Chapter 33: Entrance Ceremony
The audition came to an end.
– Let me announce the supporting declarers
The combination of a black silkie and a selfish producer was amazing. Unexpectedly, the two supporters they decided on were candidates who had not even been in the top three.
“…”
At the end of the audition while the applicants either laughed or cried on their way out, mixed within the crowd, Gong Juhee glared at Kaeul. She was glaring forth with deep displeasure when Kaeul turned around and looked back at her.
Kaeul’s eyes were dark and dead. Startled, Gong Juhee clenched her teeth and turned her head away.
‘What kind of person is that?’
Was the innocent look from before an act? She thought that Yu Kaeul was a sly fox with a black heart.
Gong Juhee then threw a glare back in rage but this time, her eyes met Yu Jitae’s while he was on his way back into the hall. This person made her feel even more uncomfortable. Despite the short period of the eye contact, she felt as if the depths of her heart were being read in full.
She unconsciously let out a gasp, before quickly turning her head away again.
“…Juhee?”
The guardian belonging in the Gong household was surprised and looked at his cadet.
“Are you alright?”
“…I’m going to have some fresh air. Don’t look for me.”
While letting out little sobs, she replied. Then she separated herself from her guardian and walked off.
It was then that a red-haired girl with both of her hands stuck inside the pockets of her tracksuit approached Gong Juhee. After that, the girl bent her back and stared directly at Gong Juhee’s face.
“What you looking at. First time seeing a person cry or something?”
“…”
“Get lost.”
In response, the redhead spoke with a nonchalant voice.
“No? That’s not it. I’m not trying to watch or anything and just wanted to cheer you up.”
“…”
Gong Juhee made a frown.
This voice, and this tone. She understood who Yu Yeorum was imitating right now – it was the same tone she herself had used at Kaeul.
“Try your best. There’s next year as well.”
“There is no next year for entrance ceremonies. Go away!”
“Hey… isn’t that too much to say to someone that’s trying to cheer you up? Aung, I’m fine with it, but others might hate that you know?”
“Do you want to die for real?!”
Gong Juhee contained her trembling, but looked as if she could dash in at any moment. Only then did Yeorum distance herself with a grin, and whisper something with a melody.
“My sister~ only prepared it for a week~”
Hnn~ One week~.
Eyes filled with killing intent faced Yeorum, who then thought to herself.
‘I’ll have a damn good sleep tonight.’
***
Kaeul remained indifferent despite having been selected as the declarer. When Bom asked in doubt, “Aren’t you happy?”, Kaeul responded.
“…I am.”
But the expression on her face didn’t support her claim.
Her immersion was still there, despite returning to the dormitory. She wiped Yeorum’s sword clean, and started organising her room morbidly. The mysophobia of the past Yu Jitae was being reflected through her.
During that, something irritated the sight of the blonde-haired black silkie.
Click clack.
The protector was starting to get used to its life in this place. Perhaps it was due to Yu Jitae having removed the Demon Count’s seal from him, but after regaining its free will, the protector pondered on methods that could allow an efficient workflow.
‘…Is there a need to wash the dishes after every meal?’
In the dorms, there were lots of people that had meals. It included Yu Jitae, Bom, Yeorum, Kaeul as well as Gyeoul, who recently started eating rice like others. Plus, there was also the clone who had his meal before work.
Although they didn’t need to, they still took their meals whenever it was time to.
Plus, they would usually take their meals at different times of the day and thus plates gathered realtime. And because it had to wash the dishes every single time, the protector had to wear rubber gloves twelve times a day!
Putting rubber gloves over steel gauntlets was a daunting task and the rubber gloves being ripped with a slight mistake was a problem.
‘If I do it after delaying it, I could do it once a day.’
It was a revolutionary line of thought and thus, the protector postponed dishwashing and took care of everything at night.
“Oi, are you not going to wash the dishes?”
Sometimes, the clone asked with a glare.
“I am planning to.”
Even then, the protector held its ground. It would be a different story if it was Yu Jitae’s order, but there was no reason for it to listen to the commands of that faulty clone.
That wasn’t the end.
Every housework was the same and none of them had to be done every single time. Letting them build up for a while wasn’t even obvious so the protector could take its time with cleaning and taking out the rubbish.
That had been the case but…
“…Mister Cleaner.”
With golden, yet dark sunken eyes, Kaeul called it.
“Ah, yes my lady.”
“There are, lots of dishes to wash.”
Yu Jitae of the past had discerned the reason of existence by necessity and empathising with that state, Kaeul doubted the protector’s raison d’etre.
“Ahh, that’s…”
“Are you not going to.”
“I am planning to postpone it and do it all at once.”
The protector tried its best to appeal how it would efficiently take care of the tasks without going through a cumbersome process. But what returned from Kaeul, was unexpected.
“…There’s a thing my mum said. If you are going to delay today’s tasks to tomorrow, you are better off postponing it till your death.”
“Sorry…?”
“It seems, that she meant we should do it only once in our entire life.”
“Ahh, that, the… isn’t that a bit of an overstatement? If we delay it more than a day, there won’t be any cutleries left in the house.”
“In that case, I will buy more cutleries for you. You know, I actually have a lot of allowance saved up.”
The protector became flustered.
“No…!”
“Delay it. Delay, delay and delay so that you just have to do it once before you die. I will help you.”
“I, I’m sorry.”
The protector had to wash the dishes in sorrow.
That wasn’t the end. The crazy silkie then provoked the red boar.
“Why do you, always harass me unni?”
“…?”
Yeorum turned her head.
“What?”
“Does it feel good to harass a weak being like me? If you live like that, is it fun?”
“Have you gone mad?”
Wearing a frown, she stood up from her seat but when she did, Bom opened her mouth from the living room.
“Yeorum.”
“…I know. I know what state she’s in.”
But oblivious to the thoughts of the unnis, Kaeul continued adding oil to the fire.
“My mum said, that harassing the weak is something trash humans or pig nobles do.”
“…”
“In that case, which side would unni fall in.”
After several flinches, Yeorum barely let out a breath before forcing a smile.
“My dear sister… youuu. Let’s wait till that finishes and see what I do with you okay?”
“Look; look at this. When words don’t work, you go straight to threats. Unni is always like that. So simple that it must be fun.”
Yeorum twitched a few times before leaving the house.
Looking on from the side, Yu Jitae found Kaeul’s state to be a bit worrying and thus, he decided to ask Bom, about how long that would last.
However, Bom’s gaze facing himself wasn’t very friendly either.
“What’s wrong.”
“…Who knows.”
After saying that, Bom turned her head away.
Why’s she like this now.
Although Yu Jitae wasn’t very knowledgeable about the emotions of the daily lives, he still realised something after deep contemplation. It seemed that she had become sulky ever since he left her behind with some harsh words on the day of the audition.
For him, this was a perplexing situation. He did not know how to make a sulky dragon feel better.
“Here’s your food.”
That night, Bom gave him a dish with a pouty look. It had cucumber, carrots, a head of a fish and an unidentifiable crustacean. It was an otherworldly dish.
Even the smell itself was shocking.
“I didn’t ask for any food though.”
“Are you not going to eat it?”
“…Thanks for the food.”
Yu Jitae slowly appreciated Bom’s dish.
Its flavour…
Perhaps this dish, had flown here from the other side of the Horizon of Providence. It was so horrendous that it made him think that.
After indifferently finishing the food, Yu Jitae raised his head back up. Bom was directly looking at him, with eyes bent into faint crescents and was evidently in a slightly brighter mood.
“Why.”
“Yes? Nothing.”
Why does it look like she’s in a better mood.
Yu Jitae couldn’t understand, but it seemed that Bom was feeling better.
“Ahh, by the way ahjussi. I don’t think you need to worry too much about it.”
“Huh.”
“Kaeul will probably get better soon.”
“How?”
“Naturally.”
Apparently she had seen something through Providence and thus, Yu Jitae decided to not worry about it too much.
*
Time flew rapidly until the day of the entrance ceremony.
“Can I read this book?”
Bom spent her days idly while reading books or listening to music and Yeorum played games on consoles.
“Hey, do you have anything on today?”
And on days without anything to do, he had to be an opponent for Yeorum’s games. Since he had no talents in gaming, Yeorum liked Yu Jitae.
“Wow you’re so good?”
“…”
“Where did you learn how to play games? Your master must be an amazing person.”
He was insulted by Yeorum.
Kaeul was either called for the rehearsals or had to move around busily in order to meet the related personnel. Yu Jitae had to follow her as her guardian.
And Gyeoul spent her days clinging onto him like a koala.
Sometimes, he would look down after feeling a gaze but whenever he did that, Gyeoul would fidget with Yu Jitae’s clothes and look away at a distant place.
That was the same as before, but her feigning-ignorance skills were getting more natural as time passed.
Although it had been less than a month since she was born, he could feel her weight changing. It was safe to assume that her brain was developing at a similar rate.
*
Just like that, time passed until the day broke on the day of the entrance ceremony. Wearing cadet clothes, Bom and Yeorum entered the grand hall while Yu Jitae watched them from the guardian seats with Gyeoul in his arms.
Dozens of large cameras faced the stage.
After more than a thousand new cadets took their seats, the entrance ceremony began. An award certificate was presented to the cadet with the highest marks, after which a musical performance was held as a commemoration.
When those ended, Kaeul, who was still in her immersed state stood on the stage alongside two supporting declarers.
And soon, the declarations of the new cadets began.
*
In front of the mic, the first words of Act 3 escaped Kaeul’s mouth.
[I declare for the everlasting prosperity of the human race.]
For a long time, she felt like she was walking through a thick fog. She felt anxious, sad, exhausted and couldn’t even sleep during nights. Despite standing still, her heart raced and the tips of her fingers trembled.
Yu Kaeul thought that she was feeling nervous because of the approaching entrance ceremony.
[…This is a duty we face from the time civilization began; from the moment history was recorded; and from the time existences constituted a society.]
But after keeping those emotions for several days,
Yu Kaeul could finally understand.
As she continued with the pledges one by one, she reflected on the emotions she received from Yu Jitae – the miserable state of a fallen, destroyed person; the sorrow that had to be felt as the weak; hatred of everything in existence and detesting oneself more than anything for inability to protect loved ones.
Empathising herself with that person, she felt sorrow trembling her body. It was so pitiful that Kaeul wanted to console him. If he was here in this place, what would he say? Kaeul closed her eyes, as a drop of tear flowed down her cheek.
A friend of our ahjussi, who I don’t know the name of.
In his memories.
[…In this place, I vow.]
*
[…Regardless of death, in this place where we hope for progress, we vow by the fallen blood and sweat for this oath.]
She continued without a single mistake. The expression and atmosphere behind her declaration was enough to subconsciously draw a story inside one’s head.
It was a performance that made Ha Junsoo unconsciously form a tight fist.
[…In hopes that it would remain in this land forever, until the children of the distant future may remember our names.]
There, Kaeul stood.
“…Wahh, this year’s declarer is no joke.”
“…Seriously insane. It’s the best of the best.”
He could hear murmuring voices.
Kaeul successfully finished the declaration.
After the entrance ceremony came to an end and all the remaining procedures had been taken care of, Yu Jitae was waiting for her outside the building when the baby chicken walked out with a deeply excited expression.
Both of her cheeks had deep red flushes.
Perhaps the experience of the declaration was too intense but like what Bom had said, Kaeul’s immersion had naturally been undone.
“…”
The baby chicken slowly walked up to him. There were wet tears hanging on her wide, circular eyes.
“Ahjussi… Did I, do a good job…?”
Yu Jitae replied by placing his hand on her head.
“You did.”
“Thank you…”
On the verge of tears, Kaeul approached and hugged him tight. Soon, albeit late, Yu Jitae hugged her back.
One experience was enough.
Today will remain in the corner of her memories and will stay alive forever.