“When I was young,”
Bom started off with a calm voice as her vacant eyes rested on the teacup. The flower petal floating on the clear tea moved left and right from the ripple created by her breath.
A ray of sunlight was shining through the heaven-reaching trees, lighting up half of her face as her eyes glimmered with the colour of nature.
“I liked my dad a lot.”
The old lady, Li Hwa replied.
“First time hearing a story about your parents. Your dad must have been an amazing person I assume.”
“Yes. Dad was a really cool dragon. He was the most acknowledged out of the entire race and was a very romantic person. Although I can’t remember it that clearly now…”
Li Hwa lowered her cup. She wasn’t confused by the word ‘dragon’ since Bom had already told her about it.
The old lady leaned her ear to the story of the young dragon.
“My mum was a very greedy person. ‘There is a Grand Schema, and you are the ones that will achieve it,’ is what she always told me and my younger sister. She trained us everyday ever since we were born.”
“I thought they generally don’t teach anything to young dragons. How great of a plan was it for her to do that?”
“I can’t remember the details. My mother turned my memories hazy after something bad happened.”
“Something bad?”
“…It was probably the death of my sister.”
Bom drank her tea and wetted her lips.
“I think my mother was too greedy back then. Our race had a lot of things broken down and everyone was exhausted. For example I lived a very hard life due to being forced to learn magic and my sister was less talented than me, so hers was even harder…
“My dad always tried to stop her. Sometimes he got mad or tried to persuade her and pleaded with her to stop. However, my mum was stubborn and refused to do so. One day, they had a big fight.
“Dad cursed mum and insulted her. I can’t remember the details, but I think he also hit her quite severely. My mum was greatly hurt and bled.
“Back then, I was surprised dad would do such a thing but I also found my mum strange.”
“And why is that?” Li Hwa asked.
“Why is it that she would ignore the condemnation of her companion, whom she had spent thousands of years with, to stick to her goal? How important was this plan for her that she would stubbornly hold onto it? That was what I thought back then…”
“It seems your mother did not stop until the very end.”
“Yes.”
Her mum did not stop.
“…Even when dad met a different female dragon and left us.”
Even though a green dragon spends their entire life with only one companion.
“My mum cried when she was left alone.”
Back then, her mum was like a king to Bom – a giant who would stand firmly in front of a big battle without wobbling even in the face of bloody hardships. Her crying, and the overflowing emotions of sorrow were a great shock to Bom.
Those were the things that happened to the young Bom straight after a big fortune.
“I see.”
Lowering her cup, Bom wrapped her arms around her knees. Clouds moved beneath the sun and dimmed the light that had been brightening up the forest.
Bom’s household began to crumble after that.
Due to the increasingly difficult education of the maddened mother dragon, Bom and her sister were locked up. She could remember through her hazy memories how those times had been very difficult to endure.
“Did you resent your dad?” Li Hwa asked.
Bom replied with a gloomy voice.
“No. I resented my mum instead.”
“Why is that?”
“Dad left because my mum was the problem.”
“But didn’t you say your mother loved you guys?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should have at least consoled her and loved her back. Your dad even hit her, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Is that not considered wrong for dragons?”
“No. It is a wrong thing. I know that in my head but…”
Bom looked at her two feet. Her white bare feet were the exact copy of human flesh and she still found them slightly awkward at times. Being distracted by other things like this was because the memories of the time weren’t fully intact.
“Even then, I still found my mum more resentful, and not my dad.”
After ruminating through the hazy fog of memories, Bom managed to remember what she had been thinking back then as a child.
“Mum did not actively try to stop dad.
“She was discarded for having no more charm but she did not try.
“Even when dad was meeting another female, she did nothing but watch.
“… I know this is not the right way to see things but,
“I still think it’s all mum’s fault.”
She continued.
“If she didn’t want him, then she shouldn’t have cried in the first place but she did, meaning she wanted dad.
“But she did nothing but cry on her knees when dad left. Foolish and crude.
“Isn’t she like a loser? I hated her sobbing sound. Probably because she cried for years without an end.”
Bom serenely confessed her emotions of the time.
“If she was that sad, she should have thrown away the likes of Grand Schema and begged on her knees. She should have cried and begged him to not leave. Tell him, ‘I can’t live without you,’ desperately in front of his face, not to us young kids who knew nothing.
“If not, then she shouldn’t have cried in the first place. We are green dragons so mum should have known it all beforehand. It all crumbled because mum began crying like that. The Grand Schema she chose also wobbled, and we who were at the centre of that plan also became miserable.”
Silently, Li Hwa observed Bom’s face.
Bom had a soft personality and rarely had a strong opinion. Like water in alcohol; alcohol in water, she was the type to let herself flow in the current.
This was the first time Bom was showing such a strong opinion.
“I see. So what happened after that?”
“So… I hugged my sister who was even younger than me, and I think this was what I told her.”
– My dear sister. When we get older,
***
[2317. Let’s not become like mum.]
[Ahjussi Observation Diary ♥♥♥]
***
“Has the experiment day come already.”
Myu was lying down on a large black dog.
She seemed quite comfortable in the new expanded isolation chamber. Myu read to her heart’s content, exercised in a corner and raised a large dog like a queen.
Besides, she also had Grade 0 agents waiting and serving her like servants. “I am thirsty,” she would say and one of the agents would politely give her a cup of fresh water.
“You guys step outside.”
The Grade 0 agents left the room. Her commands were extremely natural as expected of an adult black dragon.
He looked around the messy isolation room before opening his mouth.
“Seems this new room isn’t that bad to live in.”
“What kind of summer faeces of an ogre is this about… Is that something to say to a person locked away from freedom?”
She glanced at him with a disgusted gaze making him have a sudden urge to pull those eyeballs out. However, it was him who had locked the black dragon of freedom and liberty so he understood where she was coming from at least.
“Alright. Get up. We’re heading to the lab.”
As Myu stood up from the ground, the large dog spirit beast also raised its body and started wagging its tail and whimpering at its owner.
“Shhh. Stay still.”
Myu pushed the dog away with her hands but the dog wagged its tail again without giving up. This time, Myu pushed its face away with her foot.
“I told you to stay still. Season, you fool.”
What… The Regressor turned around but Myu was still staring at the dog.
The large dog spirit beast clinged onto her and whimpered while acting cute. Wearing a frown, Myu raised her foot and stepped on the dog’s foot that was as large as a frying pan. The big dog jumped up in fright and yelped in pain.
“You have ears to hear but lack the intelligence to understand my words. Season. If you run at me one more time, I will crush your two front legs and make a stew out of them.”
Only then did the dog spirit beast steal glances at her and crawl on the ground. Myu turned back saying, “Let’s go,” while Yu Jitae dumbfoundedly asked her.
“What is this about.”
“What do you mean? Ahh, are you talking about ‘Season’?”
“…”
“Season is the name of that dog. He’s stupid and dense. An animal that can’t understand anything I say.”
“…”
“I wanted that instead of a puppet, but he’s so disobedient that I gave him a name. I at least expected a lowly son of a bitch to quietly wag his tail but to think he would be that moronic… Don’t get me wrong. I’m talking about Season, not you.”
He was lost for words and did not feel like discussing it any further.
In any case,
Today was the third day of the experiment.
She found it unpleasant to have her body ripped apart lying down, so this time, he made her sit while leaning back for the experiment.
Myu dropped the gown she was wearing and revealed her naked body. Yu Jitae covered her eyes and took out a box of tools.
The experiments themselves were quite straightforward.
First experiment:
He vivisected the [Origin Fragment] and confirmed the location as well as the operation of the authorities that were hiding behind the cracked shield, [Will of the Ancient One].
Second experiment:
Out of them, he identified the authorities that were essential for sending the baby dragons back: [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection], [Emergency Summon] and [Infant Dragon Protection] and where they were.
And today, the third experiment:
Yu Jitae was planning on having a deeper look at the two functions, [Emergency Summon] and [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] to see what it was that allowed such a long-distance travel, as well as the accurate coordinates of the other world, ‘Askalifa’ located in the distant dimension.
Yu Jitae placed his hand on top of her skin, and confirmed the location of the heart.
“Knife going in.”
“…”
She didn’t reply.
Like a stringless puppet, she stayed still and endured the experiment without saying anything as always.
“Opening the bone.”
Her breaths weren’t equally paced. Whenever there was a ripple in her breath, Yu Jitae stopped his hands and waited a little.
“You’ll feel a prick on your heart.”
‘…’
Dragons could erase their physical senses but could not ignore a direct impact to the dragon heart and the Origin Fragment. Her breath would occasionally pause from pain but it was something unavoidable despite his consideration.
In any case, Myu calmly withstood the pain like the other experiments and thanks to that, he was able to cut open the parts that were hiding the [Emergency Summon] and [Long-distance Dimensional Intersection] with ease.
However, there was a problem.
“…”
The [Will of the Ancient One] was protecting the two organs like a barrier. The overall Will of the Ancient One covering the Origin Fragment was cracked, but the organs that were linked to the hatchlings were still enclosed.
It was like the front entrance of a house being open but with the rooms locked.
Why was it like this?
He wondered and soon came up with a hypothesis.
It was because Myu was an adult dragon. The organs that had been functioning properly when she was a hatchling closed after becoming an adult, while the Will of the Ancient One protecting the entirety of the Origin Fragment cracked some time after that.
“But, this looks breakable…”
He murmured.
Unlike the Will of the Ancient One that protected the entire Origin Fragment, the Will that was covering the two small organs was comparatively smaller and had a significantly lower status.
Yu Jitae tried all sorts of methods to destroy the mini [Will of the Ancient One].
The experiment continued for three to four hours. He used a hammer, a chisel, a knife and poison but the Will of the Ancient One remained tough.
“My Nemesis.”
It was then.
Myu, who had been staying still like a dead person, suddenly opened her mouth. Raising his eyes, Yu Jitae looked at the blindfolded test subject.
“What.”
“It is taking a lot longer than usual. By far.”
“Not your business.”
Yu Jitae cut her words off and moved his hands again.
That went on for another three to four hours. He used an electric saw, fire, explosion and other methods to break it but they all failed.
However, he did succeed in finding the method that would destroy the Will of the Ancient One.
The issue was with the protective system which human brains could not understand.
But Yu Jitae had an authority that could allow humans to understand incomprehensible concepts. It was the authority, [Conceptualisation (SS)] which he had stolen from the black dragon lord ‘Lugiathan’.
If he used this to change an incomprehensible concept into a comprehensible concept, and solve the problem there, it would crack the ‘Will of the Ancient One’.
“My Nemesis.”
“What now.”
“When is this coming to an end?”
He was too focused on the experiment that he neglected her. Myu barely uttered those words while gasping for breath.
“Wait.”
“Make it quick.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Indeed. And a little annoying.”
“Sorry. But there’s still some left.”
That was when Myu’s small arm came over and pushed his face away. Her fumbling fingers found his ear and grabbed it.
“That’s enough, you detestable one.”
“What are you doing. Let go.”
“I will not let go. How could you make it 8 times longer than the two previous experiments? It is painful.”
“Stay still. This will only stall the experiment.”
However, he couldn’t concentrate on the experiment after that due to Myu constantly twisting her body while pushing him away with her hands.
“Stop. Go away now.”
“Calm down.”
“Calm down? Get this blindfold out of my sight. There is a line to everything.”
“Oi.”
“Did I not ask you to not abuse me more than necessary? And you agreed. No matter how I see it, this is over the top. I’m telling you to go away–”
She desperately tried to push him away and the power of an adult dragon was nothing to scoff at. He wanted to give her a slap but that might result in a big injury so he couldn’t even do so.
Yu Jitae tied her two hands and held it in the air while using his other hand to press her thigh down. She retaliated so much that it made him consider tying her up at the start of every experiment from now on.
It would waste his time if her wound was to close right now, so he had no choice but to give her a carrot.
“Look. I got it.”
“What do you get.”
“I will make the next outing longer than usual.”
“…”
“So hold on a bit more. It’s almost done.”
“Four days.”
“What?”
“Give me 96 hours. Don’t tell me you think four days is too much? Aren’t you making me suffer 10 times more than usual right now?”
“…Tch. Alright.”
Only then did Myu turn still.
Her body sometimes shivered but those were just instinctive wriggles – the body was simply wriggling from the pain on reflex like a knee jerk.
After 10 hours of experiment, Yu Jitae came to a conclusion.
This is impossible to break without [Conceptualisation (SS)].
In other words, it was breakable with Conceptualisation… but it would probably take quite a long time.
*
After recovering from the experiment, Myu requested for a 4-day vacation to Yu Jitae. Unlike the kids who were leading a stable daily life right now, Myu required a closer supervision and was not someone he could leave to the clone.
Therefore, Yu Jitae sent Clone 1 to the dormitory, while he himself would be observing Myu’s holiday.
Damn it. Spending 4 days together with a disgusting black dragon…
He could imagine the dreadful future waiting ahead of him.