Chapter 10
Polymorph.
Dragons can freely change their appearance.
Dog, cat, human, and so on.
Dragons can become anything and do anything if they put their mind to it.
The dragons I know are close to omnipotent beings with the ability to back it up.
"I'm not the only one...! Why are you only blaming me...!"
The girl in front of me, wrapped in a blanket, was shedding tears of indignation.
She had red hair and a sharp face.
Lee Hwaryeon, I'm a bit doubtful if she can be called such a being.
'The kid is dying of unfairness...'
Putting aside the talk about polymorph for now, it seemed I needed to address her sense of injustice first.
"Why are you only blaming me...!!"
"Hey, Hwaryeon. Why don't you sit down first?"
I felt listening to her story should be the priority.
I asked gently in a soft tone.
"What's so unfair, Hwaryeon?"
"I'm not feeling unfair! I'm angry!"
"Okay, I get it. You're not feeling unfair. Then why are you angry?"
Hwaryeon, refusing to admit her sense of injustice due to pride.
The angry Hwaryeon muttered in an aggrieved tone.
"You don't even know... She started it with me first..."
"Suryeon started it first? And you're angry because I only scolded you?"
"Yeah!!"
Starting with that answer, Hwaryeon explained everything that had happened.
Who started the fight, who swung their tail, who dodged the tail.
"Hmm, I see."
After listening to the story, I came to a conclusion.
"It's not just Hwaryeon who did wrong."
"Sniff... That's what I'm saying! She started it with me first-"
"Suryeon was wrong too. In the end, you were both wrong."
"W-What are you saying?!"
Bang-!
Unable to accept this, Hwaryeon stood up, stamping the floor hard.
"I did nothing wrong! She called me an idiot first!!"
"But you're the one who broke the plate, Hwaryeon."
"If she hadn't called me an idiot!! I wouldn't have broken the plate! And it broke because she dodged my tail!"
She hasn't been born for long, but she speaks well.
Is this because she's a dragon?
'Still, she's just a child.'
I looked down at the rebellious Hwaryeon and said:
"Hwaryeon."
"What!"
"You're right that Suryeon did wrong first."
But.
"However, you shouldn't have hit Suryeon with your tail. Regardless of who did wrong first. You shouldn't hit others. That's your fault."
"..."
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"...Hmph!"
Was Hwaryeon unable to say anything, or did she not want to hear about her own fault?
She turned her head away, making a displeased snort.
It didn't seem easy to resolve this stubborn attitude right away.
Since it was the first time, and the kids must be hungry, it seemed better to give a stern warning.
"I'll let it slide this time since it's the first. But if this happens again, Dad won't be so forgiving next time."
"..."
"Answer me."
"...Yeah."
Hwaryeon answered in a voice that sounded like she didn't want to respond but had to.
It won't be easy to break the stubborn pride of an arrogant dragon.
I'll have to slowly work on correcting that temperament from now on.
This seemed like my homework as a parent of dragons.
"By the way, Suryeon."
I lowered myself to meet Suryeon's eyes.
Suryeon stared back at me silently without answering.
"Even so, Hwaryeon is the eldest. You shouldn't say harsh things like calling her an idiot."
"..."
"Don't do it again next time. Understand?"
"...Hiss."
Suryeon nodded her head briefly.
It was her usual response.
But it was an answer tinged with slight dissatisfaction.
As I looked at Suryeon in her dragon form, a question crossed my mind.
'How did they communicate?'
I turned to Hwaryeon and asked:
"Wait. This is a bit strange, Hwaryeon."
"Why are you picking on me again!"
"That's not it. You said Suryeon called you an idiot, right?"
"I'm not an idiot!"
"Yes, yes. I know very well. You're not an idiot. But Suryeon is still a dragon, right?"
"That's right!"
"How did she call you an idiot? And how did you become human?"
"Hmph, you don't even know that? You're such a fool!"
"..."
It stung a bit to be called a fool by Hwaryeon, but I decided to listen to her explanation.
"Just like humans use human language, dragons use dragon language! In human terms, it's called 'Dragon Language'! We dragons can only communicate with each other using Dragon Language!"
Is she good at Korean because she knows a more complex language?
I think I understand why Hwaryeon, born not long ago, is fluent in Korean.
"And you asked how I became human?!"
"Yes, honestly, that's what I'm most curious about."
"Well, about that..."
Hwaryeon was about to speak confidently, but she blinked and turned her eyes away.
"Actually, I don't know either!"
"You don't know?"
"Yeah! Originally, I should think more about myself! But it was stuffy inside the blanket! It's frustrating and hard to bear, you know! So I thought about hitting you once, and when I tried to actually hit you, I became like this!"
Hwaryeon laughed as if feeling relieved, but my heart felt rather clogged.
'...So in the end, she turned into a human to hit me?'
To hit her dad, a daughter turned human.
Her appearance is pretty enough to grace the cover of a children's magazine, but her reason for becoming human was too vexing.
"You were born with a talent for impiety, Hwaryeon."
"Impiety? What's that? Is it something you eat?"
Impiety is kind of like devouring your parents.
I decided not to explain that with my own mouth.
"No, you don't need to know. Let's just eat."
"Food! Give me food!"
When it was mealtime, Hwaryeon grinned and headed for the dining chair.
"The thing we ate yesterday was delicious! Give me that!"
It seems ramen suited her taste.
But first, I need to take care of something else.
I picked up a neatly dried white t-shirt from the drying rack.
"Hwaryeon."
"What!"
"Put down the blanket and wear this."
Since I don't have money to buy children's clothes, it's better to give her my clothes for now.
Hwaryeon threw the blanket far away and quickly put on my white t-shirt.
It was like a dress since the size was so big.
"This is more comfortable! I like it!"
Hwaryeon smiled with satisfaction, seeming to like it.
By the way, I couldn't see it when she was wrapped in the blanket, but
There were strange things around Hwaryeon's head and waist.
"Horns...? Tail...?"
"Hehehe. Food, food!"
Hwaryeon was humming while waiting for ramen.
Along with her excitedly moving feet, her tail was moving freely.
The surface looks bumpy, but it seems like it would feel moist if touched.
'I want to touch it later.'
Seeing a human with a tail made me finally realize I'm living with dragons, not reptiles.
I prepared dinner before it got any later.
"Wait just a bit. I'll make it soon."
And so, we gathered around the small table and started dinner.
"I can't use these! I'll just hold it and eat!"
Hwaryeon seemed to have trouble using chopsticks, so she just put the bowl to her mouth and ate.
Suryeon and Choryeon, who hadn't yet taken human form, quietly put ramen in their mouths in dragon form.
And, perhaps feeling a bit guilty about what happened today, I don't know what conversation the protagonists of the incident had in dragon language, but…
"Eat it or not?!"
"...Hiss."
I saw Hwaryeon putting some of her ramen into Suryeon's bowl.
That was probably a child's clumsy way of apologizing.
I don't know much about dragons, but that's what I thought.
***
The first.
Lee Hwaryeon.
A week after she was the first to successfully polymorph into human form, no other dragon had transformed into a human yet.
"Ha, as expected, I'm the strongest!"
Hwaryeon usually stayed in human form.
Although her dragon form felt more natural, it was too inconvenient for daily life.
Hwaryeon looked down on Suryeon and Choryeon, who were still in reptile form, and mocked them.
"Haha! Are you jealous of me? Does it sting that only I succeeded? If you have complaints, why don't you try succeeding!"
Taunt.
Suryeon and Choryeon couldn't retort to Hwaryeon's taunt.
-A Red Dragon’s trait is being noisy. Be quiet for a bit. Let me concentrate.
Suryeon was annoyed, but she kept her mouth shut because what Hwaryeon said was somewhat true.
-Wow, as expected of Hwaryeon! Amazing! Amazing!
Choryeon didn't have any particular thoughts.
She wasn't very interested in polymorphing in the first place.
Her mindset was that she'd naturally become human as time passed.
-Green Dragon’s trait is being laid-back and airheaded. Even though we're the same dragons, it's still hard to understand.
Suryeon sighed, looking at Choryeon lying on her back leisurely.
Their thoughts were just too different.
-I still don't really understand why that Red Dragon got angry, and I don't know why she gave me what she was eating.
Was she trying to throw her food at me?
But for that, that idiot really likes eating.
I don't get it.
-The world is still full of difficult things.
Even for dragons,
Their lack of experience was evident due to the short time they'd experienced the world.
But watching the news to gain experience seemed like a waste of time.
-It's all one-sided information. Ordinary humans might not notice, but dragons who see the essence won't be fooled.
The information from the news is biased.
Especially, the news keeps attacking these things called corporations.
To the point where someone who only watches the news would think corporations are the worst villains.
-...They both look the same to me. I can't trust the news. I need to see for myself with my own eyes.
Hwaryeon became human when she got angry.
That was her trigger.
Suryeon felt that she lacked such a trigger.
So, she decided to create her own.
-I'll see what the outside world is like with my own eyes. I need information.
Rationally thinking, it was a dangerous action, but Suryeon didn't hesitate.
A dragon's curiosity often overcomes danger.
-I'm curious about this world. I want to know.
And so, Suryeon hid herself snugly in Lee Hajun's bag.
To ride the wave of information herself.
"I'm going. Don't fight and stay put, you two!"
Completely unaware, Lee Ha-jun set off for work with Suryeon.