Side Story 5

Azhi Dahaka was a monster named after a legendary dragon.

That was the nickname given to the first ever Dragon-class monster.

"Azhi Dahaka, which we thought was dead, got up again."

Yi-An pondered silently with his chin in his hand upon hearing the news.

It was enough headache to think about the humanoid monster that appeared from Parthenon's body, but now Azhi Dahaka had come back to life.

Along with it, a worry he had always deferred and pretended not to know also resurfaced, muddling his thoughts.

It was a single question.

‘Can humanity win this war?’

That was all.

Nothing was known about the monsters' forces. Where they came from or how many there were remained a mystery. Scientists proposed all kinds of theories.

They suggested that the monsters were bioweapons created by genetic engineering and that the real enemy targeting Earth was a different species altogether. There were also claims that the monsters were made by the remnants of the Nazis, along with various conspiracy theories including those about a world government. There were even apocalyptic theories of divine punishment for humanity.

As the debate became more and more absurd, only one fact became clear: humanity still knew nothing about its enemy.

So far, about ten dragons have appeared. Excluding Azhi Dahaka, the rest had all been killed by Yi-An's hands. Yi-An was still humanity's only contingency plan. He was the only one…

But even he couldn't last forever.

Although Hunters awakened from the Elder Lord era continued to develop, finding someone capable of facing a Dragon-class was still a distant hope.

Was this fight ever going to end? What outcome was waiting for them?

This concern had only grown heavier since his awakening.

"I see," Yi-An responded after a long silence.

He decided to stop thinking about anything anymore. He couldn't waste the present fearing the future. No matter what the future held, he was only going to do his best to fight in the now.

"Where is Azhi Dahaka? In Sydney?"

"Not anymore. It has left."

"Then where? What about the damage in the defense forces?"

"There were no casualties. Since they couldn't stop it anyway, all defense forces were pulled back. Azhi Dahaka left Sydney and went to the desert. It's currently at Ayers Rock."

"Ayers Rock."

The rock also known as Uluru was called the navel of the world.

A picture of the giant dragon coiled on top of that rock was sent to Yi-An. Azhi Dahaka was casually sitting on top of the largest rock known to mankind.

Yi-An memorized the appearance of Azhi Dahaka in the photo.

"What’s our support looking like?"

"The Australian government has promised to do everything they can. With the precedent of Sydney, they said that nothing is off the table. Though, there's not much to call support, to be honest."

Yi-An had always fought alone. The word 'support' didn't quite fit him. Instead, he received a huge cash reward, but that wasn't important to him. What he didn't need was as good as nonexistent.

"Request support."

"Excuse me? What kind of..."

Leonardo, Yi-An's agent who was speaking to him via video call, was puzzled. It was rare for Yi-An to ask for anything first.

"Contact the US and tell them to aim their nuclear weapons just in case."

"Yi-An...?"

"We’re lucky it’s in the desert."

"Are you serious?"

“I just have a bad feeling. Don't worry, though, everything’s going to be okay."

"Understood."

"I'll leave as soon as possible. Thanks as always, Leonardo."

"Don't mention it. It's my pleasure."

Leonardo winked, and the video call ended.

"Sigh."

Yi-An leaned back, rubbing his face with his palms.

He had eradicated 'Ramel' in Egypt and slain 'Parthenon' in Libya. And now, it was 'Azhi Dahaka'.

Facing Dragon-class monsters in succession like this was new even to him.

"Are you going to be alright?" His assistant asked. He continued to project his healing power toward Yi-An.

Yi-An chuckled lightly.

"And what if I'm not?"

"You must be tired..."

"If I rest, people will die."

The secretary fell silent.

He once again realized that this man that he was serving, this man with a benevolent appearance, was actually carrying the entire weight of the world’s fate on his shoulders.

"I’m okay. Let’s just eat and then leave right away."

"Yes, understood."

Yi-An loosened and tightened his grip, relaxing his tense hands.

His next destination was Australia.

* * *

"I still can’t reach him."

"Is that so?" Tiyo replied.

"They say he's busy, but neither his assistant nor his agent are answering. Is something going on?"

"Leave him alone. Crockta has his own things to deal with, doesn't he?"

Tiyo and his party had already forgotten about why they came to Earth in the first place.

They were having a jolly fun time at Choi Hansung's home.

"What kind of… what kind of dish is this? I've never tasted anything this delicious in my life!"

"It's called fried chicken."

"Tashaquil. Try this soy sauce flavor too. This thing is seriously delicious!"

"Ohhh! For the first time ever, I actually feel like joining you on this adventure was the right choice."

"Me too, actually."

"What? Are you saying you didn’t enjoy our adventure before!"

Tiyo and his party hadn't had the chance to eat proper food in a while due to their long journey. Choi Hansung had ordered various types of delivery food for them, setting up a grand meal.

Having tasted the food of this world, Tiyo and his party were shocked.

Fried chicken, pizza, Chinese food, boiled pork, various night snacks, and all the delivery foods rich in MSG were a feast of flavors.

"Human, what's this called?"

"That’s called pizza."

"Pizza... I like it."

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Driden, true to his swordsman identity of wielding dual swords, was munching on a slice of pizza in each hand.

"What is the thing you’re eating now?"

"Oh, this is ramen. It's something I like to eat, but it's not exactly a healthy food."

"I'm curious. Can I try it?" Tiyo asked.

"Of course."

Choi Hansung served some of his ramen to Tiyo. Tiyo carefully looked at it before gulping down the soup from the bowl.

His eyes widened.

"This is...!"

Tiyo's reaction drew everyone's attention.

"This is Demon Noodle!"

"Demon Noodle? Are you serious?"

"It is! It’s that Abaddon fella’s Demon Noodle!"

"Actually?"

"Hmm?"

At his words, the three others from Elder Lord crowded around Tiyo like zombies. Choi Hansung had to cook a few more packets of ramen for them.

It turned out that in Elder Lord, a spicy noodle dish similar to ramen had become popular. The whole continent became addicted to it, causing a Demon Noodle craze.

Apparently, they all had missed that taste after wandering around away from home for so long.

"With the cuisine of another world and the taste of home... I could die tomorrow and I’d still be happy."

To them, the taste of home was ramen.

"My stomach is going to burst."

"I can’t remember the last time I ate until I was actually full, keke."

Tashaquil, true to his orc nature, had devoured a tremendous amount of food and laid himself on the sofa, patting his stomach. Anor rested his head on Tashaquil's belly.

"The food was indeed great, but if Crockta’s so busy..."

Tiyo looked at Choi Hansung.

"… can't we just go to him?"

"We don't even know where he is, and he's probably incredibly far away."

"Far away?"

Tiyo chuckled at Choi Hansung’s concern of distance.

"This Rommel guy says Crockta’s too far away."

He turned to his companions and sneered. They all burst into laughter.

"We've already crossed multiple continents and seas. Calling something ‘far away’ is almost amusing."

"How far could it possibly be? We've already crossed dimensions. No matter how far he is, he’s still on the same planet, right?"

"This delicate planet of yours is a piece of cake for us. Kyahahaha!"

As they laughed disdainfully, Choi Hansung felt a surge of emotion.

Did those bumpkins from Elder Lord dare to belittle his blue planet called Earth?

His Earth was a planet with four beautiful seasons and had produced countless superstars like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods.

Pacquiao dominated eight weight classes, and Eminem broke records for album sales. Do they even know of English, the world's most widely used language?

Do they know the Mariana Trench?

Do they know the Mount Everest?

Choi Hansung roughly handled the remote control. Tashaquil, who had been gaping at a K-Pop girl group on a music program, was startled and looked at Choi Hansung.

"Look at this,” Choi Hansung said with a stern look on his face.

The money he had earned as a Hunter had allowed him to afford a giant flawless Ultra HD screen, which was now displaying something far more beautiful than any K-Pop idol group.

The majestic and lonely planet that orbits and rotates in the vast universe.

A pale blue dot that was just a speck of dust in the scale of the universe, yet it was the sea of life that harbored everything he knew of life.

Everything…

The blue planet Earth.

That magnificent view looked down upon them.

All the history and civilizations that they knew of rose and fell on that very blue sphere. Choi Hansung swallowed hard, moved by the spectacle, and whispered.

“That is… us.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Tiyo snarked.

“A marble?”

“It’s a pretty picture... but it’s also somewhat unsettling. The background is dark.”

“I just want to go back to what I was watching before…”

The others protested.

“…”

Choi Hansung tried his best to explain, but it didn’t seem to reach them.

Frustrated, Choi Hansung had no choice but to show them a world map marked with Mercator projection.

Only then did they nod in understanding.

“Ohh, is this a map? It’s incredibly detailed,” Tiyo remarked.

“We are here. It’s called the Korean Peninsula.”

Tiyo squinted.

“Eh? It’s quite small.”

“Huh! What are you talking about? Our country has Park Ji-Sung and Kim Yuna, and we use the most scientific writing system in the world…”

“That’s enough of that. Now, where is Crockta supposed to be?”

“Do you even know… never mind. He’s probably over here.”

Choi Hansung pointed at Egypt.

Having no sense of the scale of Earth, the four from Elder Lord couldn’t grasp how far that was.

“We should be able to get there in a day if we take the plane.”

“Is your planet that small?”

“That’s not it…”

Choi Hansung passionately explained that Earth is actually a very large and wonderful planet, but thanks to cutting-edge technology like airplanes, they could travel long distances in a short time.

He went back to how much historical pain there was, the efforts of countless geniuses, and even the achievements of the Wright brothers.

However, Tiyo and his group stopped listening halfway through.

“Sigh… Who knew he’d be such a chatterbox…”

“Shut him up.”

“Hey, he’s feeding us. Let’s at least pretend like we’re listening.”

“Kekeke.”

His attempt to enlighten the four otherworldly beings about the greatness of Earth's civilization was a failure. Choi Hansung despaired.

Then, a phone call came for him.

“Hello?”

Choi Hansung shushed Tiyo and his group by putting his finger to his lips.

“Really?”

Choi Hansung was also among the top Hunters in the world. No, he was the best next to Yi-An. He was Rommel. Before Crockta's appearance, he was Elder Lord's top ranker and also the leader of the supreme guild of Heaven and Earth. He had his own network of information.

Choi Hansung's face turned stern. He had received shocking news.

“That thing came back to life?”

He had sought information on Yi-An's location from the Korean government, but the government informed him of an unexpected fact instead.

Yi-An had eliminated ‘Ramel’ in Egypt and killed ‘Parthenon,’ reclaiming the lair-ified city. But right after that, Azhi Dahaka started to move again and Yi-An was headed there straight away.

Even for him, facing Dragon-class monsters consecutively was going to be too much.

Choi Hansung frowned.

“What were you thinking, sending him there right away? No… Yes, I understand.”

Choi Hansung shook his head.

Yi-An must have insisted on going himself. What frustrated him was the fact that there was no other way than sending Yi-An.

Every time a Dragon-class monster appeared, he felt his powerlessness acutely.

If it weren’t for Yi-An, humanity might have already gone extinct. All humanity was indebted to Yi-An.

“Are you saying it won’t die even if it’s nuked? Where is it right now?” Choi Hansung asked.

“I’m asking you where Azhi Dahaka is. Yes, I’m going. No, I’m not crazy. I’m going. I have to go myself. What if something happens to Yi-An?! That’s three Dragon-class monsters in a row!” Choi Hansung shouted angrily.

“You know we’re all finished if anything happens to Yi-An, right? Korea will be fine without me, but without him, it’s really the end of everything. If you need help here, contact the White Knight. That guy’s got time. Me? I’ve always done what I wanted. Huh? What’s up with your tone? What, you don’t like my attitude? Up yours! Always giving me crap! Are you all just gonna die if I’m not here? Is Korea that helpless? After all I’ve done! Man, really?!”

The government official shouted something from the other end of the phone, but Choi Hansung just turned off his cell phone.

He was a man who did what needed to be done when it came down to it.

“These stuck-up people, tsk.”

Choi Hansung shook his head.

Seeing his strong demeanor, Tiyo and his group looked at him as if they had just seen him in a new light and applauded.

“I just found out where Crockta is.”

“We heard everything. You're more of a great man than we thought! Let’s get going! We’re departing immediately!” Tiyo exclaimed.

“We should hurry. I have a bad feeling. We’re going to need all your help. Yi-An might be struggling right now.”

“Hehe, we’re finally facing some real monsters, aren’t we? Sounds fun!”

“How do we get there? Are we taking that thing called a car from earlier?”

“Don't worry. If we take a plane…”

Choi Hansung stopped.

“We just have to buy… the plane tickets…”

He came to the realization that none of these beings had a passport. Their identities were unclear, being from another world. How was he going to fly them to Australia?

“Ah…” Choi Hansung murmured, clutching his head.

“This is…”

After pondering for a while, he sighed deeply.

“Shit…”

After glancing back and forth between Tiyo’s group and the phone in his trembling hand, Choi Hansung finally managed to tap the call connection with his unsteady fingers.

Then, he crouched and started speaking in a polite manner.

“Ahaha, I’m really sorry about earlier. I was a bit out of my mind... Yes... Ah, you see, sometimes I let the work stress get to me... ahaha... My sincerest apologies. It’s just that... I have a favor to ask... Ah, yes... I said I’m sorry... Please, calm down…”