Chapter 126: The Dragon Hides Its Offspring (3)
Minjun's mind became entangled with complex thoughts.
Deep within him, something had cracked. It was as if a thick geological layer had split open, and from that fissure, memories began to seep out.
That message was a mark left by an ancient race on their livestock. It seemed to belong to an era just before they fell into slumber.
'The mix with Ober spiders has caused the information to be displayed incorrectly.'
Since the livestock (the dragon-spider hybrid) was still alive, the word "slaughter" shouldn't have appeared. Instead, it should have shown details like age, reproductive status, and disease history. However, due to the severe genetic damage, the information was being displayed as if post-mortem.
Minjun reflected. That was a kind of barcode, etched into the DNA, updating automatically with the livestock's life and death.
When the livestock produced offspring, the same system would pass on to the blood of the descendants. Of course, continuous maintenance was essential across generations.
'What kind of dragon's genes did they use to create that monster?'
Jenkinson had said that his own blood did not react to the same magical wave pattern. It had not reflected anything at all.
This was expected. Such a long time had passed that even Minjun could not estimate it, and the creatures raised by his kin from that time were all long dead, their descendants and the descendants of those descendants gone as well. Too much time had passed without maintenance, enough time for the thought forms imprinted into the DNA to perish.
So it should not have remained.
And yet, that fragment was still holding its form, at least partially.
'Even if you used the blood of the oldest living dragon, it wouldn't show such a reaction.'
Minjun thought for a moment before speaking.
"I can't interpret it either. I have no idea what it means."
It was a well-intentioned lie.
This was something he couldn't be honest about.
What if he told the truth? That the mark was a trace left by those who raised dragons as livestock, part of a system to manage the quality of dragon meat?
Jenkinson would not believe him, and the situation would become very complicated.
"I see. It can't be helped then."
Jenkinson seemed to accept this.
Minjun added, "Could you give me a blood sample as well? I'd like to do some further research on my own."
"Of course."
Three days before the dragon meeting in Hong Kong, Jenkinson used teleportation. The grand magic, which the ancient dragon had meticulously constructed, moved Minjun along with the evidence, witnesses, and staff all at once.
"Minjun, if you'll excuse me, I have to go."
After arriving at their destination, Jenkinson disappeared with his staff. It seemed that, before the main meeting started, the dragons needed to meet privately to exchange greetings and prearrange the agenda. Unless they were reclusive dragons living in seclusion, the ancient dragons deeply involved in the human world led very busy lives. They couldn't afford to waste time.
"Agent Minjun, this is your accommodation. I'll come to get you on the day of the meeting."
The staff hid the monster and the hybrid children in a secret location, and Minjun had no intention of getting involved in that. He also had no desire to follow Jenkinson around, mingling in the dragons' discussions. Since the main meeting hadn't started yet, all the dragons would obviously be walking around in polymorph form.
So, he secluded himself in the hotel that the Dragon Lord had reserved for him. While there, he organized his thoughts and contemplated his next steps.
Before he knew it, night had fallen.
Tan! Ta-da-da-da-dan!
Majestic music sounded from outside. Minjun naturally turned his head.
He saw the crowd gathered below his hotel balcony. Located at the southernmost point of the Kowloon Peninsula, the hotel faced Victoria Harbour. Just a few steps from the hotel was the Avenue of Stars, a popular tourist spot. The tourists gathered there were busy taking photos, looking out over Hong Kong Island across the water.
"It's starting, finally!"
The music was part of a laser show that the Hong Kong government held at this time every day. Strings and intense electronic beats reverberated through the air. Colorful beams shot from the skyscrapers lining the harbor, painting the sky. The beams danced rhythmically. LED lights on the buildings pulsed in unison, spreading waves of light.
So far, it was the same show that happened every day.
What captured the tourists' attention today, however, was something floating above the skyline.
"Look over there!"
A beautiful skyline with overlapping colors. Above it, a linear object moved. Its movement was smooth, its flight graceful. It leisurely glided across the night sky of Hong Kong, where the laser show was in full swing.
The flight resembled a nighttime stroll or walk for the flying creature, but its impact was profound. Everyone with a clear view of the sky could see this spectacle.
Moreover, from the perspective of ordinary people, the creature was one whose true form was rarely seen.
A flying creature that drew everyone's gaze.
A dragon.
"…"
The dragon in flight belonged to the same species as the one Minjun had recently smashed the skull of.
A thunder dragon, to be exact.
A long, snake-like body that flowed smoothly like silk released into deep, dark water.
The flying dragon had become part of Hong Kong's nighttime scenery.
"It's Leo!"
Gasps of awe erupted from the crowd.
That young dragon, whose name everyone knew, was the youngest son of the ancient dragon who ruled this land.
"Wow, he looks even cooler in real life."
"He's so beautiful...!"
Minjun clicked his tongue as he watched the scene.
"That attention-seeking brat."
Unlike many dragons who tried to fill their unresolved psychological void by dominating and controlling other races, he had chosen a unique method. That dragon had little interest in the obedience that came from exercising power. Instead, he greatly enjoyed the cheers, attention, and praise from other races.
"He's coming down!"
As the dragon deliberately lowered his altitude, the laser beams struck his body. The thunder dragon's scales sparkled like glass, breaking and scattering the light into fragments. The fragments of light pierced the surroundings. Explosive reflections. The dragon radiated color with his entire body.
It was an unreal sight. The dragon's body looked like a wicker branch, with blooms of firework-like flowers bursting forth from it. A dazzling spectacle of color. Fireworks carved from pure light painted the night.
The dragon never hurried. It gracefully deflected the lasers with its entire body, swooping down precariously close to the rooftops of buildings before veering away and soaring high into the sky. Tonight, the clouds were unusually low, and the dragon swam just below them, almost touching the thinly veiled moonlight. The spectators below watched in a daze, utterly captivated by the sight.
By the time the dragon had glided from the HSBC Building to the sky above Wanchai Harbor along Coastal Road No. 4...
=If you happen to be watching that clown show, may I suggest you come down here and join me in mocking it?=
Minjun immediately recognized the owner of the telepathic message.
Without much hesitation, he sent back a reply.
'It seems you haven't cured that affliction yet. Just a moment. I was starting to get bored myself.'
He stepped out of his hotel room.
The lobby lounge on the first floor of the InterContinental Hotel was the perfect place to sit and enjoy the show through the large glass windows. The enormous glass panes, which spanned the height of what would be two or three stories in a regular building, offered a panoramic view of the spectacle outside.
Everyone in the lounge was engrossed in watching the circus of lasers and the dragon's performance. Watching them, Minjun felt a mix of emotions.
He crossed the lounge and approached the bar counter. It was situated far enough from the windows and at an angle where the view outside was obstructed, so there were hardly any people there. Apart from the bartender, there was only one other customer—someone Minjun knew.
Minjun spoke first.
"What's wrong with that guy?"
The man gave a bitter smile.
"It's everyone's concern. Calliether considers it a type of deformity. But don't repeat that—it could lead to a big fight."
"It's been a while, Lord."
The representative of Earth's dragons grinned, showing his teeth. Minjun took a seat next to him as the dragon lord had indicated. The dragon lord remembered Minjun's preference.
"Kulila?"
"Sounds good," Minjun replied, then added to the bartender, "Double, on the rocks."
"How long has it been?"
"Since that party, I believe."
"Has it really been that long?"
Minjun's gaze drifted to the lord's fingers. Dragons rarely wore accessories even when in polymorph form. The fact that the lord was wearing a ring piqued Minjun's curiosity.
"That's something I haven't seen before."
"I won it in a game of Go against the owner of this place."
The owner here.
It was a double entendre.
The person he referred to was not only the owner of this hotel, located in one of Hong Kong's prime areas, but also the ruler of Hong Kong itself...
The father of the dragon currently performing the clownish act outside.
"…"
After a moment's thought, Minjun spoke.
"Lord, you know, don't you? That thing…"
"I know. It's something made by those tentacle monsters."
It was an artifact similar to the one Del had given Blair as a gift. Minjun recognized it immediately.
To most people, it looked like a ring, but in reality, it was more like a "tentacle harness." It would contract and expand freely, wrapping around the wearer's body, even when they transformed.
Minjun found it surprising that an ancient dragon who ruled over Hong Kong would have kept such a thing in his storage, and even more so that the lord would choose it as his prize. The dragon lord noticed Minjun's expression and laughed.
"You seem puzzled as to why I chose this."
"To be honest, I was a little surprised."
"He handed it over without hesitation when I asked for it. He knew its value, but he had no intention of using it himself. It was a burdensome possession."
Before their defeat by the ancient race, dragons had boasted of being the most powerful beings in the universe. The psychological wounds they suffered after losing were profound.
As a result, the dragons shoved those painful memories into the deepest recesses of their minds, avoiding and rarely daring to revisit them.
The ring the Lord was now wearing was practically a key to forcibly open that drawer of memories.
He smiled bitterly and said, "Ignoring the past doesn't lead to growth. The fact that dragon technology couldn't even figure out how this works added to the hurt. But we can't just keep pretending it doesn't exist. That's why I plan to keep this close and experiment with it."
He was saying he had asked for the ring for research purposes.
This reaction was worlds apart from how other dragons responded to strange artifacts made by Endelion.
"I'm from the generation that witnessed their return firsthand."
After being away for an unimaginably long time, the ancient race returned, pointing to the dimensions they had once inhabited and demanding their territory back. They claimed these places as their spiritual roots and rightful homeland, as if they had merely left them in storage.
Their logic was simple: while they were away, intruders had taken over without permission, and now, as the rightful owners, they were exercising their rights. For the dragons who had taken over in their absence, it was maddening.
In dragon records, descriptions of the ancient race were so vague that it was hard to tell whether they were mythology or history. Even if those records were true, they didn't justify dragons abandoning their homes.
In the end, both sides believed they had a historical right to claim the territory, and neither was willing to back down. This led to the first war between the dragons and the ancient race.
The dragon lord, who witnessed that war, recalls that the ancient race, at the time, was not yet the terrifying monsters with formidable technology they would later become. The dragons ultimately won that war.
"But then, in the next war, they suddenly showed up with unbelievable weapons and technology?"
The second war occurred during a time that even the relatively younger Jenkinson vaguely remembered. Its outcome left a deep trauma for all dragons.
The dragons' defeat.
"Researching this ring won't reveal all the secrets, but we can't give up. We have to settle this humiliation someday. It might not happen in my generation, but maybe the next generation will succeed. I'll be content if I can just lay the groundwork."
It was a statement unimaginable coming from a proud and self-centered dragon.
Minjun thought to himself: Perhaps it's because he's such a unique dragon that he was entrusted with the troublesome position of being the Lord.
"For the sake of my children, I have to."
Only then did Minjun offer his belated congratulations.
"Congratulations on the good news."
"Thank you."
Minjun tried to recall but couldn't keep count.
"How many children do you have now?"
"Eighteen, just on Earth."
That must mean the last event he attended was to celebrate the Lord's seventeenth divorce on Earth. The Lord had a routine of having exactly one child with each spouse before divorcing them.
Even by dragon standards, the Lord had married and divorced an excessive number of times. As a result, a line of children of similar ages by dragon standards, all from different mothers, had been produced. He had contributed the most to the dragon birthrate on Earth.
Minjun thought to himself, "He really is an unusual dragon in many ways."
At that moment, the Lord spoke.
"By the way, didn't you say you had something to sell me?"
Ah, right.
Was that why he had come?
As the thought of the orichalcum frying pan came to mind, Minjun realized his mistake.