Yu Jitae was in the middle of driving.
“Uah! That’s my snack!”
“Hmm, so tasty.”
“Stop eating, you red boar!”
Kaeul and Yeorum were bickering in the back seats. Snatching a bag of snacks from Kaeul, Yeorum poured it all into her own mouth and burped while saying, “Even tastier now”.
“Aargh… so annoying. You boar! Red hyena!”
“Yeah yeah you yellow monkey. Hey, give me your leg.”
Yeorum slapped her own stomach a few times before lying down while having Kaeul’s lap as a pillow. The baby chicken could be seen trembling in anger, as Bom and Gyeoul watched their little skit from the passenger’s seat.
“Ahjussi! Unni ate all my snacks!”
“Right.”
“Hiing. Can you say something more?”
“…Don’t steal others’ food.”
“Yeah, okay~”
Yu Jitae’s words went in one of Yeorum’s ears and left through the other, as she giggled on.
It was a peaceful journey to their venue.
In fact, they could have arrived at the venue in one go by teleportation if they wanted to, and that had been his original plan.
However, he remembered someone saying in the past, that the path towards the venue was a part of the journey. Although he couldn’t fully understand the words behind that claim, he could still imitate it.
Thus, Yu Jitae had rented a car. Inside the far-reaching world of whiteness in a cold mid-winter, the car sped forward.
“Ahh, let’s play a song! A song!”
“What song?”
“I’ll play it!”
Thinking of something, Kaeul touched her watch. The sound of drums beats and other instruments left through the car’s wireless speaker.
And soon, the lyrics started flowing out.
– Mi, mi, mi, mi.
It was a rather familiar voice.
– Mister reporter. Do you want to have↗ (beep-) with me↗?
Ah, this thing.
He knew what it was because Kaeul had shown it to him beforehand.
As Yeorum’s interview went viral on the internet, one of the netizens had made a remix version of her interview, and had made her interview into a song. Yeorum, who couldn’t understand the reactions of the masses, ended up folding the poor monitor in half after listening to that remix video.
The same was about to happen now.
“Wait! You freakin’, Yu Kaeul!”
She got up from Kaeul’s lap in alarm, and reached her arms towards Kaeul to snatch the watch from her. While chuckling, Kaeul rolled her body inside like a woodlouse.
– How long, are.you.going.to.make use of something you know, al-ready? Next↗ Ne, next↗
“N, no! It’s funny though!”
“Funny my ass! Hand it over right now!”
The baby chicken resisted as much as she could and giggled.
Following their movements, the car also jumped up and down.
*
When there was no longer a road to continue down on, they relied on teleportation.
By the time they reopened their eyes, a vast image of mother nature was before them. In the middle of the mountains, there was a gently glowing lake.
It was strange. Although the other places were all covered in snow, there was no snow nearby, and the air was also warm as if it was currently spring.
This was roughly 2000km North from the Mongolian borders.
Severobaykalsk (Северобайкальск)
It had been a while since he came to Russia.
There were tall mountains standing in lines, and in front of them was Lake Baikal, which was longer than the Korean peninsula.
Around twenty years ago from the current point in time, this place had been used as a military facility during the Great War, and the said facility was reduced to ashes from the attack of the monsters.
This place which now had no visitors, had a special secret to it.
“Wah. So pretty…”
Kaeul blankly exclaimed.
There was an extremely beautiful lake in front. The water gave off a subtle light and a warm aura, and the water itself was also warm.
When dimensional fissures were created, dungeons weren’t the only results and although rare, treasure-like terrains would sometimes make its way over from other dimensions. Currently, it wasn’t known by others but would become widely known in Russia after five years, and would become a national park.
The name it gained was ‘Lake of Life (Озеро жизни).’
“…”
From Bom’s embrace, Gyeoul was mesmerised by the lake. A blue dragon was the race of water, and it should therefore appeal more to her than others.
“You can look around.”
After saying that, Yu Jitae started setting up a tent and other camping tools. He, who had more than 50 years of experience in field warfare, quickly finished setting up the tent and gathered twigs to light up a campfire.
When he raised his body up after starting a fire, he heard little claps, ‘clap clap clap’, coming from the side – it was from Gyeoul, who had been watching from the side.
Yu Jitae placed his hand on top of the child’s small head.
Turning around, he found Yeorum and Kaeul playing inside the water in shirts and short pants, while Bom was watching them with only her legs inside the lake.
“Unni should come in as well! It’s warm inside!”
“Don’t just stay there doing nothing.”
Seeing the two of them wave their hands, Bom waved back.
“I’ll be there soon.”
She then looked around the landscape and the mountains before lying down on the grass. The dragon of nature was fully enjoying itself within mother nature.
This kind of leisure was also extremely rare for Yu Jitae. This iteration was overall more relaxed than other rounds of regression, and the Regressor didn’t hate it.
Thus, he walked up to Bom and lied down next to her. After throwing a glance at him, Bom created space but that was when Gyeoul came and lied down between them.
The wind felt warm.
“Ahjussi, if it’s like this.”
“Yeah.”
“This is a family picnic.”
That was when Bom started her nonsense. When Yu Jitae remained quiet and listened on, Bom continued her words.
“Ahjussi is the dad.”
“…”
“And I’m the first daughter. They are all my sisters.”
“…”
“Oh wait, but then where’s the mum?”
Bom looked at Gyeoul with a questioning expression. Seeing that, Gyeoul likewise formed a serious look on her face and turned to Yu Jitae – she seemed to be asking where the mother was.
“…”
Put in a slightly perplexing situation, he didn’t respond. Soon, Bom approached him and quietly whispered into his ears.
“It seems that I…”
He could feel her breath touching his skin.
“…need to be the mother.”
It was an abrupt sentence and he felt even more troubled than before.
When Yu Jitae remained lying down without a word, Gyeoul and Bom continued looking at him, as their gazes seemed to be requesting him for a response.
Thus, he turned and faced the other way around.
Soon, Bom broke out into laughter and gasped for breath.
*
During the second regression of the past, he had coincidentally come across this place.
Back then, they were in the middle of a war, and he was lying down with his war colleagues, staring at the night sky. Yu Jitae threw a glance at Bom, who fell asleep with Gyeoul in her arms.
In the past, there had been a different woman sitting there.
Ha Saetbyul, his previous lover.
Thinking back, he remembered her saying something with her face facing him. She was probably whingeing about how she feared the water.
He tried to recall the memories from then, but similar to pictures that only retained their form after countless years of weathering, those memories only had faint traces at this point.
Thus, he had to spend quite some time, trying to recall memories that couldn’t be recalled.
*
“Why don’t you go and play with them.”
It was around the time for meals when he asked that. Gyeoul showed slight hesitation.
“The lake’s water is warm, and has an aura that stabilises the mana.”
Plus, it healed wounds and removed fatigue. He thought Gyeoul would like it.
“…”
But Gyeoul repeatedly glanced at the lake and Yu Jitae in hesitation.
He had no idea why the baby was so hesitant.
As if she wanted to say something, Gyeoul opened her mouth, but would soon close her mouth which made him think that she still couldn’t speak.
“Then, will you stay here?”
Gyeoul once again made a hesitant expression. The Regressor thought to himself, that this wasn’t the answer.
“Then, do you want to stay with Bom?”
There was no change to her hesitant expression – this too, wasn’t the answer. He thought that the thought process of children was difficult to understand.
“…Do you want to go catch fish together?”
Only then did Gyeoul’s expression turn bright.
It was this, huh, fishing.
Finding the answer, Yu Jitae entered the [Shallows of the Abyss (S)] and ordered the hands to bring a fishing rod.
After attaching the bait, he started fishing. Gyeoul sat on his lap and watched him fish as if she found it interesting, but soon threw a glance at him, before abruptly jumping into the water.
Thought you weren’t going to go in.
Regardless of his thoughts, Gyeoul splashed around with the water in excitement. She indeed seemed to be fond of water.
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae continued catching fish left and right. Those were fishes from the other world, ranging from small fishes to ones that were as thick as his arm. They were overall quite tasty.
Placing the fishes into a basket, he stood up.
The moment he stood up, Gyeoul who had been inside the water saw him stand, and quickly used levitation magic to come up to him.
Apparently, she could use those sorts of magic spells now.
“…?”
She seemed to be asking, ‘where are you going?’ with her face.
“Let’s go looking for something to eat.”
“Something to eat? I want to go as well!”
Yeorum, who had been playing around in the water for a long time, lied down next to Bom, while Kaeul held Gyeoul by her hand and followed Yu Jitae.
“What are we going to eat by the way?”
“Mushrooms.”
“…?”
Fluster appeared on the baby chicken’s face.
“Did you say mushrooms? Mushrooomms?”
“Why.”
“I don’t like mushrooms. What if we eat a poisonous one by accident…”
He remembered about the poisonous mushroom of the Amazon which Kaeul had consumed.
“Don’t worry.”
In large strides, he walked down the mountain. Underneath some large trees, although they weren’t easily spottable, one could find several mushrooms with careful observation.
From those, he pointed at a white mushroom which poked its head out through the gaps of fallen leaves.
“What about that.”
“Hmm. It’s cute. Right, Gyeoul?”
The blue head gave a nod.
“It smells good as well. Can we eat it?”
“No.”
“Why? It’s not pretty, and smells good.”
That was a mushroom from the other world, called ‘Eight day mushroom’. Interestingly enough, a mushroom of that species which just grew wouldn’t have any poisons inside, but as it grew bigger, the head would protrude out while creating poison inside.
The period of its edible time was around eight days, which was the reason for its name.
Hearing Yu Jitae’s explanation, Kaeul widened her eyes.
“How do you know that?”
He knew it due to the countless years that had been spent outside.
Yu Jitae, Kaeul and Gyeoul walked on while looking for mushrooms. After picking several up, Yu Jitae let out a gasp of admiration.
“Why? Why? Is there something?”
“We got lucky today.”
“What is it…? …Uwek.”
The mushroom that appeared this time was a hideous one. It was black, and had several thorns coming out, and appeared like it would consume insects from hell.
It was ‘Abadone mushroom’. It looked similar to Neungi mushroom but contained a flavour which exceeded it by several times and was hard to buy due to a lack of supply.
“You eat that? W, well, it does smell nice…”
“You can’t eat it raw.”
“Why?”
“There is this middle-aged couple I know and after being stranded on the mountains, starving for several days, they found Abadone mushrooms. Since those were famous for being full of energy, the couple ate it raw.”
“Yes yes. And then?”
“…When they were rescued, both of them were dehydrated from food poisoning. There are lots of bugs living inside that strange structure, maybe because they find it nice as well.”
Hearing the word ‘bug’, Kaeul took a few steps back in fright.
Fortunately, these mushrooms didn’t have any bugs and boiling them would be enough.
Yu Jitae came back after plucking a few types of mushrooms, and started cooking himself for the first time in a long time. Boiling the lake water, he threw garlic, onions and other ingredients in to make the stock.
He then threw herbs inside and after that, was the filleted fish and sliced mushrooms. Finally, he added chilli powder, some leeks and sliced chillies.
Yu Jitae was feeling slightly regretful about the weak heat of the campfire, but soon found Yeorum from the corner of his eyes.
“Make the fire a bit stronger.”
Yeorum, who was suddenly being treated like a bunsen burner gave a frown, but obediently created fire from her fingertips and strengthened the heat.
As a result, the fire was now quite decent.
Around the time the spicy mushroom fish stew was about to finish, Yu Jitae took out a large thermo flask which had rice inside. He moved it over to the bowls before revealing the finished product.
The flavourful smell of Abadone mushrooms spread across in an instant.
“Wah…!”
Kaeul gripped her hands into tight fists.
Bom used a ladle to scoop the stew into soup bowls and handed them over.
After each having one spoonful, they let out gasps of admiration, going “Whoa fuck”, and “Wow”.
In the midst, he found Kaeul glaring at the mushrooms. She was confronting her trauma with the poisonous mushroom head-on, as she carefully chewed on the ends of the mushroom. Soon, her expression turned bright and she threw the whole mushroom into her mouth and munched on it.
He too had a bit of the soup. There was the spicy and savory soup, supplemented by the white tender fat of the fishes as well as the thick smells of the mushrooms infiltrating the nose. He had relied on the small pieces of his memories but it ended up rather nicely.
That was when Gyeoul, sitting down on Yu Jitae’s lap, successfully put the spoon into her mouth with awkward movements. She widened her eyes into circles and glanced up at him.
How is it, is it nice? He asked with his eyes.
The baby’s small mouth faintly opened itself.
“…De, licious.”
Immediately after that, everyone except for Bom had their eyes agape open.