“Come here! My babbyy!”
Kaeul gave a bright smile.
Today was a special day.
“Nn, unni.”
It was because Gyeoul came to visit her.
Kaeul ordered the protectors of her large palace-like nest for her favourite dishes. She told them to make all the things that she used to ask for over the past 300 years.
Although not perfect, the table was filled with dishes from Earth – specifically the ones they had usually eaten at Unit 301.
Braised pork, instant noodles, dumplings, burgers, fried chicken, pizza, red velvet cake… They looked slightly different from the ones in their memories but it was nonetheless true that staring at the food was enough to make them smile.
On top of that, they prepared some fairly strong alcohol.
Clink.
Kaeul and Gyeoul clinked their glasses.
“How was your Amusement this time?”
Gyeoul blankly looked back at Kaeul’s face which was exactly the same as how she looked when they first met. Even though all the good moments were living and breathing forever in her memories, she still needed someone to share them.
For Gyeoul, Kaeul was that kind of person.
“Well, just…”
She briefly explained what happened as Kaeul listened carefully with her eyes forming circles.
“I see. That’s what happened…”
“Nn.”
“I guess that would have brought back a lot of memories for you…”
“Nn…”
Clink. They bumped their glasses again. Gyeoul bitterly stared at her glass before pouring the alcohol down her throat.
“I haven’t found the way to go back yet.”
“Ahh. Uun…”
“Actually, I don’t even know if it exists anymore. It might be impossible.”
“Gyeoul, do you still want to go back?”
“Nn.”
“Why?”
She took another sip. With her head tilted down and her chin resting on her hand, Gyeoul swirled the leftover alcohol inside her glass. Her next words dug deep into Kaeul’s heart.
“We were, really happy back then…”
Kaeul nodded.
Yes.
They were happy.
So happy that it was now bitter.
“We had no idea how priceless it was to live without any worries.”
“Uun…”
“Sorry. It became depressing for no reason.”
“It’s fine. I think the same.”
The two of them stayed silent for a while.
“Ah, by the way unni, have you heard anything about Yu Yeorum?”
“Uun?”
“How is she these days? No-one tells me anything no matter who I ask.”
Kaeul laughed.
“That makes sense. Uum… Yeorum-unni needs to have a big fight against her oldest unni.”
“You mean the Selection Ceremony?”
“Un. That thing. But that oldest unni or whoever, is apparently still sleeping.”
“Sleeping for 300 years is quite long.”
“Yeah. I looked into it because I was curious. It seems she was enlightened or something before Yeorum-unni came back and entered a deep sleep…”
“She won’t lose right?”
There was a faint concern embedded in Gyeoul’s question.
The red race only kept one entity per generation. This was the choice of the red race to nurture the best warriors with their limited amount of resources. And that was the purpose of the Selection Ceremony.
The loser will die just like Yeorum’s youngest unni.
“Ahh, of course she won’t. Is that even supposed to be a question?”
“…”
Gyeoul took another sip.
“And, Bom-unni…”
She tried to change the topic but this made her heart even more uncomfortable.
The war of green dragons after 20,000 years of peace and the assault of a warring race. Close to ten green dragons had been killed during the war and it seemed that 30% of their territory had been destroyed alongside the lives of countless organisms.
Gyeoul turned teary.
Although Kaeul and Yeorum considered Bom as a friend, it was slightly different for Gyeoul. There was a more delicate link between the two.
She had been with Bom ever since she opened her eyes. They slept in the same room everyday and woke up together in the morning. She learned how to speak from Bom, and all of her precious ‘first experiences’ had always been accompanied by Bom.
That was why for Gyeoul, Bom was like ‘another Yu Jitae’.
Her green race was at risk right now, but the blue dragons that liked keeping to themselves were unwilling to help the green dragons…
“Actually, Gyeoul.”
“Nn?”
“There is this rumour that I heard which was quite difficult to believe.”
A rumour?
Kaeul hesitated for a bit before adding more words.
“You know how the sacred territory of the green race had been taken recently, right?”
“Ah, nn. Rouin Peninsula right. Thinking about that still gives me chills.”
That place was the birthplace of the current Dragon Lord, and was considered by the green race as their capital.
“I heard they succeeded in recapturing that place.”
“…Really?”
“But there was something strange about that.”
“What is it?”
Kaeul continued speaking despite still finding it unbelievable herself, wondering whether it was even possible.
“Apparently, it was a hatchling that was in charge of the operation…”
*
They continued drinking. After talking about their two worrisome friends came a topic which the two of them had been consciously avoiding till now.
‘I miss Earth so much…’
Completely drunk, Gyeoul said with drops of tears dripping from her eyes as Kaeul gave her a hug. Since she could completely understand Gyeoul’s feelings and was also thinking of something similar everyday herself, Kaeul could not dare try to console her.
‘Do you think we can go back to that time?’
And that was something which Kaeul had also been desperately wishing for.
At the end of their drinking party, Gyeoul dropped a statement like a bomb before going back home.
‘I’m going to sleep for a while.’
‘For how long?’
‘Maybe a thousand years…’
That was the end. Kaeul sent her off and gazed outside the window all by herself.
Outside the window, it was pouring.
It was a night that called for an umbrella.
***
Kaeul returned to her place.
A guardian deity could not leave for long.
Inside the territory of gold dragons was a village of a race called gnomes. These gnomes were fairies of the ground that were as small as a palm. They were a lot smaller than dwarves, could move freely underground, and they lived by forming a village.
On the outside, they looked very cute. Because they were fairies, they were all cute regardless of their gender and age. Their head was a third of their total height, they were tiny but had deep and shiny eyes…
‘Helloo! Miss Guardian Deity!’
‘ ‘Hellooo! Miss Guardian Deity!’ ’
The little ones jumped up and down and welcomed her as she smiled, ‘Hehe’ and held onto their small hands.
Kaeul was living as the guardian deity of these gnomes as part of her lesson from her mother in preparation for her eventual reign in the human world.
“You’re doing very well, my daughter.”
Her mother once said to her,
“I wasn’t expecting you to do it so well. Actually I was quite worried.”
“Uing? You were worried?”
“Of course I was. My daughter, because you are incomparably more delicate than other dragons.”
Kaeul blinked her eyes.
“You’re always worried about a reed breaking from a small breeze and feeling hurt from a cautious stroke, aren’t you? Kids who think like that are delicate but at the same time it’s easy for them to feel hurt.”
Unlike her concerns, Kaeul was growing exceptionally well.
“No matter how I see it, your first Amusement is very suspicious…”
Her mother asked Kaeul with a warm smile.
“How long are you going to keep it a secret from mum?”
“Uun, it’s a secret…!”
“That makes me sad.”
Coming back, she had promised with others that they would keep the Amusement with Yu Jitae all to themselves without telling anyone else.
However, no matter how well she was performing, there was no way that protecting someone would be easy.
Simply protecting them from external attacks was not difficult, but stopping the problems that came up within gnomes was difficult.
In the grand scheme of things, fairies weren’t very different from humans. They needed to trust, they needed their hearts to be put at ease and needed food. At times, they needed clothes that would make them either warm or cool, and needed a private shelter to rest in.
That was already difficult but that wasn’t the end.
They needed a workplace, education and also needed help with enjoying their appropriate hobby life.
And as such, strife was inevitable as their living standards improved and as their ideologies broadened, because there were always limited resources. Whose land is this, and whose flower is this? The gnomes were always bickering about such topics whenever they had time.
Kaeul had to spend a lot of time to calm them down.
During all that, she started to realise wholeheartedly,
That raising someone responsibly was an extremely difficult thing to do…
*
It was when she was living as a guardian deity. One gnome became pregnant and got a big belly. Despite usually giving birth to at most two, there were four babies in the belly of the pregnant gnome.
Kaeul looked after her with utmost care.
A few months went by and four babies were born.
.
It was the birth of many lives. Kaeul looked at the adorable baby gnomes that were the size of a thumb. They were a quadruplet and looked very much alike.
However, a problem slowly started to appear as the baby gnomes grew up over time. The three other gnomes were living fine but there was one specific gnome who started acting strange.
He looked very dangerous, and even threatened his brothers in front of food by raising a small pebble with his hands.
It was cute when he was young but it no longer looked like a prank as he got older.
“What is wrong, child. Uun? Don’t do that…”
He didn’t stop there. His anti-social side turned even worse over time. He would snap others’ flowers for no reason while walking next to it, and even stole a leaf from a nearby gnome.
“Child. What are you doing?”
‘…’
Kaeul was flustered because he ignored her even when she asked him. She had never heard of such an audacious entity existing among the gnomes.
She asked her mother but was told to do it her way instead of being taught a method.
In the gnome society, he was soon labelled as a problem child and after a conference, they decided to teach him a lesson.
It was futile. He immediately raised a stone and threatened them when another gnome approached him, and if they came in groups, he would suddenly smack his own head with the rock.
That act of self-injury was in fact very threatening. They couldn’t kill their kindred so the other gnomes had to give up on educating him.
Instead, they repeatedly went to Kaeul and appealed to her.
They requested her to please do something about him.
“…”
For Kaeul it was a very difficult task.
Why was that one kid doing such a thing even though everyone else was living fine? Kaeul could not understand what was going on with him.
One of the gnomes asked her to put him in quarantine forever, but Kaeul decided to be prudent with her judgement. Simply abandoning him didn’t seem like the right solution.
She constantly tried speaking to him.
She gave him food and even gave unique presents to persuade him.
However, none of that worked on the gnome.
‘Ahh whateverrr! Why is it only meee!’
Seeing him locked in the underground prison due to another mistake, Kaeul heaved a deep sigh.
She felt slightly irritated in the depths of her heart.
What was wrong with him?
However, Kaeul settled her irritation.
She felt depressed. It was as if she was speaking to someone who had their eyes closed and ears clogged.
Was there even a solution to a problem like this? Maybe it’s correct to just punish them the way she wanted to?
But, that wouldn’t be what a ‘right guardian’ would do…
Perhaps due to her recent conversation with Gyeoul, a question budded in Kaeul’s mind.
What would ahjussi have done in a situation like this…?