Chapter 162
Chapter 162
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 162
Chapter Title: 53. Just a Pity (4)
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For decades. Perhaps over a century. The regressor had known no joy.
He had been in pain.
And once he forgot the pain, all that remained was irritation.
The rare moments of pleasure that came his way were the bizarre thrills he felt from killing demons.
It was a pleasure akin to the numbness from poison touching the lips.
So addictive it was grotesquely potent that in one unnumbered regression, he had forgotten even the dragons entirely and indulged in it.
That was why the regressor cherished this purely approaching joy. He might even be a bit excited.
Like a child thrilled by a new game.
"...".
The plea to be spared made his body pause briefly. She was close. Bom's two arms blocking Yoo Ji-tae's advance were bent halfway, and his chin was just two fists away from her forehead.
As he stopped, Bom crawled across the bed on all fours to put distance between them. Only then did she have some breathing room, and the sigh that escaped was quite deep.
"Calm down first."
"You need to calm down. Who said they're killing you, begging to be spared?"
"You, Ajusshi."
"So what did you do wrong?"
"Pardon?"
"You did do something wrong."
"Who did?"
Yoo Ji-tae's upper body leaned in again.
"Hey."
Embarrassment flashed briefly. Feeling she couldn't take it anymore, Bom covered her own eyes with one hand and thrust her open palm out in front of Yoo Ji-tae's face with the other.
It was a small hand.
"Wait. Pause...!"
Even now, Bom was trying to take control of the situation herself.
He wanted to tease her and see her flustered, but he had no intention of forcing anything. So Yoo Ji-tae obediently halted.
Seeing no movement from him, Bom sneaked her hand away from her eyes. Then, something odd touched her extended hand. Yoo Ji-tae had pressed his cheek against it.
Bom yanked her hand back in horror.
The rough texture of his skin. Yet humanly soft, the feel of his cheek lingered on her palm. Bom clutched her hand with the other and asked.
"...!?"
But no words came out; she just mumbled. Lowering her chin, Bom glared at him reproachfully.
"I told you not to come closer..."
"Yeah. You gave the stop signal."
"But we just had contact anyway."
"I stopped though."
"...".
"Am I wrong?"
"But, Ajusshi..."
"Yeah."
"You're different from usual today."
"How so."
"Annoying..."
He was dumbfounded.
Yoo Ji-tae thought for a moment. To converse with Bom in this somewhat clumsy way, the best was to mimic what she had said in the past.
How had she done it? Meeting his eyes head-on. Using plausible words suited to the situation to close the distance.
"I'm curious about your condition."
"...".
"If needed, want me to check it out? Your body's state."
"No."
"It's not just today. You've been like this lately."
"I'll probably be fine by tomorrow."
"That's weird right there."
"Pardon?"
"Why can't you be sure today? You don't know when you'll recover either, do you? That's not something a Green Dragon would say, setting aside the condition issue."
"...".
"Come here. Let me put my hand on your head."
Trouble gathered in her glaring eyes. The kneeling girl froze like a statue. So he slowly reached out, but the closer his hand got, the more Bom pulled her upper body back, slyly keeping her head away.
The hesitation was no fun. He was parched for the joy he felt after so long.
With somewhat urgent movements, he suddenly approached Bom. Surprised eyes looked up at him. The moment his hand reached her head, Bom shot out both hands and grabbed his.
"Why block it."
"Do you really have to...?"
"I plan to."
His right thumb touched, his left ring finger touched.
They trembled, stained with tension.
"If I say I really don't want to die...?"
Off-condition and unlike her usual self, Bom asked him in a quivering voice.
A question like confirming something. Yoo Ji-tae wasn't that perceptive, so he answered honestly.
"Then I won't."
"Okay. Then I'll be honest. Ajusshi. I feel like I'm dying right now..."
"Fine. I wasn't planning to go that far."
But he couldn't pull his hand away.
Rather, strength entered Bom's trembling hands.
What is it.
Pondering why she was acting this way, the regressor recalled the meaning of her "dying" comment and suddenly entertained an absurd hypothesis.
A hypothesis he hadn't even imagined until now.
That was when.
Suddenly, the trouble vanished from Bom's expression. Leisure returned to her eyes soon after, and she gave her usual sly smile.
"Ajusshi."
At this abrupt change, Yoo Ji-tae paused his movements.
It was too familiar a situation.
"But why put your hand on my head?"
"To know in detail, mana needs to be close, right?"
It was an excuse.
Just an excuse to trouble her.
"Then closer to the Dragon Heart would let you know more precisely?"
"Probably."
"So the head isn't the place to put your hand...?"
Bom looked up at him with an uneasy expression, then bit her lower lip as if scared.
Then she slyly pulled his hand. From head to chin. To collarbone. And further... to the prominently outlined curve under the clinging T-shirt.
"Hey."
"I'm fine..."
A smile emerged from her uneasy expression.
That very smile.
Overflowing with leisure. Lurking mischief. The smile that troubled people hung on Bom's lips.
As if everything from the start had been planned.
But Yoo Ji-tae wasn't troubled.
He stopped his hand.
"Why...?"
Not even by the whisper tickling his ear.
The current Bom felt somewhat clumsy somewhere. It was an instinctive feeling, beyond words.
"Bom. What are you doing?"
So when he drew the line, a crack appeared in Bom's leisurely expression.
She quietly let go of his hand. Still facing him, she slowly began to look teary.
Then Yoo Ji-tae felt a slightly greater joy than before.
Just now, Bom had been pretending to be in good condition.
"Bom."
"No..."
"What was that just now."
"No, nothing."
"You did something. Right?"
"No...! I didn't do anything... Aaah...!"
Her ears turned red soon after, and Bom dove desperately under the blanket, burying her upper body. 'Don't talk to me, I want to die...' Then she pressed a pillow onto the back of her head.
Still, in his joy, Yoo Ji-tae kept talking.
"Hey. Were you imitating just now? Like what you usually do?"
— ......
"Is my hunch right that I caught on?"
— ......
Squirm squirm. The pillow squirmed. It was protest with her whole body.
As he tried to lift the pillow and blanket, Bom resisted fiercely. When the blanket started to lift entirely, she even flailed her legs in resistance.
— Stop teasing me...
A voice almost like crying. This time she was desperate in her own way. So he had no choice but to stop.
He turned off the tent light.
He lay awake through the night. Doing nothing. Thinking nothing. Just waiting for time to pass. But today, a small fragment of thought slipped into that time.
What was making Bom troubled.
Yoo Ji-tae pursued the vaguely arisen topic.
— Ajusshi.
When Bom spoke again, much time had passed.
A voice from Bom still buried in blanket and pillow. He looked down at the bulging blanket.
"What."
— I have a worry.
"What is it."
— I can't see Providence.
Yoo Ji-tae, blankly staring at the tent ceiling, sat up.
"What?"
— Providence's sight is blocked. I can't see Providence now.
Only then did he realize what Bom meant by her condition talk.
This was no light matter.
"Why tell me now."
— ......
"Since when. What's the reason."
— A few days. I don't know the reason.
"Your family? Any dragons in your family like that?"
The pillow squirmed. Bom was shaking her head.
This was an anomaly deviating from the norm. And something unheard of even up to the 6th regression. As Yoo Ji-tae mulled it over, his brows furrowed.
He spoke in a slightly lowered voice.
"Bom."
— Yes.
"I don't get it. If Providence became invisible a few days ago, that's before you even mentioned dispatch."
— Yes.
He scolded her.
"In that state, what dispatch? Even if I said go, you should've said you need rest."
— Yes...
"You're not the type who can't distinguish time and place. What were you thinking."
— ......
Bom's voice grew smaller and smaller, until she had no answer at the end.
Between irritation and worry, other words surfaced. The regressor found his own words novel anew. Was he nagging now?
But recalling what afflicted Bom, his scolding wasn't excessive.
— Are you mad?
"No. Enough."
— Not mad?
"Not mad. Stop talking nonsense and sleep. We'll head back at dawn."
— Yes.
"And if something like this happens again, tell me in advance. Got it?"
After a silence, Bom spoke.
— ...I delayed telling you.
— Because I was embarrassed.
"What?"
— Without Providence's sight, I'm not a Green Clan dragon. Just a lizard. And the color's similar too...
— It was too embarrassing to tell anyone...
— The other kids don't know either.
Bom began revealing her true feelings calmly. Perhaps because she was hidden under the blanket, it made her open up.
— And even if I told you, nothing changes. Providence's sight is exclusive to us Green Clan. It's not something to seek help from others for...
She ended in a listless voice.
— It was just that kind of thing...
His eye twitched.
"Who says that."
— Pardon?
"Who says the power to peer into Providence is exclusive to the Green Dragon clan."
— ...Father.
To a dragon, it was common sense. Bom knew Yoo Ji-tae was dangerous and of high rank, but even high rank was separate from seeing Providence.
So when she heard Yoo Ji-tae's following mutter, Bom was startled inwardly.
"I guess that's how it is in your world."
Startled, Bom slyly lowered the pillow and poked her head out from the blanket.
"What did you just say?"
The regressor skipped the explanation. To explain this would require detailing his past, the regressions passed, and efforts to gain power. It wasn't something to tell Bom.
"Come here. Stand up."
Bom hesitated but got off the bed and stood.
Yoo Ji-tae extended his hand.
"Hold my hand."
"Why...?"
"Let's find out together what's blocking Providence's sight."
Bom blinked but cautiously grasped his pinky finger.
"On what principle? How?"
Dragons assimilate to others' memories and emotions.
Especially the closer the mana medium touching, the deeper and faster it is.
"Don't think too much. What happens from now might be a bit dangerous. Even if scared, trust me and never let go."
"Ah, yes."
"And don't tell the kids. Got it?"
"Yes..."
"Good. I trust you."
Yoo Ji-tae moved his mana delicately. Like subspace, he erected walls, ceiling, floor to block all directions.
Mana began to rise in tune with his heartbeat. Immensely vast. Unrealistically huge, like a colossal statue approaching, his whole body's senses began to be crushed. Bom instinctively shrank but didn't let go of his hand.
He began wielding a authority he had never fully used even once upon entering the 7th regression.
A power that interfered with the world's Providence.
Overturning the world's flow that led to catastrophe following Providence time and again.
The sole unique authority ensuring only his memories and existence continued.
The world around Yoo Ji-tae began to flip.