Episode 5 – With the Baby Dragon
After chugging down two more bottles of formula, Shuu finally stopped whining about being hungry.
I picked up the now-round-bellied Shuu and gently patted his back to help him burp. The parenting book—may it rest in peace after being defeated by Shuu—said burping after feeding was important to prevent vomiting.
After a while of soothing him, Shuu let out a loud burp and then dozed off. He looked so peaceful while sleeping, but our house… was a total disaster, thanks to him.
“…Guess I have to clean.”
Honestly, I’d been pretty lazy about cleaning. I lived alone, and back in the La-Moon Continent, I used to sleep on the streets just fine. Cleanliness wasn’t really a big deal for me.
But now, I had Shuu. Sure, he was a tough little dragon, way stronger than any human baby, but he was still a newborn. A clean environment was a must.
‘Can’t risk him getting sick.’
So I gently laid Shuu on the couch and started cleaning up the broken dishes, making as little noise as possible. I didn’t have a vacuum, so I grabbed some old clothes to wipe the floors until they sparkled. Only then could I finally straighten my back.
“Man… cleaning is no joke.”
In La-Moon, I mostly stayed in inns or outdoors, so I never had a place to clean. Even when I lived with family, cleaning was just a quick vacuum of my room.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I truly had a space of my own. Which meant I was the only one responsible for keeping it clean.
‘What about the dishes?’
I’d just finished cleaning, but the kitchen was still a mess. I’d made Shuu’s formula and fiddled with so many things… I didn’t even have dish soap or a sponge. I’d been living off food from my inventory, so I never needed those. Realizing how poorly I’d been living made me laugh awkwardly.
‘I’ll handle the rest tomorrow. And food… I’ll just eat tomorrow.’
I hadn’t eaten lunch or dinner, but I was too tired to care. Just looking after a baby dragon had completely wiped me out. I tucked Shuu into his little crib and lay down on the bed next to him.
Whatever. I’ll think after some sleep.
‘Good thing I already made the crib.’
I’d built the crib while setting up the magic generator. It was sturdy and soft—crafted from ogre bones and phoenix feathers. As I stared at Shuu sleeping soundly inside, my eyelids started to droop.
“Good night, Shuu.”
And just like that, I drifted off too.
I let out a deep sigh of relief. I was almost done. But it wasn’t time to relax yet. I dropped a fresh, wriggling slime into a jar.
[Screeeech!]
The slime screamed as it was quickly dissolved. I stirred the contents carefully as it mixed.
Slimes were weak monsters, but their regeneration was top-tier. Most died before showing that off, so people didn’t realize how useful they were. Even I hadn’t known, until Shumi told me, that slime was a key ingredient for healing potions.
[Yes!]
After stirring the slime in, the murky purple potion started turning into a pale sky blue. Success! I let it cool, poured it into a bottle, and ran to Shumi.
[Shumi, I did it!]
[Already? I mean, I gave you a blessing, but still… you’re fast.]
Shumi smiled and took the potion. Without warning, she scratched her arm and poured the potion onto the wound.
The injury healed right before my eyes.
[Wow. Heals that fast and that clean? This is top-grade for sure.]
[If we sold this…]
[At least three gold coins.]
[Three?!]
That much could feed a regular family for half a year! Sure, I worked hard to gather ingredients, but three gold coins? Totally worth it.
More importantly, it felt like I finally achieved something on my own in this world. I looked at Shumi, beaming.
[You really did great. Teaching you is worth it.]
And then she looked into my eyes and gently patted my head. Her silver hair danced in the breeze, and her eyes were bluer than the sky, brighter than the sun.
[W-Well, it’s because you blessed me…]
Feeling weird, I looked down and pushed her hand away. But Shumi didn’t stop—she kept patting harder and harder until it was more like thumping.
[Ow! Shumi! Stop it, that hurts! Seriously!]
Dragons, huh? Don’t let the delicate looks fool you—she was strong. My head was gonna pop like a slime if she kept going. I grabbed her wrist and blurted out,
“Why are you hitting me like thi—huh?”
When I opened my eyes, I was staring into a pair of big blue ones.
But instead of a graceful beauty, there was… a baby dragon. The one who just hatched yesterday.
“Mommy! Shuu’s hungry!”
“Ah…”
It was a dream. Of course. Shumi was gone. That strong, kind dragon died fighting the evil dragon.
Now all that was left was her kid, Shuu, who was now pounding my face with his tiny paws, demanding food.
“…Yeah, yeah. I’ll get you something to eat.”
A new morning had begun.
First thing I did was quickly prepare Shuu’s formula. He must’ve been starving—he climbed on top of my head and started chewing my hair, yelling “hungry!” over and over. Smart baby dragon. He really knew how to use the words I taught him.
“Tasty?”
“Tasty!”
“Okay, eat up for now.”
While Shuu was eating, I thought about what I should eat. I was just as hungry as him—I only had one meal yesterday. So I took out the meat I’d bought from the supermarket: pork neck, belly, veggies, and ssamjang.
‘Could’ve used some pickled onions or shredded green onion, but this is good enough.’
More importantly, I had my secret weapon. Back in the lava zone, I killed a legendary monster called the Black Turtle boss. Its massive, gorgeous shell made me instantly think: “That’s a grill.”
And I made it a grill. Embedded with a fire-element magic stone, it heats up with mana, absorbs grease, and makes heat control super easy—so the meat never burns.
And best of all? It made meat taste amazing. Everyone, even Shumi, gave a thumbs-up after trying food cooked on it. It was heavy, but I kept it in my inventory, so no problem there.
‘Top it off with some salt from Yaramil and spicy Ryororo powder…’
I was already drooling. I pulled out the grill, infused it with mana, and it started heating up.
“Let’s get grilling.”
Shuu, still chewing his bottle, stared at me with sparkly eyes as I pulled things out of thin air. I patted his head and laid the meat on the grill.
“Sssss—oh yeah, that sound.”
It sizzled immediately. The smell was mouthwatering.
“Mommy?”
The sound and smell definitely got Shuu’s attention. He tossed his empty bottle and started flapping his wings to come over.
Shumi loved this grill too… But even though Shuu was a dragon, he was still a newborn. No way could I let him eat meat yet.
He even reached for the grill! I quickly grabbed him and pulled him back.
“Shuu, this is dangerous. Touch it and it’ll really hurt.”
“Hurt?”
“Yup. So stay right here.”
I grabbed a cushion from the couch and set up a little seat for him. Then I rushed back to flip the meat.
“Mommy. Mommy, this.”
“Shuu, I told you to stay put…”
“What’s this?”
He waddled over again and pointed at the meat. I thought for a sec, then said, “That’s uncle’s food.”
“Food?”
“Yeah. You just had your food. That was Shuu’s food, and this is mine.”
I pointed to his empty bottle and then to the grill. But Shuu’s eyes sparkled even brighter.
“Shuu wants food!”
“What? Again?”
“Shuu’s hungry!”
“You just ate!”
By the way, three empty bottles were lying around. One wasn’t enough—he needed three to be full.
“Mommy, I’m hungry…”
“Sigh… You can’t lie like that. Look, your belly’s sticking out so much!”
His round little belly had doubled in size since this morning. But I guess he was just curious about the meat I was eating.
Still, he had no teeth. I couldn’t let him eat it. I looked away, trying not to give in.
“Shuu too. Shuu too.”
“Nope. This is uncle’s food. You can have some when you’re older.”
“Shuu hungry! Mommy didn’t give me!”
“You literally can’t eat this! No teeth, remember?”
“Shuu food! Shuu want!”
“Ugh…”
Do normal newborns beg for adult food like this? Maybe it was just a dragon thing. Honestly, the parenting book wasn’t much help. Not that I even finished it…
“Wanna go buy some toys instead?”
“Shuu hungry…”
“No, you’re not. Wanna go see Ppopporo? You like Ppopporo, right?”
“Ppopporo…?”
Yep, that got his attention. I needed dish soap, sponges, and other stuff anyway. Might as well get some toys too—babies need toys, even dragon ones.
“Let’s go see Ppopporo, Shuu. You like him, right?”
“Ppopporo! Shuu good! Shuu awesome!”
He suddenly started dancing with his stubby little limbs. It was clumsy, but super cute.
“Yup, Shuu’s awesome. Let’s go with uncle to see Ppopporo.”
And off we went to the store.
At the store, I first picked out the essentials. Then I headed to the toy section while calming Shuu, who was bouncing with excitement.
‘Whoa… this is intense.’
I was worried they wouldn’t have Ppopporo, but nope. They had a whole section just for him—plushies, puzzles, books… you name it. Just looking at it all was dizzying.
“Ppopporo! Ppopporo!”
“Shhh, quiet, Shuu.”
“Mommy, Ppopporo! Ppopporo!”
Thankfully, the store was noisy enough to drown him out, but I still nervously glanced around. Shuu was wrapped in an invisibility cloak—no one else could see him.
I really wished I could let him walk around freely. But for now, this was the best I could do.
‘Maybe I should try making a visibility-hiding potion… If I can get the right ingredients.’
I looked through the Ppopporo section with Shuu. He stared at the toys with sparkly eyes and finally picked one—a baby dragon named Garung from the show.
“Garung! Shuu likes Garung!”
‘Why that one…?’
I figured it was because Garung looked like him. If I saw a show where a human hung out with orcs and snakes, I’d probably pick the human too.
It made sense. Creatures are drawn to characters that look like them. Shuu had only seen humans so far, so a little black dragon with golden eyes probably felt familiar.
But… Garung looked too much like the evil dragon.
Still…
‘It’s what Shuu wants.’
So I bought it. Along with the sponges, soap, and that cursed-looking dragon plush. I hated its face, but Shuu looked so happy that I had no choice but to get used to it.
“Mommy, Garung! Garung’s my friend!”
“Y-Yeah… Garung’s your friend…”
With Shuu hugging the plush tight, we headed home. Just as I was about to run up the stairs, I suddenly remembered what the old lady next door had said yesterday.
‘It’s probably nothing urgent, but you should check just in case… Wow, that’s kinda bad.’
I stopped in front of the mailbox. Compared to everyone else’s, ours was overflowing. No wonder she was worried.
I scratched my head and started pulling out the mail—mostly tax bills. I’d totally forgotten about paying those. No idea how our utilities were still running.
Then I spotted one strange envelope. The sender was…
“…Hunter Association of Korea?”
Why would they be sending me mail?
With a bad feeling, I opened it right there.
And when I read it, I was stunned.
It was a summons for a mana aptitude test—a call to the academy.
