“…Here. 40 dollars.”
Gyeoul gave him a bunch of crumpled 1 dollar notes.
“Are you certain?”
“…Yes.”
“You have to confirm them for me.”
Yu Jitae’s words made her float a pout on her face.
“…Don’t you, trust me?”
“Gyeoul. There’s no friends, parents or children when it comes to money. So can you please confirm them properly.”
“…”
Is that how it is…? Etching his words into her brain, Gyeoul walked up and placed the notes down on the table one by one.
“…One, two, three, four…”
They were all 1 dollar notes. After diligently going through the notes, it was clear that there were exactly 40 notes there.
“Why are they all 1 dollar notes though?”
“…Because, that way it looks like there’s more?”
“Did you change them all to 1 dollar notes?”
“…Yes.”
How strange, he thought while taking the notes for himself.
“Right. I’ve gotten them all. Now you won’t have to wear the helmet.”
“…Hehe.”
“Off you go.”
Gyeoul turned around after a nod and walked out of the room. Right before closing the door, she glanced directly at his eyes.
“What’s wrong.”
“…I liked it.”
“You liked what.”
“…Selling, the umbrellas together.”
“I liked it too.”
The sound of her laughter after getting hold of money, and the sound of raindrops in harmony with her laugh remained as a fairly enjoyable memory. Perhaps that was also the case for the child.
“…Please, help me again next time.”
“For free?”
“…Nn?”
“You need to give me money. Per hour. Because I’m helping with your work.”
“…”
Gyeoul closed her mouth. She vacantly thought to herself before giving him a questioning gaze.
“…Ahjussi. How much for an hour?”
“1 dollar.”
If someone from the Association heard it, they would be flabbergasted. Even if they paid 100 million dollars, they would not dare dream of using Yu Jitae for an hour.
However, Gyeoul shook her head with a pout.
“…Expensive…”
“What do you mean expensive. Am I not worth even a dollar?”
“…”
She was silent and appeared discontent. Was she planning to negotiate?
It seemed that his thoughts were on the mark. Gyeoul mumbled several times before carefully opening her mouth.
“…1 dollar for an hour and a half.”
The Regressor was dumbfounded. This young blue child was already a true salesperson.
“Got it. 50 cents for an hour. How’s that.”
As if to prove that, she looked unhappy even when he agreed to the negotiation. At this rate, she would probably bring it all the way down to 30 cents.
“That’s half the price. Don’t worry about it if you’re still not happy. I won’t do it then.”
Only then did Gyeoul shake her head with a hurried look on her face.
“..Nnnn. I like it. 50 cents. Good.”
After a successful negotiation, she laughed like an evil boss.
***
Chirp chirp. Meow. Chirp. Meeoww! Chirp! Meoooowww!
The baby chicken and the cat talked to each other. The dog spirit beast was no longer there. 5 minutes ago, it had entered the fissure over to the other side so only the two of them were left at Lair.
The cat spirit beast passionately lamented.
I’m still waiting for boss only because I have a good personality. Didn’t that stupid dog leave already? How can you do this if you have even a speck of respect for me?
In response, the baby chicken repeatedly apologised while begging it to wait a little bit more.
I hate you birds. The word birdbrain doesn’t exist for naught. The cat spirit beast spoke in anger.
Chirpy told the cat that it could go over whenever without waiting for him. The cat however was dumbfounded. But what if the fissure broke after that? Was I supposed to live a happy life while you stay here all alone?
That would be very fun meow!! I will order some fried chickens myself meow!
Good idea. My owner liked them too.
Listening to their conversation, Yu Jitae realised that the relationship between the two of them was deeper than he thought. Chirpy was a spirit beast who was not scared to use power and it seemed that the cat spirit beast had been saved by Chirpy right before it was about to get killed by other cats.
It seemed that the reason it was waiting alone till the end was to not betray its benefactor.
But it couldn’t stay that way for way too long. The cat was irritated by the insanely stubborn baby chicken.
Meeoooww–!!
Unable to hold it back any longer, the cat ran up, scratched and bit Chirpy without an end.
[Smack (D)]
The cat was serious so the baby chicken had to run away whilst bleeding from its forehead.
Chirp!
During his escape, Chirpy said.
I will definitely go.
But, not now.
So please wait a little bit more.
***
Unit 301.
Yu Jitae spoke to Kaeul.
“For now, it will be fine for you to practise based on what you’ve learned from Bom.”
“Yes yes.”
“Don’t push yourself too much. Focus on reducing your output for the time being.”
“But if my output is big, why do I have to practise lowering my output? Isn’t it better to increase it even more?”
“If you can’t even control a small bit of power, how would you control a big output of power? There’s a procedure to everything.”
“Aht, ah…!”
“You seem quite into it though. Are you motivated now?”
Kaeul faintly smiled in response.
“…Maybe a little?”
Right next to her. Yeorum who was listening nonchalantly to the normal conversation felt a bump from her words. Was it the voice? Or perhaps an impression she got from the words?
Whatever the case, Kaeul appeared different than normal so it was bizarre. After breakfast, Yeorum called her to the rooftop.
“Nn. What’s up unni?”
“I heard you were learning magic.”
“Unn.”
“How is it. Is it doable?”
Yeorum asked while smoking a cigarette.
“Nn nn. I don’t really know yet.”
“What don’t you know?”
“It doesn’t feel realistic yet… but it is fun seeing things go boom and stuff.”
It really was strange. Was this kid always this calm? It felt to Yeorum as if the child had changed a little in the last 2 weeks.
“Oi.”
“Unn?”
“Come here for a bit.”
“Why?”
Kaeul walked up. Putting the cigarette between her lips, Yeorum used both of her hands to tickle her on her sides. “Uaah…!” Kaeul, who was weak to tickling, giggled ‘kyahahaha’ and wriggled her body. Only then did Yeorum feel content.
“Wh, what’s wrong with you all of a sudden…! Huk huk…!”
“No, whatever. So, is Yu Jitae a good teacher?”
“Unn? Actually, there is something strange…”
“What is it.”
“I get scolded a lot by Bom-unni right? Whenever I do, I always want today to be the last day but when I feel like I’m about to die after the training, ahjussi suddenly like compliments me and says well done.”
“…Compliment? And then?”
“Then I feel motivated to do it the next day as well. Umm… Looking back, maybe like, I’m getting trained like a pet by the two of them..?”
“…”
“But it doesn’t feel bad.”
Kaeul smiled like a puppy with the usual thoughtless look on her face. Yeorum breathed out a mouthful of smoke.
“He compliments you? A lot?”
“Unn! Umm, like everyday?”
“…”
When Yeorum remained standing blankly smoking her cigarette, Kaeul asked if she could go back now.
“No. Wait,” said Yeorum.
“What. What now.”
“Huh? You got a complaint? Is talking to your unni boring?”
“Un. It really is boring!… Of course that was a joke! Hehe…”
Yeorum’s expression turned stiff but Kaeul immediately showed her belly and wriggled her tail. With a satisfied look on her face, Yeorum asked.
“Do you have any plans to dye your hair?”
“Huh? How did you know that?”
Yeorum twitched her eyes.
“I’m thinking if I should change it to a brighter golden colour.”
“You f…”
Fortunately, she wasn’t. Yeorum clicked her tongue.
“Yeah. Bright or dark gold doesn’t matter. Just don’t dye your hair black.”
“Unn? Why?”
“Just don’t do it. Unless you want to see someone die.”
“Does someone die if I dye my hair?”
“Yeah.”
“What about gray?”
“Huh? Gray…? You can’t. Uhh yeah you can’t.”
“Then what about bright gray? It will be closer to silver so would that be okay?”
“Just live as a damn banana. Unless you want to die.”
“N, nn…”
Kaeul returned to the house after a nod. She then went out on a walk and Yeorum could see from the roof the two baby chickens running out like fools.
Huu…
Left alone, Yeorum entered deep in thought.
That black-haired bit*h.
Dick Jitae this bastard.
Yu Kaeul learning magic? Can we fight together then…?
Such thoughts floated up in her mind consecutively but at one point, her mind turned blank. Strangely enough, what filled her blank head were the words of Kaeul.
The words that Yu Jitae had complimented her everyday strangely remained in a corner of her mind.
Breathing out a mouthful of dense smoke, she murmured.
“How rare…”
That human, he doesn’t compliment that much.
***
“Hmm… so what I thought was this.”
Inside a bright forest, in that world full of fragrant scent of the forest, Bom was sitting on a tree stump as she opened her mouth.
“There is a thing called procedure right. So, like a continuation of inevident incidents that occur within a given time frame.”
She was hesitant with her words.
“Procedure-wise, I’m the first but if there was another girl to come after me.”
Her words were slow like a singer who was a poor speaker, thinking of words to express what was on their mind.
“If I don’t give the first… then wouldn’t that solve the problem?”
Bom awkwardly smiled after saying that. Sitting on the other side, an old lady with white hair chuckled. Her name was Li Hwa.
“Or perhaps, the procedure itself was completely false.”
“A wrong procedure you mean?’
“Like, there is the possibility of the future I saw being a dream. Both of them.”
“Hmm.”
“I wasn’t embraced nor was the black-haired girl. If all of it was just a dream…”
The old superhuman saw the young girl trying to desperately reason herself and heaved a light sigh.
“If you start doing that, won’t everything that occurs in the future be covered in a fog?”
“Yes but, if I give my first, then it will be the end for me psychologically.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes, so it was all a dream. A dream. From my knowledge, those things do tend to happen. Although they are quite rare, there is a possibility…”
Listening to the child, she found her to be in a pitiful state. Li Hwa clicked her tongue.
“Listen Bom.”
“Yes?”
“You yearn for that young man deeply from your heart, do you not.”
“Hmm… yes.”
“How much?”
“How much?”
“Yes. Try expressing it.”
“Hmm…”
Staring off into the distance of the forest, Bom opened her mouth with a distant gaze.
“I choose all of ahjussi’s menus.”
“Menus?”
“Yes. For drinks and meals. If I don’t, ahjussi never tries anything new. He chooses the same things. Fried rice at a restaurant, basic fried chicken with no flavours, pepperoni for pizza, long black for drinks…”
“What a boring taste for a young man.”
“Right? That’s what he always gets. So I choose a lot of different things for him, but ahjussi gets annoyed by it. Sometimes he scolds me, saying it’s fine to eat anything. When that happens, I think to myself. Should I annoy him a bit more?”
“Oh. Why?”
“So that I get hit by ahjussi. Like on my cheek or my butt. Not as a joke but in a slightly harsh manner. Of course, it would hurt if he hits me hard. I might cry from the pain. But I can prove it if that happens.”
“Prove what?”
“That I can like ahjussi even if he does all that…”
Her gaze became all the more distant.
“However, ahjussi will probably never hit me so I won’t be able to prove that ever. That’s what makes me sad.”
Li Hwa was silent.
“There is only one thing that is important. I just want him to not love anyone apart from me.”
After finishing her words, Bom slowly pulled her knees in and hugged them. “I didn’t used to like him this much, so when did it become like this?” she asked and the old woman remained silent despite knowing the answer.
Deep emotions tended to deepen endlessly from a momentary distortion. Like herself who loved her husband even more only after his death, and the child in front of her.
The reality was an extremely miserable thing. After clicking her tongue, Li Hwa asked the most important question with a slightly bitter voice.
“If you yearn for him that much, do you think you will be able to refuse him when that man wants you?”
Bom – her eyes dropped.
But her lips slightly curved upward.
Bom sorrowfully smiled.
“It will be difficult…”