A Dragon Lives In That Scholar's Deep Spring - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

“Towards Samgaksan… I’m going. I have to go into the water.”

“You’ll die before you even reach Samgaksan.”

“I’ll just rest for a bit. The bleeding will stop soon.”

In the midst of this, due to stubborn determination, Do-gyeom’s blood was boiling.

“You’re not even able to defeat me right now, so where do you think you’re going!”

Where did he leave his horse? He was so desperate that he couldn’t even remember the direction properly. At any moment, the boiling blood would turn to lava and overflow.

“I don’t need your help.”

“Then don’t rely on me and just use me, can’t you!”

“…Even you, huh.”

Frustrated, Farang pushed up her eyelids which were getting blurry from Do-gyeom’s insistence. The dark pupils that were revealed as the thick eyelashes were brushed aside, faced him.

“It sounds like you want something from me.”

Farang, who was becoming paler, barely managed to utter the words. Do-gyeom couldn’t easily respond. His mind had been racing with worry the entire run, but he hadn’t come here to take advantage of her in the first place.

After a moment of contemplation, Do-gyeom finally answered.

“Yeah. I came after you hastily because I found a reason to use you.”

After all, his purpose wasn’t to capture Farang’s heart.

“I told you that if you want to stay at my place, you have to work, remember? It’s the same. You were already paying a price equivalent to my favor.”

Do-gyeom struggled to keep a stoic face, trying to put a rationalization on what had already happened; he was willing to be so calculating if it made it easier on the non-human Farang.

“You probably want to go back as soon as possible, but I don’t. I need you.”

With difficulty finding the direction, Do-gyeom urged his steps. Even the handkerchief he had used for compression had long lost its white color.

“…What?”

“I asserted that I can satisfy you more than anyone else here. Yet you didn’t believe me. In that case, wouldn’t it be better for both of us to use each other appropriately?”

Farang stared at Do-gyeom in silence, as if assessing and gauging him. Or rather, upon closer examination, it was closer to a vacant gaze devoid of any meaning. It was just excessively distant, impossible to read deeply into.

“During your stay here, you can use me however you want. In return, I will use you effectively as well. But if you’re not interested in enjoying the adventure of interacting with these scavengers, then on this land, it’s only me.”

“……”

“I mean to monopolize you.”

In this land, knowing Farang and what kind of being she was should be limited to only one person, Choi Do-gyeom.

Farang would be the trump card he unfolded in the gambling to come, and in gambling, a trump card should not be easily shown to anyone.

“Is that not acceptable?”

“…How dare you.”

Farang’s small hand tried to push Do-gyeom away. However, unlike usual, there was no strength in her white hand at all. Only when Do-gyeom completely separated Farang from the person did Farang become a human being.

“Who are you…!”

Angry, Farang was about to say something when she took a short breath. Her bruised forehead didn’t know how to smooth out.

“No. Don’t say anything. We have to get down the mountain right away and get you treated!”

Do-gyeom’s arms trying to embrace Farang were held back. It was a strong force unlike before.

“…Water.”

Just before losing consciousness, Farang, whose lips had turned even paler, had one wish for Do-gyeom.

“Farang!”

In the end, Farang slumped in Do-gyeom’s arms. Desperately standing up, he tried to feel her pulse, but it was so faint that he could barely feel it.

If Farang were to die like this, what would he do? His mouth was dry. His heart felt like it was going to burst. 

He couldn’t bear to lose anyone anymore.

* * *

Farang was floating in the middle of the sea where only the horizon could be seen in all directions.

“Farang.”

At that moment she thought it was a familiar sight, someone called her. It was then that Farang realized this place was a dream.

“…Mother.”

Because it was the voice of someone who had died thousands of years ago.

“To think my daughter created the sea in this world.”

It was the moment when Farang’s grown body, undergoing long years of growth pains, had created the sea. It was certain that it had traversed an unimaginably long time.

After enduring the pain of growth for a long time and experiencing an explosion-like agony, her transformed body grew unrecognizable and was covered in beautiful scales.

Above all, the power that burst out from within her body had submerged the surrounding land, creating a vast sea. The immense sea, impossible to measure in depth and breadth, signified how strong the grown power of the dragon was.

“Farang, listen carefully.”

But upon further thought, her mother might not have been particularly happy, even because she had given birth to the future queen.

“You will rule this place in the future. Until someone emerges who can defeat you.”

“That sounds bothersome.”

Farang, who had only grown physically and hadn’t grown in her thoughts, didn’t realize this fact. 

She was simply content with the fact that the power that pressed her body during the growth pains was being used according to her will. It was fascinating that just a flick of her finger could create rising waves, and focusing a bit more would send columns of water shooting into the sky, bringing her joy.

So, she didn’t see her mother’s worried face, nor those sad eyes.

“If you don’t do that, you’ll constantly face challenges from other kings, and ambitious individuals will come to claim your heart as a prize.”

Dragons are naturally a species with many desires. If they desired something, whether it be a gleaming treasure or power, they had to obtain it to satisfy their conscience. 

The moment a dragon, known for its insatiable desires, bowed its head was when a being with a power so immense, unrivaled by the dragon’s own, was in front of them.

Of course, it wasn’t about bowing in reverence or loyalty. It was simply because they valued their own lives.

“So, as soon as you leave this place, go to the King’s Castle and defeat him. In my opinion, he will find it difficult to defeat you.”

Given the circumstances, in the distant past, there was nothing left to remain in this world. Countless battles took place, and only when it reached a point where the survival of the species was uncertain, did the dragons acknowledge only the strongest king and entrust the rulership of the species to them.

However, if the ancient dragons who established the kings had forgotten something, it was that dragons were a species with an extremely selfish nature.

The kings took only what they could obtain from their position. There were kings who, while observing weaker beings tearing each other apart and fighting, encouraged and left them alone, and there were kings who used their status to pursue whatever they desired.

The current king belonged to the latter.

“Perhaps if he had realized that the sea had been created, he might have already fled. So, Farang.”

Farang’s mother, holding Farang’s hand, said,

“Sit on the throne. And I hope you become a king who protects the weak, even if it’s bothersome.”

At that time, even though it was bothersome, she, too, being a dragon, had a curiosity to test her strong power, knowing that she could ascend to the highest place like a dragon.

“Will you?”

“…I don’t want to.”

But not now, not in this dream. Farang shook her head. She pushed her mother’s hand away.

“Farang.”

“I don’t want to do it.”

When she went to the king’s castle at that time, the king had already fled. And that king…

Because he gave birth to a dragon stronger than himself, he came looking for her mother and killed her. He ended up bursting her heart, but her mother was already dead.

There were countless things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t move her mouth as she pleased. While Farang’s thoughts were screaming, her mother, as if knowing everything, smiled and held Farang’s hand again.

“I’m grateful that such a strong dragon as you was born from this weak mother’s body. Even for creating such a vast sea like this. Although I was a weak dragon, I hope you become a king and rule this world.”

No, she doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to part with her mother! She shouted relentlessly, but her voice never came out.

“Your strength was given to you especially to take care of the weak, so please… protect the small and weak.”

Because this place was a dream created at will by memories.

“Will you do that for me?”

Farang had no choice but to leave her past self nodding quietly.

And so, following her mother’s wish, Farang became a king stronger than any other king, but she lost the mother who had made her strong.

All because of her father, the previous king.

* * *

At the sound that was all too familiar, Farang opened her eyes and realized it was the sound of water. It felt like she was alive for some reason; her body was in the water. She felt the gentle flow of the waves between her fingers.

It’s clean, but it’s just water. It was truly a frustrating situation. If she had the strength, she could handle this water like an extension of her limbs. But now, just before the thread connected to the water was about to be severed, it wasn’t that easy.

In the first place, if she could comfortably use water, none of this would have happened. She became despondent at the thought that if she could use even water comfortably, she wouldn’t have been hurt like this.

“Are you awake?”

“What?”

It was then that she realized the warmth firmly supporting her back. Do-gyeom was holding her from behind. The sense of danger rushed in right after that.

After losing a lot of blood, her senses were dulled, including her ability to sense danger. Farang thought she needed to pull herself together.

“How could I sink when my body feels so light?”

“You didn’t think you would suffocate, did you?”

There was no immediate response. How audacious.

“Fool? How many times do I have to say it for you to understand? I am…”

“I know, you’re not a human.”

Farang suddenly stood up, keeping her distance from Do-gyeom.

“How did you know?”

Are there dragons in this land too? She was about to ask one after another. Didn’t the old woman she met earlier talk about a dragon that had ascended in the past? The world she lived in was called the ‘sky’ in this land. She thought it was a completely unrelated world.

Come to think of it, most of the dragons attacking her were other animals that had accumulated power and become dragons. They were mainly foolish fellows who had just become dragons and were intoxicated with the power they had barely acquired.

Unfortunately, before they could enjoy eternal life as a dragon, they faced the end of having their hearts taken by Farang.

“You told me so last night, and it was so different from what I knew you to be that I never would have guessed if you hadn’t told me.”