As darkness enveloped the house, the man who couldn’t fall asleep, changed his body to be like that of a sleeping person.
Closing his eyes, he shut his ears. By dropping the blood pressure, he slowed down the heart, lowered his temperature and metabolism.
As he got stronger, the inefficient aspects as a human were reformed. Since sleep was the most inefficient action, he was now unable to fall asleep.
In the midst of the darkness,
He opened his ears a little and listened to the sounds of Unit 301.
The kids were all sleeping soundly.
Their snoring and breathing sounds reached him through the wall. They were all sleeping well – except for one. After listening to the rustling sounds for a bit, Yu Jitae closed his ears once again.
The next time he opened his eyes, it should be morning.
Knock knock.
But that was when someone knocked on the door.
“Yeah.”
Slowly, the door was pushed open. Yeorum came in wearing baggy pyjamas, looking like she had bitten on a rock.
“…Were you sleepin’?”
“Why.”
“…”
She was the only one that wasn’t sleeping. Wondering what was wrong with her, he increased his sense of hearing by a bit. It seemed that there was something she was discontent with, judging from the moody expression and her fast-beating heart.
“What’s wrong.”
“I just wanna stay here for a bit.”
“What happened.”
“Dunno, don’t ask. I’m so mad. For f*ck’s sake…”
With twitching lips, she went to his chair and relaxed her body there. The backrest of the chair leaned back as she comfortably laid herself down.
He was about to ignore her and close his eyes when she opened her mouth again.
“You know, can you kill someone for me?”
Now what was this about.
“Why. Who is it.”
“Some fuc*ed up b*tch.”
“Name.”
“Dunno.”
“Why do you want to kill them.”
“‘Cuz I feel like shit…”
Was she giving him a riddle or something? Yu Jitae opened his eyes and raised his body.
“What gender.”
“I think it’s a woman.”
“And why don’t you know their name.”
“Carrot girl…”
“What?”
“N, no. Nothing.”
“Why do you want to kill them then.”
“…”
Seemingly discontent, she scratched her own hair until it was in a mess. The moonlight seeping through the window lit up her red hair.
“Look. Listen, okay?”
“Yeah.”
“For example, let’s say there is butter chicken.”
“What butter chicken.”
“Ah, let’s just say there is. Anyway, butter chicken means chicken melted in butter right?”
“…”
“Am I right or wrong.”
“You’re right.”
“If it’s butter made from chicken, that would be chicken butter instead. Right?”
“Okay.”
“Then, paranormal romance should be romance with paranormal stuff, no?”
“…?”
Yu Jitae was thrown off after trying to seriously listen to her words. What was she trying to say?
“Why, like why. They’re about to kiss, and, f*ck. Huh? Why is a ghost suddenly popping out? Why? It should be called romance paranormal then. Why is it called paranormal romance?”
He finally understood a bit of what she was saying.
Yeorum often read something at night by sacrificing 2 hours of her sleep. It was because she had no time during the day due to training and lessons.
He thought she was just reading something erotic as always but it seemed that she was reading a horror novel these days.
“So what, you want me to kill the author?”
“Nn.”
“Don’t want to.”
“I know. I know it doesn’t make any sense… I just said it because I was mad…”
Since there was no way that the Red Dragon was being afraid of ghosts, it seemed that she was startled from an unexpected turn of events.
“What book is it.” He asked.
“Huh?”
“What’s the title.”
“Wh, why?”
“Just curious.”
“Uh, the house own… No. You don’t need to know.”
After saying that, she shut her mouth. Then, she observed Yu Jitae with meaningful gazes – she glared at his face and slowly shifted her gaze down to his body and the feet, before staring at his face again.
“Why.”
“You know. Are you hiding something from me?”
“…No.”
“Hmm, just stay still for now.”
She carefully approached the bed. When he remained still, she reached forth and tapped him on his face. Although he had no idea why, she appeared slightly nervous so he decided to follow her request and stay still.
But when she tapped him on the nose and squeezed his earlobes as well as his cheeks, he became annoyed.
He opened his mouth.
“Oi.”
His body, which had been completely still, suddenly started moving. That seemed to have surprised Yeorum and she exclaimed in fright.
“Ah, f*ck. That surprised me…!”
“…?”
“I told you to stay still…!”
Although she didn’t shout because it was in the middle of the night, she instead disapprovingly pinched him as hard as she could on his cheek. However, it didn’t hurt.
She only returned to her own room once her heart rate slowed down significantly.
He had absolutely no idea what was wrong with her.
Meanwhile, after returning to her room, Yeorum carefully raised the book.
[The House Owner’s Dangerous Secret]
[Author: Carrot Girl]
Since it was a ‘dangerous’ secret, she was expecting this(?) and that(?) but…
It was a ghost. An extremely scary one at that…
She casually tossed the unpleasant book away and turned towards Yu Jitae’s room.
“Hmm…”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a story about this house.
***
Afterwards, he was about to close his eyes again when someone knocked on the door again at dusk.
Knock knock.
Wondering who it was this time, he looked beyond the door. Wearing a black, loose t-shirt and a short pair of pants, her blonde hair reflected even the smallest light source above the black shirt.
“Come in.”
The door slowly opened and Kaeul peeked from behind the door. Her golden eyes that were staring at him weren’t as bright as always. When Yu Jitae raised his body, she greeted him.
“Hello…?”
“Yeah. Hi.”
Even then, she was hesitant about coming inside.
“Why. Is there something you want to say.”
“Yess…”
“What is it.”
“Chirpy left the house.”
“What? The baby chicken left?”
“Yes yes. In secret… through the window.”
“Today?”
“Yes. Around 3 minutes ago… Ah, he started doing it last week…”
Her head was still the only thing inside the room so he told the child to come in. After carefully coming into his room, she closed the door.
Last week huh…
It seemed that the baby chicken spirit beast had been successfully deceiving Kaeul for a very long time. It was almost half a year ago that it started leaving the house two or three times a weeks at night.
Kaeul sat next to him on the bed.
“Actually, last week, I scolded him a little…”
“Yeah. How?”
“Like, like, if you want to go outside, you can do that when we go out on a walk… you shouldn’t leave the house in the middle of the night in secret…”
“Hmm…”
“And, this guy, he left again…”
Wearing a gloomy look on her face, she interlocked her fingers and wriggled her thumb. For Kaeul, the baby chicken Chirpy was a target of guidance and protection.
Kaeul was its guardian.
“What should I do? Why is he leaving the house? I, told him not to leave… He’s always, always leaving the housee… Should I scold him more…?”
“How would you scold him.”
“Hmm… If you do that, I’ll get angry? I’ll slap slap you!”
“That’ll definitely scare him off.”
“Hmm, should I like, be serious…? Like…”
Clenching her lips, she closed her eyes for a bit, seemingly reflecting and imagining something. By the time she reopened her eyes.
“Hey.”
A decadent gaze, unthinkable to be from the 7th iteration’s Kaeul, was hanging on her eyes.
“You think I’m playing jokes here?”
If she did that, the baby chicken would faint.
He shook his head.
“No. Not that.”
“Hukk… Was that bad?”
“Don’t do it.”
“Aht. Okay…”
One day, Kaeul had to know. She had to know what the baby chicken was doing behind her back and what it’s goal was.
The Regressor had been constantly saying that to himself, but he realised that today was the day.
“Kaeul. Come here and sit down.”
He hesitated a little.
In the 4th iteration,
Half out of her mind, Baby Yellow had strangled the parrot but treated it with utmost care afterwards due to a sense of guilt. But before long, the parrot flew out of the cage and didn’t return.
He, who had been an observer back then, watched every little action of Baby Yellow – the gold hatchling who only knew how to be cared for and loved.
The only target whom she loved first was that parrot and BY therefore greatly despaired when the parrot disappeared. It was to the point that she cancelled two days of schedule and stayed in her room crying all day.
But after a week, and a month, something extremely bizarre happened.
Baby Yellow became more mature in a short period of time from the separation. Reflecting on those days, all sorts of memories flashed past his brain.
However, the separation back then was way too sudden for Baby Yellow. Since she wasn’t able to mentally prepare herself at all, a greater fissure was created in her emotions.
Coincidentally, something similar was approaching her again. It might be natural since this was a part of living a daily life, and those who wished to live normal lives couldn’t simply live in a greenhouse.
If Kaeul had to become more mature in this iteration, he wished her to be in less pain than before.
Coming to a conclusion, he opened his mouth.
“Kaeul.”
“Yes…”
“What if. It’s just a what if.”
“Yes.”
“If the baby chicken wanted to leave us, how would you feel.”
Kaeul widened her eyes.
“Sorry? W, why would he…?”
“Don’t be too startled. It’s nothing but a what if.”
“I don’t want to. Chirpy is our family right? Why? Why would he ever want to leave us?”
“If he has a house or a place to return to, or a reason that he must go?”
“What if I don’t want to send him…?”
“But what if he needs to leave?”
“What if, I, don’t want to send him, so so much…?”
“What if he wants to?”
“Uhh… That’s…”
She couldn’t hide her confusion.
“…Do we have to send him away?”
“It’s just a what if.”
“…”
She covered her mouth with her two hands and her disheartened gaze soon headed towards the ground.
This child, ever so young, was not prepared in the slightest for a farewell.
“……If Chirpy leaves, will he be happy?”
“Probably.”
“Is he not happy when he’s with me…?”
“That’s not it. He would be happy staying with you as well.”
“Then why would he leave…? I, I just don’t, understand…”
“It’s just a what if.”
“Yes…”
Her confused mind was evidently revealed from her voice. Staring at the ground with sunken gold eyes, she remained silent for a very long time. By the time she reopened her mouth, she was lying down next to him on the bed.
“I thought about it, but it’s too hard…”
“What is.”
“I love Chirpy… If Chirpy wants to leave, and if that’s good for Chirpy, I have to send him away right…?”
“Yeah.”
“But I don’t want to…”
After thinking by herself, she realised that she had no choice but to make a decision.
If there was an existence that had to be sent off,
Should you let them go because you love them?
What if you don’t want to because you love them?
Baby Yellow didn’t even have the chance to choose and had to suddenly send it off, but because she still loved the parrot, she wrote a song cheering for the freedom of the bird.
It was the background story of the unprecedentedly groundbreaking song [Parrot], which was at the same time one of the most famous songs of BY.
“I want to see mommy…”
“…”
“Please pat me on the head…”
He laid his hand on the child’s head. Slowly, he caressed the golden hair the way the child liked the most.
Seemingly in the midst of melancholic thoughts, she stayed there for a few hours and later fell asleep without even realising it. She breathed quietly and steadily in her sleep.
Yu Jitae carefully picked the child up and took her back to her room.
*
For some reason, tonight felt longer than usual, but he should be able to rest for a bit now.…
The moment he thought that, someone knocked on the door.
Knock knock–
The sound echoed from the lower part of the door.
“Yeah.”
When he gave a reply, the door slowly opened and a blue pair of eyes gazed at him. Gyeoul was peeking from behind the door.
“What’s wrong.”
Now why was she here.