Chapter 450: Big Dipper
When Chi-Woo opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a white space. Unable to overcome his joy, he was about to call out to Future Yoo-Joo and share the good news, but he stopped in the middle of turning back.
“?” He was in a white space, but it suddenly looked cramped. He couldn’t see Future Yoo-Joo either. This was—
—You’re finally back.
Chi-Woo became dumbfounded as he heard Mamiya’s voice. Soon after, he realized what Future Yoo-Joo had meant by the last chance.?‘Ah…’. He had no idea this was what she had meant. He looked at the center of the space just in case, but the portal of light Future Yoo-Joo had created was gone. He couldn’t go there again, at least not for now. He needed to tell her. Although he wasn’t entirely successful, he had to tell her that he had finally gotten favorable results. Then he could say goodbye to Future Yoo-Joo with a smile.
Chi-Woo stared at the air where there was nothing left for a while with lingering regret and suddenly heard murmurs around him. He heard a few exclamations as well. All six gods were staring at him.
—How amazing. Although I wasn’t able to directly see the process, I can guess from your current state.
Mamiya spoke in an admiring tone and looked around before continuing.
—He listened to our wishes and kept his promise. Thus, it is our turn to keep our promises.
They were talking about the promotion to Master tier. Since he went to Future Yoo-Joo’s space at the price of the promotion rewards, he couldn’t obtain any special privileges, but it was still important to rise to Master tier since it was a prerequisite for Grand Master tier. Chi-Woo tilted his head after hearing Mamiya’s words. He hadn’t fulfilled all the conditions for Master tier yet. Then why…?
—Although there are still some conditions left, is there any point to them now?
Chi-Woo understood. As Mamiya said, most of the remaining conditions would be met sooner or later. Thinking back, he had also heard about all the special and useful tips for Liber’s walkthrough at Future Yoo-Joo’s space.
—Do you know how you look in our eyes now?
Chi-Woo shook his head at Mamiya’s question.
—You look like light.
Mamiya said clearly.
—Your mind and body are brimming with light like those who have reached enlightenment after a great series of tribulations and reached sainthood.
Chi-Woo unconsciously looked down at his body. “…” It looked no different from usual, but if the gods said so, that must be the case. Though Chi-Woo had no way of knowing, Mamiya seemed to be filled with awe.
—Originally, you would only rise in tier after we take your merits. However, you weren’t able to get any rewards or special privileges from this promotion. Thus, this promotion won’t cost you anything.
Chi-Woo’s mouth slightly widened. In a way, it was a favor from the gods. Then rising to Grand Master wouldn’t be so far off either.
—I think this is enough.
Mamiya took a step back as if his role ended here. Then another god stepped forward. La Bella didn’t say anything to him; she was able to guess everything that had happened and what Chi-Woo had done in that unknown space by looking at the state of her apostle’s body and soul upon his return. He came back with not only Liber’s salvation in his hand, but also his fate. That was enough.
—May your light shine on Liber, whose darkness has not been lifted.
Then La Bella shouted, raising her balance scale.
—As of this time, I acknowledge your promotion to Master Tier and name you Saint!
Her cry echoed vigorously in the white space.
* * *
At the same time, each and every single one of the Seven Stars members who opened the door to Chi-Woo’s lodging were all frozen due to the strange phenomenon occurring inside. Chi-Woo was still kneeling on one knee and praying as he had been on the first day, but there was light swirling all around him. Even in the middle of the night, a cluster of sacred-looking light driving away the darkness was swirling all around Chi-Woo like an angry cloud. Then at some point, all the light zeroed in on Chi-Woo. They flowed into him like water and disappeared somewhere.
.
Chi-Woo’s eyes opened wide. He inhaled deeply and smiled joyfully at the pleasant feeling left in his body. Was it success or failure? If he had to pick one of the two, it was more the latter, but it wasn’t like what it used to be. Originally, he would have difficulty breathing and be in intense pain as if he was on the verge of death in exchange for using his power. However, it wasn’t that Chi-Woo couldn’t control it; he just couldn’t accept all of it due to the size of his ‘bowl’. Then the answer was simple. He just needed to expand his bowl to accept all the power. At last, he was finally able to control the mysterious power—no, this was proof that he had communicated with the self inside him. Chi-Woo immediately turned on his device and accessed his user information.
<User Information>
1. Name & Rank: Choi Chi-Woo (EX)
2. Sex & Age: Male & 23
3. Height & Weight: 180.5 & 73.5kg
4. Denomination: ‘The Goddess of Scales’ and ‘Guardian of Balance’, La Bella
5. Tier: Master
6.Class: Exorcist → Monk → Advanced Exorcist → High-ranking Exorcist → Inquisitor -> Cardinalis → Saint
7. Heavenly Title: Three Lines
8. Disposition: Neutral
His tier now changed to Master and—
[Abso???? ???sality EX]
A smile tugged at Chi-Woo’s lips as he confirmed that his innate ability was now roughly revealed. In the past, he hadn’t had the faintest idea what it could be, but now he could make a guess. This was the biggest difference compared to before.
“B-Boss.” Then Chi-Woo heard a bewildered voice. It was from Eval Sevaru. It wasn’t just him. He heard a large number of his members from the other side of the open door. How long had the process taken him? They were all faces he missed, but on the other hand, it made him laugh. It was probably because he talked about all sorts of things with his other selves. At the end of the day, they were them and he was him. They had their own relationships, and he was building relationships here that were unique to him. Chi-Woo finally got up to his feet. Come to think of it, there were some people he’d never seen before. He greeted everyone with a bright smile and said, “I’m back.”
* * *
What Chi-Woo was most curious about was how much time had passed. After hearing from Eval Sevaru that four months had passed since the twelfth reinforcements entered Liber, he couldn’t hide his surprise. Since he had left before the reinforcements arrived, Chi-Woo had been gone for almost five or six months. It was almost half a year. Although that wasn’t long in comparison since it felt like at least a few years had passed in Future Yoo-Joo’s space, it was not a short time. It was more than enough time for the new members among the twelfth reinforcements to reach Gold tier with Seven Stars’ support.
After returning to reality, Chi-Woo weighed the importance of his work. He wanted to immediately focus on training and expand his bowl, but he also needed to consider his position. Last night, Eval Sevaru smiled brightly at him and said, ‘You’re finally back.’ Chi-Woo couldn’t bring himself to say that he’d go back into seclusion to train as soon as he returned. Moreover, he couldn’t let the valuable information he heard rot without use. Numerous thoughts came into mind, but the very first thing he thought of was meeting the newcomers. They had been waiting nearly six months for him. Meeting them was his top priority.
He was also looking forward to seeing what kind of heroes Aida and Eval Sevaru had chosen. This was also the same for the new members. Teresa, who had shown off her extraordinary sociability through her easygoing and humble disposition contrary to her esteemed reputation since her joining, paid special attention to her clothes today. This was their first official meeting with the leader of Seven Stars, who she had been looking forward to meeting since the very beginning. She didn’t even think about whether he really deserved to lead them or not in the first place. Above everything else, he was from the Choi Family; considering that he was from a family that reigned over everyone since its inception, there was no reason to doubt his leadership.
Even then, her first impression of him left her quite surprised. Though she was a rare priest type hero, Teresa almost knelt down and prayed last night as a faithful servant of god because she mistook him for a god as soon as she saw him. Although he was a human on the outside, he didn’t seem human with all the holy energy radiating from the inside.
‘Well, if there was nothing special about him, that would be disappointing in itself.’ Moreover, it was impossible that Chi-Woo would be just an ordinary hero considering he was the product of the union of a Choi and a Ho Lactea that once made a scene in the Celestial Realm. Chi-Woo was a child of Elrich Ho Lactea, who was known as the vassal of the Ho Lactea’s progenitor and the golden child even among the Ho Lactea family, which was known for being founded by gods. Teresa took great pride in the fact that she had gotten to where she was today with no backing at all, but she wasn’t the type to feel bitter towards those who had a different starting line than her. Instead, she considered joining Seven Stars as a kind of opportunity, a rope that would raise her name further on the stage called Liber. Since it had fallen right in front of her, Teresa was going to tightly clutch the rope in her hands and use it to climb higher.
‘I’ll show him. That I’m superior to most Celestial Lights.’ Teresa laughed inside her mind and opened the door with a smile. Like this, the three heroes began their first meeting with Chi-Woo.
* * *
“Hello, I’m Choi Chi-Woo.”
“I’m Teresa.”
“Lazak Al-Umaru. You can just call me Umaru.”
“Please call me Eun-Hyang.”
After briefly introducing themselves by saying their name, Teresa spoke first, “Sir, I’m honored to meet you like this, but on the other hand, I’m a little worried. Anyone who ascended to the Celestial Realm would have heard about the Choi Family’s greatness till their ears hurt.” Teresa would have normally crossed her legs, curled her hair with her index finger, and chattered like a lark, but now she talked with an extremely calm and pious voice. “But when I saw you in person, I truly felt like a firefly under the bright moonlight.” It was because the concept she decided to adopt today was a holy and mysterious saintess.
‘It’s our first meeting.’?She considered her easygoing nature her charm, but she also needed to know how to change her attitude according to the situation and at least show that she wasn’t a complete buffoon. She glanced at Chi-Woo and the smile on his face, thinking, ‘Yeah. You like that I’m sucking up to you? I’ve never seen anyone who doesn’t like compliments. Anyway, why don’t you give an answer after hearing all that?’
“No, not at all.” Of course, Chi-Woo understood that she was saying, ‘We heard your name until our ears bled, but have you heard of our names?’ in a roundabout way, so he replied with a smile, “You’re being overly modest. If a saintess who has received El’s blessing, a warrior who has defeated a dragon, and the great Du are merely fireflies, then the entire sky will be covered in fireflies.”
Teresa looked satisfied with Chi-Woo’s answer.
“Haha. What an honor. I had no idea that even the Choi would know me!” The bald giant named Umaru burst into laughter, and the woman named Eun-Hyang nodded and expressed her quiet satisfaction. Heroes died and lived for honor. Since Chi-Woo not only knew who they were, but also mentioned their achievements and added ‘great’ to Eun-Hyang’s family name ‘Du’, all three of them couldn’t help but feel pleased.
Of course, Chi-Woo had never even known anything about heroes before, let alone heard of their names, but he had heard about them several times in Future Yoo-Joo’s space. Moreover, it wasn’t technically the first time they’d met. Just before the Demon Empire first invaded Shalyh, he had briefly seen two of them in the future with Emmanuel.
[Fuck! It’s over! It’s all over! What are we going to do from here?]
[In the end, even that Ru Amuh…!]
[What the hell do you mean what happened!]
[Fucking hell! Why, did I say anything wrong?]
He had heard Teresa and—
[I can’t believe it…that Ru Amuh…]
[How did…we end up…like this…?]
Eun-Hyang as well. When first seeing them in the future, he had never imagined that they would meet like this… But Teresa felt a little different from then? She was also a bit different from what he heard.
“Oh my, you praise us too much.” Teresa fake-coughed, not knowing in the slightest what Chi-Woo was thinking. As the proverb went, ‘Be nice to others if you want others to be nice to you.’ They both exchanged compliments and pleasantries. Teresa had been worried that the youngest young master of the Choi Family might be a haughty and overbearing person, but as expected of a Choi, there was dignity among those at the top. Teresa felt relieved, but she didn’t let down her guard. Although Chi-Woo seemed more generous than expected, she also needed to behave well while he was still being nice to them. How should she put it? It felt like she should never make an unacceptable mistake in front of the man.
“Ah, sir, you can speak to us informally.”
“Well, all right. I’ll do that.”
The atmosphere wasn’t bad for a first meeting.
“I heard that everyone worked hard while I was gone.” Chi-Woo glanced at the three. “Although it’s been some time, I can’t help but ask, what is your reason or motive for choosing Seven Stars?”
There was a saying that those who had prepared in advance won. Teresa, having prepared herself for this moment, shouted ‘Yes!’ internally. ‘That’s right. I’ve been waiting for this question.’
Umaru said, “Well, I have nothing much to say. I just heard that this place was the best, and I wanted to work with a Choi who had been surrounded by so many rumors.”
Teresa laughed inwardly at Umaru’s words. He was mistaken if he wanted to win the leader’s favor with such simplicity and a plain character. As soon as she joined, Teresa had analyzed Seven Stars in detail, and the conclusion she reached was that this organization looked simple at first glance, but there was actually a complex system in place. She could tell just by looking at this meeting. How many times would she be able to have a separate meeting with this man in the future? Not many because of his position, she would bet. A person of such high authority had to oversee a large number of people; if she passively waited for her turn to come, she wouldn't be able to exchange many words with the man before she returned to the Celestial Realm.
‘I can’t let that happen.’?She didn’t come to Liber to follow him around in the far background. When this world was about to be saved, she wanted her name to hang proudly beside Chi-Woo’s. Additionally, it would be perfect if she could continue her relationship with the next legend. Though she had succeeded in getting on the same boat as him, this was not enough. She needed to get closer to him. Then she needed to raise her position above the present level, at least to the point that she could have a private meeting with him if she wanted. After analyzing the structure of Seven Stars, Teresa was able to find two ways to fulfill her wishes.
The first was to join the main team, and the second was to become the leader of a team. The former would allow her to interact with Chi-Woo more closely than anyone else, and the latter would grant her significant power and independent authority befitting the position. After seeing Evelyn, Teresa gave up early on the first method because she thought it would be hopeless. Then there was only one way left. ‘Sorry to everyone here, but…’ Teresa glanced sideways at Umaru and Eun-Hyang, who were sitting on both her sides, and smiled. She was the one among them who would take the seat of a team leader. And to do so, she needed to make the most of this opportunity.
Teresa cleared her throat and said, “Currently, the enemies left on Liber can be largely divided into two—the Abyss and Sernitas.”
“?”
“At that point, I entered Liber.”
Chi-Woo’s eyes slightly widened.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦