Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: I Am a Dragon (3)
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As time passed, the night grew deeper.
The streets became so dark it was impossible to see ahead.
Only the sporadic flickers from long-neglected streetlights pierced the gloom.
“I want to go home…”
Suryeon was still crouched against the building.
She couldn’t move a single step.
“Are they gone now…?”
Suryeon peeked out cautiously.
No more voices from the homeless man, like before.
But the pitch-black street without lights terrified her, and she quickly ducked her head back down.
“Nothing bad seems to be around… but it’s too dark to move… I’ll wait for Daddy…”
Suryeon crouched down again, hiding herself.
She let out a sigh from the stuffiness.
“When can I go home…? What if Daddy can’t find me…?”
She couldn’t stay stuck like this, unable to get home.
Daddy had to find her.
Anxiety about not making it home welled up in Suryeon’s eyes.
“I need to go home… When is Daddy coming…”
Tears slowly dripped to the ground.
Suryeon felt wronged by the situation and disappointed in herself at the same time.
“Sniff… I didn’t come out here thinking something like this would happen… Sniff… I should’ve listened to Daddy…”
As Suryeon began to cry,
Rain started pouring from the dark night sky as well.
She hid her sobs behind the sound of the rain, crying even harder.
“Waaah… I just wanted to see the outside world and have fun… Why did it turn out like this…”
Suryeon buried her face in her knees and wept endlessly.
The rain from the sky grew heavier with it.
“Waaah…”
Thunder roared—crash!!
Fierce rain and crashing lightning.
Suryeon shed more tears than ever in her life, desperately wishing for Daddy to find her.
“Daddy… Sniff…”
***
Where on earth did she go?
I ran through the streets searching frantically for Suryeon.
But there was no sign of her anywhere.
To make matters worse, heavy rain began pouring from the sky.
Whoosh!!
“Why is it raining so hard now? This is driving me crazy.”
Streetlights barely worked as it was.
With this downpour, it was too dark to see anything.
I ducked into a building to shelter from the rain and catch my breath.
“Ha… At this rate, I won’t find her until morning.”
I needed to narrow the search area first.
I racked my brains—something I hadn’t done in ages—to guess where Suryeon might be.
“With the rain, she’s probably hiding in a building to stay dry. And since she didn’t come home, she’s likely lost. She’s somewhere far from home.”
Having sorted my thoughts,
I headed down an alley, braving the heavy rain.
This area was called the “Ant Hole” because of its narrow, maze-like paths.
One wrong turn, and you’d end up in a den of shady vagrants.
“Normal people would never go in there. But a curious little kitten like Suryeon…”
She definitely would have.
With that in mind, I dashed into the dark alley.
Was my guess right?
Trash cans were knocked over, boxes scattered everywhere.
“Definitely a chase happened here. I can follow the trail.”
I kept calm as best I could and raced through the Ant Hole.
At the end stretched a street full of abandoned buildings no one lived in.
“…She’s gotta be here.”
The stench hit me.
That distinctive smell of junkie vagrants.
I clenched my fists and searched the street in the rain.
That’s when I locked eyes with a group of vagrants huddled under a building, avoiding the downpour.
“What’s that? Someone’s there.”
“A fit guy in his twenties… He’d fetch a good price compared to that little brat.”
They licked their lips and approached.
They surrounded me in an instant.
It was clear this wasn’t their first rodeo.
“Because of trash like you, kids can’t walk around safely.”
“Ha, what the hell’s this guy saying?”
“We heard you earlier. Looking for a kid about this big?”
“…You know that blue-haired brat?”
Their eyes changed at my question.
The playfulness vanished, replaced by the glare of hunters sizing up prey.
I extended my clenched fist toward them.
“First one.”
Thud!
One vagrant hit the ground.
Rumble!!
Lightning cracked across the sky at the same time.
I faced the retreating group and said it with all my heart.
“You messed with my daughter. You’re dead now.”
Kidnappers, the lowest of scum.
No mercy.
Mana flared in my hands as I charged at the vagrants through the pounding rain.
“Where’s my daughter!!”
The thin thread of my rationality snapped.
***
“Waaah… When’s Daddy coming…”
Tears kept falling.
Suryeon huddled in the building, still crying.
She tried to control her emotions, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
“I wanna go home… Sniff… I’m scared…”
How long did she have to stay here?
What if the bad people came looking for her?
Suryeon trembled with fear and cried.
Then,
Clack—clack—
Footsteps cut through the rain.
Terrified, Suryeon clamped her hand over her mouth.
‘A-are those bad people…? They’re coming into this building…?’
She held her breath to stay hidden.
But the footsteps drew closer to her.
Clack—clack—
Footsteps climbing the stairs.
Suryeon stared at the stairs, holding perfectly still.
‘Please don’t come up…’
She prayed they wouldn’t.
But the footsteps reached the floor below her.
‘If they come… I’ll fire my Water Laser Beam and run…’
As Suryeon aimed her finger in terror,
Clack—
The owner of the footsteps reached the top of the stairs and came face-to-face with the frightened Suryeon.
“Phew, there you are.”
It was Lee Ha-jun.
He shook the water from his wet hair and approached the dazed Suryeon.
Her aimed finger drooped limply.
Thud—
“D-Daddy… Sniff…”
Tears streamed down.
Suryeon sniffled and ran into Lee Ha-jun’s arms.
She pounded his chest and burst into heartbroken sobs.
“Sniff… Why’d you take so long… I-I almost died of fright…”
“You went so far away, it took forever to find you.”
“Sniff… Yeah, but… that’s true, but… it still hurts…”
She whined like a baby in his arms.
Lee Ha-jun held her gently.
“I was gonna scold you till you cried, but you’re already bawling. What am I supposed to do?”
“Waaah…”
“Sigh, scolding can wait. Let’s go home. Rain stopped just in time.”
“Sniff…”
Lee Ha-jun took Suryeon’s hand and led her down from the building.
Stars shone in the fresh night sky after the rain.
Suryeon gripped his hand tightly, as if she’d never let go.
“Sniff…”
“Stop crying now, crybaby. Daddy already punished everyone who scared you.”
“I… Sniff… I’m not crying because I want to… They just keep coming out…”
Suryeon grumbled, feeling wronged.
Lee Ha-jun chuckled at how cute she was.
Father and daughter walked home under the starry sky, holding warm hands despite the rain.
***
Back home,
I said to Suryeon first thing.
“Let’s eat.”
“…Okay.”
Was she embarrassed from all the crying?
Her puffy-eyed daughter sat in the chair without protest.
Then I turned to Hwaryeon and Choryeon, who were watching me nervously.
“You two sit too. Time to eat.”
“Got it…!”
“Y-Yes…!”
They plopped into their chairs.
But they still eyed me warily.
Worried about getting in trouble, no doubt.
“You all seem to know what you did wrong.”
Nods—
They bobbed their heads at lightspeed, fully aware of their mistakes.
“Doesn’t mean I’ll let it slide. Punishment’s punishment.”
They drooped, heads hanging low.
I divided up the takeout seolleongtang for them.
“Eat first. You must all be starving.”
“…”
“Here, Suryeon, you too. You cried a lot, so eat a lot.”
Suryeon bristled and shouted.
“I-I didn’t cry a lot…! Just a little…!”
“Sure, let’s say that.”
She’d kept crying even after we got home, adding five more minutes outside.
A little, my foot.
Worried she’d cry again, I dropped it.
“Just eat, Suryeon. You skipped lunch, so you’re hungry.”
“…Okay.”
Suryeon scooped some seolleongtang into her mouth.
Slurp—
“…It’s cold.”
“It’s been a while. Want me to heat it up?”
“…No, I’ll eat it like this. It’s my fault.”
She ate the cold seolleongtang anyway.
Hwaryeon and Choryeon ate theirs without complaint too.
They seemed deeply remorseful about what happened.
‘…I wanted to heat mine up.’
Couldn’t do it alone, though.
I resigned myself to the cold seolleongtang.
Still, maybe because we were all together without incident.
Slurp—
It felt like a pretty memorable dinner.