Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: 56. Round 7: Midterm Check (1) + Winter Illustration
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The next day, having recovered his mana, Winter's hair had grown back.
It was exactly the 365th day since Round 7 had begun.
The cycle of Round 7.
Sitting in the study, Yoo Ji-tae scribbled words onto a notepad with a pen.
The regressor decided to specifically compare this round with the previous ones.
He figured that would allow him to determine if this round was a success.
The first evaluation criterion was...
Knock knock. Someone knocked on the door just then.
"Yeah."
― Ajusshi, aren't you eating lunch!?
"I'm good today. You girls eat without me."
― Why? What are you doing alone in your room!
"Just sitting here."
― Oh, I get it! You're secretly eating something tasty by yourself, aren't you?!
'Watching porn?' 'Porn? What's that?' Such voices followed one after another.
"...No. Whatever. You girls eat."
― Okay!
After sending Gaeul off, he resumed his thoughts.
The first overall evaluation criterion was the baby dragons' lives.
He reviewed the previous rounds from memory, then recalled and compared this one.
Seeing the four dragons without a single injury anywhere, the first criterion could be rated very positively—
Boom!! Something exploded beyond the door just then.
He opened the door and stepped out. Yeoreum's door was smashed, and the kitchen right next to her room was a total mess. The startled guardian, Bom, Gaeul, Chick, and Winter rushed over to survey the scene.
Yoo Ji-tae asked Yeoreum, who was lying at his feet.
"What happened."
"I mean, how do you make an artifact this fragile?"
Yeoreum grumbled.
Apparently, she'd been tinkering with an artifact sword out of curiosity in the corner of her room and touched something she shouldn't have.
It was the sword he'd bought on the day he'd gone out with Bom.
Yoo Ji-tae checked the artifact sword's condition. The magic stone part was severely damaged.
"Yoo Yeoreum. Aren't you handling things too roughly?"
"I handled it gently!"
"Even an elephant stepping on it wouldn't do this. What were you even trying to do?"
"No, I was just curious about what's inside, so I gave it a little squeeze...?"
"Whatever. Handle it gently next time."
"I did handle it gently!"
"More gently."
"Jeez..."
The room was a disaster.
Cleaning magic would easily erase the explosion marks and scorch residue, but not the trash. The kids would clean Yeoreum's room, while Yoo Ji-tae and the guardian handled the kitchen.
"Huh?"
But then Gaeul, rummaging through broken drawers and such, pulled out something strange.
"Unni, what's this?"
It was a bizarre clump of straps. It looked like rope, or maybe a net or spiderweb. When spread out, it was folded in various places.
"What else? It's something fun."
"Fun? This?"
"Dunno. Haven't tried it yet."
Then Yeoreum flashed a sly grin.
"Wanna try?"
"Eww... I don't know what it is, but no... It feels gross."
"Hmmm~."
"Then what's all this?"
This time, Gaeul held out handcuffs and a whip. And other bizarre(?) items whose purpose was unknown. That drawer happened to be full of them.
"Ahh. Those? That black, long heart-shaped one in front is—"
As Yeoreum's expression brightened in real-time while explaining, Gaeul freaked out and waved her hands.
"No no! Forget it! Don't tell me!"
"Why? It's nothing special."
"Not curious anymore...! Why do you even buy stuff like this?"
"Why? 'Cause I'm interested."
"Did you actually use all this stuff you bought?"
Yeoreum stared blankly into Gaeul's eyes.
"Use it?"
"Yeah?"
"Yoo Gaeul. You think this is 'usable' stuff?"
"No? Wait, no? Are you crazy? I don't know?!"
Gaeul truly didn't know. And she wanted to keep it that way.
'Really?' Yeoreum snickered.
"I haven't used it."
"Huh? You haven't?"
"Hey. When would I have time to play with this? I'm dying from training every day. After training, I'm wiped out and crashing in the corner of my room—that's my routine. You didn't know?"
"Then why buy it if you're not gonna use it!?"
"Don't you know what collector's itch is?"
"Collector's itch...? No, whatever. I was stupid for asking...! Not curious. Don't wanna hear it!"
Feeling like she was getting dragged into Yeoreum's topic, Gaeul cut it off in panic. Yeoreum burst into giggles, pleased like she'd left footprints in fresh snow.
"Oh, but I have used some? What I used was..."
"Aaaah!"
And rummaging through the rest of Yeoreum's wrecked room turned up even more unidentified items.
"......"
Winter frowned at an eyepatch with black lace attached.
Then at an even stranger corset. Not knowing what it was but feeling grossed out, she stealthily tossed it into the trash.
"What're you doing?"
Just then, Yeoreum's voice rang out. Startled, Winter glanced away slyly. But Yeoreum wasn't looking at her.
Yeoreum and Gaeul were looking at Bom. So Winter looked at Bom too.
Bom had a black choker around her neck.
"Huh?"
As the three gazes poured in, Bom tilted her head innocently.
"What. That's mine."
"Oh, yeah. I tried it on. How's it look?"
A black leather choker hugging her neck perfectly. Oblivious Gaeul smiled brightly.
"Wow. It suits you so well, Unni! A choker?"
But it wasn't quite a choker. There was a chain dangling from the end.
"How's it? Suits me?"
Even so, with Bom making a flower pose, the black choker neatly bisecting her pretty neckline over her white tee looked pretty good. Oblivious Gaeul and Winter praised Bom as cute, and Bom smiled faintly.
"It suits you. You like it?"
"Yeah. I kinda like this style."
Only Yeoreum, who knew what it was, smiled subtly.
"Crazy... Whatever. Want me to tug it?"
Bom shook her head blankly, as if to say no.
"Huh? No."
"No? Isn't that your taste?"
"What's my taste?"
"...What? You mean you put it on without even knowing what it is?"
"Yeah. What is it?"
What else? A dog collar. Yeoreum glared at the green tribe. She couldn't tell if they were serious or not. This cucumber-colored tribe was impossible to read.
"Ooh... I kinda, kinda get it... Not really sure, but...!"
"Yeah?"
"Unni Unni, I wanna try too."
Then Gaeul started doing something inexplicable too. With a somewhat dazed look, she rummaged for a similar dog collar.
Yeoreum shook her head.
"Try what, you lunatic. Hand it over."
As she reached out, Winter pulled a book from some undamaged drawer.
"Hey hey? Put that down, you!"
"......!?"
Startled, Yeoreum snatched the book from Winter's hand and shoved it back in the drawer.
"Are you insane? Why touch stuff in an intact drawer?"
"...Why?"
"Why what why! Get lost!"
Winter dodged Yeoreum's swat and slipped away.
After cleaning up.
Gaeul asked slyly.
"Winter, Winter."
"...Yeah?"
"What was that earlier? Why'd Unni Yeoreum freak out?"
"...Oh."
"Looked like a book?"
"...Yeah, wait."
Gaeul was curious. Yeoreum, who hadn't tensed up even when shown the dirty(?) embarrassing(?) stuff. But she'd panicked so much over a book Winter picked up—what could it be?
Winter closed her eyes and recalled.
It had been snatched too fast. She'd barely glimpsed it casually, but a few characters stuck in her mind.
Winter smiled brightly.
"You remembered!?"
"...Yeah."
"What what?"
"...Soon."
"Soon?"
"...Soon, Jeong-man."
"Soon Jeong-man? That's all?"
"...Yeah."
But Winter didn't know the last word had been hidden by her finger.
"Soon Jeong-man, Soon Jeong-man... A guy's name? Some Jeong-man from the Soon clan...? Hmm..."
But no matter how she thought, nothing came up for Soon Jeong-man. She'd thought it was finally good ammo to tease Unni Yeoreum with.
Gaeul felt a bit disappointed.
That afternoon.
After finishing house cleaning.
Yoo Ji-tae decided to head out of 301. Bom and Winter went out holding hands to play somewhere. He invited Yeoreum and Gaeul shopping, and they followed without hesitation.
On the way to the bakery, he reviewed Round 7's midterm check again.
The second evaluation criterion was the hatchlings' happiness.
No need to ask. This too was overwhelmingly positive compared to previous rounds. Gaeul humming happily on this rare shopping trip, and Yeoreum looking in a good mood proved it.
Today had been hectic, but normally 301 was quiet. The kids each had their thoughts, but they felt joy.
So evaluating this round...
"But Ajusshi. Why the bakery?"
Gaeul interrupted his musing.
"Oh. To buy cake."
"Cake?"
Gaeul's eyes sparkled.
"Cake out of nowhere?"
"It's been exactly one year since I met you girls."
"Ooh, really?"
"In place of birthdays."
"Wow. Nice, love it!"
Gaeul's steps lightened even more.
While picking cake at the bakery, Yoo Ji-tae glanced at Yeoreum.
"What. Why."
"Gonna throw it?"
"Huh?"
"Got it."
Yeoreum blinked blankly.
"What kind of question is that? Geez... Do you think I'm the type to throw cake just 'cause I see it?"
"But Unni, you threw it at Ajusshi's birthday last time!"
"That was then."
"Not now?"
Yeoreum glared at Gaeul and sighed.
"Sigh... My sin. My sin."
On the way back after buying the cake, Yoo Ji-tae called Bom to locate them. They were at a nearby park, so he planned to pick up the kids on the way.
"Oh, but but. Ajusshi. The fireworks festival's next next week, right?"
He'd heard of that.
"Yeah."
"So, a while ago, something happened. I'm in the travel club, right?"
"Yeah."
"It's not really about travel—it's basically a play club. Lately, we've been going to karaoke all the time?"
"Karaoke."
"Yeah yeah. I don't really know how to sing. Never done it, so I just listen. But Yurani told me my voice is nice and to try singing once."
Yoo Ji-tae paused briefly.
"...And?"
"Ugh, how am I supposed to sing. But... I usually don't, but that day I tried a bit...?"
"Hey. What song would you even sing? You've barely heard any songs."
"Yeah! Exactly! But they insisted, so I did...? I wasn't good, but they said my voice is pretty. They're asking if I'd sing at the fireworks festival."
He nodded.
"So, I said no way. Ajusshi wouldn't like it!"
"Everyone knows you don't stand in front of cameras."
"Right. But they said wear a mask or something. It'd be fine..."
"What, a mask?"
"Yeah...!"
Gaeul sneaked a peek at Yoo Ji-tae's reaction.
Mask?
He thought about it.
Gaeul was good at singing.
Not just good— she had the power to shake the world music charts with her voice alone, no external hype needed. Of course, it wouldn't happen overnight. It would take decades of time and effort.
But in the two rounds where she'd held a mic, both times she'd sung songs that moved the world. Gaeul's singing talent was thus unprecedented.
"Um, uh, yeah. No good, right? I thought so too!"
"......"
"So don't worry about it. Uh, it was just a casual thing...!"
The regressor pondered.
Surprisingly, the conditions were decent.
If only at the festival. Just briefly. With her face covered.
Under strict conditions that didn't reveal her identity to the public or cadets.
It might be a fun experience for Gaeul.
"Why? Looks fine to me. You're a total attention whore."
"Huh? How'd you know, Unni?"
"We take superhuman studies together—how wouldn't I? Raising your hand and presenting every class..."
"Hehe."
"Just try it."
"Nah... What song even?"
"Why. Afraid of messing up?"
"Might. It's a festival. Nah, no. No way! Ajusshi's horns would shoot up that high. And like you said, I don't even listen to songs."
Yoo Ji-tae held his tongue.
Better not to answer yet, lest disappointment if it fell through.
He'd look into it and let her know.
At the park, Winter was playing with Bom.
Yoo Ji-tae called Bom. Spotting them, Bom waved. A sudden breeze blew, and a beat late, Winter grabbed her hat, turned, and upon seeing Yoo Ji-tae, her blank expression bloomed into a bright smile.
Winter waved her hand high.
"Let's go."
"...Okay."
On the way back to 301 with the kids.
Only then did he recall the final midterm check amid the chattering voices. This 'Round 7' was closer to the right answer than any previous round.
Thus, nearing evening on the way back, Yoo Ji-tae filled in the two evaluation criteria he'd been pondering since morning.