WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ My Girlfriend Returned as a Dragon ◈

Chapter 91: Possibility

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Bzzzzzt!

The world began to twist, and the monsters' forms warped by the second. Everything began to turn grotesque.

In the midst of what could only be called utter chaos, Minjun's eyes shook wildly.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Team Leader Jung had said the system was reliable enough for them to be proud of both its safety and stability.

Then what was this phenomenon happening right now?

‘Isn't this actually dangerous?’

A grim thought ran down Minjun's spine.

Forget the test. Safety came first.

Minjun tried to send a signal to stop the test, but before he could, a notice appeared saying the simulation had been terminated, and the capsule door opened.

“Phew.”

The moment the capsule opened, Minjun let out a ragged breath and immediately took stock of the situation.

When he looked down, he saw that his clothes were soaked with sweat.

When he raised his head again, he saw Team Leader Jung looking flustered, and intern Kim Miru looking even more flustered, utterly stunned.

“Hunter, are you all right?”

Team Leader Jung rushed over as soon as the capsule opened and checked Minjun's condition. Once Miru saw that Minjun was drenched in sweat, she brought him a towel.

“What on earth happened?”

As he wiped away his cold sweat with the towel, Minjun asked Team Leader Jung.

“An unexpected error suddenly occurred in the system.”

Team Leader Jung looked bitterly at the monitor displaying the error messages.

“We'll need to investigate the cause later, but for now, I believe it may be related to the skill you used at the end.”

The moment Minjun used Dragon Fear, a message had appeared saying that an unidentified power had been detected in the system.

Then, when Minjun used Dragon Speech, the simulator had suddenly begun malfunctioning.

All the circumstances pointed to whatever Minjun had used as the cause.

“I don't know what skill you used, but it seems that skill caused a critical error in the program's calculations.”

“...”

For no reason, Minjun felt awkward at Team Leader Jung's words.

Had the power he used completely scrambled the system?

At the same time, he felt disappointed.

He had hoped this test would not only give him some clue about his power, but also accurately measure the exact extent of his combat ability.

Now it had all come to nothing.

He nearly sighed, but when he saw Team Leader Jung's troubled expression, Minjun felt sorry even in the middle of all this.

However, the moment Team Leader Jung saw how apologetic Minjun looked, they hurriedly waved their hands.

“This isn't your fault, Hunter. This is entirely a technical issue on our end.”

Even with Team Leader Jung trying to reassure him, Minjun's expression did not brighten much.

“So what happens now?”

Team Leader Jung, who had been hanging his head, briefly rubbed his face before answering.

“I don't think we can conduct any more tests today. There are safety concerns, and we need to thoroughly investigate the cause of the error... It can't be helped.”

A new problem had been found through this test, so the researchers had no choice but to stop the simulation.

“I see.”

Minjun nodded with a conflicted expression.

“I'm sorry.”

“No, it's all right.”

He had done nothing wrong, but he could not help feeling sorry anyway, so Minjun did not look very pleased.

“We'll still provide your transportation expenses and compensation as usual. Also, I don't know how useful it will be, but... we'll give you the data recorded before the test was terminated.”

“Yes, then I'd appreciate that.”

What he had wanted in the first place was to find out how a dragon's power performed in actual combat, so he wondered whether the data would mean much without that.

Still, going home completely empty-handed did not seem right either, so Minjun decided to take the report as Team Leader Jung suggested.

He wondered if there might be something meaningful to gain from it, but as expected, there was not.

Since the test had been stopped midway through, there were no major findings.

The report only contained obvious facts Minjun already knew. He was somewhat stronger than ordinary A-rank Hunters, underestimated compared to his stats, had several differences from other Hunters, and would benefit from specializing in one area or another.

After checking the report, Minjun made preparations to leave, unable to hide his disappointment.

“Then I'll be on my way.”

“Yes. But before that, may I ask you one thing?”

Team Leader Jung took a small notebook from inside his jacket and asked Minjun.

“That skill you used at the end. Could you tell me... what kind of skill it was?”

They needed to know what skill Minjun had used to affect the simulator if they were going to find the cause of the error.

But Minjun could not tell him what it really was.

After considering whether there might be a suitable excuse, Minjun ultimately decided to give a vague answer.

“...I don't know either. I didn't use any particular skill. I only did what I normally do.”

Minjun knew Team Leader Jung would not take that at face value, but it was the best Minjun could do for now.

And as expected.

Team Leader Jung sensed something strange in Minjun's words, but they seemed to find it difficult to press him for details.

There were genuinely cases like this sometimes, and even if they kept questioning Minjun, there was no guarantee Minjun would give them an answer.

“...I see. Then it can't be helped.”

If Minjun could not readily reveal it and was keeping the skill's identity tightly hidden, it likely meant there was something to it.

Neither Minjun nor Team Leader Jung had solved all the mysteries, but they both decided that this was where they should leave things for today.

“Take care on your way home.”

Minjun left with a bitter expression, while Team Leader Jung returned to examining the error-filled data with an equally bitter look.

But there was one person.

Intern Kim Miru, who had quietly watched the entire situation unfold, wore an expression strangely different from theirs.

* * *

Kim Miru.

She might have looked like an ordinary young professional in her mid-twenties, someone you could find anywhere, but her true identity was a dragon from another dimension.

Curious about the fusion of magic and science created by humans, she had naturally blended into human society by playing the role of an ordinary young professional.

Then, one day, while peacefully enjoying herself in that role.

She encountered Minjun while working as an intern.

‘So that's the human who intends to form an Eternal Covenant with a dragon.’

The moment Minjun entered the examination room, she recognized him at once.

After all, Minjun was quite famous among dragons.

Once the simulation began in earnest, she carefully watched Minjun's performance while reviewing the documents containing his personal details and notable characteristics.

‘Not bad.’

He was incomparably weak compared to her, a dragon, but she could not deny that he was strong by human standards.

Still, someone at this level would not be able to achieve his dream of changing his species to win his love.

At the very least, he needed to be able to wield Dragon Speech perfectly before he could even think of changing species.

But despite thinking that, she was one of the few dragons who supported Sia's path.

A love that transcended life, dimension, and species, yet received no blessing from their kin.

What could be more poignant and romantic than that?

For that reason, she supported Sia and Minjun's love, and secretly hoped that Minjun would show something this time that surpassed her expectations.

And her wish came true.

An alert sounded, announcing that an unidentified skill had been detected.

It might have been disastrous news for the researchers, but not for her.

Since it was a combat simulation, she probably could not be certain. But after considering all the circumstances.

That mysterious skill Minjun used had to be Dragon Fear.

‘A human used Dragon Fear?’

The Dragon Fear Minjun wielded was weaker than that of a newly hatched hatchling, but the mere fact that he had used it was significant.

Even in the dimension where she had lived, the number of humans who had used Dragon Fear could be counted on one hand throughout the history of the entire continent.

And that was not all.

Not long after using Dragon Fear, Minjun had succeeded in using Dragon Speech as though flaunting it.

He had only succeeded after several failures, and from her perspective, it was a crude level of Dragon Speech.

But that alone was enough to confirm the potential Minjun possessed.

But this was not the end.

‘It seems a little... different from ordinary Dragon Speech?’

The simulator had not logged any data on Dragon Speech, so she could not say for certain. But as a dragon, she instinctively noticed the sense of incongruity.

The Dragon Speech Minjun wielded was subtly different from what dragons wielded.

Of course, even she could not say exactly what made it different from ordinary Dragon Speech.

Still, a dragon's instincts were not something to be ignored.

Minjun had already been a person of interest in dragon society, but after today, she would probably watch him with even greater interest.

And.

‘It doesn't seem like he said he would become a dragon without any basis.’

She saw potential in Minjun.

* * *

That night, when a critical error had been discovered in the rank assessment simulator.

The researchers who had participated in developing the rank assessment simulator gathered in a large conference room at the Hunter Association building.

Among them was Team Leader Jung Woohyun, who had watched Minjun's simulation in real time that day.

“...To give you the conclusion first, I believe we need to temporarily suspend beta testing of the simulator and identify its problems.”

Holding a microphone, Team Leader Jung Woohyun briefed the simulator's core researchers, seated around a huge round table, on what had happened that day.

Once Woohyun's briefing ended.

Sighs broke out from all around the room.

“We expected something would happen eventually, but to discover an error this critical...”

“Didn't we all confirm that there were no problems with either the data or the programming?”

Experts of global caliber had gathered in one place and checked it all carefully over and over.

“That is true. But... this field is like that, isn't it? We can only consider ourselves fortunate that we found it before the official rollout.”

It was unfortunate, but what could they do when the milk had already been spilled?

The researchers immediately began discussing how to fix the simulator's errors.

How much time had passed since the meeting began?

After discussing things nonstop for several hours, perhaps their minds had begun to overload. One researcher suggested they cool their heads for a moment and changed the subject.

“By the way, wasn't the Hunter involved in this incident Hunter Yoon Minjun?”

“Yes. The very Hunter you all know.”

Minjun's name was not known only to Hunters in Korea.

Foreign Hunters, as well as people working in the Hunter industry like them, all knew of Minjun.

“I heard the recent incident on Jeju Island was also connected to that Hunter. That he encountered sentient beings from another dimension rather than monsters.”

“Jake. How did you find out about that? It's under embargo, so not even a single article should have been published yet.”

When the Jeju Island Gate incident came up, Team Leader Jung could not help being startled.

Apart from a few people affiliated with the Korean Hunter Association and the Hunters who had been there at the time, no one else should know about it.

Then the man called Jake smiled and said.

“I only happened to hear about it by chance. I have no intention of spreading rumors everywhere, so please do not worry.”

“By the way, I've been hearing something lately.”

During the conversation, Vladimir, a researcher from Russia, suddenly joined in.

Wondering what this would be about, Woohyun's gaze turned serious.

“What have you been hearing?”

“I hear rumors that the United States is trying to pursue Hunter Yoon's naturalization.”

With a faint smile, Vladimir turned toward Jake beside them with a sharp gaze at odds with that smile.

Not long ago, an SS-rank Hunter from Russia had become naturalized in the United States. The relationship between the two countries, which had already been poor, had worsened even further because of it.

At a time when every Hunter affected a country's national defense, the issue of Hunters changing nationality was one that every nation had no choice but to watch closely.

Yet Vladimir had brought up such a sensitive topic here.

Rather than raising his voice in anger, Jake calmly replied.

“I have heard nothing of the sort. On the contrary, I hear there are rumors that Russia is offering naturalization terms not only for Hunter Yoon, but for Hunter Yoon's girlfriend as well.”

As though he wanted Team Leader Jung to hear, Jake spoke loudly and clearly.

Not to be outdone, Vladimir began a subtle counterattack.

“I also heard that the American Aura Guild had its sights set on Hunter Minjun. Could that have been groundwork before naturalizing him?”

“Please refrain from speculation, Vladimir. I've heard that the Aura Guild made contact as well, but that is quite a leap.”

Sparks flew from their eyes as they glared at one another.

It had begun as a light topic meant to give their minds a rest. How had the atmosphere turned so hostile?

Woohyun sighed inwardly and suddenly had a thought.

If Minjun himself had seen this scene, what kind of expression would he have made?

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