Daddy is too Strong-Chapter 173

Boom! Boom! Boom!

May 24, 2020.

An event that determined the fate of Earth unfolded.

The powerhouse nations of the world—America, China, Japan, Germany, and France—had been annihilated, and Korea, the leading nation in the Hunter industry, was fortifying its final defensive line centered around its capital, Seoul.

Crackle.

“Team Bravo, report!” Young-Chul spoke into the radio.

Korea’s unprecedented hero and a First Hunter, the Sword Emperor Lee Kang-Hyun, served as the deputy commander of this operations team.

Divided into Teams Alpha and Bravo, the operations team was closely monitored by Young-Chul from the situation room in the Hunter’s Bureau. His lips were dry as he anxiously awaited Team Bravo’s report over the radio.

“Team Bravo, report!” he called out once more.

However, despite repeated requests, there was no response from Kang-Hyun. The calls went unanswered, echoing meaninglessly, while Young-Chul refused to face the grim reality of the situation.

“Chief...” muttered a staff member in the situation room with a voice filled with despair.

All eight screens displaying Team Bravo’s emergency cams had gone dark. This was undeniable evidence that they had been wiped out by the enemy.

Young-Chul slowly turned to check on Team Alpha’s situation.

Around the Gangnam Station area, Team Alpha’s Hunters were completely wiped out. Not even the corpses of the once-proud S-rank and A-rank Hunters remained, incinerated to the bones by the overwhelming power of the dragons.

“Dammit!”

At this point, Young-Chul had only one person left to rely on—Do-Jun. He pinned his last hopes on the one man stronger than even the top-ranked Hunter: Do-Jun, the de facto strongest man on Earth.

⌜Huff, huff...⌟

Do-Jun breathed heavily, exhausted after slaying one dragon. Yet now, he found himself surrounded by seven more dragons, each of them threatening him.

Then, before him appeared a dragon unlike any that had been seen before—one of overwhelming size, towering above all others, its blood-red scales seemed soaked in gore, its massive wings covered the sky, and two enormous horns extended upward as if piercing the heavens.

A single number was engraved on its forehead: 1.

⌜For a mere human, you’ve lasted surprisingly long.⌟

The blade in Do-Jun’s hand flared to life as its sword energy surged. He poured every last ounce of his remaining energy into the blade.

⌜Aaaaahhh!⌟

With a fierce shout, Do-Jun leaped forward, launching himself at the dragon that was believed to be the lord of their kind.

⌜Farewell, king of this ruined Earth.⌟

With that, a fireball erupted from the dragon’s mouth—an attack called “Breath,” capable of annihilating S-rank Hunters with a single shot.

Boooooom!

The explosion and roar of the fireball engulfed everything.

Crackle!

As Do-Jun’s emergency cam went dark, every screen in the Hunter’s Bureau situation room turned off, leaving them in silence.

***

Beep, beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep.

An alarm went off, and Young-Chul jolted upright in bed with a strangled shout. The damp bedsheets clung to him, drenched in sweat. He reached out and tapped the snooze button on his vibrating smartphone to silence the alarm. Then, staring blankly ahead, he caught his breath.

The clock read 5:30 AM.

“What a dream...” He sighed.

A nightmare where Earth was destroyed by dragons.

Operations teams, including many S-rank Hunters, were obliterated in a single blow from the dragons’ Breath. Even Do-Jun, whom he had believed in, fell to the Dragon Lord. Seoul had become a sea of flames, beyond recovery—a truly terrifying nightmare.

Pulling back the curtains, Young-Chul gazed out at the Seoul skyline as the sun began to rise. He knew it was a dream, but he needed to see it with his own eyes to confirm that Earth was still safe.

His thoughts drifted to the two dragons that had previously appeared in Bangbae-dong and Haeundae, Busan. Although no further sightings had been reported since then, the unease remained.

“We’ve got to do something about this.”

***

That evening, Do-Jun worked from home after dinner. He reviewed portfolio data on the Hunters he managed. While not part of his official duties, the organized data allowed him to objectively assess each Hunter’s combat abilities and make individualized management more efficient.

Resting his chin on his hand, he flipped through the files. The Hunters’ skills, levels, stats like strength, agility, and stamina, and mana trends through physical enhancement—everything was meticulously detailed.

After taking a sip of the green tea, Do-Jun closed his laptop and stood up.

In the living room, Yoon-Hee, Byeol, and Karsiel were watching a children’s animated show featuring a popular penguin character.

Do-Jun’s gaze shifted to a corner of the room. Behind the curtains, Yong-Yong was crouched on the floor, arms crossed, staring intently at a scattered pile of one-hundred-won coins. As Do-Jun placed his empty cup in the sink, he realized something: Yong-Yong hadn’t gone to the supermarket today.

“Tomorrow, for sure...” Yong-Yong muttered, his expression unusually serious.

What was he plotting this time?

Do-Jun decided to mind his own business.

***

Young-Chul canceled all personal appointments that day.

At dawn, he headed straight to the research center in the Hunter’s Bureau annex. The research center managed various Hunter-related matters, including Status Windows, skills, and monster materials. It also oversaw several government-funded projects, one of which involved dragons.

Entering the Central Research Center, commonly known as the Lab, Young-Chul immediately sought out the director, Choi Ho-Cheol. A former professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a researcher at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, Ho-Cheol had been personally scouted by Young-Chul in New Jersey.

“Ah, Chief,” Ho-Cheol greeted Young-Chul.

“Sorry to drop in so early.”

“It’s no problem.”

Ho-Cheol had a vague idea why the Chief was here.

“Well, you could do something about the shortage of research funds,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Ho-Cheol retrieved a prepared folder, but before he could hand it over, someone else entered the Lab. Naturally, Ho-Cheol’s gaze shifted toward the automatic door.

“Lots of visitors today, huh?” he muttered with a smile as he recognized Kang-Hyun.

***

“The two dragons that recently appeared at BEXCO in Haeundae showed up without any warning. The concerning part is that, unlike the Masalis incident, these two didn’t create a Fissure,” Ho-Cheol reported.

“Are you suggesting they didn’t come from another dimension but were already here on Earth?” Young-Chul asked.

“Yes. As I mentioned before, that could be the case. However, considering their size, it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t have been easily spotted by the public or reported in some way...”

Ho-Cheol displayed another piece of evidence—this time, a video. It showed the ninth dragon that appeared during the S-rank Fissure crisis in Umyeonsan Mountain.

When the ninth dragon emerged from a Fissure, causing traffic paralysis, another dragon suddenly appeared out of thin air. Although the footage was distorted and hard to make out, the number “1” was clearly visible on the forehead of the dragon in the video.

“I’ve tried to come up with a few hypotheses... and it may be possible that dragons, unlike other monsters, can traverse dimensions without creating Fissures. In other words, they might possess what we call teleportation skills that we see in science fiction.”

Ho-Cheol’s tone, which had been somewhat casual until this point, became quite serious, and Young-Chul matched his mood. If teleportation were truly possible, it would mean that dragons could appear anytime, anywhere, and wreak havoc on Earth.

“We’re still working on tracking them down, but we haven’t had any significant breakthroughs yet. I ask for your understanding,” Ho-Cheol reported apologetically.

“Of course. If this were simple, I wouldn’t be losing sleep over it,” Young-Chul reassured him.

Then, his gaze shifted to Kang-Hyun, who had been unusually quiet. He noticed Kang-Hyun opening and closing his mouth like a dog needing to relieve itself, glancing around nervously. Whenever their eyes met, Kang-Hyun would quickly avert his gaze. Something was definitely off today.

***

“I had a dream last night,” Young-Chul said.

“A dream, sir?” Kang-Hyun inquired.

“Yeah. A dream of dragons reducing Earth to ashes. Even the S-rank Hunters, you, and Supervisor Lee couldn’t stop them. It was just a dream, but it felt disturbingly real. That’s why I came to see you today, Kang-Hyun.”

“I-I see...” Kang-Hyun stammered.

“And the recent dragons—number one and nine. Remember the Masalis incident? It seems like everyone has moved on now, but back then, the country was in such a panic. The media even called it a ‘national emergency.’” Young-Chul sighed heavily and continued, “The numbers indicate their power. Nine may be manageable, but one is...” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

A great catastrophe.

“Even though your abilities have grown significantly after meeting Supervisor Lee, if two, no, five dragons attacked simultaneously, this planet called Earth would be erased from the galaxy.”

After listening silently for a while, Kang-Hyun finally spoke, a look of determination apparent on his face for some reason. “Right... Um, Chief... There’s something you need to know...”

***

Young-Chul and Kang-Hyun arrived at Changshin Villa, located in Bangbae-dong, Seocho District, Seoul.

Amid the shrubbery near the flower beds, two heads peeked out, using binoculars to spy on something. Kang-Hyun pointed toward the kids gathered in front of Changshin Supermarket. They were huddled around a thick textbook placed on the ground, which had two one-hundred-won coins on top, one heads-up and the other tails-up. One of the children, a young boy, was facing off against a creature that vaguely resembled a dog.

“That’s the Dragon Lord,” Kang-Hyun commented.

“Hmm...”

“Supervisor Lee calls it Yong-Yong.”

“I’ve seen it a couple of times, but... you’re telling me that creature is the Dragon Lord?” Young-Chul asked with an incredulous look.

Just then, the boy struck the textbook with his palm, flipping one of the coins so that both were now heads-up.

“Yong-Yong lost again!”

“That’s six hundred won in a row!”

Six straight losses. Yong-Yong trembled with rage.

“What are they doing?” Young-Chul asked.

“They call it Panchigi.[1] It’s a game where players place coins on a book and slap the book to flip the coins. If the coins match, the player wins and takes all the coins. It’s a form of gambling,” Kang-Hyun explained.

“You’re telling me that’s the Dragon Lord?”

“Yes. Even though it looks innocent and playful, you never know what it might be plotting.”

“Hmm.”

“That’s why I’m keeping a close eye on it.”

“What did Supervisor Lee say about it?”

“He said not to worry about it.”

Young-Chul sighed deeply. “If that really is the Dragon Lord, how did Supervisor Lee manage to make it his pet?”

“Probably... by overpowering it.”

“Overpowering the Dragon Lord?”

“I’m wondering the same thing, sir,” Kang-Hyun admitted.

Meanwhile, the game of Panchigi continued.

“I’m betting two hundred won this time!” Yong-Yong declared.

“Yong-Yong looks mad!” exclaimed one of the kids.

Watching the game closely, Young-Chul murmured, “What if this isn’t just a simple game of Panchigi? To the Dragon Lord, this could be a symbolic display of its ambition to conquer Earth. The book represents Earth, and the coins represent humanity.”

It was a far-fetched idea, but Kang-Hyun gulped and nodded. “We can’t completely rule out that possibility.”

***

On his way home from work, Do-Jun halted in his tracks at an incredulous sight in front of Changshin Villa.

Excited shouts erupted from the group of children huddled on the ground in front of the neighborhood store.

“Wow! Yong-Yong won this time!”

“He won four hundred won!”

Do-Jun observed Yong-Yong play Panchigi for a moment before turning his head to see Young-Chul and Kang-Hyun hiding in the bushes, their binoculars focused on Yong-Yong. Absorbed in watching Yong-Yong, they didn’t notice Do-Jun as he entered the villa’s entrance.

“He’s betting three hundred this time,” Young-Chul muttered.

“He seems quite determined to conquer Earth,” Kang-Hyun replied, just as serious.

Do-Jun stared at the two men in silence. In a way, assigning such grandiose meaning to a simple game of Panchigi was almost impressive.

1. In Korean, “Pan” means board, and “chigi” means to hit. ☜