– What.
“Ah, just open the door.”
– Don’t want to.
“What? I have something to ask though?”
– I have nothing to tell you.
Bom’s voice sounded slightly sharp. Remembering the mistake she made in the morning, Yeorum scratched herself on the ribs. Bom was always peaceful with her words and never had she been so sharp with her tongue. Was she that unhappy with what happened in the morning?
However, Yeorum couldn’t really understand. What was the big deal about a pen name?
Hair Colour Broccoli. It was cute, wasn’t it?
“Oi. I’m opening the door.”
– Don’t.
“I’m going in.”
– Don’t open it.
Yeorum arbitrarily opened the door herself.
Bom was sitting in front of the table, writing something down in her diary with her pen. When Yeorum entered the room, she placed the pen down and closed the notebook before putting it inside the drawer.
Closing the door, Yeorum carefully moved her feet.
“My dear unni. What’s wrong. Why are you so freakin’ mad.”
“…”
“Nn? I’m really fu*kin’ sorry.”
Bom turned towards her. Yeorum thought she would be angry but there was the same indifferent look on her face, which others would probably make when they were bored with their lectures.
However, her voice was lower than usual.
“Yeorum.”
“What.”
“I told you not to open the door. So why did you open it?”
“I f*cking said I had a question.”
“If you have a question, do I have to answer it?”
“What?”
“Even if you have a question, I might not want to answer it. I told you not to open the door and yet you come in, and tell me to answer what I don’t want to answer? If I did that to you, would you be willing to answer yourself?”
Her slow words were full of thorns.
She was the type to hold grudges – thinking that, Yeorum’s eyes twitched.
“Like I said, f*ck, I’m sorry… Tch. Got it. I’m leaving then. I’m leaving okay?”
But as soon as Yeorum turned around, a stern voice stopped her feet.
“My stuff.”
Yeorum looked back at Bom.
“Don’t touch my stuff.”
“…”
“Okay?”
“You talking about that thing again? So f*cking obnoxious.”
“Oi.”
“Ah, fuc*. I get it, I get it. Did you wrap your laptop with gold or what? Why don’t you shove it inside your undies then? Since when were you so attached to your stuff…”
Unfortunately, Yeorum couldn’t return any good words herself. Habitually, she grumbled and belatedly realised that her words weren’t suitable, but couldn’t swallow back the words that had already left her mouth.
Soon, Bom’s eyes trembled. The trembling was then spread to her eyebrows and it later even reached the muscles underneath her eyes. All the muscles around her eyes were shivering visibly.
What.
What’s wrong with her?
It was when Yeorum was starting to be filled with half irritation and half curiosity.
Everything happened all too suddenly. Bom abruptly stood up from her seat and picked the laptop up with her two hands. She then raised it as high as she could.
Huh? Huh? Yeorum was still trying to understand the situation when Bom swung down the laptop towards the table with all her might.
Did she really go mad…? Immediately running up, Yeorum stopped her by the arm and snatched the laptop away from her, right as it was about to strike the table. During that process, Bom was pushed away by Yeorum and the large difference in strength caused her to fall on the ground.
“What are you doing right now, you crazy bi*ch!”
“…”
“Why are you trying to break this? It’s just a normal laptop!”
Sitting on the ground, Bom heaved a deep sigh. Her dishevelled hair flowed down.
Bom placed her hand on her forehead and gazed up at Yeorum – no, she wasn’t looking at Yeorum. She was staring at the laptop in her hands.
Flustered from the direction of her gaze, Yeorum hurriedly tossed the laptop onto Bom’s bed.
“What else can I do,”
That was when Bom opened her mouth.
“When I feel so bad.”
Looking into her eyes, Yeorum felt goosebumps unknowingly crawling up her skin. It was the first time she was seeing such a side of Bom, despite living with her for a fairly long time.
Was her attachment to her stuff this strong?
“Crazy… Tch.”
But Yeorum realised that if she continued throwing out bad words, the situation might really turn out for the worse. Even she was slowly feeling the irritation surging forth inside her head, as well as how Bom’s eyes were starting to twitch again.
It seemed that ‘her stuff’ was some sort of a [Reverse Scale*] for Bom. Something that shouldn’t be touched, just like how violence and strife caused Yeorum herself to be mad.
Perhaps Bom had never shown such a side, because no-one touched her belongings without asking first.
“Ah, I get it. I won’t touch it you lunatic.”
“…”
“Don’t break the laptop after I leave, okay? Fu*k… Why would you vent your anger on a laptop? It didn’t do anything, did it?”
For now, there was the need to distance and calm themselves down. When Yeorum was about to leave the room, Bom’s voice came flying in like an arrow and pierced through her ears.
“Can’t do it to you, can I…”
Hoh.
So, she was trying to break the laptop instead of me?
…What a bloody way to put it, that lunatic.
Fortunately, she didn’t hear the laptop break after leaving the room, and Bom used the same laptop without a problem the next day. However, because of the way their conversation turned out, she couldn’t ask what she really wanted to ask.
An awkward atmosphere surrounded the two of them.
***
At night, Yu Jitae flew across the Pacific and headed to the US. Clone 1, who was waiting there already, welcomed him.
“We have been waiting, my lord.”
“Yeah.”
Clone 1 was wearing the appearance of a western man, who appeared to be half-black and half-white. It seemed that he was wearing that look the whole time ever since he came to this place.
From now on, Yu Jitae would be acting with a new, virtual identity and because of that, he had to change his appearance. Yu Jitae changed his face so that it would be difficult to identify his race, and also altered his body size a little.
That was when Clone 1 conveyed a doubt while looking at Yu Jitae’s face.
“Did you do your hair yourself sir?”
“Why. How is it.”
Clone 1 said, as if discontent.
“Looks scary.”
Yu Jitae already had the gaze of a mental mass murderer, so now that his hair was tidy on top of that, he looked like a mental patient carrying a sharpened knife, ready to kill anytime. Someone who was seeing him for the first time would definitely feel repulsed.
However, Clone 1 soon received his memories. Realising that it was the work of Bom, it carefully chose the next words to say.
“…I meant that it perfectly suited you to a scary degree.”
“…”
He didn’t say anything back.
In any case, he had to decide on a virtual identity which required a virtual name.
What name would be the best? As always, he wasn’t great at coming up with names and the only thing that appeared in his head was that the names of the kids were in a seasonal order.
In that case, ‘Season’ might be a decent name for him.
Soon, Jefferson walked towards them.
With his eyes, he greeted Clone 1 and stood still waiting for permission. Only after receiving a nod back from Clone 1 did Jefferson walk in front of Yu Jitae and carefully sit down on the chair.
He was sweating profusely.
“Nice to meet you sir. My name is Jefferson.”
“Good to see you. Call me Season.”
Over hundreds and thousands of regressions,
There was no-one Yu Jitae didn’t know at least inside the Association, and the same was with Antonio Jefferson. Since he knew him already, he didn’t need to ask questions, and because he didn’t need to ask questions, there was no need for unnecessary conversations.
“First, you can take back all the guys listed as missing people.”
Jefferson squinted his eyes.
“I assume you won’t be giving them back just like that… And how are you going to describe how you found them?”
He was fast at understanding things, and made the conversation a lot easier. Yu Jitae pointed at Clone 1.
“This friend here is called ‘One’.”
In that moment, Clone 2’s name was also decided as ‘Two’.
“He’s a nameless superhuman that had been running wild during the Great War, and his individual power level is above those guys with Unlimited Dungeon Raid Qualification Privilege.”
Yu Jitae’s words caused Jefferson to widen his eyes.
There were only 30 superhumans worldwide with access to an Unlimited Dungeon Raid Qualification Privilege – the so-called Dungeon Free Pass, and most of them were in two digits or less.
“His main ability is in searching and backtracking. As long as he wants to, he can find the location of the witch, Valentine, who hid herself pretty deep. So… he’s a league above the sloppy search party of the Association.”
Jefferson squinted his eyes.
This was another nonsensical story.
There was not a single superhuman who was unaware of the fact that the witch was living in secret. However, Rank 1 Oscar Brzenk was the only one who knew the exact location of the witch.
It was already more than 10 years ago that the previous Rank 1 had decided to live in secret after her retirement. Who could dare be confident that they could find her?
“Why. Is it strange?” Yu Jitae asked.
“Sorry? Ah… no.”
“That’s the scenario you need to say to the Association.”
Ah, no wonder. Jefferson thought to himself as Yu Jitae continued his words.
“You came across him by accident and requested him to look for the 3 missing people which he did. Using that as the reason, recommend him to the Association as a military advisor or something. They have it rough these days with soldiers retiring from their post endlessly, so the chairman should welcome your proposition with open arms. Besides, the military advisor position is also vacant anyway.”
How was he so knowledgeable about what was happening inside the Association?
Jefferson touched his beard in thought.
“Please wait. How were the 3 of them able to smile at me? Did you perhaps brainwash them?”
The ‘hostages’ hadn’t been returned yet, and they were currently still under the supervision of Clone 1. Clone 1 replied.
“No. They haven’t been brainwashed.”
“So then?”
“I explained it to them. They understood it very well and agreed with my lord’s objective.”
Explain?
It was another nonsense.
Jefferson frowned.
If someone else had told him the same thing, he would immediately leave the seat after dismissing them as mental patients. However, since some fairly strong people were being serious about it, he found it hard to determine how believable it was.
In the first place, the story about 3 SSS+ dungeons appearing out of the blue was unbelievable in itself.
A conversation without any trust was meaningless, since the listener wouldn’t be able to understand it even after listening to it. Plus, the listener wouldn’t listen to their suggestion even after hearing it.
The only things stopping him from stepping away from this frustrating conversation were the undismissable power level of the opponents and the hostages in hand.
Jefferson realised that this was beyond what he could control. It wasn’t something he could dare chime in and refuse.
He was like a child in front of an adult holding a gun.
It was okay for him to die, but it wasn’t okay for the Association to be placed in danger. Due to that, Jefferson decided to act like he was on their side for the time being.
For everything to go without a problem, these ‘strong people’ living in a well had to know what kind of place the Association was.
“…Hmm. I understand. However, I do not think that things would go that easily.”
“What does that mean?”
The person called One asked in return.
“Even with the life of 3 missing people plus my recommendation, the Association will investigate the case and determine your exact identity before adding you into the military.”
“It’s a military with all the soldiers leaving at this point. Is there still a need to be that sensitive?”
“That’s… What you’ve been saying for a while now is not the most pleasing thing to hear.”
“What?”
“Please mind your words, sir!”
Kwang!
Jefferson powerfully struck the glass down on the table but not a single person looked their way inside the cafe as the sound had been cut off.
“We are the ‘International Superhuman Association’ – we move military globally and we are the only organisation that can interfere with the soldiers of every nation ever since the New Era. I assume you are aware of that yourself?” Jefferson asked.
Leaning back on the chair, One crossed his arms and waited.
“We have 72 troops and over 1400 rankers. They are our hands and feet. That’s not the end. You should know them yourself – the ‘Returnee’, the ‘Druid of Regeneration’, the ‘Wings of the Wave’ and the ‘Sword of the Royal Family’, as well as other countless superhumans serve the Association as its sword and shield.
“If there is something you wish for, you must tread more carefully. It will do you more harm if you look down on the Association! No matter what revelation you received – no matter what prophesy you’re following, if you recklessly try to push that forth, it will be nothing more than senile words of retired superhumans for the Association! You have to be more meticulous and elaborate!”
Jefferson widened his shoulders like a frilled-neck lizard opening up its frill.
Although he sounded impudent, he was advising them to be more careful when dealing with the Association.
This was in fact the same as him trying to protect Yu Jitae, since the ‘sublime Association’ of his should be able to deal with everything as long as Jefferson listened to Yu Jitae on the outside. However, since there was no reason for Jefferson to protect Yu Jitae, it seemed that he was saying that to protect the hostages.
Jefferson appeared to be thinking of Yu Jitae and Clone 1 as old seniors of the past generation – like the eccentric men living secluded lives, who were unaware and ignorant of the Association, who believed in nothing but their individual strength which helped them survive through the harsh times of the Great War.
Jefferson had no idea.
In the 1st iteration, Yu Jitae was a soldier under the Association.
In the 2nd iteration, Yu Jitae was the centurion of the Association’s Platoon 107.
In the 3rd iteration, for a short period of time, Yu Jitae was the brigade commander of the 10th Brigade under the Association.
In the 4th iteration, Yu Jitae was a member of the Grand Natural Society, while also being the commander of the 2nd corps of the Association, although for a short period of time. After ranking 3rd, he took the role of the vice-captain of the Association’s final suicide squad, and was chosen as one of the 5 Transcendents.
And in the 5th iteration, he was the chairman of the Association for around 10 years.
“Antonio Jefferson.”
“Yes?”
“How long have you been of service for the Association?”
“Well, around 25 years. Why would you ask that?”
In total, Yu Jitae had been working for the Association for around 90 years, and this was even longer than the history of the Association.
As if talking to a pitiful person, he opened his mouth.
“Nothing. Stop being cocky and just call them.”