[Side Story] Human Seo Chan-hui (3)
In the midst of the pouring torrential rain, Huey gazed up with a resolute expression at the white dragon raging in the sky above.
"…Sorry."
The white dragon overhead—Miri—would never hear it. Even so, Huey quietly apologized, steeling his resolve.
And then—
Whoooosh.
A scorching gale erupted from Huey's body and whipped outward in every direction.
"Taoist magic is the art of becoming nature itself…"
Recalling the teaching he had once heard from the very dragon before him, the small human raised both hands and began to form a seal.
Index finger of Water met middle finger of Wind.
And, to burn a clearer image into his mind, he opened his mouth and spoke the name of the miracle he meant to work.
"—Bicheon."
At once the rain that had been falling without pause began to change direction with the wind.
Shwaaaaaak—!
Tens of thousands of rain-lances sliced through the air and poured toward the white dragon. Each drop carried force enough to pierce a great tree; the sight of them all surging as one was nothing short of spectacular.
Yet—
"Grrrr…"
Even a technique that others might call a miracle was, to a dragon spoken of only in ancient legend, nothing more than a mere human art.
Still Huey smiled quietly.
Krrrumble!
He had succeeded in turning the enraged dragon's gaze. Even if it cost him his life.
"That's right. Over here."
Receiving the dragon's hostility head-on, Huey brought his hands together once more.
This time index finger of Water met little finger of Fire.
Immediately—
Flash—!
Swallowing even sound, a colossal bolt of lightning crashed down upon the spot where Huey had stood.
Krrrumble—!
Only after the blast had painted the surroundings white and scorched the land black did the thunder follow.
"Krooooaah—!"
The white dragon roared at the ashes left below, never noticing the mist that had been slowly spreading through the rain.
"It's a bit conspicuous up here. Let's take this to the ground."
The voice came from directly above the roaring dragon's head.
"Krk!?"
Startled, the dragon twisted its neck upward—and saw Huey plummeting toward it, thumb of Metal pressed to little finger of Fire.
"Manifest—Spear of the Flame Tip!"
A long spear of fire blazed to life in Huey's hands. The instant its light touched the white dragon's body—
KWA-AAAANG—!
Flame exploded with a deafening roar. Amid the billowing smoke the white dragon began to fall.
And—
"Didn't think about the landing…!"
Huey, likewise plummeting, hastily formed another seal. One hand rose; index of Water and middle of Wind twisted together and thrust forward.
At once—
Whoom!
A transparent membrane of wind, almost solid, caught his body—
Flash—!
"Whoa!"
—just as a bolt of lightning lanced up from the direction of the fallen white dragon. Huey twisted desperately aside, but—
"Ghk!"
—a second bolt punched straight through his thigh.
Crash!
The impact sent him tumbling to the earth without a proper landing.
"Grrrr…"
Right in front of the fallen Huey stood the enraged white dragon.
Yet he paid the sight no mind.
"So just—calm down for a second—!"
Still sprawled on the ground, Huey raised both hands, pressed thumb of Metal to ring finger of Earth, and slammed his palms against the soil as he shouted.
Kugung-gugung!
The earth rumbled; mounds of soil surged upward and began to bind the white dragon like a prison.
"Haa…"
Huey met the eyes of the dragon now quietly glaring at him from within the earthen cage.
"Somehow… that worked…"
The complete lack of resistance was unsettling, but for the moment he had succeeded in restraining the white dragon Miri. He let out a breath of relief.
"Miri, please—snap out of it!"
Forcing himself to ignore the pain in his pierced left thigh, Huey rose and approached the bound dragon.
"Miri!"
The instant his hand carefully touched her body—
Sssrrrk.
The earthen prison crumbled away as though it had never existed.
And then—
Thuk.
"…Huh?"
A chilling sensation bloomed in his chest. Huey made a puzzled sound and looked down.
What met his eyes was—
Pssshk!
—a dragon's claw, soaked in the blood now spraying from his chest.
"Kh—hk…"
Drip.
Staring at Miri's blood-stained claw, Huey tried to speak, but—
"Glrk…"
—all that left his open mouth was the wet gurgle of blood pooling in his throat.
Thud.
At last Huey's body toppled backward in empty defeat. The final thing that entered his eyes as he fell was—
I can't… go down like this…
—the form of a black dragon visible beyond the white dragon Miri.
Rise.
…A voice?
…Whose?
His sunken consciousness surged back in a single rush.
"…Haaah!"
As though he had forgotten how to breathe, the sudden gasp startled him. He forced his body calm and scanned his surroundings.
"H-how…?"
I was sure Miri had taken my heart—
Shudder!
He frantically felt his chest, yet the sensation under his fingers was unmistakably bare skin.
……
Bare skin?
"This isn't… a dream…?"
Rain still poured. His clothes were soaked in blood, a great hole torn through them.
KWA-AAAANG—!
And close by, a shockwave of wind and the roar of clashing force.
"…Bari?"
He turned toward the sound. Two dragons locked in a desperate struggle filled his vision.
The black dragon he had glimpsed as he fell had indeed been Bari. A familiar voice spoke to him.
"Bari…?"
As if the black dragon herself could never manage it.
She had long since realized there was no Immortal Realm in this world. But she had never found the courage to tell Miri—her only family—the truth.
Originally she had intended to perish together with Miri. Yet to save Huey, no other path remained.
With those final words the black dragon Bari lost her strength and fell.
Kuuung!
Huey watched, then quietly laid a hand over his chest.
Thump. Thump.
A pulse subtly different from a heartbeat. And, for some time now, a power raging inside him as though his whole body were burning.
Instinct told him the truth.
This was not a force any mere human could contain. Before long he, too, would destroy himself.
Even so—
"…Don't worry. I'll stop her. I swear."
At the very least he could grant his friend's last wish. Clinging to a consciousness that was already fading, he straightened his posture.
"A Taoist must always remain steadfast."
He repeated the words Bari had so often spoken.
"Then… farewell."
That was his final memory as a Taoist.
When he opened his eyes again, the familiar wooden ceiling filled his vision.
"This is…"
He had only a moment to wonder why his body would not move before—
"Chan-hui!"
"Gyaaah!"
—something threw itself onto him with a tearful cry. Agony lanced through every limb and tore a scream from his throat.
"Cheonyu. You're going to kill me."
"Ah—s-sorry!"
Listening to the voices, he rolled the only part of himself that still worked—his eyes—and saw his entire body bound in ropes that sealed Taoist power.
"…Master. What happened?"
He asked the man who had clearly saved him.
"Don't even start. We couldn't get anywhere near until the fighting was over."
When word reached Gaon that the white dragon Miri was rampaging, the people who had prepared for the worst arrived to find Huey—black scales covering his whole body—locked in combat with her.
"Thanks to you, waterfall training is off the table for a while, you brat."
The entire landscape had been rewritten; it had been a headache for some time, the Master said.
Thwack!
"Ugh."
He rapped Huey's forehead with the long pipe in his hand.
"That was half a year ago."
"…What?"
For an instant Huey doubted his ears. Half a year?
"You don't remember, I see."
"Chan-hui. After the battle ended, you sealed yourself."
After a fight that lasted half a day, Huey had killed Miri. By the time the Master, Cheonyu, and the others reached him, he had already sealed himself away.
"Well, you woke up now and then and went berserk, so we've kept you tied up like this."
"We researched endlessly until we finally managed to restore you to human form, as you are now."
As a bonus, the ministers who saw him rampaging had submitted petitions calling him too dangerous to live—
"You think His Majesty would just let that slide? He drew his sword on the spot."
He had shaved every last one of those ministers bald and declared:
"Anyone who thinks first of killing the savior of our nation instead of helping him has no place in Gaon. Hah. Cleared my chest right out."
In any case, the King had ordered the Taoists to prioritize waking Huey above every other duty—which was why Huey could open his eyes safely now.
"…Thank you."
He offered his gratitude to the smiling Master and to Cheonyu, who for some reason was still crying.
"Heh. Before we untie you, let me explain exactly what state you're in."
"I can roughly guess. Am I… still human?"
"…You are, and you aren't."
Wiping her tears, Cheonyu spoke with a worried face.
"At this rate, it won't be long before you turn completely into a dragon."
That would be a problem.
"Don't fret too much. We found a way—that's why you woke up like this."
And so Huey learned the truth of his condition.
"So what's in my chest right now isn't a heart, but a dragon's Yeouiju."
"Mm. That's right."
"And by sealing both my Taoist power and the Yeouiju, you're keeping me from becoming a dragon."
"Correct."
Which meant—
"If I force my power, I turn into a dragon."
He could no longer wield his strength freely the way he once had.
"And one more thing you must be careful of."
"…There's more?"
As though this next fact were even more important, the Master met his eyes.
"Strip away your emotions."
"What?"
The words made no sense; Huey echoed them without thinking.
"A dragon is a being completed by a thousand years of longing. So what do you need in order to move away from being a dragon?"
"…Resignation and restraint."
"Exactly. It will be hard, but take one step back from everything."
Joy and suffering alike—he must never be whole.
"Never yearn for anything with all your heart. That alone is the way you remain human."
The moment he began to desire something earnestly, every seal upon his heart would lose its meaning.
"Personally I think it would be better to become a dragon and find a way to keep your reason."
Even the Master admitted the path was too harsh, and offered the alternative.
"To lose your power and strip away your emotions until you can yearn for nothing at all—wouldn't that be too cruel?"
Warm concern colored every word.
True enough—becoming a dragon might not be so bad. As a creature of legend, he would be able to do so much more.
But—
"I will remain human."
He wanted to go home still himself—unchanged.
Even if the road proved unspeakably hard.
That was his choice.