Became a Dragon kidnapped by Humans

FPL’s new researcher, Gan Hana, was vigorously shaking a feathered object at the end of a fishing rod—commonly known as a cat teaser.

There was no other choice.

After all, people tend to put their heart into tasks with clear results.

Recently buried under an increasing workload, Gan Hana had been working tirelessly despite dark circles forming under her eyes, only to hear things like, “Ms. Giselle never made these kinds of silly mistakes…” and constantly being compared to a demoted senior from not too long ago.

The sight of an estimated 60,000-year-old ancient lifeform’s attention being captured by something as simple as a cat teaser?

Gan Hana couldn’t help but feel accomplished about achieving that with just her fingertips.

Oddly enough, Gan Hana thought it looked more like a cat than some ancient super-being.

‘I kinda assumed this thing would be dragon-sized, like a house or something, after hearing tales of cave paintings from 16,000 years ago—but come on, this is cheating!’

Actually, the timeline was off.

IF-017, “Dragon,” had always been a small, pale creature resembling a girl. The typical modern image of dragons? That was fabricated by one of FPL’s most powerful rival factions, “The Foundation,” according to what Gan Hana had heard.

Thinking about it this way, most modern humans knew less than the ancients did.

But Gan Hana, part of FPL, could be considered among the top 0.01% who actually knew better.

While feeling somewhat proud, Gan Hana still felt bewildered.

The cat teaser was brought half-jokingly, wondering if it might wake IF-017 up.

It worked surprisingly well, though not quite how she imagined.

“Gyaaaah!”

“Hmm, I wonder what ‘gyaaaah’ means…”

Though it seemed slightly upset…

Gan Hana dismissed it as a misunderstanding.

There’s no way such an adorable face could belong to something dangerous.

‘IF-017 has supposedly lived alongside humanity throughout history…’

An entity that existed since the dawn of civilization without any records of causing human casualties.

If it were truly something petty enough to lash out over a cat teaser, Gan Hana’s now-deceased predecessor would’ve already been torn apart.

Despite thinking this, Gan Hana chuckled softly.

Even so, she couldn’t picture IF-017 ever doing something like that.

She shook the cat teaser again.

Watching IF-017 lazily follow the toy with its sleepy eyes made Gan Hana giggle.

“Aww, so cute.”

As Gan Hana indulged in this moment of healing, a doubt crept in.

Didn’t they say that the safest-looking anomalies are the most dangerous?

She recalled the guidelines from her training before becoming a researcher.

‘What was it again? If an anomaly seems harmless for no reason and you start feeling an urge to merge with it, run immediately! …But IF-017 doesn’t make me want to merge, so I’m fine, right?’

Although…

All the protocols given beforehand didn’t seem to matter much.

With no real effect, Gan Hana cheerfully shook the cat teaser without a care.

Every time their eyes met while following the toy, Gan Hana’s smile grew wider.

“Hehehe…”

Job satisfaction: Maximum!

But she couldn’t keep this up forever.

Her task wasn’t to play with IF-017.

This was essentially slacking off.

Regretfully, Gan Hana picked up the cat teaser with a frown.

“Hng…”

“Purr purr.”

IF-017’s expression relaxed, but Gan Hana wouldn’t know that.

Recalling her superior’s orders,

‘According to historical data, IF-017 has consistently been described as sapient. But which parts are true, which are distorted? Verify the exact level of intelligence IF-017 possesses.’

Her superiors seemed to think most records were exaggerated.

Old documents weren’t reliable, and IF-017’s current metabolic state couldn’t possibly support the activities described.

Still, Gan Hana had a different opinion.

Even though IF-017 appears vacant, staring at the ceiling…

Even though its gaze seems so absent-minded…

It feels like IF-017 understands everything happening around it.

‘…Am I wrong?’

Maybe not.

When IF-017 started dozing off again, Gan Hana snapped back to reality and began rummaging through a box.

She had mountains of experiments to conduct and reports to file.

She hadn’t carried all these tools for nothing.

First, she pulled out a mirror.

Unless there was a visual recognition issue, the subject would either react aggressively or recognize itself.

Typically, those were the expected outcomes for a standard mirror test.

IF-017 glanced at the mirror once, then turned its head to stare intently at Gan Hana instead.

“Is there something on my face?”

Surprisingly, Gan Hana ended up checking her own reflection.

She didn’t lose hope.

‘Expecting a reaction from the start was probably unrealistic.’

IF-017 had proven to be a tough opponent during the hostility test with Senior Giselle.

For this session, Gan Hana had prepared several methods to elicit responses from even the most enigmatic anomalies.

‘There’s no way IF-017 can ignore all of them.’

She continued experimenting.

The results were shocking.

Contrary to Gan Hana’s assumption that ignoring everything would be impossible, IF-017 remained completely unresponsive from start to finish—not just non-anomalous methods but even anomalous ones.

‘Even IF-190-1, my secret weapon!’

To Gan Hana, who had blindly trusted her superiors, this was a bolt from the blue.

“What do I do now? What can I possibly do…?”

Having joined FPL for less than six months, Gan Hana found IF-017 to be vastly different from most other IFs due to its ‘too predictable’ behavior pattern.

Even the director of this facility had given up researching it.

Normally, another senior researcher would’ve taken charge if it weren’t for IF-017’s habit of sleeping all day, leaving the seniors focused solely on IF-017-1.

Eventually, IF-017 laid its head down and began to close its eyes.

“Oh no, no, no! Don’t fall asleep yet!!”

In her desperation, Gan Hana had only one option left.

The only item that elicited even the slightest reaction from IF-017:

The cat teaser.

“C’mon, please cooperate just a little? Hmm?”

With a desperate plea, Gan Hana shook the teaser fervently, invoking every religion she’d never believed in.

‘Please, please, please! Just don’t fall asleep… God, Buddha, Allah, please…!’

Did her sincerity pay off? A miracle occurred.

IF-017, after hesitating while staring at Gan Hana, suddenly rolled onto its side and propped itself up.

“Gyaaaoo…”

Its voice weakening with each word.

As IF-017 gazed at her with an almost solemn expression, Gan Hana lost her words momentarily.

‘N-no, this must be a mistake. Why am I having these thoughts looking at such a small thing…’

That’s when it happened.

With a poof, small horns, wings, and a chubby tail sprouted from IF-017.

“Huh!”

Was this a reward for her efforts?

If so, it was far beyond anything she could’ve imagined, leaving Gan Hana speechless.

“Gyaa.”

The contrast between its unmoving body and the wagging tail was striking.

“Oh, wow. Wow…”

The increasingly adorable expressions directed at Gan Hana pushed her over the edge.

“Hehe, Iluwa Itt…!”

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