Late at night, as the crescent moon rose up outside, the copy that had returned from work approached Yu Jitae.
“Let me send you the memories.”
“Right.”
The copy closed his eyes, and when he did, the things that had happened in the police station that day entered the Regressor’s head.
With his eyes closed, Yu Jitae slowly felt memories and emotions flowing into him and saw the members of the station watching Corporal Yu Jitae and smile.
“The people are fond of you.”
“I am trying hard to live an everyday life as much as I can.”
It was earnest in its daily life. The copy did not avoid challenging tasks and calmly dealt with his duty but that wasn’t the end. Back when Yu Jitae was 27 years old, he was an introverted young man with a soft heart.
And yet he had suddenly turned into an earnest, adult-like, dependable colleague so the team members liked the copy and talked about a ‘re-evaluation of Yu Jitae’.
“I am sure you have felt it, but they are troubled due to Jo Hosik.”
“He must’ve hidden well.”
“Yes. Besides, since it has been found out that he isn’t acting as an individual but a group of human traffickers, the situation turned more awkward. They kidnap superhuman students of the Lair that have no connections and are selling them to underground organisations as slaves.”
Yu Jitae gave a nod. He could see in his memories the workers of the police force being troubled by it.
“As you have ordered, my lord, if the deadline approaches, I will move myself.”
“Right.”
That was when Yu Jitae who had been savoring the memories opened his eyes.
“…Hey.”
“Your command.”
“Who is this.”
Within the memories, there was a woman that was hitting on Yu Jitae, in a rather frank manner.
“Ah, it’s a team leader of another team. She seems to be the daughter of the head chief and from some time ago, she has been showing goodwill towards my lord.”
Now that he mentioned it, he could remember catching glimpses of her in other memories. She once said, “Do you want to go drink with this noona after work?” and once, tried to touch Yu Jitae’s stomach while saying, “Is this abs or a washboard?”… but inside today’s memories, she was even more straightforward as she tried to downright rub her body on Yu Jitae’s arm.
“What’s her name.”
“It’s Lee Bosuk. If perhaps you are displeased, I could take care of it.”
“Hmm… It’s fine. Leave it.”
Daily life didn’t always have good things happening and the ‘daily life’ he was attempting to achieve could be compared to a flowerbed. Although there will be beautiful flowers, it was natural for there to also be bugs.
Thus, Yu Jitae decided to leave it for the time being.
“Then, I’ll get going.”
“No, just wait there for a bit.”
“Yes.”
“And change your clothes.”
The copy became curious about the reason Yu Jitae was suddenly giving him such orders but the commands of the lord were absolute, so he obediently took his uniform off and changed into casual clothes.
Soon, Bom’s voice could be heard from the kitchen.
“Ahjussi, come eat dinner.”
Finally coming to an understanding, the copy turned towards his lord sitting on the sofa.
Yu Jitae was staring deeply back at his eyes.
*
Next morning, Yu Jitae woke up from the sofa and stretched his body. Today was the day he had to go bring the Red Dragon.
Red Dragon.
As expected of a dragon from the red race, it was aggressive. Even in the previous six rounds, it acted as it pleased and was the only one that did not follow the regulations he had set.
If other dragons were fearful of Yu Jitae, the Red Dragon was different and every round, its attitude towards himself was close to absolute disgust. Due to that, even Yu Jitae didn’t know much about the Red Dragon.
Fortunately, this time it would be a little better because Bom was with him.
“You are going to bring Red?”
Brushing her green hair, Bom tucked her hair behind her ear as a small ear fitting the small head revealed itself.
“Right.”
“Rather than going there to bring her, you’re going there to kidnap right?”
“You could say that.”
“Hmm…”
Bom contemplated a little while looking at the flowerpot and opened her mouth.
“She probably won’t like it. Of course, I didn’t like the fact that I was getting kidnapped, but Red will react in a more vehement manner.”
“How about you persuade her? You’re both dragons.”
“I’m not sure if it will be that helpful. Dragons from different races have a bit of distance.”
“Why.”
“Because they all desire different things. I like staying still and being laid back and enjoy making things but the red race is different. Because our hobbies are different, we treat each other as complete strangers.”
Yu Jitae asked out of curiosity.
“Then how about bringing her by force?”
“What?”
Bom’s eyes enlarged.
“You can’t do that. ‘Power’ is the pride of the red race. If you force a red dragon by power, it would give them a lot of stress.”
It was as expected. Thinking back on the last words of the Red Dragon in the previous rounds, Yu Jitae understood her words.
“That’s troublesome.”
“Hmm… But must you bring her in? If you’re thinking of keeping a dragon as a pet, isn’t it enough with just me?”
Her words were baffling in two different ways. One, he didn’t need a pet, and her alone wasn’t enough either.
“Like I said before, the reason I’m bringing you guys in is to protect you. Instead of being an owner of pets, I will be the guardian of you guys as beings.”
Bom flickered her eyes.
“And the Red Dragon will be injured if I don’t bring her back in time. There are guys aiming for her.”
‘How do you know that though?’ Bom momentarily had such a doubt regarding Yu Jitae’s words but soon, Bom twitched her fingers in thought.
“For now, there’s no decent method.”
“Pretty much.”
“Then I’ll go together and see what I can help you with.”
Those were helpful words. Yu Jitae thought for a bit before giving a reply.
“Come over when I call you.”
*
After that Yu Jitae headed towards Africa, the Barren Lands.
Ever since the New Era, the desolate continent turned into an area that became more and more difficult for people to live in. In the midst of a large desert that was at least dozens of times larger than the Republic of Korea, Yu Jitae walked towards a group of superhumans.
“Let’s have a chat.”
“Which bastard are you! How dare you come…!”
The Red Dragon had hidden its aura. Even the Regressor couldn’t immediately locate a dragon with a hidden aura straight after crossing the borders, and had to carry his feet around. He had gone around a dozen or so locations, but there still weren’t any results. After making the superhumans submit with a few punches, Yu Jitae asked.
“Oi.”
Language wasn’t an issue, because Yu Jitae also had [Fallen Babel (S)].
“Have you seen the Fighter of the Night?”
Fighter of the Night was an alias the Red Dragon used when it was active in Africa.
“Ukk…! N, no I haven’t.”
When the superhuman replied, Yu Jitae’s left eye started being painted in a blue light.
[Eyes of Equilibrium (SS)]
It was one of the three Authorities stolen from the Archduke of the Demon World, an eye that could distinguish the target’s nature of good and evil, the authenticity in their words and the favourability held by the target.
“Do not avoid my eyes.”
Yu Jitae stared deeply into the superhuman’s eyes. Feeling the gaze that seemed to pierce through his heart, the man felt like everything he had was being seen through and wetted his pants.
Soon after, a status screen appeared inside Yu Jitae’s head.
[False]
This kid.
Yu Jitae, who was already annoyed from going around in vain, formed an indifferent expression, and soon a scream was heard.
“Uaaaaaak!”
And around the time the sun was about to set, Yu Jitae was able to track the Red Dragon. He could sense its aura a short distance away from himself.
When he gave a phone call, Bom who had received the call used [Teleport (S)] to appear right next to him.
“Did you find her already?”
“Yeah. But the situation isn’t looking that great.”
Following his words, Bom also turned towards the place Yu Jitae was facing.
“That’s true.”
From afar, sounds of explosions could be heard on repeat. There currently must be a huge fight happening.
“Stay here for now. Don’t get caught up in their fight.”
“Yes.”
Leaving Bom behind, Yu Jitae headed towards the place where the fights were happening and found superhumans wearing facemasks that only revealed their eyes. There were roughly ten or so of them, and judging from the pattern drawn behind their backs, they appeared to be a fighting organisation under the SAN.
They carried large spears and surrounded someone in the middle and were cooperating against it. The one in the middle of all that was a woman wearing a wooden mask.
“Javelin!”
“Yes!”
In response to the masked man’s words, a javelin tosser in the back that had been concentrating his mana twisted his back and tossed it in a posture that seemed to be from a painting.
[Lightning Strike (B)]
The spear enveloped by lightning darkened its surroundings and headed towards the girl wearing a wooden mask. It was fast, and oppressive. In that situation which even a high-ranked superhuman would be pressured by, the Wooden Mask reached its hand out to grab the shaft of the spear.
Chwaruruk–!
However, the explosion from the lightning grazed the wooden mask which then immediately dropped off. Then, the face behind the mask was revealed.
Its white skin seemed to have been sculpted from white jade and the crimson lips resembled blood. Her beautiful nose and the eyes with heavy double eyelids had madness lurking within. Behind all that, the red ruby-like hair flickered in the sunset.
The moment the face that appeared to be of a girl in her late teens, just like Bom, appeared from behind the mask, all the masked superhumans halted their movements.
In the past, in an unknown round of regression, an artist saw a dragon’s beauty and said the following: “It is a beauty that broadens the humans’ concept of aesthetics.”
And that appearance had shown itself right in front of them.
“Hah, f*ck…”
But a crude voice that crushed their emotions escaped its lips. Swinging the spear in its hands, the Red Dragon spoke.
“Oppas, I don’t show my face that often. ‘Cuz I hate seeing people stop and do shit like this.”
“Y, you…! What in the world are you!”
“Why do you want to know. Do you want to come visit my house?”
The Red Dragon then began laughing in a low voice.
“If you want to, come during the dawn. Let’s play together, quietly.”
Along with those words, it licked someone’s blood that remained on the spear and began chortling. It was clearly a provocation.
As insane as always, thought Yu Jitae – those were his honest thoughts.
The commander that had finally come to his senses shouted.
“This is the bastard’s magic! Do not get dazed by it!”
“Hatt…!”
“Yes!”
“Don’t be careless and slowly tighten the encirclement!”
That was the start of round 2. Swords and spears flew by, as masses of fire and ice fell. However, the Red Dragon was stronger than them. It immediately defeated the entire crowd of masked men and tossed the spear in its hand.
The spear flew towards Yu Jitae who was standing next to the rock in the desert. He tilted his head slightly and dodged it.
“You dodged that?”
With a grin, it jumped towards Yu Jitae. The longsword in its waist flew forward with an oppressive force but Yu Jitae grabbed it with his bare hand. Amusingly, the strike filled with mana was stopped by the man’s hand way too easily.
The Red Dragon’s eyes enlarged.
Yu Jitae did not stop there and pulled the sword in as the small body then helplessly followed the pulling force. The dragon went “uhh?” and hurriedly let go of the sword, before falling back with haste.
When the two of them stood face to face once again, mischief had vanished from the Red Dragon’s face.
“…You, what are you?”
The life of the red race revolved around searching endlessly for those stronger than itself and due to that, they could get a grasp of their opponent’s power level. According to its senses, the man was strong – strong to the level that it could not dare reach.
“Nice to meet you.”
Yu Jitae gave a greeting. His voice resembled that of a stiff broomstick dusting a dried up land.