" 5, 5, 5-Star?! Didn't you become a 4-Star two months ago?!"
"That's right."
"What the…"
He slurred the end of his sentence with a face that expressed his astonishment.
—An expression that seemed to say that it was utterly unbelievable.
Ohjin slightly pulled down his clothes to show him the stigma on his chest.
‘The imagery of taking off my clothes in front of him is a bit weird, but it is what it is.'
There was no easier method to confirm the ‘star' level.
"Ha…"
General Manager Han exclaimed shortly after confirming the five clear flicks engraved next to Ohjin’s stigma.
"Y-You actually became a 5-Star in just two months."
Ohjin had awakened the stigma of Lyra in November of the previous year. With it currently being June, he had reached 5-Star in a little over half a year.
Not only that, it wasn't with a second-rate stigma, but one from a North Star.
"…This can't even be used as an article."
General Manager Han rested his hand on his forehead and took a deep sigh.
Even at that time, there were rumors going around that the Association fabricated the articles about the Lightning Wolf becoming a 4-Star within half a year. Announcing that he became a 5-Star would be meaningless, as there would be no one who believed it.
It was rather more likely that they would be called scammers while more distrust formed amongst the public.
"Well, it isn’t like I'm the first Awakener to reach 5-Star in half a year, is it?"
"That's only in the case of insignificant stigmas."
No one amongst the 12 Zodiacs and above had managed to become a 5-Star in half a year.
‘The fastest so far was the Star of Celestial Shining Pearl (祿存星) of the Seven Stars.'
And even they had taken longer than half a year.
"In any case, I think it would be best to keep this a secret for a while."
A new world record of 9.58 seconds on a 100m sprint would receive praise from all over the globe, but an abrupt record of 6 seconds would receive suspicion rather than praise.
"That's a bit unfortunate."
As Ohjin had mentioned before, fame and honor itself was a significant source of authority.
With just his complaint, hadn't the Starlight Lake guild kicked out Choi Jungchul, who was an executive, with no questions asked? In addition, back then, he was a 3-Star while Choi Jungchul was a 6-Star.
Ultimately, they hadn't even hesitated to kick out a 6-Star Awakener from the complaint of a mere 3-Star Awakener.
‘That's the power of fame.'
It was evident that he would be able to get his hands on even more decisive fame if he proved that he had reached 5-Star two months after promoting to 4-Star.
Who wouldn't want to depend on a lottery ticket that's guaranteed to win?
‘Well, I should probably listen to his advice for now.'
Even if he uploaded a photo of the five flicks on his chest, it was clear that he would receive suspicion of it being a photoshopped image.
The reaction would be the same if he uploaded a video where he demonstrated his stigma.
Suspicion was bound to arise for humans when the matter exceeded common sense.
"Then I'll return back here after a week."
Ohjin was planning to focus on recovering from his injuries during the week.
* * *
During the one week required for the completion of the weapons, he ate until he was stuffed and focused on recovering his stamina.
Ohjin didn't hold back on spending money to eat, as Riak advised.
Nutrient juice made by blending chicken breast and vegetables, raw salmon and meat, even various nuts and supplements…
Simply put, every food item that had abundant nutrients was stuffed into his mouth.
‘I didn't think that eating could be this painful.'
It was a minimum of 4000 calories each day.
For Ohjin, who was used to eating a small amount of food on a daily basis, having a diet of over five meals a day was no different from torture.
‘But still…'
The results were certain.
In just one week, his build became larger as his muscles swelled up.
His exposed rib bones could no longer be seen.
"Damn. So this kind of thing is possible in a week."
Ohjin exclaimed as he stood in front of the mirror with his upper body exposed.
His body wasn't inferior to a fitness model in the least, now that he had gained a bit of fat.
‘My stamina also increased.'
Was it because the balance between his mind, technique, and body became more balanced?
His stamina and strength had increased considerably when all he had done for the past week was repetitive eating and resting.
‘Though my mana circuits still leave much to be desired.'
That problem would eventually be solved as his ‘star' continued to rise.
Click—
"Ohjin, the things you'll need to take to the ga…"
Ha-eun's mouth fell agape as she entered the room.
"Y-Your body is…"
"How is it? Isn't it much better than before?"
Ohjin flexed his arms into the shape of an O like a bodybuilder.
"…Gulp."
Saliva ran down her throat.
Facing the other way with her red cheeks, she fanned her face using her palm.
"I-It's a bit hot in here."
It was June.
It indeed was kind of hot.
But that didn't seem to be the reason she was heated.
"Huhu. Why are you sweating so much all of a sudden?"
Ohjin playfully approached her.
"Kyaa!"
Ha-eun screamed as she ran away.
‘Hey, this is pretty fun.'
"You bastard… are you seriously messing with me?"
Only being flustered for a moment, she puffed out as she approached him nonchalantly.
"Do you seriously think I would get flustered over something like this?"
Ha-eun placed her quivering hand on Ohjin’s shoulder.
Squish, squish—
Her hand touched his sturdy, swollen muscles.
"O-Oh damn. O-Okay."
Getting in the mood, her hand started to slowly trespass over onto his chest.
"Hey, where do you think you’re touching?"
‘Look at this girl.'
"Oho. Stay still."
Ha-eun groped around his body with an excited expression.
"Fu, fufufu. Hihi. Hehehe."
Now she even started to leak out creepy laughter.
Soon, she nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Indeed, I'm great at raising boys."
"If someone else heard, they'd misunderstand and think you raised me."
"I've basically raised you. Eat lots and grow up strong and healthy, okay?"
Ha-eun smirked and spanked his butt with her hand.
…Touching somebody else's butt without permission?
"This is sexual harassment."
"Oh my. Sexual harassment? Me?"
"Then I'm touching it as well."
"Uh, what?"
Flinch!—
Ha-eun's shoulders shook.
Khm!—
She soon cleared her throat and turned around.
"Fufu. Do you want to touch my butt that much?"
Ha-eun taunted him by shaking her hips bewitchingly right in front of him.
"Kyahaha! I dare you—"
Squish—
"Hm."
‘Nice.'
"Kyaaaaaaaa!! H-How could you really do that!"
"You're the one who told me to."
"Th-That was just a figure of speech!! For god's sake!
Ha-eun fumed as she lightly pinched his flank.
Rather than hurting, it tickled.
"Would you look at this?"
Refusing to be the only one on the receiving end, Ohjin also pinched her flank.
"Kyahahat! I-It tickles!"
"You started it."
"You!'
As they toyed around with each other—
[…So, when are you planning to depart?] Vega, sitting on top of Riak's head, asked as she narrowed her eyes.
The way she crossed her legs and how her foot shook made it seem like she was in quite the bad mood.
[Laughing and chatting this laxly when a fight against monsters with life and death on the line lies ahead makes me think you’re being quite careless. There is a need for warriors to train their mind and body before…]
She rambled on like she was admonishing a child.
It appeared that she didn't like how Ohjin and Ha-eun were getting along and having fun with each other.
"Heh."
Ha-eun smirked as she looked at Vega.
"If you're jealous, just say it."
[J-Jealous…?!]
Bzzzzt!—
Sparks started to pop out of Vega’s silver hair.
[Can't you see this lady is giving advice? What nonsense are you talking about!]
"Oh my~ is that right?"
[You!]
Ha-eun and Vega started to bicker.
‘She's become quite close to Vega.'
Becoming close was inevitable when they were together for extended periods of time.
Ha-eun wasn't the type to get cold feet because one was a celestial, either.
"Let's get going."
Ohjin stopped their dispute and packed up his equipment.
Click—
He equipped the wire shooters that he received the previous day from General Manager Han and grabbed a steel rod that was the same size as a flashlight.
‘This is supposed to turn into a spear once mana is sent into it, right?'
Once he surged mana into the flashlight-sized steel rod, it turned into the shape of a long spear with a crescent blade.
"Hoo, very nice."
One of the spear’s most troublesome problems, portability, was easily solved.
“Rookie, are you going to go hunt?”
“Yeah, you’re coming as well, right?”
“Grr! Of course. A warrior should never walk away from a war.”
Riak smirked as he stretched his body.
“Then let’s go.”
Click—
They opened the door and went outside. After they got into the car in the parking lot, they headed to Busan.
* * *
* * *
Chatter, chatter!—
After around five hours of driving, a large crowd came into view as they started to approach the gate.
“Wow, this place is crowded.”
Ha-eun looked at the crowd that gathered in front of the gate and shook her head.
“Were there always this many Awakeners above 5-Star in Korea?”
“People have probably gone nuts over this gate after hearing that two starstones appear at once.”
Ohjin had already predicted that there would be a lot of people.
“But will hunting be possible like this?”
“I heard that a lot of monsters appear in addition to it being extremely spacious inside the gate. It’ll probably be fine if we head deeper inside.”
“Alright! Let’s go!”
Ha-eun smiled and took long strides.
Riak and Vega followed her lead.
Ohjin looked at their backs and chuckled at the strange sight.
‘Celestial, Star Spirit, Awakener of Draco, and a North Star’s apostle, all in one party.’
He doubted the possibility of such a party ever existing, even when including the world of the 1st Round.
When he was heading to the gate with those thoughts—
“Hello viewers~! I'm Jerry Kim—a streamer specialized in clearing gates!"
—an energetic voice was heard in front of him.
“Once again, I’m here today in front of the gate that’s been trending for dropping two starstones at once! Haha! You guys think I’m coming here too often? But how could I not?”
The handsome youth with orange-dyed hair raised a large sack.
“These are the starstones I’ve farmed during the month I was here! How could I possibly not come here!”
Pahaha!—
He laughed as he proudly shook his sack.
“You guys think that everyone earns this much? Nah, there are this many starstones because it’s me!”
The youth arrogantly shrugged and continued to share conversations with his camera.
“…Who’s that?"
Ohjin tilted his head and asked.
“You don’t know Jerry Kim?”
“Jerry Kim?”
“He’s very famous. A 6-Star Awakener of Sagittarius, Jerry Kim. He’s unaffiliated and streams himself hunting alone inside gates.”
“Oho.”
Sagittarius was a powerful constellation that belonged to the 12 Zodiacs.
A 6-Star Awakener of the 12 Zodiacs would be welcomed into any guild, but he instead chose to be unaffiliated and streamed to the internet.
“Does he earn a lot from streaming?”
“Well, some people do. But other than that, something like a ‘desire for fame'? Wouldn’t that be the reason he streams? After all, he gets praise from his viewers in real time.”
It was to be expected. A 6-Star Awakener of the 12 Zodiacs wouldn’t need to stream for money.
‘Streaming, huh?’
Ohjin started to gain interest.
“Stop right there. There are pros but also cons. If you make one mistake, it's easy to get socially canceled."
“Well, I guess you're right.”
Fame was fundamentally hard to build up but easy to lose all at once.
Maybe if he was desperate for money like in the past, but if it wasn’t that, he didn't have a reason to stream.
“Let’s pay it no attention and go inside.”
“Yeah.”
Ohjin followed Ha-eun into the gate.
