My name is Antares. The "first Monarch" and "strongest Monarch" born from darkness. A king who reigns over all dragons, and a being who embodies fear and destruction. That's right. Those who know me all address me as the "Dragon Emperor" with reverence and respect. But. One day, as I was hiding in a rift between dimensions, preparing to conquer Earth alongside my ten million soldiers. I opened my eyes to find myself inside a human body.
'...'
On top of that, it seems I've somehow acquired all of this human's memories as well. When I found myself in front of a mirror hanging in the corner of a room, I could only let out a gasp of horror.
'What is this? This puny, pathetic-looking human face?'
How pathetic. The name is Sung Jin-Woo. A young man operating as an E-rank Hunter in a country called the Republic of Korea. This human, despite his worthless abilities putting him in mortal danger quite frequently, refuses to give up his Hunter work until the end.
'The reason is... his mother's illness, perhaps?'
That kind of illness would be easily cured with a single cast of my magic... and as I was thinking this, a phone rang. Vrrr— vrrr— I picked up the small electronic device trembling on the desk. A woman's urgent voice came through from the other side.
—Sung Hunter, what happened to you? The raid time is almost up and you haven't shown up yet...
Searching this human's memories for the voice I was hearing, the result showed she was a Hunter's Association employee.
'Hmph.'
I was about to hang up this call that I'd answered out of habit, but the woman's voice that followed scraped at my nerves.
—Don't tell me you're late again? '...'
Late. The act of being unable to arrive on time because one lacks the ability to keep a schedule. In other words, this woman had the audacity to ask whether I, the embodiment of omnipotent power, the "Dragon Emperor," would commit an act that symbolized nothing but incompetence. An impossible occurrence—so my eyes filled with rage.
"You... where are you?" —Where? Everyone is at the Gate right now. And why are you suddenly using informal speech, Hunter Sung Jin-Woo?
I'm concentrating. To find the location where this insolent woman's voice was emanating from. My sensory energy covered the entire city, and soon I pinpointed the location.
"Found you." —What did you find...?
Snap. Using human units of distance, it was 11 kilometers—not very far—so running at full speed, I arrived at their location in a matter of seconds. Then I stood in front of the Hunter's Association employee, who was about to pull the phone away from her ear now that the call had ended, and spoke.
"Was I late?" "H-Hunter?"
Whether she'd sensed even a fraction of my limitless power, the terrified employee slowly backed away. I grabbed both her shoulders to prevent her from retreating and asked again.
"Was I late?" "N-no." "Good."
With a satisfied face, I let her go and looked around—Hunters were buzzing with unease. I paid less attention to their unremarkable faces than to the pleasant aroma rising from the paper cups in their hands.
"Coffee... I want coffee too."
I turned to the employee, and she—now pale-faced—bowed deeply with utter sincerity.
"I-I'm sorry, Hunter. We've run out of coffee right now..." "No problem." "What?"
Before she could even lift her head back up, I snatched the paper cup from the nearest fellow.
"Wh-what are you doing?"
Gulp, gulp. I swallowed the sweet liquid in one go, and when I scowled, the guy who'd been flustered about having his coffee stolen bolted in fright.
"Haha!"
A being of great power takes from the weak. Common sense among our Monarchs. The fact that the same common sense seemed to apply to humans as well put me in an exceedingly good mood.
"Mr. Sung... doesn't something seem off?" "His eyes look different today..." "No, I keep getting this eerie feeling."
The Hunters were whispering behind my back, but there was no need to pay the slightest heed to the opinions of inferior humans, so I naturally ignored them.
"Alright, now that everyone's gathered, let's get started."
While the Hunters were warming up for the raid, my gaze turned to the Gate they were scheduled to enter.
'...'
That place. Highly suspicious. The Gates appearing on Earth were surely the work of the Rulers... so why did I sense the aura of a Monarch from that Gate? I needed to investigate. Staring at the Gate with eyes sharp as a hawk's, I positioned myself behind the Hunters who were about to step through.
"I'm going too." "W-well, of course Hunter Sung is going too?"
Sensing the ominous atmosphere flowing from within, I entered the Gate along with the Hunters who were expressing their bewilderment.
* * *
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack! The Hunters paid their respects to me as I pounded away at the fake monsters deployed to conceal the dungeon's true purpose.
"Doesn't Mr. Sung seem really off today?" "No... maybe it's just that this dungeon's monsters are excessively weak..." "But I can't even see what Mr. Sung is doing... his movements..."
Having cleared the monsters in an instant, I found the suspicious entrance.
"We're going this way." "Wait, decisions like this should be made by vote..."
He couldn't finish his sentence. Because he'd lost consciousness with a single blow. Thud. I looked down at the fallen old man, then surveyed the Hunters and asked.
"Anyone else want to vote?" "..."
And so it was unanimously decided that we'd go in. Walking endlessly down the long corridor, we arrived at a massive door at its end.
"A door at the end of a cave?" "Was there ever a room with a door before?" "I've never seen anything like this..." "Isn't this... dangerous?"
The Hunters murmured with unease. Of course, I—who had also detected the fearsome aura flowing from within—agreed with their assessment that it was dangerous. So I opened the door, grabbed the nearest Hunter by the collar, and lightly tossed him inside.
"A-argh!"
The thrown fellow was flailing on the floor, but nothing happened. Confirming it was safe, I then stepped inside. The spacious interior was decorated like an ancient temple.
"Wh-what is this place?"
The Hunters who entered late began surveying their surroundings, but it was a futile effort. I closed my eyes briefly, concentrated, and instantly located the entity that could be called the true form of this place.
"That one."
The Hunters crowded around the angel statue holding a stone tablet, following my pointing finger.
"Something seems to be written on the stone tablet." "Huh? Runes on the stone tablet!"
Since there didn't appear to be any Hunter here who could read runes, I read them aloud in a loud voice.
"The Decrees of the Cartenon Temple."
Then someone grabbed my arm. I turned around to find a woman with a bluish-white face standing there.
"Th-the statue over there..." "Release me."
I shook off the woman's hand and continued reading the stone tablet.
"First, worship the divine. Second, praise the divine. Third, prove your faith. Those who do not uphold these decrees shall never return alive."
As if it had been waiting, the colossal statue seated in the corner of the temple shot red beams from both its eyes. ZZZZZZZ—! I didn't even think of dodging or blocking, and instead proudly bared my chest to face the beam head-on.
"You dare challenge me with such puny power!"
Mocking the beam's might—which wasn't even as strong as the breath of ancient dragons—I showed them what true destructive power looked like. KRAAAOOOOM—! The "Breath of Annihilation" that shot straight from my power blew the statue's head clean off.
"This is power."
That served as the signal. The statues that had been standing against the walls like decorations charged at me in unison, ignoring all the other Hunters.
"Bwahaha!"
These insolent dolls! I crushed their skulls one by one with my bare hands as they charged. WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! CRACK! WHAM!
"So slow, so slow!"
The Hunters, who had been crouching to the ground to avoid the ruthlessly flying debris, screamed in terror.
"There had to be some other method!" "What was that decree about?!"
Before their cries could even finish, the statues had been reduced to dust by my hands. Naturally, this barely qualified as a warm-up.
"Is this the end?!"
The angel statue holding the stone tablet rose to its feet in a fury, apparently enraged at having its preparations ruined.
[You—what are you?!] "Silence!"
I snatched a spear from one of the statues and hurled it at the angel. In an instant, the angel statue, pierced through the neck, crumpled to the ground. I hadn't come here to converse with a fake like that. What I wanted was the true power hiding behind this!
"Show yourself, coward!"
After clearing away all the obstacles, I let out a roar, and the headless statue silently rose to its feet. Yes—just like that. I felt my blood boiling and curled the corners of my lips upward. The statue, now towering before me, looked down at me.
[Shadow Monarch—fate decreed we would meet like this someday. Here and now, I shall sever our dark connection!] "Oh, now that's more like it!"
The statue, wreathed in black aura, transformed into a colossal shadow, and I released all my power to match its magnificent presence. From the soles of my feet to the tips of my hair, an electric thrill surged through my entire body.
"Come!"
Our battle would not end easily!
* * *
"Hup!"
Jin-Woo sat up. The familiar bed, wallpaper, ceiling, computer. Looking around, Jin-Woo realized he had woken up in his own room.
'Was it a dream?'
Becoming the Dragon Emperor—that was quite the wild dream. No, perhaps he should say that the Dragon Emperor had become him?
'Wait...'
Hurriedly checking the time on his phone, Jin-Woo let out a sigh of relief. There was still time before the exam started.
'Come to think of it... it's already been four years since I defeated the Dragon Emperor.'
And so, time had passed, and today was the day of the College Scholastic Ability Test. Having a wild dream like this from the morning was probably proof of how nervous he was. Jin-Woo chuckled briefly, then got up from his seat. Today was the day he could verify all his effort and its fruits. He already had a university in mind. Because there was one more person—someone he absolutely wanted to meet—who would be there.
'I'm glad you're not that great at studying, Jin-Ho.'
Yoo Jin-Ho. Savoring the familiar name in his thoughts, Jin-Woo pushed open the curtains covering his window. The dim dawn light was slowly fading away.
'I'll go ahead and wait.'
While Jin-Woo stood by the window, feeling the morning breeze and anticipating their reunion, hurried footsteps sounded and the bedroom door flew open.
"Son, you know today's the CSAT, right?" "Son, do you want Dad to drive you?"
Looking at his parents' faces—both of whom had been up all night worrying their son might oversleep and miss the important exam—Jin-Woo smiled and nodded.
"I'll head out now." [Let us go, my lord.]
Encouraged by Igrit's subtly anxious words of support, Jin-Woo left the house. It was a pleasant morning.