For someone to become a ‘ranker’, connection was necessary.
That was proven by the fact that most of the rankers had organisations at their basis, like a renowned household, a large guild, or support from a transnational corporation.
An example was Rank 9, Myung Yongha the ‘Druid of Regeneration’, who belonged to Korea’s ‘Myung Household’, which was known for its prowess in magic. Ever since a young age, he had stepped through an elitist course while receiving tremendous support from the family.
With an excellent talent, backed up by money and his own effort, Myung Yongha was able to become a world ranker despite still being in his late twenties.
However, BM was different.
He appeared out of nowhere, and unlike other rankers, he had no organisation or household that he belonged in. He would always act alone, and didn’t cooperate with anyone.
BM didn’t have enough connection to become a ranker. Nothing, including his childhood days and his background, were known. At the very least, it was unknown to the general population and due to that, the public had always been curious about it.
Where did BM come from?
The Regressor knew.
“Hmm…”
Once again, BM tried smelling the white alcohol. It was the smell of a fruit that couldn’t be found on Earth, and with a blank expression, he kept smelling it.
Approximately 40 years ago, there had been an incident that struck the entire world, ‘Mass Disappearance of Babylon’.
Back then, thousands of young superhumans with great talent had vanished in groups. Due to the sudden incident, various governments put their heads together and searched for the missing people but ended up finding none.
BM was a victim of the Mass Disappearance of Babylon.
Back then, Jung Bongman disappeared inside the classroom of a superhuman primary school in Gangwon-do, and only came back to Earth after 15 years had passed.
He was a returnee.
At the same time, he was the first returnee from the nearby world, [Arandot], and that was the reason he could become the world’s second strongest person without any background.
“…This… where did you get this from?”
Towards the end of the sixth iteration, Yu Jitae had dropped by Arandot while on his way to the Demon World, and came across that bottle of alcohol there. It wasn’t to his taste so he left it inside the [Shallows of the Abyss (S)] and now it was seeing the light of the day.
“I just got it from somewhere.”
“Are you giving me this while knowing what this means to me? Now I can see how you know so much about me. Are you perhaps from Arand…”
“No. Whatever you’re thinking of, that’s not the case. And don’t try to find out too much about me.”
Not just the origin of the alcohol, but also about himself – Yu Jitae was telling him to remain silent about everything. BM understood his words, but for him that wasn’t the important part.
“Haa, that’s crazy. Seriously… crazy…”
Alcohol from Arandot.
This was the first time he came across it in the last 25 years ever since he had returned to Earth. No matter how hard he looked around, he couldn’t find anything from Arandot on Earth.
This was more than enough for a rent fee.
While carrying the little bottle of alcohol, which he wouldn’t dare drink, carefully with both of his hands, BM could only smell it repeatedly.
In any case, his task was over, and Yu Jitae was about to leave, but a sudden thought flashed across his head and he asked BM.
“Can I ask you for a favour?”
***
Yeorum was in a very bad mood.
There weren’t many things in the world that could put her in such a state, and the only things that could were Yu Kaeul, and her own diehard fans who had a few screws loose.
She wasn’t expecting this kid to annoy her as well.
The blue-haired child was glaring at her, and Yeorum returned the glare. It had been almost ten minutes since the two of them started this.
“Step aside.”
Shake, shake.
“Move.”
Shake, shake.
“Freakin’, why. I’m not saying I’d go in. I’m just going to open the door slightly and sneak a glance.”
Gyeoul shook her head yet again.
Before Yu Jitae walked into BM’s workshop, he stood in front of the door and gave a firm order to Yeorum and Gyeoul.
– Stay here until I come out. Do not come in.
He said that because he didn’t want Gyeoul to see the horrendous view inside the workshop. Although she was unaware of that, she blocked Yeorum from opening the door because that was what he had said.
“You’re seriously annoying, did you know?”
“…”
“How ridiculous. A little kid, dares to stop her unni from entering, huh?”
“…”
Dragons tended to treat other races rather indifferently like an old neighbour, but the red dragons and the blue dragons had an especially bad relationship.
This was related to their characteristics.
Red dragons loved fighting, but blue dragons preferred peace. And due to their attributes, it was difficult for a red dragon to defeat a blue dragon in a fight.
Thus, when there was a conflict between the races and the regulation of the green race didn’t work, it was the role of the blue dragons to suppress the red race.
This long-time discord that continued for over dozens of thousands of years, was being portrayed by the baby dragons.
“You have no idea what’s happening inside there right now, right?”
“…”
“Some super strong guys will be fighting right now. Do you think it’s easy to see such an interesting thing? There will be like, lightning falling from the sky, explosions, blood, you know?”
As if she was uninterested, Gyeoul gave a frown.
“If you keep doing this, you’ll get smacked on your butt by your unni. Didn’t you see Kaeul?”
“…”
“Am I asking for a lot? Just open the door slightly and glance through the gap. Isn’t that fine?”
“…No.”
Damn. The kid who never spoke a word during the past week opened her mouth now. It meant that she would never move aside, in other words.
Yeorum wanted to look at the fight, and was therefore let down.
‘Haa, what should I do with this little kid? I can’t hit her tiny body, and I can’t tie her up somewhere either.’
Look at this small blue kid, confidently crossing her arms in front of the large door.
‘But I really want to see what’s happening inside. What should I do…’
After thinking for some time, she lowered her body and opened her mouth with a warm voice.
“My dear lovely sister.”
“??”
Gyeoul was flustered.
“Are you feeling happy these days?”
“…?”
“Probably not, right? You were a little disappointed because our ahjussi doesn’t play around with you, right?”
“…”
It was right on the mark and tension appeared on Gyeoul’s face.
Just like what Yeorum said, Yu Jitae didn’t play with her much after coming back from the trip. He seemed busy, and spent much less time inside the house.
Because of that, Gyeoul was feeling slightly regretful inside.
“If you move aside, I’ll try persuading ahjussi.”
“…!”
“You know as well right, that ahjussi listens to us rather easily.”
…Was that the case?
Gyeoul tried thinking for a bit, and realised that that seemed to be the case.
“So step aside for a bit. I take a look at what’s happening inside, and you can go play with our ahjussi. Then it will be good for you, and good for me, right?”
Yeorum was laughing inside.
Little Gyeoul was still hesitating. This was still slightly lacking, and she needed a little bit more sugar.
“There’s a lot of snow these days. You’ll go sledding with ahjussi.”
“…?”
“Why. Do you not know what sledding is?”
“…”
“As expected of a kid… now, listen. You and ahjussi will be sitting together on a long seat, and you will be sliding down a mountain of snow. You’ll be sitting in the front, leaning down on ahjussi who’s right behind you, and while speeding down the slope, some pieces of snow will splash on you.”
After imagining that, Gyeoul’s chin slowly dropped.
Wha… there was an otherworldly thing like that…?
“Sounds fun right?”
Nod.
“But after playing like that, it’ll be cold.”
Nod, nod.
“Do you know what you would need then?”
Shake, shake, shake.
“Ahjussi will boil a warm soup for you. For you alone.”
That was the finisher.
Gyeoul tried imagining it once again. Cool breeze. A mountain covered in snow. Yu Jitae and a sled. A warm soup made by Yu Jitae. After giving her a bowl of soup, Yu Jitae would probably say…
‘Here you go.’
A bolt of lightning struck her head as a ‘helele’ smile appeared on her lips.
Yeorum did not miss that. It was now over, and as she had expected, dealing with a little child was a piece of cake.
“So, can you step aside for a bit?”
“…”
That was when Gyeoul broke out from her fantasy, and returned to her normal self. Despite some hesitation, she still shook her head.
It was yet another fail.
Yeorum felt annoyance soaring up within. She relied on her final piece of patience and barely stopped herself from the urge to hit something.
But suddenly, she noticed something and looked to the side.
“Huh?”
“…?”
“You, why are you coming from there? Are you done with everything?”
Hearing her words, Gyeoul turned her head to the side while expecting Yu Jitae, but there was no-one on the other side of the corridor of the labyrinth.
When she turned her head back to the front, Yeoum wasn’t there. She, who had gone behind Gyeoul in the blink of an eye, was giving a relaxed smile at her.
“…Ah.”
One second felt as long as ten minutes.
Yeorum placed her hand on top of the knob;
And Gyeoul was about to scream ‘no’.
The door was opened from the inside all of a sudden. Yeorum ended up standing in front of Yu Jitae, and gave an awkward smile.
“Ooh, hello? Are you all done already?”
“Yeah.”
“Haa, fuckin’…”
Nothing seemed to be working out properly.
Yeorum ill-temperedly ran her finger through her hair.
*
Even now, Ha Saetbyul and the protector were floating in the air while being carried by the hands. Yu Jitae was about to head to the inner room of the labyrinth with them.
“Ah, right. Can I go there as well?”
Yu Jitae gave a nod.
On the other side of the corridor, at a place not too far from the workshop, there was a large door.
Opening the door, Yu Jitae walked inside, and after glancing at the room from behind his back, Yeorum opened her mouth wide.
“Wah…”
The large cylindrical room was filled with a myriad of natural colours. In the air there was a large crystal, the size of a normal apartment, and that was the source of the various lights.
“Fuckin’, that’s the size of my breast…”
“…”
“Ah, it feels somewhat relaxing after coming in here.”
Yeorum gave a comfortable expression, as if she was resting under gentle sunlight, and Gyeoul in Yu Jitae’s arms, looked like she just woke up from sleep.
It was due to the mana that was being emanated by the large crystal.
The hands followed Yu Jitae’s will and dropped Ha Saetbyul and the protector there. Although the floor was made of rock, just like any other place of the labyrinth, they glanced around with a comfortable look after sitting down.
“You two, stay here. I’ll come for you after you get better.”
“Aahh, yes…”
“Okay…”
The two of them replied with a half-dreamy expression.
It wasn’t this fast for the dragons, and it was probably working better because one was a human while the other was a living armour.
When Yu Jitae came back, Yeorum asked him.
“Wahh… this is amazing. How does this work? And what is that large thing?”
A way to perfectly stabilise a ferocious beast and thus locking it up – it was to give it satisfaction.
The name of that large crystal was [Fragment of Paradise].
From the outside, it looked like a large gem, but it was quite complex inside. It was the essence of magic research of a certain dimension where magic was the most developed in.
After being surrounded by the light that left the Fragment of Paradise, existences will be put in a happy, satisfied state. They would feel high, and whatever they did would make them feel at ease.
It was at a needlessly grandiose scale for a simple monster. Perhaps the great mage of the alternate dimension knew that a human life was a continuation of pain and anguish, and thus created that in hope of solving the fundamental problem.
However, Yu Jitae didn’t like the Fragment of Paradise that much. It was a very dangerous object.
According to his experience, it seemed to have an expiration date for dragons. While quietly staring at Yeorum’s face, he reminisced on the past memories before turning around.
“…It feels super good. I feel like I could take a dump now.”
“Let’s go.”
“Ah, why. Can’t we stay inside a bit more?”
“Come out.”
Gyeoul also pulled on Yu Jitae’s sleeves, as if she found it regretful, and her gaze showed her desire to stay a bit longer.
However, Yu Jitae grabbed Yeorum by her arm and walked out.
“Ah, ah…! What are you doing? Like I said, just a bit more!”
“…Hing.”
Yeorum complained while Gyeoul showed her discontentment with a nasal sound. The two of them remained reluctant with a dreamy expression, but as soon as the door of the ‘inner room’ was closed, they blinked their eyes as if they woke up from an illusion.
“Huh? Uh…? What the fuck is this.”
Yeorum scowled.
She was most likely feeling weird right now. The moment a forced injection of happiness shattered, what was left was an uncontrollable sense of emptiness.
The Regressor didn’t like the dragons being in this place for too long. This was a place where he had failed, and was a place that had given incomparable pain to the dragons. He would’ve destroyed everything if not for its usefulness.
Thus, he carried his feet forward.
“You too, wake up.”
While walking, Yu Jitae pinched Gyeoul on her cheek. The child’s cheek stretched out like a rice cake, as she slowly gave a nod in a distracted state.
…But because they had stayed there for a short time, the dragons seemed relatively unaffected – judging from the fact that she was still facing a smile at him.