The sea serpent wiggled its fins.
There was no way the ancient progenitor it had somehow found could be exiled like this.
The sea serpent wondered if the progenitor was angry because it had heard the serpent but didn’t respond.
But if that were truly the case…
The sea serpent felt wronged.
‘I wanted to answer toooo…’
There was nothing to be done.
After all, the prison where the sea serpent was confined was a dangerous place.
The moment it voiced even a single word of its thoughts, Gwangcheol-i would surely come charging in.
And while not all Gwangcheol’s are alike, the one here was especially large and strong.
Having been born and raised in Lake Ness without any pearls, unlike its parents, encountering this Gwangcheol-i was certain to leave the sea serpent as nothing more than dried fish… there was nothing to do but stay silent.
The law of nature dictates that the nearby Gwangcheol-i is more fearsome than the distant ancestor.
Though the intimidating presence of Gwangcheol-i, who would instantly grow angry upon hearing thoughts, was no longer felt, time had run out.
‘Now that Gwangcheol-i has finally quieted down, why doesn’t anyone listen when I answer…! Progenitor…!!’
No matter what Gwangcheol or otherwise, the serpent should have answered when it was told to do so the last time.
No matter how many thoughts it sent, they weren’t heard on the receiving end and couldn’t reach far enough.
The sea serpent sighed at its own pitiful ability to send thoughts.
If only it could reach a bit further, a bit louder!
Had it known this would happen, it wouldn’t have been distracted when its mother was teaching it how to send thoughts.
‘I thought I’d never need to use it…’
How many clansmen are there who can understand these thoughts?
The sea serpent, suffering from such injustice, felt nothing but resentment.
Needlessly rolling around on the day a huge burning rock fell from the sky, the sea serpent was sent away from Lake Ness with the task of checking in on the progenitor.
At the time, it didn’t think it would be so difficult.
Simply asking how things were going in the city after moving to Lake Ness was all it expected to do.
Since the sea serpent had inherited the ability to open ‘passages,’ the task wasn’t much of a challenge.
Annoying tyrannosaurs encountered along the way proved troublesome, but eventually, they all froze to death, leaving no more encounters.
Idiots, they should have lived in the lake like us.
The serpent planned to return before the sky, which had turned black after the huge rock fell, cleared up.
And yet, in the present…
The sea serpent had failed to deliver the greetings and found itself imprisoned in some human land.
‘Hmph. I was sure this was the entrance…’
Even going to the entrance its mother had told it about, it couldn’t gain access to the city.
Could this not be the right place? Or did my mother misinform me?
How long had it been since the serpent visited every lake it encountered?
As the two-legged beasts gradually developed, they were merely laughed off.
But suddenly, their development rivaled that of a city?
They easily captured the startled sea serpent.
Though it didn’t know why the progenitor was there, this was why it couldn’t see the progenitor despite being so close.
‘Complete fraudsters. They were surely just swinging around stone axes before and couldn’t have developed this much in such a short time.’
The sea serpent tried to open a passage but failed.
It must have tried a hundred thousand times.
There seemed to be no way to open the passage within this prison as long as the lever remained.
‘Had I known this would happen, I would have paid more attention to learning breath techniques too!!’
In the end, the sea serpent had only one hope left.
A mystery opponent who had inexplicably received the thoughts meant for the progenitor.
Counting on them to be arriving here.
The sea serpent glanced outside the prison.
The place was a mess of debris.
Of course, these were the two-legged beasts guarding the lever with their lives.
This degree of chaos should certainly draw their attention away from the lever.
‘Given the state of the path, will they arrive safely?’
If they don’t make it… it will be an exile.
Getting goosebumps at the thought,
Here the sea serpent was earnestly rooting for someone whose face it didn’t even know.
‘Hang in there!’
—
The small snake moved in the direction the thought had been heard.
It jumped over small stones and wriggled through larger ones.
The small snake was breaking through without any obstacles.
‘This place is a total mess… how am I getting closer? Are you opening passages to get here too?’
‘Passage? What? No. Simply moving.’
‘Waaaaah… so despite this mess, you’re walking here? Incredible!’
It wasn’t walking, but the small snake had never experienced such commendation for moving quickly.
In any case, commendation was commendation, so the snake happily “peeped” a bit.
Moving through the paths filled with stones for a while,
The small snake hit an obstacle.
‘Path. Blocked.’
It was a wall.
‘Huh? I thought this should be clear since the two-legged beasts usually pass through?’
Despite clearly being a barrier, the snake’s partner seemed to react as if it shouldn’t be.
Perhaps there was a reason for sending that thought.
Observing the wall, the small snake eventually noticed something unusual.
‘Understand. Not a wall. Door.’
It was the kind of opening wall that two-legged beasts commonly passed through.
The iron bar attached at the midpoint height.
The small snake had observed from behind the transparent prison wall, that when the two-legged beasts grabbed and pressed this, the wall would open wide.
Without a doubt, biting and grabbing that would allow passage.
The small snake bent its body and jumped to bite the iron bar.
There was a ‘click,’ and the door opened.
‘!!!’
Though the small snake who opened the door couldn’t even think of going beyond, and was flailing on the floor.
‘Guuuuuu… What? What’s going on?’
Something very small and opaque landed beside the small snake’s head before it could respond to the thought.
The small snake shed a tear.
It felt a sharp pain from a broken tooth!
Last time, attempting to scold the two-legged beasts who needlessly handled the snake after receiving a pearl from the progenitor, it had injured this tooth.
Two-legged beasts with iron arms, thinking about it again, seemed too unfair to the snake.
It would take quite some time for it to grow back.
The thought of living as a toothless snake, equal to wingless bird beasts, until then made the small snake’s tears uncontrollable.
‘Sad…’
That was when it happened.
The small snake felt warmth beneath its jaw.
It was the pearl gifted by the progenitor.
Though it was usually warm, the snake had long adapted to it… it was warmer than usual now.
And then,
The small snake couldn’t help but be amazed.
– Squeezesqueezesqueeze
‘Tooth… back… grown!’
The warmth coming from the pearl gathered, and in an instant, the tooth was restored to its original state!
‘Peep?’ Before it could marvel, there was no time.
There was only a day left.
The small snake simply sent silent gratitude and continued on its journey.
‘Progenitor. The best.’
‘Yeah! Though I’ve never seen one, the progenitor is always the best!’
‘I have… seen.’
‘Hmmmm…?’
—
“Why is that Gamma rank behaving like this? I heard the Gamma-class detention area was destroyed, but still, free movement is somewhat…”
“Quiet. That person is here.”
“Huh? Ah… I didn’t recognize them because they’ve changed so much. Understood.”
Giselle Hartman of the FPL’s 4th Laboratory,
“…Fingernails are intact, no scales present. Phew, that’s good. The same as usual today.”
Was checking on her junior’s condition every day at the IF-017 temporary quarantine zone.
With the director E, who had issued the absurd demotion order, mysteriously gone,
Giselle’s demotion order had become practically meaningless.
And anyway, not long after such a super-large-scale event occurred at the lab,
The regulation for Gamma-rank personnel demoted from Beta-rank, where they were reinstated as the highest priority as long as there was no disqualifying reason, was well known.
Under normal circumstances, Giselle should already be wearing a researcher gown by now.
It’s only because director E has left their seat that the situation remains this way.
Because Giselle herself was the one who best understood these regulations,
She was no longer swayed by the absurd situation or the laughable demotion measures.
Perhaps because everyone knew this situation,
The members of the ‘Moonmuwang’ battalion, specifically assigned to IF-017, who initially were surprised by Giselle’s frequent visits in her Gamma-rank uniform,
Now seem to have grown accustomed to it.
And Giselle,
She was looking at two people? being guarded by the ‘Moonmuwang’ battalion.
The larger one, Kan Hana.
Definitely thought dead, yet survived not once but twice and is now creating a third miraculous comeback.
“Didn’t get absorbed… and I was sure that it would certainly be assimilated.”
She visited daily, but it wasn’t the case.
Yesterday, today… In every way, her junior remains a perfectly human form.
If this had been the case all along,
When she had pleaded for forgiveness back then, couldn’t it have been possible?
Thinking this, Giselle’s eyes stung slightly.
And,
“Gyao…”
The smaller one, IF-017 ‘Dragon’.
Just like yesterday and the day before, it was supposed to be asleep, but upon getting closer, it turned out to be awake.
Their eyes met all of a sudden, and Giselle almost screamed.
If not for her junior being embraced by IF-017, looking so peacefully asleep with a content expression, she would have surely made a sound.
IF-017, nestled in her junior’s arms, was only moving its eyes and glaring at Giselle.
Somehow, that gaze…
It was very much like the reaction of a predator who feigns everything’s fine when it turns back and notices its prey during an ambush.
It was a sense of narrowly avoiding some tremendous trouble without even realizing it, and it gave Giselle goosebumps.
—
When I sent off a thought instructing to gather immediately and then a bit later,
Seeing the first human to arrive, I involuntarily smacked my lips in disappointment.
It’s that guy who Junior Kan Hana calls “Senior Jiseol.”
That same one who, dressed in those white gowns identical to the others, reacted so unpleasantly when I saw him collecting the thousand Buddhas.
I thought for sure he wouldn’t come.
And yet, somehow, here he is.
“Gyao…”
It’s a disappointment.
A moment ago, it could have been exile…
—
—
—
End
