Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Invitation to Another World
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The rumor that Kang Jin-hyuk had brought a dragon spread through the entire village in an instant.
With so few villagers to begin with, it didn't take long for all the beastkin to gather.
By the time the chief's house was packed so full of guests that it was hard to breathe,
Kang Jin-hyuk leisurely opened his mouth and began his introduction.
"Before we get into the story, there's something I need to make clear first. I'm not from this world."
"We already knew that. No human could possibly live in such barren land."
"No, that's not what I mean."
Seeing is believing.
Kang Jin-hyuk pulled out a bunch of items from his inventory and laid them on the table.
The beastkin stared in fascination at these objects that didn't look like anything from their world.
"What are these?"
"Proof that I'm not from this world."
Silva jumped in surprise at those words.
"You're already dead?"
"Don't send a perfectly healthy guy to the afterlife."
"The afterlife...?"
"Anyway, I'm not dead."
Kang Jin-hyuk explained to Silva and the beastkin that he had come from a different dimension.
They didn't believe him at first, but as they touched the items he showed them and saw how they worked, they started to come around one by one.
"A thing that makes light without oil or mana!"
"How is music coming out of this tiny box?"
To the beastkin, these products of modern science were wonders beyond even artifacts.
Kang Jin-hyuk put the items back into his inventory to continue his story, and the beastkin looked disappointed.
"A human from another dimension... I can see it with my own eyes, but I still can't believe it."
Even beastkin, who were far removed from magic, were stunned.
Mages would probably faint dead away if they knew.
"Why reveal that to us?"
If word got out that he was a being from another dimension, the Mage Tower would come running with fire in their eyes.
The mages of the Mage Tower were the type who would do anything in the name of advancing magic, so the odds of a nasty end were high.
"I had to start with that to explain how I tamed the dragon."
"What I mean is, why go to the trouble of revealing such a secret just to explain things to us?"
"...Just hear me out to the end first."
Kang Jin-hyuk calmed Silva down and resumed his tale.
He started from the appearance of dungeons in his dimension, all the way up to his journey to the Dragon's Temple.
And the old man he met there, and the trial he passed.
As Kang Jin-hyuk's story unfolded, the beastkin listened with increasingly serious expressions.
Finally, he wrapped up with why he'd come to this village and everything that had happened with the dragon.
Kang Jin-hyuk drained a glass of water he'd prepared in advance.
"Whew. Haven't talked this much in ages. I'm beat."
The beastkin pondered how to take in everything they'd just heard.
They'd thought he was no ordinary man, but they never imagined he was a messenger of the gods—no, someone marked by the god who created dragons.
No one could have predicted that.
"It's hard to believe, but since you're the one who made a dragon follow you, we'll accept it for now."
The other beastkin nodded at Silva's words.
"Yeah, he's strong enough to play around with Raoul."
"His companion was no slouch either. Especially that arrow he shot in the village."
"I thought it was a cannon, not an arrow."
There was no point in doubting it, so the beastkin accepted Kang Jin-hyuk's story without much resistance.
"We've heard you out. Now, tell us what the point is of sharing all this with us."
Silva figured Kang Jin-hyuk had set up this meeting and recited his life story for a reason.
Otherwise, there'd be no sense in spilling such secrets to another race he hadn't even known long.
"Alright. No sense dragging it out—I'll get straight to it."
Kang Jin-hyuk decided to reveal his intentions, just as Silva wanted.
He scanned the surrounding beastkin before speaking.
"Any of you ever thought about coming over to my dimension?"
A proposal even harder to swallow than the stories they'd just heard came out of Kang Jin-hyuk's mouth.
And at those words, Silva's eyes turned ice-cold.
It wasn't just Silva—the village's able-bodied beastkin all glared at Kang Jin-hyuk with chilling stares.
"Trading with slavers, are you?"
"Huh?"
"Filling our heads with wild tales to lure us in."
The beastkin, clearly having misunderstood something major, bared their fangs and unsheathed their claws.
Lucia just whistled casually, even with the scene right in front of her.
"Things didn't go as planned, huh?"
"It's not just off-plan—it's a total mess."
Kang Jin-hyuk was at a loss for how to clear up the ridiculous misunderstanding when Silva gave orders to the villagers.
"Seize those two right now!"
The beastkin charged at Kang Jin-hyuk and Lucia the moment the words left his mouth.
Kang Jin-hyuk didn't want to tangle up in the cramped house, so he punched through the wall and escaped.
Lucia followed him out, and the villagers poured after them in a mob.
"They're running!"
"Get them!"
Kang Jin-hyuk was going insane over the beastkin's sudden change in attitude.
"No, why are slave traders coming up out of nowhere?"
"Don't play dumb! Showing up in this worthless mountain range was suspicious from the start!"
"The Dragon's Temple, my ass!"
The beastkin put more faith in Silva's guess—that Kang Jin-hyuk's tales were fabricated to enslave them—than in his words.
It was a tragedy born from his experiences straying too far beyond common sense.
"This is ridiculous. I write my autobiography, and they treat it like fantasy."
Kang Jin-hyuk dodged a beastkin's slashing claws by a hair's breadth and let out a hollow laugh.
"You still won't believe me even after I brought a dragon?"
"You probably called in a mage to make an illusion!"
"Damn, this isn't getting through."
The beastkin had already made up their minds.
In that situation, no words would regain their trust.
"What now? Just run?"
Lucia hopped from rooftop to rooftop as she asked the fleeing Kang Jin-hyuk about his plans.
"Running away feels like a waste... Look at their combat prowess. They'd be perfect for our guild, which is always short on talent."
"Telling me won't change anything."
She was right—saying it to her was pointless.
Right now, he needed to figure out what to do about the beastkin.
"Hey! Wouldn't working for food, clothing, and shelter beat struggling to survive here?"
"So you finally show your true colors, slave trader!"
"..."
The fastest-approaching beastkin swung his sharp claws without a word.
Kang Jin-hyuk leaned back to dodge, but midway through, he changed his mind and planted his feet.
Of course, he had no intention of just taking the hit.
He shot out his hand and grabbed the beastkin's arm mid-swing.
"If you can't believe me, I'll teach you with my fists."
Kang Jin-hyuk drove a punch into the beastkin, who panicked at his blocked attack.
Even pulling his punch as much as possible, the struck beastkin flew back a good distance and collapsed.
The pursuing beastkin froze at the sight.
"If I were a slaver, why bother sweet-talking you idiots? I could just beat you all senseless and drag you off."
Kang Jin-hyuk slowly stretched his limbs, loosening up his body that had stiffened from sitting so long.
"If I wanted to, I could thrash every one of you and take you by force. Once you see it, you'll have to believe it, like it or not."
Kang Jin-hyuk figured that with words failing, fists were the only teacher left.
Lucia burst out laughing from the rooftop at his words.
"Good idea. Want some help?"
"Nah, just watch from there."
"Okay, okay."
Lucia perched on the edge of the roof, settling in for the show.
Kang Jin-hyuk slowly walked toward the tense beastkin.
"Change your minds now, and you'll still be able to walk on two legs."
"Don't make me laugh!"
"You think you can take all of us just because you got one?"
The momentarily cowed beastkin regained their fighting spirit.
It was a small village, sure, but more than fifty had gathered.
Proud of their superior strength over humans, the beastkin believed they'd easily overpower Kang Jin-hyuk if they worked together.
They exchanged glances as signals and charged from all sides—front, back, left, right.
"You'll be the one who can't walk!"
The bold beastkin were enveloped in a golden aura before they could even reach him.
The aura bursting from Kang Jin-hyuk's body whipped around like a storm, blasting the attackers away with full force.
"Ugh!"
"What the hell!?"
The beastkin strained with all their might to hold their ground, but it was no use.
While the aura held the beastkin at bay, Kang Jin-hyuk moved in and took them down one by one.
"Gah!"
Kang Jin-hyuk spun and smashed a fist into the beastkin lunging from behind.
The gut-punched beastkin lost consciousness and crumpled.
"You... damn human!"
One of the beastkin flung back by the aura hurled a dagger at Kang Jin-hyuk.
He could have blocked it with his aura, but to make an impression, he reached out with his bare hand.
He snatched the dagger midair and gripped it hard.
Even holding the blade directly, not a scratch marred Kang Jin-hyuk's hand.
It was the dagger that shattered and fell to the ground.
"N-No way..."
Seeing the broken dagger, the beastkin lost the will to fight.
No way they could beat a human like that.
That realization began to sink in among the beastkin.
Then one who still wanted to fight stepped forward.
"Everyone, snap out of it! That's just magic trickery!"
Kang Jin-hyuk couldn't believe it when the beastkin shouted that.
"Magic? What damn magic?"
Even after Lucia's torture-like lectures while tied up, he still couldn't use magic himself.
His body couldn't even properly activate a magic circle, let alone cast spells, yet here he was being called a mage. It was an indescribably complicated feeling.
"Fine. Believe whatever you want."
Kang Jin-hyuk had given up on talking them down, so he shook his head with a resigned expression.
"Let's see if you say that after some physical therapy."
A good beatdown like a pack of dogs on the hottest day of summer would convince them.
Without hesitation, Kang Jin-hyuk extended his arm and gifted a fist to the beastkin stirring them up as a "mage."
"Keuk!"
The face-punched beastkin collapsed with a caved-in face.
He'd stepped up full of bravado, but after one scream, he didn't even twitch.
"All bark and no bite."
Kang Jin-hyuk let out a faint scoff, as if he'd expected as much.