Ch.90Rest at the Sea (1)

Today, getting up felt easier somehow. It’s probably because I slept with the ribbon on.

I originally planned to take it off before sleeping, but without it, even just lying down is unbearably difficult. So I had no choice but to keep it on.

Come to think of it, showering must be a real ordeal. Having to spend over 30 minutes in water with that burdensome body.

…But couldn’t I just tie the ribbon around my arm while showering? I was planning to wear it like that when going into the sea anyway.

Maybe it actually has that kind of function. I should ask about it.

So I called Ha-eun. It didn’t take long before I heard her voice.

“Senior? Why are you calling?”

“Does this ribbon happen to have waterproof capabilities?”

“Just a moment, let me ask my master… I mean, let me request it from him.”

The call ended before I could say anything else. Am I going to end up being hated by that dragon person?

While thinking about that, after about 10 minutes of waiting, I heard the doorbell. When I opened the door, I saw the dragon person looking completely exhausted.

His appearance had changed in many ways. His once long hair was now cut short, and his beard and other facial hair were completely gone.

I guess all of those were used to make this ribbon. But if that’s the case, couldn’t the dragon person make a living just by selling his hair?

“Could you… give me the ribbon for a moment…”

I could clearly see the dragon person struggling to speak. Perhaps he’s much more tired than I am without this ribbon.

“…Is making one ribbon really that difficult?”

“Would you like to see the process…?”

“…I suppose so.”

“Then follow me…”

Honestly, I am curious. What exactly does it take to reduce the dragon person to this state?

Anyway, I followed him to a certain room. There, I saw Leo and Ha-eun preparing something.

“Hello, senior. Why are you here?”

“I was just curious about how this ribbon is made.”

“Oh, it’s not that diffic—”

“It’s insanely difficult.”

“I’d rather be asked to defeat the Demon King…”

Leo and the dragon person grimaced and sighed. Alright, let’s see what kind of spectacle unfolds.

So I untied the ribbon from my wrist and handed it to the dragon person.

“Here’s the ribbon.”

“Thank you…”

The dragon person received the ribbon with trembling hands. Then he spoke to Leo.

“Let’s begin now…”

“Damn, if I knew it would be like this, I wouldn’t have joined this plan…”

“I agree…”

And so the ribbon enhancement process began.

***

After about two hours, the ribbon was completed. Thanks to their work, the ribbon now had a material that wouldn’t get wet when exposed to water or similar substances.

They said they referenced the Pope’s supernatural power to create multiple thin protective barriers that completely block external elements, but I didn’t ask for details since I probably wouldn’t understand them anyway.

While I was marveling at the ribbon that I could now carry around like a part of my body, Leo showed signs of fatigue and spoke to me.

“By the way, weren’t you bored watching?”

“I was.”

“Then why did you stay here?”

“It was surprisingly interesting.”

I couldn’t quite explain it, but I kept watching. Like when you’re watching a boring documentary but continue watching for no particular reason.

Though I couldn’t bear to watch when the dragon person was extracting his blood to make it. Anyway, after seeing this spectacle, I had a thought.

“Maybe I should learn some simple magic too?”

“…Didn’t you give up last time because you said magic was too difficult?”

“But now I feel like I might be able to do it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to see a terrible possibility becoming more likely.”

Leo spoke sharply with genuine fear. This treatment seems a bit harsh.

“Is the possibility that I might be the same person really that disturbing to you?”

“Do you know what cosmic horror is?”

“Yes. It’s terror that humans absolutely cannot resist, right?”

“That’s what I’m feeling from you right now.”

“But I haven’t done anything.”

“…”

Leo stared at me with even more fear than before. He’s probably just teasing me.

“Well, I’m going to take a shower now.”

As I was about to leave, Leo suddenly asked me with a slightly trembling voice.

“Hey. This might be really rude, but can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“What do you think about when you shower?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“…If I ever had my gender changed, I’d have to kill myself immediately.”

Leo said with deep resolve. But I can understand why this might seem frightening. Even I didn’t expect to adapt this quickly at first.

“But they say humans are creatures of adaptation for a reason. At first, I was embarrassed even to look at my own body…”

“Shut up.”

And with that, I was kicked out of the room. Whatever the case, now I can shower without any issues, so I should hurry and get cleaned up.

Today I’ll finally be able to shower comfortably after a long time. Should I soak in a warm bath?

I can’t do that since we need to leave soon. I’ll just get ready quickly and come out.

***

After preparing as quickly as possible, it was around 11 o’clock. I’ll have to buy lunch on the way to the beach.

When I brought my luggage to the entrance of the lodging, I saw a small bus. It’s more than enough for the people going to the beach.

Come to think of it, everyone I know will be gathering at the beach this time. Though the people I know don’t even amount to 20.

Anyway, when I boarded the bus with my luggage, I saw Leo sitting at the driver’s seat with a tired expression.

“Do you know how to drive?”

“No.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to do it.”

It seems Leo is the only one who can drive here. Anyway, the bus finally departed for the beach.

While chatting with people on the bus and waiting to arrive, Leo suddenly spoke up.

“Guys? We have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“I just realized I don’t have a driver’s license.”

Leo, who was currently driving, made a truly shocking statement.

“…How are you driving then?”

“I have quite a bit of experience driving vehicles on battlefields.”

“Isn’t that usually done by military drivers?”

“Regular drivers can’t perform suicide attacks.”

This is definitely not a normal conversation. But I can roughly guess what happened.

“What exactly happened there?”

“First, prepare a large vehicle. Then modify it completely with explosives to turn it into a mobile bomb.”

“And you transported it to the base and detonated the truck, right?”

“I crashed it into the enemy base entrance.”

That seems incredibly inefficient. Wouldn’t it be much more efficient to drop missiles from an aircraft?

And sacrificing an entire vehicle just to blow up one door seems like a waste of resources.

While pondering these questions, Leo made an utterly incomprehensible statement.

“And then the enemy base gets completely obliterated.”

“…Is that possible with just one bomb?”

“I crashed a nuclear bomb right into it, so of course it’s possible.”

“…How did you even survive?”

“I have no idea.”

What kind of person was Leo in the past? No, is he even human? While thinking about this, a question suddenly occurred to me.

“But didn’t you say bombs don’t work on demons?”

“I never said I used it on demons.”

“…Don’t tell me you did that to people?”

“Not directly. Though indirectly, people were involved.”

Since he used a nuclear weapon, of course people in the surrounding area would be affected. So what was the reason for doing something like that?

“What kind of opponent would make you do something so inhumane?”

“Remember how things went crazy when we were trying to defeat that high-ranking demon before?”

“Yes. But what about it?”

“I used it against a black magic array that was summoning high-ranking demons, just like that time.”

Suddenly, I remembered the “little boy” incident from before. So hero or not, just blowing up the black magic array would have been enough.

“Then why did you design magic last week?”

“Realistically, would there be someone crazy enough to carry around a nuclear bomb in a truck? That would be insane.”

“That’s literally you.”

“…Well, people can be like that sometimes.”

What’s in front of me doesn’t seem human. No, it’s definitely not a human but something else.

“…So why didn’t you do that last time?”

“Preparing something like that takes at least a few months.”

“…Then how was it possible back then?”

“I stole a nuclear weapon.”

“…”

He really isn’t human. Wait, how did he even steal a nuclear weapon? What on earth was the Leo of the past doing?

After listening to these incomprehensibly insane anecdotes, I was on the verge of losing my mind when we finally arrived at the villa near the beach.

So we’ll be staying here until Saturday. Today is Thursday, so that’s about three days.

“Do we have any specific plans?”

“No.”

“Then what should we do now?”

“I’m going to rest. That damn ribbon made me incredibly tired.”

As soon as Leo got off the bus, he grabbed his luggage and entered the villa. Ha-eun, who had helped design the magic, also spoke up.

“I’m a bit tired too, so I’ll just rest today.”

With that, Ha-eun carried the unconscious dragon person with her spiritual clone and entered the villa. I feel somewhat guilty.

I turned my attention to Ju-an. What is he planning to do?

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll unpack my stuff, and by then it’ll probably be evening, so I’m just going to take it easy today.”

“Then I’ll do the same.”

So I entered the villa together with Ju-an.