Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Part 23. The Night the Melody Flows (3)
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Yoo Ji-tae wasn't in a good mood. The light illuminating his eyes, the piano melody pounding his ears, the floral scent brushing his nose, the candy-like statue, the masterpiece painting he wanted to burn, the floor, the ceiling—everything in this entire space was grating on his nerves.
That aside, Hasegawa's piano skills weren't bad. Even to Yoo Ji-tae, who was clueless about art, the piece was difficult, and Hasegawa was nailing every note precisely. By human standards, it was impressive—more than enough even for a superhuman.
Yet the performance was utter trash. As a layman, Yoo Ji-tae couldn't put the feeling into words. It just felt like shit.
However, regardless of his own impressions, the social gathering's members were entranced by the music, gazing at Hasegawa.
Yoo Ji-tae observed them.
Of course. They had every reason to be.
The first piece, La Campanella, came to an end, and thunderous applause erupted. The people stood, clapping as if genuinely moved.
After that, a few more pieces followed. They were all Hasegawa's original compositions.
They were music infused with his filthy desires—desires that couldn't be hidden behind established repertoire. Stripped bare, the sordid emotions hidden within were vividly conveyed through the melodies.
All the pieces concluded.
Applause rang out once more.
Yoo Ji-tae remained silent throughout.
A horrific melody. Grotesque music. Even as a regressor, the filthy emotions seeping through were grating.
But Bom's condition seemed even worse.
Her eyes had lost focus. Her arms trembled faintly—enough to see it.
"Hey."
"……."
"It's over."
"Ah, yeah."
Bom clutched the sleeve of Yoo Ji-tae's forearm.
She let out a deep breath.
With that, the performance—and the gathering—drew to a close.
Bom was lost in thought when...
"It truly melted my heart away."
"So moving. As expected of you, sir......"
The people surrounded Hasegawa, showering praise on his performance. Hasegawa bowed modestly to them. But unlike when Bom had complimented him, he seemed calm—no sign of joy.
"How was my humble performance?"
Hasegawa approached and asked.
Bom still hadn't fully recovered, so Yoo Ji-tae sighed inwardly and nodded.
"I enjoyed it."
Only then did Hasegawa smile brightly.
"I'm delighted...... Will you come listen again tomorrow?"
Of course.
It'll be your last performance.
Yoo Ji-tae nodded.
A hotel room prepared for VIPs.
Antique bedding lay atop two king-sized beds.
"Ajusshi. There are a few weird things."
Late at night. With the city lights of Japan twinkling beyond the river. Under dim lighting, Bom spoke in a troubled tone.
"……."
"The performance was meh. And Hasegawa seemed to know exactly how it sounded to others."
"……."
"He didn't look happy even when they applauded. Totally different from when I praised him. It wasn't false modesty—it was like the praise was just a given."
"……."
"Yet people come here just to hear him play. I asked around—some have been coming for years. And once they hear it once, they're hooked and have to come back......"
That was when Yoo Ji-tae cut her off.
"Bom."
"Yes?"
His voice was quiet, as always. But his gaze wasn't its usual haze.
"Go back."
"Pardon...?"
"I thought it over again. This place doesn't suit you."
Bom met his eyes calmly.
"I'm fine, though......"
"Don't talk nonsense."
"I really am. It's just... I've never heard music like that before. I was a bit shocked."
She had asked him before. Why she couldn't tag along.
Now it was his turn to ask.
"Why do you insist on following me?"
"I—"
"If you read the providence, you should know."
He cut her off.
"Now that you've seen it up close, you get it even better. This place is filthy and ugly. It doesn't suit a kid like you. So why drag yourself into this cesspool to face all this crap? You're scared and shaking."
"……."
If she was frightened. If she felt fear. That would hasten the end.
He didn't welcome that.
Her gaze, as always, inscrutable.
Bom stared at him. Her feet dangled off the bed, wiggling. She bit her red lip.
"If I don't come......"
Overcoming her hesitation, she spoke.
"...You'll always be alone."
The regressor couldn't comprehend her words.
"What's wrong with being alone?"
"Yeah......"
"Yeah?"
"The rest... later."
"Hey."
"You can scold me then."
As always, utterly stubborn.
Yoo Ji-tae contemplated tossing the kid into the abyss—twice.
He decided to play along one more time.
"......Fine, for now."
"Can I keep going then?"
"Yeah."
"Picking up from before. What felt off to me was this: Everyone else there listened comfortably to Hasegawa's performance. They were truly moved. We weren't."
"……."
"Maybe there's something that only doesn't affect us? Because you're you. And because I'm a dragon?"
After a brief silence, Yoo Ji-tae asked her.
"And if we figure it out?"
"Huh?"
"What changes?"
"...Hasegawa's a demon, right?"
"Yeah."
"From what I learned in the lair, unlike superhumans, demons have a 'contract trigger.' If you sell your soul to a devil, there's a cause and effect leading to it."
"Right."
"Conversely, if a demon fails to fulfill their purpose even after becoming one, they 'shed their shell.'"
"What they've been hiding comes out?"
"Yes."
"And that's tied to Hasegawa's 'immortality'?"
"Pretty much certain."
Bom nodded with conviction.
To sum it up simply:
1. Hasegawa's hiding something.
2. It's connected to his immortality.
3. Piss him off enough.
4. Force it to reveal itself.
"Why do you think that?"
Evidence always mattered.
"Because......"
......
Bom's following argument successfully convinced Yoo Ji-tae.
"Still, the biggest issue is we don't know what he's hiding. Providence doesn't show it either."
The biggest problem.
What separated those moved by Hasegawa's performance from them?
"I know what that is."
Bom's eyes widened round at Yoo Ji-tae's words.
The next day—the final night of the social gathering.
Yoo Ji-tae brought Bom along to the venue.
As yesterday, dazzling lights, a warm atmosphere, and a fragrant scent tickled his nose.
The people welcomed Bom with smiles. Some bowed uncomfortably to Yoo Ji-tae.
He replied with a light nod. A perfunctory gesture.
Time flew by. Hasegawa's performance time arrived. As before, the middle-aged demon bowed to everyone and sat at the piano stool in a solemn atmosphere.
"The first piece is Teacher Hasegawa's composition, The Eve, Third Movement. Please welcome him with applause."
He began playing the keys.
A heavy melody stirred an inexplicable tension.
As expected. The displeasure unrelated to the music closed in.
The regressor thought his playing was filthy. He wanted to march over, grab the performer's hair, smash his head down, and split the piano in half. Pure impulse.
As his thoughts wandered, a memory from a past regression surfaced.
—What do you think of my playing?
A crumbling grand cathedral.
Hasegawa at the piano. When someone writhed in agony from the horrific, ear-shattering performance...
—You have no ears to hear.
With those final words, he pressed a dagger to the listener's ear.
How absurd.
The regressor smiled faintly.
That was when...
Bom, repulsed by the loathsome performance, grabbed Yoo Ji-tae's sleeve.
Right. No need to listen any longer.
To this garbage music.
"Bom. We're starting."
"Okay......"
"Last chance. You sure?"
Bom nodded with a stiff expression.
Yoo Ji-tae straightened from his slouched chair.
"……."
Bom steeled herself.
As everyone focused on the piano melody...
Yoo Ji-tae raised his wine glass and smashed it on the floor.
Crash—!
Shards of glass scattered everywhere. Piercing through The Eve's Third Movement, the shattering sound embedded itself in everyone's ears.
The performer's hands stopped.
In a space filled only with his melody, its sudden absence made the parlor eerily silent.
At the same time, the parlor's atmosphere flipped.
An unimaginable change occurred.
The audience's heads turned toward Yoo Ji-tae in perfect unison, as if measured with a ruler.
'Ah......!'
Bom clenched her fists tight.
Last night, they'd strategized.
Bom's biggest concern: How could anyone be moved by Hasegawa's performance?
Yoo Ji-tae's answer:
—There were no humans there.
Unbelievable. Inconceivable. But that's what he said.
And now, his words were being proven.
The faces that turned were grotesque.
Some necks twisted unnaturally behind them, defying human anatomy. Some skins had even torn open.
Wide-open eyes revealed whites all around—no irises. Regardless of age or gender, they all wore the same expression. Their eerie gazes missed Bom slightly. She realized: They were fixated solely on Yoo Ji-tae.
A utterly repulsive scene. Bom's grip on his sleeve tightened.
"……."
Finally.
Hasegawa turned his head with the same expression as the members, staring at Yoo Ji-tae.
The intensity was overwhelming. The baby dragon, startled to her feet, felt her legs tremble.
Yet.
Even in this fear-inducing spectacle, the regressor smiled faintly, as if accustomed to it.
To him, it seemed utterly natural.
"Yoo Bom. If you can't handle it, get out."
"I......"
"Scaredy-cat."
He joked, but Bom didn't relax.
Gazing at the people frozen in grotesque expressions.
Feeling an even more bizarre atmosphere.
Bom recalled past moments.
—Yoo Bom. Go back.
At Gaeul's audition hall, his stern voice leaving her behind.
—These aren't things you need to know. Nothing good comes from it. So come on out. Or I'll tie you to a chair and go.
On a chilly dawn, pushing away her pleas with his hand.
She hadn't understood then.
Or rather, she'd deluded herself she did.
He was the dragons' guardian, family head—yet always kept a slight distance, on the periphery.
Through providence, Bom knew he handled things from the shadows.
But she hadn't known it was this horrific.
"......Is this... the world you live in, Ajusshi?"
The regressor answered slowly.
"Yeah."
"Ajusshi......"
"Now do you get that you were being a brat?"
About then, Hasegawa stood from his seat.
Simultaneously, everyone in the room rose.
"If you get it, leave."
One teleport, and Bom could escape. As simple as flipping a switch.
Yet Bom didn't leave.
She'd defied his order not to come. Begged to be brought along.
—I want to know more about you too, Ajusshi.
Bom wanted to know him.
To understand even a glimpse of the world he saw.
Even now was the same. Bom wanted to bolt from her seat. She knew those warped people were mere shells. Something far filthier lurked inside. She lacked the courage to face that truth easily.
But Bom didn't want to turn away from the 'real' world beyond—Yoo Ji-tae's world.
With trembling hands, she grasped Yoo Ji-tae's hand.
Dragons receive emotions and memories through proximity.
Via physical contact, Yoo Ji-tae's memories and feelings began surfacing in Bom's mind.
The parlor's scenery warped like watercolor in water.
Overcoming hesitation, Bom opened her eyes again.
Yoo Ji-tae was discerning truth from falsehood here.
Filthy exteriors.
Rotting clothes.
Shriveled minds devoid of flesh, merely skinned over skeletal forms.
The only human-like feature: their pitiful ears.
This was the scene the demon Hasegawa desperately hid.
And the scene the regressor had seen from the start.
There were never any humans listening to Hasegawa's horrific melodies.
Just his puppets.
'......'
Bom bit her red lip.
This was the world Hasegawa created.
But also the world Yoo Ji-tae lived in.
A world where, to craft normal daily lives and the dragons' happiness,
He had to walk especially dark nights.
The regressor's world.
'......'
It lay spread before Bom.