Is the child happy?
Yu Jitae looked at her but she didn’t really seem that happy. Yeorum had her legs placed on top of the passenger’s seat and was lowering her head. As always, there were several black bruises on her legs and since those weren’t simple bruises, they weren’t fully cured yet.
Her attitude remained the same even when the rental car travelled through the warp station to arrive in the USA, all the way till they arrived at Las Vegas.
However, she would probably like it very soon.
He was certain because it was Bom’s idea.
– What about Las Vegas?
It was her response to his question, when he asked what Yeorum would enjoy the most in her free time. He was concerned, thinking that it might be excessive.
– Hmm. Not at all. Because she’s from the red race, Yeorum would actually find those things more comfortable and pleasant.
He couldn’t really understand so he asked what she meant.
– The red dragons are a barbarous race of beasts. They are conquerors and fighters. Their word choice is very coarse and so are their actions. The things that are on their minds are fundamentally different from other races.
– Even the nicest and the kindest red dragon in the world enjoys gambling, drugs and both men and women. Not because those are stimulating but because it puts them at ease. That’s just the way of their life.
Yu Jitae could somewhat understand after hearing up to that point.
In the 3rd iteration, there was a time when he was afraid of daily lives.
Hunting monsters for 10 years, every day was spent stabbing, killing and shedding blood… Once fighting became a part of his life, he had felt greatly anxious whenever he wasn’t fighting. It was more comfortable for him to break his body and he felt more at ease when shedding blood.
But for that to be the case, isn’t Yeorum too serene? Yu Jitae asked.
– Hmm. I think it’s partly because we’re still young and we aren’t influenced yet. And I also think Yeorum is special. Her heart is very gentle, kind and she has both consideration and patience.
– The red race tends to live by themselves. Even the parents live in separate places as well as the hatchlings. It’s because their race would go extinct if everyone was living together. But Yeorum lives with us fine right? This is an extremely shocking thing. Which red dragon in the universe would get slapped by a blue dragon to control their anger? If it was any other red dragon, Gyeoul already would have…
– Anyway so in truth, Yeorum is an angel.
‘Oh, right right,’ said Kaeul while nodding from the side. Gyeoul also nodded with a smile but she was probably just nodding after her sisters despite knowing nothing.
In any case, it was an interesting opinion.
That Yeorum was an angel among the red dragons.
– But ahjussi.
– You have to come back early okay…
He then remembered the soft whisper that Bom let out right before he left the house and her red whispering lips. He didn’t know why something like this was randomly popping up so he shook those thoughts away.
In the warp station, he paid $10,000 per person and received a bracelet.
“In Las Vegas, you must wear this.”
A thin rubber bracelet was placed on the wrists of Yu Jitae and Yeorum. This Level 1 bracelet artifact was a device that sensed the flow of mana and recorded it. It was a device for better security and all the superhumans of this city except for the police had to wear this.
Soon, the rented sedan left the warp station and drove into the city. The centre of the world’s entertainment and pleasure. Even the scenery of the town was fancy.
There were all sorts of famous building replicas including the obelisk, sphinx, pyramid, the Statue of Liberty, and a replica of Haytling in the sky as well as the absolute wall (where the ceasefire declaration of the great war had been written on).
The sedan drove past those buildings and headed towards the hotel.
During all that, Yeorum did not say a single word.
*
They checked in at the lobby.
He added two $100 notes under the card and handed them in. Casually taking the tip, the hotelier allocated a bigger and better room for Yu Jitae.
This was something called a comp upgrade where a better room was given for free. However, it didn’t usually happen for free so it was a rather paradoxical word.
“If you need anything, please press the call button whenever.”
Yeorum, who had followed Yu Jitae into the room, appeared slightly surprised. The furniture and the room were very fancy and elegant, plus an extremely wide bed.
Pulling the curtains open revealed the entirety of this fancy city with the McCarran International Warp Station in the centre.
“…”
Her eyes were vacant. Although she still hadn’t said a single word, she still couldn’t hide her cheeks from being flushed.
“You like it?” asked Yu Jitae.
“Huh? Well, just…”
“Change your clothes first. You’re not gonna make it too far wearing cadet clothes.”
“Clothes? I don’t have any though?”
He opened his internal dimensional storage and the white hands pushed Yeorum’s wardrobe out.
“Did you bring the whole thing here?”
“Hurry and change.”
There was another room attached to the main room. Yeorum walked out after changing her clothes in the other room. She didn’t have any formal or one-piece dresses so she was wearing black slax pants and a white t-shirt on top. Since she was tall and skinny, it suited her nicely.
“How is it,” she asked.
“Looks good.”
“You too.”
Yu Jitae was also wearing a shirt and a pair of slax pants. His wide shoulders and solid muscles made the simple clothes more attractive.
“Are you not going to change your face?” He asked Yeorum.
In fact, Yeorum was quite famous and there were also several people glancing at her in the warp station. The people did not create a fuss since this was a place frequented by various celebrities but even then, it wasn’t a great idea to walk around with her bare face out in the open.
“I don’t want to change my face though… I’ll just grab a hat and a mask or something.”
“How about you change your hair colour then. To an inconspicuous colour.”
“What?”
“You know, like brown or black.”
It seemed that there was something wrong with his words. Yeorum shook her head in fright.
“Are you crazy!?”
She almost shouted even.
“What’s wrong.”
“No. No. It’s nothing. Whatever. Just go! And don’t tell me to do stupid things.”
“You’re not gonna change your hair?”
“I’m not! Never!”
She stubbornly refused to do so.
*
Throughout dinner at the hotel, Yeorum diligently ate meat, had a piece of souffle and a dense cream cheese soup although she usually wasn’t that interested in food. During that, she glanced at the people walking past.
“What are you looking at,” he asked.
“The hell is that.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Look. Look at that person. What a freaking big ass butt.”
Yu Jitae looked at where she was looking. It indeed was an amazing butt…
“…”
…for a man.
“And look at that person over there.”
This time, she was looking at a woman who had plattered herself with a gold tooth, a gold necklace, a gold bracelet and all sorts of gold accessories.
“She looks like the owner of a jewelry store. I wanna smack her head, steal all that stuff and sell it.”
“Why would you do that to a stranger.”
“No like, f*ck, I was just saying it… but you know, our world had something similar to that.”
“What was it.”
“A gold goblin. They always stick all those things around their body,” she said before adding, “Ohh, and look at him.”
“The one with white clothes?”
He looked normal though.
“Nn. He’s a normal baldie.”
Saying that, Yeorum quietly giggled to herself.
It was slightly dumbfounding. Yeorum did not smile a single time despite staying at a hotel that was worth 1,000 dollars a night, and having a 500-dollar dinner but was laughing at a bald guy.
Whatever the case, anything was fine as long as it could better her mood. After finishing the main dish, the waiter brought a dessert along with a decent wine.
It was 8 pm by that time. Darkness covered the city outside as fancy lights of the town seeped through the window. Taking a sip of the wine, Yeorum murmured a question.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“How many times do I have to say it. We came here to play. Don’t worry about anything and just play to your heart’s content while we’re here.”
“…”
Putting a piece of cheese into her mouth, she said.
“It is nice, but this is not good.”
“Why.”
“You know yourself. Now’s not the time for me to do this.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.”
“People that run with their eyes looking only at the front need to take a rest sometimes. Or what, do you not like this place? Do you want to go somewhere else?”
“Nn? Well, it’s not like I hate it but…”
“Then just play. Put everything down.”
Yeorum blankly turned to the scenery outside the window. Her pony tail that left through the hole of her cap appeared like the tail of a puppy.
“Hmm, but you know.”
“Yeah.”
“Like, I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I, don’t really know…”
“You don’t know what.”
“C’mon like, what can it be? Do you really not know what I’m talking about?”
It seemed that she was somewhat embarrassed by it. She glared at him for a little before avoiding eye contact and whispering.
“…I don’t know how to play in places like this.”
Her words left like a sigh.
Wasn’t that natural though?
Yeorum right now was not only unaware of how to play, even watching people walk by was an interesting sight for her. Everything for her was a new experience.
Ever since she opened her eyes to this day, her life was just a repetition of fighting, getting stronger and fighting stronger enemies. It was the same when she just arrived for her Amusement as well as at Lair. She had been fighting wearing a wooden mask back then but was now fighting cadets wearing a cadet uniform.
He didn’t know why she would be embarrassed by the fact that she didn’t know how to play.
Naturally Yu Jitae himself didn’t know how to play either but could imitate it to an extent. It was because there was a time when he had to live in Las Vegas for a few years in the past.
Thus, he nonchalantly said to her.
“Just trust me.”
***
He first took Yeorum over to a circus.
Alpha Monsters – it was a monster circus show. Under the splendid spot lights, well-trained ogres and sabertooth tigers either bounced balls or danced. As cheerful music came flowing out, the monsters rhythmically shook their heads and sometimes, male and female dancers wearing risque clothes came out and danced with the monsters. Yeorum couldn’t take her eyes off the stage.
“Wow. What was that.”
After the show, Yeorum was very talkative.
“That was freaking interesting. How did they do that? It was like perfectly on beat.
“Are all those stupid monsters crazy? They don’t have any pride…! They just listen to whatever they’re told.
“That’s actually freaking interesting. Did they like bash the monsters up when they were teaching them? Because they listen better that way?”
Excluding the time when she was doing great in the competition, Yu Jitae had never seen Yeorum this excited.
“Was it fun?”
“Huh? Well…”
But the question of whether it was fun or not might have come across to her as if he was treating her like a child. Maybe the fact that she had enjoyed a small entertainment like that might have touched her pride, but Yeorum placed the cigarette in her mouth with a grumble.
“It wasn’t much.”
“…”
Sure. Of course.
Suppressing her excitement, Yeorum smoked the cigarette. Yu Jitae was next to the child but could see the ponytail popping out from the cap.
When Yeorum turned her head looking at the shiny and colourful buildings around her, the hair appeared like the gently shaking tail of a puppy.
It was a fairly strange thought on his part. Had he ever seen something so common, and link it to something different that it resembled? For some reason, he wanted to touch it so he reached his hand out and touched the hair…
“Nn? What you doing?”
“…”
“Go away.”
Yeorum flicked her hand so he retrieved his arm. Weirdly enough, there was a very faint sense of reluctance. It was a strange thing because he wasn’t interested in puppies or cats.
The tail of a puppy huh…
“What are we going to do now?”
“Casino.”
She appeared very pleased after hearing it.
“Oh. I love it.”
“It’s your first time right?”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s go.”
He moved his feet. Yeorum’s feet as she walked right behind him were very light and on the way there, Yu Jitae explained a few things.
“It’s good to play but there are a few things that you must keep in mind.”
“What are they.”
“Mentally prepare yourself first. Whether it’s exciting or enraging, this is just a little bit of a pastime activity. You can’t forget that. You can’t get absorbed in it, no matter what it is. Okay?”
“Of course. Do I look like a kid?”
He didn’t reply to that question. He simply opened his watch and gave her a card.
“I’ve prepared this for you. There are 1,000 dollars inside it. Go change them to chips and go to a slot machine, do black jack, baccarat, whatever you want.”
“Yeah. You’re not coming with me?”
“I have something else to do. If you don’t know how something works, just watch and learn from the side. There’s nothing too hard inside.”
“Ah… How about you still come with me?”
“There’s just something I have to buy. I’ll go to you after buying them. Call me when there’s a problem.”
“Okay.”
Yeorum nodded. In fact, he would be acutely raising his senses so there wouldn’t be a problem even if she didn’t call him.
*
After sending her off, Yu Jitae headed to a store outside the casino. He had glanced at it on the way but there was a variety of ornaments in this place that girls would love, ranging from small jewelries to cute mascot plushies of Las Vegas, and accessories like bracelets and rings with the mascot engraved.
He hadn’t given any accessories to the kids before. Now that he was at a fairly distant place, it might be a good idea for him to give a gift to each of the kids. They would probably like it.
Maybe this hair pin with a pink flower attached would suit Bom’s hair quite well – that was the first thing he thought of. Pink suited her quite nicely perhaps because her hair had the same colour as grass.
After buying a hair pin for Bom, he bought bracelets for Kaeul and Gyeoul, as well as a piercing for Yeorum. That was when someone called him – it was Yeorum.
“Yeah.”
– Sir…
Sir?
“What.”
– Little Yeowum ish f*cked…
She spoke with a lisp. It sounded as if she was trying to act cute.
He could somewhat guess what it was about without even having to hear the rest.
“Did you lose everything already? It’s only been 20 minutes since you’ve gone inside though?”
She was silent for a short period of time. Soon, a chuckle sounded from the other side of the phone.
– Nn ♥