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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Gold Dragon Yoo Chung.
One of the dragons who’d crossed over to Earth through a Gate.
What made this dragon unique was her ability to craft weapons and artifacts.
And she’d display her creations, both masterpieces and failures, and test them.
On whom?
On the occasional customers who visited her shop.
‘Calling it a “test” is generous. It’s more like teasing.’
Humans couldn’t grasp the true value of the weapons crafted by a dragon.
Yoo Chung knew this, and yet she’d opened this shop anyway.
She derived pleasure from watching customers leave, oblivious to the incredible power they’d just overlooked.
A truly perverse dragon.
“Welcome! I’m Yoo Chung!”
The dim shop brightened with her childlike, energetic smile.
Choi Ah-hyun, charmed by her cuteness, approached her with a grin.
“We’re here to buy some weapons. Are you helping your parents out?”
“Yes! I’m watching the shop in exchange for allowance!”
“Aw, that’s admirable. How old are you?”
“Twelve!”
Choi Ah-hyun, spouting lines like a grandmother, and Yoo Chung, playing the role of an innocent child.
It was a truly bizarre scene.
I approached them, stifling my laughter, and Yoo Chung, as if snapping out of it, clapped her hands.
“You’re here for weapons, right? Please wait a moment!”
She dashed into the back of the shop, leaving Choi Ah-hyun squealing.
“Oh my god! Isn’t she just the cutest?!”
“Don’t bite her, okay?”
“Hey! What do you take me for?! I’m not that impulsive.”
She puffed out her chest, and I chuckled.
If she bit the hatchling Yoo Chung, her mother would hunt us down to the ends of the earth.
I hoped Choi Ah-hyun would exercise some self-control.
After about three minutes, Yoo Chung returned, holding a staff and a shield.
“These are the weapons I recommend for you two. What do you think?”
“Um… they’re nice, but…”
Choi Ah-hyun hesitated and glanced at Yoo Chung.
She clearly didn’t want to say anything negative to the girl she’d taken a liking to.
It looked like I’d have to step in.
“This unnie is a damage dealer. She mainly uses dual daggers.”
“Oh… I-I’m so sorry! I made a hasty judgment!”
“It’s okay. You got mine right.”
She had brought a decent shield for me.
‘I heard she always gets it right. I guess even she makes mistakes.’ [T/N: I can see where this is going]
Yoo Chung was known for recommending good weapons to customers she liked.
Apparently, her 100% accuracy rate wasn’t always accurate.
“We’re here to buy weapons for this unnie today. Do you mind if we look around?”
“Oh, sure, go ahead!”
Yoo Chung stepped aside politely, and Choi Ah-hyun started browsing the daggers.
Her eyes were full of anticipation, but soon they started to tremble.
“Holy shit… the prices…”
The daggers, with their subpar designs and barely functional appearance, were two or three times more expensive than those in other shops.
A total rip-off.
As Choi Ah-hyun continued her window shopping with a horrified expression, someone poked me in the side.
It was Yoo Chung.
She looked up at me with a mischievous grin.
“Oppa, is that unnie your girlfriend?”
“No, just a friend.”
“Come on, don’t lie.”
“It’s true.”
“Really, really? If you lie, hair will grow on your butt!”
“I swear to god, it’s true.”
Yoo Chung gave me a knowing smile.
“You’re going to have a hard time.”
A hard time?
It was a quiet mumble, but I didn’t miss it. I would have dismissed it if she were an ordinary kid, but this was Yoo Chung.
As a dragon who could see through people’s true nature, I couldn’t ignore her words.
I was about to ask her what she meant when…
“I’ve made my choice.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. Ta-da! How about this one?”
She pointed to a dust-covered dagger, the cheapest one in the shop.
‘I knew it.’
“It’s not bad, but I think this one would be better.”
I pointed to two daggers tucked away in the corner. Unique weapons with white hilts and black blades.
[Periona’s Daggers]
It was growth-type daggers.
Artifacts with the potential to kill even S-rank monsters and imbued with the wind attribute.
They were the favored weapons of the future “Mercenary King.”
Artifacts you couldn’t find anywhere else. But the blades were chipped and rusted, and the price was about 50% higher than the others.
Choi Ah-hyun tilted her head, confused by my choice. No ordinary person would pick these.
Meanwhile…
“Oh…”
Yoo Chung’s lips curled into a mischievous smile, the kind you’d often see on a child’s face.
She tugged on my sleeve.
“Oppa, just buy the one unnie picked. Just for today, I’ll give you a 30% discount!”
“3-30%?! Seong-hyun-ah, let’s just get this one!”
Choi Ah-hyun, her eyes gleaming at the significantly reduced price, urged me to agree.
I looked down at Yoo Chung.
Her impish grin was so typical of her.
‘Should I tease her a bit?’
With a smirk, I nodded.
“…Fine. If that’s what she wants. Will you give us one of these?”
“Yes! Thank you!”
4.5 million won.
Even with the discount, it was still expensive. I wouldn’t have been able to afford it if it weren’t for my parents’ inheritance.
As we left the shop, Yoo Chung saw us off.
“Unnie, Oppa, come again!”
“Sure! We’ll come visit again~”
“Yeah, see you next time.”
We waved goodbye to Yoo Chung and turned into the alley.
“Seong-hyun-ah, thank you. I’ll put it to good use.”
“Thank Han Yuri. She put her share of the earnings into the team fund.”
“Hehe. Just wait until she gets back in a week. I’m going to give her the biggest hug!”
“Sure, sure.”
As we walked, Choi Ah-hyun suddenly stopped.
“Wow… so cute.”
“It’s a teddy bear.”
A large, white polar bear, almost the size of a human torso, was displayed in a shop window, along with several others.
“Ugh…”
She looked back and forth between her wallet and the teddy bear, clearly conflicted. It seemed like she was short on cash this month.
‘That’s what you get for drinking so much.’
I sighed and said,
“I’ll buy you one. Just one.”
“Really?! Seong-hyun-ah, I love you!”
Choi Ah-hyun jumped up and down, hugging me tightly. She was like a little kid sometimes.
“Go pick one out. I’ll be right back, I need to use the restroom.”
“Okay!”
As she rushed into the shop, I turned away.
‘She should be in a good mood now.’
Time to hurry.
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“Hmm hmm~!”
Yoo Chung was in a good mood.
She’d discovered something “interesting” and had successfully indulged in her little game.
It had been a year since she’d opened the shop.
Initially, she’d been driven by curiosity, wondering if any human would recognize her masterpieces.
‘You can only see what you know.’
As a dragon, Yoo Chung understood this truth better than anyone.
That’s why she’d opened this shop, despite her mother’s objections.
But whether it was good luck or bad luck, no one had recognized the true value of her artifacts.
Blinded by the high prices and unappealing appearance, they’d all overlooked the hidden gems.
‘There were a few like that oppa earlier, but… they were easily swayed.’
Her masterpiece, crafted with her own scales and claws.
That oppa would surely regret his decision when its true power was revealed to the world.
The thought made her smile.
This little game was the only joy she’d found in her long, boring dragon life.
No matter how many times she played it, she never got tired of it.
As she was giggling to herself…
*Creak.*
The door opened.
‘Looks like there are a lot of customers today.’
Usually, only one or two would come a week, but today, this was already the third one.
She was wondering how to tease this next one when she turned around…
…and saw the man she thought she’d never see again.
“Uh…? Oppa…?”
“I left something behind.”
“Oh, what is it?”
She was momentarily flustered, but quickly resumed her innocent child act.
However, her act crumbled when Lee Seong-hyun placed the damaged daggers on the counter.
“But… didn’t you say you weren’t going to buy that, just a moment ago?”
“They kept catching my eye. And…”
Lee Seong-hyun started gathering items from around the shop.
[Orb of the Wind God]
..
..
[Bridge of Wind and Sky]
“…”
An orb engraved with a fragment of the Wind God and a single pill that maximized affinity with wind.
All of these were within the top-five items in her shop.
Yoo Chung’s carefully constructed facade crumbled. The innocent childlike expression vanished, replaced by disbelief.
“W-what… is… this…?”
She was so flustered she could barely speak.
The very person she’d hoped for since opening the shop was standing right in front of her, and she was speechless.
“I’ll buy all three of these.”
“…”
“Is there a reason I can’t?”
His voice was gentle, as if soothing a child. But Yoo Chung could sense something else beneath the surface.
Amusement.
As if he was watching a child’s playful antics.
‘Ha…’
She’d lost. A complete defeat.
The realization filled her with frustration.
She’d been outsmarted by a human, the very beings she’d always teased.
She forced a smile.
“Oppa, I’ll help you with the payment.”
“Thanks.”
As she packaged the artifacts, she activated Dragon’s Eye.
A dragon’s ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. One of the proofs of a dragon’s superiority over humans.
White for truth, black for lies.
“Oppa, is there a reason you’re buying these artifacts? There are plenty of other weapons.”
“Hmm… intuition, I guess. I just liked them, no particular reason.”
Black energy enveloped the man.
‘I knew it!’
It was a lie.
There was definitely another reason!
But…
‘Huh?’
The black energy mixed with white.
Like oil and water, they initially repelled each other, then began to blend, until…
‘Gray…?’
A color she’d only seen once in her life. When she’d first used Dragon’s Eye on her mother.
Dragon’s Eye didn’t work on those equal to or greater than herself.
That’s when the gray appeared…
‘No way…’
Was the man in front of her her equal?
Her, a dragon?
The fresh shock was a welcome disruption to her monotonous life.
While she was speechless, the man turned to leave.
She jumped over the counter and called out to him.
“Oppa! Wait!”
He turned back with a faint smile on his face.
“Um… could you tell me your name?”
“Me?”
She nodded eagerly.
He considered for a moment, then chuckled and looked her straight in the eye.
“Lee Seong-hyun. First-year at the Hunter Academy.”
With those words, he left the shop.
“Honestly…”
It felt like a storm had passed through.
She placed her hand on her chest. Her dragon heart, which had been still for 365 days, 24 hours a day, was pounding.
A new discovery.
Something far more interesting than the “interesting things” she’d seen before.
The real treasure…
‘Was right here!’
She quickly grabbed her phone.
The recipient was, of course, her mother.
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Oh, no. Lee Seeong-hyun, what have you done?