Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: 72. What a Guardian Needs (2)
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4th Round.
Baby Yellow picked up a parrot.
A white, clean, and pretty parrot.
When his mind was on the verge of breaking, BY strangled the parrot's neck. It was sheer luck that he didn't kill it. And perhaps because of that, not long after, it opened the cage and flew away. Then it never returned.
Some precious things only reveal their worth after they're gone. And they sink even deeper into the heart. It was the same for the baby dragon.
The child who always assumed she'd only receive love.
Learned how to give love.
Only after the one she loved had left.
The end of the underground passage. A basement. A warehouse-like space that originally seemed meant for storing valuables. In the darkness, gazes glowing white and red turned toward the chick.
Kruk.... Wuung....
Soon, they let out beastly growls and turned their bodies toward Ppivung.
They resembled dogs and cats in appearance. But their bodies were human-like. These were beastmen, spirits among the beastkin who had gained forms resembling humans.
Mana emanated from the bodies of the two beastkin. Having lived rough lives, their fur was filthy and matted.
Behind them, a vertical slit came into Yoo Ji-tae's view.
Two and a half meters in diameter. Filling the basement entirely. Gaping greedily as if to swallow something whole. The inside was pitch black, but it was undoubtedly connected to another world.
This was a "cross-spatial rift."
A rift that had occurred somewhere, relocated through a subsapce.
The two large, human-like spirits began approaching the chick. The current Ppivung was a plump chick larger than a basketball, but it looked terribly small and pathetic before beasts the size of humans.
The chick stood silently, looking up at them.
The two that approached lowered their stances.
Krrrng.... Meowr....
Then they bowed their heads.
In truth, these were escaped spirits from a spirit breeding facility.
Over the past eleven months or so, the chick Ppivung had roamed not just the Lair but all of Hate Ling, fighting escaped spirits. That was why the chick kept coming back covered in wounds, getting healed by Bom and scolded.
The spirits didn't like the chick. They had finally escaped the breeding facility, after all. They believed themselves free now.
But staying in the Lair, hiding from human eyes—that wasn't true freedom for spirits with strong homing instincts. Ppivung argued they should "return to their homeland," advocating for true freedom, and succeeded in persuading them with strength and justification.
The chick was always with Gaeul.
Gaeul always kept the chick hugged close, and in the process, her mountain-like mana gradually strengthened the chick.
This lowly spirit had earned the dragons' favor.
Thanks to that, Ppivung grew stronger bit by bit. It got hurt less often. It built up forces. It placed most of the surviving escaped spirits under its hierarchy. "Little Boss." That's what Ppivung was called. Now, it had finally found the rift they originated from. And it had succeeded in setting up the cross-space connection.
The rift open before them was unstable and crude, but it was the essence of all the chick's efforts.
Most of the surviving escaped spirits had already returned to their own dimension beyond it.
Soon, the two "aides" and the "Little Boss" began a serious conversation.
Ppivung Ppivung. Meowr. Krrng. Meoowr. Ppivung.
The content was roughly as follows.
Cat: How long do you plan to stay here?
Dog: That's right.
Chick: Just a little longer.
Cat: If the cross-space collapses like this, we're done for. Why are you doing this? It's already been over a month.
Dog: That's right.
Chick: There might still be comrades we haven't found.
Cat: That's nonsense. Where would they be? Didn't we search together?
Dog: There aren't any.
Chick: ....
Cat: You're even putting off transforming into human form (beastmanization). You, who pushed harder than anyone for freedom. What is this? If you keep this up, we won't wait for the boss anymore.
Cat: Say "that's right" one more time and you're really getting it.
Dog: ....
Even as all the spirits crossed over, the chick stubbornly refused to go.
That was the current situation.
It might seem cute and insignificant at first glance, but the conversation's intensity was straight out of a noir film. In fact, to create this situation, Ppivung had attacked some thirty humans and killed about seven spirits plotting rebellion for personal gain.
The chick had been kidnapped from its mother's embrace at birth. Confined in an iron cage in an unfamiliar world, its growth stunted for over a decade. Living in an alien realm. Breathing alien air. Those were its days.
The chick wanted to go home.
But right before the moment it had longed for so desperately.
Ppivung....
The chick hesitated again today.
So, what lay on the other side of that rift?
What did the world look like where these spirits were born, raised, and lived?
Yoo Ji-tae knew, having visited several times beforehand.
Hiding in the shadows, Yoo Ji-tae slipped past the spirits and entered the rift.
A new world unfolded before him.
The sky stretched vast and clear far into the distance. Beneath it stood a colossal tree over 3,000 meters tall, with countless birds and spirits visible.
This tree was called the "World Tree." Made from a branch of the true World Tree, Yggdrasil, it had now lost its power and was withering away.
In the place where spirits and beastmen lived intermingled, houses lined up with fairly advanced architecture—doors, windows, ceilings, and such. There were fountains. Statues too.
This world's name was Anum.
Not Room 301. This was the chick's home.
It was a nearby dimension. In fuzzy memories of past rounds, he had stopped by a few times when needed.
He lowered his gaze to the withered tree. In previous rounds, the World Tree had repeatedly burned down to ashes.
The regressor hadn't tampered with Anum's flow yet.
And since he hadn't, the flow would likely follow the same path as past rounds, barring any anomalies.
Even if the chick Ppivung returned here, it would die not long after.
Of course, he had no interest in the chick's death.
The tree's collapse had nothing to do with him.
The countless spirits living here losing their homes and dying was someone else's problem.
However, in this round, the Gold Dragon hatchling's heart mustn't ache.
So, while tracking the chick for months, he had set up a few small devices in this world.
"Let's wrap this up quick and grab some food!"
He turned his eyes. At the center of the World Tree's trunk stood an enormous mechanical structure modeled after a whale. It vaguely resembled an airplane with its wings removed. Yet its length reached a staggering 300 meters. A metal whale the size of an aircraft carrier.
Nearby, beaver spirits clustered together, wearing hard hats and carrying metal and wood.
"Hey! Hey, you idiot! Can't you be careful with that!?"
One beaver spirit yelled, scolding the others. They were transporting cargo, and mana cores were visible inside.
"Handle it carefully, I said! If the core breaks, we're finished! There's no replacement power source! How would we face the Prophet then!?"
"We're sorry—!"
"Again. Slowly!"
The beavers resumed moving the mana cores diligently.
The regressor looked at the massive tree that would soon collapse.
At the countless spirits living there.
At the whale-shaped giant mechanical structure.
Then he turned away.
'Are you leaving?'
Just as he turned to go, a voice echoed in his mind. He looked down again at the giant tree. The World Tree was speaking to him.
"Yeah. You found it well."
'I merely followed your instructions. However, that is not of our dimension.'
The tree had no eyes, but Yoo Ji-tae knew the "gaze" of the tree he stood upon was fixed on the massive mechanical structure.
"It is your thing."
'It is not. I assert that in my 8,000 years of life, I have never seen an object of such design.'
"......"
'Today, I must ask. What is your purpose in showing us the path to survival?'
Yoo Ji-tae didn't reply. He couldn't say it was merely for the mental growth of a young Gold Dragon, that he was twisting the world's flow for that.
In a sense, Anum's World Tree had become a virtual set he created. And all the lifeforms and the World Tree here were mere actors and stage in the play he had scripted.
There was no need to say such a thing.
'Are you an agent of providence?'
It was asking if he was a ruler. Yoo Ji-tae shook his head and said,
"I'll return soon."
'Understood, O Prophet.'
The chick Ppivung played with Gaeul during the day. At night, it slept in her arms. Even when all its subordinates had crossed over, it stayed until the very end in Room 301, wanting to linger just a bit longer. Because Gaeul liked "chick," Ppivung remained a chick despite chances for beastmanization.
"Ajusshi. What if... even if I don't want to let go... the child wants to go? Should I send them off?"
Right after realizing the chick Ppivung would someday leave her, Gaeul had asked that.
"You should."
"Even if it kills me to let go?"
"That's what farewells are."
"But I don't want the farewell? Me?"
"Who are you to decide?"
"I'm... a dragon who treasures Ppivung so, so, so much..."
Yoo Ji-tae looked into the child's golden eyes.
He was her guardian, but he didn't know how a dragon's guardian should live. He just pondered it day by day.
But knowing that even the strongest power couldn't protect hearts, he spoke carefully.
"Gaeul."
"Yes."
"If there's a beginning, there's an end."
"Yes."
"If there's a meeting, there must be a farewell."
"Yes...."
"You can't turn away from it."
"I just... don't want to. I want to avoid it...."
"Even if you try to avoid it, you can't. It'll come to you in the end. Then you might regret the time you spent running."
"......"
What should I do then? To that, Yoo Ji-tae answered,
"Prepare a good farewell."
"How can a farewell be good?"
"......"
"That's weird. How can any farewell be good.... Where's a good farewell in this world...."
Yoo Ji-tae's words burst the dam of emotions piled up in Gaeul.
The child began sobbing, tears streaming down.
And after crying for nearly half a day, her expression turned dazed.
"If we part, will another meeting come someday?"
Probably. As he nodded, Gaeul asked again.
"Ajusshi. What does a guardian need?"
"Hmm."
"Um.... They should be able to heal injured kids and care for them, right?"
"Maybe."
"Yes. I think so. Whenever Ppivung got hurt, Bom-unni healed it. Me? I'm the guardian, but I couldn't do anything.... I always felt so sorry. I'm the guardian, but... useless...."
After that, Gaeul changed her major to learn healing magic. She began occasionally learning healing spells from Bom.
For the little one she might meet anew someday.
The one that would be under her protection.
That had been the case.
But upon returning to the dorm.
What was Gaeul doing, holding a fruit knife to her own wrist?
What was that single trickle of blood flowing down her pale wrist onto her clothes?
The moment he saw the golden-haired child exhaling shakily, hesitating.
An image flashed in his mind.
From some old-fashioned hotel's top floor.
A girl just like her, lying in the bathtub, slashing her own wrist with a sharp dagger.
"Ajusshi?"
Gaeul looked up at him with startled eyes.
He entered the living room without even taking off his shoes.
His expression must have been frightening. Gaeul froze stiff in genuine shock.
He approached the child and extended his hand.
Gaeul, forgetting even to offer the handle, pointed the blade at him. Then Yoo Ji-tae gripped the fruit knife with his bare hand. He crushed the metal blade in his fist. Like clay. The knife's blade deformed to match his fingers. Unsatisfied, he tore the blade like paper and tossed it behind him.
Clang—!
The chunk of metal rolled against the shoe rack, clattering.
Startled, Gaeul raised her hand, fidgeting unsurely, and blood spurted onto her arm and the floor.
"Gaeul."
To the child flinching in shock.
The regressor asked in a low voice.
"What did you just do?"