CHAPTER 197: WELL-FED HYPOCRISY AND HUNGRY GOODNESS (1)

“I’ll take the boy and make sure he receives the proper punishment. You two are free to go.” Damian turned and faintly smiled at Kwon Oh-Jin and Song Ha-Eun.

“Are you not going to help him?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked. “As the Celestial Boat Star, you certainly have the ability to help him.

“So you know who I am.”

“It’d be strange if I didn't, considering how famous you are,” Kwon Oh-Jin replied nonchalantly with a nod.

Song Ha-Eun stared at Damian in shock. “W-What? The Celestial Boat Star? T-Then, isn’t he a part of the Seven Stars?”

She hadn’t seen that coming. To be fair, Damian looked exceedingly ordinary despite his grand title as a Seven Star. Even celebrities with distinctive looks often went unnoticed in real life. Someone like Damian, with such a normal face, would be easily overlooked.

“Yes, that’s right. Helping this boy financially wouldn’t be difficult for me at all.” Damian nodded and continued. “Still, I can’t help someone who’s committed a crime just because I feel sympathetic. If I did that, what about the others who live honestly without resorting to crime?”

He was right, excessively so.

“Many good people are suffering quietly in this world, so helping him would be an insult to them,” Damian said.

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded. “I see.”

There was no room for argument. Every word Damian spoke was pure reason.

So this is the Sword of Justice.

He was flawlessly righteous and unfazed by human feelings because of an unwavering conviction. To him, the absolute ideal of good mattered more than the pain, despair, and cries of the weak.

“I understand.” Kwon Oh-Jin smirked and turned away. “Then I’ll leave the boy in your hands.”

“Alright.”

Leaving Damian behind, Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed Song Ha-Eun by the arm and pulled her with him.

Song Ha-Eun followed him in a flustered panic. “W-Wait, Oh-Jin! You’re just gonna leave him like that?! You know what will happen if he gets dragged to the police!”

Kwon Oh-Jin didn’t really care what happened to the boy whose name he didn’t even know the name of. However, that boy’s fate clearly mattered to the kindhearted Song Ha-Eun. And if something was important to her, it was important to him too.

“I’ll ask Isabella later to contact someone at the station. We’ll look into it and make sure the kid gets help with the medicine too.”

She nodded with a flustered look, a little embarrassed that this idea hadn’t occurred to her in the heat of the moment. “Ah... T-Thanks.”

She glanced back at Damian, who was walking away with the boy, and frowned.

“So that guy’s the Celestial Boat Star, huh?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure.”

“He’s called the Sword of Justice or whatever, but what a stubborn little bastard.”

“Well... it’s not like anything he said was wrong.”

Damian was just excessively righteous. His actions couldn’t be criticized since a sick mother didn’t justify stealing someone else’s wallet.

Song Ha-Eun scratched her head in frustration. “Yeah, I get that. Still...”

“From the outside, it probably looks like we’re being hypocrites.”

Some would call it hypocrisy to show leniency to a criminal out of cheap pity.

“At least to me, I’d rather be a well-fed hypocrite than a hungry good man.”

A hungry good man would save no one, but a well-fed hypocrite could at least save someone. Even if it wasn’t righteous, it was still better than saving no one at all.

“That’s very like you to say that.” Song Ha-Eun chuckled and ruffled Kwon Oh-Jin’s hair. “That’s why I like you, Oh-Jin.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now come on. Let’s hurry up and find a pub.”

“Okay.”

The two headed off to a pub.

***

After drinking to their heart’s content, they returned to the mansion. Song Ha-Eun went to shower. Meanwhile, Kwon Oh-Jin stepped outside to take a walk and sober up.

In the distance, he spotted a familiar figure.

“Hm? Isabella?”

He hadn’t seen her in days.

Isabella had been sitting on a bench in the garden and turned her head when she noticed him approaching.

“Ah... Mr. Oh-Jin?”

Even in the middle of the night, the exhaustion could be seen on her face.

“Are you okay? You look really tired.”

“I’m fine.” Isabella faintly smiled and subtly shifted to make room for Kwon Oh-Jin to sit beside her.

He studied her face as he took a seat. Despite her words, she didn’t look fine at all.

Is the curse getting worse?

It was nighttime and no longer day, but she seemed to be in a much more severe condition than he thought.

“I heard you went sightseeing downtown with Miss Ha-Eun today?”

“Huh? Who told you that?”

“Haha. No matter how busy I am, I still get reports on what you’re doing, you know?” Isabella continued with a smile. “I should’ve been the one showing you around. I apologize.”

“No, it’s fine. More importantly, how’s everything going with the situation?”

It couldn’t have been easy cleaning up after such a major incident.

“I fired Uncle Guilford and gathered the families of the victims to apologize. It’s been a mess.”

“But none of this is your fault.”

What happened in San Fruttuoso was a natural disaster like a massive earthquake or a storm. At least, it had been explained like that to the public. Guilford being punished for negligence was one thing. For Isabella, who had only come for a visit, to shoulder the blame alone made no sense.

“Still, I’m the next head of the Colgrande Family.”

“So being from a noble household isn’t always sunshine and roses.”

“Well, with power comes responsibility.” Isabella looked at the night sky and bitterly smiled. “I’m sorry. I invited you here only for all this to happen.”

“It’s okay. I’ve been resting pretty well.”

“Thank you.” She gently placed her hand on the back of his and smiled softly.

“It’s late. You should head in and rest. You probably haven’t been sleeping much lately, have you?” He looked at Isabella, who seemed incredibly exhausted.

Isabella nodded and got up. “Alright. Will you stay out here a bit longer?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll head in first.” She walked away.

Left alone, Kwon Oh-Jin leaned back on the bench and stared at the night sky. Just then, his phone started ringing.

Ring, ring, ring.

Right, it’s about time I heard back.

Of course, Kwon Oh-Jin hadn’t just been lying around for the past week. He had left the Astral Relic fragments he found in the collapsed underwater cave with a trusted informant to trace its origins.

“Hello?”

—This is Lanzoni.

Paolo Lanzoni was the informant who had helped him a while ago when he first visited Rome to find Isabella.

“What did you find regarding what I asked you to investigate?”

—It was quite troublesome, but... I found it.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes sharpened.

“Where did the Astral Relic come from?”

—It’s from the Colgrande Family.

“What?”

The Astral Relic that had triggered the Dragon Vein to go out of control came from the Colgrande Family?

—I’m certain. Most of the records were erased, but I managed to confirm it was indeed a volatile-type Astral Relic acquired by the Colgrande Family in the past.

That meant the Colgrande Family had caused the Dragon Vein to go berserk and unleashed tens of thousands of monsters from the gate.

But why?

It made no sense. It would be understandable if the gate was in a rival family's territory, but who in their right mind would plant a bomb in their own backyard?

—Mr. Oh-Jin?

“Ah, yes. Thank you. I’ll send your payment soon.”

—Understood.

Beep.

The call ended.

Kwon Oh-Jin closed his eyes and fell into deep thought. Did the Colgrande Family orchestrate the entire Dragon Vein incident?

Isabella wasn’t behind it.

She had no reason to do such a thing when the curse was affecting her even in the dead of night.

“Wait a minute.”

He furrowed his brow.

When exactly did Isabella’s condition worsen this much?

He distinctly recalled overhearing her conversation with Roberto on the first day when she said her condition improved at night. The sun had long set now, and yet she looked even worse than she had that first day on the beach.

She must've used her power.

To stop the onslaught of monsters, she had activated the Stigma of Leech during the day when she was most vulnerable to the curse.

He dryly laughed. “Ha. I get it now. So that’s what happened.”

He covered his face with his hands and bit his lip.

What Isabella had said under the moon with a sorrowful smile echoed in his mind.

“I hope that somehow, like a miracle, all the grudges and misunderstandings will be resolved. And we’ll go back to the way things were.”

“Going back to the way things were... is really impossible now,” Kwon Oh-Jin mumbled with a sigh.

He knew this would happen. He had expected it, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue and got up.

It was time to make his move now that he knew who had triggered the Dragon Vein.

Black Curtain.

Concealing his presence, he slipped quietly into the mansion.

Over the past week, he had already memorized the mansion’s layout. Without hesitation, he made his way to Paolo Colgrande’s room.

Standing before the tightly closed door, he activated the Stigma of the Canes Venatici.

Huh?

At this hour, Paolo should have definitely been in his room. Not a single sound came from inside to the point of being suspicious.

Is there some kind of barrier set up?

Kwon Oh-Jin lightly reached out and touched the door. Just as he suspected, a steady flow of mana coated Paolo’s door.

Guess I’ll have to break through the barrier first.

It wouldn’t be difficult. He used Transformation to alter a part of himself into liquid. A stream of liquid slipped through the small gap beneath the door. If the barrier was only meant to keep sounds from leaking out, a method like this would be more than enough to bypass it.

Someone else was in the room besides Paolo.

“My apologies for calling you here at such a late hour.”

“Don’t worry about it. When it comes to punishing evil, day or night doesn’t matter. I was a bit late because I had to get rid of someone trailing me.”

“Haha. That’s good to hear.”

Kwon Oh-Jin recognized the other voice very well.

“Is this all the information you have on the witch?”

“Yes. The witch pretended to use our family’s center to shelter the gypsies, but she was ruthlessly extracting their blood behind the scenes.”

“What a disgustingly vile hypocrite,” Damian furiously said as he gripped the sword at his waist. “I’ll execute her at once.”

“No, it would be better to wait until tomorrow.” Paolo’s eyes shone as he wickedly smiled. “The witch will be at her weakest when the sun is at its highest tomorrow. That’s when we’ll strike.”

“Understood. I’ll return tomorrow then.”

Leaning against the door, Kwon Oh-Jin turned away and disappeared down the hall before Damian could exit.

Kwon Oh-Jin walked through the dark hallway. The corners of his mouth curled into a smirk.

A disgustingly vile hypocrite, huh.

Isabella’s vile hypocrisy had made homes for thousands of people.

If that’s the case, I wonder how many people your pure justice ever saved.