Episode 15
Although they had traveled by car, they still got a little wet.
Back home, Joon-wan was about to take a shower when he noticed Hanin staring at him blankly. She looked like she was asking, “What’s next?”
“Would you like to shower first?”
“Shower? What’s that?”
Joon-wan felt a wave of dizziness.
‘Oh no! This is bad!’
He had seen her naked body, unintentionally, several times. But helping her bathe was a completely different matter.
‘No! No way! Are you crazy? Absolutely not!’
It was out of the question, even if his life depended on it.
But what would a dragon who had just descended from the mountain know about bathrooms? Faucets? Showerheads? Shampoo? Conditioner?
However, he couldn’t let her live in his apartment for over a hundred days in a filthy state.
“Well…!”
Seeing is believing. Joon-wan took Hanin’s wrist and led her to the bathroom.
“You turn this knob to get water.”
“Oh.”
“Turn it this way for hot water, the other way for cold water.”
“Oh.”
“Press this to get water from here. The principle for hot and cold water is the same. This temperature is good, right? Don’t change it. Wet your body and hair thoroughly with this water, then…”
Hanin was genuinely amazed by his every action. It took him over forty minutes to explain how to shower.
‘Did she feel like this too?’
Joon-wan felt like Anne Sullivan, teaching Helen Keller for the first time.
Whoosh!
While Hanin showered, Joon-wan tried to calm his nerves. He had realized, while looking for something for her to wear after the shower, that he had only bought her clothes for going out.
‘Why did I do that?’
The realization that he might have to dress her in his own T-shirt made his face pale.
And she had no undergarments.
“…”
None at all.
‘Aaaagh!’
He screamed internally.
And not just internally.
‘Aaaagh!’
He fled the apartment, screaming in his mind.
While Hanin showered, Joon-wan rushed to a nearby department store and, swallowing his pride, bought a set of free-size women’s underwear and pajamas. He barely made it back home before she finished showering.
‘I want to die.’
Thankfully, the pajamas had an intuitive design that didn’t require assistance.
Knock, knock, knock.
He knocked on the bathroom door. A cheerful voice responded from inside.
“What is it?”
Bang!
She hadn’t told him to come in.
“Wait! Don’t open the door!”
She had to be naked. He grabbed the doorknob just as the door swung open and forced it shut.
“I left clothes outside. Put those on. Understand?”
“Oh, okay.”
A carefree reply.
He had bought underwear, but he couldn’t muster the courage to explain how to wear them.
“How do you bring water here? It’s like magic.”
A few minutes later, Hanin emerged, her face fresh and clean, dressed in the new pajamas. Her hair was still damp.
“Come sit here.”
“Why?”
“I need to dry your hair.”
He sat her down on the floor in front of the sofa and began drying her long hair.
“Oh my.”
She entrusted her hair to him, marveling at the device that produced warm air. Her hair was incredibly soft and shiny.
‘This feels like I’m raising a child…’
A strange feeling washed over him.
“What is that?”
She pointed at the television, which he had left on.
A live evening news program was playing.
“I’ve been wondering, are those real people inside? How can they be so small? And what is that scenery?”
Joon-wan was at a loss. It was a difficult concept to explain.
“Well, that’s…”
This explanation took over an hour, during which the television transitioned from news to variety shows. Hanin’s hair was finally dry.
“Hmm…?”
She didn’t understand everything, but she grasped the basic concept that it wasn’t showing real people trapped inside, but pre-recorded images. She also learned about the system of different channels and programs, as well as how to use the remote control.
“I don’t know how it works, but can I watch this for a while?”
“Sure.”
From then on, Hanin sat mesmerized by the television, her eyes glued to the screen, asking no questions.
“…”
She had said she was curious about the human world, and she was now absorbing information with laser-like focus.
“What about dinner?”
“I’ll skip it today. You can prepare my offering early tomorrow morning.”
Joon-wan wasn’t hungry either, so he joined her in watching television.
They continued watching until late at night. Hanin showed no signs of fatigue.
“Sit on the sofa.”
“Sofa? Oh, I’m comfortable here.”
He started to worry, seeing her sitting cross-legged on the floor, her hands resting on her knees, her eyes wide and alert.
‘Is it okay for her to watch this unfiltered?’
He felt like a parent who had given their child free reign over the television remote.
‘Will her eyes be okay?’
But there was no better way to show her how the human world had changed.
‘She’ll get tired eventually.’
“I’m going to bed.”
“Alright.”
Joon-wan went to his room.
…But sleep eluded him.
‘A wish? What should I wish for?’
Hanin’s words lingered in his mind.
‘What do I desire?’
Before hearing her offer, he hadn’t felt any particular longing or ambition.
‘Money? I have enough. Fame? I have that too… Power? I don’t need that…’
It wasn’t that he was a saint devoid of desires. He already had everything he wanted, and he had achieved everything he had set his mind to.
‘I have everything I need.’
Of course, he knew it wasn’t solely due to his own efforts. He had been born into a wealthy family.
‘But she’s a dragon. She can heal the sick, and she possesses a Yeouiju, a dragon orb that can grant wishes…’
Many stories warned about the dangers of such wishes, of being consumed by one’s own desires.
But even so, the offer of a single, unlimited wish was incredibly tempting.
He tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. In the morning, he went to the kitchen for a glass of water and found Hanin sitting in the same position as the night before.
[Live broadcast, bringing you the latest news…]
The television was still on.
“You didn’t sleep?”
“The broadcasts are so fascinating.”
She finally shifted her position, stretching and smiling at his question.
“Huhuhu, but even after a thousand years, humans haven’t really changed much.”
***
Hanin had three requests:
-
Provide her with a place to stay until she could ascend.
-
Offer her daily sacrifices to help her regain her powers.
-
Show her the human world while she remained here.
In return, she offered two rewards:
-
Stop the rain caused by her failed ascension.
-
Grant him one wish, whatever it may be.
The last reward, the wish, was a double-edged sword.
‘It could be both a blessing and a curse.’
Hanin remained glued to the television as Joon-wan got ready for work.
‘What’s so interesting about that?’
It was just a morning information program, nothing particularly entertaining, but her eyes sparkled like a child’s.
“Want to come with me?”
Her distraction made it easier for him to get ready. He brewed coffee, poured it into a new tumbler, and asked Hanin.
“I’ll stay here today. I need to rest.”
She replied absentmindedly, her eyes fixed on the screen. He felt a strange pang of disappointment.
‘Is it really that interesting? Even for someone, no, a dragon, seeing it for the first time?’
He supposed being cooped up in his office all day couldn’t compare to the allure of television.
‘Not everything on TV is true… Should I limit her viewing time?’
She had skipped dinner last night, and her eyes were bloodshot this morning.
‘Come to think of it, I didn’t leave any lunch or dinner for her.’
He remembered her licking the snack wrappers clean the previous day. The thought made him want to turn the car around immediately.
He barely managed to control himself.
‘No. No. It’s fine. Just go. You’re going to be late.’
She wouldn’t die from skipping a meal. He didn’t understand why he was so worried.
‘Should I call her? Oh, right. She doesn’t have a phone.’
Yesterday, she seemed like a child by the river. Now, she seemed like a child playing with fire.
‘How can she not have a phone?’
The rain continued to fall relentlessly, sometimes easing up, only to intensify again, as if trying to empty its contents onto the world.
‘I hope she’s not chewing on something inedible again.’
Lunchtime arrived.
Regretting not having gone grocery shopping the previous night, Joon-wan sat alone in the faculty dining hall, eating his lunch. Someone placed their tray across from him.
“This rain is killing me. My lab is turning into a mold farm.”
“What about the books… Ancient texts are especially vulnerable to humidity.”
He looked up to see Choi Young-shin, the life sciences professor he had consulted about the earthworm, and Kim Gi-jun, a professor of archaeology.
Gi-jun sat down across from him.
“Mind if I join you?”
“…”
“Of course not. He doesn’t own the place.”
Joon-wan was too tired to respond to their banter.
‘Do whatever you want.’
It might seem like an odd group to outsiders, but they were college classmates, members of the same club, and now colleagues at the same university. They had a long history together.
“How can we make this rain stop? By the way, how’s the earthworm, Professor Min?”
“…”
“Has it laid any eggs?”
“Eggs?”
Gi-jun’s eyes widened at Young-shin’s question.
“What’s he talking about, Joon-wan?”
What was he talking about? Crazy talk, that’s what.
“I’m not going to let it lay eggs.”
“Then what are you going to do with one earthworm? You can’t even use it for fishing.”
“You’re raising an earthworm?”
“…”
“Min Joon-wan, you’re raising an earthworm? Why?”
Joon-wan stared at his friends, who had barged in and started talking without pause. He suddenly asked,
“What’s your wish?”
“Wish? What? Out of the blue? What wish?”
“Why are you asking?”
They both frowned, looking at him and then at each other in confusion.
But Joon-wan was serious.