Chapter 12

[12] Oppa, Can You Really Do It?

Minjun and Sia couldn’t accept Rokan’s words.

They had only just reunited, and now he was saying they couldn’t be near each other.

It made no sense.

What possible reason could there be for him to declare that Minjun might die if they stayed together?

Was he deliberately saying this to separate Sia from him?

Even if he was a dragon—and Sia’s grandfather—Minjun felt he had to speak his mind.

“Sir, I simply don’t understand. If you don’t approve of me… then please tell me what it is you dislike. I’ll try to understand, change, or do whatever I can.”

Sia didn’t try to stop him. Instead, she glared at her grandfather with resentment in her eyes.

His words made no sense to her either.

“Grandfather, stop saying such ridiculous things! Let’s go, Oppa. I’ll talk to him later.”

Sia turned sharply, took Minjun’s hand, and started to leave the lair.

“You’ll regret it.”

Even then, she merely looked back at her grandfather with a furious expression before turning away again, holding Minjun’s hand.

Whether he understood her feelings or not, Rokan continued calmly.

“If you leave like this, your mate will collapse again before long. The first time or two, I may be able to do something. After that, his condition will worsen beyond the point of recovery.”

She flinched at his warning that Minjun’s condition might become too serious to treat.

No. That won’t happen.

Repeating those words to herself, she tried to leave the lair, but Rokan kept speaking.

“And when your lover’s life is in danger, when there is no telling whether he will live or die… only then will you return to me, Shasha, carrying his limp body on your back. Is that the future you want?”

His words were so cruel they sounded more like a curse than advice.

They were hardly the sort of thing a grandfather should say to his granddaughter and the man she loved.

But Rokan’s expression was utterly serious.

He had no desire whatsoever to curse his beloved granddaughter or her lover.

He was simply using a little shock to make them listen more carefully to his warning.

Fortunately, it seemed to work. Sia stopped in her tracks at those chilling words.

She looked at her grandfather, her eyes reddening.

“Grandfather, please be honest. You don’t like Minjun, do you? That’s why… that’s why you’re saying this, right?”

Unable to accept reality, her hands trembled.

She desperately wanted his words to stem from nothing more than his personal feelings.

If that were the problem, she was confident she could do whatever it took to change his mind.

But—

If her grandfather was telling the truth…

‘What… happens to us then?’

She couldn’t imagine it.

No, she didn’t even want to.

Looking into his granddaughter’s pleading eyes, which were heartbreaking to behold, Rokan slowly continued.

“Shasha, whoever you love, your grandfather will always be on your side. You remember that, don’t you? But…”

He paused to collect himself, then spoke calmly.

“Your energies are incompatible.”

“…Our energies?”

Sia’s eyes trembled slightly, as though something had occurred to her.

A terrible premonition sent a chill up her spine.

“It would be difficult to explain everything here, so I’ll keep it simple for now. Shasha, as you know, the energy you possess is more exceptional and intense than that of other dragons. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”

“A-and that’s a problem? Why?”

Rather than answer, Rokan silently took her hand, his expression full of pity.

But she couldn’t understand how that could be a problem.

Other dragons had envied her energy, calling it a blessing.

They had told her that, thanks to that extraordinary energy, she would one day leave her name in dragon history.

That she, too, could enjoy the honor of becoming Dragon Lord, just like her grandfather.

Everyone had said so. Naturally, she had thought of it as a blessing from the heavens.

And yet, why did it have to—

“How can that… No. Are you saying it’s incompatible with Minjun, of all people? Why…?”

Her eyes wandered helplessly, and her voice shook.

“Then, because of that energy… if Minjun and I stay together, he’ll… die?”

Sia bit her lip.

She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.

To cry out that it wasn’t true. That it couldn’t possibly be true.

Rokan gently clasped her hand in both of his.

“You don’t want to accept it, and it must make no sense to you. But that is how things are.”

Reality would be difficult for her to accept.

As though he understood that all too well, Rokan shook his head, his expression troubled.

“…What about a solution? Isn’t there anything we can do? Whether it means controlling my energy more carefully or something else—anything that would let me stay with him!”

“There is. But it is nearly impossible.”

“Even so. Please tell me.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Rokan finally decided to tell his granddaughter.

“Your lover must learn to wield a dragon’s power in its entirety.”

“…?”

“What…?”

“At present, that is the only way.”

Even Sia, who had experienced the miracle of reincarnation, thought this went beyond “nearly impossible.”

It was simply impossible.

Of course, considering that Minjun had drawn out the Dragon Bone Sword’s power, he could probably reach a level where he could wield a dragon’s power to some extent.

But that was all—to some extent.

In the entire history of the continent, no human had ever wielded the full power of a dragon.

‘I have to find another way.’

She didn’t know what that might be, but surely anything would be more realistic than this.

Sia resolved to use every means at her disposal to find it.

When she had declared that she would perfect dimensional travel magic, everyone had pointed at her and called it impossible.

Yet hadn’t she ultimately succeeded, proving them all wrong?

There had to be a way this time too.

Minjun’s and Sia’s eyes widened, and Rokan gave a bitter smile.

‘No. There has to be.’

Her eyes quivered.

Meanwhile, Minjun watched Sia struggle with her thoughts, his heart aching.

She hadn’t said anything aloud, but her anxiety-filled eyes told him exactly what she was thinking.

‘You’re trying to solve this all by yourself.’

The chances of success seemed so slim that she must have decided she would rather find a solution on her own.

But the moment he understood what she was thinking, something hot welled up inside him.

‘Why?’

Why was she trying to go that far?

Sia had already shouldered far too much.

For his sake, knowing he would be grieving, she had sacrificed 2,500 years to return to him.

He had wanted to give her a happy life now, free of all worries and cares.

Yet despite his hopes and resolve, she was once again determined to sacrifice herself.

‘I can’t bear to watch her suffer.’

The realization sent a sharp ache through his heart.

He didn’t care if the road ahead was covered in thorns.

As long as happiness awaited them at its end—

Minjun was willing to walk it.

“Earlier, sir, you said it was ‘nearly’ impossible, didn’t you?”

Reincarnation existed. So did dimensional travel magic.

Then couldn’t someone’s very race be changed as well?

At first, he had misunderstood Rokan’s intentions, which had made it take a little longer to grasp what he meant.

But after carefully considering his words, Minjun concluded that wielding a dragon’s full power couldn’t be completely impossible.

Rokan had said “nearly impossible,” not “impossible.”

Just as Sia had pursued her research into dimensional travel magic—

If there was even the slightest possibility, Minjun thought it was worth trying.

After all, Sia had already risked everything and sacrificed herself for him once.

So this time, it was Minjun’s turn to show her how he felt.

“If it isn’t simply absurd, but only difficult enough to be nearly impossible… then please tell me how.”

His voice carried unwavering resolve.

But Sia took his hand and pleaded with him.

“Oppa. This… isn’t right. Anyone can see it’s impossible. Just let me find another way—”

She had already walked a path of thorns once, so she would walk it again. All he needed to do was stay beside her and quietly watch over her.

That was what Sia wanted to say.

But—

“Sia.”

Before she could finish, Minjun pulled her into a tight embrace.

“You told me you spent two thousand years researching a way to see me again. So leave it to me this time. I’ll find a way.”

Perhaps his sincerity had reached her.

Tears began welling in Sia’s eyes again.

Watching them in silence, Rokan closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought.

“…Very well. If your resolve is that firm, I will tell you how before long.”

Rokan took a ring from inside his clothes and handed it to Minjun.

“This ring is engraved with a teleportation spell set to this location. Return here in three days. We’ll discuss it then.”

“Thank you.”

Minjun didn’t know what he would hear in three days, but at least there was a sliver of hope.

As he went to put on the ring Rokan had given him, Sia looked back and forth between him and the ring, her expression conflicted.

“Grandfather. Give me a ring too. An identical one.”

“That would be easy enough, Shasha, but you have no need for one, do you?”

A ring engraved with teleportation magic might be a valuable artifact to an ordinary human, but to a dragon, it was nothing more than a trinket.

Rokan had no trouble giving her a matching ring, but he wanted to know why she wanted it.

“Do I really have to… say it out loud?”

For some reason, Sia’s face had turned bright red.

“W-well, um…”

She struggled over whether to answer.

Finally, she bowed her head in embarrassment and replied in a voice so quiet it was barely audible.

“…Rings.”

“What was that?”

“Couple rings! Matching couple rings! Grandfather, don’t you know what those are? We’re a couple, so it would look strange if only Oppa wore one! If he’s wearing a ring, I want to wear the same one! Okay?”

Overwhelmed by embarrassment, she covered her flushed face with her hands.

As though asking why he had made her spell it out, Sia turned her back on him.

“I hate you, Grandfather. You knew all along.”

Her voice was thick with wounded indignation.

“I really didn’t. I’m sorry.”

Rokan took an identical ring from his subspace and handed it to his granddaughter.

Despite his apology, he had to suppress a private chuckle at this unfamiliar side of her.

The moment she received the ring, she slipped it onto her ring finger.

Then she gazed down at it with satisfaction.

“Oppa. Aren’t you going to put yours on?”

“Oh, right.”

Everything had happened so quickly that, despite accepting the ring, Minjun hadn’t actually put it on.

He hurriedly slipped it onto his finger.

“Never take it off, Oppa. Understood?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll never take mine off either. Promise?”

“I wouldn’t take it off even if you told me to, so don’t worry.”

Pleased with his answer, she hugged him, but her expression soon grew gloomy.

“When will we be able to see each other again?”

“I wonder. From what your grandfather said, it sounds like we still have some time together. I just don’t know how much.”

Some time had passed, but Minjun hadn’t suddenly lost consciousness again.

“I’ve taken temporary measures with magic. Let’s see… You have exactly six hours left.”

It was hardly a generous amount of time.

Not wanting to waste even a minute with Sia, Minjun set a timer.

“Grandfather, once those six hours are over… does that mean we can never see each other again until this problem is solved?”

Sia looked at her grandfather despondently.

After everything it had taken to reunite, nothing could be more unfair than being given only six hours together.

“I see I’ve given you the wrong impression.”

At those words, their faces began to brighten.

“It isn’t that you can’t meet at all. If my estimate is correct, you should still be able to spend around three hours a week together.”

“!!!”

They had thought they wouldn’t be able to see each other at all until the problem was solved, but that wasn’t the case.

Three hours a week.

It was painfully little time, but it was something.

“Grandfather, then…”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“How could I not? Why do you think I called it a temporary measure? This spell takes a great deal out of even me. You were probably thinking I could keep extending your time together this way, but unfortunately, I cannot.”

Even her grandfather—an ancient dragon and former Dragon Lord who stood at the pinnacle of magic—said the spell demanded too much of him.

Deflated once more, Sia lowered her head.

Today would be the only time they were allowed as much as six hours together.

“Depending on your efforts, the time you can spend together may increase. And as I said, if you push yourself to your utmost, you may eventually be able to meet without any restrictions.”

Rokan turned to Minjun and looked into his eyes.

A mere human freely wielding the power of a dragon, a being incomparably greater than any human.

What sort of resolve would someone need to pursue such a nearly impossible goal?

Minjun’s eyes were filled with determination.

“I’ll work at it even if it kills me.”

“Good. That is the resolve you need.”

Rokan nodded in satisfaction.

“Let’s leave the rest of our discussion for another day.”

Every second would be precious to them now.

Explaining their circumstances and the solution in greater detail would take several more hours.

For that reason, Rokan decided to end the complicated discussion there for now.

He wanted to give some time alone to this devoted couple, who had crossed dimensions and even lifetimes to reunite.

Every moment mattered to them.

“I’ll leave you two alone. Shasha, come to me when the allotted time is up.”

“Okaaay!”

With those final words, Rokan cast a teleportation spell and vanished.

Now only Sia and Minjun remained in the vast lair.

They both had so much they wanted to say.

How would they overcome this new crisis? How could they secure a future together?

To talk through all those long, serious subjects would take days, not merely six hours.

But neither intended to discuss them right now.

“Oppa. Is there anywhere you want to go?”

For the six hours they had left, they intended to go on a date and spend their time like an ordinary couple.