My Tamed Beast Returned with a Dragon Chapter 60 - A Cruel but Hopeful Message

Seo Horang still hadn’t recovered his composure, so the Dochun Guild members left early for Seoul despite having cleared the dungeon. The remaining cleanup would be handled by the assigned hunters.

In the car ride back, Eun-sae explained to her friends about the existence of the “Sacrifice Stage” and the decision she had made there. Naturally, Mirinae smacked her on the back.

“You! Even if Belquior was with you, how could you just decide something like that on your own?”

“But I’m not as smart as you, and I didn’t really have any other options.”

“That’s no excuse!”

“Ow, ow—okay, stop hitting me…”

“Yoo Eun-sae, typical of you. We worked so hard to keep you alive, and then you go doing reckless stuff like this. Ugh.”

Sol scoffed. It was lucky everything had ended well; otherwise, she would’ve been the first to blow up.

“Eun-sae, don’t ever do that again…”

“Yeah. Did you see Seo Horang crying? I didn’t know a person could leak that much water. For a second, I thought he was the one chosen as a sacrifice.”

Inchan and Yooha joined in, their mix of scolding and concern leaving Eun-sae no choice but to raise both hands in surrender.

“Okay, okay—I’m sorry! Belquior suffered a lot because of me, too.”

Sitting quietly in the corner, Belquior just shook his head. It hadn’t been suffering at all—more like a warm-up exercise.

“So… did Belquior really wipe out all the monsters by himself? What kind of beasts showed up?”

Sol, trying to hide her curiosity, asked in a casual tone, her eyes sparkling. Eun-sae, seizing the chance to escape from the barrage of scolding, eagerly began recounting Belquior’s exploits.

Her voice was gentle and low so as not to wake Byeol and Bomi, who were sleeping soundly.

“I don’t remember all the small fry, but one I do remember was the Red Diamond Rhinoceros.”

“What?! Why would that thing show up there?”

“Ugh, talk about bad luck. How did you even survive that?”

Pretending not to be interested, Mirinae, Inchan, and Yooha all reacted instantly to her words. Their honest shock only made Eun-sae more animated, and she continued excitedly sharing Belquior’s heroic feats.

The ride back to Seoul was filled with laughter and chatter—
cries of “No way!”, “Really? Then what happened?”, and “Yoo Eun-sae totally got carried!” echoed all the way home.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Two weeks after clearing the Daejeon Dungeon, cleanup was mostly finished, and Eun-sae, her friends, and the guild members had returned to their peaceful routines.

Due to the aftereffects of the Dungeon Break, small and large dungeons kept appearing here and there. Still, other than their growing numbers, life went on as usual, and the guild members continued tackling them as they always had.

Eun-sae often joined raids at the request of Uri or Mirinae, while spending her days looking after Byeol and Bomi with Belquior.

Then one day, shocking news spread across the world.

[Exclusive] Prophet of the Stars, Stella Vaughn — Ascends to the Eternal Sky.

The British hunter Stella Vaughn had died. Her death sent shockwaves through the international hunter community.

Stella Vaughn possessed the extraordinary ability to “hear the voices of the stars” and deliver prophecies. Ever since the Great Upheaval, she had warned humanity of countless dangers.

Her final words were these:

“In the near future, darkness will come.
Countless stars will fall, and a weary god will awaken.
The world will sink into chaos, and much blood shall be spilled.
But from the darkness, a brilliant light will arise.
Guided by that light, humanity will endure the trials
and open the horizon to a new world.”

It was a cruel yet hopeful message. Hunters around the world debated her words endlessly.

Some claimed she had foretold the end of the world. Others argued the “brilliant light” that would lead humanity must be identified.

As Stella Vaughn’s message spread from mouth to mouth, it began to twist and change. People shouted different interpretations, but no one could verify the truth — the prophet herself was gone.

Thousands attended her funeral. The Dochun Guild’s core members even boarded a private jet to pay their respects. Naturally, Eun-sae was among them.

Many were particularly curious about Eun-sae, since it was known that Stella Vaughn had personally summoned her to England shortly before her death.

“Hunter Yoo Eun-sae! Did Stella Vaughn leave you any message? What did you talk about?”

“Why did she meet you privately? Did you know about her death in advance?”

Reporters bombarded her with questions, but Eun-sae remained silent, offering only a quiet flower at the memorial. She gave no comment on her return to Korea, either.

After finishing a packed schedule, we returned to the Guildmaster’s office.

“Phew…”

He loosened his tie, hung his coat, and sank into his chair. Exhaustion weighed heavily on him — between growing pressure from China and an overseas trip, rest was long overdue.

Shortly after returning from the Daejeon Labyrinth Dungeon, Eun-sae had submitted a report about her conversation with Stella Vaughn.

Dochun went on high alert. No one could tell what kind of danger Stella Vaughn had foreseen.

We must prepare for anything, Mirinae had said in memory. Poachers have been acting suspiciously, and dungeon stability is declining.

Don’t tell me the world’s about to end or something, Sol had joked.

Namgoong Sol, could you not jinx us? You’re so careless sometimes.

Still, Mirinae had said, Stella Vaughn’s message wasn’t entirely hopeless.

I don’t know, Yooha murmured. What if that “hope” part was something she added just to keep people from panicking?

Mirinae, that’s… kind of scary when you say it.

While recalling that conversation, a knock sounded at the door.

Knock, knock.

“Guildmaster.”

It was Park Doyoon. We straightened in our seat.

“What is it, Team Leader Park?”

“I came to report something about the Daejeon Labyrinth Dungeon.”

“Didn’t you already submit a written report?”

“Yes, but this isn’t something I could just write down.”

He glanced around the room — an unconscious habit of checking for eavesdropping devices.

As the office of Korea’s top guild, security was airtight. For him to still act like this meant the matter was truly serious. His expression was unusually grave.

“The bird chirps, and the mouse squeaks,” we murmured.

A bit of an embarrassing incantation, but the skill ‘Walls Have Ears and Eyes’ activated — detecting hidden devices and stealth presences.

Nothing. The room was clean.

“There’s nothing. Go ahead.”

“It’s about the reward from the ‘Sacrifice Stage.’ Something about it was strange.”

“Oh, the one where Eun-sae got left behind?”

“……”

Park Doyoon’s eyes wavered. Sensing his thoughts, we waved our hands quickly.

“No, no, don’t misunderstand. We already heard what happened from Eun-sae. Don’t feel guilty, Team Leader Park.”

“……I’m sorry. I should’ve acted faster.”

“Forget it. From what I heard, if you’d stayed in that stage, you’d be bones by now. So what was the reward?”

Park Doyoon recalled the moment, his expression dark.

“We became the King in the ‘King’s Game.’ It was our turn to steal another team’s points.”

“And?”

“And then… for some reason, the system showed the Gold Star team’s individual scores.”

“What do you mean? Normally, the system only shows surnames, not full names or scores.”

“Exactly. But right before we exited the dungeon, when we were made King, we could see everything — names, ranks, and individual points.”

We rubbed our chin thoughtfully.

“I see… but if that’s all, you wouldn’t come rushing here like this, would you?”

“The person ranked first was… someone unexpected.”

“Oh? It wasn’t Guildmaster Baek Chan-min or Vice Guildmaster Yuk Jae-hee? I wouldn’t be surprised if it were one of their elites.”

The Gold Star team at that time could’ve been called an Avengers squad — every member a veteran, powerful and famous.

But Park Doyoon’s grim tone made us fall silent.

“It was a man named Cheon Chang-hyun.”

“Cheon Chang-hyun…? Who’s that? Was there even someone by that name in Gold Star?”

We rifled through the participation records — and sure enough, the name was listed.

“According to Hunter Seo Horang, he was supposedly a D-rank hunter. But when we checked with the Association, he’s listed as A-rank. Apparently, his sudden rank increase was so unusual that even the Association’s been monitoring him.”

“Rank increase…?”