Chapter 58
I’m hungry.
Yeonwoo clutched his empty stomach and opened the door weakly. Was there anything to eat at home? After taking off his shoes, Yeonwoo picked up a fruit from the table. Too tired to even peel it, he quickly rinsed the purple apple and bit into it with the skin on.
How could he not say a single word?
Yeonwoo cursed Chahun who wasn’t even there and thoroughly chewed and swallowed the apple. Chahun had sealed his lips after the outrageous claim that Yeonwoo wasn’t interested in him. How badly he wanted to pinch those lips that only opened to eat food.
He says I’m not interested in him? If I wasn’t interested, I wouldn’t have cared whether he was causing trouble with knives or cutting off his own fingers! I wouldn’t have taught him how to handle mana when he constantly embarrassed me by saying “So what?” and “And then what?”
Chahun ignored Yeonwoo’s attempts to start a conversation and left right after dropping him off at Zone C. Watching Chahun’s back as he entered the portal without saying a single word until the end, Yeonwoo started getting angry just as Chahun wanted.
What’s so wrong with treating an Esper like an Esper? I taught him how to handle mana and trained with him because he’s an Esper. If I had treated him like a person, I would have yelled at him to stay away from me. Now he thinks he’s so great just because he can handle his ability a little.
What? You want me to do it?
I taught you because I couldn’t do it myself. If I could, I wouldn’t have died trying to save you!
After finishing one apple, Yeonwoo was looking for something else to eat when he took a deep breath. Patterns were randomly forming on the floor. Chahun was always a willful Esper, and Yeonwoo had no reason to get angry at him. He’ll probably show up again tomorrow out of nowhere, asking me to check his ability.
Wanting a different fruit besides apples, he rummaged through the fruit basket and spotted blueberries. After staring at the blueberries for a moment, Yeonwoo shifted his gaze to his bracelet.
“Hey.”
Bringing blueberries to the bracelet or pulling it so hard it left marks on his wrist, the black bracelet showed no reaction. After trying various methods, Yeonwoo suddenly raised his head. What if Yeonhwa comes in?
Holding a few blueberries, Yeonwoo looked around the apartment. The studio had no place to hide from view. Yeonwoo stared intently at the bracelet before going into the bathroom. He put the blueberries he was holding down on the sink and locked the door.
At that moment, the bracelet slid off and fell to the floor with a thud. The jewel snake, which had climbed up Yeonwoo’s ankle before he could stop it, jumped toward the sink. Yeonwoo watched the jewel snake frantically devouring the blueberries and rubbed his now empty wrist.
I didn’t think it would actually be true.
Looking at the jewel snake made his head hurt. Where did this thing attach itself? How should I deal with it? As he pondered, the jewel snake finished eating the blueberries and wagged its tail.
[Hello.]
It was a languid voice that was difficult to determine in terms of gender or age, but one he had heard before.
[Long time no see.]
“Long time?”
At Yeonwoo’s question, the jewel snake opened its mouth wide.
[Don’t tell me you don’t remember? Do you know how much I suffered because of you?]
How could I not remember? But wasn’t I the one who suffered, not you? Don’t you remember biting my hand like a dog chew toy? Recalling their first meeting at the jewel snake’s words, Yeonwoo frowned at what followed. He had seen a blue-eyed jewel snake at the magical beast research center he visited for training, but this golden eye was a first.
There was a magical beast that naturally came to mind when looking at those golden eyes, but the size was diff—no, wait a minute.
[Did you remember? I was really hurting then.]
The jewel snake approached Yeonwoo and brushed his neck with its tail. Looking at where the jewel snake’s tail was pointing, Yeonwoo’s heart began to beat painfully. What did a four-legged dragon hatchling look like? Unlike winged dragons born with limbs from birth, four-legged dragons started out looking like snakes…
Yeonwoo covered his mouth and looked down at the jewel snake. As the golden heterochromatic irises, the long-slit pupils, and the black scales brought back memories of the past, he immediately swung his dagger. He tried to strike it down, but when his eyes met the dragon’s, strength involuntarily left his fingertips.
The floating blade rolled up like a roll cake and crashed into the corner. The dragon, which had burrowed into Yeonwoo’s empty hand, met his eyes and raised its chin.
[Yeonwoo. You can never kill me.]
* * *
[Yeonwoo. Is there no more of this?]
“No more.”
[Oh, that’s too bad.]
The dragon, who had been rummaging through the fruit basket looking for blueberries, let out a deep sigh. It seemed it wasn’t full even after eating a whole container of blueberries. The dragon, which had been sniffing around here and there, rushed toward the cereal Yeonwoo was eating.
[Tasteless.]
After tasting a small portion, the dragon used mana to push the bowl far away. Yeonwoo took a deep breath and cleared the bowl to prevent the milk from spilling. When he turned his gaze, the dragon was perched on top of grapes, fidgeting as if wanting them quickly. Yeonwoo slowly removed the packaging that wrapped the grapes. When the dragon immediately rushed toward the grapes, Yeonwoo quickly snatched them away.
“I’ll wash them for you, so wait. There’s so much dust in the dungeon, and you’re trying to eat without washing?”
After Yeonwoo washed the grapes thoroughly and detached them one by one, the dragon wrapped its body around a grape and diligently chewed. Unlike the carefree dragon, Yeonwoo couldn’t eat a single bite. It felt like Yeonhwa might jump out of the void space at any moment and demand to know what that thing was. How should I explain this? After finishing the grapes, the dragon swung its tail like a whip.
“That hurts.”
[I’ve been telling you all along. I can sense that child’s presence.]
It urged him to give the next grape quickly. Yeonwoo gave a grape and watched the dragon eagerly eating the grape, which was similar in color to his own eyes. Feeling the gaze, the dragon paused eating and tilted its head.
[What’s wrong?]
“Why did you become smaller, and why did I return to the past?”
At those words, the dragon slowly lowered its head and focused on the grape. Yeonwoo waited until the dragon finished eating. When the dragon swallowed the last piece of grape, Yeonwoo cleared away the fruit basket without hesitation.
[Yeonwoo?]
“Let’s talk now. You said you’d talk after eating, but you’ve only been eating since earlier.”
[Well, I’m still hungry.]
“Then eat that.”
[No way!]
The dragon, which had jumped up at the sight of a banana, wrapped around Yeonwoo’s finger and whined. When he gave it a grape after it said it would eat just one more, the dragon, which had crawled up to his shoulder, asked for two more.
“Are you a pig, not a dragon? You’ve eaten more than your body size.”
[My goodness, Yeonwoo. I’m a hatchling that still has a lot of growing to do.]
Yes. You’ll grow so much that your eyeball will be bigger than my height. At the sound of Yeonwoo’s sigh, the dragon, which was chewing a grape, rested its chin on its tail.
[You must have many questions, but I don’t have much information I can share with you.]
“You don’t know, so you can’t tell me? Or you know but can’t teach me?”
At Yeonwoo’s question, the dragon gently rubbed above his lips with the tip of its tail. What are you doing? When he frowned, the dragon narrowed its eyes and stretched the corners of its mouth. It seemed to mean that it had zipped its mouth shut. It knows but can’t tell? No, but where did a magical beast learn something like that?
Yeonwoo crossed his arms and watched the dragon diligently rolling a tangerine over. It knows but can’t tell… Yeonwoo, who had been looking the dragon up and down, stared at the middle of its body.
“Then let me ask just this. Where is your Dragon Heart?”
[It’s right here. Yeonwoo, thanks to you, I had to replace the heart I worked so hard to grow.]
“Yes. Thanks to you, I also experienced being roasted alive.”
Yeonwoo calmly muttered and leaned his body against the chair. Dragons could regenerate even if torn to pieces and killed, as long as their hearts remained intact, thanks to their exceptional regenerative abilities. But he hadn’t regenerated but replaced his heart? So he had definitely died and come back to life, like Yeonwoo?
“Then why did we return to the past? Does anyone else besides me have memories?”
[You said you’d only ask that one thing. Now, can you peel this for me?]
The dragon rolled a tangerine in front of Yeonwoo and fluttered the tip of its tail. Yeonwoo looked at the remains of the fruits the dragon had devoured and shook his head.
“Eat later. You’ll get a stomachache.”
[Oh my. When is later?]
The dragon, clinging to Yeonwoo’s hand, asked urgently. Later is later, he thought, but suddenly realized where he was active. Yeonwoo remembered how the dragon only appeared when he was alone and each time hastily devoured food. With a sigh, he picked up the tangerine.
“I’ll take care of you from now on, so don’t sneak out to eat like that.”
[Then I want to eat that, that, kimbap.]
At the dragon’s words, Yeonwoo nodded while removing the white threads from the tangerine. With his chin resting on his hand, Yeonwoo looked down at the dragon hugging tangerine pieces and taking small bites.
“Is it also a secret why I feel the urge to protect you?”
The dragon’s expression, which seemed to say “Of course,” naturally brought out a sigh.
They had a mutual relationship, but they had tried to kill each other, and actually succeeded. He should be feeling anger and hatred bubbling up, but strangely, he didn’t feel that way.
“Stop eating.”
Its mouth was moving slowly, and it looked like its stomach was about to burst, but it was still forcing itself to eat. When he extended his hand, the dragon, which had been pushing tangerine into its mouth, slowly crawled over. It seemed to be feeling pressure on its stomach as it started dry heaving midway, making Yeonwoo burst into laughter. The dragon, which had been flicking its tongue, glared at him as if telling him not to laugh.
[Even eating this much doesn’t even register as a snack, you know?]
I suppose. Magical beasts needed a lot of mana to grow. In dungeons, they could obtain mana just by breathing, but not outside. Many researchers had tried to extract mana from nature, but only Guides could receive and use natural mana.
Magical beasts wouldn’t have that ability, so it seemed to be filling its stomach to absorb as much mana as possible.
“By the way, where are your horns?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
