That Momentum Is Terrifying
Men in crisp black suits bowed their heads low in a show of perfect courtesy.
"Young Master, and your friend. We've come to escort you."
"We'll take you to where Madam is waiting."
I followed the man at the front, and the rest fell in around us as if it were the most natural thing in the world, closing ranks into a living wall of security.
Getting the kind of heavy protection I'd only ever seen in movies and dramas felt more than a little surreal.
"What on earth is all this…?"
I kept glancing up at Jihoo, who walked beside me as if none of this were any concern of his.
I'd known this guy forever. I'd been invited over by his mother before. Last year on my birthday, I'd even been dragged to some stranger's engagement party. But never once had I been under a security detail like this — and never once had I seen him under one either!
"It's all because of you. Just enjoy it."
"How am I supposed to enjoy this?! Ugh…?"
My voice shot up at the suggestion that I "enjoy" this uncomfortable situation, and every pair of eyes around us snapped toward me at once.
Under that crushing attention my body flinched, and I shrank toward Jihoo like I was trying to escape.
"O-okay, but why because of me…?"
"You think they'd send this many people just to escort a sitting Academy professor?"
He had a point.
There was no real need to guard someone stronger than most people already.
That much was true.
"So then why are they escorting someone like meee…."
Then why bother guarding me — the ordinary son of a restaurant owner?
I wasn't anything special. I wasn't important enough to be threatened. Did they really need this many people for me?
Under the bodyguards' oppressive guidance, we arrived at a private café near the Association building.
Soft classical music drifted through the air. The interior was warm and intimate — the kind of place that, at a glance, looked like a favorite for couples. And yet, on a Christmas when the streets should have been overflowing with lovers, a white-haired woman who looked just like Jihoo sat alone at a table, cradling a coffee cup.
Judging by the extra bodyguards posted at the entrance like sentries, she'd rented out the whole place.
"We're here."
We stepped through the door a guard held open for us, and my eyes met those of the owner and a part-timer trembling pitifully behind the counter.
Yeah.
If a chaebol madam dropped in out of nowhere and took over my shop for the day, my heart would drop straight through the floor too.
"My son's here? Then this must be…?"
"A-Auntie. It's been a while."
"Oh my! It really is Min! Goodness, you've gotten so much prettier."
"H-haha…."
I forced an awkward laugh and fidgeted with a strand of hair that had slipped down over my face, burning with embarrassment.
Calling someone who was a man until yesterday "pretty" was a little much, wasn't it?
"Min. Why is it so hard to see your face? I told you you can drop by anytime — no pressure."
"Jihoo and I never quite had matching schedules…. H-haha…."
"What are you talking about. Are we strangers? You only come when Jihoo's around. Just swing by whenever you like, have a meal, make yourself at home."
This was unbearable.
Even walking into a friend's empty house alone wasn't easy. Showing up by myself at a chaebol estate where a housekeeper answered the doorbell first?
No matter how I looked at it, that was asking too much.
"I-I'll definitely come visit next time."
"That's a promise with Auntie, understood?"
"Yes. Yes, yes."
I laughed awkwardly and brushed it off the way I always did — the classic "let's grab a meal sometime" dodge — and tried to look anywhere else.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Jihoo muttered something I couldn't make sense of.
I thought I'd sidestepped it just fine, same as always. So why was he looking at me like I was a pitiful soul about to walk off a cliff?
I tilted my head, baffled.
"Well then, you two order something as well. The coffee aroma here is quite nice."
There was something satisfied about Auntie's smile — and something a little cold beneath it.
The moment our drinks touched the table —
"Then let's get to the point."
The mother who'd been smiling only a second ago settled into an expression of grave seriousness.
"Min. I heard your evaluation results from Jihoo first. Similar to a Dragon Beastman hybrid…. I'll simply call you a Half-Dragon. You became a Half-Dragon when you awakened, is that right?"
"Yes. That's what I was told."
"There's something serious I need to discuss with you about that."
Faced with Auntie's solemn look, my grip on the cup tightened before I realized it.
Was there something crucial I needed to know? Or some brutal truth only Dragon Beastmen were privy to?
Auntie's yellow eyes — the same as Jihoo's, save for her skin tone — seemed to bore straight through me.
"That is…."
As she took a slow sip of coffee and let the silence stretch, I swallowed hard without meaning to.
"As it happens, my son is of marriageable age. So, Min — how about becoming Auntie's daughter-in-law?"
"…Huh?"
What happened to the serious talk?
The sudden proposal blanked my mind pure white.
"As you know, Min, Dragon Beastmen are vanishingly few in number, yes?"
"Pardon?"
"But Dragon Beastmen are a rather deficient species, you see. Hybrid children are always born on the non-dragon side."
Why was she suddenly talking about this?
"Of course we still count those children as our own, but we do hope there might be a dragon among our descendants someday."
Auntie's hand slid gently over the back of mine.
In that instant, her yellow eyes seemed to flash like a predator locking onto prey.
"Oh my. And look — here we have a proper Half-Dragon young lady who's known my son for twenty years?"
"Auntie. Wait. Could you let go of my hand for just a second…!"
"Aigoo. And that proper young lady just made a promise to visit our house, too?"
Something had gone spectacularly wrong.
"Jihoo! You say something too…. Where the hell did this bastard go!"
The Jihoo who'd been sitting right beside me, calmly drinking the beverage he'd ordered for himself, had vanished without a trace.
Only a half-empty cup remained on the table, the sole proof that he'd been there at all.
"Min."
"Yes? Yes, yes?"
"Our family has a great deal of money."
What had clearly been a casual coffee with my childhood friend's mother was rapidly mutating into a bizarre sales pitch for her household.
"We don't bother with annoying ancestral rites, either."
"Auntie!"
"Tsk. Min. What's with that cold 'Auntie'? Try calling me Mother."
"No — Mother? Why are you suddenly doing this?"
Why was she doing this to someone who'd been a man until yesterday?
In Auntie's eyes burned a craving far too relentless to pass for simple teasing.
"Living under the same roof as my new daughter is my dream, but if you'd prefer it, Min, I'll find you a separate house."
"Auntie. Please calm down and listen to me for a second…!"
"New daughter. Would you prefer a hotel wedding? Or a cathedral?"
Did she just say wedding?
She just said wedding. Out loud!
"Auntie! I was a man until yesterday — what are you even saying right now!"
"That was my new daughter's only flaw. But it's been resolved now, hasn't it?"
No wonder she and my mom got along. She was saying the exact same thing.
Had she actually thought of us that way from the start?
My mind was going blank.
I was a man to begin with. We were never the kind of pair who talked about marriage in the first place.
"I have no intention of being with that bastard like that!"
Terrified that if this kept going she'd actually haul me off to a blind date, I shouted with everything I had.
"Ah. This Auntie got a little too excited and was rude."
Auntie flinched in surprise and quietly released my hand.
Thankfully, my full-force yell seemed to have worked. She was calming do—
"You do need time to get to know each other before marriage. Prefer a love match?"
Calming…
"Or shall we start with an engagement? How was the engagement party you attended last year — did you like it? If that's what you want, we can arrange one right away. Or do you prefer something more traditional?"
"Pardon?"
"Ah, right. New Year's is almost here — you should come and greet the elders. Everyone will adore you. Then shall we go get hanbok fitted starting now? Let's call your mother too and go as a foursome. No, what was that Jihoo brat doing not even helping Min pick clothes…. Min, where are you going!"
If I listened to another word of this, they were genuinely going to set a date for the family meeting. I bolted straight for the bathroom.
Scary….
"Ah."
In the bathroom where I'd fled from a somewhat unhinged Auntie, I ran straight into Jihoo.
"You bastard…. You ran away by yourself?"
"I told you I'd have a hard day today."
"You should've told me it was this!"
Jihoo raked his hands through his hair like a man who'd been deeply wronged and leaned back against the wall.
"If we don't feel that way, we can just let it go in one ear and out the other."
"Is it that easy to say?! You're only talking like that because you didn't see your mom's momentum!"
"So what — are you going to actually date me just because she pushed?"
I'd been jabbing a finger at him, seething — and that one line stole every word out of my mouth.
"No. What the hell is that disgusting thing to say."
"Then it's fine. Mom just got a little excited. If we hang around a bit, she'll calm down."
"I-Is that so?"
I nodded, my earlier fury settling so thoroughly it almost felt unreal.
Right. There was no need to panic or lose my temper like that. No matter how hard anyone pushed, there was no way I'd end up in that kind of relationship with a guy.
"Then I'll head back first. Wash your face and calm down a little. Don't freak out over every single thing."
Jihoo tossed the words off with casual indifference, opened the bathroom door, and left.
Click. The sound of the door shutting cut cleanly through the silence.
"Right."
I stared blankly at the face in the mirror — flushed red with panic.
Emerald hair.
Pupils slit like a reptile's, yellow irises.
A pair of horns rising from my head, and a tail that swayed however it pleased.
"Yeah. It's only been one day."
I set my hands on the cold sink and drew a shaky breath.
Even if my appearance had completely changed overnight, I was still Park Min — the same Park Min who'd been friends with Jihoo for twenty years.
It would be fine. One night wasn't going to overturn my whole life.
"New daughter!"
…Right?