Episode 46: My Guardian Deity (1)
There was an official notice from Lair.
– Guardian Consultation Period
It was time for another one already, but the consultation theme today was slightly special.
– Consult through an informal conversation and record it.
Of course, this ‘consultation theme’ wasn’t mandatory and it didn’t matter whether people adhered to it or not. Therefore, Yu Jitae was thinking of skipping the informal part, and sticking to a normal consultation.
That was his plan until Kaeul found out about it.
“Nn? What’s this?”
Hugging the baby chicken all morning, she brushed and played with its fur. After that, they ran around the room until Chirpy discovered the notice, which had been randomly placed on the ground beneath the living room table.
“Is the guardian consultation going to be in casual?”
“Casual?”
“In a casual tone. Like informal talk time*? We can talk casually with each other during the given amount of time!”
“What? Why is that necessary?”
Yeorum, who was sitting on the floor trimming her toenails, opened her mouth.
“Just speak casually from the get go.”
“Unn? Now that you mention it, why don’t you speak politely to ahussi, unni?”
“Why do I have to?”
“Nn? That’s… uhh, umm…”
Kaeul tilted her head and contemplated which the baby chicken mimicked by tilting its own head. Then, she thought of something and gave a clap.
“Because someone that doesn’t know manners is a ruffian?”
“What about ruffians.”
“Everyone hates them right? Ahht…”
During her speech, she realised that she was talking about someone that was specifically inside the living room. “Uang!” Yeorum raised her body and compressed Kaeul’s temples with her two fists, while claiming that she had no manners.
“Chirp!”
The baby chicken counterattacked in order to protect its owner. The chicken ran to Yeorum on the side and pecked her near the ribs.
Even a dragon was like a human with the polymorphed body. “Ah, fuc*,” Yeorum swore with a frown from the tickle and changed the target. The baby chicken had its temples pressured like its owner and growled in pain.
“Asking for death.”
Kaeul and the baby chicken rolled on the living room floor in pain.
In any case, it was time for the guardian consultation period. He decided to gather them together and do it all at once.
When he told them that they can speak to him casually, Kaeul and Gyeoul appeared especially excited.
“Bom.”
“Why, Jitae?”
Hearing Bom’s words, Yeorum, Kaeul and Gyeoul all giggled. The Regressor looked at Bom with his hazy gaze, before turning back to the paper.
“How are you.”
“Good.”
“Anything you need.”
“Nope. Doing fine.”
“Anything difficult happening at school.”
Bom shook her head so Yu Jitae completed the consultation record saying that there were no problems. That was when she opened her mouth for a question.
“Ah, by the way ahjussi.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I ask you for one favour?”
“What.”
“At least during the consultation, can you speak to us politely instead?’
He was wondering what nonsense this was about but he seemed to be the only one thinking that. Kaeul clapped sonorously and shouted.
“Uwaaah. Unni. You’re the best!”
“No joke, that would be quite funny.”
“…!”
Yeorum and Gyeoul were the same. It was unclear what they were so excited about but they showed enthusiastic support for Bom’s idea.
“I don’t want to.”
“It’s just going to be for a short period of time. Can you not?”
“…”
“Please.”
Seriously. Bom had an innate talent at making Yu Jitae feel troubled, to the point that he wondered why he didn’t even catch a glimpse of such a side in the previous iterations.
“No.”
He shook his head. For the most part, he would do everything that they enjoyed but he seriously didn’t want to do this.
“Whyyyy~ That’s such a shame!”
“What a boomer.”
“…”
What followed the zealous support was an intense disappointment but he shook his hand and continued with the questions. He asked what they needed to Yeorum and Kaeul, as well as their life at school and the things they found difficult.
Even this time around, Gyeoul looked like she wanted to be included so he added her to the mix naturally and asked her.
Kururung…
That was when the protector who was standing in the corner of the room like a statue, gave an empty cough (probably).
Understanding his sign, Bom took the paper from Yu Jitae’s hands.
“How are you these days, Cleaner ahjussi?”
“As for me, you can say that I have discovered the enjoyment of household chores. In the very distant past, there were times where I’ve found such tasks to be superficial and low-end, but whatever the task, so long as you undertake an essential task that necessitates a being to be in charge, that is perhaps destiny itself. If there are people that need me…”
“Ahh. So you’re doing fine?”
The bevor of the headpiece that was rambling came to a stop.
“…That is the case.”
The consultation continued. The consultation topic began with their recent hobbies, Yu Jitae’s hobby, hobbies that can be carried out together, trips and future plans, before connecting to a completely different topic altogether.
“You know. Who do you think you know the best out of everyone here?” asked Yeorum.
“That’s a good question.”
“Ohh, ohh. I want to know as well!”
“…?”
It wasn’t a significantly important question, and it was probably something they randomly chucked without thinking too much about it.
But as always, the Regressor was a boring human who thought a lot. He therefore pondered seriously in response to the question.
The answer however, was simple.
“Kaeul of course.”
They appeared surprised evident from their gazes. Gyeoul especially looked slightly shocked.
“…Me?”
“I’m getting to know you better.”
His reply must have been quite good. Hearing his response, Gyeoul regained her peace.
It was the same for everyone else. Yu Jitae was getting to know Bom, Yeorum and Gyeoul better every single day but that wasn’t the case for Kaeul. Yu Jitae already knew a lot about Kaeul.
The one that was curious the most was in fact Kaeul.
“Uing…? How do you know me the best, ahjussi?”
“I just do.”
“But if you think about it, don’t ahjussi and I talk the least?”
That was true. Somehow, he didn’t have much of a chance to talk to Kaeul and it was becoming more like that recently.
But the one that he knew the best was definitely Kaeul, and the one he knew for the longest and was the closest to was also Kaeul.
There was no doubt about that.
That day,
Kaeul had her day off.
After the consultation was over, she gave a big stretch and hugged the baby chicken to sleep. Yu Jitae watched her quietly and didn’t look away for a very long time.
The seventh iteration seemed to be a success for the time being.
Judging from how she was sleeping so soundly.
***
Fourth iteration.
He could remember the first time he saw the Gold Dragon.
Back then, he was 35 years old. At a young age, he had become a national hero and was a superhuman ranker. After suddenly declaring his retirement from the army, he left the Grand Natural Society temporarily.
He thought it was only the death of the Gold Dragon that brought the Apocalypse before, so he formed a group of security guards to protect the dragon. Being the guard in lead, he worked in the front lines himself.
Unlike other iterations, Baby Yellow (BY) of the fourth iteration debuted when she was slightly older. She grabbed a mic for the first time at 18 years of age and only began gaining fame after she was over 20.
“Nice to meet you…!”
Yu Jitae remembered the first time he met BY. Her blonde hair was braided into a twintail, while her sparkling eyes were brighter than gold.
Dragons quickly looked like adults and stayed in their youth for a long time, so the 20-year-old BY was very similar to the current Kaeul. Her face, expressions, voice, thought process, vocabulary as well as her cheerful laugh were all similar.
She was loved by everyone.
“I’ll be your security guard from now on.”
“Uwaah! I’ve heard stories. You’re extremely famous right?!”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Umm, I, don’t think I’m worth being protected like that yet, but please take care of me…!”
After that, he rarely ever talked to her.
Like a shadow, he watched on from nearby.
If she was like a bright gold, it could be said that a dark rust began forming somewhere within the gold over time. It was a very gradual change over time, but looking back, one would realise that she had changed so much.
Signs that he had been clueless about until the third iteration, which he couldn’t understand until the start of the seventh iteration, began showing themselves.
After 5 years, BY was 25 years old.
“You’re a really strange person, you know that?”
One day, she said that.
Her appearance was mysteriously the same as the first time he met her, but childishness could no longer be noticed from her voice, tone and expression.
“Strange.”
During that time, there was a special team over 40 in number, dedicated to BY. From music, broadcast, road and head managers, to hair artists, makeup artists, coordinators, back dancers, guards, lawyers etc.
In other words, all those people worked only for BY and her schedule was therefore jam packed.
“Aren’t you tired? It’s my first time seeing a human refuse to leave on vacation for over 5 years.”
“It’s my job.”
“Did I say it wasn’t? I’m saying that because you don’t even go home.”
“I don’t need to.”
“You have families right. Aren’t they waiting somewhere back in Asia? Mummy~ When’s our daddy coming~.”
BY giggled.
She laughed wherever she was, but the smile that day was slightly different to the one she showed outside.
He didn’t reply.
As she got older, BY began going further astray. It was evident from how the first thing she did when she had a day off like that day at her palace-like mansion, was to naturally lay her hands on drugs.
“Light.”
Wearing nothing but a large gown on her wide, golden sofa, BY told the security.
Yu Jitae went and used his lighter for her.
It wasn’t something to make a fuss about. BY back then was in mid-twenties, and celebrities of her age enjoying drugs was in fact quite common.
But, it was indeed a new side of the Gold Dragon which he had no idea about in the previous iterations.
“Hmm– so do you have a family or not.”
“I don’t.”
“Where did they go.”
“They weren’t there from the start.”
“You were born because you had parents. Or what, is your mother’s name Maria?”
“Don’t know.”
“Is that all.”
BY took a deep breath of the smoke in.
Seemingly feeling something, her chin, fingers and toes shivered faintly. While she was breathing the smoke out, her eyes were upturned as an orgasmic gasp left her mouth.
Staring at Yu Jitae, she smiled.
“Speak a bit more. I’m bored today.”
“It’s fine.”
“Just do it. I’m not asking for anything difficult.”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Hah… if you’re like that, I’m gonna cancel all my schedule alright?”
“…What?”
“Called the offense of boredom. You dare make me bored? Then everyone needs to be screwed. Right?”
It wasn’t just one or two people that would be harmed from her cancelling the schedule for one day, let alone the financial loss. Unlike how she usually ignored Yu Jitae, BY was aggressive that day.
“…It’s because I have nothing to say. I can’t remember. I was at an orphanage when I was very young and I don’t know my parents’ faces.”
“Hmm… then something else.”
“There’s nothing.”
“There can’t be nothing. You were a ranker, right? And a hero of war. There has to be some stories.”
“Stop asking.”
“…What? What did you say?”
“There’s seriously nothing in particular.”
“No, what was that tone just then.”
The golden eyebrows gave a frown from his words.
“I’ll wait outside and don’t smoke too much. It’s been a while so take a good rest.”
In order to put a stop on the unnecessary conversation, the Regressor turned his feet. He didn’t want to impact the Gold Dragon, who was leading a decent life by herself, in a negative way by telling her something unnecessary. Until the fourth iteration, he was just a soldier riding along with the wave, instead of being in charge of the flow.
“Stop there.”
But for some reason, BY stopped Yu Jitae’s feet that day.
“There’s no problem with guarding you from outside. I won’t interfere with your rest.”
“I’m telling you to stop.”
She was easygoing on the outside, but was stubborn on the inside.
With a golden pair of eyes that dripped of authority, BY stared at Yu Jitae. She tapped the seat next to her sofa.
“Come here and sit.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Are you going to make me say it a second time again?”
“I can’t follow orders that may cause inconvenience to my duty.”
Her voice was slightly coarser than usual but disregarding that, Yu Jitae was going to do what he wanted.
But that was when BY threw the wine glass in her hand to the wall.
Crash! Glass fragments scattered left and right.
“Sit. I’m telling you to sit. Don’t you understand? What I, your employer, is saying? Or are you looking down on me as well or what?”
The hand holding the cigarette, the pink character nail art engraved on her nails and her golden gaze were shivering like never before.
It was a reaction that had never been shown before in the fourth iteration.
He had been watching BY suffer from ill-willed rumours and anti-fans recently. Thinking that that might have acted as a catalyst for something, he quietly went and sat next to BY.
“Good. Now you’re listening…”
High on drugs, BY wore a debaucherous smile on her face and laid down with her head resting on his thigh. The loose knot caused her robe to be disordered and her skin was showing here and there.
In the fourth iteration, his body was still living a normal life but his heart and mind were far from it, so he was feeling quite annoyed from the situation.
“Why are you doing nothing.”
Her unfocused eyes gazed up at him.
“Pat my head.”
After adding, ‘Like my mum’, BY slowly closed her eyes.
*[야자타임 (Yaja Time) which I translated as informal talk time] – Usually people need to speak in a polite tone to others older than themselves, but during this time they do not have to. Sometimes it’s a drinking game, where the social hierarchy is reversed, and older people have to talk in polite tone to the younger ones.
It’s finally Kaeul’s episode… 3% on the character poll…….. 🙁
If only this arc came sooner, Kauel wouldn’t place dead last in the rankings. I’m saying this as a Yu Jitae voter hahaha. Also are 9 in 10 KD readers fond of children? I swear there’s comments praising Gyeoul and her innocence whenever I go on this site.
True
Yes but who isn’t fond of cute and well behaved children
I really hope somethings good with this arc. I still think that kaeul is the best one.
Whats wrong with loving a cute child?
most readers tend to imagine what they read so gyeoul ‘s looks and actions being extremely cute ,innocent ,pure and naieve with childishness will without a doubt stick out in making ppl happy and her childish but determined actions are funny af too
( cough….cough…. last chap cough…. cough….)
then is yeorum with her anything goes,my life my rules that is cool af ,for those who did find her dislikeable her past and basically her mental sickness due to her family would’ve won them over
then bom with her ‘i love him so i’ll mess with him’ and her making him slowly human while slowly figuring him out and understanding him ranks 3rd(my personal opinion)
kaeul ,well she’s the generic cheery kind so yeah unless she’ll influence mc or show something like ‘ the brightest smile hides the deepest sorrows ‘then it’ll be hard for her to compete with the other 3
Not sure, I don’t feel that much about any of the characters, I like the mc the most. I somewhat dislike bom, I’m simply not fond of her taking joy in causing discomfort to people and faking her reactions and feelings. The red dragon is kinda nice but at the same time her personality is a bit over the top and stupidly stubborn/prideful, not too fond of her either. The blue dragon is too quiet and I feel like the author is pretentiously trying to make her too cute, like she exists solely to be clingy and cute, it just feels fake, wouldn’t say I dislike her, I’m more neutral than anything. Kaeul seems a bit lacking overall, like she’s supposed to be this cheerful half-airhead or something, a likable and energetic young girl, but she just lacks impact, it’s like she’s barely in the story and she feels empty.
I like the mc for his attitude and experience, but even he feels quite empty, just like with the dragons he’s too one dimensional. While it’s in line with his character settings and somewhat reasonable, it still makes for somewhat boring character when he has no emotions nor strong will about anything.
This novel simply suffers from too much focus on a single trait for every single main character. I still enjoy reading it but it’s gradually becoming clearer and clearer that I feel the characters are lacking. Not sure why people like the characters so much, they really feel a bit boring to me, to the point where I’m starting to lose interest in reading more for now, considering going for another novel and coming back to this when I once again don’t know what else to read. I really loved the first several dozen chapters but now the interest has waned a bit and there’s nothing like decent comedy or cool scenes to keep me very interested either. The best parts seem to be when the protagonist decides to show some of his powers for various reasons but it happens so little.
We definitely haven’t seen enough Kauel for anyone to really vote for her. All we got was an audition. Gyeoul is definitely cute but I think Yu Jitae is pretty interesting. At first I thought he would do anything to make the dragons happy, but now we see he gets pretty “fed up” (doesn’t feel like it’s the right phrase) with Bom
For me, I would rate Bom and Yu Jitae last. I don’t like Yu Jitae abusing his powers to force women in his 2nd iteration. While I don’t mind him being a tyrant and using force to make people submit, using it for sexual urges is a big NO NO. I have a bottom line in people who deserves redemption or character development. Yu jitae was basically a rapist or hedonist in his past life and basically forget his 1st life lover in his 2nd life. And Bom, I would rather her to have the same interaction as Kaeul or Yeorum where she is being helped by Jitae. But as I’ve seen she’s used as a love interest and I don’t see their chemistry together. I actually skipped Yu Jitae and Bom teasing scenes since it makes me uncomfortable.
I would say it’s easy to judge someone just from the fact he’s a rapist, but please don’t forget how fucking broken he was.
First in his first iteration he was basically already full of trauma from war, losing people dear to him, etc. And at the time he was nothing more than a normal guy in his way of thinking (just listen to stories from war veteran to understand how that can change a man and how your value of life and you’re understanding of basic human right. And his situation was most prob at the same level if not worse than during ww2)
And then in his second iteration, he learn that he’s gonna have to do that all over again…i know that manga/novel protag have made us used to people who would just see that as a chance to do everything over again…but from the point of view of a broken man who is too weak to change anything, it’s just pain and suffering for him.
So i would like to argue that actually he’s really interesting and he doesn’t feel like those sociopath MC that were normal but a few hundreds chapter later they are totally ok with killing without thinking bcs bullshit logic. Yes he’s a psychopath, but most people in his situation would also become psycho like him if not worse than him
yea this is where the problem lies lol,ppl misuse redemption and repentance,you are probably looking for ppl who can repent for their sins and go back to normal but here the mc is far gone beyond that he is too evil and too cruel to ever be able to repent for it. It’s basically applying a bottom line to bottomless pit.
and you forgot something major here ,his ‘iterations’ are basically the lifetimes he actually tried to save the world and not when he actually restarted his life ,so his 1st and 2nd iterations will have a huge gap in between (could be one life where he reveals everything to the world before but no one belives him and he’s silenced,one where he tries to take his important ppl and hide away but fails,one where he directly tries to hunt down devils at the start etc) so 2nd iteration is probably where he gave up on saving everyone and was like ‘fk it i’ll just live and survive as i like’
@Uchiru
I feel like you are odd. So you dont mind the MC being a sociopathic, mass murdering lunatic, but rape is where you draw the line? With your logic, a specific German dictator is more redeemable than a rapist? Im not putting words on your mouth but thats pretty much what you’re saying. But yeah, opinions are fine and who you like and hate all depends on you, but for me, your logic is flawed.
I like kaeul the same as gyeoul but what can i do babies win 🙁
Thanks for the chapter.
that poll is bs, 34% gyeoul? eugh
that poll is bs, 34% gyeoul? eugh
Oh this is getting really interesting… Thanks for the chapter!
Uhhmmmm, when he said he knows Kauel the most, they didn’t go into “that” relationship right? Although there’s nothing wrong because they were both adults in the 4th iteration…
“Pat my head.”
After adding, ‘Like my mum’, BY slowly closed her eyes.
That rather sounds like a sad and lonely child in need of a mother/father.
He stated previously that he never crossed the line with her.
Thanks for the chapter
I think people like Kaeul but she didn’t stand out much until now. My order from favorite to least is
1. Yeorum
2. Kaeul
3. Gyeoul
4. Jitae
5. Bom
Thanks for the chapter
Was wondering when Kaeul would get her arc. Thanks for the chapter
thanks for chap
this novel always gives me mixed feelings about how it treats drugs
so the past kaeul liked him huh?
What are Kaeul’s most evident traits? Being impressionable? Hungry for attention? Well, most people would call that ‘a first world problem’. Sorry for not being capable to empathize with her too much.