Chapter 33
As dimensional gates began appearing around the world, climate crisis hit South Korea along with every other country.
Summers hot enough to burn skin, and sudden hailstorms from clear skies. Many weather changes that are hard to explain have been observed.
The most noticeable phenomenon is that South Korea no longer experiences four distinct seasons.
"Ugh, it's killing hot. Why did it suddenly get so hot?"
Maybe because people have gone crazy over sweet and salty combinations, everything's extreme with no middle ground. When it's hot, it's terribly hot, when it's cold, it's terribly cold. I sprinkled water on the lettuce that had all its leaves waxed last week while wiping away my sweat.
Splash splash splash-
"Grow well, my little lettuces."
Last time I was lucky enough to sell all the lettuce, making quite a nice profit, though Fatty and Weakling bought almost half of it. Still, it seemed like a decent side job.
"Ah, I better finish watering and head back."
It's deadly hot, so I watered all the planters on the rooftop. Now I headed to the iron door to return home and escape the blazing sun.
"Someone's coming up."
I heard slow footsteps coming up. I met the grandmother who was trying to come up to the rooftop. I waved my hand in greeting.
"Oh, grandma. What brings you to the rooftop?"
"Checking my crops, you rascal."
"It's too hot out, why bother checking? I've already watered everything, just go back down."
"You watered everything?"
"Yeah."
Grandma looked at me with disbelieving eyes.
Am I really that untrustworthy?
"That hurts, granny."
"Pay your overdue rent before saying things like that, you fool. And that lettuce from before. Did you really grow it yourself on the rooftop?"
"Yep, I grew it."
"Unlike your looks, you've got some skill. The lettuce you gave me was good. My back pain got better."
"Of course it's good for health. Look who grew it."
Since it has dragon mana in it, it can't be anything but healthy.
'She said regular people won't develop dragon mana just from eating it, so grandma's back should hurt less if she keeps eating it.'
According to Suryeon...
'Eating the lettuce is fine. Unless they shower, wash their face, and drink water containing dragon mana like dad does, they won't develop dragon mana.'
It's apparently a unique phenomenon that can only happen when sharing the mana mixed in dragons' breath. So, Grandma won't suddenly awaken dragon mana or anything. I scratched my head casually and said.
"Well, if you enjoyed it, I'll give you more when I harvest again."
"This boy's finally becoming human."
Grandma had a somewhat moved expression.
Was I that bad?
Just how much of a trash person was I before?
Grandma looked at me quietly and slowly said.
"I'm getting old, so it's hard to climb up here, and my back hurts. If you're going to keep using those planters, do what you want with them."
"The cherry tomatoes and peppers? I can take care of them?"
"I'm going back down to rest. If you'll use them, do as you please."
Grandma coolly said that and went home.
Watching her back as she left, I screamed internally.
'Yes! More crops!'
Choryeon will be happy because there'll be more side dishes, while I'm happy because there'll be more money. Grandma's also happy because she gets crops without effort.
'...I should bring some to grandma when I harvest everything.'
Even though I have more work to do, looking at the planters on the rooftop, I felt a strange satisfaction.
'Now all these crops are mine.'
Is this what farming feels like? It feels good.
***
Even if it's hot outside, this cramped studio maintains the perfect temperature. That’s because Hwaryeon releases heat and Suryeon releases cold. Meanwhile, Choryeon controls humidity and dryness. The dragon sisters maintain perfect balance.
"You cute things. Thanks to you, I don't need any appliances!"
Just how much are you saving me on electricity bills?
Happy, I pulled the cheek of Hwaryeon, who was watching TV with her mouth open.
"You precious treasures!"
"Ahh-! Let go-!"
Pitter-patter-
Hwaryeon shook off my teasing and ran away.
"Why are you bothering me while I'm watching TV?! This was an important scene!"
Grr- Grr-
Hwaryeon frowned and got really angry, and I quickly raised both hands in surrender.
"Okay, I won't do it again."
"Hmph, do it again and it's war!"
Growl-
After warning me, she sat back down in front of the TV. She was watching a childish animation about a penguin who became president.
"...It wasn't like that when I watched it. When did he become president?"
Scary one. I wonder how far is it planning to go? What if it ends up conquering the world? I felt afraid of that penguin’s growth trajectory.
Then, I changed targets and headed to Suryeon's side.
"Suryeon, what are you doing?"
"...If you're here to bother me, go away."
Chill-
Suryeon put down her smartphone and glared at me coldly. She had gotten interested in the smartphone instead of TV now. When I asked why, she answered as if it was obvious.
"TV has too much useless information. It’s only stuff I'm not interested in. But with this smartphone, I can freely look up information I care about."
"I see."
In that case.
"Suryeon, what are you interested in?"
"...!!"
At that question, Suryeon quickly hid the smartphone behind her back. It was a suspicious movement by anyone's standards.
"Just what are you searching for to react like that...?"
"...Dad, don't invade my privacy."
"I'm seriously worried about your mental health, Suryeon."
Smartphones are good, but they also have bad aspects especially for impressionable children who might be exposed to inappropriate information. In serious cases, they might even learn bad language.
'I can't leave this alone.'
I should confiscate the smartphone. I reached for the smartphone Suryeon was hiding behind her back.
"Give me that smartphone!"
"Ah, no...!"
Whoosh-
Suryeon held the smartphone high in the air. Then, she got up and bounced around our cramped studio as if she was determined not to let it be taken.
"Humans value privacy...! If dad's human, you should respect your child's privacy...!"
"How can I respect privacy when it seems problematic!"
Before being human, I'm a father. I need to prevent dragons from being corrupted by strange content. The internet is full of content beyond imagination. Not understanding my concerns, Suryeon dodged my hands and shouted.
"Dad had issues too...! Your search history had human females-"
"T-that's different because I'm an adult! Anyway, you're too young!"
Why is she so fast now? She usually barely moves at all. I had quite a hard time trying to catch Suryeon, but there's only so far you can run in a cramped studio.
"Ah-!"
Perhaps unable to destroy the castle she built, she stopped to avoid stepping on it and finally got caught by my hand.
"...Why did it have to be here."
"Got you, you little rascal!"
Hehehe-
I grabbed Suryeon's wrist and took the smartphone she was holding tight. Looking at Suryeon sitting on the floor, drained of energy, I felt like I'd become a thief.
"...I hate you, dad."
"Dad didn't want to do this either. The world made me this way."
A world with too many things children shouldn't see. It's fine to see them when they're older. But not now, I think. To see what Suryeon usually does on her smartphone, I opened it and went to the internet. Then, like what happened to me before, I opened the search history.
"Let's see."
"...I hate you."
"Hmm?"
What's this? I was a bit surprised checking the search history. The results were completely different from what I expected.
'I thought she'd be searching dragons and looking at weird dragon comics or stories. This is better than I expected?'
I thought she might have been looking at classic works like transparent dragons howling, high school girls becoming dragons, or dragons transforming into carriages. It seems I was wrong.
Suryeon's history was relatively normal.
"Let's learn about SCP... Why the Earth is flat... Reptilians exist...? AREA 51 contains dragons, not aliens...?"
"D-don't read it out loud... I really hate you..."
"...Suryeon. You like conspiracy theories?"
Unlike her appearance, Suryeon was very interested in conspiracy theories. Some kids do like these far-fetched stories when they're young. But I never expected it from Suryeon, a dragon.
"Suryeon."
"...What."
"You have a surprisingly cute side."
"..."
Was my last comment the final blow? Hearing that, Suryeon silently went under the blanket and rolled herself up. She became a blanket worm again.
'This is bad. Did I tease her too much?'
This isn't good. I hurriedly went to Suryeon, who had become one with the blanket, and spoke.
"N-no, that's not what I meant! I just meant you're cute! I-I'll set up Kids Mode! I won't check your search history anymore! I'm sorry, Suryeon!"
"..."
And so, I kept talking beside her to comfort her, until the deeply upset Suryeon's mood improved.
"..."
After hiding in the blanket for a while, Suryeon came out with a slight sniffle. I quickly put the smartphone back in her hands. Then, her crying stopped.
"...Don't. check. my. search. history."
"Okay, Suryeon. Dad's sorry. I won't look anymore."
I'm glad she's feeling better. Though it took a while, we had a reconciliatory conversation. The commotion between Suryeon and me ended with setting up Kids Mode.
If there's one thing I learned...
I realized you need to be much more careful when dealing with sensitive children.