Chapter 12. Don't Mistake a Dragon
Chapter 12. Don't Mistake a Dragon
Chapter 12. Don't Mistake a Dragon
"So-hee, So-jin is your one and only precious younger brother."
When I was young, my mother used to say that like a habit.
In that old, cramped apartment, I had to take care of my younger brother So-jin, who was always pale, every single day.
A child who could only lie in bed due to an incurable disease with no name.
While my friends were outside playing tag or giggling while watching girl fantasy cartoons, I had to wipe the phlegm from So-jin's throat and feed him bitter medicine.
"Mom, I want to play too! Why do I have to be by So-jin's side every day?"
Whenever I complained, all I got in return was a pitiful look and that same repeated phrase.
"So-hee, if not you, who would take care of So-jin? So-jin is your one and only precious existence."
That phrase, 'one and only precious,' felt like shackles to my young self.
But those shackles became a brand that would never be removed on that night when the rain was pouring down like crazy.
My parents, who worked day and night to earn money for my brother's medical bills.
The news that their car, driven while drowsy, had slipped on the rainy road and crashed into the guardrail was like a death sentence to us siblings, who had no relatives since our parents were orphans who had met and married.
In the empty funeral hall, So-jin sat in his wheelchair, staring blankly at me.
Only then did I realize the weight of the words my parents had left behind, and I sobbed.
We are all alone in this world.
So-jin really has become my one and only precious existence, one who would die without me.
Our family fortune had declined, and my brother's condition worsened day by day.
Ordinary part-time jobs couldn't even cover the cost of my brother's life support system.
In the end, I used my awakening ability as a weapon and chose the easiest and dirtiest path.
The villain organization, 'Black Wings'.
They gave me the money and medicine to save my brother, but in exchange, they demanded my humanity.
One day, exhausted from that blood-soaked villain life, I met him.
Park Haneul.
The man who appeared before me as I infiltrated the academy washed away the darkness I had carried my whole life with just a single ray of light.
"......Huh?"
When the white radiance erupting from his hands enveloped So-jin's body, the incurable disease that neither modern medicine nor the secret arts of villains could cure was washed away as if it had never been there.
The moment I saw So-jin's gasping breath turn calm and a red, healthy glow return to the child's cheeks.
The center of my world collapsed and was rebuilt.
"So-hee noona, you'll be okay now."
Haneul, who smiled brightly at me.
At that moment, my parents' voices echoed in my head like an auditory hallucination.
So-hee, 'one and only precious'.
That's right.
Haneul, who saved my 'one and only precious' So-jin, was my new god and the only sanctuary I had to protect with my life.
"I swear my loyalty to you."
That day, I swore my loyalty to Haneul.
My ability, my heart, my life.
I will give you everything I have.
'You give me everything you have, too.'
I can't let anyone take him.
I would rather die than see that dazzling light touch any woman other than me.
Even if it were Kim Sia, or anyone else in this world.
The leader, Belzenia, did not miss the chance to dig into that small crack in my heart.
When the black magic that encroached on my mind ravaged my brain, I actually felt a sense of relief.
Because now, I could legitimately kidnap him.
Because now, I could lock him away in a place no one knows and make him look only at me.
"Ugh...... ugh......."
I opened my eyes with a headache that felt like my head was splitting.
The first thing I felt was the thick scent tickling the tip of my nose and the excessively soft texture I felt against my back.
'Where am I? This doesn't look like the dormitory.'
As I slowly secured my vision, what unfolded before me was a scene like a luxurious medieval castle bedroom.
And at the foot of the bed, sitting on a fancy leather chair, was a woman elegantly crossing her legs and looking down at me.
Jet-black hair and vertically slit reptilian pupils.
I instinctively swallowed a groan.
'Belzenia......!'
Belzenia, who plays the role of a mid-boss in the original [Hunter's Age] and is considered the worst villain by fans for providing countless frustrating developments.
The Black Dragon, who pretends to be noble on the outside but is pitch-black on the inside, has already started moving.
She looked at the heart tattoo on my stomach, her beautiful brow furrowing in clear displeasure.
"A foul scent. The stench of that vulgar girl, Asmodeus, is reeking all the way here."
To her, a dragon, the Blessing of the Demon King wasn't a temptation, but merely the unpleasant stench of a nemesis.
She stood up from her seat and slowly approached me, opening her mouth with a beautiful smile.
But I, who know the knowledge of the original work, know.
That that beautiful smile is a facade.
"Park Haneul-gun, sorry for surprising you. I am Belzenia. Your purification ability is absolutely necessary for our organization. How about joining hands with me? I will grant you whatever you desire."
I sneered inwardly.
'Lying. I know exactly what happened to the hunters you recruited in the original work.'
She was a cold-blooded person who would discard anyone without hesitation once they became useless.
'Seriously, the fans were so frustrated by the plot of turning beautiful female characters into puppets and then discarding them......!'
"I refuse. I have no intention of joining hands with a villain."
At my firm attitude, Belzenia's fake smile shattered in an instant.
"......Hehe, you've got guts. To think a human male would dare to reject my offer so flatly."
She revealed her true colors, looking down at me with an arrogant expression.
"I know very well how to handle a stubborn man who doesn't listen like you."
I gulped and tensed my entire body.
'Is it violence? Or is she going to torture me with dragon magic?'
But a completely different development from my expectations unfolded.
Belzenia suddenly pulled a smartphone stand out from her bosom and set it right in front of the bed.
Then, she mounted a latest-model smartphone and pressed the video recording button.
'What the hell kind of situation is this?'
I stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.
Belzenia, perhaps mistaking my confusion for fear, laughed wickedly and called for So-hee noona.
"Han So-hee, start. I will record every single shameful moment of this cheeky man. Once this video spreads to the world, you will no longer be able to live as a noble purification user!"
......Excuse me? This is a threat?
So-hee noona, who appeared from behind, approached me with unfocused eyes and pulled out the pretty lace clothes she had prepared.
"Haneul-ah, come on...... let's change into these. I'll make you look pretty."
That's right.
In this Gender Reversal world, having a man play 'dolls' or be forced into 'cross-dressing' was one of the most shameful tortures that ruined a hunter's honor!
So-hee noona's hands began to undo my shirt buttons one by one.
"Hey, yamete! Yamero! Please, don't do this! Huk!"
On the outside, I resisted desperately and made a pained expression.
But on the inside, I was cheering.
'Yes, jackpot! I was so scared thinking I'd be tortured, but this is nothing? Is just doing some cosplay and getting filmed considered torture?'
It might be different for men in this world, but by the sexual ethics of my original world, this wasn't torture, but merely a sort of happening.
'To think I'd be in a situation where a pretty noona is changing my clothes. This is actually great!'
Belzenia, thinking I was trembling with shame, became even more emboldened.
But when I didn't cooperate to the end despite the wicked (fun) cosplay torture with So-hee noona.
"Hehe, you're persistent. I'll make you do something even more painful! I'll make you do the legendary punishment that even human women find painful, the PT No. 8 posture!"
I was astonished.
'No, PT No. 8 is notorious even in our military! You're doing that here?'
But I am a former training camp assistant instructor!
Like a seasoned instructor, I began to perform PT No. 8 with perfect posture.
I maintained that painful posture of lifting my legs and holding on with the strength of my abs without even blinking an eye.
Hehe, this is the power of the Republic of Korea Army, where I struggled to win the guerrilla leader award!
'What is this human......?!'
I couldn't help but be astonished.
Normally, if it were a human male, it would be normal for him to burst into tears from shame or beg for his life pathetically due to physical pain.
But Park Haneul was different.
He didn't lose his gaze even in the most shameful cosplay play, and he looked as calm as a meditating ascetic even in the pain of PT No. 8, which even women find hard to endure.
'Could a man of such high spirit exist among humans?'
I have always treated humans as mere insects.
Especially human men, who were foolish beings who would squeeze out tears at the slightest bit of torment and act as if weakness were a virtue.
But the man before my eyes possessed a stronger mental fortitude than any dragon warrior.
Watching his alluring body with sweat dripping down and those eyes that refused to submit, my heart began to beat strangely.
'No, this is just that I covet his purification ability.......'
But my instinct was already saying something else.
If he has this much mental strength, appearance, and the fortitude to even overcome the Blessing of the Demon King...... he is more than enough to be my Companion.
No, he is actually a male so excellent that he is more than I deserve.
I had originally intended to use him as a tool and throw him to So-hee, but my mind has changed now.
"Han So-hee, stop. I will not allow you to touch him anymore."
I pushed So-hee aside and approached Haneul.
"Park Haneul, I have seen you in a new light. You were not an insect. You have proven your qualification to be the Companion of me, a dragon."
Now, Park Haneul was no longer a tool for revenge.
Those beautiful eyes looking up at me,
That faint, gasping breath,
That jewel-like body that feels like it would break if I touched it with force.
Everything is mine.
I will not hand him over to any other female!
I lifted his chin and declared.
"I will take you as my official Companion. From now on, you are my possession."
At that moment, Han So-hee, who had been standing blankly to the side, began to tremble.
"......Companion? Haneul is...... the Leader's?"
Blue flames flickered within her unfocused pupils.
Belzenia's mental encroachment magic was colliding with her instinctive possessiveness, and cracks were beginning to form.
"Haneul is...... mine...... my precious...... one and only......."
So-hee's lips trembled, and her reason was slowly raising its head from within the darkness.