Chapter 23: Those who protect (1)
“That winter, that friend took the position of a commander of a hundred men.”
A life that began with the memories of the first regression.
The man acquired all sorts of hidden treasures worldwide before others, monopolised skills and blessings while keeping the required people next to him. Thanks to that, he was able to become a commander of a hundred men at a young age despite hiding half of his strength.
“He had a hundred subordinates, and they were all people who had their strengths acknowledged.”
Thinking back, even their faces were hard to remember but they had been as precious as his own life in the past. He couldn’t remember the feelings he had towards them though. Like a black silhouette appearing behind a hazy fog, he could only remember the fact that there had been such a thing in the past.
“Back then, wars were breaking out around the country as organisations of demons began moving.”
To him, the small and large battles weren’t of any threats. He had hidden a part of his strength and going to the dungeons and battlefields was like a job he merely had to fulfil.
In that period of time when everyone started acknowledging him and he continued building up a career, he was satisfied by the second opportunity he was given, and longed for such happiness to continue forever.
“While going through various battlefields with his subordinates, that friend met a woman.”
Ha Saetbyul.
Being a superhuman of a rare operator position, she was a woman that had taken care of children at an orphanage before the war, before awakening as a superhuman.
The ability she awakened with was a [Danger-sensing Eye]. It was an ability that suited the position of an ‘operator’ that served as a person suggesting the direction of the troop, and after a partial destruction of the Chungcheong district, she had voluntarily entered the army.
Despite not receiving a proper military education, the Korean government’s policy was rapid. The woman who cleaned floors and sang lullabies for children at night until the day before, was forced onto the battlefield immediately.
“She was a really faint-hearted woman.”
Ha Saetbyul was a coward. She feared the battle and whenever a war broke out, she was the first one to hide and would later hear an earful from the man. Due to her fear of blood, she couldn’t even stare properly at a wounded soldier.
There was a time when she had been at the back as a noncombatant member, and had an arrow scrape past her leg. In front of others, she acted composed but when she was with him, she whined tremendously and exaggerated the pain.
Perhaps it was natural because the battlefields were too horrendous for those that lived daily lives.
Did a sight like that stir up the protective instinct within him? Although it was something he could hardly understand now, the man from back then slowly fell for the woman. Who other than me would help a coward like this – it was probably a naive thought along the lines of that.
“As the war continued, the woman slowly opened her heart to the man as well.”
In a place destroyed by the anti-aircraft bombardments, when the two were the only ones remaining inside a hole, the man spoke to the woman casually out of the blue. And the woman replied.
Perhaps because they both required a place to lean on, they quickly got closer and the soldiers congratulated them.
“The two promised their future. When the war ends, they would draw their future together.”
A good place for a honeymoon, and the number of kids as well as how they should be nurtured – the two spent their time pondering such things.
‘Jitae-oppa, can I do something that difficult?’
‘It’s like taking an egg out of a nostril, right?’
‘Gives me goosebumps just imagining it.’
Her voice that conveyed her fear of giving birth to a child seemed to have faintly remained in his memories despite a long time having passed by. In the midst of their time together on the vast wasteland, they stuck closeby to fight the cold.
“The night sky they watched together was very pretty.”
‘It most likely was’, he thought, but now, it was a memory that did not make him feel anything in the slightest.
“But the good times did not last that long.”
The state of the war began changing. Demons suddenly got stronger, and their tactics as well as equipment were leagues apart from what they used to be.
“In the battle, there was an enemy the man did not know of. It was extremely strong and evil. The enemy had been building up its strength at a hidden place.”
Thinking that the demons were all similar was him being complacent. The ‘real ones’ that did not even show themselves in the first regression existed there.
“Although classified as demons, there weren’t many that knew their true identities. Those amongst demons that exceeded a certain boundary of strength were like living catastrophes. That dim-witted guy discovered that way too late.”
Lords of demons, the so-called ‘catastrophes’. As they entered the battlefields, the situation drastically changed.
“Due to having a lot of victories, the man became a target. His troops were involved due to being under him, and his subordinates started being killed.”
Half of the subordinates that travelled with him for half a year returned to the earth in the mere span of three days.
“He tried but couldn’t protect them.”
Facing absolute strength, the man was powerless. Despite holding the hands of the dying soldiers, he couldn’t do anything but to wish for a good afterlife. In front of a failing life, the most the man could do was to blabber a few words.
Due to consecutive defeats, the troop had been pushed over and over again. And when they were pushed into a corner.
“It had finally appeared – a demon of a catastrophe level.”
An absolute power which, at the time, could not even be fathomed.
“The demon was strong.”
To the point that all those years of holding a weapon felt meaningless, the battle ended in a bland manner.
“And was brutal.”
The captured ones did not die. But instead, they were tortured for no reason.
“As the tortures continued, many of his subordinates were killed.
“The man lost an arm to a saw.
“And the timid woman had her two eyes skewered by a hook.
“They all thought they were about to die like that, but the demon that enjoyed playing with human lives said on the spot.”
– I’m quite a benevolent person and I can let all of you live.
– But the commander can’t. He was more annoying than a baby mosquito so he must die.
– …But you see.
– I heard your squad was very affectionate? Apparently the commander threw his body to protect his soldiers.
– If you received something, you must return it or you can’t be considered a human right? That’s the difference with demon bastards like us, isn’t it?
– So, is there anyone that would like to die in the commander’s stead?
With his neck grabbed by the demon, the man wobbled like a doll with all its strings cut. The squad was silent. In front of an exceedingly enormous fear, rage cooled down and vengeance hid itself. All they could do was to tremble and pray to the gods.
In that quiet wasteland, a woman’s voice was heard.
‘…Me.’ She said.
Losing both of her eyes and blood covering her cheeks, the woman took a step forward. That faint-hearted woman was stepping forward with her own feet.
The demon broke out into a huge laughter. He had the ability to control people.
“The demon manipulated the man and made him kill the woman after torturing her.”
Just a few days ago, he said he would protect her.
But the man raised his sword and approached the woman. Despite having no eyes, the woman sensed the man approaching her.
She was a woman that feared fighting.
She was stabbed by a sword.
A woman that feared getting hurt the most. All her fingers and toes were broken. Every joint was snapped and her skin was sliced. Despite that, her life force as a superhuman was stubborn, and the slow torture served no threat to her life.
She hated seeing blood.
Her entire body had turned into a mess of blood.
The wintery night was long. Her screams that started from the setting of the sun stopped by the time the sun started rising back again. However, the torture continued despite no voice escaping her lips and the man, whilst crying, could not stop his hands.
Right before her breath ceased, Ha Saetbyul told him one thing at the last second.
‘I’m… cold…’
Ha Saetbyul who would be living somewhere in Korea right now, turned into something beyond recognition and died.
It was him, that killed her.
What emotion did she feel? Kaeul’s grip holding Yu Jitae’s wrist hardened but Yu Jitae continued his explanation indifferently.
“After the woman died, every remaining soldier had their two eyes and tongue cut off and the man had lost two legs and an eye. On the way back, there were many legs but there was only one eye that could see the front. They were all severely injured and couldn’t fight even after being healed, and turned into beings that would hinder the movements of the remaining troops.”
A memory of when he was lifted by the soldiers, ordering the direction surfaced for a short period of time before dissipating.
That was the end of the story. After explaining up to that point, Yu Jitae closed his lips while Kaeul watched him with a stiffened, rigid expression.
“……Did that friend of yours, die?”
Her voice resembled a string that was moments away from being torn apart.
Yu Jitae shook his head.
“Fortunately, he probably survived. He was a vengeful guy.”
The man killed himself.
“Technology has gotten better. It probably took a long time but his legs and eye should have been healed now.”
Though resentful, the world did not allow his death and time began rewinding itself. However, there was no reason to bother explaining such things.
Once, there was a time when he was maddened with revenge. He regressed, killed enemies and killed more and more, but time was a strange thing. Now, he didn’t feel anything even after thinking back on those times and it felt like explaining a synopsis of a drama he saw two years ago.
Forgetfulness consoled him like that. Now, he was just being led around by the time flying forth with inertia.
“Weak humans can become that miserable. Do you get that?”
“…”
He didn’t receive a response. Kaeul’s gaze was focused directly at Yu Jitae, before slowly going down and reaching the script. As for the things inside her head, he had no way of knowing.
That was when Gyeoul carefully looked at Yu Jitae and reached forward with her two arms.
She was asking for a hug.
Since the explanations had ended, it was perhaps okay to get closer to her. Judging that, Yu Jitae held Gyeoul in his arms. Maybe the dragon sensed something, but she reached out with her short arms and hugged his neck.
Then, she started crying in silence. He could feel the small head, the size of a fist, trembling next to his neck.
For him, this was a perplexing situation.
He did not know how to soothe a crying baby.
***
On the way back home after giving a candy and a snack to Kaeul and Gyeoul, Gyeoul held Kaeul’s hand and toddled forth while Yu Jitae, who had nothing urgent to do, matched their steps. The look on Kaeul’s face was still blank and even when he asked why, she didn’t give a meaningful response.
But, around the time they arrived at the dormitory.
Yu Jitae felt something foreign.
Something had entered the dorms – an extremely fierce something. A being that had exceeded a certain level in terms of hiding its senses.
Although he realised that it was about time, they were a lot earlier than expected. The dragons inside didn’t seem to be in any trouble, but that was natural, considering how the visitors were originally beings that protected dragons.
“Yu Kaeul.”
The voice was a level drier than usual. With a hazy gaze, Kaeul looked up at him.
“I’m going in first. Count up to one hundred before coming in.”
“…Yes.”
When Yu Jitae entered through the door of a room, beings with black full plated armours showed themselves inside Bom’s room. Their large bodies reached 2.3 metres in height.
As he walked towards them, they also sensed Yu Jitae’s existence and turned their bodies around. When four full plate armours moved, a heavy clash of metal was heard.
Around where the eyes should be at behind the helmet, red light glittered.
“Is it you, that made Green like this?”
A voice resembling the screeching noise of metals left the mouth of one of them.