I should have been with Ryeong Shin—better than being with this person.
Cho Zin was sitting at the desk with the manuscript, and he had brought a book as well to write down the things he understood. But he couldn't focus, because Lang Byul was looking at him. He didn't know whether Byul's gaze was angry or not directed at him, but he didn't like anyone looking at him while he was trying to solve puzzles.
Byul, however, didn't care about him and was thinking about something else. When he looked at Cho Zin's green hair, he remembered the first time they met. Cho Zin had been the genius dragon, and he used to talk to him a lot, asking about important and unimportant things alike. One could say he was the fourth of his friends whom he loved. His personality had been calm and gentle. Even though he was gentle and calm now, Byul still felt that he wasn't the person he knew—despite being the same person.
Finally, Byul looked away. Perhaps a bit of sadness showed on his face, and Cho Zin noticed it.
Byul's memory of his old friend made him think that if the genius dragon were here, he would probably ask him many questions—like, What do you think? Should I take the easy plan or the difficult one? And because he was smart, he would certainly tell him the things he should not do and the things he should do. But when Byul remembered that he had died and returned back in time, he couldn't help but think about how the genius dragon, Cho Zin, would have reacted. Perhaps he felt some sadness, then continued his tasks and forgot over time.
Cho Zin felt that Byul's features had become sad, even though he had been complaining just a short while ago about not having a room to himself. He couldn't help but ask,
"Are you okay?"
Byul looked at him in shock, his eyes wide. Perhaps he was surprised that he had shown his sadness unconsciously. He quickly returned to his cheerful smile and asked,
"When are we leaving?"
Cho Zin thought for a short while and answered that they would leave after eating.
The five sat at the table waiting for the food. Cho Zin told them about this inn: it wasn't luxurious and looked ordinary, because the family themselves prepared everything. The rooms were few—about seven rooms—and each room had two beds and a bathroom. The family lived in this place, and it consisted of a mother, a father, a grandmother, and four children. One of the children was the one Byul had already met—the youngest.
A girl came with the food and placed the dishes down. Each of them had ordered their own meal. She would bring the prepared food, then go back to bring the rest. After she brought the last plate of hot pasta, Byul thanked her, but she was looking with reddened cheeks at Ming Kyun. Everyone understood that she admired him. For a moment, Ryeong Shin thought that Lang Byul would get jealous, but when he looked at him, he found him busy eating, his mouth full of food. Perhaps he wasn't the type who cared much about women and was more interested in food.
After standing there for a bit, she left with the same reddened cheeks. Kyun ate without even looking at her. Cho Zin couldn't hold it in and asked him,
"Man, don't you have any feelings at all?"
Kyun ignored him and picked up some fish with his chopsticks. But he didn't expect Byul to speak on his behalf:
"How do you expect someone who beats his senior classmates, looks at teachers with anger, and respects no one to be interested in an ordinary girl? That's like making the emperor's son notice a maid who's in love with him."
Everyone understood that he was trying to say that Kyun wasn't interested in beautiful women, but in the most beautiful women in the universe. Ming Kyun, who was sitting with them, tried to ignore them as if they weren't talking about him or to him.
Another girl came carrying some cups of water and placed them on the table. This was the older sister. She was more rational than the younger one and didn't look at Ming Kyun or any of the young men. With a gentle smile, she told them that if they needed anything, they should tell her, then she left.
After everyone finished eating, they went to their rooms and prepared themselves.
Byul was the first to finish preparing. In fact, he didn't prepare like the others—he took the sword and a small cloth bag, different from the one that contained money. He stood at the exit, waiting for his friends to finish getting ready. He was thinking about why all this delay—after all, there was nothing in the grave except books and some rare pills.
Before he could think of leaving before them, he heard small footsteps and looked down. It was the little child. Byul paused for a moment, then smiled at him. When he smiled, the child felt shy and came closer. After all, Byul looked handsome, with a round face and gentle features, and because of his white hair, the child felt he was a kind person, so he tried to approach.
But a sharp voice stopped him.
"What are you doing?"
The child looked nervously at the person behind him. It was Kyun. Kyun walked toward Byul and completely ignored the child. The child felt terrified and ran away quickly. Kyun's face was frightening to a small child—although he was handsome, his black hair and angry, arrogant features made the child feel he couldn't talk to him, so he ran.
Byul looked at him angrily and asked,
"You—you scared him!"
Kyun didn't understand what he meant and looked at him innocently, as if he hadn't done anything.
"And what about it?"
Byul's anger flared.
"And what about it? What do you mean and what about it? Are you kidding me?"
Kyun didn't understand the reason for his anger and was about to ask him, but the arrival of the rest of the team stopped them. They boarded the carriage, with Byul being the last to get on. And before Shin could get in, Kyun went ahead of him and sat next to Byul.
Ryeong Shin didn't understand anything and thought,
What is this childish behavior? Is this really Ming Kyun?