Yu Jitae stared at Yeorum.
Each second felt like a minute and he could hear Kaeul’s lengthened voice calling out, “Ooouuuuhhhhhh nuuuoooooo–”. Naturally, he wasn’t thinking of getting hit by it, and it should be okay to just grab it.
At least that’s what he had thought.
Suddenly Gyeoul, who was in Yu Jitae’s arms, opened her eyes wide with a flash as she glared daggers at Yeorum. She had known that a day like this would come, and that red lizard was finally showing its true colours.
The cake was slowly coming closer, to Yu Jitae…!
– Protect.
Thinking of the word of a certain grandpa which remained in her small head, Gyeoul reached forth with her arm. Mana, densely packed with the water attribute, gathered at one place and wrapped around the cake before having it bounce off to the direction it came from.
Yeorum widened her eyes. The cake was flying towards her face, but Yeorum with her good reflexes was able to lower her head in time.
Then, the cake flew behind her towards Kaeul’s face.
“Adorubilb!”
Kaeul threw her arms forward along with a bizarre shout.
“…!”
In the next instant, Kaeul’s eyes shot wide open. Rather surprisingly, the cake being protected by mana landed exactly on her hands.
“Kaeul. Are you alright?”
“…”
“…Ah.”
Bom, Yeorum and Gyeoul turned to Kaeul with surprise. Receiving those gazes, Kaeul threw her chest out and revealed the cake with her hands.
“Tada-!”
Only then did Bom and Gyeoul let out sighs of relief, while Yeorum walked up to her with circular eyes.
“Oi. Anything wrong?”
“Of course not! I may look like this, but I’m a dragon!”
“Let’s see, let’s see…!”
“Uh? Nn?”
“Thank goodness. The cream’s still fine.”
“Nn…?”
Yeorum showed her sincerest relief as she stared at the cake. “You weren’t talking about me…?” whispered Kaeul, with disappointment while glancing at Yeorum.
“Anyways, I can’t trust you unni! Go away!”
“What are you saying. Pass me the cake.”
“No! I’ll give it to ahjussi!”
“Give it.”
As she dodged Yeorum’s hands and took a step back, her legs were caught by the little ropes of lights used for Christmas, that were hanging on her body.
“Uh…?”
Because she wasn’t tensed up like before:
“Kkuaang–!”
She wriggled her arms around and fell behind while dropping the cake on her face.
“Kyaa, hahaha!”
Yeorum laughed like a witch.
***
“Uuh… I’m sorry ahjussi.”
After cleaning everything up;
“I thought we might need it.”
Bom took out a second cake which she had prepared.
“Happy birthday dear ahjussi~”
“Happy birthday… Yu Jitae~”
They cursorily sang the happy birthday song.
“Yap!”
Kaeul popped her lightning mana like firecrackers;
Click–
And Yeorum clicked her fingers to light the candles standing on the cake;
“…Hu.”
And Yu Jitae blew the lights off.
“…Heuh.”
Then, Gyeoul copied Yu Jitae.
Next up was a photo-taking session. It was seriously hard to imagine how long they had been preparing this for – Bom and Kaeul took out a birthday cone hat and party horns.
There was nothing he could do. In an instant, the dull-coloured Regressor had a cone-shaped hat placed on top of his head, while Gyeoul bit on the party horn.
Bbooo–!
He still thought he wasn’t suited for a thing like this, but they nonetheless looked at the photos and giggled.
Bom slowly sliced up the cake and gave each a piece.
The Regressor spared some time to glance around the surroundings. Underneath the bright lamp, he could see dragons wearing bright smiles. It was truly, an unfamiliar scene.
As he repeated the regressions, he had started to ignore celebratory events.
Whatever the case, celebrating and commemorating something contained meaning because it wouldn’t come back. To him who repeated going back in time, special people became common, and specific days that should never come back approached him several times.
Perhaps because of that, the Regressor wasn’t feeling much even now.
However, it was different for them.
“Nuoo. Why do you look so weird in that cone hat, ahjussi?! It feels like this picture would come out of a horror movie!”
“And this looks like it’s from National Geographic.”
“Nn? What! What’s wrong with my solo picture!”
They were celebrating his birthday with sincerity, with extremely content expressions, while preparing a variety of things.
“Ahjussi! How do you feel?”
“…”
“Great right? It’s like, my first time celebrating someone else’s birthday!”
“…”
“How is it? Nn? Come on?”
Yu Jitae thus realised something.
It was probably their first time commemorating someone’s birthday. Even if it wasn’t, at the very least, it was their first time celebrating Yu Jitae’s birthday. For them, today was a special day, and was worth celebrating.
Although it was his birthday today, at the same time it was an anniversary for them.
Yu Jitae slowly gave a reply.
“Feels good.”
Kaeul and Gyeoul chuckled and clapped.
“Now.”
Around the time they almost finished the cake, Bom opened her mouth.
“Now will be the time for presents.”
“Yesss!”
Presents?
“What presents.”
“You don’t want them?”
“It’s okay. I’m not a kid.”
When Yu Jitae shook his hand, Gyeoul placed her hands on her hips in a commanding posture.
Gaze: Wants to refute.
What.
“That’s not right, ahjussi…! Ahjussi is a little kid.”
What was this about.
“Ahjussi’s only 27 years old right?”
“…”
“Hmm. You actually look like you’re a lot older than that but… anyways, 27 is a kid in terms of dragons you know? Like me.”
“That’s true for dragons, but it’s not a young age for humans.”
“Hmm, but, the ones giving the presents right now are dragons, right?”
“The receiver is human though.”
“Mhmm… that’s not it… But, ahjussi is a kid though…”
Kaeul was trying to expand on her own logic, but turned to Bom with perplexity after being rebutted. As the baby chicken’s saving grace, Bom opened her mouth.
“A young and weak dependent can still give presents.”
Bom had seen through Yu Jitae’s essence.
‘Receiving something from someone’ was also rare for him. It was a type of constraint as he was always the one controlling relationships and distances. Giving and receiving were only allowed inside his regulations, and it was his habit as a dictator.
“In situations like this, you can just receive it.”
While saying that, Bom handed a small box over.
“Me too, me too!” said Kaeul, while giving him a packaged box. Gyeoul also held out a small box, but when Yu Jitae tried to grab it, she pulled her hands back.
Yu Jitae opened Bom’s present on the spot.
It was made out of metal, and resembled a thick pendant in a circular shape. When he pressed a button that was on the side, the lid opened up.
Inside was a pretty pocket watch.
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] is nervous.]
What was wrong.
Ah.
Thinking back, he remembered it being jealous of a watch in around the fourth iteration.
“Ah, you know. That’s not the end.”
“Huh?”
“Press the button on the top side.”
There was indeed another button near the top as she had said. When Yu Jitae pressed on it, another lid, located on the original lid-part of the pocket watch, was opened. Inside, there was the group picture that had been taken at the Lake of Life. The date and the location, as well as a sentence, ‘Fun times ^^~’ were written with a marker.
It appeared that Bom had written those herself.
“Thanks.”
A gentle smile appeared on Bom’s lips.
[The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] is on guard.]
“Next is mine!”
“Ah, right.”
Kaeul’s box was light. When he unboxed it, there was a small paper inside, and thinking that it might be a letter, he opened it up and read the words that were written with a pleasant handwriting.
[Wish Card ♥]
“A wish card?”
“Hehe.”
“What is this.”
“Like, I pondered about it with unni over a week, right? But I just couldn’t think of what ahjussi needed.”
“And.”
“And that’s why I made this. If there’s something you need, whatever! And whenever you want! You can ask me for it.”
“Whatever?”
“Yes. Whatever you want!”
“Even money?”
“M, money? H, how much…?”
It was a joke, but the baby chicken seriously murmured to itself, “This month’s allowance…”
“Thanks.”
After unboxing Kaeul’s present, Gyeoul fidgeted with the small box with her two hands, while wearing an extremely tense look. Unlike other boxes, that box did not have a ribbon or other ornaments.
“Will you give it to me?”
“…”
Yu Jitae extended his hands forward.
However, Gyeoul shook her head and took a few steps back. He didn’t know why she was doing that, but she threw a glance at Bom. Bom returned her a nod, and appeared to be giving her courage.
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae turned to Yeorum.
“What. Why.”
“Nothing.”
“You want it? The gift? I actually have one.”
Yeorum took out a folded-up pair of socks from her pocket.
It was white.
“What is it.”
“Used ones.”
“…”
No wonder it wasn’t pure white.
“Well, I bothered to wash it, you know.”
Yu Jitae was dumbfounded, but Yeorum looked away slightly and avoided eye contact. In fact, it was Bom, Kaeul and Gyeoul who were more surprised.
“Eeeng? Really?”
Let alone Kaeul, Bom and Gyeoul also looked at Yeorum.
“Yeah.”
“Uwah. Unni, you…? That’s amazing!”
“Stop making a fuss, you monkey.”
It seemed that there was something about it that Yu Jitae was unaware of.
Dragons and socks.
Thinking back, Gyeoul used to frequent his own socks as well.
“What is it.”
“That, you see…, umm so like…! The, the…”
“…?”
“Ahh, it’s just, there’s a thing!”
“Ah, it’s nothing much. It’s just a thanks for the upcoming holidays.”
Yeorum shook her hand, and Kaeul looked at her as if she found it extremely intriguing, while he had absolutely no clue. In any case, it appeared that it wasn’t just a prank, so Yu Jitae took the pair of socks that Yeorum had worn.
“Thanks.”
Then, it was finally Gyeoul’s turn with nowhere for her to run. Holding a very small box, she appeared extremely tense.
“Hmm. In fact.”
Bom opened her mouth.
“I helped Gyeoul prepare for her gift. We did it together.”
“Together?”
“She said she really wanted to give you this. Now, Gyeoul, do you want to give it to him yourself?”
“…”
Gyeoul nodded.
Then, she stared at Yu Jitae, before carrying the box and covering her eyes.
What was she doing.
After soon realising that the box was still in her hands, she placed the box on the ground. Then, she once again covered her eyes with her hands. Even then, he had no idea what to do, so Yu Jitae asked, “What.”
Gyeoul jumped on the spot for a bit, before slowly opening her mouth.
“…Close.”
Close?
“…Please.”
It seemed that she was telling him to close his eyes.
Thus, Yu Jitae obediently closed his eyes. He then controlled his optic nerves, and for the first time in a long time, he made it so that he couldn’t see the world at all. But even with his eyes closed, he could still sense the world, so he locked his mana’s sensory receptors, and because his sixth sense could still sensitively pick up the surroundings, he had to close that as well.
After all that, he could hear a rustling sound.
Rustle, rustle.
Rustle…
Someone approached him, and stood in front of him, who was sitting down on the floor. Then, that child figure slowly raised her foot up before standing on top of his thighs. He could feel her weight.
There was a click, and it sounded like she was opening a box.
But after that, nothing was heard for some time.
What he felt after that, was some things wrapping around his neck. It touched his skin, and was very soft.
Were those Gyeoul’s arms?
After wrapping her arms around Yu Jitae’s neck, she fidgeted with something near the back of his neck.
There was a click, after which Gyeoul stepped off of his legs.
“Can I open my eyes now.”
There was no response. Don’t tell me she was nodding her head?
“Yes.”
Bom replied instead.
Yu Jitae checked what was hanging on his neck. There was something that resembled a necklace – the string was blue in colour, and there was a blue scale hanging in the middle. It was a dragon’s scale.
“It’s Gyeoul’s scale threaded with Gyeoul’s hair.”
Bom explained it to him.
Then, he also found Gyeoul wearing a necklace herself. In the middle, there was a small container instead of a gem, inside which there was a strand of black hair.
“And that is ahjussi’s hair. We did that so that she wouldn’t lose it.”
“…Is there some meaning in sharing hairs?”
“No? There’s no such thing.”
Despite her saying that, Gyeoul appeared extremely elated. She was wearing a truly bright smile.
In any case, he had to respond like what he had been doing after receiving something. Yu Jitae hugged her up and gave a word of gratitude.
“Thanks.”
Excited, she rapidly nodded her head and carefully opened her mouth.
“…Dun lose it.”
Of course.