Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Dragon Searching (3)
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Dragon Searching (3)
Again.
Suryeon had caused another accident.
She had gone and called Gu Bong-gu, who was just lying quietly at home.
‘Just one phone call, and he shows up at this hour? That’s ridiculous again.’
She sure is diligent.
I sighed as I stared at the front door thumping with noise.
“Sigh, this is messed up.”
“…Sorry. I accidentally pressed the wrong button.”
Suryeon looked down at the floor with a gloomy expression.
She seemed to be reflecting on her own.
No need to tell her to face the wall, then.
“As long as you know what you did wrong, it’s fine. Just don’t do it again. But is accidentally calling him really something to get that mad about?”
—Lee Ha-jun! I know you’re in there! Open the door!
“If he’s that mad over something like that, isn’t it menopause?”
It was just a mistaken phone call.
It didn’t seem like something worth getting so angry about.
“Did you say something weird, by any chance, Suryeon?”
“I didn’t say anything weird.”
“So you did say something?”
“…”
“I knew it.”
There’s no way Gu Bong-gu would get that mad without her saying something.
Gu Bong-gu might look like a blowfish, but he’s reasonably rational.
I left Suryeon staring at the floor and headed to the front door.
“I’ll talk to him for a bit and come back. Don’t cause any more trouble and behave.”
I grabbed the doorknob and opened the front door.
Then, I heard the dragons snarling like they were about to tear into their kin.
“Always acting so smart! Look at you now!”
“It’s okay, Suryeon sis. Even someone as smart as you can make a mistake once in a while!”
“Choryeon. Watch your words! It wasn’t once, it was twice!”
“Oh, really?!”
“…”
Suryeon clenched her fists under the two’s attacks.
For some reason, her small back seemed to scream with indignation.
***
Gu Bong-gu had dragged himself out late at night to come find me.
The reason was that a newly hatched dragon had made a wrong phone call.
I couldn’t help thinking this was only possible because he was a bachelor in his forties.
“That Lee Ha-jun punk. You’re cursing me in your head right now.”
“What? What do you—”
“It’s all over your face, punk.”
“…”
He’s quick on the uptake.
Before his fist could fly, I headed toward the stairs at the villa entrance and said,
“Let’s talk outside first. People might hear.”
“You’re not usually the mannerly type… And whose voice was that yelling at me earlier? Did you grab some neighborhood kid to mess with me?”
“I’ll… explain that later.”
We should walk around the area while talking.
Gu Bong-gu was pretty heated right now.
He’d need some cooling off before he’d listen to me.
I started chatting with him as we walked a safer area around the villa.
“Gu Bong-gu.”
“What, punk.”
“Why are you so mad?”
“Ha— It’s so absurd hearing that from the punk who pranked me with a wrong call that I can’t stop laughing.”
Gu Bong-gu stuck a cigarette in his mouth.
He couldn’t resist freebies, so he held out his fingers.
“It’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.”
Gu Bong-gu let out a hollow laugh as he handed me a cigarette.
But his anger hadn’t subsided, and his face was still fierce.
It was fierce to begin with.
“Hey, Lee Ha-jun.”
“Yeah.”
“How’d the hero exam go?”
“I passed, obviously.”
“Yeah?”
Fwoosh—
Gu Bong-gu exhaled cigarette smoke.
He seemed to ponder for a moment, then said to me,
“Then pay up.”
“Why should I? I paid this month’s already.”
“You pranked me with that call, punk. I came all the way here for it. Least you can do is give me some money.”
Gu Bong-gu apparently thought he’d feel better taking something from me, anything.
“If you can’t pay, kneel and beg. Money or your pride—which’ll it be?”
Money.
Or dignity.
Gu Bong-gu posed the deadly dilemma.
In response, I lay flat on the asphalt like a starfish and yelled,
“Argh, just hit me!”
“That’d just hurt my hand, punk. Pass.”
Guess not.
Can’t kneel recklessly now that I’m a dragon dad.
I had no choice but to decide to send him the money.
“How much?”
“Fifty.”
“You take a filthy lot. What’re you saving up for?”
“…None of your business. Now scram. If you prank call again, it’s double. Watch yourself.”
With that, Gu Bong-gu turned and left.
We’ve known each other a long time, but I still don’t know what he’s saving for.
“Oh, right. And whose voice was that?”
“…Voice?”
“Yeah, sounded like a kid. What, you hand a smartphone to some local brat and put them up to it? Or you got some secret kid stashed away?”
“Hmm…”
I do have a secret kid.
But better to hide it, who knows what might happen.
“I was in a good mood after passing the hero exam, so I gave my phone to a kid nearby and had them prank you.”
“…I see. Didn’t know there was a kid around here I didn’t know about.”
“Well, could be.”
“Kids are rare these days… Anyway, got it. I’m out.”
This time, Gu Bong-gu really headed home.
He seemed a bit suspicious at the end there.
But this incident wrapped up well enough.
‘…At the cost of some expensive money.’
Damn.
Oh, and I forgot to ask what Suryeon said to him.
I can just ask her directly about that.
I quickly opened the door and returned home.
Creak—
“Dad’s back. Nothing happen?”
As I came in, Hwaryeon and Choryeon came toddling out.
“Something did happen!”
“Yeah, Father! Something happened!”
“What now. Oh, and where’d Suryeon go?”
The place is small enough to see everything at a glance.
No matter how I looked around the house, Suryeon was nowhere.
Hwaryeon and Choryeon cried out in perfect sync, like they were resonating.
“She’s over there! Hiding in the blanket!”
“She’s hiding in the blanket over there!”
I immediately fixed my gaze on the blanket.
The blanket spread out in the living room was bulging up.
Suryeon must be hiding under it.
“Sigh, even a smart dragon is still a kid.”
Suryeon stayed perfectly still, wrapped in the blanket.
I approached her and poked the blanket with my finger.
“Suryeon. Come out of there.”
“…”
“I won’t scold you, so it’s okay to come out.”
“…”
Poke poke with my finger on the blanket.
There was a slight reaction.
Suryeon squirmed, ticklish.
From the outside, she looked just like a caterpillar wrapped in its cocoon.
To figure out what happened, I asked Hwaryeon and Choryeon.
“Hwaryeon, Choryeon. Did you say something to Suryeon while I was gone?”
“Hmph, I didn’t say anything! It was Choryeon who made Suryeon like that!”
“Choryeon did?”
Choryeon turning the clever Suryeon into a blanket bug?
Hard to believe.
“What exactly did you say, Choryeon?”
“Well, Father…”
Choryeon gave a troubled smile as she answered.
“I just said since Suryeon sis made a mistake, she can do better next time! She’s talented, so she can do it! Fighting! But then… she turned out like that…”
Sometimes innocence beats solid reason.
Suryeon must’ve taken Choryeon’s words straight to the gut and gone groggy.
Choryeon really is scarier than she seems.
“…It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle Suryeon.”
“Yes, Father!”
Choryeon returned to the TV upon hearing that.
“It’s Dinosaur Adventure day today!”
She apparently had a must-watch show.
Hwaryeon sat beside her, staring at the TV expectantly.
Now, my job was to hatch this blanket bug.
I poked Suryeon lightly with my finger and spoke.
“Suryeon.”
“…”
“You know you messed up today.”
“…”
“But here’s what I think.”
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
I made plenty back in the day.
“But if you know exactly what mistake you made, you won’t do it again next time.”
“…”
“You’re smart, so you get it. What mistake you made. Kids grow by making mistakes.”
“…”
“So just don’t do it next time. Dragons don’t make the same mistake twice, right?”
Squirm—
My words got through; Suryeon moved a little.
She’d know what I meant.
Finally, I patted her blanket and stood up.
“Food’ll be ready soon. Come eat when you feel better.”
“…”
Suryeon said nothing to the end.
But time would sort her mood out naturally.
Kids’ emotions are always up and down.
“Food’s ready, come eat. Lots of protein today.”
I grilled chicken breast from the Hero Association and boneless mackerel, placing them on the table.
By the way, I used the fire from Hwaryeon’s mouth for direct grilling.
Then I added instant rice and lettuce for Choryeon on the table.
‘At first, there was so much empty space with nothing to eat.’
Lately, the table felt fuller and fuller.
“Food!”
“Time to eat!”
Hwaryeon and Choryeon sat in their chairs and started eating.
Hwaryeon went heavy on meat and rice.
Choryeon focused on veggies.
They chewed away diligently at the sides.
By the time they’d eaten about half.
Sss—
The blanket bug in the living room shed its skin and rose.
Had she cried a little?
Suryeon’s eyes were a bit puffy as she walked slowly over and sat in her chair.
Thud—
Then she poked at her food with a fork and started eating.
“…This fish is good.”
“Knew you’d say that.”
“…”
Nom—
As Suryeon kept eating.
She suddenly mumbled in a small voice.
“…Sorry, Dad. I won’t mess up again.”
“Yeah, no messing up next time.”
“I’m a perfect dragon. I absolutely won’t mess up next time.”
Sniff—
Suryeon vowed firmly as she put the tear-soaked mackerel in her mouth.
Watching her, I thought to myself.
‘…She’s gonna mess up again.’
My trust in dragons had already plummeted.
Dragons, my ass.
They were just smart kids.
No doubting the abilities they had.
But even I didn’t know exactly what abilities they possessed.
‘Wonder what they can do now. How far, what, how?’
I figured it was time to properly check out the kids’ abilities.