EP.13 Pieces of the End
Hunting and gathering are long-standing human instincts, and the psychological rewards you get when you achieve results through it are a time-honored kind that has been passed down from ancient times.
So did I. Having obtained something very valuable in the search, I felt like flying through the sky. Neither the bottomless pit nor the fact that it was the farthest abyss in the sky could hold back my joy.
Besides, it didn’t take long. I went for a short walk in the morning and got these with the amount of effort the dog asked for.
Lucky that it’s still there. It’s a level 3 national secret, so it’s the top priority to be destroyed.
Feeling better all of a sudden, I grabbed Aji, who was the number one contributor to this harvest, and tousled her hair.
“Oh, how cute! How are you so cute!”
“bruise! bruise!”
If you’re a normal person, if someone suddenly hugs you and says you’re cute, you’ll be wary of any tricks.
But Aji is a dog who doesn’t know what doubt is. Aji, the dog king, was genuinely delighted with the compliment without context.
Aji, who had been barking happily, looked back at me and said,
“Do you like to take a walk now?”
“Today’s limit is just lovely.”
“bruise? love?”
“I mean incredibly good.”
“bruise! me too! I love walking!”
‘…love?’
Did you say that human heart comes out of the barn? The thicker the pockets, the more generous you become. This insectivore looks cute today.
The two of them walked out of the wreckage, laughing happily.
“okay. I want you to be kind like this in the future.”
“I am originally good!”
“What is good? Until now, if there was something I didn’t like, I would immediately reveal it. Growling.”
“growl?”
As if it had never happened before, Aji stopped pretending. No, he didn’t stop pretending, maybe he deleted unfavorable memories. Dogs have no shame. Where are you? Humans clearly remember
it .
Then Aji tilted his head, raised his tail, and followed me
.
“Okay. Don’t growl. Don’t stand your teeth in the future. Don’t even try to bite. Even if you have complaints, just use your tongue. Okay?”
“bruise!”
“I know that I know.”
‘Don’t straighten your teeth… just your tongue… no way.’
It was when I went outside while having a serious conversation with the dog. A
chilly breath of life flew in from somewhere and stuck in.
‘Put on light clothes. Could it be that already?
The regressor was glaring at me with a cool expression.
Huh? To live? Why?
While I was flustered and unable to react, the regressor raised her hand behind her head and grabbed the invisible sword in her fingertips.
“Anyway, this is an attempted criminal? Okay, let’s kill it.’
“Wait wait wait!”
I grabbed Aji by the shoulder and pushed him forward. Aji stared at the regressor, unaware that I was using him as a shield. Hiding
behind Aji, he hurriedly shouted,
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s all a misunderstanding!”
“What is the misunderstanding?”
“Everything! First of all, everything from your unscrupulous thoughts to the end!”
“Shameless? Me? Aren’t you talking about that?”
“Yes! You man whose head is full of obscenities!”
Sreung.
Ah, I took out the cherry blossoms and held them in. I stood close behind Aji’s back and shouted,
“Well, you think you’re the most impure in the first place! What the hell do you think of me?”
The regressor replied with cold eyes,
“Beast.”
“That is strange!”
Right now, the regressor has a truly grim delusion. It’s so absurd that it’s embarrassing rather than resentful.
No, my God. I’ve been framed quite a few times, but this is the first charge of bestiality today. Even when I see allegations that other people would have scorned or laughed at. They’re about to hand down the death penalty! From the will to the judgment, it’s worse than the military!
I shouted with earnest sincerity to the regressor approaching with a vicious face,
“Dog? Don’t be ridiculous. What kind of person in the world would have a relationship with a dog!” ”
The regressor thought of a few people in his head. If you read it roughly, it’s probably the guys who tried to love a dog in some episode. Damn, in the near future, the
apocalypse will even lose humanity. It’s like human shame. I put my forehead on my forehead exclaimed,
“I know. There are people in the world who cannot be understood by common sense. But at least not me! I am a man of ordinary taste!”
“…You keep treating Aji like a dog.”
The regressor pointed at Aji’s shoulder, which I was holding onto, with his cherry blossoms,
“Are you doing this on purpose or do you really think so?”
“What else?”
“Aji is not a dog. He is the king of dogs and the king of beasts in human form.”
Aji was looking at me and the regressor alternately with a fierce expression. Big eyes and a face full of curiosity. Breathing fast as if she had just sprinted. A girl with messy blonde hair. She looks a bit lively and full of health
. A.
But.
“Shay trainee.”
“Do you understand now? You’ve been treating Aji like a dog. Aji…”
“Are you insane?”
When the regressor flinched at my solemn words, I pushed Aji forward as far as he could and shouted, Aji widened his eyes and moved as I led
.
“What? What is that?”
“Answer me! Is Aji a human? Is she beautiful?”
“Uh what.”
Regressor murmured in a slightly defensive manner at the outspoken question,
“Didn’t you take the form of a man?”
“Did I ask that? So, how about watching it! Do you get beaten up when you see Aji?”
“It’s hard! That can’t be!”
“Why are you talking like that only to me? Are you ignoring my dignity?”
“That’s him…”
‘Because you’re too close with Aji and you’re the only man there…’
Do you doubt her just because she’s a man?
Wait. Come to think of it, you’re dressing up as a man too!
It’s so embarrassing that it makes me angry. I’m a passive and weak-tempered person, and I usually stay calm even if I get hurt a little, but I can’t stand having people’s morality and dignity questioned. I’m out of the ordinary human category. I’m proud to say that I don’t, but to compare it to that kind of human idiot
.
When anger reaches its peak, there is a moment when one’s head goes cold and one’s reason returns. For me, now was that time. I
took a deep exhalation from the depths of my heart and began to speak calmly to the regressor
. The person who throws the ball and asks for it, and the person who greets the person and asks if they had a good meal. Which of the two is normal?”
“That’s right… the person who greets you in the morning.”
“I know that. Then the person who throws a ball at the dog and asks for it, and the person who greets the dog and asks if they had a good meal. Which of the two is normal?”
“That’s it.”
‘Even though it’s a dog.’
“You know your sin. You know it, but what do
you say to
me?” People are weird!”
“Ha, but.”
“Aji has a human form? Oh ho. Then you can assume that you see Aji as a human being? With those shameless, lascivious eyes, pretending to treat Aji like a human being, you can assume that he’s looking after you!”
“Oh no! I!”
“You’re a man too! Just like me! On the contrary, you’re more suspicious than I am. Why do you always treat Aji as if he were a human being, stalking him, and doubting what kind of relationship he has? Are you jealous?!”
“It can’t be!”
“It’s just words! Look back on your actions!”
‘Ugh, if it weren’t for the crossdressing…!’
The regressor, who was dressed as a man, couldn’t bear to refute. I became elated and took a step forward, arguing and listening. Aji, who was holding my shoulder, seemed to think it was a funny prank, and smiled brightly and walked as I led. “Okay? The strange thing is you
. !”
Reason knows the answer. Regressor also knows. Whose words are logically correct and whose attitude is more reasonable. At
my attack, which uses only theorems, the regressor hesitates and retreats.
“Broken?”
Of course, Aji, who can’t understand more than two words, is looking at me and the regressor with a puzzled expression. This is proof that Aji is a dog. A dog is a dog
. ” It’s an empty word
to say to a dog or something. It’s strange that you give meaning to it! Okay? I can say I love you a thousand and ten thousand times! Because in reality I have no feelings!”
However, I missed the important point at the moment.
Aji is a dog, but at the same time, the world has decided to communicate with humans, the king of beasts. He
doesn’t understand the meaning of the words, but he can hear me
. ?”
“yes?”
Aji looks up at me with big eyes filled with suspicion. The tail that always spins is dangling weakly, and the ears that have always been standing up are
sunken
. no?”
“Oh, that’s it. Ahji, this one has a lot to say.”
“bruise?”
Wait.
Um, wait. Let’s think about it.
The king of dogs is a dog. It can’t be explained in complicated terms. Let’s say it later here and now, no matter what we try, they won’t listen. In other words,
whatever we say here to drive the regressors, Aji takes it seriously. It means to bring in.
Now, it’s a matter of choice. Do you want to cut Aji’s favorability rating in order to push the regressor further and make fun of him? Or do you want to maintain your affinity and let the regressor go
? No.
I have no choice. I can’t mess with my business with trivial entertainment right now. Having
made up my mind
, I stretched out my arms and smiled at Aji. ”
“very?”
“Yeah. Very. So, where is there a kid as nice and cute as you?”
It’s not necessarily wrong. Compared to scary vampires and insane regressors, it’s much more helpful. It’s also helpful. If you read the
atmosphere a little, if you had a little more patience… It would have been much better.
However, this must be a dog characteristic, too . I have no choice but to accept it.
“Do you like me?”
“Because it’s good.”
Whether you’re naive or stupid, just one word can change your mood.
Oh, maybe it’s both.
But since humans feel a sense of security from such inadequacies, I have to say it’s ironic.
I’m laughing nonchalantly.
“Dung! Do you love me?”
‘…love?’
Are you asking these things when someone is watching? Who provoked you?
No, from whom did you learn the word love in the first place? Who taught a dog useless words?
Oops, both of them were me!
God damn it. Linda, I can’t help it. It’s a disaster I brought, so I have no choice but to clean it up.
I nodded slowly, trying to avoid the cold stare of the regressor who had regained his composure.
“Yeah… that’s right.”
You can say I love you a hundred times to a dog. There are more people in the world who love their pets more than their fellow human beings.
However, doing it in front of a regressor who glared at me with a cold gaze… was too burdensome.
Still, it is an unavoidable situation. In an atmosphere where I swallowed my saliva and became serious for some reason. He moved his lips that couldn’t bear to move, and managed to form words.
“I love you…”
Then the tail fluttered. It is said that words have no weight, but to Aji, who accepts even such trivial emotions as big things, it was like everything.
Aji smiled broadly and held out his arms towards me. Leaning all her weight on me, I stood leaning against her.
It was a sign of faith that the dog only shows itself to close people and entrusts itself completely.
Pure goodwill fills the face. Aji smiled like an idiot and arched his eyebrows.
“bruise! I like you too! love you!”
“Yes…”
I never thought I would whisper love to a dog in my life. ha.
Aji jumped up and jumped into my arms. I stroked her hair with a trembling hand.
And as always.
‘Really… I can’t let go of my mind.’
The regressor is even more wary of me.
ah. stop. don’t look at me with those eyes Don’t fiddle with the handle of the knife while wondering if you should kill or not. I’m not that kind of person.
Because I just like them as pets.
‘If that guy is the military instructor as I assumed, and if he volunteered to come to Tantalus. I can also explain the power he has. So you have to be even more careful.’
Oh and honestly. I understand your feelings too. I would despise anyone who proudly made a connection with a beast.
I don’t have the mind or ability to do that, but even if I did, I shouldn’t try to kill people. The death penalty for loving animals. It’s strange from the sentence.
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t throw away the thought of overreacting…
‘…an organization belonging to the military task force. A secret society that plotted the destruction of the enemy country by manipulating the kings of beasts according to the will of the military nation.’
oh wait
what? secret union?
‘Warrant of all things. A group of discriminatory people who are experts in handling animals and who hate beastmen more than anyone else. There is a high possibility that he belonged to it.’
Various images pass through the mind of the regressor.
In the unrecorded past, she stood on a plain. The sword, lighter than the wind, was held in her hand, but her heart was heavy.
Remorse for not being able to prevent the apocalypse. The feeling of helplessness that she alone could not change anything. In this lifetime, too, she failed. Everyone by her side will die. However, she will eventually defy death and open her eyes to find a different future.
Beside the regressor stood a line of frightened people. Cold sweat dripped from their hands and their eyes trembled with fear, but they did not dare to run away.
If the opponent was the same human being, he could have asked for mercy. Even if they died, they could have prayed for their families to be saved.
However, the opponent who comes to kill them this time is not bound by the rules created by humans. Although they have human form, they are not human.
The horizon fluctuates. The earth’s axis shakes. Thousands and hundreds of beasts rush at the frenzied run, starting with a few dots, like a curtain being drawn.
The face is different. There are quadrupeds and there are bipeds. Some are in human form, but have beast ears or long tails wagging from their waists. They are the sons and daughters of sins committed by human beings in the past. The bloodline of a beast that was born as a human but was not treated as a human killed humans using the things obtained from humans.
and before them. There were people who gave off a heterogeneous aura.
king of beasts.
Those who represent a tribe.
The king of beasts is strong, but does not project power. They are always the advocates of the tribe. Those who convey the will to humans as representatives of the tribe.
If the will of one race is to rebel against humans. If the species’ will to fight is firm.
The king of beasts does the will of the people.
And among the people, prisoners who could not overcome the persecution and harbored hatred took the lead.
blood flame smoke.
Beasts clad in iron and flame and attack humans… They wielded weapons in a ferocious manner, and it was like a disaster.
And those with the largest number of beasts who betrayed humanity.
The king of beasts, leading the vast majority of rebels and standing in front of them.
The rattling past recedes and reality approaches me. What I had just read was so vivid that it seemed that the sight was still imprinted on my retina.
It is the past and the future at the same time. An aspect of the apocalypse that the regressor went through and that I would also go through if there were no other variables.
With trembling hands, I laid my hand on the head of Aji, who was rubbing his face in my arms. Like the fluttering paper on the desk, the wide ears rise and fall slightly.
The king of the dog who is putting his weight on me with his mouth shut.
A favorite of pets who are loyal and lovable to humans.
In the future that will come one day, he was smiling with blood all over his body.
‘The king of beasts is a being that the world has occupied. If I kill him on the spot, the next king will be born somewhere in the world.’
why was it overlooked
There’s no way the regressor’s worries were simply groundless.
‘As long as Aji is relying on him like that, I can’t deal with that man hastily. It’s hard to be certain that that man belongs to the Lord of All Things. But in this situation, that man is most likely to be the trigger for a runaway. There’s no reason not to watch.’
That’s right.
Aji’s body was warm and soft. From the hand that was slightly curled up so that the claws were not visible, I could see that he was considering not to injure me. There was no way he did it with that in mind, so he must have instinctively avoided hurting someone.
What the hell had happened that these rolled hands were covered in blood?
It seems that the future is much harsher than I thought.
