Chapter 196: Closing the Door (1)
There was an excited look on her face the entire morning. Staring at the child with a smile, Bom asked.
“Gyeoul.”
“…!”
Nn nn! Gyeoul nodded with tight fists.
“What were we going to do today again?”
“…Making, my room.”
“How do you feel?”
“…Good.”
“How good do you feel?”
Gyeoul threw her arms wide open and expressed how happy she was.
Bom mischievously asked.
“Ayy, only that much?”
“…No?”
“Then?”
“…Thissss much.”
“So only two arms wide?”
“…Thiss, thissssss much? This…”
She repeated saying “This, thissss,” until she had to gasp for breath. After running out of breath, she became dizzy and grumbled, “…aigo,” like an old man. Bom giggled but when a man came into the room, both of them turned their heads towards him.
Hi – Bom waved her hand, and Yu Jitae waved back.
“When are you going to start?”
“After breakfast.”
It was on a certain weekend morning.
Today, he was going to make a room for Gyeoul.
***
“Uwahh! Are you going to have your own room now, Gyeoul?!”
“…Nnn!”
“Oh wow, our Gyeoul is already an adult now!”
“…Hehe.”
“Come here you little girl!”
It was time for a Doonga Doonga.
When the baby chicken naturally went into Gyeoul’s arms, Kaeul immediately raised the child and bounced left and right. “Kyahaat–!” Gyeoul, who usually didn’t show off her happiness no matter how happy she was, was so excited today that she couldn’t hide her smile.
“Oh. Count me in too.”
Bom ran up to the bottom of the 3rd floor and lifted Kaeul up. She seemed to be having trouble either from the weight or the awkward position, but regardless, she bounced them left and right as Kaeul, Gyeoul and the baby chicken chuckled brightly like sunlight.
“You too, Cleaner ahjussi!”
“Sorry? Ah, I’m good thanks. Your head might reach the ceiling.”
“Then please do that thing. That thing…!”
“You mean, that thing?”
“Yes that!”
There seemed to be something only Kaeul and the protector knew of.
Soon, the protector got on the ground on all fours and rhythmically bounced its butt left and right as if twerking. Since it looked laughable, the kids chuckled out loud once again.
It was apparently funny for them.
“Ehew… How long are they going to do that retarded 4-floor thing.”
Unable to understand them, Yeorum shook her head left and right.
Meanwhile, the Regressor looked at the kids. As always, Kaeul was wearing a smile. But since she was extremely skilled at concealing her emotions, Yu Jitae had to observe the child with care.
“I’ll go outside for a bit then!”
“Chirp!”
After having breakfast, Kaeul went out on a walk with the baby chicken, who was slowly growing up to be a rooster. Usually, she would simply walk together for an hour or so, but she started spending an increasingly more time with the baby chicken.
Although he mentioned the farewell as a possible case scenario, everyone in Unit 301 was aware that any propositions that left his mouth weren’t simple estimates. It was because he wasn’t the type to talk about uncertain possibilities.
Since that was the case, it could be said that Kaeul was starting to prepare herself for the farewell. It was something she had to overcome herself, but Yu Jitae decided to watch over the child at the very least.
“I’m out as well then.”
Yeorum left for her personal training, leaving only Yu Jitae, Bom, Gyeoul and the protector in the living room.
“Let’s start making the room.”
Wahh! Gyeoul smiled brightly.
“Bom. Take her out and play.”
“Yes. Please give me a call when you’re done.”
“Got it.”
“Come here, my girl. Let’s play outside with your unni.”
“…Nn.”
After giving a nod, Bom left the house hand-in-hand with Gyeoul.
“Would you like me to help?”
“No. I’ll do it myself.”
Making a room was an extremely easy task as long as he was keen to do so.
Firstly, he opened the [Shallows of the Abyss (S)] and commanded the hands to get rid of everything inside the storage. Soon, the hands left the alternate dimension and removed all the unnecessary luggages. Those were all plushies and dolls that Kaeul and Gyeoul no longer used, or things like fans that came with the dormitory so they were practically useless.
The space inside the storage had already been expanded. Bom had a lot of mana for a mere hatchling, and it was possible for her to permanently increase the size of a room. In the morning, she had already created a bigger virtual space inside the storage with [Laws of Nature (S)] after his request.
Although it would be possible for him to simply call a handyman for this, he decided to personally create the space Gyeoul would be spending her time in. It was because she herself seemed to be wanting that.
That evening, he bought the material for the floor and the wallpaper and attached them to the room with glue. He knew how to do it, since he had done something similar a few times through his regressions.
He had to receive permission from the residential department since it was a dormitory, but although the procedure was complicated, the staff immediately gave permission after hearing that it was a request from Building 1705, Unit 301, as they knew that it was a request from Yu Jitae.
Though he wasn’t a professional, his skills were more delicate than a professional’s, so it started looking decent after he invested a lot of time into it.
In turn, it did take a lot of time because of that. During the process, Yu Jitae reflected on the conversation he had with Bom.
‘For some dragons, the lair is the place they live in for their entire life.’
By nature, dragons were spirit beasts born from eggs. There were some dragons who were born from viviparity but most were from eggs, and they tended to live in the same lair as their parents.
Except for the time spent during their Amusement, dragons spent most of their time in their lairs and for them, a lair was no different from a small world.
‘We can only leave our parents’ lair and earn our own when we become adults.’
‘The lair of our parents is created according to the preference of our parents, but hatchlings usually gain their own preferences after an Amusement.’
‘And we can fill our lair with that.’
‘Hmm, you could say it’s like a small world just for our own.’
Back then, after hearing her words, he had looked at Gyeoul.
Yu Jitae felt something mysteriously bizarre. ‘A small world just for their own…’ Bom’s words remained vividly in his ears. Strangely enough, for him, such words didn’t suit Gyeoul all that much.
Why, he wondered.
Why does the phrase ‘a small world of their own’ not suit Gyeoul?
While having such thoughts, the Regressor continued working on the room. After cutting out one of the walls and filling it up with the window sill and glass he bought from the industrial district, he attached the curtains.
For the time being, he finished creating an empty room.
It was already night time and the kids started coming back to the dormitory one by one, and the same was for Bom and Gyeoul.
Though it was an empty room, the size was almost the same as the rooms of her other unnis. The moment she saw the clean floor and the white wallpapers, Gyeoul widened her eyes into circles and froze stiff on the spot.
“How is it. Do you like it, Gyeoul?”
Bom crouched down and asked from the eye level of the child.
With blank eyes, Gyeoul slowly nodded. Then, she entered the room and bent her back to touch the floor, before walking to the walls and caressing the wallpapers. When opening and closing the window, she had to stand on her toes to reach it.
Yu Jitae and Bom quietly watched the child observe her room. There was nothing in it and yet she gazed at the room wondrously. “I think, she’s not used to it,” whispered Bom, finding her cute.
“It is her first time having her own room,” replied Yu Jitae.
Only after scanning through every corner of the small room did Gyeoul finally turn back towards Yu Jitae.
“…”
The child gave a bright smile.
“…Is it my room?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t even that hard, and the child enjoying it so much made him feel content.
“Ohh. What. It was actually done in just one day!”
“Hoh.”
Kaeul and Yeorum also walked into the room and glanced around with intrigue. However, Gyeoul suddenly blocked Yeorum from the front.
“What you doing?”
“…Unni, is not allowed.”
“Hah, what the heck is that. Go away you blue idiot. Let me have a look too.”
Yeorum charged in and although Gyeoul tried to stop her, she lost in strength and rolled on the ground. A red dragon had entered the personal space of a blue dragon. The opposite almost never happened – Gyeoul almost never went into her room, so she was discontent with the situation.
Crossing her arms, she glared at Yeorum. However, Yeorum laid down in the middle of the room without even sparing her a glance.
“What are you looking at, you appetite-stealing idiot.”
“…Hmph. Chilli pepper dragon.”
“What.”
“Get out, of my room.”
“Don’t want to though? You mad?”
“…This, is my land.”
“Is it? Ima pee on it. Then it would be my land, yeah?”
After saying that, Yeorum immediately began unzipping her pants. Frightened, Gyeoul hurriedly stopped her and Yeorum laughed like a witch.
That was when Yu Jitae called the child.
“Come here. Gyeoul.”
“…Ah. Yes.”
When he called her, she came toddling towards him.
“The room’s empty, yeah.”
Nod nod.
“From now, you and I will be filling this room up.”
“…Fill it up?”
“You see how there’s nothing in it right now.”
“…Nn.”
“Your room also needs stuff like a bed, a wardrobe and drawers.”
“…Ah.”
She was overly intoxicated from the space alone. Belatedly, she nodded with an astonished look on her face.
It was only the beginning of the journey of making her own room…!
“What kind of bed do you want?”
With the watch, he showed her the list of beds of a famous furniture store. Sticking her tongue out, the child touched her chin and contemplated, before prudently choosing the bed of her dream.
Seeing the bed she chose, Bom giggled.
“What’s that, Gyeoul.”
“…A bed.”
“But why a bunk bed?”
“…Why not?”
The child’s argument was that it was better since it had two beds.
Until then, it was still fine and Yu Jitae left it. That was until he saw the next furniture of her choice.
“Unng? Why do you want a makeup table?!”
Kaeul asked. With a wide smile, Gyeoul tilted her head. She seemed to be asking why she couldn’t have one, when Kaeul had one herself.
“Gyeoul. Are you going to wear makeup!?”
“…Can’t I?”
“Of course you don’t have to!”
“…Why?”
“You’re still a baby. You already look pretty without makeup…!”
I see. Although reluctant, Gyeoul removed the makeup table from the shopping cart. However, the bunk bed and the makeup table were just the beginning. There was a lot of useless furniture among the ones she put into the shopping cart.
“Dude. Look how greedy this kid is.”
“…What.”
“What’s this?”
Yeorum asked, pointing at a cat tower – the framed structure that cats could climb and play around with.
“…A cat playground.”
“And why would you buy that.”
“…I saw it on TV.”
“You have a cat?”
“…No?”
“So then why are you buying it, you idiot.”
Although she didn’t like Yeorum-unni, her words rang true.
I just wanted it though… Gyeoul mumbled with a reluctant look on her face, as she powerlessly nodded and removed the cat tower from the shopping cart.
Next, she also had to get rid of the air purifier and the fridge. There was also an elegantly crafted golden toilet which would serve absolutely no purpose in her room, so Yu Jitae removed that for her as well.
It seemed that Gyeoul had some fantasy about decorating her own room. She appeared to be greedily trying to fill it up with things she liked.
They had to be all removed.
“Gyeoul. You don’t even play with toys though.”
“…”
At last, even her toy display stand was removed, so with wide eyes, Gyeoul glared at Yu Jitae, Bom, Yeorum and Kaeul one by one.
‘Huu–.’ She heaved a sigh before lifting the cap that was placed over her head. Then, she threw it on the ground.
It was a protest on her part, that she didn’t like what was happening. When she glared at her unnis with a resentful gaze, the other kids instead bursted into laughter and chuckled.
“For now, let’s just buy what you need and slowly add one by one when there’s more things you want.”
“…”
“Even if you buy all this, you probably won’t use them and you’ll have no space in your own room either.”
“…”
Seemingly remorseful, she remained silent. However, the Regressor knew of one phrase that could immediately get rid of all the blue hatchling’s sorrows.
“What if you have no space to put the fish tank in either.”
Gyeoul widened her eyes.
“…Uh, uh.”
“What’s wrong. Did you forget it?”
“…Yes. Then, are we buying a fish tank now?”
“Yeah. Plus all the things that will go inside it.”
Her murky expression brightened like a cloudless sky.
“Let’s go,” said Yu Jitae. In response, the child picked the cap back up and placed it over her head.