Glory for Me, Too?
My life is absolutely fucked....
Park Geonwoo had resigned himself to everything, hoping only that the pain would be over quickly.
But right at that moment—
Wait, hold on... I'm from another world, aren't I? This can't be how it ends.
A single word flashed through his mind like a lightning strike: interest.
"E-excuse me! Dragon-nim!!"
"What is it, human?"
"You're—you're about to kill me because I made you lose interest, right?"
"That is so. I intend to crush you until nothing remains but a smear."
"Th-then... what if I offer you information you might find interesting?"
"Ohh...? So you would struggle for your very life?"
Goddammit!!!
Not getting through to her?
No. Absolutely not.
"I swear it's true! For example—I am not a human of this world!!!!!"
"Hmm...?"
He'd shouted it out on pure instinct.
Hiding the fact that you were an otherworlder, concealing it, all that stuff—those were things that only worked in novels. So in order to survive, he'd blurted out one of the two biggest secrets he possessed.
"You are from another world, you say...? You crossed dimensions?"
"YES!!!!!!!!!"
"You, who don't have a single wisp of mana?"
"YES!!!!!!!!!!"
"If you dare speak falsehood to this august self, you will suffer forever, unable even to die."
"Of course. I am not a person of this world!!"
The moment Park Geonwoo shouted with total confidence, the colossal dragon lifted a single claw, cast a spell, and swept her gaze over him.
"It is truth. Dimensional travel... But no goddess would ever permit that?"
"Goddess... Ah, right. Of course she wouldn't permit it."
"Nor would the god of your dimension allow it. How did you come here?"
So dragons really are... dragons, huh.
Dragons, in the usual telling, bore countless grand epithets—strongest being in the world, proxy of the gods, observer of realms, and on and on.
And at the end of every single one of those titles, one thing was always attached.
The supreme living creature.
A being of immense lifespan, wielding the most terrifying power imaginable.
That was a dragon.
Naturally, then, she seemed to know a great deal—it was no surprise she'd immediately connected dimensional travel with 'gods'.
"W-well... haa... I was banished."
"What? Banished? KHAHAHAHAHA!!! Banished!!! A god banishing a human from his own world!! KHAHAHAHA!"
Why... why is that so funny to her?
At the dragon's incomprehensible laughter, Park Geonwoo instinctively understood: he had survived.
For now, at least, he was alive.
This is where it really starts.
He had piqued her interest—now he had to somehow turn the dragon before him into a resource.
And if so, there was only one way.
Hypnosis. I have to hypnotize her. But how do I get what I need?
He was only Level 2.
There were conditions to hypnotizing a dragon.
The first condition was [the target's 'name, face, age, gender, and voice']—the basic information required to register someone as a hypnosis target.
The second was maintaining proximity and fulfilling whatever preliminary conditions the need demanded.
I need her name... Gender, well, she's obviously female.
The dragon's voice transmitted directly into his head, and the body in question, seemed unmistakably feminine.
How could he tell?
Because it was a beautiful voice.
She wouldn't twist things on me here too... right?
What he had so far was her face, her gender, and what he assumed was her voice.
What he needed was her name and her age.
How was he going to manage that?
"Kheheheh, fascinating, human. The human most beloved by the gods, cast out in banishment... Very well. And so—what interest will you offer me now?"
"Huh? Ah... w-well, you see..."
"The dimensional travel was interesting. But that is all. If you have nothing more, then die here and now."
"N-no, wait!!!"
What kind of dragon had the patience of a shattered wineglass?!
Had she never heard of the art of anticipation?
Park Geonwoo had to spin his brain at maximum velocity.
He had to fire every cylinder he had.
And then, one idea surfaced in Park Geonwoo's mind.
It was none other than—
"H-how about a b-bet with me?"
"A bet? Ohh...? You believe there is something at which you could best me?"
It landed!
A reaction.
The dragon, who had already been raising her foot to grind him into paste, lowered it once more.
THUD—!!
"But a bet requires that you have something to stake, does it not?"
"I'll give you the otherworld knowledge I possess."
"Hmm. Would I truly need it?"
"Can't hurt to know, right?"
"Hm... If I hear your information and find it useless, I will kill you."
"And if... you lose..."
"Khekehek, amusing, human. I could simply tear the knowledge from your skull with magic, but that confidence of yours—that certainty you can win—interests me. Very well. Let us settle it."
YES—!!!
I did it.
Now I can survive.
Why?
"Then allow me to propose the game."
"Go on. What is it? If it is something I do not know, it is forbidden."
"You might know it, but the rules are really simple."
"Ohh? An otherworld game, I presume. Fine. Explain it."
"YES!!"
With the dragon's permission granted, Park Geonwoo laid out the rules of a single game.
On and on he went—
"Ohh, truly intriguing. A game at once simple and difficult."
"What do you think?"
"Good. Let us begin!"
"Yes!!"
The moment every rule was explained and the dragon gave her assent, Park Geonwoo scanned his surroundings and before long came back with twenty-nine stones.
Clatter clatter—
"The stones are ready. Although... can you even handle them in that form? You're, uh, very large."
"Hah! How dare you presume to judge a dragon! Polymorph!!!"
The colossal dragon—
Even the grime caked between her claws was bigger than the stones he'd gathered, so Park Geonwoo had asked just in case. And sure enough—
Holy—?! R-real magic!!
The enormous dragon's body became wreathed in blue light, and then—
"HUGHAK—!!!"
"Hmph. A dragon is magnificent. Well, human? Is this august self beautiful?"
She had transformed into a perfect human form.
A woman of flawless beauty—aside from the two small horns atop her head, there was not a single trace of dragon anywhere on her.
"Yes... you're beautiful... goddess..."
"Hmph, I am no goddess. I am Lena Latrasha Trion, an Ancient Dragon who has lived seven thousand two hundred nineteen years, four months, and thirty days!"
"Yes... Lena Latrasha Trion... seven thousand two hun... yes?"
"Enough. What conversation is worth having with a lowly insect like you?"
What the hell?
What just happened?
Park Geonwoo had been briefly stunned by the dragon's beauty—but he had definitely heard it.
Lena Latrasha Trion. Seven thousand two hundred nineteen years old.
He'd heard it.
Clearly, unmistakably heard it.
Which meant the first condition for registering a hypnosis target had just been fulfilled.
Except—
I can't take out my smartphone.
Yes, that was the problem. But this problem could be solved with the 'bet'.
"Um, Lady Lena?"
"What is it?"
"If I win the bet..."
"I shall spare your life."
"Ah... y-yes, thank you..."
Right—what other conditions could he even have set?
His life was already mortgaged as it was.
Park Geonwoo sat down before the twenty-nine stones he'd gathered, and the dragon Lena meekly seated herself across from him.
Gulp—
Oh sh—she's not even wearing panties...!!!!
Ba-dump ba-dump.
Ba-dump ba-dump.
His heart was pounding like a madman.
Lady Lena's dress was sheer enough to hide absolutely nothing.
And since she sat with her knees folded, the fabric spilled down between her legs, naturally revealing the deep valley between Lady Lena's thighs.
Ah... yeah.
No panties. Confirmed.
"I shall take the first move."
"Okay."
Whether or not Park Geonwoo was sneaking peeks between her legs evidently didn't concern her in the slightest—dragon Lena reached out and took six stones from the twenty-nine laid before her.
Swoosh—
"Your turn."
"Right!"
Six stones gone, twenty-three remained.
Park Geonwoo took one of them.
Twenty-two stones now remained.
"Hmph, how timid of you. A single stone?"
"Hehehe."
When Park Geonwoo took one, dragon Lena took four more, and Park Geonwoo followed with three.
Fifteen stones remained.
"Hmm..."
As the number of stones dwindled by half, dragon Lena rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought.
Without knowing the pattern, Lady Lena, thinking all you want won't do you a bit of good.
That's right.
The game Park Geonwoo had proposed was the famous game of taking stones—and it had a guaranteed winning strategy.
Know the strategy, and victory was absolute.
But it was also a game where, without the strategy, no amount of cleverness could ever win.
"Hmph. I shall take five."
"Right!"
Dragon Lena, after her bout of deliberation, took five—and Park Geonwoo took two, leaving eight stones.
"Mmm...."
With only eight stones left, Lena's expression crumpled.
How had it come to this?
"If I take one... or two... or three..."
As if running calculations, her lips began spilling out sums without her even realizing it.
"Whenever you're ready, Ancient Dragon Lena-nim."
"A-all right. I shall take one."
Lena took one of the eight stones—and Park Geonwoo promptly took six.
Which left... one stone.
Tremble tremble tremble.
Tremble tremble tremble.
The hand of the Ancient Dragon Lena Latrasha Trion had begun, quite without her permission, to shake.
One stone remained.
The one who took the final stone lost the game.
"I... this august self, a mighty Ancient Dragon... a Blue Dragon Lord... has been defeated... by a lowly insect of a human...?"
Unbelievable.
She had lost.
Lost to a human.
It was not a difficult game.
And yet she'd lost?
"In seven thousand two hundred nineteen years, four months, and thirty days of dragon life... this is the most bitter defeat of all."
Lady Lena's bitterness over her loss washed over Park Geonwoo in waves.
And so—
"Very well. Since this august self has lost, I shall spare your life."
"Ah... th-thank you!! Thank you so much!!!"
FLUMP—!!
THUD—!!
At Lena's word of mercy, Park Geonwoo threw himself flat to the ground, overcome with gratitude—and the dragon Lena smiled at the sight of it.
"Hohoho, yes, I shall spare you. Into my lair with you."
"Excuse me???"
WHOOSH— SNAP—!
"KHHK?!"
"Come, human of another world. Warp!"
WHOOSHAAAAAM!!!!
Dragged into the dragon's lair, Park Geonwoo was left speechless.
There was nothing.
Nothing but an enormous cavern, and nothing else besides.
She didn't eat, either, it turned out.
Dragons naturally absorbed the mana of the world itself, so unlike humans, they had no particular need to feed.
Yes—which was exactly why he'd come prepared.
I need to survive too, Dragon-nim.
Lady Lena had returned to her true form and was sleeping like a boulder.
It would have been nicer if she'd slept in her human shape, but Park Geonwoo tucked himself behind her tail and opened the Subspace.
It's there... it's there!
Breath held, he opened the extradimensional pocket and drew out his smartphone.
Curling his body into as tight a ball as possible to shield the phone's glow lest it wake the dragon, Park Geonwoo checked the Hypnosis System app—and the surging rush of euphoria was enough that he felt on the verge of an actual orgasm.
Available Targets:
— Lena Latrasha Trion (7,219 yrs) / Dragon / Lair
Merely looking at the list confirmed, yet again, that this was not Earth—but that hardly mattered.
Lena Latrasha Trion, the Ancient Dragon.
She had...
been added to the list of hypnosis-capable targets.
Good. Let's execute it right away.
He had to get out from under this dragon eventually—but on the other hand, there were things to be gained while he was under her, too.
And so Park Geonwoo hurriedly checked the preliminary conditions required to cast the hypnosis.
And those conditions were—
Glory for me, too...!!!