Groan

Groan

 

“H-Ha-eun? The name sounds like a collection of food waste, but it’s surprisingly delicious.”

At the mention of food waste, I shuddered and looked at Han A-rin.

I wondered if the reason she had been so nice to me all this time was to torment me like this.

I felt a little sad and kicked my feet trying to escape, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get away.

‘This is too much.’

I felt like this must be what betrayal feels like, so I was slumped over dejectedly.

Chae-a, who was listening next to me, raised her hand high with sparkling eyes.

“If you add something delicious to something delicious, it becomes super delicious…!”

Considering that Chae-a doesn’t dislike any food and eats anything with gusto as long as she can eat it, this should be a statement to be taken with a grain of salt.

Still, seeing Chae-a so excited about it, I started to feel a bit intrigued.

‘Maybe it could be delicious.’

Just like how kimchi pizza tangsuyuk or ice cream with sesame oil or ramen with sugar are said to be unexpectedly delicious.

I thought there might be a chance that this hidden mint pineapple whatever ice cream could be tasty too.

So I decided to trust it and give it a try.

*

“Blegh.”

It was a hybrid.

Actually, since it was full of sugar, it wasn’t inedible.

But the taste was so unfamiliar that I was grimacing and shriveling up, when Han A-rin asked me in bewilderment.

“Is, is it not good?”

I was hesitating to tell the truth here, thinking it might hurt Han A-rin’s feelings.

Seo-rin, who was next to us, sighed and answered instead.

“It’s not good.”

“… Why?”

“Because you only put in things that are polarizing?”

“Polarizing…?”

I was even more confused by their genuine lack of understanding.

Wondering how to explain this, I was fidgeting with my fingers when

 

Chae-a, who was next to me, ate it with a spoon and said with a bright smile,

“It’s delicious!”

 

At those words, Han A-rin smiled brightly, hugged Chae-a, and said to us,

“See, even Chae-a says it’s delicious. I pity you all for not recognizing the taste of this special ice cream.”

 

“……”

Thinking that if Han A-rin and Chae-a are happy, that’s all that matters, I awkwardly smiled.

 

Yu-na glared at it, then spoke to us with a gloomy expression,

“You shouldn’t bully. You shouldn’t hurt with food…”

 

It seems that even to Yu-na, this feels like feeding them something to bully them.

As I agree, I just keep nodding my head.

 

Chae-a, who was watching this from the side, tilted her head as if she didn’t understand and said,

“But this is delicious?! If it wasn’t tasty, Chae-a would go ‘blech’ right after eating and collapse like this…!”

 

At those words, Han A-rin’s hand stiffens.

Then, looking at Chae-a with trembling eyes, she urgently asks Chae-a,

 

“Have you ever collapsed, Chae-a?”

“Yeah, a lot! But Chae-a is strong, so I got up quickly…!”

 

“R-really?”

Han A-rin, seemingly struggling to continue speaking, moves her lips several times before

 

Ha-eun quickly closed her eyes and sent the ice cream somewhere before telling us.

“Well… It’s not as good as this ice cream, but shall we go eat something more ordinary?”

“Chae-a, this was delicious too…!”

“I’ll buy you something even more delicious, so come here.”

I was a bit curious about where the ice cream went.

But I was slightly happy that I didn’t have to eat that shocking food, so I wagged my tail.

* * * * *

The investigation into the terrorism was progressing smoothly.

However, they were repeatedly failing to capture the core forces referred to as the “roots,” so everyone’s concerns were deepening.

‘Of course, it’s not like there’s been no progress regarding the roots.’

Due to their high-level information blocking ability and tail-cutting, most of the information obtained turned out to be meaningless.

Therefore, the majority opinion was that it would take several years or more to capture the main body.

However, the Dragon side presented an opinion opposite to that of the regular hunters.

[We have already identified the entity and are considering how to deal with them.]

Even though Dragon was said to be amazing, there were also many professionals among the hunters.

One side had already identified the entity and was looking for ways to resolve it.

The other side hadn’t even grasped the entity yet, causing a considerable sense of disparity, but there was a reason for this.

It was because of money and manpower.

‘No matter how excellent individual hunters are, there’s a limit to what they can participate in.’

Unless they put aside their main jobs and focus solely on this.

It was quite difficult to proceed with this while also carrying out their main jobs.

At first, it might have produced meaningful results, but as time passed, the outcomes tended to become blurrier.

As a result, the initiative in the investigation was gradually shifting to the dragon side.

The problem that arose from this was the question of why the association should keep Ha-eun.

“Couldn’t we bring Seo-rin along as well?”

If she had a strong attachment to Seo-rin and wanted to stay there, they could bring Seo-rin along.

“The hospital room? We could move the entire thing.”

If she had affection for the hospital room itself, they could move the room.

These were ideas that were difficult to come up with through conventional thinking.

However, since they had the ability to make this possible without much difficulty, it wasn’t a big problem.

“Then it would be good to ask Ha-eun her opinion. We can move everything, so ask if she doesn’t want to move.”

After pondering for a moment, Perseus nodded at those words.

Although the association was paying attention to security.

Since the level of security would be significantly lower than what the dragon clan had meticulously set up, it seemed better to bring her to their side.

So, as they were about to end the meeting with this decision.

Phillips Lecia, the primordial dragon who had been quietly listening to the conversation, focused his gaze with a serious expression.

He then displayed a phone screen using magic and calmly continued speaking.

“Now that the meeting is over, let’s look at this. Look, it’s the flower holder Ha-eun made.”

A photo that he had seen hundreds of times by now, with some exaggeration.

It was a photo he had seen so many times that he could say he had memorized it.

But because the one showing it was such an impressive dragon, and because Ha-eun was cute, no one said anything special.

“Ah, me too!”

“Isn’t the Godmother being too much? It’s a bit excessive to do it alone, isn’t it?”

“I’m going to rush to Ha-eun right away, so please make some preparations.”

Well, they did say quite a few things.

Most of it was jealous teasing… no, seeing how they were genuinely angry, it might be more accurate to say they were sincere.

Anyway, since the majority were saying they wanted to do it too, there wasn’t much that needed to be listened to carefully.

“So what exactly is the identity of that child called Yuna?”

There was one statement that needed attention.

When Yuna’s name was mentioned, everywhere fell silent.

Just when it seemed no one would speak up, an elder dragon opened his mouth.

“She’s the last descendant of the gumiho who tried to freeze the whole world and bring about its destruction.”

To be precise, she wasn’t a descendant since she was created through experiments.

Everyone understood what he was trying to explain, so no one pointed out the mistake.

In any case, the important points were ‘destruction’ and ‘last’.

“Surely the gumiho should be extinct. I have no idea where they got that blood from.”

Saying they tried to bring about destruction meant they had taken such actions.

Even though the dragons, known as the guardians of balance, had personally stepped in to exterminate them.

That terrorist group that suddenly appeared somehow managed to obtain that blood and succeeded in creating a gumiho.

“It would be good if we could find out where it came from. Perseus, is it possible?”

For dragons, there’s no such thing as impossible.

Unlike humans with their infinitely short lifespans, they have lifespans so long that it’s difficult to even count the centuries.

Even if they fail, they can try infinitely.

So I nodded, indicating my willingness to look into it.

* * * * *

When I came to my senses, it was morning.

I clearly remember eating the strawberry ice cream that Han A-rin brought with a bitter smile, then going into the bathroom and standing up, splashing around.

I briefly soaked in the lukewarm cold bath where a polar bear was making a sad face… Then soaked in warm water…

The memories become increasingly blurry towards the end.

It seems I must have passed out at the very end.

I was blinking in amazement at how quickly I had fainted, when Yuna, who had already woken up, greeted me.

“Ha-eun, are you awake? You did well.”

It was more like praise than a greeting, but I didn’t feel bad about it, so I smiled brightly, and Yuna smiled back.

As I was patting Yuna’s head.

Chae-a, who had just woken up, wriggled under the blanket and pulled something out, telling us.

“Chae-a found a treasure…!”

Intrigued by the mention of treasure, I looked to the side and saw a fluttering black plastic bag.

I was tilting my head, wondering where she had picked up the plastic bag.

Chae-a put the plastic bag on her head, wriggled around, and then said to us with a giggle.

“When you wear this, it becomes dark night…! You can sleep well!”

Hearing this, Yuna, who was listening beside us, seemed to become interested and started wagging her tail vigorously.

It seemed she wanted to try something, so when I told Chae-a this.

“Okay! Yuna can do it too! Since Chae-a is the older sister, should I let you have it?”

She gave in more easily than expected and put the black plastic bag on Yuna.

With that, Yuna put the black plastic bag over her face and seemed to be in a good mood, wagging her tail even more vigorously than before.

She starts playing by raising both hands up.

“Grr, I’m a scary monster.”

Chae-a and I smile watching Yuna’s playful antics.

Cotton, who just woke up, saw this and was startled.

“Peep!”

With a squeak, it started to run away somewhere.