Plin Ch 4.4

He didn’t know why he was crying, but Plin gritted his teeth and tried to hold back his tears. But just like when a pot of soup boils over after simmering for a long time, something welled up from a corner of his heart. He couldn’t express it, but the thing pressing down on his heart was overwhelming.

Tears kept flowing no matter how much he wiped them away. In the end, Plin cried out loud while being carried on Hugo’s back. Hugo knew what was making his back wet, but he didn’t acknowledge it.

He couldn’t even remember when he had cried like a child like this.

Hugo gradually lowered his altitude as he flew. His wings, spread out as he flew over the skyscrapers, were vast.

Whenever he worried that his wings might get caught on the building’s exterior and tear, Plin would quietly bury his head in his neck and rub his forehead.

The lower Hugo flew, the more his fear intensified. The silvery-gray buildings that looked like Lego pieces from above now loomed large and threateningly before his eyes. The danger he had never felt on the ground made the reality of flying in the sky clear.

It felt like riding an airplane earlier, but now it felt like riding a roller coaster without a safety bar. The wind swept over his cheeks, down his spine, and around his calves. It was as if the wind had a will of its own and was playing tricks, pulling at his calves, so he gripped his horns even tighter.

Thump thump, his heart pounded with a natural survival instinct.

What would happen if he let go? He said he would save him if he fell, but he might have a heart attack before then. Plin tightened his legs around the dragonewt’s neck and gripped the hard horns.

His knuckles turned white, and his fingernails were covered in clotted blood. He had broken his fingernails earlier while resisting getting into the car.

“Let’s rest for a moment. We’ll fly for about another hour.”

He opened his eyes, which he had tightly closed, when the sound of the wind, which had been fiercely whistling, softened. He had finished flying and landed smoothly somewhere.

At the top of The Scope building, there was a logo that read The SCOPE. Hugo was lying down horizontally on the logo sign. His black wings drooped down like a curtain.

It was still a long way up, and there was still a precipice beneath his feet.

Plin clung to Hugo’s back. Every time Hugo breathed, his back made a muffled sound of air, like the noise of a vacuum cleaner. Plin went up and down with his rough breathing. When he touched his cheek, he could feel that it was hotter than usual, probably because of the flight.

The lights in the offices of the buildings across the street were like stars in the city’s forest. The tops of the city’s streets could be seen far in the distance. The subway station, the church’s cross, the old trees in the park, and the roads were all in their usual places.

Just like the structures of the city that were always in their designated places, Plin had always lived the same days in the same place. Only today was different. He had heard that he was on the list of suspects for attaching a bugging device, a group of people had tried to kidnap him, and he was flying in the sky.

“I want to see your eyes, Executive Director.”

As Hugo was catching his breath, he slowly turned his neck. Whoosh, the sound of his armor-like scales rubbing against each other could be heard. Plin cautiously got on his knees. The scales on his body felt as hard as tree bark. He held onto one of the scales like a handle.

The bright yellow eyes, the size of two adult male palms put together, were as shiny as glass. At night, Hugo’s pupils were in the shape of vertically elongated almonds. Like those of a reptile, the pupils, which moved his gaze as if to snatch it away, looked straight at Plin. He was still, but the moment he faced Plin, only his pupils widened and then gradually narrowed. It was a gaze close to that of a predator capturing its prey.

His heart pounded again. Until just now, his heart had been pounding from the fear of heights, but now it seemed to be from the fear of a wild beast. He didn’t usually show his horns or wings, so it was inevitable that he would be unfamiliar with him when he was fully transformed into a beast-person. Plin’s spine felt cold and he shivered slightly. Still, he had seen that bright yellow color a few times when he was human.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Plin answered with a watery look in his eyes, trying to be composed.

“No. The padding is warm, and you’re warm too, Executive Director.”

“You didn’t put on your ear muffs.”

“……”

“If your hands are okay, let’s go now.”

Hugo’s pupils looked at Plin’s hands. He had frozen in the shape of clutching the horns, as hard as he could.

“I’m fine, but, just a moment.”

Plin rummaged through his padding pocket and took out a chocolate bar. He unwrapped it and held it out in front of him. The chocolate bar was melted on the outside due to his body heat, but fortunately, it wasn’t severely smushed.

“What’s this?”

“I was going to eat it, but you should have it, Executive Director.”

“This tiny thing? You eat it.”

At his incredulous voice, Plin mustered up his courage and answered.

“…It’s sweet.”

Grrr. An unintelligible voice came out, and a few times, the dragonewt’s body twisted from side to side in unexpected directions. Plin held onto one of his scales to keep from falling off and looked at Hugo with a puzzled expression.

His eyelids were half-closed. Why was he suddenly in pain, or was he… laughing? His expression, transformed into a beast, was like a problem whose author’s intentions were unknown.

Finally, Hugo opened his mouth wide. It would have been fine if he had just slightly raised his lips, but it was his own way of playing around. Plin threw the chocolate bar, which was only half the size of a white canine that had grown from a red gum, into his mouth. The chocolate bar that fell into Hugo’s mouth disappeared in an instant, absurdly.

It wasn’t much. Seeing the empty hand, he belatedly realized that the chocolate bar must have been nothing to Hugo. It would be like a sesame seed or a grain of millet. He probably couldn’t even taste it. Plin frowned in embarrassment and fiddled with the dragon’s scales.

“It’s sweet. Thank you.”

The dragonewt’s large eyes crinkled, winking.

The break was short. Hugo pushed his back from the iron sign. And without spreading his wings, he fell headfirst.

Plin’s whole body stiffened like a stone from the tension, and only then did he spread his wings and soar into the sky.

The black curtain unfolded in the winter’s navy blue sky.

They were on their way to the Idrohann family’s villa in North High Forest.