"Uh, hm."
Riak avoided his gaze and mumbled.
"…I'm sorry."
"…"
"I didn't think that this would happen."
Ohjin stared at Riak with fierce eyes with his naked body crouched up.
After picking up his underwear and pants, he let out a deep sigh.
"Haa. So what's the problem?"
"Look at your body."
Ohjin straightened his arms in front of the mirror.
Muscles like of a statue were prominent thanks to his relentless training, however…
"Ah, so that's it."
Clap—
Ha-eun clapped her hands.
"What is it?"
Clueless, Ohjin tilted his head.
"Take a proper look at your body. It's so skinny that it looks like it's about to snap."
"Hey, it's not that ba…"
Ohjin observed himself in the mirror once more.
"…"
"See?"
As she said, it was just that some muscles definition. His body was actually so skinny that even his ribs could be seen clearly.
"Yeah…"
He wasn't aware since he had become so used to it, but he came to a realization once it was pointed out.
"Argh. I always thought you were too skinny!"
Ha-eun smacked his back and reprimanded him.
"…So what do I have to do?"
"Why are you asking the obvious?"
Riak headed to the drawers that were in the room and opened them with his mouth.
Ratatatatata!—
The cheap calorie bars that filled the drawers gushed out.
"First of all, throw all of these away."
"But those are my precious provisions…"
"Your body is a mess because you're eating things like this!" shouted Riak, who then stirred up his lightning.
Bzzzzzzzt!—
The blue lightning burnt the piled-up calorie bars to a crisp.
"Ahhh!! What are you doing!!"
Ohjin freaked out and embraced the calorie bars that had become ashes.
"D-Do you know how many days worth of provisions these were!! It's the superfood that allows you to survive with just two a day!!!!"
"Haa," Riak sighed deeply.
He looked at Ha-eun with a reproaching gaze.
"Just how did he become like this?"
"Uh… yeah. A-About that."
Ha-eun avoided his gaze with a perplexed expression.
It was hard to blame Ohjin when the biggest reason he became like that was herself.
"Anyways."
Riak continued with a stern expression.
"Eat high-protein meat together with all kinds of vegetables from now on."
"Huh? That's it?"
Ohjin asked back with a blank expression.
He thought that the balance of mind, technique, and body was a serious problem, but all he had to do was eat healthily.
It was too simple.
"It just goes to show how you've been neglecting something so simple until now."
"Uhk."
He couldn’t make any excuses.
Despite having abundant amounts of cash after obtaining the Cursed Dragon’s Eye for Ha-eun, excluding special occasions, he had never spent over $5 a day on food.
‘Ha-eun did nag me about eating too poorly before.'
As it was a habit that was second nature to him, it wasn’t easy to fix.
"The body is the bowl that contains ‘Mind' and ‘Technique'. Why are you obsessed over the other two to near extreme levels but not the equally important bowl?"
"…I have no excuses."
He was in the wrong a hundred times over.
As long as one was a living being, nothing gave as much of a direct influence to the body as unbalanced nutrient consumption.
"Alright! Since it's come to this, let's eat to our heart's content today!" shouted Ha-eun with light in her eyes.
"Ha-eun?"
"Kyahaha! Now that I think of it, we haven't had our new house celebration party yet. I'll make you something delicious so that your body recovers quickly!"
"No. You'll destroy every dish if you're the one making them."
"T-Trust me! I can cook it really well this time!"
It was the tone of a gambler who lost all their wealth.
Ohjin looked at Ha-eun like he didn't believe her.
"Goddammit! Just sit still and eat whatever I cook you, bitch!"
Swoosh, swoosh—
Ha-eun swung her fists.
"Alright, alright. Then I'll trust in your skills this time."
"Hehe. Of course. Stay still and trust me, okay?"
Ha-eun raised her nose and folded up her sleeves.
[Fufu. It looks like fun. As this is something that's for this lady’s loving child… it looks like I won't be able to sit still!]
Vega showed interest as light glimmered in her eyes.
Like that, Ohjin waited for the two women to finish cooking while lying down on the bed.
"Kyaaaa! W-Why is it like this?!"
[Hm. Is there a need to annoyingly cook it with fire? With one blow of this lady’s lightning, it can be turned into ash.]
"You're not supposed to turn it into ash!!"
Phrases that induced extreme anxiety streamed out of the kitchen.
"…Riak."
"What?"
"Won't eating calorie bars be better than this?"
"…"
Riak looked away and shut his lips tight.
"Haa."
Ohjin sighed deeply and raised himself off the bed.
He took out the USB that he received from Jang Sukho.
‘Let's look at the information using this spare time.'
"…"
Ohjin looked down at the USB with a bitter expression.
Tch—
He inserted the USB into the laptop after clicking his tongue.
"This is…"
Ohjin’s eyes narrowed as he read the information.
The goal of the Black Star Organization that Jang Sukho had mentioned.
"…After killing every single Awakener, they want to make all people equal Awakeners?"
"Hah," laughed Ohjin.
‘Nice, It's easy to understand.'
Would there exist a plan that was as direct as that one?
Drrr—
He scrolled down using the mouse wheel.
"P.S. This is nothing but the external goal. Each faction has their own different plans and goals."
Well, it was within the margin of what he expected.
‘Not all people would obediently follow this insane plan.'
Their external goal was just an attractive bait used to increase their forces.
"I got the rough idea of what they're planning."
Ohjin looked through the data and clicked his tongue.
‘They’re deeming Awakeners as a kind of privileged class and trying to pull in the non-Awakeners.'
The current society could divide people into two categories:
Awakeners who received a celestial's stigma… and regular people who couldn't.
You didn’t have to think hard about which was the privileged in a world crawling with monsters.
‘The Black Star Organization can grant non-Awakeners a stigma and turn them into Awakeners.'
And using that fact, they were trying to use the hatred against Awakeners that couldn't help but develop for non-Awakeners.
"…It looks like not even Jang Sukho knew about their true goal."
The information that a small fry like Jang Sukho could obtain was limited.
‘Well, anyways.'
Even if it was superficial, it was most likely that getting rid of every single Awakener was one of their main goals.
‘It's now certain that they need to be eliminated as fast as possible.'
Ohjin narrowed his eyes and opened a different file contained within the USB.
Information about the location of a couple of branches and Templars of the Owl Faction that Jang Sukho mentioned was displayed.
While reading the information, a certain name stuck out to his eyes.
[Cheon Woosung]
-The son of the King of Owls, Cheon Doyoon. Called the King's Delegate and essentially manages the Black Star Organization.
-Suspected to have currently infiltrated the Association.
"Cheon Woosung…"
Ohjin recalled the memories of Arshad Khan.
‘Is Cheon Woosung the person Arshad Khan talked to back then?'
The King's Delegate and the one who lead the Owl Faction.
"I'll have to mention this to Joonman."
Ohjin just so happened to be planning on visiting the Association soon.
Tak—
He put the USB back into his pocket after closing the laptop.
‘Let's visit the Association tomorrow. For today, I’ll listen to Riak’s warning and rest.’
Click!—
"Ohjin! Dinner's ready!"
Ha-eun, who had sauce staining several areas of her face, laughed brightly as she entered the room.
Ohjin put on a bitter smile and headed to the living room.
"Behold! My perfect nutrient dish!"
[Fufu! This lady has also prepared it with great care.]
Ha-eun and Vega, sitting on either side of him, held out their spoons.
Would a day in his life come where he would experience such luxury once again?
‘Though it probably tastes awful.'
* * *
The next day.
Ohjin headed to the Association as soon as he woke up.
"…Cheon Woosung was a part of the Black Star Organization?"
General Manager's face stiffened as he took in the information received from Jang Sukho.
"Yes. According to the information I've received, that's correct."
"Sigh. For him to be…"
"Is there an internal issue within the Association by any chance?"
"…"
General Manager Han gripped his hair.
"You have probably already noticed… the Association is currently completely split into two factions."
Indeed.
There was an issue regarding the internal factions, and Cheon Woosung had infiltrated into one of them.
"One side is the chairman's lineup which I'm within, and the other is the board of directors' lineup. And their leader is…"
"Cheon Woosung?"
"…That's right."
A deep sigh rang out in the office.
“Is this also the reason why you recruited me into the Association?”
“…Haha. You’re really sharp.”
He smiled bitterly and nodded his head.
“That’s correct. Though it was also for raising the Association's prestige… there was also the matter of bringing a North Star’s apostle into our lineup.”
Was that also why he offered a position that wasn’t ‘Officially affiliated with the Association’ and instead was somewhere in the middle?
‘If I was officially in the Association, the other faction would also gain the right to hand down orders to me.’
One by one, his questions started to be solved.
‘Yeah, I did think it was a little weird.’
Until now, Ohjin had never made contact with someone from the Association, excluding ‘General Manager Han’. He did meet another Special Officer, but that could be considered an exception.
‘So they intentionally restricted contact.’
Han Joonman, who was in the ‘Chairman's lineup’, was dedicated to making contact with Ohjin as they couldn’t be 100% certain of what faction the others were in.
“Is there anything I can help out with?”
It wasn’t Ohjin’s business whether the Association was split into two, but it was a different story if the Black Star Organization had infiltrated into one of the sides.
“…No. We’ll try to take care of this matter on our own for now.”
General Manager Han shook his head and continued.
“Though if your help becomes required, we’ll request assistance.”
“Naturally—”
“Naturally, you won’t have to worry about the corresponding rewards.”
General Manager Han smiled like he knew all the words he would say.
‘Indeed, this old man and I really do get along.’
With there being a reason to do so and a fair reward, there was no reason to turn down the offer.
‘Though there is a little problem.’
Cheon Woosung was an opponent that was hard to handle with his current strength.
He had barely defeated a mid-rank Templar, and he was still far off defeating against a core executive called the King’s Delegate of the Black Star Organization.
‘Waiting for Joonman is the right move.’
Ohjin couldn’t face Cheon Woosung on his own anyway.
Raising his strength during that time was the correct move.
“Oh, right. Here.”
Ohjin placed the wire shooter and spear he brought on top of the table.
General Manager Han forced a chuckle while looking at the destroyed weapons.
“So they’ve become completely destroyed.”
“Khm.”
Ohjin cleared his throat and looked the other way.
“And with that in mind, I would like to request the production of a new weapon.”
“Hm… wait a moment.”
General Manager Han took the destroyed weapons and got up from the spot.
“Ah. Since it’s come to this, would you like to meet them in person? I think it’ll allow you to design a weapon that’s much more optimized for you.”
“Meet them?”
Smirk—
The edges of General Manager Han’s lips went up as he opened the office door.
“You’ll know once you follow me.”
