Chapter 83
I returned home after meeting the Yellow Dragon introduced by the Association’s President, but the state of the children who came to greet me was strange.
Very strange indeed.
"Whose smell is that?! Which dragon is it? I'll kill them right now!"
Growl-!
Hwaryeon clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, extremely angry. I stopped Hwaryeon as she tried to lunge at me and said.
"Lee Hwaryeon, why are you suddenly like this? What happened?"
"Ha, Dad! How can you say that now?! You die too! Dragon headbutt!"
Whoosh-!
Hwaryeon's head came flying in an instant. I quickly turned my body sideways to dodge.
Crash-!!
"Th-This is crazy..."
Hwaryeon's red horn became stuck in the iron door. If I had been hit by that headbutt, would my body have been pierced like that iron door?
Hwaryeon, trying to pull her horn out of the door, breathed fire and shouted.
"Raaah! I won't forgive you!! Who dared to touch Dad?!! I'll kill them!! Dragon!!"
"Is this really something to be so angry about...? What on earth did that Yellow Dragon do to me...?"
"Raaaaaah!!"
Hwaryeon was rampaging as if extremely excited. I tried my best to calm her down, but it had the opposite effect. It seemed the Red Dragon's unique berserk instinct had awakened.
"For now... since Hwaryeon can't move with her horn stuck... Suryeon...!"
"..."
"Can you spray some water on Hwaryeon so she can come to her senses?"
Suryeon didn't answer me and just stared blankly. Looking now, Suryeon's lake-like blue eyes seemed to have darkened like a deep sea.
Suryeon looked at me with dark eyes and said flatly.
"No."
"Why are you like this too, Suryeon?!"
"You betrayed us first, Dad. I have no reason to help you."
Rumble-!!
With those words, the sound of thunder striking outside and rain falling could be heard. Suryeon spoke with the falling rain as background music.
"I believed that at least Dad wasn't trash. But in the end, humans are just trash. Only rotten humans live on Earth. If that's the case, it should be destroyed."
"S-Suryeon...?"
"Heh, hehe... I'll destroy this rotten world. Dad, listen well. This rain sound is the requiem announcing the end of Earth."
Hehehe...
Suryeon laughed like a typical chuunibyou after saying this. Seeing this, I could be certain.
'Damn, Suryeon's state is hopeless too. Should I have controlled her smartphone? She's learned only weird things.'
Where on earth did she learn such speech patterns and words?
I was momentarily curious but quickly shook my head. This wasn't the time for this.
'The smell. That Yellow Dragon left her smell on me. That's why the dragon kids are so angry now.'
I think I finally understand why she gave me a lip bump and told me to experience it directly. I decided to try talking to Choryeon, the last hope of the dragon family, to explain.
"Choryeon, I don't know if you'll believe Dad, but-"
"No, Father. I'm fine."
Smile-
Choryeon smiled like a sunflower.
'As expected, Choryeon understands my heart!'
I covered my mouth in emotion. But contrary to my thoughts, the words that came out of Choryeon's mouth were utterly desolate.
"We just need to litter on Earth. So I'm fine, Father."
"...Choryeon?"
"The environment should be protected for the future. But if the future is uncertain, we don't need to protect it."
Step, step-
Choryeon approached the trash can in the living room. Then, she picked up the trash can and turned it upside down.
"Earth can be ruined now."
Rustle, rustle-
Trash fell all over the living room floor. Choryeon watched this quietly and smiled brightly.
"If Father isn't here, we don't need the environment either."
"Even my last hope... has become like this..."
Choryeon looked at me and smiled as if nothing had happened. I could see dark emotions behind that smile. It seemed all the dragon kids had fallen into a state of lost reason.
"This is hopeless."
Crash-!
Meanwhile, Hwaryeon had pulled her horn out of the iron door and was approaching me with big steps. I sat down on the floor, closed my eyes quietly, and decided to accept my death.
"Kids. The truth is..."
"..."
"Dad kissed another dragon. That's probably why the smell is gone. I'm sorry."
With those final words,
"Dad, die!"
"...Traitor."
"You're becoming a vegetable, Father."
Pitter-patter-!
The dragon kids started rushing towards me. I thought as I took in the sight of them for the last time.
'I'm sorry I couldn't raise you for long...'
That scene was the last thing I remember.
Bang-!
***
"A familiar ceiling..."
When I opened my eyes again, quite some time had passed.
"Ow, my head... Ouch, why does my head hurt so much...?"
Why am I lying on the floor? More importantly, what happened today?
I racked my brain to think hard. It didn't take long to recall all my memories.
"I met the Yellow Dragon, and then the dragon kids beat me up."
Still, the unrestrained dragon kids didn't kill me. But the danger of possessiveness the Yellow Dragon talked about was something I clearly understood it through this experience.
"It seems to hurt quite a bit though..."
Oh, my head.
I held my throbbing head and got up from the floor. Then, I discovered the dragon kids huddled next to me. For some reason, they were tightly clinging to my body.
"W-What's this? They're not coiled snakes. Why are they sticking to me?"
I shook the bodies of the kids who had their eyes closed, feeling flustered.
"Kids, what are you doing so uncomfortably?"
Then the dragon kids started opening their eyes one by one.
"Dad, you're awake!"
"You finally woke up, Dad..."
"I really thought you'd become a vegetable."
The kids raised their bodies and looked at me.
I felt a slight PTSD, but judging from their eyes, they seemed no different from usual. They stared at me quietly, then exchanged glances and rushed towards me. And then,
"Sniff, sniff-"
"Hmm..."
"Umm, this side lacks smell!"
They started smelling my body, then said there wasn't enough smell and began moving their hands. Then, they pressed my hands firmly and shouted.
"Other dragon smell! Disappear!"
"Disappear."
"Please disappear!"
Press, press-
The kids seemed to be erasing the smell by pressing my hands. That also seemed to be the reason why they were clinging to me.
'...Should I find this cute? Or scary?'
Anyway, although my head hurts a bit today, I learned information about dragons firsthand.
'I shouldn't underestimate a dragon's possessiveness. It's fortunate they're still young. If they were grown, I might have really died.'
And, I should avoid contact with other dragons as much as possible. The dragon kids seem sensitive to smells.
I nodded, thinking about the information I learned today.
Just then, the kids seemed to have finished their smell-covering plan and were looking at me.
"Are you done, kids?"
"Yeah, we're done! Dad!"
"I'm glad it ended quickly."
I rubbed my stiff head and got up. The kids hurriedly got up with me and said.
"Dad, where are you going?"
"...The bathroom."
"I'll go with you. Dad's a traitor. I need to follow you."
Suryeon said this while looking at me with suspicious eyes. It seemed there was still some misunderstanding.
"Let me say this first. That Yellow Dragon and I aren't anything special. I'm not her follower either. I just met her because the Association President introduced us."
"Then what about that smell?"
"The Yellow Dragon was playing a prank. Suryeon, you're Dragon GPT, so don't you know?"
"Yellow Dragon’s trait. Likes to cause trouble."
"You know well."
Nod-
Suryeon nodded, saying she knew well. I wonder if Suryeon told the other kids. That might be why I'm still alive now.
"Yellow Dragons like pranks. So they enjoy entertainment in stranger ways than any other dragon, I know."
"...You know it well, Suryeon."
"Of course. I'm the smart Blue Dragon."
"Blue Dragons don't enjoy entertainment in strange ways, right?"
I hope she doesn't enjoy entertainment like that Yellow Dragon. Suryeon frowned at my question, looking displeased, and said.
"Of course not. I'm a Blue Dragon, not a Yellow Dragon, Dad."
"Then that's a relief..."
Sigh-
I could breathe a sigh of relief. However, as soon as I did, the dragon kids looked at me seriously and said.
"Dad, there won't be a next time. We won't let it slide."
"...Be careful. We're letting it go just this once because it was a Yellow Dragon."
"We almost died erasing the smell, Father. Remember that!"
"..."
It seems they understood me this time. Those dragons exercised maximum patience, that is.
'...If I get involved with another dragon next time, I'll really die.'
I resolved to be careful not to let my daughters kill me, and not to end up as the Yellow Dragon had warned. I also painfully realized that I had become the object of their possessiveness.
Because children and parents have a relationship of mutual obsession, it was clear that no matter what I did, I couldn't escape the dragon kids' obsession.
Because I would be their present and become their memory.
That's what parents were to their children.