*Vroomâ...*
"Nngh..."
What the... Why is the car noise so loud...
And why is it so cramped in here...
I frowned and shifted my body, feeling myself lean to one side before opening my eyes.
When I opened them, my vision was filled with a strangely familiar car seat.
*This place...*
As I blinked in confusion, a sudden headache made me squeeze my eyes shut.
"Urgh..."
They say sleeping too long gives you a headache.
Something about blood vessels or whatever—I don't know the details, but one thing was certain...
"Nngh..."
Right now, my head hurt just enough to not kill me.
It was like that weird dizzy headache you get after a flu shot...
Like when you have a slight fever and shake your head vigorously...
Like my heart had stolen the place where my brain should be, pounding "I'm right here" with each beat.
Well, headaches happen in life.
Sure, no one can go through life without ever feeling pain.
But why does my head hurt so much...?
Did I get hit by Hyun? No, that doesn't seem right...
"Nngh..."
After groaning for a while, I heard Hyun's voice.
"You awake?"
"Hyun...?"
So this is... inside Hyun's car?
Why am I here? I definitely went to see Noona because I had something to talk about... and while we were talking...
—*I'm sorry... I'm sorry... so please, don't abandon me...*
Hyun's face with wide, surprised eyes, and Ha-Young Noona similarly shocked, covering her mouth with one hand.
And in that fleeting moment, countless emotions rushed through...
—*Sniff, hic... I'm... I'm not crying...*
Oh.
"AAAAHHHH!!"
"WAAAH!? What!? What is it!!?"
Am I fucking insane? Seriously? Really? Did I actually say that? In front of him? Not just when we were alone, but with Noona there too!!?
I'm crazy. Absolutely crazy. This is all the Light Dragon's fault. Be honest with your emotions? Is that seriously what he meant!?
Even if I really did see Hyun as more than a friend! Which! Is! Absolutely! Not! The! Case! But even if—with every hypothetical scenario in the world—even if such a thing were to happen!!
*There are emotions that should be hidden...! No, that shouldn't be accepted at all!*
Die! Die, you idiot, die!!
When your same-sex friend of 18 years suddenly seems like more than a friend, you don't blurt that out to their face! And not just saying it, but crying and showing that "it might really be true"!!?
Are you insane!!! AAAAHHHH!!
Unable to process this information in my right mind, I grabbed my head with both hands and trembled.
"Hey! Yu Sia! Are you okay!? Is that thing talking in your head again!? Huh!? Answer me, Yu Sia!!"
"Let go! Please!! No, just open the car door and throw me out, please!!"
"I need to know what's wrong first!"
You don't need to know, please...!!
Don't get in my face!!
* * *
"Sigh... So you freaked out because you remembered crying in front of me in the Director's office? That's why?"
"...Yeah."
After getting scolded, I nodded honestly at Hyun's question.
Hyun sighed deeply at my answer and scratched his head.
"But you already cried in my arms for a while, so why are you so embarrassed about it now?"
"T-that! That was because of the Light Dragon..."
"Then you could say the same about what happened in the Director's office."
Right, if I hadn't already explained the details about the Light Dragon, I could have just blamed everything on him and moved on.
But I had already finished explaining everything to Noona and Hyun.
—*It was like... becoming honest with my emotions, I guess.*
After explaining it like that, how could I just say it was because of the Light Dragon?
*"Actually, I like you so much that I was afraid of being abandoned. That's why I cried."*
How the hell am I supposed to admit I openly showed such feelings...!
As I tried to cool my burning face, Hyun let out a deep sigh.
"Even if you're embarrassed, you can't just suddenly scream like that. What if we'd gotten into an accident?"
I blinked at his words and nodded.
"Sorry..."
"You might be fine, but other people could get hurt."
...He was right, but I felt a little upset.
Isn't this when you're supposed to say you were worried about me getting hurt, so don't do it again?
Feeling deflated, I pouted, and Hyun grabbed my lips.
It didn't hurt, but it felt strange.
"Mmph!?"
"I'm kidding. So don't make that sullen face."
Chuckling, Hyun let go of my lips and started the car again.
Having released my emotions earlier, I didn't feel like I was going to die of embarrassment anymore.
Instead, the space left by those emotions filled with questions.
My memory cuts off when I was talking with Noona... crying and saying not to abandon me.
What happened in between that we're heading home without even having lunch?
More importantly...
*Three o'clock...*
When I went to meet Ha-Young Noona, it was just past noon. Even if I include the time we spent talking, say until 1 PM, that's still two more hours unaccounted for.
It doesn't make sense that I was asleep for two hours, because if I had been, Hyun would have said, "Let's eat first," and ordered food.
And when the food arrived, he would have woken me up. Hyun isn't the type to eat without me just because I'm sleeping.
*So something must have happened during those two hours I can't remember...*
What could have happened that made us leave the Association so urgently without eating?
Was Noona too busy and we left to be considerate? But Noona herself came up and suggested we talk over lunch. That means she had enough time to at least eat...
No matter how much I thought about it, my brain—which finds detective comics too boring to read—couldn't come up with an answer.
There was only one reasonable guess.
*Either something urgent came up that made us leave without eating, or the atmosphere wasn't suitable for eating together while laughing and chatting.*
No matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn't deduce anything beyond that.
If I could, I'd have quit school and become a detective.
Sighing deeply, I tried to rest my forehead against the passenger seat, but my horns got caught on the car roof, so I lay back down in the rear seat.
"Hey, Hyun."
"What?"
"We didn't eat, you know."
"Ah, right. We haven't eaten yet. Why, are you hungry? Want to stop somewhere nearby and get something?"
His response confirmed my suspicion.
I took a deep breath and sighed, and Hyun looked at me through the rearview mirror.
Was not asking "why" an act of consideration, or was he being cautious?
...Either way, I felt grateful but also slightly left out.
"What happened?"
Would he dodge the question again?
No, if it was something I needed to know, he'd tell me.
As I kept quiet and waited, Hyun let out a deep sigh.
"Do you know that the Light Dragon woke up after you fell asleep?"
"...Huh?"
I was speechless at this revelation, which was much bigger than anything I'd been thinking.
The Light Dragon woke up? That monster that killed 5 million people?
"Are you okay!? Are you hurt!? What about Noona!? I mean, is anyone hurt!? I... I didn't kill anyone, right!?"
"Calm down. Nothing happened. We just came out and had a little chat."
"How is that..."
I wanted to say it was nonsense, but I couldn't.
He's not the type to lie about something like this.
Besides, if something serious had really happened, we wouldn't be peacefully riding in a car like this.
Heroes would be chasing us, or police, or even the military—something would be after us.
"So... what happened? The Light Dragon, you say?"
As I tried to calm my racing heart—
[I'll explain that.]
"Huh?"
I flinched at the voice in my head and rolled my eyes until they met my reflection in the rearview mirror.
My reflection in the mirror... no, the Light Dragon smiled with his eyes and continued.
[I've decided to join hands with the heroes.]
Join hands with the heroes?
The Light Dragon, of all monsters?
"Stop lying! How could that make any sense!"
"I haven't said anything yet."
"No... I wasn't talking to you."
Leaving Hyun blinking in confusion, I glared at the rearview mirror.
But no matter how much I glared, the Light Dragon just shrugged nonchalantly.
[You don't believe me even when I tell you the truth. If you're so doubtful, why not ask your mate?]
"W-who! Who's a mate!!"
"Hey hey! Don't sit up!! Horns! Your horns!! You'll puncture the roof!! Hey!!"
"Ah, sorry..."
I sat back down and gently rubbed the car ceiling with the back of my hand.
I wasn't sure if it was my imagination, but there seemed to be a slightly dented area.
Lowering my hand discreetly, I glared at the rearview mirror.
*Who's a mate!! Hyun and I were both guys originally!?*
[What does that matter? Dragons are naturally genderless.]
*It's not that simple...!!*
I gritted my teeth and argued, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't win against the Light Dragon's invincible logic that "dragons are just like that," so I hung my head.
"...Hyun, is it true that you joined hands with the Light Dragon?"
"Well... that's a very simplified version, but looking at the conclusion, yes."
[See? I told you I was telling the truth.]
How can this be real...
My head was too complicated.
What on earth happened...
I covered my face with both hands and let out a deep sigh, overwhelmed by embarrassment, anger, and confusion.