Chapter 66
“Huk!”
Yeonwoo sprang up from the bed and immediately checked his body. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat as if someone had poured water on him. As he frantically felt his body to confirm his intact limbs, the dragon crawled over and bit his finger.
[Had another nightmare?]
Yeonwoo looked down at his painful finger and nodded. The dragon clicked its tongue and bit his finger a little harder. Thanks to that, Yeonwoo was able to escape the phantom pain and look around. It was an unfamiliar place. He surveyed the room furnished with minimal furniture before getting up. When he did, the dragon released his hand and began jumping excitedly.
[Yeonwooyeonwooyeonwoo, look at this!]
The dragon nodded toward the display cabinet, urging Yeonwoo to look. When he turned his gaze, he saw a sandwich with a Post-it note attached to it.
<Check complete>
After recognizing the familiar handwriting, Yeonwoo expanded his senses to examine his surroundings. He could faintly feel Chahun’s mana from downstairs. At the same time, his shoulders relaxed. He had thought he’d been transported to a strange place because of his ability, but it seemed he had just fallen asleep at Chahun’s house. Why have I been sleeping so much lately? And it’s not even restful sleep. Sighing, Yeonwoo opened a fruit pack and placed it in front of the dragon.
Looking at the time, it seemed he had slept through not only lunch but dinner as well, yet he wasn’t hungry. Yeonwoo pushed away the sandwich and picked up only the water bottle. As he drank water with his still-trembling hands, the dragon approached and tilted its head.
[You’ve been having nightmares constantly lately, haven’t you? What are you dreaming about?]
At the dragon’s question, Yeonwoo, who had been fidgeting with the water bottle, made eye contact with it. The innocent, sparkling eyes showed it clearly knew nothing. When Yeonwoo didn’t answer, the dragon swallowed a blueberry whole and coiled around his finger.
[What is it? What kind of dream was it?]
The voice was more playful than concerned. Instead of answering, Yeonwoo stroked the dragon’s head. When it bit his trembling fingertip, it urged him to answer, saying it was curious. Watching the dragon, Yeonwoo slowly opened his mouth.
“That time.”
The day I died. At Yeonwoo’s answer, the dragon’s grinning mouth slowly opened. It put down the finger it had been playfully biting and examined Yeonwoo with its white eyes. Yeonwoo was a bit bewildered by the dragon’s reaction. He had expected it to grumble that this was karma for trying to kill it, but instead, it was just watching him cautiously. Surprised by the unexpected reaction, Yeonwoo placed a blueberry in front of the dragon. Even when he encouraged it to eat quickly before Chahun woke up, the dragon only raised its head to observe Yeonwoo’s expression.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Yeonwoo comforted the dragon, saying it was both their faults. Even when he rubbed its head, the dragon didn’t ask for more pets as usual but just looked down at its own palm dejectedly.
[I… didn’t know that day would make you suffer like this.]
In the awkward atmosphere, Yeonwoo rolled his eyes. How should I comfort the dragon? While pondering this, his fingertip touched a small lump. What’s this? When he rubbed it firmly, the dragon shuddered and ran away.
[That hurts!]
“You… you’ve grown horns.”
At Yeonwoo’s words, the dragon’s mouth fell open. It told him to wait and touched its head with the tip of its tail. Yeonwoo picked up the dragon, which was carefully searching for its horns, and headed toward the mirror. The dragon leaned in close to the mirror.
[Yeonwoo!]
The dragon quickly crawled toward Yeonwoo and jumped up. After frantically crawling between Yeonwoo’s fingers, it climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder. Stretching out as far as possible, it pushed its head close to Yeonwoo’s eyes and asked if he could see its horns. Though it was more like a bump than a horn, Yeonwoo happily answered that he could see them.
[Finally!]
Yeonwoo watched with a pleased expression as the dragon darted around the room, then checked for movement downstairs. He felt Chahun’s mana suddenly grow stronger. Is he awake? As the mana grew closer, Yeonwoo snatched up the dragon and cleaned up any traces.
“Wait a moment.”
Yeonwoo caught the dragon as it tried to transform into a bracelet and asked in a low voice.
“Now that you have horns, will you return to the dungeon?”
If it said yes… Yeonwoo’s eyes trembled slightly as he watched the dragon. The moment the dragon entered the dungeon, it would grow at a different rate than now. Soon it would develop limbs and look completely different. And in four years, a united team would be formed to subjugate the mature dragon.
“Can’t you just live here?”
At Yeonwoo’s question, the dragon blinked.
“If you go back to the dungeon, we’ll end up targeting each other again. I don’t want to die like I did then.”
I’d prefer to die peacefully if I have to. When he made this heartfelt request, the dragon tilted its head.
[Why do you think you’ll die, Yeonwoo?]
* * *
“Hyung?”
Knock, knock. Chahun knocked on the door and created an ice window. He had never invited or let anyone in except Yeonwoo, yet there was an unfamiliar presence lingering beyond the door. After waiting for a moment, Chahun carefully opened the door. As he inserted his foot through the gap, he used his ability, and ice flowers bloomed beneath his feet. The ice flowers spread in all directions, searching the room before returning to him, causing Chahun to furrow his brow.
“What’s going on?”
There had clearly been two presences, but now there was only one. Was it because of the mana suppression device? While staring blankly at his palm, he heard Yeonwoo’s voice.
“Just come in.”
With Yeonwoo’s permission, Chahun tried to create ice flowers once more but then opened the door. As he entered the room, he looked around. There was only Yeonwoo sitting alone on the bed; no other presence could be detected.
“Are you okay?”
Chahun quickly closed the distance and checked Yeonwoo’s condition.
“I think I asked this before, but what kind of training makes someone fall asleep in the middle of a conversation?”
Yeonwoo usually didn’t have any sleep habits, but yesterday he had fallen asleep without the slightest movement, which had been quite alarming. If he hadn’t heard the sound of deep breathing, Chahun would have called 119 thinking someone had collapsed.
“I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“It’s not just lately. You seem to be sleeping every time I see you.”
Despite having slept for hours, Yeonwoo’s complexion was still dark. Without realizing it, Chahun pressed his body against Yeonwoo’s and checked the time. There was still some time until breakfast would arrive, so should he let him sleep more? Chahun applied his weight to lay Yeonwoo down and then arranged the blanket. He had planned to leave right after putting Yeonwoo to bed, but maybe it was because the room was empty unlike his own cluttered room… strangely, sleepiness washed over him.
“Get some sleep.”
When Yeonwoo covered Chahun’s eyes and patted his back, an irresistible drowsiness swept over him. Chahun, who had fallen asleep feeling as if he was being sucked into the bed, suddenly opened his eyes.
“Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?”
Yeonwoo, who had hidden his phone, covered Chahun’s eyes again. Chahun, who had been staring at Yeonwoo’s downy palm, abruptly sat up.
“What’s your phone number, hyung?”
“Huh?”
“We haven’t even exchanged numbers until now.”
Why hadn’t he thought of exchanging numbers? It’s not like we’re in an era of smoke signals; with just a small device, we can contact each other from anywhere. Recalling the week he had to spend without Yeonwoo, Chahun suddenly felt wronged and urged him.
“Just a moment. Let me contact my younger sibling first.”
Despite it being dawn, Yeonwoo dialed without hesitation. Would he ever call me like this someday? Chahun hugged the blanket as he imagined Yeonwoo’s just-awakened voice. Even with the missed call tone, Yeonwoo tried several more times before taking out a necklace from his chest.
“What’s that?”
“Um… an item connected to where my younger sibling is?”
As Yeonwoo’s mana rippled, the small pendant transformed into a crystal bell that fit perfectly in his hand. While irregularly shaking the bell, Yeonwoo suddenly looked at Chahun.
“Do you know Morse code?”
“No?”
“Hand signals?”
“I don’t.”
At his confident answer, Yeonwoo rolled his eyes. Chahun, who had planned to pretend not to know even if he did, quietly waited for the next words.
“I’ll teach you next time.”
As expected. With a smirk, Chahun found Yeonwoo’s hand and interlocked their fingers. Yeonwoo, who had been fidgeting uncomfortably, pressed his palm against Chahun’s, causing Chahun’s mana core to start racing. Chahun gathered the mana spreading from his fingertips and took the phone Yeonwoo handed him.
After entering his phone number and making a call, a ringtone sounded from downstairs. How should I save the contact? While Chahun was happily pondering, Yeonwoo moved his hand decisively across the phone screen.
[ Kang Chahun ]
Seeing the three characters, Chahun’s lips automatically jutted out in a pout. He had promised himself that someday he would remove “Kang” and “Cha,” leaving only “Hun.” Chahun got up.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Not really…?”
Chahun looked at the barely touched fruit and untouched sandwich, then extended his hand to Yeonwoo. It seemed his hunger was so severe that his senses had gone numb. There was no way someone who had fallen asleep without eating lunch and woken up at dawn wasn’t hungry. There were no kimbap ingredients in the refrigerator, but there were some simple snacks. As Yeonwoo held Chahun’s hand and came down the stairs, he pointed to the blinking warning lights attached to the wall.
“What are those?”
“Red is Round, green is Muyeong, blue is Baekdu, and gray is the Center. They told me to press it if I feel like I might go berserk again. They said they’ll be watching.”
Chahun clicked his tongue and led Yeonwoo to the kitchen. Since hyung can’t eat hot things, no ramen, no frozen food, and spicy food would be too much right after waking up, so that’s out too, and this is out, and that is out. After excluding this and that, all that remained were cereal and bread. Chahun placed both on the table and opened the refrigerator to take out milk and jam.
“We have strawberry jam and blueberry jam. Which would you like?”
At that moment, Yeonwoo covered his ears. Startled, Chahun approached, but Yeonwoo waved his hand saying it was nothing and picked up the bread. Chahun wanted to feed him five or six slices, but Yeonwoo refused, saying one was enough. Even then, he seemed unlikely to finish it all, so Chahun watched quietly. Sure enough, Yeonwoo took only two bites before putting it down and looking around.
“Just one more bite. I’ll show you around after you eat.”
At Chahun’s urging, Yeonwoo reluctantly bit into the bread. As Yeonwoo chewed thoroughly, Chahun rubbed his heated earlobe. Is there a way we could stay together like this? While pondering, Yeonwoo gulped down the bread, stood up, and approached the TV as if entranced.
“Can I watch?”
“Don’t ask, just watch whatever you want, hyung.”
Yeonwoo awkwardly handled the remote control before pressing a button. Watching as Yeonwoo flipped through various channels, Chahun took out a gaming console from the shelf. When he connected it to the TV, Yeonwoo’s cheeks flushed with excitement.
“Want to play one game before going to bed?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
