Oppa, Can You Really Do It?

Minjun and Sia could not accept what Rokan had said. They had only just found each other again, and now they were being told the two of them must not grow close. It made no sense. What on earth could make him go so far as to declare that if they met, Minjun ‘would die’?

Was Rokan doing this on purpose, to pry Sia away from Minjun?

Dragon or not, Sia’s grandfather or not, he decided he had to say what needed saying.

“Sir. I don’t understand this at all. If it’s simply that you don’t approve of me… then please at least tell me so — tell me what it is you don’t like about me. Then I’ll either accept it, or fix it, or do something about it.”

Sia didn’t try to stop him either. If anything, she glared at her own grandfather with resentment in her eyes, because she could make no more sense of those words than Minjun could.

“Grandpa, don’t say ridiculous things like that! Let’s go, Oppa. I’ll talk to Grandpa about it later.”

Sia spun on her heel, took Minjun’s hand and headed out of the lair.

“You’ll regret it.”

Even at that, Sia only shot her grandfather a single furious look over her shoulder, then turned her head away again with Minjun’s hand in hers. Rokan, either unaware of her feelings or ignoring them, went on calmly.

“If you walk out like this, your partner will collapse again before long. The first time or two, something might still be done for him. After that, his condition will become irreversible.”

At the warning that his condition would soon be beyond anyone’s help, she gave a small flinch.

It isn’t true. It can’t be.

She kept telling herself so as she made for the way out, but Rokan did not stop talking.

“And when your lover’s life hangs by a thread like that, when it comes to the point where no one can vouch for whether he lives or dies… then, Shasha, you will come back to me with your limp lover on your back. Is that the future you want?”

The words were cruel enough to make one wonder whether they were meant as advice or as a curse, and they were certainly no way for a grandfather to speak to his granddaughter and her lover.

Rokan’s face, however, was utterly serious. He had not the slightest wish to heap curses on his beloved granddaughter and her lover; he had only applied a little shock therapy, hoping they would take his advice more to heart. Thankfully, it seemed to have worked. At those chilling words, Sia stopped in her tracks.

She looked at her grandfather, her eyes gone thoroughly red.

“Grandpa, tell me honestly. You don’t approve of Minjun-oppa, do you? That’s — that’s why you’re doing this, isn’t it?”

She couldn’t accept it, and her hands shook violently. She almost hoped instead that Rokan was simply acting out of personal dislike. If the problem were something like that, she was confident she could do whatever it took to change her grandfather’s mind.

But.

If what her grandfather said was true.

Then what… happens to us?

She could not begin to imagine it. The truth was, she did not even want to.

Rokan met his granddaughter’s pleading gaze, painful as it was to look at, and went on slowly.

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

He paused to catch his breath, then spoke in a calm voice.

“The affinity between your energies is poor.”
“…The affinity between our energies?”

Something in that must have struck a chord, because Sia’s pupils quivered faintly. An ominous premonition crawled up her spine and left it cold.

“It’s hard to go into detail here and now, so let me put it simply for the moment. Shasha, as you know perfectly well, the energy you hold is more special, and more intense, than what the other dragons hold. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”
“Th-that’s a problem? Why?”

Instead of answering, Rokan took Sia’s hand without a word, a pained look on his face. She still couldn’t see how it could be a problem; small wonder, since the other dragons had envied the energy she held and called it a blessing.

Thanks to that special energy, you’ll carve your name into the history of dragons.
You too will be able to enjoy the honor of rising to the seat of Dragon Lord, just as your grandfather did.

Everyone had told her so, and she had come to think of it as a kind of blessing granted by heaven.

So why, of all things, this?

“How do you even— no. Are you saying that, of all people, my energy has a bad affinity with Minjun-oppa? Why…?”

Her eyes darted about, unable to settle anywhere, and her voice was shaking.

“Then, because of that energy, I… if Minjun-oppa and I are together, Minjun-oppa is going to die. Is that… what you mean.”

Sia bit her lip. Had she followed her heart, she would have screamed and wailed out loud that it wasn’t so, that it couldn’t possibly be.

Rokan gently took Sia’s hand in both of his.

“You don’t want to understand, and you won’t be able to. But there’s nothing to be done about it.”

No doubt it would be hard to accept. Rokan shook his head with a troubled look of his own, as though he understood the feeling all too well.

“…A way. Isn’t there a way? Some way for me to control my energy better, or anything at all! A way for me to keep seeing Oppa!”
“There is. There is, but you’d have to call it close to impossible.”
“Even so. Please tell me.”

Rokan hesitated a moment, then decided, for his granddaughter’s sake, to tell her after all.

“Your lover mastering a dragon’s power in full.”
“…?”
“What…?”

Minjun’s and Sia’s eyes both went wide, and Rokan smiled bitterly.

“As things stand, that is the only way there is.”

Even Sia, who had been reincarnated, thought this was not close to impossible but flat-out impossible. Granted, judging by the way Minjun had drawn out a Dragon Bone Sword’s power, he could probably reach the stage of handling a dragon’s power to some degree. But ‘to some degree’ was as far as it went. In all the history of the continent, there was not one case of a human using a dragon’s power in full.

I’ll have to find another way.

She had no idea what that way might be, but whatever it was, it would at least be more realistic than this. Sia resolved to find it by any means necessary.

When she had announced she would complete her dimensional-travel magic, everyone had pointed at her and called it impossible. And in the end, hadn’t she succeeded for all to see? This time, too, there would surely be a way.

No — there has to be.

Her eyes trembled.

Minjun, meanwhile, watched with an aching heart as Sia sank alone into her anguish. She hadn’t said it outright, but he could read what was in her heart from those anxious eyes.

She means to solve this on her own.

The odds of success looked slim by any measure, so she must have decided to take care of it by herself. The moment he read that in her, Minjun felt something hot rise up inside him.

Why?
Why would she go that far?

Sia had already taken far too much onto her shoulders. For his sake, knowing how he must have grieved, hadn’t she given up a full twenty-five hundred years to come and find him? So now, he had thought, it was his turn to let her live happily, without a single care or worry. Yet against all his hopes and his resolve, Sia was bent on sacrificing herself all over again.

I can’t bear to watch Sia suffer.

The realization pierced his heart with a sharp pang.

He didn’t mind if the road laid out ahead of him was a path of thorns. That was fine, so long as happiness for Sia and for him waited at the end of it. Minjun would gladly walk that path of thorns.

“Sir — you said just now that it was ‘close to’ impossible.”

Reincarnation existed, and so did dimensional-travel magic; so why couldn’t a species be changed too? He had misunderstood Rokan at first and had needed a little while to understand. But as he quietly turned them over, Minjun judged that mastering a dragon’s power in full was no outright impossibility, because Rokan had said ‘close to impossible’, not ‘impossible’.

If there was even the slightest chance, Minjun thought it was worth the attempt, just as Sia had once thrown herself into researching her dimensional-travel magic. She had already given up everything once and sacrificed it for his sake. This time, it was Minjun’s turn to show her what was in his heart.

“If it isn’t simply a ridiculous story, if it’s only difficult enough to be close to impossible… then just tell me the way.”

There was firm resolve in Minjun’s voice. But Sia caught his hand instead and pleaded with him.

“Oppa. This… no. Anyone can see that’s impossible. I’ll just look for a way myself, so—”

I’ve already thrown myself down that path of thorns once, so I’ll be the one to walk it again — Oppa, you just stay quietly at my side and watch.

That was what Sia wanted to say.

But.

“Sia.”

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

“You told me yourself. That you spent two thousand years researching the way, just to meet me. So this time, leave it to me. I’ll find the way.”

Perhaps his sincerity got through to her, because once again tears welled in Sia’s eyes.

Rokan had watched the two of them without a word. Now he closed his eyes for a moment and sank into thought.

“…Very well. If your will is that firm, I shall tell you the way before long.”

He drew a ring from inside his robes and handed it to Minjun.

“That is a ring engraved with teleport magic, with the coordinates of this place set into it. Come back here three days from now. I’ll talk it over with you again then.”
“Thank you.”

There was no telling what he would hear in three days, but a thread-thin hope beat no hope at all.

As Minjun put on the ring, Sia’s gaze went from him to the ring and back again, her feelings apparently in a tangle.

“Grandpa. Give me a ring too. The same one.”
“Giving you one is easy enough, Shasha, but you’ve no need of it, have you?”

A ring engraved with teleport magic might be a precious artifact by an ordinary human’s standards, but by a dragon’s it was junk, plain and simple. Handing over an identical one was no trouble at all for Rokan, but he did want to know the reason, at least.

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

For some reason, Sia’s face had gone as red as a beet.

“U-um, um, ummm…”

She agonized over whether to say it. Then, burning with embarrassment, she answered in a voice barely above a whisper.

“…Rings.”
“What was that?”
“Couple rings! Couple rings! Grandpa, don’t you know what couple rings are?¹ We’re a couple, so it looks all wrong if Oppa’s the only one wearing a ring! If Oppa’s wearing one, I want to wear the same one with him, that’s all! All right?”

Her embarrassment burst out of her as she said it, clutching her flaming face. Then, as though she couldn’t believe she’d had to spell it out, she turned her back on her grandfather.

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

Her voice was thick with hurt.

“I truly didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Rokan pulled an identical-looking ring out of subspace and handed it to his granddaughter. He had apologized out loud, but inwardly he had to bite down hard on the laugh this new side of her drew out of him.

In any case, the instant the ring was in her hands, she slipped it onto her ring finger and gazed at it in satisfaction.

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

With everything moving so hectically, it hadn’t occurred to him to put on the ring he’d been given. Minjun hurriedly slid it onto his finger.

“Don’t ever take this off, Oppa. All right?”
“Mm.”
“I’m never taking mine off either. Promise?”
“I wouldn’t take it off even if you told me to, so don’t worry.”

Having gotten the answer she wanted, she hugged Minjun contentedly, but her face soon clouded over.

“When will we be able to see each other again.”
“Good question. Going by what your grandfather said, it sounds like we’ve still got some time left together — I just don’t know how much.”

Some time had passed, yet Minjun hadn’t suddenly lost consciousness the way he had earlier.

“It’s only temporary, but I’ve taken measures with magic. Now, let me see — exactly six hours left,” Rokan said.

Six hours was by no means a lot of time. So as not to waste a single minute of it with Sia, Minjun set a timer.

“Grandpa, then once the six hours are up… until this problem is solved, we can’t see each other ever again?”

Sia’s face was gloomy as she asked. After everything it had taken to meet again, being granted only six hours would be the height of injustice.

“I’ve left room for a misunderstanding, I see.”

At the word ‘misunderstanding’, color slowly returned to both their faces.

“It isn’t that you can’t meet at all. If my guess is right, you should still manage something like three hours a week.”
“!!!”

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

Three hours a week. Terribly little time, but still, it was something.

“Grandpa, then…”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“I couldn’t possibly fail to know this one. Why do you think I called it a temporary measure? Even for me, this magic is a great drain. You were hoping I could keep stretching your time like this, no doubt, but sadly I can’t.”

Her grandfather was an ancient dragon who could fairly be said to stand at the very summit of magic, and a former Dragon Lord besides. For him of all dragons to admit that a spell drained him said everything.

Deflated all over again, Sia hung her head. A span as long as six hours was theirs today, and today only.

“Depending on the effort you put in, that time may grow. And as I said, if you work at it hard enough to die for it, there may come to be no limit on your meetings at all.”

Rokan turned to Minjun and looked him in the eye. For a mere human to wield a dragon’s power at will was a goal close to impossible, the two beings being beyond comparison. What kind of resolve did it take to chase it?

Minjun’s eyes were full of resolve.

“I’ll work at it ready to die for it.”
“Good. That mindset will do.”

Rokan nodded, satisfied.

“The talk we couldn’t finish today, let’s have next time.”

Every second would be precious to them from here on. Explaining their situation and the way out of it in any more detail would take several hours yet, so Rokan decided to wrap up the complicated talk here for now. He wanted to give the pair, who had found each other across dimensions and a lifetime, some time alone.

“I’ll get out of your way. Shasha, when the promised time is up, come to your grandfather.”
“Yeees!”

With that parting word, Rokan cast teleport magic and vanished on the spot.

Now only Sia and Minjun remained in that vast lair. Both of them had a great deal they wanted to say: how they would fight their way through this new crisis, and how they would pledge themselves to the future ahead. All those long, serious conversations would surely take days, not six hours. But neither of them had any intention of having them right now.

“Oppa. Isn’t there anywhere you want to go?”

For these six hours they had left, at least, they meant to spend the time like any ordinary couple, out on a date.