For a moment, I couldn’t say anything or think anything.
I just stared blankly at the sight.
Why is that child here? Did she get lost? Or maybe…
‘No way.’
A bad premonition brushed through my mind.
The child’s clothes, the look of utter terror, and the location of this cave.
Could it be…
‘Did she come to me?’
But why? What did I do? I was just sleeping.
For hundreds of years, I did nothing but sleep.
Then, I thought I saw the child looking at me through her fingers.
Her sobbing stopped for a moment.
And in the next instant, either lacking the strength to scream or too shocked to make a sound, she widened her eyes and silently mouthed words before falling backward.
It seemed she had fainted.
!……!
I silently looked down at the fainted child.
Through the eyes of a massive dragon, the child looked so small and insignificant.
She didn’t even seem big enough for a single bite.
But I felt no appetite at all.
Instead… I felt a mix of annoyance, irritation, and a tiny bit of confusion.
‘What am I supposed to do with this?’
I don’t know who brought her here, but this is just too much.
Throwing a child into a sleeping dragon’s cave?
What were they thinking?
‘Evil dragon… is that what they think I am?’
That thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Maybe the humans living near this cave mistook me for some evil dragon and offered the child as a sacrifice.
It’s a cliché straight out of a fantasy novel, but in this situation, it was the most plausible explanation.
‘Unbelievable.’
I almost laughed, but my jaw, moving for the first time in centuries, only made a creaking sound.
I lifted my massive body slightly.
Joints and muscles that hadn’t moved in ages cracked loudly.
My head still felt foggy, like I hadn’t fully awakened, and my body was incredibly heavy.
First, what should I do about this child?
I can’t just leave her here, but I also can’t take care of her myself.
Should I return her to the village? But how? I can’t exactly fly there carrying her in my mouth and drop her off at the entrance.
‘Ah, what a pain…’
A deep sigh escaped me.
All I wanted was to sleep peacefully in a sunny spot, but somehow I got dragged into this annoying situation.
I had a strong feeling that my wish to sleep for a thousand years was not going to come true.
For now, I didn’t approach the fainted child but observed her from a distance.
She seemed to be breathing properly.
There didn’t appear to be any external injuries.
She must have fainted from sheer terror.
‘She’ll probably start screaming when she wakes up.’
My head already ached at the thought.
I curled back up where I was.
I guess I’ll have to wait until she wakes up.
Once she does… I’ll think about it then.
Right now, I just wanted to sleep a little more.
Though my perfect slumber had been interrupted, my body still craved rest.
I closed my eyes again.
But I couldn’t fall into a deep sleep like before.
The sound of the child’s shallow breathing kept echoing in my ears, and the scent of fear still lingered in my nose.
The small human girl in front of me was still unconscious.
Only the faint sound of her breathing proved that she was alive.
I just watched her without moving.
No—rather than “watched,” “blankly stared” would be more accurate.
‘What a bother…’
That was my honest feeling.
Not only had my sweet sleep been interrupted for the first time in centuries, but now I was saddled with a troublesome little life.
Why is this happening to me?
What did I ever do wrong?
All I did was sleep here.
Quietly, without bothering anyone.
And yet, they call me an evil dragon.
A sacrifice, they say.
It was absurd.
Should I say humans have incredible imagination, or just call them foolish?
This massive body, the sharp claws and fangs, the tough scales.
Sure, just looking at me might be terrifying.
But even so, to throw a child in here alive?
That’s just too irresponsible.
I tried to sigh but gave up.
My still-drowsy body creaked, and every little movement was a hassle.
I thought about closing my eyes again, but imagining the chaos once the little one woke up made me think it was better to keep watch.
How much time had passed?
The air in the cave seemed slightly colder, and the angle of light coming from the entrance had shifted just a bit.
My sense of time was still dull, so I couldn’t say for sure.
Then it happened.
The small body trembled slightly.
And a faint moan escaped.
It looked like the child was waking up.
I held my breath.
Well, it was already slow enough that it was barely noticeable, but I consciously tried to be even quieter.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and slowly, her eyelids lifted.
Her blurred eyes wandered through the air, unfocused.
She seemed unaware of where she was.
Then suddenly, her gaze landed on me.
Her eyes widened in horror.
And in the next moment, her face turned ghostly pale from fear.
As if she forgot how to breathe, her whole body froze stiff while staring at me.
Her pupils trembled wildly, and her small jaw shook uncontrollably.
‘…Here we go again.’
I muttered to myself.
It was the reaction I expected, but facing such pure fear right in front of me didn’t feel great.
Do I really look that scary? Well, by human standards, I suppose I do.
Still, couldn’t she calm down just a little?
The child still couldn’t move.
Like a frog frozen before a giant snake, I was paralyzed.
I quietly looked down at the child.
What should I say? No, can I even speak? I haven’t used my mouth in hundreds of years.
And would that child even understand me? I didn’t even know what language the humans here spoke.
‘…Should I try speaking?’
The language I used when I was human.
Korean.
Should I try talking in that? Nothing to lose, I guess.
I opened my mouth very slowly, carefully.
I was worried whether my vocal cords would even work properly.
“Um…”
It wasn’t a voice.
It was a deep, massive resonance—more like a roar that shook the entire cave.
It was a rough, threatening sound, like a huge, unused instrument forced to play.
“Eek!”
The child let out a short scream and shrank back.
Then began to tremble almost convulsively.
Tears welled up again in their eyes.
‘…Ah, I blew it.’
I immediately shut my mouth.
This wasn’t it.
Not at all.
I was trying to speak in a friendly way, but the result was the complete opposite.
To human ears, my voice just sounded like the terrifying roar of a monster.
‘What do I do now…’
Now I was really stuck.
I couldn’t communicate, and my very existence inspired fear.
I had no clue how to calm this child down.
For a while, only suffocating silence flowed between the child and me.
The child was still trembling in fear, and I just sat there, helplessly watching.
Then, the child whispered something in a trembling voice.
It was so faint I didn’t catch it at first.
But my sharpened hearing didn’t miss even that tiny sound.
“Please… don’t eat me…”
It wasn’t a language I was used to, but the meaning was immediately clear.
A plea: ‘Don’t eat me.’
As expected, the child must think I’m a man-eating dragon.
‘Ha… seriously.’
Annoyance welled up from deep inside.
Why was I being treated like this? It felt unfair.
But now wasn’t the time to complain.
First, I had to reassure the child.
‘How do I let them know I’m not going to eat them?’
Talking failed, so I had to try something else.
Should I show it through actions? I slowly shook my head.
I wanted to convey that it wasn’t true.
But a giant dragon’s head moving side to side probably only added more fear.
The child’s eyes widened even more.
‘Not that either, huh.’
I stopped moving again.
And thought of another way.
Maybe… avoiding eye contact would help.
Staring directly might feel threatening to the child.
I consciously turned my gaze away from the child and stared at a spot on the cave wall.
My giant eyes slowly moved away from the child.
I tried to look as unthreatening as possible.
Then the child’s trembling seemed to ease, just a tiny bit, barely noticeable.
Still terrified, but not like she was about to faint anymore.
‘…Is it working?’
I decided to maintain this state a bit longer.
I kept my eyes on the cave wall.
I was curious what the child was thinking, what expression she had, but I held back.
Right now, the best thing to do was not to provoke the child.
How much time had passed?
The child was no longer sobbing or shaking.
Only the sound of breathing could be heard now and then.
But they didn’t seem relaxed.
I could feel that she was still extremely tense.
‘…We can’t just stay like this forever.’
I fell into thought again.
The child must be hungry.
Thirsty too.
Inside this cave, there wasn’t really anything edible.
I hadn’t eaten anything for hundreds of years—just slept.
Is that how dragons usually are? Or am I special? I didn’t know.
But that little human child definitely needed to eat something to survive.
Should I give her water? There was a spot in the cave where groundwater flowed.
Should I take her there? But if I moved, the child might freak out again.
Food? What should I feed her? Are there fruit trees nearby?
Or should I hunt small animals? Hunting… I’ve never done that before.
And would the child even eat something I hunted?
‘…My head hurts.’
There wasn’t just one or two problems.
I let out a deep sigh again.
This time, I didn’t hold it in.
A big, deep sigh echoed low throughout the cave.
The child flinched, but this time didn’t scream.
Was she getting used to it a little?
I slowly turned my head back to look at the child.
The child was still watching me with terrified eyes.
But compared to earlier, just a little—just a tiny bit—there seemed to be some curiosity in those eyes.
‘Why isn’t it eating me?’ she must be wondering.
‘Right, I can’t just let her starve to death.’
I made up my mind.