Chapter 31: Dragon

Han-gyeol sent a message to Seo-hyun through his smartphone when she didn’t show up, even after some time had passed.

But still, she didn’t come.

And class was just about to start.

‘What is she doing? Skipping class? No, she’s not the type to do that.’

Just as he was thinking that.

BOOOOOM!

–Kyaaaaah!

“What, what was that…!?”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know! There was just this sound…!”

With a sudden explosion, all the students who had been sitting down for the lecture turned their eyes to the outside.

That was when Han-gyeol sensed something was wrong.

A sudden, thunderous sound.

Screams from people.

Something definitely unusual was happening.

Han-gyeol immediately left the lecture room.

Well, so did the other students.

He ran.

He needed to find out what was going on.

It was probably something related to Seo-hyun.

That girl who was always so obsessively punctual wouldn’t be late to class without a reason.

She was practically obsessed with not missing class—so for her not to show up at all?

Something definitely happened.

And judging by the sound of that explosion and the screams, it had to be something related to a mutant.

When he got outside, he headed toward the source of the commotion.

Not far from the Humanities College, he saw something with the head of a goat.

And across from it—he saw Seo-hyun.

It looked like they were talking, but Han-gyeol couldn’t hear what they were saying.

The goat-headed thing looked furious.

Suddenly, it summoned black flames and formed a terrifying fireball.

If a normal person got hit by that, they’d be turned to ashes in an instant.

Han-gyeol felt a cold sweat run down his back.

‘…Can she win against that?’

He knew full well that the breath Seo-hyun had shown before was no joke.

But the black fireball created by that goat-headed monster didn’t look like a joke either.

From the heat radiating off the black flames, sweat began to pour down Han-gyeol’s face.

He knew he had to get out of there.

There was no way he was going to get caught up in this and die for nothing.

The fact that Seo-hyun was standing her ground like that must mean she was confident in herself.

That’s what he thought as he began to turn away.

But right then.

Seo-hyun let out a sigh and stretched out her palm, absorbing all of the black flames in an instant.

‘I worried for nothing.’

Feeling oddly relieved, he began moving again to get away.

But then.

VROOOOOM!

The ground suddenly shook with a deep vibration.

A radiant light began to engulf Seo-hyun’s body.

The sphere of light started growing rapidly, and the shockwave it released rattled the surroundings.

“What… what is that now…?”

Han-gyeol stopped in his tracks and stared at Seo-hyun.

The light expanding from her body was growing into a massive size.

As tall as a high-rise building.

And the moment the light vanished—he saw it.

“…A dragon.”

A massive, overwhelmingly imposing dragon, covered in black scales.

There was nothing left of the Seo-hyun he remembered.

Just a terrifying presence so immense it made his knees weak and sent a chill through his entire body.

The demon stared at the being before him.

When he first heard that a dragon-type mutant had appeared, he thought he could easily defeat it.

After all, he was a demon.

He wielded immense power.

He could command the flames of hell, and nothing—mutant or not—had ever survived when he unleashed them.

The first people he ever killed after becoming a demon were his parents.

Ironically, his parents had been good people.

They just didn’t have much.

The demon hated that.

He blamed them for how he turned out.

His mutation hadn’t turned him evil.

He had always been twisted at his core.

He believed that his parents ruined his life just by giving birth to him.

So he killed them.

And as they lay dying, they said they were sorry.

But the demon didn’t care.

Now he had the power to twist the world however he pleased.

After killing his parents, the next people he murdered were his manager and coworkers at his company.

He was always full of complaints, always twisting everything people said.

He took advice as mockery, genuine concern as meddling, and scolding as nagging from an out-of-touch old man.

The manager who had tried to help him, who looked after him like a junior colleague, ended up reduced to ashes in the demon’s hands.

The same went for his coworkers.

They were rare good people, but simply being associated with the demon made them targets of his twisted inferiority complex—and they died because of it.

That’s how the demon had killed quite a few people since his mutation.

Too many to count on ten fingers.

The authorities tried to stop him, but they failed.

Even the mutants who were sent to capture him ended up as nothing more than ash in his wake.

So he thought the dragon would be nothing special.

He figured he could subdue her easily, make her his slave.

She had a pretty face—so she’d be fun to toy with.

She looked talented, too.

But…

The moment he laid eyes on the enormous dragon, he realized something was terribly, deeply wrong.

It wasn’t just her size that overwhelmed him.

There was something terrifying about her presence.

Just looking at her made him feel like he had to bow his head to the ground, kneel, and offer his submission.

The pressure was so immense he couldn’t stay sane under it.

He felt his entire body tremble like a leaf.

And in that moment, he was sure.

That was no mere dragon.

It was something higher, a being so far beyond him that he didn’t even have the words to describe it.

Then, their eyes met.

The moment he locked eyes with the dragon, he dropped his head without thinking.

He couldn’t hear a voice, but his mind, his soul, whispered that he had to bow to this creature.

If he didn’t… he would die.

That was the feeling that consumed him.

Fear consumed his entire body.

It felt like he had defied something that must never be defied.

When their eyes met, the only thing he felt—was death.

The pressure pressing down on him was growing stronger and stronger.

Dragon Fear.

The kind of pressure that could easily crush every living being within hundreds of meters, was focused entirely on one person: the demon.

He thought he could resist, at least a little.

But even when he closed his eyes, he could still feel the dragon’s gaze.

Under that colossal stare, he wasn’t a demon—he was nothing more than a bug.

His mind was crushed.

And he died.

That was his final thought.

I focused the Fear entirely on the demon.

If I released it without control, I would’ve become a mass murderer in an instant.

Then I saw it, his trembling body went still.

He was dead.

His body was alive, but his mind was gone.

Did I really have to go this far…?

But no—this was the right way.

What if someone innocent had died while he was being transported?

What if I had shown mercy, and that led to another senseless tragedy?

I would never have been able to forgive myself.

I know I shouldn’t kill.

But if I hadn’t killed him, he would have gone on to massacre countless others.

I had seen it.

I had seen what he really was.

He was hideous to the core.

Maybe… even more than a demon.

The moment our eyes met, I knew.

If I let him live, he would deal with the humiliation of being defeated—by killing someone.

He had accumulated far too many sins.

And in the end, he was crushed under the weight of them.

That’s what I chose to believe.

And suddenly, I realized I was a little scared of myself.

Even though I had just killed someone, my calm, rational mind made me realize, I had truly become something other than human.

I thought there would be at least a moment of hesitation, even if he was a monstrous villain…

But there was nothing.

Really, I felt absolutely nothing.

It was like crushing a bug.

Looking at the world through the eyes of a massive dragon, everything around me felt unbearably small.

I knew then.

I must never get used to this gaze.

The moment I do, I’ll truly become something inhuman.

Even after changing like this, I still intend to live as a person.

Because the world belongs to people.

And because there’s no guarantee that I won’t end up like that demon.

I don’t believe I should ever think of making humans kneel beneath me.

If humanity truly united its strength, they might even be able to capture or kill me.

That’s why I choose to live as a person.

I don’t want to become a fugitive.

I don’t want to drift away from my family.

My mouth tasted bitter.

I let go of the tension in my body.

The overwhelming power that had surged through me now quietly returned to the depths within.

At the same time, my view lowered.

Back in my human form, I suddenly felt a chill.

…Ah.

My clothes.

They were completely torn apart.

Even Jin-ha’s outfit couldn’t handle the size of my dragon body, after all.

My smartphone had probably disappeared somewhere, too.

This… really wasn’t great.

For now, I covered myself as best I could with my large wings and tail.

That should be enough.

Someone’s bound to come after hearing the explosion.

I’ll just ask them to bring me some clothes.

…This is incredibly embarrassing.

Still, I doubt anyone would have weird thoughts seeing me like this.

A moment ago, a dragon as big as a sports field was in the middle of a university.

Who would even think anything weird after that?

That’s when it happened.

Something began wriggling, clinging to my body.

…Huh?

I looked down in surprise.

It was the clothes Jin-ha had made for me.

The fabric, which must have been torn into thousands of pieces, was slowly reattaching itself to my body.

Before long, it had reformed into my usual, neat everyday outfit.

…Even my smartphone, somehow, was sitting gently tucked into the pocket—like it had never been lost.

It was incredible.

At this point, the clothes were practically a divine artifact.

Just as the outfit finished restoring itself, I saw someone approaching me.

Who else could it be?

It was Agent Choi Jeong-ho.

“…This is—”

“That was the demon.”

“What happened to him?”

“His body’s alive, but his mind is gone. He’s become a husk… You can just think of him as dead.”

“I had no choice. If I had let him go, he would’ve killed countless people. Even if I had subdued him and handed him over to you, he would’ve just escaped easily. And then, well… You know what would’ve happened next, don’t you?”

“…Thank you. By the way… are you alright?”

“I’m fine. But that’s why I’m not fine.”

“…If you think about it, I’m basically a killer now. Am I going to be put on trial for this?”

At my words, the agent shook his head.

“No. That won’t happen. What just happened was a situation where immediate termination was authorized. It was an emergency, and we came here fully prepared to kill him… Of course, if anyone was going to die, it probably would’ve been us.”

Then, he gave a bitter smile.

“That’s a relief.”

“…You did well.”

“But still, I doubt the people at the top are going to just sit back and stay quiet about this. They’re not the kind to overlook how much of a threat someone like me could be, are they?”

“I’ll do what I can to report to my superiors that you’re not a dangerous individual, Seo-hyun. I do have some authority in that area.”

“That’s a relief. Anyway… things are going to be a headache for a while.”

Then I saw them, two people running toward me from far off.

It was my younger sister, Seo-ah, and Han-gyeol.