Chapter 244
Chapter 244
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 244
Chapter Title: Episode 79. Apocalyptic Clock's Basement (1)
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[1304. I remember the time I was born in the darkness, abused, lived in a cave for a long time, and finally stepped outside to see the sunlight for the first time. Back then, I cried my eyes out for a good while. It was the first warmth I'd ever felt in my life.]
[1305. Your lips were like that, too.]
Bom's hand paused as she closed the notebook.
Her dazed gaze landed on the stars on the notebook's cover. The stars, which had increased the more she learned about him, had somehow reached sixteen. But the seventeenth star wasn't needed.
Bom slowly began erasing the stars.
And in the empty space, she drew a new pattern.
[Ajusshi Observation Diary♥]
The seventeen stars she'd painstakingly drawn were gone, but there was no rush.
She would start from one.
The deeper it got, the more patterns there would be.
Back to daily life.
After taking Winter's hand and going to elementary school.
As Autumn's guardian, making time for just Ppingnyung and the three of them.
As Summer's master, starting new training.
Resuming everyday life with the kids like that.
Managing the clones, the underground labyrinth, and Jeong Tae-baek's corpse.
Going back and forth to the Federation, starting an investigation into the anti-Federation terror group.
Preparing for the second night that was fast approaching.
Days passed in a blur like that.
And through it all, Bom was by his side.
Bom had submitted separate apology statements to the Association and Carrot Girl. Carrot Girl, who had been throwing a raging fit, suddenly went quiet a few days later. Rumors spread that the woman who had been having outbursts inside and outside the company had met some guy briefly and then suddenly calmed down.
Having barely smoothed over the situation, Bom really quit writing novels. She threw away the glasses she always wore when writing.
It was breakfast time.
On one side, Summer was bothering Autumn during her meal, and Winter had been bothering Autumn's meal too. Amid Autumn's scream of, "Uwaa—get away, both of you!"
For several days now, Bom had treated Yoo Ji-tae naturally.
As if the kiss and all that had never happened.
"Why? Something to say?"
When their eyes met, Bom asked.
Bom didn't show any greed.
She didn't demand any explanation or answer from him.
And she didn't ask about his sudden change in attitude either.
The kid must have pondered something after the kiss. And that led to her deciding on this attitude.
So what should she do now?
"Hmm."
"Mm……."
"Finish your food."
"Where you going?"
"Out for a bit."
He said that, but at the entrance, he pretended not to and turned back to look at Bom.
That morning's menu was takoyaki. Bom, chatting with the kids, slowly speared a round takoyaki with a toothpick and brought it to her mouth.
Just as she was about to put it in, Bom pursed her lips slightly. And gave the takoyaki a soft smack—a kiss. When soy sauce mayonnaise smeared on her mouth, Bom licked it off with her tongue.
Those red lips, that small, cute tongue like a cat's, caught his eye. He averted his gaze in embarrassment.
Then Bom glanced back from the kitchen with a sly smile. She stifled a laugh, popped the takoyaki in her mouth, and ate it with a grin.
It was absurd.
It had been a long time since Bom teased him like that.
But far from feeling good, he felt awful.
In truth, it was excruciatingly painful.
There was what he'd done to the Green Dragon hatchling.
It was a terribly wicked and evil thing.
After the fourth world was engulfed in flames, in the blurred memories of the countless cycles that followed. The flower was plucked. Torn. Burned. Not just once or twice, but endlessly. The flower shed so much blood and suffered in agony for so long.
Who was it? Who abused that small, young flower like that?
It was me.
Even if it was in blurred memories, it was undoubtedly his doing.
There was no guilt. There were reasons for it. He never did it for fun. He could make excuses. But looking back, it was clearly his sin. He admitted he was ugly. He had no intention of rationalizing it.
Then shouldn't he refrain from feeling romantic emotions?
The cycle he'd walked through felt futile. He wasn't some pubescent boy—why feel romantic emotions now of all times?
Bom could feel romantic emotions toward him.
For Bom, Yoo Ji-tae was her first.
But Yoo Ji-tae must not feel romantic emotions toward Bom.
Bom was just one among the hundreds of Green Dragon hatchlings in his memories. And all but one had met misfortune. It started from pity, but it was true that he added to their misfortune.
He imprisoned them. Wielded violence. Exposed their hearts. The reason they were Green Clan wasn't special. They had the toughest life force.
And now, he dared to claim affection for Bom?
Why?
To kiss those lips he'd gagged?
Or to hold that small body he'd broken?
To wipe away the tears he'd made her shed, now of all times?
To lust after those breasts he hadn't cared about while ripping her apart?
Truly, to share affection with that pitiful child who'd begged to be killed?
How ugly and loathsome were these emotions.
He'd never wished for romantic emotions.
To him, "everyday life" was no different from a special leash. Just agonizing and researching tools he'd never used before to safely send the kids home. But now, that leash was starting to choke him.
His mood sharpened sensitively. A kind of irritation. A kind of guilt. The damned leash began illuminating the path he'd walked brightly. The filthy street stained with blood and guts, hidden in the darkness with difficulty, was revealed.
Everyday life.
He'd thought it was the answer he'd finally found, but this clean, bright thing was starting to act as poison on him.
The light was too bright. Things he'd passed by indifferently now reminded him, upon turning back, that they were vomit-inducing sins.
As he thought, a corner of his emotions seemed to blacken with pollution. He became so disgusted with himself it was hard to bear. If there was any meaningful result, he'd want to slit his own throat.
"……."
He sorted his thoughts alone in the "Shallowest Abyss."
Putting aside the disgust, he thought calmly.
Not everything was ruined yet.
There was one way to solve all these problems.
Remove the romantic emotions.
And give Bom false love.
Until she returned home.
That way, he could distance himself from the sins weighing on him. And Bom would still be happy.
In the end, Bom's love would be betrayed, but so what? He'd lived as a human butcher, spewing sins like filth. One last hypocrisy wouldn't even show.
But unlike usual, why was he spouting such verbose, lowly excuses and self-consolation...?
He couldn't answer that question.
Even now, closing his eyes brought her grass-green eyes curving toward him first. And the corners of her mouth curling up playfully. A smile so radiant he'd never seen in hundreds of meetings.
Yoo Bom.
That crazy girl was.
Shaking his entire history of life.
...This wouldn't do.
One of the Apocalyptic Clock's abilities was to accurately view records of past cycles. It was something the Clock didn't like much, so he couldn't easily ask. But today, he had to.
After the 4th cycle ended. Before the 5th began. For some reason now blurred in memory, he intended to review those countless cycles. And recall what kind of target he'd harbored romantic feelings for.
So, open the forge door.
「Apocalyptic Clock (EX)」
But the surroundings were silent.
Yoo Ji-tae peered into the darkness beyond the abyss with heavy eyes. Waiting 3 seconds, 5, 10, nothing happened. Come to think of it, wasn't the Apocalyptic Clock not even responding?
He invoked the power again.
「Apocalyptic Clock (EX)」
Futile. The mana flowed out and returned without result. This meant the Apocalyptic Clock was refusing entry to the forge.
The Apocalyptic Clock refusing forge entry was a first across all cycles.
"Hey."
In the void, he spoke.
"Open the door."
But the Apocalyptic Clock didn't respond.
What the hell was this thing doing?
He sank into the imagery of his inner world. Approaching the Apocalyptic Clock's power. Since his rank didn't match the EX-grade power's, the revealed info was limited.
In a foggy, misty world. A white bird was flying around in front of a massive wall.
"Not opening the door?"
As he said that, the white bird flapped in panic, banging its head against the wall. Even though it was fine, avoiding communication meant it probably couldn't communicate. Whatever it was, it seemed busy working.
"Open the door!" Yoo Ji-tae yelled toward the hazy misty world, and the white bird got even more startled, banging its head thud thud thud thud on the wall.
In the end, it meant it couldn't open.
The power's time units differed from humans'. He didn't know when it would end, and he couldn't wait.
If he didn't resolve this, his relationship with Bom would wreck the 7th cycle in real time.
So he had to force his way in.
「Apocalyptic Clock (EX)」
Yoo Ji-tae gathered all his mana and knocked on the power's door. Restricted by shackles, but the door wasn't fully locked. He could muster enough mana to open it himself.
The world flipped around him.
When he opened his eyes, Yoo Ji-tae stood in a space like the universe.
Right in front was the white bird.
And the wall it had been headbutting.
"Why aren't you opening the door?"
Startled, the white bird flapped around Yoo Ji-tae. When he extended his hand, it perched on it and flapped its wings. As if acting cute.
What the hell had this thing been doing?
Before asking, Yoo Ji-tae examined the wall in front of him.
This was weird from the start.
Yoo Ji-tae inspected the wall here and there. The Apocalyptic Clock's forge didn't originally have such a wall.
Then, the next moment, Yoo Ji-tae stiffened as he looked up high on the wall.
A glittering red thing. A massive square shape. Something was looking down at him from an impossibly high place.
Backing away hundreds of meters in a hurry to see the whole thing, he realized it was a colossal mechanical structure, seemingly thousands of meters tall.
A huge, complex machine resembling a human. What he'd thought was a "wall" was its foot.
Even Yoo Ji-tae was bewildered by its overwhelming presence, whose end he couldn't fathom.
It was a rank that overwhelmed Yoo Ji-tae, born human and armed with limit-break powers and blessings.
"What is that?"
The Apocalyptic Clock started chattering, but he couldn't calm down. Until now, he'd never seen such a thing even once. Not even once.
What the hell was that?
The next moment. A message with an indescribable presence forced its way into his mind.
It felt like shoving a radish into a coin-sized hole. The mismatch forcing its way in shocked his mental world greatly. Amid the migraine-like agony surging in, Yoo Ji-tae focused on the message.
EX-grade power? Key?
……Friend?