They didn't speak for several minutes after collapsing behind the rusted metal shutter of the abandoned parking garage. Their breaths came in sharp, ragged bursts—fear made the air thin and poisonous. Dust floated lazily through shafts of afternoon light, and Ren leaned against a concrete pillar, trying to steady the thundering panic in his chest.
Kaito wiped sweat from his forehead. "Ren… what the hell was that? Who were those people?"
Yui folded her arms, but her voice betrayed how shaken she was. "Triads, Yakuza, mafia families, mercenaries… Ren, they weren't just gangs. That was every major criminal syndicate in the world."
Ren swallowed hard.
His legs felt like water. "I didn't ask for this," he whispered, staring at his trembling hands. "I helped an old man because he was collapsing in the rain… that's all. I didn't ask to inherit anything."
But the weight of everything pressed against his ribs—heavy, suffocating, inescapable.
Yui stepped closer, her expression softening just a bit. "Ren… what did he give you? That dragon statue—did you bring it with you?"
Ren slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the small wooden dragon.
Even in the dim garage, the carving seemed to glow faintly—as if light curled beneath its surface.
He had held it dozens of times since last night… yet now it felt different. Warmer. Almost alive.
Kaito stared. "Dude… why does it look like that? It wasn't glowing before."
"It's not glowing," Ren insisted—though he wasn't fully convinced. "It's just the lighting."
Yui frowned. "Ren, that's not lighting. Something is happening to it."
Ren opened his mouth to argue—
—but the ground beneath them rumbled.
A faint vibration at first. Like a truck outside.
But then it grew stronger, reverberating through the concrete pillars and sending dust raining from the ceilings.
Kaito grabbed Ren's sleeve. "Okay—no way that's normal. What did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything!" Ren snapped. His voice cracked.
The vibration intensified, and suddenly the wooden dragon grew scorching hot in Ren's hand. He gasped and nearly dropped it, but the dragon clung to his palm—as if fused to his skin.
"REN!" Yui lunged forward, reaching for him.
A blinding pulse of gold erupted from the dragon.
And Ren's world exploded.
Ren's Vision
The garage dissolved into darkness—pure, endless black.
Ren stood alone, suspended in a void where time had no meaning. The heat of the dragon pulsed through his veins, and a deep, ancient voice echoed around him, shaking the darkness itself.
"Successor."
Ren spun around, heart hammering. "Who's there?!"
The darkness peeled away like torn fabric, revealing an immense, coiling shadow—an enormous dragon made of black mist and golden fire. Its eyes shone with the same golden hue as the old man's.
Ren stumbled back. "No… no way…"
The dragon lowered its head, its massive form rippling like a storm.
"My master chose you."
Ren shook his head. "The old man? Wu Long? He didn't even know me!"
The dragon's fiery scales crackled.
"He knew you. Before you were even born."
Ren froze.
"What are you talking about?"
The dragon's voice rolled like thunder.
"You are the last descendant of his blood."
"The heir he hid from the world."
"The rightful Dragon Head."
Ren's breath vanished.
Descendant?
"He was… related to me?" he whispered. "The old man… he was my family?"
The dragon's eyes softened—a terrifying, ancient sadness.
"Your grandfather."
The words hit Ren with the force of an avalanche.
His grandfather.
The man he never met.
The man his parents never talked about.
The man who died… in his arms.
Ren staggered, his lungs burning. "Why… why didn't my parents tell me?"
The dragon's voice grew quieter, heavier.
"To keep you safe. From this world. From the power you now carry."
Ren clutched his head, shaking.
"No—no, I can't be part of this. I'm not a leader. I'm not a crime boss! I'm just a student! I don't want this!"
The dragon's wings unfolded, stretching across the void like a stormfront.
"Power is not wanted. It is accepted.
And you have already been chosen."
Ren screamed, a raw, terrified sound echoing through the void.
The dragon reared its head—
—and surged forward.
Its power flooded through Ren's body like lightning, burning, awakening something ancient embedded deep within his blood.
Ren's vision went white.
Back in the Garage
Ren collapsed to the concrete floor, gasping as though dragged from deep water. Sweat drenched his skin. Yui was shaking his shoulders violently.
"REN! REN—wake up!"
His eyes snapped open.
Kaito stumbled back in horror.
"Holy—Ren… your eyes!"
Ren blinked.
A faint, golden glow radiated from his irises—like the old man's.
Like the dragon's.
Ren scrambled up, panic twisting inside him. "I—I saw something. A dragon. It spoke to me. It told me—"
He couldn't finish. Tears welled in his eyes.
Yui looked shaken to her core. "Ren… what did it tell you?"
Ren swallowed hard, voice trembling.
"That the old man… Wu Long… was my grandfather.
And he passed the leadership of the underworld to me."
Kaito stared at him as if seeing him for the first time.
"Dude… this is insane. What are we supposed to do now?!"
Ren wiped his eyes, shaking.
"I don't know."
But deep down, he knew one thing with chilling certainty:
Whether he wanted it or not…
The underworld wasn't done with him.
The factions wouldn't stop.
The dragon inside him had awakened.
And the next time they found him—
He would no longer be able to run.