Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Part 9. Winter (2)
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Dawn. The air in the Lair was quite chilly.
Even with Hate Ling's protective barrier blocking the stratospheric cold.
Today, the sky felt higher than usual.
That morning.
Yoo Ji-tae stepped outside alone. His plan was to create an identity for Winter today.
Slipping a child into the already fabricated Yoo family registry wasn't difficult. But while he was quick, the back-alley data clerks weren't, so by the time he finished and returned, it was already noon.
On the way back.
A strange, hazy ripple snagged on his senses. Yoo Ji-tae stopped in his tracks and looked up at the sky.
A crack was forming in the heavens.
And something was forcing its way through the gap.
Already?
This was much earlier than in other loops.
Even as he thought that, Yoo Ji-tae started walking again.
On the way, he stopped by a toy store and bought a small doll. It was a blue, ugly bear plush. Called "Blue Bear," he'd picked it because Winter's hair was blue.
With all his errands done, Yoo Ji-tae returned to the dorm. Summer was perched on the window sill, smoking a cigarette.
"......"
Their eyes met, and she exhaled a puff of smoke.
"What's that?"
She eyed the bear plush.
"A gift."
"For me?"
"Nope."
"Gimme mine."
"Want something?"
"Yeah."
"Buy it with your own money."
"......"
Smoke billowed from both nostrils. It was a bit Red Dragon-esque.
Ptoo. Summer spat. It landed right in front of Yoo Ji-tae's foot. When he looked up, she was gone.
"You're back?"
As he entered the dorm, Chick greeted him with a bright smile, half-hanging from the door. Summer lounged on the living room sofa, ignoring him while watching TV.
He'd enrolled Autumn in a speech academy on Hate Ling three days ago.
And every day at this time, they headed out together.
"Ready?"
"Ah, yes. No. Wait a sec. I don't like this outfit—lemme change into something else!"
The door clicked shut. He considered waiting outside but stepped inside instead.
A gaze prickled from down the hall. He turned to see Winter approaching cautiously, face tense.
She seemed to be gauging him. Her lips pressed tight as she glanced at his face, averting her eyes when they met. Then, as he turned away, she'd look again—hesitant step by step toward him.
That's when Summer spoke up from the sofa.
"She's been waiting."
"Huh?"
"She was waiting for you. Woke up this morning and there she was, sitting by the door just staring at it."
She chomped on the remote as she added,
"Like a damn lost puppy looking for its owner."
Was it like that?
Yoo Ji-tae approached Winter and placed a hand on her head. "Sleep well?" A simple greeting. Winter squeezed her eyes shut without a word.
When he pulled away, she tentatively touched her head with both hands, eyes wide.
"A gift."
He held out the bear plush and turned away.
"Where's Spring?"
"Sleeping."
Yoo Ji-tae headed to Spring's room. She was curled up like a shrimp, sleeping soundly. But her forehead was scorching hot to the touch.
Too hot for a fever. He'd asked Summer, who said it wasn't a big deal by dragon standards.
"You've been bingeing that drama for days."
"Yeah. It's fun. American show with swords and spears—seven seasons? Thought it'd drag forever."
Fun or boring? Unclear.
That Red clan expression meant running away from home. Yoo Ji-tae warned her not to cause trouble. "Am I a kid?" She flicked her ear.
"Uncle! I'm ready!"
"Okay."
Autumn bounced out with a zip.
The kids had received three uniforms upon entering the Lair: school uniform, dress uniform, and combat gear. Autumn wore the dress uniform for events—a blouse-style top with an H-line skirt, the Lair's Well of Urdur brooch pinned to her chest.
"How do I look?"
"Pretty."
"Sweet!"
As Yoo Ji-tae led Autumn out, a pitiful gaze caught his eye.
Winter, clutching the bear plush tightly.
"Wanna come too?"
Her hesitant face bloomed. Lips pressed, she nodded slowly.
He offered his hand, and she started walking cautiously. Her steps quickened to a toddle, then she clung to his arm.
He scooped up Winter and headed out with Autumn.
Even on the way, Autumn fiddled with her script nonstop. Worn thin over days. She'd memorize it without looking, but she pored over it endlessly.
Autumn finished her declaration and cautiously closed her mouth.
"Hm......"
Speech academy. Lesson room.
Instructor Ahn Ki-moon furrowed his brow. Wrinkles creased his prominent M-shaped forehead.
"......"
He stroked his chin, pondering the situation.
Four days ago.
A guardian had shown up out of nowhere, demanding his student pass the declaration audition within a week. The guy looked barely in his thirties, fresh-faced, but carried an aura that made refusal feel burdensome.
Still, no meant no. Ahn Ki-moon flatly refused.
'I'll pay ten times the lesson fee.'
Too much money to turn down.
'Just give as many lessons as possible.'
So he took the case. But warned no guarantees on passing. The guardian said it was fine.
Thus, Ahn Ki-moon began teaching the student.
And hit a wall in one day. Compared to kids trained in oratory since childhood or those prepping declarations for months, her level was dismal. From voicing to emoting—she knew nothing.
"Student Autumn. It's been five days since we started lessons. Three days till the audition. Right?"
Heavy tone. Tense Autumn replied.
"Yes."
"As a student, you're a total zero."
"......Ah."
Autumn bowed her head.
Ahn Ki-moon waved it off, adding,
"If all my students were like you, how would I eat?"
"...Pardon?"
Her gloomy face brightened.
"Ah, thank you."
"You improve so fast. Staying up all night clutching that script, right? Heh."
Yoo Ji-tae, watching from the back with Winter in his arms, knew it was true. In the five days since enrolling, Autumn hadn't slept a second. She'd watched every past declaration video the instructor provided, repeating them thousands of times.
Only possible because she was a dragon.
Then the instructor's smile flipped. He sighed gravely.
"But. You're following better than expected, but it's not time to celebrate yet."
"Pardon?"
"Voice, breathing, rhythm—all good. Really good. But no real emotion yet. What's perfect technique without heart? It won't move people. Bluntly? You sound like a declaration-reciting machine."
"Ah......"
"You need emotion. The despair of the wailing. The ambition to fight and win. Right now, it's just mimicry."
The lecture dragged on.
Winter glared at the instructor, sensing the mood, but a baby's eyes weren't threatening.
"You've done well so far. But starting late means you have to be better—much better. That's what you want, right?"
"Yes......"
After the lesson, the three stayed in the practice room.
Yoo Ji-tae checked on Autumn.
Expecting gloom, she was calmly reading her script instead.
"You okay?"
"Huh?"
"You okay?"
"Ah, yes. I'm fine."
A brief silence passed.
"...Um."
"Yeah."
"I don't really get this."
"What?"
"I know what to express in the script, but not how the emotion should feel. Especially from this part."
She held out the script.
+++
Moonlight to sunlight, herbivore to carnivore, worker to capitalist—from cosmic scales in distant space to microbes crawling between fingers. The weak have always been hunted by the strong, vanishing without trace, learning to grapple just to survive.
+++
The part venting humanity's rage against monsters.
"I've never felt that kind of threat myself......"
Makes sense.
She was a dragon, after all.
Bad-tempered dragons were lifelong predators, too selfish to grasp a prey's emotions.
So how to handle this......
As soldier, superhuman, division commander—he remembered how frail humans were amid countless threats. Originally, he'd planned to share some memories and emotions with Autumn long ago.
But Spring had warned: 'If Autumn feels those emotions directly, the shock would be too much.'
He'd held off.
But with three days left, no choice.
After a moment's thought, Yoo Ji-tae set Winter on the desk. She clutched the plush with one hand, reaching for him with the other—then wistfully curled her fingers as he stepped back.
"Dragons need some proximity to transmit emotions, right?"
"Um...... Touching clothes should work."
"Grab hold."
"Ah, yes."
Autumn tentatively gripped his sleeve cuff.
He paused, then spoke slowly.
"It's a story about someone I know."
It was about a man serving as the White Wing Division Commander of the Republic of Korea's superhuman army—losing half his subordinates, then an arm and an eye, ultimately captured as a POW by the villain organization.
"It was chilly. Mornings froze my toes."
He began the tale of his second loop.