Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Future Me (4)
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Late at night.
Was it because I usually went to bed late?
Sleep just wouldn't come.
"...Aren't these idiots worried at all that they've come to the future?"
Hwaryeon and Choryeon were sleeping soundly on the bed in the small room.
Suryeon shook her head as she watched the fools.
"Don't you even wonder about the future?"
Suryeon lightly hopped down from the bunk bed.
She parted the curtains and peered out the window.
"...Why did Earth end up like this?"
A moon stained red.
A city turned to ruins.
Black trees visible in the distance.
Earthquakes rumbling now and then.
"In this situation, I'm the only one questioning things, huh. Sigh."
Not that she'd expected anything else.
Suryeon let out a sigh as she looked at Hwaryeon and Choryeon, lost in deep sleep.
They were her big sister and little sister, but they were just too dense.
"I need to figure out the truth myself. But first, I should get some water."
Her throat was parched, so she headed to the kitchen.
"I need to check if Dad's okay too. Even if it's future me. I can't trust her unconditionally."
Dragons were arrogant, self-centered, and would do anything to achieve their goals.
"Especially a smart dragon like me. That makes it even more dangerous."
With that, Suryeon pulled out some cool water from the fridge and gulped it down.
Then, to check on Dad, she reached for the door handle of the master bedroom.
At that moment.
"Stop."
"...!"
"Who said you could go in?"
"...How long have you been sitting there?"
Future Suryeon, hidden in the darkness and seated on the sofa, spoke up.
Future Suryeon halted Suryeon and patted the seat next to her.
"Come sit. Past me."
"...Why should I?"
"Because I have something to say. Sit down already."
Her brows furrowed in irritation.
*
Future Suryeon exuded clear discomfort.
Suryeon pretended not to be intimidated, holding her head high as she walked over to the seat.
'...I'm weak right now. So I'll listen to future me.'
I'll deal with her later.
Thinking that, Suryeon plopped down on the seat next to her.
Future Suryeon silently stared at Suryeon's face.
"Hmm, as expected, my face has always been a work of art."
"Of course. I'm Suryeon."
"How's future me? Past me?"
*
Suryeon closely examined her future self's face.
"...Way better than those human celebrities on TV. It's like looking at a harmonious, sharp piece of art."
"Comparing to humans is annoying, but whatever. Remember what future me looks like. Of course, the color will be different."
Future Suryeon said this while showing off her long hair.
Unlike Suryeon's, it was a slightly darkened blue.
Stroking her hair, which was close to navy, Future Suryeon explained.
"You can tell from my horns, tail, and hair. I almost became a Black Dragon."
"The Azure Dragon's seal must've broken, turning you into the Black Flame Dragon."
"...Can you not put it that way? It's embarrassing enough to die."
Ahem—
Feeling embarrassed about her past self.
Future Suryeon continued.
"You're going to forget everything I say anyway. Just listen."
"Why would I forget? I have a good memory. Don't underestimate me."
"Not like that. When you converse with your future self, you forget all those memories. It's a rule of dimensions."
A rule of dimensions.
Suryeon didn't like the sound of that.
"Why should dimensions make the rules? I'm a dragon."
"Even dragons can't defy certain rules. Like how all humans die."
"...That's not true. Dad won't die."
"Really?"
Future Suryeon gave a faintly sorrowful smile.
Then, with a sigh, she carefully opened her mouth.
"Prove your words are true. Go back and make sure Dad doesn't die."
"I'd do that even without you telling me."
"Yeah, be careful of humans too. And keep Dad alive. That way, I can disappear."
"?"
Future me will disappear?
Suryeon couldn't understand.
"Why would I disappear?"
"You're too young to know. Now go to bed. You always heard it from Dad, right?"
Future Suryeon gestured toward the room.
But Suryeon didn't go in and kept asking questions.
"More importantly, I'm curious. Why did the world become like this? And is Earth flat? I'm also curious if the Illuminati really exists."
"...Past me has so many questions?"
"So tell me. The truth of this world."
"You're going to forget anyway?"
"Doesn't matter."
Even if she forgot.
As long as her curiosity was satisfied now, that was enough.
Future Suryeon let out a hollow chuckle at Suryeon's attitude.
"...I wish I could be as selfish as past me."
"What'd you say?"
"No, just... If only thinking of myself was enough. I feel stupid for worrying."
"You're disqualified as a dragon. Dragons only think of themselves."
Future Suryeon could only nod weakly at Suryeon's words.
"Yeah. Guess I'm not a dragon anymore. Putting someone else first and all."
Sadness filled Future Suryeon's eyes as she said that.
"?"
Suryeon couldn't grasp the depth of that sadness.
It was too deep and dark for young Suryeon.
***
It had been about three days since the kids arrived in the future dimension.
One evening.
Future Suryeon undid my iron chains and said,
"Dad, it's that day."
"Wh-what day?"
"The day you marry me."
The real day had come.
The day I had to marry my daughter.
'Ah, no. How could a dad marry his daughter!'
I knew my life was in danger.
But I fled to the corner of the bed and curled up.
"Ah, no! Not marriage! Think again, Suryeon!"
"...Pointless resistance, Dad."
*
Suryeon pointed a finger at me and said,
"Come here."
At that instant, my body was pulled toward Suryeon.
She took my hand and said,
"I thought about it a lot. If this is the right way. Even considered scrapping it all and doing what I want."
"Then cancel the marriage now..."
"But I think this has to be done. So I won't have regrets."
Regrets?
I straightened up at her words.
Because Suryeon's vibe felt somehow different.
"Let's go, Dad. Our private wedding."
"...The kids must've protested big time. You okay?"
"I can put them to sleep just by breathing. Already did."
Kids who wouldn't sleep even if I yelled at them to go to bed.
Suryeon could do it just by breathing.
And so, I headed to the wedding venue with Suryeon.
To the sea filled with our memories.
The first beach we'd gone to.
...
On the way there.
Suryeon said nothing to me.
An odd tension hung in the air, unlike usual.
***
I went to the sea with Suryeon.
Flying through the sky.
With the ruined world below.
Even after 100 years, even with the world destroyed, the sea was exactly the same.
"This place hasn't changed even after all this time."
"...I've come here every day."
Suryeon and I stepped onto sand without a single footprint.
"Coming here let me relive those happy memories from back then. I didn't realize it as a kid, but dragons really do live by reminiscing about the past."
Saryr—
As she spoke, Suryeon scooped up sand with her delicate hand.
Naturally, the sand slipped through her fingers, leaving little behind.
"So, Dad."
Was she finally getting to the point?
Suryeon fixed me with a sharp gaze.
Gulping nervously, I said,
"Yeah, Suryeon."
Suryeon slowly approached, placing her hand on my cheek.
"I want to make more of those memories. Good memories with you for life."
Talking together.
Eating together.
Holding hands together.
"With just those memories, I could live eternity happily."
"...So you're saying you'll keep me locked in this dimension forever?"
Suryeon fell silent at my question.
Then, biting her lip hard, she answered.
"Yeah, I have no intention of letting you go, Dad. I'll send the kids back. But not you. You have to stay with me forever. That way, Hwaryeon and Choryeon's minds might return."
...
She had a point.
Hwaryeon and Choryeon in this dimension were my daughters too.
I couldn't abandon them.
Somehow, I had to fix them.
'...I'm their dad, after all.'
But.
That didn't mean I could abandon my daughters in the original world.
"I can't raise the kids without parents."
"...Is that so? Too bad. Your opinion doesn't matter much, Dad. I'm doing what I want."
*
Suryeon raised her hand toward me as she spoke.
'...She's going to deploy a magic spell like usual.'
If so, no choice.
I had a promise too.
To go home before the sports day started.
"...Sorry, Suryeon."
My heart ached painfully.
My chest stabbed, making me want to collapse.
But I had to say it.
"Suryeon, get me out of this dimension."
"...Just like that?"
"I'm using the wish we promised 100 years ago."
The wish.
The wish Suryeon and I had talked about 100 years ago.
I had to use that wish voucher.
"Get me, my daughters, and the people out of this dimension."
"...You end up choosing them after all, Dad."
Suryeon gave a bitterly sweet smile.
"I knew it, but it still hurts."
"Sorry, Suryeon. But I promise one thing."
I absolutely won't die.
"I'll make sure there's no future where I die. So you and the kids don't suffer. So this never happens again."
If past me doesn't die.
This future won't happen.
Suryeon won't have to suffer alone like this.
"This future will never come."
...
Suryeon looked sad as she spoke.
"I should've never let you go. Only regrets left. If I hadn't seen past me. I could've been with you forever. In the end, I thought too much of you. I should've just thought of myself."
Suryeon hugged me tightly, voicing her regrets.
"If not for that wish. I never would've let you go, Dad."
"Thanks, Suryeon."
I understood why she'd brought me here.
And what she wanted from me.
From the start, Suryeon had brought me here to send me back.
Clinging to me, Suryeon said tearfully,
"It was good just seeing you for a little while..."
...
"Thanks to those happy childhood memories... I endured 100 years without you... So..."
*
Tears streaming, Suryeon looked up at me.
"Go back and don't die... Be careful of humans... Live for all of us..."
With that, Suryeon placed her hand on her heart and stood on tiptoe to face me.
And then.
Kiss—
"I love you, Dad."
Her lips, full of affection and love, met mine.
Then, her form began to fade.
As the dimension started collapsing, Suryeon explained.
"...I destroyed the dimensional core in my heart. This dimension's core too. Maybe it was born because I wanted to meet you, Dad. The dimension will collapse soon. So hurry and leave. And change the future, Dad."
Suryeon pushed me away.
Then gestured for me to go quickly.
I shouted back at her one last time.
"I love you too, Suryeon."
Suryeon waved frantically upon hearing it.
At the same sea after 100 years.
At the sea still holding onto that time despite the passage.
I turned my back on Suryeon and ran to escape this dimension.
Tears flowing as I did.
'...Not in front of the kids.'
With the resolve to definitely change the future.
So we could all be together in a future where the kids are happy.
Hiding a father's tears, I ran and kept running.