Chapter 461: Why Is This Here? (3)

“Value of life, my ass. We will be lucky if he does not rip out its Dragon Heart and eat it.”

The archmage snorted and turned his head.

“Ah. Judging by that fellow’s level, forget the hatchling. We will be lucky if he does not get crushed to death by the bronze golem.”

An ordinary person who had not even awakened.

He had a sturdy, muscular body, but to the archmage, he was a terribly frail being.

He merely found it strange that some unknown law of causality was flowing around him.

At the archmage’s remark, the old monk smiled faintly.

Unlike his usual self, it was a smile filled with absolute trust.

“Is there not also a saying that great talent matures late? If it is Mujin, he will succeed. Hohoho.”

He was not referring to the bronze golem serving as the gatekeeper.

‘Even if that old dragon invades this dimension, Mujin will somehow stop it. Amitabha.’

***

Choi Kanghyuk stepped through the door.

First, he headed toward the place where he had sensed Hyungwang’s energy.

For some reason, even as Choi Kanghyuk approached, the hatchling remained lying motionless on the floor.

Choi Kanghyuk passed the hatchling and reached the wall.

“Was it really my imagination?”

As expected, he could not sense anything.

“Tsk.”

Choi Kanghyuk shook off his longing and disappointment, then turned around.

This time, he approached the hatchling.

The hatchling was breathing very slowly and weakly.

Seeing it up close, he thought he understood why.

It was emaciated.

Its scales looked as though they were clinging directly to its bones.

“Ah. Right, it has already been four months since the gate opened.”

It had been trapped in here for four months.

Was it not rather remarkable that it was still alive?

‘....... Even if it had an inner core, it must have shriveled up by now.’

As he looked at the emaciated hatchling, Muyul came to mind for some reason.

And so did Lingling, whom Muyul always brought around as though they were twin brothers.

Muyul was quite an unusual fellow.

Perhaps because he was pure, or perhaps because his intelligence was on a similar level to that of an animal, he was able to communicate with animals.

Because of that, he had several spirit beasts he was close to.

The Beast Palace had even treated him as their young palace lord upon their first meeting.

Because of his astonishing talent for communicating with animals.

In any case, Muyul was able to communicate with animals and spirit beasts.

And if this thing was a dragon, it should also be a type of spirit beast.

‘If Muyul were here, would he have been able to tame it?’

His fist did not readily clench.

Originally, he had intended to simply kill it.

Because emerging from a gate meant it was a monster that threatened humanity.

However, because Muyul and Lingling had come to mind, he felt strangely uneasy.

‘Wait. There was also that serpent dragon raised by the Beast Palace Lord. There is no rule saying this thing must be evil, is there?’

Now that he thought about it, that serpent dragon looked far more vicious.

Was it said that the young of every animal were cute?

Perhaps because it was a baby dragon, or perhaps because it was so thin, it also seemed somewhat cute.

Moreover, what the Beast Palace Lord had raised was merely a serpent dragon. This thing was a dragon.

Even by common sense, this thing’s intelligence should be superior.

Even if language did not work, would it not possess the ability to learn?

“Smack. Should I try raising it first, and think about it then if it does not work out?”

Having made his decision, Choi Kanghyuk asked the hatchling.

“Are you hungry?”

The hatchling remained lying down and merely opened its eyes slightly.

Then it let out an extremely small sound, as though it were on °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° the verge of death.

Pyaaaaa.

Choi Kanghyuk scratched his head and lowered the backpack from his back.

Choi Kanghyuk took out a bag.

A bag containing cubed chicken breast.

It was emergency food for replenishing protein.

Nourishment that would become muscle. To Choi Kanghyuk, it was food as precious as his own flesh and blood.

Choi Kanghyuk tore open the bag with the feeling that he was tearing apart his own muscles.

Riiip.

Then he brought the chicken breast to the hatchling’s mouth.

The hatchling’s dull eyes lit up.

The hatchling opened its mouth with difficulty, then swallowed the chicken breast in a single bite.

And without even chewing it more than a few times, it gulped it straight down.

The hatchling looked up at Choi Kanghyuk with pitiful eyes.

As though asking whether there was anything else.

“.......”

Letting out a hollow laugh, Choi Kanghyuk held the backpack upside down.

The items inside spilled out.

Chicken breast. Protein drinks. Protein chocolate bars, and so on.

He opened them one by one and brought them to the hatchling’s mouth.

Then the hatchling devoured them excitedly.

Munch munch.

While opening food for it, Choi Kanghyuk suddenly paused.

It was not only because he regretted sharing his protein.

The problem was that the only thing left happened to be a protein chocolate bar.

‘I heard dogs should not eat chocolate? Ah. It is not a dog, but a dragon, so does it not matter?’

Choi Kanghyuk turned his head.

The hatchling’s eyes sparkled brightly.

“To hell with it.”

In the end, Choi Kanghyuk opened the wrapper and held out the chocolate bar.

As expected, the hatchling snapped up the chocolate bar in a single bite.

Had its hunger eased a little?

The hatchling struggled to raise its body.

Then it rubbed its head against Choi Kanghyuk’s thick thigh.

Pyaaaaa.

A quiet laugh escaped him.

“You are cuter than I expected.”

Choi Kanghyuk willingly stroked the hatchling’s head.

It was the moment he gained a pet. No, a companion spirit beast.

***

After playing with his companion spirit beast for a while.

Pyaaaaa.......

The hatchling went limp again.

“Right, you have been starving for four months. There is no way eating only this much would give you strength.”

Choi Kanghyuk scratched his head and stood up.

“Rest for a little while.”

He intended to go outside the gate.

Choi Kanghyuk happened to be hungry as well.

Because he had given all the protein he had brought as emergency food to the hatchling.

Once he left the gate, the refrigerator was filled with protein meals anyway.

Intending to bring those back, Choi Kanghyuk left the dragon lair.

“Hoo. Now that I think about it, I have to climb back up here.”

The dizzyingly high cliff awaited him.

Climbing the cliff itself was not particularly difficult.

However.

“If I only exercise and cannot eat, I will lose muscle. Tsk.”

And it did not end with the cliff.

He had to retrace the path he had come.

He had to descend the mountain, cross the forest, and run for another hour to the gate entrance.

“Wait, then I have to go there and come all the way back again?”

To feed the hatchling, he would have to return here from the entrance again.

It was an endlessly troublesome process.

After thinking for a moment, Choi Kanghyuk turned around and headed back into the cave.

Then he abruptly hoisted the hatchling onto his back.

“Hup!”

He intended to travel all the way to the gate entrance while carrying the hatchling on his back.

He felt a heavy weight pressing against him.

It might have been a baby dragon, but a dragon was still a dragon.

Even though it was young, its body was larger than Choi Kanghyuk’s.

Naturally, it easily weighed more than 100kg.

“Hoo. Good, good. This is exercise too. I just have to gorge myself on protein when I get back.”

Running his positive exercise circuit, he headed back toward the cave entrance.

“Hold on tight. It will be dangerous if you fall.”

Had it understood Choi Kanghyuk’s words?

The hatchling’s four legs, which had been hanging limply around him, tightly clutched Choi Kanghyuk’s torso.

If it had been an ordinary person’s body, the claws would have torn all the flesh from it.

Of course, not even a scratch appeared on Choi Kanghyuk’s skin.

Thus, the rock climbing began.

With a load weighing well over 100kg on his back.

After completing the climb in only a few minutes, sweat poured from Choi Kanghyuk’s body like rain.

“Hoo.”

After wiping his forehead with a refreshed expression, Choi Kanghyuk moved his legs.

“I worked the upper body enough, so now it is the lower body’s turn.”

Still carrying the hatchling on his back, he began descending the mountain.

Even after coming down from the mountain, Choi Kanghyuk continued running.

Choi Kanghyuk knew as well.

That there was no need to make things this difficult.

The hatchling was still hanging limply behind him.

It merely lacked strength because it had been starving for a long time.

If he fed it well for several days, it would probably be able to walk on its own.

Instead of carrying it like this, he merely had to travel back and forth to the cave for a few days and give it food.

However, Choi Kanghyuk did not do that.

He did not feel any need to.

Why would he waste several days traveling several hours back and forth?

He only needed to endure it with his body once.

‘As expected, life becomes easier when you have a good body. Hehehe.’

After traveling for a full two hours, Choi Kanghyuk finally arrived at a familiar place.

The area around the gate entrance where the bed had been placed.

“Hup.”

Choi Kanghyuk lowered the hatchling to the floor and said.

“I will go prepare food, so rest for a moment.”

He immediately left the gate and headed toward the refrigerator.

He completely emptied the refrigerator of all its food.

“I had no choice but to give it to you as it was earlier, but just in case.”

After heating all the chicken breast and meat in the microwave, he gathered a large amount of food and returned to the gate.

Had it smelled the meat?

The eyes of the hatchling lying sprawled on the floor snapped open.

“Here. Let us eat.”

After setting down the large amount of food he had brought, Choi Kanghyuk also picked up his chopsticks.

The joyful replenishment of protein began.

Munch munch.

After enthusiastically stuffing food into his mouth for a while, Choi Kanghyuk let out a quiet laugh.

“You little rascal. You know protein is good.”

The hatchling was madly shoveling only protein-rich foods into its mouth.

It showed no interest whatsoever in things like salad or fruit.

Watching it, Choi Kanghyuk picked up some salad with his chopsticks.

“No matter how good protein is for your muscles, you cannot be a picky eater! Huh? You have to eat a balanced range of nutrients. Otherwise, you will get gout and suffer later, you punk.”

As though demonstrating, Choi Kanghyuk put the salad into his own mouth, then held out the plastic container filled with salad toward the hatchling.

The hatchling’s expression was not particularly pleased.

“Hey now. I am only saying this for your own good.”

It was truly an old-fashioned remark.

However, blindly forcing someone to eat food they disliked would only make their picky eating worse.

Choi Kanghyuk knew that very well because he had experience raising a child when he was Mujin.

Choi Kanghyuk picked up several chunks of chicken breast with his chopsticks and placed them on top of the salad.

“Here. You can eat them together like this.”

The hatchling stared at the plastic container, then cautiously lowered its face toward it.

Unlike before, when it had sucked down protein like a vacuum cleaner, the hatchling slowly chewed the chicken salad.

Fortunately, it seemed to suit its taste, and the speed at which it ate the salad gradually increased.

Munch munch.

Choi Kanghyuk smiled with satisfaction and stroked the hatchling’s head.

“Right. You have to eat well for your body to gain muscle and become healthy. Good grief. Look at you, nothing but bones. Once your body gets better, I will teach you how to exercise too. Understood?”

Then Choi Kanghyuk realized a very important fact.

‘Wait, what am I supposed to call this thing?’

He could not simply call it hey or you.

But calling it a dragon or a baby dragon felt too distant.

“Hmm. What would Muyul call you?”

The monkey was Lingling. The elephant spirit beast he met in the Southern Barbarians was called Bibi because its nose was long.

“Then since this thing is a dragon, should it be Yongyong?”

The hatchling, which had been busy eating, raised its head.

Its expression was not particularly pleased.

“Right, Muyul’s naming sense was always terrible.”

Then what would be good?

The hatchling’s bright red scales entered his eyes.

“Since you are a red dragon, Reddi—. Ah. Even so, this is a bit much.”

The hatchling’s expression grew utterly rotten.

Choi Kanghyuk’s naming sense was even worse than Muyul’s.

***

The next morning.

Choi Kanghyuk, who had slept inside the gate, raised his body.

“I will step outside for a moment. Ah! You must never come out of here before I allow it. Understood?”

After warning the hatchling, Choi Kanghyuk left the gate.

“The refrigerator has been completely emptied, so I should buy some food.”

Using his phone, he ordered an enormous quantity of protein-rich food.

However, placing an order did not mean it would arrive immediately.

After finishing the order, Choi Kanghyuk headed toward the gym entrance.

He intended to go to the supermarket and buy a protein meal for breakfast.

But what was this?

A business card had been left at the gym entrance.

“Is it an advertisement? But why leave a business card instead of a flyer?”

Choi Kanghyuk picked up the business card and headed toward the trash can.

As he walked, Choi Kanghyuk briefly examined the card and tilted his head.

“HK Representative Joo Hyungyeong?”

It was quite a famous name.

Because HK was one of the organizations known as Korea’s ten major guilds.

However, why would the business card of the representative of such a major guild be left at the entrance to a gym?

“Huh?”

As he examined the business card in confusion, he noticed something he had missed.

There was a handwritten note written in tiny letters on the back of the card.

- I waited for several hours, but you did not return, so I am leaving my business card like this. There is something I would like to discuss with you in person. Please contact me.