Chapter 9: In a Certain Daily Life (1) (1/2)

As darkness coloured the night sky and stars shined within, a man lying on the sofa opened his eyes.

The starry night sky visible through the window was beautiful. Since that’s what everyone else says, that must be the case.

However, he could not sympathise with that thought as for him, the stars hanging in the night sky did not make him feel anything.

Every night, the man tried to sleep but that was merely a matter of formality. In order to recover the lost daily lives, and to understand the emotions of ordinary people, he would close his eyes at night and induce his physical movements to a state similar to sleeping.

But, he did not fall asleep. To be exact, he could not fall asleep.

Spending time like a person with insomnia, he would occasionally feel like his body was being buried inside darkness. Like letting a drop of blood into a clear lake, the boundaries between his body and the darkness would become fainter and whenever that happened, his five senses buried in darkness likewise turned hazy.

As if he was watching someone else’s life from the side, he himself was there, but at the same time it felt like there was something else apart from himself.

It wasn’t a great feeling.

Currently, he was sensing his senses becoming fainter. Even then, things were better off in this round because it only happened during night. In the previous rounds, there was no such thing as day and night.

And such senses of his would become clear again when killing an enemy. The ‘enemy’ mentioned here referred to those falling under his perception of an enemy.

There were several regulations he followed when discerning an enemy.

If there was any possibility of them hastening the Apocalypse, or had a history of doing so, or was a demon… plus individuals, groups, concepts and phenomena that could not be left alive.

Whenever he killed those enemies, and felt the Apocalypse visibly furthering away; only then would Yu Jitae feel his scattered sensations gathering and becoming clearer. Because he found his hazy sensations unpleasant, a not-so-small pleasure followed him when killing an enemy.

It was dangerous, to feel joy from killing humans. As he had felt throughout his life while seeing all sorts of entertainments, the joys coming from these sorts of entertainment were short-lived, and became smaller as its frequency increased, and would result in a self-destructive form when addicted. Thus, ever since a certain round, Yu Jitae restrained himself from unnecessary violence and murder.

Even then, there had yet to be a round as peaceful as this one.

Therefore, the Regressor was slightly anxious.

He thought he needed to immediately run out through that door and massacre those that had to be killed. His history of failure continuing on for hundreds and dozens of years became a stamp, sealed in a corner of his brain and made him uneasy.

“…”

While lying down, Yu Jitae turned his head and stared at the wall of the living room. On the other side of the wall, three dragons would be sleeping on his bed.

A peaceful house, dragons as individual selves, and himself as a guardian.

Suddenly, he had a thought that this place wasn’t suited for himself, like a flower garden of natural colours having a hideous rock within. The mere fact that he was imitating a person’s sleep despite his inability to was a proof.

However, the things he had to do wouldn’t change just because he felt that, and that was just another addition to the sense of distance he had to persevere.

Once again, he closed his eyes.

In that moment, a small voice was heard whispering away. He didn’t have an interest in voyeurism or eavesdropping. The fact that he could still hear something, must be because one of the dragons directly increased their own presence.

It most likely was Bom.

– That, is a macaron… un…? It’s not a macaron…?

Then, Kaeul talking in her sleep was heard.

– Then…? A, a fatcaron…? Twice as fat…?

His sixth sense caught Bom’s hand caressing Kaeul’s hair in her sleep.

– Yeorum, are you going to sleep while hugging that?

The next voice he heard belonged to Bom.

– Yeah, I think I’ll have a deep sleep.

– You must’ve liked it. But swords aren’t meant to be hugged while sleeping.

– I’m going to masturbate with this as well though.

Then, the last voice he heard was Yeorum’s, which was brighter than before.

– But still, it’s good that you like it a lot, Yeorum.

– …Hey.

– Nn?

– Are you really going to call me that? ‘Yeorum’?

– Nn. Why? Do you not like the name?

– Well, it’s alright but.

Bom made a faint smile.

– Yeorum, you need to call me unni as well.

– Me? Why?

– This is Korea, and I am actually older than you.

– …You, are you really thinking of living here?

– Nn.

– Why?

– Hmm… At the start I was going to live here because I wouldn’t be able to run away in the first place, but now, it’s quite fun staying here. What about you? If you wanted to leave during the day, you could’ve. Why didn’t you go?

– Well, I also thought it would be difficult to escape and until I grow up strong enough to smack that bastard’s skull, I’ll stay here.

That bastard – it probably meant Javier Carma.

– Are you going to become ahjussi’s disciple?

– No. I’m not interested in that.

– Then?

– Just, just…

Yeorum hesitated, unable to find an answer.

– I don’t know either.

– Hmm…

– Whatever, let’s just sleep.

– Yeah. Good night.

Their conversation came to a stop.

Soon, Yeorum’s calmer voice reached his ears.

– You too, unni.

***

Opening the window, he could hear the chirping sounds of birds. On the next day, Bom was busy from the morning and inside the curved kitchen, sounds of a knife chopping things were heard.

Yu Jitae looked for his copy, but it had already left for his job.

“Everyone, come have your food. When you’re feeling down, you need to eat something delicious.”

What Bom had made was similar to a thick soup.

…To be honest, he had no idea what it was.

In doubt, Yu Jitae tried putting his spoon in and mixed it. Fortunately, the metal spoon turning yellow or melting down did not happen.

“Wow, did unni make this? It’s been so long!”

Kaeul ran up with excitement and Yeorum, having an expression a lot better than before, sat on her chair.

“Thanks for the food.”

The long-awaited meal time. Kaeul raised a spoonful of the soup-like stuff and turned stiff.

Then, it suddenly made a bright smile.

“Kuu, as expected…”

…?

“Bom-unni’s food has its own unique charm. Humans’ foods are all super delicious as well, but they don’t have this thing, right, unni?”

It was a question for Yeorum, who also obediently gave a nod.

“Not bad.”

She then started binging through it.

Yu Jitae stared at the two of them for a while, before trying a spoonful himself, thinking that maybe the previous dishes had just been failures.

However, the moment it entered his mouth, it felt like his tongue was being stiffened. It was still extremely salty and bitter… in any case, it was all over the place.

With that, there was another new fact the Regressor got to know about dragons. The dragons’ tongue was, although very similar to humans, was fundamentally broken somewhere.

Despite that, they all ate well.

In that place where quiet noises of cutleries were the only sources of sound, Yu Jitae thought about the life hereafter. In this round, the first step he had in mind was to gather all of them to one place without relying on force, and that had succeeded.