After finishing her words,
Her eyes trembled. The olive-coloured eyes that appeared like the collection of bitterness avoided his eyes. Wearing a troubled expression on her face, the child soon lowered and buried her head back into his chest.
Bom silently stayed like that for a long time, as if waiting for a reply.
After regaining the Eye of Providence, she had never shown such a reaction even when she was teasing him. That in turn meant that she was unable to control herself and the situation despite having seen Providence.
“…”
He found it difficult to reply.
It was a complicated situation.
If there were fences separating people, it might be that Bom was trying to cross the fence over to his side. Even if that wasn’t the case, she was sending paper airplanes with a message saying that she was curious about the other side.
Her temperature that could be felt above the clothes turned his perplexity into confusion.
He took the hatchlings in and called himself their guardian in hopes of having them safely live a happy life. That was his 7th iteration – the life he found to be the closest to the correct answer.
And he had never even imagined that the hatchlings could feel an emotion exceeding that of a guardian and a ward during the process. It was natural because he had been seeing the hatchlings curse him for over dozens of years already.
Dozens of years was by no means a short period of time. It was almost the same as the amount of time spent by two intimate people until death separates them.
And yet what was happening now?
The Regressor had met the Green Dragon dozens of times, but Bom was seeing Yu Jitae for the first time.
He had never pondered deeply about the emotion that could be created due to that difference in perspective.
When he remained silent for a long time, Bom rubbed her forehead left and right. The small head twitched and the sound of hair rubbing on his clothes reached his ears.
She became impatient from waiting and was urging him.
“…”
However, he didn’t say anything.
He couldn’t say anything.
He shouldn’t get any closer with Bom and there was a clear reason behind that.
He wouldn’t be staying with them forever. It was a relationship that started with him longing for the farewell, and there would definitely come a time where they had to separate.
If he wanted them to return with nothing but good memories, Yu Jitae had to remain a good memory.
Thus, he didn’t say anything.
Seeing that Yu Jitae wasn’t reacting in any way, Bom raised her head again. Wearing the same old expression with not a sliver of perplexity or sorrow, she opened her mouth.
“Are you not going to do it for me?”
“…”
“Then should I do it for you?”
“…”
“Ahjussi has, hmm, hmm… pretty lips. It would be even prettier if you smiled.”
Bom slowly raised her hands and placed her fingers on the ends of his lips. Ignoring his feelings, she carefully pushed his cheeks up and lifted his lips to a smile as if he was a child. She then murmured, “So pretty…” to herself.
Even then, he didn’t say anything.
Around when the perplexity was about to change to confusion yet again,
“Are you still not going to do it for me?”
“…”
“I’m suffering a loss here…”
Bom giggled and separated herself from his body. She then wore the usual strange yet indifferent expression.
“I’m always making a loss. So from today, my name will no longer be Bom.”
“…What?”
“I’m a pushover. Yu Pushover.”
“…”
“Yu Pushover. I’m crying…”
After slurring her words, she smiled mischievously before going into the house.
The Regressor delayed it with silence, but the paper airplane had already entered his land. Maybe it was slightly crumpled just then, but he was clearly aware that it had to be opened one day or another.
It was still too early for him to evaluate Bom’s 7th iteration.
***
Ever since that happened, Bom became weird.
…or so he thought but she was in fact so normal that he found it strange.
Regardless, he decided to finish with what he was doing. Things were rolling out of hand so he had yet to complete the interim assessment.
First off was Yeorum.
“…Really? Can I?”
“Yeah. Do it.”
Yeorum’s biggest objective was survival.
Surviving against the firstborn unni after the end of the Amusement, and avenging her youngest unni who had done her best to protect her.
And in order to do so, she had to become at least as strong as Javier from South Africa in a short period of time.
“…Really? I’m, going to, do it.”
“Ah, just do it you idiot. How many times are you saying that?”
“…Annoying.”
‘Short period of time’ here was referring to 20 years of time, and it would naturally be better if it was even faster than that.
Currently, Yeorum was similar or perhaps slightly stronger than Yong Taeha, who was recently being praised as the greatest genius in history worldwide.
The greatest concern she had to overcome was her uncontrollable anger. It was the element that had been detrimental to her for numerous iterations and at the same time was the largest threat to her growth and fighting potential.
She had seemingly realised that herself and it seemed that Yeorum was also trying her hardest. Even now, she was urging Gyeoul to hit her.
“…Too late, to regret.”
After a slight hesitation, Gyeoul powerfully slapped her cheek.
Slap–!
Her hand was small and appeared feeble but Gyeoul was also a dragon and thus the slap caused Yeorum’s head to turn.
“…?”
After smacking her cheek, Gyeoul glanced at Yeorum. With a reddened cheek, Yeorum slowly faced the front again like a broken doll.
“…How is it?’
“Hmm. Not bad.”
“…I’ll do more then?”
“Yeah.”
Slap–!
Yeorum faced the front every time as if it was okay while Gyeoul started to enjoy it. She grinned, and rotated her arms around before slapping her.
Meanwhile, Kaeul who was standing next to Yu Jitae, opened her mouth with a whisper while watching the two of them.
“She’s angry. She’s angry…”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. After getting hit by Yeorum-unni everyday, I have this thing called Yu Yeorum radar, you know?”
“Okay.”
“…Unni is really mad right now.”
Slap–!
Her head turned to the side. When Gyeoul asked if she was okay, Yeorum replied with a smile.
“Of course I am.”
“…Then, do some more?”
“No. Let’s stop there.”
Only then did Gyeoul realise that Yeorum’s smile wasn’t actually a smile. She carefully sneaked away.
Yeorum’s 7th iteration was better than any other iterations of the past.
***
Next up was Kaeul.
Unlike Bom and Yeorum, she didn’t do anything despite being a cadet and simply enjoyed her time at the school. But this was what Yu Jitae considered the best and the most suitable Amusement for Kaeul.
Although she was sometimes sad, she appeared to be enjoying her life. However, wouldn’t it be fine for there to be a small event that she would be excited about?
One morning, Yu Jitae headed to the academy district with just Kaeul.
“Where are we going?”
The blonde girl rambling on and on without taking a rest appeared slightly surprised after realising that Yu Jitae was taking her to the education department.
Lair was bustling due to the approaching festival and cadets and staff members were all busy with their own task. Yu Jitae headed to the PR team with Kaeul and told the reception desk that they were here to ask about the ‘Masked Singing Contest’.
Soon, Team Leader Yong Dohee left her office to meet the two of them.
“No-one will find out about who you are both before and after the performance. We also get rid of the documents immediately after the performance.
“So… There’s no prize pool for the contest and it’s just to enjoy the festival.
“The masks need to be brought by yourself and you can simply cover your face with it. In fact, there are lots of cadets who come to the audition already wearing masks. A few years ago, a guardian from Noblesse School took the audition while pretending to be a cadet and that was later revealed from an interview.”
Team Leader Yong laughed, ‘uhahat’ after sharing that little incident. The performance was there to simply enliven the festival and there was nothing that would restrain Kaeul.
“Umm… in that case… can I do it as well?”
But Team Leader Yong’s expression turned darker after hearing her question.
“Did you want to apply for it, Kaeul?”
“Sorry? Ah, ah no? I was just curious…”
“I’m sorry but, the application window has already ended.”
“Ahh…”
“I should have let you know earlier but I didn’t know you were interested in something like this.”
“N, no! It’s fine.”
“Do you want me to sneak you in?”
Kaeul frantically waved her hands.
“I can’t even sing…!”
“Really?”
Team Leader Yong Dohee rested her chin on her hands and tilted her head. “Your voice is clean and pretty so I think you’ll do well…” she muttered but Kaeul waved her hands again from embarrassment.
Looking back, there hadn’t been any opportunity ever since the freshmen declaration. However, her feet were cheerful and nimble on the way back so he asked her if she was okay.
“Ehew, I can’t even sing in the first place… I’ll obviously just embarrass myself right?”
“You might be good at it.”
“Uhh, umm. It’s already gone so I won’t even think about it…!”
“You’re right. There will be another chance later on.”
“Yess.”
Kaeul suddenly scratched her head.
“Uhuum…”
“Why.”
“Now that I think about it, ahjussi, why am I not good at anything?”
“What do you mean.”
“It’s true, right. Bom-unni is pretty and smart. Yeorum-unni is good at sports. She’s tall and has a strong mentality. And Gyeoul is just cute right.”
“Hmm…”
“But me. I just eat and play around. Besides, I don’t even take a dump after eating food. I’m worse than a dumping machine?!”
“…”
“Uhh… the more I think about it, I think I’m a useless dragon. If I embarrassed myself with singing on top of this, I might rather die you know?”
Kaeul laughed ‘hehe’, but it didn’t sound like a joke to him.
However, her casual and lighthearted mood was not a facade.
“It’s fine. You just have to eat well and play around.”
“Okayy~ Ahh, I feel like having something sweet today…”
“Do you want to buy some macarons? It’s been a while.”
She nodded with a bright smile and on the way back home after buying the macarons, her steps were even lighter.
After coming back home, Yu Jitae glanced at the baby chicken, Chirpy. It seemed to have gone out somewhere in that short period of time and there was a leaf stuck on its fur.
The baby chicken was slowly starting to become a rooster.
In his opinion, it would be best if Kaeul didn’t do anything but she would be forced to do something in the near future.
This baby chicken will lead her forward.
Kaeul’s 7th iteration was hard to evaluate. He had to watch a little bit more until the end of the Amusement.
***
Last up was Gyeoul.
“…”
It was night time.
He took Gyeoul outside for a little walk. She was good at walking now and could walk straight without a problem.
He thought that perhaps it was about time to send her to school. There was a primary school at Lair for the guardian’s children and he had prepared 3 identities for Gyeoul even before she shed her skin, so there was nothing to worry about.
Although she was just over a year old now, it might be good for her to study while also spending some time alone. While Yu Jitae was thinking that, he felt a gaze.
Gyeoul was staring blankly at his arms. He looked at her but when their eyes met, she turned and faced the front.
“Why.”
“…”
She stayed silent.
Thinking that it wasn’t anything serious, he started walking down the park again but felt her gaze again after a few minutes. She was glaring daggers at his arms once again.
“What’s wrong.”
“…Nn?”
“Is there anything you want to say?”
Gyeoul shook her head.
However, a sad voice soon escaped her lips.
“…Am I heavy?”
“What?”
“…Am I, too heavy now?”
He couldn’t understand what Gyeoul was trying to say.
“Well, you got taller so you must have become heavier.”
“…”
Gyeoul nodded with a disheartened look on her face. He had no idea why she was like this.
Soon they headed back home. On the way, one of the straps of the slipper she was wearing snapped.
“…I got this recently.”
Suddenly, she had to walk barefoot and was startled but Yu Jitae reached out to her.
“Come here,” he said.
Gyeoul shook her head in a fluster.
“Why.”
“…I can walk by myself.”
“What?”
“…I’ll just walk by myself.”
“What do you mean.”
“…”
Stubbornly she started walking barefoot. However, there was a dirty puddle of water in the middle of the road so he had to lift the child up and hug her. Gyeoul twitched her legs around in surprise.
“…Sorry,” she whispered.
“Why”
“…For being heavy.”
Yu Jitae finally remembered Yeorum teasing Gyeoul for being a pig. And also how Kaeul replied, “Oing? You can walk by yourself right?” when Gyeoul asked for a hug after shedding her skin.
That must be the reason she insisted on walking by herself even after her shoes were broken, although she was glaring at his arms all evening.
“You’re not heavy.”
“…Nn?”
“Just stay still.”
He didn’t let her down until they went back home. Despite twitching her toes at the start, Gyeoul also soon naturally leaned on his shoulders like usual.
After coming back to the unit, she asked carefully before going down from his hug.
“…Are we, going on a walk tomorrow as well?”
“If you want to.”
“…What if, my shoes snap again tomorrow?”
Her desire reflected transparently. He gave a faint smile.
“I’ll have to hug you then.”
Only then did Gyeoul nod in satisfaction. As such, Gyeoul of the 7th iteration was living a better life compared to the previous iterations.
*
Like that, he finished the interim review for the 7th iteration.
The 7th iteration was overall a success.
“Wahh! A pizza! The big one is mine!”
“…The small one, is mine.”
Watching them chat while having pizza as a midnight snack, he thought to himself.
May this moment last as is.