Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Part 11. Weekend at Room 301 (1)
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Residential district.
The third floor of a 24-pyeong officetel-style dormitory.
A weekend had arrived at Room 301 as well.
Originally, dragons summoned spirits to decorate their nests. That seemed to be common knowledge in the otherworld. However, there were no spirits on Earth, and the dragons apparently didn't know how to clean. As for him, he couldn't have cared less whether they lived like trash heaps.
...Until he saw Yeoreum's room.
With Yeoreum heading out to exercise in broad daylight.
And the Guardian cleaning her shocking room right now.
Yoo Ji-tae approached Gaeul's room. Gaeul, who had been blankly reading her script in the living room, jumped in surprise and rushed toward him.
"Ah, no! How can you just barge into a girl's room like that!"
Gaeul clung to Ji-tae's arm.
"It's dirty, huh."
"N-No?! It's not that dirty! I've just been practicing my lines lately and haven't cleaned much... Ah, anyway, you can't!"
Ji-tae headed straight for the door without hesitation, dragging Gaeul along. Her 'Euaang!' resistance was feeble.
"Ah, nooo!"
It worked.
Ji-tae flung open the door to Gaeul's room. Dolls, mirrors, photos of people, and who-knows-what-else were plastered haphazardly on one wall. There must have been nearly a hundred.
On top of that, silver wrappers and paper boxes from what must have been endless chocolate binges were piled up like a mountain.
It was messiness incarnate.
"I can't live like this! My mom said you're not supposed to just enter someone else's nest without permission!"
"...Those dolls are your stand-in audience?"
He recalled the voice practicing declarations alone in the room. Had she been rehearsing with the dolls as her audience?
"That's not the point right now! Get out, please...! I'm so embarrassed."
Gaeul pushed Ji-tae with all her might.
Pushed out into the hallway, Ji-tae summoned his clone.
Conveniently, it was the weekend, so the clone had the day off too.
"Give me your orders, my liege."
A Yoo Ji-tae identical to the original stood before him.
"We're doing a deep clean today."
"A deep clean, you say?"
That was when Ji-tae was explaining the deep clean plan to his clone.
Winter stirred in Bom's room.
She spent her days in Gaeul's room and her nights in Bom's. Still just a baby dragon, she slept strictly according to day and night.
When she opened her eyes, she was in Bom's embrace. Winter wriggled out of it. Her blue bear doll was still there today. Hugging it, Winter climbed down from the bed.
The door creaked open quietly. A lock of blue hair and round eyes peeked through the gap.
Ji-tae was in the living room.
And... another Ji-tae was there too.
Her eyes widening in shock, Winter looked back and forth between the two men.
This one was Ji-tae.
That one over there... was also Ji-tae.
She hesitated to approach even one of them, but now there were two. The tension doubled. So Winter had to hide behind the door for a long while, just watching the Ji-taes.
But at some point, her feet moved on their own, pulling her body along. Cautiously stepping into the hallway, Winter wavered, unsure which one to approach.
"I shall obey your command, my liege."
The bowing Ji-tae ignored Winter entirely and headed for Yeoreum's room. Staring blankly at his back, Winter sensed something and turned her head. Then she toddled toward the remaining Ji-tae.
The tiny baby tentatively faced off against him.
Her hazy gaze lowered, meeting his blue eyes.
"......"
She worked her mouth, but words wouldn't come easily.
Ji-tae greeted the hesitant Winter.
"Did you sleep well?"
His voice sounded somehow weary and dry.
Unable to reply, Winter hesitated for a long time before lifting her doll to hide her face.
The next moment, strong arms scooped her up. With the bear out of the way, she found herself in Ji-tae's embrace.
"......"
Nestled in his arms, Winter stared intently at his face.
And didn't look away for a long while.
Around then, the Archduke's Shadow (SS) that had entered Yeoreum's room encountered an astonishing sight.
Manga books numbering in the hundreds—who knew when she'd bought them—game consoles, snack bags, soda cans, half-eaten chicken boxes, a few swords, unidentifiable objects slashed to bits by those swords, and more were scattered everywhere.
There, a full suit of armor in an apron was cleaning.
It was the Guardian.
The Guardian had stood like a statue in one corner of the room all night, only starting to clean in the morning at Ji-tae's command. Had it become a maid? As the Guardian pondered its identity...
The clone approached and bent down.
"Not that one. Isn't that food waste?"
"...!"
"Put it in the yellow bag over there. Don't you even know that much?"
Startled by Ji-tae's appearance, the Guardian shot to its feet.
Then it realized this was the clone from last night.
The clone stiffly kicked at the trash with its foot, cleaning haphazardly—the sort of thing you'd expect from Ji-tae cleaning someone else's room.
"...Anyone would think you're the real one."
The Guardian muttered offhandedly, but the clone didn't respond.
The two cleaned Yeoreum's room in silence for a good while.
Then, when plastic and cans got mixed into the regular trash, the clone spoke up.
"Makes you wonder just how barbaric Ascalifa really is."
"......"
"They don't even have the concept of sorting recyclables, it seems. Huh."
The Guardian silently sorted the cans and plastics as the clone directed.
But when the clone continued kicking trash around sloppily, it muttered,
"A succubus riding on a count's coattails, they said..."
A demon world proverb used to insult weaklings who got cocky.
However, the clone too had lived for centuries with a personality granted by the Archduke of the demon world's SS-grade authority.
The clone's foot stopped.
At the same time, the Guardian's rubber-gloved hand froze. Red eyes flickering, it raised its head.
"......"
"......"
Their gazes clashed in midair.
Even on the weekend, a message came from the production team.
It was detailed guidance for the declaration audition in two days.
Out of about 300 cadets, 13 had passed the first round. The final auditions would select three from them.
One main declarer and two supporting declarers.
'Yoo Gaeul's' name was the last one on that list of 13.
But as Ji-tae scanned the participant list, he spotted a familiar name.
[Gong Joo-hee]
This name. He remembered it.
One of the Azure Dragon House members that the demonkin Wei Lian had poured his heart into raising.
Wei Lian, more obsessed with the media than other demonkin, naturally had his Azure Dragon House people in the entrance ceremony declaration. It was to be expected.
Wei Lian, Wei Lian...
A name that pricked like a needle on the tongue.
Ji-tae stepped out and headed to the administrative office. He wanted info on the 'end-of-year event' that Wei Lian had boasted about with his ambitions.
It probably wasn't just Wei Lian's event.
Likely something his demonkin organization was plotting.
Lair's end-of-year plans hadn't been announced yet. Classified info ordinary people couldn't access. But for a regressor, it was no issue. Using Scales Eye and a few other tools, he easily and safely found the answers.
"We'll be tackling an S+ grade dungeon. Selected cadets from Lair will participate through competition."
On the emergency stairs heading underground. Words from one of Lair's staff, spoken with a dazed expression.
Then it clicked.
He recalled a past loop.
Melishia's Masquerade
Melishia's Masquerade was the unprecedented incident in the S+ grade dungeon 'Melishia's Ballroom,' where over 100 demonkin were born.
It was one of humanity's major threats.
In a past loop, Ji-tae had gotten involved in Melishia's Ballroom too. Come to think of it, he'd seen talented kids from Lair there back then. In this loop, it connected like this.
In the end, it was a good thing. All the demonkin Wei Lian had nurtured would be mobilized there.
A chance to wipe out Wei Lian's demonkin, who were scattered like bedbugs and hard to catch.
One might wonder: after regressing, why not just kill all the known demonkin outright?
But that was impossible.
Wei Lian was a demonkin every loop and died by Ji-tae's hand every time. No exceptions.
However, some were demonkin in certain loops but not others.
And some had never been demonkin until one loop where they became one.
Killing humans mistaken for demonkin was no issue. It left no impression on him.
The problem was the opposite. He had to prevent unknown demonkin births as much as possible. Even the tiniest spark of threat had to be snuffed out. It was the obsession time had ingrained in him.
He imagined this loop's future. He wouldn't interfere with the world's flow. Never had. Waves were best ridden, so let them crash.
He couldn't control every grain of sand scattered in their wake. That was fine. The world's currents inevitably had eddies, drawing the sand together.
So all he had to do was bide his time. Easy for a regressor who'd lived eons as a hunter.
On the way back from the administrative office, Ji-tae sensed a familiar presence.
There was a neighborhood park nearby, with a large fountain. He headed there.
Tall trees reached for the sky. Cadets wandered about in small groups. There, Ji-tae spotted a green-haired girl sitting on a bench.
As if sensing him, her head turned.
Green eyes blinked.
It was Bom.
"Huh? Ajusshi."
Winter was toddling around near the fountain in front of Bom, drawing cute stares from cadets and adults alike. Bom must have taken her out for a stroll.
Standing at a distance watching them, Ji-tae paused, then slowly walked over and sat on the bench beside her.
"Long time no see! You found us here."
"Sleep well?"
"Yeah. I'm all better now."
Ji-tae nodded lightly at the dragon's words.
Even after days apart, their conversation ended there. Their talks were always like that—quiet by nature.
The two watched Winter, surrounded by people.
"Aigoo, so pretty."
"Dyed her hair? Like a little angel..."
People made goofy faces at Winter, chatting her up. Some even offered candy.
But Winter, clutching her blue bear, looked unhappy. She neither smiled nor responded. She barely glanced at the candy before splashing in the fountain water.
"How owd is ouw fwiend hewe?"
A fed-up cadet lisped the question.
Winter grimaced as if seeing something awful and turned away.
"Eek..."
"Hey, stop. She's calling you ugly."
"N-No, I'm not?"
Laughter rippled through the group. Those hoping for a reaction from Winter were disappointed but couldn't resist talking to her again because she was so cute.
Peaceful moments.
As he gazed blankly at the scene, Bom spoke up.
"Ajusshi."
"Yeah."
"Being like this makes us feel like family."
Did it?
He couldn't remember what family felt like. From the moment his memories began, Yoo Ji-tae had always been alone. Still, if anything was similar, maybe the team members' feelings toward his clone at the station? Who knew.
"In that setup, we'd be husband and wife."
Then Bom started spouting nonsense.
"Winter's your daughter."
He didn't reply.
"And I'm the mom. What do you think?"
Bom asked. He turned to meet her eyes staring at him. He looked back blankly. What did he think? Tricky question. No suitable words came to mind.
Ji-tae's face was expressionless, but Bom read the awkwardness in it and chuckled lightly.
"Just kidding."
Meanwhile, people headed to a street food stall, bought snacks, and started offering them to Winter.
"Cotton candy. Tear it like this—mmm! So yummy!"
Cotton candy was a fail. Suddenly handed the stick, Winter couldn't grip it properly, and it slipped into the fountain. 'Aiko!' came regretful voices.
"Want ice cream?"
Next was cone ice cream. Another fail. The cotton candy had gotten some interest for its cloud-like look, but sadly, the ice cream didn't even get a glance.
The ignored staffer sadly ate the ice cream himself.
The day was starting to darken. Bom called Winter then.
"Winter. Time to go?"
At Bom's words, the splashing baby turned.
Her sulky face lit up the moment she saw Ji-tae.
"Ah, want this?"
Then Bom handed something to Ji-tae.
A chestnut meat.
"Found it on the way. Why not try giving it to Winter?"
*Would* a kid eat this? But recalling dragons' weird tastes, Ji-tae silently took it.
And offered it to Winter.
Winter, who hadn't moved a step from the fountain until then, toddled over and snatched the chestnut from Ji-tae.
Onlookers sighed in realization.
She liked chestnuts after all......!