Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Let's Eat
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Emerging onto the surface, I was greeted not by the mold's dampness, but by the moisture of morning dew.
"Sip— Hoo—"
Cool air laced just right with a hint of wetness.
Dawn air always lifts the spirits.
If I couldn't savor these small joys, I'd probably be a corpse by now.
Before heading to work, I turned around for one last look at the building I'd come from.
"Won't be long before it collapses."
A five-story old apartment riddled with cracks everywhere, ready to crumble at any moment.
A real nasty piece of work, renting out spaces from the surface level down to the semi-basement and full basement.
If it goes down, folks in the semi-basement might get lucky and survive, but basement dwellers are done for.
'Wouldn't have even gotten a permit in normal times.'
Why does a dump like this still stand without issue?
Because the world lost its mind when Dimensional Gates started popping up—stuff like this is small potatoes.
My district's been in limbo as an undeveloped development zone for twenty years now.
'Was slated for development once, but got scrapped after the Gates appeared.'
House prices tanked after that, investors went bust, cheap rent drew in folks with no money, and it turned into a slum.
Official name's Seoul-09.
But say you live in Seoul-09, and people give you dirty looks, so when they ask where you're from, you just name some other district number.
Like Seoul-01, the old Gangnam.
"Tch, gotta get out of this shithole ASAP."
Too many dangers around.
Can't keep living in a death trap like this.
Not when I've gone and made that ridiculous promise, leaving me responsible for those kids now.
I tore my eyes from the building and turned toward work.
Worried about the ones probably glued to the TV right now, but...
First things first: earn some cash to buy them food.
"Alright then, time to clock in."
A day laborer's routine.
Beginning.
***
A one-room apartment devoid of humans.
The cramped space was filled with info from the outside world spilling from the TV screen.
-Recent surge in Dimensional Gate openings has voices of safety concerns rising.
-Government shows no will to break up corporate hero monopolies. Is this really okay?
-One-third of Korea's territory lost to monsters. Citizens who want to reclaim their hometowns from the beasts are protesting at Seoul Gwanghwamun Square.
"..."
At first, the outside world was intriguing.
But the more she heard the news, the less interesting it got.
To the Blue Dragon, all the news stories felt the same.
"Shaa—"
Boring.
The Blue Dragon shifted her gaze from the TV.
Curiosity drew her to a book splayed on the floor.
"..."
On the cover, a man confidently thrust his sword forward.
Title: 'You Can Do It Too.'
Your run-of-the-mill self-help book.
The Blue Dragon wrinkled her snout a bit and flipped the pages with her stubby forepaw.
"Shaa—"
So this is how humans write.
The Blue Dragon memorized the script while diligently turning pages with her short forepaw.
When the paper kept flipping back annoyingly, she'd wet it with saliva to hold it down.
"Shaa—"
She found amusement in human language.
Once she grasped the system fully, the content bored her and she lost interest.
Still, it served well enough to kill time.
But then.
"..."
Now what?
The room had no furniture to speak of, and nothing for a young dragon to play with out of curiosity.
The TV, her only entertainment, just droned on boringly.
"Shaa—"
Pondering how to pass the dull time, the Blue Dragon turned around.
Behind her, the Red and Green Dragons lay sprawled on the floor, sleeping soundly.
She could chat with her kin to kill time, but the Blue Dragon saw no need to wake them.
She just sat quietly in front of the TV, staring holes through the screen.
"Shaa—"
Better to watch alone than bother with dragon talk.
But soon after.
As time passed, the sleeping dragons began to stir.
The Red Dragon woke first, slowly rising from under the blanket.
"Shaaak..."
Rubbing her eyes from sleep, the Red Dragon scanned around.
No sign of top priority alert target: Ha-jun.
"Shaaak—?"
Tilting her head, the Red Dragon looked at the Green Dragon lying next to her.
Maybe this one knows where that bad man went.
She poked the Green Dragon's belly, who was sprawled out spread-eagle.
Press press—
"Shaaa..."
"Shaaak—! Shaaak—!"
"Shaaaaa..."
The Green Dragon twisted away, her short forepaws flailing to say don't wake me.
But unable to ignore the persistent poking, she finally sat up.
"...Shaaa?"
The look she shot said 'Why'd you wake me?' and the Red Dragon wildly waved her stubby arms.
Where's Ha-jun?
The Green Dragon just shrugged.
"Shaaa?"
Meaning 'No idea.'
The Red Dragon then toddled over to the Blue Dragon, focused on the TV, and posed the same question.
The Blue Dragon answered right away.
Not in reptilian cries, but in proper dragon tongue.
-He went out. Said he'd be back after work.
The voice in her head startled the Red Dragon into a yelp.
"Sh, shaaak?!"
-Why the surprise? You got the knowledge passed down. Should be in your memories.
"Shaaak?"
The Red Dragon rummaged through her mind for dragon language knowledge.
Unlike the Blue Dragon, it took her a while.
-Found it! Forgot all about it!
Anyway.
Drawing from memories before hatching, the Red Dragon asked again.
Ha-jun didn't know, but the dragons had been hearing outside sounds since he left the nest.
-That bad human who tried to break his promise left the house? Why?
-Said he was going to work.
-What's work?
-Dunno. But seems like some kind of duty.
-What's a duty?
-...Is this why there's knowledge calling Red Dragons dumb?
"Shaa—"
Blue Dragon in the human world.
In dragon world, she sighed.
-Anyway, he's gone. Said he'd come back.
-Hmph, I don't like that bad human. Not Dad. He tried to break his promise.
The Red Dragon pouted her lips.
The Blue Dragon nodded slightly.
Agreeing only halfway.
-Yeah, he's not Dad. But he might've had reasons for the promise thing.
And then the Green Dragon—
No, Green Dragon—chimed in with a gentle tone, agreeing halfway too.
-Yeah! Promises can happen like that. But money or whatever, Dad suffered without it. Maybe that's why. And Dad's Dad! Can't say he's not!
-Hmph, no way I'm accepting that. How could that bad human be my dad?
Naturally, the Red Dragon snapped back in anger.
Family or not, opinions wouldn't unify.
-I hatched first. I'm right.
-Just a little earlier. I'm right.
-Dad might do that. You guys are so mean.
Tail-chasing.
They went in circles, biting each other's tails.
Around then, the dragons recalled a snippet of inherited dragon lore.
'Persuading fellow dragons is rarer than once or twice in a dragon's long life.'
They got the point.
Wisely judging the situation, they decided.
Better not bring up this topic unless it's huge.
They exchanged glances, silently agreeing.
Then the Red Dragon changed the subject.
-I'm hungry. Let's eat something.
The Blue Dragon stretched her stubby arm toward the table.
-He left something called a chocolate bar on the table. Probably up there.
-Really?
The Red Dragon hopped up onto the table.
-Haha! Eat up, you dummies!
She headbutted the chocolate bar off the table to the floor.
Crash—
The Green Dragon scurried over and chomped it.
-Like this?
Crunch—
-Hm?
Ptooey—
-Everyone careful! The weird stuff on the outside isn't edible!
Knowledge update.
The dragons learned wrappers aren't food.
They pinned the chocolate bars with their forepaws and munched away on the sweet insides, having a simple meal.
All while staring intently at the countless humans on the TV screen.
"Shaaak—"
"Shaa—"
"Shaaa—"
They all thought living in the human world with dragon bodies would be way too inconvenient.
***
Day laborer.
My job's dead simple.
No education needed, just a healthy body.
"Move that cargo faster! People backing up behind!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Sorting spoils from Dimensional Gates.
Short version: loading and unloading.
But unlike regular dock work, the real draw for most is...
"Support needed inside the Gate. Who's going in?"
"Me. I'll go."
Sometimes.
You get to enter a Dimensional Gate as a civilian.
Sounds like hell, jumping into a Gate for no reason.
But for me, big perks.
I get to watch heroes fight monsters up close.
"There he is."
I observed the hero slicing a werewolf's neck from afar.
The hero leaped sky-high and severed it in one stroke.
Made short work of the beast that had me running scared.
Not a great feeling.
"Asshole."
Still, seeing how heroes fight ain't bad.
These experiences pile up, might work in my favor someday.
'Cause maybe I'll be a hero too.
Then I can earn real money, no more fleeing from monsters powerless.
"...Tch, dreaming too big again. Back to work."
I clicked my tongue and tossed the spoils outside.
After that, nonstop heavy labor.
All while pondering names for the kids.
Time dragged on, sweat poured, body screamed for rest, pain started creeping in.
"Gate's closing! Good work today, everyone!"
Luckily, shift over.
Would've died if it went longer.
What a relief.
"Got my pay. Time to grab some meat."
On the way home, I stopped at a butcher in Seoul-03.
Can't buy from my district's—they peddle synthetic crap mixed with weird meats.
"Pork shoulder, 1kg."
Pork belly's too pricey.
Save that for when I make more cash.
I grabbed the 1kg of pork shoulder and hurried home.
Clocked 6 PM.
The kids must be starving by now.
"No, why do I care if they're hungry? Not their dad."
Truth is, I'm the hungry one rushing back.
Definitely not worrying about them.
Thinking that, I unlocked the iron gate and stepped inside.
Creak—
"Kids, no trouble while I was gone?"
They were huddled in front of the TV, glued to the screen.
Only the Green Dragon turned to greet me.
"That's my girl."
Petting her head, I scanned around—no major changes.
"Smart dragons, huh? No messes. Good."
They ate the chocolate bar fine.
Wrappers scattered, traces on the floor.
Seems they just watched TV quietly.
I hoisted the plastic bag of meat high.
"Anyway, let's eat. I'm starving."
Used to come home from work and just flop on the floor staring at the ceiling.
Now look at me.
'Gotta grill this meat.'
A natural smile crept up.
Weird feeling.