God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 164: Episode 33_So Sue Me (1)
1.
Han Simin’s voice was full of confidence and pride.
“I robbed a dragon’s lair.”
The guild members stared at him blankly.
However it might have sounded to anyone else, as long as he was confident, that was all that mattered. ’My way or the highway.’
It was that brazen certainty that left Kang Yeseul unable to respond, even though she rationally understood that he was talking complete nonsense.
While the Emperor’s long-winded speech droned on, she took a step back and scanned Han Simin from head to toe.
“Hm.”
He certainly looked flashy. His crimson aura was almost blinding. If Han Simin had been a player who actually hunted, even the types who played just to steal kills would have steered clear of him. And anyone who had been playing 『Fantastic World』 since launch and kept up with the community knew that his gear was not just for show.
But still.
“A dragon’s lair?”
The Specialists knew Han Simin better than anyone, which also meant they were the ones best equipped to judge him realistically. His level had climbed a lot, but it still wasn’t even fifty. Even putting aside his monstrous stats and insane buffs, his level alone gave them a ballpark idea of his limits.
“Was it a baby dragon? Or Squeaker’s lair?”
“Nope. I don’t know whose it was, but it definitely wasn’t Squeaker.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“There was a mountain of gold piled up in there.”
“...Ah.”
Of course. That thing would go crazy and charge right in at the sight of gold; there was no way she would leave a mountain of it sitting in her own lair. That made sense, and Kang Yeseul nodded. But that didn’t clear up all her questions. If anything, it felt like she had more.
“Then how did you rob a dragon’s lair? If it wasn’t even Squeaker’s?”
’Maybe every dragon in 『Fantastic World』 is actually a pushover, even though none have appeared yet?’
Come to think of it, that tracked. Just look at Squeaker. She was supposed to be a Gold Dragon, but she looked like a damn sparrow, and the moment she saw gold, she acted like she was ready to hand over her own liver to a human.
“Hm.”
Yeah, maybe that was it. She shouldn’t cling to her preconceived notions. Even if it did feel like her cherished fantasy about dragons was shattering.
“I don’t know either. There was nothing there, so I just took everything. Maybe it wasn’t a dragon’s lair at all, but a bonus dungeon set up for clean, virtuous players like me.”
“Yeah, no. That’s not it.”
It made more sense to assume the dragon had a brief bout of dementia and got lost on the way home. Kang Yeseul shook her head firmly and moved on to the next issue. He didn’t know the answer himself, anyway. What was the point of agonizing over it?
“So, did you haul in a lot?”
Now this was a question that could actually be answered, and one that would let her feel both vicarious satisfaction and envy. ’Go on, brag. How much did you rake in that you had to bring it up first?’
Kang Yeseul steeled herself. Given that Han Simin was the kind of guy who would start calling her his big sister if she so much as handed him one gold coin, she figured it might not be that huge an amount, but you never knew. The lower your expectations, the bigger the surprise. She would imagine the highest possible number and then ruin his mood by acting unimpressed when he bragged.
Jeong Seolah and Jeong Hyeonsu also pricked up their ears. There was no chance Han Simin would fairly split the money just because they were in the same guild, so it was all pie in the sky to them. Still, hearing how much someone had made was more interesting than listening to the Emperor’s boring speech.
With everyone’s attention focused on him, Han Simin opened his mouth.
“I don’t know the exact amount. Most of what I got is in items. The gold Squeaker ate was about... two million, I guess?”
They were speechless.
In their heads, calculators started clacking away, multiplying that by $130.
Their jaws dropped. And in that moment, it finally made sense why he had just declared he wanted to become a building owner. Of course, it still didn’t feel real.
“That’s... a lot.”
That was about all she could manage. Which was only natural. It was like someone walking up and saying, “Hey, I was walking down the street and found some money lying around. Turned out to be about $260 million.”
It felt like that. It wasn’t her money, and it was hard to even believe that kind of amount existed. Even for a chaebol heir, that kind of cash wasn’t something an individual just casually handled.
And the same was true for the man who had said it, though his reason for feeling disconnected from reality was a little different from Kang Yeseul’s.
“Not that it matters. That brat ate it all, so it’s not my money.”
“...Ah.”
“I’m just going to sell the gear and jewels that were in there and buy a building.”
Silence reigned.
It was still an unbelievable amount, but that didn’t change.
Either way, while everyone listened to the story of how the perpetually broke Han Simin was about to flip his life around, the speech came to an end.
“And so, this Selection Tournament will be conducted in a way that is fair and appropriate to the current level of adventurers. I wish you all the best of luck.”
“Waaaaah!”
The Guild Selection Tournament had begun. NPCs and players alike were buzzing with excitement. What kind of challenge would they face?
The host who would explain the tournament’s format stepped onto the lower platform.
“This Guild Selection Tournament will...”
The rules were explained briefly. There was nothing particularly special. This was an event hosted by an Emperor who believed in the law of the jungle. In a place where anything was permitted in the name of victory, what need was there for a long list of regulations?
He wrapped up the explanation quickly and unleashed the guilds. His words flowed on, spoken as if only to send them on their way.
At the very end, just as he was about to explain the guilds’ final task, the official paused. A hand tugged urgently at his sleeve. Someone rushed to his side, whispering in his ear.
And then—
“...The final selection condition is to hunt a dragon.”
The event had been updated.
* * *
The Cliff of Fall and the massive mountain range that surrounded it bordered the neighboring kingdom of Rehel.
“Graaaar!”
And it was there that disaster struck.
“Kyaaaah!”
“I-It’s a dragon!”
“Save me!”
High in the sky floated a jet-black dragon, its oppressive presence alone enough to make humans tremble. Most were seeing a dragon for the first time, yet all they could do was panic and flee.
However, the dragon did not permit such attempts.
Whoooom—
Around a single, incandescent orb that blazed like a sun, dozens of meteors began to form.
Meteor!
They fell.
And they destroyed everything in their path.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Graaaar!”
The Black Dragon roared as it watched everything below turn to rubble.
“Graaaaar... cough.”
In the middle of its gleeful roars, it coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Of course, the humans who had already been incinerated were in no position to see it.
Kardian glanced around, confirmed the state of the destruction, and beat her wings in satisfaction. This should be more than enough to etch the return of the great Black Dragon into the minds of mortals.
Now, all that was left was to find them.
The one who had dared, without a shred of fear, to rob her lair.
’It has to be a human.’
Unfortunately, the moment her eternal sleep had been broken, all the alarm and trap spells woven into her treasures had unraveled, leaving her unable to track the thief. Even so, she had a gut feeling.
And if she was wrong, so be it.
In any case, after unleashing a volley of Meteors, Kardian turned and flew away. In her heart, she wanted to attack a capital city where humans were packed together like sardines, not some backwater frontier of a minor kingdom, but she simply lacked the mana.
If her body were whole, it would be a different story. But as things stood, she was a dragon who had lost a war hundreds of years ago and been forced into an unnatural slumber. The other dragons had sacrificed their lives to place numerous restrictions on her, so the mana and magic she could wield were inevitably limited.
Yet she was unconcerned.
Now that she had shown herself, humans would not dare even think of drawing their swords against her for at least a hundred years.
They would be too afraid.
Thousands of lives snuffed out in an instant. It had always been this way.
All that remained was to rest, slowly draw in mana to refill her empty reserves, and then rampage across the land to exact her revenge on the human who had looted her lair.
Only a clear path lay ahead of her.
2.
A handful of players—specifically, a small group doing quests in the Rehel Kingdom’s foremost frontier territory—were the first to witness the Black Dragon Kardian and bring word of her to the rest of the player base.
—Wow. First time seeing a dragon.
—So they really do exist.
—This is insane. How many Meteors was that?
—...Is that thing even killable?
—Why’d it suddenly show up and go ballistic like that?
—Dunno. They say dragons do whatever the hell they want.
Shock. Terror. Fear.
The players felt the same emotions that were sweeping across the people of the continent. It felt as if they’d been painstakingly grinding out a level or two, inch by painful inch, only for the final boss to appear out of nowhere.
Naturally, they were flustered.
To make matters worse, the first thing it did upon appearing was rain down Meteors on the human world.
What kind of utterly broken boss was this?
—It’s not the final boss, right?
—No way.
—Might be. How are you supposed to kill something that just spams magic like that?
—Can’t the NPCs handle it?
—You think?
The confusion spread like wildfire. The fear was fleeting; for most, it quickly morphed into curiosity and romantic fascination. Stories about the dragon filled the forums daily, and soon, posts about the Guild Selection Tournament began to appear as well.
—Looks like the Empire’s getting involved.
—A dragon raid, huh? Is that even possible?
—Feels like we’d all get wiped by a single breath attack.
—I think they just announced that as the ultimate goal. The rankings will probably be based on how many monsters you kill.
—Yeah, but you still have to enter the hunting grounds where the dragon is, right?
—True.
—Damn.
Amid the discussion, someone raised a question—a detail they had briefly forgotten, a hot topic that had set the community ablaze just a few days ago.
—So there really was a dragon lair? Didn’t Simin go in there?
—??? Holy crap.
—Could it be...?
Since no one had actually seen anything, it was all pure speculation from beginning to end. Naturally, people spewed every theory and wild guess they could imagine.
Throughout it all, the man at the center of the storm remained silent.
Or rather, he simply didn’t have time to read such pointless posts. Every second he might have spent typing a response was instead dedicated to running his mouth at the customers right in front of him.
* * *
“Alright, everyone! Eyes over here!” Han Simin shouted, looking out over the countless guild members who were grimly trying to hammer out new plans after hearing the selection conditions. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Every head turned toward him.
They could hardly ignore him. He was standing on the dais reserved for the Emperor himself.
“You all know I’m His Imperial Majesty’s son-in-law, right? I just went and asked, and apparently, this Selection Tournament originally had nothing to do with a dragon at all.”
He had just tossed out a tantalizing piece of bait—information they desperately needed.
Everyone focused. It felt a bit like cheating, but if he was offering to share, there was no reason to stop him.
“They say the Rehel Kingdom was attacked by the Black Dragon, so they changed the objective to get revenge. Now, it doesn’t sound like they actually expect anyone to kill it, but they did say that if someone does manage to, they can expect an incredible reward.”
The crowd was stunned.
The moment that thought crossed their minds, they were already hooked. Before anyone realized it, both players and NPCs were hanging on Han Simin’s every word.
“Of course, a dragon raid that wasn’t even in the original plan is going to be tough. That’s why I came prepared!”
At this point, he could have pulled out a cheap shammy cloth and sold it for a premium. So imagine the effect of items brought back from a dragon’s lair.
“I’ll give you a discount. Form a line!”
He opened his magic pouches, and a mountain of gear spilled out for all to see.
