The sea breeze tickled Minjun's face. Intense sunlight poured over the vast, shadeless ocean. A haze boiled off the heated water, and the silhouettes of the priest and the dragon shimmered incessantly. Their eyes met Minjun's.
Looking at them, Minjun felt a strange sense of disconnect. Just moments ago, he had been in a meditative state, turning his consciousness entirely inward. It was no wonder his inner world and reality now bled together. What he had just experienced felt real, while his current physical surroundings felt like a dream.
The purpose of the deep immersion that had induced this disorientation was to observe Adkiel.
The influence the shadow monster had exerted on his mind just before their leap from the world of the Stanians could not be taken lightly.
‘I can't guarantee something similar won't happen again.’
Minjun tried to grasp the current state of the monster filling him—specifically, the part that had coexisted with him the longest.
But unlike the time it had acted with a clear sense of self, Adkiel was completely dormant now. It was nothing more than a monster that obeyed orders, easily transferring its fierce hostility to whatever target Minjun designated.
Just as he was about to give up, a voice rang out from the physical world.
"—!"
Opening his eyes, Minjun realized a beat later that it was a dragon's voice.
Ha Eun-seong spoke with an exhausted expression.
"I searched all around, but I couldn't find anything resembling a dragon Lair."
"Is that so?"
Hearing that the ghost had used up his daily limit for astral projection, Minjun fell into thought. Watching his creditor, Ha Eun-seong felt a jarring sense of distance.
The scene he had witnessed in the previous dimension remained fresh in his mind. It had been literal, god-like power. The man sitting before him felt closer to a transcendent being than a human.
But immediately after the dimensional leap, Minjun had returned to his usual self. His face was strangely lethargic, stiff, and entirely unreadable.
Ha Eun-seong realized it belatedly. Come to think of it... he didn't think he had ever seen the agent smile. Not even on Earth.
Just then, as if reaching a conclusion, Minjun raised his head. He pushed off his knees and stood from the "blue-gray floor" he had been sitting on. The ground beneath his feet squirmed with the elasticity of rubber.
"I'm at a loss since I've never been to this dimension either. All I know about this place... is that quite a few dragons live here."
"Are you saying the fragment or treasure we need to recover isn't here?"
"It isn't."
"Then why come all the way here...?"
"I told you. Quite a few dragons live here."
"...?"
Minjun replied with his usual expressionless face that this was just a dimension they were briefly "stopping by," but Ha Eun-seong couldn't understand.
Why had he ordered him to find a dragon Lair the second they arrived?
"On Earth, spying was easy because I knew the locations of all the Lairs. But an original dragon's nest is hard to distinguish from the outside. Besides, you were roaming around as a spiritual body, right? Let's change our method."
"How?"
"Dragons are inherently territorial animals. They set up barriers quite far from their Lairs to detect anyone approaching. This time, instead of using your spiritual body, fly around in your dragon state."
"You want me to be bait?"
"Right. If you can't find them, it's better to let them find you. If an unfamiliar dragon wanders near their territory, they'll react."
Ha Eun-seong let out a faint sigh. Following his previous stints as a hunting dog and a personal vehicle, he was now relegated to a worm on a fishhook. It was hard to tell if his role was evolving or devolving.
Even so, unable to suppress his curiosity, he asked.
"Why are you looking for a dragon in the first place?"
Minjun looked down at the floor he stood on without answering. The eyes of the priest and the dragon naturally followed his gaze.
They were currently floating in the middle of the ocean, but they were not aboard a ship or anything of the sort. They hadn't even brought one.
Last night, a new island with a six-kilometer radius had formed in this sea. It was an island shaped with twenty-six jutting, sharp spikes, composed of flesh and blood instead of soil and rock.
Dell had successfully guided them through the dimensional leap, but this time, she passed out cold before she could even attempt to Polymorph.
And so, unconscious, she had been floating on the seawater ever since.
‘Dell...’
Minjun's eyes darkened with worry.
His ex-wife was rapidly losing her life force. She had leaped across dimensions again before her body could recover, and the immense pressure of the transit had worsened her condition.
He needed a solution. There was a limit to the recovery Yumtus could provide. The only fundamental fix was to supply her with raw, vital life force.
And Minjun knew exactly what substance contained the most abundant life force.
‘Dragon blood.’
However, due to past selective breeding, dragon blood acted as a deadly poison to most races. The same applied to Endelion. Therefore, he couldn't feed it to Dell directly.
But that didn't mean there was no way at all.
For Dell's sake, and for his own, Minjun needed a dragon right now.
‘Does he just not want to answer?’
Ha Eun-seong didn't know yet—he was unaware that Minjun's dietary habits had changed since they first met.
Instead of answering, Minjun signaled Yumtus with his eyes. The priest held out one of the Coffins he always carried. Ha Eun-seong didn't even know how many were full and how many were empty. However, seeing as Gulesh had been transported in one from the world of the Stanians, its purpose was clear. It was a kind of life-support device.
A moment later, when Yumtus opened the Coffin's lid, Ha Eun-seong recoiled in shock.
"Gasp!"
That person was—!
"Raymond Wong?!"
He couldn't possibly fail to recognize that Ancient Dragon. He had lived in hiding at his Hong Kong mansion for quite a while, after all. But wait, hadn't he heard that this dragon was a powerful shadow figure pulling the strings of Hong Kong's political and business spheres? They had been dragging the de facto ruler of Hong Kong around stuffed inside a Coffin this whole time?!
Ha Eun-seong blurted out a question.
"If that guy goes missing, won't it cause an uproar on Earth?"
Even if it caused an uproar, would it compare to the aftermath of his own prison break? Judging on an interdimensional scale, at least.
Thinking so, Minjun muttered dryly.
"I handled it by making it look like he holed up in his Lair for a sudden hibernation period. I delegated all his decision-making authority, voting rights, and right to run for office to Jenkinson."
Raymond, maintaining his human Polymorph, opened his eyes. His complexion was strangely pale. Minjun noted that the dragon's life force had also plummeted to rock bottom—the result of relying solely on this Ancient Dragon for nutritional supplementation all this time.
"I'm told the mainland is that way. Go fill your belly. Let me know if any other dragons appear."
"Understood."
Raymond transformed into a Lightning Dragon and took off. Even in flight, he staggered, drained of strength. Ha Eun-seong could hardly tear his eyes away from the retreating figure, which was entirely devoid of the majesty and vigor of an Ancient Dragon.
"Are you feeding him and using him as bait at the same time?"
"Yeah. You just need to fly in the opposite direction from Raymond."
Resigned, Ha Eun-seong lowered his neck. And waited.
"...?"
After an awkward silence, Minjun asked.
"...What are you doing?"
"...Aren't you getting on?"
"What are you talking about? Why would I ride you? I'm heading in a different direction, so let's split up. Overlapping our paths is inefficient, and riding you would only slow your flight speed."
Embarrassed, Ha Eun-seong spread his wings and took off. Once airborne, he felt puzzled by his own expectation.
Why had he assumed he needed to carry his master... no, his creditor, instead of flying alone into a strange and distant land?
It was incomprehensible. Tilting his head in confusion, Ha Eun-seong glided toward the mainland, ready to dutifully play his role as bait.
*
Ha Eun-seong flew in his dragon body along the exact route he had just traversed in his ghost state.
He flew on like that for quite some time.
Crackle!
A subtle sensation he hadn't felt in his ghost state brushed against his dragon nerves. He instantly realized he had touched a magical "line" forming a barrier.
Was this the tripwire for uninvited guests that Minjun had mentioned?
Just then, a telepathic wave echoed from somewhere unseen.
=You!=
Ha Eun-seong tensed up. This was his first time encountering an unfamiliar dragon in an outer world. Slowly reducing his speed, he waited for the local dragon to reveal itself. All the while, he fully intended to call Minjun the moment it appeared.
But then.
=No way, here?=
A brief silence followed, as if the entity were observing him.
=What the... it really is you. Hey, aren't you the youngest?=
‘Huh?’
It was an unexpected reaction. Only then did Ha Eun-seong realize that the telepathic wave striking his mind carried a different tone than a protest or a warning. At the very least, it wasn't the tone of someone halting a random trespasser.
=Wait right there. I'm heading over right now!=
‘...?!’
He froze and stared in the direction of the voice. A moment later, he spotted a single dragon flying swiftly over the horizon.
At first, Ha Eun-seong wondered if he was looking in a mirror.
The color of its scales, the length and bizarre twist of its horns, the exact shape of its wing membranes.
‘It looks just like this body!’
The body he was currently possessing.
A nameless dragon presumed to have been kidnapped from an outer world by the Ancient Dragon Changcheon—one whose identity Jenkinson had failed to uncover despite his best efforts.
A physical vessel he was inhabiting without any rejection, acting as if it were his own, because its original soul remained trapped in a deep slumber instead of recovering its energy.
The dragon flying toward him right now looked far too similar to this body.
‘Oh my god, could it be?!’
Tearing through the wind, the approaching dragon stopped in front of Ha Eun-seong. Seeing its size, the ghost deduced that the newcomer was young—around a hundred years old, just like the owner of this body. It didn't come close to the massive scale of the Ancient Dragons Minjun was hunting.
While Ha Eun-seong analyzed the situation, the dragon shouted gladly.
=Where in the world have you been all this time?=
Relying on his dragon body's innate authority, Ha Eun-seong replied with a telepathic wave of his own. He decided to make up a rough excuse.
=Ah, well, I had my reasons.=
This dragon definitely knew the owner of this body. No, they weren't just acquaintances. Given their identical features, they were close blood relatives. Ha Eun-seong felt a surge of extreme tension. Of all places, why here!
=What kind of reasons made you abandon your Lair and disappear?=
=Things... happened.=
=What things? You just went to the outer world to play. Do you know what we've been saying? There was even a theory that you got kidnapped by the Ancient Race. We thought it might be the first dragon kidnapping since the war ended.=
Though the mental chatter held excitement and anticipation, it lacked any real sense of worry.
Judging by traits like this, a dragon was still a dragon.
=Let's not stay up here. Let's go down and talk. My Lair is nearby.=
That wouldn't do. The longer he dragged this out, the higher his chances of being exposed. Right now, Ha Eun-seong didn't even know how he was supposed to address this guy.
=No, I'm a bit busy right now...=
=What are you talking about? No matter how busy you are, you don't have a moment to chat with the older brother you haven't seen in decades?!=
So it was his older brother.
That answered one question.
But it also cemented his certainty that he shouldn't get tangled up with him for long. His thoughts raced as he searched for an excuse. This dragon didn't meet the conditions Minjun was looking for, and Ha Eun-seong lacked the confidence to handle the situation alone. He quietly activated the artifact his creditor had given him.
At that moment.
=...=
Ha Eun-seong could now read a dragon's expressions to some extent.
In a flash, he saw a cold smile flit across the face of the nameless dragon before him.
=Anyway, you're always so quick to catch on.=
=...?!=
=Is it so hard to hand over a present to your older brother before you go? Scheming to run away the second you see my face.=
The atmosphere shifted in an instant.
The cheerful, conversational attitude from a moment ago vanished. Ha Eun-seong slowly widened the distance between them, preparing to flee at a moment's notice. As he did, he asked cautiously.
=...A present?=
=What else could it be.=
The dragon no longer hid its intentions. Its gaze was closer to a predator sizing up prey than a sibling looking at blood kin. Baring its sharp teeth, it growled. Delight and an absolute refusal to let its target slip away flashed in its eyes.
Having finished its hunting preparations, the dragon lunged forward, radiating violent intent.
The moment he heard those next words, Ha Eun-seong learned that the Committee paid out bounties even to ordinary entities other than prisoners if they met special conditions. At the same time, he felt his long-forgotten disgust for dragons boiling up once again.
=Naturally, it's the one million Talent bounty on your head!=
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