Episode 89: Partner (2)
Time flew by and soon came the weekend. It was the day for both training and playing.
After getting the news from Yu Jitae, Yeorum told her teammates that she will be going off for a week. There was only a month of the ranking competition left so it might not seem like the best time to rest, but they had been trying way too hard over the past 3 months and the rest of Team Mochi readily accepted her offer.
They were mentally feeling very cornered and thus needed some time to rest.
Yu Jitae was waiting for Yeorum on a car at the venue they agreed on,
“…”
Gyeoul sat on the passenger’s seat with her arms crossed. The blue-haired child was extremely dissatisfied with this situation.
“…Why, going together?”
“Who, Yeorum?”
“…Yes.”
“I was actually going to go there with just Yeorum.”
“…?”
His words made her even more displeased.
Yu Jitae’s eyes were fixed on his watch. Gyeoul made a very displeased look on her face but since he wasn’t looking her way, she eased her expression.
However, she still couldn’t help but mumble.
“…Why, …”
She hesitated. She pondered whether saying something like this would make her look too much like a child but before long, she continued mumbling a complaint with a pout.
“…Why did you, not invite me… even though, you were going to play…”
“Play?”
“…”
“Ahh, Gyeoul. You must be misunderstanding something.”
“…?”
“I wasn’t going to take Yeorum there to play. She would be training there.”
“…Training?”
At a tourist attraction?
“…What about me?”
“You’ll be playing with me.”
Only then did her pouting lips slowly go back to normal. If it was that, she could understand.
It was then. Someone pulled the door of the passenger’s seat wide open – it was Yeorum, whose shoulder-length hair had grown even longer in the time Gyeoul hadn’t seen her.
“Helloo!”
“Come in.”
“Iya, it’s really been a long time. Hoh? Little Blue is also here.”
Although she was seeing her after a very long time, Gyeoul didn’t really miss her so she simply waved her hand a little without even saying a word. However, Yeorum suddenly lifted her up into the air, sat on the passenger’s seat herself before placing Gyeoul on her lap.
“…!?”
Gyeoul was about to have a seizure from the fact that she had to sit on Yeorum’s lap, before hesitantly holding herself back.
It was because her hands that were on her waist were full of scars. Added on top of that was her expression – Yeorum whose default expression was usually that of displeasure had a faint smile hanging on her lips.
That was even more disgusting to look at, but Gyeoul couldn’t bring herself to spit on someone’s smiling face.
“But damn, you got even heavier than last time.”
“…Nn?”
“Stop freaking eating and playing all day and look after your weight. Do you want to become a pig again?”
“…None of your business.”
“Your double chin was hilarious though.”
“…Go, away.”
The two of them fought.
Meanwhile, the car was headed to the warp station. Going through the station, it headed straight to SouthEast Asia and there, it entered a fissure into the dimension of the Tranquil Sea.
By the time they reopened their eyes, a mysterious sight welcomed them.
*
It was a cylindrical world.
The horizon appeared extremely nearby. Looking into the distance, it appeared as if there was a transparent barrier of some sort surrounding the horizon.
Just like the name of the dimension, the waters were tranquil. There was not a single breeze and although there were clouds on the bright ashen skies, they did not move. The sea was more than big enough to be called a ‘sea’ and yet there was not a single wave in sight.
Gyeoul found this world to be like a world frozen in time.
Far off into the distance of the Tranquil Sea, around 2 miles down the coastline from the fissure was a small reef, where they decided to stay. The moment he arrived there, he used the field kit to make a tent and lit up an inextinguishable campfire using an artifact.
Yeorum gazed across the world filled with water and gasped.
“Wow. What a suuuuuu…”
All the way from where she was standing to the horizon, she realised that it was all filled with water-attributed mana which she detested the most.
“…uuuuuper fucked up place.”
Meanwhile, Gyeoul had taken her shoes off, and her two feet were inside the water already. Splash splash – the surface of the water that appeared frozen in time created a ripple from her kicks.
“You will start training with me now.”
“Yeah. I’m ready.”
Rummaging through the equipment, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“The water in this Tranquil Sea has one unique characteristic.”
“What is it?”
“It’s that the mana molecules of the water are formed in complex shapes of hooks.”
“Hooks?”
“Yeah. Because of that, they don’t allow other attributes of mana to seep in. It takes at least 3 hours to boil the water here because they devour heat.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re right. Seems like it…”
Yeorum replied with an uncomfortable tone while looking at the water.
“It looks very dense. Is that based on the same principle?”
“Yes. The complex hook-shaped mana molecules entangle themselves with each other in complicated ways. They even affect the material world – the surface tension will be stronger and it might feel like a quagmire.”
Although she should be feeling considerably uncomfortable just by being here, Yeorum gave a confident nod.
“That’s a good look you have. Are you confident?”
“Confident? Not sure about that, but it’s not like I can give up before I even start just because I’m not confident right.”
Yu Jitae said while reflecting on Yeorum’s concerns.
“You felt a lack of mana, was it?”
“Yeah.”
Yeorum drew all the fights she had in the last three months in her head. After fighting endlessly at the front lines, she would sometimes feel her heart drying up.
“Whenever it’s almost empty, the polymorph tries to uncast itself. Well, I guess it’s natural for my mana to be constantly near the bottom when I run around for hours by myself,” she said with a bitter voice.
Out of 100 dragons, Yeorum’s talent would probably be around 98th. Her talent in the standards of dragons was just that miserable.
It was proven by the fact that she broke out of her shell 100 years after the talented one of her generation.
“Yeorum. Listen very closely.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll tell you one very important fact.”
His voice turned very serious.
“Mana gets drawn in the more you wish.”
“Nn. I know.”
Mana was the power to manifest one’s will in the physical world of time and place.
“If you want to have more mana in your heart, what do you think is the most necessary.”
“Dunno? Do you have to build up more will over a long period of time?”
“No. It can be short, but you must harbour a stronger will.”
“A stronger will…”
“Time is nothing but more opportunity. A younger one simply has more opportunities to harbour stronger wills.”
In order to break through the limits, beings had to drive themselves into extreme situations.
“Whether it be 10 years or 100 years, the change will be meagre even if you try to gather mana with a moderate will. But if you wish for it to the point of death for just one week, an unimaginable amount of mana will start to reside in your dragon heart.”
It was advice based on his experience.
This water will make her feel like suffocating to death the whole time, and she had to utilise the mana inside her heart and protect her body as much as possible to survive.
After he finished pitching the tent, Yu Jitae raised his body.
“To be honest, I am quite concerned with this method.”
“It’s not like you to have concerns, ey? I’m fine. I’m full of motivation right now you know?”
He didn’t bother explaining himself.
Yu Jitae’s concern meant that it was something even he had to worry about. This training method was just that dangerous and painful. He knew it better than anyone else because he had tried it out himself.
But Yeorum had to do this now.
The 20 years that she had for her Amusement wasn’t a long period of time. It might not even be that different from the past 2 years. As he had mentioned before, a ‘moderate will’ would not change anything no matter how much time was given.
Just once – she just had to be desperate to the point of death once, but people did not easily change because that one moment would just never come to most of them.
“Although this dimension is small, the waters are very deep. It’s even deeper than most of the oceans on Earth. I have put 3 flags of the same shape underneath. They are each 200 metres deep, 500 metres deep with the last being even deeper. What you have to do now is bring the 3 flags back up.”
“Okey! Do I start now?”
“You won’t be able to bring all 3 of them at once. Start with the 200 metre one.”
“Okkayy!”
Yeorum was still very bright, even though it should be suffocating enough to be standing here.
However, her confidence probably won’t last long.
“Prepare yourself mentally.”
“I’ve done enough on the way here.”
“Do it more. Arm yourself mentally before you go in.”
“Aigo for fak’s sake, what’s gotten into you? I’ll be fine okay? Don’t you trust me?”
Looking at his face, Yeorum beat her chest.
“I’ll say it one last time. Endure it no matter how painful it is. Do not come back until you find the flag.”
“Ah, stop lecturing, seriously. One more and it will be 30 times you’re saying that already.”
“Etch it into your brain. After you start the training, I might be a bit harsh. You might not understand.”
This wasn’t something he could compromise on. That was the level of weight implied behind his words so Yeorum shouted with a slightly dumbfounded look on her face.
“I won’t! I won’t ever! When I drown in water and float dead, you can carry my corpse back home! Happy now?”
She had to do it now.
If she couldn’t finish it here, she would never be able to.
Yu Jitae returned a firm nod.
*
“You know, Mister.”
Before going into the water, Yeorum tied her hair up and said with a voice that was a lot calmer.
“I never asked you or anything right? About the next training.”
“Yeah.”
“I wanted to ask you everyday but I held it in. I thought there must be a reason why. But wow, you really didn’t teach me anything big in a whole year. Fuck, do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this to come?”
“…”
“So what if it’s a bit hard. I’ve been enduring it till now right? I can handle exhaustion and pain but I just can’t handle being weak.”
Yeorum lowered the zipper of her jersey in one go. Underneath her training jersey was a body full of scars. It was evident what kind of lifestyle she had gone through over the past 3 months and the reason she didn’t bother removing the scars was probably because she found them to be a source of pride.
She took the jersey off and gave it to him.
“Ah, there are cigs inside the pocket. Don’t let them touch this disgusting water.”
“Got it.”
“Three in total. 200 metres, 500 metres and one below that, yeah? And just the 200 metre one at the start?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. When I bring the 200 metre flag…”
She placed her index and middle finger on her lips – she was suggesting that they smoke together.
“Okey?”
“Alright.”
“I’ll be back.”
Splash– Yeorum threw her body into the water.
The ripple soon weakened and before long, the water turned still as the bubbling also came to a stop. He gazed into the water that was closer to black than blue.
There was one last thing he hadn’t mentioned to Yeorum.
Mana was the manifestation of will. Hook-shaped attributes of mana only occurred when there was a will trying to forcibly hold something back. In other words, this large and deep pond was a type of trap. And every trap was laid by a ‘hunter’.
There was a hunter resting in the depths of the ocean.
*
After courageously jumping into the water, Yeorum only travelled a little bit before widening her eyes and stopping on the spot.
The ocean water started to squeeze her throat. It entangled itself all around her body. While she had to endure the immense vomit-inducing level of friction, the mana of fire attribute that made up Yeorum’s body started being pulled away by the water.
‘I didn’t hear about this though…?’
He just said it was like a quagmire but that was wrong. The ocean was like a living organism.
It was just 200 metres so she had underestimated it too much. If she knew it would be this hard, she would have used her breathing principle to awaken her heart before coming in.
Yeorum looked up at the surface. She was still less than 10 metres underwater and it seemed like a better idea for her to go up and awaken the mana inside her heart with Karl-Gullakwa breathing principle, before coming back in. Thinking that, Yeorum swam up to the surface of the water.
Tukk–!
But that was when a large and coarse hand stopped her head.
‘What are you doing? I’m just going to leave for a bit!’
It was definitely Yu Jitae’s hand. Yeorum grabbed onto his wrist and tried to pull it away but his hand remained firm above her head. When she continued wriggling underneath, his hand forcibly shoved her underwater with its ridiculous might.
The force made her dizzy. After being shoved underwater by around 10 metres, she widened her eyes.
From outside the water, Yu Jitae was gazing down at her.
“…!”
Yeorum began to feel that something had started going wrong.