Chapter 12 - Oppa, Can You Really Do It?

Minjun and Sia could not accept what Rokan had said. They had only just found each other again, and now he was telling them they could not be close? It made no sense. What could possibly make him so certain that being together would mean Minjun’s death? Was he saying it on purpose to separate Sia from him? Dragon or not, Sia’s grandfather or not, Minjun decided he had to speak up.

“Sir, I don’t understand. If you don’t like me, I’d rather you simply tell me what it is you dislike. Then I can decide whether you’re right, change what I need to, or do whatever else I can.”

Sia did not try to stop him. If anything, she glared at her grandfather with resentment in her eyes. She could not understand his words either.

“Grandpa, don’t say something so ridiculous! Come on, Oppa. I’ll talk to Grandpa later.” Sia spun around, took Minjun’s hand, and tried to leave the lair.

“You’ll regret it.” At that, Sia looked back at her grandfather, her face tight with anger, then turned away and took Minjun’s hand again. Whether he understood how she felt or not, Rokan went on calmly.

“If you leave now, your partner will collapse again before long. I might be able to do something the first time or two. After that, his condition will grow serious beyond repair.”

Sia flinched at the thought of his condition becoming too serious for anyone to help. It couldn’t be true. There was no way. She repeated that to herself as she tried to leave the lair, but Rokan did not stop speaking.

“When your lover’s life is in danger, when no one can say whether he’ll live or die... that’s when you’ll come back to me, Shasha, carrying his limp body on your back. Is that the future you want?”

His words were so cruel they sounded more like a curse than advice. They were certainly not the sort of thing a grandfather should say to his granddaughter and her lover. But Rokan’s expression was grave. He had no desire to curse his beloved granddaughter or the man she loved. He had resorted to a little shock therapy only because he wanted her to take his warning more seriously. Fortunately, it seemed to work. Sia stopped at his chilling words.

She looked at her grandfather, her eyes red. “Grandpa, tell me honestly. You don’t like Minjun, do you? That’s why you’re saying this, isn’t it?” Her hands trembled as she struggled to accept what she was hearing. She wanted Rokan’s words to come from personal feelings instead. If that was all it was, she was sure she could do anything it took to change his mind.

But if her grandfather was telling the truth... ‘What happens to us then?’ She could not imagine it. No—she did not even want to.

The anguish in his granddaughter’s eyes hurt Rokan to see. He continued slowly. “Shasha, no matter whom you love, your grandpa will always be on your side. You remember that, don’t you? But...” He paused to steady his breathing, then spoke in a calm voice. “Your energies are incompatible.”

“... Our energies are incompatible?” Sia’s pupils quivered slightly, as though something had occurred to her. A dreadful premonition sent a chill up her spine.

“It’s difficult to explain in detail here, so I’ll keep it simple for now. Shasha, as you well know, the energy you carry is more extraordinary and more intense than that of other dragons. You know that, don’t you?”

“D-does that cause a problem? Why?”

Instead of answering, Rokan took Sia’s hand in silence, looking at her with pity. But she could not understand how her energy could be a problem.

After all, other dragons had envied her for it, calling it a blessing. They had said that extraordinary energy would let her leave her name in dragon history—that she, too, might have the honor of becoming Dragon Lord, like her grandfather. Everyone had said so, and she had come to think of it as a blessing from heaven. So why, of all things, did it have to be this?

“How does that—no. Are you saying my energy is incompatible with Minjun? Why...?” Her gaze wandered, and her voice shook. “Then because of that energy, if I... if Minjun and I stay together, he’ll die...?” Sia bit her lip. She wanted to cry out at the top of her lungs that it wasn’t true, that it couldn’t be.

Rokan gently held her hand between both of his. “You don’t want to understand, and I doubt you can. But there’s nothing we can do.” Accepting it would be hard for her. As if he understood that all too well, Rokan shook his head, looking troubled.

“... Is there a way? Any way at all? A way for me to control my energy better, or anything! A way for me to keep seeing him!”

“There is. But I’d call it next to impossible.”

“Tell me anyway.”

Rokan hesitated, then decided to tell his granddaughter. “Your lover must gain complete command of a dragon’s power.”

“...?”

“... What?”

Minjun and Sia’s eyes widened. Rokan gave a bitter smile. “For now, that’s the only way.”

Even Sia, who had experienced the miracle of reincarnation, thought this was not merely “next to impossible” but outright impossible. Granted, since Minjun had drawn out the Dragon Bone Sword’s power, he might eventually reach a point where he could wield a dragon’s power to some extent. But “to some extent” was all. In the continent’s entire history, there had never been a human who had wielded the full power of a dragon.

‘I have to find another way.’ She did not know what that way might be, but anything would surely be more realistic than this. Sia resolved to use every means at her disposal to find it. When she had said she would complete dimensional travel magic, everyone had pointed at her and called it impossible. Yet she had succeeded and proved them wrong. There had to be a way this time, too. ‘No. There has to be.’ Her eyes trembled.

Meanwhile, Minjun watched Sia agonize over it alone. She had not said a word, but he could read what she was thinking in her anxious eyes. ‘She’s going to try to solve it on her own.’ Since his chances looked so slim, she must have decided it would be better to handle the problem herself. The moment he realized that, something hot welled up inside him. ‘Why?’ Why would she go that far?

Sia had already shouldered far too much. Hadn’t she sacrificed no less than twenty-five hundred years to come back to him because she knew he would be grieving? He had wanted her to live happily now, free of worry. But despite his hopes and his resolve, Sia was determined to sacrifice herself again. ‘I can’t bear to watch her suffer.’ The realization sent an ache through his heart.

He did not care if the road ahead was strewn with thorns. If happiness with Sia waited at its end, he was willing to walk it. “You said it was next to impossible, didn’t you, sir?”

If reincarnation and dimensional travel magic were possible, perhaps even a person’s race could be changed. It had taken Minjun some time to understand because he had initially misread Rokan’s words. But thinking them over, he concluded that mastering a dragon’s power could not be entirely impossible. Rokan had said “next to impossible,” not “impossible.” Just as Sia had researched dimensional travel magic, Minjun thought it worth trying if there was even the slightest chance. Sia had already given everything up for him once. Now it was his turn to show her how he felt.

“If it isn’t nonsense, if it’s only so difficult that it’s nearly impossible... then please tell me how.” Determination rang in Minjun’s voice. But Sia took his hand and pleaded with him. “Oppa. This... isn’t right. Anyone can see it’s impossible. I’ll find another way, so—” She wanted to tell him that she had already walked a thorny road once and would walk it again; he only had to stay beside her and watch.

But before she could finish, Minjun pulled her into a tight embrace. “Sia. You told me you spent two thousand years researching how to see me again. So leave it to me now. I’ll find a way.” Had his sincerity reached her? Tears began to gather in Sia’s eyes again.

Rokan had watched them in silence. He closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought. “... Very well. If your resolve is that firm, I’ll tell you how soon.” He took a ring from inside his clothing and handed it to Minjun. “The Teleport spell engraved on this ring is set to the coordinates of this place. Come back here in three days. We’ll talk again then.”

“Thank you.”

Minjun did not know what Rokan would tell him in three days, but even a sliver of hope was something.

As Minjun put on the ring Rokan had given him, Sia looked back and forth between him and the ring, her feelings plainly mixed. “Grandpa, give me a ring too. One just like that.”

“I don’t mind giving you one, Shasha, but you don’t need it, do you?”

A ring engraved with a Teleport spell might be a valuable artifact to an ordinary human, but to a dragon it was nothing more or less than a trinket. Rokan had no trouble giving her another; he simply wanted to know why she wanted it.

“Do I have to... say it myself?” For some reason, Sia’s face had turned as red as a beet. “Th-th-thaaat...” She hesitated over whether to answer. Then she lowered her head in embarrassment and spoke so softly she could barely be heard. “... A ring.”

“What was that?”

“A couple’s ring! A couple’s ring! Grandpa, don’t you know what that is? We’re a couple, so it would look strange if Oppa were the only one wearing a ring! If he wears one, I want to wear a matching one! All right?” Overwhelmed by embarrassment, she covered her flushed face with her hands. As if to say she could not believe he had made her spell it out, Sia turned her back on him. “I’m mad at you, Grandpa. You knew all along.” Her voice was full of hurt.

“I truly didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Rokan took an identical ring from his pocket dimension and handed it to his granddaughter. Though he apologized aloud, he had to suppress a smile at seeing this new side of her. As soon as Sia accepted the ring, she slipped it onto her ring finger and gazed at it with satisfaction.

“Oppa. Aren’t you going to put yours on?”

“Oh, right.”

Everything had happened so quickly that even after receiving his ring, Minjun had not thought to put it on. He hurriedly slipped it onto his finger.

“Don’t ever take it off, Oppa. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll never take mine off either. Promise?”

“I wouldn’t take it off even if you told me to, so don’t worry.”

Satisfied with his answer, Sia hugged him. But her expression soon grew somber.

“When will we be able to see each other again?”

“I don’t know. From what your grandfather said, it sounds like we still have some time together, but I don’t know how much.”

Some time had passed, yet Minjun had not suddenly lost consciousness again. Rokan answered, “I’ve taken measures through magic, though they’re only temporary. Let me see... You have exactly six hours left.”

It was not much time. Minjun set a timer so he would not waste even a minute of it with Sia.

“Grandpa, once those six hours are up... does that mean we can never see each other again until this is solved?” Sia asked him gloomily. After everything it had taken for them to reunite, nothing could seem more unfair than being given only six hours.

“I see I left room for a misunderstanding.”

At the word “misunderstanding,” both their faces began to brighten.

“It doesn’t mean you can’t see each other at all. If my guess is right, you should still be able to meet for about three hours a week.”

“!!!”

They had thought they would be unable to meet at all until the problem was solved. That was not the case. Three hours a week was terribly short, but it was better than nothing.

“Grandpa, then...”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“How could I not? Why do you think I called it a temporary measure? Even for me, this spell takes a great deal of effort. You were thinking I could keep extending your time together like this, but I’m afraid I can’t.”

Even her grandfather, an ancient dragon and former Dragon Lord who could be said to have reached the pinnacle of magic, found the spell taxing. Sia’s spirits sank again, and she lowered her head. Today would be the only day the two of them were granted a full six hours together.

“How much time you have may increase, depending on your efforts. And as I said, if you work yourself to the bone, you may eventually be able to meet without any restrictions.” Rokan faced Minjun and looked him in the eye. A mere human, freely wielding the power of a dragon—a being incomparably greater than any human. What sort of resolve would someone need to pursue a goal so close to impossible? Minjun’s eyes were full of determination.

“I’ll work at it as if my life depends on it.”

“Good. That’s the spirit.” Rokan nodded with satisfaction. “We can discuss what we haven’t covered another time.” Right now, every second would be precious to them.

It would take several more hours to explain their situation and how to resolve it in greater detail. Rokan decided to leave the complicated discussion there for now. He wanted to give this devoted couple—who had found each other across dimensions and across lifetimes—some time alone. Wasn’t every second precious to them now?

“I’ll leave you two to it. Shasha, come to your grandpa when your time is up.”

“Yes!”

With those parting words, Rokan cast a Teleport spell and vanished. Sia and Minjun were left alone in the vast lair.

They both had so much they wanted to say: how they would get through this new crisis, and how they could plan a future together. It might take days, not six hours, to talk through it all. But neither of them intended to have that conversation right now.

“Oppa, is there anywhere you want to go?”

For the six hours they had left, they planned to spend their time on a date, like any ordinary couple.