Chapter 154: Adam’s Apple (1)
Kwon Oh-Jin took one of the apples from the box he had bought from the supermarket and placed it on the table. Using a knife, he sliced a long cut across his palm, letting his blood seep out before spreading a thin layer of it over the apple’s surface.
Transformation.
The apple that was once a delicious shade of red turned into a shimmering gold as if it had been molded from molten metal.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Kwon Oh-Jin’s forehead.
Maintaining this isn’t easy.
Using Transformation on something detached from himself consumed immense mental strength. It felt like trying to control a mouse and keyboard with his mind instead of his hands.
He could freely alter shapes to some extent, but keeping an object in a transformed state for a prolonged period drained him tremendously.
I wish this drained my mana instead.
He couldn’t do anything about mental exhaustion.
“The real problem is that this isn’t the end.”
Kwon Oh-Jin furrowed his brow and stared at the golden apple in his hand. Simply changing an apple’s color wasn’t enough to pass it off as a divine artifact called Adam’s Apple.
Just like the Dragon’s Heart he had found in the previous dungeon, true Astral Relics infused with otherworldly power carried an overwhelming presence as if they could crush a person under their sheer existence alone.
“An item that lessens the law's restrictions can’t afford to have such a weak aura.”
Kwon Oh-Jin channeled his mana into the golden apple he had created through Transformation. Now, if he just used Black Curtain to change the mana’s aura—
Crack!
The apple crumbled into countless fragments in his hand.
“Damn it.”
With a sigh, he tossed the broken pieces into a bowl. The bowl was already filled to the brim with apple pieces from countless failed attempts.
A single box isn’t nearly enough.
He deeply exhaled again before stabbing a fork into a piece and popping it into his mouth.
Vega had once claimed that he had an exceptional talent for controlling his Stigma’s mana, yet he currently struggled just to regulate his mana enough to keep a simple apple intact.
If it were just blasting out mana, that’d be easy.
The problem was that he needed to imbue the apple with just the right amount of mana to give it the appropriate aura, but not so much that it would break apart.
Too little mana and the aura would be too weak. Too much and the apple would crumble.
“This is driving me insane.”
He crushed the now-empty apple box under his foot and heavily sighed.
“Why not just use something other than an apple?” Song Ha-Eun cocked her head and asked.
Just because it was called Adam’s Apple didn’t mean it had to be a literal apple.
Even the Dragon’s Heart wasn’t literally a heart. It was just a translucent gemstone that radiated a blue light.
“I’d still rather make it using an apple.”
“Why?”
“Well, it’s good practice for me anyway.”
Transformation and Black Curtain had been greatly enhanced after Black Heaven’s sixth enlightenment. These two skills would be crucial moving forward. He needed to master both if he wanted to deceive the Celestials and maintain his facade as a Regressor.
I can’t let something as simple as an apple get the best of me.
Kwon Oh-Jin knew other ways to create Adam’s Apple existed, but he felt like he would regret it later if he didn’t take this chance to refine his control now.
“Hmm, is that so?”
Lying on the couch and scrolling through her phone, Song Ha-Eun nodded as she kicked her pale leg in the air with an unsatisfied expression.
They had just wrapped up their first official date on a high note, yet her boyfriend was paying more attention to some stupid apple chunks than the police uniform she had picked out just for him. Of course, she felt annoyed.
Stretching out her long legs, she jabbed her toes into his side.
“What?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
“I’m just annoyed.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, you jerk. Anyway, you’re out of apples now. You’re done, right?”
“I’ll need to go buy more.”
“It’s one in the morning. Where are you going to get apples at this hour? Stop talking crap and give me a leg massage instead.”
Song Ha-Eun sat up and casually plopped her left leg onto Kwon Oh-Jin’s thigh. He narrowed his eyes and grabbed her ankle before running his fingers along the sole of her foot.
“Kyaaaah! W-What the hell are you doing, you psycho?!”
“We need to pack and get ready to head home. We don’t have time for a leg massage.”
Kwon Oh-Jin smirked as he watched Song Ha-Eun writhing on the couch, tears welling up in her eyes. Now that he thought about it, they had moments like this before.
I guess just because we started dating doesn’t mean everything changes.
It felt nice to banter back and forth like this. It was comforting in a way.
“Aaaah! Stop! I said stop!”
Not that she looked very comfortable.
***
“So, you’re leaving already?” Sakaki looked genuinely disappointed. “You could stay for a few more days, you know.”
“I have things to take care of back in Korea,” Kwon Oh-Jin replied.
“Well... if a man’s got things to do, there’s no helping it!”
Sakaki stomped with a hearty laugh.
Thud!
“A real man laughs the loudest when parting ways! It was an honor meeting you!”
“I’ve received a lot of help from you as well.”
“Kahaha! Compared to what you’ve done for me, I’ve done nothing!”
His massive hand pounded Kwon Oh-Jin’s back. Kwon Oh-Jin felt like his insides would launch out of his mouth.
“Take care! And if you ever need help, just call! I’ll come running in an instant!”
With Sakaki, that wasn’t just a figure of speech. The guy could probably sprint across the ocean if he wanted to.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.
“See you!”
Leaving Sakaki behind, Kwon Oh-Jin stepped into the airport. He got his ticket and dropped off his luggage.
Song Ha-Eun suddenly leaned close and whispered in his ear, “That Black Heaven thing, you said it advanced, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, does that mean you can use Open Heaven without my help now?”
“Probably.”
He hadn’t tested it yet, but he felt fairly certain by how much mana had been unsealed from the Dragon Vein.
Though that’s not the complete version of Open Heaven.
Even in its imperfect state, this ability had terrified the Black Star Society’s sixth ranked executor so badly that he nearly pissed himself like a child.
At this point, calling it just a skill felt inadequate.
Should it be considered something more like an authority? Eh, names don’t really matter anyway.
If he could use Open Heaven on his own, he could finally lift the restrictions on Vega. The image of the silver-haired goddess smiling gently and patting his head flashed before him.
“My child!”
As much as he wanted to break her free as soon as possible, he needed to make Adam's Apple first.
Before boarding the plane, Kwon Oh-Jin opened a shopping app and ordered more apples.
***
Early in the morning, Song Ha-Eun’s voice boomed through the house.
“Hey! Oh-Jin!”
She burst into the room, utterly horrified as she pointed toward the front door.
“W-What the hell is all that?!”
Through the slightly open front door was a mountain of boxes as if someone was moving in.
“It’s the apples I ordered.”
“How many did you even buy?!”
“Two thousand for now.”
Song Ha-Eun stared at him in utter disbelief. He ordered two thousand, but what the hell did he mean for now?
“I can’t with you, seriously.” She sighed.
Despite shaking her head, she helped move the apple boxes inside.
Kwon Oh-Jin took an apple from a box and held it in his hand.
“Well, then.”
He sliced his palm with a knife and carefully smeared his blood onto the apple.
Transformation.
The apple turned a brilliant golden and he slowly infused it with mana.
Black Curtain.
As soon as Black Curtain changed the aura of the mana—
Crack!
The apple exploded into pieces.
Kwon Oh-Jin groaned.
“Ugh. This is gonna be a pain.”
The biggest problem was the sheer amount of mana he had. Right now, in terms of raw mana alone, he possessed enough to easily overwhelm even high-ranking Awakeners.
Of course, having a lot of mana doesn’t automatically make you strong.
If battles were decided by mana quantity alone, he wouldn’t have lost so badly against Cheon Do-Yoon. Having massive amounts of mana was one of Kwon Oh-Jin’s greatest strengths, but it also came with drawbacks. This was one of them as he struggled to precisely control it.
Even just infusing mana into an apple without breaking it is insanely difficult.
It was like trying to pick up an egg with an excavator that weighed tens of tons without breaking it. The amount of mana he had was so overwhelmingly large that fine control required an absurd level of precision.
“I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
He deeply sighed and reached for another apple.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
One after another, the apples crumbled.
He tried salvaging the pieces by collecting them in a bowl since it would be a waste to throw them out. Before long, the box was filled with nothing but crushed apple bits.
His breathing grew ragged.
“Haa... haa...”
Was this what it felt like to carve a grain of rice with a needle? His brain felt like it was melting after hours of intense focus, but he didn’t stop.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack.
There was no reason to stop. If something could be solved simply by enduring it, then it wasn’t that hard at all. Even as a splitting headache pounded through his skull, he continued focusing on the apple.
Aside from the few hours he spent sleeping, he sat in his room for over two weeks and repeated the process of transforming apples over and over again.
Then, a brilliant golden glow finally radiated from an apple.
Woong!
It was technically just an ordinary apple, yet it exuded a divine aura just like the legendary fruit of good and evil.
“I. Did. It.”
With dark circles under his eyes, Kwon Oh-Jin’s shoulders trembled as he clutched the golden apple in his hand.
He had lost count of how many tens of thousands of apples he destroyed over the past two weeks.
“I fucking did iiiiiit!” he shouted victoriously and dashed into the living room.
There, Song Ha-Eun sat surrounded by dozens of boxes filled with apple pieces, eating them like a broken machine.
“Apples... I don’t like apples anymore...”
“Ha-Eun! I did it!”
She turned to look at him. “Huh? You did it?”
The golden apple shimmered in his hand, filling the room with a mystical presence that made it hard to even breathe.
Her mouth hung half-open in sheer disbelief.
“H-Holy shit? T-This is really an apple?”
“What do you think?”
“What do I think?! I’m seeing it with my own eyes, and I still can’t believe it!”
Seeing her reaction, Kwon Oh-Jin smiled in satisfaction.
Good.
Now, all he had to do was show this to Riarc and free Vega.
But before that.
Kwon Oh-Jin swayed and collapsed.
“O-Oh-Jin?”
“I’m gonna sleep for a bit.”
He passed out instantly on the living room floor without even seeing the glowing blue messages that appeared.
Ring!
[Kwon Oh-Jin’s understanding of the Stigma’s mana has deepened significantly!]
[Kwon Oh-Jin has accomplished an unbelievable feat!]
[Partial conditions for Open Heaven have been met!]
Fast asleep, he remained unaware of his absurd achievement.