“Uh, uhhh!?”
The baby chicken shouted in surprise.
“Gyeoul knew how to speak? Wait, no! Is that normal? Since I knew how to speak ever since I was born…?”
Gyeoul gave an awkward smile.
“Aigo! Then why didn’t you say anything till now? I’m sure you wanted to speak, right? How did you hold it in! Ugugu. You little baby.”
Kaeul rubbed Gyeoul’s cheek with her cheek. Perhaps finding that rubbing feeling nice, Gyeoul made a wide smile.
“Maybe she saw how noisy you were, and thought to herself that she shouldn’t become like that?”
“What do you mean? I’m the quiet, reserved type though?!”
No-one agreed to her statement.
“Ah, ah! It must be this. Ahjussi’s spicy stew was so delicious that Gyeoul suddenly understood how to speak! It was so delicious that it made her speak…!”
“If it’s delicious, you should die.”
“What? Why?”
“You don’t know that saying? ‘So delicious that one person could die without anyone noticing…’”
Yu Jitae stared at Gyeoul.
The baby’s voice was a lot calmer than he thought.
He found this situation to be rather strange. Even in the previous rounds of regressions, he had rarely seen Gyeoul speak. This girl with water-coloured hair was even quieter than Bom.
That’s how she was every time… including the time during her last breath.
Even when she was hurt, she didn’t say it out loud, and she didn’t mention anything even if there was something she desired. But even if he knew about it, him from back then wouldn’t have listened to her request. Looking back now, after living somewhat similar to other normal people, he realised that he had been living in the past with his ears and eyes shut to a radical extent.
But he had been wrong, and now it would be different.
“…Thanks.”
Calling it ‘delicious’ was a compliment, and it thus required a word of gratitude. After going through a logical thinking process, those words left through the Regressor’s mouth.
“…”
Letting out a gasp in fluster, the child avoided Yu Jitae’s eyes and started carefully moving the spoon again. She scooped up a white piece of fish and placed it in her mouth, before drinking a bit of the soup. Although her movements were slow and awkward, she diligently continued eating her food.
Thinking back on the days of the police station that had been experienced by the clone, he remembered the Team Leader’s young son diligently eating a meal. And every time, the child would be told to eat a lot so that he could grow healthily.
Young children were fragile. They were exposed to lots of dangers and every minute of their growth had to be with caution.
He wasn’t interested in other children, but Gyeoul weighed a little bit on his mind.
In the previous iterations, Gyeoul had particularly caught more diseases than other dragons.
During then, he had asked, “A dragon catching a cold?”. Back then, the Green Dragon had replied with a face filled with hostility, that the water in Askalifa and Earth were too different. It was the circumstance of dragons that he couldn’t understand.
Due to those memories, the Regressor thought to himself while staring at the blue-haired child.
At least, in this iteration,
I wish, you grow healthy.
*
The pot was as big as a traditional gamasot. Even then, it seemed to have been a little bit lacking for dragons who tend to eat a lot, and Yeorum asked him while staring at the empty pot.
“Any plans to make some more?”
He shook his head.
“Now, should we clean up everything?”
Bom told the children to start cleaning, but Yeorum, who had already lied down on the ground, made a look of dissatisfaction.
“Unni. Let’s clean!”
“…”
After thinking for a bit, Yeorum gave the smile unique to the red race. Soon, mana gathered under her feet to create a magic circle as she then disappeared from the spot.
“Uhhh? Bom-unni! Yeorum-unni ran away!”
“Un?”
She ran away because she hated cleaning?
Bom tilted her head while staring at the place where Yeorum had been standing. Then, she formed a blank expression, as if she felt something.
“Should we go catch her, unni?”
“No. It’s fine.”
“Why?”
After a minute, her doubt was answered.
At a place where the magic circle reappeared, Yeorum walked out with the protector who walked with clanking noises.
“My lady. Why was I called here…”
“Are you really asking that right now?”
The protector’s eyes flickered and reflected its confusion. After pointing at the dirty forest with her finger, Yeorum spoke to the protector.
“What do you think your job is?”
She then let out a ‘uhuhu’ smile.
Clank.
The protector started cleaning everything up without a word.
Clank, clank…
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae stared at the depths of the forest. While holding his hand, Gyeoul was staring blankly at his face, before turning towards the place he was facing.
Why was he staring at that place?
Feeling that doubt, Gyeoul looked at the dark forest for some time and before long, a stranger walked out from the other side of the forest.
The man was at least a head taller than Yu Jitae, who was near 190cm in height, with a shoulder width and a build that resembled an ogre more than a human.
Behind the man, there was also a woman with long hair. After leaving the bushes, the man stared at them, before slowly approaching them.
In nervousness, Gyeoul clenched onto Yu Jitae’s clothes. A man she didn’t know, had appeared out of nowhere and was walking towards them while ignoring the aura of the dragons.
Gyeoul turned back towards Yu Jitae, but didn’t find a single trace of tension from him. Thus, she decided to be at ease yet again.
“Hello, sir!”
The large man slightly lowered his head. Instead of a polite language based on respect, it seemed to be a habit of his.
Yu Jitae knew who this man was.
A man officially ranked 9th out of the entire world – a man who was the third strongest out of everyone in Korea. It was Myung Yongha.
There were times when he had fought alongside him in the previous regressions, and had also fought against him a few times. Although he didn’t have a very deep connection with the man, he was a character whom Yu Jitae was inevitably involved with in the large-scale rescue war for humanity.
Foreign powers focused on every single movement of his, and as a national-level strategic weapon, he required permission from the country to travel. Meeting a ranker like him at a place like this, was therefore something he hadn’t been expecting.
“Hello.”
“Yes yes. Sir, did you come out on a family picnic?”
Yu Jitae stared at the people walking behind Myung Yongha. There was a boy who seemed to be around five years old, similar to Gyeoul’s outward appearance, and the mother holding the boy’s hand appeared to be pregnant.
“We are out on a trip. What about you.”
“Ah you see, we also come here frequently for a picnic. But I never expected there to be someone else who knew about this place outside of my group of friends.”
His ‘group of friends’ meant the organisation of rankers worldwide. He went, “Uhahat!” and laughed heartily.
Yu Jitae remembered this man pulling out a large tree up to its roots and smacking it down on a chimera’s head, but in any case, he didn’t have anything to do with him.
If they were out on a picnic, they just had to each enjoy their own time so he pondered about why this large man bothered to come looking for him. He was the ‘Druid of Regeneration’, an extremely rare nature-type superhuman. Nature-type superhumans referred to superhumans that controlled elements of nature, be it fire, water, lightning or anything else.
The media talked about how the man could control nature just like how dragons would.
After some contemplation, there was something he could guess.
“By any chance, have you plucked some mushrooms from nearby?”
“You mean the Abadone mushrooms?”
Hearing that, Myung Yongha’s eyebrows flinched.
“Aigo! This. It seemed that you didn’t know that those mushrooms had an owner. Did you not think that those were in good conditions for some reason?”
“I thought I got lucky.”
“Haa, I see. Well, I probably would have done the same… Did you perhaps eat everything? There should’ve been five or so of them.”
“We ate everything. Sorry.”
Myung Yongha covered his large face with his large hands.
“Haigo… No it’s nothing! It’s my fault for not writing my name on it.”
Even though he said that, it was obvious that he was still feeling regretful.
Yu Jitae knew why Myung Yongha was looking for those mushrooms. Abadone mushrooms that grew by the Lake of Life, while absorbing the aura of life was good for the body. Myung Yongha’s wife was a normal person, and wasn’t a superhuman. Besides, she was currently pregnant, and from what he remembered, she wasn’t that healthy.
“Anyways, please do enjoy your picnic!”
After giving a nod, Myung Yongha turned around.
In fact, Yu Jitae didn’t feel sorry at all. Saying that was merely an imitation of daily lives. Some meagre mushrooms and a sick pregnant woman didn’t make him feel anything in particular.
But now that he had resolved to live a normal lifestyle, he knew what words and actions fell under common sense in a situation like this.
He delved deep into his inner alternate dimension as grey hands approached him.
Ever since the start of the seventh iteration, he had killed several monsters in order to escape the financial problems. Those were all boss monsters of dungeons that were above S in rank.
There were some priceless by-products that he had gained in that process.
1000-year-old ginseng.
It was a ginseng that grew off of a large turtle’s head for over a thousand years. This had come from a different dimension, and wasn’t something that could be compared to the likes of Abadone mushrooms.
If it was handed over to someone who knew of its worth, millions of dollars might not even be enough but since it didn’t have much effect on dragons, he had been holding onto it.
After returning back to reality, Yu Jitae was holding a black root. But then he realised that Myung Yongha, who had walked up to him in that short period of time, was almost right before him, as his eyes flickered while staring at Gyeoul.
“Uooooh~~! Is this child your daughter sir? She’s really pretty!”
…Although she wasn’t his daughter, there was no reason for him to explain all that, so Yu Jitae just casually gave a nod. When he did, Gyeoul startledly looked up at him. Her eyes seemed to be questioning, ‘I’m your daughter?’.
“Hi little baby! What’s your name?”
“…”
“Wahahat! Horolollo! Peek-a-boo!”
A large face coming up and doing a peek-a-boo wasn’t cute at all. As if she was staring at the protector, Gyeoul gave a frown and hid behind Yu Jitae’s leg. Perhaps feeling embarrassed, Myung Yongha raised his body back up while scratching the back of his neck, but he seemed to be fond of children, as the smile was still plastered on his face.
“Auhh, she’s so pretty. It would be great if I had a daughter as well.”
He then continued on by saying, “Sons are good as well though”, and laughed out loud. It perhaps wouldn’t work out though, because he had two sons in every iteration.
That was when Yu Jitae extended out the thousand-year-old ginseng roots towards him.
“Take it.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“It’s a replacement for the mushrooms. Good for the body.”
“Aigo. You don’t have to do this. We don’t need that.”
Yu Jitae outright threw the root at him. It was like a skyscraper of Seoul being thrown away.
“Aigo. Sir, it’s seriously okay though.”
When Yu Jitae remained quiet, Myung Yongha laughed heartily and said, “Wahahat! If you insist” and took the root. A part of his skin turned into vines and wrapped the root before turning back into his skin.
Even a ranker seemed unable to realise its worth in an instant. It was because that was how precious it was, but being a druid himself, it wouldn’t take long before he realised the worth of that root.
With this, his task was over.
“I wish you spend a good time with your family.”
Yu Jitae therefore chased him away.
***
Night arrived as the sun was starting to set.
Yu Jitae was lying down on a sunbed next to the Lake of Life. Gyeoul fell asleep on top of him, while Bom was on the sunbed next to him. The surroundings were quiet, and the regular breathing sounds of the small child tickled his ears.
The Lake of Life wasn’t that big, and when lying down on a sunbed, they could see Myung Yongha’s family on the other side of the lake. Their eyes would occasionally meet and Myung Yongha’s family would wave their hands every single time. Yu Jitae merely gave a nod back, but Bom returned a wave every time.
“Who is he? He seems like a very strong human.”
He didn’t tell her honestly, about how he was a soldier that would fight against the demons in a distant future.
“…”
As if she felt something, Bom murmured to herself before turning to Yu Jitae.
“Why. Did you see something?”
“Yes. It seems that we will be seeing each other quite a bit in the future.”
Since their careers were very far apart, he thought they wouldn’t be meeting much but the words of the Green Dragon was always the truth. Yu Jitae gave a random nod back.
Soon, night descended and Yu Jitae was about to enter his tent, when Myung Yongha walked up to them and spoke up.
“Sir. If you’re okay, do you want me to show you a beautiful scenery?”
A beautiful scenery?
“In fact, there’s an amazing fissure if we walk a bit from here. If you see it, you will probably be greatly shocked by it. Uhahat!”
Although he wasn’t that intrigued by it, the kids would most definitely enjoy a beautiful scenery. Yu Jitae brought Yeorum and Kaeul out from the tents they had been lying down in.
“Nn? A pretty scenery?”
“Can’t be bothered though.”
They walked out rather obediently. Seeing them, Myung Yongha’s eyes widened into circles, and seemed surprised after seeing the faces of the dragons.
“Ah! Anyways, let’s go together!”
In a location not too far from where they had been, there was a vertical fissure in the dimension. It was a large fissure with about 200 metres in height. However, there were no traces or auras of monsters so he hadn’t thought too much of it when he arrived.
“It should start after we wait for some time.”
Wrapping around his wife’s waist with one hand and the other hand holding his son’s hand, Myung Yongha stared at the other side of the dimensional fissure.
That was when Yu Jitae awoke Gyeoul who was still sleeping in his embrace. The baby’s blue pair of eyes that were full of sleepiness slowly began to open. After realising that she was at an unfamiliar location, she glanced around but soon found Yu Jitae’s face and became relaxed.
“Now! Everyone please stare at the sky! It will start any time soon!”
As soon as Myung Yongha’s words came to an end, a strand of a shooting star fell down from the sky.
“Uwah…!”
Kaeul honestly showed her admiration while Bom and Gyeoul also stared at the shooting star with brightened eyes. However, that was merely the beginning.
From one to two, then three, five, ten and twenty – the gradually increasing number of shooting stars reached several hundreds and thousands before filling the sky appearing on the other side of the fissure. As if there was a centre to all the stars, the shooting stars drew a circle around a given point and drew a path on the night sky.
Stars started spinning around the black canvas.
Startled, Gyeoul tightly grabbed Yu Jitae’s collar with her tiny hands, while he stared at the child’s face. Her pupils reflected the light shining down from the shooting stars. Seemingly overwhelmed by the large, cosmic scale of the universe, the baby’s chin slowly dropped.
In his embrace, Gyeoul etched the beautiful scenery into her small head.
It became a memory that would never be forgotten.