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Side Story 14

8. Only I'm Max Level

Antares was my name.

I was the 'First Sovereign' born from the darkness, as well as the 'Strongest Sovereign'. I was the king that lorded over all Dragon-kind, an existence that signified terror and destruction.

That's right.

All those who knew me referred to me as the 'Dragon Emperor' as a sign of respect and awe.

However, something strange happened.

On a certain day, as I was getting ready to invade the planet called 'Earth' alongside the ten million-strong soldiers within our hideout inside the gap between dimensions....

....I opened my eyes to discover that I was now occupying the body of a human being.

'....'

And rather inexplicably, I seemed to have retained all the memories of this human, as well. I quickly found a mirror in the corner of the room and took a look at myself, only to emit a shocked gasp.

'What's this? Why does this human's face look so feeble?'

Hah-ah, how pitifully pathetic this man was.

The name of this human was Seong Jin-Woo, a young man acting as a rank E Hunter in a nation called the Republic of Korea. It seemed that this human never gave up on being a Hunter, even though his pathetic level of abilities drove him to the moments of near death quite often.

'His reason is.... his mother's illness?'

Just as I began thinking to myself that such a measly little illness would be healed in an instant with my magic, the human's mobile phone suddenly began vibrating loudly.

Vrrr.... Vrrr....

I discovered the miniature electronic device angrily vibrating on top of a desk and picked it up. When I did, I was greeted by an urgent female voice coming from the other side of the phone line.

- "Seong Hunter-nim, where are you? It's almost the raid time, yet you still haven't arrived yet...."

I tried to match this voice to the memories of my human body and soon, came across a result of 'Hunter's Association Employee'.

'Hmph.'

I was thinking of ending this call which was answered purely out of this body's habitual reaction, but then, what this female said towards the end got on my nerves somewhat.

- "Are you going to be late again?"

'.....!!!'

Being 'late'.

The action of failing to meet the promised deadline because one lacked the ability to arrive on time. Meaning, this female just dared to ask me, the mighty 'Dragon Emperor' and the personification of omnipotent powers, that I'd do something which was the very symbol of incompetence.

Since this was completely unacceptable, rage quickly filled up my eyes.

"You.... Where are you right now?"

- "What do you mean, where? We are right in front of the Gate, you know. And why did you suddenly stop using the polite speech all of a sudden, Seong Jin-Woo Hunter-nim?"

I concentrated for a bit to find the exact location where this insolent female was speaking from. My sensory perception spread out to envelop the entire city and soon enough, I found her coordinates.

"Found you."

- "Pardon? What do you mean by you foun...."

Click.

The location was about 11 kilometres away in the human distance measuring system, and since it wasn't too far, I ran with all my might and arrived there in only a couple of seconds.

And then, I stopped right in front of that female Association employee as she began lowering the phone away from her ear, now that the call had been disconnected.

"Now, am I still late, woman?"

"H-Hunter-nim?!"

Perhaps she had sensed just a tiny fraction of my limitless power, because she began backpedalling with a deeply frightened expression etched on her face.

I reached out and grabbed her shoulders as to make sure she'd not get away and asked her again.

"Tell me. Am I being tardy now?"

"N-no, not at all."

"Very good."

I released her as a look of satisfaction floated up on my face. I then swept my gaze around the surroundings to find a group of Hunters raising a bit of fuss.

Rather than focusing on these unremarkable individuals and their forgettable faces, I focused on the distinct aroma rising up from the paper cups they were holding at the moment.

"Coffee.... I also want to drink coffee."

I turned around to look at the female employee with her rapidly-paling complexion, and she bowed her waist with all of her heart.

"I-I'm truly sorry, Hunter-nim. We ran out of coffee just now....."

"It's not an issue."

"Pardon?"

Even before she had the chance to raise her bowed heard, I walked over to the closest human and snatched his paper cup away.

"W-what are you doing?!"

Gulp, gulp.

I swallowed the sweet liquid in one go and formed a crumpled expression, causing the flustered man who lost his coffee to me to jump up in fright and quickly flee from there.

"Hahah!!"

The one possessing great powers would take away what the weak possessed, that was the way of the Sovereigns. It seemed that such logic also applied to humans and that certainly made me feel rather refreshed.

"Mister Seong.... Isn't he acting a little bit weird today?"

"Yes, his eyes today are a bit...."

"Well, I've been getting this really creepy, eerie feeling from him since he showed up here."

Other Hunters were murmuring amongst themselves behind my back, but there was no reason to pay heed to the opinions of these lowly humans anyway, so I outright ignored them.

"There, there. Since everyone is here, let's get started."

While the Hunters began stretching their muscles to get ready for the raid, I shifted my gaze towards the 'Gate' that these people were scheduled to enter.

'....'

That place, it... was quite suspicious.

The Gates that appeared on Earth were, without a doubt, the ploy of the Rulers, yet.... Why was I picking up the aura of a Sovereign from there?