Chapter 141
Chapter 141
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: My Guardian Deity (7)
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There was no such thing as a demon there.
Only the Gold Dragon looking down at Yoo Ji-tae.
All of this had been a kidnapping farce orchestrated by BY.
Now it made sense. If she had flown into the sky while emitting such draconic prestige, the Skyborn would have cleared the way for her. There would have been no obstacles. She must have flown high enough to evade ground observations.
Having grasped the situation, he sheathed his sword.
"What the hell is this?"
He spoke with an expressionless face and a flat voice.
"Come back first. Human form."
The Gold Dragon hatchling's massive body shrank down.
BY returned to human form completely naked.
Her bright golden hair, untouched by dust, swayed gently. Sitting there in a disheveled posture, BY opened her mouth in a sullen tone.
"...So natural?"
"What."
"How long have you known? That I'm a dragon."
"No need to know."
Without even thinking to cover herself, she just stared blankly at Yoo Ji-tae.
Following security protocol, he took off his outer jacket and handed it to her. It was soaked in blood and torn in places, no better than a sackcloth.
But BY didn't take the jacket.
She just sat there vacantly, looking up at Yoo Ji-tae with hollow eyes.
"Put it on."
"......"
"Put it on, I said."
"......"
Since her hands still didn't move, Yoo Ji-tae approached and draped the jacket over her back himself.
The motion felt awkward. He was staggering.
The jacket was drenched in blood, so wherever it touched BY's pale skin, red stains smeared across it.
BY, who had been staring up at him blankly, finally lowered her head to look at the jacket now on her body. Then she sniffed at it.
"Why'd you come, you?"
At last, she spoke.
"To save you 'cause you might die."
"So damn annoying. For real."
"Now that it's on, get up. You'll get an earful when we get back."
"You don't get mad here?"
"Yeah."
"Why? Why are you so calm? Aren't you pissed?"
"Not really."
"Why?"
"'Cause you're not dead."
"......"
BY glared at him with sharp eyes before speaking.
"You think you're somebody special?"
Her voice was edged. His eye twitched.
"Then what am I?"
"You're just a hired bodyguard. A simple contract between employer and employee."
"So."
"So what? To put it more extremely, I'm the president of your company, and you're just an employee. If I fire you, you become nothing in my life."
"So."
"But what the hell are you doing right now? The boss wants to take a break 'cause she's going crazy, so why are you grabbing me?"
The wound on his forehead, which had barely stopped bleeding, burst open again. Blood trickled down.
So he rubbed his eye.
"So."
"You're nothing special to me. For real. Not special at all. Nothing impressive about you. Just some guy who beat up a few paparazzi under me for ten years."
"So."
"So. So. So! What the hell is with that 'so'! Don't you have anything to say? Argue back or get mad or something. Scold me if you want. Say something!"
"......"
He delayed his response and thought it over.
The Gold Dragon thought he wasn't special?
That meant nothing to him.
Whether she did or not...
What mattered was that she hadn't died.
Everything else failed to stir any emotion in him.
"No comeback? I'm asking!"
Yet BY was demanding he say something. It was fine that she'd staged her own hostage drama. It was fine that he'd come here risking death to save her.
But her demanding voice irritated him a bit.
So he squatted down in front of BY.
Even as the distance closed suddenly, she didn't avoid his gaze or pull away.
She just glared at him with rough breaths, furious about something.
"What. Would you feel better if I got mad?"
"Not mad? In this situation? What, are you some enlightened immortal?"
"No. But I am a little pissed."
"Then get pissed! Then!"
So Yoo Ji-tae slapped BY's cheek.
Slap.
Her small head turned.
He'd hit lightly. She knew it.
"I've never wanted to be special to you. So no matter what you say to piss me off or how you see me as your subordinate, it doesn't faze me."
"......"
"Just. As long as you don't die. Anything else, honestly, I don't get what you want to hear."
Now in the 7th round, having gained a normal life.
Looking back, back then he was ignorant, misguided, unable to distinguish what was right for a protector. So even at the end of the 4th round, he didn't regret his attitude toward BY.
Only the method was wrong, so from the 5th round on, celebrity or not, he'd locked her in an underground labyrinth.
But there was one thing he'd done right.
"This. Company made it for you. Boiled fresh, but now it's all cold."
He pulled out a disposable container of soup from his subspace.
It was the 'Offering for Eternal Peace.'
The soup, chilled in the subspace with item preservation frost magic, had turned almost jelly-like—it wouldn't fall even if he flipped the container.
"Even this being cold pisses me off a bit. I have to protect you. Can't leave for crap like this. Had to step out briefly 'cause no hands in the morning. But what if you end up half-dead in the meantime? Huh?"
Blood dripping from his chin fell onto the hardened soup.
"Get pissed, you say?"
He hurled the soup container to the ground in front of BY. The plastic crumpled, and the contents splattered across the floor.
"That enough?"
That was it. Yoo Ji-tae approached her and extended his wound-covered hand.
Blood dripped from his fingertips, plop, plop.
"Get up. Let's go."
"What. That's it...?"
"Yeah. I'm done being pissed, so you get up too. Let's go back."
"......"
Silence stretched on.
BY stared blankly at the scattered soup fragments.
Then she bowed her head.
"Turn around. Let me put the jacket on properly. My body's all visible."
So Yoo Ji-tae turned his back.
"......"
That was when it happened. A changed breathing sound reached his ears, different from before. He turned his head. Her small shoulders, hair falling to them, trembled nonstop.
BY was sobbing.
"What're you looking at."
"Shut up. You're really pissing me off... You think you're, what, my guardian deity or something?"
With a voice wet with tears, BY cried between words.
"We're nothing to each other... Why come fetch me getting hurt like this? Why."
"......"
"Why so much blood... What's that arrow in your knee? Hole in your chest—what's that? Why act like it doesn't hurt? If you're gonna show off how hard it was to get here, just show off—why pretend it doesn't hurt. Even I'd hurt, why don't you......"
BY cried, exhaling heavily.
"You're nothing to me... Why go through all that to save me......"
Then she started picking up the broken soup fragments from the ground and shoving them into her mouth.
Covered in dirt. Filthy pieces. But BY didn't care, stuffing them in. Stuffing more. And more.
"Sorry......"
She mumbled through chews, voice choked with sobs.
If he'd comforted her then.
Would the 4th round have been different?
"Feels like I'm the problem... I don't even know why I'm like this. Sorry...... Someone hating me is so scary......"
Tears poured out like a burst dam. She wiped with her hands. With the back of her hand. But they wouldn't stop.
And she crammed soup pieces so fast she started choking and coughing. Sobbing loudly.
"It's just, I'm, I'm too weak that's why... Sorry...... Sorry. I'm sorry......"
He didn't answer to the end.
"Ah, I feel so shitty... For real. Why even in this situation......"
After stuffing cold fragments into her mouth for so long, BY covered her face with both hands again and sobbed.
"Tastes good my ass... I must be crazy. For real......"
Back then, he lacked the wisdom to hug a crying child.
"Amazing......"
Gaeul, who had been eating the soup for a while, blankly opened her mouth.
"What."
"When I first tasted it, I couldn't believe it?"
"Yeah."
"But the more I eat, the more amazed I am. This tastes just like what Mom used to make."
"Does it."
"Yes. So good...... How'd you make this? Too similar to be coincidence......"
Gaeul spooned more soup into her mouth with a dazed gaze.
She ate like that for a long time.
He stayed, watching Gaeul eat. Usually she took big bites, but now she ate very slowly, small amounts leisurely.
Then, at some point, Gaeul spoke in a slightly more subdued voice.
"Ajusshi."
"What."
"Earlier, I messed up... No, I did mess up."
"......"
"Sorry. I really need to go apologize tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Almost killed someone...... Sorry."
"I know."
"That person suddenly approached, I got so startled, I just...... But excuses like that are what perpetrators say......"
"......"
Tears welled up on Gaeul's face.
"Thinking back still makes my hands shake so much......"
"......"
"Our Gold Clan gets along with humans...... That's why it felt worse......"
"......"
"But I wanted to protect Ppicyung so bad. The kid was terrified. Shaking like, yeah, trembling. How could I let that go? Could you, Ajusshi?"
"......"
"I couldn't...... No, actually, I don't know. Anyway, all my fault......"
Tears gathered in her golden eyes.
"I'm this kid's guardian. I'm supposed to be her guardian deity......"
In Ascalifa, the Gold Dragon clan was worshipped as national guardian deities.
"Even if the kid messes up, the guardian deity can't...... What kind of guardian deity is that......"
He squatted beside the child sitting in the chair.
At eye level lower than hers, he looked at her and said.
"You did good."
"Good? I made a huge mistake......"
"It's fine. Everyone messes up sometimes. You protected the chick."
"Even though someone almost died...?"
"Yeah. But they didn't. Just be careful next time."
If he'd had a bit more wisdom in dealing with people in the 4th round.
He wouldn't have messed up.
Gaeul's worries overlapped with the doubts Yoo Ji-tae had back then.
Back then, no one advised Yoo Ji-tae.
So he repeated his mistakes.
"It's okay to mess up."
"Yeah......"
"I'll help you."
"......"
Gaeul cried as she shoved soup into her mouth.
But sobbing made half of it spill. He pulled out tissue and handed it to her. Gaeul finally took it and wiped her mouth.
"Thank you......"
Then her face crumpled again.
"Ajusshi, you're my guardian deity, huh......"
Gaeul lay beside the chick, staring blankly.
He didn't leave her room, just sat next to the lying girl.
After crying it out, she seemed relieved, just gazing vacantly at the chick.
Yoo Ji-tae watched such Gaeul, then placed his hand on her hair.
Following an inexplicable feeling, he stroked the child's head.
Along her forehead line. Along the stray hairs there. Following the golden strands.
As he continued the awkward gesture.
"Mm~. How'd you know I like head pats? Feels good."
He kept stroking without reply. For a long time.
Before long, Gaeul's eyes slowly closed.
Just before sleep, she mumbled.
"But Ajusshi. Doesn't it feel kinda weird......?"
Feeling his touch.
Gaeul said absentmindedly.
"Feels like Mom......"