The Dragon and Her Cuteness
"Heeeeh... spinning... the ceiling's spinning... Hehe? Siu's face is spinning too... Did you cast a spell on me, Siu? Is that it? What kind of magic is this? Uheh…"
"Honestly. Where did all of Mother's genes go? How can you have a worse alcohol tolerance than Father?"
It wasn't even a whole bottle of champagne.
Well, a single sip would have been a little extreme.
No more, no less—exactly one glass.
And not even a glass filled to the brim. Properly, in a champagne flute, poured only halfway, sipped slowly over half an hour just to wet her lips.
Thirty minutes after finishing that single glass, Ha-yan was completely drunk in my arms.
At first I hadn't even realized she was tipsy. She just kept wriggling closer and closer until she toppled right into my embrace.
I looked down with mild disbelief at Ha-yan, who was squirming in my arms, trying her hardest to press herself against me.
"Still, this is ridiculous. Having basically zero alcohol dehydrogenase is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Uweh? Alcohol dehy… whatsits? What's that?"
"Never mind, never mind. Just keep smiling. That seems like the winning move."
"Ehehe. Smile!! Ehehehe!!"
"Yeah, you look cute when you smile."
Even if Ha-yan got so wasted she started yelling incoherently, it wouldn't have been a problem here.
Honestly, having her quietly drunk and nestled in my arms was a win for me.
This whole situation of her wriggling and trying to get closer… yeah, I was fine with it.
But we couldn't stay like this forever.
The school trip was only on day three; we still had two more days of energetic sightseeing ahead of us.
I carefully scooped up Ha-yan, who was still mumbling "mmnya mmnya…" while buried against me.
It was only ten at night, but she needed sleep if we wanted to keep tomorrow's hangover to a minimum.
I carried her to the biggest bed in the suite and gently laid her down.
"Nngh… don't go…"
The moment I pulled away, Ha-yan's face crumpled a little as she clung tightly to my hand.
There was real fear mixed into her voice—as if I were someone who might vanish at any second.
I squeezed her hand right back and held on just as firmly.
"Don't worry. Where would I go? I'll always be right here."
"Hehe… really? You promise? You won't get mad and disappear on me like before, right? You'll always stay by my side?"
"…"
Her last words left me speechless.
So this was how my past karma came back to bite me.
In that instant I wanted nothing more than to murder my younger self.
We were both kids back then. But I never should have said those things.
No matter how angry I'd been—Ha-yan, who barely opened her heart to anyone, had trusted only me. And I'd gone and snapped that she'd better just disappear if she was going to keep bothering me. Of course it left a scar.
I'd thought she was over it. Turns out that was just my own wishful thinking.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… don't leave… please stay right next to me…"
Hearing that, I couldn't hold back any longer.
"Mmph… heehee. Siu smell…"
I lay down beside her and pulled her into the tightest hug I could manage.
Ha-yan soon fell into a deep sleep in my arms, but I stayed awake for a long while, wrestling down the anger I felt toward myself.
Being mad at me was no reason to wake her up, after all.
So I simply lay there, staring blankly at Ha-yan's peaceful sleeping face.
"Surprisingly no hangover?"
"You had one glass of champagne and you're looking for a hangover? If that gave you a hangover, your liver would be in serious trouble."
"But I slept way deeper than usual!"
"Some people deliberately drink on planes to knock themselves out and beat jet lag, so yeah."
"Hehe. Still, lying in bed together like this feels just like home. My bed at home is a super single—maybe I should just get a bigger one?"
"Would your mother allow that?"
"Not a chance, right?"
"Obviously not a chance."
The next morning.
After a night spent practically pulling an all-nighter just staring at Ha-yan's face, the two of us were still sprawled across the bed.
Today's schedule was pretty loose anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.
And… spending the whole day like this would have felt like a dream to me.
But we'd come all the way here; we couldn't just lie in bed the entire day.
I gave Ha-yan's hair one more gentle stroke, then slowly sat up, stretching with a groan.
"Nnngh… ahh. Shall we get going? The others look like they're about to wake up too."
"What do we say if a teacher catches us sneaking back?"
"Why bother with excuses? I'll send you straight to your room."
"Straight?"
Ha-yan sat up after me, but instead of answering I simply snapped my fingers and showed her.
Snap!
The instant I flicked my fingers, Ha-yan vanished from the bed we shared.
It was a fairly advanced teleportation spell that swapped her with the magical duplicate I'd prepared earlier.
As the real Ha-yan returned, the duplicate converted into pure mana and was absorbed into her body.
Then I snapped my fingers again to return myself.
Snap!
Time flowed on and on.
"Why is it already the last day?"
"Time flows, you know."
"I know it flows. Why does it have to flow this fast?"
"Your time and our time are the same, okay?"
The day after our suite night, we spent touring various museums Choi Hoon had wanted to visit—an uneventful day that simply drifted by.
Just in case I might have to slip away alone again, I casually asked Rhea; she said the old wizard geezers hadn't shown any particular reaction either.
Well, those guys had been pretty hopeful when they dragged me in to inspect the magic circle, only to get sunk in one shot. They probably had a lot to think about.
And so our school trip stood on the threshold of its final schedule.
Today Ha-yan wasn't in her usual fluttery dress; she wore a plain T-shirt and pants, sunglasses perched low on her nose as she linked arms with me and asked,
"Yah! We're going to the caves today, right?"
"Yeah. The caves are the place Do Ji-yeon wanted to visit… which is weirdly out of character for her."
"Out of character? What's out of character about it!! Caves are awesome! And it's a lava cave, no less!!"
Do Ji-yeon, walking beside us, immediately protested my sudden jab. I shot her a crooked grin.
"Who was the one who first insisted we go to all the snack shops and shopping streets lined up on Jeju?"
"Ugh… th-that was…!"
"Save it. We both know, so just behave yourself today, yeah?"
"…Yes, sir."
With just a few words from me, Do Ji-yeon—who had been ready to argue—sank like a rock and turned into a wilted shrimp.
Ha-yan, who had been quietly listening while hanging on my arm, turned wide eyes on me.
"Whoa. Insane. What dirt do you have that shuts Ji-yeon down in one hit? Did you grab some weakness?"
"A weakness, maybe. She was secretly trying to change our last-day itinerary with only the teacher so she could drag us to chocolate places all day. If I hadn't caught on, we'd probably be spending the entire day at the chocolate museum or the Dongmun Market where they sell every chocolate on Jeju."
"…Ji-yeon?"
"Ahahaha~~!! Come on, unnie! Let's go see the caves!!"
"Huh? Oh. Yes, yes. Let's do that."
The second Ha-yan's eyes turned axe-sharp and she reached for Do Ji-yeon, the girl grabbed Rhea's wrist and bolted straight out of the hotel.
Ha-yan glared daggers at Do Ji-yeon's retreating back but didn't chase her; she just kept glaring.
I looked down at the girl still clinging to me.
"Not going to say anything? Usually when Ji-yeon gets a little too wild you give her a piece of your mind."
"It wasn't that big a deal. I already knew she likes sweet stuff. If she'd kept insisting on going only where she wanted, I really would have gotten mad—but she didn't, so."
Ha-yan said it with a bright smile as she looked up at me.
I ruffled her hair, wearing the expression of an older brother looking at his little sister.
"Aigoo. Our Ha-yan's all grown up. She can even think so carefully about her friends now."
"Hey!! Don't treat me like a kid! We're the same age!"
"Different species, different species."
"Why is that coming up now!"
I poked Ha-yan's pouting lips and cheeks as we followed Do Ji-yeon and Rhea out of the hotel.
Choi Hoon? That guy had already trailed after Rhea the moment she left. Practically a human sticker, I swear.
"Huh? Weren't we going to see caves? Why are we entering a park?"
There had been a brief scuffle, but like always with friends the tension melted right away. We piled into the car Rhea was driving and set off on our final Jeju itinerary.
Ha-yan, as usual glued to the window and completely absorbed in the scenery, spotted the park sign and turned to me.
"There are two caves inside the park. Easier to see both in one place instead of hunting them down separately. Plus the park itself has stuff worth looking at."
While I explained, Choi Hoon spoke up from the side in a slightly sulky voice.
"Aren't we just hitting all the places old people go? I heard the other groups are living large—food or hands-on experiences the whole time."
Do Ji-yeon immediately jumped on that, just like always.
"Hey. Honestly, how many foods can you only eat on Jeju? If you really want, you can get most of them near home."
"Well, yeah."
"But caves? Hallasan? Can you see those once we're back home?"
"…Also true."
Choi Hoon's argument sank without a trace under Do Ji-yeon's counter.
Soon the car pulled into the parking lot.
And just as she had every day of the trip—
"The weather is the best!!!"
—Ha-yan stretched under the blazing sun and shouted, and our final school-trip schedule officially began.