151.
‘How did it come to this?’
It all began with Jinhyeon. He wanted his lover, Yu Jin, to become stronger, but that wasn’t an easy task. Yu Jin had no talent for physical activities and showed no improvement no matter what he tried.
Of course, this was only true for physical tasks. In all other areas, Yu Jin showed remarkable results, bringing unprecedented prosperity to Lucid. By now, the people of the empire knew that Yu Jin was the head of Lucid and understood how impressive his achievements were. As a result, more and more people sought Yu Jin out, and due to his lack of stamina, he even collapsed at one point.
“Yes, that’s how it started.”
With his eyes rolled back, Jinhyeon made a plan to make Yu Jin healthier. Concluding that if he couldn’t build stamina, he’d use other means, he set out to hunt what people called legendary creatures.
“Are you alright?”
San, who had come down from the second floor, handed Gee a glass of water.
“I have to be. Didn’t we agree to speak casually last time?”
At Gee’s words, San’s eyes rolled. San was good at making bold decisions at work but struggled infinitely with personal relationships. So even when Gee suggested they speak casually like brothers, San couldn’t easily do so. It seemed he had experienced too many instances of not being able to trust people. But it was okay. Gee was good at waiting. As he waited with a smile, San hesitantly opened his mouth.
“Yeah, bro.”
“Great!”
Gee ruffled San’s hair with his large hand.
“But what about Jinhyeon?”
“…He left before you came.”
“Did he really go to hunt a dragon?”
“Yeah.”
“Who else went?”
“Just Jinhyeon, Keith, and one magician.”
“It’s crazy enough to try to catch a dragon, but only three of them went?”
San nodded at Gee’s question.
“But they’ll probably catch it and come back.”
“I suppose so. He’s a monster of a man, after all.”
While Yu Jin’s fame was rising, Jinhyeon hadn’t been idle. He never neglected his training and became even stronger. At first, he defeated the imperial knights, then the knight commander, and later fought against the entire knighthood. After winning all these battles, Jinhyeon was finally recognized as a Sword Master.
After that recognition, things were similar. Having surpassed Iven, Salamander, and Freena, Jinhyeon declared he would next challenge a dragon. On the surface, he said he was following the path of past heroes, but no one was ignorant of the truth.
‘He’s after the dragon heart!’
Since ancient times, it was said that those who ate a dragon heart could live for a long time without aging. He probably wanted to feed it to Yu Jin. What a terrifying person. Gee closed his eyes, heavy with fatigue. Jinhyeon would surely return safely with the dragon heart, so Gee intended to rest as much as possible before then. Seeing Gee like this, San pulled a nearby blanket and covered him. Gee felt a tickle from the careful touch patting his chest.
What an adorable little brother, he thought.
One day, Jinhyeon came to Keith and said,
“I’m going to hunt a dragon. Come with me.”
“What?”
Keith immediately frowned upon hearing Jinhyeon’s words. If asked to point out the person he hated most, now as before, he would point to the man in front of him. Originally, it was Ruhan, the previous head of Lucid, but that had changed. Ever since Jinhyeon had taken the place beside Yu Jin, Keith disliked Jinhyeon the most.
This was even more so because once he harbored feelings, they didn’t easily disappear. After dealing with Leviathan and conversing with Yu Jin, Keith had sworn not to force his feelings on him. Since then, he had tried to hide his feelings from Yu Jin and act like family. Of course, that effort didn’t include getting along with Jinhyeon.
After all, isn’t it natural for an older brother to disapprove of his younger sibling’s lover?
“Did I hear that wrong?”
Keith asked again, just in case, and Jinhyeon repeated clearly,
“I said I’m going to hunt a dragon.”
“But why do I have to go with you!”
“Lord Freena said that dragons are not to be underestimated. She said even I could die. So I decided to take you along.”
“I’m not strong enough to face a dragon.”
“I’ll handle the dragon. You’re just coming along as a precaution.”
It wasn’t hard to guess what Jinhyeon meant by ‘precaution’. He seemed worried that if he died fighting the dragon, Keith might try to take Yu Jin for himself. What a nasty personality, worrying about such things when death would be the end of it all.
“What if I refuse?”
“Then I’ll ask Yu Jin.”
“Stop! I’ll go!”
Yu Jin was the type to readily follow if his lover Jinhyeon asked him to go. I should have raised that kid to be more assertive! Keith gritted his teeth as he was dragged along by Jinhyeon.
“Will this really be okay?”
The magician who had come along because he could use scrolls clicked his teeth. He seemed scared of the impending danger and couldn’t keep still for a moment.
“It should be fine.”
Keith also gripped his sword with an uneasy heart. How long had they been there? The ground beneath them rumbled greatly.
Boom!
The sky darkened, and an ominous wind blew from somewhere.
Boom!
As the rumbling of the earth grew louder, a massive ancient monster revealed itself.
“Grrrr.”
If there was any consolation, it was that the dragon they were facing was a young specimen that had just emerged from being a hatchling. A dragon of this size couldn’t properly shoot its breath. It was because it hadn’t fully grown yet.
‘No, that’s not a consolation!’
Dragons and humans lived on different time scales. Even a dragon just out of its hatchling stage had lived for at least a thousand years. With higher innate intelligence compared to other monsters and having lived for so long, it was not an opponent to be taken lightly. In fact, just swinging its mindlessly large tail was incredibly dangerous to humans.
This place might become his grave. As Keith thought this and gripped his sword tighter, Jinhyeon, who was standing in front, grinned and dashed out like an arrow. Unlike usual, he was wielding a large greatsword. He leaped and climbed onto the dragon’s body.
“Kyaang!”
The greatsword that had scraped the scales was swung once more. Jinhyeon ran along the body of the frantically twisting dragon, persistently attacking one spot. The greatsword was no ordinary weapon, and soon the scales began to fall off. The sword then drove like a nail into the exposed flesh beneath. Now the dragon was shaking its body madly. But the more it did so, the larger the wound became. Jinhyeon, infusing the sword with energy, slashed down the dragon’s back.
“…That looks painful,” muttered the magician, who had somehow plastered himself against a nearby rock wall.
“Indeed,” Keith agreed.
Fighting such a huge and terrifying monster, why didn’t Jinhyeon seem to be in any danger? At this rate, it seemed he would easily catch the dragon and obtain its heart. As time passed, the dragon’s wounds increased, and the magician’s attitude changed. Though still trembling with fear, he seemed to have the leisure to worry about other things.
“Oh no, oh no! Dragon blood is so expensive! He’s spilling it all!”
Jinhyeon, hunting a dragon for the first time, was butchering the valuable body. Since all he needed was the dragon heart, he didn’t seem to care about anything else. Well, with his lover Yu Jin being so wealthy, there was no need to exert himself worrying about other parts.
“Krararararara!”
The dragon screamed, and Jinhyeon rampaged like a madman. Finally, the young dragon’s head dropped to the ground. Beheading the dragon that had fainted from excessive blood loss was an easy task for Jinhyeon. After confirming the kill, Jinhyeon dug into the dragon’s body and extracted the dragon heart. Only then did the magician use a communication device to contact the Lucid family knights waiting below.
“If it was going to be like this, we didn’t need the teleport scroll,” Keith muttered absently.
Jinhyeon, who had suddenly approached, said, “No, we need it. It needs to be fed while fresh.”
“Dragon organs don’t spoil that easily.”
“But they say it’s most effective when freshly extracted.”
Jinhyeon urged the magician who had finished making contact. The magician, with trembling hands, took out the scroll and used it, and Jinhyeon disappeared in an instant. In the place where Jinhyeon had vanished, Keith, left alone, placed his hand on his forehead.
“Was it a two-person scroll?”
“Bastard,” he muttered quietly, but there was no one left to hear.
Yu Jin was holed up in his office as usual. But he couldn’t concentrate on his work at all. How could he be at ease when Jinhyeon had gone to such a dangerous place? After scribbling with his pen several times, he finally threw down what he was holding.
“This won’t do!”
He couldn’t go up to the mountain where the dragon lived, but he wanted to wait at the base at least. He knew Jinhyeon had taken a teleport scroll, but dragon hunting usually took a long time. History books even recorded stories of people taking turns for a week to catch a dragon. So as he was about to jump up and leave his office, he heard a commotion downstairs. Wondering what was happening, he went down to find Jinhyeon standing there, drenched in blood.
“Yu Jin!”
Jinhyeon spread his arms as soon as he saw Yu Jin. Ever since Yu Jin had been kidnapped and rescued, Jinhyeon hated being apart from him.
“Jinhyeon?”
As Yu Jin approached and hugged him reflexively, Jinhyeon buried his nose in Yu Jin’s nape.
“Ah, you smell good.”
Yu Jin was puzzled by Jinhyeon’s behavior, nuzzling like a clingy cat.
“…Didn’t you say you were going to hunt a dragon?”
“I caught it.”
“Already?”
“It wasn’t as strong as I thought. Though it was tough.”
Saying this, Jinhyeon pulled out a red jewel the size of a fist from his embrace.
“I brought the dragon heart too. It’s freshly extracted, so let’s eat it now.”
Despite the many onlookers, Jinhyeon kissed Yu Jin’s forehead, nose, and cheeks. He seemed about to kiss his lips too, so Yu Jin quickly stopped him.
“Let’s talk in the room, in the room!”
“Alright.”
Jinhyeon readily agreed and moved with Yu Jin. Even as they walked, his hand remained wrapped around Yu Jin’s waist. Yu Jin decided to ask Jinhyeon about what had happened as soon as they entered the room. In truth, there wasn’t much to explain.
Later, a rumor spread in the capital. It was said that the lover of the Lucid family head had caught a dragon.
“And he gave the dragon heart to the family head.”
“Really? Is that true?”
At first, some doubted the rumor, but it was soon officially announced through imperial confirmation. People praised it as a great love, and for a while, a trend of giving red jewels to lovers swept through the capital.
[End of the main story of “I Bought the Male Lead with Money”]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
