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Once upon a time, there was a great dragon trainer named Harin. Harin is a very kind and friendly man. He is also very big and strong. He loves danger and adventure, which is why he became a dragon trainer in the first place.
Harin has been facing and taming dragons for years. Now he had four loyal dragons who went everywhere with him. Their names were Dongmyeong, Dongju, Giwook, and Hyungu. Dongmyeong is a graceful and nimble dragon, skilled in dancing and creating shapes in the air with the smoke of his fire breath. Dongju is his twin, just as graceful as he is. Though he often claims he’s better than Dongmyeong. Then we have Giwook. He may be the smallest dragon among the four, but he’s most athletic and agile. He’s able to fly past mountains and cliffs with no trouble faster than any of them. He’s also the strongest, which is why Harin usually chooses him to ride on whenever they go travelling.
And this brings us to Hyungu. You might say he’s the prettiest out of them all. But looks could only get you so far. He wasn't agile, he wasn't graceful. And worst of all (according to him), he can't even breathe fire like the other dragons.
"You're just broken," Dongmyeong said ever so casually one day. "Defected, it happens to some dragons."
"Luckily not us," Dongju chided. Hyungu could only watch sadly as the twins cackled whilst creating swirls of fire high in the air.
“Don’t take their words to heart too much,” Harin assured him. The trainer had changed out of his trainer outfit into some comfortable day wear. After putting away some of the treasure they found that day he sat down next to the purple dragon, head resting against his side. Hyungu’s wing instinctively wrapped around the man, providing him warmth from the cool air of the mountain top they resided on.
Sometimes Hyungu wonders why Harin let him stay by his side for this long. He remembers quite well about the time Harin approached him in the grassy meadows. Even since then he knew that Harin was a good person. So he joined Harin’s little band of dragons.
---
“There’s a dragon in our field!” The woman shouted.
Harin followed to where she pointed and laid his eyes upon the prettiest dragon he’s ever seen. Its iridescent purple scales shone sparkled under the bright sun. The eyes were unlike others, pearl-like with no pupils. If it didn’t turn to Harin the moment he stood by it, he would’ve assumed it was blind.
“Hey there,” Harin said softly, trying to be as careful s possible approaching it.
“You shouldn’t be here, bud,” he continued. The dragon looked at him then around the place he laid. It shook its head before resting again, ignoring Harin.
“Hey now, don’t be like that,” The man scolded. It was a risky move, but he edged closer to it and touched the scales. The dragon flinched, and Harin was ready to step back in case he were to become barbecue, but the dragon just froze in place.
“I like it here,” it finally said. Harin thought this wasn’t a typical dragon’s enjoyment; this place was warm and sunny, dragons usually like cold and high places.
Then again, it was obvious this was no ordinary dragon.
“I can take you somewhere just like this.” And that wasn’t a lie. The rocky mountains where he lived didn’t stand too far from the most beautiful meadow you’ve ever seen. It’s quite the phenomenon, actually. The line between the rocky biome and the grassy biome was very obvious it looks like two artworks stuck together.
The dragon looked at him, unsure at first. But if it’s one thing it is good at, it can tell if a person is lying or not.
So it rested its head on Harin’s open hand, allowing him to stroke it with such care.
“My name is Hyungu.”
---
The afternoon sun always made Hyungu feel drowsy. Oh, how he loved laying in the grass and just resting till the sun sets. Sometimes, he would go to the stream a bit down the hill and take a dip in the cool water.
That’s exactly what he did, sighing as the stream washed away all his exhaustion.
“Bathing?” A sound came from above him. Giwook slowly descended and stood at the bank, bending down to take a drink.
“What else would I be doing?” Hyungu chuckled. He climbed out of the water to dry off and flap his wings, breathing in the fresh air.
“Let me help you with that.” Giwook took a deep breath and blew out a stream of fire and let the heat dry Hyungu up.
“Thanks,” the purple dragon mumbled. He trodded off to his favourite tree where he got cosy underneath it. Giwook followed suit, sitting by him and watched how the sun reflected on his scales.
“You know, you could’ve been a show dragon or something,” he joked.
Hyungu shook his head tiredly. “It’s too much work. I’ve heard how much effort you need to maintain your looks, probably can't even lay in the grass like this."
Hyungu enjoyed Giwook's presence. The smaller dragon had always been the warmest and welcoming to him. He never felt any malice or other intent when he joked with him, unlike Dongmyeong and Dongju, who say things that get under his skin and puts him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. Giwook isn’t like that, he’s fun, understanding, sympathetic.
“King Yonghoon’s festival is in a few months,” Giwook said, looking up to the sky.
How could Hyungu forget? King Yonghoon is the great king who ruled over the lands they lived on. He was gentle, caring, very bright and friendly. The people loved him.
Every two years, King Yonghoon invited everyone from all over the kingdom, even from neighbouring kingdoms. Harin is a well-known dragon trainer, along with his best friend Gunhak. And the king always invites them to his festivals to showcase their amazing dragons. Hyungu was still relatively new to the gang, so he had never performed at one.
Now thinking about it… He hasn’t thought about what he will showcase for the festival. From what Giwook told him, he performed in a fiery obstacle course, the twins did dancing, and what was he gonna do?
“Hey, fireless! Harin’s calling!” Dongju shouted from the top of the hill. Hyungu grimaced at the nickname, begrudgingly getting up and flying over to Harin. There Harin had already sat with the twin dragons, who seemed to be whispering something among themselves. Harin paid no attention to them and beckoned Hyungu and Giwook over with a huge smile.
“As you all know, King Yonghoon’s festival is coming soon. And as it is tradition, we’re going to attend and if you guys want, perform.”
“Of course we’re gonna perform!” Dongmyeong exclaimed. “We have never missed out on putting on a great performance for the festival!”
“SOMEONE might want to drop out though,” Dongju remarked, which made the twins snicker. Harin glared at them before turning to Hyungu, who seemed somewhat both hurt and unfazed by the remark.
“Hyungu, since it’s your first time at the festival, I’m not gonna force you into-”
“I’m performing,” the dragon deadpanned. “I want to join the performance.”
A smiled grew on the trainers face. He got up and walked over to Hyungu, giving him a hug.
“You’re gonna do amazing,” he whispered.
Now all that’s left to do is for Hyungu needed to figure out what was he going to showcase. Perhaps he could go to Giwook for help, figure out what’s his ability. He didn’t just want to be a show dragon for display. He wanted to show he was more than that.
So the rest of the day he spent with Giwook doing random things, from throwing fruit to a target to swimming. All bore no result. Hyungu felt helpless at this point. He was about to accept the fact he was just a pretty face.
“I’m gonna go fly for a bit,” he huffed as he pushed himself off the ground. Giwook gave him a pat and followed suit.
“I’m sure there’s something you can do,” Giwook mused.
Hyungu weakly shrugged as he let his wings carry him absentmindedly through the sky. Despite his unusual looks, he feels he’s not special.
No… he doesn’t feel special, he feels like a freak.
“Hey, Hyungu!” Giwook called out. Hyungu looked around to find the source of the voice.
Since when was he this high up???
Not only that, he was sure he was close to the stars at this point. He looked up to confirm and his breath hitched.
He was so high up, everything below him felt small. The stars felt so close, they’re so pretty. Hyungu had always loved looking at the sky, it just comes with being a dragon. But it never occurred to him how much he liked looking at the stars at night. He likes sleeping in the meadows where he can see them twinkling in the dark sky.
Now he’s this high up, he felt euphoric, whooping as he swirled around the stars. He laughed with tears pricking at his eyes. Gosh, he had never felt this kind of happiness before. It’s that kind of happiness you get once in a lifetime, the one that makes you forget everything.
Oh yeah, that’s right.
Hyungu dove down to meet with Giwook again, a bit shy from his little burst of excitement.
“What was that?” The blue dragon asked, eyes wide. Hyungu shrugged.
“I was just lost in thought I didn’t realize I got that high,” he chuckled.
“Hyungu… no dragon has ever flown that high!” He exclaimed. “The air’s so thin up there and it’s so high up… No dragon has the ability to go there.”
“Oh my god.”
This is it.
“Hyungu, the king had always dreamed of seeing the stars up close, did you know that?”
“No, I did not.” Hyungu furrowed his brows. What was Giwook hinting at?
“You can take him to see the stars! Maybe along with Harin as well!”
Hyungu’s jaw dropped. The realization hit him so hard, he nearly stopped flying.
“Oh my gosh, we should tell Harin!” Before Giwook could fly off, Hyungu stopped him.
“No, let this be a surprise.”
---
The triennial spring festival was the grandest festival in the entire kingdom. It had almost everything, ranging from a variety of food stands to the many performances that people get to watch. They also get to meet THE King Yonghoon in person because he always goes around walking past the many attractions and greeting the people. Everyone loved the king. He had never been unjust and always put his people before him.
The dragon show was one of the most anticipated events. Ju Harin and Kim Gunhak were the two biggest names and people were always eager to see what their dragons had in store. Not only those two, but there were also other trainers like No Jeonghun and Choi Sangyeop. But people always wanted to see Harin and Gunhak the most.
“I see you have a new dragon on your team,” Gunhak acknowledged when he was talking to Harin.
“Yeah, found him in a meadow. He’s one of a kind,” the trainer mused.
Gunhak hummed. “You seem to be fond of him.”
Harin shrugged. “He’s different, if you can’t tell.”
Leedo nodded as he took a swig of his drink. “Definitely a special one. Did the others give him a hard time?”
Harin sighed. “Mostly the twins, Giwook has been very kind though.”
“Ah,” was all Gunhak said. “I’m not surprised. The twins seem to be quite full of themselves.”
Harin huffed as he watched the current performance: Sangyeop’s dragon, Wonsang, playing with a dog.
“I just hope Hyungu doesn’t get affected by it too much.”
The two continued their chit chat whilst the dragons prepared themselves. Giwook donned his signature armour that he uses in his performances. The twins adorned colourful feathers arranged on their bodies. Meanwhile, Hyungu just wore a simple saddle on his back. He had to thank Giwook for his connections. If not, he wouldn’t have gotten this saddle.
“So what’s the saddle for?” Dongmyeong asked when he spotted Hyungu. “Are you gonna take the king around the kingdom by sky?”
“Something like that,” Hyungu replied, not wanting to explain his plan further.
If dragons had brows, you could see the yellow dragon quirk a brow before bursting into laughter.
“Hate to break it to you, but someone already did that before you,” he mentioned before strutting away to talk to Hwanwoong, one of Gunhak’s dragons.
Hyungu ignored him for now, fully knowing that wasn’t his only intent.
King Yonghoon sat in his booth with his advisor and noblemen, gaping at all the performances in awe. Despite the fact some performances were repetitive or carried the same theme, he somehow never got bored of them. He always seemed so excited like a little kid when he watched the dragons.
Currently it was one of Gunhak’s dragons performing. Youngjo is a large dragon with deep purple scales. His fire was a unique shade of blue and he had mastered the ability to create different shapes and forms with the fire. This year, he presented a large form of Yonghoon, which made the king squeal in delight.
He seems amazing , Hyung thought.
“Youngjo’s quite amazing huh,” a dragon remarked behind him. He looked somewhat similar to Dongmyeong, but his scales were a lot paler shade of yellow, making him seem almost ghost-like.
When Hyungu turned to the dragon, he yelped.
“Merlin’s beard, I thought you had no eyes!” He shrieked, a bit too loud cause all the other dragons were staring now. Hyungu gave the lanky dragon a glare as he shied away from the gazes on him.
“Sorry,” he squeaked. “I didn’t mean to draw attention.”
He seemed genuine. He really meant no harm.
“I’m uh, I’m Keonhee by the way.”
“Hyungu,” he muttered. He tried to seem nice to Keonhee, though he worried it came off as cold.
“Are you from Harin’s group?” Keonhee asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s awesome!” He exclaimed. “Harin’s a very good trainer, Gunhak told me.”
A bell tolling indicated the next performance. Keonhee’s ears perked up.
“Oh, that’s my cue. I’ll see you around, Hyungu!”
He flew off to a smaller dragon, whom he guessed was Hwanwoong since Dongmyeong mentioned him offhandedly earlier.
‘Oh they’re a duo.’
Their performance seemed to be similar to what the twins had in store, dancing with some flames. The only difference is that there was a size difference that played into their element. Hyungu found their chemistry amazing, with them giving the most discreet cues that he managed to catch. He was drawn in by them.
“Not as good as ours,” Dongmyeong scoffed. He heard Dongju hum in agreement.
Performance after performance went by. There were singing dragons (one of them being Gunhak’s dragon, Seoho), Dancer dragons (Dongju and Dongmyeong amazed spectators with their amazing fireballs that wrapped around them and created a masterpiece with their fluid mix of yellow and red scales dancing around each other (Hyungu hated to admit, but they were impressive)), and dragons who fly through many complicated obstacle courses (Giwook caused a bit of a scene with rogue fireballs but luckily no one got hurt). Everything felt like they went by so fast, Hyungu didn’t realize it was already his turn.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped out to the crowd, circling around before landing next to Harin.
“What is it?” the man asked.
“Get on,” Hyungu whispered. Confused, Harin climbed onto the saddle and held onto the reins. Hyungu then launched up to the booth where the king sat, startling him and almost making him fall back.
“Hop on, your majesty.”
Yonghoon widened his eyes at the invitation but didn’t decline it. With the help of his advisor, he got onto Hyungu’s back and held onto Harin.
‘This is probably the closest I would get to the king,’ Harin thought.
Hyungu launched off into the air, circling around the crowd once before flying off. The entire time King Yonghoon held on tight to Harin, perhaps squeezing him a bit too much.
“Where are we going?” Harin tried shouting.
“You’ll see!” With that, Hyungu started to fly higher and higher.
Harin was about to shout at the dragon again, telling him that they can’t breathe at such height. But did it need to be said? He barely felt the air thinning.
The sun was already setting in the horizon. Hyungu watched it dip down as he flew higher.
“This is amazing!” Yonghoon shouted. “Everything is so small!”
“Wait till we get higher, your majesty,” Hyungu replied as he flew higher and higher, till the sky got dark and the stars surrounded them.
It’s like their breaths were taken away. It was as if the stars surrounded them and greeted them as they flew up. Yonghoon widened his eyes realizing where they were. In the sky among the stars: the thing he always dreamt of.
Hyungu flew around the starry sky and he couldn't help but laugh to himself, feeling that sense of euphoria all over again.
“Hyungu!”
“WOAH!”
He didn’t even realize as he laughed, he breathed out stars
Hyungu stopped for a moment, processing what just happened. He tried breathing again, watching the sparkling lights burst out and creating a swirl of colours and light.
“You’re a space dragon,” Yonghoon breathed out.
“Harin, what you got here is one of the most ancient kinds of dragons in existence.
Harin stared at Hyungu in disbelief. The dragon himself couldn’t believe what he heard either. He grew up unaware of his origins. He never knew he was such a… special kind of dragon.
“You’re really one of a kind, Hyungu.”
