It happened some time ago.
Unit 301.
A golden pair of eyes was looking at Bom who was sitting on the couch in her outstretched t-shirt that constantly slid down.
She was crouching down reading a book but Kaeul was persistently staring her way, so she slightly shifted her head to meet the gaze. Usually, Kaeul would have smiled ‘hehe’ and said hello but she was quite different that day.
“…”
“…”
“…What’s wrong?”
Seemingly with a question in mind, Kaeul sneaked up and sat next to her on the sofa. The same gentle fragrance of grass seeped into her nose as if she was in a forest.
When Kaeul sat next to her, Bom lowered the book and looked back at her. After a few seconds of odd silence, Kaeul raised a question.
“Unni.”
“Nn nn.”
“Do you like ahjussi?”
“Nn. I do.”
“Then, do you love ahjussi?”
Hearing that, Bom widened her eyes a little with a slightly open mouth. However, her expression returned to the normal indifferent one in just a few seconds.
“Nn.”
Kaeul tilted her head with her eyes stuck on Bom.
“How do you love him?”
“Hnn?”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})“We, uhh, can’t fall in love and stuff right?”
Bom replied with an awkward smile.
“Who knows? I also wonder how.”
Finding that response questionable, Kaeul asked back.
“You don’t know either, unni? How you fell in love?”
“Nn. I don’t know.”
“Ehng?”
Bom raised her hand and rested it on her chest.
“I think this must be broken.”
Kaeul blinked her eyes before asking yet again.
“Then, in that case, is there like a reason you fell in love? Ah! I’m just asking because I’m curious…!”
‘Hmm…’ Nipping on the bookmark, Bom contemplated deeply before shaking her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Eyy. How can you not know that?”
“No, really. I don’t know. Actually, I thought about it a lot myself but I really have no clue. Seriously…”
‘…How did this happen.’ Bom murmured something similar to what she had previously said.
With that, Kaeul resolved two out of the three questions she had, even though the replies Bom gave didn’t fully quench her curiosity.
“And also, last question.”
“Nn.”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})“A few days ago, me and ahjussi…”
Kaeul talked about the things that happened while sending the baby chicken, Chirpy, back to his world, including how she cried in his arms on the way back.
Although there was no need to bother telling her all this, Kaeul wanted to share them.
She was quite nervous during her speech. She had no confidence to look into Bom’s eyes and her lowered gaze was facing Bom’s stretched out t-shirt by the time she came to herself.
“…And that’s what happened.”
After finishing her explanation, Kaeul carefully raised her head back up and found Bom gazing down at her with an expression she could not read.
That in turn made her more nervous.
“…”
“…”
“A, are you perhaps angry…?”
“Do you like ahjussi?” Bom asked instead of replying to her question.
“Uun? Un… Ah, ah! But! Not, not in the way you’re thinking! Because he’s a good person, and precious? That’s why I like him. Not like, the things you see in a shoujo manga…!”
“Nn.”
“Just… but, still, I thought unni wouldn’t like that so… I just, unn…”
“Nn.”
“…Are you okay?”
“Nn. I’m fine.”
“Uinng?”
Bom sounded so nonchalant that it instead made Kaeul flustered.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})“You’re okay?”
“Nn. I’m totally okay.”
“Why? Unni, you are, umm, very sensitive with your belongings right?”
“Ahjussi isn’t an object though, is he.”
“But, the… umumu… uhh, you know… Don’t you feel jea… lous or something like that…?”
After finally realising the point Kaeul was trying to make by beating around the bush, Bom replied with a giggle.
“I’m not jealous at all. Well, I guess it might feel weird to see that happen in front of my eyes though.”
“…”
“But still, it’s okay.”
“Ehng? Even if someone other than me, like Yeorum-unni or Gyeoul, does something similar with ahjussi…?”
“Nn. As long as you don’t cross the line.”
“Really? That’s a bit unexpected. I actually thought unni would be super upset…”
“No, of course not.”
Bom caressed her hair. Her eyes were gazing outside the window into the distance.
“It’s been around 5 years since we lived together right? I’ve always felt sorry, and thankful to you guys.”
“Unn?”
“Sorry because you getting involved with the dimensional disjoint might be because of how unlucky I am, and grateful because you’ve never blamed it on me and…”
“Uun…”
“I think I’m quite attached to you guys after spending such a long time together. Sometimes I even wonder how I can live without you after going back. It feels great to live together… When Gyeoul gets a bit bigger, I want to go to a hot spring together, go gambling with Yeorum, and buy delicious food together with you. How would I ever feel jealous?”
“…”
With a pause, she thought, looking at the ceiling and the ground before turning towards Kaeul. Soon, Bom concluded her words along with a faint smile.
“You guys are so precious to me…”
It seemed that the white bird had been continuing the analysis all by itself after ending the communication with him. The number of messages that floated up were therefore extremely abundant.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has concluded the analysis on the manifestation of Hostility: [Last Night]. The time, location and risk level will be revealed.>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has completed the analysis on [Great Hostility]. The objective and cause for the Great Hostility will be revealed.>
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)]…>
Going up the log, he viewed a message that had come up a lot earlier. He quickly looked at the information on the ‘Third Night’.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has concluded the analysis on the manifestation of Hostility: [Third Night].>
Images formed by voices and letters were engraved in Yu Jitae’s brain.
Before long,
He was met with the shocking truth.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] has opened the records of the [Third Night] which has deviated from the world’s timeline.>
<Target: [Mutant Black Dragon Myu].>
Blood raced into his mind.
He did think about the possibility before.
But after locking her and experimenting with her, he had dug into all parts of Myu’s body and the Hostility did not manifest in any way even till the death of Myu’s personality.
By nature, [Hostility] tended to manifest itself even at a low level of stress. It was like a reflex system and was a common attribute that accompanied [Mental Contamination].
That was why the logical conclusion he had drawn through multiple experiments was that Myu couldn’t be a host of Hostility.
It was impossible for even a black dragon to persevere through a [Mental Contamination] to deceive both the personality and Yu Jitae. It was simply impossible.
However, that was when something suddenly appeared in Yu Jitae’s mind.
The extraordinary thing he had found inside Myu’s Conceptual World…
……Don’t tell me.
<Explanation: There has been an interference from an existence outside the world’s timeline that is displeased about your regression.>
<Her name is [Lugiathan].>
<She is the chief of the black dragon race which you have killed outside the Providential timeline.>
<And is the mother of the target, [Myu].>
He could feel blood racing in the wrong direction.
In shock, Clone 2 crawled away from him on the spot and distanced himself from him. Veins popped up on Yu Jitae’s cheeks, as the skin around his eyes ripped open and revealed the whites of his eye.
Yu Jitae’s expression started to crumple into that of a devil.
<7th iteration’s Myu: [The Inaccessible Memory] had been sealing the [Third Night].>
In the conceptual world; the [Black Wall] that had been blocking the memories of Myu’s youth. That black wall which had firmly stood its ground despite the authorities, [Memory Manipulation] and [Conceptualisation]… It was that wall that was hiding the [Hostility] inside Myu’s heart.
<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] accepts the existence of the target, [Myu] into the Providence.>
The moment he realised it, a new array of images overlapped in his mind into the form of a video. What was in the background was Myu’s [Conceptual World] which he had recently been to.
<The doors of the [Black Wall] sealed tightly within Myu’s [Origin Fragment] have started to open.>
From within the black wall which had been blocking the ‘childhood memories’ of Myu came out a black existence. Although that thing looked like Myu, it was not Myu nor was it Myu’s personality.
The black existence looked at the sky and the ground before jiggling its body. It moved its feet, raised its arms, wobbled its body and unsteadily shook its head.
Like that, it started to dance.
Yu Jitae closed his eyes.
One by one, he went through each of the words Myu had said to him. All her words were finally coming to one piece and the scattered pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming back to one.
– I, I, was floating adrift in the dimensions, ever since, I came to myself.
– What about after that?
– I was always adrift… For a very, long time. Sometimes, I landed in several areas, and spent time, …but that was it.
– Did you not settle in any of them?
– I couldn’t. I wasn’t allowed to settle.
– By who.
– …My instincts.
Myu had been adrift for a very long time. She had been flying to Yu Jitae all the way from the Non-Providential World for revenge.
– Then we get some dents on the cylinder depending on the vibration and when we retrace it back with the needle, it plays the recorded sound.
– Uwah. Is the recording function on the watch based on similar principles?
– Sorry? Haha. No that’s not the case. That is an incomparably more developed technology because this here is almost 300 years old now.
– 300 years old…
Curiously looking at new things with circular eyes. Even though Myu was an adult dragon, she was way too similar to a hatchling. He did think it was because she had been roaming around for a long time, but what he didn’t know was that she had been nurtured for the ‘Third Night’ from the beginning. It was obvious she would be like a baby dragon, because she had been flying towards him immediately after her birth without even experiencing the world.
– …You see. I was born in order to help someone.
– What the task was, and who it was that I was supposed to help – everything was beyond what I could remember. So floating adrift all around, my life couldn’t help but end up becoming neither one thing nor the other, wouldn’t you agree?
– Why am I alive. That was the occasional question I had in my head.
Myu had referred to herself as a being who had been born to help someone else. Who would that existence be? It was probably her mother, the chief of the black dragon race, [Lugiathan]. She had set foot on this land by even putting her own life on the line to help with her mother’s revenge.
– If all your questions are cleared, how about we carry out a deal?
– Tell me anything you want and I will listen. But in return, please do not touch my nest.
– I will move to a quiet and secluded area so don’t look for me either. Okay?
Baby dragons tended to crave exceptionally for things they did not have. The reason Myu had been desperately seeking for a place to rest, by even controlling her anger unlike other black dragons for a deal with Yu Jitae:
It was because in the process of Yu Jitae killing her mother [Lugiathan] to steal her abilities, other authorities that had ambushed the black race had destroyed her nest.
<The one that had conveyed [Memories of the Past Iteration] to Ha Saetbyul 4 years ago was the entity, [Myu]. [Hostility] was able to gather memories about you through [Memory Manipulation] whilst you were near the Non-Providential World repeating your 77th life killing Lugiathan.>
When all the puzzle pieces had gathered to one, Yu Jitae felt a sense of crisis soaring up his throat. He had to return to Earth as soon as possible.
However, that wasn’t the end.
<Through the Hostility manifestation of the target, [Myu], the [Third Night] has arrived.>
<Explanation: Myu wants you to be locked in the circulation of regression, unable to achieve your dream. Myu had been looking for a target near you to convey [Memories of the Past Iteration] and will do so after finding a target.>
He felt as if someone had grabbed his head and pushed it into a bucket of ice water. Would this be how it feels to have one’s heart gouged out? The sense of crisis started paralysing his heart and numbing his fingers and toes.
Myu knew someone. She knew Bom…
Yu Jitae instinctively raised his body and dashed towards the outside of the World of Providence like a bolt of lightning.
Right now,
Everything in the 7th iteration was about to go wrong.
However, his dreadful destiny did not let him go with ease even in a situation like this.
<Warning! You have killed the Judges and the Punisher at the Temple of Providence.>
<Thus the Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] sends the [Apostle of Providence] to correct the errors within the World of Providence. The Apostle will hold you back and lock your feet, securing you so that you cannot ruin Providence any further.>
Particles of golden light fell from the sky and started to gather into one. Revealed from within the brilliant particles of light was a mechanical humanoid reaching 50 metres in height which was bigger than most buildings.
There were golden and blackish plates of armour all around its body. Although the upper body and the shoulders were mind-numbingly enormous, there was no lower body from waist downwards.
<The Authority, Apostle of Providence: [Colossal Soldier] gazes down at you.>
With its appearance it brought about an oppressive pressure that suppressed the entirety of the World of Providence. It blocked Yu Jitae’s sprint from the front.
[Stop there. You superficial authority.]
A groundbreaking shockwave carried a voice into his brain.
[You cannot proceed any further. You must pay for your sins of scattering blood at the Temple of Providence. Follow me obediently.]
However, there was nothing that could stop the current Yu Jitae.
If he was a marionette, then the strings connected to him would have only been tightened even if others were to pull those until now, making him stay within a rational scope of movement.
But all those strings had just been snapped.
All the ‘subordinates’ existing inside the Temple of Providence were looking at them. Breathing with much difficulty, they were glancing at Yu Jitae and the Colossal Soldier.
The lighthouse was right in front of him.
One more step.
Just one more step and his thousands of lives,
The dream he had been aspiring for a thousand years,
It would have at last been achieved and yet–
“–Who are you to dare try to stop me.”
<The Authority, [Keeper of the Clock (SSS+)] sternly warns the [Colossal Soldier].>
In an instant, he dashed forward with his hand grasping every bits of his killing intent.
At the same time, he roared through his chest.
A thundering roar reverberated through the World of Providence, making every listener collapse to the ground.
“MOVE—- ASIDE——!”
The monster wailed out loud.
