Chapter 199: The Reflected Mirror In The Mirror (1)

“Uburka...”

“I’ve never felt this way before. My heart is racing.”

“I-Is that so?”

I couldn’t say anything else, so I closed my mouth.

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig is amazed by the sweetness of love.]

What should I do?

This was the first time in hundreds of years Uburka had experienced being in love. Was I supposed to give my blessing? The Black Witch was my bestie. It pricked my conscience to support my son behind her back.

“

Um

, congratulations on falling in love, son. Basically, when you experience true love, it changes you. It makes you a better person in many ways...”

Uburka squeezed my shoulder tightly with a hand as big as my head. Now that he was so close to me, I realized he had beautiful eyes, but the way they sparkled freaked me out a little.

The glimmer in Uburka’s eyes burned brighter. “You called her Black Dragon Master. Is that her real name?”

“No. The Black Dragon Master hates it when people call by her title. Actually, Black Dragon Master refers to her being the leader of the Black Dragon Guild. I could count on one hand how many people know her real name...”

Uburka was impressed. “

Oh,

I see! She doesn’t easily allow people to call her by her real name! Good. Only the brave and competent deserve to be with someone worthy of them. I can get a sense of who she really is thanks to her personality.”

“

Uh...

”

The Black Witch wasn’t the type to test the courage of those who approached her. If anything, it was the exact opposite since she had almost zero expectations from the world.

“What is her favorite flower?” Uburka asked fervently.

“

Umm

, lavender and allium...”

“I don’t know these flowers. What is her favorite type of music?”

“She likes piano music, especially those really heartwarming melodies. Surprisingly, she also enjoys jazz.”

“Very elegant!”

I nodded. “Yeah, she’s cool.”

I was still unsure if it was okay to tell him these things. My heart was pounding hard because of guilt, and my conscience pricked more and more. But Uburka didn’t care how I felt and just squeezed my shoulder harder.

“What are her hobbies? What about her favorite dish? What does she usually do in her free time? When is her birthday?”

Son, are you so blinded by love that you forget I’m your daddy? Well, I’ve been there, so I can understand, but your daddy’s shoulder hurts quite a lot.

“Her hobby is reading romance novels—you rascal, find out this kind of stuff yourself!” I shook off Uburka’s hand. “Why are you asking me in the first place? Someone should be able to tell what the person they love likes just by looking in their eyes. If you aren’t sure, gift her all the things you think she may like.”

“

Ugor

? Is that how it works?”

“Yeah, but the Black Dragon Master has clear boundaries. Don’t use your emotions as a reason to trespass them. Be as polite as possible. Ask for her permission. Do you understand what I mean?”

Uburka sighed. “It sounds difficult.”

“What sounds difficult?” a voice asked from behind us.

We both froze in shock. The Black Witch was already back. She looked at us with her eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Why are you so surprised? Did you guys see a ghost or something?”

“

Oh

, no, nothing like that. We were just talking about how difficult it would be to deal with the concubi.”

“

Hmm...

Alright,” the Black Witch said with a shrug.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to think too much about what just happened. Well, it would be difficult to imagine that a hobgoblin Constellation had a major crush on her.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“I took a quick look around other villages,” she announced.

“How are they?” I asked.

“They’re all in the same situation. Everyone is asleep, but I did find something interesting.”

The Black Witch channeled her aura in her index finger, leaving lines in the air like ink.

“There was a map in the village chief’s house. I looked around other villages, and their maps were all the same. The villages were sharing information about the New Continent. Thanks to this, we can guess the pioneers’ path.”

The Black Witch drew the map with a very serious expression. It was obvious she wanted to save the children who were drowning in their dreams. When I saw the Black Witch’s face from the side with her long hair drooping down, I could fully understand Uburka’s feelings.

Anyone would crush on her.

She rarely talked about herself. Sometimes she brought up old stories, but she never focused on herself. She would only relate stories of the past which included her colleagues.

She was beautiful. People with high walls around their hearts were always beautiful in my eyes because there were traces from their past of a desire to protect something.

“Death King, are you listening to me?”

“Of course, I’m listening to every word,” I said, nodding. “Senior, the problem isn’t just our children’s continent getting invaded. In just a few more days, the children who have fallen asleep will begin to die in groups. We really don’t have much time left.”

We had a week at most.

The Black Witch’s face darkened. “You’re right. Do you have a plan?”

“The concubi live in dreams, not reality. Regardless of whether we choose to persuade or make them submit, we need to enter our children’s dreams. But there will be no end to it if we have to convince each and every one of the concubi. It’ll take forever, causing more children to die from malnutrition. Our only option is to persuade the entire species at once.”

“The entire species at once? How?”

“Instead of talking to the concubi one by one, we should invite all of them in one big dream.” I turned back to look at Uburka. “My plan right now is to invite as many concubi as possible into Uburka’s dream. You and I will also go into Uburka’s dream and work out a deal.”

For some reason, Uburka blushed. His back hunched, twisting like a worm. “

Uger

, are you saying that you and your friend will enter my dream? T-That’s a bit embarrassing. I feel like I’d be sharing a personal part of myself.”

What did he mean by embarrassing? He had already gone through my special dream training. His feigned innocence was embarrassing

me

.

“I’m sorry for not being able to protect your privacy, but we should still do our best to prevent a massacre, my son. I hope you can take the plunge here.”

Uburka looked at the Black Witch. “I understand.

Ugo

r. I’m willing to open up my mind for the greater good! The most important thing is to prevent the massacre of innocent people!”

Oh my god. He was too obvious. His attempt to get the Black Witch to like him was so obvious that a laser beam pointing at the sky would be more subtle than whatever he was doing right now. At that moment, I wanted to close my eyes and deny that he was my son.

Unfortunately, the Black Witch didn’t notice anything. She just tilted her head once and went straight back to the main topic. “Alright, Death King. I think your plan is the quickest solution. How are you going to invite the concubi in Uburka’s dream?”

“

Ah

, first things first, I’m going to use Dream Appearance on a few people. Once I beat up every concubus I meet, I’m certain word about me will spread. I’m going to tell them to come find me in Uburka’s dream if they have a problem with me.”

The Black Witch smiled .“Okay. That sounds reliable. Working with you on this stage was a good choice.”

“It’s nothing. I can always do this much for—”

The moment I was about to smile back at the Black Witch, I felt an extremely intense gaze on the back of my head from Uburka. It was too strong to be merely described as a gaze, and the phrase “death glare” was still too weak to describe what was going on. In short, Uburka looked at me as if I was his nemesis.

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig considers you an eyesore.]

What?

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig suspects that you may be his romantic rival.]

I secretly wrote a message by tracing my fingers on Uburka’s arm.

No. Hey, hey, you nuthead! Your daddy is the Black Dragon Master’s friend! We’re besties!

Uburka pouted.

You’re also a man, so you’re suspicious.

Your daddy already has a life partner! Wow, don’t go around and say stuff like that. You’ll get me into a lot of problems for something I never did.

What if you’re into polyamory?

I felt so dirty! He was my son, but he was really getting on my nerves!

I snapped.

Shut up! Don’t ever say such a thing! I’ll cut off your head for blasphemy.

You can just say no. Why are you trying so hard to deny it? It’s making you more suspicious. Are you sure you aren’t romantically interested in her?

The Black Dragon Master and I are ride-or-die comrades! We’re friends, so of course we smile at each other!

What? Ride or die? When? Where? Who’s riding who? I had no idea that you’ve been leading such a promiscuous life. I’m very disappointed.

You gotta be kidding me!

The Black Witch tried to make sense of the madness war between a father and son, but she failed to understand what was going on. “What are you guys doing?”

Uburka smiled brightly. “Daddy was cheering me up.

Ugor

. He worries too much. I may not look like it, but I am the strongest Terra warrior of all time. He’s being overprotective.”

The Black Witch was intrigued. “

Oh.

Is that how he is when you two guys are together?”

“That’s right. You may not know this, but he nags me a lot. He’s very noisy when we’re together.”

“

Haha.

”

Finally, Uburka managed to have a casual chat with the Black Witch. However, he suddenly flashed me a smile while giving me the stink eye.

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig is wary of you.]

You little rascal!

“‘Have you done dawn training? Have you refined your aura utilization method? Have you gained a deeper understanding of the Demonic Heaven Arts?’ There is nothing he doesn’t nag me about. He’s alright when you keep a distance, but he’s tiresome if you keep him around close.”

You little shit.

“I hope he’ll become more independent now. I can’t take care of him forever, right? Because of his severe lack of affection, he often clings to people around him. It’s annoying. You’ve seen it before. He writes on my arm so we can talk in secret... Honestly, it’s gross.”

You ungrateful son of a bitch!

I was trembling. A father and son relationship was suddenly rendered meaningless when the son’s romantic life was added in the equation! This had to be why people say raising a child only brought regret to the parents[1].

The Black Witch giggled. Her eyes were full of warmth, but there was no romantic interest there. On top of that, the warmth was for me, not Uburka.

“Haha

, you two really get along well. Laughing and annoying each other shows how close you are. When the Death King first announced he would take care of the goblins, I was worried, but it turned out I was worrying over nothing. Death King, you’ll be a really good friend to the Terras.”

I scratched the back of my head. “

Uh...

Thank you...”

“No problem. I like giving credit where credit’s due.”

Warmth enveloped me and the Black Witch. Meanwhile, Uburka scowled.

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig deeply resents you!]

For god’s sake. The Black Witch had watched the romance of Raviel and I bloom, so she knew no man in this world was as harmless as me. Also, my heart only beat for Raviel, so the Black Witch was certain that nothing romantic would happen between us, no matter how close we were.

That’s why she opens up toward me, but my son doesn’t understand!

Still, what could I do about it? I couldn’t interfere with my son’s romance since I was his daddy. I slowly stood up, suppressing my frustrations brewing deep in my heart. “I-I’ll go threaten the concubi. Black Dragon Master, please wait here with Uburka.”

“

Oh

? Are you sure? One Dream Appearance costs one hundred points. It’ll use up quite a lot of your points if you buy several of them.”

“It’s okay. I can always earn more points later.”

The Black Witch smiled and patted my shoulder. “I couldn’t have asked for a better junior. I’ll look for a way to solve the sleeping children’s malnutrition problem in the meantime. Go, Death King.”

Her pats were full of friendly affection. Yes, she was being affectionate toward me, and I wasn’t afraid to say it.

I furtively glimpsed at Uburka’s face.

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig has declared you his enemy!]

As expected, Uburka glared at me, unleashing his bloody red aura fiercely. If I wasn’t mistaken, bloodlust was also mixed in there.

[The Immorality-Dreaming Muscle Pig has decided to commit an immoral act!]

This kid surely lived up to his title as a Constellation.

1. In the past, Korean parents often said this because the children were commonly expected to serve their parents and do what their parents told them to do. If the children didn’t grow up the way their parents wanted, they were considered black sheep of the family. Well, the sentiment is universal, but it was like a social norm in Korea before. However, Gong-Ja is interpreting the saying in his own way. ☜