Chapter 157 – Chapter 157 – Merlin (3)

“Did the dragon’s blood bloom?”

At Merlin’s whispered words, I felt the blood rushing through my body.

I knew it instinctively.

That this question is so closely related to trials and origin foreknowledge.

As if all the questions I had laid out earlier were groundbreaking, I saw Merlin staring blankly at me.

I gritted my teeth and put off my composure.

If there is any gap here.

Fucked.

I took a sip of coffee and passed it into my mouth while slowly lingering on Merlin’s question.

Hurup,

The aroma and bitterness of the coffee mixed half of my embarrassment.

I moved my head as calmly as possible and quickly put my teacup down, thinking about who the ‘dragon’ Merlin was talking about might be.

‘Did the dragon’s blood bloom?’

There’s no obvious subject, but it’s almost halfway clear that it’s a question asked of me.

First of all, I noticed that I didn’t know the existence of Areum Lee, so I decided to ask more questions.

“I guess.”

At my meaningful answer, Merlin put on an expression of interest.

“Cluck, it’s fun.”

Merlin scrutinized my face with her wrinkled eyes and burst into laughter.

“I never thought someone with blind trust would be so good at hiding his expression like this. It’s really fun.”

Hearing that, I expressed my sincere gratitude to Hong Ma-dong, who was somewhere on Hwangcheon-gil.

‘You mean junior, you need to know how to hide your expression.’

When he was dreaming, Hong Ma-dong always pointed out this.

‘Anyone who shows his expression well dies sooner or later.’

I thought it was a bit exaggerated.

Let’s ask bluntly, ‘Anyway, isn’t that going too far?’

Hong Ma-dong earnestly pushed the red sunglasses to the end of his nose and asserted.

‘No, I can assure you of this one thing. ‘Cause usually the ones who show off their faces either die near me, or I kill them.’

When I heard that, I couldn’t resist.

The appearance of Hongma-dong, who has a small smile on his lips, but cannot read any expression.

I also instinctively realized how important that was.

So from then on, little by little, I learned how to hide my expression from Hong Ma-dong.

Now, more than ever, when I had to hide myself, I was able to control my expression skillfully.

“What do you think? Do you want to hear this old man’s opinion?”

Merlin must have realized that no matter how much he looked at my expression, he couldn’t find an answer.

“No, I don’t really want to hear it. No matter how much I think about it, I know it’s not this side that’s bothering me, but that side.”

At my blunt words, Merlin let out her laugh again.

“Cluck, cluck, you’re right. If I’m bringing up this, it’s because I’m more in a hurry, not you.”

Merlin hummed quietly, and she blurted out her own opinion.

“I can feel the traces of a dragon on you. It’s very dark, but something vague.”

“……”

I didn’t say anything.

After quietly passing a sip of coffee, Merlin continued her words in place of me, who was silent.

“By the way, I’m not talking about the dragon armor inside your body. Your mother’s scales are clearly shining, so it’s easy to tell them apart. Anyway, that’s what I’m talking about.”

Merlin moved her smirk.

“Hey, what the hell did you go through? Did you naturally bloom from the dragon’s blood imprinted on your body? Or did you wake up to that power through your mother’s arrangement? I’m really curious.”

Merlin’s hollow eyes twinkled.

That gaze, which seemed innocently happy like that of a child, contained obvious madness.

Obsession with dragons.

Let’s check Merlin’s obsessive compulsive symptoms that have been going on since the old days, which can be known through the information.

She realized that if she flinched or answered prematurely, she could have the opposite effect on her.

So, without hesitation, I got up from my chair.

“I’m going.”

When she got up from her seat, she let out a hint of pity for Merlin.

“I’m sorry you’re leaving already. I thought you’d play with this old man some more.”

“Even if it’s just this much, I’ve played a lot.”

“Is it…”

Merlin stroked her own chin, nothing.

For a moment she turned her back on Merlin, who held the figure, and walked away.

Then Merlin said her last goodbye to me.

“Goodbye.”

Pounding.

As she puts her foot down towards her floor.

It felt like the world was disappearing.

In the bizarre twist of time, I felt my limbs move as if struggling.

Immediately, she clutched her bankrupt sword, which she was holding in her right hand just in case, and unleashed the shadow magic within her body.

Chaeeng-!

As her right hand tightened, her strange senses were shattered.

I looked back at her Merlin.

Merlin didn’t even smile, she was staring at me blankly.

“You.”

Seeing Merlin trying to say something, I chuckled.

“I’ll be fine.”

Pretending to be relaxed, I walked out of the cafe with a steady pace.

After about 30 more minutes of walking, I was able to get her to speak.

“Nobody.”

“Yes, Bocchan.”

Sseuseuk.

Seemingly following me, Kim Si-hee appeared.

Only then did I let go of my hardened expression.

“Fuck, what is it really?”

I sighed and drew in a breath.

“What the hell is it?”

Last minute.

Greetings from Merlin.

It’s weak, but it’s definitely its identity.

It was a dragon word.

* *

“Wheeik~ Whiik~.”

A table at the cafe Kang Han-jun left.

An hour passed, but Merlin, who was still there, quietly hummed her song.

Humming in a low, soft voice, he recalled the last moment.

I definitely knew.

Because as soon as I used the dragon, I reacted immediately.

“… That’s amazing.”

I never imagined that I would release the dragon right away.

Looking at it like this, I think I’ve recovered quite a bit of dragon language, and I thought I’d be able to tie it up for a while.

It was an obvious illusion.

As if nothing was wrong, the image of her breaking her dragon words and laughing at herself was still vivid in my mind.

“Sorry.”

What if I used a word with even a little destructive power?

Will I be able to get out of here as casually as I am now?

Merlin, who was thinking in line with the music flowing in her head, quickly rotated her thoughts to the sound of her music, which gradually escalated.

“Whip-whee-whee-whee.”

He responded immediately to the word.

Then, breaking the dragon, he walked out as if nothing was wrong.

No matter how you look at it, these two pointed to one fact.

That Kang Han-jun has awakened the dragon’s blood.

But it was strange.

“Whip-whee-whee-whee.”

Something was definitely strange.

There was something uneasy about awakening the dragon’s blood.

Doubt that is inferred with instinctive senses, not proven by the facts revealed on the outside.

Usually, it was just a suspicion without any circumstance, so it was a fact that could be folded.

That wasn’t the case with Merlin.

“I’ll have to check it out once more.”

Merlin glanced at the table Kang Han-jun was sitting on.

With a meaningful smile on his face, he quickly turned his head, realizing the gaze that was pouring into him.

Swish

The employee who was looking at him from afar turned his head.

Several hours had passed since the party she had paid for left, and Merlin, who immediately checked the empty coffee cup, burst out laughing at her.

“This, this was a nuisance, but yes.”

Merlin pulled down her bowler hat and stood up from her seat.

Feeling the music rising in her head, Merlin left the café.

And she quietly waved her hand.

Sparkle.

A small light broke out in the cafe.

Merlin, who used only a small part of the prepared runes, smiled.

“It will be fun in the future.”

That smile that no one has ever seen.

She was exactly the same as when Merlin killed her father for the first time.

* *

“Bocchan, I’m going to go back now.”

“Yeah, it was hard.”

As we approached her house, Sihee Kim nodded goodbye to her.

Even after saying goodbye, Kim Si-hee hesitated and couldn’t turn around easily.

I looked at it and added a word.

“You can tell me, and you don’t have to worry. I didn’t change my mind about that in the first place.”

“… I understand, young master.”

Kim Si-hee bowed her head once again.

Self.

After seeing Kim Si-hee’s figure disappear, I trudged toward her house.

There were many things to think about.

Merlin, who pointed out that she might have been involved with Kim Ji-hye in the past.

Merlin using the dragon.

“What the hell is it really?”

Over the past two and a half weeks, it was fortunate that Areum Lee had become accustomed to the idioms used at the training ground.

Just in case, I secretly checked to see if I could ‘reverse’ the dragon to offset it.

I had no idea it would be so useful today.

“… Shit.”

Anyway, it was all in the past.

Realizing that I was relieved, I let out a long sigh.

As usual, I looked at my phone, and the time was pointing to 9:00 PM.

“It’s late.”

She told Areum that she would arrive this morning, but she was late.

I had a deeper encounter than I thought with Morgan, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, and I also met Merlin.

I had to be late.

“… Shut it off.”

Realizing that Areum didn’t have a cell phone, I called Kim Cha-ryeok first.

Because he was the guy who came to my house every day and gave Areumie a comic book.

First of all, I was thinking of checking how Areumie is doing today.

Turr, tuk,

“Um, Hanjun. It’s me.”

“Uh, nothing special. How was Areum today?”

“Areum?”

“Uh, I’m going to check how beautiful Areum is.”

“Jun Han, I’m still at school now. Master said that today is overnight training, so I couldn’t go home.”

“… Okay?”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be able to go back tomorrow either. If Areum wants the next volume, let him take the comic books I’ve already piled up in my room.”

Pop.

I finished the phone call with Kim Cha-ryeok.

I blankly stared at my phone, retracing my thoughts.

It must have been around 1pm when I left the house yesterday.

It has already been over 24 hours since Areumi has been alone at home.

I wonder if I wouldn’t have known if it was the first time, but I didn’t worry too much because it was Areum who had been together for more than two weeks and gradually stabilized.

I thought maybe.

“Let’s go in quickly.”

With less than a minute left, I hurriedly ran into the house.

The front door that arrived after using the axis.

Enter the password and open the door.

An empty living room was revealed.

Creepy.

“Are you beautiful?!”

Urgently called Areumi’s name.

Then, fortunately, Areumi’s voice came from the kitchen.

“Yes, brother.”

A beautiful voice that is strangely calm.

I noticed something was wrong and hurried to the kitchen.

And seeing Areumie in the kitchen… Made me speechless for a moment.

“You are very late, brother.”

A cold and calm voice.

Hearing that voice resounding softly in my ears, I gulped down my saliva.

(This illustration may surprise you! It’s a scary beauty, so be careful!)