Chapter 3
Six months.
That’s how long it took me to get back home.
“I finally made it back.”
I looked at the rust-covered iron gate, noticing the papers that were plastered to the gate like moths sticking to a lamppost.
“I swore I’d tear up all those bills when I got back…”
I had found the dragon’s nest, but I might as well have come back empty-handed.
I wasn’t any richer, and I couldn’t tear down those bills clinging to the gate since I had no extra cash.
“If only I’d brought back something valuable… I could’ve ripped them all up. Or is it too late for wishful thinking?”
I sighed. There was no use in regrets. I left the bills untouched and reached into my pocket for the keys. Just then.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-
“Lee Ha-Jun!”
Someone from the far end of the dark hallway was shouting my name and running toward me.
That scarred face, rough and dangerous, was one I knew all too well.
‘Oh crap…’
This was a familiar pattern. That thug would show up every time I tried to unlock the door.
'Of all days... Why today?'
I cursed under my breath and frantically searched my pocket for the key.
I knew exactly what was coming next if he caught up to me, and my body braced for it.
“Yes! Got it!”
“Lee Ha-Jun! You little punk!”
“Damn it, why won’t it go in?”
Maybe it was because I hadn’t been home for a while, or maybe the keyhole was clogged with dust, but the key wouldn’t fit. As I struggled with the lock, the guy kept getting closer.
“Haa, it’s too late now.”
There was no avoiding it. I had no choice but to face him head-on.
I raised my hand casually to greet the man who was charging toward me.
“Hey, long time no see, man. How’ve you been?”
My friendly tone was met with his angry glare.
“How’ve I been? You little brat, you’re still talking down to me after all these months. You think that’s the first thing to say after borrowing money and disappearing for six months?”
“Yeah, okay, maybe not.”
I tried to play it cool, but the cold sweat running down my back said otherwise.
The fear was ingrained in my body. It knew what was coming.
The loan shark, Gu Bong-Gu, glared at me, sizing up my bedraggled appearance, and frowned.
“Look at you. You look like a beggar. Where the hell have you been for six months? Were you gambling away my money?”
“I didn’t gamble, and I wasn’t running away. I just… had something to take care of elsewhere.”
“A guy with no family has ‘things to take care of’ for six months? You’ve got no one, and you expect me to believe that?”
“Come on, it’s bad enough I don’t have any family. Do you have to rub it in? I’ve never run in ten years. You really don’t trust me?”
“I don’t trust a guy who hasn’t paid me back in ten years.”
I figured it wouldn’t be that easy.
Gu Bong-Gu, the loan shark.
He was in his forties and was still single, with a nasty temper and a bald head. Always in a black suit, this predator lived off interest from guys like me.
I didn’t like how healthy he looked.
I’d borrowed money from him when I was 13, right after my parents died. It was a debt I’d never been able to repay.
“Hey, Ha-Jun.”
He tapped me lightly on the cheek.
“You went AWOL, but you have the money, right?”
“…”
“Don’t tell me you disappeared for six months and have nothing to show for it. You still owe 5,000, and the interest has climbed to 2,000. Didn’t I say you could pay it off slowly at 100 a month? So why don’t you ever listen, huh?”
“…”
This was why I couldn’t come back until I found the dragon’s nest. But even after finding it, nothing had changed.
'Damn it.'
It’s going to hurt more after six months without a beating.
I lay down and assumed the position I’d mastered over the last ten years—the "roly-poly defense." I had no money, so my body would have to pay the price again.
“I don’t have the money. Just hit me.”
“You little…”
And just like always, Gu Bong-Gu beat me. By now, it was practically a habit, and hne mostly used his feet.
Thud! Thud!
“You-! Borrowed-! The money-! Now pay-! It back-! You bastard-!! Why-! Won’t you-! Just listen-!!”
“…”
“Loaning money to a parentless brat… what a mistake that was!”
Maybe because I looked so pathetic, the beating didn’t last long. Still, getting hit is terrible no matter how long it lasts.
“You stamped the contract! You have to pay, you idiot!”
“…”
“I’ll be back next month. You better have the money ready. If not, you’ll get it worse. Got it?”
“Cough… Sure.”
He threw something at my feet before disappearing down the hall.
I sighed, feeling the sting all over my body, but oddly, it was my pinky finger that hurt the most, even though it hadn’t been hit.
***
“Haa… It hurts like hell… How is he still so strong at his age?”
How much longer do I have to see that miserable face?
'Guess I’ll have to pay him back first.'
I sighed and applied the pain relief patches Gu Bong-Gu had tossed at me. At least he had a twisted sense of generosity.
“If he’s going to give me medicine, then maybe he shouldn’t hurt me in the first place… What’s wrong with him? He’s as clueless as his bald head… Ah, it hurts…”
I rummaged through my bag once I’d patched myself up, emptying the fruits of my labor onto the dusty floor. Among the scattered items, I carefully took out the most valuable thing I’d found: the dragon’s eggs.
“Green, red, blue… it looks like a bunch of Pokémon eggs.”
Back when I was a kid, I used to play with these things all the time.
Red for fire type, blue for water. They were always popular. The green one?
“Useless. Only clueless victims or weirdos ever picked that one.”
Looking back now, it’s almost nostalgic.
Of course, the appearance of dimensional portals shattered all those memories. But anyway…
“What do I do with these? Will they hatch on their own if I just leave them, regardless of the temperature?”
After some time passed, the eggs, which had shrunk, returned to their original size.
The massive eggs, which were about the size of my body, now filled my tiny studio apartment.
The room was already cramped, and now it was nearly impossible to move around.
'Hmm…'
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of irritation.
The throbbing bruises under the patches seemed to mock me.
'If I sell these dragon eggs, I wouldn’t have to get beaten like this anymore.'
To be honest…
'I made a promise, but that dragon doesn’t even exist anymore, does it?'
There’s no one left to hold me to that promise.
So, what’s stopping me from breaking it?
'If I sell these dragon eggs, I’ll get plenty of money, and I won’t have to suffer like earlier.'
I could even tear down all those overdue bills stuck on my front door.
I’d be able to pay off the loan and interest I owe Gu Bong-Gu.
'And that’s not all.'
With the money left over, I could escape this hellhole of a rental.
From a basement room to a semi-basement, from a semi-basement to a ground-floor apartment, and from the ground floor to a high-rise.
If I sell these dragon eggs, which have never been seen before in the world, I’ll be filthy rich.
'Just close your eyes and sell them.'
There’s no reason not to.
Is this really the time for me to be raising dragon eggs?
Getting out of this miserable situation comes first.
“Sorry about the promise, Dragon. Things turned out this way.”
I grabbed my old phone and checked the secondhand marketplace app.
My phone bill was overdue, so I borrowed the neighbor’s Wi-Fi and immediately started writing a post.
[Dragon eggs for sale.]
[This is no joke. It’s 100% real. I can prove it with pictures. I found them in the dragon’s nest. How much would you pay? I’d like to start the bidding at 10 billion.]
“Hm…”
All I had to do now was hit submit.
The auction would start once the platform verified the listing, and I’d sell the dragon eggs. Then, I’d be rich and leave this awful life behind.
It’d be a rags-to-riches story of a beggar rising from the shadows to wealth and light.
What a beautiful story, right?
“To others, I bet it would seem like some grand tale…”
But I know better.
It’s all a lie.
I’m not the kind of person who chases after a life that only looks good on the outside.
Not that I hate a life that looks good, either.
Click.
So, I canceled the post.
“They saved my life. If I don’t keep the promise, what kind of person does that make me? Sure, I live in a dump, but I’m not that trashy.”
I’ve been paying back Gu Bong-Gu’s loan diligently… It’s just that when things got desperate, I gambled with my life.
I’m really doing my best and trying to live a decent life.
'…Even though I was tempted for a moment.'
To completely kill any lingering regrets, I reached for the power button on my old phone.
But just before I pressed it, an ad caught my eye.
“Wait, this looks interesting. A sword that makes even ordinary people as strong as heroes? If I had that…”
A hero on TV, raking in millions and loved by everyone.
A hero effortlessly slicing through monsters.
To be a hero closing dimensional portals left and right.
To be a hero no one could look down on anymore.
'It would be the end of my long years of humiliation and hardship…'
I gulped, considering the possibility.
'Maybe I should just sell the eggs? Should I just close my eyes and do it?'
Is it true that people become slaves to money in the end?
But then again, without money, you can’t even live like a person.
The pain patches covering my body are proof of that.
“But… I made a promise…! No, wait…! What’s more important, the promise or living like a human being? Besides, I could just make the money and buy eggs later, right?!”
Sell them. No, I can’t.
Sell them! No, don’t.
Sell them! Wait—no, don’t.
My mind was at war with itself.
It wasn’t a fight to survive but to live a better life.
What a miserable battle.
Wriggle.
In the middle of my internal struggle, I felt something stir in front of me.
I looked up and saw movement—one of the dragon eggs was shaking.
Crack.
“Oh no!”
A crack appeared in the egg that had been lying still.
And just like that, all thoughts of selling the eggs vanished from my mind. It was as if I had never even considered it.
I stumbled around, panicking as the egg continued to crack.
“W-What do I do? Should I look it up online?! XTube has everything, right? Maybe I should search there?!”
As I flailed, the egg cracked even more.
Then I remembered something the dragon had said before it died.
“Didn’t it say dragons can do everything by themselves?”
They only need a little protection until they’re fully grown. After that, they can handle anything on their own.
That’s what the dragon had told me.
“…It must be right. If I try to interfere, it’ll only make things worse.”
I calmed down and sat on the floor, just watching as the dragon egg continued to crack open.
Crack. Crack.
The egg broke apart, and through the gaps, I could see the dragon inside.
It was a reptilian creature, much like a lizard.
Given the size of the egg, it was about as big as my body, and it slowly crawled out through the cracked shell.
'Now that I think about it, didn’t I read somewhere that creatures born from eggs imprint on the first thing they see?'
Something about imprinting.
Since they were hatched from eggs, would they consider me their parent?
I reached out toward the first dragon that had crawled out—a red one.
“Hey.”
“…”
“I’m your dad.”
Hissss!
The red lizard immediately bit my hand.
Crunch!
“Ow!!”
Hissss!
“Y-You don’t even recognize your dad?!”
Hissss!
“You’re already being rebellious?! Do you know what I went through to bring you here?!”
Hissss!!!
Maybe I should’ve just grabbed some antiques instead of these dragon eggs.
I want a refund.
“Ow, my finger…!”
Yeah, getting along with dragons isn’t going to be easy.