Chapter 616: Dragon (Dragon)

[The youngest of the Blue family is cursed.]

It was a story spread throughout the North Sea.

The cursed child.

That’s what everyone said after seeing the child, who had only just turned ten.

-The way he looks at you like he knows everything is creepy.

-I have no idea what he’s thinking.

-There must be a reason why they treat Gyeonghan with such caution, even though he’s of the Blue Wolf’s bloodline, wouldn’t you say?

-Well, yeah….

A child who had fallen out of his father’s favor.

That was the position of the youngest there.

Where did it all go wrong?

The boy sometimes wondered.

If something truly went wrong, when exactly was that moment?

Was it around the time he overheard his mother’s affair?

Or perhaps, around the time he realized his brother’s secret?

Or maybe not.

Was it when he figured out his father’s ambition?

It didn’t matter anymore.

Because none of that was important to the boy anymore.

“…”

He stared at the sky with vacant eyes.

It was snowing.

The boy’s cheeks were flushed red as he watched the snow.

It was because his father had slapped him across the face just moments before.

[Don’t look at me with those disgusting eyes!]

Just for looking.

Swish.

The boy touched his cheek.

Unlike the cold weather, his cheek was still burning hot.

And contrasting the heat on his face, the boy’s eyes were gradually growing colder.

He heard things others couldn’t.

That alone twisted the boy’s life.

When he spoke of his mother’s affair, things blew up thanks to his enraged father.

And when he realized his eldest brother’s secret…

His brother had to leave, as if abandoned, to a remote region.

Having experienced these two incidents, the boy eventually learned to keep his mouth shut about the voices he heard.

His father must have looked at the boy and thought…

Perhaps.

Perhaps he might figure out his own secret too.

Was that what he feared?

The boy became an unwelcome presence to his father.

And that became a thorn that ruined the boy’s life.

The cursed child.

The boy didn’t deny the words he heard about himself.

How could he deny it?

[Th-that… y-yeah… th-that….]

[B-b-…]

[G-grrrr…rrrreak.]

Because even to his own eyes, it seemed like a curse.

The boy covered his ears.

He tried desperately to block them out, but the sounds still echoed noisily in his ears.

Crying sounds.

Angry sounds.

Screaming sounds.

A storm of violent, tearing emotions.

Even closing his eyes and covering his ears couldn’t block the sounds.

Emotions made sounds.

The noisy, accumulated sounds became a cacophony.

And for the boy, life became hell.

Being able to perceive emotions others wanted to hide shattered his relationships with his family.

His mother resented him.

His brothers feared him.

His father despised him.

There was no one to comfort him when he cried, no shade to shield him from the falling snow.

The boy, who could hear the emotions of all things, was growing cold towards his own feelings.

That was his life.

And it was the life he would have to live from now on.

If this wasn’t hell, what was?

The boy thought so as he watched the falling snow.

Did they say the world had four seasons?

Among them, spring.

The season when all the snow melts, flowers bloom, and everything becomes vibrant.

He had heard that such a thing definitely existed in the Central Plains.

But here, because it snowed incessantly, spring never came to the North Sea.

It was just like his own life.

A life buried in snow, slowly dying.

The North Sea and his life were no different.

Which meant…

‘If I die, will I find peace?’

Rather than waiting for the spring of his life…

If he ended it before the colder winter arrived…

Wouldn’t that be a slightly better option?

With a sudden thought, the boy looked straight ahead.

There was a half-frozen lake.

What was he thinking then, looking at it?

It was a hazy memory now.

If he could barely recall it…

It was that the young boy was simply exhausted and lethargic.

And that due to that exhaustion and the unusually loud noise, he couldn’t distinguish right from wrong.

And so.

His steps held no hesitation.

He was at an age where it was okay to be immature, so he was captivated by his own choice.

Surely, that must have been why.

Splash-!

With the sound of falling, his breath stopped.

The water, cold enough to hurt, enveloped his entire body.

Even opening his eyes, he couldn’t see anything.

So he closed his eyes.

Do you know what’s funny about this situation?

Amidst the suffocating tightness as his breath filled…

The first thing that came to mind wasn’t pain or fear, but comfort.

‘…It’s quiet.’

The sounds that had been driving him mad moments ago vanished instantly.

How long had it been since he’d experienced such silence?

The boy felt a sense of liberation at that moment.

But.

“Gurgle…!”

He was suffocating.

As all the air left him and only pain remained…

His entire body began to gradually freeze in the cold water.

He moved his body as if struggling.

Even though it was a choice he made himself.

The boy had to resort to pathetic actions in the end.

Did he crave life? Probably not.

He didn’t know.

His memory didn’t extend that far.

If there was anything he remembered…

“Ggguuhh… ugh….”

As he struggled for a long time and gradually lost consciousness…

Splash-!

Simultaneously with a sound heard from afar…

Whoosh-!

Something had pulled him.

Thin, slender arms wrapped around his body and moved.

A short time passed.

“Puhah!”

The boy was able to get out of the water.

“Cough… hack…”

Trembling uncontrollably, he lay face down on the ground and vomited water.

As he was spitting it out for a long time…

Something wrapped around his body, shivering from the cold.

It was a dry fur coat.

Wondering what it was, he looked at the person who had covered him with the coat.

“Hooah! It’s cold…!”

What he saw first was snow-white hair, resembling snow.

It was damp, thoroughly soaked in water just like his own.

Their ages didn’t seem much different either.

It was a girl right around his age.

As the boy looked at the girl with an uncomprehending expression…

The girl, holding back a smile, said to the boy.

“The weather’s gotten really cold lately, hasn’t it?”

“…”

“The water’s too cold. It feels too early for swimming.”

It was truly a clear smile.

Through the falling snow, the boy looked at the coat wrapped around him.

“So, if you want to swim, let’s do it together next time when it’s a bit less cold.”

“I…”

“It’s too cold right now!”

The boy tried to say something, but…

The girl cut him off.

He later found out…

The girl already knew what the boy had been trying to do.

At the time, with her young mind, she couldn’t think of words to change the boy’s mind.

That’s why she said that, she recalled.

What could he say?

It was a story that only made him let out a hollow laugh.

The boy couldn’t speak in the face of the incomprehensible situation.

This was a place no one could enter carelessly.

It was a place his father had blocked off so no one could enter, yet…

How on earth did this girl get in?

As such questions swirled in his mind…

“Nice to meet you.”

The girl extended her hand to the boy.

“Are you the youngest son of the Blue Wolf?”

“…”

How many people in the North Sea could refer to his father like that?

The boy, though young, was sharp, so he knew the number was definitely not large.

At most, you could count them on both hands.

And among them, if it were such a young girl, the answer would be obvious without even looking.

Even knowing that, the boy didn’t react.

He merely stared at the girl.

Then.

Swish.

The girl reached out her hand to the boy.

“My name is Yuri.”

Looking into her blue eyes, he thought…

How truly radiant they were.

“What’s your name?”

Surely, the boy back then didn’t know…

That this girl…

Would become his conviction and his spring.

******************

Drip. Drip.

Blood flowed down the sword.

The blood that flowed that way trickled down to the floor, dyeing the snow red.

How deep had the tip of the sword dug in?

Pain surged.

He had tried to control it, but it seemed he made a slight mistake.

“Wow… that hurts like hell.”

He had aimed to avoid vital spots, but it still hurt.

‘How long has it been?’

How long had it been since he’d been stabbed?

He had been cut quite a few times, but being stabbed directly like this was a first in a long time.

It seemed like the first time since his regression.

Trickle.

Blood flowed down his lips.

He didn’t bother to wipe it.

Clunk.

He felt a sensation from the sword stuck in his stomach.

As soon as he felt it, he firmly gripped the blade.

“Don’t move. If you move too hard, you’ll hurt my hand?”

“…You…!”

As he spat out the warning, the sword’s owner…

Woohyuk widened his eyes and spoke.

“What the hell are you doing right now…!”

“Can’t you see?”

Every time he spoke, blood boiled in his mouth.

It really tasted foul.

He said it while trying hard to ignore it.

“I’m trying to snap you back to your senses.”

“Pull the sword out now…! You need to stop the bleeding first…!”

At Woohyuk’s words, I let out a chuckle.

“Earlier you said you wouldn’t let me pass unless I killed you. What’s the rush?”

“…!”

As I brought up the previous conversation, Woohyuk scowled.

Then I saw him bite his lip tightly.

That sight was particularly amusing.

That bastard, pretending to be calm. It was satisfying to see his expression crumble.

Only getting stabbed to this extent felt worthwhile.

With blood in my mouth, I said to Woohyuk.

“I’ve been doing some thinking.”

As I spoke, Woohyuk continued to stare only at his sword stuck in my stomach.

“You were trying to die just now, weren’t you?”

“…!”

Hearing that, Woohyuk flinched.

“You were trying to die by my hand.”

No answer came.

But I already knew the answer.

Woohyuk had tried to die just now.

He had tried to die by my hand.

That must be why he eased up on the sword at the last moment.

“What are you talking about?”

Woohyuk seemed like he was trying to play dumb, but…

“You understand everything, so stop pretending you don’t. You’re smart.”

That kind of act wouldn’t work on me.

“Since when? Since when were you planning to do that?”

“…”

“Tell me, you bastard.”

As I cursed, I tightened my grip on the blade.

It was to push it in deeper.

“Crazy…!”

Woohyuk, knowing that, put strength into the hilt.

It was a bizarre situation where the one who stabbed was trying to pull it out, and the one who was stabbed was trying to push it in further.

“Are you really trying to die!? Are you insane?”

“Then am I not crazy? Why, is it okay for you but not for me?”

Woohyuk shouted, and I scowled as I said.

“You don’t know how fucked up that is, do you?”

You probably don’t know.

How much of a curse your chosen action would be to the other person.

Unlike you, I knew it all too clearly.

In such a situation…

“You damn bastard. You’re trying to do that to me?”

Did you intend to make me go through this again?

Grip-!

With my free hand, I grabbed Woohyuk by the collar.

“If you see someone after a long time, you should greet them warmly. Why create this dog-like situation!”

Meanwhile, I could feel Woohyuk applying pressure, perhaps worried the sword might shift.

I kept thinking.

What was Woohyuk’s intention in doing this to me?

Knowing he couldn’t win, why was he acting so irrationally?

Moreover, when he saw me…

‘Did he have eyes that said, “Good, this worked out”?’

That it was better this way.

That it was fortunate it turned out like this.

I smiled bitterly with relief.

Why would he do that?

Why did he have to?

I could find the answer to those questions by looking into Woohyuk’s eyes just now.

Acting like that with the same eyes as mine.

The meaning behind it, I knew all too well.

It’s just that…

‘I only resent you a little for making me do that.’

I felt resentment towards Woohyuk.

It was probably the first time I felt this emotion.

That’s why I knew.

Seeing Woohyuk start to tremble, I said.

“You idiot. Isn’t that really cowardly? You’re just running away.”

Only now could I belatedly understand why my father had treated me that way back then.

But it was a realization that came far too late.

At my words, spoken with such feelings…

“What do you know…!”

Woohyuk’s voice rose slightly.

“…You know nothing about me. How can you say that when you don’t know anything…!”

Smack–!

I threw a punch.

Woohyuk, hit in the face, fell backward and rolled away.

Clang-!

The sword stuck in my stomach was pulled out and fell to the floor.

Drip, drip.

I felt blood flowing from my stomach.

Ah, shit…. It was pulled out too suddenly.

Ignoring the pain, I approached Woohyuk.

“Ugh…”

“Of course I don’t know, you bastard. You never told me, so how could I?”

I knew nothing.

About Woohyuk, including both my past and current lives, I didn’t know much.

There were things I wasn’t particularly curious about.

And there were things Woohyuk never told me.

But that didn’t mean it was okay for him to act like this.

“Then you should have said something.”

I approached again and grabbed the fallen Woohyuk by the collar.

“Instead of acting like this, you should have asked for help.”

“…”

“Why are you acting out when you haven’t said anything?”

It was Woohyuk who came at me aggressively, wanting to fight, the moment we met.

“What is it? Why the hell are you acting like this?”

“…”

“Talk to me. That way, I can help you or beat some sense into you.”

With words laced with annoyance, a question surfaced in Woohyuk’s eyes.

“…Why…?”

“What.”

“Why are you going this far for me…?”

Not just in his eyes, but his words were also full of questions.

Why am I doing this?

“…At most, it’s only been a few years. You have no reason to do this to me.”

We’ve known each other for maybe four years at most.

I call Woohyuk a close friend, but that’s because of my memories from my past life.

Because he died for me.

Because I had the memory of him supporting me when I was falling apart, I call Woohyuk a close friend.

However.

“Why are you doing this much for me?”

The current Woohyuk wouldn’t know that.

And this…

“I don’t know, you bastard. Ask yourself, because I don’t know either.”

It was the same as what the past Woohyuk had told me.

“What…?”

“We weren’t particularly close, and there wasn’t much reason to become friends. But you were the one who reached out first.”

The generation of shooting stars.

The guy at the center of it all reached out to me, who was full of complaints about the world.

Even when I cursed him and told him to leave, he never left my side.

Why did he do that?

When I asked him why he was doing that…

What did Woohyuk say to me?

“Because we were similar? I think that was the reason.”

Because he was similar to himself.

So it was comfortable.

Woohyuk had definitely told me that.

“You know what? I thought that was total crap back then?”

A genius among geniuses.

Someone certain to become the representative martial artist of the next generation’s shamans.

Such a person approached me, the shame of the family, saying we were similar.

Was he kidding me?

At first, I thought that and felt even worse about it.

“Looking back now, I understand it a little.”

Now I think I understand.

That Woohyuk’s words were true.

You and I were similar.

That’s why you approached me.

I could finally understand the sleeping dragon who spoke to me back then.

Neither of us had any lingering attachment to life.

We wanted to gain something, but knowing we couldn’t, we felt empty.

That was us.

“You told me to live.”

Live.

Life is precious, so please live.

It was something Woohyuk habitually said while looking at me.

“Was that really directed at me? No.”

This too was a belated realization.

“It was directed at you, wasn’t it?”

It was a question I would never hear the answer to again.

It meant there was no point in asking the current Woohyuk.

“It must have been. You saw yourself in me.”

“…What are you talking about now?”

“Shut up and listen. It’s my turn now.”

What supported me as I was falling apart…

Was to prevent myself from collapsing.

And what tried to fix my broken self…

Was likely because he himself was also broken.

Was that a sense of kinship or pity?

It didn’t matter anymore.

What I needed to think about now wasn’t that.

And what I needed to say wasn’t that either.

“Live. Just live, you bastard.”

I had to say to the current Woohyuk what the past Woohyuk had told me.

Although the words came out a bit differently.

“If you have problems, I’ll help you out reasonably. So just try to live. Stop acting like this… Ah, my stomach hurts, shit.”

The tearing pain made me stop talking and grab my stomach.

I had managed to stop the bleeding slightly, but my condition wasn’t great.

Given my monstrous regeneration ability, my stomach would probably heal within three days.

“…Hah….”

Seeing me like that, Woohyuk suddenly let out a sigh.

“This is absurd….”

“I could say the same. How does it feel to stab me in the gut the moment we meet after so long?”

“That’s because you…!”

“Enough, just tell me now. Why are you acting like this?”

Since I went through the trouble of getting stabbed in the stomach just to hear that one thing…

It seemed like I should be able to hear it now.

No, I really needed to hear it now.

“If you don’t talk, I’ll stab you again?”

I said that while grabbing Woohyuk’s sword lying on the ground.

If you don’t talk, I’ll make another hole in my stomach.

That was the threat.

The problem was…

“…What kind of threat involves stabbing yourself? Do you think that’ll work?”

“It won’t work? Try me? I will? Right now. Watch closely.”

As I raised the sword to stab myself in the stomach…

“Stop…! Stop it!”

Woohyuk raised his hand to stop my action.

He said it wouldn’t work, but the threat was working quite well.

“You crazy bastard…! You’re truly crazy.”

“I hear that often.”

Hearing it from the second person who says it most often gave me a strange feeling.

I calmly put the sword down and looked at Woohyuk.

Crossing my arms as if urging him to speak quickly.

Then.

“Haha….”

Woohyuk let out a low laugh.

“…How did I end up becoming friends with someone like this.”

He seemed to regret it slightly, but…

It was too late.

‘You should blame your past self for that.’

There was no point in saying anything to Woohyuk back then.

“Alright, but first, let’s stop the bleeding….”

“Talk first. I’ll handle the bleeding myself.”

Even without that, energy was moving rapidly within my body.

It was a way to increase regeneration along with stopping the bleeding.

In fact, the bleeding had stopped a while ago.

I had lost quite a bit of blood, so I still felt dizzy….

Woohyuk, staggering at my words, pushed himself up.

The hostility from earlier seemed to have subsided somewhat.

Seeing that, I asked.

“Are you going to talk?”

“Don’t rush me….”

“If you’re not going to talk, then again-.”

“I will, I will! I will… but first, you need to take care of your other business.”

At Woohyuk’s words, I turned my head.

He was right.

Although the situation got complicated, Woohyuk wasn’t the reason I came here.

Remembering that, I approached Woohyuk and reached out my hand.

It meant to grab on and get up.

“If you don’t talk later, you’ll really die.”

“…Me? Or you?”

“That depends on the situation.”

This part was something I would decide based on convenience at the time.

“Hahaha….”

Hearing this, Woohyuk let out the same hollow laugh as before.

As he reached out his hand to grab mine…

At that moment.

“Is that all?”

An unfamiliar voice was heard.

“That’s no fun.”

And it was right next to me.