Early in the morning, under the warm sunlight.
Yu Jitae and Bom walked into a quiet park inside the residential district. Bom tended to stay indoors a lot but there was no suitable place inside the house where they could have a serious conversation with just the two of them, so he intentionally brought her outside.
Bom was wearing a gray pair of pants and a tight white t-shirt and black sandals. It was the same plain outfit.
“Ahjussi.”
Chagak, chagak…
Walking down the gravel path of the park with Yu Jitae, Bom opened her mouth.
“Yeah.”
“Why do human males like the word ‘oppa’?”
“Who knows. Why.”
“At school, some of the old Korean people and seniors wanted to be called ‘oppa’, by female juniors.”
“…”
“Why would they do that?”
“Who knows. I would assume it’s because it would make them feel respected as seniors.”
“‘Ahjussi’ is also a respectful title for seniors but they don’t like it right?”
“To be honest, I’m not too sure.”
“Then do you like being called ‘oppa’ as well?”
“I don’t really care.”
“Did you care about it in the past?”
“Can’t remember.”
Bom gave a nod.
Once the cloud stopped blocking the sun, her grass-coloured hair reflected the sunlight like a small leaf. Bom was blankly and slowly walking forward without saying anything. Thinking that it was about time to apologise, he opened his mouth.
“Bom.”
But that was when she cut his words off.
“When it’s just the two of us.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I call you oppa?”
He looked at her face.
It was the same expression as always, as if the question she was asking wasn’t that important.
Oppa.
It was an unfamiliar title. Excluding Yeorum who sometimes jokingly called him that, there was probably no-one in the 7th iteration who called him oppa. But whether it be ahjussi, grandpa or oppa, such titles did not necessarily make him feel anything.
“Do whatever you want.”
“Okay, oppa.”
With the same indifferent look on her face, she pondered about something before opening her mouth.
“You called me to apologise, didn’t you.”
“Yeah.”
“Did this happen because of me, by any chance?”
There was no issue with Bom. The issue was in his past and in his emotions.
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s something personal.”
“Please tell me what happened in more detail.”
“I told you. I was just being overly sensitive by myself.”
“More detail please.”
“Why.”
“It was very painful. I want to complain today but it would be laughable if I complained despite everything being because of me, right.”
Bom seemed sincerely worried, not about Yu Jitae but about the complaint that she was about to give now.
He thought about Vintage Clock for a bit and opened his mouth.
“I had a friend.”
“A friend?”
“Some guy I knew for a long time but I don’t really like that guy. Didn’t really want to become friends either, and that guy stayed next to me all the time troubling me and making my life harder.”
“Was it really hard?”
“I guess. I just fought with that guy. That’s all.”
“Do I know that person?”
“Not really.”
Bom gave a nod. Soon, she threw her sandals away and started walking down the gravel path on bare foot.
“What are you doing.”
“Please hold my hand.”
Bom naturally gave him her hand so he grabbed it. Then, the mana of the dragon stealthily tried to pervade in so he blocked the flow of mana.
The two of them started walking down the gravel path.
“You know, there aren’t many things that I found precious in my life,” said Bom.
“Huh?”
“I don’t have a dad. My family wasn’t precious. I hated my mum. I hated my sister… I just hated the entire dragon race.”
“Okay.”
“My mum thought of me as a unique child and I hated that uniqueness as well. Looking back, I think I just hated myself.”
“…”
“But after coming here, I started liking Unit 301. It’s very precious to me now. Gyeoul who’s just like my daughter, Kaeul who always gives me strength, Yeorum although she’s sometimes annoying…”
Walking hand-in-hand down the gravel path, Bom whispered.
“So the fact that Unit 301 had to be left behind was painful.”
“You don’t have to worry. I won’t go anywhere.”
“It’s not you, oppa, that’s leaving.”
“What?”
“I have to be the one leaving…”
That was when Yu Jitae realised something strange. He was about to lower his gaze but Bom turned her body around and slowly grabbed his chin.
“If I’m a hindrance to oppa or Unit 301, I thought it was best for me to disappear. Weird right? It was less than 10 days that oppa had been weird for, but in that short period of time, my head suddenly turned strange by itself. I was almost like a crazy girl.”
Bom chuckled.
“So, if that wasn’t because of me, then you need to sincerely apologise to me, oppa.”
“Bom. What are you doing right now.”
Ignoring her grip, Yu Jitae lowered his head and looked beneath with a frown. Her feet were smeared with something red.
It was blood.
“Why would you do this to yourself.”
Bom was a dragon. Walking down the sharp gravel path barefoot wouldn’t usually cause any wounds on her feet. It meant that she had removed the blessings protecting her body to intentionally create wounds on her feet.
“There is a reason why.”
“What?”
“Back then, it was painful and it was still painful even after oppa became fine. That’s why I tested it just then.”
Turning his head, Yu Jitae looked at the path they had walked through. All the sharp gravel she stepped on was smudged in blood.
Bom let go of his chin and pulled her hand in. Tightly squeezing her chest, she sorrowfully smiled.
“Even now, this part hurts more…”
*
Yu Jitae lifted her up straight into the air. “Aht,” exclaimed the surprised child but he nonetheless took her to the pond inside the park.
It would be fine for her to heal herself but Bom would probably not do so. In the past, she had cut her own lips just because of a slip of a tongue and had left it to heal naturally like a human.
The pond with an ongoing filtration system was crystal clear and clean. He placed Bom on the ground, walked into the water and bent his back.
He then carefully grabbed her feet.
“What is this?”
Bom seemed surprised. She wriggled her toes and tried to pull her feet away but he grabbed onto her ankles.
Those were white and clean feet, with blue veins over her skin but had been smeared with blood and dust. He began washing it off with water.
He didn’t know what meaning there was behind actions like this. He didn’t exactly know how to apologise but his apologetic feelings pushed him into washing her feet clean.
Throughout the wash, Bom endlessly twitched her toes seemingly embarrassed.
“Please wait.”
“…”
“It’s dirty.”
“Stay still.”
“Please stop. It tickles…”
“Just stay still.”
Bom couldn’t let her feet stay still. Washing it with water, wiping the dust and blood… After doing those, he was planning to apply some expensive ointment to heal her wounds but she was constantly twitching her feet so much that he couldn’t wash them properly.
Flip flap.
Flip flap.
The water ended up splashing to his face in the process.
Yu Jitae slapped the back of her foot. “Ouch,” said Bom with a flinch.
“Stay still. Unless you want another slap.”
Only then did she stop moving her feet. And he was finally able to wash her feet with more ease.
“Can I say one thing as an excuse?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I always determine whether I’m normal or not looking at you, but you were acting fine these days.”
“…”
“That’s why I thought I was fine.”
“I’m a good actor, you know.”
“I can see that.”
Her feet without all the dust and blood was still red.
“Heal them.”
“No. This–”
“Just listen to what I say. No nonsense about emotions and whatnot like the time you bit on your lips.”
“…”
“Do it.”
“Okay…”
She still looked dissatisfied, and looked like she was only doing it because she was told to.
Bom obediently used her magic to cure her feet, and wiped off the water with a cleansing spell. Yu Jitae put the sandals over her feet and said.
“Sorry.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go back.”
She didn’t reply. Her feet were already wearing sandals but even after he stood up, Bom remained still while silently looking into his eyes.
“What. Aren’t you going?”
For several seconds, she simply gazed into his eyes.
“If I knew this would happen, I should’ve just rolled over the stairs…” she quietly whispered.
“What do you mean.”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Roll? Why?
Thinking about that, Yu Jitae suddenly realised that his hands had been on her feet for a very long time, touching every part of her feet.
Belatedly understanding what her words meant, he felt a sense of perplexity surging up.
What did she just say?
The preposterous claim incited unnecessary imaginations and those unnecessary thoughts made him all the more perplexed. After that, he turned around to look at Bom and realised that she was mischievously holding her breath in and laughing.
“Nn? What’s wrong?”
She then asked back with the same expression as always.
He shook his head.
“…”
And shook off the bad thoughts that had popped up for a bit.
***
Like that, he finished apologising to the kids but in fact, this did not solve the fundamental problem. His past would still remain as his past, and he was clearly aware there was an off chance that an incident could break out that he hadn’t prepared for.
However, he decided to be more at ease.
To be bound by the past and overly concern himself over the uncertain future, the present was way too important. A simple mindset like that caused a great effect in his life. His worries appeared meaningless and surprisingly, everything became less difficult like before.
Time flew by.
The Second Night arrived but the annihilation of the boss who had the augmented power of the [Nocturnal Cat] with 7 lives was not that difficult.
Although there were several problems both inside and outside the Association, he felt more at ease as he dealt with them. Letting go of the obsessive thought that it had to be perfect allowed him to approach matters in a more flexible manner.
The interdimensional fissure that the spirit beasts had barely opened was starting to shake. He filled up their last moments with memorable times with Kaeul and Chirpy. Kaeul, who had repeatedly become both calm and bright during the confusion of her values, slowly returned to her past self after somewhat preparing herself for the inevitable farewell.
After taking everything in, it felt better. That was what Kaeul said.
Clone 2 gazed at the night sky of basement floor 291 with the witch. Afterwards, the witch listened to the request of Clone 2 despite finding it a shame till the very end that she couldn’t devour him.
The 30-man special force squad of the underground labyrinth had their pollution almost completely cured and were in the process of readying themselves to leave the hospital. They now needed some time to get rid of the Light of Paradise that had permeated into their minds.
They all had a family to return to, and a house.
The only one among them without a place to go was Ha Saetbyul. She was officially an enemy of the Association and all her original connections, whether it be on the human or the demon side were all completely cut off.
– On the day everyone leaves the labyrinth, you take Ha Saetbyul separately and bring her to a troop she can stay in.
Following Yu Jitae’s command, Clone 2 went to the underground labyrinth and met Ha Saetbyul.
Her polluted mind was back to normal and the Light of Paradise was also completely gone.
Ha Saetbyul who had gone back to normal looked at Yu Jitae of the 1st iteration, as Clone 2 gazed back at her. The two of them stared at each other for a long time in silence, despite seeing each other for the first time.
During the holidays, Yeorum and Kaeul earned new opportunities. From the overall evaluation formed based on combat power, Yeorum came 1st and Kaeul came 2nd, but these two had records that by far exceeded those of other cadets and there were increasingly more people paying attention to them even from outside of Lair.
From time to time, he went fishing with Gyeoul and looked for some fish to fill the fish tank. Gyeoul caught tons of conches, fish and frogs but there were too many for their fish tank so she had to return half of her catch back to the wild.
Greedy Gyeoul was sad.
Bom kept a fair line and didn’t request much from him. After being shaken once, both Yu Jitae and Bom were more stable and their complicated relationship was not easily shaken on the outside like the calm surface of the water.
However, when it was occasionally just the two of them, and when Yu Jitae became an oppa, she tended to tease him and enjoy herself.
After the holidays,
Around the start of the new spring semester of 3rd grade, Yeorum’s hair reached slightly below her shoulders while her bangs covered her eyes and went down to her nose.
“Ah. This feels like sh*t.”
One day, Yeorum grumbled like that in the morning.
“Nn? What’s wrong, unni?”
“These bangs are so freaking annoying.”
They were long enough to cover or poke her eyes, but were too short to tuck them behind her ears.
“Ah, that’s the beggar zone.”
“Beggar zone?”
“Nn. It’s messy right?”
Kyahaha, Kaeul chuckled.
“But how is it a problem? Just make them longer with polymorph.”
“I can’t. Dick Jitae said I’m not supposed to use magic on my body for the next year.”
“Ehng? Why?”
“Dunno.”
“Why don’t you cut them then?”
“Ahh I hate bangs. I wanna get rid of them. It’s so annoying to have them drenched in sweat and sticking to my skin.”
“Then let’s get rid of the whole thing!”
‘Kuangg!’ Kaeul shut her mouth after getting smacked on her head.
Yeorum’s irritation did not disappear until the end of the beggar zone and she was constantly mad at her bangs regardless of the time. One day, Bom tied her bangs with the top part of her hair and lifted it up into an apple hair.
This time, Kaeul teased her and called her ‘cute’ so she got smacked again a few times, and Yeorum lowered her bangs again.
And at last it happened.
While washing her face, Yeorum tried to tuck her bangs behind her ears but they couldn’t stay there and constantly fell off.
Constantly, she tucked them behind her ears,
And constantly they fell.
Inside the bathroom, Yeorum squealed out loud.
“Ah for f*ck’s sake! This stupid hobo hair!”
Stupid hobo hair?
It was quite an addictive way to say it. Kaeul cut her bangs like Yeorum’s and teased her, saying, “Me tooo. Me tooo. Stupid hobo haiirr~.” After being caught by her, she almost became bald.
The returned daily life was all over the place and just like that, it rapidly flew by.