Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: Episode 71. The Principle Behind the Green Dragon's Breakdown
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Yoo Ji-tae once plucked a flower.
It was a bad thing.
He decided not to regret it if at all possible.
It was a flower coated in poison. A flower that had plunged his life to rock bottom. So he decided to snap it. And he did. He had no intention of rationalizing it. Plucking the flower was a bad deed, so he really was a bad person. He just needed to accept the past for what it was.
As the seasons changed. As time passed. The same flower bloomed there again. Only then would it be laughable to start cherishing the new flower.
What he had to do was set in stone. All he needed to do was water it on time and raise the flower. There was no reason to cherish it. After all, he wasn't raising the flower because he liked flowers.
Surely, that had been the case...
Living alongside the flower.
Watching the flower bud bloom.
Watching butterflies and insects flit toward the flower.
Watching the morning dew, watching its figure sway in the night breeze.
Bit by bit, he discovered himself starting to cherish the flower.
To raise the flower well, he had to love it. But the more he loved the flower, the greater grew his sin of having snapped it in the past. So even if the flower was beautiful, he couldn't gaze at it for long.
In the midst of that obsession, as he grew confused. The flower spoke to him.
"This feels so much better now..."
Bom slid naturally down from his lap.
His thoughts had wandered for a moment, and Yoo Ji-tae asked in a dazed voice.
"Huh?"
Bom didn't answer his question. She simply stretched with a pleased "Nngh...!"
"Oh, right. About me. I think it's time I said it."
"What."
"Honestly, I still don't really want to. But I've sorted out my feelings. So, before we get into the real thing, could I practice just once?"
"...What?"
"Jeez. Yeoreum."
Ah. Right. It was about time to make up.
"Sure. Pretend I'm her. Give it a practice run."
"Okay. Whew."
Bom closed her eyes, let out a breath, and opened her mouth.
"Sorry."
The rooftop of dormitory building 107.
Yeoreum, who had been perched on the rooftop wall smoking a cigarette, turned to look beside her. There stood Bom, her cucumber-green hair tied up high.
"What's there to be sorry about."
"For trying to attack you. Sorry."
"Attack? You call that just an attack? Weren't you trying to kill me?"
"Yeah."
"Ha..."
Yeoreum let out a coarse laugh.
"Not even denying it. You crazy bitch."
"Sorry..."
"Sorry fixes it all? I nearly died? Sure, after that you'd have been toast by my hand."
"I'll apologize. Sincerely..."
"How am I supposed to know your sincerity?"
"Hmm. What do I have to do to make you feel better?"
Yeoreum answered reflexively.
"Kneel, you bitch."
And Bom obediently lowered her body, kneeling down. Even with her bare legs exposed below her shorts.
'She's actually kneeling...' Yeoreum took a deep drag from her cigarette and approached Bom. Then she stuck out her foot.
"Kiss my foot."
"..."
Bom, who had been staring blankly, silently bowed her head. Then she really pressed her lips to Yeoreum's toes and lifted her head again.
"That enough?"
"Hey, hey. Are you seriously insane?"
"Why?"
"You do everything I tell you? Would you die if I said so?"
"No?"
"You should've realized my order was messed up, you lunatic."
"I did realize it was messed up."
"Then what? You got no pride?"
"I do."
"Then why do it!"
"It's not the time to worry about my pride."
"What?"
"Yeoreum. I don't really know what you want. If this isn't making you feel better, just tell me straight what will. Don't make me do weird crap like this."
In other words, Yoo Yeoreum herself was the lunatic, so Bom was offering a lunatic-fitting apology.
Yeoreum thought the approach was even more deranged.
"Were you always like this?"
"Like what?"
"Feels like a big screw's come loose in your head."
"..."
"If you're gonna be like that, why not use the usual one? Providence Eye. Why not peek with that? See what I want?"
"If I had, would I be doing this? You know I can't control Providence."
Puff, puff. Smoke leaked from her mouth and nose. Then, struck by a sudden thought, Yeoreum spoke up.
"Ah, it's done. But no ashtray."
"Huh?"
"How do I put this out?"
Bom blinked.
Then she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue.
Yeoreum recoiled at Bom's attitude.
"No, you crazy bitch have zero learning curve. Tongue back in, idiot!"
"Not this either?"
"Sigh..."
"Don't make me do pointless stuff."
"No. Forget it. Enough."
Yeoreum waved her off.
She'd always been a little off, but lately Yoo Bom was acting downright broken.
"So what is it."
"Huh?"
"What. When I was clinging to Ji-tae. You were jealous, right? What's the deal with your heart."
"..."
"Not gonna say?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Dunno."
Yeoreum's brow furrowed at that.
She flicked the cigarette away. Then she stepped right up to Bom, who was still kneeling.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Your fragment of origin. Something wrong with it?"
"..."
"You're in love with Ji-tae, aren'tcha?"
Bom, gazing up at Yeoreum with vacant eyes, let out a smirk. Then after a long silence, she bowed her head and muttered.
"Yeoreum. Back when we first came out for amusement, that first year. Were you happy?"
"What outta nowhere?"
"Were you happy."
"Hmm... Well. Beating people up was fun, yeah."
"I was bored."
"..."
"Bored every day. So dull. Didn't even know why I'd come out for amusement. But coming here? First time something fun showed up."
A story Bom had never voiced before.
Unlike past chats where she'd vaguely brushed it off.
"I'm happy turning ajusshi human."
Yeoreum pulled out another cigarette and stuck it between her lips. Then she lit it by rubbing her thumb against her index finger.
"Talking like Ji-tae's not even human."
"Can someone without emotions even be human?"
"...Hmm. Go on."
"I think being able to express emotions makes you human. So I'll teach ajusshi them one by one. Doing it now. Will keep doing it."
"But."
"One big roadblock."
"What. Don't say love."
"Yeah."
Whew. Yeoreum chuckled as she exhaled smoke.
"Figures. That guy loving someone? Kinda hard to wrap my head around."
"Right? But it exists."
Surprise flickered across Yeoreum's face. If the Green Dragon said it 'exists,' what did that mean? Bom had seen Providence.
"For real? That guy loves someone? Who?"
"It was me."
And Bom's answer felt somehow wrong.
"Was you?"
"..."
"Ah, no way..."
Yeoreum focused on how Bom had gone weird lately.
Bom up till now had always been like watered-down booze. Or booze watered down. A bland sort of dragon. Hard to tell her mood on the daily. Rarely showed emotion. Diligent, but rigid and dull. That was the vibe.
Recent Bom? Emotional. Impulsive. Her attitude toward things subtly off-kilter.
Like a malfunctioning machine doll.
Ah...! Come to think of it, she'd heard the Green clan could end up like this sometimes.
"Got it... You saw something through Providence Eye. But it glitched or something. Right?"
Providence is absolute. But it always manifests as a fragment.
So dragons interpret the whole from the fragment. Young dragons mess up sometimes in the process.
Bom hesitated to speak. Yeoreum wanted to give her time, but couldn't skip the big question.
"So? You right now? What do you think of Ji-tae at this moment?"
"Kinda complicated. Wanna hear?"
"Spill."
"I was changing ajusshi, right? To make him fall for someone, the best target was me."
"Why?"
"'Cause I'm the most lovable."
"Crazy bitch."
"So I had to take interest in ajusshi first."
"And?"
"So first I did. Then I tried getting to know him. Ajusshi has clear boundaries. To change him, had to cross 'em. I tried. That's when I saw Providence. Way off in some distant moment, me in ajusshi's arms."
"What? In his arms!?"
"Yeah."
"H-how?"
"Deep."
"Deep? What the hell's 'deeply embraced' mean?"
Bom interlaced her fingers at Yeoreum's question.
Then slowly crossed them, forming a single fist.
"...Like this."
"Hey. That's not what I'm thinking—'that,' is it?"
"Probably?"
Yeoreum hacked and coughed repeatedly. Smoke burst from her nose.
"Ah, fuck. This is goddamn riveting. So?"
"I'm a Green Dragon. Me, having skin-on-skin with some half-assed human? No way. So back then, I figured it'd ultimately be me making ajusshi human."
"But?"
The kneeling Bom looked up at Yeoreum.
Bom's next words hit even Yeoreum like a shockwave.
"But. Even further along the timeline, ajusshi holding another girl."
"..."
"A black-haired girl."
Yeoreum recoiled in shock. Her rigid expression twisted seconds later.
Yeoreum yelled.
"What the fuck!? Who the hell's that bitch? Face? Race?"
"Dunno. Just the hair color."
"Hey. Hey! Hold up. So then, you..."
Only then did Yeoreum pinpoint exactly why Bom had suddenly broken.
Bom was drowning in extreme anxiety and stress. The future changed? Nah. If Bom saw Ji-tae as mere clay to mold, a shifted future meant squat. 'Spit it out straight! It's what I think, right?' Grabbing Bom's shoulders and shaking, Bom spoke amid the jiggle.
"Your hunch is right. My feelings are crystal. Probably when the dimension warped, something snapped in my heart. Took me too damn long to realize."
Bom smiled feebly.
"I... love ajusshi..."
After sending Bom off.
Left alone, Yeoreum pulled out another cigarette and lit up.
Providence doesn't change.
So the future Bom saw is inevitable.
Per Bom, someday Ji-tae would embrace her.
And after that, he'd definitely go embrace some black-haired chick.
Unchanging fate.
"Ji-tae, you fucking prick. Trash bastard..."
Muttering it felt hollow. No one knew the specifics of how it'd play out. Or what happened to Ji-tae. And who that black-haired one even was...
The problem? The only hint was hair color. Useless for IDing anyone. Take herself—even she could dye it anything. She stuck to red for clan honor and pride.
Futile brooding. Still, Yeoreum chain-smoked the whole pack right there because Bom's face kept flashing in her mind—the one right after confessing 'I love ajusshi' and bursting into tears.
'I'm so anxious. Driving me crazy...'
Back then, Bom had sobbed and sobbed.
'Feels like I can't even breathe. Head won't settle. Pretending okay is impossible. When I snapped at you, I was already maxed out.'
'Didn't realize, but I've got mad possessiveness. Super jealous. Just watching you chat with ajusshi makes me wanna shut it down. But I held back. 'Cause I like you. Room 301 matters more than my feelings.'
'But, but? Now what's all this? Ultimately, ajusshi won't be mine.'
'After I bust my ass changing him? The new ajusshi ditches me for someone else?'
'That thought? Heart hurts too much... Anxious enough to lose my mind...'
Bom clutched her chest, weeping for ages.
Her little hands shook.
'Sorry. Sorry for blowing up...'
Yeoreum forgave her.
Puff, puff. Yeoreum sighed, a complicated mood settling in as she exhaled.
After the cryfest. Once forgiven by Yeoreum, Bom looked relieved.
'Spilling it helped.'
'So now what?'
'What d'you mean. Keep doing what we do. Usually fine. I've got killer patience. Long as no one pulls aggro like you.'
'Fuck.'
'Ah, secret, yeah?'
Secret, goddamn...
Maybe she was the one who needed forgiveness?
The thought tangled Yeoreum's head.
Yeoreum returned to the dorm.
"Already back? What about training."
"Dunno. Don't talk to me. Bad mood."
Yoo Ji-tae blinked. What was with her?
Yeoreum glared at him while muttering under her breath, 'Fucking asshole...' Then she headed to her room.
???
He was utterly baffled.