Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Ha-yoon's Wish
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“Haha. Yeah, it’s your grandpa. And this here is the newly appointed Director of the Mutant Management Bureau, Director Yoon Seo-hyun.”
“Hello, I’m Park Ha-yoon.”
“……Hello.”
“Then, you two talk comfortably. This old man will step out for a bit.”
The girl’s expression was emotionless. Just from that look, I could immediately tell how disconnected she was from the world.
Middle schooler.
She was at an age where I should call her a girl now, but she still only looked like a child in my eyes.
Of course. For a kid who had just entered adolescence and lost her legs, binding her body’s freedom, it was impossible to view the world positively.
Unless her resolve was extraordinarily strong, it just wasn’t possible.
And the child in front of me didn’t seem to have that kind of unbreakable resolve.
Her eyes, pretending to be calm, clearly held resignation.
“……Hi. So you’re the one who wanted to see me.”
“Yes.”
“Can I ask why?”
“You caught that demon, right? So…… I wanted to say thank you…….”
“……I see.”
Seeing me like that, the child seemed slightly overcome with emotion.
Perhaps she was thinking it was good that the culprit who did this to her had met that fate, yet at the same time, reflecting on how she’d never walk again.
“Thank you. Really. Now I think I won’t have nightmares anymore.”
“……You’ve been having nightmares?”
“Every single day. Even when I tried to forget, I couldn’t.”
“If I ask what kind of nightmares, would that be rude?”
“It’s just dreams of when I became like this. Nothing special.”
Having composed her emotions, Ha-yoon returned to her blank expression.
An expression that said it didn’t matter what happened anymore.
That was no expression for a girl who had just entered middle school.
It was the face of someone who had cried and cried until they were too exhausted to even have the energy left.
The profound sadness seeping from those words claiming it was “nothing special” wasn’t just my imagination.
“……I see. Is that all you wanted to say to me?”
“Unnie, you’re a dragon, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You can fly in the sky and stuff, right? I saw it on TV earlier. You turned into a huge dragon and flew through the sky.”
“You watched the inauguration.”
“Yeah. Um, could you maybe take me flying?”
“What’s the reason?”
“I just want to fly.”
It wasn’t a difficult request.
If it was just that much, there was no reason not to grant it.
I picked Ha-yoon up in my arms.
Because she had no muscle in her legs, Ha-yoon felt excessively light.
“Is this okay?”
“……Yes.”
Holding Ha-yoon, I stepped out of the hospital room for a moment.
“Um, Director of the National Intelligence Service?”
“Hm? Ha-yoon and the Management Bureau Director? What’s going on?”
“Ha-yoon wants to go flying once…….”
“Ha-yoon, you want to fly in the sky?”
“Yes.”
“Can I ask why?”
“It’s just…… I want to fly once. No special reason.”
At her words that there was no reason, the National Intelligence Service Director fell silent.
“……Do that, then. Director, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Understood.”
* * *
We went outside. I could feel people’s attention focusing on us.
“Unnie, you’re famous.”
“It can’t be helped.”
“I heard you used to be a guy.”
“That’s right.”
“Did you lose something too, unnie?”
“I did.”
“Are you sad?”
“ No. Because what I gained outweighs what I lost.”
At those words, undeniable envy appeared on Ha-yoon’s face.
“……I’m jealous.”
“I think you would be.”
Still holding her, I spread my wings.
“Wow!”
Surprised voices came from around us, but…… well, it wasn’t a big deal. I was someone who could do this much now.
As soon as I spread my wings, I took to the sky. Cool wind brushed past.
Then, Ha-yoon’s voice reached me.
It should have been drowned out by the wind, but her voice rang out especially loud.
And it sounded excited, too.
“It’s cool.”
“Not cold?”
“There are still patches of warm weather, so. But…… I don’t even know how long it’s been since I felt something like this. I used to love running.”
“……Yeah?”
“Yeah. I loved the feeling of the wind brushing past my ears when I ran. I thought I’d never feel that again…… but now I can feel it, even if it’s just like this.”
I couldn’t grasp what to say. In times like this, I knew exactly what to do.
Stay silent.
There was no need to awkwardly pity Ha-yoon.
That would only poke at her wounds more. In these moments, it was best to just stay quiet.
Ha-yoon’s gaze shifted slightly downward.
I could be certain now why this child wanted to see me: flying in the sky.
She was still yearning for her old self.
Her self before getting caught in the demon-type mutant’s explosion, before her lower body was paralyzed.
The days when she walked freely, ran freely, and played happily with her peers.
If she had been unable to use her legs from birth, she wouldn’t feel these emotions.
But because she had perfectly healthy legs once and lost them…… she could only feel even deeper despair.
In normal cases, they say rehab can miraculously restore sensation, but her condition was so dire she couldn’t even hope for that sliver of a miracle……
That’s why resignation and despair were etched in her eyes.
“Unnie.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I…… run again?”
“…….”
I couldn’t bring myself to speak. There’s nothing that drives a person deeper into despair’s abyss than instilling vague hope.
“I guess not, huh.”
“I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know well.”
“I overheard the doctors before. They said the nerves are completely destroyed. I looked it up online, and if the nerves are totally ruined, you can never walk again.”
“……Ah.”
“Honestly, my family probably all know too. That I have to live like this forever. Isn’t that just awful?”
“Sorry, I can’t even fathom your feelings.”
“……Unnie, you’re a good person.”
“Why?”
“Everyone else said stuff like, ‘You’ll get better,’ ‘You’ll recover soon,’ ‘You’ll run again someday.’ When is that ‘someday’? At some point, I realized the more I vaguely hoped, the sadder it got. But unnie, you’re not saying that kind of thing.”
Ha-yoon was far too mature. This wasn’t something a middle schooler should say.
“Sorry for whining. I couldn’t tell my family, so it was frustrating.”
“I understand.”
“Good unnie, I have one wish.”
“Yeah.”
“I wish I could walk on my own legs again. Just once more. I wish I could run again. If that happened, I feel like I could do anything.”
“……That’s a hard wish to grant.”
I said it honestly. Just like Ha-yoon had said earlier, I didn’t want to give false hope and shove her into deeper despair.
“Yeah, I figured.”
“Yeah.”
“Then, I guess I need to find a hobby or something.”
“A hobby?”
“Yeah. My arms can still move like this, like this. If I don’t believe I can do something, I won’t want to live.”
Ha-yoon moved the arms wrapped around my neck back and forth.
“That’s a good idea.”
“What should I do? Can you recommend something?”
“Hmm……. My hobbies are pretty half-baked too.”
“Then, can you help me find one together?”
“Let’s do that.”
“Will you come visit often?”
“If time allows. Unnie suddenly got a high position, so I’m a bit busy.”
“You don’t have to push yourself, but could you come once a week?”
“Sure.”
“Promise?”
In that instant, color bloomed on Ha-yoon’s face. If it was just that much, no problem.
At the same time, I thought I wanted to heal this child.
In that moment, one fact surfaced in my mind.
……The fact that dragon blood holds miraculous power.
* * *
After meeting Ha-yoon, I contacted Yeon-hwa for a bit.
I needed to check something.
I had to verify if that fact I thought of earlier was true or not.
I opened the chat right away.
With Yeon-hwa, it was much easier to get answers via text than speaking directly.
[Yoon Seo-hyun: Yeon-hwa-ssi. Got a moment?]
[Ha Yeon-hwa: What’s up?]
[Yoon Seo-hyun: Nothing big…… When you drank my blood, aside from it tasting good, was there any special effect? You probably know the most about blood matters.]
[Ha Yeon-hwa: Hmm…… How to put it? A huge surge of vitality? Not sure why, but after drinking your blood, I didn’t feel weakened by sunlight or anything.]
[Yoon Seo-hyun: What if a normal person drank that blood?]
[Ha Yeon-hwa: Can’t guarantee, but probably any ordinary illness would heal? You know how in fantasy stuff, they always say bathing in dragon blood makes you immortal…… something like that. Yours might not go that far, but it definitely has the effect of repairing the human body. Trust me on blood matters, I can tell right away. But why dragon blood all of a sudden?]
[Yoon Seo-hyun: Need to test something quick.]
[Ha Yeon-hwa: ??]
Yeah, so that’s how it is.
If a blood expert guarantees it this much, there must be some effect.
……Might cause a fuss, but I can manage it appropriately.
Should be fine.
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