Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: The Art of Negotiation (1)
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‘If you're addicted to sweets, you can't find joy in things that aren't sweet.’
The regressor had such thoughts while looking at the breakfast Winter had left behind. Lately, she had been constantly munching on jelly.
The plate was filled with untouched vegetables, meat, cheese, fruit, and more. Winter had barely touched it, just poking around.
But if she found happiness in sweets, wasn't that enough? The regressor had no intention of interfering.
That is, until the dragons themselves felt differently.
“Eeng? Winter! How can you leave it like this? You hardly ate anything... Mom always said not to leave food behind.”
Gaeul raised the issue.
“This little squirt's already being picky. Hey, Winter. Don't you know how important eating properly is during your playtime?”
Yeoreum criticized her.
“Jelly is confiscated for the time being.”
Bom issued a special measure.
Winter, deprived of her jelly jar, stared blankly at her empty hands with a dazed expression.
The jelly that was soft and chewy, sweet only after prolonged chewing.
The sweet, fragrant jelly that sometimes tingled with sourness.
The colorful jewels that had always filled her hands whole.
Gone...
“...Why... did this... have to happen...”
Winter grew depressed.
It was the weekend.
Yoo Ji-tae left room 301 with Bom and Gaeul in tow.
“Why just the two of us? What about Winter?”
“I have some questions about molting.”
“Molting?”
Gaeul's eyes widened round. Molting—the process where a dragon sheds its skin as its body grows larger.
They entered a café on the outskirts of the residential district. As always, Bom ordered for Yoo Ji-tae.
“Huh? Why is Unni picking for Ajusshi?”
“Because he always just gets coffee.”
Gaeul narrowed her eyes slyly and smirked.
“Is that sooo? Hng~.”
“What? Something wrong?”
“Hehe.”
They received their drinks and sat down. In the 5th round, and as he recalled in the 6th, the Blue Dragon had undergone two moltings.
Each time, the regressor hadn't been in the underground labyrinth, so he didn't know her exact condition. He only confirmed that her life and health weren't in jeopardy.
When he arrived late after her molting, the underground labyrinth was a mess with the Blue Dragon's shed skin, bodily fluids, blood, and such scattered everywhere.
Under the influence of the 「Fragment of Paradise」. It was a disaster.
He vaguely remembered only the Green Dragon clumsily trying to clean it up.
Thinking back now, the Blue Dragon had been a bit off afterward.
Trembling with anxiety despite the paradise's influence. Biting her own skin in self-harm. Those images came to mind.
He had thought it strange but not serious. Such sights were common on the battlefield.
But now, it seemed he needed to ask.
“You've all molted before, right?”
“Yes! I've done it twice so far.”
Now 11 years old, Gaeul beamed.
“But mine happened pretty early!”
“Early?”
“Yeah! Molting depends a lot on the situation. My mom was the super loving type, so I molted early and often.”
Love.
A troublesome word popped up.
“Right. The environment is really important.”
Bom continued from Gaeul.
“More than love—it's about whether the environment allows growth. That's why the hatchling's mindset matters.”
“The hatchling's mindset?”
“Dragons grow as much as they want, in the way they want.”
“Yeah, yeah! I wanted to grow up fast too!”
“Why?”
“My mom was the guardian deity of the Kirido Duchy?”
The Kirido Duchy seemed to be a nation in the otherworld ‘Ascalifa’.
“Seeing how much the people loved Mom was so cool and enviable. I wanted to be like her. That's why I look just like her—appearance-wise.”
“I see. So, what do you think our dorm is like as an environment?”
“Hmm...”
Gaeul and Bom pondered briefly before answering.
“Like home.”
“It's comfortable. Cozy. Yeah.”
“Yeah! I love how Ajusshi always brings delicious breakfast. What about you, Unni?”
“Me...”
As the kids chattered about the joys of room 301, he pondered something.
The underground labyrinth where happiness was forcibly injected. And room 301, where daily life was peacefully lived. Neither environment demanded rapid growth.
He sent a message via his watch.
Three times at age 16, and young at that.
She had to get strong. She needed to become an adult as soon as possible. Thus, consecutive moltings at a young age.
It aligned with what the kids said.
Yoo Ji-tae closed the messenger. A few more notifications chimed, but he ignored them.
Come to think of it, he had taken Bom to the underground labyrinth once. So he decided to ask her.
“If Winter molts in the underground labyrinth, what do you think would happen?”
“Huh? Absolutely not.”
Bom's response was immediate.
“Why.”
“Molting is such a sensitive moment. It's when a dragon is most vulnerable. Too young to handle magic properly, body and mind undeveloped—it's the weakest state. The labyrinth's light would have a terrible effect.”
The regressor was momentarily speechless.
It was rare for Bom to speak so firmly.
“Gasp. Really? What's the underground labyrinth like?”
Gaeul, the only one who hadn't been there, widened her eyes.
“Like a mental hospital. Where happiness is injected.”
“Aha...!”
“If I molted there, would I, like, die?”
“You wouldn't die, but you'd probably wish you had.”
“Eek. That's scarier... Why?”
“During molting, we're super sensitive. We can't tolerate irrationality. What if happiness is forced on you then?”
“Oh? Oh? I see... Yeah, when I molted, I overheard Mom cursing Dad...”
The two began simulating the scenario while chattering.
Around then, the regressor gazed hazily at Bom's blue lemonade.
His thoughts were complicated.
Wouldn't die, but wish for death.
He recalled the end of the 6th round. The blue-haired girl who stopped her own heart. And the words she said to him. They seemed to whisper in his ears.
“......”
Various thoughts arose unbidden, branching into negative memories and emotions.
By the time the kids noticed his silence, he put a period on those thoughts.
It was all in the past anyway.
“One more thing to ask...”
That day, Yoo Ji-tae asked them everything about molting.
Winter lay sprawled on the living room floor, looking depressed.
The guardian stealthily gauged the child's mood.
Her vacant gaze fixed on the ceiling—like someone who had lost everything.
A few minutes ago, she had whined to Bom for jelly and failed. Then she came to him whining to go out, and he tearfully refused.
Lately, Winter hadn't gone out, so the cat spirits hadn't gathered. Her confinement was effective.
“No outings for the next three weeks, little miss.”
Winter crossed her arms—thicker now from recent plumpness, making it a chubbier cross.
She glared disapprovingly for minutes, then lay down in solitary protest.
Ten minutes ago, it had been fine. Yoo Ji-tae was still at the dorm.
Under various restrictions, Winter had run to him for a hug. She checked his necklace, gazing at his face for comfort.
But he left only with Gaeul and Bom. Despite her pleas to join, he took just the two.
Thus, this cute, beautiful, precious little miss lay as if her soul had fled.
“......”
Her eyes: Life...
“Ugh... Little miss. Are you alright?”
“......”
She glanced sideways, then ignored him.
“......!”
Then it happened. Winter's eyes snapped open.
Remembering something, she sat up. With a serious expression, she stroked her chin.
“......”
After some deliberation.
Winter stood with a resolute face and approached the guardian.
“Little miss?”
“......”
The child gestured toward the front door down the hall.
“Do you want to go out? No.”
“...I really, really have to?”
“I'm sorry. If you go, it must be with me. And no taking feed out.”
“......”
Gloomy aura. Winter approached slowly. The guardian tensed. She rarely approached him directly.
Right up close, Winter placed her hand on his gauntlet.
“...I bought this... for you...”
It was pink rubber gloves.
The guardian felt like a grave criminal.
But no. No meant no.
“I'm sorry.”
“...Ajusshi's so... stubborn, unreasonable?”
“Kuhk.”
Grrr—
The guardian's resolve wavered.
Still, no. Protecting the dragon was the essence of Guardian Armata. He held firm. Winter sighed, brushing back her bangs.
Then, primly:
“...Let's make a deal.”
“A deal?”
A deal? What kind?
Come to think of it, a few days ago, Winter had kissed Gaeul's cheek.
The guardian's eyes gleamed.
No way... that?
Unaware of his hopes, Winter nodded toward somewhere. Not a kiss, but follow me. Feeling slight regret, the guardian followed.
Winter led him to the storage room and opened the door.
The quiet, tidy corner storage held fans, spare drawers, toilets, etc.
But one thing was missing.
The guardian's eyes narrowed.
After Yoo Ji-tae left with Gaeul, he had immediately locked the chick in there to prevent wandering.
Where had this chick gone?
Winter dashed to the back and vanished—poof.
“...Here.”
Checking, there was a plastic hole in the bent corner.
A broken vent fan.
A bit small for a basketball, but the guardian knew a wet, flattened chick was smaller than a soccer ball.
“......”
The guardian's gaze intensified.
“...What do you think?”
“......Deal accepted. Thank you for the valuable tip, little miss.”
“...Close your eyes.”
“Eyes closed. I see nothing from now on.”
Winter nodded brightly and bolted out.
She hauled the feed sack, grunting, out of the house.
Minutes later.
Winter met the cats in her usual spot.
Today's visitor was the gray mackerel tabby—the most timid, low in hierarchy, always lurking in corners, lagging a beat behind others.
Winter poured some feed into a bowl.
Then, reciting the magic words Yoo Ji-tae taught her:
“...Eat.”
The cat rushed over, chomping away.
Fewer cats than usual, but still—they ate what she gave.
Winter felt great.
Too scared they'd hate it, she didn't pet them, but in her heart, she stroked their heads.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt flashed in Winter's mind.
The method to lift the guardian's outing ban.
Could this method free the jelly ban from Unni Bom?
That evening, Winter strode boldly into Bom's room.
Resolute expression. Full of dignity.
Bom, absently writing her novel, turned her eyes to the blue-haired child.
“What's up, Winter?”
A formidable opponent.
Winter knew Bom's standing among dragons. Green kin set the rules. Negotiating felt daunting.
But spotting the hidden jelly jar behind the flowerpots on the dresser fueled her courage.
“Why the serious face? Something to say to Unni?”
“...Give back... what's mine.”
“Yours?”
Bom smiled slyly. A smile that somehow made one shrink.
Winter reaffirmed her courage chant.
Jel-ly-!