“Why?”
However, the Regressor couldn’t continue. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know what had made her feel so troubled.
What did he do just then?
He had suddenly approached her in the darkness.
Thinking back, something similar had happened when she first tried writing a novel. When he grabbed her on the neck from behind, she was frightened.
Back then, the Regressor had slightly regretted his actions. She acted normally the next day but the memory of getting startled would remain in her memories forever.
He therefore decided to just ask her.
“Why did you feel troubled.”
Her usually indifferent expression turned into a frown.
“…Why?”
He told her he was curious.
“Don’t wanna tell ya.”
“…”
As always, she was carrying a gaze that didn’t reveal her inner thoughts as well as a similar expression and voice. And while she was looking at his face, it felt like her gaze was reaching somewhere deeper.
“Then why did you feel perplexed, ahjussi?”
“What?”
“You also feel troubled and perplexed when I suddenly get closer to you.”
When he remained silent, Bom squinted her eyes and approached him. She, who had been sitting on the chair in front, placed her hands on his thighs and leaned her body forward.
“Actually.”
She slowly opened her mouth.
“I wanted to say this.”
“…Say what.”
“‘You don’t need to know’.”
Bom spoke with an indifferent and powerless voice. Her hazy and foggy gaze seemed to be trying to imitate someone.
When he gave an empty laugh, Bom giggled.
“If I ask you, ‘Why do you feel perplexed?’ you would answer like that right? Just like what you’ve always been doing.”
“Who knows.”
“Is there even a reason? A reason why you’re perplexed?”
It was a fundamental doubt.
In fact, even he doubted the reason why he felt perplexed.
Through the repetitive regressions and especially after the second and the third ones, he lost almost all sexual interest. To be more exact, instead of just sexual interest, he lost interest in forming a deep relationship that crossed personal boundaries, since every relationship in the world would leave him behind and dissipate.
Losing that had caused him pain in the second iteration;
And fearing the loss was the third iteration.
After that, he learned how not to get hurt, and began living without fearing anything. It wasn’t difficult. He just had to draw a line without allowing anyone to cross it.
But his distancing policy faced a great dilemma in the seventh iteration, when he began living a daily life.
In fact, there were several dilemmas. People that had to be distanced with and situations that didn’t allow him to create distances were intertwined in his life.
And the greatest dilemma of them all…
“I, think I know.”
…was none other than this kid.
“What do you know.”
“You know? I know a lot more than you think.”
She continued with a pout.
“Remember how Kaeul called you a kid, ahjussi. The reason’s a bit different, but now I think she’s right.”
“What?”
“Think about it. Let’s say there’s a pirate who lived travelling around the oceans for 20 years, and a bandit who lived in a mountain for 40 years.”
“Okay.”
“Usually, the bandit will be more of an adult than the pirate.”
“…Right.”
“But in the ocean, the pirate has more experience than the bandit so he’s the adult there.”
“…Alright, I get that but, what are you trying to say right now.”
Her lips began twitching. Slowly, her eyes began avoiding his gaze.
“Just, you know…”
It looked like she was trying her hardest to hold her laughter inside.
“I was thinking, that I might be more of an adult, in certain areas…”
Taking her hands off of his thighs, she went back to her seat. Then, she tucked her hair behind her ear before turning to the computer display screen.
It felt like something had happened, but he didn’t know what.
“Let’s write.”
Saying something that didn’t have to be said out loud, she started typing on the keyboard.
Her white ear, the hair tucked behind that ear and several strands of hair that weren’t tucked – looking at her side profile, Yu Jitae suddenly realised that he had been forgetting something.
He was trying to ask her about the reason she felt perplexed but he was completely swallowed up to her pace before even realising it. Thus, he didn’t get to ask the reason, nor was he able to make her troubled again.
All the things that had been planned and failed in the seventh iteration were always like this.
In any case, there was no reason to stay here any further when she was working. While leaving the room, he powerlessly spoke to her.
“If you want to know why, I’ll tell you. There hasn’t been anyone like you who crossed the line to approach me.”
Her eyes that were focused on the screen widened.
“And, that’s why I find you troubling.”
But without seeing that, he walked out of her room.
*
[39. There hasn’t been anyone like you who crossed the line to approach me. Hhe..]
For an instant, she almost died from being overly perplexed.
[Heh…hehe…]
[Huhuhuhuhu]
Thinking about it again made her feel perplexed yet again. In order to stop the corners of her lips from curling up, she took several deep breaths in and out and closed the book.
[Ahjussi Observation Diary ★★]
Then she added colour to the empty star. Suddenly, another doubt appeared in her mind, so she opened the book and added another line.
[?. Question: Why didn’t ahjussi do a prank? I thought I induced it more than enough…]
The moment Yu Jitae walked up to a hair’s breadth and grabbed her by the chin, Bom was indeed flustered and was perplexed.
However, expressing that was a different matter altogether. She didn’t have to state it out loud that she was perplexed and yet still bothered to do so.
Until now, she had never shown herself feeling troubled. In fact, it wasn’t just Yu Jitae and no-one had ever seen it.
In other words, all the expressions and words that had been shared today had been planned. Yu Jitae was sensitive to things related to the dragons so she thought he would be intrigued by her showing such a side…
[Was I too rash?]
Inducing something had to be subtle. But how subtle did it have to be for him to notice it? Bom contemplated for a little bit longer before adding to her observation diary.
[…Or should I do a bit more?]
Maybe the bait today was too small.
***
2 pm.
Although she was first according to the results of the first quarter, that was only one fourth of the 4 months of competition. Yeorum’s fight was still in process and as always, she left the house for the individual spars.
“I’ll get going then.”
“Are you fine going alone?”
“I’m fine. I’m fed up. Why do you try to monitor us 24 hours? Daddy is always like that…!”
Yeorum grumbled, imitating some character of a morning drama. Seeing the serious look on Yu Jitae’s face, she giggled.
“See ya~”
“…Yeah.”
In the living room were Yu Jitae, Bom and the protector, all staring deeply at something.
Gyeoul was taking lollies out of a container that was as big as her thigh, and was aggressively scavenging through it. Last week, Kaeul bought several containers together and recently, Gyeoul was almost crazy for lollies.
“She’s eating them really well.”
“She is.”
These days, she loved eating more and more, to the point that she ate 10 people’s worth of toasts and fish cakes. Due to that, her originally visible jawline was replaced with a double chin.
“Chirpy. Let’s eat.”
Meanwhile, Kaeul was feeding the baby chicken.
She was training the chicken these days. Hearing her voice, the baby chicken toddled forward. When Kaeul slightly lowered her face, the yellow furry ball approached her head and gently pecked on her cheek.
“Good!”
The feed came pouring down. In fact, the baby chicken had eaten in the morning before Kaeul woke up and yet it was still eating well.
Thus, it made the protector think to himself.
‘First time seeing a spirit beast like that. Is that a baby chicken or a pig.’
Without sparing them a glance, Gyeoul zealously pushed lollies into her mouth. Everyone stared at both the baby chicken and Gyeoul, as if they were watching a mukbang* youtuber.
Gyeoul was enjoying the food but soon noticed the protector’s gaze and looked up. Then, she looked at Yu Jitae, Bom and Kaeul.
“…Why?”
She was asking what they were looking at.
“Because you’re cute.”
Bom giggled, “Hihi”. When Gyeoul smiled back, it was more obvious that her cheeks were chubbier than usual.
She got fatter indeed.
Dragons weren’t gods, and were organisms just like humans. That was why young hatchlings that were unable to regulate themselves could easily get fat.
But maybe the reason she was craving food more than usual was because it was soon time for her to shed skin.
In any case, he wasn’t going to take food away from her and blankly watched Gyeoul who smiled widely from a mere lolly.
Soon, the lollies were all gone.
“…”
Gyeoul stared at the empty container. Her lips that were closed into a pout appeared extremely discontent.
She turned to Kaeul.
Gaze: Is there no more.
“Nn. There is! I bought a lot.”
Kaeul took a lolly container from her room but on the way, something seemed to have sparked in her mind.
“Gyeoul. You’re not asking for the lollies for free, are you?”
Tilt?
“Here.”
Lowering her body, Kaeul closed her eyes.
After realising something, Gyeoul approached her and pecked on her cheek. “Kyahaha! Well done!” yelled Kaeul with a wide smile as she pushed the container forward.
For some reason, Kaeul seemed to be finding her exceptionally cuter today. She watched Gyeoul indulge in the lollies from the side before asking her.
“Can you give one to unni?”
The pair of blue eyes turned towards her. Kaeul opened her mouth.
“Ahh–.”
Gyeoul stopped her bright smile, and said.
“…For, free?”
Hearing that, both Bom and Kaeul bursted into laughter. Bom was laughing too, but Kaeul almost literally rolled on the floor.
Gyeoul went a step further. Pushing her chubby cheeks forward, she tapped it with her fingers and Kaeul finally ended up on the floor laughing.
“Uuh… You’re not like a normal kid! You’re all grown up already, aren’t you?!”
“…If you don’t want,”
“No-one said that!”
Chu! Chuu! After receiving several pecks on her cheek, Gyeoul smiled bashfully and passed the lollies over.
Kururung. Kurung… Hearing something strange, Yu Jitae turned to the side and found the protector avoiding his gaze.
You laughin’?
“…”
Those red eyes flickered but bent like bows once it looked back at Gyeoul.
It seemed that this guy also knew how to laugh.
After that, they started running around mindlessly.
Gyeoul ran after the baby chicken to hug it while the baby chicken wanted Kaeul to hug it instead. Kaeul was enjoying the procedure and ran away for no reason, but because the living room wasn’t that big, the run didn’t last long and she was caught soon enough.
“Guys. Don’t run too much.”
Bom intervened to calm them down.
“What if the people living under us complain.”
“Nnn? Wasn’t your dimension protecting our unit, unni?”
“Mhmm… That’s true but…?”
That was when the baby chicken, who was running out from the room, accidentally crashed into Bom’s stomach.
Hugging the baby chicken in her arms, she took a few steps back before falling down.
“Ah…”
It happened to be right next to the sofa Yu Jitae was on. He, who was blankly sitting there, instinctively raised his body and supported Bom with his arms. Being a dragon, she wouldn’t get hurt and it wasn’t a dangerous situation, but it was literally an instinctive reaction.
“Ah, sorry. Ahjussi…”
“Are you alright.”
Bom, who was being awkwardly held by Yu Jitae, placed the baby chicken down and turned her head. Since her skin was white, her flushed ears were clear and visible.
In that instant, the Regressor realised that Bom was feeling perplexed.
That was the end. They started running around again while Bom laid down on the sofa with her face turned towards the backrest of the sofa.
What happened just then?
Blankly staring at the green hair, he analysed the current situation. A faint touch of the body or close proximity. The situation wasn’t scary, and even if it was, it wasn’t excessively so.
To Bom, it would have been an unexpected turn of events.
Ah.
Only then did he understand the reason Bom was feeling perplexed.
To sum things up, it was because she was from the green race. Since she acted like she knew everything, apparently she became flustered whenever something unexpected happened to her.
The Regressor learned something new about Bom today.
*
But it seemed that he didn’t notice the smile on my face.
“…”
Everything was going as planned.