Inside an underground place of worship of the undetectables, crimson flames soared up high within the darkness.
There, Wei Yan and several demons under him were gathered. Wei Yan burned a sacrifice and offered a prayer to the existence of the abyss, praying that there would be a cadet in the Melissia Masquerade, that would have the honour of receiving thy precious grace.
That will in turn, add to Wei Yan’s overall power.
Creak–
That was when the door of the worship room was pushed open.
‘Which stupid lunatic…’
Interfering with an offering was hard to forgive. Wei Yan temperamentally turned his head but after seeing who they were, he smiled with a relaxed expression.
“Welcome, good sirs.”
Wei Yan, whose individual strength came close to the disaster-rank, had a fairly high position inside the undetectables. Now, demons that required Wei Yan to treat with utmost respect didn’t amount to more than twenty worldwide.
But the male and female standing before him were included in those twenty.
“You don’t look like you’re having a hard time, Wei Yan.”
The first one to open their mouth was the middle-aged woman.
Her jaws, as well as the elbows, wrists and all the joints of her body resembled a puppet, and her gaze remained blank.
She was a disaster-ranked demon.
[Demon Engineer, Ysayle Khalifa]
She was one of the elders of the undetectables.
“But thanks to you coming madam, I am able to have some breathing space. I am sincerely grateful for your help.”
“A slippery tongue you have as always.”
“I will be in your deepest care. I’m sure you’ve heard it already but…”
Wei Yan dropped his gaze to the floor.
“Right. Dead, that retarded old man.”
They were talking about the disaster-ranked demon of Japan, ‘Hasegawa’.
“Tch tch. Well, it’s a good thing. I was getting upset and bothered by him asking for a puppet every single time. Old nerd. Immersed in a refined roleplay of a noble…”
“I have no words that could be possibly said.”
“Even if you do, stuff it back into your mouth and leave it there. I have a lot in mind.”
After giving a polite bow to Ysayle, Wei Yan looked behind her.
“Sir.”
The man who had been blankly staring at the altar turned his head. His elegant face overflowed with vintageness, but it was hard to believe from his appearance that he had lived for over 470 years.
He was a man who had been Wei Yan’s idol in the past.
“Been a while, young child.”
His low and heavy voice resonated across.
Currently, there were 5 catastrophe-ranked demons in the entire world, and 4 of them belonged to the undetectables, taking the position called ‘Seats’.
They each contained their army as lords, and at the same time received a significant number of authorities from the existence of the abyss as catastrophes.
[Seat of Covenant, Ma Namjoon]
He would act as the deputy principal of Lair, in preparation for the flowing current of the times.
[Seat of Punishment, Lim Chul-o]
The fangs of the undetectables; the one that bites enemies to death.
[Seat of Iron Blood, Bartali Argorian]
The military general of the undetectables; the lord with the most number of troops under him, who at the same time had pushed Yu Jitae of the second iteration to despair.
And lastly was the man with Wei Yan.
[Seat of Deepest Desire, Noah]
20 years ago, during the East-Asian Great War, he was the one that had deleted portions of Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon from the map.
He was known to use an ability related to ‘minds’, but nothing more than that was known. Besides, even Wei Yan, a high-ranked official, knew basically nothing apart from the fact that the man was 470 years old.
Although the demons spared less attention to others even inside the same organisation, Noah was still unique and different in the sense that he was covered in mystery.
“I am sincerely sorry for troubling you, sir.”
“You’ll become the fifth sword of the undetectables?”
“Yes. My lacking self somehow received the blessing of the abyss, but an opposing hindrance is causing a headache.”
Merely meeting Noah’s gaze for a split second gave him chills but Wei Yan instead felt excitement more than anything.
“If you do help me sir, this inadequate self would definitely be able to rise to a Seat, and will try my hardest to be useful to the great plan.”
After giving a faint nod, Noah returned his gaze to the altar.
“There has always been hindrances.”
“And there will be no more… You are the one personally protecting sir, so who would dare oppose us?”
Wei Yan did not receive a response.
“It would be great if that was the case but…”
Staring at the altar, Noah quietly whispered an incomprehensible murmur.
***
Chirp chirp.
‘In fact, I myself feel slightly burdened by others’ hands…’
Chirp. Chirp.
‘After hatching at the breeding centre, my growth had been restricted for more than a decade.’
Chirrp. Chirp. Chirp chirp chirp.
‘When those humans fed me those damned drugs, they used to touch me. They said it was a supplement, but how laughable. It was not for me at least.’
Chirp!
‘So I would prefer you stopped touching my fur!’
It blabbered about its past trauma. However Gyeoul, who did not understand what the baby chicken was clamouring about, continued patting its head.
“…Good child.”
Chirp.
‘I myself am not good. I can be evil whenever I want…’
Despite murmuring that, the baby chicken was not threatening at all.
“…So cutee.”
Chirp. Chirp.
‘I am not cute. More importantly, how long are you going to touch me for?’
‘Stop touching me. This is a warning.’
‘If you continue touching my head like that…!’
Gyeoul’s soft gesture continued, as the baby chicken’s eyes slowly came to a close. ‘If you touch me like that…’ murmured the baby chicken before crying out, ‘Chirp!’.
‘Hnnng…!’
What was that for.
It was old, but a baby chicken was still a baby chicken.
That was when the door of Yeorum’s room was kicked open.
Wearing a singlet and a pair of short pants, she lazily walked out with a yawn. These days, she rarely stayed home from day to night, and appeared tired whenever she was home.
“…!”
In surprise, Kaeul hid the baby chicken behind her back.
“…?”
“…!”
“My dear sister. Don’t you think you make it too obvious whenever you’re hiding something?”
“Nn? Me!?”
“What did you hide.”
“Umm, no?”
“Ah, what is it. Hurry up and take it out.”
“I, I don’t want to.”
Her struggle was in vain.
After being instantaneously suppressed, Kaeul groaned on the floor, while Yeorum picked up the chicken.
“… what’s this yellow thing.”
“No! My Chirpy!”
“Chirpy? Is that it’s name?”
“Nn!”
“You’re not even a kid, what the heck is a ‘Chirpy’… it’s just some fried chicken with no expiration date.”
Kaeul immediately gave a frown.
“What? Fried chicken with no expiration date? Unni is an old ahjumma! Idiot!”
“Yeah yeah, you monkey.”
“Ugly! Ill-tempered! Pervert! Lowlife! If only I was a bit stronger, I would…!”
Her repetitive rant suddenly came to a stop before the widened crimson pair of eyes.
“You would, what?”
“Nn…? Hehe……
“Uaang! W, w, wait! I give! I give!”
Kaeul took a small win at the cost of a large defeat. Meanwhile, the baby chicken distanced itself in alarm.
Chirp! Chirp!
‘This foul smell; a cigarette huh! Horrendous. Get away you!’
“Hmm.”
While Kaeul was powerlessly on the ground, Yeorum placed her nose next to the baby chicken’s body and smelled it. Sincerely, from the head to the butt, and after smelling it, she tilted her head before licking the chicken’s beak.
Chirp!
‘Gyaak!’
Seemingly having lost interest, Yeorum randomly chucked the baby chicken at Kaeul and gave a stretch.
Chirp…
‘My god has died…’
But her interest seemed to have returned when the baby chicken was eating its feed. Crouching down on the ground, Yeorum blankly watched the baby chicken indulging in its meal.
Then, she grabbed the container and pulled it slightly away.
Chirp!
The baby chicken ran up and dipped its head into the bowl again, but Yeorum then pulled the bowl once more.
Chirp! Chirp!
Being a spirit beast, the baby chicken was considerably fast when it started running and jumping. Thus, Yeorum raised the bowl to an adequate level, so that the baby chicken could see it, despite being unable to place its beak into it.
…
Then, the baby chicken’s gaze slowly shifted from the bowl to Yeorum.
A strange tension flowed between the two,
Chirp.
‘This fuc…’
And the baby chicken swore for the first time.
*
Kaeul tended to take pictures whenever she liked something. Whether it be animals, plants, food or people, there were no exceptions.
Today was the same. When the baby chicken in Gyeoul’s arms started dozing off, a comparatively large hand came to its head.
Razor’s eyes opened slightly as Gyeoul gave a smile,
Click!
And Kaeul took a photo of it.
“Amazing! So pretty. Come here too ahjussi!”
Yu Jitae was pulled along by Kaeul’s hand all of a sudden. He was about to receive the watch thinking that she wanted him to take the picture, but Kaeul requested him to hug Gyeoul instead.
So Yu Jitae was carrying Gyeoul, while Gyeoul was carrying the baby chicken.
Click!
“Take a picture of me as well!”
She said, before handing him the watch.
While she was at it, Kaeul also decided to take a video. Gyeoul and Kaeul carried the baby chicken while running around and chuckled. Sneaking a look into a room, they found Bom studying, and also stole a glance together at Yu Jitae who was writing something down in the living room.
“Kaeul.”
That was when Yu Jitae called her over.
Although she was having fun, Kaeul felt a prick in her conscience and widened her eyes.
“M, me?”
“Let’s chat shall we.”
Carefully, Kaeul sat down on the sofa as she threw glances at his face. Yu Jitae rarely called the kids over separately one by one, so Kaeul felt something pricking at her heart.
“Uuh… I was actually thinking of telling you myself…”
“About what.”
“I went to the entertainment district, during the time reporters were there.”
Kaeul started her words before Yu Jitae could scold her and carefully whispered.
“I’m sorry…”
Her head was dropped down, as her hair covered her face. She looked miserable like a puppy out in the rain, so Yu Jitae no longer felt like saying something.
“Okay. Be careful next time.”
“Yess…”
But even after saying that, Kaeul remained there without moving. Perhaps there was something else she wanted to say.
“Umm, by the way…”
“Yeah.”
“Until now, I just didn’t go because you told me not to, you know? Mum said there was always a reason behind what adults said.”
“Un.”
“Why… am I not allowed to show myself in front of other people?”
That question would have been in her heart for a long time – why was she not allowed to go in front of other people?
She had asked a similar question before, and Yu Jitae had stopped any further discussion with one word, ‘dangerous’.
Raising her gaze, Kaeul looked at Yu Jitae.
Things she wanted to do, and things she shouldn’t do. Since she had missed out on what she had desired the most after accidentally falling to a foreign world, her golden eyes contained a myriad of sorrow, doubt and anxiety within.
The eyes of the actress Ieyata, who had put tears on the eyes of the world in the third iteration, would have been similar to this.
“There are bad people.”
“Bad people?”
“Yeah. They’re very bad people. They live on, while feeling joy from others’ sorrow and sufferings.”
The moment she stood in front of people, there would definitely come a time where she would become the prey of such people. Defeating that was up to the individual, but Kaeul was unable to withstand it.
Multiple times.
“…Can’t you stop them for me, ahjussi?”
Looking into the gold pair of eyes, the Regressor continued.
“That’s what I’m doing right now.”
“…”
“But your life is long, and you can stand before others in other worlds whenever you want. You just have to endure it for a bit. Do you understand.”
His words seemed to have consoled her slightly, as Kaeul gave a nod.
“Yess.”
It would be fine to send her off like this, but a sudden thought that it might be better to brighten up her mood, unknowingly popped up in his head.
“Do you want to have something delicious?”
“Ohh, sounds good. What about Gyeoul?”
“Let’s go with just the two of us today. Have a little chat as well.”
“Okayy!”
These days, Gyeoul no longer whinged even when Yu Jitae left by himself, so he took Kaeul out with an ease of mind.
But meanwhile,
Something, which even Yu Jitae hadn’t expected, started happening at a very close location. The watch that Kaeul had untied from her wrist as she asked Yu Jitae to take a picture, was fidgeted with by Gyeoul when she was left alone.
[Video]
“…”
Gyeoul played the video that had been taken just then, as a hologram display showed up. Several videos of herself and Kaeul running around continued, and seeing it made her feel rather satisfied.
“…This.”
She showed the video to the baby chicken.
Seemingly intrigued by it as well, the baby chicken walked up to the display and pecked on the baby chicken inside the hologram that looked similar to itself.
Finding that cute, Gyeoul gave a bright smile.
“…”
Gyeoul, who was still unfamiliar with electronic devices, randomly touched the screen. There were three dots at the bottom of the video and a screen saying ‘share’ popped up when she clicked on it.
Share? What is dis?
Without thinking too much, Gyeoul went through, and pressed a red button which she was the most familiar with.
[Uploading…]
Then, a strange word popped up all of a sudden as the display screen turned darker. She clicked it a few times but nothing happened, so she shook the watch left and right.
“…Uiing.”
It’s nat working…
And only when the display screen became bright again was Gyeoul able to interact with the watch.
[Upload Complete]
*
Thirty minutes later.
A video was uploaded on a worldwide video platform YuTuV.
[asvbvbnsp]
Views: 0
There was no title or explanation that gathered the attention of the viewers, nor was there a subscriber of the channel. Theoretically, there shouldn’t have been anyone playing the video, but,
“Abubu, ubu…”
At a certain household of Ulsan, a child watching YuTuV while his mum was cooking typed whatever he wanted and played the video. After watching the video, the child chuckled out loud.
He was always honest, and although the video lacked deep plans and thorough edits, the child was still fond of it.
Dozens of years had passed since video platforms had become popular, and the child remembered his mum clicking on the ‘Like’ button.
[asvbvbnsp]
Views: 1
Likes: 1
It was a humble beginning.