Chapter 53

[53] Don’t Hit on My Boyfriend

After ending her long phone call with Minjun,

Sia was left with a lot on her mind.

She was worried that the other dragons, who disapproved of her relationship with Minjun, might interfere and do something to him.

They might even hurt an innocent human man who had dared to fall in love with a dragon.

They probably wouldn’t openly harm him while she, her grandfather, and the few dragons who supported her were around. But that didn’t mean she could let her guard down.

It wouldn’t be strange if someone hurt Minjun, or if they did it at any time and in any way.

Still, worry wasn’t the only thing she felt.

She kept thinking about how warmly Minjun had worried about her, and how reassuring it was to know that he would face whatever hardships came their way without wavering.

And then there was the thoughtfulness he’d shown by sending her tteokbokki he’d made himself, along with a gift and a handwritten letter, because he was worried about her.

Somehow, even in the middle of all this, her heart was fluttering.

That was some comfort, at least.

No matter how much I think about it, I still don’t understand.

She had lived as a dragon a hundred times longer than she had lived as a human, but she still couldn’t fully understand how dragons thought.

Did a dragon really have to love only another dragon?

To clear her head, she decided to eat the tteokbokki Minjun had made for her.

She took a picture and opened her messenger app to tell Minjun she was going to enjoy it. That was when she noticed a message from someone she hadn’t expected.

[Hello! I’m Go Yuna, Minjun’s older friend from the restaurant the other day :) Do you remember me? I’ve been meaning to reach out because I’d like to get to know you, Sia, but I only just worked up the courage, haha. I think you said you’re a hunter too. If you’re comfortable with it, would you like to spar sometime? I’d love to spar and grab a meal together!]

“...Go Yuna?”

As if she didn’t already have enough on her mind, that woman had sent her a message.

How had she gotten Sia’s number? And why had she sent this?

Frowning, Sia read the message again.

“What’s this woman’s deal?”

Sia hadn’t yet heard what had happened between Minjun and Yuna yesterday morning, so she had no idea why Yuna was messaging her.

She didn’t even ask me to bring my boyfriend along.

Why did she want to meet Sia alone?

There was probably more to it than simply wanting to get to know her.

Was she trying to drive a wedge between Sia and Minjun? Or did she have some other motive?

Confused, Sia sent Minjun the picture she’d just taken, along with a message.

[By the way, oppa. Did you give that older friend of yours, Yuna, my number?]

Minjun replied right away.

[No. Why, did she text you?]

It seemed Yuna had gotten Sia’s number through someone else.

How she’d gotten it wasn’t important. What mattered was that Minjun hadn’t given it to her.

[No, I was just curious. I’ll enjoy the tteokbokki, oppa!]

For now, Sia decided not to tell Minjun that Yuna had messaged her.

So what should she do now?

Should she ignore the message? Make it clear that she was displeased? Or reply politely without revealing what she really thought?

At first, none of the options seemed appealing. But after a moment’s thought, she realized this was the perfect opportunity.

A chance to give that woman a stern warning.

If the two of them met without Minjun, Sia wouldn’t have to think about him being there. That might actually be better.

I’m tired of worrying about that woman.

Minjun had already dealt with things appropriately, but Sia didn’t know that. She decided she would put an end to all of this herself.

And I’m already in a bad mood because of what happened.

If Yuna had sent this message the day before yesterday, before Sia went to meet the other dragons, Sia probably wouldn’t have reacted so sensitively.

In that sense, Go Yuna was rather unlucky.

Determined to teach her a lesson, Sia typed out a reply.

***

The next day,

Sia waited for Yuna at a café near the training arena where they were supposed to meet.

Of course, she hadn’t told Minjun about what she was doing today. She probably never would.

She planned to put a definite end to the tangled mess between herself and that woman.

Not long after Sia had sat down to wait, Yuna spotted her from a distance, waved, and walked over.

“Sia!”

“You’re here, unni?”

The moment they met, the two exchanged cheerful greetings, their voices bright with warmth.

“If I’d known it would be like this, I should’ve reached out sooner. I kept wondering if you might feel uncomfortable.”

“Oh, you could’ve just messaged me! I had plenty of things I wanted to ask you, too.”

To anyone watching, they might have seemed close. But beneath their friendly smiles, the two women hid claws sharp enough to kill.

“Shall we head to the arena, then?”

“Sounds good!”

They made their way to the training arena in the basement of the same building.

It was almost empty.

Yuna had booked the arena in advance, so they were able to go straight in.

After changing into sparring clothes and putting on their protective gear, the two stood facing each other in the arena.

“It feels refreshing to spar again after so long. It brings back memories.”

“Same here. I haven’t sparred in ages, so I’m a little out of practice. Please take it easy on me, unni!”

“Sure. You too.”

As they chatted amiably, Yuna repeated the same promise to herself over and over.

Today, she would make that clueless woman feel the difference in their strength down to her bones.

Normally, even a retired hunter and an active hunter could have a large gap in rank, so the active hunter would be expected to hold back a little.

But Yuna intended to give it her all and crush Sia without mercy.

If Sia complained that she was going too hard, Yuna planned to say that she was out of practice after such a long time and had trouble controlling her strength.

Then I can use that as an excuse to spar with her again.

She could say she was sorry about the last time and suggest they have a proper spar, with Yuna controlling her strength this time.

The more they sparred, the more chances Yuna would have to take out her frustration on Sia.

“Unni, shall we start now?”

“Let’s.”

The moment they infused a small amount of mana into their gear, a signal sounded to announce the start of the spar.

As soon as it began, Yuna, a spirit mage, summoned a Salamander.

“Unni, you’re a spirit mage?”

“Yeah. I guess I never told you?”

Sia watched the Salamander Yuna had summoned with interest.

Yuna’s Salamander had always been aggressive by nature, and it had often complained about how boring Yuna’s life had become since retiring.

Instead of thrilling, blood-soaked battles, what did Yuna do now? Cook?

She’d asked it several times to help give her food a smoky, flame-grilled flavor, so the Salamander often grumbled at her.

But this time was different.

It might not be a real battle, but it was still a thrilling showdown against another hunter. The kind that could get its blood pumping.

The moment it realized what was happening, the Salamander flicked its tongue excitedly.

It urged Yuna to give the order.

Salamander, breathe fire at that woman’s face. Use every bit of power you have.

Yuna sent the command through the telepathic link connecting her to the Salamander.

They were wearing protective gear for sparring, so even if she turned up the heat as high as it would go, Sia wouldn’t die from the flames.

But what if the protective gear broke and Sia got burned?

That might not be so bad.

Yuna could claim it was an accident, make a show of apologizing, and cover the hospital bill. She had plenty of money, after all.

It might even make her feel better.

For an instant, an immense fear began to bear down on the Salamander.

As she imagined something too awful to say out loud, Yuna stifled a laugh.

I wonder how that bitch will react.

After giving the order, she watched, eager to see what Sia would do.

But, of course, her wish wasn’t going to come true.

The Salamander followed Yuna’s command and drew on all her mana, preparing to unleash a powerful blast of fire at Sia.

But—

For some reason, the Salamander felt its power being restrained by an enormous, unfamiliar force.

“...?”

The strange sensation caught the Salamander completely off guard.

It tried to gather its strength again and breathe fire, but—

It had never met a dragon before, so it couldn’t identify the force as Dragon Fear.

Even so, it understood one thing with absolute certainty:

The being in front of it was no ordinary human.

If it tried to attack her, something would happen that it couldn’t possibly handle.

The Salamander tried to send Yuna a telepathic warning, but it had already been forcibly recalled to the Spirit Realm by an unknown power.

“Guh!”

It was rare for a spirit to be recalled to the Spirit Realm against its will. But when it did happen, the spirit mage would suffer a temporary backlash: intense pain and a reversal of their mana flow.

They wouldn’t die. They would simply writhe in unbearable pain for a few minutes.

As soon as the Salamander was recalled, Yuna was struck by the mana backlash, a pain she hadn’t felt in a long time. She collapsed on the spot, thrashing and groaning in agony.

It was humiliating to let Sia, her sworn enemy, see her in such a wretched state. But she was in too much pain to care.

Abandoning every last shred of pride, she choked and gasped as she reached out to Sia, begging for help.

But Sia looked down at her with cold eyes, a stark contrast to her expression before the spar began.

“Guh, Sia, gugh—”

Even saying her name was painful enough to leave Yuna gasping for breath.

And beyond the pain, Yuna began to feel an overwhelming terror.

No spirit mage in history had ever died from the backlash of a spirit’s forced recall. But Yuna was gripped by the fear that she might become the first.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

Another kind of pain awaited her.

Dragon Fear—the force that had filled the Salamander with such overwhelming terror.

This time, it was directed at Yuna.

The unprecedented intensity of that fear made her forget how to breathe. Her face began to turn deathly pale.

Sia walked over to her and looked down at her crumpled form.

Could an aura like this really come from a D-rank hunter?

“Unni.”

Sia’s eyes were as cold as those of a hired killer about to murder her target.

Yuna wanted to ask what was happening, why Sia was suddenly acting this way, but no words came out. Only a faint groan escaped her lips.

“Why were you interested in my boyfriend, unni? Even though you knew he had a girlfriend?”

Sia’s voice held no emotion at all. Somehow, that made it even more terrifying.

All Yuna could do was tremble in fear and listen.

She regretted everything.

Regretted not trying harder to win Minjun’s heart when they were young. Regretted approaching him too hastily when they met again after all those years. And regretted trying to take out her anger on Sia.

Every bit of it.

She wished she could just pass out, but her mind was astonishingly clear.

“And just so you know, if you’re thinking of using the CCTV footage I saw when we came in to pull some kind of stunt, you’d better forget about it.”

Sia had already set up a spell throughout the arena. The CCTV footage would probably show them having an ordinary spar.

“So even if you go around telling people this happened to you, no one will believe you.”

Watch yourself.

Terrified for her life, Yuna’s eyes filled with tears. She nodded obsequiously again and again, desperate to survive. Sia released her Dragon Fear and returned to her original spot.

The pain from the mana backlash gradually eased, and Yuna’s ragged breathing returned to normal.

But that indescribable agony still lingered deep in her chest.

She had returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. Yet the vacant look in her eyes made it clear that what had just happened hadn’t been a hallucination.

“Good work, unni.”

Yuna was too dazed even to fix her disheveled hair. Sia, back to her usual self, spoke to her warmly.

“That was a great experience. I learned a lot, too. When else would I get the chance to spar with an A-rank hunter?”

Sia spoke calmly, as if they’d just finished a perfectly ordinary spar.

The sight was so chilling and frightening that Yuna was seized by paralyzing fear all over again.

She didn’t even have the courage to ask Sia why she’d done that. She could only give a small, dazed nod.

Sia casually wrapped her arms around Yuna in a tight hug,

as if to thank her for arranging this meeting.

As she held Yuna, Sia whispered so quietly that Yuna could barely hear her.

“If you catch my eye again, or my boyfriend’s, this won’t be the end of it.”

Then, as though nothing had happened, she asked Yuna in a friendly voice:

“You must be hungry, unni. It’s almost lunchtime. Shall we go get something to eat?”