Bringing a Dragon Home
I asked the dragon.
"Before we go to my place, I have a question. What's your name?"
"My name? It's Flare. What's yours, human?"
"I'm Kim Hyun. Flare? Are you really a dragon? You're the first one I've ever seen in my life."
"Of course I am. Do you have any idea how rare it is to see a dragon?"
Flare wagged her tail as she looked at Kim Hyun and answered.
Looking at her, Hyun felt a sudden urge to take this dragon home and give her a good wash.
"Why don't you come to my place? You said you were hungry. I'll feed you and let you clean up. How's that sound?"
Hearing this, Flare wagged her tail furiously and replied.
"Are you serious? I thought you were joking."
"I'm serious. My place is nearby. Are you coming?"
"On my honor as a dragon! Since you're offering food, I'm definitely coming."
Flare nodded vigorously.
"I'll follow you. You said you'd feed me, right? Human, I'm starving."
"If you want to eat, follow me. I'll take care of the bath situation too."
Hyun spoke, but Flare completely tuned out the word 'bath' and focused entirely on the promise of food.
"Let's go, hurry up, human! I'm super hungry. Hurry, hurry!"
As Flare urged him on, Hyun let out a sigh and led her toward his house.
"Keep close. And make sure your horns and tail aren't showing."
Flare hid her horns and tail, then grinned.
"I can hide them, you know. Did you think I couldn't, human?"
Hyun stared in disbelief at how quickly her horns and tail had vanished.
"Wait, you could hide them this whole time?"
Unable to hide his sheer absurdity, Hyun let out a dry chuckle.
"Well, I guess I worried for nothing."
Flare gave him a strange look at his remark.
"What? Were you worried about me? You didn't think a dragon couldn't even manage this much, did you?"
When Hyun reacted as if she had hit the nail on the head, Flare puffed out her cheeks and glared at him with irritation.
"This is why humans are so strange. Why do you always judge things by their appearance?"
By the time Flare finished grumbling while swishing her tail back and forth, they had arrived at Hyun's house. Flare looked up at the four-story building and muttered.
"What's this? You live in a pretty small place for a human. The humans in my world live in much bigger houses than this."
Hyun chuckled at her comment, telling her she'd be surprised once she saw the inside, and led her into the building.
"So, how's my house?"
Flare's eyes widened as Hyun showed her the interior. Although the exterior looked old, the inside was spacious and modern, fully furnished with high-end furniture, a plush sofa, a massive TV, and a large bed.
"Whoa, human. Is this world always this advanced? This is way better than what my friend told me."
Before Flare could even process her surprise, Hyun pulled out a wok and began tossing together a quick fried rice with the leftover ingredients in his fridge.
"We're having fried rice for dinner, so eat up."
"You're pretty good at this for a human."
Flare remarked, watching Hyun's skilled movements.
"I've lived on my own for quite a while, so I had to learn how to cook. Is this your first time seeing something like this?"
Flare nodded and replied.
"Yeah. I've never seen anything outside of my own world."
As they chatted, the fried rice was finished. Hyun scooped it into a bowl and handed it to her.
"Eat as much as you want, Flare. There's plenty left, so don't hold back."
Flare's ears perked up at the mention of there being plenty left.
"So... does that mean I can just eat straight out of that big thing?"
"Sure, go ahead. I'll just scoop my portion out, and you can have the rest."
Having received his permission, Flare picked up the entire wok—now missing only Hyun's portion—and began shoveling the fried rice into her mouth.
Once Flare had completely polished off the wok, Hyun handed her a towel and suggested she take a bath, pointing out how dirty she was.
"Flare? How about taking a quick wash?"
At the mention of washing, Flare froze.
She eyed him warily before throwing a question back at him.
"Am I supposed to wash because my body is dirty? If so, could you help me with my tail, human? It's really long, so it's hard to wash on my own."
Taken aback, Hyun stammered in response.
"Why are you asking me to do that?"
"Why? Hmm... Well, you took me in, and you said you'd feed me and give me a place to sleep, so isn't it natural to ask? Ah, is it because we're different genders and it makes you uncomfortable? If so, I can just wash by myself."
"Yes, please wash by yourself."
Once that was settled, Flare realized she had a wardrobe issue and asked.
"Hey, I don't have any spare clothes. What should I wear? The clothes I have on are all I've got."
Hyun thought about it for a moment, then decided to fetch an oversized men's T-shirt.
"I'll get you a large men's T-shirt to wear for now. You can sleep in my bedroom tonight."
Handing Flare the towel and the T-shirt, Hyun pointed her in the direction of the bathroom.
Ah, so this is the bathroom, Flare thought as she stepped inside and examined the shower faucet.
He said if I turn the handle this way, it's hot water, and the other way is cold water.
Shedding her clothes, Flare adjusted the water to a comfortable temperature and slowly began to wet her body, starting with her tail.
"Mmm~ The water is so warm. It's perfect."
Once she was completely soaked, Flare began to gently rub her tail. However, it seemed to be a highly sensitive area, as she had to hold back a soft groan.
"Ah...! I hate touching my tail, it's way too sensitive... Ah... But it's so dirty, I don't have a choice... It's so sensitive, I don't even know if I can lather it up. What should I do...?"
Gritting her teeth, Flare managed to apply soap to her tail.
"Ah...! Mnh... It's so sensitive, just lathering it up makes me feel weird. The tip of the tail is the most sensitive part, how am I supposed to wash this? When I was in my dragon form, I could just wash easily in a river. This human body is so inconvenient."
Flare stared at the tip of her tail and steeled her resolve.
"Right, if I'm going to wash, I have to wash all of it. Here goes!"
The moment Flare rubbed the tip of her tail with her soapy hands, all the strength drained from her body, and she collapsed onto the floor.
Thud!
"Ah...! Seriously, why does it have to be this sensitive...? If it's like this every time, how am I supposed to bathe in the future?"
Rub, rub. Scrub, scrub.
"Ah! This is exhausting..."
After barely managing to lather the entire tail all the way to the tip, Flare quickly rinsed it off with water.
"Phew, that was rough. Taking care of a tail is always such a chore. Now, time to dry off and get dressed."
After a thorough rinse, she dried herself with the towel. Looking at the oversized shirt Hyun had given her, she used the Words of Power to tear a perfect hole in the back of the shirt. She slipped her tail through the opening, wagging it happily as she admired the custom fit.
"Hehe~ It fits perfectly. Nice. But why do humans wear such giant shirts anyway?"
Deciding to ask him later, Flare stepped out of the bathroom.
Once outside, she called out to Hyun.
"Hey, I'm all clean. What now? Is there anything else I need to do?"
Hyun looked at her as she emerged and spoke.
"First, let's dry your hair. Once it's dry, you can tell me why you're here, right?"
Flare pondered his request for a moment before nodding.
"Sure. Since you've been this nice to me, there's no reason to keep it a secret. I'll tell you."
Whirrrr—
The hair dryer whirred to life. Flare's vibrant red hair fluttered in the warm breeze as the remaining moisture evaporated.
"Ooh, this feels nice. I really like this 'hair dryer' thing. And you're surprisingly gentle. You know, touching a dragon's body is something you could never even dream of in my world, right?"
Once her hair was completely dry, Hyun brought up the question he had been meaning to ask.
"So, what exactly brought you here?"
"I came here to hang out with a friend."
Hearing that she had come to hang out with a friend, Hyun recalled finding her collapsed on the street and asked, puzzled.
"Then where did your friend go, and why were you the only one lying on the street?"
Flare avoided his gaze and mumbled an excuse, omitting the part where her friend had playfully shoved her through the dimensional rift.
She was well aware of the side effects of forcing one's way through a dimensional rift—such as age regression or gender swapping—but she chose to ignore those thoughts and glossed over the details.
"So that's how you ended up all alone? You said you're a dragon, but what about money?"
"I have gold, but they wouldn't let me exchange it...?"
Hyun finally understood the situation and realized the predicament Flare was in.
"Gold is strictly regulated here. They won't accept it without a serial number or proper documentation. If you don't have that, they'll probably think you stole it."
"What? Gold is regulated here? That's a problem. I don't have any human money."
Seeing Flare look so dejected over her lack of funds, Hyun figured it wouldn't hurt to let her stay for a while.
"Well, you can stay here for the time being. You can use my bedroom."
Flare blinked, as if she had misheard him.
"Is it really okay for me to stay? For real?"
Seeing her tail wagging excitedly back and forth, Hyun figured she wasn't a bad dragon.
"You don't seem like a bad dragon. At the very least, life won't be boring with you around."
(At the time, he had no idea. It wasn't just going to be 'not boring'—it was going to be absolute chaos.)
"First, let's take a look at the bedroom. I'll get some blankets out for you."
Hyun opened the closet to pull out a pillow and a blanket for Flare.
"Do you like fluffy blankets?"
Flare took the fluffy blanket, buried her face in it, and took a deep sniff, looking thoroughly pleased.
"It smells so good! Like lemons! I love this scent, it's perfect! But wait, are you really letting me sleep in this bed? This huge bed?"
"It's a bit big, but my sofa is pretty spacious too, so I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."
Watching Hyun close the door behind him as he left, Flare muttered to herself.
"He's actually letting me use it. What a nice human. He's a bit peculiar, though—it's not every day you find someone who readily offers their home to a stranger. Well, as long as I'm comfortable, who cares? He's definitely a good guy."
"Time to sleep, then."
After all, Flare was the very definition of laziness—she fell fast asleep and didn't wake up from Friday night all the way until Sunday.
