Chapter 69
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: The Blue Dragon Descends
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A beep sounded, and the audience seats darkened.
With a round of applause, the curtain rose. Everyone gasped in awe at the stage. They had expected a children's play to have a simple, cartoonish backdrop like something out of a fairy tale, but this set depicted houses and even swaying trees that looked like they belonged in a fantasy film.
The protagonist’s village, the Village of Spring, had been suffering from a drought for several years. When her younger sister finally collapsed, the protagonist, Bom, set off on a journey to find the Blue Dragon, the world’s guardian from legend, to ask for a wish.
Bom traveled from place to place, helping people, and in return, she received mysterious shards of glass. Though they seemed useless, she decided to keep them as a gift for her sister, stowing them safely in her bundle.
The audience members found themselves rubbing their eyes. *Wait, are those really kids?* The stage props and set pieces were all so seamless and realistic, with nothing feeling out of place or jarring.
The children’s natural acting—or rather, their natural presence—felt like watching a documentary about the daily lives of people in some foreign country.
Some of the children on stage were performing for the very first time. Despite that, they looked like real farmers and woodcutters, so much so that throughout the month of rehearsals, their parents had wondered if their children had a hidden talent for acting and should pursue it.
However, when they had them try other acting exercises, they were still at a beginner's level, making them realize this play was a special case.
At last, Bom arrived at the entrance of the Blue Dragon's cave.
“Great Blue Dragon, O Great Blue Dragon! Please grant my wish.”
Bom clasped her hands and pleaded earnestly.
“Please save my little sister, and please save our village.”
Her desperate plea surprised the other children from her acting academy. They knew she was good, but not *this* good.
Bom thought of all the people she had met on her journey, all suffering from the drought. She had helped them with their immediate problems, but there was only one fundamental solution.
The Great Blue Dragon had to make it rain!
“Great Blue Dragon, O Great Blue Dragon! Everyone is suffering.”
Just then, CRACKLE, BOOM! A tremendous sound echoed through the theater. The stage director trembled at the power of the newly installed speakers. You really get what you pay for!
On the screen, the once-clear sky filled with fluffy clouds, and the sun vanished. The stage grew dark, and then, a flash of lightning!
And behind a prop placed at the center of the stage, Seojun’s eyes began to glow with the light of the ocean.
With no one looking at him, he could now use his ability freely.
[The (Good) Blue Dragon Hatchling's Weak Fear is activated.]
Along with his eyes, the color of his hair changed. Tiny horns sprouted, and dragon scales emerged on his cheeks and the back of his hands like new buds.
This time, it seemed his vision had been enhanced. Beyond the prop, he could see Soyoung Nuna, her back to the audience, giving an impassioned performance.
Though the stage lights were bright, the draconified Seojun could see the face and expression of every single person in the audience.
Some had their arms crossed as if watching any other play, while others were chatting with the person next to them. There were children watching with rapt attention, but he could also see some who looked uninterested.
This was what he loved about theater—being able to see the audience's reactions firsthand.
He looked forward to the surprised expressions that would soon appear on their faces. Seojun grinned.
Here stood a Blue Dragon that no one could ignore.
Seojun opened his mouth.
His voice passed through a modulator prepared by the stage director, but the power of the Mid-Low grade ability was still immense.
[How noisy.]
That single phrase.
That unknowable voice, neither child nor adult.
It pierced through the television screen, connecting the world on stage with the world below.
The audience’s mouths fell open, overwhelmed by something immense. Bom’s pleas to an unseen entity, which had felt distant just moments ago, suddenly became immediate. They felt as if they themselves were standing before a being of incredible power.
Now, the play was no longer just a play.
The cave projected on the screen grew larger and larger. And from within, a massive Blue Dragon emerged.
The Blue Dragon flew out of the cave and soared across the vast sky.
Bom and the audience members lifted their heads to watch the dragon ascend to the ceiling.
Then, the Blue Dragon descended toward Bom. The dragon that had been flying at the far end of the screen was now coming closer.
Closer.
So close that they could meet its enormous eyes.
“Huh? Oh!”
As the dragon drew nearer, the adults instinctively leaned back, but the chair backs stopped them. They all sank into their seats, bodies tensed.
Just when it felt too close for comfort.
The Blue Dragon’s head broke through the screen and appeared on the stage.
*Gasp!*
The audience gasped, pressing themselves deeper into their chairs.
Unlike the overwhelmed adults, the children stared with their mouths agape at the Blue Dragon that had appeared for real.
The dragon's long whiskers flowed like waves to either end of the stage, and its sharp eyes looked down upon Bom and the audience.
As if he had truly become the Blue Dragon, everyone before him seemed tiny. His enhanced vision showed him every detail of the audience.
The adults, who had recoiled in a strange sense of awe, and the children, whose eyes sparkled with a warm sense of divinity.
Seojun recalled the hatchling's grandfather, who had protected a human kingdom, and opened his mouth.
[You are noisy, child.]
At his voice, the audience members unconsciously clasped their hands together. Goosebumps rose on their skin, though it wasn’t cold.
An otherworldly being, the likes of which they had never seen, was here.
Yet, it wasn't frightening. It was simply colossal and divine, something beyond their imagination.
Kim Heesang suddenly realized he had felt something similar before.
The Evil Spirit.
Of course, it was a little different. While his performance as the Evil Spirit had been full of mischief, it had felt more human. This felt like something truly non-human was speaking.
“Great Blue Dragon! Please help me.”
While the entire audience was rendered speechless, Bom, accustomed through practice, spoke without hesitation.
She energetically recounted all she had experienced on her journey, gesturing animatedly to the great, large-eyed dragon.
The dragon, which had been listening with blinking eyes, seemed to soften its imposing aura.
[Hmm. My apologies.]
“What?”
[Someone has stolen my Yeouiju. I need it to make rain….]
At the dragon’s words, Bom shot to her feet.
“I’ll find it for you! All you need is the Yeouiju, right?”
[Yes. But I do not know where it is. I believe it may have been broken.]
“It’s okay! I’ll find it right away! Please tell me what it looks like!”
The Blue Dragon slowly opened its mouth. Its half-lidded eyes blinked as if searching its memory.
[It is blue and beautiful. It is engraved with this pattern.]
A pattern of water droplets materialized in front of Bom. The children gasped, “Whoa!” their eyes shining at the dragon’s power. Suddenly, Bom felt like she had seen it before. Somewhere very close.
My bundle!
“My bundle!”
[Hmm?]
Bom quickly untied the bundle from her back. Inside were three glass shards. She held them up high for the Blue Dragon to see.
“Great Blue Dragon! Is this the Yeouiju!?”
The Blue Dragon’s perpetually half-closed eyes widened. Then, it smiled.
[Yes. That is my Yeouiju. Thank you, truly. As a reward, I shall grant you one wish.]
“That’s wonderful! Great Blue Dragon! My wish! Please make it rain right away.”
[Is there no other wish you desire?]
“No!”
[Very well. Wait just a moment!]
With a glance from the dragon, the glass shards in Bom’s hand floated into the air, glowed brightly, and reformed into a round Yeouiju. The orb fit perfectly into the dragon’s claw.
[Mmm!]
With a satisfied hum, the Blue Dragon’s head slowly receded back into the screen. Then, the full form of the dragon could be seen darting back and forth across the screen.
Seojun recalled the laughter of the Blue Dragon Hatchling's only family member.
A cheerful, dependable, and reassuring laugh, so hearty it could make one forget all their worries.
Following the faint memory of his grandfather's laugh, thanks to the Book of Life, he laughed.
[Uwahahahaha!]
Along with the dragon's refreshing laughter, rain began to fall. The booming laugh seemed to wash away a heavy weight from the audience's hearts, leaving them feeling refreshed.
Something like rain began to fall on the stage as well—a stage effect, of course, that had cost a pretty penny.
The sun set, the moon fell, and after a few days, Bom arrived back in her village.
The rain from the Blue Dragon seemed to hold a mystical power, as the fields and paddies had grown enough to be harvested already. Everyone was joyfully reaping the crops.
“Unni!”
And then, Bom’s younger sister, Gaeul, now fully recovered, ran to greet her.
The play ended with the sisters’ embrace. A heavy black curtain descended, obscuring the stage.
Soon, the house lights came up.
*Clap!*
*CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!!!*
Thunderous applause filled the theater.
***
After the first performance, there was a small party. Though many shows were still ahead, everyone was laughing and enjoying the food their parents had prepared. Director Park sat down with the children and spoke.
“You want to change the order a bit?”
Seojun, sitting next to Director Park Jisu, nodded. In his hands were a slice of pizza bread and a glass of milk.
“Yes. Looking at the audience, it felt like there was a bit of a wall at first.”
“That’s true. You get that feeling even with slice-of-life plays, but this is a complete fairy tale.”
Seojun continued, building on Director Park Jisu’s words.
“But by the end, you could see they were completely immersed.”
“Right.”
Director Park Jisu, who had been watching both the stage and the audience, knew this very well. At first, people had watched with their arms crossed, thinking, *The kids are pretty good for a children’s play.* But from the moment the Blue Dragon appeared, they were leaning in, completely drawn into the performance.
Even the restless children in the audience had their mouths agape, their eyes fixed on the stage without blinking when the dragon appeared.
Another indicator of their immersion was the Yeouiju. The blue, light-up Yeouiju orbs that the president of the Galaxy Center had prepared as souvenirs were selling like hotcakes. Both adults and children were buying one of the sparkling blue orbs on their way out.
Even though they all knew it was a fictional story, their expressions held a half-superstitious belief.
“It’s all thanks to you, Seojun.”
“So, what if the Blue Dragon made a brief appearance at the beginning?”
“How so?”
“Um. Like a Blue Dragon crying its eyes out after losing its Yeouiju?”
At Seojun's words, Choi Soyoung, who had quietly approached, sat down and chimed in.
“Wouldn’t that make him look too pathetic?”
“But Nuna, the ‘Uwahahaha’ laughing dragon was also a bit…”
It was in the script, and the hatchling’s grandfather had laughed like that, so he had laughed with gusto, but thinking back, his grandfather had never laughed that way when he visited the human palace.
The guardian dragon, who was always stern and serious in public, would return to his lair and search for his grandchild with a silly grin on his face.
“True, he also says things like ‘child.’”
Lee Dajin and the other kids had gathered around and joined Seojun and Director Park Jisu’s conversation. Everyone added their own opinions.
Pooling the children’s ideas, they eventually decided to add and change some of the Blue Dragon’s lines. With the next performance three days away, they decided to practice in the meantime.
“Is this okay, Director Park? The kids are just changing the script like this.”
At the assistant director’s question, Director Park laughed.
“We watch from the outside, but they feel it while they’re acting. There must be a world inside the stage that we don't know. If we had planned this for box office success, it would be different, but this project was planned for the kids. A few revisions like this are nothing.”
Director Park Jisu watched Seojun and the other children, who were deep in discussion, with the look of a teacher watching his students grow up well, and then he spoke.
“Still, I should say one thing.”
As always, Director Park Jisu clapped to get the children’s attention.
“Everyone.”
“Yes!”
“You can’t just go changing the script like this in other plays. This is only possible because it’s us.”
“Yeees!!”
Us.
That word stuck in the hearts of Seojun and the other children.
The children here, and Seojun, all knew. It would be hard to ever find a stage as free and fun as this one again.
And that made them want to work even harder.