Pulling it by the hair, he dragged it towards him.
He threw it into the corner of the room as the red entity shouted out a question.
– Answer me. What are you trying to do to me!
He wasn’t the type to have a chat and he usually would have ignored those words. But perhaps because of the perfect solution he gained at the 27th experiment, he opened his mouth before the 28th experiment. From now, I will do this to you, and carry out an experiment like this. That strange process was like telling his own self that this is what he will do from now. The red entity looking at him must have felt fear.
– You dare say you will hit a red dragon?
That wasn’t particularly the case if he were to delve deeper into it, but he did not feel the need to go on with a mouthful explanation.
His reply was thus short.
“Yes.”
Hearing that, Yeorum looked slightly hurt and pursed her lips. She looked up into his eyes but soon let out a smile and nodded while tapping his arm a few times.
“Okie. Then let’s start straight away without wasting any more time.”
“Alright.”
“What do I do? You wanna tie me up first?”
Saying that, she held out both of her hands. Her wrists were right next to each other as if she was handcuffed.
“Ahh, I was curious how it would feel to get tied up for a while now.”
There was no tension in the air. She giggled and lightheartedly opened her mouth.
He quietly looked at her wrists before shaking his head. Mindlessly hitting her wouldn’t solve the problem. The rectifying process was also strictly a part of the education and it required a systematic approach.
Firstly, he called for a helper. He needed someone who will receive the aggressiveness and the violence to record it all down. There were several more things he needed to prepare even aside from that.
Even though she pretended to be in a light mood, she couldn’t hide the slight look of nervousness that was on her face.
“…Is it that hardcore?”
Therefore, he had to reassure her.
It’s okay.
***
Clone 2 participated as the helper. With a rigid look on his face, he saluted Yu Jitae before walking to Yeorum and lowering his head.
“Who are you?”
“Nice to meet you madam. I have been assigned to the helping role of this rectifying education.”
“You’re the helper?”
Yeorum walked closer and observed his face with a small grin.
“Looking quite cute aren’t you? Look at these chubby cheeks.”
“Thanks for your compliment.”
“Come here.”
Clone 2 walked even closer as Yeorum began fidgeting with his cheeks.
“Hmm. How interesting. You look oddly familiar… have I seen you before…?”
The clone remained silent.
The necessary equipment he prepared entailed a stick and a whip that had an ample amount of the red race’s mana embedded inside, as well as a rope made by intertwining the artifact, [Chains of Hell]. They’ll be used to block her actions from going out of control, and will help regulate her.
After preparing everything,
Yu Jitae took Yeorum and headed back to the individual training room. There, he diffused his mana to the surroundings to ensure what happens here wouldn’t affect the dimension.
“I’ll try to endure it.”
She stayed still after saying those words.
Like what she had said several times, she was trusting him. Without even voicing it out into words, she was proving that trust with her entire body.
He decided to set aside his feelings that were going into disorder.
The rectifying process that he now had to do was an extremely delicate task, but he was a veteran at such operations.
Walking up to Yeorum, he wrapped the string made of [Chains of Hell] around her neck. He added mana into it to make sure it wouldn’t snap, removed the sharpness so that it wouldn’t hurt Yeorum and made it tight so that it would never come off.
Yeorum touched it with her hands as if she was feeling stuffy.
“Come here.”
He handed the rope to Clone. Like an owner of a dog, Yu Jitae gave the command.
“Walk.”
*
The clone started to walk. Pulled by the leash, Yeorum followed after him. She looked uncomfortable because the rope was formed by weaving 70 of the strings together.
Without saying anything, the two went three laps around the training room. Her expression gradually crumpled more and more and her obediently treading feet slowly turned unstable.
Compared to how she had suffered when there were 5 strands around her heart, there were 65 more strands and even though it was around her neck this time, she was still somehow managing it.
That was how hard she had tried. Yeorum had progressed a remarkable amount in a short period of time.
If this training was something that had to be done one day, he wanted to have it done for her as early as possible. It was unclear how long the Amusement would last, but it was similar to how it was better not to delay homework until the end.
Restricting the heart to open the closed foundation of progression;
Driving her underwater to increase the maximum capacity of mana;
Raising the tension to the max to allow a delicate control over mana;
This right here was the end of all that training, and this was the last homework she had to finish. As long as she was done with this, there was no more need for Yeorum to be forced into pain.
This was the last.
The last one…
Taking another lap around the room made the pace of her breath uneven. Hukk, hukk. She gasped. The pulsing rate of her heart was similarly unstable and her eyes also glanced around without a clear focus.
Her emotions were in turmoil.
Back when her heart was restricted, the objective of the chains was clearly to represent a ‘hardship’. It was there for the purpose of being overcome.
But this time it was different. Yu Jitae changed the formula of all the chains into [Restriction]. Therefore, the objective this time was ‘suffocation’.
Yeorum had to feel stuffy.
She would start to wish the helper would walk a little faster. Or perhaps sit down and take a rest. Whatever it may be, she would want a change outside the scope of the repetitive act of walking. However, that wouldn’t happen, and inducing that frustration was precisely the goal.
Three laps.
Four laps.
Five laps…
Her feet were shivering let alone being unstable.
Yeorum who had been walking the whole time suddenly came to a stop as Clone 2 turned towards her. Stopping there, the child closed her eyes and lowered her head. ‘Hukk, hukk, huu…’ While collecting her breath, she tightly held onto her chest through the t-shirt.
What are you stopping for.
Go on.
After receiving his will, Clone 2 continued pulling the leash. Yeorum retaliated – it was her first act of retaliation.
However, she had to go. Clone 2 pulled the leash yet again as Yeorum resolutely stood her ground.
“We have to go.”
“Hukk, hukk…”
“You must come with me. Let’s go.”
The clone continued pulling as her body rocked back and forth. Yeorum removed her trembling hand from her chest. Because of her uplifted nails, her clothes were torn and something red began to ooze out of her ripped skin, colouring her white t-shirt with its colour.
“You can still walk a little bit more. You must continue.”
“…Just a little,”
“We have to go. Hurry.”
“…Just a little, rest.”
“No, you cannot. You have to come.”
“Let me just take a quick breather. Okay? …Just a little.”
Clone 2 had a stiff look on his face.
He could sense the beginning of trouble but the voice of his lord resonating in his head was absolute. ‘Go’ – that was the command ringing in his mind.
Thus, Clone 2 put more strength into his arms and pulled Yeorum by her neck.
“Ugh…”
Yeorum, who was retaliating by leaning her body back, lost her sense of balance from the sudden pull and fell forward. Should I support her? Clone 2 asked but the reply was a no, and Yeorum fell flat on the ground.
Another command came from the Regressor.
Pull.
Make her walk.
Clone 2 began pulling Yeorum as she stayed flat on the ground but she resisted the drag by driving her sharp fingernails into the ground. With one hand, she grabbed onto her own leash and revealed her fangs with a large scowl on her face.
But after the test of strength, Yeorum stood back up by herself and walked.
He was slightly surprised because her level of self-control had reached a fairly high extent.
If;
If Yeorum simply let out an irritated remark saying that it was painful;
Or if she did nothing but claim that she would rather stop;
If her reflex action when her displeasure exceeds the threshold was like that of a normal person, a training like this would not be necessary.
However, after going through another lap, Yeorum fell for the second time and held onto her leash with her knees on the ground.
“Ah, fuck…”
She let out profanities as Clone 2 turned towards him, looking for advice.
Pull.
“Ah, fuck. For fuck’s sake.”
Yeorum thrashed her arms and resisted.
Pull.
“Oi you fucker. Just let me take a little rest.”
Clone 2 hesitated once again.
Pull.
“Ahh! You fucking dog bastard. Can’t you hear what I’m saying?”
“Uht…!”
“This fucking retarded dick! I’m telling you. That I want some rest! Huh?”
In a fit, Yeorum pulled the chains with her nails lifted high. She flailed like a fish by the shore.
“Ahh!
“Ahh! Fuck!
“Aahkkk! So annoying!”
Her risen fingernails instead became the problem – unable to tear through the rope, her nails broke. Each time she thrashed her arms around, a red line was drawn along the white floor.
Listening to his command, Clone 2 tried to push her body down from above.
“AHHHHHHHHKKKK–!!!”
Suddenly, Yeorum dashed towards Clone 2, pushing forth her fangs with her nails and fists ready for a fight.
But even though the clone was young and feeble, he was still a duplicate crafted based on Yu Jitae. Following the training he received last night on how to fulfil his role as a helper, Clone 2 quickly woke up from the initial shock and pushed Yeorum away with his arms to protect himself. He could not allow any possibility of violence.
Yeorum then threw her fists high into the air and began slamming the floor of the dimension instead, but Clone 2 stopped her. “Let gooo–!!!” In the process of stopping her arms, he almost got bitten on the back of his hand. Clothes were ripped and the cap was flung off by a passing fist.
She knew it was part of training.
It was her, who said she will try to endure it.
But in the end, she could not withstand it.
Yeorum was angry.
The problem was that her anger had crossed the ‘line’.
An anger for the purpose of defeating enemies was okay to have. The fury of an avenger was also okay. There was no problem with the act of getting angry itself, but the wrath of the red dragon race always crossed the line.
And that was a problem.
Line.
This ‘line’ was what made this training necessary. In order to understand this concept, one had to know about the identity of the red dragon race.
Some time in the distant past, red dragons were living in a large desert of Askalifa. The land covered in red sand had no water, had thin layers of mana and was a devastating land to live in. To survive in such an environment with limited resources, red dragons had to destroy others and ingest them.
That went on for hundreds of thousands of years.
Life bloomed even in such barren lands. Countless species other than dragons also demonstrated their tough vitality by surviving in such lands. Even a mouse had to bite a cat to survive because only death awaited them if they were to not attack as a group.
In a world like that, the red dragons needed ‘entities that would survive’ for the continuance of their race. Thus, the surviving entities were made to be aggressive, active, and with a quick-witted response to hazard.
Defeat in a fight meant death and an escape equalled starving to death.
Every moment was a fight for survival.
Because of that, red dragons could not be powerless at any moment. With every generation, they changed to become less and less powerless. An outside pressure called for the need of a fight and their uncontrollable emotions strengthened their actions.
Back then, it was necessary for their survival.
However, times had changed and so did the world. The red dragon race that had wandered through the red desert in the past left it and formed a society, and the temperament flowing in their blood became something that did not suit the new epoch.
Now, the world was one that did not require them to fight according to their instincts.
The process of civilisation was also similar in Askalifa.
However, the instinct for a fight that was deeply engraved in their veins over the period of hundreds of thousands of years still stubbornly continued even to this day. It was now being manifested inside Yeorum who was living in a society of people.
And that was constantly making her cross the line.
“Fuck. Let go of me right now! You son of a bitch–!!”
“Kuhk! Please calm down! I am not your enemy!”
“Release me right now! Release me! Let gooo!! Let me go before I rip you to pieces! Get rid of this shit on my neck–!”
“Please stop. You are in the middle of training!”
“GET RID OF THISSSSSSS—-!!”
Yeorum charged towards Clone 2 in a fit. The clone suppressed her from above, but she began throwing punches again. Her fists did not go through the blessings covering the clone’s body and her hands will probably be broken after punching him several times. However, that violence will start to relieve the thing inside her and that would fade the meaning of this rectifying education.
That was why the Regressor intervened and grabbed Yeorum by her nape. He then reprimanded Clone 2.
“Why do you have so much trouble holding on. Huh?”
“U, uhkk–”
“Did I not tell you to do it harder.”
“Sorry sir… The thing is, I suddenly felt…”
“Shut your mouth. Pull the rope tight.”
He placed his hand on top of Yeorum’s roaring mouth and threw the child on the ground before pressing her down with his weight.
Her bloody eyes were overflowing with fury despite it being Yu Jitae in front of her eyes. When he loosened the grip he had on her neck, a fist immediately came flying his way and struck his chin.
Bam–. Since he had released most of the blessings on his body, he felt a sharp pain on his chin.
It was okay for her to punch like this. Both Yu Jitae’s body and Yeorum’s hands were fine. She would not be feeling her punch going through so it would not resolve her desire for violence.
But on the side, his chin still did hurt. The impact was so strong that kicking an elephant with the same force would crush its skull and kill it on the spot.
Despite the bond they had built up.
Despite the tremendous difference in power.
Yeorum thrashed around as if she couldn’t wait to rip him to pieces. The power and killing intent oozing out of her body had exceeded the norm.
Thus, he grabbed both her wrists and pushed them down her chest. A few of the strands around her neck loosened before tightening around her wrists.
“Release me! Let me go! Right nowwww—!!”
Her aggressiveness stemmed from the system that tried to preserve the red dragon race. It was an extremely rugged self-defence system and like how it had control over every other red dragon, it was doing the same with Yeorum.
Therefore, he had to let it know.
“Is it frustrating?”
Not Yeorum, but ‘that thing’ that resides in her blood – to that foolish ‘aggressive instinct’ that had fallen behind the era, he spoke.
“But too bad.”
You are not important anymore.
“There is absolutely nothing that you can do here.”
There is no room for something like you to act up.
In response, Yeorum opened her mouth wide open with the face of a devil. It was so wide that her cheeks were about to rip down the corners of her lips.
Mana gathered.
Even though she was not in the form of a dragon, the draconic mana soared up from her heart. She was about to shoot a dragon breath.
He thus squeezed her neck that was thinner than his grip and pressed it down. She choked for breath and widened her eyes.
Yu Jitae spoke to ‘it’.
“I know you’ve always done whatever you wanted to do.
“It must have been easy having control of everything. Yeah?
“How about you try doing something.”
With his hand still pressing down her throat, he raised his shoulder.
His other hand soared high into the air.