The Gift from the Dragons
The Magical Realm hummed with noise. “Whoa. The case itself is insane. The finish is just… damn.” “That’s gotta be at least A-rank. Probably worth hundreds of millions.”
The kids were losing their minds, and honestly, I couldn’t blame them. The case was covered in intricate golden engravings, and even a few precious magic stones were embedded in it. While the others drooled openly, my head was spinning with questions.
Why the hell is this here?
The thing that wasn’t supposed to appear for another two months was sitting right in front of me. My gaze naturally drifted toward Lee Seol.
“Waaah… It’s so pretty.”
She stared at the case with enchanted eyes. So not her. Then…
My eyes lingered for the briefest moment on Choi Ahyeon.
“Joo-yeon, take it from this angle!” “Got it!”
Out. Anyone taking photos was automatically ruled out. And someone broke obviously didn’t have money to burn. I pulled out my phone.
I dialed Han Yuri. She picked up before the first ring even finished.
“Is this your doing?”
-“What the hell are you talking about out of nowhere?”
“Eve.”
-“Eve? I have no idea what you’re on about.”
“Never mind.”
-“Hey, wait a sec—”
I hung up immediately.
Fuck. What is this…
This déjà vu. This indescribable, gut-wrenching feeling. I’d experienced it once before. During the group draw. That time, the future had flipped one hundred and eighty degrees. But this time, I already had a suspect.
Those dragon mother and daughter?
Nothing else made sense. Money aside, no one except the original owner should have known Eve’s exact location. The fact that they’d still managed to bring it here pointed straight at the dragons.
This feels so fucking dirty.
I was grateful for the gift. Truly. But I couldn’t understand why they’d given it.
I was just a human. Not the kind of person dragons would take any interest in.
While I stood there with a complicated expression, Kim Jihun slapped me hard on the back.
“Yo! Lee Seonghyun, you lucky bastard! Getting presents like this! Did you join a guild or something?”
“I didn’t.”
“Huh? For real? Then what the hell is this? They just gave it to you even though you’re not in one?”
It was a reasonable guess. Plenty of students had received offers from guilds for this festival. So naturally, he assumed this was from a guild.
“Anyway, it’s still fucking awesome. Damn, look at that gold. I’m actually salivating.”
Everyone stared at me with envy. They all seemed to know the box was mine. Which made sense.
Because no one else sits here.
The very back seat. The chalkboard was barely visible, and the wall right behind it made the space feel cramped. Lee Seol and Choi Ahyeon sometimes sat here pretending to be class helpers, but the box had been placed exactly where I always sat.
I reached for the box.
Smack!
Someone slapped my hand away hard.
“Seonghyun. You shouldn’t touch someone else’s property. That’s theft, you know. Theft.”
“Exactly. There’s no name on it saying who it’s for. You can’t just assume it’s yours.”
Lee Jin-seok and Kim Cheol-hyung. Both first-string students who had always looked at me with disdain.
Even after receiving mental treatment, some residue remains, huh.
No matter how good the skill was, months of looking down on and hating the second-string couldn’t vanish overnight.
I was about to argue when Kim Jihun stepped forward with a scowl.
“What the fuck are you talking about? The only person who sits in this seat is Lee Seonghyun. Obviously it’s his!”
“Huh? Why would it be his? Is his name written on it somewhere?”
Lee Jin-seok exaggeratedly looked all over the case. Kim Cheol-hyung clutched his stomach and laughed.
“Pfft! Holy shit, that’s hilarious! And logically, if a guild sent a gift, wouldn’t they deliver it to the dorm or send an official messenger? Especially something this expensive—they wouldn’t just leave it on a desk.”
“Exactly! Kim Cheol-hyung is totally right!”
The two of them kept feeding off each other. And honestly, they had a point.
What kind of crazy person would leave something this valuable just sitting on a desk?
If someone stole it, it would be gone for good. That line of thinking only made me more certain it was the dragons. They tended to lack common sense when it came to human society.
“Besides, it’s way too good for a bus-riding parasite like him. It’d be better if Cheol-hyung or I used it.”
“Jin-seok, stop.”
Lee Seol finally stepped in, unable to watch any longer. Even now, she wore an awkward smile.
“Seol, are you seriously taking his side? Logically, I’m right, aren’t I? Wouldn’t it be better for someone like me—who worked hard to reach E-rank—than for a guy who rode Han Yuri’s bus all the way to D-rank?”
“Jin-seok…”
“Let’s be real. It’s already ridiculous that he leeched off Yuri to get on the bus. If he expects something like this too, it’s just absurd. A bug should know its place…”
“Jin-seok.”
“…Y-yeah?”
She was smiling. Lee Seol was smiling. It was the same gentle smile as always. Yet it carried an overwhelming pressure that silenced the entire room. Sensing that things were about to get ugly, I stepped forward.
“Fine. You take it.”
“What?”
“I said, it’s yours.”
His face went blank, clearly not expecting me to say that. I opened the case, pulled out the sword, and tossed it to him.
A pure white blade and black hilt. Sleek design with restrained luxury.
He caught it in a panic and let out a hollow laugh.
“Y-yeah. Something like this should be used by someone with real talent like me.”
He gripped the hilt and swung it a few times through the air.
Whoosh!
The sound of air being sliced brought a huge grin to his face.
“Whoa~ It fits my hand perfectly! The sword has finally found its true mas—huh?”
The change came suddenly.
“F-fuck, what the hell?!”
He tried to let go, flailing his arm. But the sword stuck to his hand like glue.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
“I-it won’t come off!”
Panic. Had he lost half his mind? He slammed the sword against the floor. It was pointless.
And then the real change happened in an instant.
“Ughhh!”
“W-what the—?!”
A red aura flowed from the sword, slowly crawling up his arm.
“Aaaaaagh! Fuck! Help me!”
A couple drops of blood hit the floor. But that was nothing.
“The… the sword changed…?!”
The once snow-white blade now carried a faint crimson glow.
Blood absorption. That was Eve’s trait.
“S-save me! Somebody help me!”
“Fuuuck… what do we do?!”
I saw Lee Seol and Choi Ahyeon about to step in.
This should be enough.
Those two didn’t know how to handle Eve. They’d only make things worse.
Equivalent Exchange
[Equivalent Exchange activated!]
[Consuming 3% pain tolerance to strengthen the body!]
I reached Lee Jin-seok in a flash, pulled the dagger from my pocket, and sliced downward.
Slice.
“Aaaaaagh!”
His hand was severed cleanly. At the same moment, the sword fell from his grip as if it had never been attached.
“You have a potion? Treat him.”
“Huh? O-okay!”
Kim Cheol-hyung frantically pressed the severed hand to the stump and poured a potion over it. The cut was clean; it would heal quickly.
I picked up Eve from the floor. That was when Lee Seol and Choi Ahyeon screamed.
“Ahyeon!”
“Seonghyun! What are you doing?! Put that down right now!”
“It’s fine.”
“Huh?”
The sword that had been ready to devour its user moments ago was now perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened.
“Did it acknowledge you as its owner?”
“Seems like it.”
My casual response drew a horrified shout from Lee Jin-seok.
“That’s impossible… How could trash like him…!”
I walked over to him and held out the hilt, telling him to try again.
“Hiiik!”
His face turned deathly pale as he jumped backward.
Idiot.
I spun the sword once. Red energy surged along the blade. Then it transformed into a ring.
“Whoa! It’s so pretty! Seonghyun, take a picture for me!”
“Hey! Let me touch it once too!”
I ignored Choi Ahyeon and Kim Jihun as they rushed forward and reached into the box. Inside, beneath where the sword had rested, was a single A4 sheet.
Ancient script?
I’d seen it a few times in my first round, but I didn’t remember it well. I couldn’t even speak English properly—when would I have had time to learn ancient languages?
But when I saw the symbol below the text, I was certain.
It’s the dragons.
A dragon crest. Specifically, the crest of a Gold Dragon. Just like the current Witches, dragons existed in the shadows. I was probably the only person alive who would recognize this symbol.
Since they didn’t know I had regressed, they must have thought they wouldn’t get caught. The cheeky little addition of the crest was almost cute.
Little brat. Guess I’ll have to stop by later and boost her sales a bit.
Thinking about teasing Yu Cheong, I picked up the case and held it in my arms.
After the festival ended, on the way back home, Yu Cheong asked her mother curiously.
“Mom, what do you think of that person?”
“That person?”
“That oppa. Lee Seonghyun.”
Yu Chel gave a bitter smile at her daughter’s question.
Cheong still has a long way to go.
Maybe because she was still a hatchling, she couldn’t read the situation properly.
“He seems decent enough. But let’s observe for a while longer.”
“What?! Why?!”
“Seonghyun is still trying to find his footing. It won’t be too late to visit once he’s more stable. Besides, you don’t see him as a man, do you?”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
“Then it’s fine.”
The later, the better. Even if the bomb went off first, it still wouldn’t be too late.
“That oppa said he liked Eve, right? How about finding it and giving it to him as a gift?”
“That’s not bad, but why don’t you make him something yourself? You can say whatever you want, but men always prefer things women make with their own hands.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Yu Cheong fell into thought. She seemed to be pondering what kind of weapon to create. Yu Chel let out a sigh of relief.
I bought us some time.
The bomb would explode soon. And everything around it would be reduced to ruins.
Magical Realm.
All the beings capable of destroying the world were gathered there. Entities on a completely different level from dragons.
Especially… that woman…
If Yu Chel hadn’t threatened her with Dragon Fear, she would have attacked without hesitation. Even though there had been no hostile intent from this side.
While she was reviewing her plans for the future, she suddenly stopped walking.
“Mom?”
“…Cheong. Mom forgot something. Can you wait here for a bit?”
“Okay. Take your time.”
“Sorry. I’ll be right back.”
She pretended to head back toward the school, then hurriedly warped home.
The unique barrier has been broken!
A wall that wouldn’t have fallen even if ten S-rank hunters attacked it.
When she arrived at the house in a rush, the yard was filled with the corpses of A-rank monsters—wyverns.
The walls and roof were draped with brains and entrails. Blood was splattered across the windows.
And in the middle of the yard lay a photo album.
With trembling hands, Yu Chel opened it.
The album that should have contained photos of her and Yu Cheong together now had…
“……”
Yu Cheong was gone. In every single picture, her face had been torn out.
The places where her face had been were stained with blood and bits of flesh, as if ripped away by blood-soaked hands.
A warning. The final warning to get out of her territory. Yu Chel ground her teeth.
And on the last page was written:
[GET OUT]