It was immediately after he successfully crushed the pillars of the banquet hall.
‘He’ tried to crawl out of [Primal Time].
Because his goal was to block the entrance to the Non-Providental World, Yu Jitae used every bit of strength he had left to fly towards ‘him’ like a cannonball.
Due to that, ‘he’ who had been crawling out of the veil was sucked back into the Non-Providental World and the same had happened to Yu Jitae who was pushing ‘him’ inside.
The weapon of a building, [Palace] successfully crushed the small room that served as the entrance to the Non-Providential World and completely sealed it.
Because of that, Yu Jitae was pushed out of the Providential World.
It was the first time he was coming to the Non-Providential World. This place was a dark and cold place. Since it probably wasn’t cold in the physical sense of the word, it was most probably a chill he was feeling due to his soul being shattered apart.
However, the size of his soul that was built up throughout his life was too big, and he did not disappear with ease despite being crushed and shattered.
It simply felt cold.
The severe chilliness made him shrink his body.
Because he had fully executed his mission, [Vintage Clock] did not look for him, and [Key] had no more business with him either. Besides, they were transcendent authorities that could only involve themselves in Providential matters.
That was why there would be no-one who could bring him out of this cold place. He could only shiver here for almost an eternity.
The only thing he could do here was search through his past memories. Like a brain in a vat, he could do nothing but think.
Is this happiness? Am I happy?
He blamed his old friend a little.
Wasn’t I definitely going to be happy?
Isn’t that what you told me…
Time flew by. Although he was used to waiting, waiting without any objective felt way too long for him.
.
.
.
It was cold.
Like an eternal winter.
.
.
.
His blunt senses could not identify anything around him, but that was when some force stretched out like a hand and reached him.
He widened his eyes into circles. That ‘power’ melted his frozen body and woke up his sinking mind. Despite his soul being half-crushed, it was still alive and Yu Jitae was therefore able to wake up.
It felt like it had been a thousand years.
What’s happening?
The hand grabbed onto his body and started pulling him somewhere.
By the time he perceived what was happening, he lost consciousness.
.
.
.
When he opened his eyes again, there was a familiar street in front of his eyes.
His flustered gaze scanned across the world.
Roads covered in asphalt, buildings rising up above them and people carrying umbrellas in quick steps.
Black and white cars dashed across as sounds of horns reached his ears and perhaps due to a recent rainfall, the sky was coloured in a dull gray light.
Within the world filled with achromatic colours, he was the only one with colour.
He gasped for breath, for he just could not comprehend what was happening in front of him.
This was Nonhyung-dong, and it was 5 years ago. This time and space was the starting point of his wretched life which he had confronted thousands of times.
Did the 8th iteration begin or something?
Since his will had been worn out over the long period of time, his mind wasn’t back to normal despite returning to reality. Like a drunk person, he couldn’t judge things properly.
His phone rang in his confusion – it was a call related to his work.
Work?
Out of habit, he first decided to move like the last iteration.
7 am. It was time to go to work.
Wearing the police uniform, he went to work.
Despite being early in the morning, Gangnam was filled with people. It was them living their everyday life, and he recognised it as something familiar despite his hazy mind.
He travelled towards the Portal Bureau. By the time he reopened his eyes, an even more familiar sight welcomed him.
It was the Academy City of Lair.
The familiar scene of Haytling, and the familiar cadet uniforms. It was filled with things he was so familiar with, that he couldn’t imagine any other place that he was more used to.
“Jitae-sunbae, hello!”
“Jitae’s here as well? We had way too much drink last night yeah.”
But seeing his colleagues welcoming him after commuting to work, Yu Jitae felt strange.
“Huh? Don’t you think Jitae-sunbae looks a bit different now?”
“Wait what? Was he always that tall?”
It was strange that his colleagues were one by one walking up to him. There were people he was used to that should be walking up to him for a chat, but these weren’t them.
Also, there was a place he was used to which was shared by all of them, and this wasn’t that place either.
“Huh? Jitae-sunbae! Where are you going!”
Yu Jitae turned his body and left the police station.
Although his mind had yet to return properly, he hurried his feet. He couldn’t move his body properly so he had to rely on public transport.
Walking all the way, there were many things he felt familiar with, as well as things that felt foreign to him. Everything was the same as before, and yet he was considering them either familiar or foreign.
What surfaced before anything else among his hazy emotions was that sense of familiarity and a habit. As always, his habit of thinking of the worst possible scenario reared its head.
There were things that still remained in a corner of his memories and emotions. In fact, there were a lot of them – so much that he couldn’t count them all.
It must be because all of those connections had snapped into nothing, that he was standing here.
This felt as if the 8th iteration had begun.
It was similar to his familiar experiences, of how everything that had been precious to him forgot about him, and went further away while leaving him behind.
Continuing that line of thought made his heart crumble from the core.
He had to confirm it with his own eyes.
That was why he headed to Firenze, Italy – to the road filled with buildings that seemed to be from the Renaissance period. He had been here often and thanks to his sharp discerning ability, he knew those performing street musicians were very familiar.
If all the time that went by wasn’t fake, then the one he was the most used to definitely had to be here.
However, he couldn’t find her.
The conspicuous olive-coloured hair, the face that exceeded the threshold of beauty and appeared repulsively beautiful, and the existence that naturally gathered attention wherever she went–
He could not see her.
No – it wasn’t olive.
Although it was slightly foreign to him, it was definitely black.
After changing his mind, he once again scanned across the streets but like before, he could not find such a person.
He stood still. Although it was too early to admit it, he felt his heart slowly crumbling down from its core. Because it was the first encounter which he had been so used to, he realised that the invalidity of that meant the disappearance of something that was the most familiar to him.
But after blankly standing there for a while and slowly coming back to his senses, he found it strange again.
The reason he was used to this first encounter, was because the opponent forgot about him. Now, that sense of familiarity was gone, and that meant…
Tap tap.
Someone tapped him on his shoulder. He felt goosebumps immediately rising all over his body.
Slowly, he turned around.
And found a black-haired girl staring at him.
His gaze wavered.
It was such a familiar face; a familiar pair of eyes and a smile.
He smiled back.
He wasn’t intending on doing so, but a smile naturally appeared on his lips. It was because he got the verification that all the time he had spent was not fake.
“Hi.”
He greeted her with a dry voice.
“Hello.”
For some reason, the voice that came back from her sounded as exhausted as his own. Even though there was a smile on her lips, there were beads of tears beneath her eyes.
It was as if she was seeing him after a very long time.
He wanted to ask what was going on, but she suddenly lowered her head a little and gazed up at him with uplifted eyes.
She was trying to pull a prank.
“Why did you come looking for me?”
Ah, this scene.
Feeling like he could remember this, Yu Jitae recalled the words he said to her.
“Because I have a business.”
“So you came here knowing who I am?”
Damn it – he wanted to stop this immediately.
Therefore, he asked her.
“Who are you.”
A smile bloomed on her face like a flower. She cried and smiled. After being unable to control her own expression for a little while,
At last to her lover whom she finally met again in a world without any scars, she whispered.
“I’m your Bom…”
Kidnapped Dragons
The End