Huu. Huuuk…
A boy gasped for breath. The lack of air made him dizzy and caused his chin to drop. Kneeling down, the boy drooled as is.
He was Yu Jitae’s second [Shadow of an Archduke (SS)].
“How pathetic… are you that tired already?”
Clone 1 was displeased with Clone 2.
The boy (Clone 2) was weak and couldn’t use all the authorities of his lord that were laying dormant inside his body. He could barely use 1% of it.
At least that was understandable. He was just born and the ingredient used for his creation was a low quality item for a Level 5 artifact.
His lord had 2 spare Level 5 artifacts previously, and because herself (Clone 1) had eaten the better one of the two, it was inevitable for the second to be born like this.
“I’m not that tired…”
He was all talk.
“Are you even trying?”
“I am. Why are you asking that every time…”
His loyalty was decent, but that was something unconditionally held by a [Shadow of an Archduke (SS)] regardless of the clone’s individuality. Thus, in order to distinguish if the clone was outstanding or not, he had to be graded according to his ability and willpower.
Ability-wise? As mentioned above, he was close to trash to the point that it was hard to believe that he was a clone of their lord.
And the same was for his willpower.
“Stand up then.”
“Just one second…”
“Get up.”
“Let me take a breather okay?”
Clone 1 walked up with a serious look on her face and kicked the young boy on his chest.
They were in the junkyard of a fallen country without anyone nearby. It was a light kick but it resulted in a great jolt as if he had been bashed by a truck going full speed. With a thud, the boy flew all the way across and bounced several times before being buried in the pile of car scraps.
Dust covered the area.
With relaxed steps, Clone 1 approached the boy.
“I gave you enough time to breathe. Get up.”
“Haa, haa…”
Whilst staggering and stumbling, the boy barely raised his body. His body tilted forward heavily like he was about to vomit. The boy swayed several times before finally throwing up a mouthful of blood that stained the ground in red.
“If you’re having trouble with a simple training session, how will you work for the Great Plan? If you were our lord, would you even think about using you?”
“Haa…”
“Make your back straight. Before I break it.”
A brutal voice struck his eardrums and the boy finally stood up straight as his hand wiped the blood off his lips. One of his eyes was swollen and his ripped cheeks were bleeding.
“Use your authorities properly.”
“Ah, I will. I’m doing it right now…”
He grumbled and closed his eyes as the wounds started to close.
“I’ll say it one more time. You,”
“Have to be strong. Have to be loyal to the lord. The happiness of the dragons is the top priority and we have to protect it. I know. I remember everything already.”
“…”
The boy was about to wipe the blood with his fingers but had to stop. His thumb and index finger had disappeared and the rest of his fingers were folded into strange angles. They had been broken from something just then.
“Ahhkk…”
As the pain slowly caught up to his sight, the boy clenched his teeth and used his blessings.
It was a blessing related to ‘Body Recovery’ that his lord possessed. When the twisted fingers returned to normal, the boy gave yet another scream and when new fingers sprouted out, tears dropped from the eyes of the boy who couldn’t even breathe properly.
“Are you done.”
“…Yes.”
“Raise your weapon then.”
But the woman was heartless, and the boy raised his sword without talking back.
.
.
.
By the time they were done with the training, Clone 2 was in a mess, and Clone 1 applied medicine on the boy who was lying down. Because of several restrictions, her lord had been unable to learn an ability that healed others, so this was all Clone 1 could do.
“…”
Clone 2 lifted his arm and covered his eyes.
As a clone, they both had no personal feelings. But just like how she occasionally held doubts about her lord’s thoughts, Clone 2 appeared to have felt doubtful about her actions.
“Training is fine. It’s good, but does it have to be to this degree?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“No umm… that ‘why’ isn’t asking about why I’m needed when our lord is protecting the dragons already.”
“Then what.”
“Like, isn’t it fine to get stronger slowly?”
“We can’t do that.”
Clone 1 was clear-cut with her words.
“When, where, what and how. We can foresee but we can’t be certain. That is the case for any thinking mortal and our lord is not an exception.”
“…”
“That’s why you and I must be prepared at all times. We must be ready as soon as possible and that’s why this is also necessary.”
The boy remained silent.
“You are an existence our lord wished to create. That is the same as saying that your non-existence will affect the happiness of the dragons. So all the blood and tears you shed will add to the safety and joy of the dragons.”
“I won’t shed tears though.”
“Then let’s say blood and sweat.”
“So blood will be shed no matter what, I see.”
“What. Do you think this is cruel? That you have to shed blood because of someone else’s happiness? And the fact that you had to be the one?”
“No? You’re great, ahjumma, but you have this tendency to look down on me too much. I’m a Shadow of an Archduke myself.”
“You mean someone like you is still a small phoenix?”
“The same as ahjumma, I guess. So why would I think about things like that when that’s my reason of existence?”
Despite that, he couldn’t hide the melancholy behind his voice. Clone 1 inwardly heaved a sigh as she was suddenly made to look after a kid somehow.
But there were times when he was cute.
“We’ll start it again later. Rest for an hour.”
“30 minutes is more than enough.”
He acted big. But after saying that, the boy apparently thought it was too short and opened his mouth yet again.
“No wait, maybe 35 minutes…”
She scoffed.
Was her lord also this daring in his first iteration?
After having an insolent thought for a second, Clone 1 shook her head.
***
Bom quietly waited until Yu Jitae finished writing the record.
She would one day drink by herself even if they didn’t drink today, so he decided to teach her how to drink. If she felt happy from drinking, then alcohol might become a good friend for her as well.
“Here.”
“Yes.”
There was a seed that resembled the shape of a cup.
“Cheers~”
Tap- Yu Jitae and Bom bumped their seeds. As the strong crimson wine with 80% alcohol travelled down their throats, a flowery scent struck their noses like a bomb.
“…Cough.”
After drinking it in one go, she coughed. Her eyes turned into circles.
“This, it’s really hot…”
“Hot?”
“Yes. I can feel the alcohol moving down.”
She then carried her finger down from her neck, to her chest and her stomach.
Bom prepared some dungeon fruits that were similar to mango as a side dish. While having those, they emptied several shots in silence.
With a slight pout, Bom opened her mouth.
“I think I’m tipsy.”
“Is that so.”
“I turn around and the world moves slowly. This is what tipsy is, right?”
“It is.”
“But this is unfair.”
“Why.”
“Why am I the only one getting drunk.”
“What do you mean.”
“Ahjussi’s not drunk, right?”
“I am.”
The Regressor had already lowered his body’s metabolism rate to that of a human’s. That was in respect of how precious this alcohol was.
“Then why do you look so normal?”
“Because I’m heavyweight.”
“Can I feel your feelings for a bit?”
Dragons can synchronise their emotions and thoughts to the person they touch. She apparently thought he was lying. The Regressor could obviously hide it if he wanted to but still allowed her to do what she wanted to do.
Bom placed her index finger on the back of his hand.
“You’re right…”
Her pouty eyes turned into a strange curve.
It must be because he was drunk. Her finger, and the touch on the back of his hand felt more vivid than usual.
The Regressor wasn’t that satisfied with the current situation. He found it slightly troubling for his hand to touch her’s.
He thus tried to pull it away but she somehow knew what he was up to, and suddenly grabbed his finger.
“Where are you running.”
She giggled.
Therefore, he closed his senses as well.
At this point, his body felt quite awkward. In order to get drunk, he lowered his metabolism rate, closed his senses to decrease the vividness of the hand touching his skin, and killed his false presence since she wanted honesty.
The Regressor became the same as a normal person for the first time ever since the start of the seventh iteration.
“But why did you suddenly want to drink.”
“Ah, I actually wanted to drink from a while back.”
“From a while back?”
“Yes. I can’t remember it properly, but I think my mother used to drink a lot. Something red like blood…”
Bom stared at the mandrake wine and reminisced in her memories, as if the red colour was similar to the past.
“I wanted to drink by myself later, but I didn’t have the chance to…”
“And you’re saying right now is the chance?”
“It is. I’m also curious about how you are when you’re drunk, ahjussi.”
She then laughed, ‘Huhu…’, and seemed drunk indeed. It was his first time seeing the slanted eyes and the blank smile on her face.
“Do you do something special when you’re drunk?”
“I do.”
“What is it?”
“Becoming calm.”
“That’s so like you, ahjussi…”
Tap- The seed cups clinked.
“Huu… Why do you become calm?”
“I don’t really remember why. Probably because I made a mistake when I was drunk before. I think it’s ever since that happened.”
“Do people make mistakes when drunk?”
“They do.”
Tap-
“Ah. I spilled some…”
“What a waste.”
Bom placed her lips near the alcohol spilled on top of the wooden table. She then slurped it.
“What are you doing.”
“Didn’t you say it was a waste…?”
“But even then.”
“Hmm… Now that I think about it, it is a bit dirty… Why did I do that…?”
She gave another foolish smile.
Tap–
“Uuhh… this is a really strong alcohol right…?”
“It is.”
“I think I know what getting drunk means… it feels good.”
“Don’t drink too much, and get rid of the intoxication before the kids come back.”
“Okay…”
Tap–
“Huuh… Oh right. Let me give you the sides. Here. Ahh–”
“…”
“Good boy.”
After pouring strong alcohol down his throat over and over again, it seemed that he had also become quite drunk. While eating the fruit Bom gave him, he asked something which he usually wouldn’t have asked.
“Why are you trying to make me eat every time.”
“But if I don’t, you don’t eat…”
“I don’t have to eat.”
“That makes me want to feed you even more, you know…?”
Tap-
Tap-
Tap-
“Look. You’re not eating them now…”
“…”
Hnn hnn hnn. She laughed like a fool.
The alcohol was close to being emptied and he was quite drunk himself as well. Bom’s face and her eyes that had become normal ever since it had become a part of his daily life, stayed in his vision longer than usual.
And Bom found out about it.
“Am I pretty…?”
The green-haired girl who knew she was pretty, pouted her lips out when his gaze remained on her face for a long time. She soon gave an awkward smile, before smiling like a fox again while poking her cheeks with her fingers. She was acting cute.
As if he was watching TV, he blankly stared at her face. He gradually started feeling more perplexed as Bom was still holding his finger.
He could see her fingers and her nails. The veins contrasting against her white skin entered his sight.
He decided that he had to stop the drinking session here.
“Let’s make this the last cup.”
“Okay…”
But there was a problem. Bom, who was heavily drunk, had trouble holding the cup properly. It was slightly different from how a human got drunk, and it was her synchronisation with the polymorphed body that was being affected.
She thought she grabbed it but it was just her hand that came up. After missing the cup several times on repeat, she frowned and glared at the innocent cup.
“Whhy, can’t I grab it…”
“…”
So Yu Jitae grabbed the cup for her and poured alcohol into it, and she somehow received it with both hands.
The last drop of alcohol went down her throat. Gulp, gulp. After slowly finishing it, she heaved a powerless sigh, which spread the flowery scent of the alcohol across.
Blankly, Bom stared at the remaining last piece of fruit, before opening her mouth.
“This. I want to eat this…”
“Huh?”
“But I can’t grab it…”
The Regressor pondered for a second, thinking that it might be her asking him to feed her.
“I want to eat it… but I can’t pick it up…”
Reaching her hand forward, she seemingly grabbed the fruit, but it remained on the spot when she lifted her hand back up. She became even more depressed.
“I want to eat it… I want to but….”
“…”
Her loosened gaze blankly turned towards Yu Jitae, so he gave a sigh before grabbing the fruit and handing it over to her. Bom gazed up at him with the same gloomy expression and soon opened her mouth.
The fruit entered her mouth.
But because she was drunk, she couldn’t control her mouth and chin.
So,
She ended up biting on Yu Jitae’s fingers along with the fruit.
“…?”
Her vacant gaze slowly went back and forth between his eyes and hand.
After feeling the warmth inside her mouth, he pulled his finger out. His hazy senses ignored his command and vividly returned to him.
For an instant, an extremely large sense of perplexity rose up from a corner of his heart.
“What are you doing.”
That was when Bom bursted into laughter ever so slowly. Ahaha, she laughed as she waved her hand.
“No… I wasn’t trying to do that…”
“…”
“It was an accident. An accident…”
***
“…”
Kaeul blankly stared through the window.
She had found a beautiful baby chicken in the middle of the mountain. She had to take a picture to show Chirpy, but realised that she had left the watch behind.
That was why she had come back for a bit.
But when she came near the house, there was a strong scent of flowers surrounding the area. Curious about the source of the smell, she sneaked to the window and stole a glance inside.
Her unni and ahjussi were drinking inside.
Uwah, they’re drinking…! She thought.
That’s what she thought, until she saw Bom’s expression.
“…”
Yu Jitae had his back towards the window, and she couldn’t see his face. Bom suddenly laughed out loud, saying it was an accident, but Kaeul couldn’t see what the accident was either.
But what she did see clearly, were Bom’s eyes that were staring at Yu Jitae.
“…”
From the expression and gaze of the drunk Bom, Kaeul felt something mysterious and wondrous that made her feel dizzy.
Her heart started racing.
“…”
Unlike usual where she had trouble focusing on something for a long time, Kaeul couldn’t look away from the two for a long period of time.
Around the time they started packing up, she came back to her senses and quickly escaped but even after she went back to the mountain, her heart didn’t stop racing.
Thump thump…
Kaeul finally asked herself.
What did I just see…?