The Hero Returns

Su-hyeun flipped through the pages.

Just what could he be thinking of?

Malcolm kept his mouth shut and observed Su-hyeun. However, there wasn't even a hint of change in the latter's eyes as he continued to peruse the contents of the book.

"How did you…find that tome?" Malcolm asked.

"Miru brought it to my attention."

"Your Miru did?" Malcolm released a long sigh at Su-hyeun's reply. "A red dragon is a formidable creature, indeed. Just what kind of godly powers does it possess…."

"A red dragon? What do you mean?" Su-hyeun closed the book and shifted his gaze over to Malcolm who was busy shaking his head in resignation.

"That's not really the important point at this moment, is it?"

"If that's not it, then what is?"

"Ouroboros. I'm the…"

"Oh, that. Well, we can talk about that later."

Honestly speaking, it didn't really matter to Su-hyeun who had summoned Ouroboros.

This trial wasn't about discovering the culprit behind the summoning of that gigantic monster snake. Of course, he didn't believe for one second that him running into Malcolm like this was purely a coincidence.

<<But the important thing right now is getting information related to Miru.>>

Even the so-called divine beast expert Song Hyeong-gi had no idea what kind of creature Miru was. Su-hyeun might not get another chance to acquire solid info on Miru if he missed this one. So, information related to his dragon was top priority that lorded over everything else.

"What a strange man you are. No, wait. Could it be because you don't know what kind of an existence Ouroboros is?"

Malcolm could only smile bitterly while looking at Su-hyeun.

The latter smiled awkwardly and placed the book back in its original spot. "Whatever the case may be, I'd like to apologize for stealing a glance at the book without your permission. I'll make sure to never do it again in the future."

"No, it's fine. There are so many books here, so if none of them had caught your eye, that would have been even more strange. In any case, let's discuss that later and follow me for the time being."

Malcolm led Su-hyeun out of the basement. After leaving the book-and-dust filled study, they stepped back into the spotless living room.

Malcolm brought out a boiling pot of tea. Su-hyeun lifted up the teacup and took a small sip. The tea tasted pretty good.

"…You're a strange fellow, indeed," Malcolm murmured.

"Regarding what, exactly?"

"Maybe you don't know anything about dark magicians? Or, maybe you're slightly challenged in the head? No, wait. You don't look like such a person, so…"

"Are you trying to say something like 'I might have mixed in some poison in your tea?'"

"That's right. Exactly that."

"You don't seem to be that sort of a person, sir. Besides, I'm certain that you wouldn't resort to such a petty trick, either."

"A trick?"

Su-hyeun didn't believe that one of the problems he'd face during the 30th floor's trial would be a mere poison-laced teacup. Of course, he was confident of detoxifying himself if there really was poison involved, and besides, he was immune to most poisons, anyway.

"Well, there are some things like that. I think I need to say this out loud before we start…." Su-hyeun put the teacup down for a bit and spoke up. "I'm not a prejudiced person that thinks of every dark magician I see as a villain, so you don't have to be so wary of me. Sir, you're the master of this house, after all."

He didn't seem to be on his guard.

Malcolm had been somewhat mindful of the overall mood until then, but what Su-hyeun said must've settled his nerves a little, because he picked up his own teacup and sat down on the couch opposite to his guest.

"I'm grateful for you saying that."

The old man took a sip of the tea he had brewed. He felt his mind mellowing a little as the slightly bitter taste circulated within his mouth. Malcolm then put the teacup down and pushed forward the book he brought out from the basement study. "This here is the book related to your Miru."

Gya-ong—?

Miru stared at the giant dragon on the book's cover and tilted its head as if to ask, "Is that guy me?"

"What book is this, exactly?"

Besides it being a book about dragons, nothing else could be gleaned from its cover.

Malcolm heard Su-hyeun's question and began flipping the book's pages one by one. "It's a tome about different colors of dragons."

"Colors?"

"Dragons are commonly known as the creatures at the very top of all divine beasts. But the truth is, they are also divided into different classes. This tome explains that difference via their coloring."

The different classes of dragons. For sure, Su-hyeun was quite curious about this subject. Back then, the blue dragon Song Hyeong-gi summoned bowed its head to the newly-hatched Miru, didn't it?

"If you use the coloring to denote different classes, what would the class of a blue dragon be?" Su-hyeun asked while thinking about Song Hyeong-gi's blue dragon.

Malcolm opened the front half of the book after hearing that question. "A blue dragon. It's a class just above the bottom-most color, purple. And it's also the color with the highest number of individuals among dragons, too. According to the tome, that is."

"The purple color is at the bottom?"

It was the complete opposite to the dungeon's classification. Unlike how the highest-difficulty dungeon was purple in color, the purple dragons belonged to the lowest class.

In that case…

"Could it be that the red dragon belongs to the highest class?"

"Indeed."

Malcolm went to the last pages of the book. Unlike how it was with other dragon colors, the recorded descriptions for red dragons only amounted to a handful of pages.

"The red dragon. Estimated to be the highest class of dragons."

"Estimated?"

"It says even this author, who dedicated his entire life to researching dragons, had not heard about the discovery of a red dragon nor a record of its sightings. However, by looking at the coloring of the dragons discovered so far, 'red' is estimated to be the highest class. Or so it says."

It was fairly easy to see why the written records were so scant. It couldn't be helped as red dragons hadn't even been discovered until now.

"Well, that's as far as I can tell you regarding this subject. If you wish, you can take this tome with you."

Malcolm pushed the book towards Su-hyeun. He must've figured that Su-hyeun needed this book of dragons far more than himself.

Su-hyeun hurriedly waved his hands and replied. "No. Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine."

"Really? Aren't you interested?"

"It's not that, but…."

If he wanted to take the book away, he needed the Property of Dimension order form. He might have already stashed a handful away just in case, but he didn't think there was a pressing need to bring the book out of here.

"It'll be fine for me to read it during what I believe will be a brief stay here, sir. I should be conscious of how much I'm inconveniencing you, after all."

"Is that so?"

Malcolm chuckled and stood back up while straightening his bent back.

"You can use any one of the unused rooms found on the second floor. Oh, and the rooms should be quite clean, too. I'll have the bed installed by this evening."

"Sir."

"Mm?" Malcolm turned around at Su-hyeun's call.

Still sitting on the couch while lifting up his teacup, Su-hyeun asked, "May I ask why you're being so nice to me?"

Malcolm remained silent for a long while after hearing the question. But then, he bit down on his parched lip couple of times and turned around to leave while finally breaking the silence. "…You should rest up. I'm also feeling exhausted."

Malcolm's footsteps rang hollowly within the large living room.

Su-hyeun sipped on the rest of his tea while observing the back of the old man climbing up the staircase.

Growl, gururung—

He then addressed the oblivious-to-everything Miru sitting on top of his head growling away in happiness.

"Pretty suspicious. Right?"

Gurung—

Unsurprisingly, there was no answer.

Su-hyeun quickly took away the teacups, and picked up the book Malcolm left behind on the table.

The time period was one month. He had quite a lot of time left to kill. He thought that more than likely, his stay here wouldn't be boring at all.

* * *

The house Malcolm lived in all by himself was quite large in size.

Su-hyeun chose one of the unoccupied rooms to stay in. For the next two days, he didn't go outside the residence and simply focused himself on reading books.

Although he had never seen the language before, comprehending it didn't prove to be a challenge. It seemed that Su-hyeun had been perceived as a resident of this world, and all the issues related to language, such as communication, were taken care of in that manner.

Knock, knock—

"It's time to eat."

Malcolm's voice came from outside the door.

Su-hyeun closed the book. He had been reading non-stop for the past two days. It was the first time in this life not moving his body to such an extent.

Creaaak—

He opened the door and exited to find Malcolm waiting for him.

The two men wordlessly headed to the dining room. Miru flapped its wings and followed after Su-hyeun. Bowls of soups and freshly-baked bread were waiting for them in the dining room.

"Have you finished reading?" When Su-hyeun didn't bring a book with him, Malcolm asked out of curiosity.

In the last two days, Su-hyeun even read the book during the mealtimes. But seeing how he didn't bring it with him, Malcolm assumed that the former had finished the book.

"Yes. I'll put the book back in the study."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of that."

Malcolm lightly waved his hand and dipped the bread in the soup. Su-hyeun stared at the old man before digging into his own meal.

For the past two days, Malcolm treated him so well that it came across as a bit excessive.

"…I'm planning to go outside today and meet with other dark magicians."

Clink—

Su-hyeun's words caused Malcolm's spoon to make a sharp noise as it collided with the bowl.

The old man raised his head and looked at Su-hyeun. The latter continued to speak while getting through his share of the soup. "I've grown rather curious about the people of this city, you see."

"But why does it have to be the dark magicians?"

"For the past two days, I…." Su-hyeun hesitated slightly, before continuing on. "I've also read the book related to Ouroboros in the study as well."

With that, he put the spoon down on the bowl.

Malcolm's lips were trembling greatly. In the end, he dropped the spoon and stood up from the chair. He then covered his mouth as if to hold back the urge to vomit, and turned around. "That was my fault."

"Your fault, is it?" Su-hyeun closed his eyes.

With this, he was sure of it now. It felt like the question stuck in the corner of his mind was beginning to get untangled just a little.

"Once I'm finished with my meal, I'll directly head over there."

"Do you have to meet with them?"

"Yes. It's a must."

It didn't feel good to reject a favor from Malcolm, a man who had been very hospitable to him until now.

"My apologies."

"Regarding what?"

"Actually, I was suspicious of your hospitality, sir. That's why I had to read the book in secret." Su-hyeun deeply bowed his head towards Malcolm. "I'm truly sorry."

"You won't listen to me even if I try to stop you, yes?"

"Correct, sir."

Malcolm quietly stared at Su-hyeun for a little while, then replied as he left the dining room. "No. It is I who should apologize."

Clack—

He was now left alone in the large dining room to finish his meal. But the rage in his heart continued to boil over.

Squeeze—

The spoon gripped in Su-hyeun's hand was then bent out of shape.

Act 8

Su-hyeun had finally left the residence after two days of stay and hurriedly walked on the streets.

His sense of direction was considered to be pretty good, but he still struggled to locate the dark magicians. From the get-go, the number of dark magicians residing in Moros was far lower than regular magicians.

After wandering around the city for two solid hours, Su-hyeun finally located the small "village" where the dark magicians were residing. This was the result of wandering around blindly, trying to latch onto the traces left behind the dark magicians' magical energy.

"Hey, Miru."

Gya-ong—?

Miru tilted its head seemingly out of puzzlement when Su-hyeun's walking speed grew faster and faster. His voice calling out to the dragon sounded ominous as well.

"What did daddy say about dealing with bad people?"

Gya-ong, gya-oh-ong—!

"That's right. I said that for bad people…"

Smack—!

When his fist smacked into the open palm of his other hand, a crisp sound resounded out.

"…A medicine called a beatdown is the best cure."

Gya-ong—!

Miru energetically replied and nodded its head several times before shutting its mouth tightly to look as heroically solemn as possible.

Su-hyeun continued to walk according to the directions a passing-by magician taught him and finally reached a village emitting a gloomy atmosphere. Even at a casual glance, it looked exactly like the type of place that dark magicians would call home.

"Let's go, MIru."

Su-hyeun strode towards the village of dark magicians with even faster steps.

"Time to discipline some bad guys."