Chapter 24 - Oppa, Why Are You So Sexy?

Sia resumed the video. It showed everything from us chatting amiably with the villains, unaware that they were about to reveal their true colors, to Junhwi and me making small talk during our break. None of it seemed special to me, but Sia appeared to find those moments fascinating.

["It's strange seeing the world through your eyes, Oppa."]

"Is it?"

Come to think of it, I'd probably find it pretty strange if Sia recorded a video like this and showed it to me. Would it feel like secretly reading her diary?

["Yeah. And seeing those pieces of trash who tried to kill you back when they were still alive..."]

"Seeing them?"

Had she changed her mind about watching? I'd have been relieved if she stopped, and I was just about to tell her she didn't have to watch if it was too hard.

But...

["Now I know for sure. This world is too dangerous for you, Oppa."]

What was that supposed to mean?

["Look at her. That bitch Seo Yuseon keeps trying to seduce you with those little looks."]

"She was just trying to make us lower our guard—"

Honestly, I hadn't gotten the impression that Seo Yuseon was trying to seduce me. Sia apparently saw things differently.

["That's a problem in itself. Anyway, there was that bitch, and who knows what some other bitch might do after luring you in? This won't do."]

I'd noticed it now and then: since our reunion, Sia seemed markedly more worried and jealous than before. To think she'd read that much into the behavior of a villain who'd tried to kill me. Then again, we'd met again after being apart for an unimaginably long time, so I could understand it. At this rate, I might find myself having to explain even an accidental brush of hands with a female clerk at a store. It wasn't a funny thought.

In any case...

"Sia, that's why I told you the video wouldn't be interesting."

["No. I want to keep watching. I need to see it."]

She shook her head as if she couldn't believe what I was saying, then focused on the video again. Even when I was struggling to suppress a yawn out of boredom, she never took her eyes off the screen.

After some time, the video reached the point where the villains, making one last desperate struggle before they died, were about to spout those words.

I paused it and spoke to Sia.

"Sia, can't we stop here? There's nothing good to see after this."

["But I still wanna watch."]

"Even though it shows people dying?"

["I told you, they're trash, not people. It's fine."]

"..."

I'd made one last attempt to persuade her, but she didn't seem inclined to change her mind.

["It's okay. That's why I have to watch."]

"... All right."

There was no point trying to stop her. I gave up and resumed the video.

The scenes I'd dreaded slowly began to play: the unspeakable insults directed at Sia and me, followed by me driving my sword through their hearts in a single stroke.

'Here it comes.'

I sighed inwardly and carefully watched Sia's reaction. Hearing the villains say those things had made my blood boil. How much worse would it be for her?

But...

Sia didn't look like someone who'd seen anything unpleasant. If anything, her eyes shone with such excitement and anticipation that I was taken aback.

... Why?

["Oppa."]

Oblivious to my confusion, Sia gazed at me with a dreamy, eager look.

["Why are you so sexy?"]

"...?"

What on earth was sexy about that?

* * *

Even after ending her video call with Minjun, which had gone on for hours, Sia stayed in front of the screen. In fact, she pulled herself closer and began replaying the footage she'd paused. Was she reviewing the fight to give Minjun more detailed feedback because she felt she hadn't said enough? No. Had something in the travel chatter Minjun called boring caught her interest? That wasn't it either.

What she wanted to see again was the moment Minjun drove his sword into the hearts of the villains who'd been spewing abuse, without a moment's hesitation.

"Hee. How can my Oppa be so sexy?"

In truth, contrary to Minjun's fears, she wasn't particularly dwelling on the villains' insults. What interested her was how Minjun had responded: the way he'd stabbed them in the chest without hesitation, as if they weren't worth listening to anymore. Even his sword energy had turned bloodred for an instant, as though infused with his feelings.

"I bet he's the only one who doesn't know how sexy he is."

When she'd first watched the footage with Minjun and called him sexy, he'd shaken his head without realizing it, unable to understand what part she meant. To Sia, though, it had looked as if he was simply embarrassed by the word sexy. He'd shown her how sexy he was, then shied away and bashfully denied it when she said so. Sia found that adorably nerdy. Handsome and sexy, with that unexpected nerdy charm too? The thought that a man as fantastical as a unicorn was her boyfriend sent a thrill through her.

"Still, this is a little disappointing."

The wearable camera had been made in a hurry, and she could see plenty of room for improvement. One obvious shortcoming was its limited perspective. Since it was fixed to Minjun's chest, everything was filmed from there.

If only she could have seen him from a third-person perspective.

'Then I could have seen the expression on his face.'

The expression he'd worn when he killed the three villains.

She'd prepared the camera to see another side of Minjun in the gate, one she couldn't witness herself. Now that she'd seen the results, its shortcomings were all too clear. If she'd filmed him with a drone instead...

Ah!

*'Why didn't I think of that?'

She'd been so focused on other things that it hadn't occurred to her. A camera drone. If she modified one, she could observe Minjun in greater detail and from more angles. If only she'd made one from the start, she could have seen the expression he'd worn then—and his face and everything he did at every moment.

But it was too late for regrets. She'd use a drone on the next gate raid. For now, she had to work with what she had.

Sia played that section again in slow motion. She might not get a clear view, but surely Minjun's face would be faintly reflected somewhere. For instance...

'In someone's eyes.'

She enlarged the image and checked the villains' eyes one by one for Minjun's reflection. The nature of such a reflection might make it hard to make out the finer details of his expression, but it was better than nothing.

And at last...

"Found it...!"

Sia spotted Minjun reflected in the eyes of Seo Yuseon, the villain who had been facing him head-on. She enlarged the image. It was a little blurry, but she could see Minjun holding his sword.

*'Can I make it any bigger?'

She swallowed and zoomed in as far as the video would allow. Unfortunately, all she could see was the blurry outline of Minjun's face. His precise expression remained impossible to make out.

*'Should I give up?'

The thought crossed her mind, but she quickly shook her head. She was the very picture of perseverance, someone who had spent two thousand years studying a single spell: dimensional travel magic. If technology had reached its limit, it was time to turn to magic.

She marshaled all the knowledge she'd accumulated over twenty-five hundred years to bring Minjun's hazy reflection in Seo Yuseon's eyes into focus. It might have sounded easy with magic, but the footage had been produced through a combination of magic and modern technology. The task was anything but simple—for a human, at least. As a dragon, Sia succeeded in sharpening and enlarging the image in just ten minutes.

Her heart trembling, Sia studied Minjun's expression in the reflection.

"Ah..."

His eyes were wide as he glared at the villains. His lips quivered with barely contained anger. Indescribably deep fury was unmistakable on his face: fierce anger that those primitive creatures, unworthy of drawing breath, had dared insult his woman.

Feeling Minjun's emotions as if they were her own, Sia covered her mouth and stared at his face for a long time. Her heart pounded harder and harder beyond her control, and an excitement too great to contain flushed her face redder than the sun.

She wanted to run to Minjun right then, to curl up in his warm embrace, feel his body heat, and tell him everything she felt. But she knew she couldn't do that now.

'I wish I had something more.'

Calls with Minjun, photos of the two of them, and videos of him—at first she'd thought they would be enough to get her through a week. But she was nearing her limit. Perhaps it was how much she missed him, but her hands had begun to tremble strangely.

'I can't go on like this.'

She wanted more than a video call. She wanted to feel his warmth and breathe in his scent in person. She needed some way to feel as though Minjun was beside her even when he wasn't.

* * *

After that incident, I followed Rokan's advice and stayed away from gate raids. I even asked if I could at least train, but he shook his head and said we had to be careful of even the slightest possibility.

So I found myself on an enforced break, spending several hours a day talking to Sia. We chatted about ordinary things, but I also took the opportunity to ask her to tell me all sorts of things about dragons. I thought a deeper understanding of them might help me wield dragon power.

Time passed, and at last the day I was due to see Sia arrived.

Once I'd finished getting ready, I checked the time. There were about ten minutes left before we were supposed to meet, so I made one last check to see if I'd forgotten anything.

Today I was visiting Sia's lair. Since it was a visit to her new home, I thought I ought to bring a housewarming gift. Yesterday I'd told her she could ask for anything she wanted. But instead of something ordinary like rolls of toilet paper, she'd asked for something completely unexpected.

After dating her for so long, I'd thought I knew her fairly well, but lately I couldn't tell what was going through her head.

*'Why on earth does she want my old clothes?'

Not new clothes, or even ones I'd only worn a few times. She wanted clothes I'd worn for years, until they were practically threadbare.

... What was she planning to do with them?