The blue-eyed child was very vigilant. Yet she seemed to have something on her mind that she had to say.
What was she trying to say, that she visited him in the middle of the night in secret? Yu Jitae contemplated, but soon realised that the child was still peeking at him from behind the door, so he told her to come in.
“…”
He raised his body.
The tiny pyjama suited her quite well. It was a pyjama set bought by Bom a few days ago.
After carefully coming into the room, the child glanced at him trying to read his expression.
“What’s wrong.”
“…”
“Is there something you want to say?”
“…Yes.”
“What is it. Do you have trouble sleeping?”
“…No.”
“Then, what is it.”
“…Fish tank.”
“Fish tank?”
“…I want, a fish tank but,”
“But,”
“…The room.”
After listening up to that point, he could somewhat guess what Gyeoul was trying to say.
Gyeoul was a blue dragon – the race of water and ice; rain and fog. Every inhale and exhale of hers carried with it a dense cluster of water-attribute mana. A while back, he heard that the blue race tended to create their lairs near the ocean or a large lake. That was how close they wanted to be with water.
Until now, she had been using Bom’s room. In that room, there were some flowers and plants that Bom placed according to her preference. She had flowers, cacti, as well as small grasses and trees.
But recently, he also remembered seeing a fish tank near the flower pots.
“There’s a fish tank, right. Where’d you get that from?”
“…Bom-unni, bought it.”
“Then you already have a fish tank. What’s the problem?”
“…Too small.”
“You need something bigger?”
Gyeoul glanced at his face, before carefully nodding her head.
It seemed that this was not simply due to the presence of a fish tank. Although Bom tried to be as thoughtful as possible, it would be more correct to say that Gyeoul was starting to yearn for her own personal place, after shedding her skin.
Although she was only one year old, her body was that of a 10-year old’s, and she sometimes appeared even more mature than that.
“Why did you have to get up at night to say that. You could’ve said it during the day.”
“…Bom-unni, might feel sad.”
Then isn’t it fine to say it when Bom wasn’t at home? He thought, but didn’t bother saying it out loud since she probably had her reasons.
He thought to himself.
Right now, there weren’t any empty rooms in Unit 301. However, there was a room that was being used as a storage which they in fact didn’t really need.
Although the storage was small and dirty, the messy things could be cleaned while the small space wouldn’t be a problem if the area was expanded by adding a small alternate dimension to it.
Right. I got it.
Yu Jitae, who was about to say that, suddenly had an unnecessary thought popping up in his mind.
Why was it that he didn’t want to simply give it to her? It wouldn’t be a problem for him to just listen to her request with no questions asked, like what he had been doing the whole time.
Perhaps because of the memory of teasing Yeorum once in the past, he realised that ‘giving everything to them for no reason’, was a rather boring thing. Following this strange trail of thought, he opened his mouth.
“Don’t want to though.”
“…?”
Hearing that, she was befuddled.
Dragons were territorial spirit beasts, so Gyeoul also started hoping to have her own area as she grew older. Even while sleeping in Bom’s room with touching skins, there was a part of her that found it uncomfortable.
And when she heard from school that the kids she got acquainted with already had their own rooms, she was fairly surprised on the inside.
However, she did become slightly nervous when trying to ask for such a thing. Although Yu Jitae almost never turned her down whenever she wanted something, that was only for stuff like gummies. It was clear that creating a non-existent room wouldn’t be an easy task.
So even though she was shocked at being rejected, it was a possible turn of events according to the child’s arithmetic calculation.
“…”
Nevertheless, it was true that she felt sad inside. She looked at him with her lips slanted down.
Gaze: Are you still not going to do it for me?
But for some unknown reason, Yu Jitae unknowingly avoided her eyes and ignored her gaze.
That was when Gyeoul reflected on something that had happened a while back. What should one do when things weren’t going the way they wanted it to?
This was how.
“…Wait.”
“What?”
“…Wait.”
After saying that, Gyeoul sneaked her way out of Yu Jitae’s room. By the time she came back, there was a glare in her eyes that demonstrated her determination.
“…”
She walked towards him, and suddenly threw her hand forward.
“What.”
“…Hand.”
Yu Jitae placed his hand on top of the child’s small hand.
Gyeoul glanced at the surroundings, before carefully placing something that was folded countless times on his palm. She then closed his fingers on top of it.
When he opened his hand, he found a note inside.
It was a 1 dollar note.
“…”
She was still staring at him with big, sharp eyes and it made the Regressor float a hazy and empty smile.
Was this a bribe or something?
It would be okay to do it now that he had received a bribe, but he felt like being mean today for some reason.
“1 dollar won’t do it.”
“…?!”
Astonishment appeared in her wide eyes. She tilted her head in a fluster, before scratching herself on the back of her neck.
“…Why?”
“It’s too little.”
“…Really?”
It seemed that she was still bad with money and finance, perhaps because she was used to using his card which never ran out.
Startled, she touched the sleeves of her pyjama before glancing up at his face.
“…I only have, 1 dollar.”
“Is that so?”
“…That’s, all I have.”
“Hmm.”
“…Still no?”
“Still no.”
“…Are you, a greedy man?”
“…”
Where was she learning these words from?
In any case, it was about time to stop being mean, seeing how she was dejectedly lowering her head. Why was he even doing this with the child? Thinking that it might be something he learned from Bom, he was about to say yes.
That was when she scavenged through her pocket before taking something else out.
It was another 1 dollar note.
“What. You said you only had 1 dollar.”
She smiled embarrassedly. It seemed that she was using her brain as much as she could for the negotiation.
“So you were trying to deceive me.”
“…This time, it’s real.”
“Give me everything you have.”
“…Really. That’s everything.”
Once again, it made him realise how much the child had grown.
“But how unfortunate.”
“…?”
Her behaviour made him meaner.
“2 dollars won’t be enough either.”
It seemed that 2 dollars were indeed everything she had. She pestered him, and eventually despaired after realising that 2 dollars won’t be enough. When she was about to burst into tears, Yu Jitae finally promised that he would make a room for her.
Only then did her expression turn bright. She gave him a hug before returning to her room.
He had to make a room for her soon.
In any case,
Tonight was a strange night.
Usually, the kids never looked for him at night. Even if they did, it was at most 1 person a month and yet they were coming nonstop today. 3 in total…
“Are you sleeping?”
…It was 4 now.
Because of the fuss Gyeoul created by leaving and entering the room, the owner of the room must have woken up. Bom knocked on the door which was left open by Gyeoul, before coming into his room.
Resting was out of the question now. The Regressor had to raise his body again.
“Why are you here. In the middle of the night.”
“Nothing. I just woke up.”
“For no reason?”
“Yes. Maybe I’m too old now…”
As always, she was expressionless, but now she was careless on top of that. Slowly, she walked towards him and naturally sat on the bed.
The time and place weren’t the best for just the two of them to share a conversation. He was thinking that when Bom slowly laid herself down on the bed.
“Did Gyeoul come here by any chance?”
“Yeah. How did you know.”
“I think I woke up from the sound of her coming back to the room.”
“She came for a bit.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing. She just spoke about some of her worries.”
“Hnn…”
Nonchalantly, she replied, “I see,” before twisting her body until she was comfortably lying down on the bed. Her movements were stunningly natural.
After closing her eyes faintly, she appeared as if she was about to go back to sleep, but suddenly widened her eyes after sensing something.
“…?”
“Why.”
“Did Kaeul come here as well?”
“Yeah. How did you know.”
“Ah, I could smell her here…”
“She also had her worries. So we had a chat.”
Her hair messily flowing onto the bed moved a little, as she lifted her head and gazed at him with her grass-coloured eyes.
The first impression she gave off was that she was angry, but upon closer inspection, he realised that it was the same indifferent look as always.
“Ahh. About the baby chicken right?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s a bit weird, isn’t he. Going around everyday with a group of other spirit beasts…”
“Have you seen something with Providence?”
“Yes.”
“What was it.”
“Hmm… There were a lot of roosters and chickens. A lot of baby chickens…”
Bom slurred the end of her words while her eyes turned vacant. That was the expression she usually made, when she felt that the Providence she saw shouldn’t be shared anymore.
“Anyways, go back to your room if you have nothing. Let me rest a little. The kids came all throughout the night; I couldn’t rest at all.”
“But you don’t have to rest.”
“That is true.”
“And why can’t you rest now?”
“Because you’re here.”
“Is it because I’m next to you?”
“Yeah.”
She got up from the bed and headed to the chair. When she sat on the chair and relaxed her body, the backrest of the chair fell backward.
“……Nn?”
Suddenly, she raised her body and blinked her eyes. She asked.
“Did Yeorum come as well?”
“Yeah.”
“…Why did she come?”
“She apparently read a wrong novel.”
“A novel? Ah, right. She did borrow mine.”
“What did you give her?”
“A horror novel. The author is the one who won all the contests for 5 years straight as a romance author.”
“She said it was a paranormal romance book though.”
“Yes yes. The author is a great writer. Apparently, she’s winning all the contests with both romance and horror novels.”
“Must be a great author. Aren’t you participating in a contest soon? You’ll be going against her then.”
“Yes. It’s already around that time. Time really flies…”
She leaned on the backrest of the chair as her body slowly declined once again. The Regressor remembered how Bom was pressing down on the keyboard all day every day. What should he say in a situation like this, he pondered before opening his mouth.
“Have you finished writing?”
“Not yet. There’s still the epilogue.”
“Have you chosen your name.”
“Hmm. No, not yet…”
“And is there anything you find hard when you’re writing?”
“There is.”
“What is it.”
Her silence put a pause to the conversation. She slowly raised her body and sat up straight on the chair. Then, she turned towards Yu Jitae, with an expression that hid what was going through her mind.
“Ahjussi.” She opened her mouth.
“Yeah.”
“If I like my novel too much.”
“Yeah.”
“I think it becomes really difficult to write.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I upload it for others to read, and the readers don’t like a part of the story or a person so much, it has to be changed right.”
Hmm…
Was that the case? Although he wasn’t sure, he returned a nod in any case.
Soon, Bom stood up from the chair and approached his bed again. Her movements were slow yet unreserved. She abruptly tried to lay down on the bed, so he pulled his body away towards the wall.
After lying down on the bed, she placed both of her hands on her stomach.
“But, I can’t do it.”
Why? Yu Jitae asked.
Staring at him, she continued with a faint voice.
“I like my piece so, so much…” she replied with a voice soft and fragile.
Hearing that, the Regressor thought to himself that the child had finally found her calling. Although young, she was from the green race and writing a novel seemed to have been the road for the child who liked making new things.
She might have failed in making a huge accomplishment in other iterations, but even in those iterations, she probably enjoyed writing stories all by herself.
“Don’t think too much about it. It’s just a novel. Is there a need to be so serious?”
“I know. At the start, it was just a piece of work.”
Suddenly, she opened her eyes wide and looked at him with a clear gaze. When she did that, something strange started to happen.
“I, just started it because it looked fun.”
Although her eyes contained not a sliver of mischievousness, Yu Jitae felt increasingly more perplexed for a bizarre reason.
“So why does, my heart feel so strange now.”
Something; something that greatly wobbled and trembled like a hail, came crashing in.
While saying that, she was caressing her own stomach with her two hands and seeing that gesture doubled his perplexity.
It was truly strange. Wasn’t she talking about the novel? He must be overthinking things. Yu Jitae shook his head and pushed aside the perplexity surging inside his heart.
“What should I do,” she asked.
“What else could you do. You have to continue writing.”
“And then?”
“Once you finish writing it, no-one can say anything about it.”
“Nn.”
“You can enjoy it as much as you want when that time comes.”
It seemed that the words he randomly tossed out of his mouth were helpful. The perplexity left like an ebb and Bom nodded.
“Nn…”
“You got it?”
“For now…”
Things were all finished for the time being.
He never knew that Bom was so into her writing, but in any case, he wanted to rest a little now.
“If you got it, go back to your room. Let me rest a bit.”
“You can’t.”
“What?”
Bom clicked her fingers. With a click–, the mana shifted and opened the curtains.
Goodness gracious. The sun was up without him even realising it.
He gazed outside the window with hazy eyes before turning back towards Bom. She giggled as if she found something funny, before standing up.
“Let’s go buy breakfast.”
With hazy eyes, he followed her outside the house.
Those were the happenings of a certain night.