Black Killer Whale Baby [EN]: Chapter 179

179. The First Rejection

It felt like my eardrums were being squeezed shut. It was Ekion’s voice, but it didn’t sound like him.

In the third timeline, I never heard the Dragon Duke’s voice when he went berserk and destroyed the world.

But if he had spoken, it would have sounded something like this.

It was a voice that gently coaxed.

…I didn’t like it.

The Ekion I knew was an innocent boy who looked at me with blind devotion.

“Who are you?”

Our eyes met.

Ekion’s eyes were still unfocused—cold, eerie, and chilling.

I understood what Toos meant by being on the verge of going berserk.

Ekion slowly tilted his head.

“You don’t like it?”

“……”

“You… you didn’t like that, did you?”

I realized.

Ekion, who referred to the Head of the Family as ‘that’….

“You’re not Ekion, are you? Right?”

“Huh?”

“Ekion doesn’t call me ‘you.’”

Then Ekion smiled brightly, as if I had given the correct answer.

A chill ran down my spine. We maintained a wary silence, as if facing off against each other.

In that moment, I felt my shoulder being pulled.

Surprised, I looked up, but the grandmother who had been standing behind me was nowhere to be seen.

“What……”

A thud as something fell.

Instinctively, I looked towards where Dad and Atlan had been.

“Hey! Head of the Family!”

“Princess!!”

Atlan, who was floating Dad in the air, and Levi, who was reaching out his hand. Their voices overlapped.

I was relieved that Dad was safe, but at the same time, my heart grew heavy.

Simultaneously, a hole rushed towards me and swallowed me. I tightly closed my eyes.

-Calypso! Listen to the Duke’s voice! You have to follow it!

I thought I faintly heard Toos’s voice for the last time.

I didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear that I had been caught up in this time rift [a tear in the fabric of time].

It was also clear that Grandmother had already been caught up in it as well.

‘Toos definitely said that I need to change this berserk state by using power, right?’

Was a simple kiss not enough?

I thought to myself.

Changing it by using power means I can get Dad’s ingredients, right?

When I slowly opened my eyes, I was standing in an unfamiliar place.

It was a pitch-black space.

I remembered Toos’s voice for the last time.

He told me to listen to Ekion’s voice.

Honestly, I felt a bit lost.

‘Our little dragon… his eyes were completely gone. Can he even call me?’

In the end, I think I got caught up in that time rift or whatever.

I wondered if I could even get out of here alive.

Since I barely heard any explanations because the situation was so urgent.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have asked in advance and listened to the explanation.’

I rubbed my face and looked around.

‘But what is this place anyway?’

“Where is this?”

The moment I thought this, I was startled by a voice that seemed to have read my mind.

I turned around and saw Grandmother sitting down, sweeping her hair back.

She seemed to have found me too and asked.

I frowned slightly.

‘If it weren’t for that human……’

We would have smoothly left to find the ingredients for Dad.

And we wouldn’t have been caught up in this dangerous time rift.

‘A real troll. Damn it.’

I stood up from my spot.

Ignoring the Head of the Family’s words, I carefully examined my surroundings.

It was dark, so I didn’t know, but once my eyes got used to the darkness, I could roughly see.

It was a huge corridor.

‘Is it a cloister [a covered walk in a convent or monastery]?’

There were frames hanging on the walls, but strangely, there was nothing inside the frames. Just black paper.

‘It’s like a mansion corridor from some horror game.’

It was filled with an eerie feeling, but I wasn’t particularly afraid of ghosts or spirits.

How could someone who has died be afraid of that?

And here, there was an annoying human who didn’t care about such things at all, like me.

“Are you ignoring my question?”

“Yes. I’m ignoring you. Don’t talk to me.”

“Huh?”

Grandmother was speechless for a moment, probably taken aback by my informal speech.

Toos clearly gave me a hint.

‘It’s not the worst situation.’

Toos didn’t say it was impossible.

I can definitely find the ingredients to cure Dad’s illness somewhere here, and there’s also a way to meet Ekion and go back.

With such an important task at hand, there was no way I could hear that annoying grandmother’s voice.

A little later, when my eyes were completely accustomed to the darkness, I found a door.

‘Several doors……’

There were a total of three doors in this corridor.

Should I open one of these doors?

‘Or…… should I just sit here and wait?’

I heard that when you get lost, it’s best to stay put and wait for rescue.

But I couldn’t just wait endlessly, as I was worried about Dad.

Thinking this far, I naturally took a step to the side.

Grandmother’s hand brushed past where I had been.

“……”

Grandmother frowned.

“What are you doing?”

I wanted to ask, what are you doing?

In fact, from the moment I got caught up in this place, I decided.

I’m done trying to look good to this Head of the Family. So, the politeness is over.

‘If this happens, it will take a long way to go back.’

It doesn’t matter. Even if it’s difficult, I was confident that I could take the position above the Head of the Family.

‘Everything is just a matter of time.’

The reason I thought that taking the Head of the Family’s position as her successor after gaining her approval would be more humiliating for her.

Is this the only way?

I spoke fiercely yet calmly.

“Still can’t grasp the situation? We’re trapped because you unnecessarily provoked Ekion.”

“……Your manners have gotten worse. Do you want to die?”

“How can you say such a carefree thing when we might both die? Is being stupid a bonus?”

“……”

Grandmother’s eyebrows shot up.

I didn’t like that habit that was similar to Dad’s.

“Since you seem to know about dragons, I’ll do you a favor, you stupid Head of the Family.”

Without realizing it, the way I spoke when I was the Head of the Family in the third timeline was slipping out.

“This place was created by the Dragon Duke, who is on the verge of going berserk because of you, and we’re going to die together if things go wrong. You and I.”

It was also evidence that I was impatient, and it meant that my anger had reached its limit.

I wasn’t going to hide it anymore.

On the one hand, Toos gave me a clue to escape from here, but I had no intention of sharing it.

Let her wallow in the fear of sudden death.

A cold sneer crossed my face.

“Can’t you guess?”

My expression probably revealed blatant hostility that I couldn’t hide anymore.

“If this continues, Aquasialdel will lose both the Head of the Family and the successor.”

“……”

I tapped my head.

While coldly looking at Grandmother’s dazed face.

“If you don’t want to see your Aquasialdel fall apart, then cooperate quietly, or if you don’t like that, then shut up and stay still.”

It felt comfortable to give up and be hostile. I don’t have to pretend to like her or try to look good anymore.

It was at that moment.

-Cal……ypso.

A faint voice was heard.

I stopped coldly staring at Grandmother and quickly turned my head.

Ekion’s voice!

It was exactly as Toos had hinted. He said to follow Ekion’s voice when I heard it, right?

Once again, I heard a voice calling me.

Turning my head, it was that door in the corridor. One of the three doors.

The door closest to my location.

The first door.

I don’t know what’s behind it…….

-Calypso, where…… are you?

I set out to follow the voice calling me. Then I turned my head.

“……It’s not the tone and pressure of a child no matter how I look at it.”

“……”

“You know how to put on a false front. And it’s not like you’ve only done it once or twice.”

Grandmother was looking at me with a strange expression.

Regardless, I gestured with my head.

“Shut up.”

“……”

“Ocula Aquasialdel [Calypso’s full name].”

I ran and slammed open the first door.

“If you want to live, follow me.”

The moment I entered the door without hesitation, I felt a presence following behind me.

But I didn’t look back and ran.

* * *

Finally, when I completely entered the door, I heard the sound of the door closing.

When I turned around, the door had disappeared without a trace in the short moment of squinting at the bright light.

The space changed in a blink of an eye.

‘What is this place?’

It was outside. I hadn’t adjusted since I was in the dark corridor.

I slowly scanned my surroundings.

Leafy and brilliant summer days, and pleasant sunshine pouring down from the sky.

It could have been a little hot.

But I hardly felt the season or the temperature.

It felt like I was watching the space in front of me like a movie.

I grasped this space and slowly opened my mouth.

“Grandma!”

A small child running.

The very young girl had a pretty face, black hair, and white hair mixed in, which was a symbol of the killer whale [a distinctive trait of her lineage].

Blue eyes. A face so innocent that it was hard to believe she was a killer whale…….

It was me.

“Grandma!”

‘I’ ran and blocked someone’s path.

I understood where this space was and what the situation was.

A gasp escaped.

“What is it.”

The person standing firmly like a stone statue in front of the young girl. The owner of the coldly muttering voice was probably my grandmother, who was here with me.

The young ‘I’ shrank back but tried to smile brightly.

“Grandma, I’m Grandma’s granddaughter!”

A small hand outstretched as if asking to be hugged.

I laughed coldly.

“What are you saying? You little piece of trash.”

This was the first rejection I suffered in this world.

And……. The moment I believed that I could be loved even for a single moment.

It was my first life.