The Red Dragon Lord is OP, but Insists on a Pop Culture Invasion!

The hotel where the game festival contestants were staying.

High noon.

"Ugh... Nngh... Ah..."

After a series of strained grunts, Uffie struggled out of bed.

She’d been working around the clock for days, and the ten demo levels were finally done. But she felt like she had aged several decades, her joints full of rust.

Despite being so exhausted, she had somehow gained several pounds. It had gotten to the point where she needed to grunt just to get out of bed.

’Why is this happening? Aren’t people supposed to lose weight when they’re exhausted?’

’I shouldn’t have drunk so many of those beverages.’

’Why would they provide contestants with an unlimited supply of Red Dragon Beverage?’

But she had to admit, the sweet drinks were addictively good.

’There’s a bottle right here. Just one more sip to clear my head. How can I lose weight if my head’s not clear?’

"PSSH—"

"GLUG, GLUG, GLUG..."

"Ahh!"

"*BURP*—"

So satisfying.

She pinched her slightly thicker tummy, and a wave of guilt washed over her.

It reminded her of her uncle, who was in his forties. He’d been a Warrior in his youth, capable of crossing mountains and rivers. But after retiring from his warband, he started eating all the roasted meat and cheese he could find.

He gained over sixty pounds in a year. Now, he had to grunt just to bend over and put on his boots, and after straightening up, he’d have to pause to catch his breath.

’I’m not going to end up like that, am I?’

’Oh gods, was choosing to make games a mistake?’

She imagined herself decades from now, slumped in a chair in an office at the Zog Group, with rolls of fat on her belly substantial enough to hold up a cup of milk tea.

’Horrifying. Absolutely horrifying.’

While Uffie wasn’t a girl who was overly concerned with her appearance, developing the physique of an Ogre was a bit hard to accept.

Uffie scratched her greasy hair, which she hadn’t washed in days. She’d always stuck to the principle of not bothering to wash her hair as long as she wasn’t seeing anyone.

’Who could she ask about controlling her weight?’

’Right, Master Furin! She’s always in such great shape, and she loves to eat. She must have a solution.’

She opened her chat app.

Illusionist Feifei: Master! Help! Do you have any good tips for staying in shape?

Golden Dragon Loves Drawing: Breathe fire.

Illusionist Feifei: Huh?

Golden Dragon Loves Drawing: If you don’t use Magic, breathing fire is actually an exercise that burns a ton of energy. We all love doing it.

You convert stored body fat into a flammable liquid and then spray it out. You could lose a deadly amount of weight in just two breaths.

But there’s this one idiot who drinks oil first before breathing fire. You can’t lose weight that way.

Uffie stared at the unfamiliar words in the chat window. As a direct disciple who knew her master’s true identity, her image of the powerful and majestic Dragon race suddenly shattered.

So it turned out that when Dragons breathed fire for fun, they weren’t showing off their power or marking their territory. They were trying to lose weight.

Illusionist Feifei: Master, are there any methods a Human can use?

Golden Dragon Loves Drawing: There are, but they all have major side effects.

Illusionist Feifei: Is there really no hope for me?

She followed it with a crying Zog sticker.

This was from a sticker pack hand-drawn by Furin. It all started when Zog once took a bad, secret photo of Furin and added a caption to it. Furin retaliated furiously, not with a secret photo, but by drawing him directly.

And thus, the floodgates of sticker-making were opened.

Once the Zog series was released, it became wildly popular in the group’s internal chats.

The boss had once threatened in the group’s largest chat that he would fine anyone who spread the sticker pack.

Furin immediately posted the entire set.

Seeing that he couldn’t stop it, Zog went ahead and made a second sticker pack of himself, as well as one of Furin, selling them for 10 Copper Coins per set.

The boss was truly a boss; when he got ruthless, he’d even make money by "selling his own likeness."

Since then, eight hundred different versions of the story about the boss and Furin’s relationship had been concocted. Every time they interacted, it would stir up the tens of thousands of gossip-mongers throughout the group.

Golden Dragon Loves Drawing: I just thought of a good method with no side effects!

Illusionist Feifei: Really!

She sent a happy Zog sticker.

Golden Dragon Loves Drawing: Eat less, exercise more.

Illusionist Feifei: ...

Uffie flopped weakly back onto the bed. ’Damn it, isn’t there a shortcut?’

’Well, since it’s come to this...!’

’I might as well go back to sleep for a bit.’

Uffie squirmed around on the bed, adjusting herself into a more comfortable sleeping position.

After a moment’s thought, she picked up her alarm clock and set it for 4 p.m.

The Ice and Snow Game Festival officially opened at six. As a contestant, even though she didn’t need to be at the demo booth for *Druid vs. Necromancer* every day, it was best to show up on the first day.

Just as she put the alarm clock down, she heard the door open.

"Galina? You’re back?" Uffie asked, looking toward the entrance of the room.

"Ah!" Uffie shrieked at the sight of the strange person walking in, raising her hand to cast a defensive Illusion Technique.

The person was wearing a beast-hide robe painted with Totems, a ferocious-looking carved wooden mask, and was holding a Magic Staff topped with a skull.

Even weirder, they had a Magical Device strapped to their arm.

’It looks like... a Dueling Disc?’

"Shh! For goodness’ sake, keep it down," the strange person said, quickly taking off the mask. "It’s me, Galina."

"Galina! Why are you dressed like that?" Uffie demanded of her best friend in alarm.

"Don’t say my name. I’ll explain in a minute." Galina tiptoed to the door, closed it, and held a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.

"Are you being hunted?" Uffie whispered.

The Zog Group had an internal Magic called "Didi Daren," where employees in danger could enter an address and summon enforcers.

It was one of the group’s employee benefits. Each employee got one free summon per year, which didn’t carry over to the next year if unused.

Any uses beyond that cost money, and using it too often would trigger an evaluation by the HR department to consider whether the employee was too prone to trouble and should be fired.

"Not exactly ’hunted’," Galina whispered back, then pressed her ear to the door.

Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps and an angry conversation between several people came from outside.

"Where’s that Shaman with the Handscroll Destruction Deck?"

"I saw her go into this hotel."

"What Shaman? It’s Galina. It’s already all over the forums. She’s one of Repin’s students."

"Repin’s students like to play cards just to piss people off?"

"I don’t believe she can hide forever. I’m waiting right here at the hotel entrance. She has to come out eventually. I won’t be satisfied until I tear that deck to shreds!"

"Exactly! We can’t do anything about the officials, but we can sure as hell do something about her!"

The voices faded into the distance until they were gone.

"You managed to cause public outrage just by playing a card game?" Uffie asked, confused.

"I’m trying to meet Mr. Raul! You need ten stars to get a chance to play against him. I had no choice but to buy this deck."

Galina wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get ten stars? I had to change my entire outfit after every match. Thank goodness I learned stage makeup and costuming at home."

"All this just to see Raul?"

"What do you mean, ’just’!?" Galina boomed. "That’s *Mr. Raul*!"

"No, what I mean is, Raul is going to be trying out games at the festival, and our game was selected..."

Before Uffie could finish, Galina threw her arms around her in a tight hug.

"Mama!"

"You don’t have to call me that," Uffie said, a bit awkwardly. ’Galina is a great best friend, but having her as my kid...’

’Ugh, just thinking about it gives me a headache.’

"The Liebin Study Tour Group won’t abandon me, right?" Galina instantly got into character, her eyes welling with tears.

"Well, I’m heading to the game festival tonight anyway. You should be able to see Raul there."

"I love you the most!" Galina exclaimed, nuzzling her face vigorously against Uffie’s.

"Let’s go! We’ll go right now! Wait, no, let me change my look first..."