[1304. Being born in the midst of darkness and being tortured for a long time in a cave, I remember the first sunlight I saw outside. Back then, I cried for a long time. It was a warmth I was feeling for the first time in my life.]

[1305. So were thy lips.]

Boms hands that were about to close the notes came to a stop.

Her vacant gaze reached the stars that were at the front of the book. The stars she had been adding as she got to know him better had reached 16 at this point, but she did not need the 17th star.

Slowly, she started erasing all the stars.

And she filled the empty place with a new symbol.

[Ahjussi Observation Diary ]

The 17 symbols she had drawn were gone but there was no hurry.

She would start again from one.

The deeper it went, the more symbols there would be.

It was daily life again.

Going to elementary school hand-in-hand with Gyeoul, preparing time for 3 of them with Chirpy as Kaeuls guardian, starting a new training schedule as Yeorums teacher he resumed his daily lives with the children.

Meanwhile, he overlooked the clones, the underground labyrinth and Jung Taebaeks corpse; went to and from the Association starting the investigation into Anti-Association terrorist groups and prepared for the upcoming Second Night which was right before them.

Hectic days went past.

And from time to time, Bom was with him.

Bom wrote a separate apology letter to the Institution and Carrot Girl, and Carrot Girl who had been rampaging about for a few days suddenly turned quiet. There were rumours that her rampages both in and out of the company had settled after meeting a man for a short time.

After somehow managing the situation, Bom really stopped writing novels. She threw away the glasses she always wore when writing novels into the bin.

It was morning time for breakfast.

Yeorum was interfering with Kaeuls meal next to him, which Gyeoul also joined. Uahh go away both of you! shouted Kaeul.

During the last few days, Bom had been treating Yu Jitae in the same manner, as if the whole kiss and whatever had never happened in the first place.

Why? Is there something to tell me?

Bom asked when their eyes met.

She showed not a sliver of greed, and did not seek any answer or explanation about the sudden change in his attitude. She must have pondered in her own way after the kiss and that attitude must have been the one she decided on.

Then what attitude was he supposed to have?

Who knows.

Hmm

Just finish your food.

Where are you going?

Outside for a bit.

He said that but standing in front of the front entrance, he casually looked back at Bom. The breakfast menu of that day was takoyaki and Bom was chatting with the kids while slowly bringing the spherical takoyaki into her mouth with a toothpick.

Right before it was about to go into her mouth, she closed her lips and gave a light kiss on the takoyaki. She then licked off the soy sauce and the mayonnaise of the takoyaki that had smudged her lips.

Her red lips and her small and attentive tongue resembling a cats entered his sight. Feeling perplexed, he looked away.

Bom then stealthily looked at him from the corner of the kitchen with a crafty smile. She quietly giggled to herself before throwing the takoyaki into her mouth.

It was absurd.

Bom had teased him for the first time in a long time, but it didnt put him in a good mood in the slightest.

In fact, it was extremely painful.

***

There were things he had done to the green hatchling.

Those were extremely wrong and evil deeds.

After the 4th world was covered in ashes, in countless iterations that had become hazy in the corner of his memories, the flower had been trampled, torn apart and burnt. Not only once or twice but countless times. The flower bled a tremendous amount of blood and was in pain for an extended period of time.

Who was it? That had mistreated such a young and small flower?

It was me.

Although it was in his hazy memories, it definitely was his own wrongdoing.

There was no guilt in the process and there was a reason why he had to do it. He had never done it because he wanted to and he could also come up with excuses if he so desired. But looking back, it was definitely his sin. He admitted the fact that he was evil and had no intention of justifying it.

Then how could he hold something like romantic feelings?

All the iterations he had gone through felt futile. He wasnt a boy in his puberty so why was it that he was having such emotions now?

It was fine for Bom to have romantic feelings for himself, since Yu Jitae was the first for Bom.

However, Yu Jitae should definitely never have any romantic feelings for Bom.

Bom was just one of the hundreds of green hatchlings in his memories and every one of those hatchlings except for one had met miserable ends. It was true that it all started from an unfortunate event, but it was also true that he had added to their misfortune.

He imprisoned them, used violence and dissected their bodies. There was no particular reason behind why it had to be the green race. It was only because they had the most vitality.

And yet he was having romantic feelings for Bom after all that?

Why?

To kiss those lips that he had gagged before?

Or to embrace that small body which he had crushed?

Was he going to wipe those tears that he made her shed?

Was he craving those breasts that he had not even spared a glance when he was dissecting her body?

Did he truly want to share affection with the poor young thing that requested him to kill it instead? Really?

How disgusting and abominable feeling could this be.

He had never asked for romantic feelings.

To him, daily life was nothing but a unique leash. He was simply using a tool he had never used before after a research to safely send the kids back home. But now, that leash had begun strangling his own neck.

His senses irritatedly rose up.

It was a type of annoyance, and was a type of guilt. That damned leash began lighting up the road he had trodden. A dirty road covered with blood and organs that he had somehow hidden in the darkness was now being lit on.

Daily life.

It was something he thought was the solution he had discovered at last, but this clean and bright thing started affecting him like poison.

The light was overwhelmingly bright. Only now was he being reminded that the things he had walked past without a second consideration were vomit-inducing sins under the light.

Thinking about it caused a corner of his emotions to be polluted in blackness and he felt unbearably disgusted by himself. To the point that he was willing to slice his own neck off, so long as there would be a meaningful result.

In the Shallows of the Abyss, he adjusted his thoughts all alone. Skimming off his self-hatred, he calmly pondered.

Not everything was over yet.

There was one way to solve all the problems.

Getting rid of his romantic feelings.

And giving fake love to Bom, until she eventually returns home.

As long as he could do so, he would be able to distance himself from the sin covering his body and Bom would remain happy. In the end, for Bom it would be the same as her love being betrayed but so what? He had already been living as a human butcher, covered in sinful filth and adding one more hypocrisy would not even be that relevant.

But why was it that he was laying such lowly excuses and self-soothing statements for himself unlike his usual self

He could not come up with the answer to that question.

Even now, the first thing that came to his mind when closing his eyes were the grass-coloured eyes curving at him, and her mischievously slanted lips. An abundant smile he had never seen despite meeting her hundreds of times.

Yu Bom.

That mad girl was shaking the entirety of the history he had built up.

This wouldnt do.

One of the abilities of Vintage Clock was one that allowed him to accurately read records of the past iterations. This wasnt something he could readily ask for since Vintage Clock did not really like this ability but he had no other choice.

After the end of the 4th iteration until the start of the 5th iteration. He was planning to go through countless iterations that had for some reason become hazy in his memories. And he would remind himself who it was that he was having these romantic feelings for.

So open the doors of your workshop.

[Vintage Clock (EX)]

However, the surroundings remained quiet.

With a frown, Yu Jitae looked into the darkness of the abyss. 3 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds. Nothing happened no matter how long he waited and in fact, Vintage Clock wasnt even properly replying to him.

He once again used the authority.

[Vintage Clock (EX)]

It was futile. The mana he sent returned without any meaningful results and this meant that Vintage Clock was refusing his entry into the workshop.

Vintage Clock refusing his entry into the workshop was something that was happening for the first time ever, throughout all the iterations.

Oi.

In the midst of silence, he opened his mouth.

Open the doors.

The Vintage Clock was silent.

What was this guy trying to do.

He withdrew himself into his inner world and approached the Vintage Clocks authority. Since his status had yet to reach the level of an EX grade authority, there was a limit to what he could see.

In the middle of the world covered by a deep fog, a white bird was flying in front of a large wall.

Are you gonna open it or not?

In response, the white bird flapped its wings in a fluster and repeatedly drove its head into the wall. The fact that it was avoiding communication despite being fine probably meant that it had its circumstances and also seemed to be in the middle of work.

But regardless, Yu Jitae shouted, Open the doors! towards the world of fog and the white bird was even more startled as it continued bumping its head into the wall.

In the end, it probably wasnt going to open it.

Time passed differently for authorities and humans. He didnt know how long it would take and he had no time to wait.

If he didnt tie a firm knot, his relationship with Bom would rapidly cause the ruin of the 7th iteration.

Therefore, he had no choice but to barge in.

[Vintage Clock (EX)]

Pulling out the entirety of his mana, Yu Jitae knocked on the door of the authority. Although the door was closed, it wasnt fully locked and he had enough mana to force open the closed door.

With him in the centre, the world turned upside down.

By the time he opened his eyes, Yu Jitae was in a place resembling outer space. The white bird was right next to him, and so was the wall that white bird had been bumping into.

<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] is startled!>

Why didnt you open the door.

<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] states that it was going to open the doors very soon!>

Seemingly in a fluster, White Bird fluttered its wings and flew in circles around Yu Jitae. When he reached his hand out, the bird landed on his hand and repeatedly twirled its wings, as if trying to act cute.

This guy, what was it trying to do.

Before asking any further, Yu Jitae observed the wall in front of his eyes.

This was strange enough already as there had not been such a wall in Vintage Clocks Workshop before. However, the moment he looked above, Yu Jitae was frozen stiff.

Something sparkling in red, shaped like a square something unknown was gazing down at him from far above.

Thus, he hurriedly distanced himself by a few hundred metres and looked at it from afar, and realised that it was an enormous mechanical construction reaching thousands of metres in height.

It was a large and complex machine that looked like a human. The thing Yu Jitae thought was a wall was in fact its leg.

Yu Jitaes confusion was due to it being an existence whom even he couldnt perceive the end of. It had a status far out-shadowing Yu Jitae, who had armed himself to the limit of a human being with authorities and blessings.

What is that thing.

<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] states that everything is fine!>

<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] informs you that the opponent is not an enemy!>

Although the Vintage Clock had begun rambling on, it did not help him relax in the slightest. He had never seen such a thing before, ever in his life.

What in the world is that thing?

That was when a message with an indescribably immense presence squeezed into his mind.

<The Authority, [Key (EX)] gazes down at you.>

It was like forcing a radish through a coin-sized hole, and felt as if one was forcibly shoving something that could not fit into his mind. It led to a fairly big impact in his mind. Sharp pain making him feel like his brain was about to explode crept in but Yu Jitae focused on the message.

EX grade authority? Key?

<Its a friend of the Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)]!>

<[Vintage Clock (EX)]: (`)>

A friend?

<The Authority, [Vintage Clock (EX)] states that it has brought a friend to help you!>