After Story 2: After Story: Happily Ever After (2)

He took the kids to Bom’s house. The house was fairly big, and had three rooms. 

When he saw Bom again after bringing the kids back, her hair was no longer black, and looked as if it was slowly turning to a bluish-green colour. The roots of her hair were bluish-green while the rest was slightly darker.

“Welcome everyone.”

She had ordered all sorts of dishes, from spicy chicken feet to jokbal, fried chicken, two pizzas, Chinese cuisines including sweet and sour pork and stir-fried vegetables, several types of burgers, ice creams, noodles and street food like tteokbokki, fried dumplings and oden.

“Uwah. That smells crazy!”

For some reason, they all looked quite familiar.

“Hukk! Don’t tell me this is sweet onion bomb chicken? It smells exactly the same!”

“Nn. And the one next to that is chilli mayo sauce. They sell it separately but I tried buying it. What do you think?”

“You are amazing, unni! Are you like Mrs. Eat-it-all…?”

The next one to comment in surprise was Yeorum.

“Hoh? Is this what I think it is?”

“Nn. Spicy chicken feet. It’s your favourite, right?”

“How spicy?”

“Inferno 7 apparently. I asked the owner to make it a bit more spicy.”

“Wow. I missed this quite a lot. Feels great to have this again.”

Yeorum and Kaeul said with sparkling eyes.

But that wasn’t the end.

Placed in front of Yu Jitae was a very familiar burger.

“This. It’s from back then.”

“Do you remember it?”

“Of course I do.”

“I made that myself.”

Yu Jitae smiled seeing how thorough Bom was.

The burger she made looked exactly the same as the one he got from his benefactor back when he was young. She appeared to have used the burger they made during Gyeoul’s school election in the past as a reference.

“Bom.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. This makes me very happy.”

Bom nodded with a smile.

Sitting at the table full of food that might even cause the legs of the table to bend, the four of them waited. 

They weren’t praying or anything.

Usually, Yeorum would have picked up some food to mark the start of the meal while throwing out some words like, ‘Thanks for the food’, but today, none of the kids were keen on eating anything.

It was the same for Yu Jitae.

Even though he had his hands on the burger, he couldn’t eat it.

“…”

Sunlight was casting shadows inside the house. Delicious food was in front of them, and they were with their precious ones.

Having a nice meal together, they would share the trivial things that happened to them that day. 

It was such a normal moment. It was nothing but one of the countless insignificant moments that were so common that it didn’t even leave any significant impression on them in the past.

“…”

However, it was now different.

How many things have they gone through just to reobtain this experience? What kind of life did they have to go through just to feel this small happiness again?

Remembering all the things that happened to them, Kaeul could not readily bring the drumstick in her hand towards her mouth.

“…Wh, what’s wrong with everyone? Hehe.”

But something like this was not what Kaeul wanted. She awkwardly swung the drumstick like a cheering stick. 

“Unni? Hello? Let’s hurry up and eat. Uuun…?”

She shook it once to Bom, and once to Yeorum.

“Same with you ahjussi. What is wrong with everyone? The food’s going cold!”

Then, Kaeul shook the chicken in front of Yu Jitae.

“Like, seriously…! Unnis. You didn’t forget ‘that’ did you? Wake up, all of you!”

If we meet him again:

Then let’s push aside all the sorrow, have a relaxed conversation like we always used to and share what happened until now. Let’s open up to him everything that happened to us, without making him feel burdened.

That was what they had agreed on, but it seemed that the kids couldn’t control themselves anymore.

“…”

Bringing her hands that were grasping on the spoon to her forehead, Bom deeply lowered her head and began silently sobbing to herself. 

All the blood and tears she had shed; her suffering and times of despair reappeared inside her head.

“…”

Before long, Yeorum covered her face with her hands and started crying as well. Her fully capable memories had been endlessly drawing her most precious relationship in the world in her head regardless of the time.

Yeorum had missed him tremendously. She missed the one who gave her her future, hope and trust.

“Ah, what are you guys all doing… You’re the one who said we shouldn’t cry…”

Throughout the not-so-short period of her Amusement, Kaeul had only been on the receiving end.

Recalling the unfathomable regret she had felt after the farewell upon belatedly realising that she couldn’t return any of it, she followed her sisters and began weeping out loud.

Someone said in the past;

That people smiled when they’re sad because they remembered all the happy times that went by,

And that people cried when they’re happy because they remembered all the hard times that went by.

That day, the dining table became an ocean of tears.

It was because everyone was now happy.

***

A regression in the Providence of Time was an extremely exhausting experience for an existence. 

Since the kids cried for hours despite all the accumulated fatigue, it was natural for them to become lethargic afterwards. However, they still wanted to eat the food so they heated the food back up and ate everything before going into their own rooms. They all wanted to have some sleep.

Yu Jitae was also tired and was not in a good state, but he didn’t go to sleep yet.

It was because the ‘dragon egg’ that had been separated from Kaeul’s necklace was placed in the middle of the living room, on top of Bom’s flowerpot.

“…”

He sat next to the egg and stared at it.

Closing his eyes, he could feel the vitality inside the egg. Although she hadn’t hatched yet, she was definitely fully born and could break out of the egg any time soon. 

When the kids were pouring out buckets of tears, Yu Jitae sensed something twitching inside the egg.

What did Kaeul say again?

– Gyeoul said it was, like, different from what she heard. And that it’s unfair… She said her hands were shivering… and how she wouldn’t be able to trust green dragons again…

Saying that, she chuckled.

Kaeul’s laughter always put him in a good mood. Floating a small smile, he placed his hand on top of the egg and slowly caressed it.

That was when he felt something strange.

Kong.

Something tapped the shell from inside the egg.

“Hoh.”

There was no way he was feeling things. He carefully lifted the large egg and placed it on his lap, before caressing it again.

This time, it came twice.

Kong kong.

“Yu Gyeoul. Are you there.”

While thinking of how this was similar to prenatal education, he opened his mouth again.

“Why are you still hiding there? I missed you so much.”

Kong.

“Didn’t you tell me you’d come back as an adult when you’re 20? Look at you; rather than an adult, you became a baby.”

Kong.

He caressed the egg with a smile.

Like a mother talking to her unborn baby, he quietly talked to her, and explained how much he missed her as well as how happy he was to meet her again. 

Then, he unfastened his watch and placed it above the egg to play some bright and exciting music. Even though he didn’t really know why, he knew this was what people tended to do for prenatal education.

“I’ll be waiting for you to come out of your egg. It probably won’t take that long. It’s your second time so you know how it’s supposed to be done, right?”

Kong…

“Don’t be in too much of a rush though. Your soul did come here but your body is still that of a baby, so you might hurt yourself if you try to rush things.”

Kong kong…

“Alright. I’m sure you are also tired from the regression. Take a good rest.”

He placed the egg back on the flowerpot and was about to go into his room when the egg suddenly turned noisy.

Kong kong kong kong!

It seemed that she was telling him not to leave.

Therefore, he carefully carried the egg, headed to the bed and lied down next to Bom who was quietly letting out a snore.

It was time to have some sleep. He closed his eyes inside the blanket with the egg next to him.

***

Meanwhile, Gyeoul inside the egg was very disappointed.

Her sisters had already met Yu Jitae and were talking about this and that and yet she was stuck in this place without even being able to see anything!

I have to hurry up and keep my promise…

Thinking like that made her once again feel how unfair everything was. After being suggested to go back to the past, she naturally thought she would be keeping her body but she was suddenly placed inside an egg! This wasn’t what they had agreed on.

How long had she been longing for this moment? It was 300 years – 300 years she had spent with her eyes open waiting to meet Yu Jitae again! And yet now that she was back, she was locked inside an egg.

There were two problems.

One was that she still needed some time to hatch from the egg.

And the second problem was that someone found out how depressed she was the next day.

– Aiggoo↗

The moment she heard that voice from the other side of the egg, Gyeoul had a hunch that something extremely infuriating would be happening from now on.

– What should we do~ about our poor little Gyeoulll ↘↘↗?

And her hunch was not wrong.

The owner of that voice was the garbage dragon Yu Yeorum.

– We had a meal with our dear ahjussi yesterday, and now we’re going to go out on a walk, and come back at night after buying some clothes! What should we do about Gyeoulll?? Should we get a hen to help her hatch↗?

Kwang kwang! Gyeoul smacked the egg with her fists as hard as she could. However, the tough shell of the dragon egg stayed firm.

– Oi Yu Gyeoul. Listen up. I’m going to have a meal with my dear darling, watch a movie, play games, ask for instant noodles and go sleighing together.

– Unni. Stop. She’s gonna cry…!

– Go to an amusement park, a cat cafe, go to a donburi restaurant together, and have a super special Doonga Doonga time with the three of us including Kaeul. Of course, that will be without you.

– Uahh. Just stop, you devil…!

Gyeoul was so frustrated that her hands shivered and she felt like bursting into tears.

– I guess I’m the winner for being born early ♠

– Ah, fuck. Forget what I said…

Suddenly, she walked away while sounding dejected for some reason.

In any case, Gyeoul had to suppress her fury.

She was no longer young enough to be provoked by something like that. She wasn’t a baby anymore, and had lived for a thousand years just like Bom, Yeorum and Kaeul.

Although she stayed away from needless experiences as much as possible to keep her existing memories as special as possible and was now in the body of a baby, she was still not a child. At least that was what Gyeoul thought about herself.

All she had to do was hatch from the egg.

The moment she hatched, she would also go shopping, go on a walk, play games, and ask for noodles! Go sleighing together! The Doonga Doonga super special edition…!

And calling Yu Jitae by a different name as promised…!

– Oh my, dear. Can I call you ‘oppa’ from today?

She would be doing all the above.

– Or maybe… ‘uncle’?

I can do everything…!

– If you don’t like any of them, then…? What about ‘da…’

Stop! You crazy woman…!

.

.

.

But after breaking out of the shell in a few week’s time, Gyeoul became even more depressed.

It was when she polymorphed into a human form after hatching from the egg. She had no idea how this could possibly be happening, and wondered if the entire world was trying its best to tease her or something.

Gyeoul, who wanted to say something to Yu Jitae, soon heaved a sigh with a gloomy look on her face.

“Oh wow! Look at her mumble.”

She couldn’t speak.