The Late-Night Knock
Dragon Academy staff lounge, 8 PM sharp. “Ding—! Ding—! Ding—! Ding—! Ding—! Ding—! Ding—! Ding—!” The grandfather clock tolls on cue. Perhaps because it’s night, the chimes ring especially harsh against my ears today.
“Another round of overtime. I’d better wrap this up and head home.” I muttered the usual complaint under my breath and hurried to finish.
—Clink, clink…!
—Scrub, scrub!
Washing the mountain of cups piled in the sink feels like it takes forever. Simple manual labor is always the most tedious part of the job. And why so many dishes? Simple—because there were that many customers.
Ever since Johnson first stopped by, they’ve been pouring in all at once. Of course, every single one of them was academy faculty.
Thanks to my part-time experience at a café with a bakery during college, I was fairly used to the work. Still, no matter how you look at it… when customers swarm in all at once, dishes pile up no matter how fast you move.
“It’s been a while since I pulled an all-nighter, but they really went overboard today. The café closes at six…”
The staff normally loved to clock out on the dot. Today, however, they couldn’t help it. After all, the new semester starts tomorrow. That was why the reluctant overtime crew had rushed over right before six like a pack of wolves.
Calling it overtime when they left before six? And with overtime pay on top of that. I’d heard retirement pensions were included as well. Talk about a golden rice bowl. I didn’t know the exact salary, but their work-life balance was enviable. By conditions alone, it was a dream job.
‘But seriously? Complaining that much after just one extra hour?’
The staff who dropped by after hours had obvious motives. They came to vent about work stress over coffee while getting free drinks. Occasionally I received tips, but since there was no way to leave the academy, I had little use for money anyway.
“Still, compared to Johnson, they’re all pretty decent…”
I wiped the last cup with a towel and recalled the faces of the staff I’d met over the past month. Johnson the dwarf from General Affairs, Erdin the elf from Management, Berman the lion beastkin from Security, Indra the treant from Academic Administration. Those were the department heads. Countless other staff had passed through the lounge-café as well.
Anyone with half a brain would have noticed by now—every single one of them was a different race. I was the only human. To them, I was the odd one out too.
And I wasn’t even official staff. I was little more than a slave. A convict dragged here after committing a crime. That was why I had no fixed quitting time. “Dorm supervisor and servant” sounded nice, but for one semester I was essentially serving a labor sentence.
Why call it slavery over just one semester? Because in an academy attended only by dragons, one semester lasted roughly fifty years. Even if I didn’t want to complain, the thought of my situation naturally brought out sighs.
I was twenty-six now… To be freed from this wretched place, I’d have to live past seventy. ‘Damn it. One month already felt endless, and now I’ve still got forty-nine years and eleven months left…!’
—Gurgle…!
Hot water poured from the kettle in place of my tears, soaking the coffee filter instead of my eyes. Having finally finished the day’s work, I could at last brew a cup of coffee for myself.
—Drip, drip, drip…!
Rich coffee gathered beneath the filter. Watching it fall somehow eased my mind.
‘Shit. How the hell did I end up like this?’
I perched on the edge of the table, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, and recalled the wretched beginning of my fate.
Exactly one month ago.
An internet ad banner I happened to click. That was the root of everything—the starting point of my fate.
—Click!
As if drawn by something, I clicked the banner. The mouse cursor had moved on its own. The moment I pressed the shabby-looking ad, the game’s download page appeared. Countless moe-style dragon girl illustrations tempted me to download.
A quick glance told me it was just another typical gacha collector game. The concept seemed to be gathering heroines of various attributes and clearing stories. Nothing special—just another mass-produced title.
Even so, I…
Would you like to download “Destiny Dragons”?
The illustrations looked pretty good, so I installed the game without hesitation. I had just quit a company I’d worked at for nearly two years, so I had plenty of free time. With some financial leeway, I figured I’d go back to my old habits and roll some gacha.
“Huh? This game… has an original source, doesn’t it?”
After downloading, I searched for information and gacha tips related to Destiny Dragons. I preferred planning my pulls rather than mindlessly spending, so I gathered intel beforehand.
Yet…
“Why is there no information at all besides this?”
The community existed, but strangely, not a single post about the game itself could be found. Something felt off. Even an abandoned board usually had at least spam or ads…
I should have stopped there. But back then I was too bored, and the game was already installed. I told myself it was probably just a brand-new title with no closed beta and shrugged it off. With a half-hearted “I’ll just try a little,” I generously charged one million won.
To heavy spenders that might not seem like much, but dropping a million on a game with zero information was quite the gamble. And the result of that gamble was…
“One R-rank and the rest all N-rank…?”
My wallet was the only thing that got slaughtered. Still, I didn’t come to my senses. I chalked it up to bad luck and dropped another million.
Same result again. The illustrations were nice, but the character grades were anything but.
‘No matter how unlucky I am, how can I not even get a single SR, let alone an SSR?’
Yeah, I admit it. I was a sucker. And this game was definitely broken. There was no way those were normal gacha rates. So I immediately went to the developer’s homepage and wrote a long inquiry, using a title that would make any operator panic.
Subject: Diamond Duplication Bug Discovered
Content: I found a bug where diamonds duplicate infinitely… or so I wish? Operator? What’s the SSR pull rate here? How is it possible to spend two million won and not even get a single SR? I think there’s a probability error. If you have any conscience, please refund or at least compensate me. Spending two million on this reptile-collecting game makes me the idiot.
I didn’t expect a refund anyway, so I just wrote whatever I wanted. I wasn’t hoping for a proper reply either. I just wanted to vent.
But five minutes after posting…
—Ding!
A surprisingly normal response from a GM had arrived in the game messages.
Hello, valued user! You must have been startled by the server error. While your gacha tickets were consumed normally, we would like to offer compensation for the shock. As recompense, we are sending you a “Genesis”-grade character.
‘Huh? They’re actually giving compensation this easily?’
I’d thought it was some shady company that would just suck up the money and disappear, but they were offering a reward after all. And “Genesis” grade? Never heard of that rank before. Was it a hidden tier above UR?
—Click!
Since there was no reason to refuse, I clicked the link right away.
“Hmm? What’s this?”
The moment I clicked, an illustration of a handsome silver-haired male character appeared. He had black eyes yet gave off an exotic atmosphere.
Would you like to accept this reward? Once chosen, the decision cannot be undone. Just like the fate of the Drango Continent.
I assumed the dramatic line was just flavor text meant to help players immerse themselves in the story.
‘Ha, but I didn’t install this game to pull a male character…’
A brief internal conflict arose, yet I had no real choice. Either accept something or waste two million won for nothing. If it was a rare grade, I could at least sell the account for a profit.
—Click!
With that thought, I pressed accept without hesitation.
At the same moment—
—Fwoooosh!
The screen flashed pure white, and my vision went dark.
That was it. I had fallen into the game. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself possessing the body of the “Breeder” I had received as compensation.
‘That damn game. All I did was write a complaint and it sucked me inside…’
—Slurp…!
I finally took a sip of the finished drip coffee, savoring the bitterness. At least the coffee tasted good. Nothing beats a cup after work. I should finish this and head back to my quarters early.
Just as I was calming my complicated thoughts with that single cup—
—Knock, knock, knock…
“Breeder? Are you in there?”
“Hm?”
A clear, refreshing female voice called from beyond the lounge door, accompanied by knocking. I was certain I had hung the “CLOSE” sign outside.