WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈

Chapter 4: Oppa Really Is a Genius.

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When a girlfriend asks, “Oppa, is the celebrity on TV prettier, or am I prettier?” every man probably knows the kind of situation that makes men break out in a cold sweat, even if they have never seen it happen in person.

I had laughed a few times watching things like that on TV, too.

But now it was no longer funny.

When I watched it before, I had thought it was just comedy. Now, it had become a documentary.

‘Oppa. Do I look better like this, or did I look better before I reincarnated?’

It was a question that made my chest tighten.

And she was not even comparing herself to another woman.

It was Sia before reincarnation versus Sia after reincarnation.

In a way, Sia was preparing to fight herself.

And I was the shrimp caught in the middle, getting my back broken for no reason.

‘What am I supposed to say?’

First, I needed to think as objectively as possible.

Human Sia before reincarnation had definitely been pretty.

It was not just me who thought so. Most people who knew Sia would have agreed.

But Sia's current appearance was overwhelmingly beautiful.

Beautiful enough that even famous actresses known for their looks would not want to stand beside her.

Yeah. To be honest, the answer was already clear.

Her current face was much prettier.

But what if I said that outright?

‘Oppa, then what about the old me? Are you saying I did not look good back then?’

What if I said her old appearance was better instead?

‘Don't lie, oppa. Do you think I wouldn't know that?’

Trapped with no way forward or back, I quickly racked my brain for an answer Sia would like.

What should I do? Would saying both were pretty sound too insincere?

No, judging by Sia's current state, she might actually be happy with that answer, but it was a gamble.

‘That isn't a sure thing, so should I change the subject a little?’

Maybe that could work.

Or...

Right. Let me think from Sia's perspective.

‘If I were Sia, what answer would I want to hear...?’

I imagined myself as Sia and thought about what I would want to hear from the man I loved.

After quickly sorting out my thoughts, I swallowed and opened my mouth.

“Sia. Oppa doesn't mind either way. You're really pretty both ways, but if I had to choose, I think your old appearance might be a little better to me because I'm more used to it. But.”

“But?”

Sia perked up her ears.

“I'd recommend that you keep whichever appearance you think would make other women more jealous.”

“The appearance that would make other women jealous? What does that mean, oppa?”

Perhaps because it was not the answer she had expected, Sia tilted her head.

Good. It was random, but I had successfully blurred the point with something that piqued her curiosity.

Now I just had to land the finishing blow.

“I hope you choose the appearance that makes other women think, ‘I wouldn't dare try to steal a man dating someone that pretty.’ I'm a man, so I don't really know what kind of female face women think is pretty...”

“Oppa.”

Before I could even finish, Sia cut me off.

For a moment, I worried that she did not like my answer, but the thrilled note in her voice and the crescent shape of Sia's eyes told me otherwise.

“Oppa, you're a total genius.”

* * *

‘Do I look better like this, or did I look better before I reincarnated?’

Sia had asked Minjun that question with completely innocent intentions.

She did not care which one Minjun chose.

No, she would not have minded a third option, either.

Sia simply wanted to live with the appearance that best suited Minjun's physical ideal type.

After all, she was a dragon who could use magic like Polymorph as casually as eating a meal.

‘So wouldn't it be better to look however oppa would like more?’

But unlike what Sia intended, Minjun gave her a rather strange answer.

‘He wants me to use the face that would make other women more jealous?’

Not the appearance oppa liked more, nor the face I thought looked better, but the face other women would be jealous of?

Sia could not understand it at all.

‘What is oppa trying to say? Is he telling me to make myself pretty on my own?’

But the moment she heard Minjun's next answer, a thrill ran through her whole body.

‘Use a face that women, not men, consider pretty. That way, other women won't boldly try to seduce me.’

That was how Sia understood Minjun's words.

‘Why didn't I think of that?’

Oppa was right. I need to stop those shameless vixens from getting close to him.

Would I let other women make a move on oppa, who had not forgotten me for a year and had even personally packed tteokbokki on the anniversary of my death?

Absolutely not.

With that one sentence, Sia was able to confirm Minjun's feelings for her.

However.

There was one thing Minjun had overlooked.

The more beautiful Sia was, the higher the caliber of women who would desire him would become.

‘Depending on how I look, the caliber of women who come onto oppa will change.’

Sia did not care at all what other men thought of her face.

It was fine if they thought she was ugly, and it was fine if they thought she was pretty.

But other women would judge Minjun's value based on Sia's face.

If she was too pretty, they might think, ‘There must be a reason a woman like that is with him,’ and become interested.

She could not let that happen.

If someone was bold enough to come onto Minjun even while Sia looked like she did now, that woman would probably be just as beautiful or charming.

‘But if I use my appearance from when I was human... women that incredible probably won't come onto him. Yeah, this is right.’

The moment she sorted out her thoughts, her eyes curved like crescents.

‘But this alone isn't enough.’

What kind of person was her oppa, after all?

‘I'm sure that someday, no matter what I do, there'll be at least one woman who tries to seduce oppa.’

Her feminine intuition told her so.

‘I need to make more preparations. More. Changing my appearance? I can never feel safe with just that. Think of more ways, Jeong Sia. More, more. Squeeze your brain harder.’

Did Minjun have any idea that Sia was waging this quiet battle against herself?

No, he probably did not.

* * *

The operation was a huge success.

It seemed I had escaped that sudden crisis well. Sia smiled as though she liked my answer, then gave me a deep kiss on the cheek.

The moment her lips left my cheek, Sia immediately chanted a spell.

[Polymorph.]

I still was not used to seeing her chant magic without calculating a formula.

The moment she chanted the spell, a brilliant light wrapped around Sia.

Then the light faded.

As soon as it did, Sia stood before me in her human appearance.

She no longer had the striking red hair and bewitching beauty of a goddess.

Instead, she looked like the woman I had loved, with pure-looking long hair and round, gentle features.

“Oppa, am I pretty?”

“Do you even need to ask? Is there any woman in this world prettier than our Sia?”

But.

I had answered reflexively, yet I could not help wondering.

Of course, I did not care what she looked like.

Whether she looked like she had as a human or like she did now, the only thing that mattered was that Sia had miraculously returned alive.

Still, from my perspective, if I were a woman, I thought I would have been more jealous of the unrealistically beautiful red-haired Sia than this version of her.

Then why had Sia chosen her appearance from her former life?

‘Do dragons have different standards for judging human appearances? Or does she sincerely think the face she had when we first fell in love was prettier?’

My doubts were not completely settled, but I decided not to question Sia's choice any further.

No matter what she looked like, she was still my beautiful girlfriend, Sia.

Anyway.

“This really brings back old memories, doesn't it, oppa?”

We stood there holding hands, taking each other in.

For a long time.

Only after the warmth in our hands had fully passed to the other did we decide to go buy tteokbokki as planned.

Like we had said while eating tteokbokki earlier, two or three servings of tteokbokki were not enough to satisfy Sia now that she was a dragon.

Still holding my hand, Sia used Teleport.

In the blink of an eye, the view changed.

“Wow, it's been so long since I've been here.”

A secluded alley in a Seoul studio-apartment district.

As though she were lost in memories, Sia looked around at our surroundings.

To others, it was nothing more than an ordinary gray neighborhood of small rented rooms, but it held many memories for Sia and me.

Just as we had back then, we shared a light kiss in the secluded alley.

Afterward, we went outside and began looking for a decent tteokbokki place.

If we had had a regular restaurant, we would have headed there right away. But Sia had loved tteokbokki so much even back then that we did not always order it from the same place.

I walked leisurely, partly so Sia could look around the neighborhood again after so long.

Let's see. I was pretty sure a new tteokbokki place had opened somewhere around here recently.

After wandering around for over ten minutes, we found a tteokbokki shop that had opened not long ago.

“How can I help you?”

Seemingly unfamiliar with the menu boards of modern restaurants after so long, Sia looked over the menu posted on the wall.

While pressing herself close to me.

Then, after carefully looking over every item on the menu, Sia spoke to the part-time worker.

“We'll take ten servings of tteokbokki to go.”

...Did I hear that wrong?

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