Before I End Up as Rabbit Stew - Chapter 16

Hearing Yimae’s words, Black Dragon twitched his fingertips. Yimae, sensing she had him hooked, gently prodded him.

“Come to think of it, I remember the first time I saw Black Dragon.”

Even without showing it, he seemed intrigued, as Black Dragon looked at Yimae. Yimae rested her chin on her hands, pretending to recall a distant memory.

“Weren’t you standing in front of the tavern? Waiting for your mother?”

Back then, he was a bit shorter than now, with the delicate features of a boy. Yet, his eyes held such deep darkness, as if he had weathered every storm imaginable. I remembered staring at him, mesmerized.

Yimae looked directly at Black Dragon, like a moth drawn to a dazzling flame, heading straight into the fire. Just like that day in the past, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“So…”

Yimae, who had started teasing Black Dragon, found herself lost in a moment from the past. She momentarily forgot what she was going to say. Her eyes were filled only with Black Dragon, who was now much taller and had a more masculine face than before.

“I remember too.”

It was Black Dragon who got them back on track. He untied his hat string.

“It was the first day I came to Bipamung. It was also the first day I went to the Goblin Market through this inn.”

He swept back his side hair and smiled faintly.

“I thought, ‘What rabbit-like rat is staring so intently?'”

He could smile like that too? Yimae was momentarily captivated by him.

“It was you.”

A part of her heart, which she couldn’t quite pinpoint, ached. Yimae pressed down on the area, thinking it was a dull chest pain. She wondered if it was a side effect of not being completely transformed into a human.

She shuddered slightly and looked at Black Dragon again.

“I’m not a rat, you know?”

“You’re so small, it’s all the same.”

Black Dragon paused for a moment before continuing.

“Why were you there?”

“It was the day of the Oreumgwan graduation ceremony.”

Yimae answered listlessly, as if she didn’t want to talk about it. Black Dragon’s eyes widened slightly.

“You went to Oreumgwan?”

“Yes, believe it or not, I’m quite an educated beast.”

Black Dragon looked quite serious, as if he was thinking about something. He stroked his chin several times before finally opening his mouth.

“So that’s why.”

“Why what?”

“If it was around that time, then Baekho and Jujak must have been your classmates.”

“That’s right.”

Because Black Dragon’s tone was so serious, Yimae also became serious. She had no idea why he had such a heavy look on his face.

“No wonder Baekho and Jujak looked so old.”

“Huh?????”

“They must have had a hard time dealing with this rabbit.”

Yimae was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t speak. Black Dragon leaned slightly over the table and rested his chin on one arm. His lightly tilted face broke into a smile.

“If you don’t make and send out the medicine soon, I’ll end up like that too.”

“Once I finish making all the medicine, I won’t stay even if you ask me to!”

Yimae, thinking the liquid in the glass was water, gulped it down and grabbed her throat. It wasn’t water, but honey wine. As the innkeeper said, the aroma and taste were the best, but it seemed to have a high alcohol content due to the long aging process.

But thanks to that, she remembered what she was originally going to say. Yimae put down the empty glass and said to Black Dragon.

“The reason you were outside that day, was it because you couldn’t drink alcohol?”

She deliberately picked up her empty glass and showed it to him.

“Baekho and Jujak drink it just fine, but only the Black Dragon can’t?”

Black Dragon’s fingers on the table curled slightly. Yimae sighed loudly on purpose, as if she couldn’t help it.

“Okay, I’ll drink it all then.”

She had originally planned to take both glasses anyway. In fact, that was better for her. Where else would she get to drink 10-year-aged honey wine for free? She had no intention of giving it to Black Dragon even if he asked. Yimae decided to stop teasing the boring scholar and restrained herself.

“I’ll eat quickly and go back. I have to water the fields.”

But before Yimae could grab the glass, Black Dragon moved first. He grabbed the glass full of honey wine and drank it all without hesitation. Yimae, who had tasted how strong the alcohol was, flinched and watched him.

“Are you okay…?”

Black Dragon showed no signs of agitation. Indeed, it wouldn’t suit his cold demeanor to cough from the strong alcohol or to look for water or snacks. Yimae concluded that he just didn’t drink alcohol, not that he couldn’t drink it.

“Black Dragon…?”

He finally picked up his chopsticks, as if he needed something to eat with the alcohol. He said he wouldn’t sit at the same table as a woman, but it seemed like no one could resist alcohol. But after picking up the chopsticks, he brought his face closer and closer to the dumplings Yimae had placed. He looked like he was about to bury his nose in the dumpling plate.

“Um, Black Dragon…?”

Why is he doing that? It’s not like he’s never seen dumplings before. Yimae frowned and called Black Dragon again. As if he couldn’t hear her voice, Black Dragon finally pressed his nose against the dumplings.

“What’s wrong?”

His hair, tied high in a single bun, and his side hair mixed together and flowed onto the plate. Whether he knew it or not, Black Dragon just kept his nose buried in the dumplings and didn’t move. Yimae whispered quietly between his black hair.

“Black Dragon!”

“I told you not to call me that.”

His voice was very clear. It was still a blunt and cold voice. Yimae almost answered him with ‘Yes’ as if nothing had happened. But seeing the tip of his sharp nose stuck in the dumplings, she barely managed to regain her senses.

“Then lift your head, husband.”

Yimae put her hand next to his face and tapped the table. After a while, Black Dragon lifted his head, and Yimae could tell for sure when she saw him. She had never seen anyone smile so brightly. The corners of Black Dragon’s mouth almost reached his ears. Each of his neat, white teeth seemed to have a fully bloomed smile on it.

And he said.

“Yes, wife.”

…Wife?

…Yes, wife?

“What did you just say, no…?”

“What is it, wife?”

To make matters worse, he put both arms on the table. Seeing Black Dragon making a flower hand gesture and smiling brightly, Yimae’s face was filled with shock. She was terrified that someone would see. No, her heart ached as if she was committing a sin just by seeing it.

Yimae took the glass that Black Dragon had just emptied and hurriedly examined it. Is this a different drink from what I drank? There’s no way he could get like that from just one glass…

“Is that why you don’t drink? Because you get drunk?”

“I’m not drunk, wife.”

“You’re completely drunk, you know?”

“Yes, I’m completely drunk, wife.”

His glass was the same size and depth as Yimae’s glass. The innkeeper poured it from the same jug, so it couldn’t be a different drink. Black Dragon’s alcohol tolerance was just that low. He really got drunk from just one glass.

Yimae jumped up. She quickly put the black gat [Korean traditional hat] back on his head. Yimae became even more anxious because he obediently raised his chin as if asking her to tie the string of the traditional hat.

“How can you live and get so drunk from just one glass of alcohol?”

“Tie it prettily, wi…”

“Stop, stop.”

Yimae pressed her small hand against Black Dragon’s lips. Clear and pure black eyes stared at Yimae. Yimae deliberately ignored his persistent gaze and tied the knot haphazardly.

“Get up.”

Yimae, who had gathered all the seedling bundles on the floor, finally took care of Black Dragon. Black Dragon got up like a well-behaved child, but his body didn’t seem to want to listen to its owner.

“Ugh, careful!”

He staggered and then slumped back into the chair. Because his large body was swaying, the plates and glasses on the table overturned noisily. Food seasoning was smeared all over his long robe. Yim ae suddenly had a headache because she thought she could hear the weeping of the laundry women in the palace.

“Oh! Don’t you like this, wife!”

He saw the seasoning smeared on his robe and laughed happily. He stretched out his legs and pulled Yimae towards him. He grabbed Yimae tightly with both legs and tried to feed her the seasoning on his clothes.

“Didn’t you eat it well earlier!”

“No! No!”

Yimae struggled desperately, but the more she did, the tighter his legs wrapped around her calves and thighs. Yimae, who was blocking him with the seedling bundles as best she could, barely called the innkeeper.

“Hey, hey there!”

“Please open your mouth, ah.”

“Oh, come on!”

The innkeeper approached little by little, looking around. He seemed wary of the situation because he didn’t know what was going on. After all, Black Dragon had never caused a disturbance here before.

“Give me a room upstairs.”

“A room?”

The innkeeper’s voice was as small as possible. His attitude was that it was absurd for a man and a woman to ask for a room, especially when the woman asked first. Unfortunately, Yimae, who had only recently become human, didn’t realize what that implied in general.

“Yes, please hurry.”

What was important to her was to put this drunkard in a place where other people couldn’t see him. Black Dragon was now trying to stick the dumplings he hadn’t eaten earlier on Yimae’s cheek. While continuing to push him away, Yimae clenched her fists tightly.

What did he say earlier? That Baekho and Jujak got old dealing with me?

I’m getting old dealing with you today, Black Dragon, old!

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