Chapter 302
Chapter 302
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 302
Chapter Title: Episode 93. First Experience (3)
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“What was that memory just now?”
“Who knows.”
“...Did you kill them all?”
Yoo Ji-tae shook his head. Time had rewound.
All the Black Dragons he had killed would have come back to life.
“They’re all still alive for now.”
Mu had submitted, but stoking her hatred further wouldn’t do.
The way she felt about him—teetering on the edge of outright loathing. If they were going to spend no small amount of time together for experiments ahead, it was better to establish at least a superficially amicable relationship.
He had swung the whip.
Now it was time to offer the carrot.
“Don’t hate me too much.”
The words sounded absurd even as he said them.
Wasn’t he the one who despised Mu in the first place?
“To repeat: cooperate, and I’ll guarantee what I can guarantee.”
“……”
“It takes a typical dragon a hundred years to set up a lair, right? You managed it in five, splitting even your sleep time to settle on Earth. You must have been desperately trying to survive.”
“……”
Mu’s torn lips twisted ever so slightly.
She realized the power dynamic had completely flipped.
“Filling the 72nd floor of the magic tower with the black metal ‘Esril.’ Turning the mages’ tower to your side. Stirring up the world under a false identity. All to live well, wasn’t it?”
“……”
“I respect that. I’ll ensure your conditions during isolation. And grant you limited freedom too.”
Her unfocused eyes still brimmed with hatred, but their depths were unreadable.
“You insufferable bastard…”
Soon, her heartbeat returned to normal.
“You’re saying my kin didn’t die…”
Mu gasped for breath.
The attempt to stop her own heart must have strained her body.
She clutched her chest, calming herself for a moment. Then, with a pale wrist, she wiped the blood trickling from her eye.
“Yes. So before we cooperate, make any requests you have.”
Now the framework for negotiation was in place.
The initiative was his, and he didn’t mind haggling under his control.
Mu glared at Yoo Ji-tae.
Her gaze dropped to her wrist, red with marks.
Then to the shattered bed.
A flicker of resignation briefly crossed her eyes.
“I have three requests…”
“Speak.”
But when she looked up at him again, her eyes burned with the usual hostility.
“One. Don’t abuse me more than necessary.”
“That depends on you.”
“I said more than necessary.”
Yoo Ji-tae fell silent.
“I’ll take that as agreement. Two. I’ll obediently stay confined here and assist with experiments. But I expect treatment befitting my station.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Royal treatment?”
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“……Fine. Spell it out.”
“Move me to a larger isolation room. Send servants I can use like hands and feet. Minimize the restraints. Bring a pet to toy with like a plaything. And if I stay quietly inside from then on, ensure I can get whatever I want immediately.”
“Got it.”
Not a difficult demand.
“What’s the last one?”
“Before that, a question. My mortal enemy. What exactly are you verifying with this dissection and experiment you mentioned?”
“Experiments related to your heart and the Fragment of Origin.”
“How many times? How long?”
“No idea. It won’t end in one go. We’ll have to repeat it several times.”
Yoo Ji-tae figured she’d ask to be released once the experiments ended. No one wanted to die, and Mu would want to live too, in the end.
After some deliberation, Mu spoke.
“After each experiment ends, let me out of the isolation room, even if briefly.”
But her request went in an unexpected direction.
“Out?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a problem.”
“Why?”
“Too much hassle. No other requests?”
“None. I can’t compromise on this. I’m a Black Dragon. We’re a wandering clan. And I’ve grown accustomed to confinement.”
This request carried a resolute seriousness in her expression.
“Where to?”
“Wherever my feet take me.”
“To do what?”
“Whatever comes to hand.”
In short, no plan.
Yoo Ji-tae paused.
If he had to let her out, there was only one way.
“...One condition.”
“Name it.”
“Wherever you go, whatever you do—from leaving the isolation room until you return—you stay with me. You can’t leave the range I set. And you can’t do anything I tell you not to.”
Mu looked puzzled.
“Fine. I expected that much. But what’s off-limits, and what’s the range?”
“Brainwashing someone. Seducing them. Attempting escape. Transmitting your filthy thoughts. Anything that interferes with my experiments.”
“‘Filthy thoughts’? You scum I could grind to dust…”
She bared her fangs, growling.
“...Understood. Anything else? What about contact with humans?”
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with what I said or the experiments.”
“Even if I bring ten buff human men to my bedroom, you’d just watch from the window?”
“A dragon’s debauched lifestyle is none of my business.”
She shot him a crooked glare.
Then fiddled with her bruised cheek.
A brief contemplation followed. But she had no better options. This was the line he’d drawn.
“Mortal enemy.”
Mu finally spoke, resigned.
“Explain the experiment procedure.”
“There’ll be physical and mana-based contact with the Fragment of Origin.”
“Cutting flesh, then.”
“Yes.”
“Risk level?”
“Not risky.”
“Any foreign objects inserted? I hate discomfort.”
“No. Experiments end as experiments. But it’ll hurt, so anesthesia is needed. Recovery time may follow depending.”
“That bag—is it experiment tools?”
Mu pointed to Yoo Ji-tae’s square bag.
“No. Anesthesia tools. The pain and impact are severe.”
“Anesthetizing a dragon heart. Hard to imagine.”
“That’s why it’s tricky for me. The device takes about two weeks for an adult heart.”
“...Got it. I understand fully.”
She pushed herself up from leaning halfway against the wall.
“Then start now. That ‘experiment’ on the heart.”
“Fix the broken bed first.”
“No. Proceed quickly. I need out of this stifling place ASAP.”
“Fine.”
Agreement made, things moved fast.
Mu lay flat on the floor. She cast magic to create a subspace beneath her, then lay on it.
Yoo Ji-tae went to her side and opened the bag.
“Anesthesia first. Stay still. When the drug kicks in and sleep pulls, don’t resist.”
But Mu blinked her purple eyes and said something unexpected.
“No need.”
“What?”
“I said no anesthesia needed. Doesn’t it take two weeks?”
Still lying down, she gripped the collar of her T-shirt. With claws extended, she yanked it down, tearing it off.
Her human-mimicking flesh was fully exposed.
“Don’t waste time.”
Mu closed her eyes.
He had said he’d split the dragon heart. Like tearing human flesh. Even a dragon would feel pain.
She acted childish sometimes, but this was pure adult dragon.
Yoo Ji-tae closed the opened bag.
He honed killing intent at his fingertips, shaping it into something exceedingly delicate and sharp.
“Thanks for cooperating.”
The words slipped out, surprising even him. How routine had this become, for such politeness to habit?
Then Mu’s eyes snapped open, glaring with hostility.
She spat each word like chewing gravel.
“You mad bastard…”
He didn’t reply.
He condensed killing intent into over forty precise tools. Seven types of knives. Hammers, chisels, electric saws, wires, needles, etc.
“If it hurts too much, we pause for anesthesia.”
“Pain’s fine.”
“Not worried about your pain. Any twitching interferes.”
“Do as you will.”
With that, Mu closed her eyes.
Bzzz—
The electric saw of killing intent began to spin.
Mu endured agony throughout the experiment.
Flesh torn. Bones cracked. Yoo Ji-tae accessed the dragon heart and Fragment of Origin in various ways. Smashing. Splitting. Burying special tools. Injecting drugs.
Yet Mu stayed still. Occasional grimaces or clutching the bedsheets—that was it. No groans. No twitching. The experiment concluded smoothly.
Right after healing and suturing the wounds.
“Done…?”
“Yes.”
“Then get out…”
Mu finally released the bedsheet and fell asleep.
Yoo Ji-tae draped a gown over her.
Her vitality was damaged; rest was needed.
Before leaving the isolation room, he instructed Timmy.
“Leave B-12 specimen to recover. I’ll send further directives—follow them. Contact me the moment it wakes.”
—Understood.
With isolation room business done.
Walking the long corridor out.
Yoo Ji-tae had to calm his excitement-tainted emotions.
The results were phenomenal.
Almost unbelievable.
Thanks to the awakened Will of the Ancient Dragon, he could access the Fragment of Origin with mana.
There, he discerned roughly nine separate authorities operating.
Some likely Heart Stop, others Player Emergency Summon. Things like Long-Range Spatial Crossing—forcing rifts to distant dimensions on death—or Player Assist, Fledgling Protection.
Next experiments: identify them. What’s what.
Once he isolates Long-Range Spatial Crossing.
He could find dimensional coordinates to their home—too far to reach from here. Then open the rift.
Foreseeing such rapid progress came from 4+ regressions’ experience.
Won’t succeed in one or two tries.
Possibly significant sacrifices.
But compared to time wasted so far, an absurdly short span.
Once coordinates confirmed.
If he could just get those coordinates…
Closing the isolation room door.
Walking the long hallway.
Something writhed in his emotions.
Then.
The baby dragons could go home…
“……”
Yoo Ji-tae recalled old thoughts.
The night sky he longed for had stars.
A regressor’s dream.
A long-cherished wish.
Too far to reach. Too cloudy to see.
Once desperate. I’ll see it. I’ll reach it.
Failures piled up; it grew vague. Somewhere out there. Keep going, I’ll get there.
But no matter his stance, no starlight.
The world was too dark.
He stopped walking.
Something squirmed deep in his chest.
Blood ran hot. Heartbeat reached ribs. Hot blood spread through veins, body aflame.
This was trouble.
Excessive hope always turned poisonous.
The problem was emotions resurfacing amid routine. After witnessing proof of existence, they raged, shaking him. The regressor couldn’t deny it.
How long had he lived for that star…
He turned his head.
Far down the passage. Mu’s sealed isolation room.
Light leaking through the palm-sized window seemed a beacon in the dark corridor.
Yoo Ji-tae’s gaze wavered. Jaw clenched uncontrollably. He stood silent, motionless. Suppressing the emotion about to burst quietly.
Beyond the darkness.
A star twinkled.
Mu woke days later.