The Dragon and the Delinquents
I had absolutely no intention of wrapping up such a precious weekend date with nothing more than a pretty sunset in the sky.
After a brief look at the sunset fading beyond the horizon, Hayan and I came back down from the rooftop, hurried inside, and changed clothes.
There had been that little sunset-watching interlude in the middle, but our weekend dates almost always followed the same familiar repertoire.
On Friday we would go home from school to Hayan's place, snuggle and fuss over each other until late as usual, then meet again first thing Saturday morning, demolish the breakfast her mother had made, and head out into the city.
We would wander around downtown like any ordinary couple, eat a delicious lunch at a restaurant we had researched in advance, then burn it off at a karaoke room or on a walk through the park. After that we would duck back to her place or mine—or just linger at whatever date spot we were at—for some quiet time alone together. Around dinner we would eat something even better than lunch, kill time at a regular café or a comic café, and finally head home.
A thoroughly classic date course, in other words.
Today, what with my company work and the unexpected event in the middle, we skipped every plan in between and went straight out for dinner. And unlike our usual habit of sticking close to home, we decided to take the subway a little farther out. Hayan had mentioned a handmade burger place she had been wanting to try, after all.
Money? What money problem? If I felt like it, I could buy the entire shop and hand it to her.
We got off the subway at a station and found ourselves looking out over the bustling streets of Daehak-ro, thick with people. It was close to home and a fairly good school—the very university both Hayan and I had our eyes on. As long as we kept our grades up, getting in through early admissions would not be a problem, so we were not particularly worried.
"Whoa… it feels like there are even more people than usual today."
"Yeah. Ah, look over there. Looks like the school festival ran through yesterday. The aftereffects are still spilling over into today."
I kept a firm hold of Hayan's hand with one hand and pointed with the other at a university festival poster hanging along the street.
"Ugh. If I'd known it'd be this crowded, we could've just gotten tteokbokki at the snack place near home."
"You said you wanted handmade burgers, remember? There's a really good place around here. Don't sulk—let's just go eat and get out."
"Okay, okay. We're already here, so I guess there's no choice."
Neither of us was the type who enjoyed packed crowds—both solid introverts—so we picked up our pace. Hayan, who was on the shorter side of average, seemed to have a little trouble weaving through the throng. So I simply pulled her in against me, tucking her snugly into my arms, and started cutting a path through the people.
At first she tensed up at the idea of being pressed so close to me in front of so many strangers, but she soon relaxed and, if anything, burrowed even deeper into my chest.
High schoolers will be high schoolers. She was still a kid whose mental state had not fully matured yet.
Me? Well… same boat, sort of. Except I had already been ground down as a CEO out in the real world. I only looked like a teenager on the outside. On the inside I was a thoroughly black-hearted old man.
Once we had fought our way free of the densest crowd and into a side alley where the people thinned out a little, it finally felt like we could breathe again.
"Whew… I can live again. You okay?"
"Mm. I'm fine. It was actually nice and warm."
Hayan poked her head out from inside the long coat I was wearing, fidgeted a little, and neatly smoothed my clothes for me as she spoke.
The crowd had thinned, but there were still enough people around that I could feel their eyes on the two of us fussing over each other. The looks were not unkind, but embarrassment was hard to avoid.
"S-should we hurry? We're almost there."
"Mm…"
Both of us a little pink in the face, we quickened our steps.
"Whoa… insane."
Click-click-click-click.
The camera shutter fired nonstop at the enormous handmade burger sitting in front of Hayan.
This was the handmade burger place we had ridden the subway and pushed through all those crowds to reach. And the burgers here repaid every bit of that trouble with a truly majestic presence.
A patty of ridiculous thickness, cheese oozing in rivulets, and French fries still billowing hot steam. It looked like someone had stuffed every single thing Hayan loved into one burger, and she was completely beside herself.
The moment she finished taking pictures, she reached straight for a fry—
"Ow, hot!!!"
"Geez. Be careful. Can't you see the steam?"
"Ugh… I want to eat them so bad but they're way too hot. Screw it. I'm using magic."
Her face had crumpled for a second, but then Hayan drew up a little mana and pointed a finger at the fries. The fries that had been puffing steam moments before cooled, as if nothing had happened, to a perfectly edible temperature.
Looking thoroughly satisfied, she picked one up, dabbed it in ketchup, and popped it into her mouth.
"Mmmmm~~!! So good!!! Here! Siu, you take a bite too!!"
She picked up another fry the same way and held it out to me. I took it from her fingers without the slightest hesitation.
Just as she had said, the fry was cooled to exactly the right temperature without losing any of its original flavor.
Which is to say: it was insanely good.
Next Hayan turned her attention to the handmade burger. She took up a fork and knife and carefully began dismantling the thick thing. It had never been a thickness meant to be held and eaten by hand.
Her hands moved quickly, loading a fork with a generous stack of thick patty, bun, and vegetables, then carrying the whole bite into her mouth. Once the massive chunk of burger disappeared, her face went utterly blissful as she sank into pure ecstasy.
Watching her, something occurred to me.
…A hamster?
I did not say it out loud, of course.
Having been more than repaid for the whole ordeal of getting here, we left the shop looking thoroughly content. I paid, naturally. I was drowning in money—there was no way I was going to make Hayan spend any. And her mother had never once complained about me spending on places like this anyway.
We stepped out rubbing our full stomachs to find the surroundings already dim and plenty of couples wandering the streets. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, I offered Hayan my arm.
"Shall we?"
She beamed and linked her arm through mine just as naturally.
"Yeah!!"
It would have been nice if the date had ended there…
Lately it felt like the universe had been stacking one unfair hit after another on my life. Maybe I needed to borrow the power of some shamanic faith. Or maybe my precognition just was not what it used to be. Or maybe the whole world was rejecting the idea of a dragon and a human living side by side with every fiber of its being.
Things that should never have happened kept happening. The company business included.
That said, the situation in front of me was not unsolvable. If it came down to it, I could just freeze time and flip the whole board over. I simply did not want my mood ruined, and I especially did not want our precious date time interrupted.
"That's how I see it. What about you guys?"
I said, looking thoroughly annoyed as I poked the head of the man kneeling in front of me with one finger. Behind me, Hayan sat a little restlessly in place. Of course I had pulled a camping chair out of my subspace for her so she could sit comfortably.
And the alley where Hayan, I, and this whole pack of lunatics kneeling in front of us currently were was completely sealed off. Sensory isolation, noise-cancellation magic, mana barriers, cognitive-dissonance wards—I had rings of all of them up around us. In other words, no matter what I did in here, magical or physical, not a single human outside would have any idea what was happening inside.
So why, after a perfectly good handmade burger and a quiet trip home, were a couple of kids kneeling a few guys in a half-empty alley like this?
"I. Distinctly. Remember. Giving you a serious warning. A few years ago. Did you forget in the meantime? I was pretty sure I burned it deep into your brains. Don't you think so?"
"U-uuuh… th-that's…"
"That's right, you bastard!!! You itching to die again!!!"
I finally lost my temper and barked a shout with a little mana behind it. Of course I held back as much as I could—if these guys fainted, the cleanup afterward would be a pain.
But hold myself back after watching them try to mess with Hayan right in front of me? Then I would truly be a piece of trash.
After we left the burger place, Hayan had stepped into the restroom for a moment and I had gone into a shop to buy ice cream. I came back out with one cone in each hand—and saw something I should never have had to see.
A group of guys standing in front of Hayan, saying something to her. Hayan looking thoroughly uncomfortable. In front of her, a cocky, perfectly blond thug looking very pleased with himself. And behind that guy, some other man whose face had gone bone-white.
I had no idea what the full story was, but it was exactly the sort of scene that poked every last one of my nerves. And in the end, I could not hold myself back.
Every last one of them could go die for real.