Episode 28
Carried down the mountain on Joon-wan’s back, I was placed in the iron carriage without a word and transported to his dwelling.
“Come on, Hanin, snap out of it.”
He kept calling my name as he cleaned the mud off my body, wiped me down, washed me, and changed my clothes.
I… couldn’t even lift a finger. I just lay there, occasionally opening my eyes to look at him.
“Hanin, what’s happening to you?”
“…”
“What’s going to happen to you now?”
My mind was clouded, but I heard his voice, laced with urgency and distress.
“What’s going to happen? Are you dying?”
He asked, shaking me.
‘I want to answer you… but I don’t know.’
My insides were burning, a searing pain coursing through my bones.
I wanted to burrow back into the earth, or submerge myself in water. I thought it might ease the heat.
‘It’s so hot, I’m burning…’
No, even if I jumped into the ocean, my own heat would probably boil the water dry.
‘This is agonizing.’
If I burrowed into the earth, the plants and trees growing on the surface would wither and die.
‘Then what should I do? It’s so hot, I’m burning.’
Unable to bear the heat, I exhaled, my breath scorching like fire. I thrashed around.
“You’re too sentimental.”
I heard a voice amidst the inferno.
“You love insignificant things. Things that will vanish in a mere century.”
Where had I heard that voice before? I had lived for so long.
I struggled to grasp the memory.
“How can you become a dragon with such attachments? The things you love will only hold you back and bring you sorrow.”
It was my old friend’s voice.
He might have been right. I should have abandoned my attachments and ascended to the heavens long ago. It was foolish to cling to this world, hoping to be loved again.
A wave of resentment washed over me, directed at this world and at myself.
But then I heard another voice.
“Hanin, I was wrong.”
This time, it wasn’t a voice from within, but a human voice, seemingly penetrating my consciousness from the outside.
“I didn’t recognize you as a dragon.”
A human hand caressed my cheek. His touch felt cool and comforting, despite the inferno raging within me.
“What can I do? What do you need? I’ll do anything, just please wake up, Hanin.”
His voice brought me back to my senses, slightly. A cold, wet towel was placed on my forehead.
“I promise. I’ll make you a dragon again. So… please don’t die.”
His words seemed to cool me down, like quenching hot steel in cold water.
“Don’t die like this.”
It was a desperate plea, a heartfelt wish.
‘It feels good.’
His prayer was pure, devoid of any selfish desires or expectations.
‘This is what I wanted!’
I absorbed his prayer, and the heat within me slowly subsided.
Thanks to Joon-wan’s heartfelt plea.
Gradually, ever so slowly.
***
Joon-wan carried Hanin down the mountain, her clothes covered in mud. He stumbled several times, almost dropping her.
“Hanin? Hanin?”
He kept calling her name. He couldn’t remember how he managed to descend the mountain in twenty minutes, a journey that had taken over an hour on the way up.
She had stopped the rain.
“A thousand years of cultivation, all gone to waste…”
In exchange for a thousand years of cultivation.
It probably wasn’t a literal thousand years, but a very long time nonetheless. Even humans fainted after failing an exam they had prepared for twelve years.
‘What if something happens to Hanin?’
Humans contemplated suicide after failing a four-year bar exam.
‘What should I do?’
How could he leave her there, after such a devastating experience?
Hanin had said this severed their connection, but he couldn’t abandon her, collapsed in despair, in the middle of the mountain.
‘I need to help her regain consciousness.’
He had wished it was all a dream.
Logically, leaving her there would be the right thing to do, but his rationality had long since abandoned him.
‘Just look at her.’
He felt guilty for causing her to lose a thousand years of cultivation. He was also filled with remorse for dragging her down from the heavens with his careless words.
‘Her body is so hot.’
But it wasn’t just guilt or remorse.
He carefully placed her in the car, her body burning like a furnace, and fastened her seatbelt. The car was now covered in mud, but he didn’t care.
“Hanin, please wake up. Okay?”
He couldn’t even think about such trivial matters. He didn’t feel any aversion to her, regardless of her being an Imugi.
“What’s going to happen to you now?”
“…”
“What’s going to happen?”
There was no answer. He pressed down on the accelerator, his clothes soaked in mud.
“Hanin? Wake up. Please?”
“…”
He tried to wake her up, but she remained unresponsive, her long hair swaying with the movement of the car.
“…”
A chill ran down his spine.
He was a folklore professor who specialized in supernatural beings, but he knew nothing about dragons. Or earthworms, for that matter.
A dragon without a Yeouiju.
A Jiryong who couldn’t ascend to the heavens.
What would become of Hanin?
He could feel it, even without touching her forehead. She was burning up.
‘She’s incredibly hot.’
He carried her back into the apartment, her body still radiating heat, and removed her mud-stained clothes.
It was his second time seeing her naked body. He averted his gaze and closed his eyes for a moment, but the situation was too urgent to hesitate.
‘What should I do?’
He wiped her sweat-drenched body, changed her clothes, and laid her down on the bed. Her face was contorted in pain, her body trembling.
“Ugh…!”
She gritted her teeth and shook her head, her body convulsing.
“Are you okay?”
“Hot… It hurts so much…”
The fever wasn’t normal, even for her.
“It hurts… I feel like I’m dying…”
Her whimpering words made his heart sink.
He pulled a chair next to the bed and stayed by her side, tending to her throughout the night.
Her sheets were damp with sweat. Her forehead felt like a burning coal.
‘Is this even a humanly possible temperature?’
Steam rose from her body, her heat intensifying. She was sweating profusely, her fever raging.
He couldn’t change his own shirt, but he found a non-contact thermometer and pointed it at her forehead.
’70°C?’
He thought it might be malfunctioning and checked his own temperature. The thermometer displayed “35.6°C” correctly.
‘The hospital? Should I take her to the hospital?’
He tried to lift her up but slumped back onto the chair.
‘What good would that do?’
Her fever was abnormal, and if they discovered her non-human anatomy during a CT scan or other medical examinations, it would be a disaster.
‘She’s maintaining her human form now, but what if she suddenly transforms back into an earthworm? It would be chaos.’
He wanted her to be healthy, not subjected to medical experiments.
‘I can’t take her to the hospital. Don’t be ridiculous, get a grip, Min Joon-wan.’
He sat there, his head in his hands, massaging his temples, trying to calm his nerves.
He made several phone calls in the middle of the night, informing his teaching assistant, broadcast producers, and other relevant parties about his need to cancel his schedule.
“Yes, I’m not feeling well. I need to take sick leave.”
He bought himself some time to care for Hanin.
‘What happens to a dragon that loses its Yeouiju? Is this normal?’
He finally had a chance to change his own clothes after making all the calls.
But he immediately changed Hanin’s sheets and clothes and resumed his vigil by her bedside. He didn’t know how much his human care could help a dragon.
The cold towels he applied to her forehead turned into steaming compresses within minutes, and her entire body, covered by the blanket, radiated heat, like a mirage shimmering in the air.
‘What should I do? Is she dying?’
He held her hand, burning hot despite being outside the blanket.
‘Can dragons die?’
Because she had been defiled by him?
He muttered,
“Hanin, I was wrong. I didn’t recognize you as a dragon.”
This dragon was suffering because of him.
“I promise. I’ll make you a dragon again. So… please don’t die.”
He wished he could pray to a god, if gods truly existed.
“Don’t die like this.”
Please turn back time to the moment of her ascension. She would have reached the heavens without his interference.
‘You were once a god, weren’t you? Or are you still?’
He closed his eyes, holding her hand tightly, and prayed desperately.
‘Then grant this human’s wish.’
Dawn arrived, but Hanin didn’t wake up. Her fever seemed to be intensifying. Her lips were dry and cracked.
Joon-wan’s own throat felt parched, his mouth dry.
‘Please wake up.’
Her body radiated heat, as if she could incinerate anything she touched. Even herself.
He filled the bathtub with cold water and added a large bag of ice. Enduring the scorching heat that felt like it would burn his skin, he carried her to the bathtub and submerged her in the icy water.
Hiss!
The bathroom instantly filled with steam. He caressed her hair, his vision obscured by the thick fog, and she relaxed slightly.
But the ice couldn’t keep up with her heat. The water gradually warmed up and then started to boil.
The ice maker in his refrigerator couldn’t produce enough ice. He turned on the cold water tap and kept adding bags of ice he bought from the supermarket.
‘Is this even helping her?’
It felt like pouring water into a bottomless pit.
Time passed relentlessly.
‘Please wake up. Please? If you wake up, I’ll make you a dragon again. I’ll find a way to help you ascend to the heavens.’
He meant it. If she recovered, he would do anything for her, even pluck the stars from the sky.