After Story 4: After Story: Happily Ever After (4)
“Like an actual fight?”
Yeorum knew better than anyone else what Yu Jitae meant by saying ‘an actual fight’. Everything she learned from him was always in a stricter condition than what others could consider an actual fight.
But whenever he used the words, ‘actual fight’, it always led to a life-or-death situation where her life was threatened at every passing moment.
“Are you sure you can handle what you said?”
“Why not.”
“Haha. I think you’re looking down on me too much…”
Yeorum turned around and faced Yu Jitae from the front.
“You haven’t seen me train ever since we lived together right? I’m probably a lot stronger than you think.”
“I know.”
“No you don’t. What you remember is how I was at the end of the Amusement.”
Locking her fingers, she did a big stretch.
Even though she was back to her young body, the cluster of will which contained mana (her soul) was still that of the 1,000-year-old Yu Yeorum.
She had easily killed her oldest unni, the cream of the crop, and never stopped refining herself until she was a thousand years old. She was by far the strongest out of the dragons of her generation.
Yeorum was about as strong as an average adult dragon.
Although her body was weakened due to the regression, her combat skills were still with her. She was like a small car on the outside, except she had the engine of a sports car.
“I’m pretty strong, you know?”
Yeorum said with a low voice while giving him a chilly gaze.
“If you want an actual fight, I’m not going to restrain myself. I’m going to do what you did to me. Can I do that?”
It wasn’t a warning – she was trying to double-check whether it really was okay to do as he said or not.
“Yeorum. That’s quite funny,” said Yu Jitae.
“What is?”
“You’re talking as if you are obviously going to be the winner. It’s very funny. I’m speechless.”
“Hah.”
She gave a scoff as faint tension appeared between the two.
“I remember someone fainting from a single headbutt. Why do you sound so confident?”
“You should not be arrogant before a fight. Did I not tell you time after time?”
“How long ago was this?”
“Listen. It has already been quite some time and there might be variables. You should not judge based on the past.”
“Hoh? What is this; do you still think you’re my teacher?”
“Looking at your actions, it looks like it’s still too early for you to graduate.”
“…”
Yeorum forced her stiff lips into a smile.
“I’m actually gonna beat you up…”
*
Soon, after jumping across the dimensions to a barren wasteland, Yu Jitae and Yeorum began to fight.
“I’m not gonna hold back!”
Unsheathing her sword, Yeorum lowered her body. She took a big step forward as a large spark flickered beneath her feet, and–
Yu Jitae had to widen his eyes – Yeorum dashed across in the blink of an eye and her sword was already right in front of him.
Clank! He parried her attack.
It was a heavy and oppressive yet clean attack. It created a ripple in the air and shook his bones, but nonetheless, he was able to block it. It was a stunning improvement compared to how he was like right after the regression.
Because he had lost his killing intent, [Shapeless Sword] no longer had the same amount of power as before, but Yu Jitae still possessed thousands of authorities and abilities which he didn’t need to use beforehand due to the Shapeless Sword.
He was planning on pouring everything into this fight.
“Huu–”
After a short exhale of breath, he reopened his eyes.
*
The victor was decided after 2 hours.
Blood was oozing out and several bones were broken for Yu Jitae. His eyes were bruised and parts of his body were exposed due to the partially scorched clothes.
Yeorum wasn’t in a perfect state either – she had also been struck several times, and the long cut created by a sword on her waist still had beads of blood dripping at every second.
During the fight, Yeorum came to the judgement that she would be exposed to Yu Jitae’s thousands of attacks if she were to distance herself, and aimed for a close distance and a grappling fight. Their swords broke and they rolled on the ground while throwing fists back and forth.
And she proved that her judgement was correct.
Slam–!
The back of Yu Jitae’s head was forced into the ground as Yeorum pressed onto his body from above.
“Huk, huk… Give up,” she suggested.
The tip of her dagger was next to his throat. While coarsely gasping for breath, Yu Jitae closed his eyes and gave a nod. It was a sign of surrender.
“What did I tell you? I told you I’ll win, yes? I was right.”
“…”
“Yu Yeorum you crazy freak. Even Yu Jitae is nothing for you! Little Yeorum is the strongest in the world, is she not?”
“…”
“Answer me. Now!”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit!”
He gave his agreement all too easily and Yeorum was unamused. It was boring to tease someone who was too straight-forward.
In any case, his body was in a pretty bad state and they had to end the fight here.
That was why Yeorum was about to raise her body, but she stopped in the middle.
“Hold on…?”
A sudden line of thought popped up in her head.
Had she ever beaten that ‘Yu Jitae’ like this in her entire life?
She pondered to herself.
No.
Except for that one time when she punched him in the chest, she had never beaten him even once in her entire life.
But what about now?
Yu Jitae was pinned underneath her…
A grin appeared on Yeorum’s lips.
“…”
Meanwhile, Yu Jitae bewilderedly opened his eyes after sensing how Yeorum was showing no signs of standing back up, curious as to what she was trying to do.
And what he found was a perverted smile hanging on her lips!
“What.”
“Hu…”
“What are you doing? Move aside.”
“Huhuhh…”
The stern tension covering the two of them was gone in the blink of an eye. Yeorum said after a giggle.
“Right now, you can’t escape without my permission, can you?”
“…What?”
After a smirk, Yeorum raised her hand and snapped a handful of her hair with her fingernails. She then grabbed the stiff and red hair strands like a brush.
“Oi.”
“Kuhu, kuhe…”
“What, uhh, what are you doing right now?”
“Kuhuhu. Kukukkhhukk…!”
“Oi.”
Then, Yeorum began tickling him with the red brush. His skin was very sensitive after being scorched by Yeorum’s flames, so much so that Yu Jitae was feeling ticklish despite being usually immune to it.
“Oi, dude.”
He frowned. Due to the fierce fight they had, he had trouble moving his mana properly, and thus couldn’t cut off his senses.
Besides, Yeorum’s movement of her brush was extremely explicit. From his ears, she sneaked past his earlobes and began sweeping his neck with her hair.
“Oi, Yu Yeorum.”
“Uhp…”
“Stop this right now. What do you think you’re doing.”
“Kuhup…”
“Can’t you hear me telling you to stop?”
“Kuhup. What are you gonna do if I can’t hear you…? Hit me?”
“Yu Yeorum.”
“Aigooo so scarryy~”
She held back her laughter which was threatening to burst out.
Her brush continued to move. Before long, her hair travelled down the neck, past the collarbone towards his armpits as he called her name with a scowl.
“Oi. Oi oi oi. Yeorum.”
Hearing the faint sense of urgency in his voice, Yeorum could not stop herself and began chuckling out loud.
For her, this was way too interesting.
Wow!
It was none other than Yu Jitae. That man who was always arrogant and aloof, who kept an indifferent look on his face all the time as if he was some kind of bigshot was pinned underneath her while stuttering in a hurry!
“Stop. Let’s stop this kind of prank. It’s tickling me.”
Yeorum replied after a chuckle.
“Don’t wanna~. If you’re respectful, then maybe. Be as polite as you can.”
“What kind of wacky shit is this? Stop this right now and move aside, you hear me?”
“No? Why should I, hnn? What’s in it for me?”
“You. Why the hell are you doing this? Huh?”
“No need to worry about that. Say please. If you don’t want to, be as polite as you can – polite enough to satisfy me.”
Her brush continued moving. It started heading to his wide chest. The destination… were the dots that were acknowledged in a certain underground fight club of North America for being wonderful.
“So you’re not going to do it huh~. Are you still not going to do it~? Huhh? It’s going even lower though? It’s already past your collarbones! I can see your beautiful nipps…!”
Yu Jitae closed his eyes with a deep sigh. He had to end this horrifying humiliation immediately.
It was a hard call to make, but he went through with it.
“I understand, so please stop.”
“Uunn?”
“It’s my loss, Miss.”
He showed respect, but Yeorum sneered back.
“What’s this about. Did you not understand what I said?”
“What?”
“That’s not it.”
“I did what you told me to do, did I not?”
“No? I told you. You have to be polite enough to ‘satisfy’ me.”
“How will you be satisfied then?”
Yeorum grinned like a devil and licked her lips with her tongue.
“You see, I like cute guys,” she said.
Crazy. It wasn’t even funny.
Using his last bit of strength, Yu Jitae tried to break free.
“No you don’t!”
Even though he scuffled and struggled as hard as he could, he just couldn’t escape from her grip due to his exhausted limbs. After 20 minutes of retaliation, he asked only after being pressed back down onto the ground.
“Are you serious right now? Are you seriously telling me to act cute or something?”
“Yes!”
“I do not understand. Why do you even want to see that?”
“Because!”
He heaved a sigh. He was too tired and he wanted to take a rest. Yu Jitae had no choice but to drop his pride.
He closed his eyes. His lips slowly cracked open, as his vocal cords began to vibrate.
Yeorum’s eyes were tainted with excitement, and after a few seconds.
Kyaaa? ahahahahahahahaa–!!
Her laughter echoed across the wasteland.
.
.
.
“Oppa.”
At home, it was hard to be lovey-dovey, unless it was a day like this.
“Do you remember what you said last time?”
“What did I say?”
“You know, the thing you said when I was trying to kill myself.”
“Ah.”
The large pair of eyes looked at him. He silently met her gaze as her lips slowly came closer in.
Chu,
They shared a light kiss.
“Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”
“…Nothing.”
Bom gave a faint smile before turning around and hopping away.
They were at an open pavilion. Behind was the blue sky and thick clouds, and it was nothing but the evergreen nature all around.
It was peaceful.
A fair bit of time had passed since his reunion with the children.
He was happy. He enjoyed each passing day; the food was delicious; his relationship with Bom was delightful and the house they lived in together was very cosy. Until now, he had never known that living and breathing could be so enjoyable and precious.
Only after belatedly realising that, was Yu Jitae finally able to smile from the bottom of his heart.
“Unni. Look at that stupid smile on that guy’s face.”
Kaeul sneered while pointing at Yu Jitae. Bom, who was next to her, also gave a smile.
What was this about? Kaeul’s sudden words made the smile vanish from Yu Jitae’s face.
“Mhmm… Right. How shameless.”
“I know right. Does he think he has the right to be happy? What a piece of trash.”
“Well, good for us though. I can do ‘that’ now, right?”
“Uun. Shoot.”
“Yu Jitae. Watch carefully. Watch what I’m doing next.”
After saying that, Bom took out a ballista and pointed it at Kaeul’s head.
She then pulled the trigger.
Baamm!
.
.
.
“…!”
Yu Jitae opened his eyes with a flash.
Grabbing onto his chest, he tried to raise himself up but his body refused to listen to him. His body was screaming all around as if there were countless needles piercing into his body.
With his entire body glistening from sweat, he gasped for breath.
It was a dream.
That thing just then was a dream.
His sense of reality slowly came back to him as a deep frown appeared above his eyes. That was the third ‘ridiculous nightmare’ he had ever since he began living a new life.
His neck turned relaxed as his head helplessly fell back down. Something soft touched the back of his head, and only then did he notice the person sitting next to him.
“Are you okay ahjussi…?”
It was Kaeul.
He had been lying down with Kaeul’s thigh underneath his head.