Her Name Is Rhea (3)
The moment I saw the egg crack, my body went rigid.
‘What do I do now… how should I even handle this?’
I had never once seen a dragon hatch from an egg.
Time slipped by in a blur as the crack in the shell widened.
Crack.
The upper shell shattered, and the little face emerged.
“Ppaya?”
A fluffy white face with soft fur looked up at me.
‘This… it’s too adorable… what is this thing?’
A tiny horn poked up on its head, and tiny wings sprouted from its back, covered in the same soft fuzz.
“The time has finally come.”
Rhea appeared from behind me without a sound. She gently lifted the baby into her arms and settled it against my chest.
“Ppaya! Ppaya!”
“Your child is Luna.”
“Luna…?”
“It’s a girl.”
Rhea smiled and rubbed her cheek against the baby’s face.
“Maya! Maya!”
Luna let out a delighted squeal of laughter.
“She’s adorable, isn’t she?”
“Adorable… truly adorable.”
I struggled to keep the tears from spilling over.
‘She waited for me all this time… even when I was late to meet her.’
Dragons can sense their parents’ feelings even while they’re still in the egg.
Luna had waited until she could feel my heart settle, then hatched the moment we could be together.
“Thank you so much, Luna. For waiting until you could meet me.”
“Ppaaa…?”
***
A quiet café with few customers.
Ju Tae-jin placed a fresh coffee on the table in front of Nam Jin-cheol.
Nam Jin-cheol’s face was tense as he pulled the cup closer and asked,
“Um… so why exactly did the Special Hunter Crime Department call me here?”
Ju Tae-jin cut straight to the chase.
“I heard you were on site when that gate started going out of control.”
“Yes… I almost died.”
“I also heard you witnessed something during the incident.”
“Ah… it was a woman. She fought a monster that looked like the boss of the Living Armor Legion…”
Nam Jin-cheol’s words trailed off, but Ju Tae-jin stayed silent and listened.
‘There might be a clue somewhere in all this.’
While focusing hard on his every word, something suspicious slipped out.
“A mask?”
“Yes, her face was completely hidden by a mask.”
“Did you notice anything else about her appearance…?”
“Um… her eyes were so red they gave me the chills.”
Red eyes.
Kim Min-su’s wife, Jeok Hwa-ryeon, and their daughter, Jeok So-ye, both had red irises.
‘Chills mean a feeling, not sight. That monster was definitely one of them.’
CCTV had been fried or completely wiped out by the energy waves coming from the gate.
That made Nam Jin-cheol’s testimony the most important thing they had.
“And she was wielding a red sword.”
“A red sword… understood.”
It sounded like they had hit on something important.
“Any statements you make today can be used as evidence later.”
“You’re doing official business, so it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Thank you. Oh, please finish your coffee and go home. I have more work to handle.”
“Ah, yes, I’ll head out.”
The suspicion had already turned into certainty.
One of the two — either Jeok Hwa-ryeon or Jeok So-ye — was the S-class hunter they had been looking for.
“So now I just have to find that store…”
***
Jeok So-ye carefully gathered the eggshell and turned to Jeok Hwa-ryeon, who had been watching from behind.
“Was it like this when I was born?”
“You were even prettier and cuter than Luna.”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon answered with a smile and gave her forehead a quick peck.
“You’ll make plenty of new memories with your new family.”
“Yes…”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon took Rhea’s hand once the emotion settled.
“Okay, let’s go tell the others the rest of the story, sis.”
“Ah… So-ye? Can you hold Luna for me?”
Rhea asked gently.
“Yes!”
Jeok So-ye accepted Luna from Rhea with a rare smile.
“Wait!”
Kim Min-su stepped between them.
“My sister’s Wagyu is still too fresh to cook yet. We have a griddle and everything right here. Let’s eat first and then decide.”
“Wagyu?”
“That’s Korean beef. Try it.”
Kim Min-su quickly set up the grill and tongs in the living room.
“Grilling meat is the head of the household’s job, after all.”
He laid the prime rib on the heated griddle.
Sizzle…
The delicious sound of meat cooking filled the air.
Everyone stared in awe.
“Pp…”
Luna did the same.
Jeok So-ye gently stroked the baby’s soft fur while watching with a strange expression — somewhere between a smile and complete stillness.
“Waiting around won’t help. Let’s watch the news instead.”
Kim Min-su turned on the TV to distract everyone.
“It’s probably best to learn about this world while watching the news.”
Right then, a weather report came on.
While everyone’s eyes were drawn to the screen, Kim Min-su quickly flipped the meat.
“It’s done.”
“Already?”
“Can we eat?”
“Eat.”
Chopsticks moved fast.
They ate with quick, practiced motions.
“Lightly salt it first.”
“Let me try…”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon dipped a piece into the salt and put it in her mouth.
Her eyes widened after a few chews.
“It melts in your mouth! This is delicious! I’ve never had such fresh beef before.”
“That’s the power of modern agriculture for you.”
Everyone else followed suit and added salt to their meat.
“This… it really is delicious. It’s like eating a perfectly raised cow that was slaughtered right in front of you.”
“It really is different from eating it raw.”
“Ppaya!! Ppaya!!”
Luna was the only one who hadn’t eaten yet. She looked at Kim Min-su and wriggled.
“Rhea, can Luna eat meat too?”
“Hmm… I probably started eating meat the moment I hatched…”
Rhea answered with a shy blush.
Kim Min-su thought to himself.
‘As expected of dragons — they’re strong from the very beginning.’
He quickly grabbed a piece of Wagyu, salted it, and offered it to Luna’s mouth.
“Huum…”
Luna chewed thoughtfully, her eyes sparkling, then nodded.
“Ppaya!!”
The loud shout told them it tasted amazing.
“Now we can’t forget the alcohol that goes with meat!”
Kim Min-su pulled cans of beer from the bag and tossed them to Jeok Hwa-ryeon and Rhea.
They caught them easily and asked,
“Alcohol…?”
“See that little tab on top? Pull it and it opens.”
Jeok Hwa-ryeon wrinkled her nose and pulled hard.
Pshhh!
The can exploded so violently in her hand that beer shot into the air.
They laughed at the spray and finally let out the tension they had been holding.
Jeok Hwa-ryeon told the story of how she had met Kim Min-su and how they fell in love, all in a long three-hour monologue.
Rhea listened with laughter.
Jeok So-ye, who couldn’t drink, grew tired of the story and carried the now-round-bellied Luna off to bed.
Kim Min-su drank until he was drunk and slumped onto the living-room sofa.
And just like that, a perfect day ended.
***
Romanoff hid in the basement of the large house, trembling.
‘She’s here. The hero’s lover and the one responsible for making so many demon king armies disappear.’
The White Dragon’s breath was nothing like other dragons’.
It turned whatever it touched into nothing.
Pure nothingness.
Every memory of her existence had been erased except for the memory of her.
That made Rhea, the Lord Dragon, an invisible death.
Some demons had even wet themselves from the sound of her wings and fallen into panic.
But Rhea had come to his home — not just the hero.
And the red-haired woman who had treated him like a toy.
Romanoff was on the verge of disappearing at any second.
“Romanoff.”
He slowly stood up at the familiar voice.
“Lord Dragon…”
Rhea looked down at him.
“I knew you had arrived here first.”
“I… am I dying now? Lord Dragon Rhea.”
Romanoff asked in despair.
Her breath would reduce anything it touched to nothingness — including him.
“Let me ask one question. How close is the Demon King to full revival?”
“Seventy percent… without offerings, revival will be impossible for years.”
“I see.”
Rhea nodded without a change in expression.
She had already known.
“I told you earlier I would kill you. Unfortunately, I don’t have the right to take the life you saved.”
Rhea’s finger pointed toward the stairs leading up.
“Go do the dishes.”
“…?”
“I heard you’re the body servant doing housework around here. There’s a mountain of dishes piled up, so do them.”
“H-how dare you turn the 3rd Army Commander, me, Romanov, into a servant?!”
Romanoff yelled in fury, but Rhea simply stared at him silently.
“Why… why are you doing this…? Why…?”
Romanoff felt his hands shaking.
“H-ha! It’s fine! Do it already!”
Romanoff, eyes full of tears, began washing the endless pile of dishes.
Clatter, clatter.
He didn’t have tears as a living armor, but inside he cried for his pitiful self.
‘Why me…? Why this humiliation…?’
The sound of washing dishes continued long after everyone else had fallen asleep.