Episode 1
“Damn it.”
Baberi Langs cursed under her breath the moment she realized she had been betrayed.
She had been born the daughter of traitors—branded the worst criminal in the Kingdom of Tiris.
Not that she herself had ever conspired against the crown while still in her mother’s womb. No, the rebellion had been her father’s and grandfather’s doing. They had failed, and because of their failure, Baberi was condemned as a rebel as well.
The Langs family, along with every branch relative to the eighth degree, had been executed. Somehow, Baberi alone survived.
But survival as a traitor was hardly a blessing. She spent years on barren land, freezing and starving.
Then, at eighteen, fate handed her the first real chance of her life.
A dragon—the first to appear on the continent in a hundred years—had to be slain. Whoever succeeded would be rewarded with riches and honor. That was the promise of King Glock of Tiris.
So Baberi killed the dragon.
“The hero of Tiris! Long live the Dragon Slayer!”
“Long live!”
When the campaign returned triumphantly to the royal capital of Tatara, the cheers for her rang in her ears.
And before the euphoria had faded, the palace held a grand banquet in celebration. She was the star, the guest of honor.
“You truly can’t hide your bloodline. Remarkable.”
“There was never any doubt you’d be the one to slay it.”
The very same nobles who had spat on her as the filthy child of traitors only months earlier now scrambled to pour her wine and curry favor.
Baberi laughed at their desperate attempts to bury the past and drank. She ate dishes she could never have dreamed of as a child, and drank until she blacked out—perhaps because she wanted to believe she would eat like this again tomorrow.
“So that’s why I woke up like this…”
Grinding her teeth, she glared at the stranger staring back from the mirror. The brown-black haired woman bared her teeth right back. She looked delicate, but her eyes burned with fury.
How can I open my eyes in another woman’s body? Some kind of sorcery?
Whatever it was, Baberi knew one thing for certain: only one man could be behind this.
“That bald bastard of a king…”
She remembered the strange gleam in King Glock’s eyes during the banquet.
She had assumed it was simply the sting of handing over his promised treasure to a traitor who had somehow survived the dragon’s maw.
But to resort to this?
“I’ll rip out the few strands of hair you have left and hang your shiny skull from the city gates.”
Baberi was not the kind to forgive. Her eyes blazed with vengeance. She would storm the palace and demand her body and her wealth returned.
Only, there was a problem.
She looked down at her hands, clenching and unclenching them before shoving up her sleeve. This body’s strength was pathetic.
She couldn’t so much as lift a sword properly. Glock must have chosen this frail vessel precisely to crush her dreams of revenge.
“Ah!”
In fury she slammed her fist into the wall. Had it been her old body, the stone would have cracked. Instead, pain shot up her arm.
“Yu Chaeyoung.”
Baberi spun around.
A woman stood there, pale and shaken, staring at her. She resembled the body’s owner closely—likely a relative.
“Why are you punching the wall all of a sudden?”
Her voice wavered with tears. This was Yu Chaelin, the body’s older sister.
A week ago, her little sister had fallen down the stairs and never woken. Doctors had found no external injuries, but she had lain unconscious until today—when she finally opened her eyes… and immediately acted like this.
“Are you hurt? Talk to me, are you alright?”
“Yu Chaeyoung, say something!”
The name grated on Baberi’s ears.
“Shut up.”
“…What did you just—?”
“I said shut it. My mood is foul enough already. Keep yapping and I’ll tear your mouth open.”
Six years younger, and still in her high school uniform, yet the Dragon Slayer’s glare made Yu Chaelin swallow her breath in fear.
***
Three months later…
“Yu Chaeyoung, how many times have I told you not to leave the dishes piled up?”
Once terrifying enough to threaten to split her sister’s mouth, Baberi now cowered under Yu Chaelin’s nagging.
“It’s not that many! I just forgot after lunch.”
“Forgot after lunch? That cup from this morning is still there too!”
Fresh from work, Yu Chaelin stormed into the kitchen. Baberi sighed, giving up on playing with the squeaky dog toy she’d been tossing for their Pomeranian, Kongtteok.
“Why don’t you just wash your own cup? Why is it always me?” she muttered, pressing the toy again. Humans with money are the same, whether in Tiris or Korea—stingy and demanding.
“And did you bathe Kongtteok after walking him today?”
Baberi ignored her, squeaking the toy again.
She heard her sister’s footsteps coming closer.
“If you keep this up, I won’t buy you tteokbokki tonight.”
That struck a nerve. The former Dragon Slayer, conquered by Korea’s spicy rice cakes, shot to her feet, eyes wide. She tossed the toy, and Kongtteok scurried after it while Baberi trudged into the kitchen and put on pink rubber gloves.
“Did you order it yet?” she asked slyly, glancing back at her sister.
Chaelin arched an eyebrow.
“If you didn’t, add extra eggs.”
Yu Chaelin snorted, half amused despite herself.
***
By the time the tteokbokki arrived, Baberi had washed the dishes, folded the laundry, and was grinning ear to ear.
Until she opened the container.
“You didn’t add eggs!”
“You’ve got some nerve. What makes you think you deserve extras when you can’t even do the chores properly?”
Baberi stabbed three rice cakes at once and shoved them into her mouth in defiance. Yet when Chaelin slid one of her own boiled eggs into Baberi’s bowl, she couldn’t help but grin.
“Eat first, then bathe Kongtteok. Understood?”
It was still better than King Glock, who gave nothing but orders and never kept promises.
“Oh, by the way—”
Chaelin’s tone shifted.
“I asked one of my coworkers today. You know, about that… Tiris Kingdom you kept mentioning.”
Baberi froze, her eyes flashing with sudden, desperate hope.
Chaelin continued gently, still convinced her sister was just confusing fantasy novels with reality.
“He didn’t know, but he said if you can remember the book’s title, he might.”
The Dragon Slayer put down her fork. Hope had been dangled and snatched away too many times.
***
A year passed.
Baberi trained tirelessly, building ten kilos of muscle onto Yu Chaeyoung’s once frail body.
Chaelin, watching her once-ailing sister transform into a lean, terrifyingly fit warrior, no longer knew what to think.
Then one night, as Baberi walked Kongtteok to meet her sister coming home late from work, it happened.
The street was quiet. Too quiet. She felt eyes on her.
A man in a black hood and cap shadowed her steps. When she stopped, so did he. Slowly, his hand slipped into his pocket.
“Baberi Langs?”
Hearing her name after so long made her eyes widen.
The man pulled out a kitchen knife and charged.
But Baberi did not run. Not this time.
This body was no longer the same weak shell she had awakened in a year ago.
This body had been forged with sweat, chicken breast, and bulk-up training.
Her lips curled into a radiant, battle-hungry grin.
