Chapter 41

[41] Oppa, Look Forward to Your Gift.

The night before Min-jun’s mother called.

“Did Min-jun perhaps forget to call me?”

Yuna was taking a short break in the staff room at her shop, idly fiddling with her phone.

Before they parted, she had given him her business card and told him to get in touch later. But several days had passed, and she still hadn’t heard from him.

They had known each other for so long. Surely he could have at least called to say hello, if only because he was glad and surprised to run into her by chance.

As far as she could tell, there were two possible reasons Min-jun hadn’t called: he had lost her business card and couldn’t contact her, or… his girlfriend wouldn’t let him.

Yuna figured the second possibility was far more likely.

‘He’s so uptight.’

Maybe it was because she’d spent nearly half her life in America, but with her American mindset, she just couldn’t understand it.

In America, it was common for men with girlfriends to hang out with other women. The reverse wasn’t considered strange, either.

‘We’re just going to be friends.’

Was even that not allowed?

It was the sort of idea that would make other, more Confucian-minded people click their tongues and say she had a demon in her head.

To ease her frustration, Yuna opened her phone gallery and looked at the pictures she’d taken with Min-jun when they were children.

There were photos from when they’d worked together as child models, and even one of her kissing him.

‘That’s so unfair.’

She’d made it so obvious, and he still hadn’t realized how she felt.

Yuna thought Min-jun was unbelievably dense when it came to that sort of thing.

She gazed at the old photos with a strange look in her eyes, then fell into thought again.

If she hadn’t immigrated, maybe she would be the one by Min-jun’s side now, instead of Sia.

‘Isn’t there something I can do?’

She had only just managed to reconnect with him after all these years. She couldn’t let that thread slip away now.

As she pondered, Yuna suddenly thought of her mother.

Wasn’t her mother coming to Korea the day after tomorrow, partly to visit her daughter and partly to cure her homesickness? She’d said she planned to stay for a month or two.

‘Mom always doted on Min-jun, too.’

It had been more than twenty years ago, but Yuna remembered that part clearly.

Her mother had said she wanted Min-jun as her son-in-law.

Of course, she’d been joking, but she’d liked Min-jun enough to say something like that.

And whenever one of their families had something come up, they’d taken turns looking after each other’s children. Surely her mother would be curious to see how Min-jun had grown up.

‘…That’s not a bad idea.’

Even Yuna thought it was a pretty good plan.

Once she’d more or less decided what to do, she ran through the scenario in her head.

‘Just you wait, Min-jun.’

With her plan in place, Yuna called her mother right away.

“I’m not sure when I’ll be free… Mom, something just came up. I’ll call you back later.”

After hurriedly hanging up, I quickly checked Sia’s expression.

I could put off marveling at how dragons were different—she couldn’t possibly have heard the call like an ordinary human, since I hadn’t put it on speakerphone with Mom.

The important thing right now was that Sia had heard every word of that conversation.

[Oppa.]

Her voice had gone cold as ice, and her gaze was so chilly that just meeting her eyes sent a shiver down my spine.

It was an unfamiliar side of Sia, one I’d never seen before.

When had she last reacted like this?

Right.

It had been not long after we reunited, when she found out some crazy woman had tried to get my number.

Sia had looked exactly like this then.

The same voice. The same icy stare.

Which meant this was—

Without a doubt, an emergency.

[Your mother said… that woman… you… and her… should all get together and have a meal?]

Sia spoke slowly, enunciating every word.

Her unusually stiff tone sent goosebumps crawling over my skin.

“...Yeah.”

She’d already heard everything, so I couldn’t lie.

[Then are you… going?]

…It was really hard to know what to say.

I thought the best thing would be to agree to the meal, then reassure Sia that I had no intention of keeping in touch with Yuna afterward.

But that was a fallback plan at best, not the ideal solution.

There was no telling whether Sia would accept it.

She might trust me, but she wouldn’t trust Yuna.

Seriously, what should I do?

I decided to take the plunge and tell Sia the truth.

“Honestly, something about it feels off, so I don’t want to go. But it seems like Mom really wants to see you and Yuna together.”

I also briefly told her how Yuna’s mother had looked after me when I was little.

“I don’t want to go, either. I’ll do my best to talk Mom out of it. But even if I can’t avoid going, I’ll make sure nothing you’re worried about happens.”

I spoke as carefully as I could, watching Sia’s expression the entire time.

She didn’t look any worse than before, but she pressed her lips together and stared at me. It clearly wasn’t the answer she wanted.

That made her even scarier.

Maybe I should just tell Mom I’d been too busy with hunter work lately and find some way to avoid going…

Just as I thought that, Sia finally spoke, breaking the terrifying silence.

[There’s no place for me in this, is there?]

“Uh… I guess not. If you could come, I’d want you to.”

Silence settled between us again. Then, as if she’d made up her mind, Sia spoke.

[…It can’t be helped. Go ahead.]

“Really?”

I hadn’t expected that.

But when I looked closer, I saw Sia’s lips trembling.

“…Maybe it’d be better if I didn’t go.”

[No. Just go. I can’t make you and your mother-in-law miss out because of me. You haven’t seen each other in twenty years, right?]

This time, not only her lips but even her voice trembled faintly.

[So it’s okay, Oppa. I’m going back to what I was doing. Get some rest.]

Before I could say anything, Sia ended the call.

She’d said it was okay, but she looked worse than ever.

I wondered if I should call her back… but maybe it would be better to leave her alone and give her time to sort out her thoughts.

“Haah.”

I sighed in frustration.

I had a bad feeling about this. I was sure that woman was up to something.

Anyway.

After agonizing over it for a while, I finished the porridge Sia had made for me and was clearing away the bowl when Rokan came to see me.

“How are you feeling?”

Rokan sat on the edge of the bed and checked on me.

“I feel a little tired and sluggish, but otherwise I seem fine.”

“Still, don’t even think about overdoing it.”

Even if I wanted to practice with a sword, I couldn’t. I didn’t have one.

Come to think of it, I wonder how the Dragon Bone Sword I left with him last time was coming along.

“Um, Sir Rokan. Sorry if I’m being pushy, but… how’s the sword coming along?”

“Ah, the sword. I’ll do my best, but I doubt it’ll be the same as before.”

Rokan reached into thin air and took out the broken Dragon Bone Sword I’d handed him yesterday, setting it down in front of me.

It was still in the same condition as when I’d first given it to him.

“I’ve seen a lot of Dragon Bone Swords over the years, but I’ve never seen one this badly damaged.”

“Never…?”

“That’s right.”

According to Rokan, Dragon Bone Swords were far tougher than I thought. Even if the dragons deliberately tried to break one, it would be difficult to damage it this badly.

He added that what I could see with my eyes wasn’t the whole story, which made it sound like the sword really was in terrible shape.

“Could it be because I used this sword to clash with the Emperor’s sword…?”

“I can’t say that had no effect, but it wasn’t the direct cause. I think the real reason was that the sword was overloaded beyond what it could withstand.”

“Overloaded?”

“The Dragon Speech.”

When I looked confused, Rokan explained further.

To sum up what he said: trapped in that space, I had unconsciously squeezed every last bit of power out of the sword in order to use the Dragon Speech. That had temporarily drawn out the dragon’s power within the sword to its absolute limit… but the backlash had left it this badly damaged.

“It’s like how your body was left in shambles after wielding that power.”

He wasn’t certain yet, but Rokan thought that was probably what had happened.

It would also explain why I’d been unconscious for days and still hadn’t recovered my strength: I’d used the Dragon Speech before my body was ready, and this was the aftereffect.

“So… everything had to line up perfectly, and I was lucky, too, just to use the Dragon Speech?”

“That’s right. The environment may also have been a factor.”

Hearing all that made me feel a little dejected.

It meant I was still a long way from using the Dragon Speech properly, without any outside factors.

“Still, you did well. No matter how it happened, there’s value in having used the Dragon Speech even once.”

He added that he was simply grateful I’d made it back alive.

“I haven’t told you this until now, but when Shasha found out you were trapped in the Gate, she fainted on the spot.”

“…Oh.”

She fainted…

Just imagining it made my chest ache.

If I’d been gone for a long time—or if I’d never come back—then Sia would have…

…I didn’t even want to imagine it.

I felt awful for worrying Sia, and Rokan, too.

I sat quietly for a while, turning over what Sia must have felt. Then Rokan gently pulled me into a hug.

“If you hadn’t fought with everything you had and had given up, Shasha would have felt as if her whole world had collapsed. So, for that, thank you. And I’m proud of you.”

After softly patting my back, Rokan put the broken sword away in his subspace.

“I’m planning to visit the place you went to before long.”

“That dungeon probably belongs to a guild, so…”

The words “you won’t be able to just walk in” had almost reached my lips, but I realized I was worrying for nothing.

What could a dragon like Rokan not do?

“…Never mind. I misspoke.”

“Even so, I may find another clue there about how to bring out your power.”

Leaving a potion by my bedside, just as he had yesterday, Rokan stepped out for a while.

Alone, I downed the potion and stared at the large screen, now switched off.

It was the screen where I’d been on a video call with Sia for so long before Rokan arrived.

‘…I hope Sia’s okay.’

I hoped I was wrong, but she seemed terribly upset right now.

I felt awful for making her feel hurt over something like this.

Soon, that guilt turned into resentment toward Yuna.

“Seriously, that woman…”

If I didn’t call, she should’ve just figured I wasn’t interested.

Why go to such lengths to set all this up?

Right after ending the call with Min-jun,

Sia stared blankly at the dark screen, her eyes unfocused.

‘That woman definitely planned this.’

Min-jun hadn’t contacted her after she gave him her number, so the woman had probably come up with a plan to create some kind of connection between them.

She must have arranged a situation where Min-jun would have no choice but to see her, then planned to use it to get closer to him.

In fact, Sia’s guess was almost entirely correct.

‘She got me.’

If Sia told Min-jun not to go, it would make her look like she was throwing a tantrum.

That made her furious.

She could clearly sense how carefully Min-jun was trying to keep her from worrying, and how hard that woman was working to find a way to get close to him.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Min-jun.

She just didn’t know what that woman might try next.

How could she stop that woman from getting anywhere near Min-jun?

As anxiety began to consume her, her composure slowly started to slip.

To calm herself, she took a deep breath, then picked up the bone she’d prepared for the Dragon Bone Sword and began refining it with even greater care.

For now, she would trust Min-jun.

And after the meeting, she’d find out how that woman named Yuna had tried to flirt with him, then come up with a more detailed plan to deal with her.

There was no point worrying. Nothing could change the situation right now.

So for the moment, she would focus on making the sword.

Her hands worked busily, shaping the bone.

Sia began to think about the sword’s design.

Since it would be the only one of its kind in the world, shouldn’t its design be special, too?

‘What should I do to make it stand out?’

Maybe she could engrave Min-jun’s initials on it.

No.

Instead of just Min-jun’s initials, she could engrave her own name as the maker, too.

It wasn’t unusual for a famous sword to bear the name of its maker.

Or… she could carve their likenesses together on the hilt.

Anyone who saw it might think she was joking, but she was completely serious.

Even in a small way, she wanted to make it absolutely clear that she and Min-jun were a couple.

‘Oppa will definitely like it, right?’

Humming to herself, she continued shaping the bone.

In more ways than one, it seemed like this would be an unforgettable gift for both her and Min-jun.