Once upon a time, in a certain building far, far away in New Seoul, there lived a girl named Yuna.
If one dared to describe her beauty, birds would fall from the sky, flowers would bow their heads, and her mere existence could bring an entire nation to ruin. She was a peerless beauty.
And who could have imagined that this delicate girl was actually a pure and virtuous member of the mightiest fantasy race—a dragon...!
"...And when you think about it, I can't even sleep because I'm so worried about how shocked everyone must have been...!"
Yuna deliberately dabbed at the corners of her eyes in front of the camera.
Apparently, she had been hoping someone would praise her for being so thoughtful, but the chat remained unimpressed.
[It's okay! We weren't surprised at all!]
"What...!? A peerless beauty like me turned out to be a dragon, and you weren't surprised?"
[Who wouldn't know? Every time you get mad, horns pop out of your head and flames shoot out of your mouth. You were so obviously a dragon that I honestly thought it was some kind of gimmick.]
"How dare you send a whole wall of text with a measly 1,000-won donation!?"
[fr, even the tyrant attitude is straight-up dragon lol]
"You're banned for a week."
And so, Yuna continued her peaceful and harmonious interaction with her fans.
An emergency alert from her personal AI appeared at the edge of her vision.
In the twenty-second century, personalized AIs roamed the internet on their users' behalf, gathering information tailored to their tastes and interests without requiring them to search for it themselves.
Normally, Yuna would have checked any article containing her own name first.
But the moment she saw the screen, her expression hardened.
"...What the hell is this...!?"
Something had happened that even the dragon could not help but be appalled by.
People believed to be her fans had been beheaded and put on display along the street.
Any ordinary woman would have screamed or fainted on the spot, but fortunately, our Yuna possessed an unshakable conviction to stand against injustice.
"Which bastard did this!? When I catch them, I'll break every limb in their body!!"
***
Meanwhile, at the Cheong-Am Euthanasia Center.
Kim Ga-Eun and Yi Rang both had the day off, leaving only Yu-Han and Alice at the Center.
Alice had no particular desire to go outside, so she had claimed the sofa and was lazing around, while Yu-Han brewed himself some green tea in the break room.
Alice suddenly spoke.
"Yu-Han, why don't you just date Ga-Eun once?"
Hearing that, Yu-Han choked on his green tea and started coughing.
"What kind of bullshit is that out of nowhere?"
"She looks like she'll try to die if you're not around. Doesn't she?"
"Her life is her own responsibility. And..."
Yu-Han thought it over, then generated another plausible excuse.
"She's under eighteen."
"You kill people like it's nothing, yet you suddenly sound awfully upright when it comes to this..."
"I'm not into kids younger than me in the first place! Especially girls in the middle of puberty.
They're rebellious, full of attitude, short-tempered on top of that.
Every last one of them makes my skull ache..."
Right then, a video call came into the Center.
Of all people, it was another teenage girl—Yuna.
[Alice? It's been a while. You know who I am, right?]
"Uh... good to see you? But this is the business line. Calling here is kind of..."
[Ha! You think I'd call for personal reasons? We're not that close, are we? I just have a little job for our heroic euthanasia agents.]
Yuna then showed them the horrific news about five of her fans being beheaded and displayed in public.
[You're a collaborator too, so of course you'll help me, right?]
Yu-Han answered immediately.
"Don't help her, Alice. It's a waste of time."
[What was that bullshit just now!? Is that piece of trash there with you?]
"Trash? I'm not asking you to call me Master. At least call me your contractor."
[To think someone as pure and virtuous as me would wind up bound by a shady contract to a shabby loser like that...
That duel last time gave those rotten humans even more fuel for their shipping fantasies!]
Alice asked, looking puzzled.
"You even have a ship now? Honestly, didn't you two do nothing but fight?"
[Stupid humans think any random man and woman standing together must be dating.]
Yu-Han wanted to end the chatter and enjoy his rare day off, so he decided to test his authority as her contractor.
"An order... Go give the job to someone else. Stop bothering me."
[You piece of...! Who do you think you're ordering around!?]
The coercive force of the contract pushed against Yuna's immense dragon-mana.
The two forces strained against each other, but Yuna's dragon-mana continued resisting to the very end, and the order ultimately failed.
Come to think of it, the contract did contain a clause stating that she could refuse any order she judged unreasonable.
Yu-Han was starting to wonder who the master in this relationship even was.
[I'll pay you, so quit complaining and go deal with it!
No veto! You trashy slave!]
"Any information?" Alice asked.
[If you want, go ask my Elite Guard. I expect good results.]
The call ended.
Elite Guard? Apparently, top influencers in the twenty-second century could even have something resembling private armies.
***
When they searched for the "Yuna Elite Guard" online and went to the address, they found an unexpectedly familiar face.
"Uh... um. So there were two collaborators. Good to see you again."
It was Ma Sa-Yun, the massive lion beastkin.
The problem was that he was armed from head to toe in Yuna merchandise.
Ma Sa-Yun looked extremely embarrassed by the situation.
Alice was silent for a while.
"Ma Sa-Yun C... so you were a Yuna fan."
"It's a hobby... and a form of talent donation."
Ma Sa-Yun's voice grew quieter.
Yu-Han did not even mock him.
Instead, he stared at him with the expression of a man experiencing genuine despair.
"To think the leader of a Center making a fresh start is serving as an idol's attendant."
"Ghk...!"
Ma Sa-Yun did not particularly like Yu-Han, but he had no rebuttal.
He turned toward Yu-Han.
"Still, the job itself will be over quickly!
Our 'Yuna Elite Guard' is strictly merit-based...
We've got euthanasia agents, private soldiers, and masters of every kind of magic!
I'm Captain of the 8th Squad myself!"
Alice felt grateful to be a robot.
Listening to Ma Sa-Yun, she had nearly made the exact same face as Yu-Han.
"So another captain will be joining us today?"
"Of course! The Captain of the 9th Squad... She's the lone rose among the Elite Guard captains, and a master of summoning magic!"
"...What about the other captains?"
"The stronger someone is, the busier they are."
He made his excuse.
Just then, a cheerful woman's voice rang out from somewhere nearby.
"Hey! Ma Sa-Yun C! How've you been? Oh, but who are these people...?"
A young woman with dyed blonde hair approached, only to freeze the moment she saw Alice.
Alice recognized her too.
It was Na Ye-Jin, who had once summoned the Phoenix and tried to take both her and Yu-Han's lives.
"Oh my god... so Alice-Unnie was the collaborator coming to meet us.
Thinking about it, I really should've guessed..."
Her eyes shifted sideways.
"Uncle Yu-Han is... here too."
"Who are you calling Uncle?"
Na Ye-Jin awkwardly averted her eyes.
Ma Sa-Yun looked back and forth between them.
"You know the Captain of the 9th Squad too? What exactly is your relationship?"
Yu-Han sighed.
"A relatively recent grudge."
***
The information secured by the Elite Guard was surprisingly useful.
Men wearing the same suspicious emblem had appeared several times on CCTV near the scene.
By following them across footage from other locations, the Elite Guard confirmed that they seemed to be gathering at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Old Seoul.
The four of them headed there in Ma Sa-Yun's van.
Alice looked toward the driver's seat.
"But Ma Sa-Yun C, are you really allowed to access CCTV footage that freely?"
"The Elite Guard includes building owners and people who work for security companies. They cooperate with us from time to time."
"...Is that actually legal?"
"Probably."
Ma Sa-Yun did not sound particularly convinced.
A little later, Na Ye-Jin cautiously spoke to Alice beside her.
"Um, Alice-Unnie. Can I ask you one thing?"
"Sure. Don't worry about it."
Na Ye-Jin hesitated briefly, then went straight for the point.
"Exactly when did you sign a contract with the Phoenix?"
"!!"
Alice realized that the moment had finally come.
"...Sorry. You know I was being attacked by your Phoenix then.
But then that bird suddenly asked me to sign a contract."
"Haa... What is with that divine beast signing multiple contracts however it pleases?
I'm summoning it and asking directly."
"Wait. We're inside a van."
"It's fine in 'Spirit Mode.'"
Na Ye-Jin reached into the air and chanted a spell.
A flame-like mass of spirit appeared.
In Spirit Mode, the Phoenix had no physical body and consumed relatively little mana.
[Ah, Contractor. What is the matter?]
"Don't you have something you should say? You've got two contractors sitting right in front of you."
[Please refer to Article 357, Section 3.
My right to enter into contracts with others is guaranteed as well.]
"Ugh...! Just how many clauses are there!?"
[You must be rather disappointed.
You were so excited, saying, 'I'm going to be the protagonist of the prophecy!'... What a pity.]
"You damn bird! Why would you bring that up!? Go back!"
Na Ye-Jin irritably dismissed the Phoenix's spirit.
Alice was rather surprised to learn that Na Ye-Jin had harbored a dream like that.
If she had been able to form a contract with a dragon too, would she have been treated like a hero?
It was ironic that the influencer she adored happened to be that very dragon.
"Hey, don't take all that talk about divine beasts at face value.
At the end of the day, they're creatures from another world.
Who knows what kind of dangerous identity they might be hiding."
"Yu-Han. I can't believe you're saying that."
Alice and Yu-Han were just about to start arguing again when the van suddenly began to slow down.
"What's going on!? The battery is draining rapidly!"
Ma Sa-Yun stared at the dashboard in alarm, while Yu-Han merely let out a long, bored yawn.
"What are you so surprised about? Obviously an enemy attack."
"What!?"
Ma Sa-Yun immediately shouted.
"Everyone out!"
All four of them kicked open the doors and leaped from the van almost simultaneously.
A split second later, a sharp whistle cut through the air, and a bamboo spear punched through the van they had occupied just moments before.
Then dozens of bamboo spears and blunt weapons rained down on it, crushing the bodywork in seconds.
"My car! I still have installments to pay!"
"Hey, Lion yangban. At least you made it out alive."
'Yangban' is a somewhat more familiar honorific. Sometimes, it can also be used when the speaker doesn't really intend to address the other person respectfully.
Anyway, Countless people had already surrounded the van.
Every one of them wore the same emblem they had seen in the CCTV footage.
The emblem of the "Hammer and Sickle"...!