Chapter 97
Chapter 97
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 97
Chapter Title: Episode 32. Restraint (3)
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He gazed at the red-haired girl.
Trembling eyes she couldn't hide. Arched eyebrows. Her gaze was lowered, her huddled form small.
Her sweat-drenched hair resembled a puppy soaked by rain it couldn't escape. Her hunched shoulders and knees seemed to scream with her entire body: I'm in so much pain. I'm so anxious.
Hadn't her day been a happy one?
That's why he decided to spend the night with her.
Yoo Ji-tae leaned back in his chair, gazing at the dragon.
Even as night deepened, she couldn't fall asleep.
Her breathing was unsteady, catching raggedly at her throat, over and over. Her hands and feet fidgeted restlessly.
Huhk, hahk. The irregular gasps dragged on for a long while.
He finally spoke.
"Get some proper sleep, at least."
No reply came from her.
The head of the child buried in the blanket turned toward him.
"...Sleep?"
"......"
"...Won't."
She tried to laugh with those words. But perhaps the pain was too much—even her smile twisted, crumpling the corners of her eyes.
"All talk, no action."
"...Dragons have teeth. Even if you dunk 'em in water, their mouths gotta bob back up to survive, right?"
As if.
"How's your body holding up? Can you bear it?"
Yeoreum turned to look at him.
Moonlight slipped through the curtains, illuminating her face. Irritation mixed with her expression, her eyebrows subtly arching.
"I said I'm fine. Why do you keep asking? I'm fi... fiiiine......"
She spat out each word defiantly, deliberately. But she couldn't hide the quiver of her lips. The moonlight was too bright.
"...You keep... asking."
Looking back, Yeoreum's escapades had always been different from the others.
The other dragons ventured out purely for fun. To etch good memories forever. Proving it, they hadn't shown steady resolve even when buried in paradise's fragments deep in the underground labyrinth. They'd already found their happiness.
But the Red Dragon was different. She pressed on with solitary training without end. Yoo Ji-tae figured it stemmed from an intense drive for self-improvement burning in her chest.
To him, though, it was qualitatively unlike the 30-man airborne special forces betting their lives on training.
Theirs was inertia born of habit.
The Red Dragon's was the manifestation of ambition.
So why, then? Why did the Red Dragon crave strength so desperately?
Simply because she was Red Clan?
She'd given the answer of returning to her family to earn recognition, but Yoo Ji-tae still couldn't grasp it fully.
For something so trivial to satisfy—
"......"
Her trembling face looked far too precarious.
Still, all he could do now was stay by her side.
The regressor watched over her.
As dawn deepened.
She finally drifted off amid her anxious breaths.
Her chest burned hot, she'd said, kicking off the blanket. He carefully tucked it back over her. Then he gazed at Yeoreum's face, where he'd plugged her nosebleed with tissue, before standing to leave.
That's when Yeoreum woke.
"......"
Her faintly feverish eyes locked precisely on his.
"......"
Seeming anxious again, he shook his head lightly.
"Not going."
"......"
"Not going. Sleep easy."
No answer came.
Only her face, peeking out above the blanket.
He sat, watching over her. Minutes of silence flowed.
"Hey......"
Yeoreum spoke in the tiniest voice.
"Yeah."
"These... re, restraints... you said you had them too."
"Yeah."
"Don't... they hurt you?"
He nearly said they were fine but hesitated. Come to think of it, the parenting books he'd read said to empathize when sharing pain.
Empathize, empathize... The unfamiliar word bounced on his tongue.
How to even start?
"Back then, they hurt me too."
"Back then?"
"Yeah. The first time I put on restraints, it was hell."
"Why'd you... p, put them on?"
"Wanted to get stronger."
It was his 6th cycle. Before crossing dimensions to conquer the demon realm.
The goal later shifted to sealing power, but initially, he'd worn them purely for training.
"Heart wouldn't race right. Words stuck in my throat. Walking was a chore."
"......"
"I'd try to breathe in, but my lungs kept forcing it out on their own. Chest felt like it was ripping apart."
"Did you... cr, cry?"
"Didn't cry. Puked a ton, though."
"Bluaargh?"
"Yeah."
"F-fuck... that's hilarious. You, barfing with that face. Shit......"
Yeoreum giggled raggedly amid her uneven breaths.
"Why... why'd you do that?"
"What why? Stomach felt like crap, so I hurled."
"No, not that. Why'd you wanna... g-get stronger."
The question pierced unexpectedly.
About to answer reflexively, Yoo Ji-tae held back. Back then, he'd believed power solved everything. No point dragging it out for her.
As he fell silent, Yeoreum spoke again.
"Knew it. Yo, dodging again."
"......"
"Silence your ultimate move? Just when I think you're opening up..., you zip your lips."
"...Yeah."
"F-fucking 'yeah~'. Sh-shit."
Emotions destabilized her mana. Pain surged in her chest—Yeoreum twitched, then groaned, enduring it.
The inarticulate regressor simply watched her.
Once the pain ebbed and long breaths steadied.
She opened her mouth like a sigh.
"......I'm the... baby girl."
"Baby girl?"
"Had sisters. Seven of 'em."
News to the regressor.
"Red Dragons always pop out tons of kids. Un, unlike other races sticking strict to one-to-three...... They breed max when they can, send 'em all on escapades. By twenty to a hundred, all my sisters had done their first jaunt."
"You hadn't left for yours yet?"
"Yeah. I hatched super late...... Hatching early from the same clutch? That's talent. So I was the dud."
Yeoreum stared blankly, lost in memory.
"Happened to hatch way after my sisters. They ignored baby me, beat me at mealtimes...... But the youngest sister looked out for me. Got super close."
"......"
"When we'd sneak to the continent for fun, she'd say load up a wagon with buff guys and bring 'em back. I was three. Sounded awesome. Wanted to go on my escapade ASAP......"
"......"
"So when youngest sis left for hers, I was jealous as hell. Mad sad. She'd shield me from beatings by the others. Then ditches me solo? F-fucking bullshit."
Forcing down ragged breaths desperately, Yeoreum exhaled shakily and yanked the tissue wad from her nose.
"Ha, fuck...... Feels like I can breathe now."
"......"
"Anyway, day youngest sis came back from her trip, she sneaks me aside, gets dead serious, and threatens me."
Yeoreum stretched out her hand, mimicking.
"Says shit like this: If the grown-ups ask if you're ready for escapade, say you're too young and scared, hold out. I snapped. You get to go? I'll go too. Then she shoves a knife at me? You think a runt like you can handle escapade? Know how brutal the world is? Do as I say or die by my hand."
"......"
"So, fuck, her eyes were crazy-scary. Betrayal hit hard. I did as told...... Grown-ups hated it. But I held out. Better than getting killed by lil sis......"
Suddenly, she cackled.
"Few days later, truth hits. At this massive volcano full of lava. All our clan's geezers gather. Whole family too. About twenty dragons there......"
Then she bit her lip.
"Big sis suddenly... bites youngest sis's throat......"
Yoo Ji-tae's brow furrowed. He sensed what happened instinctively.
It fit the Red Clan's worship of strength.
"Found out too late. Red Clan lays tons of eggs to pick the best one or two from the litter."
The fate of the rest? Obvious.
"Once all the kids finish first escapade, clan pits 'em against each other. Survivor of the generation monopolizes the clan's blessings...... They call it 'Selection Feast'."
Her breaths grew rough.
"All sisters died there... except big sis."
Yeoreum closed her eyes.
Memories unerasable rose vivid.
Volcano erupting. Pyroclastic clouds billowing sky-high. Flames bursting everywhere.
There, amid the clan's massive dragons unfurling wings and roaring skyward.
The blood-soaked hatchling looked down at her youngest sibling.
"F-fuck... know what that bitch said to me?"
"......"
Yeoreum turned to Yoo Ji-tae. Then rose from bed, staggering toward him.
Yoo Ji-tae sat, so she loomed slightly above, gazing down.
Her hand gripped his chin.
"Lucky you?"
Then, mimicking someone in a seductive lilt:
"This is how it went? Fuck, I was floored. What a shitty whore. Motherfucking cunt......"
Lucky you.
It mocked how Yeoreum hatched unusually late compared to her generational sisters.
Had she hatched near the youngest's time? She wouldn't be here.
"But back then... it terrified me."
Yeoreum clutched her chest again, choking back breaths.
Pain she'd held at bay by talking surged. She staggered and collapsed. Yoo Ji-tae caught her hurriedly.
Hah, hah... Pain-mingled groans continued.
He laid her on the bed; she curled fetal, clutching her chest, shuddering in agony. It took ages for the groans to stop.
Not knowing what to do, he slowly wiped sweat from her brow and face with fresh tissue. Her pain-glazed eyes fluttered open.
"What happens if you go back."
Yeoreum didn't answer.
Only her red eyes, moonlit, stared blankly at Yoo Ji-tae.
"......"
Despite facing her countless times across regressions, he hadn't known. The Red Dragon's reason for needing strength.
"First time... I've swallowed my pride for you......"
But now he thought he understood. Why, while Gaeul and winter played, while Bom read leisurely, she alone stayed holed up training. The meaning of sweat drops honing combat even half-mad in the underground labyrinth.
This wasn't escapade for her.
Losing a fight meant facing future death viscerally.
Failing to grow despite effort? Proof her life-on-the-line tries fell short.
Her expressions and words he'd seen anew washed over him.
She looked up at him, asking:
"I'm... doing okay... right? Even now?"
It echoed her question from days ago.
Pain-wracked, she hadn't quit. Knew leaning would ease it, but refused.
As her guardian. And now, however clumsily, her master. Her happiness weighed on his shoulders.
He could be certain. Give her that certainty.
"Yeah."
Only then did Yeoreum nod, relieved. Slowly, with uneasy breaths, she fell asleep.
The regressor stayed by her side until morning came.