Chapter 38 - Oppa, I Miss You

Was it because Minjun's dragon speech was still incomplete? Or was the illusory space Minos had created simply that demanding about how fully it was mastered? Though Minjun had definitely felt something, no notification had appeared to say he'd met the clear conditions.

But the endless sky had split, and the soldiers' and wyverns' bodies were twisting grotesquely. Unlike before, he seemed unmistakably closer to mastering dragon speech this time.

'It worked...!'

The clear notification hadn't appeared yet, but if he kept this up, it wouldn't be long before he could use dragon speech perfectly.

Minjun strained his voice and cried out the words again and again.

["Shatter without a trace!"]

Then, as he spoke dragon speech once more, both Minos's sword planted in the ground and Minjun's own sword broke at the same time.

CRASH!

A deafening crack came from the fractured sky. The soldiers and wyverns, unable to hold their forms, dissolved back into dark red smoke and scattered in every direction. The sky rapidly turned black, as though trying to conceal the fracture.

Holding his Dragon Bone Sword, now broken in two, Minjun stared blankly up at the sky. Luck seemed to have been on his side in more ways than one, but even so, he hadn't expected to succeed with dragon speech so quickly.

"Come to think of it, this broke."

His gaze dropped from the sky, split in two, to the Dragon Bone Sword. Sia had given him that sword as a gift—the sword that had started all of this. He'd thought it could withstand almost any blow, yet it had snapped just like that.

'I wonder if it can be fixed.'

What if Sia was upset that the gift she'd given him had broken in two? Now that the tension had left him, all sorts of thoughts were coming to mind.

At last, a clear notification appeared before Minjun's eyes. Then, in the space now steeped entirely in darkness, an exit back to Earth appeared.

"Ugh..."

He had cleared the gate, but the pain throughout his body had not gone away. Had he used too much power? His breathing grew labored, and his mind was becoming hazy. Exhausted, Minjun trudged toward the exit with the broken sword in one hand.

'I wonder what that Minos guy thought when he saw me succeed with dragon speech.'

No, wait. If Minjun had succeeded, Minos could at least have congratulated him—or acted surprised out of courtesy if he hadn't expected it.

In any case, once Minjun passed through the exit, he saw the same scenery he'd seen before entering the gate. Only then did clearing it finally feel real.

'But where is everyone else?'

If the gate had been cleared, the others trapped inside should have come out too, but he couldn't see any of the other hunters. Just as he began to worry that something had gone wrong, the gate opened and the raid members who had entered the dungeon with him emerged one by one.

"Minjun!"

Taeseong spotted him the moment he came out of the gate and approached, calling his name in relief. The other hunters crowded in behind him.

"Are you all right?"

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Thank goodness. What on earth happened?"

They gathered around Minjun in small groups, saying they'd been worried something had happened to him. They asked how he was and what had happened after he'd fallen.

But Minjun was in no condition to answer their questions one by one. He looked unscathed, without even a scratch, but the pain that had built up during the raid made it hard for him even to stand.

Seeing how pale he was, Taeseong supported him and asked with concern, "Are you feeling all right? Should we go straight to a hospital?"

Getting to a hospital from here would take quite a while, though, and no doctor would know about the side effects of using dragon speech. Rokan's lair would be a better choice. Rokan would understand Minjun's condition better than a doctor.

Barely able to muster the strength to speak, Minjun said quietly, "... I'm sorry. I need to go ahead."

With that, he used his teleportation ring to go straight to Rokan's lair.

'Ah...'

He wanted to call for Rokan and ask for help, but for some reason, he couldn't see him. Had he finally reached his limit? Minjun collapsed where he stood and lost consciousness.

* * *

That morning, on the day Minjun set out to raid the Garden of the Dragon Sword dungeon, Sia teleported to Yangpyeong, where Minjun's parents lived, as soon as she finished talking to him on the phone.

She had originally planned to visit her future in-laws with Minjun, but...

'If we're together too long, Oppa might collapse.'

So she decided to visit his parents on her own for now. Ordinarily, visiting your future in-laws without your boyfriend wasn't the usual thing to do, but Sia felt no discomfort about it at all.

When she was young, she'd lost her entire family in an accident. Minjun's parents had loved her and treated her like a daughter.

Besides, though it was a separate matter, today's visit held another meaning for her. She had a secret purpose she couldn't tell anyone about.

"Mother, Father! I'm here!"

Sia greeted Minjun's parents brightly as soon as she arrived. The moment they heard her, they hurried over to welcome her.

"Oh, Sia! It's been so long. Have you been well?"

They greeted her as though nothing had happened. Minjun had told them that Sia, whom they'd believed had died a year ago, had miraculously come back to life. Of course, they didn't know she'd actually been reincarnated as a dragon in another world and, after various twists and turns, returned to Earth. Perhaps they could tell them someday, when Minjun had fully become a dragon.

In any case, they had plenty they wanted to ask Sia. Like everyone else, they were curious about what had happened between the accident and her return to Earth.

But before she arrived, they'd agreed not to mention the accident in the gate at all. Hadn't most of the few returnees who'd been trapped in gates and made it back to Earth spoken in interviews about their terrible experiences? Neither of them wanted to bring up that time and stir up Sia's trauma.

"Yes. Have you both been well too?"

"Of course, of course."

For Sia, this was the first time she'd seen them since her reincarnation, making the reunion especially meaningful to her. After greeting them, she handed them the gifts she'd prepared.

"And I bought these because they made me think of you both."

"Oh, you shouldn't have brought us anything. You didn't need to. By the way, Sia, have you had breakfast?"

"No."

"The food's almost ready, so wait just a little longer."

"I'm starving, actually. Thank you!"

A little later, they set out a feast so generous it seemed the table might buckle beneath it. Sia couldn't hide her surprise.

"Wow. Mother, you made so much!"

"I made a bit of everything since you were coming. If there isn't enough, just say so."

They began eating in a warm, cheerful atmosphere, catching up on everything they hadn't had a chance to talk about. With so much food and so many stories to share, the meal went on for a long time.

As the long meal finally drew to a close, Sia asked, "Mother, Father, do you have any photo albums?"

"You mean the ones with our old film photos?"

"Yes."

Sia took the photo scanner she'd bought yesterday out of her bag. "This is a photo scanner. It turns film photos into digital files. If we scan your photos with it, you can look at them easily anytime, anywhere."

"Oh my, there's a device for that? How fascinating."

Both parents seemed intrigued by the unfamiliar device.

"I can scan them for you. Would that be all right?"

"Of course. Since you've brought it, I suppose it's time we looked through the albums again."

Minjun's father brought over several thick albums stored deep in a wardrobe and sat down. Sia hurried over and settled beside him.

"Sia, Minjun hasn't shown you this album, has he?"

"No! I've been wanting to see it for ages. This is perfect."

Offering to scan the photos had been an excuse. Her real aim was to look at old pictures of Minjun—and, while she was at it, turn them into digital files so she could secretly keep copies for herself. That was why she'd brought two USB drives today: one to give his parents the files, and the other to hold copies of the scans for her private collection.

"I wonder if Minjun will complain later that we showed you his pictures without asking him," his father said.

"Father, if you and Mother keep it a secret, my lips are sealed too."

She smiled sweetly and put a finger to her lips.

"Of course."

Minjun's mother opened a thick album, and Sia pressed close beside her to look at his old photos.

"This one was taken before Minjun was even a week old."

The first picture that caught their eye showed baby Minjun, stark naked without even a diaper, crying with his face all scrunched up.

"... It would have been embarrassing if Minjun were here," his mother said. After all, it was a picture of him completely naked, even if he had been a newborn.

"Hehe. That's why I came without Oppa. I figured he wouldn't let me see it if he were here."

"Is that why you brought that thing? To see pictures of Minjun?"

His father pointed at the scanner. Sia grinned and nodded playfully.

"Yep. You caught me."

"Oh, dear."

Naturally, his parents thought Sia was joking and laughed it off. Her tone certainly sounded like a joke. But did they know she wasn't joking at all?

"But Oppa was so cute even as a newborn!"

His parents looked a little taken aback.

"Well... Minjun is handsome now, certainly, but honestly, he wasn't as a baby."

"Now that I think back, we were really worried when he first came into the world."

He'd looked like a lumpy potato at birth, and they'd worried what he'd look like when he grew up. Thankfully, as time passed, his features became more defined and he grew into his looks.

"You know how they say ugly babies grow up to be beautiful? That's what happened."

"I still think he's cute. Cute enough to nibble on."

They kept turning the album's pages slowly, forgetting all about scanning. Lost in memories, Minjun's mother explained to Sia when and under what circumstances each photo had been taken. Sia was delighted to see pictures of a childhood of Minjun's she'd never known.

Soon she'd have scanned copies of those pictures on her own USB drive, too. Her heart began to race at the thought. To her, the album was a priceless treasure.

As they turned the pages, they passed his infancy and reached pictures of Minjun as a young child. There was one of him in a bright yellow hat and matching kindergarten uniform, awkwardly making a V sign. Another showed him beaming on a family trip.

And then there was a photo of him with Go Yuna, who had worked alongside him as a child model. The smile Sia had worn until that moment stiffened slightly as soon as she spotted it.

Minjun's mother didn't notice. She cheerfully explained the picture, unaware of Sia's expression. "Minjun did some child modeling when he was little. Isn't he adorable? This girl is Yuna. They modeled together when they were young."

Sia knew. Of course she knew. She'd even met Yuna recently. Though they'd already met, she blithely pretended this was her first time seeing her.

As they continued through the album, pictures of Minjun and Yuna together appeared here and there. The problem was that in nine out of ten of them, Yuna was clinging to Minjun, pretending to kiss him, or otherwise being openly affectionate with him. Some might say she shouldn't read so much into children kissing, but Sia couldn't look on it kindly.

"It looks like she and Oppa were pretty close."

"Oh, they were. When they were little, Yuna followed Minjun around like a shadow."

"Our Oppa must have been popular even back then."

Sia tried to suppress the feelings welling up inside her and keep her expression calm.

"He was. And I'm not just saying that because he's my son, but girls were always trailing after him when he was little."

Sia had suspected as much, but hearing it directly from his parents was another matter.

'That woman really did like Oppa even back then.'

No wonder she'd had a bad feeling about her from the start. Sia was sure Go Yuna's feelings for Minjun had lasted until now. She didn't know when or how, but her instincts told her Yuna would approach him and flirt with him.

In that case...

'I can't just sit back and do nothing.'

She decided she needed to come up with a plan, starting now.

After spending a long time looking through the albums, Sia scanned the pictures one by one and put the files on two USB drives. One was for Minjun's parents; the other, of course, was for her to enjoy in secret. She discreetly tucked one drive into her pocket dimension, then handed the other to Minjun's mother.

"Here you go! You can look at the files on a laptop or save them to your phone. If you're not sure how, just ask me anytime."

"Thank you, my dear daughter-in-law."

"Hehe."

They weren't married yet, but Minjun's parents took it for granted that they would be someday, so calling Sia their daughter-in-law came naturally. Sia, of course, loved being called that.

Even after converting the photos to digital files, she enjoyed talking with Minjun's parents and helping with chores, as comfortable as if she were visiting her own family home.

As time passed, it drew close to when Minjun should have finished the raid and come out of the gate. He'd told her that this gate's clear condition was simply to survive inside for three hours, so the time of its completion was practically set from the moment he entered. The time Minjun had given her was nearly up, and that morning, he'd said he would call as soon as the raid ended. He would call soon.

"Mother, Father, I should get going now!"

"All right. Come see us again soon. And let us know if you need any side dishes."

"I will, Mother! See you soon! I'll come back with Oppa next time!"

Cheerful to the last, Sia left the house and went straight back to her lair, her heart fluttering. She didn't even change clothes when she arrived. Clutching her phone, she waited for Minjun to call.

But more than thirty minutes passed after the time they'd discussed, and there was still no call.

'...Why hasn't he called?'

Normally, she would have assumed the raid was running late and he couldn't call yet. Gates were full of unpredictable variables, and raids could take wildly different amounts of time depending on what happened. But today Minjun had gone to a dungeon with an explicit clear condition: survive for three hours.

"Something hasn't happened to him... has it?"

No. That couldn't be it. His phone battery might have died, and he might be charging it. Or he might have lost or broken his phone during a fight. Sia tried to calm herself with these explanations.

But...

'...Even so, he should have contacted me by now.'

Even if every one of those possibilities had come true, Minjun still had the teleportation ring Rokan had given him. He could have used it to go to Rokan's lair and contacted her through Rokan. The fact that she still hadn't heard from him meant something must have happened. She didn't want to admit it, but only one possibility remained.

"No. It can't be..."

With a dazed expression, she used a mana-tracking spell on the spot to find the gate Minjun had entered. As soon as she located it, she went there and confirmed that it still hadn't been cleared.

"...!"

She reached a trembling hand toward the gate to check its information. It read:

[Rank: EX

Clear Conditions: Reach the lowest level of Minos's tomb and use dragon speech (0/1)]

"H-he said it was a D-rank gate..."

It was uncommon for a gate's rank to change suddenly, and rarer still for it to become EX-rank. And why, of all things, did the clear conditions require dragon speech? That meant Minjun couldn't leave the gate until he used it.

The moment she realized this, Sia sank to the ground, stunned.

"Ah... aaah..."

Faced with a reality she desperately wanted to deny, she covered her face with both hands and sobbed. It couldn't be. No matter how gifted Minjun was—even Rokan had praised his talent—there was no way he could use dragon speech already.

And so she had no choice but to admit it: even if a miracle allowed Minjun to clear this gate someday, it would be... a very long time before he came out.

Her legs weak, Sia called Rokan through her sobs. He rushed to her side as soon as he heard from her.

"Shasha, what's wrong?"

"Grandpa, sob, my Oppa... sob."

Sia explained what had happened, clinging to the faint hope that her grandfather, an ancient dragon, might know what to do. But even he seemed to have no solution. He shook his head gravely.

"... I'm sorry."

Even for an ancient dragon like Rokan, or for Sia, who had developed dimensional travel magic, the impossible remained impossible. Gates were mysterious things that not even dragons fully understood.

When even that sliver of hope vanished, Sia could no longer bear the shock. She fainted where she sat.