Kidnapped Dragons

Episode 54: Great Hostility (2)

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Nothing much was revealed from 2% of analysis. 

Yu Jitae had to guess with just the messages, images and the memories of the past that had been given by Vintage Clock.

Who.
How.
Why.

Aside from ‘why’, there was also a lot to think about in regards to ‘who’ and ‘how’, because even Yu Jitae of the 7th iteration was unfamiliar with the other side of the Horizon of Providence or the [Non-providential World].

His current situation was like this.

Yu Jitae is from Korea (Earth), and the dragons are from America (Askalifa).
While they were riding a small boat, the dragons met a storm that came from space (Non-providential World) and somehow ended up in Korea.
However, Yu Jitae also had nothing but small boats and couldn’t take them back to America.
And yet added on top of that were the presidents of Japan (A nearby dimension) and China (A nearby dimension) whom he had killed, evacuating to outer space and shooting missiles from there.

The animosities held by the dead ones could in fact do that.
Mana was the manifestation of will, and one’s will remained and went on even after their death. 

What didn’t make sense was what came after that.
How did someone’s hostility end up in the Non-providential World? Or in other words, how were those guys that died in China and Japan shooting missiles from outer space?

It would be impossible for the current Yu Jitae even if he used everything in his arsenal. 

Yu Jitae was a human who had followed the regulations of a Providential World to hit the limit of an existence in terms of strength.
Existences that are originally from the Non-providential World should have nothing to do with him so they shouldn’t hold any dissatisfaction against him.

And it was impossible for an existence that originated from the Providential World to do what Yu Jitae couldn’t do.

Thus, he had to think about all sorts of possibilities in order to understand this paradoxical situation and it took some time for the Regressor to focus back on Bom.

“…”

Bom was looking at Yu Jitae with a vacant gaze. 

Raising his hand, he shook it in front of her eyes.
Her eyes remained unfocused as if her soul had left her body.

Was she looking at Providence? She should be, according to his prediction.

By holding his hand, Bom synchronised with his thoughts and emotions.
In his head, the Vintage Clock gazed off into the distance of the Providential World and found the Great Hostility there before naming it and regulating it.

The Vintage Clock was able to interfere with Providence.
The moment it was regulated by the Vintage Clock, the Hostility was included within Providence so theoretically, Bom should immediately be able to see Providence again since she received the emotions and memories from Yu Jitae. 

And his prediction seemed to have been on the mark.

Her eyes slowly regained its focus and her expression simultaneously turned brighter.

“Bom.
Are you okay?”

She nodded her head.
Her smile also turned brighter.

“So you can see Providence again?” he asked.

This time, she gave a slightly bigger nod.
On her lips, there was a lively smile full of joy that was different from the usual, gentle smile.

“Right.
That’s good.”

“Thank you…”

He felt like heaving a sigh of relief.
It seemed that everything was back to normal for Bom.

It was late at night.

Bom hesitantly opened and closed her mouth several times without saying anything, and fidgeted with the ends of her hair in contemplation.

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She opened her mouth again when the sun started to rise.

“Ahjussi.”

“Yeah.”

“All the things you say and give to me are good, right?” Her voice was unusually serious.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Then, even if there are things you don’t tell me, I don’t have to be curious at all, right? Things like why you’re trying to protect us, and why you’re trying hard to make us happy.
Because everything is for us.”

“Yeah.
You don’t need to know.”

“Then even if you give us something that looks bad on the outside, there must be a reason behind that right? Like how you suddenly kidnapped me while I was living just fine?”

He had to think for a little before replying to that question.

“I’ll only be giving you good things, but you’re right.”

“I thought so.” Lowering her head, she murmured to herself, “But I think you can give bad things now…”

It was hard to catch the meaning behind her whisper.
Bom fidgeted with her fingers and he replied without thinking deeply about it.

“You don’t have to think too much about it.
During your Amusement, you can be as comfortable as you want.”

“Yes.
But, ahjussi, I think I also want to lie down now that I’m full.”

When she gazed back up into his eyes, her eyes were slightly slanted.

“You know, if there are only 4 pieces of a very sweet and tasty cake.”

With a rather sorrowful gaze and a low voice, she whispered.

“I shouldn’t eat everything, right.
There are only 4 pieces and other people need to have some too.”

“And?”

“Eating everything is being greedy.
A childish greed,” she whispered.

The Regressor felt something strange from her words.

He didn’t know the shape taken by emotions, but knew how human greed worked and understood what she was trying to express.

“Bom.”

“I didn’t know but, I must be a greedy person.”

Perplexity soared within.
Despite being far apart, it was more so than when they were close.

“……I want to eat everything by myself.”

Bom wasn’t smiling.

***

‘But how can people do everything they want to do? Adults have to hold it in somehow,’ she said before lying back down and he didn’t say anything in response.

That was the end of their dispatch and the next day, they returned to the dormitory.
There was a lot to think about.
Both the thing about Great Hostility and Bom’s words weighed on his mind. 

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From time to time, he did get that feeling. 

Does she, by any chance, hold a goodwill towards me.
An emotion that exceeds the general goodwill between two personas?

The time they spent together wasn’t short by any means.
Even Yu Jitae who was still insensitive to daily lives felt a slight difference between the way Yeorum, Kaeul and Gyeoul treated him and the way Bom treated him. 

But when they returned to the dormitory, Bom was back to being completely normal.

“Hello.
Good morning.”

“Yeah.
Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.”

Being on his side and taking care of the kids.
Keeping the boundary between him and suggesting new things everytime.
Sometimes teasing and laughing after gaining Providence back.
She was the same as always.

So as time passed, he was able to let go of some of the complex worries he had regarding Bom.
He already had a lot of things to do aside from that.

Images appeared in his head.
Thousands of fissures appeared all around the globe as fierce monsters were seen flooding out from them.

It was a horde of monsters which couldn’t be dealt with with the current military preparations of humanity.
Colossal monsters covered continents and oceans like a bunch of insects.

The pressure given off was similar to three adult dragons suddenly showing themselves.

‘Woah, that’s disastrous…’

‘Half the continents would probably be gone if they don’t prepare for it.’

‘Haah…’

The two clones replied after receiving his memory.

Clone 1 was right.
Yu Jitae was an individual.
He could defeat any army but he couldn’t stop a disaster which would strike the entire globe. 

The objective of [Great Hostility] identified by the Vintage Clock was funnily enough, not the death of Yu Jitae as an individual.
It must have changed its plan after getting slapped by him while it was possessing Ha Saetbyul. 

But since it had been pre-identified by the Vintage Clock, it was definitely possible to prepare for it.

‘Both of you, listen.’

After the Great War, the world started revolving with power outweighing logic. 

‘One of you enter the International Superhuman Association and meet the chief aide of the Association head, Jefferson Antonio.’

In that world, the Regressor was stronger than anyone else.

‘Jefferson lived his entire life to build more power, but was never acknowledged for his strength and has to stick to being the aide.
That’s his biggest grief.

‘Support him and turn him into your follower.
Every weekend, he hides his strength in the underground ballroom and bashes poor guys to protect his ego.
That’s the time to strike.

‘But don’t kill or cripple him.’

And after going through the previous six iterations, he knew how to move the world as an individual.

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‘The other one of you, head to East Asia.
Enter the isolated dungeon, Great Southern Forest and find Valentine, who’s living by herself there.’

The previous official rank 1 worldwide, Valentine.
Also known as the ‘Witch’. 

Officially, she was known to have gone missing but some already knew that she was just living a secluded life by herself.
However, only Yu Jitae knew where the witch was living.

‘Give the witch what she wants and form a relationship.
She decided to live a secluded life but after actually going through with the plan, she feels lonely and needs someone to talk to.
There’s nothing to rush.
Great Hostility will arrive at least in a few years time, so slowly build the relationship.’

The two clones replied.

‘Your will.’

‘Your will…!’

While the two of them took control of the Association and Valentine, Yu Jitae also had to move.
From now, he had to persuade the Grand Natural Society without deviating from daily life.

The goal was to raise the awareness of every military authority.
The superhumans that lived comfortably after the war will once again be called to the battlefield.
It was his lot to protect the dragons, but it was everyone’s job to protect the Earth.

Ones that can, must do it themselves.

Also, he needed a method to gather the fissures that will spread worldwide into one place.
In order to do so, he needed the wisdom and power of powerhouses like the ‘witch’ and the mages from the ‘magic tower’. 

Everything that can be prepared beforehand will be done so.
And thus, he will strike the Hostility that dares to fly towards him head on and scatter it into fragments.

Wandering through seven iterations, he had lived thousands of lives.

The Regressor was confident. 

***

“Oi.
Yu Gyeoul.
You ready?”

“…”

Yeorum bluntly said to Gyeoul and Gyeoul returned a nod with a similarly unwilling expression.
Right now, she was holding a cup of water.

They were doing a ‘rage control training’ for Yeorum.

In order to control the anger that hit her regardless of the time, Yeorum was trying to intentionally push herself into situations where she would feel upset.

“Do it when I give you the signal, got that?”

“…Nn.”

“The signal will be 3, 2, 1 go.
So–”

Splash!

Gyeoul swung the cup and splashed water on Yeorum’s face.
Caught off guard, she sniffed excess water out from her nostrils.

“Ah, I was explaining the fuc*ing…!”

She was trying to explain what the signal was, but Gyeoul seemed to have mistaken that as the signal.
However, Yeorum suppressed the profanities that were threatening to leave her mouth and wiped her drenched face. 

“…That wasn’t, the signal?”

“No you idiot.
I was just explaining what the signal was.”

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“…Nnn.”

Yeorum stared at Gyeoul’s face.
The blue-haired child was giving her a towel but Yeorum could see her lips twitching up.

Did this bastard do it on purpose? She suddenly felt doubtful and almost got angry.

“Huu…”

Closing her eyes, Yeorum controlled her breath and eased herself.

“…Do it, again?”

“Yeah.
This time, it’s sand.”

Rage control shouldn’t be taken lightly.
If someone made her feel upset, Yeorum would get angry but had to hold it in when the situation didn’t call for it.

It was especially so during a fight.
During a fight, Yeorum would lose her rationality after getting hit a few times and thus have trouble controlling her body.
That was a clear weakness which would impact her negatively if she were to fight someone that was around her power level. 

Thus, Yeorum decided to try controlling her anger.

“Let’s go.
3, 2–”

Swoosh!

The sand scattered before the signal was given.
Yeorum was startled and sand entered her open mouth that was trying to shout out, ‘1’, so she had to cough it out a few times.

Gyeoul giggled under her breath.
Since Yeorum was trying to control her anger in the first place, it would be fine to make her even more upset.

“…Are you angry?”

But it was slightly scary when Yeorum closed her mouth with a serious expression.
Gyeoul smiled awkwardly and took a step back. 

Yu Jitae stared at the two of them through the window before turning around.

*

After a few minutes, Yeorum hurriedly opened the dormitory door and came in.
Gyeoul, who was in her arms, was grabbing her chest with a frown.

“Hey.
I think she’s sick.”

“What is it?”

Yeorum walked towards him with a slightly surprised look on her face.

“Did you hit her?” he asked.

“You crazy? I didn’t do anything.”

She carefully handed the child over to Yu Jitae and he received the child.
Gyeoul couldn’t breathe properly and was groaning in pain.

“Gyeoul.
Are you okay?”

The child knew what was happening to herself and gave a nod, but couldn’t hide the anxiety from being displayed in her pair of blue eyes.

“…My heart, is weird.”

It seemed that the time to shed her skin was just around the corner.