He was a little bit busier that night.
Firstly, he took Gyeoul to the warp station and flew over to the United States to choose a fish tank from a special store that sold spirit beast fish tanks. They entered a store which was the size of a warehouse and seeing countless fish tanks on display, her eyes flickered.
“…What are we, buying?”
As always, she asked him about his opinion.
It was a familiar question. Whenever they were eating, she asked what they were going to eat, and whenever they were about to play outside, she asked where they were going. And as always, Yu Jitae also returned the same response.
He asked for her opinion instead.
“What do you think.”
“…Umm.”
“Something big or small.”
“…Big.”
She toddled forward and pointed at the fish tank that was placed at the very centre of the warehouse. The fish tank was so large that it was more like a glass sculpture than a fish tank at this point. Its height alone reached 5 metres.
“That’s big.”
“…Is it, too big?”
It wasn’t like he couldn’t do it if he expanded the room even more with the alternate dimension. Yu Jitae was about to give his approval when one of the staff smiled embarrassedly.
“Ahh, sorry miss. But this fish tank over here is an order-made one.”
“…Order, made?”
“It already has an owner.”
Gyeoul turned towards Yu Jitae.
Yu Jitae shook his head. Gyeoul, who only recently learned how to relent, begrudgingly returned a nod with her lips in the shape of an upside-down ‘V’.
“How’s that one.”
He then pointed at a cubical fish tank. It was big enough considering that it would be placed in a room, but the child shook her head.
“…Too small.”
“Is it small? I think it would be enough for hundreds of fish.”
“…Small.”
She cautiously shared her thoughts, seemingly trying to read his mood. Why was she throwing glances at him? Although he had no idea why, he moved on and recommended another fish tank; a tall triangular-based fish tank.
“How’s that.”
But Gyeoul shook her head yet again.
“What about that cylinder.”
Gyeoul deeply gazed at his eyes. Even though this time she didn’t shake her head or anything, he realised that she had already turned his idea down.
“What do you think would be good then,” he asked. Hearing that, she started walking off somewhere.
Thinking that he must have no eyes for picking fish tanks, he obediently followed her from behind.
That specific store sold the biggest fish tanks and water tanks in the world. There were at least more than thousands of different fish tanks, including both the big and the small ones.
Gyeoul was very careful. Whenever she found something to her liking, she measured its height by comparing it with her own height, before taking a few steps back in order to grasp its overall shape.
“…What about, this?”
When she wasn’t sure, she asked for his opinion.
“Looks good.”
“…Really?”
“But, it does look a bit too tall. How are you going to feed the fish.”
“?” Tilting her head, Gyeoul slowly floated into the air so Yu Jitae had to pull the child down.
“No. I mean the fish tank will reach the ceiling.”
“…Aht.”
I see. With a nod, Gyeoul departed searching for another fish tank. Seeing that, he felt that same bizarre feeling once again.
Right now, Gyeoul was immaculately considering something that suited herself the best, but for some reason, that whole process didn’t suit Gyeoul in his opinion, and gave off the same feeling he got a few days back.
He felt doubtful once again.
What was this feeling?
However, his thoughts couldn’t last for long. At last, Gyeoul found her ideal fish tank. The fish tank shaped like a rectangular-prism had a decent size and height, just enough to fill one whole side of her room.
Yu Jitae paid for it on the spot and also bought additional components like rocks, seagrass, fish and more. As for the most important element, the ‘water’, he ordered for water that was drawn from an SS ranked underwater cave dungeon, which had the most amount of mana embedded within.
The water would stay clean without the need to maintain it, and contained the most abundant amount of clear water-attribute mana. When she received a small glass sample of the water, Gyeoul smiled brightly and rubbed it on her cheeks in joy like a cat with a catnip.
Seemingly surprised, the salesperson asked.
“Will you be entirely filling up this large fish tank?”
Written on the bill was the same amount of money as the price of a building in Seoul.
He paid for it on the spot.
His bank account was now quite empty, so he would soon need to scavenge through dungeons at night and sell whatever was in it. That’s what he had been doing the whole time whenever he needed money, and money was not a problem since he could earn a large amount of money within a very short amount of time.
Throughout the process, his mind was still on the faint scenery that didn’t suit Gyeoul.
“Do you want to have a meal before we go back.”
“…Nn.”
Even when they were having a meal at a restaurant; even when the child was holding the burger of her choice preciously with her two hands.
Even when Gyeoul asked him to buy a necklace at a nearby jewelry store; even when she asked for a hug so that she could wrap the same necklace around his neck; and even when she was disappointed after realising that the necklace targeted at females didn’t suit Yu Jitae,
He continued pondering on the doubt but failed to find the right answer.
In any case, the time he spent alone with the child was not too bad. She especially liked general stores a lot.
“…What’s, dis?”
Pushing forth a small box, she asked. It was a toy / instrument that made a sound when wound up.
“Looks like a music box.”
“…Music box?”
When Yu Jitae turned the handle, it soon gave off a gentle melody. Her chin slowly dropped.
“…Uwah.”
“You like it?”
“…Yes.”
Even though he bought it for her, she gave the music box to him as a gift.
“Why are you giving me this.”
“…Just, because.”
Although he was still feeling strange from being unable to find the reason, he nonetheless received the gift.
He then chose something else and gave it to the child as a gift. The general store happened to have a piggy bank with a red head. Remembering the 2 dollars he received from Gyeoul, he bought the piggy bank and also gave the child four 50c coins.
“…What’s dis?”
“A money bank.”
“…Money bank?”
“You can save money inside it. If you want to save coins and notes from now on, you can put them in here. Like this.”
While saying that, he threw a coin into it. Gyeoul giggled and also put in the coins she got from him one by one.
Then, she shook the piggy bank in joy.
However, she suddenly stopped and seemed discontent for some reason. She bought a permanent marker and coloured the red head of the piggy bank in blue.
Seeing that, his strange feelings increased all the more in size.
*
The next day.
Workers carried the fish tank and installed it inside Unit 301. Finally, Gyeoul was able to attain her long-desired large fish tank, water and several tropical fish. Although the water tank was still relatively empty, more could be added one by one so it was practically almost done.
She herself was calm while the other kids created more fuss than her.
“Ohh, fuc*. That’s pretty dope.”
“…It’s my room. Amazing, right?”
Even Yeorum acknowledged it.
“Uwaah! What’s this what’s this. Gyeoul’s room is the best!”
And Kaeul gave a loud round of applause.
“…Really?”
“Do you want to change rooms with me?!”
“…No?”
Kaeul chuckled and so did Gyeoul.
“What about for just one day?”
“…No?”
“One hour?”
“…Don’t want to.”
“Wah, Bom-unni look! Just because she has her own room now, you know? She’s like, being mean to me…!”
When Kaeul jokingly talked about her disappointment, Gyeoul wrapped her arms around Kaeul’s stomach and hugged her, saying sorry. Finding that cute, Kaeul hugged the child back by her head.
“…Come play, anytime.”
But Gyeoul did not give her room away until the end.
“Can I come to play as well?” asked Bom.
“…Nn.”
Bending her legs, Bom matched her line of sight and looked into Gyeoul’s eyes.
“Guess we can’t sleep together anymore.”
“…”
“I’ll be lonely.”
“…Nn. Me too.”
“But you can come to unni’s room whenever you’re scared. Okay?”
Gyeoul returned a nod.
After looking around the room, the three of them left leaving only Yu Jitae and Gyeoul inside it.
Sitting on the lower bed of the bunk bed, she stared blankly at him and he looked back at the child without avoiding her eyes. They were done decorating the room, and it was time for the child to take a rest now.
“Good job both yesterday and today. Take a rest now.”
“…”
The child remained silent while he turned around and was about to leave the room.
The bizarre feeling he got a few days back when Gyeoul asked for a room in the middle of the night was now about to overflow like a glass of water filled up to the brim. Perhaps it was just a normal feeling for others, and him feeling strange might just be because he had been way too distant from daily lives.
Thinking that, he was about to move his feet.
Tap tap tap. He heard footsteps from behind. Soon, she hugged him by the waist and when he looked back, the child gazed up into his eyes with a slightly anxious look on her face.
“…Thank you.”
He casually replied, “Yeah,” and the child released him.
However,
Now that he was trying to close the door from a few steps away from the room, he was able to see the whole room in its entirety.
The size of the room was similar to the rooms of other kids. However, perhaps because of the abnormally enormous fish tank behind her, Gyeoul standing all alone appeared conspicuously smaller in comparison.
When he looked into the eyes of the child,
He could remember the baby with water-coloured hair sitting down on the living room floor, unable to even stand properly, looking into his eyes. Plus, he could also remember her mouth that was unable to speak, mumbling for words.
Only then did the Regressor have a faint idea about the identity of the emotion he was feeling right now.
Until now, Gyeoul had belonged to Yu Jitae.
It was him that chose to make her wear Kaeul’s t-shirt.
It was him that bought her food to eat.
The reason the child was quiet most of the time, was because he himself was a quiet person.
However, that was now no longer the case.
Gyeoul went shopping with Bom and chose the clothes she wanted to wear herself.
Gyeoul ordered burgers because she wanted to have burgers,
And she gave him, a quiet person, a music box as a gift.
Turning his gaze, the Regressor looked at the living room. The music box placed on the table had never made a sound after returning home, but he now felt the need to wind it up at least once.
“…”
Gyeoul waved her hand towards him.
He too waved back.
The emotions that had been faint even when she was shedding her skin, came flooding in like an ocean wave.
This was, how much the child had grown.
Closing the door,
The Regressor felt something similar to bitterness.
In just over one year, the child had grown immensely.
She had her own room, and she began experiencing things he did not know of at places he didn’t know. Although there would obviously be a limit to how much he wouldn’t know about her, the fact that an emotional border had appeared didn’t feel that great for the Regressor unaccustomed to emotions.
The door closed.
He couldn’t see Gyeoul. The child had her own personal space – the child would be leading her own life now.
Gyeoul would no longer play with a teddy bear.
“…”
The Regressor let go of the door knob.
However, an emotion he couldn’t describe caused him to unknowingly move his hand. He again opened the door that he himself had closed.
The water-coloured hair revealed itself once again. She was sitting down in the middle of her room, carrying something in her hands; a piggy bank.
Gyeoul was observing the piggy bank after placing it in front of her, and turned towards him with reddened eyes when the door opened again. For some reason, there were tears in her eyes.
Was she crying?
Casually, she rubbed her eyes with her wrists, before rotating the piggy bank on the ground until it was facing Yu Jitae.
He walked up to the child and crouched, looking into her eyes.
“Why are you crying. Why.”
Gyeoul gave an awkward smile.
“…Feels like, everyone’s gone.”
He had gotten the feeling that Gyeoul had left. However, he didn’t know that the child, who grew up in the blink of an eye, was also feeling disordered from the sudden separation.
The child did not leave. She had only just begun her own life.
“You can come out whenever you feel lonely. Can’t you?”
“…Yes.”
But when Yu Jitae consoled her, the child turned teary-eyed again as drops of tears appeared beneath her eyes. As she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands, he carefully hugged her and tapped her several times on her small back.
He only left the child’s room after she stopped crying. Closing the door, he regulated the strange feeling that had been constantly on his mind.
*
Ever since she was born, she had always been a target of his protection.
For him, Gyeoul had simply been a ‘young child’,
But today,
She grew up to become a ‘person’.