My Tamed Beast Returned with a Dragon Chapter 57 - The Game Already Tipped in Our Favor

‘I can’t breathe.’

Eun-sae clutched at her throat, feeling herself choke. She could feel it—her own hands tightening around her neck as if trying to cut off the flood of tormenting memories.

Just before her vision dimmed, a strong hand gripped her shoulder.

She gasped sharply, like someone dragged from drowning.

“Are you all right?”

“B–Belquior…?”

Belquior caught her by the waist before she collapsed. Her trembling fingers clutched the edge of his coat—it all felt unreal.

Slowly, Eun-sae pieced together what had happened.
They were in the Great Labyrinth Dungeon.
They had been fighting Banshees and Ghosts.
Then—she’d been cursed.

“Oh! The team!”

She turned in panic.

Like her, the others were trapped in their own nightmares, faces twisted in silent agony.

“I’ve already dealt with it,” Belquior said, pointing.

Where the Banshee had been, only a scorched mark remained. The Ghosts were gone as well.

[Nuna! Nuna, are you okay? You looked really scared!]

Beep-beep!

Byul and Bom fluttered anxiously toward her.

“I’m fine. Are you two hurt?”

[We’re okay!]

Beep-beep!

The two answered bravely, and Eun-sae stroked their tiny heads. She glanced toward Elena Kim’s side—Dodari and Hanul were safe.

Belquior, noticing her concern, said, “Your beasts remain unharmed.”

“That’s a relief. Belquior, how do we lift the curse from my team?”

“It will fade with time.”

Since the Banshee was dead, the curse would dissipate soon enough—but even a brief delay was taking its toll.

Belquior sighed and approached the afflicted hunters.

“Guh… gkkk…”

“Huh—ah!”

They were clawing at their own throats, just as she had.

Belquior raised his hand, magic swirling around it, and struck each of them squarely between the shoulders.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Ah!”

“Team Leader, that hurt!”

“Lord have mercy!”

The curse broke—but they lay dazed, reeling from the aftereffects. While Eun-sae tended to them as they groaned and crawled, a system window appeared.

[Team C — “Haunted House” Phase 2 Clear Time: 3h 5m 42s! (۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶ Moving to the Next Stage!]

“So, it’s over?”

[A more thrilling and fun stage awaits you, Hunters!]

“Yeah… I’ll pass on that.”

Eun-sae grimaced. She’d had more than enough “fun.”

“Haa… ngh…”

Pale and shaky, Park Duycheon pushed himself up. Eun-sae hurried over.

“Team Leader, can you move?”

“Yes… I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Here—drink a potion.”

He drank, then passed potions to the others.

Seo Horang sniffled, trembling. “That was so scary. I saw the boss from the Media Desert Dungeon chasing me again…”

“I got the ruins dungeon. Ten days without food. I thought I’d die. It was like watching my own funeral.”

“You too? Same here. I really thought it was over.”

Listening to them, Eun-sae nudged Belquior’s side.

He arched a brow at the casual gesture, but she didn’t notice.

“Belquior—you knew, didn’t you?”

“Knew what?”

“That the Banshee was stronger than we thought.”

He said nothing. Her smiling face made him part his lips, but he closed them again.

The truth was, he hadn’t known. He’d only sensed something ominous.

“Thank you. For helping us without saying a word.”

She smiled softly—completely mistaken, but he didn’t correct her.

Watching her smile, so different from the agony moments before, he lifted a hand and gently patted her head.

She blinked in surprise—then, a system alert popped up.

[Stage Clear Reward: Key Card Acquired!]

“Please—make me the king!”

“Hunter Yoo Eun-sae, hurry and check it!”

The card in her hand gleamed. When she looked at the reward, her eyes widened.

“‘Next Stage Free Pass’…?”

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Mirinae’s team had just cleared the “Tag the Tail” stage.
Catching the monster designated as the “tail” had taken some time, but thanks to Mirinae’s clever strategy, they managed to clear it more easily than most other stages.

As a reward, they received a key card. Sol opened it with an excited, pounding heart.

“Nice! I’m the king this time!”

“Let’s scrape every last point off Gold Star!”

“But… don’t you think Gold Star’s been kind of quiet lately? Oh—did Eun-sae join them?”

Mirinae brushed her lips thoughtfully, then opened the system window to check the current team scores.

[Current Scores — Team A: 359,000 pts | Team B: 200,650 pts | Team C: 570,510 pts!]

“What the—what did Eun-sae’s team do to rack up that kind of score?!”

“At this rate, she could break a million all by herself.”

“We’re dead last. If it weren’t for Gold Star keeping Team C in check, it’d be even worse.”

Despite Inchan’s gloomy tone, Mirinae’s eyes sparkled.

“Team B and Team C together make… 770,000 points, huh?”

“Oh?”

“If we play this right, we could deal Gold Star a serious blow.”

“Yeah.”

Yoo-ha caught on to Mirinae’s intent, a sly grin curling her lips. Sol, completely lost, flailed her arms.

“What? What are you two whispering about? Tell me too!”

“First, we’ll steal Gold Star’s points.”

“Ugh, tell me!”

“Later. We might run into Eun-sae’s team on the way.”

“Would our scores combine?”

“Probably.”

Mirinae and Yoo-ha continued to whisper, plotting. Sol huffed, feeling left out, until Inchan soothed her.

“Relax, Sol. Bottom line is—we’re going to get payback on Gold Star.”

“Oh, really? So we finally get to return the favor?”

“Exactly. So let’s just follow Mirinae’s lead.”

“Got it!”

Sol’s mood flipped immediately, and Inchan sighed in relief. She was already daydreaming about whose points to steal.

“Mirinae! Who should we target this time?”

Having finished whispering with Yoo-ha, Mirinae scrolled through Team A’s roster in the system window. Her decision came quickly.

“This time… Baek Chan-min. Let’s take the guild master’s points.”

“Why Baek Chan-min?”

A knowing smile curved Mirinae’s lips.

“Because the game’s already tilted in our favor.”

 

 

****

 

 

 

 

Cheon Chang-hyeon studied the team scores displayed on his system window, thinking deeply.

‘Teams B and C might as well be allies.’

They were all members of the Ducheon Guild—practically one team.

‘Baek Chan-min might not know it yet, but Vice Guild Master Choi Mirinae is bound to transfer her points to Yoo Eun-sae at the critical moment. She’s probably already calculating that outcome with every move.’

The system had explained the rules at the beginning—but never said anything about transferring points.

Still, it wasn’t hard to figure out.

Key cards gave out random rewards—one of which made you the “king,” allowing you to steal points.

‘If stealing points is possible… then giving them away must be as well.’

Sooner or later, a system alert about “point transfer” would appear.
When that happened, Gold Star Guild would be doomed.

“Hunter Cheon Chang-hyeon, which way next?”

But there was still a chance to turn things around.

In response to Yuk Jae-hee’s question, Cheon Chang-hyeon pointed down the right-hand path among the three.

As the labyrinth progressed, the team’s trust in him had grown.
He had guided them past deadly traps and led them only to stages that gave high rewards for the effort spent.

Even compared to adventurer-type hunters specialized for dungeons, he was faster, sharper, more precise—trust came naturally.

“What about the other paths?”

Baek Chan-min’s tone was probing, his eyes sharp—as though testing whether Cheon knew more than he should about the dungeon’s layout.

Cheon understood immediately.
He was being suspected of having some kind of foresight-related skill.

He didn’t bother to deny it. In fact, letting them believe that might work in his favor.

So he answered easily, without hesitation.

“The far-left path’s difficulty is extremely high, but it’s not worth the effort. As for the middle path…”

His gaze shifted toward it, eyes darkening as he stared into the dim passage.

“Someone would have to die for us to make it through.”