At this rate, the sword was about to break.
Yu Jitae, who had been holding the sword back from stabbing Ha Saetbyul’s heart, changed his mind. By slightly altering the trajectory of the sword, he let it stab her stomach. Blood oozed out of the wound despite the sword having avoided the organs, but it would serve no threat to her life.
After letting out a groan, Ha Saetbyul slowly opened her mouth.
“Why, why aren’t you killing me…?”
Instead of the unisexual voice, she spoke with her own tone of voice. Yu Jitae didn’t reply and the sword stopped at its place after piercing through her.
In silence, he took off his coat and covered the half-naked Ha Saetbyul with it. She was buried inside his large coat.
“Why aren’t you killing me…? It was you that killed me in the past…”
He raised her body and rose up to the surface of the water without a word.
“You should kill me… that’s what you did in the past as well. You killed me; you tortured me the entire night and slowly killed me – it was you. You have no idea how much it hurt back then, right?”
While Yu Jitae was heading up, Ha Saetbyul glared at him as if he was a devil incarnate and gushed forth with curses.
“You killed me, and let others die as well. You were a useless leader! And yet now you feel a sense of guilt or something? Is that why you’re not killing me even though I became a demon?”
After reaching the surface level, Yu Jitae killed his presence and carried Ha Saetbyul in his arms before flying off to the distance. On the other side of Hetheia’s Ocean with no other human beings in sight, he dropped down.
“You must have felt sorry? To me? I want you to feel more and more sorry because it really hurted back then.”
Seven regressions.
Roughly 100 years of life.
He had thought that all the memories had been emptied out in the midst of those long years. Until now, that’s what he had been thinking but it seemed to have been wrong.
“That morning, I was really…”
– I’m… cold…
“…cold.”
That one word from before jumped over the restraints of time and became a dagger that pierced his heart. If Ha Saetbyul had survived back then, would she have cursed him like now? Even being a regressor wasn’t enough to let him know that.
“Say something–!!”
She shouted with a devilish face but Yu Jitae remained silent.
Right now, he had two enemies: one was Ha Saetbyul who had become a demon; and the other was the existence on the other side of the Horizon of Providence.
The situation was complex and muddled up, but the Regressor knew of a method that could untie the tangled knot of fate. Closing his eyes, he entered the alternate dimension inside him alongside Ha Saetbyul.
[Shallows of the Abyss (S)]
It was a place which Yu Jitae usually used as storage. Within the darkness, Yu Jitae and Ha Saetbyul opened their eyes and despite the change in the environment, she continued shouting without concern.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Why?! Why aren’t you killing me? Don’t you think it’s too late for you to escape from your guilt? Do you think letting me live at this point will erase your sin?”
Ignoring her words, he thought.
‘Lords’ residing in the abyss couldn’t directly affect the events of the real world. Thus, they lent a portion of their power through contracts and the results were ‘demons’ like Ha Saetbyul, who was in front of him.
There was one method which could let Ha Saetbyul survive.
For the Regressor, it was an extremely bothersome, tiresome, and annoying task; it was a shit method. That method, was to kill the Seventh Lord of the Abyss, Lakshata, who had formed a contract with her.
“You are a sinner. You must receive your due punishment after commiting a sin. Kill me. Kill me one more time just like how you did in the past! And remember your forgotten sense of guilt. Carry those memories and regret it. Suffer! Forever! So, hurry up and—”
The issue lied with the unique characteristics of the space ‘Abyss’. It was deep, dark and was as enormous as a dimension, jumbled with the auras of countless lords. Finding Lakshata’s castle in a location like that was impossible for the Regressor as well, but after having gone through extrication, Ha Saetbyul’s aura was similar to Lakshata’s.
In other words, she could serve as a navigation device.
“Kill me—!!”
But there was one thing that had to be taken care of before going to see Lakshata. With a relaxed expression, Yu Jitae crouched down on the spot, and looked at Ha Saetbyul’s devilish expression.
“You, have no talents as an actor.”
“…!”
His face appeared oddly calm, but that apparently wasn’t to Ha Saetbyul’s liking. With a short distance between them, she raised her hand and moved her shoulder along with her body in a slapping motion.
Slap!
However, the one who ended up with their head turned was Ha Saetbyul – Yu Jitae had slapped her before she could. Touching her reddened cheek, she looked back at him as the Regressor’s lips began curling up.
“Oi.”
“…”
“Is it fun entering the body of a poor girl and doing whatever you want?”
A dry voice escaped his lips.
***
Yu Jitae wasn’t here today.
Whenever that was the case, she would wait in front of the front entrance and wait for him with the teddy bears.
But now, she knew that even without her waiting there, Yu Jitae would come back before long. Thinking that, Gyeoul rolled around on the sofa of the living room, which was Yu Jitae’s favourite spot.
However, she suddenly felt uncomfortable, and after coming down from the sofa, she carefully headed to Bom’s room. And as if to prove her intuition, the flowers inside the pots were drooping down powerlessly.
What about Bom-unni?
She wasn’t inside her room.
Gyeoul worriedly created water out of thin air, and the blob of water created from mana wavered in the air. She watered the withered flowers but even the water carrying the aura of a blue dragon wasn’t able to do anything to the flowers.
Thus, she walked around looking for Bom.
Bom was on the veranda, on the other side of the living room. Sitting on the windowsill, she was staring at a distant place with an uneasy gaze.
For some reason, Gyeoul became worried about her and therefore toddled her way up to Bom. She then decided to carefully ask her.
“…Are you, okay?”
Bom faced her with a rather sorrowful, and lonely look.
“Un. I’m okay.”
“…”
Spreading her arms wide open, Gyeoul walked up to Bom, who raised her up and seated her down on her legs.
“…”
After placing Gyeoul down on her legs, Bom returned her gaze to a distant place.
It was strange. There was an ‘ominous something’ which couldn’t be seen by her eyes looking into Providence. Resembling a drop of ink over a well-drawn painting, that alone had deviated from Providence.
And ahjussi definitely had to face that ‘ominous something’.
Perhaps he will get injured.
Maybe he will suffer from it.
Bom bit her lips.
Whatever the case, ahjussi had to show his intention to that ‘ominous something’, and had to gain more intel about it. That was the best road out of all the possibilities that had been seen by her.
“…”
When she turned her head, she found Gyeoul watching her with a worried look. Thus, Bom fixed her expression and caressed the child’s head.
“Should we wait together?”
Gyeoul nodded her head.
***
From the start, he had been thinking that something was strange.
Prototype X, and her appearance and ability as a demon, as well as the curse that left her mouth.
Like a device installed with the sole target being Yu Jitae, every one of its components were urging him to kill Ha Saetbyul. And yet now that he was delaying the murder, it downright revealed its true self and was forcing him to kill her.
Kill Ha Saetbyul, and suffer while thinking back on those memories – that was the message from ‘that guy’. Seeing that he was still not going to kill her, it started talking with its own mouth, to kill herself and feel guilt from it.
Truly, it was a laughable thing.
Within the darkness, Yu Jitae clicked his fingers. Along with a click, hands crawled out from the dark dimension and grabbed Yu Jitae alongside Ha Saetbyul. The hands then started dragging them deeper into the abyss.
When they reached slightly deeper in, the skill’s name changed.
From [Shallows of the Abyss (S)]
To [Deeper into the Abyss (S+)]
They started going down to a place where nothing could be seen or heard. Meanwhile, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“It must have been fun, right? You just had to stare on from a distant place and utter complete nonsense however you desired.”
“…!”
He continued on.
“Do you wish for my downfall?”
The woman widened her eyes. This woman wasn’t the Seventh Lord of the Abyss because Lakshata had a unisexual voice.
At the same time, she wasn’t Ha Saetbyul herself.
The intention that had flown all the way from the other side of the Horizon of Providence had followed the protector’s sword and had entered Ha Saetbyul’s body.
In other words, Ha Saetbyul in front of him, was ‘that guy’ who had cursed him from the Horizon of Providence and it was the first chance he got to converse with it.
“What are you trying to say? Do you not remember my voice?”
He was expecting it to widen its eyes in shock and ask how he noticed it, but it had apparently decided to act things out till the very end.
Yu Jitae ignored it’s words.
Around that point in time, the hands carrying Yu Jitae and Ha Saetbyul reached a very deep level.
[Depths of the Abyss (SS-)]
Slowly, a thick and muddy demonic aura started filling the surroundings. It was also Yu Jitae’s first time going past this point, because there had been no reason for him to go past here. However, the Regressor seemed uninterested in something like that and opened his mouth while looking into Ha Saetbyul’s eyes.
“I have no idea who you are.”
“…”
“Nor do I know why you’re doing this to me.”
“…!”
“You probably won’t say it either, because my confusion and doubt will also be your joy.”
Ha Saetbyul’s face crumpled in a devilish manner. She then screamed, “What nonsense are you talking about!” as loud as she could. Yu Jitae was once again ascertained that he was right, by the fact that an ominous mana flickered next to the sword stabbing into her stomach, when ‘that guy’ became agitated.
“Like you said, I am a sinner. I have killed many things, and there are many who have suffered because of me. Is that why you said that? About how I need to receive punishment for being a sinner?”
When Yu Jitae opened his mouth, she started gushing out with a scream and a plethora of curses. While taking all those words in, Yu Jitae gave a hazy smile.
“I have come too far for atonement.”
He walked up to her. In a seizure, Ha Saetbyul shouted for him to kill her but Yu Jitae ignored that and continued.
“It was a very long time.”
Her screams exploded out yet again.
It was too noisy for him to talk. Yu Jitae grabbed that guy by its neck and blocked its breath. The air felt heavier as the Regressor’s gaze likewise turned deeper.
“At the start, I was slightly angered after thinking that you were interrupting with my iteration, but now that I think about it, it seems okay. You don’t know me well, and there are several sloppy parts. If something like this is everything you’ve prepared for, then I think you are far too lacking to even dare talk about punishing me. So, you can do whatever you want if you wish to do so.”
As if she wanted to say something, Ha Saetbyul gasped for breath but there was no meaning in listening to it.
“However, today as well as other days – maybe forever. It’ll be hard to find me suffering from something. I have received more punishments than what you are aware of, and am currently receiving a few as well.”
Yu Jitae slowly continued his words.
“The years I have lived through have already been hellish. I’m quite used to pain.”
Through Ha Saetbyul’s eyes, he stared at the eyes of the ‘existence on the other side of the Horizon of Providence’.
“You did your best messing around but what a shame, right?”
That was when [Vintage Clock (EX)] who had been pushed back started revealing its power again.
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has recovered its power.]
“In return… I will start looking into your identity. Things like who you are, and where you’re hiding.”
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has confirmed traces of the other side of the horizon from the target, [Ha Saetbyul].]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] is starting to gather traces of the revealed [Hostility].]
[[Hostility]’s Trace Fragment gathered: 1%…]
[[Hostility]’s Trace Fragment gathered: 2%…]
[[Hostility]’s Trace Fragment gathered: 3%…]
Meanwhile, they arrived at the ground of the depths as the hands placed Yu Jitae and Ha Saetbyul down.
[Very Depths of the Abyss (SS)]
The deepest location of the alternate dimension used by Yu Jitae – although the place was covered in darkness, an invisible demonic aura suppressed the entire area in a manner that resembled a quagmire of molten steel.
Normal rankers would have a hard time breathing.
He turned around.
As the darkness was unveiled, he could see a large gate made of gold, reaching the skies, standing tall behind him. This was the castle gate of the existence of the abyss with whom Ha Saetbyul had contracted, the Seventh Lord of the Abyss, Lakshata.
Turning his head, Yu Jitae stared at his ex-lover who was being carried in the air by his hand.
“After I take care of this, I will start looking for you slowly but surely. There’ll be many things that need to be known, like your identity, location and reason. Even then, I will find you and if I find you somewhere after who knows how long…”
The Regressor’s clear gaze reached Ha Saetbyul’s eyes.
“Then you can try acting up again.”
He pulled out the protector’s longsword which was piercing Ha Saetbyul’s stomach and raised it up. Then, he swung the sword at the palace gates.
Kaaaaaaang–!
Losing its power, the protector’s longsword was crushed into pieces and at the same time, Ha Saetbyul collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Her connection with ‘that guy’ had been fully severed.
Yu Jitae carefully raised Ha Saetbyul, who had collapsed again.
Then, he pushed open the tall, sky-reaching palace gates.
*
Lakshata the Seventh Lord was unexpectedly stubborn.
“Cancel your contract.”
He scoffed. Seeing that it rejected the offer despite Yu Jitae saying it nicely, he smacked Lakshata a few times, but it remained stubborn.
However, when the palace began crumbling and half of it had been destroyed, he changed his mind, and said that the contract would be annulled, while he would stay quiet about the entire matter. Although Yu Jitae had also suffered some damage, it was within the scope of a recoverable wound.
After that, Yu Jitae carried Ha Saetbyul and returned to [Shallows of the Abyss (S)].
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] shows gratitude.]
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] claims that a periodical observation of target, [Ha Saetbyul] is necessary in order to find out who is behind the [Hostility] coming from the other side of the Horizon of Providence.]
He looked at the woman in his arms who had lost her consciousness.
Looking back, she had never been her true self from the very moment Ha Saetbyul had met Yu Jitae. At the start, she was a contractor of Lakshata, and was later an incarnate of ‘that guy’.
But thanks to that, she had become a navigation device for the other side of the Horizon of Providence, from a navigation device of the abyss.
It seemed that it was his fate to be involved with her in some way or another.
The first priority right now was to recover the body which had become a mess, and Yu Jitae therefore decided to take her back to the dormitory for now.
When she wakes up, she would be the true Ha Saetbyul herself.