Kitty Brzenk soon stopped shouting.
Although it did hurt, high-ranked superhumans were all trained in pain tolerance. The pain did not reduce, but their tolerance did increase.
However, Kitty Brzenk soon felt a slightly bigger sense of fear. After walking right up to her nose, Yu Jitae grabbed her by the forehead.
She was frightened, thinking how a human could have such a powerful grip.
Even now, her ‘inner shield’ spell was still active. If a tank drove into her, she might feel the shock in her body but the tank would still fail to leave any direct damage on the bones or her skin.
Despite that, Yu Jitae’s hand that was grabbing her head ripped through her skin. Blood oozed out as the mask that had become one with the skin ripped and he gripped until a part of her skull let out a crack.
No matter how she twisted her body, it was futile. As if her head was stuck in a hydraulic press, her body twitched with the head stuck in place.
Kitty Brzenk took a deep breath in. The two hazy eyes and gray pupils – the man was staring at her. But he wasn’t looking at her eyes and it seemed as if he was staring at her true self hidden underneath her eyes.
Don’t tell me, did he find out?
Even a ranker should not be able to see through the mask created by the lord of the Tower of Mages though?
Huuk, she took in another deep breath as her heart felt like it was being squeezed to a stop.
Yu Jitae opened his mouth.
“I do not know who you are.”
A faint light of amusement spread across his hazy expression.
That was when the guards ran in shouting, “Please let go!” and “Stop please!”. They had to bite the bullet and try to create a distance between Yu Jitae and Kitty Brzenk.
The man obediently let go. He then raised his hands and followed their requests.
Do not know who you are?
Kitty Brzenk was instead certain from those words that her identity had been seen through.
Yu Jitae’s words sounded like a warning, saying try acting up again with a different identity if you dare.
She felt her legs turning loose so she had to use telekinetic powers to support her body.
Yu Jitae was caught by the superhuman guards and so were Mihailov and Kitty Brzenk. They were led to the sentries and had to write a summary statement describing what had happened.
Although he could defy them if he wanted to, Yu Jitae obediently followed their requests. Before following them, he told Bom.
“Take the kids back home.”
Bom, who had placed Gyeoul on her lap and had covered her eyes with her hands, gave a nod. The sudden block of her vision and the skin contact was allowing Bom’s good memories to flow into her. Therefore, Gyeoul right now was waving her hands mid-air, trying to touch things in a flowerfield.
“…?”
Bom let go of her hands only after Yu Jitae walked out. Gyeoul looked into her eyes with a frown.
“…Why, did you block?”
In response, Bom covered her own eyes before opening them straight.
“Peek-a-boo.”
“…”
Gyeoul shook her head with a frown.
“…I’m, not a baby.”
“Oh really?”
Fortunately she succeeded in taking her mind off of the topic. If she saw Yu Jitae swing an axe with her own eyes, Gyeoul would probably have been very surprised.
Even though a dragon, she was still a baby. Bom gently smiled.
Then, Bom turned around and looked at Yeorum.
Although there had been a commotion inside the room, Yeorum’s gaze was still fixed on the display, as if nothing else mattered.
The display screen was a close-up full of golden colours.
Outside the exam venue were filled with reporters.
***
<Q: Cadet Yu Kaeul. What was the spell you used at the end?>
<Yu Kaeul: Umm, umm… combat magic…>
<Q: Since when did you start learning magic, Cadet Yu Kaeul?>
<Yu Kaeul: Uhh, umm, just… (runs away)>
<Q: Is there a reason behind why you had been hiding your magic talent all the way throughout the 1st semester of 2nd grade let alone the 1st grade?>
<Yu Kaeul: Sorry? Umm… it’s not like I was hiding…>
<Q: Both guardians and us reporters were really surprised after seeing the test. There have been numerous people wondering if you could be stronger than Cadet Yu Yeorum at this rate. What is your opinion on that?>
<Yu Kaeul: That’s umm, I don’t think that’s the case. Unni is really really strong and…>
<Q: Just then, you’ve mentioned that it wasn’t the case, so does that mean you have had a training bout against Cadet Yeorum already?>
<Yu Kaeul: No? We didn’t fight but…>
<Q: So that means it’s unknown who would come out on top when the two of you actually do fight. If you can keep the distance, would that give you a slight chance of victory?>
<Yu Kaeul: ??>
Using other people as an excuse, they asked slightly disrespectful and stubborn questions. A few of the cameras were on her right hand that was still shaking. Her right hand was red as if it had been hit by someone all around, and there were also bruises here and there.
That was when the sentries removed the reporters in the stead of Yu Jitae and put Bom, Gyeoul and Kaeul into an elevator. There were some reporters that wanted to squeeze through the gap and come in but when Bom gave them a whole-heartedly serious glare, their bodies turned stiff and they froze on the spot.
They were clicking their tongues when Yeorum, who was slower than the rest, entered their sight.
Yu Yeorum!
The most frightening one to interview but wasn’t she the cadet that guaranteed the most amount of traffic?
The reportres glanced at each other. The first one to go might have their collar grabbed by her but the following reporters could ask questions from behind while the first reporter would act as the meat shield.
Thinking that, they pushed each other. One of the reporters was pushed by others and was made to stand before Yeorum in the blink of an eye.
<Q: Were you aware that Cadet Yu Kaeul was such a great mage?>
<Yu Yeorum: …>
<Q: Have you trained directly against Cadet Yu Kaeul?>
<Yu Yeorum: …>
Silence was the only reply to the several questions they asked.
The camera focused on her expression; an indifferent expression as if nothing mattered.
A reporter with a good sense instead found that to be strange because Yeorum’s expression had always been full of irritation whenever she was in front of reporters.
In any case, she’s usually just a freaking bi*ch but she really is damn pretty with her mouth closed… it was when some of them were blankly thinking that.
The following question led to a slight change in her expression.
<Q: It just wasn’t revealed and just like you, Cadet Yu Yeorum, it seems that Cadet Yu Kaeul had also been training extremely diligently, right?>
Yeorum turned towards that reporter with a flick.
<Yu Yeorum: …>
***
That night, an edited version of the footage was revealed on the official website of Lair. Kaeul’s test video was quickly spread by word of mouth and in just one day, the video recorded 6 million views.
– Wahh!!!!!
– ;;;;; Yu Kaeul is seriously crazy.
– Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy! Crazzyy!
– One strike to kill a freaking minotaur holy shit;; is it like the special move of the Yu household or something?
– What kind of spell is that?
– From a distance, that is estimated to be a magic arrow.
– OMG. If that’s a magic arrow, there is a leaning tower of pisa between my legs.
– The only thing common is that they’re both on an angle…
– At that point, isn’t she the best mage cadet in history?
– That’s not the end is it? Look at what’s on Yong Danbi’s SNS rn.
[Official ♥Yong Danbi _SweetRain_♥]
re: Please stop asking.
Are all the mages the same?
Jealousy is only when they’re somewhat near your level. Haha…
I watched it like 20 times.
Can’t even feel jealous. It’s just, marvelous…
– Wah, the thing she watched 20 times. That’s Yu Kaeul’s test video right?
– Think so, yeah… wow.
Most of the comments at the start were like the above.
The footage was repeatedly shared and after three days, her video exceeded 30 million views. Several broadcasting companies and superhumans talked about their opinions on Kaeul’s test numerous times.
A cadet killing a minotaur in one strike. The distance of her short-distance dimensional movement being a shocking 60 metres. With these two points alone, she was compared to rankers in 400~500s and people praised and were in awe of her talent as a mage.
The highlight was definitely the teleportation spell at the end of the video. Long-distance dimensional movement had different equations and use of mana altogether.
Kaeul is a dragon who uses teleportation as easily as they would breathe and had just followed what she learned from Bom, but for humans it was a special ability that can only be used by 3-digit mage rankers.
Actually, Kaeul’s teleportation could travel roughly 120 times the distance of 3-digit rankers but none of them knew that.
In any case, there were several people doubting that Kaeul might be the same as a ranker in the 900s.
A mere cadet, having the strength equalling that of a ranker in the 900s?
People started seeing Kaeul as the second coming of the witch Valentine and treated Yu Kaeul as if she were a goddess.
In fact, just like how being born with a tall height was different from being a good basketball player, the amount of innate talent people were born with was a different thing compared to their talent to learn. 500 years would be barely enough for Kaeul to be on the same page as the witch but how would the netizens even know that?
It was around this point that ‘strange comments’ were starting to be posted.
– Kaeul said, “This place is too small.” That was the start of bigbang.
ᄂLolll??
ᄂYou freaking lolol
ᄂWhat is this about haha
– Students look for past papers, Yu Kaeul looks at the future
ᄂLike what are you guys writing lololol
ᄂLmao. So funny lol
– “My head is out so take a deep breath and take it slow,” said Kaeul to her mother.
ᄂAhkk kekekekek
ᄂLololololol
ᄂWell done Kim Yu Kaeul. Destroy humanity with your hands.
ᄂFu*k lolololol
ᄂWhat the hell is this now haha
– One day, Kaeul accidentally dropped her apple.
It dropped on someone’s head, who said, “Uh? This…?”
ᄂStop the crap lololol
ᄂIs it a gravity joke now lol
ᄂYES you’re right. That’s why the word for something falling is ‘fall’.
ᄂWtf lololol the hidden origin behind the word lolol
ᄂAh lolol. Stop taking it so far lololol
At the start, they simply deified Kaeul and joked among each other.
However after a week or so, when the number of views on Kaeul’s video exceeded the 89.87 million views that Yeorum’s video had, Yeorum naturally became a target for a comparison.
– The alarm wakes Yeorum up each morning.
But Kaeul does not need the alarm. She decides the time herself.
ᄂLolololol
ᄂLike seriously lmao
ᄂKekekekek
– The commonality between the First World War, the Second World War and the East-Asian great war is that they started in ‘Summer’ and ended in ‘Fall’.
ᄂHoohh;;;;; got goosebumps just then.
ᄂThat’s crazy lolol;;;
ᄂEhng? No that’s wrong?? Not sure about the rest, but the Second World War started on the 1st of September and ended on the 2nd of September. Unlucky mate.
ᄂ(Fact) Yu Kaeul is born on the 2nd of September.
ᄂ???
ᄂWhat the freak; how does this make sense?
ᄂWow. That’s crazy lololol
Some of those jokes raised Kaeul while lowering Yeorum. It was done in a natural manner. That was just how impactful Kaeul’s test was.
Yu Jitae and Bom confiscated Kaeul’s watch.
Kaeul obediently handed her watch in and didn’t go to school for the time being.
Although she was now receiving a lot of attention, Kaeul was somewhat like an absent-minded person and didn’t show that much of a reaction. Whenever someone asked her questions, she would just say, ‘Wow, it feels good.’
“I’m sorry Kaeul.”
“Nn? I’m alright. Unni.”
“How do you feel?”
“It does feel good, but right now it’s kind of weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know either. It feels good but…”
After that, Kaeul generally smiled as if there was a screw loose on her head and did everything Yu Jitae told her to do.
Despite that, her appetite did not decrease at all so the only times the lack-lustre child showed passion was when she was eating.
Yeorum looked at her for a long time, before going into her room.
*
It was night.
Her body was more exhausted than usual and her heart even more so.
However, she just couldn’t fall asleep so she turned on her watch. She came across something and looked at it.
For a long time, Yeorum fidgeted with the watch. In the process, her sleepiness went away even more and by the time she realised it, she noticed light seeping in through the curtains.
Fuc* it’s morning already…
*
It was earlier in the morning than usual.
Waking up before anyone else, Yu Jitae opened the curtains before going outside to buy breakfast for the kids.
Around that time Bom also woke up and readied herself because it was time for Yu Jitae to wake up.
When the two of them returned after buying breakfast, he saw Yeorum who was about to leave the house without even having breakfast. It was a lot earlier than when she usually left. Wearing a pair of leggings and a tank top, she was putting her feet into the shoes.
Those were the clothes she wore for training, but this early?
“You going already? What about food.”
Yeorum glanced at him.
Would she say, ‘None of your business’ again? Thinking that, Yu Jitae waited for her reply.
“…”
Seemingly pondering about something, Yeorum twitched her lips and slowly opened her mouth.
“You know.”
“Yeah.”
That was when Bom, who had gone back into her room to tie her hair, walked out of her room while tying her hair into a ponytail. Yeorum threw a glance at her, before stealthily turning around and whispering quietly.
“Nothing. I’ll message you later.”