ohjin opened the bottle and handed it to her.

“It’s an elixir.”

“…What?”

Her mind went blank.

The word “Elixir” that left his mouth quickly swam around inside of her head.

“W-Wait, what? An elixir?”

It was a potion that was known to be able to restore a patient to health regardless of how critical their condition was. They just had to still be breathing.

The expensive potion required materials that were hard to acquire for even a high-rank Awakener of Aquarius and it needed to be refined for several years.

No, the word “expensive” wasn’t fit to express it.

Items on par with the elixir weren’t things you could obtain with money in the first place.

“Drink it.”

Ohijin put the bottle close to her mouth.

Ha-eun stared at him with a stiff expression.

“Just where did you get this?”

It was impossible to obtain an elixir through ordinary means.

“I got it from winning a bet with Deneb.”

“Deneb? Are you talking about the Deneb I’m thinking of?”

Ha-eun’s mouth fell open.

Ohjin nodded his head and told her about the proxy match he’d done with Deneb’s apostles at the sanctum.

Ha-eun’s pupils gradually trembled more as he kept talking.

“You fought Deneb’s apostles…? Four of them, one after the other?”

Ha-eun grabbed his collar and cried out.

“Why?! Why did you do such an insane thing?!”

Not only had he conducted a fight with three people as a bet, but he’d also recklessly fought an additional, fourth apostle.

“If the proxy match was for Vega, why did you fight a fourth…?”

“I would’ve been able to receive Deneb’s divinity with defeating three, but I wouldn’t have been justified in asking for an elixir if I just stopped there.”

“That’s…”

He was unable to stop after the third match because he’d been thinking of her.

“Then… a-are you saying you fought a high-ranking Awakener of Cygnus for me?”

Ha-eun looked at Ohjin with trembling eyes.

Ohjin grinned and nonchalantly shrugged like it was nothing worth mentioning.

“…Ah.”

A short exclamation left her lips.

That’s right…

It was always the same…

He was a person who would go through hell or high water for her.

Even if he turned into ash or dust, he would gladly sacrifice his body.

“Ugh…”

Transparent tears gathered near Ha-eun’s eyes.

She grasped the elixir Ohjin handed over as her shoulders shivered.

It felt unfair.

Thoughts of him filled her head so much that she couldn’t live without him starting from long ago, and she believed that she couldn’t possibly love him more than she already did.

“What… am I supposed to do now?”

Ha-eun ended up falling for him even more.

Just when she thought that it was impossible…

Just when she thought that there was no more room for him to occupy since he filled every nook and cranny deep in her heart…

“Why are you asking the obvious?”

Ohjin smirked and took the elixir out of her hands.

“Hurry up and drink it. You seriously don’t listen to me.”

After taking in a mouthful, he gently kissed her trembling lips.

“Hmh…”

A blue liquid flowed over her tongue and went down her throat.

Gentle, blue light emitted from her body.

Clack—

The prosthetic leg under her right knee dropped onto the floor.

What appeared where the prosthetic leg used to be—

“W-Whoa.”

—was a pure, white leg.

“M-My leg! O-Ohjin, my leg really regenerated!” Ha-eun shouted out in an excited voice and shook his shoulders.

Even if the prosthetic leg he gave as a present was comfortable, it couldn’t be compared to a real leg.

Wriggle, wriggle—

As if she was a bird flapping its wings for the first time, she carefully moved her right toes.

She felt her pure, white foot move naturally according to her will.

“Ah…”

Tears ran down her cheek.

The saying that you only realized the importance of things after they were gone existed for a reason.

‘I thought… that I’d never get it back.’

Ha-eun could at least hope that she would recover her vision one day since curses could be removed, but her leg was something she believed impossible to recover since it had been too long since it was cut off.

She coped by telling herself that the discomfort could be endured and life wasn’t all that bad without a right leg. After regaining her leg and the sensations that came with it, she realized how much the discomfort had bothered her.

“Are you able to move it ok?”

Ohjin got down on one knee and grabbed her right leg.

“Eek!!”

Was it because it had only just regenerated? A shocking stimulation spread from her sensitive leg.

“D-Don’t touch it!”

Her face reddened while she tried to move her leg away—

“I need to confirm whether it regenerated properly.”

—but Ohjin held her leg tight and massaged it.

Ha-eun floundered and fell on her back.

“It looks fine to me.”

He smirked as Ha-eun reacted intensely every time he massaged her white leg.

“Y-You…”

Without giving time for her to pour our complaints—

“Then, I don’t need to hold myself back anymore, right?”

—Ohjin picked her up in a princess carry.

Albeit, it didn’t look as cool as he imagined due to Ha-eun’s tallness.

“Wh-What are you planning to do?”

The way Ha-eun carefully looked up at him in his arms was more lovely than any way he could have imagined.

It was a bed that could slide out one more bed if you took out the lower part that looked like drawers…

‘But there won’t be a use for it today.’

Ohjin carefully placed Ha-eun on top of the bed and unbuttoned his shirt.

Like trying to calm down her subtly shivering body, he laid his body over hers.

* * *

“Huff, huff.”

After the time for heated pleasure came to an end, Ha-eun took in deep breaths and fumbled with her belly like she couldn’t believe it.

“S-So that thing really went in…”

It was so pleasurable that it made her feel stupid for not having experienced it until then.

Ha-eun’s face reddened as she recalled how Ohjin ravaged her like a beast.

It was nice… much nicer than she imagined.

So much so that it wasn’t easy to recall a time in her life that felt better.

However…

“…”

‘What if only I felt good?’

‘What if Ohjin is thinking that it wasn’t as good as he imagined?’

The seed of anxiety rooted in her mind started to bud rapidly.

Ha-eun carefully poked Ohjin.

Ohjin, who was lying down and looking at the ceiling with a blank look, turned his head to face her.

“What?”

“S-So… you know…”

She kept stuttering and soon asked in despair.

“H-How did it f-feel?”

“How did what feel?”

“Y-You know… d-down there.”

“It felt like freshly boiled meat.”

“You piece of shit.”

‘What the fuck is this guy saying?’

____