“Taxi with a Dragon"
By 1204stars202503
“A dragon? You mean the winged, fire-breathing, legendary one?”
“No, they don't breathe fire, environmental regulations these days.”
I turned my head from the passenger seat of the taxi. In the backseat sat a man in a suit-no, a dragon, to be exact, a monstrous creature whose scaly forehead was barely covered by a cloth cap.
“I have to move. Seoul to Busan. No flying, Human Statute 87, paragraph 3. You know that, right?”
“No, I don't. I'm just a substitute pilot.”
“That's why I'm asking. I'll pay you in gold bars.”
I saw no reason to refuse. No, gold bars.
As we passed through the Seoul tollbooth, the dragon quietly began to forget about the candy. Once we were out of the city center, he suddenly opened the car window, stuck his head out, and exclaimed
“Wow, look at the smell, it doesn't smell like human poop!”
“We're in Chungcheong Province, it's a rice field.”
“This smells good. You know how they always say 'cities are civilization,' but have you ever smelled a city? It smells like iron, soot, and stale human sweat. It sucks.”
“I don't like cities either, but I have to commute.”
He was silent for a moment, then nodded. “That's being human.”
Stopping at a highway rest stop, Dragon bought an impromptu walnut snack and popped seventy into his mouth on the spot. Wiping his mouth, he said.
“Human food is amazing. It doesn't taste good, but I'm addicted.”
“That's MSG.”
As the car passed through the Busan toll gate, he pulled out his cell phone. There were dozens of messages: “Brother, you're still hiding,” “Moxibustion for government officials,” “Share your granite scales,” and more.
“I'm emigrating. To Iceland. They still treat me like a dragon there.”
He said, thrusting a gold bar into my hand before getting out of the car.
“Sell this to pay for gas, and when civilization falls apart, call me and we'll farm together.”
And then, quietly, very quietly, he spread his wings from his back and took to the sky.
“I thought you said no flying!”
I heard him shout in the distance.
“The law only applies to humans!”
Story Content
“A dragon?
You mean the winged, fire-breathing, legendary one?”
“No, they don't breathe fire, environmental regulations these days.”
I turned my head from the passenger seat of the taxi.
In the backseat sat a man in a suit-no, a dragon, to be exact, a monstrous creature whose scaly forehead was barely covered by a cloth cap.
“I have to move.
Seoul to Busan.
No flying, Human Statute 87, paragraph 3.
You know that, right?”
“No, I don't.
I'm just a substitute pilot.”
“That's why I'm asking.
I'll pay you in gold bars.”
I saw no reason to refuse.
No, gold bars.
As we passed through the Seoul tollbooth, the dragon quietly began to forget about the candy.
Once we were out of the city center, he suddenly opened the car window, stuck his head out, and exclaimed
“Wow, look at the smell, it doesn't smell like human poop!”
“We're in Chungcheong Province, it's a rice field.”
“This smells good.
You know how they always say 'cities are civilization,' but have you ever smelled a city?
It smells like iron, soot, and stale human sweat.
It sucks.”
“I don't like cities either, but I have to commute.”
He was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“That's being human.”
Stopping at a highway rest stop, Dragon bought an impromptu walnut snack and popped seventy into his mouth on the spot.
Wiping his mouth, he said.
“Human food is amazing.
It doesn't taste good, but I'm addicted.”
“That's MSG.”
As the car passed through the Busan toll gate, he pulled out his cell phone.
There were dozens of messages: “Brother, you're still hiding,” “Moxibustion for government officials,” “Share your granite scales,” and more.
“I'm emigrating.
To Iceland.
They still treat me like a dragon there.”
He said, thrusting a gold bar into my hand before getting out of the car.
“Sell this to pay for gas, and when civilization falls apart, call me and we'll farm together.”
And then, quietly, very quietly, he spread his wings from his back and took to the sky.
“I thought you said no flying!”
I heard him shout in the distance.
“The law only applies to humans!”
