Yu Jitae took Bom out and got on a taxi. He didn’t fly, or jump through dimensions as he was planning to chat with her on the way.
“Where are we going?”
After getting off the taxi, Bom asked while walking towards the Portal stations.
“Lair.”
“Why Lair?”
“Apparently something happened during the interview today.”
“Ah.”
Perhaps realising what he was talking about, Bom closed her lips. He was curious about what happened there but Yu Jitae decided to ask something different for the time being.
As far as Yu Jitae remembered, Red, Gold and Blue Dragons had clear paths. Every round, they moved in similar patterns and became similar people.
However, the Green Dragon was different.
The professions she had been a part of included painter, sculptor and a novelist and at a glance, it was related to creating things. However, the Green Dragon did not show any distinguishing results from these fields. While Red and Gold grew up to be one of the top celebrities in the world, Green Dragon remained locked up in the corner of her room and drew.
The green race liked creating things – he at least knew that.
But merely drawing poor paintings in her room without any results and without putting in any effort was a bit weird now that he thought about it. Back then, he wasn’t curious and had no interest. Thus, he had not asked her about why she did that and why she did those the way she did.
So, he wanted to ask her regarding that today. Yu Jitae opened his lips.
“Bom.”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to do.”
“Why?”
“Just curious. Yeorum finds fights exciting, and Kaeul is interested in grabbing the attention of others.”
Those were the characteristics of the red and the gold race.
“We like creating things. Creating, manufacturing, architecture and things like that.”
“Not that.”
“Yes?”
“What about the things you want to do?”
A personal question rather than a question about her race. Bom contemplated while saying “Hmm…” and did not give a response for a long time.
“Anything you are greedy for? Things you want to have or want to do.”
“Yes. I’m not sure.”
“What about cooking?”
“I like it. I enjoy cooking and I’m happy to have others eat it. But, I have no plans to become a cook during the Amusement.”
“Why.”
“It wasn’t that fun.”
Yu Jitae pondered for a little before casually dropping a question.
“If your race enjoys creating things, how about a novelist or a painter.”
“It won’t be bad. There were elders of our race who had been doing those.”
“Then, what about you.”
“…I don’t know.”
Soon, she let out words along with a sigh.
“In fact, the reason I continued travelling was because of that. I didn’t know what to do. If I create things like everyone else from my race, it’s fun, but it’s not to the level I love them.”
It was a troubling answer because it meant the previous rounds’ Green Dragons had also been rather unmotivated. However, there was no need to fret because it wasn’t something that could be solved immediately and required more time.
When Yu Jitae gave a nod and fell silent, it was Bom’s turn to face him with a question.
“What about you, ahjussi?”
“…What?”
“What do you want to do?”
He hadn’t been expecting such a question.
“If you kidnap and protect us, is there compensation for ahjussi? Is there happiness in that process?”
As usual, she had a strange expression on her face and asked. Bom was looking into his eyes, but her gaze was deep, as if she wanted to look deeper in.
Yu Jitae shook his head, because it wasn’t a conversation topic he preferred.
“What happened in the interview.”
“You’re changing the topic.”
“…”
She blocked Yu Jitae from the front.
“I also want to know more about ahjussi.”
He likewise stopped his feet and stared back into the green pair of eyes that still gave off a mysterious light that couldn’t be read. In any case, what should not be shared must not be.
“…”
“…”
They confronted each other in silence for a long period of time. Then, one of them murmured “stubborn” and took a step back. Carrying her steps forward again, Bom replied to the question Yu Jitae had asked.
“Nothing happened during the interview. They just asked a few things and I responded. That’s all.”
What were the questions that made the professors of the Education Department that excited?
“The questions? It was related to magic theory.”
Ah, he understood it in an instant.
Magic was relayed from another world, and in that other world, they had been crafted by the dragons. To put it in comparison, it was like the humans asking the Creator about humans.
“But there wasn’t anything that could be called an ‘incident’.”
“Why?”
“I only answered a few questions that had been asked. The interviewers didn’t have great expressions in response either.”
What was this about.
“They liked the answers for every other question but when I replied to the question about magic theories, they turned a bit serious, and in any case, the atmosphere wasn’t that great.”
“What was the question.”
Bom laid out complicated words related to magic theory. It was about ‘mana concentration’.
It was a decent question. Their backgrounds were from the ghost academy, Pantheon School, and since Bom was admissioned in as a magic theory major, simply put, it was a question about her major.
“And how did you respond?”
After some thought, Bom replied.
“Normally.”
***
Lair Education Department.
After finishing his work, Professor Myung Jong entered the magic studies staff room. There, he found four professors gathered up, sharing chatters in excitement. They were all those who had been the interviewers like Myung Jong himself.
“Ah. Professor Myung, you’re here?”
Myung Jong giggled in response.
“Aigo, you busy people have all come to see that reserve cadet from before?”
“Yes. When is that friend coming? Seriously.”
The professors were all serious or interested, while one of them did not hide their excitement.
There were 120 reserve cadets that sat the interview today and since it was the tenth day, there had been around 1200 people entering as interviewees until now. They were all specialists of magic studies.
Everyday they repeated asking the same questions, and hearing similar replies. Because they were also humans, they were about to get exhausted from the tiresome schedule.
That was when a slightly special reserve cadet entered through the door.
“Hello, my name is Yu Bom” she had said.
When people were at the level of being a professor at Lair, they were socially well off without anything to be jealous of. Besides, since superhumans underwent physical evolutions on their bones, they became prettier and more handsome over time so the professors were somewhat immune to beauty.
And yet there entered a beautiful girl that even made them surprised.
However, appearance was not important. Since back then it was still an interview session, they had asked the reserve cadet a few questions. With a relaxed voice fitting the calm appearance, the reserve cadet naturally gave answers to the questions.
Up to that point was okay.
While other reserve cadets trembled, Yu Bom carried out a natural interview with not a single sign of nervousness. In fact as they conversed, it even made them feel like she was the one in control of the conversation.
But the important bit came after that.
“Tell us the most efficient method in concentrating an attribute-less mana.”
In response to a certain professor’s question, Yu Bom naturally explained how to induce concentration of non-attribute mana – for about 15 minutes.
Perhaps due to the clear pronunciation and voice, or perhaps because of the atmosphere around her, the professors focused on her words as if they were possessed.
“…”
After the explanation ended, silence befell the interviewers.
They were shocked.
Because it was accurate?
Yes. Yu Bom’s method of inducing mana concentration laid clear aspects that allowed mana to be concentrated in one place. Without even using any metalanguage, she explained while going through every single phenomenon so there was no room for them to tackle.
That was the problem.
It was way too accurate.
Things that random reserve cadets should not know of had been explained by Yu Bom.
Straight after the interview ended, the professors gathered their heads and searched for an article that contained an inducement method similar to Yu Bom’s.
‘Vladimir Concentration Inducement Method’.
Coincidentally, it had been a limited access article that had been released by the Russian Union around two weeks ago.
Does that mean that a reserve cadet had fully comprehended the following article in merely two weeks?
A mere 19 year old?
An existence beyond common sense – the world referred to these people as geniuses.
“Haha sirs. You’re overexaggerating it too much.”
That was when a professor raised his voice.
“Ah, Professor Nakamura.”
He was a Japanese professor with a shining bald head. Although he was a magic studies professor, he hadn’t been a part of the interview.
“No matter what, it doesn’t make sense right? Vladimir Concentration Inducement can only be comprehended by a smart superhuman with more than tens of years of experience handling mana.”
To compare, it meant that a high schooler was in possession of a similar study load as postgraduate students, but the fact that she fully explained the phenomena without skipping over points while relying on metalanguage proved that she had fully understood the concept.
“Right? We were surprised as well. It would be great if such a friend was in our study group…”
The professors glanced at each other.
There was only one reason they were this excited.
In Lair, there was a system called a ‘study group’. It was a group formed with special cadets gathering into one place, in order to nurture top cadets with extra care.
And most professors belonged to a study group.
“Aha. Didn’t you recruit Carley the day before yesterday? Professor Wang is a bit greedy I see.”
“Kuhaha. Shouldn’t our study group take a first-place badge for the first time this year?
Lair was a world of endless competition.
Students with high achievements and professors of that study group received huge research funds and honour. While research funds were important, honour was slightly more important as there was a fight of pride behind the scenes between professors. They did not like losing.
Buildings couldn’t be built on top of sand. Thus they needed cadets with lots of potential.
That was why the existence called Yu Bom was a great shock to them.
“Stop trying to keep others in check. In any case, what is that cadet’s identity? Does she have a connection somewhere?”
“That…”
After the interview ended, the curious professors had checked Reserve Cadet Yu Bom’s identity.
19 years old, with two younger siblings: one 18 and one 17 year old.
From Pantheon School.
Seeing that, the professors felt disappointed. The fact that Pantheon School was a non-existent organisation was something everyone within the Lair knew.
Ever since the end of the ‘Great War’, there had been an increase in the number of superhumans working in the underworld. Secret forces of several large guilds, assassination organisations under governments and secret heirs of renowned houses – due to their rights and situation, there were a few superhumans and organisations that did not appear under broad daylight.
In order to gather those talents up, Lair did not impose restrictions regarding identity. Actually, there were restrictions but the school still encouraged them to come. In other words, young and talented superhumans could come for a school life whenever.
However, if a student with a hidden background committed a crime, only then would they start finding a fault with them hiding their identity. That meant that at the current point in time, they could not find out exactly who Yu Bom was.
“Is the lord of the Magic Tower nurturing a daughter or something?”
“I had been a part of the Magic Tower until the year before last year, but the Magic Tower Lord does not have a son nor a daughter.”
“Or maybe it’s Valentine – that old witch’s disciple?”
“Who knows… Oh right, who is the guardian by the way?”
The guardian’s name was Yu Jitae, aged 27. He too had a falsified identity.
“Or don’t tell me that cadet called Yu Bom, she lied about her age or something?”
“That won’t be the case. On the day, I checked it just in case but the mana itself was definitely a young one. At most it would be that of a twenty-year old.”
“Hmm… Anyways, I think our dear professors are being a bit excessive with the exaggerations. When the reserve cadet comes, I’ll check with my own eyes.”
It was when the professors were continuing their talk about Yu Bom.
The door was shoved open as a man with a healthy build entered the room. Although slightly hazy, he was a man that gave off a sharp impression resembling a keen edge of a blade.
“Aah, welcome, Mister Guardian. We had been waiting.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Yu Jitae.”
And from behind his back, a girl with grass-coloured hair walked in.
“Hello.”
The professors’ eyes started being painted with excitement.