Gyeoul did not want him to leave. Him leaving meant Gyeoul’s misfortune and for her happiness, he had to stay here.
Should he honestly tell them everything and ask for their forgiveness? He had thought such a thing for a split second but in the end, he didn’t think these kids would be able to handle a shock that big.
For example, Kaeul was a child who found it hard to send off a baby chicken who had been with her for a bit more than a year, and asked for advice everyday. She was a very young and fragile child who had yet to experience the world.
The other kids were the same.
Hostility was an uncertain element and even the godly EX authorities were powerless. Since he had lived all his life forming plans, an uncertain element trying to interfere with his plans made him morbidly look for a better plan, and that was where the problem laid.
In any case, it wasn’t certain that the kids would retrieve their memories of the past iterations.
He decided to put himself in the shoes of countless other people living daily lives – people who didn’t know what tomorrow had in plan for them. Among those people, there surely would be a lot of them living with big problems like himself, who still had the power to smile today.
Putting it that way, Yu Jitae realised something new.
Since he had always called it the 7th iteration, thinking of the whole thing as the ‘present’, he was unable to think that a certain time frame within the 7th iteration would also become the ‘past’.
‘…Then, don’t go.’
The child who had stopped her own heart at the end of the 6th iteration,
‘…If you go, I will be sad.’
Was now saying she would be sad if he left her.
Both Yu Jitae and Gyeoul were the same people, so what was it that was now different?
– …More, please.
Gyeoul, who pushed her bowl forward asking for more noodles.
– How should I help you?
Himself helping Gyeoul who had lost her bottle of gummies.
– Doesn’t that already make me a good person then?
– …Nn?
– I play with you already.
– …A lot… Someone that plays with me a lot.
The conversation he had with her as she ached in pain in the cold and dark place.
They had all changed.
Even apart from those, Gyeoul and Yu Jitae had spent countless moments in the 7th iteration that differed from the 6th iteration, and looking back, those had also become a part of the past embroidering the path they had trodden.
All the upcoming future will again become a part of the past and remain forever in the child’s head. Realising that, he started thinking that an unnecessary worry should never ruin the present.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Mysteriously, something changed the moment he changed his own thoughts.
Yu Jitae gazed down at the string binding his wrists.
Until then, it had felt like the last string supporting him and Unit 301 together. But now, it looked like something that shook his emotions, making him come to such a childish decision; like a shackle formed from the past.
Rip–
He snapped the string.
The string that he originally had to embrace his mind as if he were breaking the universe, was broken all too easily.
He stood up on the spot as Gyeoul’s arms loosened around his neck.
The child was small and was still smaller than him despite standing on the bed. Bending his back, he brought his arm behind her knees as she sat on his arm.
It was an extremely natural and familiar gesture.
Her faith originating from the past told her that this arm would never drop her, and made her enjoy the close distance.
“…You won’t go?”
“Yeah.”
Gyeoul nodded with a bright smile.
Looking for words to say, he was blankly gazing at her face when the child suddenly reached her hand out and laid it on top of his head. She then started running her fingers through the coarse strands of his hair.
“What are you doing,” he asked.
“…You look like, a kind tiger.”
Her response made him dumbfounded.
“…And also, one more.”
“Yeah?”
“…If you are like that again, tell me.”
He gave a faint smile.
Something like this would never occur again.
Quietly lending his ear to the sound of the child rustling her fingers through his hair soothed his mind. The words he was supposed to say naturally left his mouth.
“Sorry.”
He apologised,
“…Okay.”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})And the child forgave him.
There were 3 left to go.
***
When everyone was there, he gave a light apology.
He admitted that he was being overly sensitive recently and told them that he would take a rest today to settle his mood. It was such a simple sentence and yet it made the children visibly more relaxed.
The most heated response was Yeorum swearing out loud and angrily leaving the dormitory.
Only after seeing that did he realise how much he himself had shaken Unit 301. Overly worrying about something that hadn’t even occurred yet, he was close to ruining the daily life that he had built up with difficulty.
He was literally about to be doomed.
“An apology?”
It was obvious where Yeorum would go. He went up to the roof and found her smoking a cigarette there.
“Far out, you guys freaking…”
Remembering something similar that had happened quite recently at the same spot, Yeorum opened her mouth.
“Is sorry going to cut it?”
“Then, how do you want me to apologise.”
“Kneel.”
Yu Jitae quietly kneeled down. For a split second, he wondered if he should do it or not, but he was truly feeling sorry so it wasn’t like he couldn’t do it.
However, Yeorum’s expression turned funny after seeing that.
“Huhh…?”
With her mouth full of smoke, she walked towards him and pushed forward her foot wearing slippers.
“Kiss my foot.”
“…”
“Are you not gonna do it?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“It stinks.”
“Nonsense. How can a dragon’s foot stink?”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})“Your socks did.”
She frowned.
“Anyways, you don’t wanna do it?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm… right? It’s weird to obediently kiss the foot when told to do so right?”
Yu Jitae didn’t know whether he was supposed to reply to her question or not.
“No. Whatever.”
Letting out another mouthful of smoke, Yeorum looked directly into his eyes.
“Anyways, don’t make others feel miserable again.”
“Alright.”
“I’m not joking. Tell me straight. Looking at you doing crap by yourself from the side sucked my blood dry. It felt disgusting.”
He wasn’t even in the right state of mind to care for himself, so he had no idea what Yeorum would have been feeling back then.
“Do you know what actually makes me feel like shi*? I can’t do anything. If you drop everything and suddenly leave, what can I even do? Should I grab onto your pants and cry? Let you touch my titties? Are you gonna stay then? No right? You always do whatever the f*ck you want to, don’t you?”
“…”
“What can I do then? Nothing. I feel freaking powerless. Why do you make me feel that way?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Fu*k you…”
Once again, she started taking in and out breaths of smoke. She then suddenly asked.
“So did you do it?”
“What?”
“Did you have sex with Yu Bom.”
It was an extremely abrupt question and he was dumbfounded.
Yu Jitae didn’t even want to reply but realised that he couldn’t not say anything in a situation like this. It was a situation where he had to say something back.
“No.”
“Sex.”
“…”
After a stupid QnA time, she seemed to be in a slightly better mood.
“Ah~ Where did my ashtray go off to.”
Standing right in front of him, Yeorum twitched the cigarette that was half its original size. Yu Jitae looked at the cigarette before standing up from the ground. He then snatched it from the child’s hand.
“Huh, uh? What are you…”
Soon, Yeorum widened her eyes.
He placed the cigarette in his mouth and sucked in the smoke. Very deeply – so much so that one breath of his made the cigarette close to burning out. The following exhale of smoke that left his mouth was therefore extremely dense.
“What…”
He intentionally turned off the blessing related to the body’s detoxification system, but it was a weaker cigarette than he thought and wasn’t much. Yu Jitae was about to throw the cigarette butt, but soon turned the fire off with his fingers and took it so that he could throw it into the bin later.
“Do you smoke?”
For some reason, her expression was slightly brighter than before.
“In the past.”
There were now 2 to go.
*
“You really need to get scolded, ahjussi!”
Kaeul shouted.
“Why did you do that? And surprise me? Hnn? Unn?”
“…”
“I was really really surprised. Nn? Do you know? Do you know what I’m saying?”
“Yeah.”
“No you don’t! You don’t know anything!”
When Yu Jitae took a submissive attitude, all her feelings seemingly exploded and Kaeul angrily shouted.
“How can you suddenly do that! Huh? Do you know what it feels to have your precious friend suddenly trying to leave you behind and disappear? The person left behind feels like being thrown away you know! Were you trying to throw me away? Really? Like, reallyyy?!”
Her words poked through his memories.
How could he not know? The world had left him behind and disappeared six times.
“…Sorry.”
“Is sorry going to cut it?!”
“I’ll buy you something delicious. Apparently the bakery store next to the commercial district has a new menu.”
“I don’t need that!”
“Apparently it’s a strawberry inside a chocolate brownie.”
“I don’t need that either–”
“I’ll also get you some macarons and ice cream.”
“I’m fine! Do you think I’m like, a fool or something, that only loves food?”
She then started preaching again. It wasn’t going to end any time soon, so he gave her something he had obtained with much difficulty.
“Right. I’m sorry. First, take this and calm down.”
“What! Ehng? Bakery coupon? Like seriously! What do you take me for!!”
“It’s for you. It’s the premium ticket of Lair Hotel’s bakery store.”
“Like I said, how many times do I have to say it. Seriously! Stop trying to gloss over it with things like this. I, I…”
Kaeul slurred the end of her sentence as her eyes rested on the ticket.
Was it tempting her? He thought this was the opportunity to push forward.
“They have a new chocolate pie apparently.”
It was a store that was always mentioned whenever there was a debate over the best bakery of Lair. It was the best patisserie with VIP entry only, fully booked for the next 6 months.
“…”
Would she take it? He wanted this to help her relax a bit more so he pushed his hand forward.
However, Kaeul stopped his hands with her palms.
“Why aren’t you listening to me…”
Her voice caused a small ripple in his mind.
“I don’t need it… I don’t need something like this… so don’t go. Nn?”
Yu Jitae realised that he needed a more fundamental apology. Facing Kaeul, who had her eyes looking at the ground, he replied.
“Yeah. Sorry. I promise I won’t.”
“Make a vow then.”
“How?”
“With your place of birth, name and your father’s name.”
“Is that like the vow of the dragons, or something?”
“It’s not. Like, it’s not like a spell that forces you either. Don’t even know how to do those things. But please just, promise me. Otherwise, how can I be at ease, and believe you won’t throw me away…?”
With a melancholic expression, she slurred her words.
He had broken the credit they had built up already, so he now had to diligently build it up again. Breaking the silence, Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“I, Yu Jitae, born of Songpa, Seoul.”
At that moment, Kaeul widened her eyes, but it took some time for him to remember the name.
“The son of Yu Junghwan, hereby vow on the name of Yu household that…”
Yu Jitae knew of the vowing etiquette of nearby dimensions, but did not know what he was supposed to promise about. ‘What should I say,’ he whispered and Kaeul whispered back, ‘Uh, uhh, that you won’t suddenly explode out?’
“…that I won’t explode.”
Following the etiquette of the vowing ceremony, he lowered his head when Kaeul shouted.
“What is that…! It’s a mess!”
“Why. That’s what you told me to do.”
“That’s not how you do it in our world okay? Also, you are not a bomb so why would you explode? Even if I say something random, you need to, nn? Tie the knot so that it makes sense!”
“Instead of tie, how about a chocolate pie?”
“Ahhnng! Annnng! Again, again! You’re treating me like a pig……!”
Kaeul glared at him before closing her mouth. In any case, he did make a vow. She said with a voice so soft that it resembled the breeze of a pinwheel.
“But, you did promise… no breaking promises. Okay?”
She asked carefully.
“Okay.”
“Then, promise me that you won’t break it.”
Kaeul said with her pinky out.
Wouldn’t this be promising on a vow? He thought but still wrapped his pinky around her pinky, but that was when she showed another pinky finger.
“Promise me you won’t break the promise.”
Only after promising on the promise of the vow, did Kaeul take the ticket.
“And lastly, there is something you really need to know.”
“What is it.”
“I’m not a pigg—-!”
Alright.
There was now one left to go.
