Chapter 21: A Searching Dragon (1)

One day, while enjoying a peaceful daily life with the dragons, a large box of unknown origin was delivered to the front door.

"Strange. Deliveries don't usually come to this area. Who could have sent it?"

There was no sender information. Given that it was left in front of my house, it must be a package for me. I picked up the box and placed it on the dining table.

"I wonder what's inside."

"Hey, Dad! What's that?!"

Sharp as ever. Hwaryeon approached me, curious about the box. More importantly, can "hey" and "dad" coexist in the same sentence? I learned something new. Anyway. I tapped the package with my hand and started explaining.

"Hwaryeon. This box is called a delivery."

"Delivery?"

"Yes, it's a very convenient service where things are put in a box and delivered to other people."

"Then, that means there's something inside?! I'm curious, open it quickly!"

"...Why are you so impatient?"

Hwaryeon wagged her tail vigorously, curious about the contents. I was also curious about what was in the box, so I opened it immediately.

Rip-!

I tore off the tape and opened the box.

"Oh?"

Inside were various frozen foods I hadn't expected.

"Chicken breast. Protein fried rice. Salad. Grilled mackerel. Sports drink..."

All were high-protein foods for diet management. Who on earth sent this? Could it be that I already have a fan?

'I haven't even made a signature yet. This is troublesome.'

That curiosity was resolved through a small letter enclosed in the box.

-We sincerely welcome you on passing the hero qualification exam. As the test results indicated a problem with your diet, we hope you will consistently eat nutritious meals. If you need anything else, please contact us.

Hero Association. My new workplace had sent these high-protein meals as part of their welfare program. Although I haven't gone to work even once, I feel a surge of loyalty to the company.

"Good, good. We'll save some on food expenses this month."

"Dad! Is that meat? I want to eat meat! Give me meat!"

"We just ate not long ago. No. Eat it for dinner."

"Tch."

Hwaryeon clicked her tongue with a dissatisfied expression. But this time, she gave up without lying on the floor and throwing a tantrum. She seemed to be saving it like a secret weapon. I put the frozen foods one by one into the refrigerator.

"Now that we're paying the electricity bill, life seems a bit better."

Last month, the electricity bill was overdue because we had no money. But this month, Gu Bong-gu took less money, and we didn't pay for gas and water. So, we could pay off all the overdue electricity bills.

"The living water purifier and living gas stove did a great job."

I should give them an airplane ride or belly rub when I get the chance. As I was thinking about rewards for praise, Suryeon approached me with her usual expressionless face. She stood in front of me and opened her small mouth.

"Homeowner. I have something to say."

"Oh, go ahead. What is it?"

Suryeon pointed at my pocket and said.

"The smartphone in your pocket. Give it to me."

"Smartphone?"

"Yes."

Suryeon held out her hand, asking me for the smartphone. Suddenly asking for a smartphone... I couldn't help but hesitate a bit at this.

"Hmm, a smartphone..."

"Is it not okay?"

"No, that's not it. Why do you want the smartphone?"

"I saw humans using smartphones on TV. Most humans use smartphones. So, I want to try it too."

In simple terms, she wants to understand humans in more detail. It seems Suryeon asked to borrow my smartphone for that reason. If that's the reason, I don't see a need to refuse.

"I'll lend it to you for a while. But don't click on anything strange."

"...What do you take me for? I'm a dragon. I absolutely won't do anything strange."

"I think you might."

"...I won't. Don't doubt a dragon."

Suryeon frowned, seemingly hurt in her pride.

"Okay. I won't doubt you. Take it and play."

"..."

Swoosh-

Suryeon took the smartphone and turned away coldly. Before heading to her designated corner, she asked me:

"By the way, why does Lee Hwaryeon call the homeowner 'dad'? Did something happen?"

"Well, it's a bit long to explain. Let's just say a lot happened."

"...So that's why Lee Hwaryeon started calling the homeowner 'dad'?"

"Well, you could say that."

Although it's still temporary dad. You could say that day became the catalyst.

"...I see."

After hearing that answer, Suryeon sat in the corner and picked up the smartphone. For some reason, she had a very complicated expression on her face.

"Is Suryeon in a bad mood today? Choryeon."

"Yes, dad!"

"Do you know why Suryeon is acting like that today?"

"Umm...!"

Choryeon thought for a moment, then answered with a bright smile:

"I don't know! She seems the same as usual to me?"

"Are you saying Suryeon always looks like she's in a bad mood?"

"Yes, isn't that right?"

"..."

Choryeon tilted her head, looking clueless.

"I thought she was always in a bad mood because she makes that face every day... I guess not!"

A bright face with not-so-bright words. I started to think that Choryeon might be scarier than I thought. I should be careful too.

***

"Hmm..."

Suryeon tapped on the smartphone diligently. However, she found it hard to focus on the smartphone because her worries weren't resolved.

"Hmm, Hwaryeon used to dislike the homeowner the most. How did she suddenly start calling him 'dad'?"

When did those two become so close? What happened while I wasn't aware? Even if it's Choryeon, for Hwaryeon to be like that too… I don't like it.

'I don't like that things happened without my knowledge. And we're dragons. We should have pride and dignity. That's not dragon-like behavior.'

It feels unpleasant. But my head understands to some extent. Unknown things can happen. And the homeowner is a better human than I thought.

'I saw the homeowner working hard before. I even wanted to help. But he's not someone we can fully trust because he tried to break his promise.'

But he's not entirely bad just because he tried to break a promise. He cares about our meals every day, gives us as much food as possible, and keeps showing interest in us.

'But it's hard to trust humans, and we dragons should stick together to increase our survival chances... Sigh, I don't know.'

I understand it in my head. But my heart won't move as I want. That's why, to resolve this frustration, Suryeon picked up the smartphone.

"I'm going to thoroughly figure out what kind of person the homeowner is. So that there's nothing I don't know."

Because I need to know exactly what kind of person Lee Ha-jun is.

"I'll see clearly with my own eyes and find out enough to convince myself."

Otherwise, I absolutely can't accept it. Tapping on the smartphone, Suryeon recalled what a human said on TV:

-Even though the world has become so chaotic, people don't let go of their smartphones. Smartphones have become an alter ego containing everything about a person. They've become the persona of the person itself.

Some humans said smartphones and humans are the same. Because the very essence of humans has been swallowed up by smartphones. So, Suryeon decided to properly find out what kind of human Lee Ha-jun is.

"What should I click first? First... contacts. I need to know what kind of people are around him."

To know what kind of humans he's forming relationships with. She pressed contacts to check the names of humans.

"Hmm, Gu Bong-gu... Office Manager Cho Hyun-gyu... Grumpy old lady... That's it, just 3..."

No way. Is this all? Suryeon opened her eyes wide in surprise.

"They said most humans have over 50 contacts on average, but the homeowner only has 3..."

Does the homeowner have no family or friends? Well, he always comes home late after finishing work. He probably doesn't have time for friends.

"Unlike dragons, humans need friends and get lonely easily. The homeowner is a strange human in many ways."

It felt more curious than sad. It means the homeowner is different from ordinary humans. Dragons tend to be more interested in special humans than ordinary ones.

"The homeowner has no friends. I understand. Then the next information is..."

Suryeon pressed the smartphone to find the next piece of information. But perhaps because her hands were small, she accidentally clicked the wrong part of the screen.

Beep- Beep- Beep-

"...How do I turn this off?"

She accidentally pressed the call button. Suryeon tried hard to find a way to end the call. However, while she was good at deep thinking, she wasn't good at quick responses.

"End... I need to end it... Where is it..."

-What the hell, why are you calling at this hour, Lee Ha-jun?

"..."

A deep middle-aged voice flowed from the smartphone. The name that appeared on the screen was Gu Bong-gu. Suryeon glanced at Ha-jun while sweating profusely.

‘The homeowner is cleaning the refrigerator…’

There's still enough time to resolve this. Suryeon turned her gaze back to the smartphone she had messed with.

-Hey, if you called, say something. Are you messing with me?

‘...This voice belongs to the human who hit the homeowner.’

-What? I can't hear you, your voice is too low. Anyway, did you pass the test? Did the test go well?

‘...But why is this human speaking so friendly after hitting the homeowner?’

As far as I know, the homeowner and this human shouldn't be on good terms. There's no way he'd be friendly with someone who hit him. Imagining Gu Bong-gu beyond the screen, Suryeon spoke sharply:

"Human, don't pretend to be close unnecessarily."

-What, this is a kid's voice? You're not Ha-jun, are you? Who are you?

"Don't pretend to be close when you don't know anything about the homeowner."

-What? Hey, who are you-

Tap tap tap-

Suryeon said this and quickly tapped the smartphone screen. Her hand moved so fast it was almost invisible. Because of that, she pressed the screen unnecessarily many times, but the call ended normally.

"Phew, I finally handled it."

Suryeon wiped off her cold sweat and sighed in relief. Then she picked up the smartphone again and started looking for information about Ha-jun. Because she still didn't fully understand Ha-jun.

‘Next, let's look at the search history.’

What kind of information will unfold next? Suryeon was starting to enjoy using the smartphone. She had a strong desire to collect information. Even if the subject was human.

‘I'm going to find out everything.’

Click-