The next day, Gyeoul recovered her mana and regrew her hair.
That day was precisely the 365th day ever since the start of the 7th iteration.
One year of the 7th iteration had passed already. Sitting in the study, Yu Jitae wrote several words down on the notepad with a pen.
+++
[Iteration Interim Review]
Life: / Happiness Level:
Bom:
Yeorum:
Kaeul:
Gyeoul:
+++
The Regressor decided to compare this iteration with the previous iterations in detail since that would allow him to discern whether this iteration was so far successful or not.
Firstly, what he had to measure was…
Knock knock-… Someone knocked on his door.
“Yeah.”
– Ahjussi! Are you not having lunch today!?
“I’m fine for today. You guys eat.”
– Why? What are you doing by yourself inside the room!
“Nothing much.”
– Ah I get it! You eating something tasty by yourself?!
Kaeul’s voice was followed by other questions, “Isn’t he watching porn?” and “Porn? What’s that?”
“…No. I’m not. You guys eat by yourselves.”
– Ah, okayy!
After sending Kaeul away, he thought to himself.
The first element that had to be evaluated was the ‘lives of the baby dragons’. He listed the previous iterations in his memories and compared them with the current iteration in his head.
Judging from the fact that none of the four dragons were hurt, the first element could be evaluated very positiv–
Kwakwang–!! Something exploded behind the door.
He opened the door and went outside. Yeorum’s door was broken and the kitchen that was right next to her room was also in a complete mess. Surprised, the protector, Bom, Kaeul, the baby chicken and Gyeoul had gone to her room and were assessing the situation.
Yu Jitae asked Yeorum who was lying down on the floor.
“What happened.”
“Like, why would they make an artifact so fragile,” she grumbled.
He wondered what she was on about but it seemed that she had dismantled the sword artifact due to curiosity and had accidentally touched something she shouldn’t. It was that same sword she bought when she went shopping with Bom.
Yu Jitae checked the sword artifact. The magic stone was severely damaged.
“Yu Yeorum. Aren’t you being too rough with your belongings?”
“I wasn’t!”
“It would be in a better state even if an elephant stepped on it. What were you even trying to do.”
“No, I just touched it lightly because I was curious what was inside it.”
“Whatever, just be gentler with your belongings.”
“Like I said, I was gentle.”
“’Gentler’.”
“Seriously…”
The room was in a mess. With cleansing magic, the burnt marks and traces of the explosion would be easily removed, but that wasn’t the case for rubbish so the kids were assigned to clean her room while Yu Jitae and the protector were to clean the kitchen.
“Oing?”
Kaeul rummaged through a broken drawer and took out something strange.
“Unni, what’s this?”
It was a strange-looking string. It resembled a net or a spiderweb but looked like a rope when it was folded.
“What else would it be? It’s something fun.”
“Fun? This?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t tried it yet either.”
Yeorum gave an unsightly smile.
“Wanna try it?”
“Uhh… I don’t know what it is but don’t want to… feels weird.”
“Hnng~”
“Then what’s all this?”
This time, she pointed at a handcuff, a whip and some bizarre (?) unidentifiable items. They just all happened to be inside that drawer.
“Ahh, you mean that? The long and black heart-shaped thing in front of you is—”
Her expression turned brighter as she went on so Kaeul shook her hands in fright.
“No, no! Stop! Don’t say it!”
“What? It’s nothing crazy.”
“I don’t want to know anymore…! Why in the world are you buying these things?”
“What do you mean why? It’s because I’m interested.”
“Did you even use these after buying them?” asked Kaeul.
Yeorum indifferently looked into her eyes.
“You asked if I used them?”
“Huh?”
“Yu Kaeul. So you already knew that these were meant to be ‘used’?”
“Huh? No, no? Have you gone crazy? I don’t?!”
Kaeul really didn’t know and wanted to remain ignorant of it. “Is that so?” sneered Yeorum.
“Haven’t used them yet,” she added.
“Ehng? You haven’t used them?”
“Dude, do I even have time to play with this? I’m busy training everyday already. Don’t you know how I sleep like a log in my room after training?”
“Then why are you buying them? When you’re not even using them!?”
“Do you even know what collecting is?”
“Collecting…? No, whatever. I’m the fool for talking about it…! I don’t want to know. I don’t want to hear anything!”
She felt like she was being drawn into Yeorum’s conversation topic, so Kaeul quickly stopped her words in a fluster. However, Yeorum chuckled at the enjoyment of putting footsteps on a layer of pure, white snow.
“Ah, you know what? I did use some of them. I used…”
“Uaaaahhh…!”
All sorts of strange, unidentifiable things appeared as they searched through her broken room.
“…”
Staring at a blindfold with laces, Gyeoul gave a frown but soon saw an even stranger corset. Although she didn’t know what it was, it put her in a bad mood for some reason so she stealthily threw it into the rubbish bin.
“What are you doing?”
That was when Yeorum’s voice reached her ears. Startled, Gyeoul carefully turned around but discovered that she wasn’t looking at her.
Yeorum and Kaeul were staring at Bom, so Gyeoul also stared at her.
Bom was wearing a black necklace.
“Nn?”
When the three of them stared at her, Bom asked as if she didn’t know what the problem was.
“What are you doing. That’s mine.”
“Ah, nn. I’m just trying it on. How does it look?”
The dark, leather necklace was sticking to her neck. Without knowing what it was, Kaeul replied with a bright smile.
“Uwah. It somehow looks super great on you, Bom-uuni! Is it a choker?”
But for some reason, it looked slightly different from a normal choker. There was a little chain attached to the end of the choker.
“How is it? Does it suit me?”
Despite that, when Bom placed her two hands beneath her chin like the leaves of a flower, the black choker decorating the exact middle point of her pretty neck above her white shirt did suit her quite a lot.
Without even knowing what it was, Kaeul and Gyeoul complimented her by saying it was pretty and Bom returned a faint smile.
“Looks good on you. You seem to be liking it a fair bit?”
“Nn. I do like things like this.”
Yeorum, the only one that knew what it was, gave a knowing smile.
“Crazy…… then what, you want me to pull it for you?”
Bom shook her head with the same indifferent pout.
“Nn? No.”
“What ‘no’. Isn’t that what you’re into?”
“What am I into?”
“…What? What are you on about? Did you wear that on your neck without even knowing what it was?”
“Nn. What is this?” Bom asked.
What is it? It’s a damn dog leash.
Yeorum glared at the green race. She couldn’t tell whether she was being serious or not and in the first place, it was impossible to read the inner thoughts of this cucumber-coloured race.
“Ouuuw… It feels like, it feels like I get itt… Don’t know what it is though…!” interjected Kaeul.
“Really?”
“Unni, unni. I want to try it on too.”
That was when Kaeul suddenly started doing something strange. With a rather vacant expression, she searched the ground and picked up a similar dog leash.
Yeorum shook her head.
“Do what, you idiot. Give it.”
When Yeorum pushed her hand forward to take it from her, Gyeoul suddenly opened a different drawer and took out a book.
“Uhh? Oi, let go of that right now!” Yeorum shouted in a hurry.
“…!?”
Startled, Yeorum snatched the book away from Gyeoul’s hands and pushed it into the drawer.
“Are you crazy? Why are you touching a drawer that’s not even broken?”
“…Why?”
“What ‘why’! Go away right now!”
Gyeoul carefully ran away and avoided her.
And soon, after they were done cleaning, Kaeul asked furtively.
“Gyeoul. Gyeoul.”
“…Nn?”
“What was that thing just then? Why did Yeorum-unni get angry all of a sudden?”
“…Ah.”
“It was like a book right?”
“…Nn, wait.”
Kaeul was curious. Yeorum wasn’t nervous even when she was put in front of those dirty (?) and shameful (?) objects, so what was the book Gyeoul picked up that made her so nervous?
Closing her eyes, Gyeoul replayed her memories.
She wasn’t even that concerned about the book in the first place and Yeorum was too fast at snatching it away from her. Thus, she didn’t even see it properly but the few words she did see remained in her head.
Gyeoul smiled.
“Do you remember…!?”
“…Nn.”
“What is it, what is it?”
“…Shou.”
“Shou?”
“…Shou, jo man”
“Shoujo man? Is that all?”
“…Nn.”
What Gyeoul didn’t know, was that the last two letters had been blocked by her fingers.
“Shoujo man. Shoujo man… is it a new superhero? One of the descendents of superman…? Hhum…”
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t tell what shoujo man was. It could’ve been something that could finally help her tease Yeorum-unni…
Kaeul was slightly disheartened.
***
That evening, after cleaning the house.
Yu Jitae decided to go outside Unit 301. Bom and Gyeoul went out to play together somewhere so he asked just Yeorum and Kaeul if they wanted to go shopping together and they followed him without giving any complaint.
On the way to the bakery, he once again carried out an interim review of the 7th iteration.
The second evaluation element was the happiness of the hatchlings. This was also undoubtedly more positive than the previous iterations judging from how Kaeul was humming joyfully and how Yeorum didn’t look like she was in a bad mood.
Today was an especially hectic day but Unit 301 was usually quiet and the kids did feel joy despite whatever their inner thoughts may be.
So to conclude, the evaluation of this iteration is…
“By the way ahjussi, why are we going to the bakery?”
Kaeul stopped his line of thought.
“To buy a cake,” he replied.
“A cake?”
Her eyes sparkled.
“Why are we buying a cake?”
“Because it’s been exactly 1 year since I met you guys.”
“Ohh, really?”
“It’s a substitute for your birthdays.”
“Uwah. Sounds amazing!”
Her steps became increasingly livelier. When they arrived at the bakery and were choosing the cake, Yu Jitae looked at Yeorum.
“What. Why.”
“Are you going to throw it?”
“No?”
“Got it.”
She appeared dumbfounded.
“What, what is that question? Seriously… What a joke. Do you think I’m someone that throws cakes left and right?”
“But unni, you threw it on ahjussi’s birthday!”
“Back then, I did.”
“So what about now?”
Yeorum glared at Kaeul before heaving a sigh.
“Ehew… it’s all my fault, ey. My fault.”
On the way back after buying a cake, Yu Jitae gave a call to Bom and asked where she was. She said she was with Gyeoul at a nearby park so he decided to take them back on the way home.
“Ah, you know, by the way ahjussi. There’s a firework festival next next week, right.”
He did hear about it.
“Yeah.”
“But you know, something happened to me a few days ago. Uhh, you know how I’m in a travel society?”
“Yeah.”
“We’re actually not that interested in travelling and we just play around. These days, we go to a karaoke everyday.”
“A karaoke.”
“Yes yes. I don’t know how to really sing and haven’t really sung much, so I just listen but Yuran suddenly told me to try singing because I had a good voice.”
Yu Jitae stopped his words for a bit.
“…And?”
“Ehew, how do I even sing. I never did it before but… that day I tried it a little bit you know…?”
Yeorum interjected by saying, “Oi. You singing? You don’t even listen to music do you?”
“Nn! I know right! But I just tried it because she told me to…? I definitely didn’t do it well? But they said my voice was pretty and suggested that I try singing in the upcoming firework festival.”
He nodded.
“So of course I told them, ‘Ahh, I can’t do that. Ahjussi doesn’t like itt!’.”
“Doesn’t everyone already know how you can’t stand in front of a camera?” Yu Jitae remained silent, so Yeorum asked in his stead.
“Yeah. But what they said, was that we would be wearing a mask and that it wouldn’t matter…”
“What? A mask?”
“Un un…!”
While saying that, Kaeul threw a glance at him.
A mask?
He thought to himself.
Kaeul was good at singing.
She wasn’t just simply good at it. She had the ability to shake the world market with her singing alone, without relying on external factors. Of course, it didn’t happen overnight and required hours and years of hard work.
But in the two iterations where she did hold a mic, she made the world tremble with her songs. From that, it was safe to say that Kaeul’s talent when it came to singing was unprecedented.
“Hmm, uhh, umm. It’s no good right? I knew it wasn’t a good idea!”
“…”
“So please don’t worry too much about it. Uhh, I was just saying things…!”
The Regressor pondered.
The conditions actually weren’t that bad.
For a very short time in a festival with her face covered. If the identity of the participant wasn’t specified to the audience and the cadets, it might be an enjoyable experience for Kaeul.
“What’s wrong? I think it sounds fine. Aren’t you a freakin’ attention seeker?”
“Nn? How do you know that unni?”
“Do you think I won’t know when we’re in the same class for superhuman studies? You always throw your hand up when you’re saying something…”
“Hehe.”
“Why don’t you try?”
“Ey… But me, singing?”
“Why. Do they say something if you’re bad at it?”
“Won’t they? Since it’s a festival? Eyyy. No no no! Our ahjussi will be like suuuper mad. And like you said unni, I don’t listen to music either.”
Yu Jitae kept his mouth closed.
It wouldn’t be good to make her depressed so he delayed the reply for the time being. It would be better to tell her after looking into it himself.
*
When they arrived at the park, they found Gyeoul playing with Bom.
Yu Jitae called Bom, and she waved her hand after seeing them. Due to a sudden breeze, Gyeoul grabbed the cap that was about to fly off and turned around. When she found Yu Jitae, a bright smile bloomed on her indifferent expression.
She threw her hand into the air and waved it.
“Let’s go.”
“…Okay.”
On the way back to Unit 301 with the kids, he finally had some time and thus thought back on the interim review with the quiet whispers of the kids in the background. This ‘7th’ iteration was the closest to the correct solution, more so than any other iteration.
As the sun slowly started to set, Yu Jitae could finally finish the two evaluation elements of the interim review he had been thinking of since morning on the way back home.
+++
Life: Good / Happiness Level: Good
+++