DMHS 48

Kian pointed toward the square with his finger.

“Now that we have eaten, shall we look around the village? On the way here I saw many shops that looked interesting.”

“Alright.”

The two walked along the street. But for some reason, after Kian came back from the restroom, Lucien’s mood had clearly dropped.

‘He should not know that I went to vomit.’

Feeling nervous, Kian tried to change the atmosphere by eagerly scanning the surroundings.

‘That’s it!’

Kian pulled Lucien’s arm.

“They are holding an outdoor play. If we go now the timing is perfect. Do you want to watch together?”

At the entrance hung two posters. One was titled “Love Like a Sudden Shower,” the other “The Axe Murderer of District 13.”

Just by the titles the contents were obvious, so there was nothing to think about. Kian went straight to the counter and held out money for two.

“Two for The Axe Murderer of District 13……”

Lucien cut in as if he had been waiting.

“No, two for Love Like a Sudden Shower.”

The ticket seller looked back and forth between the two, asking which it was. Feeling Lucien’s gaze poke at his cheek, Kian changed his words.

“Of course, two for the love one.”

With tickets in hand, they entered the theater.

In the round outdoor theater, more people had gathered than expected. It seemed to be a popular play these days.

When they sat in the very back row, the curtain that covered the stage was drawn back and two actors appeared. Disguised as an elderly couple, they sat on a bench and exchanged lines.

They talked about their grandchildren sending them cute letters, about their son and his wife living well, just small everyday conversations. Then suddenly they looked up at the sky and reached out their hands.

“A sudden shower.”

“Let us hurry inside.”

The husband took off his outer coat and covered his wife’s head, then he recited in a thoughtful voice.

“The day I first met you was also a day when it suddenly rained……”

The curtain slid across the stage from both sides. When it opened again, it was as if they had gone back decades, the same two actors now appeared as a young man and woman.

From there the play unfolded as a typical romance story.

The man fell in love with the woman at first sight. He confessed that to him, love was like a sudden “shower” that came unexpectedly and soaked him completely, and he professed his unchanging love.

At that scene Kian yawned.

‘I knew it would be like this.’

When people finished work and went drinking, there were always one or two who sang love songs. Out of curiosity Kian had once listened to their stories too.

But in the end he always concluded, “I cannot understand it at all.”

First of all, the idea of falling in love at first sight itself was strange. Did it not just mean liking someone for their face?

But to Kian, who lived as an immortal, human appearance was fleeting. Even at the moment of confession, the cells that made up the other person’s body were dying every instant, all the more so if you considered that.

‘I understand it is an instinct engraved in living beings……’

Kian glanced sideways at Lucien sitting next to him.

In the past, Kian had had this conversation with Hellenos. He had asked if dragons, who were beings with overwhelming power, did not have enough strength to live even without a mate.

It was late at night, while standing guard, and Hellenos had answered with an unusually serious face.

–Maybe that is exactly why?

–Why?

–Because if left alone they can live well by themselves, the instinct to seek out the other half of life was planted in them. Without that, the dragon species would have died out.

It meant the instinct was designed for the sake of reproduction.

Even so, Kian still felt uncomfortable with the emotion called “love.”

Maybe it was because whenever he said clearly, “I have never liked anyone,” people looked at him strangely. Kian understood the meaning in their eyes.

‘How can you not know love?’

‘What a strange person.’

When faced with those unfamiliar gazes he could not help but be conscious of it. That fact, “I am not human.”

A familiar voice came into Kian’s ear.

“Don’t take it so seriously, Yan. Your problem is you treat unnecessary things too seriously.”

Kian couldn’t help but laugh at the sound of his friend’s voice that came to mind after a long time.

‘Yes, Lancelot. You were always right.’

Kian shook his head and pulled himself from his thoughts.

Meanwhile, the stage was moving in a direction different from his expectation.

Instead of taking the man’s hand and singing a serenade, the woman pretended not to hear his confession. She was too busy pursuing her dream of becoming a clothing designer despite her poor family situation, and she considered romance a luxury.

‘Oh?’

At a development he had never seen in the romance genre, Kian was lightly shocked. The audience too seemed shocked in another way, some shouted loud complaints that reached the stage.

“What a fool!”

“What could be more important than marrying and having children!”

Only then did Kian understand why the play had begun with the old couple’s daily life. It was a device to make the new attempt easier for the audience to accept.

“Please be quiet. They will end up a married couple anyway!”

“Plays nowadays are not like the old ones. If you watch you will fall for the new charm.”

Thanks to the people arguing back, the theater grew quiet again.

The woman’s goal was to win first place in the costume contest held on Harvest Festival day.

Her efforts paid off, and the clothes she made were praised as “guaranteed to win first place at this rate.” But two days before the Harvest Festival, someone who was jealous of her ripped her dress to shreds.

The man appeared before the discouraged woman and suggested a new idea. Encouraged by him, she did not give up and she completed the outfit. At last, her outfit won first place at the contest and the two became lovers.

After that, the man opened a boutique with her to follow her dream. The dresses she designed grew more famous, and she became a celebrity.

The man looked toward the audience and spoke a monologue.

“Sometimes people ask me. Don’t you feel jealous of her success? But that is only what people who don’t know what love is think.”

A happy smile filled the man’s face.

From the audience came a sound of admiration. It seemed they had been drawn in because the actor’s performance was so outstanding.

Right then, Lucien clasped Kian’s hand.

“The love that came to me was like a sudden shower. It drenched me from head to toe in an instant and turned me into a different person.”

Kian looked at Lucien. Feeling his gaze, Lucien’s ears began to turn red. Even so, he never released the fingers entwined with Kian’s.

Then something strange happened. The man’s monologue on stage started to sound like Lucien’s voice.

“The happiness of the one I love is my happiness. His sorrow is my sorrow. Love has changed my life. Without love my life would have no meaning.”

Kian instead wanted to ask. Was there never a time when staking your life on love felt foolish?

As if he heard Kian’s thought, the actor continued his monologue.

“To be able to love someone is a blessed thing.”

“……”

“I am so glad I can love you.”

“……”

“So I hope that in your life too, such happiness will come, a fate made by coincidence upon coincidence.”

–I just want you to be happy. Even if it’s just eating your favorite cake.

Kian closed his eyes as the voices overlapping so naturally. His mouth dried up and sweat gathered in his palms.

His pulse beat loudly in his ears, thump-thump, even with his eyes closed he could hear his own heartbeat.

‘What is this?’

Exhilaration wrapped his whole body, like he had jumped from a high place. When he looked to the side, Lucien had already turned his gaze and was staring fixedly at Kian.

In his green eyes overflowed affection he could not hide. It was the same gentle gaze Kian had always found whenever he turned his head during their journey. If it had been before, he would have just thought, there he goes again……

‘Damn.’

Kian felt something.

He wanted to raise his hand and cover Lucien’s face. He even wanted to get angry and shout loudly in a way that did not suit him.

Don’t look at me like that. Because you keep looking at me like that and saying strange things, even I……

Even I, what?

Kian swallowed his breath.

His instinct refused to think. It rang an alarm, warning him that thinking further was dangerous and he had to stop.

‘It is nothing.’

Kian drew in a deep breath until his chest swelled, then he let it out long.

Even so, the sensation focused on their joined hands did not scatter easily.

“Ha……”

On stage the male actor’s monologue ended and the next episode played.

The married couple had children and continued a happy life. When crisis came to the husband, the wife wisely helped him. When hardship came to the wife, the husband became her support. With each day that passed, their love grew deeper.

Finally as an elderly couple, they smiled at each other and held hands. Along with a monologue saying a sudden shower-like encounter had changed their lives.

When the play ended, the audience loudly cheered and applauded.

Kian looked at the stage with a dazed face.

His eyes looked hazy, like a man just woken from a long dream.