Chapter 18: Black Star Organization (1)

“…Huh?”

As if hearing the unimaginable, the youth tilted his head.

“You’ll sell it?”

Cases of selling a star relic that hadn’t even gone through an appraisal were uncommon.

“Yes. I don’t think it has the performance I’m looking for; it doesn’t seem to react to my touch either. And…”

Ohjin glanced at the five people in black robes with a friendly smile.

They were a suspicious group that gave off a strange pseudo-religious aura.

A bloody aura like that of a professional killer leaked out.

‘Well, this is predictable.’

Ohjin lightly shrugged.

“Isn’t my life worth more than this star relic after all?”

“…What?”

The youth tilted his head in confusion.

And soon—

“Ha, haha! Hahahaha!! I think there’s a misunderstanding!”

—holding onto his belly, he exploded in laughter.

“A misunderstanding?”

“Haha, yes. That’s right.”

The youth that had tears in his eyes touched the hem of his robe and nodded.

“Well… the fact that our guild uniform is dreary is true; it’s our guild leader’s mysterious sense of style.”

He took off the robe that encompassed his entire body.

Under the robe was light leather armor similar to that most Awakeners enjoyed wearing.

“Certainly Awakeners turning into robbers inside dungeons is a common occurrence, but… we’re not like them, so there’s no need to be so cautious.”

“Ah, I shouldn’t have misunderstood.”

Acting embarrassed, Ohjin bowed down.

‘Misunderstanding?’

Smirking on the inside, he laughed.

‘Bullshit.’

The clear murderous intent he felt when they saw the star relic in his hands.

A suspicious get-up that covered their entire body.

And, above all…

‘They emanated the same aura as this star relic.’

An unpleasant, malicious aura with sticky viscosity.

Since he had absorbed the ‘Black Star’s power’ through the Black Heaven moments ago, he could be certain.

‘These bastards…’

‘Have the same Black Star’s power as the star relic.’

“Haha. Sorry for being discourteous; the world these days is so chaotic.”

“Don’t worry. We have also heard to be more cautious of Awakeners than monsters inside dungeons.”

“Umm. Now that’s that.”

Ohjin once again held out the black drinking glass and smirked.

“This. Didn’t you say that you need this?”

“Yes. The fact that we need it is the truth.”

“If you name the right price, I’ll sell it right now.”

“Hmm. Do you have a separate reason for doing so?”

“As I said before, it seems to have a useless ability. If I got an appraisal and it turned out to be a 1~2-Star relic, won’t I have to sell it at a cheaper price?”

He expressed that he wanted to sell it at the minimal price of a 3-Star relic in a roundabout way.

“Haha, I guess your words are true when you think about it that way. Very well. We will buy it.”

Smiling brightly, the youth rummaged through the pocket of the robe he took off.

“How about trading it with this?”

What he took out was a starstone slightly larger than the size of a fist.

It was so pure that, rather than glowing, it radiated blue light.

‘Wow, holy shit.’

A starstone with that size and purity would easily reach the hundred thousands.

At, worst 200~300k. He could even receive 400k if he went on a day when the market prices were high.

‘That’s the price of a premium foreign car.’

With that much, he would be one step, no, several steps closer to reaching his goal.

“Hm… Well, this seems like enough.”

Doing his best to contain his shaking excitement, he nodded calmly.

The youth smiled brightly.

“Then the deal is established.”

He exchanged the black drinking glass with the starstone the youth lent out.

“Fu, fufu. Finally…”

With the black drinking glass in his grasp, the youth cackled while excitedly shaking his shoulders.

Naturally, the black drinking glass he had handed over was nothing but the shell that remained after the Black Heaven had absorbed all its energy, but luckily it seemed that he hadn’t noticed.

“Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

“Yes. Thank you for the deal.”

After exchanging light nods with the youth, Ohjin moved towards the densely packed stalagmites around the cavern entrance.

“Kmf, pfft.” he desperately tried to suppress his exploding laughter.

‘Wow, great timing. I didn’t think I’d be able to reel in such a pushover!’

Just when he had been so inwardly disappointed by the fact that the star relic he had earned after going through such hardship became an empty shell, a pushover appeared to buy that empty shell with hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was a windfall that was hard to come by.

“Pftufufu!!”

Laughing crudely in his mind, he hopped towards the entrance.

Of course.

—He didn’t have any thoughts on idiotically leaving just like that.

‘Black Curtain.’

Erasing his presence with the Black Curtain, he hid his body in between the stalagmites.

Lying flat on the ground, he crawled back to the cavern where he had found the star relic.

‘Those bastards. They look way too suspicious, no matter how I think of it.’

He needed information on what objective they were looking for the star relic for and just what the Black Star’s power was.

‘By the way—’

Another question popped up in his mind.

‘—Why was it not in six days, but now?’

Furrowing his brows, he recalled the memories that flowed from Lee Shinhyuk.

If it was according to the memories of Lee Shinhyuk from the 1st round…

‘The star relic from this dungeon should be discovered in six days, on the 21st.’

However, those black-robed beings had entered the gate as soon as it had opened, like they had already known that a star relic laid dormant.

‘No, since they said they came here aiming for it, they must have known.’

There wasn’t a method of finding out how they found the gate as soon as it opened.

As there was no way they possessed memories of a Regressor like him, there was a high chance that an ability or item that located the ‘Black Star’s power’ existed.

In any case—

‘If I didn’t come, these bastards would have taken the star relic.’

—the story didn’t add up.

According to Lee Shinhyuk’s memories, the star relic inside this dungeon should be discovered after six days.

There were two possibilities he could come up with.

‘Due to some kind of reason, the future has changed, or…’

The star relic found on the 21st was not the black drinking glass but a different one.

‘I’ll know soon enough.’

Hidden within the densely packed stalagmites, he activated the stigma of the Hunting Dogs.

As the senses across his entire body amplified, he could hear the conversation the suspicious black robed beings were having.

“Why didn’t we kill him, Sir Yujin?”

Yujin.

It seemed to be the name of the youth who he had traded with moments ago.

“Fufu. Isn’t this place a dungeon that has just opened?”

“…Yes.”

“Other Awakeners will flood in soon; it’ll be a hassle if we leave unnecessary evidence.”

“But we can perfectly dispose of dead bodies…”

“There isn’t anything bad about staying safe, right?

Yujin slightly opened his half-shut eyes.

“Y-Yes! It’s just as Sir Yujin has said!!”

“Haha. Thank you for understanding.”

Smiling brightly, he gazed at the black drinking glass with mellow eyes.

“There isn’t much time left until the era of stars will end and when the black stars will rule the skies.”

He spread out his arms and turned his body around in a full circle as if he were in a play.

“All of those arrogant celestials will pay for their sins.”

“The black stars grace!”

“To the Black Star Organization’s glory!”

The four black-robed beings prostrated themselves on the ground.

Yujin laughed in satisfaction and picked up the robe he had dropped.

“The black stars are probably smiling brightly from everyone’s devotion.”

“We will follow the black stars’ guidance!”

“Fufu. Ah, right. Have you brought the replacement star relic?”

“Of course.”

The prostrating black-robed being stood up and took out something from his pocket.

A star relic in the shape of a drinking glass, glowing subtle blue light.

He lightly leaped onto the statue’s head and inserted the star relic into the empty spot on its forehead.

“Then let’s return.”

“Yes, sir!”

As Yujin turned away, the other robed beings followed his back.

“Ah, right.”

Clap—

As if he had remembered something, he clapped his hands.

He turned to one of the robed beings.

“You remember the face of the person I traded with, right?” he asked.

“Yes.”

The black-robed being receiving his attention bowed deeply.

Yujin smiled brightly and continued.

“Follow his trace and kill him.”

He ordered it like it was nothing.

“I will follow your orders.”

“Ah, you know that you have to kill him outside the dungeon, right?”

“Of course.”

The black-robed being who had received the order quickly headed towards the cave’s entrance.

“Haha. Then we should go and report to the Executor.”

Yujin and the three hooded beings all headed towards the cave’s entrance.

“……”

Five minutes after the black-robed beings had disappeared…

Ohjin, who had been curled up in between the stalagmites, slowly stood.

“…Black Star Organization, huh?”

It was his first time hearing about it.

‘I’m certain they’re damn suspicious bastards. Are they some kind of illegal guild acting in the dark?’

Looking at their actions, they also seemed to be in some kind of pseudo-religion.

“There’s a need to investigate deeper into this.”

‘The black stars will rule the skies? The celestials will pay for their sins? They certainly don’t seem to be regular maniacs.’

“Anyways… So this is what happened.”

Ohjin smirked while looking at the star relic stuck onto the stone statue’s forehead.

One of his questions was answered.

‘The future hasn’t changed.’

What Lee Woohyuk and his guild members had found in six days was the star relic the Black Star Organization had replaced.

‘Is that why they said that something was strange?’

Just before Lee Shinhyuk’s memories were cut off.

He recalled the final words he heard.

The woman with glasses reporting to Lee Woohyuk definitely said ‘some strange…’ before the vision was cut off.

“Of course it’s strange.”

Ohjin reached out towards the star relic stuck on the statue.

Even if they had replaced it with a star relic of similar size, as expected, there was a foreign feeling unlike the original relic.

“I should take this as well.”

He took out the blue star relic from the statue and put it in his sling backpack.

‘The Black Heaven isn’t reacting this time.’

It seemed like it had reacted not to the star relic, but the ‘Black Star’s power’ dwelling within.

“Kyaa!!! How sweet~!”

He sold the empty shell of a star relic for an expensive starstone and also got his hands on another star relic that was used as a replacement.

‘Well, a star relic used as a replacement will be at best 1~2 Star, but still.’

Even a 1-Star relic would amount to around $10000.

“Well then—”

After lightly stretching his body, he held the spear he had hidden between the stalagmites.

“—should I go catch the underling diligently running around in circles?”

The robed being that had gone out to chase him.

It was time to receive unanswered questions from the suspicious fellow.

* * *

“…Huh.”

The man covered with a black robe narrowed his eyes.

“Why are there no tracks?”

Following the orders, he had searched for the tracks of the person he met in the cavern, but he couldn’t find any trace of him outside the gate.

He entered the gate once again and searched through the complicated maze-like cave.

However—

“…What’s going on here?”

—even though there were tracks of him heading inside, there were none heading outside.

‘Dammit.’

He bit his lips with a nervous expression.

The appearance of Yujin and his bright smile popped up in his mind.

“Uh, ughh.”

If he reported that he lost his track, there was no way Yujin would leave him alone.

“God dammit! Just where did he go!”

Bang!—

Failing to overcome his rage, he stomped his feet.

Flap!—

The hem of his black robe spread out.

And then,

“—Where? I’m right here.”

Through the hem of the flapping robe, a spear’s blade flashed in like lightning.

Thrust!!—

“Kugh! Kuk!!”

The eyes of the black-robed man widened.

Gazing at Ohjin, who had come from ‘inside’ the cave, his body shook in disbelief.

“Surprise, motherfucker.”

Keke—

Ohjin twisted the spear that had pierced the man’s stomach and smiled brightly.