Kidnapped Dragons - Chapter 381

Gyeoul’s words were somewhat strange. Hearing that slightly shifted the context of what Kaeul had said before her.

Kaeul said kidnapping was a crime. It was true and he thought she was telling him not to kidnap because it was a bad thing to do, but after hearing Gyeoul’s words, he started thinking that that might not have been her intention when she said that.

“Why.”

He asked back. In response, Gyeoul mumbled an explanation.

“…Can I come out… of an egg again?”

He still could not understand what the child was saying. It was naturally impossible for her to hatch again.

“That won’t be possible. Because hatching from an egg can only happen once.”

Sorrow seeped into her eyes as Gyeoul gave a nod.

“…When you see someone… for the first time… after coming out of an egg…”

She continued mumbling as he patiently waited for her to finish.

“…They become special… just like, how it was, to me.”

With another murmur, Gyeoul anxiously said to him.

“…I can’t come out of an egg again.

“…So,

“…I want me… to be the last for ahjussi as well.”

He finally understood what Gyeoul was saying, as well as the real intention behind Kaeul’s words when she was talking about how kidnapping was a crime. They were feeling uncomfortable about him deceitfully taking in more kids and treating them nicely.

In other words,

Kaeul and Gyeoul were jealous of the ‘next kids’ that won’t even exist. The thing called a child’s perspective was still very foreign to him so Yu Jitae returned an empty smile but the kids were serious.

“You don’t have to worry, because that will never happen.”

He eased their minds just like how he always did.

Gyeoul reached her arms forward like a habit and lowering his back, he let her sit on his arm.

Before long, the kids turned silent as if they were waiting for something and soon, Kaeul pointed somewhere in the sky as Bom nodded and whispered something into her ears. Meanwhile, Yeorum was still smoking a cigarette with a sullen pout.

This was them – he had become so comfortable and used to them.

They however, were dragons. They were the ones he hated and loathed. He wasn’t confident in not bashing them up to death and that was why he had initially started deceiving even himself. But when did it all begin? There was no longer any need to deceive himself; their bonds deepened; he became fond of them and started feeling guilty.

In the end, the final farewell will also be decorated with deceit, but there was nothing else that could be done…

It wasn’t enough of a reason for him to delay the farewell, but was definitely enough of a reason to make him feel disheartened.

And there was thus a lingering attachment inside him.

“It’s here, it’s here…!”

Soon, the kids stood up and created a fuss. Kaeul came to his side and slapped him on his arm, telling him to see something.

“That’s the thing we came here for! That thing over there! That!”

Which one?

“Oh right! Cleaner ahjussi!”

The protector standing off in the distance raised the memory crystal and pointed it at Yu Jitae and the kids, before once again turning it back to the sky.

For a split second, Yu Jitae’s eyes met with Yeorum’s. She frowned after seeing him and turned around to walk away. He was wondering whether he should stop her when Kaeul shouted, “It’s hereee…!”

In that instant, Yu Jitae widened his eyes.

A white dot rose up on the inkstained sky. The dot began to draw a trajectory behind it as it started to fall and its tail drew a smooth yet outstanding line.

As if that was the signal, two, three, five and ten dots began to rapidly appear after that and each drew a tail following the same direction. The stars began to descend like raindrops.

That rather majestic scenery of stars drawing on the sky allowed him to witness beauty. It was an emotion he couldn’t feel when looking at the meteor shower some time after Gyeoul’s birth. He remembered assuming that it must be a beautiful sight by looking at the flashing eyes of the kids, but he could now tell by himself that that was beautiful.

He had become a human by the time he realised it. After recalling the child who had been blankly staring at the sky in his arms, he lowered his gaze to Gyeoul and realised that she was instead looking at him the whole time. Their eyes met as a smile appeared on her lips.

All those moments were stored in the memory crystal. The protector showed its large thumb and Gyeoul replied with a thumbs-up herself.

Her tiny hand soon reached his face as the child looked straight at his face. They couldn’t stare at each other for too long because she soon squinted her eyes and turned her head.

When she turned her gaze back to the sky… as the countless lines were colouring the broad sky in white.

He saw Gyeoul retaining the same smile on her face,

As tears started to fall down her cheeks again.

***

The two weeks at the campsite rapidly neared its end. While eating, sleeping and watching nice things together, they shared good stories, laughed, cried and sometimes got upset.

In the 7th iteration, he had carried out several interim reviews. It was for him to discern whether the kids were living nicely and whether there was something they needed or not.

And finally,

It was time for the last review.

“…?”

Early in the morning.

Gyeoul sleepily rubbed her eyes as she held his hand and walked into the mountain. He was the one that invited her and she obediently came out with him. Climbing the mountain hand-in-hand, she soon realised that they were going further away than usual.

“…Where, are we going?”

There is a pretty beach on that side of the island.

“…A pretty beach?”

She smiled despite half dozing off to sleep, because she liked everything related to water.

Following him from behind, she found a beach that was as beautiful as he had described. Raising her head, she could see the blue sky and clouds and could also see clouds through the sea when she lowered her gaze. “…Uwah,” she gasped in admiration as she embedded the brilliant scenery into her eyes.

Splash.

She placed her feet into the quiet sea and Yu Jitae sat next to her with his calves similarly placed inside the water. The gentle ocean wave was scattering the morning sunlight as it brightened up the beach.

The sound of ocean waves, chirping birds, fluttering wings, quiet breaths and splashing feet… Those were the only sources of sound as the two of them stayed silent.

Gyeoul held onto his hands again. Unlike how she usually gripped onto a single finger, this time she tried to stack her whole hand above his.

The child might have sensed already,

That the conversation henceforth might be the last one they share with just the two of them.

“…”

“…”

He couldn’t say anything because he had no idea what he was supposed to say.

“…”

“…”

Perhaps that was the same with Gyeoul as she too remained silent.

“…”

“…”

However, the temperature conveyed through her hand, and the occasional twitch of her tiny fingers were definitely saying something to him. They were definitely trying to convey a message.

“…”

After a long silence, Gyeoul clasped his hands. Her grip was quite strong.

“…Can we, meet again?”

That was the first question she asked after 20 minutes of silence.

“” data-lazy-src=”https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/svg/2b1b.svg” />