The world was awash in red.
It was as if red paint had been poured into his eyes.
Oh Chan-seok’s head pounded with pain.
From somewhere, a booming sound accompanied by a vibration that felt like it was shaking the world could be felt.
“Ugh…”
Oh Chan-seok opened his eyes.
Before him stood a red-haired girl.
A dragon in human form.
‘Ah, so I was facing off against a dragon.’
For some unknown reason, he was filled with confidence.
His body felt unbearably light.
He was certain that he could do anything at this moment.
“YOU! You are a failure of a human!”
Don’t make me laugh.
Being a powerful dragon and all…
Oh Chan-seok thought this as he lifted his sword.
‘I can win!’
With the confidence bolstering him, he took the initiative.
The girl could only hurriedly defend herself.
With one heavy strike, she lost her sword and fell.
Indeed, this was the expected level of strength coming from her small frame.
“Talk tough, but you’re nothing special, are you?”
Oh Chan-seok grabbed the girl who was flustered at losing her sword, pinning her down with his weight.
“Let me go! LET GO!”
“Hey, hey, what’s your name?”
“How dare a human give orders… Gah!”
Punch. Punch.
He mercilessly beat her face with his fists while keeping her pinned down.
She struggled, but there was no resisting Oh Chan-seok’s weight which exceeded 100 kilograms.
“Tell me your name.”
“Alright, alright. My name is Karsyas.”
Through a skill, Oh Chan-seok confirmed that this was no lie.
He cruelly twisted the girl’s arm, then pulled out a piece of paper he always carried in his pocket to write ‘Karsyas.’
Soon a densely written character sheet was born.
Karsyas, Black Dragon.
Sadistic tendencies.
As expected, this girl was indeed a dragon.
Oh Chan-seok then added to the final line on the sheet: “Karsyas shall obey Oh Chan-seok.”
“Khahaha! Now even dragons are under me!”
He was extremely excited.
He wondered what to do next.
“Maybe I should invade the Blue House and become the president? After that, I’ll make my own harem.”
At that moment, the booming sound grew louder.
The vibrations shaking the world became more intense.
“What is this sound since just now?”
Oh Chan-seok shut his eyes tightly, shook his head, and opened them again to regain his senses.
What he saw shocked him.
Booming.
A pair of well-known brand sneakers came into view.
The shoe-clad foot approached until it was right in front of his face.
“Yikes.”
Although he collided with the foot, it only shook him without the expected pain.
Oh Chan-seok was confused.
‘Where am I? I was sure I succeeded in brainwashing that dragon…’
A rollercoaster-like sensation.
His head spun.
He was feeling nauseous.
“Alpha, why do you keep dropping the ball? How do you even play soccer like that?”
“But that’s a stereotype! Lord forbids being captured by human-made illusions. Look at my outfit!”
Only then did Oh Chan-seck realize the situation he was in.
He was inside a large, elastic, and transparent ball about the size of a soccer ball.
His body was broken apart; his limbs were nowhere to be seen, and only his internal organs—his heart, stomach, intestines—and his head floated around inside.
Though it was impossible for everything to fit inside a ball of this size, thanks to Laura’s magic, he was given the property of being crushable.
As a result, Oh Chan-seok’s internal organs and face were stretched or compressed to fit inside the soccer-ball-sized space.
So much so, his eyeballs popped out and swam freely inside the transparent chamber.
“Save me! Alpha, listen to me! Right? You will! Please, someone save me!”
Unfortunately, the sounds made inside the ball did not escape, only causing vibrations.
Alpha passed the ball to Omega.
They were playing a game of ‘One-Bounce’.
The basic rule was to throw the ball back and forth, but if it bounced twice before catching it, it was an out.
“This ball moves every time I touch it.”
“Ugh, it’s kind of gross. Alpha, this weirdo must’ve kidnapped you!”
“Uh. That’s…”
Though Alpha and Omega initially felt uneasy and disturbed by the strange ball given to them by Laura, they quickly adapted and found it enjoyable.
“Still, it’s actually pretty fun.”
“Yeah. It remains fully inflated and doesn’t lose air.”
“Each time it’s hit, it’s somehow interesting.”
They initially found it gross to play with a ball containing someone but soon got used to it and found it okay.
After a while of playing, both Alpha and Omega grew tired and left, leaving the ball containing Oh Chan-seok discarded in a corner of the living room.
Then, Oh Chan-seok felt the need to defecate.
‘Why do I have to feel this way when I’m like this?’
He couldn’t comprehend why the unknown entity—whether dragon or witch—had left his excretory system intact.
It was soon revealed.
After excreting both solid and liquid waste, it was transported through a tube connected to an outlet.
This tube led straight to Oh Chan-seok’s mouth.
“Yurgh! What is this!”
Trying to shake his head in shock at the brown and yellow substances being pushed into his mouth through the tube, he realized there was no stopping it.
The tube had been inserted deep into his throat, making it impossible to close his mouth.
He could do nothing but taste and gulp down his own excreta with great difficulty.
“Uhuhuh…”
He cried pitifully.
Feeling sorry for himself for being compressed into a ball and reduced to eating his own waste.
Laura approached and asked,
“Did you have a good dream last night?”
Woof. Woof.
Although Oh Chan-seok said something, only vibrations reached Laura’s ears.
Nevertheless, from the heavily distorted face and the bulging eyes within the transparent orb, she could sense his anguish.
“Kukuku. So now I understand why Karsyas does this. It does feel somewhat pleasurable.”
Once upon a time, Laurakis had accidentally visited Karsyas’s treasure room filled with dozens of transparent orbs, astonishing him.
Upon inquiry, Karsyas had revealed that these trapped the intruders into her lair—dragon slayers, kings of various kingdoms, local dukes, adventurers—preserving them in these orbs.
And those inside dreamt every night of successfully defeating Karsyas and returning victorious to their own domains.
Karsyas took great pleasure in watching them wake up from these dreams only to be confronted with their bitter reality, screaming in despair.
Apparently, she even created magic for this purpose—a feat considering dragons, while powerful, weren’t typically that intelligent.
“Well then, until Shinoda comes.”
Woof. Wooof.
Gently stroking the orb, Laura tucked it away into a corner of a wardrobe filled with Shinoda’s clothes.
“Please, let me out! I’m sorry. No, just kill me! I can’t live forever eating my own filth like this!”
Yet, the wardrobe door remained shut.
Inside this pitch-black wardrobe,
He dreamt every night of defeating the dragon, only to wake up and face the horrific reality of waste re-entering through his mouth.
This terrible cycle never ended.
*
Shinoda and his companions returned triumphantly to the base camp, laden with spoils.
The students and teachers were impressed.
“What? Where did they get all those things…?”
“Isn’t that Class 1-B? I thought they were useless bunch.”
“Unbelievable. Was there a spot with many monsters around here? I’m jealous.”
They felt embarrassed and inferior, remembering how they once mocked the students of Class 1-B for being cowards.
A teacher stepped forward to block their procession.
“Where exactly did you obtain these items?”
“Well, there was a goblin village nearby. We all teamed up and wiped them out.”
“How could you act so rashly and attempt such a dangerous mission independently? You should have reported to the Academy first!”
“We were ambushed. We didn’t have time. Anyway, wasn’t it reported that there are no significant monsters around here?”
“…”
The teacher was about to reprimand them for neglecting to report the presence of goblins.
However, Shinoda’s shameless excuses and accusatory tone left her speechless.
And technically, what he said wasn’t wrong.
“If there’s nothing else, we’ll be going now.”
Shinoda bowed slightly and moved past the teacher.
“What?!”
The teacher tried to stop them but couldn’t withstand Shinoda’s strength.
Moreover, she detected a chilling aura in the eyes of the students following Shinoda.
It was the killing intent of those who had just moments ago indulged in violence and destruction.
“Urgh…”
The teacher remained rooted to the spot until Shinoda and his group disappeared back to Earth through the gate.
As she watched them go, she recalled the rugged hunters she admired and revered in her childhood.
