TDGHR 11

Chapter 11

What Kind of Fate Do Oppa and I Have?

After reuniting with Minjun for the first time in twenty-five hundred years, every moment she spent with him felt like a dream.

She had waited for this one moment for a length of time an ordinary human could not even begin to imagine, so how could she not be happy?

And she had thought that happiness would continue from now on as well.

Why wouldn’t it? Two lovers who had longed for each other had finally reunited, and there was nothing left standing in their way.

She had thought all that remained was for them to live happily together without a single worry.

Then, in the middle of training, Minjun suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed.

“Oppaaaa! Oppa! Oppa! Minjun oppa! Wake up, Minjun oppa!”

Sia desperately called Minjun’s name as she shook his unconscious body over and over.

‘How… How did we finally manage to meet again!’

At the same time, she cast every healing spell she knew on Minjun.

“I-I need to check whether he’s breathing.”

With trembling hands, she checked Minjun’s pulse.

It was faint, but thankfully, his pulse was still there.

Unfortunately, that was all she could confirm, because Minjun showed no sign of regaining consciousness.

Even she could not determine exactly why he had suddenly passed out or what condition he was currently in.

‘A chronic illness? No. Oppa never had anything like that. Then is there some other problem I don’t know about? No, that can’t be it either. Then why did Oppa collapse? His condition isn’t improving even after I use healing magic. No, it’s worse than that. It’s actually getting worse.’

If she had not been a dragon, she might already have fainted from the shock herself.

Barely managing to hold herself together, Sia tried to identify what had caused Minjun to collapse, but no matter how desperately she racked her brain, nothing came to mind.

“Before… before it gets any worse…”

She had to do something before it was too late, yet her ability to think rationally was gradually shutting down.

With shaking hands, she began pulling every healing-related artifact and potion she possessed out of her subspace.

But was that really the answer? Judging by Minjun’s current state, she feared they might either have no effect at all or even cause harmful side effects.

Then what about Dragon Tongue? There was no time left to hesitate.

“I don’t have time to think.”

A single powerful Dragon Tongue spell might be better than relying on half-baked artifacts or potions.

Just as she was about to speak the Dragon Tongue aloud to wake Minjun, an unfamiliar voice called out to her, “It would be better if you didn’t do that.”

Sia turned her head toward the owner of the voice. The speaker she had assumed was a stranger was, in fact, someone she knew very well.

“W-Why are you…”

It was someone she had never imagined she would meet here on Earth.

“Why are you here, Grandpa—”

Just before she had turned one thousand years old, her grandfather, the former Dragon Lord, had abruptly vanished without a trace.

And now Rokan was standing right in front of her.

“Shasha. Are you worried about that man?”

Sia—or rather, the red dragon Shasha—nodded vigorously.

“If so, move away from that man first. I will take care of the rest.”

* * *

Right before I lost consciousness, I had wondered if I was about to die, but since I had woken up again, I seemed to be alive for the time being, even if every bit of strength had drained from my body.

I opened my eyes and slowly sat up.

“Where am I…?”

Since I had collapsed and then regained consciousness, I had expected the first thing I saw to be a hospital room. It wasn’t.

This wasn’t the training ground where I had collapsed, a hospital, or even my home.

I had no idea where I was. The space resembled an enormous cavern so large that most indoor stadiums would look small by comparison, but it clearly wasn’t an ordinary cave.

The furniture scattered around suggested that someone probably lived here.

‘Wait. Where’s Sia?’

Sia had definitely been beside me right up until I lost consciousness, yet I couldn’t sense her presence—or anyone else’s—in this place.

“Sia! Sia!”

Growing anxious, I shouted her name as loudly as I could.

What if she had disappeared again? I couldn’t let that happen after we’d finally managed to reunite.

“Your name was Minjun, wasn’t it? Good, you’re awake now.”

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice reached my ears.

I hadn’t sensed anyone nearby, yet a man who appeared to be in his forties was looking down at me from above.

The unusual thing was that he had red hair and red eyes just like Sia.

“Judging by the way your eyes are wavering, you must be quite confused. Of course you are. I would have been too if I were in your position.”

“Who… are you?”

No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out. Other than sharing Sia’s hair and eye color, there wasn’t any clue that could tell me who this man was.

“I’m Sia’s grandfather.”

“…Excuse me?”

Her grandfather? As far as I knew, both of Sia’s grandfathers had passed away before she reached adulthood.

If he really was her grandfather, then…

“Sir, if you’ll excuse me, were you perhaps reincarnated too—”

“What are you talking about?”

Then what was going on? He looked far too young to be her grandfather. Going by appearances alone, I would have believed him if he said he was her uncle.

There was, however, one thing I had overlooked. After reincarnating as a dragon, Sia had red hair and red eyes, and this man had the exact same hair and eye color.

On top of that, the strangely overwhelming presence radiating from him could only mean one thing.

“Are you… a dragon?”

“You certainly took your time figuring it out. Yes. Just as you suspect, I am a dragon.”

Sia’s grandfather laughed heartily at my delayed realization.

“You probably have many questions. Go on, what do you want to know most?”

There were countless things I wanted to ask, but the thing I wanted to know above all else was, naturally, where Sia was.

“Sia. Where is Sia right now?”

“She’s underground. Don’t worry. She’ll be coming up soon. My granddaughter was terribly worried about you.”

“Whew. Thank goodness.”

I sighed in relief, but since I still hadn’t seen Sia with my own eyes, I couldn’t completely shake my unease.

“You seem worried.”

“How could I not be? Sia must have been terrified when I collapsed…”

“Terrified doesn’t quite cover it. She was in a state of panic.”

“Haah. I only made her worry for no reason.”

Of course she had been shocked. I’d been training without any problem, then suddenly collapsed out of nowhere.

“Then, sir, you—”

THUD. THUD.

Before I could continue with my next question, tremendous booms suddenly erupted from beneath the ground.

Thinking the cavern might be collapsing, I hurriedly looked for somewhere to evacuate, but Sia’s grandfather merely smiled calmly.

“Shasha. I understand how you feel, but didn’t I tell you that your boyfriend still needs to rest?”

THUD. THUD. THUD.

“You somehow seem even more childish than when I last saw you two thousand years ago. Shasha, I know you’re in a hurry, but wait just a little longer. Didn’t I tell you to be patient for a moment?”

As if Sia really was somewhere beneath us, her grandfather spoke gently, soothing his impatient granddaughter.

Shasha, huh. She had never told me directly, but I guessed Shasha was the new name Sia had received after reincarnating as a dragon.

“As you can see, my granddaughter is very worried about you.”

Was he saying those heavy vibrations from a moment ago had something to do with Sia?

I still didn’t understand this situation one hundred percent, but if her grandfather said so, I supposed that was the case.

“I intended to let you speak with her after we’d talked for a while and you’d recovered sufficiently, but my granddaughter appears to be losing patience, so I suppose I have no choice.”

Her grandfather placed a hand on my head and began murmuring in a language I couldn’t understand.

“There. Done.”

I had no idea what magic he had cast on me or what had changed, but after declaring that it was done, he called out to Sia.

“Shasha. You may come out now.”

RUMBLE—!

The ground suddenly split apart, and the person who emerged through the opening was Sia.

“Oppaaaa—!”

The instant she came out of the crack, Sia practically moved at the speed of light, rushed toward me, and threw her arms around me.

“Seriously… I might suffocate. Oppa, are you okay? Are you awake now? How do you feel? You suddenly collapsed, so—”

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Calm down.”

Apparently terrified that something might have happened to me, Sia couldn’t settle down at all.

I patted her back, doing my best to calm her.

“You really are okay, right? Grandpa, our oppa really is okay, right?”

“As you can see, he is. He merely needs to rest for a little while.”

Her grandfather watched Sia and me with warm eyes.

Although today was the first time I had met him, I could immediately tell just how dearly he cherished Sia.

“By the way, ‘oppa’? Shasha, you’re more than twenty-five hundred years old, while that young man you’re calling oppa is only twenty-five by the reckoning of this world.”

“Grandpaaaa!”

“Hoho.”

Apparently wanting to tease his granddaughter, he played a mischievous joke on Sia.

Sia puffed out her cheeks with a sulky expression.

‘Should I tease her too?’

Now that Sia was twenty-five hundred years older than me, I suddenly wondered how she’d react if I called her Grandma.

However, the instant I turned toward her with the intention of making the joke, a sudden chill ran down my spine.

“…Oppa? What are you thinking about right now?”

“N-Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just thinking that you and your grandfather seem close.”

“Oh. I thought it was something else.”

Thankfully, Sia didn’t press me any further.

“Then once Oppa feels a little better, let’s leave right away. Oppa, we said we’d go on a date after training, remember? Is there anything you want to do?”

“Hmm. Good question. I probably shouldn’t overdo it yet, so how about we stay home, order delivery, and hang out today?”

My body didn’t seem to have any serious problems, and it looked like everything had wrapped up without incident.

I thought all that remained was to go back home and enjoy a quiet date together.

However, Sia’s grandfather, who had been silently watching us from behind, interrupted, “I’m sorry to cut in, but there’s one thing the two of you need to know.”

“You two are fated never to meet each other.”

“…What?”

For a moment, I doubted my own ears. What kind of absurd fate was that supposed to be?

“Grandpa, w-what in the world do you mean by that…?”

“Shasha. I understand that you want to stay glued to your boyfriend all day, but if you do, the man you love will continue experiencing what happened today. And perhaps…”

Still looking at Sia, her grandfather slowly turned his head toward me.

“He may even die.”