Episode 08
[Uh… hi, Shu? My name is Hyun-woo Lee. So I guess I’m your mom’s… colleague? Student? Friend? Something like that… Anyway, let’s get along from now on.]
When Shu first heard the word “Shu,” he didn’t know what it meant. He hadn’t even hatched yet, and it was the first time anyone had ever spoken to him.
[Shu might sound like a made-up name, but let’s just call it your ‘pre-birth name’ for now. Once you’re born and a bit older, you can choose your own name.]
After naming him, Hyun-woo often talked to Shu. Most of the time, he told stories about someone called “Mom”—how amazing, cool, and admirable she was. Hyun-woo spoke in such a cheerful voice that Shu couldn’t help but grow curious and excited about this “Mom.”
Since Shu was a dragon, he never forgot anything he heard. As time passed, he started to understand Hyun-woo’s words, and even while still inside his egg, he began to develop a sense of self.
Naturally, he came to understand that his name was “Shu.”
“Not Garung! I’m Shu!”
To Shu, the name “Shu” was the very first gift he got from Hyun-woo—and it became his identity, chosen by a great dragon. So even though Shu loved Garung, he didn’t want to be called anything other than Shu.
“White Garung, talk!”
But to the little girl, Shu looked exactly like Garung from Poporo, her favorite show. Excited to see what she thought was a real-life Garung, she sparkled with joy and started poking and petting Shu all over.
“Wow, you’re cold! You have wings too! Is this a tail?”
“Shu’s tail is cute. Don’t you have a tail? Mom doesn’t have a tail…”
Shu, who had only ever been close to Hyun-woo, stared curiously at the little girl.
“Smaller than Mom… Same size as Shu. But no wings, no tail. Why not?”
“I don’t have wings or a tail. Only Garung does.”
“Susu has wings!”
Susu was a character based on an eagle. The girl nodded knowingly and added, “But Susu doesn’t have a tail.”
“Susu has a tail! Like this, sticking out like this….”
Shu tried to explain what Susu’s tail looked like and pointed at his own tail with his stubby front paw. He said Susu’s tail was attached in the same place. But then, as he looked up and made eye contact with the girl, something strange caught his attention.
“Huh?”
As a dragon, Shu could see things humans couldn’t. Inside the girl’s body, he saw something bubbling up, kind of like soap bubbles in a bath.
“Your body is bubbly…”
“Bubbly? What’s that?”
“Inside here, it’s all bubbling up.”
Shu waved his front paws around trying to explain, but the girl just tilted her head. Instead, she giggled and said, “Garung is so cute,” thinking Shu was dancing.
“Not Garung! Shu is Shu!”
“I’m Park Yeon-soo, number 7, from the Forsythia class at Rainbow Kindergarten!”
“Kindur?”
“But I’m sick, so I don’t go to kindergarten now. I can’t be away from my sister….”
“You’re hurt?”
Being “hurt” wasn’t good. Shu instinctively realized that the bubbly thing inside the girl had something to do with her being sick.
But Shu couldn’t do anything about it. Maybe once he grew up and learned to control mana, he could, but right now, he didn’t even know what the “bubbles” were.
“Hey, let’s go to my house. I’ll show you my Garung doll!”
“Garung doll?”
Hearing “Garung doll” snapped Shu to attention. He had one too. Hyun-woo had bought it for him. When Shu hugged the doll happily, Hyun-woo had said:
[You really like that doll, huh? But let’s play with it when we get home, okay? Try not to let people see you. Once you’re a little older, you’ll be able to go outside without the invisible cloak. Just wait a bit, alright?]
“…No.”
“Huh?”
“Shu can’t be seen. Can’t meet people. No cloak… no cloak.”
“Cloak?”
Shu suddenly realized he had broken his promise to Hyun-woo and whispered “cloak” with a serious face. But of course, the girl didn’t understand. She just tugged on Shu’s arm, begging him to come with her.
“Come to my house! Please? White Garung, come play with dolls!”
“Not Garung. Shu. And Shu can’t be seen by people.”
“It’s okay! Come on, Garung! Let’s play!”
The girl didn’t give up. As she tried to pull Shu out of the flowerbed, Shu panicked and shook her hand off without thinking. But he didn’t realize how weak human kids were, or how strong a dragon’s strength could be.
The girl lost her balance and fell straight onto her butt.
“Ouch!”
Luckily, she wasn’t badly hurt. But her face twisted, and she started crying loudly. Shu stood frozen, sweating nervously. The crying girl reminded him of the villagers from the storybooks—brave and kind people who were hurt by the evil dragon.
“Shu hit… Shu bad dragon…”
Technically, he didn’t hit her. But Shu didn’t understand what “hit” truly meant yet. To him, seeing the girl cry meant he had hurt her, just like the evil dragon in the books.
Hurting others—that was what bad dragons did.
“Shu broke promise…”
He had promised to be a brave and good dragon and even stamped his paw like a seal. But now, it felt like he might be chased away by the villagers like a bad dragon.
Tears welled up in Shu’s eyes.
“Bad dragons can’t stay with Mom…”
In every storybook, bad dragons were always driven away—forced to run far, far away, all alone. Just thinking he might be separated from Hyun-woo made Shu sob and shake.
And in the end, Shu cried just as loudly as the girl beside him.
“Waaah! Sister! It hurts!”
“I’m sorry! Shu will be a good dragon! Waaah!”
As the two kids cried together in the flowerbed, a voice called out from a distance: “Yeon-soo? Yeon-soo, are you there?!”
It was Park Yeon-chae, rushing over.
“Yeon-soo, what are you doing here? I told you not to sneak out—huh?”
Yeon-chae was about to scold her sister for sneaking out. But when she saw something crying next to her sister, her words got stuck.
“No way…”
She stared at Shu in shock, her eyes going wide with disbelief.
And just seconds later, her expression shifted into full alert mode.
Meanwhile…
“…Hmm?”
I jolted awake and opened my eyes slowly. I hadn’t meant to sleep, but I must’ve dozed off on the couch. I wasn’t usually the sleepy type, but I’d been staying up all night crafting toys for Shu and probably overdid it.
‘Maybe I slept like… three hours over five days? No wonder I passed out.’
I yawned and stretched. Even a short nap had helped. When I circulated the mana in my body, the last bit of fatigue vanished.
Thanks to the “Mana Circulation” skill, I could stay up all night building or even hunting monsters without too much trouble. Still, it was only a temporary solution. If I didn’t rest properly, I could suddenly collapse like a toy running out of batteries.
‘But it’s peaceful now. Even if I pass out, nothing’s trying to kill me. Monsters exist here, but not like on the La-Moon continent. And now, I’m not some chosen hero or dragon messenger—I’m just a babysitter for a cute baby dragon…’
Smiling at the thought, I turned toward the bedroom—and froze. I had definitely put Shu to sleep in his crib before I nodded off. I even remembered closing the door just a bit. But now, it was open wider than I left it.
‘No way…’
A chill ran down my spine. I ran to the crib—
Shu was gone.
“Shu?! Shu, where are you?!”
I checked my bed—nothing. I searched the room—still nothing.
Next, I checked the storage room. It was always dark and scared Shu, but I looked anyway. Not there.
‘Maybe the bathroom? Or the closet…?’
I searched every possible hiding spot: bathroom, kitchen, balcony, closet—even the washing machine.
“Shu! Are you still asleep? If you hear me, please come out! Uncle doesn’t like this kind of joke! Please… come out, Shu…”
I tore apart the whole house. The floor was a mess—clothes, toys, everything scattered. And in the middle of the chaos, I realized something.
“Wait… Shumi could phase through objects, right?”
Shumi was a dragon—and dragons are insanely attuned to mana.
Mana is the source of all life and objects. With enough control, you can do miraculous things.
One of Shumi’s special skills was slipping through solid objects.
‘Don’t tell me… Shu already figured out how to use mana?’
I had let my guard down because he couldn’t even polymorph yet.
I cursed my own stupidity and jumped out the window. At most, I had been asleep for 15 minutes. Shu couldn’t have gone far.
‘But the problem is… here on Earth, Shu might be mistaken for a monster.’
If a Hunter or Awakened spotted him, anything could happen.
‘I have to find him fast!’
I activated my detection skill and started scanning every place Shu might have gone.
‘He’s not here! Not anywhere!’
The sun was already setting behind the hills. I wiped the sweat off my chin and caught my breath.
I had been running non-stop for hours, using detection magic the entire time. But I still hadn’t found a single clue.
‘I can sense monster energy okay, but mana is too mixed up to read clearly…’
Mana makes up everything. But only monsters have their own corrupted version of it—called magic energy. That makes them easier to detect.
But mana itself was everywhere. Detecting a specific person’s mana was hard—nearly impossible for someone like me.
Shumi could do it. The evil dragon Harshichetzentra could do it too—so well, in fact, he could reshape mana and turn it into his minions.
But me?
Not even close.
“Dammit… I should’ve put a tracking bracelet on him…”
I was too slow. Too careless. I had no excuses. If Shu got hurt—if he died—I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
He wasn’t just some friend’s kid anymore. He was family. He was everything.
‘He’ll be okay. Shu’s smart. If someone showed hostility, he’d run. He’s probably hiding, using his instincts. I just have to keep searching.’
But instead of running around aimlessly, I needed a plan. I had to map out his path, find a better detection method.
Even feeling sad was a waste of time.
‘Wait… maybe I can build a tracker with his old toys. They might have traces of his mana…’
While thinking that—
Ding dong.
The doorbell rang.
I glanced toward the entrance. But I didn’t care. Nothing mattered more than finding Shu.
When I didn’t answer, someone began pounding on the door.
“Excuse me?! Is anyone home?!”
‘What the hell…’
A young woman’s voice. Definitely not the old lady next door.
Which made it even stranger.
‘This is ridiculous. I might as well go tell her to leave me alone.’
I stormed toward the door—but then I heard it.
“Is this really your home, Shu?”
‘…What?’
I thought I misheard.
No way someone would say Shu’s name out of nowhere.
But then…
“Mom? Mom, it’s Shu! Mom…?”
“Shu?!”
I threw the door open.
It was Shu.
As soon as he saw me, Shu shouted “Mom!” and jumped into my arms.
“Shu! Where did you go?! Do you know how long I looked for you?!”
“Did Mom find Shu?”
“Of course I did! You scared me so much…”
I hugged him tightly. Shu mumbled, “Mom, Shu hurts…” but I couldn’t let go just yet.
“Uh… sorry to interrupt this emotional reunion, but…”
The woman who brought Shu to me spoke up gently. I looked up while still hugging Shu.
She looked a bit awkward.
She was Park Yeon-chae—the granddaughter of the old lady next door.
“…So… are you really Shu’s mom?”
