“I think I need to study.”
“Study what.”
“Horror. Would you like to watch a movie with me?”
That day, he decided to go outside with just Bom. She was wearing an oversized shirt and short pants.
“How does it look?” she asked. She spread her arms out wide and looked like a flying squirrel.
“Looks good.”
Bom nodded in response.
It wasn’t even summer yet so he wasn’t sure if there would be horror movies being screened, but there actually were some being screened right now.
The cinema inside Lair’s entertainment district had very few people. It was already nighttime, close to closing time and it seemed that the movie itself wasn’t very popular either.
Bom and Yu Jitae were the only ones watching the horror movie, as if the entire cinema had been borrowed by them.
The movie started with a happy family adopting a baby possessed by evil ghosts.
It wasn’t that fun.
During the movie, Bom’s eyes suddenly turned blank but Yu Jitae didn’t care too much about it. She was like that several times a day with the ‘Eyes of Providence’ forcibly showing her Providence on its own accord.
Would she be able to focus on the movie?
“How was it?” Bom asked after the movie.
“It wasn’t good.”
“Me too. Was it scary?”
“The child running in with a knife was alright.”
“Right. That scene was good.”
“Did it help?”
“Nn.”
She then went to the bathroom. After waiting outside for a few minutes, he suddenly wondered why she was going to the bathroom but decided to ignore it.
The two of them got on an elevator. Since it was close to closing time, the elevator of the cinemas had no-one else inside. Yu Jitae stood still and Bom remained still as well.
Nothing happened in particular.
Because the cinemas were located at one of the top floors of the building, they had to change elevators to a different one in order to get to ground floor. However, the other elevator was out of service after closing time so Yu Jitae took Bom and headed to the emergency staircase.
They quietly walked down the emergency staircase.
Nothing happened in particular.
When they got out of the building, Bom suddenly stood still on the spot. With pouty eyes she stared at him and her slightly slanted eyes resembled a puppy whose treats had been taken away.
“Why.”
“Why?”
“What.”
“What is?”
“What’s up.”
“No?”
It struck him several times, but Bom was really efficient with her words sometimes. And in the Regressor’s eyes, it seemed that she was somewhat discontent.
He had no idea why.
“Ah, would you like to go to a cafe?”
She didn’t look very happy tonight. Thinking that she might feel slightly better after they went to a cafe, he agreed.
“Alright.”
Whenever they went to a cafe, Yu Jitae ordered a long black. It was because he didn’t feel anything no matter what he ate, but Bom always suggested a new menu to him.
“Mocca please.”
“Yes miss. Ice, right. Would you like cream on top?”
“Yes. Two please.”
Today’s menu seemed to be a coffee that tastes like chocolate. After grabbing the coffees, Yu Jitae and Bom sat on some small and uncomfortable chairs. The chairs were oddly close to each other and the height of the table was strangely low.
“Maybe this is for taking pictures.”
“Pictures?”
“You know, this place is pretty, right?”
He looked around but didn’t really get it. What was clear was that it looked very uncomfortable.
Yu Jitae drank the coffee with a straw. It tasted sweet and smelled like both coffee and chocolate. They were drinking their drinks without any conversation when Bom asked him.
“You’re not eating the cream, ahjussi?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“There’s no particular reason why. Why do you eat them.”
“Because they’re nice? Try it at least.”
Then, she used Yu Jitae’s straw to scoop up some whipped cream and lifted it up. When he tried to receive the straw, she pulled her hand back and pushed it towards his mouth again, only after he lowered his hand.
She was stubborn at making him eat it.
“…”
“Hurry.”
Left with no other choice, he ate it off of the straw in her hand. It tasted slightly sweet with a hint of the fatty smell unique to milk.
“How is it?”
“Just so-so.”
“I see.”
Bom still continued trying to feed him cream so Yu Jitae had to eat it on repeat.
The street lights outside the window were bright. Stopping her hands, Bom looked off into the distance so Yu Jitae also stared at the distant streets of Lair.
Looking back, he was alone with her for a comparatively longer period of time today. The thought that he could make her feel troubled did flash at least once during that long time.
However, he didn’t.
The image of a ‘Mischievous Green Dragon’ was something that had been formed very recently. The Green Dragons that he saw and remembered had never shown a side like this.
For over 50 years.
Thinking back, his relationship with her was close to being the worst. He didn’t listen to her words and completely refused her requests. She pleaded so he slapped her and tied her up.
The voice towards the end of the sixth iteration that cursed him and claimed that she would never forget this day was still vivid in his ears.
‘And yet you’re the one that ruined everything.’
It was a tragedy brought upon by his excessive greed. During the time, he thought it was an okay-level of greed but looking back, he realised that it had been excessive.
But that didn’t mean that he felt a sense of guilt from that. He wasn’t the type of person to do so. There might be plenty of people cursing him right now but he did not care a single bit about that.
However, it was true that the Apocalypse had come because of his excessive greed so it was important to be careful at least in this iteration.
Therefore, there was no reason to make Bom feel perplexed just because of simple entertainment and intrigue.
“Are you thinking about a woman?”
It was then that Bom turned towards him and asked. Since the Green Dragons were always females, it was true that he was thinking about a woman.
“Yeah.”
“Who?”
“Someone I knew in the past.”
“How long did you know her for?”
“Quite a lot.”
Bom halted her questions for a bit and took a sip of her drink.
“…But why all of a sudden?”
“No real reason. I was just thinking about the past.”
“Were you friends?”
“No.”
“Were you on bad terms?”
“Probably yes.”
“How bad?”
He hesitated before answering that question. It was because this child tended to realise a bit more than what he knew and thought of.
“Very bad.”
“Did that woman curse you, ahjussi?”
“Similar.”
“What a bad person.”
He smiled hazily.
“Why did that woman curse ahjussi. Did you do something wrong?”
“I did.”
“I’ll give you time to defend yourself.”
As if she was a judge, she acted prim and spoke.
Yu Jitae had never talked about anything on this topic with the kids, and wasn’t planning on doing so in the future. But there was this strange feeling today that made him decide to show a slight fragment of it.
He had no idea why he was feeling like this. Perhaps it was because the street lights were brighter than usual.
“It was just, an unfortunate event for both me and the opponent. We were both caught up in an unfortunate event but I seem to have been too greedy. I didn’t think it would be harsh on her, so she probably would have suffered.”
“Was it very harsh?”
“If I think about it now, it probably was.”
“And that’s why that woman was in a very bad mood?”
He agreed silently. With a more subtle voice, Bom asked.
“Do you regret it?”
“I used to. Back then, I had no wisdom of understanding what it was that I had to shoulder the most.”
“Was that person unfortunate, do you think?”
“Probably.”
“…I see.”
She thought for a bit before asking again.
“By the way.”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of woman was she?”
“I told you it was someone I knew.”
“Nn, not that.”
“Someone young.”
“Not that either. More specific please.”
Following the unknown feeling, he replied.
“She was like you.”
Hearing that, she stopped her questions.
Her gaze that was fixed on Yu Jitae went slightly lower and reached the table. This strange cafe had extremely low tables so her eyes were pretty much looking at the ground. Her lips twitched slightly.
By the time she raised her head back up, she was wearing the same indifferent look as always. Then, she scooped her own whipped cream and handed it over to Yu Jitae.
He had gotten used to it already but when Yu Jitae opened his mouth, Bom slightly adjusted the straw to the side and smeared the cream next to his mouth.
“Oi.”
She looked at him with a brazen look on her face.
“What are you doing.”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll do it properly now.”
After he wiped the cream off, she once again went, “Ahh-” and gave him more cream. Although he didn’t find her trustworthy, he still opened his mouth and as he had expected, Bom flicked her wrist again and this time it got on his chin.
“Yu Bom…”
There was a lot of cream on his chin. Seeing that, Bom began laughing under her breath while Yu Jitae closed his eyes and wiped his chin.
She opened her mouth.
“But, isn’t that sacrificing yourself to shoulder more than the other person?”
“It’s not something that grandiose and noble.”
“It’s similar though?”
It might be possible to say that if he were to think only for his own convenience.
“Is there meaning to a happiness built upon sacrifices?”
“Who knows. Are you trying to say something like how happiness gets doubled when shared?”
“Yes.”
“But sacrificing would be better than having greed ruin everything.”
“You can just be slightly greedy.”
“I’m fine without doing that.”
“You might be fine ahjussi, but for me, that’s a bit, weird.”
She slowly swirled the whipped cream with the straw.
“That’s too unfair for ahjussi…”
The Regressor had never thought about anything along the lines of that and thus couldn’t empathise with what she was saying. They became silent because of that.
Thinking that they should get up, he took his wallet while Bom also tidied up her clothes and stood from the seat.
And for no real reason, he flicked the whipped cream with the straw.
“Nn…?”
When cream got onto her cheek, her eyebrows became creased.
“What are you doing?”
“Revenge.”
“Ha…”
Bom smiled dumbfoundedly from the unexpected childish behaviour.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Standing up from the seat, the Regressor reached out and wiped the cream that was on her cheek.
Maybe his hands were too sudden. Perplexity flashed past her green eyes for a split second. Since he had seen it several times already, he was able to notice it straight away.
He contemplated whether this was excessive greed or not.
‘You can just be slightly greedy.’
But the words from Bom just then washed his previous thoughts away.
He wanted to make her feel perplexed one more time.
Now, he understood the procedure. Close proximity, but a gesture that is not aggressive. He therefore reached his hand deeper in and placed his palm on her cheek. Her skin was soft.
“…”
Like a drop of water causing a ripple, the sign of her being perplexed spread across her face. Her eyes were looking away from his own.
Does this mean that even the green race was unable to expect a situation like this?
Looking on, it was quite an interesting reaction. For the first time in a very long time, the Regressor was feeling slight entertainment.
Should I do a bit more.
What would be something that even this ‘Green Dragon’ was unable to predict? It was when the Regressor was thinking about that.
It was then.
He realised that the previous look of perplexity had completely vanished from her expression as she gazed up at him.
She was smiling.
“We got a little bit closer.”
Hearing that, he noticed the distance between them. His tie was touching Bom’s shirt.
When the troubled look disappeared from her face in a situation like this, the one that instead became perplexed was Yu Jitae. They were too close to each other for no reason.
Why am I doing this with her? He pondered in doubt.
She whispered.
“Then. Now.”
Bom grabbed his tie and gently pulled it.
“You won’t go further away even if I come closer…?”
She brought her body even closer. The perplexity crossed the line and appeared in his eyes.
Bom twitched her lips.
“Why don’t you let go, first off.”
But her two arms began wrapping around his waist.
“I don’t want to…”
His face revealed an undisguisable sign of perplexity. Finally, she bursted into laughter and silently laughed under her breath.
“…”
The built-up tension was washed away.
He could see a green dragon sitting on the cafe chair, laughing with a hand covering her mouth. For how long had he been playing in her hands? The Regressor couldn’t even estimate when it all started.
“W, were you that troubled? Like really? Tremendously?”
With a face blooming of happiness, Bom teased Yu Jitae.
“Kyaa-hahahaha!”
Even when they were out on the road, she laughed every time she saw his face and because of that, the road home today was longer than usual.
*
[Ahjussi Observation Diary ★★☆]