“I don’t know how it works,” said Bom.
The principle behind how it worked was in fact quite simple. Yu Jitae could communicate with his clone with his mind while dragons could receive memories and emotions of the one they come into contact with.
The fundamental principle behind that was mana. Mana was the manifestation of will, and the Regressor had exquisite control over mana better than anyone else on Earth. Naturally, he could also freely control the level of memories and emotions being shared.
“What I do know, is that I can help ahjussi at a very close distance.”
“…”
“Is what I saw correct?”
Yu Jitae thought to himself.
A very close distance – in other words, just like how Clone 2 was sitting on the witch’s lap, he had to let Bom sit on his lap.
He would then act like the witch while Bom would act like Clone 2. Since memories and emotions would be conveyed in real time to each other, it would allow them to control Clone 2 like Bom’s avatar.
“Is that the only situation you foresaw?” Yu Jitae asked.
Bom shook her head.
“There was also one where ahjussi disappeared for a month. And then…”
“Then?”
“Something precious to you would disappear.”
Yu Jitae immediately understood what she was saying.
“And, ahjussi…”
Bom hesitated.
“What about me,” he asked.
“…”
“Come on. Speak.”
“You looked like you would do something bad so…” Bom replied.
The Regressor twitched his eyes.
She was cautious while worry was mixed into her gaze. It seemed that she had seen a not-so-positive possibility of the future. Yu Jitae raised his hand. Startled, Bom flinched a little while he continued carrying his hand and scratched his own forehead.
Seeing that reaction put the Regressor in a slightly uncomfortable mood.
“…”
Doing ‘something bad’.
She had seen the right thing.
If things turned south, Yu Jitae was planning to use Clone 2’s body as bait to lure the witch out. Although it sounded like something that should never be done, in the end, it was a clone of himself and it was a better option than having his strategy take a hit.
The witch didn’t have any lingering attachment to life nor did she have anything precious. To her, committing suicide was as simple as pressing a button.
If it was proving to be difficult to find a solution, he was thinking of making the body of Clone 2 something more precious than her own life for the witch.
The method was quite simple. Although he wasn’t skilled with interpersonal relationships, he knew exactly how greed tended to operate, and the witch already had greed for Clone 2. If need be, he was going to give her new entertainment that could accompany her for the rest of her boring life, no matter how many months it may take in the process.
The clone would give his body as she wished but would stop at the appropriate time with his command. Clone 2 with its essence of mana stolen would probably be broken. Although that would be extremely unfortunate, it was but a clone in the end.
The loss of a clone and the mental damage would be solely on him, but it was bearable. Ultimately, only when the witch found Clone 2 more important than her own life would Yu Jitae gain what he wanted.
It was a tedious and tiresome task, and he would also lose a portion of the mana essence.
“Right, okay. I’d be glad if you could help.”
Since his plans had been seen through, the Regressor felt uncomfortable but spoke whilst hiding it.
“…”
In response, Bom gazed directly into his eyes.
“Come here and sit on my lap. I’ll explain the situation to you,” he said.
Was she anxious?
He had been sharing positive times as her guardian. However, Yu Jitae’s plan was inhumane and the result it foresaw would have been a shocking scene for the young hatchling.
But wasn’t she feeling embarrassed just then? Maybe she was simply feeling uncomfortable.
“What are you doing. Come here.”
“Nn…”
Heaving a sigh, Bom tucked her hair behind her ear. He sat down on the sofa and Bom walked up in large strides to sit perpendicularly on his lap.
A distance of touching breaths – the same as that of Clone 2 and the witch.
But before starting all this, he had to ask something.
“Bom. Do you find this burdensome?”
She shook her head in response.
“Or was I scary in the scenes you saw?”
Bom again shook her head, before prudently opening her mouth.
“What meaning is there behind having just the body?”
“What?”
“If you don’t earn their hearts, it would ultimately go bad for sure.”
He couldn’t really understand how far she had seen in the future for her to say such things.
“So, what is the situation?” She asked.
In any case, the strategy meeting began and so did the strategy.
The witch’s thigh touching his thigh; her body touching his arms and her arm wrapping around his back all made Clone 2 feel awkward.
It was awkward, uncomfortable and stimulating.
Blood gathered at a specific part of his body…
Clone 2 tried to cross his legs.
“Boy. Don’t move your legs.”
“I’ll do what I want.”
While the witch smiled as if finding that cute, Clone 2 raised his leg and placed it above the other knee. When the weight was conveyed to the leg underneath, his bone that had yet to fully heal screamed out in pain.
“@#$%–!”
A silent scream left his mouth as he bent his back.
“Aigo. What did I tell you.”
“Hukk, ukk, hkk…”
“Stay still. Stay still.”
The witch said that while bringing her body closer towards Clone 2 to restrict his movement.
“Good boy.”
Feeling the weight behind his back, Clone 2 almost gasped but quickly opened his mouth to regain his state of mind.
“No. no no. Please wait. So what kind of conversation do you want.”
“Will you accept my apology?”
“No? It still hurts a lot.”
Although she was healing him after he had broken her Death Knights, wasn’t that the witch’s fault in the first place?
“Does it hurt that much?” She asked.
“I feel like dying. Seriously.”
“Then let me help. However, I will change my request.”
“To which one?”
“Let me touch you, only for the treatment.”
Clone 2 was flustered.
“Uhh, uhh…”
That was when the voice of his lord echoed through his head.
– A command. From now, see what Bom is doing and copy exactly what she does.
‘Exactly what she does, is it sir?’
– Yeah. Both speech and movement.
Soon, the scene in front of Yu Jitae started being conveyed to his head. Yu Bom was sitting on the lap of his lord, sitting in the posture as himself.
The witch lowered her hand – Yu Jitae lowered his hand.
The witch moved that hand of hers towards Clone 2’s pelvis. Yu Jitae also moved his hand towards Bom’s pelvis.
Bom remained still so Clone 2 also had to stay silent.
Before long, the witch’s fingers touched his pelvis and began massaging it to ease the pain. Very gently and delicately, her fingers swept past Clone 2’s pelvis.
“Stay still, boy…”
Clone 2 felt like he was about to faint at this point, but Bom, who was having her pelvis touched in the same manner by Yu Jitae, remained still without her expression changing in the slightest.
After understanding how the mana was being conveyed, Bom lowered her hand and slowly pushed Yu Jitae’s wrist away, before opening her mouth.
“Uh, I think you can stop now,” said Clone 2.
“Hnn? What is wrong.”
“I, I can do something similar from here.”
The trembling of his voice was a mistake. Clone 2 couldn’t completely imitate Bom’s expression and gesture.
Nonchalantly, Bom massaged her own pelvis and manipulated the mana before gazing up at Yu Jitae.
“Uh… It’s time for us to request what we want from each other right?” Clone 2 said.
“Yes.”
“T, then, should we start again from the start?”
The witch faintly tilted her head.
Clone 2 couldn’t understand what Bom was saying but regardless, a faint smile soon revealed itself on his lips.
“Since we want something from one another, let’s match them as we go.”
“Huhuh. Quite sudden, is it not?”
Did she find something odd? That didn’t sound like what I would say… thinking that, Clone 2 was inwardly feeling flustered.
“Interesting… how interesting. Boy. Aren’t you a man with a twist?”
Uhuh, uhuhuh… While the witch laughed to herself, Clone 2 resolutely opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.
“Who do you think should start?”
Their thighs were touching. In that close of a distance, the five senses that Yu Jitae allowed were all being conveyed to Bom.
Thus, there was no need for him to say the lines himself.
“Who do you think should start?
“Then I will go first.
“This is the 280th underground floor and I want to take you outside. So my request is to bring you 20 floors up.”
Yu Jitae didn’t say anything nor did he smile.
However, the witch said it was fine and smiled. She then requested that they became even closer with each other.
Thus, Bom raised her legs and sat facing Yu Jitae. The witch reached her hands forward and supported Clone 2’s back, so Yu Jitae copied her and made sure Bom could lean back as well.
Now that he thought about the distance between them being too close, he stealthily pulled his body back. Seeing that, Bom frowned and shook her head.
They were simply working. It was work but,
For the first time in a long time, he felt perplexed by the situation.
Bom’s pinkish lips twitched as she whispered,
“Concentrate please.”
Clone 2 mumbled quietly before closing his mouth.
“We are workin… aht.”
It seemed that this wasn’t meant to be said to the witch.
“Did you say anything?”
“N, no I didn’t.”
Clone 2 let out an empty cough.
There was a problem. Both Bom and Clone 2 were similarly sitting at around the middle thigh but Yu Jitae and the witch didn’t have the same body structure. Therefore, unlike Yu Jitae and Bom who were about a palm away from each other, Clone 2 and the witch were practically right in front of each other.
“Boy. You are a mysterious child. You’re small and cute, but sometimes you give off a manly smell. And you also know how to be bold, hnn?”
“…”
Even then, Clone 2 could still bear with it. The person inside his head was Bom and Bom was a target of protection that his lord was eager to protect. So seeing her face dispersed all the raging bad thoughts inside him.
“My turn to request now. Let me caress your head. You are so cute that I cannot bear it.”
Uakk…! Straight to physical contact!
Isn’t this a bit too bad, Miss Yu Bom?
“Alright.”
Oh no.
“But instead, let us raise your residence by another 20 floors.”
“It doesn’t add up does it? Isn’t 20 floors too much for simply touching your hair?”
“Is it?”
“Yes. 20 floors for merely caressing your hair?”
“How about anytime, anywhere.”
Bom smiled sso the clone also smiled albeit awkwardly. Soon, a fishy smile appeared on the witch’s lips.
“You know how to negotiate well. Good.”
Saying that, the witch reached her large hand forward and touched Clone 2 by the hair with utmost care and gentleness.
Sababak. Sababak. Her fingers travelled through the short strands of hair and again, the fragrant scent of a flower; the smell of pheromone spread like a fog.
It was dizzying and dangerous. Once again feeling a dangerous change in his body, Clone 2 slowly pulled his legs together and pushed his butt back as much as he could.
Bom frowned like a cat dumped with water, with eyes asking why he was moving on his own accord.
Please tolerate this much. Please…
“So there should be 240 floors left now.”
“Yes.”
Dangerous distance. Dangerous posture and dangerous gestures.
Bom opened her mouth and began saying something and Clone 2 repeated the same thing.
“By the way,” he said.
“Nn.”
“Have you been here for a very long time?”
“Well… yes.”
“Alone?”
The witch remained silent in response as she continued caressing the clone’s hair. Sababak. Sababak. It continued.
“This place is very wide.” Clone 2 added.
“It is.”
“It took a very long time for me to even come here. I think being alone in a wide place like this would be very boring.”
The witch shook her head.
“It’s alright.”
“Are you really alright?”
“Of course.”
“Valentine. Why are you living here?”
“This noona hates tiresome things.”
“Tiresome things?”
“Yes. If you bothered to come looking for me, you should already know who I am. I have seen a lot of blood throughout my life. Half of them human blood.”
“Ah…”
“Oh my. Was it too scary for you, boy?”
“No. I’m alright. I’m curious.”
Staring at the face of Clone 2, the witch faintly smiled.
“Another half of the human blood I saw was my own. Crimson is a very tiresome and disorderly colour. Ahh, it was extremely frightening and scary when I was young but it became tiring after getting used to it. I thought everything would be fine after the end of the war.”
“…”
Imitating Bom’s expression, Clone 2 gave a nod.
“But that was not the case. Once the common enemy disappeared, humans began fighting each other. I was a sovereign and seeing those foolish children… It made me uncomfortable like I was seeing dead humans. That made me decide to leave.”
Bom nodded with a sorrowful expression.
“But what about this place? No matter where you look all across this boreal forest, it is nature. There is no excessive greed. You cannot see any of those disgusting humans. Flower blooms from the ground and birds stroll through the skies.”
“Ahh.”
“Boy. You haven’t seen the night sky of 291th floor yet have you? That place is a little bit dangerous but is extremely beautiful. There are countless stars hanging in the sky.”
So what? That was the honest thought inside Clone 2’s mind, but Yu Bom said something else.
“Wahh, I can imagine it being super pretty…”
The witch smiled faintly.
“Right?”
She started caressing the clone’s hair again, with her fingers going from his forehead all the way to his sideburns.
Bom opened her mouth.
“It would be even better if there was someone to look at it with…”
The witch squinted her eyes.
It was a sentence which she intentionally hadn’t let out of her mouth.
Yu Jitae was caressing Bom’s hair.
“It would be even better if there was someone to look at it with…”
In response to her words, the witch stopped her hand so Yu Jitae also stopped his. Suddenly, Bom reached her arms out and fully wrapped them around his back. Perplexed by that gesture, he pulled his body back but Bom came even deeper and eventually succeeded in hugging him.
Her grass-coloured hair touched his neck and chin, giving off the scent of nature.
Copying the actions of the surprised witch, he raised his hands into the air. But when Bom gave him a tight hug like this and the beating sounds of her heart were conveyed through his skin, perplexity rose up uncontrollably. It was despite him being aware that this was work.
What are you doing right now, boy? The witch asked.
*
“Noona, you must have been so lonely…”