Episode 97: One Sweet Holiday (4)
The impulse was greater than usual and bitterness rolled beneath his tongue. His chin clenched as he repeated opening and closing his hand to control the power behind his grip. If he were to move based on his mood, he might end up killing Myu.
His attitude towards her had been that way from the start and there were too many reasons why this peculiar relationship might go south. He had learned how to control his emotions to achieve his goal but in the face of uncontrollable impulse, he was no different from a beast who had to suppress its instinct.
“What about all this! Huh? So what if these pathetic insects die! How dare you try to make me submit just because of something so insignificant—!!”
Myu yelled as if she had gone insane. A kick made the table fly off as the watchers slowly began to wake up from their shock.
“T, that woman!”
“Oi! Are you not sane!? Stop it right now!”
“What do you think you’re doing!”
She reached her arm out but could not use any magic so instead, she raised a broken piece of a vase to threaten the surrounding astonished people. She was driven mad already. Even though her body refused to move according to her will, she still tried to attack them.
“Do you not hear me telling you to go away? You damn bugs!!”
He was still overly stimulated.
This was the first time in the 7th iteration that he had been so annoyed. The impulse didn’t subside with ease and he wasn’t confident in not killing her.
“Please stop!”
“Is she on drugs?!”
“This young lady has gone completely insane…!”
When the senseless ones threatened Myu by raising their voices, she held the vase piece tightly with her two hands. Her eyes sunk and without any omen, she suddenly began rushing towards them.
The vase knife closed in.
Is she going to stab me?
Is she?
“Uhhh?”
“Hukk…!”
That was when Yu Jitae stood in front of Myu firmly like a wall of steel. With the vase piece still in her hands, Myu fell back and rolled on the ground.
Myu was like a sugar cane to him – a sugar cane shaking violently. He wasn’t confident in not crushing it with a touch.
“You accursed human–!”
Collapsed on the ground, Myu shouted.
“How are you any different from our race, and how are you different from me? Aren’t you also harassing me to obtain what you wish? The one to blame for everything I’m doing is you. And yet you dare judge me? How do you ever have the right to do so – by what right, do you dare judge me—!!”
His eyes twitched, but his mouth remained closed.
“I do not care about my race or anything anymore. I cannot continue living like this and will instead die. By my hands!”
She had no mana and could not stop her own heart. Myu thus lifted the vase piece and pointed it at her own throat and Yu Jitad had no choice at this point but to move.
In order to not kill her, he relaxed his hand as much as possible.
[Knifehand Strike (D)]
Bamm! Myu’s body came to a stop. At the same time, she started falling back; towards his body, about to be embraced.
That was when mana began to gather in a dot in mid-air. Myu’s [Dragon Fear] had reached and resonated way too far and Bom’s presence that had been nearby rapidly closed in.
Immediately, Bom appeared in front of them.
It was [Teleport (S)].
Yu Jitae was supporting a black-haired woman with his arm in front of Bom’s eyes.
Her gaze shifted from Yu Jitae to Myu;
And back to Yu Jitae.
***
He brought Myu and Bom and returned to the hotel. There were three mouths but none of them said a single word and the room was therefore silent.
Myu asked him,
How do you ever have the right to do so?
He did not answer her last question. In fact, there was nothing he could say in response because there was nothing wrong with Myu’s words.
Those who condemn must be sinless. Those who strike others for being a sinner must be clean themselves – at least that’s how it must appear to those seeing it.
And in that regard, the Regressor had no right to condemn someone. His life was no different from Myu or the black dragons – he obtained what he wanted to obtain, and unhesitatingly carried out actions that might seem sinful in that process.
Myu killed people,
But the Regressor killed even more people.
Black dragons destroyed worlds,
But the Regressor destroyed even more words.
And yet here he was condemning Myu and had not been feeling repulsed by such a paradoxical deed. He simply thought to himself upon realising it, that he was yet again doing something contradictory.
In the past, he didn’t want to live like this but he had been living this way for far too long already. Regrets do not bring anything back and he wasn’t the type to linger on things that cannot be retrieved.
However, such emotions tended to arise at times after starting to live a daily life. These things called ‘emotions’ were exceedingly outside his control. Whenever it rose up, he had to close his eyes and muddle his thoughts;
Like what he had always been doing.
“…”
He reopened his eyes and saw Bom.
Bom was sitting on the sofa of the hotel room without leaning on the backrest or twisting her legs, and merely had both of her hands resting on her lap with her eyes fixed on the ground. She was wearing an outstretched t-shirt, shorts, slippers – everything she usually wore at home.
He had just asked Clone 1 for an explanation.
– There was a flower blooming in Yu Bom’s room.
– It was a flower that had existed from the first time I had stepped into Unit 301 and had an abundant amount of Yu Bom’s aura. She seems to have saved a lot of her aura inside it over the past 5 years.
– Although it was remarkably crafted, it has now withered.
A highly precise manipulation of mana so brilliant it even deceived the Shadow of an Archduke for a split second. Even though she had been preparing for 5 years for this one moment, it was nonetheless a masterful feat.
That was why the Regressor had to face a situation he had not been expecting.
“What’s with that flower.”
Bom slowly opened her mouth in response as her voice echoed resembling a breeze flowing past the grass.
“It’s something I started growing from the first day I was kidnapped… to run away.”
“You got me. Even though I knew you were a genius at using mana, I wasn’t expecting you to be able to deceive me.”
Power had an endogenous origin and it was hard to clearly see through it before being released
Honestly, he was quite impressed. He had always considered Bom a genius at magic but he had to edit his opinion a little today – Bom’s talent had exceeded the normal threshold.
He wasn’t trying to blame her however.
Bom stayed silent so he continued.
“So why did you come here.”
“I came because I was worried.”
“Because of the onion core?”
“Yes.”
“I told you there’s nothing to worry about.”
Bom slowly shook her head in silence.
“And how did you come here.”
“I saw Providence.”
Soon, her gaze slowly travelled up from the ground to Myu who was lying down on the bed. He remembered the things that had happened with Carrot Girl in the past. There was nothing he was guilty of but he still felt the need to explain the situation.
“That is the black dragon you know. And as you said, it’s a female.”
“Yes.”
“Usually it’s kept isolated at the Association’s underground isolation room and is used as an experiment subject. It gets a short vacation after every experiment because the black race has trouble staying in one place. And this holiday will go on for four days including today.”
“Yes.”
“It’s an adult. Around 500 years old and the name is ‘Myu’ with a dirty temperament like every other black dragon. However, it’s crucial for an experiment so it has to be kept alive. And that is why it gets treated humanely, although limited.”
“Yes.”
“I am here as a supervisor. It is such a dangerous entity that I’m the only one that can do it. So there is nothing to misunderstand here. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes.”
She turned her eyes towards him. Her head slightly tilted to the side as her grass-coloured hair flowed down from her shoulders.
Yu Jitae observed the muscles around her eyes – there was no quivering and it meant that she wasn’t anxious.
“Did you really understand everything I told you?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her opened mouth – she didn’t lick her lips, meaning that she wasn’t nervous.
“Are you less worried now about what happened with the onion core?”
However, she did not reply to this question.
Bom simply stared back and as always, she appeared as if she was trying to gaze deeper into him. It was the same eyes he saw when he first met her that was quite different from an average young dragon’s gaze.
It would now be a question time from Bom.
The Regressor realised that the 7th iteration was about to twist out of his intention once again in front of his eyes.
And he would have no choice but to lie.
Experiment.
She might ask what the experiment on the black dragon was. However, no-one in the world knew what this experiment was and he naturally had no plans of telling Bom about it either. He had already come up with a decent excuse.
Why didn’t you tell me? She might ask and he already prepared an excuse which Bom would certainly be convinced by.
Whatever question she interrogated him with will all be met with lies.
However, Bom’s following question was way beyond what he had predicted.
“What’s…”
Bom asked very slowly, with an extremely prudent voice.
“…Your relationship with her?”
Yu Jitae turned silent for a bit.
There must be a lot of questions weighing in her mind including the ones he had thought of but her first question was nonetheless about their relationship.
This question was extremely important for Bom, so he had to give a definite answer.
“Nothing.”
Her hazy eyes regained its focus and her half-dead expression relaxed a little.
“When you say nothing, do you mean you are not close to her at all?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean you are far from her outside of work?”
“Very far.”
“Then what’s your personal opinion aside from your position as a supervisor and a test subject?”
“I hate it.”
“Why?”
“Let’s see. There are a lot of reasons but first and foremost, it’s a black dragon.”
There was slightly more vitality in her eyes.
“What if, you are starving to death and that dragon gives you bread? Will you not eat it?”
“I’d rather die.”
“What if that dragon was actually your younger sister. Will you still hate her that much?”
“The name must stay removed from the family register then.”
“What if the ones that are very precious to you, like… umm, if Yeorum, Kaeul and Gyeoul all love that dragon and want to live together, will you still not bring her in?”
“Never.”
“What if I ask?”
“What?”
“Please. Let’s take her into our house and live together.”
“Why.”
“Actually, I wanted to become friends with a black dragon ever since I was young. I had a big injury when I was young and a black dragon acquaintance helped me…”
“No. Stop. It’s a ‘no’ whatever your reason may be.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why’. Because I don’t want to.”
“But didn’t you kidnap us even though we didn’t want to come…?”
“She’s not the same as you guys.”
Bom still had an indifferent look on her face but there was a slight difference. Unlike before, her eyebrows appeared a little more composed.
“Lastly, let’s say you’re a normal person ahjussi, and the world is coming to an end with you and that dragon being the only survivors. Will you still not get close to her?”
“Why would I ever get close to her.”
“You know, it’s dangerous and lonely to stay by yourself. You will need someone to talk to, and someone to keep the fire going. And, if there are no humans, then umm, have a relationship… for descendents…”
“Bom. Stop saying something so disgusting.”
He gave an irritated remark but Bom showed an expression that didn’t suit the current situation. She had a rather moved look on her face for some reason.
“Sorry…”
And she didn’t look sorry in the slightest. He didn’t know why, but she appeared to be feeling more comfortable now.
“Just then I saw that woman lose her temper and damage the surrounding people. So will you end the vacation here?”
That was a different topic altogether.
“I’ll have to talk to her after she wakes up, but I will try to guarantee the holiday as much as possible.”
“Why?”
Reward and punishment was a system and an unwavering system had the power to act as a cage around an existence.
Yu Jitae had promised for a four-day vacation with Myu. Only when she gets this reward properly will Myu have the power to endure the remaining experiments – no matter how painful they are, she will gain the strength by looking forward to the next holiday.
That was the cage Yu Jitae made and Myu will slowly adapt to it regardless of whether she was aware of that or not, like a prisoner feeling better from just the breeze and the sunlight coming through the tiny window of the prison.
“Do you understand?”
Bom nodded in response.
The faint tension in the air finally dissolved. It seemed that she had been misunderstanding him regarding something until just then. Since Bom was the most unstable factor in the 7th iteration, it felt like a small storm had just passed by.
He thought it was all over but that was when Myu turned in her sleep while murmuring, “Nnnn…”. In that instant, Bom flicked her head.
With her eyes out of focus, Bom blankly stared at Myu – for a long time with the eyes of a seemingly dead person.
Before long, the muscles around her left eye began to tremble a little.
“You said there were still three days left for the vacation.”
He had misunderstood something.
Nothing was over yet.
“Let me go with you.”
Uhm…
Bom is too crazy my man, I cant bring myself to compare her to the rest of thr dragons.
damn i believe bom will definitely kill myu someday
When her reason to be kept alive is no longer valid, our MC won’t even protest. Or maybe he shall kill her himself first instead of Bom.
Lol poor him, 3 days with 2 insane woman
A homicidal psychopath in one arm and a yandere in the other. My boy Yu Jitae out here winning in 2022 lol.
Birds of a feather, flock together?
Well he is becoming much less of a sociopath after regaining a big portion of his emotions. I would say a 6~7 on the crazy meter. Bom is may be an 8~9. And myu is waaaay past 10
Let’s see how Myu reacts when she sees how he treats other dragon species LMAO
Wait… did they seriously just compare the two and say there was no real difference between Myu and Yu Jitae? You’ve gotta be effin’ kidding me.
One kills for the hell of it, the other kills mercilessly, but here’s the important part, to SAVE THE WHOLE DAMNED WORLD.
Don’t give me that comparison BS! Ugh.
Haaaaah… right, rant aside, the next three days are going to be interesting indeed for our poor mc.
Thanks for the chapter!
It’s always annoying when stories bring up these comparisons. It is the dead brain “Oh you are hypocrite for telling me I am bad for killing people when you kill people” argument while ignoring the whole context of why each person committed an action. Not to mention the MC at least recognizes he did shitty things in the first place. Myu is just a straight up narcissistic psychopath
Even if they were committed in order to save earth, the actions Jitae has done are still monstrous, along with often being unjustified. He forcibly took over earth, oppressed billions under fear of death, killed likely millions of beings to gain more power, along with all of the shit he did to the 4 dragons in previous Iterations. I’d still say that Myu and the black dragons are worse, but Jitae shouldn’t be given a pass for the atrocities he’s committed just because he was trying to save earth. Before anyone says that since time was reset those crimes don’t matter as much, imagine if the 6th Iteration had been the one that had worked out. He would have been content in a world where countless innocents had suffered and died under his hands. Just because the effects of his atrocities have been reset doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t try to atone for the awful actions he has taken.
@Boiyado
I never said Yu Jitae was a good man. He has indeed performed many monstrous acts, enough to make some black dragons blush or, in the case of their lord, fall over dead after getting his authority stolen.
However. That’s one thing and this is another. To say that a self-centered sociopath is the same as someone who has worked tirelessly through countless iterations trying to find some way, ANY way to save humanity from the destruction wrought by the enraged dragons… that’s just a whole load of BS and a disservice to the character.
Not only that, in the current iteration as he begins to change back toward being truly human again, his tendency toward committing atrocities has fallen to the wayside in favor of finding other ways to keep the lil lizards safe.
Just as a side note though… has he done anything this iteration that would actually be considered truly horrific? Tromping through the innards of demons doesn’t count, they’re well and truly evil. The worst that he could be called in this timeline is a thug and that’s nowhere near her level.
@Boiyado
Different intents, different reasoning, different experiences. The MC never admitted himself to be a good person, and no one is gonna forget the atrocities that the MC had done (whether it is dissecting and imprisoning the hatchlings, or him taking all authority causing countless of deaths). Even now I still can’t think anything he had done is atonable, and the twist is that we are only able to have this point because we knew of the regressions. Its only this cycle that the MC realized just how much of a demon he was, per his words, “An ugly rock in a beautiful flowerfield”.
But here is the thing. Would you compare an idiot savant who had been forcefully regressed, having to suffer for countless cycles, to a freeloading sociopath? It gives a sour feeling. The worst part is that at least the MC had a CAUSE of how his vile acts came to be, which was a result of his mind being simultaneously broken per cycles. It doesn’t excuse his actions, but it does damn well explains why he did everything, that every causality of his actions came from being randomly picked by a supreme being for a mission that is clearly too much for a single person to handle. Especially when you remember the mission given to him, “save Earth at ANY COST”. Of course he’s gonna save Earth at any cost, because the [CLOCK] will reset it anyway, what’s the harm done? Like I said, it will never excuse his actions, but it at least makes it understandable.
@STOPPARANOIA
I reread the earlier chapters and the difference in impressions that Jitae gives compared to now is somowhat ridiculous. Bom described him as a murderer, tyrant and someone who massacered his own kind. He himself admitted that he doesnt feel anythings except the pleasure he feels when he kills, describing it as addicting. To the point that in some regressions he ignored the dragons and just went on a PURPOSELESS killing spree. He is NOT just somone who comitted bad as a means to rescue the world. Rescuing the world itself, from about the 3rd regression on, was only a mean for him to end the forcefull regressions and die.
Dont get me wrong, i like this story and i personally root for Jitae. He made great changes since the time as a walking bomb.
But “understanding” his attrocities cause we as readers “know” Jitae and calling Myu a freeloader and sociapath cause we dont know her cirmustances is a bit dubious.
Sure, the Mcs character may have been a result of the forcefull regressions. But who says Myu is not influenced by a insane enviroment? If a dragons disposition was something unchangeble and all Dragons of the same tribe were the same, then she should go die for all i care. But knowing a lazy and short-tempered red Dragon getting slapped around by a Blue Dragon for traning and a calm and guiding Green Dragon doing whatever she is doing, we know dispositions dont equall character.
Not to mention that Myu has a mutation.
Assuming she wasnt born “evil”, it would mean she an innocent hatchling was hunted down and hated by all races just because she was born as a black dragon. For 700 years. Seing how strangely she reacts to even her Nemisis acting nice to her she probably never received the slightest bit of kindness in her life. Her turning out that way in such a case would also be understandeble.
P.s.: The excuse that his regression makes his crimes nonexistant doesnt work for me. Because they dont become nonexistant at all. At least something beyond the horizon of provivedence that is sending armies threating to wipe out earth would strongly disagree.
🙂 I think the same. Yu Jitae is great as a character, but his deeds are by no means justifiable. Besides, most people won’t feel a sense of guilt for killing insects, so I do not think Myu’s actions immediately make her psychotic either.
Askalifa is a world coinhabited by dragons and humans, as can be seen from how gold dragons become guardian deities of kingdoms and empires. That is why the other hatchlings don’t feel repulsed by the idea of living in a society with humans. Black dragons however, due to being expelled from Askalifa, could have had limited meaningful interactions with other entities and thus their lack of respect for other animals. I am not trying to stand up for what Myu did (I live in Australia so I would have died if I was in this novel!!), but like what werer said, I believe she doesn’t warrant so much hatred.
I love seeing discussions though so please continue with them whether you like or dislike the characters!
Yu Jitae’s reason for “saving the world” is entirely selfish. He has stated multiple times that he only wants the endless cycle to end. While the potential result is “positive” from the general human perspective, it could just have easily been to slaughter every living thing on Earth and he would’ve done it in a heartbeat, just to stop his endless suffering. Besides, Myu is literally a higher class of existence than humans. To her, slaughtering humans is no different from people like you or me deciding if killing an insect is worth the trouble/mess. Most people don’t feel bad about killing, unless the species is considered protection-worthy
Bom only has allowed herself to be insane in the presence of Yeorum and she is scared of Bom in that state, I wonder if the other hatchlings would end up very disturbed by Bom when it comes to Jitae
At least she was civil, tried to listen, and didnt jump to any conclusions. I was expecting much worse. Once myu wakes up tho the bom(b) timer will starting counting down again.
Thanks for the chaps!
Bom is certainly unstable. Not crazy, but unstable. She is still manageable since she was too in love with Yu Jitae, and she would adjust herself to make herself loveable in Yu Jitae’s eyes. Myu on the other hand, is certainly crazy. She doesn’t have any empathy. She has ego the size of her dragon form and only thinks for herself. There’s a huge difference between Myu and Bom.
Well that was calmer than expected… until Bom said she wants to follow along through the rest of the vacation. I’m curious to see Myu’s reaction to a dragon being close to Jitae though. Thanks for the chapter!
I think the biggest trap in this situation is not the seemingly imaginary Relationship with Mio. It’s the fact that the Jitae is experimenting on mio to send Bom and the other hatchlings back as fast as possible. There is no way Bom would feel discarded or something right?
He really, really, really hate Black Dragons. Does it stem from his instincts, or ss there something the unreliable narrator hid?
his role is to protect the earth, and the black dragon destroyed evey word they live in. black dragons are the hardest enemy he will have besides the devil or demon, a nature of destruction and he knows how much of a threat a dragon is so it’s understandable to have that much hate.
Thanks for the chapter
I always found something weird with this arc so far. Bom said Jitae would embrace a black hair girl AFTER he embraces her. That has not happen yet so Jitae would not have “disappear” yet no matter what since the first part has not happen yet right?
Funny how much of a 180 Myu’s personality went from her introduction to now. Went from, “Oh darn, looks like you got the last wyvernip, thats too bad, but have a pleasant day anyway” to “THESE FUCKING INSECTS”
Bom has cemented her position as the biggest wildcard for the dragons this iteration. Thanks for the chapter
Wow, is the mc going to become all saint with her now? Or think along the lines that, “She and i are the same so i cannot kill her?” f*cking s*it. This would ridiculously hypocritical. And people are saying mc and myu are the same? Tf is wrong huh?
Is the mc a good guy? Definitely no. But can you punish him for doing things in the past regressions? Nope, because its a timeline that is not there, he has not committed any crimes in this regression(Probably) so every crime he committed is pretty like inside his head. Is he evil? Definitely. Does he sometimes kill for fun? Yes. But why? Because he has lived through hell, because the whole novel gives us the context, the reason behind him becoming a monster. Does it justify his actions? No. But it shows us that he did not become what he is now willingly.
On the other hand we have myu who just kills people because she feels like it. So, how do people still think they are the same? This just blows my mind.
rip yu jitea…
Thanks for chap
As expected 😂😂 this will be one hella trip.