As darkness coloured the night sky and stars shined within, a man lying on the sofa opened his eyes.
The starry night sky visible through the window was beautiful. Since that’s what everyone else says, that must be the case.
However, he could not sympathise with that thought as for him, the stars hanging in the night sky did not make him feel anything.
Every night, the man tried to sleep but that was merely a matter of formality. In order to recover the lost daily lives, and to understand the emotions of ordinary people, he would close his eyes at night and induce his physical movements to a state similar to sleeping.
But, he did not fall asleep. To be exact, he could not fall asleep.
Spending time like a person with insomnia, he would occasionally feel like his body was being buried inside darkness. Like letting a drop of blood into a clear lake, the boundaries between his body and the darkness would become fainter and whenever that happened, his five senses buried in darkness likewise turned hazy.
As if he was watching someone else’s life from the side, he himself was there, but at the same time it felt like there was something else apart from himself.
It wasn’t a great feeling.
Currently, he was sensing his senses becoming fainter. Even then, things were better off in this round because it only happened during night. In the previous rounds, there was no such thing as day and night.
And such senses of his would become clear again when killing an enemy. The ‘enemy’ mentioned here referred to those falling under his perception of an enemy.
There were several regulations he followed when discerning an enemy.
If there was any possibility of them hastening the Apocalypse, or had a history of doing so, or was a demon… plus individuals, groups, concepts and phenomena that could not be left alive.
Whenever he killed those enemies, and felt the Apocalypse visibly furthering away; only then would Yu Jitae feel his scattered sensations gathering and becoming clearer. Because he found his hazy sensations unpleasant, a not-so-small pleasure followed him when killing an enemy.
It was dangerous, to feel joy from killing humans. As he had felt throughout his life while seeing all sorts of entertainments, the joys coming from these sorts of entertainment were short-lived, and became smaller as its frequency increased, and would result in a self-destructive form when addicted. Thus, ever since a certain round, Yu Jitae restrained himself from unnecessary violence and murder.
Even then, there had yet to be a round as peaceful as this one.
Therefore, the Regressor was slightly anxious.
He thought he needed to immediately run out through that door and massacre those that had to be killed. His history of failure continuing on for hundreds and dozens of years became a stamp, sealed in a corner of his brain and made him uneasy.
“…”
While lying down, Yu Jitae turned his head and stared at the wall of the living room. On the other side of the wall, three dragons would be sleeping on his bed.
A peaceful house, dragons as individual selves, and himself as a guardian.
Suddenly, he had a thought that this place wasn’t suited for himself, like a flower garden of natural colours having a hideous rock within. The mere fact that he was imitating a person’s sleep despite his inability to was a proof.
However, the things he had to do wouldn’t change just because he felt that, and that was just another addition to the sense of distance he had to persevere.
Once again, he closed his eyes.
In that moment, a small voice was heard whispering away. He didn’t have an interest in voyeurism or eavesdropping. The fact that he could still hear something, must be because one of the dragons directly increased their own presence.
It most likely was Bom.
– That, is a macaron… un…? It’s not a macaron…?
Then, Kaeul talking in her sleep was heard.
– Then…? A, a fatcaron…? Twice as fat…?
His sixth sense caught Bom’s hand caressing Kaeul’s hair in her sleep.
– Yeorum, are you going to sleep while hugging that?
The next voice he heard belonged to Bom.
– Yeah, I think I’ll have a deep sleep.
– You must’ve liked it. But swords aren’t meant to be hugged while sleeping.
– I’m going to masturbate with this as well though.
Then, the last voice he heard was Yeorum’s, which was brighter than before.
– But still, it’s good that you like it a lot, Yeorum.
– …Hey.
– Nn?
– Are you really going to call me that? ‘Yeorum’?
– Nn. Why? Do you not like the name?
– Well, it’s alright but.
Bom made a faint smile.
– Yeorum, you need to call me unni as well.
– Me? Why?
– This is Korea, and I am actually older than you.
– …You, are you really thinking of living here?
– Nn.
– Why?
– Hmm… At the start I was going to live here because I wouldn’t be able to run away in the first place, but now, it’s quite fun staying here. What about you? If you wanted to leave during the day, you could’ve. Why didn’t you go?
– Well, I also thought it would be difficult to escape and until I grow up strong enough to smack that bastard’s skull, I’ll stay here.
That bastard – it probably meant Javier Carma.
– Are you going to become ahjussi’s disciple?
– No. I’m not interested in that.
– Then?
– Just, just…
Yeorum hesitated, unable to find an answer.
– I don’t know either.
– Hmm…
– Whatever, let’s just sleep.
– Yeah. Good night.
Their conversation came to a stop.
Soon, Yeorum’s calmer voice reached his ears.
– You too, unni.
***
Opening the window, he could hear the chirping sounds of birds. On the next day, Bom was busy from the morning and inside the curved kitchen, sounds of a knife chopping things were heard.
Yu Jitae looked for his copy, but it had already left for his job.
“Everyone, come have your food. When you’re feeling down, you need to eat something delicious.”
What Bom had made was similar to a thick soup.
…To be honest, he had no idea what it was.
In doubt, Yu Jitae tried putting his spoon in and mixed it. Fortunately, the metal spoon turning yellow or melting down did not happen.
“Wow, did unni make this? It’s been so long!”
Kaeul ran up with excitement and Yeorum, having an expression a lot better than before, sat on her chair.
“Thanks for the food.”
The long-awaited meal time. Kaeul raised a spoonful of the soup-like stuff and turned stiff.
Then, it suddenly made a bright smile.
“Kuu, as expected…”
…?
“Bom-unni’s food has its own unique charm. Humans’ foods are all super delicious as well, but they don’t have this thing, right, unni?”
It was a question for Yeorum, who also obediently gave a nod.
“Not bad.”
She then started binging through it.
Yu Jitae stared at the two of them for a while, before trying a spoonful himself, thinking that maybe the previous dishes had just been failures.
However, the moment it entered his mouth, it felt like his tongue was being stiffened. It was still extremely salty and bitter… in any case, it was all over the place.
With that, there was another new fact the Regressor got to know about dragons. The dragons’ tongue was, although very similar to humans, was fundamentally broken somewhere.
Despite that, they all ate well.
In that place where quiet noises of cutleries were the only sources of sound, Yu Jitae thought about the life hereafter. In this round, the first step he had in mind was to gather all of them to one place without relying on force, and that had succeeded.
Thus, it was about time to go for the next plan.
In every round, the deaths of the dragons were the causes of the Apocalypse. Although it was mostly due to outside forces, they had also ended their own lives a few times. An example was the previous round, when Yu Jitae had completely locked them up.
Thinking back, it must’ve been because they weren’t happy, and because they judged it would be better to just die compared to keeping those unhappy memories for a few thousand years – that must have been the reason. So to stop the Apocalypse, they had to be happy.
He had a deep contemplation without a word. Bringing them here was good but what if he locked them up here and stopped them from doing what they wanted? That probably wouldn’t be much different from the days they had been confined within the underground labyrinth.
They had to do what they wanted to and he had to lead them until they could feel happiness from that process. For their eternal memories that would never be forgotten.
Therefore, he decided to have them start school at ‘Lair’, the academy city where lots of superhuman teenagers got involved with each other. There, it would be easy to regulate them for five years, which was the minimum number of years for enrolment and would also help with their self-realisation.
So he looked it up, and fortunately, it was currently the application period for admission applications.
After the meal, Yu Jitae said to them.
“You guys, let’s go make ID cards.”
*
“Uwah, the air is so good!”
Kaeul shouted.
The place Yu Jitae took them to was none other than Jeongseon region of Gangwon-do. Not far from the Portal Bureau, there was a shabby residential area.
There were shops here that accepted requests from politicians, businessmen, foreigners and even hunters to launder their identities, or fabricate certificates. In easier words, it was the largest identity laundering area in Korea.
Walking through the gap between the small fences, he walked towards the basement of a villa that contained not a single signpost, but it was unexpectedly bustling inside. All sorts of superhumans were there and like waiting for tellers at a bank, they had tickets in their hands and waited while doing their own things.
As soon as Yu Jitae and the three dragons entered the place, a ripple was formed.
“Uh…?”
“Haah…”
Without an exception, the people all threw glances. Murmurs of admiration were heard, and whispering chatters could also be heard. Those were gazes Yu Jitae had felt a lot while staying with Bom.
Sometimes, there were undisguised glances mixed within, but he did not care too much.
Every dragon had an authority called [Transcendence (S)]. Against existences that did not reach a certain level, it constantly spread an aura that made them difficult to approach.
So even though they would stare at them for a while, they would soon feel strangely burdened and turn their eyes away. That was the reason these young girls without any knowledge on worldly affairs did not fall into trouble despite carrying around such beautiful faces.
[152]
On the screen flashed their waiting number.
Yeorum and Kaeul took their photos as Bom already had an identity. Around the time he submitted the documents in, Bom asked him a question.
“Can we go outside and play a bit? There were a lot of interesting things outside.”
In any case, it would take some time until the cards were issued out. Yu Jitae nodded in response, but Kaeul hesitated.
“Unni, can I just stay here.”
“Nn? Why?”
“Feels like I came to a suspicious place, and I feel like I became a bad person too!”
The baby chicken made the face of a ‘bad person’, but it wasn’t bad at all.
“Okay. Stay with ahjussi. Then, can we play around first before going home straight away?”
“Alright.”
It was when they were left behind on the application booth, with Kaeul sightseeing humans and Yu Jitae waiting for the ID cards.
A few gazes started irritating his senses. Compared to the faintly explicit gazes from before, they contained a lot dirtier desires.
He turned towards Kaeul.
She was wearing the tennis skirts she bought yesterday while shopping. Underneath the pink checkered skirt, two legs were spread out far and wide. But, from some time ago, two middle-aged men with large builds were persistently staring at Kaeul’s legs.
The fact that they could stare at a dragon with such eyes, meant that they were superhumans at a decent level.
“Un? Why?”
Perhaps feeling a change in Yu Jitae’s atmosphere, Kaeul blinked her eyes. Yu Jitae shook his head.
“It’s nothing important.”
Despite having said that, the Regressor’s gaze faced the middle-aged men and their eyes met. After looking into each other for a while, the two avoided eye contact and whispered at each other.
Is he her boyfriend? Is he loaded with money with something? He must be eating her everyday?
Such vulgar words were being shared. They perhaps thought they were whispering only to each other, but Yu Jitae had sharp ears.
Kaeul, perhaps out of thirst, walked up to a water purifier and started filling her cup with water. That was when one of the two approached Kaeul.
“Hey missy.”
“Yes?”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Kaeul! Yu Kaeul!”
“Ah, Kaeul. That’s a pretty name. Where did you come from?”
“My house!”
“Where’s your house?”
“Mmm… Seoul, Nonhyeon-dong xx-…”
When Kaeul started going through the address, the middle-aged men gave out empty laughters, as if they found it absurd before asking back.
“Then what about that person there? Is he your boyfriend?”
“No? It’s our ahjussi!”
“Ahjussi? O what, so it’s not a boyfriend, uncle or anything like that?”
“Yes.”
Hearing that reply, smiles appeared on their lips and one of them asked with a subtle voice.
“Then do we ahjussis have a chance as well?”
“Sorry?”
“Do you want to play with these ahjussis today? We have a lot of money. We’ll make you happier than a bastard like that.”
Around that point, Yu Jitae raised his body up. Throughout the repetition of his lives, there were surprisingly large numbers of people like that, and their next actions were obvious as well. There was no need to wait and see any longer.
“Kaeul.”
“Yes ahjussi!”
“You know our house’s spatial coordinates. Go back first.”
“Yes? But…”
She, who seemed sad because of wanting to stay there a bit more, saw Yu Jitae’s expression and cautiously gave a nod.
*
Behind the streets of a quiet residential area, around the time the sky turned into a night sky and dusk settled down, the street lights were flickering and flashing.
Everytime the light flashed, a man’s body wetted with blood appeared from within the darkness before disappearing again. The head was crushed, and the dead body was ruined beyond recognition. Its neck that had just been opened had a flush of blood pouring out.
Yu Jitae, who found the light unpleasant, moved his killing intent and smashed the street lights. And soon, within the alleyway that had been completely devoured by darkness, the man stared at one of them that was still alive.
“Hu, huuk… p, p, pleas…”
He had wetted himself out of fear and was letting out tears and snots. After clearly witnessing his friend’s death, he got on his knees and rubbed his hands like a fly.
“S, s, sorr…”
There weren’t any words Yu Jitae wanted to hear from him.
However, while he was venting his anger, there was a doubt that hit his mind.
Why was this guy wearing something like a human mask over his face?
Yu Jitae grabbed his face with one hand, and with a tough grip that could crush refined steel, he squashed the man’s face and lifted it up.
“Kuhuk, kuha…!”
As the man was oppressed by the killing intent and suffocated, gasping for breath, Yu Jitae stared at his bare face that had been revealed.
It was a familiar face. It had been within the memories that had been brought by his copy.
He rummaged through the man’s pocket and took out a wallet before checking the ID card.
[Jo Hosik]
Ah – and only then did he remember.
This guy, he was that human trafficker that the Lair’s local police force were searching for, day and night.