There was a crisp crack as a bone slipped out of joint, followed by a man’s scream, ragged with pain.
“Arghhhh!”
“I-Is this bastard crazy?!”
“Hey! Let go!”
“…You hit me first. This is self-defense.”
Normally, I would’ve let it slide just because dealing with it was a hassle, but I’d just been forced through a mismatched Guiding session—my stomach was churning and my mood was foul. I didn’t feel like enduring it anymore.
So I fought back for the first time, and it didn’t feel as bad as I thought it would.
“Y-You little…!”
One of the Espers, pissed off, yanked a small knife from inside his jacket and lunged.
Kim Wooju stared blankly at the blade.
It would hurt a bit, sure, but something like that wouldn’t kill him.
Just like they said, he was an S-rank shield—a literal Esper with insane regeneration.
'…Which is exactly the problem… All I’ve got is regeneration…'
Among Espers, Kim Wooju was basically a walking punching bag.
He could recover, but his offensive power was pathetic.
Yes, he was S-rank, so his basic physical stats were good—but that was it.
If several came at once, all he could do was stand there and take it.
Which is why those who held grudges against other arrogant, obnoxious S-ranks often used him as a vent just because he was also S-rank.
Normally they would’ve settled it with fists, but apparently the broken arm he’d given one of them stuck in their craw. Hence the knife.
If he dodged, they’d just keep coming.
What a pain. Just take it and be done.
“You’re dead!”
The Esper rushed in and drove the knife straight into Wooju’s abdomen. A tidal wave of pain followed.
Wooju swallowed once and looked down at his belly, where blood was pulsing out in thick gouts.
The color drained from his already vacant face until he went pale.
He stared dully at the knife sticking out of him, then, as if it were nothing, pulled it free.
Blood splattered, but Wooju didn’t care.
He’d had his fill of this kind of pain in dungeons he’d been shoved into.
Right now, removing them from his sight took priority.
What a hassle. I want to sleep. I didn’t want to trade another word with them.
“…All right, my turn, yeah?”
Wooju rolled only his eyes to regard the men in front of him, blank as ever.
Maybe they sensed the madness flickering behind that vacant gaze; the men began to back away.
“T-That monster!”
“H-Hey! Run!”
Luckily, the scare seemed to work. With a “you’ll get yours” tossed over their shoulders, they scattered.
Watching them go, Wooju’s messy breath was just beginning to even out when the ground under his feet started to tremble.
'This feeling…'
For the first time, a flicker of disconcertment crossed his eyes.
A quake had started without anyone noticing, and a fissure opened in the ground.
This crack was no ordinary thing.
Wooju hurried to step outside the split—but the light welling up from it swallowed him first.
“Ugh.”
The blinding light that devoured him slowly faded, and the fissure sealed as if the earth had never shaken.
All that remained there was the red blood Wooju had spilled, soaking into the ground.
***
“Screeeam!”
“It’s a dragon! Run, everyone!”
How many times was this now?
With bored eyes I watched the intruders panic and flee.
It had been months since I became the dungeon’s boss; I was used to this routine.
There were more visitors to my Gate than I’d expected from the webtoon.
Their reactions were always the same. Freak out and run.
At first I’d wanted to talk to them, but the way they bolted the moment I showed myself made me give up on conversation and start observing instead.
Curiously, they came into this dungeon through a white portal, and left through a white portal.
Wanting to escape the dungeon myself, I tried stepping into the portal they used—but, annoyingly, something like an invisible wall blocked me from going out.
“Groo.”
I shut my mouth at my own draconic roar and let out a long sigh.
The biggest reason they ran from me was this appearance.
Despite my will to become human, I still couldn’t do it.
Every other magic worked, but for some reason, Polymorph was the one spell I couldn’t use.
If there was any silver lining, it was that I could at least freely adjust my size while in dragon form.
Without that, I’d have been stuck huge and helpless, unable to do anything.
'I’m bored. What am I doing today.'
Life in the dungeon wasn’t much.
Animals and monsters alike bolted or hid in terror the instant they saw me, so I was always alone.
If I got hungry, I’d catch fish in the river or hunt animals and roast them. Day in, day out—that was my routine lately.
'I want to watch TV. I want to play games. Ah, my smartphone… I’ve got webtoons piled up to read…'
How long was I going to live this tedious dungeon life…?
Might as well have the protagonist show up already.
Even if it put my life in danger, at least I wouldn’t be bored.
What point in the timeline was it now?
How much longer until the hero showed up before my eyes?
I was spacing out when I felt an alien ripple of Mana.
'Again…'
Flat on my back, staring at the sky, I slowly moved to get up at the presence.
“Grah, grah!”
'Damn…'
No—tried to get up.
I’d forgotten I’d left my body small.
With front and hind legs so short they were stubs, getting up from the ground was impossible.
After flailing on my back, I finally rolled sideways and managed to scramble upright.
'Ugh, this grass…'
Rolling through the meadow had left my whole body plastered with bits of grass.
I stretched a forepaw to brush off the blades clinging to my scales, sighed when my short legs couldn’t reach, and flapped my wings.
Fine. Forget it and go.
I didn’t want to enlarge just to shake off grass. Flying would knock it loose on its own.
First, check the intruder.
Let’s see what kind this one is.
The people who entered this dungeon fell into two categories:
Those who saw a small dragon and tried to hunt it, and those who realized I was a dragon and turned to run.
Which kind would it be this time?
Intrigued, I beat my wings hard and headed toward the place where the Mana disturbance had flared.
“Grrrr.”
Blood.
This was a first.
The closer I drew, the stronger the smell of blood became, and I wrinkled my snout.
Who the hell was splashing blood all over my territory?
Ever since my body became a dragon, I felt more sensitive to the scent of blood than I had as a human.
Face scrunched, I followed the trail.
'…That man!'
A man with striking blond hair and red eyes.
His features were fine-lined—not the rugged kind of handsome; at a glance you might mistake him for a woman, that’s how pretty he was.
There was something about that vacant gaze, too—an odd, luring charm.
What startled me about this doll-faced beauty, however, wasn’t the looks.
He was younger than in the webtoon, but there was no way I wouldn’t recognize him.
The villain of this world, the one who becomes the boss of the baddies—Kim Wooju.
Why on earth was Kim Wooju here?
And bleeding like that from the belly?
Even in the webtoon, Wooju entering this dungeon never happened. No wonder I was thrown.
'He’s the sprout that will threaten the protagonist… Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of him now?'
His stomach must’ve been injured; the stench of blood was harsh from his abdomen.
Faced with a villain looking so weak, I wavered for the future hero’s sake.
Right now, I could probably deal with him easily…
'…What is he even doing?'
Wooju sat blankly propped against a tree, showing no sign he intended to heal the wound.
If it were me, I’d stop the bleeding first. What was he doing just sitting there? Planning to die like that?
No. He wouldn’t die.
I shook my head.
Stupid thought.
In the webtoon, he was practically immortal.
With recovery far beyond others and Esper power stronger than most—and, on top of that, a rotten personality—he wasn’t some extra like me, but the proper villain who kept injecting tension into the story.
He wouldn’t die that easily.