Kwagagak…♪ Kugugung ♫♩
The protector hummed.
The kitchen and the sink sparkled like brand new, while the white toilet with not a single sign of bacteria appeared as if it was built yesterday.
Even a thief would run away in a fluster after seeing such a clean main entrance!
Seeing the house that became perfectly clean, the protector felt satisfied.
‘I knew it. Unit 301 needs me, not some random trash like that.’
In fact, there had been something displeasing the protector throughout the cleaning session…
Vuing, viing.
The object appeared in a timely manner. That ‘guy’ cautiously sneaked towards the protector’s feet before crashing into the armoured boots.
– A wall has been confirmed.
Bullshit, thought the protector with a flickering gaze.
It was a circular robotic vacuum cleaner. To think that something meagre like that had been cleaning Unit 301 while it was away was infuriating. Right now, the cleaner was letting out steam while cleaning the floor but it was to no avail. The floor that had already been touched by the protector had a shiny lustre.
– Looking for a different route.
Look for a different career too while you’re at it.
After picking it up, the protector chucked it in the bin.
Chirp!
It was then. Something cried out loud.
A flurry ball the size of a soccer ball was peeking out from Kaeul’s room. Curby was it? It seemed that a newbie had entered the house during its absence.
It looked straight at the protector and cried.
Chirp!‘What in the world!’
Chirp chirp!‘Have thou done to my dear horse!’
Noisy.
It couldn’t understand the words of a baby chicken spirit beast but it was still very clear that the chicken was complaining about something, considering that it was pecking at the armoured leggings.
Despite being a baby chicken, the spirit beast was powerful and it created a thud every time it struck.
The protector decided to ignore it. The most important question was why that thing was at Unit 301 but,
“Nnng? I’m going to raise it!”
Kaeul replied while hugging the furry ball.
“Can I ask why you are raising it?”
“Mhmm, uhh… umm…”
Kaeul had a hard time finding a response. She had taken it in since it was hurt, and was providing food since she brought it home.
Therefore, in the midst of silence, the protector imagined the possibilities and came up with a decent, plausible answer.
What was Kaeul’s favourite food?
It was nothing other than chicken.
‘It was for food, huh.’
Chirp chirp!
Looking at the baby chicken furiously screaming at itself, the protector realised its due responsibility.
“…Let’s eat. Baby chicken.”
A large amount of food was poured into the bowl.
Chirpy the baby chicken watched the mountain being created on the bowl in nervousness. Bom controlled its daily intake to make sure the baby chicken didn’t grow too fat and yet the protector poured at least five times the amount it usually ate.
Quietly staring at the increasing amount of feed, the baby chicken slowly felt its anger dissipate.
Chirp.‘Hmm, this does change things quite a bit.’
Chirp chirp.‘Though I still do feel wrath for the disposal of my horse,’
Chirrrp!‘I shall dig in!’
Chirpy beautifully cried several times before starting to eat the food in delight.
The protector watched it eat with a heartwarming gaze.
If a baby chicken this big grew up into a big chicken, how big of a pot would it need?
“…”
Beneath the long eyelashes, a crimson pair of eyes resembling meticulously crafted ruby were opened. A large shadow was visible with her unfocused vision. The shadow was blocking the sunlight penetrating through the window and it was therefore not too harsh on her eyes.
Her breath continued regularly and the heart pulsed stably. Although the restrictiveness suffocating her heart was still painful, it was at least bearable.
The shadow spoke to her.
“Did you have a good sleep.”
The words spoken overnight floated back up.
Yeorum covered her eyes with a sigh as embarrassment came flooding in like a tidal wave. Fuck… I must have been crazy. Why did I blabber about something like that?
She heaved out another sigh. Revealing her weakness felt as terrible as dying.
But why did I say that?
It’s just, you know…
Just… it seemed that she wasn’t sane from the anxiety attack.
“Wake up and get ready.”
She removed her hands and opened her eyes.
“…For what?”
“For training. It’s time.”
Yu Jitae did not look at her with pity nor did he mention anything about that story. Thinking that he was just that type of person made her feel more comfortable.
“Alright. I’ll get ready now.”
However, he did not leave the room even after Yeorum got up from the bed.
“What are you doing? Not going out?”
“Why.”
“…Well, you can stay if you want.”
She immediately crossed her arms to grab the shirt drenched in sweat and tried to take it off.
Yu Jitae therefore quietly left the room.
*
It was time for another training session.
The heart beat stably and her breath was also stable despite still wearing the Chains of Hell. It was an astonishing level of achievement in the mere span of a few days.
“Now you’re finally in a similar situation with the Karl-Gullakwa race. You can now breathe like them and your heart beats like them. You can more easily manipulate mana.”
She could’ve relied on him and there were multiple opportunities to make it more comfortable. Had she said one sentence about giving up, he would have immediately helped her lessen the burden no questions asked.
However, she didn’t give up. Even under a severe distress and fear, she did not try to dump her load away or lean on somebody.
That was making her stronger.
According to his distant memories, wearing the Chains were more painful than when he was tortured by the demons in the second iteration. She triumphed over something that stressful and it was a commendable feat even for a dragon.
“So, did I do well?”
This time, she asked without any expectation,
“You did a very good job.”
But the Regressor gave an honest compliment.
“…”
Surprised, Yeorum slightly looked away.
“Let’s begin the next training method.”
The first hurdle of Karl-Gullakwa Stand-up Martial Art,
[Pulsation]
One of the training methods to perfect that pulsation was [Breathing], and the other which they were now about to start was [Walking].
“Now, you’ll learn how to walk.”
“Yeah.”
If it was before, she would have doubtfully said, “Why do I have to learn that” or “That’s too easy” but now she nodded in nervousness.
Taking out more fragments of Chains of Hell which he had prepared beforehand, Yu Jitae tied a knot around her ankle. Black strings covered her white, slender ankles.
Feeling the outburst of pain and heaviness from the feet, Yeorum gave a frown.
“What’s this.”
“Is it heavy?”
“‘Heavy’? I feel like I’m fucked already.”
It wasn’t just heavy and it felt like magnets had been attached to her feet. She tried putting strength into her thighs but couldn’t even raise a foot.
The Regressor thought to himself.
With this, it would reduce the hardship she went through when she was running across the walls of the underground labyrinth for several weeks without a rest in the fifth iteration. It would be groundbreakingly easier to stabilise the [Pulsation].
One thing to note however was that the Chains did not simply add on to the weight. She would now have trouble balancing herself and find it difficult to walk straight.
“Say it whenever you need help or want to give up.”
“Ahh. Don’t say something like that. Don’t you know me even after all that? You don’t know my personality?”
“But, if you do feel painful then tell me whenever…”
“Penis!”
After stopping Yu Jitae’s concern with one word, Yeorum took a deep breath in and out.
“Don’t push yourself. Be prudent.”
“Ahh, that’s enough. Just watch me do this. Don’t be surprised!”
Soon, she took a heavy step forward but missed her footing and comically fell forward.
She seemed to be showing off her extraordinary reflex skills by taking another step forward but once again lost her footing and fell down. While falling down she crashed into all the cones that had been set for the training session.
It was a laughable and an unseemly turn of events.
However, Yeorum rested her head on the cone as if it was the living room and lied down comfortably. She then gazed up at him with a shameless smile.
“Oh my, it’s so comfortablee.”
“…”
“What are you doing dear? Come here and lie down ♥”
***
“What’s she doing.”
“She’s doing something weird again…”
The cadets whispered amongst themselves.
Their gazes were gathered onto the red-haired girl who was carefully walking down the track, hand in hand with her guardian. Like a baby learning how to walk for the first time, Yu Yeorum held tightly onto the guardian’s hand and struggled to take a step forward.
“It’s been like two to three weeks right. Now both she and her guardian are doing something strange…”
“What in the world are they doing?”
“Something useless; what else?”
Tch tch. A cadet clicked his tongue.
But seeing the anxious look on the face of Yeorum, who always acted indifferent and appeared angry whenever someone talked to her, was a refreshing sight. The cadets threw glances at Yu Yeorum.
“Apparently she’s really strong though, right? I heard she smashed Sophia down before admission.”
“Well, she is strong. Probably stronger than us.”
“Then, wouldn’t there be some sort of reason behind her doing that?”
“I think she’s just cosplaying as a stupid genius or something. You know, like acting unique and stuff.”
“Really? I think there would be more to it though. Hmm…”
Yu Yeorum had a lot of enemies and no friends.
In fact, there were some people that liked Yeorum among those that haven’t talked to her, but she wasn’t an easy person to chat with. She was way too unfriendly.
Thus, those cadets only watched on from afar.
“She looks kinda retarded though. Why’s she doing that?”
“You want me to go up and trip her?”
“Go for it. Do a slide tackle right now.”
A few of the cadets belonging to Level 4 and Level 5 societies giggled and laughed. When Yeorum was going around various places looking for sparring sessions (or trouble), there had been several conflicts with them.
“A slide tackle doesn’t always have to be on the ankle right.”
“Then where?”
“Do it at her head lol.”
“Damn, that’s good. Her head’s probably empty anyways.”
They were laughing for several minutes until they realised a hostile gaze. Turning around, they found Kim Ji-in and Soujiro glaring at them. They looked back at them for a few seconds.
“What you looking at?”
One cadet began the conversation.
“Is it fun?” replied Kim Ji-in.
“What?”
“Is it fun talking shit behind someone that’s trying hard?”
“Are you crazy or what. Why are you talking shit?”
“What do you mean? I’m just asking whether you guys find that funny or not.”
One of the glaring cadets shot out of the seat and although Kim Ji-in became tense, she didn’t run away. Then, while saying, “Hey, Ji-in…! Guys, it’s nothing! Sorry…!” Soujiro pulled her away by the arm.
“What’s wrong with you…!”
“I don’t know. I must have picked it up from Yeorum…”
Time flew by.
Yu Yeorum, who had been struggling soon began walking stably and later was able to walk alone without holding onto the guardian’s hand. After failing hundreds of times with her shivering legs and unstable steps, Yu Yeorum was finally able to walk by herself.
Then, she jumped up and down and hugged her guardian. She appeared sincerely happy.
“What the hell is she doing… did she break her legs or something?”
Some of the cadets swore at her,
“Why is she so happy?”
While some were in doubt.
Yeorum’s strange training method was conveyed to other cadets by word of mouth. The rumours gained more and more size including some very strange ones. One of them was as follows.
‘I was doing a 350kg bench press without the safety device but accidentally stumbled and was about to injure myself when Yeorum, who was doing the walking session nearby carried me with one hand.’
350kg was quite heavy for a cadet. Some scoffed while others were skeptical. A small portion of them thought to themselves, ‘Isn’t it true?’ and believed it but kept it to themselves.
Several cadets asked for a spar with Yeorum but she turned everyone down, and guardians that directly talked to Yu Jitae were also turned down.
Thus, the story about Yeorum’s new training method was kept a mystery until the holidays came to an end.
***
From spring till the start of summer vacations, the ‘Campus Ranking Competition’ would be carried out at Lair.
Cadets that applied for the competition would be given a rank within their grade. It was one of Lair’s systems that endlessly encouraged competition, and none of those that had experienced the war criticised them for creating such competitiveness.
The ranks were allocated after adding the scores from the individual spars, assignment performance and tournament. It was similar to how the official superhuman ranks were given worldwide.
Strong cadets would receive high ranks, and those ranks would be recorded down as a part of their achievement. Due to that, study groups, societies, guardians, the media and the cadets were all interested in this event.
Finally, as the long winter holiday neared its end, Yu Jitae’s holiday training also came to an end.
“Good work.”
He untied three [Chains of Hell] that restricted Yeorum’s body. Then, he visited the education department with her and applied for the competition.
“Haa… it feels fucking amazing. Was my body always this light?”
Yeorum gave a big stretch as her crimson hair fluttered in the wind. Her short bob hair that had barely reached her chin at the start of the training session was now long enough to reach her shoulders.
“I can fight now, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Thought I was gonna die holding it in.”
On the way back from the education department, they could see plum blossoms decorating the sky with a pinkish light, and magnolia adding a hint of white. Near the ground, forsythia and dandelions revealed their yellow heads.
Spring.
It was time for the next semester to begin.