ALL NOVEL Chapter 1
Chapter 1. The Birth of the Dragon Lois (1)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
It was a death sentence handed down to Lee Won-jun at the age of 25.
The money he had scrupulously saved all alone without any family since a young age.
The youthful body that still should have been in its prime.
A single disease stripped Lee Won-jun of everything.
Four years after his ALS diagnosis.
By the age of twenty-nine, all that remained of Lee Won-jun was his emaciated body and a palm-sized smartphone’s LCD screen.
‘This is all I have left…’
There wasn’t much he could do with an increasingly weakening body.
All he could do, even as breathing became a struggle, was to gaze at the LCD that connected him to the world and provided his only entertainment.
It was the same even on the brink of death.
Hu-wook, hu-wook—
Barely maintaining his breath with the aid of an oxygen machine, he still clutched his smartphone in one hand.
Hu-wook, hu-wook—
As death loomed close, Lee Won-jun had a single thought.
‘I’m going to die without seeing the end…’
Despite days filled with fear of the unpredictable arrival of death, when it finally came knocking at his doorstep, Lee Won-jun’s heart was eerily
calm.
Only…
The regret of not being able to see the end of the webtoon that provided him his last enjoyment in life lingered.
Hu-wook, hu-wook—
A shadow fell over the pupil of Lee Won-jun’s eyes gripping the phone.
And then.
Beep—–
The sound signaling cardiac arrest accompanied the phone slipping from his grasp.
* * *
‘Yes… I’m certain that’s how I died…’
Lee Won-jun.
Or rather, now named Lois, gazed at his figure reflected in the mirror.
A small stature that seemed under 30 cm.
A white body covered with shiny scales and a pair of cute wings on his back.
And deep violet eyes, much like gemstones.
Even a thick tongue of a dark pink hue could be seen when his slightly parted mouth revealed it.
“Peeh…”
If not for the fact that he sounded like a chirping chick against his will, he would be the perfect image of a winged lizard.
The creature resembling this form in his memories was surely only one.
“A dragon…”
In novels, movies, cartoons, and games.
A fantasy creature often featured in various content.
Having ended his life as Lee Won-jun, he was now reborn as a dragon in his next life.
Lois stared at his hands, or what should be called hands.
“Peeh…”
Chubby white-scaled fingers.
His hands were starkly different from the human ones he once had.
‘I thought I had fainted at first…’
He had been so shocked when he saw his reflection in the mirror on the first day he woke up.
At first, he tried to deny the reality and spent days and nights contemplating the situation.
Eventually, he managed to fully adapt to his new environment as this rabbit-like lizard, accepting that it was indeed himself.
Once he wholly embraced reality, the world seemed different.
‘I’ve reincarnated as a dragon, of all things?!’
Fantasy novel readers often made jokes.
That even if a stats window popped up in front of them or a gate opened and monsters poured out, they wouldn’t be surprised.
Lois’s situation was exactly like that.
‘Not bad at all.’
No, it was much better than just not bad.
He felt like dancing joyfully every single day.
‘I’m a dragon… A dragon!’
Until the moment of death, his only amusement had been various novels and comics.
There was no such thing as a weak dragon in those many stories.
The ‘strongest’ from birth was indeed the creature called dragon.
Lois could not be dissatisfied with being reincarnated as one.
And above all, what Lois liked the most was…
‘The average lifespan of a dragon is 10,000 years!’
The long and extended lifespan of dragons.
During his unfortunate teens and mostly bedridden twenties in his past life, Lois had to work from a young age and succumbed to an illness during
the prime of life.
But in the next life, it was different.
The lifespan of dragons was immeasurably long compared to humans, and the older they became, the stronger they grew.
‘Wealth and fame are just the icing on the cake!’
For Lois, who had lived with a limited time in his previous life, the dragon’s long, disease-free lifespan was nothing short of the best gift imaginable.
A smile naturally sprang to his lips.
“Peehpah! … Ugh, why does this chirping keep coming out?”
If there was one thing inconvenient about becoming a dragon, it was certainly the involuntary chirping sound.
Of course, he could easily shrug it off as a minor handicap after becoming a dragon.
“Yup! I’m a dragon, after all!”
As Lois chuckled to himself.
“Lois, what’s making you so happy?”
Someone’s hand crept into Lois’s armpits and lifted him up.
The man with black hair who lifted him up spoke with a gentle voice.
“Come on, let’s go eat.”
Click—
Then, regardless of Lois’s will, the man started moving, carrying him in hand.
Lois obediently let himself be carried, as this wasn’t the first time he was being whisked away.
A short while later.
Wearing a hatchling dragon’s bib, Lois looked at a pink monstrosity that was laid out on the dining table.
Wriggle, wriggle—
A creature three times the size of Lois writhed mercilessly on the plate.
Wriggle, wriggle—
“…”
“Why that face? Don’t you have an appetite? It’s best when it’s fresh. Eat it quickly.”
Responding to the warm voice and gaze, Lois sighed and reached out toward the monster.
Squish—
He touched the semi-translucent jelly-like flesh of the creature.
Gracefully peeling a piece, Lois brought it to his mouth.
Chew, chew—
‘Hmm, it tastes like strawberries today.’
The identity of the pink creature was none other than slime, reportedly from the tropics.
Nothing less than a special weaning food for dragons.
At first, there was resistance, but such feelings were now long gone.
‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do, and as a dragon, follow the way of dragons.’
Chomp, chomp—
Stuffing his cheeks with slime and chewing, a sweet juice spread all over his mouth.
‘Well… it also tastes good.’
As Lois diligently devoured his dragon-specific weaning food,
“Ha-ha-ha. Tasty? There’s more, so eat up.”
Lois’s eyes met those of the man propped up by his chin on the dining table.
The man was the very one who had carried Lois to the table.
Dark hair, dark eyes, and an affectionate look as if honey might drip from it at any moment.
‘Ah, I’m eating.’
The overly intimate gaze was directed at him, yet Lois tried to eat coolly.
However, he was finally overcome by the constant warm gaze and voiced out.
“…Father, your gaze feels exceedingly lascivious. Please withdraw it.”
His tone was akin to a line from a historical drama.
In response, the man’s face in front of Lois went pale.
“Lois! Where did you learn such bizarre speech!”
“…From books.”
“I should burn all these damned books! And what’s with ‘father’? Call me dad. Dad! Daaad!”
Lois observed the figure getting cross in front of him.
Of course, his hands did not stop shoving slime into his mouth all the while.
‘This is… No, this person is my father?’
On the first day he reincarnated, there had been someone to hold him as he hatched from the egg.
‘At first, I thought he was a giant…’
But he wasn’t a giant.
It was just that he had become incredibly small.
The man he thought was a giant was none other than his own father.
In other words.
‘This extreme doting is also something a dragon does.’
The man who doted on every one of Lois’s actions and sent honeyed looks was also a dragon.
‘Is mother on maternity leave?’
That was the peculiarity of the dragon society where Lois had been reincarnated.
When the mother is exhausted from giving birth, the father takes over the care of the hatchling.
As Lois pondered on this, his hand stopped.
Before he knew it, not a trace of slime was left on the table that had been filled with it.
“Burp!”
“Finished eating? Want more?”
The father, who watched fondly as Lois burped, stroked his head.
Swish-swish—
“Ah, aah! Peehpah!”
Lois made an earsplitting sound each time a hand brushed his head.
His wings and tail flapped wildly before becoming limp.
“Stop, please!”
Tired of the demonic tickles, Lois turned his head.
‘It feels like it’s not even my body when this happens!’
Every time he was given the head rubs, strength drained completely from his body.
Although it undoubtedly felt good, the sensation became strange if it happened too often, and Lois disliked having his head petted fiercely.
Lois pulled his head back and then leaped off from the table, and his small, palm-sized wings fluttered.
Flap, flap—
Tiny though they were, his wings decelerated his descent to the floor below.
The man who had become his father looked on sadly as his son avoided his touch.
“Where are you going?”
“To the storage!”
“Shall I take you there?”
“No, I can go by myself.”
With a brief answer, Lois waved his hand hastily behind him and started walking.
His short legs moved briskly as he walked trot-trot.
However, his actual progress wasn’t even 10 meters, despite the frantic movement.
“My legs are too short…”
The short strides were the issue.
‘Sigh… How long will it take me to get there at this rate?’
He sighed to himself and flung his body into the air, wings flapping rapidly.
Flap, flap—
After flying about 3 meters, Lois landed and once more propelled his legs.
Flap, flap, flap—
Making small flapping sounds, he repeatedly hopped forward 3 meters at a time.
‘This way, I’ll get there in no time!’
This was Lois’s unique movement method, developed in just one month as he could not yet fly.
After a considerable while had passed.
Lois finally reached in front of a large stone door.
“Let’s see, if yesterday was storage room number 3, today it’s this one!”
Lois’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he faced the stone door that seemed to have nothing special about it.
“Indeed, this is my favorite part.”
If he were asked about his happiest moment since reincarnation, this particular time would surely be the top choice.
Lois stepped forward to the stone door and extended his dainty arms to push it open.
Creak—
The huge stone door slid open effortlessly.
And then…
Flash!
A dazzling golden light shone on Lois’s white face.
In front of Lois’s eyes lay a literal golden mountain.
He beamed at the sight of the amassed golden treasure.
Without a moment of hesitation, he dashed towards the golden heap.
Flap, flap—
His little wings made a couple of vigorous flaps.
Plop—
His small white body dove straight into the sea of gold.
For a long time, Lois remained hidden beneath the gold.
Soon after, his tiny head popped out, bouncing gold coins aside.
Splash!
Following that, Lois started to ‘swim’ in the golden mountain.
Breaststroke, freestyle, butterfly stroke.
With short flaps of his little limbs, he imitated swimming, ending with a backstroke.
Lying belly-up on the pile of gold, Lois looked up at the high ceiling, grinning from ear to ear.
Despite his efforts, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled up.
‘How much is all this worth?’
How many years would it have taken to amass such a fortune in his previous life?
100 years? 200? 300?
It was an absurd thought.
In a past life filled with the struggle of daily survival, any collected dust was still just dust.
But this time, it was different.
“Peehpah.”
Lois didn’t hold back the intense emotions welling up inside him.
And he voiced those thoughts out loud.
Something he had wanted to shout so desperately in his previous life.
Words that could not be overstated no matter how many times they were repeated.
“I am a rich man!”
Unlike his former life, the starting line of his second life was placed unimaginably far ahead of the rest.