Chapter 283
Chapter 283
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 283
Chapter Title: 89. Partner (11)
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At that moment, Yeoreum was so shocked that even in her dazed mind, she stuttered.
After about half a year of sensory deprivation, her eyes suddenly opened. And after the same half year, sounds reached her ears. Of all things, it was her little sister's voice.
If I die someday. If I go to another world. I wanted to meet you one more time. That was Yeoreum's confession.
'I wanted to see you too.'
Her little sister approached Yeoreum. She approached the weakened, wounded, broken baby dragon.
'You look like you've been through a lot.'
And then she embraced Yeoreum's unseen head.
Just like in her childhood. When her clan sisters beat her until her bones broke, and she lay alone in the corner of the nest, suffering.
'You've suffered so much. You endured well.'
Yeoreum didn't sob like she had back then.
She was too old for that now, or so she felt. But the warmth of her sister, who had been a substitute for her parents' embrace, felt so good. It was like a dream.
The little sister stroked Yeoreum's hair as she spoke.
'I don't want you to suffer anymore.'
Don't suffer anymore?
'Can't you rest now?'
Her little sister's words were sweet to Yeoreum.
But she couldn't rest.
Because she was weak.
When she said that, the little sister laughed.
'Do you really need to?'
What?
'Come with me, sister. Let's go live happily and comfortably.'
Yeoreum shook her head.
She couldn't go with her sister yet.
'Why?'
Because there was something she had to wait for.
And things she had to do.
At that, the little sister asked curiously.
'Someone worth suffering for? Something you have to do even while you're in this much pain?'
Yeoreum tried to answer but stopped.
Her mind felt strange.
Yeah...
Who was I waiting for...?
What was it I had to do...?
Somehow, it felt like she couldn't go. But that was a strange feeling. Yeoreum liked her little sister. At the end of the long life given to her, her wish had been to be buried in the same soil as her sister.
As Yeoreum wavered, the little sister smiled.
'You don't need to suffer like this anymore. Come with me. There's a world for us Red Dragons over there.'
Then the little sister pointed somewhere with her finger.
A world for Red Dragons?
Yeoreum suddenly grew curious.
'A place where lava and flames burn endlessly.'
The little sister began whispering in a dreamy expression and voice.
'Above ground, there are restaurants full of delicious food. All the liquors from every dimension gathered in one place. A place that treats us like princesses.'
'Below ground, casinos and underground gambling dens everywhere. Some places have illegal underground clubs and fight clubs where you can beat people to death as much as you want. And you know? There, you can get all kinds of drugs to enjoy. It's insane.'
'Anywhere, anytime. You can play with as many males and females as you want. When I first indulged, I lost my mind day and night for a full fortnight. There were too many pleasures I couldn't even imagine. The humans in that world are so creative.'
The little sister laughed as she said that.
It was a truly happy smile.
'So, Yeoreum. Come with me.'
'Let's eat and drink day and night. Let's enjoy ourselves.'
'With your little sister.'
The little sister's expression looked ecstatic.
Just hearing about it made Yeoreum ecstatic. It even seemed better than the "Fun City" she had briefly enjoyed once.
Her heart stirred.
If such a happy, joyful place really existed.
Yeoreum wanted to go too.
'Aren't you hungry?'
The little sister reached out her hand.
Her voice lingered in Yeoreum's ear.
She seemed to glow.
'Come on... Let's go eat...'
Without realizing it, Yeoreum reached out and took her sister's hand. The broken hand with no fingers left, her little sister took it.
The hand that had felt cold grew warm.
Then her body froze.
Yeoreum unwittingly uttered those words.
No...
Then a crack appeared in her sister's warm face.
The little sister's expression turned strange, almost like she hated her, startling Yeoreum.
'Why? I'm telling you to come with me.'
Yeoreum answered.
She was waiting for someone.
That person was waiting for her too.
At that, the little sister asked in a slightly serious voice.
'Who is it?'
Yeoreum was scared of her little sister's expression.
But as she tried to recall, thoughts of that "human" came back into focus.
Yeoreum forced down her fear and said it again. No, her sister was right. There was a human male she was waiting for. A human who had taught her so much.
But her little sister's expression grew even more serious.
'Human...? Did you just say human?'
Yeoreum nodded.
'You. Come here.'
She turned stern.
When Yeoreum resisted, she stretched out her grip.
'Come here, you vermin!'
The little sister grabbed Yeoreum by the hair.
Her strength was so immense that Yeoreum was dragged along like in her childhood.
When she opened her eyes again, the darkness was gone.
'Look. Open your eyes and see properly.'
Against the backdrop of a massive volcano pouring lava, a city of revelry and pleasure unfolded before Yeoreum's eyes.
Yeoreum felt breathless.
It was more beautiful than anything she had ever seen in her life.
But Yeoreum shook her head.
'You won't go there? Even when your little sister asks?'
When Yeoreum still resisted, the little sister shouted.
'Why not! Huh? What the hell is that human to you!'
There is such a thing, sister...
'I disappeared from your life, and now you ignore me? You're staying because of some pathetic human?'
It's not ignoring...
It's a human who taught me so much.
It's not because of that human that I'm staying...
'What? Taught you a lot? Ha... You're a Red Dragon with no pride? How can you say learning from a human so naturally?'
The little sister raged like fire, mocking Yeoreum.
'Hey. How are you still the same after living so long?'
What...?
'There's a world better than life here. You wanted to be with me. So come with me. But you're staying? In this world that only torments you? Just because that puny human might be looking for you?'
No, that's not it...?
'Shut up! When will you come to your senses!'
She was furious.
Yeoreum couldn't meet her little sister's eyes.
When she averted her gaze, the sister grabbed her by the collar.
'What did that pathetic human give you?'
Yeoreum spoke of what she had received from him.
'What? Food? A place to rest? That's all tricks to keep you confined in one place. Why don't you get it?'
No.
The human taught me how to fight too...
'Kal-Gulakwa battle arts? That's all innate to the Red clan anyway. Wake up, Yoo Yeoreum! That human was just imitating Red clan techniques!'
Her shout shattered the world.
Yeoreum thought about it.
One by one, as she reflected.
Ridiculously, everything her sister said was right.
He provided rest and food because he had kidnapped her.
What he taught her was inherently Red Dragon techniques.
Yeah.
Then what did I gain?
What have I learned from that human all this time...?
Something deep in her mind began to crumble.
'Come on. Now that you've come to your senses, let's go. To a place where you won't be sad anymore. Come with me.'
Yeoreum's heart moved at her little sister's words.
But she decided to think one last time.
What had she learned from him?
First, Yeoreum had learned "Pulsation" from Yoo Ji-tae among the Kal-Gulakwa upright combat arts. In human form, it made her dragon-differentiated heart beat. When she said he couldn't teach her, Ji-tae insisted he could.
...That day, Yeoreum's heart had started beating.
Next, she learned "Breathing" from him. A way to actively draw out "Pulsation," balancing the body and circulating mana through inhalation and exhalation.
On a dark night, when restraints squeezed her heart and fear overwhelmed her, she had told him not to go. He sat beside her, listening to her past stories mixed with complaints. Stories she had never shared with anyone.
...That day, Yeoreum could breathe.
Then "Steps." Another stage to actively use "Pulsation." Yeoreum trembled and couldn't walk properly; her body felt too heavy. So Ji-tae held her hand and walked with her. She remembered other cadets teasing them in the lair. Still, Yeoreum was happy. She felt strength in her legs.
...That day, Yeoreum walked on two feet.
He made her heart beat.
Breathe.
Stand.
After that, she learned to run.
To see and hear.
She hadn't thought much while learning.
But listing them, it was like the order of a child's life from birth.
'Come with me. You've worked so hard. You can rest now. You deserve it! You thought the same as me, right? Life is a chain of despair and pain!'
'So, one last time. Come with me. In a world without pain or sorrow. Enjoy happiness with your sister.'
'My little sister. Yeoreum.'
As her urgent sister's words poured out like a machine gun, Yeoreum realized what she had learned.
She had learned how to live from Yoo Ji-tae...
―You trip on stones while walking. You get scratched in thorny fields. Sometimes you might fall into a swamp.
―But that's okay. We'll get up again. And keep walking. Know why?
Moments are so hard.
The path might be thorns, pricking as you fall.
But you can rise. He said that.
―...Because we're looking at a distant place?
―That's right.
Because there was a tomorrow to look forward to.
By then, Yeoreum pulled herself up.
And faced the little sister who still looked at her like vermin, that face full of lies.
It shook her heart briefly, so similar to her precious old sister. But now she was certain.
I'm not going.
'What?'
I'm not going. So get lost alone.
'You, you―'
At that moment, Yeoreum slapped her little sister's face with all her might.
Slaaaap―!
Even in the illusion, the little sister's head snapped back, flying into the darkness.
Her grotesquely twisted face shouted, 'Yoo Yeoreuuuum―!' But Yeoreum laughed. Who calls her Yoo Yeoreum?
"You crazy bitch. You should've prepared the script properly."
How desperate must she have been to see this as real.
"My little sister wouldn't know I'm Yoo Yeoreum..."
Separate from her will to live, her situation felt pathetic, and Yeoreum shed tears.
Still, she would live.
"It's the name that human gave me..."
She learned that from him.
At that instant.
The twisted fake little sister scattered like smoke.
Simultaneously, the black illusion filling the world shattered.
When she came to, something held Yeoreum's hand in the darkness.
No fingers left, but the other didn't mind.
Passing some section of the deep sea, faint sounds reached her. Dimly, his face appeared.
It was Yoo Ji-tae.
A face she hadn't seen in nearly half a year.
It felt unreal.
Her breath caught.
But Yeoreum's gaze shifted. Over a dozen spears, swords, and harpoons were embedded in his back.
'Come here. Almost there. Hurry.'
Turning her head, something chased from afar. Still many in number.
She realized at a glance. Ji-tae had fought them.
Shocking.
He fought those things?
Under the same conditions as her, same situation?
Does that even make sense...?
She was bewildered, but now wasn't the time for such thoughts.
His face was so welcome.
His hand so, so warm.
But now wasn't the time to savor it.
Yeoreum tensed again, enduring the agony filling her body, chasing Ji-tae's back with all her strength.
As her mind wavered. His intent transmitted.
'You endured well. Sorry I'm late. Almost there.'
Almost there...?
'Yeah. It's almost over.'
How comforting those words were.
Amid surging emotions, Yeoreum swam without rest.
After swimming a long way, at the end underground was a cave-like place. Ji-tae and Yeoreum entered.
At its end, a red flag was visible.
We came this far for that one thing.
They hid it even in such depths. You bastard...
Reaching it, the pursuers stopped and vanished afar.
Yeoreum approached the flag to grab it.
But no fingers.
"Ugh..."
Pain surged belatedly, Yeoreum clutching her hand and collapsing.
It wasn't fully over yet.
Yeoreum used polymorph to heal her hand.
Ji-tae pulled out the harpoons, swords, arrows from his back and healed.
For half a day, they focused silently on healing.
New flesh grew, wounds somewhat mended. They headed back into the water.
'From here, it's a shortcut. Less turtle influence.'
Then something amazing happened to Yeoreum.
At 2000m depth here.
Ascending that distance through the thick water, no fatigue.
Not just that.
A swirling "trap" lunged to bite her foot, but Yeoreum reflexively kicked it away. It scattered with minor scratches. Her leg wasn't damaged like before.
Yeoreum realized anew she had grown stronger.
And her mana vastly more profound.
So the ascent wasn't hard like before.
And Ji-tae didn't let go of her hand.
Finally, light filtered in. The surface neared.
The moment her head broke water.
Yeoreum felt indescribable elation.
Strength entered their clasped hands.
We... did it...