Kidnapped Dragons

chewing on a large bone but would occasionally look at her side with a frown.

At the end of her gaze was Kaeul, trembling her fingers while holding a pair of chopsticks. 

“Oi.”

“N, nn?”

“What are you doing?”

“What? W, what do you mean?”

“…”

Since last night, Kaeul’s situation was gradually turning for the worse.
When Yu Jitae asked her why, a response “Me? I am normal though?” came back, and when translated, it meant that she was nervous just like how she had been for the admission interview. 

However, this time, her nervousness appeared slightly worse than last time.

Drop.

The meat fell on the table and Kaeul tried to grab it again with the chopsticks but couldn’t hold a tight grip on it.

Drop.

It fell yet again.

“Aoh, this freakin.”

Yeorum bursted out in anger.

“Stop fucking around and eat with your damn hands!”

“Nn? Why?! I want to use chopsticks as well!”

After letting out a yell, Kaeul cautiously moved her fingers but the trembling did not stop.
The piece of meat which travelled right up to her nose then fell around her chest area.

“Uah, my clothes! These are expensive!”

Startled, she agitatedly rose up and reached out for the tissues.
However, perhaps due to twisting her foot against her own leg, she stepped on Yeorum’s foot before floundering her arms and shouting “Mummy!”.
She hastily held the table next to her but ended up pressing on a side of a plate holding fermented slices of radish, which according to the laws of physics, ended up flying into the air.

The destination of the flying radish slices was Yeorum’s chin, but with her good reflexes, Yeorum dodged them with leisure.

“What a damn fiesta.”

“Uuh… Sorry.
That was an accident…”

“Stop fucking around and sit down, before I actually get angry.”

“…”

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Yu Jitae quietly placed a piece of meat into his mouth.

It was then.

One of the radish slices that had soared into the skies had been stuck on the bulb but it started falling down after every other piece had already done so.
It was a perfect surprise attack as the piece of radish fell on Yeorum’s red hair.

Her hands holding the bone came to a stop.

“…”

Drop.
Drop.

Following that was the sauce.
It travelled down her forehead and rode down the bridge of the nose. 

In that instant, Kaeul shot out of her seat in fright.

“Yu Kaeul.”

A deep, sunken voice escaped and Kaeul felt goosebumps rising all over her skin.

“N, nn…? I’m sorry unni…”

With an indifferent look on her face, Yeorum twitched her fingers and gestured to come closer.

“S, sorry.
I’m sorry unni! It was an accident! S, save me!”

“…”

“M, m, muummm…!”

Kaeul escaped.
And three seconds later, she was held captive near the shoe racks as she became a target of an arm bar technique.
She resisted as much as she could while crying out “Uang!” but ended up on the ground with her head digging into the shoes.

Sitting down on her back, Yeorum opened her mouth.

“Oi, are you scared? Look at you trembling.”

“Uuh…”

“Why would you be scared? Why nervous? You are going to fail anyways.”

Although unknown whether her words were to abuse or to console, her words nonetheless continued for quite some time. 

Meanwhile, Yu Jitae felt a slight doubt.

After syncing with his memories and emotions, Kaeul definitely had changed.
Ahn Kimo, the owner of the public speech academy, changing his evaluations was enough of a proof.
After seeing Kaeul, he asked, “But how did this happen?” and was visibly surprised.
Even Yu Jitae who was clueless about public speeches also felt a previously nonexistent charisma existing inside Kaeul.

Naturally, he thought she would be happy but that wasn’t the case.
On the way back from the lesson, she complained to Yu Jitae, in nervousness, that she couldn’t synchronise herself with Yu Jitae.
He thought she was doing a good job but in response to his words, the baby chicken merely responded by saying, “This isn’t it though…” and tilted her head.

It was questionable for him.

If need be, Yu Jitae had been planning to reduce the number of contestants through other methods but when he asked Bom regarding it, she replied by saying that it would have negative results in the long run.
Since it was a result that came from reading Providence, Yu Jitae decided to take her words in. 

That seemed impossible so everything was now in Kaeul’s hands.

Tomorrow, would she be able to pull it off?

*

Kaeul most likely was extremely anxious.
She was murmuring to herself despite the clock hitting past midnight before suddenly turning quiet.

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Yu Jitae closed his ears immediately after and was in the middle of spending another sleepless night.

With a creak, the door was pushed open in darkness and he opened his eyes.

“Ahjussi…”

“…”

“Can I come in?”

It was Kaeul.

“Come in.”

After giving a nod, she stealthily entered his room.

“Why.”

“That, the… umm, it’s… uhh…”

She hesitated and was unable to continue her words but soon closed her mouth shut.
Then, she opened her mouth with a sigh.

“I’m nervous, by a liiittle bit.”

“About not making it past the audition?”

“No, no, no.
Failing is okay but…”

“Then what.”

“…I’m worried about making a mistake because of nervousness.
If I can’t even perform like my practices…”

Her voice was soft, as if it was crawling on the ground.

“Is there anything difficult?”

“…Yes.
I can’t fully understand the emotions yet.
No, instead it feels like I lost it after grabbing it once.
I definitely knew it but…”

As expected, it was the most difficult part that was proving to be a problem. 

After some contemplation, Yu Jitae called her closer in.

“Come here.”

She slowly walked closer.
As moonlight entered through the window, Kaeul’s endlessly quivering fingertips received the spotlight.
And when she approached a step further in, a serious expression which had never been seen before entered his sight. 

“Do you want to hear it one more time? The story of that friend.”

“…..Yes.”

Yu Jitae tapped the empty spot on top of the bed with his hand.

She walked up and lied down on the bed next to him, and with trembling hands, she carefully held onto his wrist.
Closing his eyes, the Regressor once again reflected back on the memories of the distant past and until daybreak, he continued telling her the story.

And when day finally approached,

Her hands were no longer trembling.