IPDT 32

“Didn’t Kwon Yul tell you not to approach him?”

“That’s for when nothing is wrong with Yul! This won’t do. I’m going to break down the door if I have to and go in.”

“Master, if you do that, what about the smelly human…”

“I can find him later. What’s important right now is not some worthless human!”

Fleabag, who kept talking to me when I was in a hurry, was getting on my nerves. I cast a spell on Fleabag’s mouth. Golden mana gathered into a ring shape and then tightened to fit perfectly over Fleabag’s mouth. He wouldn’t be able to speak for about a minute. I left Fleabag and rushed out of the room.

I grabbed the doorknob of the next room and turned it. Click, there was the sound of a lock being engaged. It wasn’t that I hadn’t expected the door to be locked, but for some reason, I grew anxious.

I put strength into my hand. I gave up on opening the door the normal way. With a creaking sound, the doorknob broke. A gap appeared in the firmly shut door. I grabbed the torn door and threw it open at once.

“Yul!”

“…”

Yul was slumped down below the bed. Veins stood out on the hands that fiercely gripped the blanket, and his black hair was bowed low. I hurriedly approached Yul, bent my knees, and sat down. Only then did Yul turn his head to look at me. His hair, damp with a cold sweat, was disheveled against his pale face.

“Yul, Yul, are you hurt somewhere?”

I reached out to cup Yul’s cheek without thinking. At that moment, he roughly grabbed my wrist.

“…Get out.”

Yul’s black eyes glinted ferociously.

“Get the hell out.”

“Do you really want me to get out?”

I glanced at my reddened wrist, held by Yul. He must have known where my gaze was directed, but Yul did not let go of my wrist.

…It seems like he’s just talking tough, right? I cautiously approached him on my knees. Even when I was almost nose-to-nose with him, Yul didn’t push me away or bite me. He was just looking at me with eyes that seemed somewhat hazy.

“Is something wrong?”

“…Rain, I hate it.”

Yul muttered in a voice so quiet it might have been extinguished. It was the first time in a long while I’d heard a voice that wasn’t fierce, but I had no capacity to be moved. A shocking pronouncement had been made.

You hate the rain? Why? I couldn’t bring myself to ask, my mouth just opening and closing, as Yul’s black eyes scanned my face. As if searching for something. Yul’s grip tightened.

Thud. Then Yul’s head fell onto my shoulder. Still not recovered from the shock, I looked down at the back of Yul’s head.

“Just stay like this for a moment.”

Whoosh, Yul’s voice mingled with the sound of the rain.

“…Just until the rain stops.”

His thin breaths touched my shoulder and scattered. Yul loosened the grip he had on my wrist. Yul’s hand and mine fell to the floor at the same time.

I pressed my gaping mouth shut. I was curious why he had come to hate the rain, but… now was not the time to ask. Yul’s damp emotions were transmitted to my heart.

Yul was grieving.

The rain, which had poured as if it would never stop, finally let up at dawn the next day. Once we confirmed the rain had stopped, we went to the docks. It was to catch a boat.

“There are no boats going to the Javier fief today, but they’ll probably start running from tomorrow.”

It was a stroke of luck that we found the supervisor we had met the other day. The supervisor knew which boat would reach the Javier fief the fastest. And that boat would start running from tomorrow. I looked up at Yul, who was standing next to me.

“Should I book tickets for tomorrow?”

“…”

Yul didn’t answer. He didn’t even meet my gaze. Once the rain stopped, Yul became cold again, as if he had never been sad. I couldn’t hide the feeling of disappointment that was creeping in. Phew, I let out a sigh and turned my head to the supervisor.

“We’ll take the boat that’s running tomorrow. Please book two tickets.”

“Very well. You just need to write down your names on the list and pay tomorrow right before boarding.”

I had to write down our names. I couldn’t very well write my own name, so after some thought, I wrote down Fleabag’s name. The supervisor’s face became strange after checking the list. He had an expression that said, “Is your name really Fleabag?”

I ignored such a reaction and turned around abruptly. It was because Yul had started to walk away, leaving me behind, as soon as I had written the name. I hurriedly chased after Yul.

It wasn’t easy to keep up with Yul’s stride. These darn short legs. As I was walking, struggling to maintain an awkward distance, I suddenly stopped in my tracks. As I came to a halt, a hand was placed on my shoulder as if someone had been waiting. It was that smelly human from before.

“Why didn’t you show up yesterday? I waited for only you, young master, on the street in the pouring rain.”

“Move it. We’ll talk later.”

I swatted the human’s hand away and was about to walk straight back to Yul. If only Yul hadn’t turned to look at me.

“…”

Yul, who had been staring coldly at me and the smelly human, turned and began to walk again. It was an attitude that suggested he didn’t care whether I followed him or not. My spirits fell a little. I let out a long sigh.

“Is that the young master’s unrequited love? He looks scary. Why do you like someone like that?”

“You, watch your mouth. If you run your mouth so freely, you might lose your tongue.”

“Pffft. How scary, young master. Is it natural since you have an unrequited love for someone like that?”

“Don’t call it an unrequited love. Do you really want your tongue cut out?”

It was as I was frowning and looking up at the impertinent human. The sound of Fleabag, who was inside my hood, thrashing about was transmitted to my brain.

“Master, this Fleabag will cut it off himself!”

“You can cut it if he runs his mouth impertinently one more time.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop.”

The human was lucky. Fleabag, having missed his chance to cut out a tongue, began to grumble, so I temporarily disconnected our mental link.

“So, young master, are you going? We’ve had everything ready since yesterday, but everyone was disappointed because the main character didn’t show up.”

“Everyone? You mean you’re not alone?”

“Well, is the number important?”

The human shrugged and smiled. Instead of smiling back at the stupid human, I gripped his tanned, bronze-colored forearm tightly.

“Where is it.”

“You want to go that badly? Alright. Here, let’s go.”

The human, who seemed surprised by my grip, glanced at my hand and then laughed cheerfully. Then he started to move, leading me forward.

The further I walked following the human, the further we got from the main street. Before I knew it, I had entered a dark alley. The dirty alley was, strangely, filled with the scent of flowers. The stupid human was really taking me to his base.

We soon stopped in front of a certain shabby door. The human muttered, “extreme pleasure,” and as if that was the password, the shabby door creaked open on its own.

At that moment, a flower scent so overpowering that it made my head spin poured out.

“…What is this?”

“You’ve come all this way and you’re still going to pretend you don’t know?”

A dark space with only a few lights on. Inside, humans were smoking something and giggling. The human gave my back a light push and then entered the space himself. Bang! The sound of the door closing echoed behind me.

“It’s a drug. A drug that will make us feel good.”

I stared blankly at the human. I understood now why there had been a sudden downpour here. It was all because of this ‘drug.’ Because someone had burned a flower full of the power of Chaos in the human world, the balance had begun to crumble.

Destruction. The distant word finally broke its long silence and revealed itself.

“Who made this.”

“Is that important? Here, you have a puff too…”

The human was taking out something like a cigar from his pocket. I snatched it, crushed it, and pushed the human against the wall. The human’s eyes widened. I met those eyes and let out a voice laced with mana.

“Tell me. Who gave this to you.”

“…Igor.”

“Who is Igor.”

“Igor, Igor Javier.”

It was the moment the human spat out the ringleader’s name.

CRASH!

The door was smashed with a deafening roar. I could see black hair through the scattering dust. As the haze settled, the figure of the human who had broken down the door and entered became clear.

With sharp, black eyes, Yul, who had shattered the door by brandishing his sword, strode inside. How did Yul get here? Didn’t he just leave me and go on his way earlier…?

“Yul?”

As I muttered in confusion, Yul turned to look at me. His black eyes glinted coldly. Why is he looking at me like that? It was when my confusion grew even greater. Yul approached me without hesitation.

“Huh?”

Then, he grabbed the back of my hood and lifted me up. I was dangled like a piece of clothing caught on a hanger.

Blinking at the absurd situation that had suddenly unfolded, I looked at the tips of my toes, which were on tiptoe. It seemed like my short legs looked a little longer. As I was having this meaningless thought, Yul yanked my body.

“Wait, Yul?”

Yul dragged me out of the shop. I was dragged out in an embarrassing manner, unbefitting of my great self.

What should I do? Should I shake off Yul’s hand, which is dragging me like a piece of luggage, right now? But Yul came to find me himself… While I was deliberating, we reached the entrance of the alley. Yul pushed me against a wall and slammed his hand beside my head with a ‘BANG!’.

“What do you think you’re doing.”

“I didn’t do anything…?”

A menacing aura swirled in Yul’s eyes. But even if he looked at me like that, I was innocent. All I had done was follow a human reeking of flower scent and witness a shocking fact.

I recalled the humans who were giggling, high on the drug made from the flower of Chaos. And the fact that the human who distributed that flower was named ‘Igor Javier’.

‘Javier’. It was definitely a name related to the Margrave.

“Did you take it?”

We were planning to go to the Margrave’s fief anyway, so it was around the time I was thinking that I should find ‘Igor Javier’ as soon as we arrived. Yul roughly grabbed my chin and lifted it. What did I take? I blinked blankly.

“What?”

“The drug.”

“Are you talking about the drug?”

Yul’s brow furrowed menacingly. It was a look of misunderstanding. That is, he seemed to think of me as some crazy dragon who does drugs. It was a misunderstanding I never wanted to receive!

“I didn’t take it!”

As I jumped up and down in frustration, Yul’s face came close. It was a distance where a kiss might happen. Surprised, I instinctively held my breath. I think my heart pounded, too. But unfortunately, what fell upon me was not a kiss.

“If you didn’t take it, why were you rubbing up against that bastard.”

Yul interrogated me. I opened my mouth out of frustration.

“Who is that bastard? The only person who I’d rub up against is you.”