SHUNK.
Min-jun's sword pierced another lizardman's throat.
It was a clean strike that would have been impossible for the Min-jun she had known 1 year ago.
Watching Min-jun, Sia felt a strange sensation.
'That's...... not just because of the sword.'
Physique, technique, instinct.
Everything had changed noticeably from before.
Min-jun himself might not realize it, though.
Sia, being a dragon, could feel it.
That Min-jun was putting on a performance that defied common sense.
'How did this happen?'
In the distant past, in the world she had lived in, she had actually seen people who wielded Dragon Bone Swords.
Their swordsmanship varied, but even so, their method of drawing out the power was always the same.
Namely, stimulating the sword to release the innate power dwelling in the dragon bone.
But Min-jun was drawing out the power latent in the sword in a completely different way from them.
At first she hadn't been sure, but watching Min-jun wield the sword again, she could be certain.
'Something like this...... I've never seen it, not once.'
A mere human, not 'borrowing' the dragon's power that dwelled in the sword, but using a dragon's power as though it were his own.
His skill was still clumsy, but Sia was sure.
That if the dragons ever learned of this, it would surely send enormous shock waves through them.
While she was still in turmoil, Min-jun finished the fight and turned his head toward her.
"Sia."
"......."
"Sia, what are you thinking about?"
"Uh, huh? No, nothing."
Anyone could see Sia's reaction was suspicious, but Min-jun didn't press any further.
"Let's rest a bit before we move on."
"Mm-hm. Sounds good."
Though she seemed fine on the outside, her mind was spinning.
'I think I'll have to look into it or something sometime soon.'
Into the secret Min-jun carried, one that even Min-jun himself didn't know about.
***
The Gate raid wrapped up smoothly.
Without Sia's help, Min-jun defeated every lizardman in the Gate entirely on his own.
With a performance that was incomparable to before.
Even so, even now that he had just come out of the cleared Gate, Min-jun still couldn't figure it out.
What that power Sia had spoken of was.
"I'll figure it out someday, right?"
"Of course. For today, let's just be glad we discovered your talent."
As they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Min-jun decided to forget about both that power and the Dragon Bone Sword, at least for today.
It wouldn't be too late to worry about those things starting tomorrow, after wrapping up today's date on a happy note.
When they came out of the Gate, it was already getting dark.
"Should we go get dinner soon?"
"Sure. I was just getting hungry. Is there anything you want to eat, oppa?"
"Anything's good with me. What about you, Sia?"
"Hmm......."
After thinking for a moment, Sia answered in an innocent voice.
"Can we have tteokbokki again?"
They'd had tteokbokki for lunch too, yet that apparently hadn't been enough for her.
But.
It had been only yesterday that he'd shed tears in front of her grave, regretting that he hadn't eaten tteokbokki with her even one more time while she was alive.
"No reason not to. It'd be good if we ordered a few side dishes with it."
"Ooh, perfect. Let's do that, then."
The two of them headed to a different tteokbokki place from the one they'd gone to at lunch and ordered tteokbokki.
"Hehe."
Sia rested her chin in both hands like a flower cupped in its calyx and gazed at Min-jun.
Like a sunflower gazing at the sun.
"What are you thinking about?"
"You, oppa."
"My Sia is so cute I could just eat you up."
"If it's you, oppa, I'll let you eat me up as much as you want."
Even as toe-curlingly sweet talk went back and forth, the two of them didn't so much as blush.
Then, while they were chatting about this and that afterward.
Sia excused herself for a moment, saying she was going to the restroom.
"No crying just because I'm gone for a sec, okay, oppa?"
"What do I do? I don't think I can manage that."
Once Sia had left, Min-jun gazed fondly at the spot where Sia had disappeared, happily going over everything that had happened that day.
Meanwhile.
Two women at a table diagonal from Min-jun were stealing glances at him while they talked.
"Yeon-ju. Just turn your head that way and check out that guy."
"The one in the black hoodie?"
"Yeah."
"Oh...... he's hot."
The women staring at Min-jun, Jeong Min-ju and Hwang Yeon-ju, whispered so that no one else could hear.
He was good-looking enough to stand out like a crane among chickens.
His voice was nice too.
And above all, you could tell how much he loved his girlfriend after watching for just a moment.
"I want a boyfriend like that too."
Min-ju said, with genuine regret, that if he hadn't had a girlfriend she would have gotten his number already.
But then.
"Should I get his number?"
Out of nowhere, Hwang Yeon-ju said something completely random.
"What are you on about, you crazy bitch."
Jeong Min-ju naturally assumed Hwang Yeon-ju was joking.
But Hwang Yeon-ju looked quite serious.
"Hey, don't tell me...... you're serious?"
"Of course I'm serious."
"Insane. Didn't you just see him talking with his girlfriend?"
"That's what makes it more fun, you bitch. And she's away from her seat right now, isn't she? If I'm going to get it, I have to go now. Want to bet? If I get his number, you buy the drinks later."
Hwang Yeon-ju was usually boy-crazy, but she at least tended to stay behind the bare-minimum line.
But this time she hopped over that line as lightly as if she were skipping rope.
"Hey, no matter what, this isn't okay."
Going up to a guy who had been all lovey-dovey with his girlfriend a moment ago and asking for his number seemed downright insane.
But to Min-ju, who had just objected, Hwang Yeon-ju started saying something outrageous.
"Scared?"
"What?"
"I said, are you scared you'll lose? Anyway, watch closely. I'll get it in no time. Don't forget you're buying the drinks."
"Hey, hey! Hwang Yeon-ju!"
Min-ju tried to stop her to the very end, but Hwang Yeon-ju finally got up from her seat and started walking toward the man.
"I'm worried she's going to get herself into real trouble."
She had always been a bit of a nutcase, but who knew she was this much of a crazy bitch.
Jeong Min-ju sighed softly so that no one else could hear.
But whatever Min-ju thought, Hwang Yeon-ju boldly approached Min-jun.
And then.
"Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but—."
After walking up to Min-jun with a rather confident stride, she spoke to him.
"Could you give me your number? I'm not usually like this, but you're just so my type."
"......?"
The instant the woman asked for his number, Min-jun couldn't hide his momentary fluster.
'Isn't she the one who's been sitting over there this whole time?'
She wasn't sitting far away, so of course she'd have seen him being lovey-dovey with Sia.
And she still wanted his number?
"I'm sorry. I have a girlfriend."
"I know, I know. But how about we just be friends, then? There's nothing wrong with that."
"......Excuse me?"
He had thought she'd go back quietly, but the woman held her phone out to Min-jun again.
All while subtly emphasizing her bust.
'......Has the world gone crazy?'
Telling a guy who has a girlfriend that she'd settle for being just a friend, even if she couldn't be his girlfriend?
That made no sense at all.
"I'm sorry. I don't think that's possible."
"Aw, come on. If giving me your number is too much, I'll put mine in for you. Is that not okay either?"
Usually when someone asked for a number and got turned down, they'd push once or twice at most and then walk away without regret, wouldn't they?
But the woman didn't give up, clinging to Min-jun like a leech to get his number.
She had to be a crazy bitch, Min-jun thought.
"I have no intention of giving you my number. I'd rather we didn't make this any more troublesome for either of us."
Min-jun's tone had turned sharp, clearly different from before.
At that, Hwang Yeon-ju shrugged as if it were no fun and went back to her seat.
Watching her walk away, Min-jun frowned.
It bothered him that something like this had happened while Sia was away.
But then.
Right on cue, Sia, who had stepped away for a moment, came back.
Holding a mysterious shopping bag in one hand.
"Oppa, you waited a long time, huh. Sorry."
But right after she came into the restaurant.
'.........Why is the mood in here like this?'
Sensing the subtle atmosphere in the room, she quietly opened up her senses.
As soon as she did, she began to hear people whispering.
'Wow, that's crazy. How could she even think of getting the number of a guy with a girlfriend.'
'I know, right. No matter how much I liked a guy, I couldn't do that.'
'I heard her earlier. She said if she can't be his girlfriend, just being friends is fine. Wow.......'
'What'll happen when that guy's girlfriend finds out?'
'What else? We just break out the popcorn.'
No matter how quietly they whispered, there was no sound a dragon like her couldn't hear.
"Oppa."
In an instant, all the air around them froze.
"Oppa, isn't there something you're hiding from me?"
"Hiding? Sia—"
"Which bitch was it."
Her eyes, drained of life, stared dimly at Min-jun.
"Which bitch tried to get your number, oppa."