“What? There’s been an improvement?”
Under her boyish bob-hair cut, was a fierce appearance resembling a feral cat.
Minamoto Ai.
World Ranking of 13.
This Japanese woman in her late thirties was one of the strongest superhumans of Japan, and was a swordswoman affiliated with the Royal Family’s special forces. Her alias was ‘Sword of the Royal Family’.
She asked back at Myung Yongha, as it was difficult for her to believe it.
“Is that for real?”
“Yeah.”
Blankly, Myung Yongha swept his hair up.
“You, you bastard. What the hell! If something that good happened, you should’ve told me earlier!”
“…”
“You son of a bitch. You looked so depressed, that it made me think something had happened. That was scary!”
“…Really?”
His blank face slowly regained its vigour. Soon, a hearty laughter fitting his large build, “Uhahahat!” escaped from his lips.
In fact, he had bowed on the ground at BM the moment he came.
“Hey, but it’s still too early to be too happy. It’s not fully cured and… we need to watch for now.”
“Well, that’s true but,”
An illness related to ancient beasts, was an unpredictable type that could go south at any time. Myung Yongha held back his own mood to stay vigilant.
“But what happened? Don’t keep me on the edge and hurry up and explain.”
“Yeah, okay. You remember how I boiled a stew here before? Back then, I added a precious medicine given by BM, and a medicinal herb given by someone else.”
“Herb? Who was it from?”
“Hmm, it was this man that I met at a picnic place. He seemed like a very strong person.”
“Strong?”
Strong.
It was an easy word to overuse for others, but the expression ‘strong’ was used slightly differently for them. They were individuals that were utilised as national strategic weapons.
Thus, even BM, who had been lying down on the sofa, showed his interest and raised his upper body.
“Yeah. I didn’t fight him and stuff, but he looked strong.”
“Who was he?”
“Who knows…”
Myung Yongha thought back on the man.
As an individual, he appeared extremely strong, and was seemingly so dangerous that mother nature warned against him. However, while he was spending time with the girls, the atmosphere oddly gave off a feeling that it was safe and secure, instead of being dangerous.
Comparatively speaking, he was similar to a thorn fence.
“I don’t know his name. Anyways, he gave me this black root of a plant, and I mixed that with what BM gave me and made a stew.”
“Yeah, and then?”
“I gave that to my wife and…”
He could still vividly remember that time.
After her illness got more serious, she had no appetite at all. That was the case even for delicious meals, so it was even worse for medicines and stews. The process of swallowing food was her desperate attempt at survival, and it was common for her to throw up.
And yet she…
Scrub scrub…
In an instant, she had emptied the bowl before passing it back over to him.
When he thought of that, a smile naturally floated on his face.
“And then she asked for more, saying that it was very delicious and was easy to swallow… So I thought maybe something might have happened. And during a visit, the doctor said the concentration of the ancient beast’s virus has gone down… and that there is an improvement…”
Myung Yongha made tight fists in the middle of his speech to contain his overflowing emotions.
“I was tearing up, even… Those words were something I really wanted to hear.”
The two remained silent for some time.
But they had seen their colleague tearing up right next to them, for a long time. Minamoto thus also felt similar emotions rising up within.
“…That’s amazing. Damn. Seriously.”
She murmured while feeling the lingering trace of joy, as BM also gave a wide smile before taking a sip of vodka.
In fact, BM also had something he wanted to ask his comrades about – it was about the man who had visited his workshop. Of course, his name ‘Yu Jitae’, as well as the feeling and information he emitted would be excluded as much as possible, since that was his wish.
But after hearing Myung Yongha’s words, there was another question in BM’s head.
“Wait. Then whose medicine was the effective one?”
In response to Minamoto’s question, Myung Yongha heaved out a sigh.
“That, I have no idea. The one BM gave me was also an amazing one. BM. I’m seriously grateful from the bottom of my heart.”
BM shook his hand.
“I don’t know who it was, but he must have been a bigshot. If it was at a similar rank to the medicine found by that drunkard, it should be around SS at least.”
“…It was above that, you know.”
Quietly, BM refuted.
“It’s something I was planning on using. Hicc.”
Does that mean Myung Yongha had received something that great, as a gift from a man whom he didn’t really know of, at a picnic?
Naturally, the three of them soon had the same question in mind.
‘Who in the world was that person?’
And Myung Yongha had a slightly bigger desire to know his identity.
‘It would be great if I could see him again.’
He wanted to pass words of gratitude.
“I’m going to go sleep now.”
Yeorum was the first to leave;
“I’ll go to sleep as well!”
And Kaeul followed soon after.
Yu Jitae opened the pocket watch and checked the time. It was 2am at night, and for the baby dragons that matched their sleep patterns to humans, the time they normally went to sleep had already passed.
“…”
Gyeoul was in Yu Jitae’s arms, dozing off as her head repeatedly fell down. Unlike others, she was actually feeling sleepy.
“Let’s go to sleep now.”
“…?”
She looked up at Yu Jitae with half-opened eyes, and gave a blank smile.
He took Gyeoul to Bom’s room, and laid her small body on Bom’s bed. Because she reached her two arms forward, Yu Jitae handed her the blanket.
“Good night.”
“…”
But for some reason, she appeared somewhat disappointed.
She tightly held onto the blanket with her small hands, and started moving it to the side. After repeating that process a few times with her short arms, Gyeoul succeeded in getting rid of the blanket.
“It’ll be cold if you don’t cover yourself up.”
Shake shake.
She shook her head.
Well, it was true that she won’t feel cold even without the blanket. When Yu Jitae was about to walk out of the room again, Gyeoul cried out.
“…Hing.”
He looked back.
“…”
It was unclear what she was disappointed about, but sorrow overflowed out from her two eyes.
Thinking back, Bom had always gone to sleep with her at night, and Yu Jitae hadn’t been interested in that in the past.
Therefore, he asked Bom, who was lying down on the living room’s sofa.
“How do you make her sleep.”
“Yes?”
“I placed her on the bed, but she’s not sleeping.”
After murmuring to herself, “Hmm…”, Bom raised her body.
“That’s weird. She normally goes to sleep straight away…”
*
Bom caressed Gyeoul’s hair.
“Let’s go to sleep, little Gyeoul.”
Shake, shake.
“You’re not going to?”
Nod, nod.
It was strange. The child, who had been half-immersed in her sleep, was now looking up with circular eyes, refusing to go to sleep.
“Don’t sleep then.”
The Regressor’s answer was simple.
Just don’t do what you don’t want to do.
“You’re right.”
And Bom agreed with his words.
“…!?”
But for some reason, Gyeoul appeared flustered.
Although her eyes appeared to be wide open, a close inspection revealed that they were loose, about to be closed at any time. It was clear that she was sleepy, so why was she trying not to fall asleep… even today, the Regressor found it hard to understand the reason behind the blue-haired child’s actions.
“Then, do you want to sleep with unni?”
After Bom’s words, Gyeoul slightly turned her head at Yu Jitae.
“Alright. I’ll go out then.”
Gyeoul shook her head several times before looking at Bom, who realised the child’s thoughts.
“It seems that Gyeoul wants to sleep with ahjussi.”
“With me?”
It was a request that was slightly hard to understand.
Even then, after judging that it should be fine to stay until Gyeoul fell asleep, the Regressor lay down on one side of Bom’s bed. Then, Bom also took off her slippers before lying down on the other side of Yu Jitae.
Only then did Gyeoul make a blank-minded smile of satisfaction, before turning towards Yu Jitae. However, since she still had not acquired the ability to sleep on her side, her back was facing the ceiling. Half of her face was buried inside the blanket, as she stared at Yu Jitae with one of her eyes, which was revealed from beneath.
He raised the blanket up, and wrapped it around the child.
It was snug and comfortable.
“…”
But why wasn’t she sleeping.
For about twenty minutes or so, Gyeoul merely watched Yu Jitae, and did not go to sleep.
Yu Jitae looked at Bom.
Gaze: Why isn’t she sleeping.
Bom’s eyes bent into crescents.
Gaze: kekek
Gaze: Do something
Gaze: Hmm…
After some pondering, Bom raised her hand up. Yu Jitae didn’t know what she was doing, but still similarly raised his hand up.
Then, Bom slowly reached forth and held onto his hand, before slightly pulling it over towards Gyeoul’s back.
Mouth: Tap, tap, tap.
It seemed that she was telling him to tap her back. Yu Jitae therefore raised his hand up and started tapping on Gyeoul’s back.
Kung Kung.
“…?”
Kung Kung Kung Kung.
“……!?”
Surprised out of her sleepiness, Gyeoul widened her eyes with a blank expression.
Yu Jitae stopped his hand. Apparently it was a little bit too strong, despite him trying to tap as gently as possible.
“…”
Gyeoul’s eyebrows bent down to an eight (八) shape.
Sorry, that was a mistake.
He could hear a rough breathing sound. Bom was rapidly breathing in and out with her nose, in an attempt to contain her laughter. Then, she whispered with a very soft voice.
‘Who taps a baby’s back like that?’
‘I’ve never done it before.’
‘It needs to be a little bit more gentle. A bit softer.’
Bom showed a demonstration.
Tap- tap- tap-
Even the sound was different.
Bom’s hand moved very slowly, at a regular pace, and tapped on Gyeoul’s back. She seemed to have liked those delicate taps, as Gyeoul’s eyes went back to normal and she started going back to sleep.
Once again, Bom reached her hand forward and led Yu Jitae’s hand.
He carefully moved his hand, so that it touched her back ever so slightly.
Tap…
It sounded okay. With machine-like movements, Yu Jitae tapped on Gyeoul’s back. Tap. Tap.
‘Good.’
Bom gave a nod.
‘Just a little bit gentler.’
It was a difficult order.
‘As if you’re caressing her.’
He couldn’t understand it very well. How would you caress in the middle of tapping something. Maybe if it was instead about hitting as if caressing, he had a feeling that he could understand that…
Even then, Yu Jitae obediently followed Bom’s words and moved his hand gently, as if he was caressing her.
Gyeoul’s dim eyes slowly came to a close, and just like that, the baby fell asleep.
When Yu Jitae was about to feel relieved, Bom’s gaze connected onto him.
‘…’
The pair of olive-coloured eyes were also bent gently, and she appeared sleepy. Now that he thought about it, Yu Jitae was currently lying down on Bom’s bed.
Bom whispered.
‘What about me?’
‘…?’
‘I’m, still not sleeping though…’
Yu Jitae was slowly starting to know more about Bom. Right now, it was about time for her to make a prank, so he decided to reject it.
‘Sleep now. You have lessons tomorrow morning.’
‘What if I have a day off tomorrow…?’
While saying that, Bom had the same expression as usual, and it was also the reason he found it difficult to guess her intentions. Yu Jitae was in the middle of contemplation, for he did not know what to say in response.
‘If I don’t have any lessons, can I not sleep?’
‘You still have to.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it’s nighttime.’
‘…Then, help me fall asleep as well.’
‘What?’
‘I think I can go to sleep if you pat my head.’
‘…’
Yu Jitae felt slightly perplexed.
He was delaying the response, because he was at a loss of words, when Bom extended her hand forward and touched his cheek.
‘Oi.’
Then, Bom slowly started caressing his hair, with a gesture that was extremely gentle.
‘What are you doing.’
‘It’s a demonstration.’
‘A demonstration?’
‘I can’t have my hair pulled out right.’
Bom let out a gentle giggle, before returning to her dreamy expression.
‘Softly. Like this…’
Her eyes were as if she was staring at a scenery of a dream. While repeatedly murmuring, “Like this, like this…”, Bom continued patting Yu Jitae’s head with a sleepy pair of eyes.
He was slightly more perplexed than before.
Although he had no idea why, he was still filled with such feelings. It was almost certain that Bom was carrying out a prank right now, but the person herself appeared serious.
‘What if she wakes up.’
After contemplating, the Regressor thought of an excuse.
‘You didn’t know? Gyeoul doesn’t wake up easily after falling asleep.’
He didn’t know that.
‘…’
‘Hurry up please…’
She said that, before removing her hand. However, her gaze was still there. Her eyes seemed to be saying, ‘Are you still not going to do it?’.
He was filled with doubts whenever this green-haired dragon acted like this. Why would this child, who’s dignified most of the times, occasionally do this to him?
He was asking himself that question with confusion, when Bom turned her head around and buried her face into the pillow. She was showing the back of her head.
‘…’
What to do now.
Left with no other choices, he laid his large hand on top of Bom’s head. Then, he caressed it with careful movements, as if it was the small cub of an animal.
The hair fluttering to the sides whenever his hand moved felt soft, but his hand was overly cautious, and Bom seemed to have realised it.
‘…!’
Bom raised her head from the pillow.
Her two cheeks were popping out, as she quivered her body with her eyes tightly shut. Before long, she broke out into laughter and started laughing silently.
…I was pranked today as well huh.
Heaving out a sigh, the Regressor walked out silently, and Bom even bit on the back of her hand to hold back her laughter until he left.
*
Next morning, Bom came out from her room while carrying a bag. What was the bag for?
“Where are you going.”
“To lesson.”
“You said you had nothing on today.”
Stopping her feet, Bom turned around. Then, she opened her mouth with a giggle.
“That was a lie, hehe.”