“Uwah. Shedding. Shedding skin!”
“Oi, Yu Kaeul.”
“Unni! Our Gyeoul is going to shed skin! Uaaaah…!”
“Everyone knows that. Just shut your mouth for a bit. Her ears are really sensitive right now!”
“Hupp…!”
Kaeul blocked her own mouth in surprise. Soon, Gyeoul opened her eyes with the frown still on her face and turned towards Yeorum.
“…Yeorum-unni.”
“Uh?”
“…Shh.”
It was a joke. Gyeoul giggled and Yeorum looked like she was about to burst out in anger while Kaeul laughed silently under her breath.
“Are you okay, Gyeoul?” asked Bom as she carefully caressed Gyeoul’s hair.
“…Nn.”
Gyeoul meekly returned a nod but her forehead drenched in sweat seemed to be saying otherwise.
Hatchlings became true dragons as they turned into an adult.
According to Bom, the third and fourth skin-shedding processes that were held when they were around 100 years old wouldn’t hurt or make them sensitive. However, Gyeoul was a baby who was just turning 1 and it required a lot of caution when hatchlings of her age were shedding skin.
“First, you guys get away from Gyeoul.”
Yu Jitae pushed the kids away with his body. “Ohh right!” Kaeul hurriedly distanced herself after realising something.
In the end, they belonged to a different race.
The mana given off by other races wouldn’t lead to a positive influence to hatchlings that were sensitive before shedding their skin. And similarly, Lair with its high altitude and a possible influence from all sorts of mana was not a suitable place to shed skin.
Once the actual process began, Yu Jitae had to travel to a very distant place with Gyeoul. Environment-wise, something that resembled a blue dragon’s nest would be the best, like for example, near the icebergs of Greenland.
So as soon as he heard Gyeoul mention that her heart was tingly, he had ordered his clone to prepare a location near that place that was suitable for Gyeoul.
“Gyeoul. It’s nothing scary! Nn? Okay?”
Bom, Yeorum and Kaeul who were a few steps away from her started rambling about her situation.
“…Nn.”
“Even if your body hurts slightly and your heart becomes hot, do not be scared! It’s all for your growth! It’s nothing dangerous!”
“Don’t be scared. It doesn’t hurt that much,” said Yeorum.
“What are you saying! It does hurt right? Maybe you don’t know pain, unni, but I almost cried myself to deat…”
“Oi.”
“Ahht, ooops…”
As soon as Yeorum gave a sideway glare at Kaeul, the babbling baby chicken shut her own mouth. Gyeoul appeared calm despite hearing all that.
“Yu Gyeoul. At least you’re better off. Your guardian’s taking care of everything. He got the location covered. He’s protecting and worrying for you. That’s more than enough, you know that?”
Yeorum crossed her arms and grumbled.
“When I was your age, when I was trembling naked to shed skin, I had to watch the bi*ch from my race that was born first drooling, saying that it would be the best chance to eat me then.”
“Ehhng? Really? That’s too much!”
“Yeah. It’s only that b*tch that gets all the love and none of the adults care about it anyway. It’s one thing for my body to be in pain but my mood? It was fuc*inn~ amazing. But look at me now?”
She poked her cheeks with her fingers and gathered her breasts with her two hands, before placing her hands on her waist.
“How beautiful am I? A bi*ch like me did it, so it should be easier for a black-hearted baby like you. In other words, shedding skin is nothing. Everyone does it, so just get it over and done with.”
It was hard to tell whether she was swearing or encouraging her. After slightly pondering on the meaning behind those words, Gyeoul determined that she was swearing and scoffed.
“Aoo~ This little b*tch is not cute at all.”
“…Hmph.”
Kaeul appeared discontent with Yeorum’s encouragement.
“No unni…! You can’t make it sound so easy…!”
“What?”
“You have to be more realistic about it or she would be surprised when it actually happens right? Gyeoul. Listen carefully. There are several stages when you’re shedding skin! Firstly, your polymorph will be undone by itself, and next, your heart will slowly stop beating. And then scales appear above your skin and separates the previous ones and, uwahh… this part really, really hurts like crazy okay?!”
Her eyes slowly began to widen.
“After that is really really painful! When your new skin hits the air, it feels like you’re getting pricked by needles! Your heart will also feel as if there’s a needle moving inside it…! It feels like it’s getting slashed into pieces. Haa…! So it might feel like you’re dying but if you bear with it…!”
Slam!
Kaeul was slapped on the back of her head, and glared at Yeorum.
“Stop there you retard.”
She was immersed in her explanation to the point that her eyes were teary.
“Huhh! Whyy! We need to tell her everything honestly so that she can prepare herself!”
“How is that honest? You’re just scaring her!”
“No!?”
The two quarrelled as Gyeoul shook her head as if they were too childish. Meanwhile, Bom crouched down and looked into the eyes of the child.
“Little Gyeoul.”
The blue pair of eyes turned and reached Bom.
The time she spent playing in the human world. Here, Gyeoul woke up in the morning and saw Bom, and also slept at night with Bom.
“My baby.”
Despite both of them being babies from a dragon’s perspective, Bom said that in a joking manner and Gyeoul returned a natural smile.
“Our little Gyeoul will no longer be a baby then?”
“…Nn?”
“You’ll be more of an adult.”
“…Adult?…Me?”
Gyeoul imagined something after hearing her words and widened her eyes with intrigue. “Rather than an adult, probably around 10”, “If she doesn’t want to be an adult, she might stay a child!” added Yeorum and Kaeul.
“Then you will be able to do everything you’ve ever wanted, including things you couldn’t do because you were too young.”
“…Really?”
“Nn. So try to bear with it for a bit, and let’s overcome it. Okay?”
“…Okay.”
“When it’s all done, your unni will give you a gift.”
“…A gift?”
Bom stealthily approached her and whispered into her ears. After hearing that, Gyeoul turned towards Yu Jitae with a foolish, wide smile on her face.
What were they talking about?
“Gyeoul! Aren’t you scared!?”
“…Nn.”
“Wahh. I was super scared though…!”
“…I’m fine.”
“She’s better than you, you monkey,” added Yeorum.
“What? So you’re saying you weren’t scared unni?”
“Of course I wasn’t.”
After saying that, Yeorum tucked her hair behind her ear.
“But well, my hands did shake a little.”
Gyeoul, on the other hand, looked strangely mature. She threw her two hands into the air and showed them to Yeorum. Her hands were normal without any signs of quivering.
“…Coward,” said Gyeoul before giggling out loud. Yeorum frowned and Kaeul giggled, but received a glare and turned around.
Bom hugged the child. Her hair drenched in sweat was sticking to her cheeks.
“Umm, well, is there anything you need by any chance?”
“Chirp!”
Meanwhile, the protector who was put in quarantine at the storage with Chirpy for having an aura that was even more disparate than the dragons, spoke through the gap between the door. Gyeoul shook her head so Bom replied in her stead.
“Can you please close the door?”
Cre… ee… ea.. aak…
The closing door sounded full of regret.
*
Then, Bom called Yu Jitae to the terrace.
“Please bring a cap along as well.”
“Why?” he asked.
“She might need it after shedding her skin.”
“Hmm… okay.”
“And you’ll also need a weapon. Something that’s not too loud which also doesn’t affect her mana.”
“Why?”
“The smell of a weakened dragon’s mana is sweet. Monsters might be attracted to it.”
“Is that because she’s not shedding skin at a dragon’s lair?”
“Yes.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
That evening, Yu Jitae went to the market and bought a light-blue cap as it would be a great fit for Gyeoul. He also thought about the cold weapon he should bring and decided on a sword.
Unit 301 waited in harmony for the change to arrive to the child.
“…Uhh.”
As days passed by, her groans lasted longer and longer. Her original body tried to grow quickly while the young heart tried to get bigger into its new form.
Sometimes, growth had to be accompanied by pain and that was the state Gyeoul was in right now.
The Regressor could vividly remember his own self thinking that it wasn’t that big of a deal in the previous iterations. Wiping the beads of sweat travelling down the child’s forehead, he daftly asked.
“Does it hurt a lot.”
Shake shake.
“Do you want to go now? Where there’s a lot of ice and water?”
Shake shake.
“We can go now if it hurts.”
Gyeoul looked into his eyes for a long time before slowly shaking her head.
“…Don’t want to.”
“Why.”
In order to minimise whatever that could negatively impact the child, the Regressor kept all his authorities, blessings, status and the likes inside his body. That was why he was able to stay by her side and look after her.
And Gyeoul, who was smart, knew all that.
“…If we go there, ahjussi will be cold.”
Since he had hidden all the authorities and blessings inside himself, Yu Jitae’s body was no different from a normal person’s as long as he wasn’t attacked.
“Do you have time to worry about someone else?”
“…”
“I don’t get cold.”
“…Nnn.”
But Gyeoul remained stubborn so the two of them could only leave the house after 3 days. Wearing a thick coat and a vest, Yu Jitae helped Gyeoul wear something comfortable that could cool down her boiling body.
Meanwhile, a memory of the past resurfaced.
The time when the child stopped her own heart and closed her water-coloured pair of eyes.
When the ceiling broke down in the underground labyrinth and revealed the sky.
***
After the end of the 5th iteration, until the start of the 6th iteration.
Yu Jitae repeatedly went to other dimensions to kill their sovereigns, and killed himself. Dozens of iterations were thrown away like that and in the sixth iteration, it was time to set foot on the [Demon World] which was the most dangerous world from those that were being ruled by sovereigns.
– From now on, you guys must stay here.
Since he didn’t want to delay it any longer, he kidnapped all the dragons and locked them up in the underground labyrinth.
– One day, you’ll gain freedom.
– So until the future I’ve prepared comes,
– You can’t leave this place,
– And you must behave.
The hatchlings trembled with fear.
– Don’t you dare try to negotiate with me.
– You’ll get hurt if you’re cocky.
Back then, he was violent and oppressive. Looking back at his life, his existence was no different from calamity itself to others.
It didn’t matter even if a war broke out, since there wasn’t any daily life that had to be protected and so the Regressor killed the demons non-stop. Even when wars broke out because of that and 30% of humanity died, he didn’t stop.
Unprecedented power and fear shall change the world.
And that will surely end the curse of regression.
The end of that firm belief was waiting for him. He thus had to make himself even busier and radically build more strength.
That was what he thought back then and thus, he didn’t visit the underground labyrinth that often.
– ……
When he did go to the underground labyrinth to observe the baby dragons, it was always the Blue Dragon who changed the most.
The Blue Dragon whom he first saw as an egg looked like a 3-year-old child when he realised it and the next time he saw it, it had shed its skin and had become an adult.
Since dragons grow as much as they wish for, it seemed that the Blue Dragon back then had sincerely desired to become an adult. He didn’t know why because the Blue Dragon never explained it, but it was probably because of the [Revelation].
Was it also because of the revelation?
While the Green Dragon requested something from him, the Blue Dragon requested to accompany him. But there was no reason for him to listen to that request.
– …Please let me go out.
– …You’ll need me.
He refused over and over again.
– …Do you think I’m doing this because I like you?
– …But, you can’t live like that.
Crying quietly, the Blue Dragon blocked the door until he left every time. He was already angry because of the Green Dragon which requested repeatedly for this and that.
And on the day before he went over to the Demon World, the Blue Dragon somehow guessed it or something, and vehemently stopped him from leaving.
By blocking and pushing him even.
– Oi.
– Who do you think you are.
After being held by the neck, the Blue Dragon was unable to fight back and crashed into the wall. Staring at the blue eyes, Yu Jitae gave a firm warning.
– Don’t you dare act up.
– Unless you want to die.
Since then, the Blue Dragon did not cry. With neither resentment, sorrow nor fear, the Blue Dragon watched the man leave the labyrinth with a hazy gaze.
It probably waited for him to come back.
After waiting for a day, it would have thought something.
After waiting for a month, it probably tried something judging from the bloodstains that filled the labyrinth.
After waiting for 1 year, 5 years and 10 years.
When the fake sense of happiness injected by the paradise was starting to be pushed away from her head.
The long, long wait would’ve met its end.
The Blue Dragon stopped its own heart and died. That was just 1 year ago, at the end of the sixth iteration.
*
“…”
Inside a dark cave of ice.
Gyeoul, who was lying down, was unable to bear with the pain anymore and started crying. The mature look on her face was long gone and the eyes dropping teardrops were full of anxiety.
The child was extremely scared of the change that was to come.
“…Please, hug me.”
He hugged the child and felt the trembling of the small body.
Then, for a split second, the memories of a not-so-distant past flashed across his head. He himself couldn’t believe it, but he was slightly regretting it.
What wrong did the child ever do. She was so uneasy. Why couldn’t I treat her a bit better. Why couldn’t I be a bit nicer to her.
“…Will you, stay here, forever?”
“Yeah. I’m not going anywhere.”
Why couldn’t I stay with her a bit more.