A Baby Dragon's Wrath and Forgotten Wings
As he boldly shouted at Nax and prepared to head off in search of Jung Da-yeon, a voice tickled his ear.
“Ahjussi?”
Poke. Poke.
“Ahjussi~!”
Poke poke poke.
It felt like jelly-soft feet were thumping against his skull.
Poyu had woken up.
“Ahjussi!”
He could feel Poyu bouncing up and down on the head of his main body, which was still sitting in the chair back on Earth.
Nax tilted her head at his suddenly ashen face.
“What is it, Prince?”
But there was no time to explain.
“I’ll get everything ready, so you all prepare as well. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Artisan, open the gate! And take the hunter to scout the enemy camp!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The artisan pulled a large piece of cloth from his robes and spread it across the floor. A blue portal bloomed on the leather-like fabric. The moment Kim Hwang-je’s clone dove inside, the artisan rolled the scroll up tightly and tucked it away.
Watching the frantic display, Nax narrowed her eyes.
“You’re not running away, are you?”
The artisan glared at her.
“His Majesty will return. You wild dragon.”
The spot where she had struck him earlier was still throbbing.
Kim Hwang-je urgently yanked off the diamond eyepatch.
At the same moment, a clone popped out of the wall and collapsed onto the floor.
But he was still a little too late.
“Ahjussiiiiiiii!!”
“Ughyak!”
Poyu had sunk her teeth into his ear.
“You’re awake! You’re awake, Poyu!”
Aigoo, his poor ear.
“No, where did you go in that short time!”
Hmph! Poyu rammed her tiny head into the crown of his skull.
“Ugh!”
It might have looked like an adorable headbutt, but a dragon’s skull was harder than steel. His head spun.
Kim Hwang-je plucked the dizzy Poyu from his throbbing scalp and hugged her close.
“There, there. Good girl, Poyu. I was in a dangerous place, that’s why. Next time we’ll go together, okay? Here’s a present…!”
While soothing the baby dragon, Kim Hwang-je activated World Observation to check on the royal castle.
World Observation
In the streets of Adel, people were still busily trading. A scroll appeared in the sky, poured out a stream of gold coins, then snatched every single fruit skewer drenched in sugar, honey, and Nutella.
Obviously, it was Kim Hwang-je’s doing.
He pulled out one of the sweet fruit skewers and offered it to Poyu.
“Hing! Poyu’s not over it yet! Really!”
Lick. Lick lick.
Her words said one thing, but her tongue honestly lapped at the sugar-coated strawberry. The rough, cat-like white tongue moved busily.
“Even if Poyu is sleeping, you have to take Poyu with you!”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course.”
Poyu’s eyes were already tracking the Nutella-covered fruit in his other hand. Nutella was getting scarce these days, so he had paid a premium for it.
After watching Poyu eat with delight for a moment, Kim Hwang-je called out.
“Mr. Seo Jun-seo!”
“Yes, boss.”
The door opened and Seo Jun-seo appeared—a perfectly normal man in a suit. For some reason, Kim Hwang-je felt his eyes growing moist.
“Let’s go see Jung Da-yeon.”
“I’ll prepare immediately.”
Kim Hwang-je stood up with Poyu still cradled in his arms.
Jongno.
Even though the outside world was in chaos, the Lost headquarters remained quiet. As luck would have it, Jung Da-yeon was away on a brief external meeting.
Instead, Lost staff guided Kim Hwang-je to the lounge. In the VIP area sat chairs that resembled first-class airplane seats. As he sat there blankly staring out the window, Poyu wriggled inside his clothes.
“Ehehe. Hehehehe…”
With sugar water smeared all over her mouth, she sat on his stomach happily munching strawberries.
“Aigoo…”
Thanks to her, any stranger would think he had left three shirt buttons undone and smeared sugar water across his chest. It wasn’t exactly showing off the collarbone he had forged through years of manual labor. What was this look, exactly…?
Kim Hwang-je quickly cast a simple illusion to hide his true appearance. To outsiders, he now looked like an ordinary man in a plain shirt.
That was when the news broadcast caught his ear.
Regen Canister, huh.
That was the device that turned the surrounding area into a fantasy world and forced monster spawns. Why on earth were those things circulating? And yet, the more he listened, the stranger it became.
Huh? Jo Chun-ki is dead, though?
Click.
Seo Jun-seo set a cup of coffee on the table.
“I bought it from the café on the first floor.”
As expected, a real man drank iced Americano even if it killed him.
“For someone of his level, dying must be difficult,” Kim Hwang-je remarked.
Seo Jun-seo hadn’t been watching the TV, but he understood the meaning. On the way here, Kim Hwang-je had given him a brief update on everything that had happened inside the kingdom—only the facts, kept simple. Jo Chun-ki had transformed into a monster and was killed through dance. A dragon had been beaten using Ultra Emperor transformation. Seo Jun-seo had simply nodded twice with a perfectly calm expression.
As expected of the Emperor’s secretary—his comprehension was excellent. If there was a special technique to it, it was this: first accept whatever he was told with a simple “I see,” then actually process it later. That was his survival strategy.
And so he spoke even more coolly.
“If events truly unfolded that way, the people of Earth will be unable to approach the truth. Time is on our side.”
“Pardon?”
“Because no one will believe it.”
That was true. It made sense.
Kim Hwang-je pulled out his phone and checked the time. According to the Gujiga fairies, the dance party would last two full days. Those fellows were probably still dancing their hearts out.
“All right. Then after we steal the ruby, let’s evacuate all the elves to our Stronghold in Gangwon Province.”
“Understood.”
The forests of Gangwon really were pleasant to live in. The scent of pine was nice, too.
“The young lady has arrived,” a staff member announced.
Kim Hwang-je was escorted into Jung Da-yeon’s office. Her hair had grown quite long.
“It’s been a while. You must have been very busy. I heard Jo Chun-ki went on vacation.”
“Ah, that. Jo Chun-ki is dead.”
Since they were in the same boat, it was only right to share information.
Splash!
Jung Da-yeon spilled the coffee she was holding.
She stared at him with wide eyes.
“Wait, you’re not talking about swatting a fly… You killed Jo Chun-ki?”
“I didn’t kill him. He rampaged on his own and died. What could I do?”
“······.”
It was an accident. Strictly speaking, an accident!
“The government is going to lose its mind… They didn’t seem ready to move against him yet…”
“But it’s already happened.”
“…For now, we’ll come up with our own measures. I suppose I’ll have to attach myself to one of the successors and play the white knight. With so many multinational in-laws already involved, dismantling the Gaya Group is only a matter of time.”
Jung Da-yeon shrugged, then glanced around and lowered her voice.
“Your Majesty. There’s something I couldn’t mention last time. Just what is this oil, exactly?”
“Why? Is it impossible to sell?”
Kim Hwang-je’s heart sank. His dream of becoming an oil tycoon and buying every supercar in the world! His dream of building a subway for his son who always whined about riding the train! Was it all over?
Well, squeezing oil out of slimes did sound a bit absurd…
But the generators he had installed in Sinal had been running perfectly.
As all sorts of thoughts raced through his mind, Jung Da-yeon continued.
“I thought it was ordinary oil and distributed it to a few places. Then suddenly broken machines started repairing themselves.”
“Excuse me?”
Come to think of it, he had seen similar news online.
“Three new pseudo-religions almost formed. They were buying up the oil in bulk and trying to sell it as ‘Yu An Seong Oil.’ We barely stopped them.”
“Ah, I see…”
“People put it in washing machines and they went crackle—bang! and fixed themselves. Cars went crackle—bang! and repaired themselves. They even tried it on airplanes… It was absolute chaos.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Thankfully everyone thought it was an internet joke and let it slide. If we had been any slower, we wouldn’t have been able to recover it. We’re currently running full inspections on every batch.”
It was probably the effect of the Hangma gold coins.
Kim Hwang-je recalled the merciless flood of gold coins he had poured into the refinery tank. The magical power of the anti-demon coins and the natural power obtained from the slime must have harmonized perfectly.
Oil that repaired machines! It really was holy oil!
“Oh, then… I guess I don’t need to buy a helicopter?”
“A helicopter? Helicopters aren’t sold to civilians. They’re considered wartime assets.”
Jung Da-yeon tilted her head.
Kim Hwang-je chuckled.
“Heh heh. Then this works out even better.”
She had no idea about the Black Cobra operation.
Seo Jun-seo spoke to Kim Hwang-je. The way he was studying his boss’s expression suggested he had sensed something.
“Do you have another method in mind, boss?”
“I do. There are those fighter jets rotting away in North Korea, right?”
Seo Jun-seo sucked in a sharp breath.
North Korean planes? Most of the usable ones had already been dismantled by the allied forces. The so-called North Korean fighters were…
Kim Hwang-je smirked.
“The ones made of wood that are rotting. You know.”
Seo Jun-seo understood instantly.
“AN-2!”
“A-E-N… two?”
Jung Da-yeon was hearing this for the first time.
Kim Hwang-je spoke excitedly.
“There was this uncle at the construction site—Mr. Choo. He always said that if we fought North Korea we’d lose. That uncle claimed AN-2s don’t show up on radar, so if special forces rode them all the way to Seoul, it’d be game over.”
“Ah… yes… It’s a wooden light biplane developed in 1947. Literally, they’re probably rotting away right now…”
“All hail Hangma Oil! Let’s go! Do you know where they are?”
Boss, I’m telling you they really are rotting.
Seo Jun-seo swallowed hard and pushed down his urge to protest. Even though they were in the same boat, he could still feel the phantom touch of slime on the back of his neck.
“You don’t know where they are, Mr. Jun-seo? Should I search Google?”
“…Our secretary team previously secured the ND-01 list—the facilities the allied forces classified as not requiring destruction or dismantling. I’ll review it quickly.”
“Heh heh. Let’s take advantage of the ruined communist party.”
Jung Da-yeon stared blankly, unable to follow the conversation between Kim Hwang-je and Seo Jun-seo.
Kim Hwang-je smiled at her and asked.
“Jung Da-yeon, just in case we run short, could you buy some rubies for me?”
“Rubies?”
“Yes. For now… gather about one billion won worth.”
His scale had certainly grown.
Well, it was always good to have spare gems.
Jung Da-yeon regained her professional expression and asked.
“As reagents, is it quantity or quality?”
“…Hm, quantity for now.”
“Understood. And you’ll be selling Hangma gold today as well?”
“Yes. I’ll pile it up in that warehouse we discussed, so come pick it up.”
Pile gold in a warehouse?
Hadn’t he always given it in plastic bags…?
“Um…?”
It was probably the Incheon warehouse they had agreed to use for exchanges. But did he really possess enough gold to stack it like grain in a silo?
Jung Da-yeon stared at him, wondering what on earth he meant, but Kim Hwang-je offered no further explanation.
Seo Jun-seo gave her a slightly apologetic smile from the side.
“You’ll understand once you see it, ma’am. Our boss… tends to operate on a rather large scale.”
“…I see. We can talk more after you return.”
“Right! Let’s go!”
Beaming with excitement, Kim Hwang-je teleported with Seo Jun-seo to the North Korean territory he had broken through once before.
“Kkeong, keong!”
Kim Hwang-je slapped the backsides of the kobolds that had been ruling the area and chased them off.
“Get lost, you lot.”
“Grrrr!”
The pitiful dog-humans whimpered as they scattered in every direction.
Kim Hwang-je dusted off his hands and literally tore open the door of the hangar that was quite literally crumbling…
Crash!
“Why did it break when I was just supposed to push it?”
The door panel shattered and acrid smoke billowed out. Inside were tightly packed, rotting green wooden airplanes. AN-2s—three hundred of them—with nothing but their engines made of metal. They were the discarded junk left behind when the North Korean special forces fled.
“Come forth! Thick-Fingered Bandit! Sassy Gangster!”
The bandit and gangster who had been abruptly summoned looked bewildered and relaxed their combat stances.
“Your Majesty? So you missed us after all!”
“Of course we missed you too!”
The bandits chattered noisily.
Kim Hwang-je gave them a bright smile and handed over an oil drum.
“Here. Start pouring it in from now on.”
“Huh?”
“What are you waiting for? Put oil in the planes.”
“Hiiing… you’re not even going to play with us.”
“Ah, hurry up!”
One of the whining bandits poured the oil into a wooden biplane.
“No, that… the rusted engine…”
Seo Jun-seo lamented.
That engine dated back to 1943. Even decent wine would have turned to vinegar by now. And yet—
Crackle— Boom!
Could onomatopoeia ever be this accurate?
The moment the oil went in, the engine roared back to life with a bang.
Vrrrrrr—!
The refreshing sound of the biplane engine filled the air as the propeller began to spin. Stale wind trapped inside the hangar swirled up and rushed out in a refreshing gust.
It was like watching a dinosaur in a museum stand up and start dancing.
“This is insane. This world is insane.”
Seo Jun-seo muttered from the corner.
Yet the bandits and gangsters—who had been busy raiding dungeons—were diligently carrying the oil and feeding the planes. That part was reality.
“Aigoo, you cute little things. Eat plenty! Wahahaha!”
The bandit laughed heartily as he poured the oil.
From every direction came the sounds of crackle—bang! as the planes revived.
“Whoa, so all of these are His Majesty’s toys!”
These fellows had no common sense to begin with, so they had no reason to be shocked. Ignorance could sometimes be this convenient.
“Ai, the wood isn’t being repaired, though.”
Nevertheless, Kim Hwang-je—goodness knows what went on in that head of his—complained to Seo Jun-seo that the oil wasn’t fixing the wooden parts.
“If it repaired the wood properly, we could spray pesticide and fertilizer from the air like they do in America. Don’t you think?”
“Yes… boss…”
Seo Jun-seo had no choice but to respond.
Suddenly Kim Hwang-je’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, now that I think about it—our dragon friend used druid spells, right?”
She could repair all the tattered wooden wings for free, couldn’t she?
Kim Hwang-je smiled slyly.
“I should take these and put our dragon friend to work. Let’s go.”
All airplanes to the trade window!