Episode 89: Partner (8)
Gyeoul had trouble falling back asleep – she could still vividly see Yeorum flailing her body on the sand when closing her eyes.
She couldn’t hear anything that was happening outside the tent as it seemed that Yu Jitae had isolated the dimension. With her eyes closed, she couldn’t fall asleep and it was even harder with her eyes open… so Gyeoul stayed by herself just like that, not knowing what to do.
That was when someone opened the door of the tent and walked in.
It was Yu Jitae.
“…!”
Getting up from the bed, Gyeoul welcomed him in. She threw her arms wide open and he naturally lifted her up into his arms.
“Why aren’t you sleeping yet.”
“…It’s nothing. What about unni?”
“She went home. Let’s go to sleep now. That way we can play more tomorrow.”
“…”
Yu Jitae lied down on the blanket and she did the same. She couldn’t do so when Yeorum was with them but now that it was just the two of them, Gyeoul grabbed his arm and pulled it. Seeing her struggle with replacing his arm, he raised it and placed it beneath her head for her to use as a pillow.
Only then did she feel some comfort.
But… suddenly.
She had a strange line of thought.
“…?”
She didn’t know why it suddenly struck her but Gyeoul abruptly thought that this man might not be Yu Jitae.
That didn’t make her anxious or anything. Gyeoul remembered seeing two Yu Jitaes when she was young – there was Yu Jitae she saw everyday and Yu Jitae whom she couldn’t see everyday but the one that wasn’t with her everyday was still as handsome as the real one and was similarly nice to her. So back then, she thought they might be twins and that the other one might be the younger brother.
Yeorum wasn’t outside the tent anymore. She must have gone home or gone back inside the water, but either way Yu Jitae had probably gone with her.
Then was the younger one here?
Gyeoul asked.
“…Who are you?”
He gazed down at Gyeoul, and replied.
“What do you mean, who are you.”
“…You are not, our ahjussi.”
“I am.”
“…I don’t, think you are.”
“Why. All of a sudden.”
“…A hunch.”
“I am Yu Jitae.”
Since the command from his lord was to ‘play with Gyeoul as Yu Jitae’, the clone lied.
Meanwhile, the clone who was made based on the 6th iteration’s Yu Jitae felt uncomfortable at heart whenever he faced this young child. It was because she made him remember the blue-haired child who was found dead in the underground labyrinth in the 6th iteration.
“…Liar.”
“…”
“…But we’ve, seen each other, before right?”
“We see each other everyday.”
Gyeoul frowned.
He was the same – he was exactly the same as Yu Jitae but his words felt strangely short and that was odd because Yu Jitae was more of a chatterbox now.
How was she supposed to find the proof though…?
After pondering by herself for a little, she decided to use the power of dragons that allowed them to directly confirm the memories and emotions of other beings.
So after some contemplation, she said to him,
“…Hand.”
“What?”
“…Let me, hold your hand.”
Saying that, she immediately lifted her hand and tried to grab his but he stealthily pulled it away.
“…Why did you avoid?”
“Why are you trying to hold it.”
“…Just, give it to me.”
Gyeoul stared directly at him with wide open eyes but he did not let her grab his hand, so Gyeoul felt all the more certain about her assumption.
One of his arms was still underneath her head. Immediatley turning her body, Gyeoul pressed onto his arm with her head and reached for the other hand.
***
Their hands clasped.
Yu Jitae’s will was conveyed to Yeorum’s mind.
‘I’ll talk to you like this from now on. Just move your head.’
Yeorum gave a nod. That was the only thing she could do since she could only receive others’ will.
Yu Jitae checked her artifact.
[Depth: 224.53 m]
They were slightly lower than the 200-metre mark where the first flag was at. The two of them had to focus a bit more now because things that actively interrupt with their dive would soon show themselves.
As they went deeper by 10 more metres, the water began to turn into a tornado.
Kurururuk…! Kwarururuk…!
The tornado had a centre, and after turning into a force it gathered in one place. It was the same thing that broke her two legs when she was on the way up.
Yu Jitae called this a [trap].
The gathered water became sharp and thin like spears. There were six of them, out of which three aimed for Yu Jitae while the rest went for Yeorum.
He had to concentrate.
Although he came in to help Yeorum with the training, this had now become a training for himself as well. He wasn’t hiding any powers either and his current self was powerless and weak – he would also be gravely injured if he were to not focus.
Shieeeek—
Right when it came flying in, Yu Jitae twisted his body and avoided the first spear of water. The second one came flying straight towards his face – he lowered his head and avoided the spear as it swept past the back of his neck. Following that, he used the inertia from lowering his head and turned his body and dodged the third one that was aiming for his lower body.
The spears flew off into the distance in the blink of an eye and dissipated after losing its force.
After that, he looked back at Yeorum. Fortunately, she seemed to have dodged all of them as well but was standing a lot further away than where she was. It meant it was an excessive dodge.
He approached her and grabbed her by the arm to relay his will.
‘You did good. It was good but not wise.’
Tilt?
‘With our current pool of mana, we can perfectly dodge all the attacks until we are 500 metres deep right? It would be easier to dodge if we were to move our body more.’
Nod.
‘But if we do that, we will run out of mana when we are 700 metres, 1,000 or 1,500 metres deep.’
…Nod.
‘You have to dodge with minimal movements. And you have to get hit by some if you have to.’
Yeorum nodded with a stiff look on her face. She did think about doing it like that but… she hadn’t managed to make herself do so.
Yu Jitae however, followed through with his words.
When 4 spears flew towards him at the 250 metre mark, he did not completely dodge one of them that had an exquisite trajectory and gave away a portion of his arm. His arm got ripped as blood oozed out and floated underwater.
When they were 300 metres deep, 6 spears flew towards their heads. Yeorum thought they looked way too dangerous and jumped away from it but Yu Jitae calculated his remaining mana and stamina, and let one of them graze past him.
One of his ears got ripped apart as if butchered by dozens of blades.
As blood flowed out from his ears, Yeorum hurried next to him in surprise but he shook his hand and gestured that he was fine. There was an element of the red race’s manipulation of mana that helped with stopping a bleeding wound. It seemed that he had deemed using that to be more efficient than losing mana from dodging it.
Yeorum silently watched him and thought to herself.
Is that how far you had to go?
That’s dreadful…
But at least it wasn’t impossible.
When they were 400 metres deep, Yeorum also received two of the eight spears that couldn’t be dodged with ease. One of them landed on her finger while the other was on her stomach which was being protected by [Tenacity]. It felt as if she was run over by a car – her finger broke and the skin around her stomach was scratched open.
Uhh, fuck…
The pain made her breaths unstable and forced bubbles to leave her mouth, but she was able to save mana thanks to that.
Yu Jitae rested his hand on her arm.
The water was cold, so when his hand touched her body, she realised again the warmth of a human body.
‘Are you alright?’
Nod.
‘Okay. Let’s continue.’
But as Yu Jitae started moving his body, she saw the trail of blood being drawn in the middle of the ocean away from his body and frowned. The warmth she felt was because of the blood that flowed out of the crack on his palm, and surprisingly, she discovered among the transferred emotions a great pain.
Is he in that much pain? He’s not showing any of it though?
Pretending to be strong or something…
They weren’t even a quarter of the way there. Although she felt her heart be congested from fear whenever she thought of what was beneath, she nonetheless followed him from behind.
.
.
.
[Depth: 491.2 m]
The scenery changed as darkness gradually neared in. The ‘walls’ that drew closer were now approximately 5 metres away from her, forming a circle following the limit of her vision. It forced Yu Jitae and Yeorum with psychological pressure making them feel like they were locked in a small room.
On top of that, their hearing was also affected. Static noise of the world that had sometimes made it through now felt distant. As if someone had intentionally lowered the volume of the world, the surroundings turned quiet.
Yeorum clicked her fingers.
……Click……
It sounded as if it was done a mile away. The feeling of having entered a bizarre dimension gave her goosebumps and Yeorum felt fear although it was her third time coming here already.
What was fortunate however was that she was able to save a lot of mana thanks to following Yu Jitae’s method.
Another thing that was fortunate was that even though Yeorum was so frustrated and pained to the point that she felt like going crazy, she would see Yu Jitae enduring it without a problem. And strangely enough, seeing him gave her the power to endure through it.
Lastly, she didn’t feel like she was the only person left behind in this world yet, because he was right next to her.
At last, their feet landed 500 metres deep.
There was a large piece of bulky land in the ocean. It was bumpy, messy, extremely enormous and had a concave shape like a lens. This place was where the second ‘transparent flag’ was on.
The first time she saw this, Yeorum had in fact almost fainted.
This thing that appeared like a piece of land was actually the carapace of a large turtle.
Crazy, Yeorum thought to herself.
It’s ridiculous no matter how many times I see it…
How is it so big…?
With a body length reaching approximately 150 metres, it was even larger than an adult dragon that tended to be 50 metres tall. Even though strength wasn’t always proportional to the size, it was highly likely that this thing would be stronger than an average adult dragon.
That was when Yu Jitae grabbed her by the arm.
‘This guy is the owner of this ocean. It lived for about 8,000 years and is currently asleep. The place you called the [field] is where this guy sometimes leans on and rests when it’s awake.’
Yeorum nodded. She had gotten goosebumps the moment she realised how the bumps of the field were probably made due to being pressed by this turtle’s stomach.
‘It is the Sovereign of this dimension. It’s registered as the [Owner of the Tranquil House] but doesn’t have an actual name.’
Yeorum gave another nod.
A Sovereign… it meant the ruler of a dimension, just like the [Dragon Lord].
‘It’s not dangerous right now but if you cancel your polymorph here, it’s the same as exploding a firecracker next to its face in its sleep. If Gyeoul did that to you while you’re sleeping, you would wake up. Would you be in a good mood though?’
Shake shake.
‘So let’s quietly go past. Okay.’
Nod.
Together, they dived deeper next to the carapace as he conveyed his will with a stricter and a more cautious tone than usual.
‘Now I will explain what lies beneath.’
Nod.
‘The turtle creates nerve acceleration substances from its body to match its large body to the speed of the real world.’
Nod.
‘But because it has a lot of wounds, a portion of them constantly flows out and they circulate beneath.’
Nod.
‘When you were down there, you probably felt time becoming slower. Right?’
…Nod.
Yeorum suddenly opened her mouth wide open, but realised that she couldn’t speak and closed it again.
Until here, it was hard yet bearable even when she was alone but the true hell was beneath – it was so severe that even Yeorum couldn’t endure it.
‘You have to mentally prepare yourself now.’
Nod.
‘The waters between 200 to 500 metres attack organisms and make them unable to go outside. Why? It’s to constantly make them come down.’
Nod.
‘And when they come down, they will inevitably end up here and will then go even further down. Normal living beings will lose their mind when they are down there. Due to the acceleration of their nerves, they forget the flow of time and receive damage to their minds.’
Nod nod.
‘Since the water constantly urges them downward, the fish will continue going down. What do you think will be at the end of it all then? Won’t there be all sorts of underwater organisms and fish mindlessly gathered in one place, despite being still alive? Do you know what that’s called Yeorum?’
…Shake.
‘It’s a net’
She nodded with a gulp.
A net…
Since Yeorum had experienced the hell he was talking about albeit for a short period of time, she knew exactly what he meant as well as why he would call it a net.
Fear once again arose from the depths of her heart and made her want to escape.
[Depth: 515.17 m]
Up to here it was alright.
Although difficult, it was bearable.
She was used to bleeding from injuries, and she could handle being unable to see anything and being strangled.
However, deeper than this was a different story.
That was when Yu Jitae sent her another message.
‘One last time.’
‘I know it’s hard, but let’s go down together just one last…’
It was then.
A sudden surge of fear made Yeorum shake his hand off. Although she felt fear from it, Yu Jitae wasn’t scared in the slightest and that discrepancy threw her off.
Yeorum was scared.
The fear that settled itself deep inside her heart and her memories that could vividly redraw everything about the situation came back and discouraged her.
However, Yu Jitae once again wrapped his hand around her wrist.
His will was relayed to her once again.
‘There is definitely a flag underneath.’
‘This time, it’s not black or transparent.’
Despite the situation she was in, Yeorum gazed up at Yu Jitae and asked with her eyes what colour the flag was.
‘It’s red. And it’s very big. Like a normal flag.’
‘So don’t be scared.’
‘We can pull it off.’
……Nod.
After that, Yu Jitae was about to let go of her but Yeorum hurriedly grabbed his hand and stared at him with anxious eyes. Her hand tightly held onto his hand.
Do not let go…
That seemed to be what her anxious expression and gaze were trying to express.
He nodded. That gave Yeorum the courage to dive deeper in.
The two of them continued.
[Depth: 545.17 m]
***
Somewhere in the depths.
Something large began to crack open. When the thing that resembled a piece of rock opened vertically by about 1.2 metres, the thing inside it moved ever so slightly and moved yet again.
It was the large turtle opening its eyes, gazing around.
The Sovereign, [Owner of the Tranquil House] thought to itself.
Wasn’t there something here just then?
It didn’t really mind when there was only one inside, but now that there were two of the same type it annoyed the turtle quite a bit like how flies were annoying to humans.
But since the turtle couldn’t see anything after actually opening its eyes, it decided to go back to sleep. However, before doing so, it demanded for the cleansing of the ocean. The will of the large turtle rode the current and travelled beneath to the depths.
Creak…
And at the very bottom of the pit.
‘Cleaners’ raised their heads.