“What kind of question is that?”
Yeorum pulled her sleeves up, revealing her arm. Her slender arm in fact had a lot of visible muscles, all the way from her forearms, to biceps and triceps as well as her lateral shoulder muscles.
Besides, there were also various wounds and scars all around her arms. Her white hands were especially so coarse that anyone could see her and immediately tell that she was a fighter. Yeorum considered these an honour and left them, just like what other superhumans tended to do.
“Who do you think will win now.”
“……Hmm.”
“What’s there to think about. Yu Kaeul equals one smack. Ok?”
Saying that, Yeorum was pushing her fist towards her so Gyeoul reluctantly had to reply,
“…Okkay.”
But she couldn’t just end it with that so this time, Gyeoul decided to ask Kaeul who was stronger.
“Uunn?”
“…Who, is stronger?”
“Of course Yeorum-unni is stronger.”
“…Have you fought?”
“Uumm, no?”
“Hah, oi brat. Seriously… there’s no need to fight, is there?” Yeorum interjected.
“…Why?”
“Because I will win of course.”
“…Hmm.”
“Oi. Think about it. Yu Kaeul is like the type to sit on the ground shooting cannons. They hit hard but not all the time. On the other hand, I’m an eagle. Can you hit an eagle with a cannonball?”
Gyeoul imagined a gold cannon trying to shoot down a red eagle. It wasn’t easy. It looked difficult for a ball of steel to hit an eagle.
“If I go to her back and smack her once on the back of her head, that’s the end alright?”
“…She can, run away with magic?”
“Am I gonna just sit back and let her do that? You can sense the fluctuation around the area she’s about to blink to. I can cancel the flow of mana for teleportation and blink would be right next to me, so I can use my own footwork to close the gap.”
“…But she can block you?”
“Oi. Do you wanna try blocking my fist? See who suffers a loss?”
“…Sorry.”
Meanwhile, Kaeul uninterestedly tried to bite on the wing of the baby chicken. Chip chip! The baby chicken fluttered its wings and ran away in fright while Kaeul chuckled and chased after it while shouting, “Uahh, my chicken wings!”
Yeorum clicked her tongue as if she found that pathetic.
“Look. Just look at her. She’s just a kid so why would I fight her?”
“…Aren’t you young as well?”
“I’m not young.”
“…How old are you?”
“Around 18. I lived six times more than you at least.”
Seeing that there was still a doubtful look on Gyeoul’s face, Yeorum felt slightly irritated. It might be that as a daughter of the red race, she felt displeased by the fact that she was being compared by a blue dragon.
“Oi, Yu Kaeul!”
“Uunn?!”
“Do you wanna try fighting me today?”
“Ehng? Why?”
“Apparently she’s curious who’s stronger.”
“Aye. Of course I’ll lose if we fight!”
Yeorum gazed down at Gyeoul with an expression saying, ‘You see that?’. Gyeoul found that prideful smile to be very annoying but following the next words of Kaeul, the smile vanished from Yeorum’s face.
“But when protecting people against demons or protecting a fortress against monsters, I should be better, right?”
The triumphant look disappeared from Yeorum’s face. However, the overall change in her expression was small and Gyeoul, having not noticed it, asked again.
“…What if it’s just the two of you?”
“Aye. I would lose that for sure.”
“…What if, it’s in groups?”
“Well that’s, uumm… I don’t know? Maybe?”
“…Then that’s, 2:1?”
“Hoh? Yu Kaeul. What do you even know about fighting?” Yeorum asked.
“I studied in first grade and second grade as well, you know?”
Studying at Lair meant undergoing a military education, and for the past 2 years, Kaeul had diligently gone through the military training. Despite that, Yeorum couldn’t acknowledge it. She simply thought that Kaeul was acting up just because she was a bit older now.
“You confident?”
“Nn?”
“Stop this if you can.”
Yeorum moved her hand. Grabbing a cushion, she immediately threw it as it started flying towards Chirpy.
It wasn’t that fast. However, surprised by the fact that something was flying towards Chirpy, Kaeul instinctively moved her mana and bounced the cushion off in mid-air. It was an accident – Kaeul was still inexperienced and couldn’t properly control the direction of the mana. The cushion bounced in mid-air and started flying towards Yeorum’s head as if it was shot from a cannon.
This time, it was as fast as a cannonball.
Surprised, Yeorum instinctively twisted her head and pulled her head away from the trajectory but the cushion suddenly began expanding.
Unable to handle the sheer force of Kaeul’s mana, the cushion exploded mid-flight. With a loud bang, the cotton inside the cushion exploded out and accurately landed on Yeorum’s face. Some of them even entered her mouth.
“Uht. Ptui, ptui!”
Yeorum pulled the cotton out of her mouth and her tongue. Gyeoul widened her eyes into circles, wondering what had just happened. Kaeul was also surprised. In a fluster, she shouted “U, unni!” and ran up to her before flapping her arms around in confusion.
“S, sorry! Are you alright!?”
Sticking her tongue out, Yeorum got rid of the cotton that was on her tongue while glaring at Kaeul. There was a small smile hanging on her eyes but that appeared all the more scary in Kaeul’s eyes.
“My dear sister. What’s this about?”
“No, no…! I didn’t know it would fly to your face!”
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“It’s true!”
“There are tens of places it could have bounced off to but it went straight towards my face. You mean that was a coincidence? Do you think that’s a sound excuse?”
Kaeul was feeling mortified.
“B, but! Y, you shouldn’t have thrown the cushion in the first place then!”
“Hoh? Now you’re being honest ey? Just from a little joke, you suddenly don’t care about seniority and try to make your unni eat shit?”
“Like I said, it was an accident…!”
That was when Yeorum suddenly threw a broken portion of the cushion towards Kaeul’s face.
“Uekekk! Ptui ptui!”
Her mouth had been open just then. Spitting out all the cotton that had entered her mouth, Kaeul screamed out loud at Yeorum.
“Unni!!”
What Yeorum said in response was ridiculous.
“Oops, that was an accident.”
Kaeul furiously clenched her trembling fists as Yeorum returned a displeased glare.
Embers flickered between them.
“…”
What’s gotten into them all of a sudden?
That was Gyeoul’s honest thought on the matter.
***
“Sorry.”
“Uun. Me too.”
“But to be honest, it’s your fault.”
“What? No? Ah, nn……”
Seeing Yeorum’s fist, Kaeul acted submissively but her lips were still in a big pout.
“What’s with that expression on your face. Huh?”
“What! What about my expression!”
“‘What’? Whaaat↗?”
Her voice was for some reason very scary.
“N, nothing. Hehe…”
Kaeul forced a smile but after turning around and looking at Gyeoul, she threw a glance towards Yeorum from the corner of her eyes and quietly complained.
“…Ehew,” sighed Gyeoul while clicking her tongue.
Her two unnis weren’t mature in the slightest. How was it that they were more childish than herself?
Their conflict persisted even throughout their meal.
The menu Yu Jitae and Bom bought for the day was a braised pork belly set from a very famous Chinese restaurant at Lair. Thick pieces of meat soaked with soy sauce both juicy and tender with a hint of chilliness!
Wrapping the piece of meat with bok choy that came with the set alongside a spoonful of fried rice – it was an otherworldly flavour, a luxurious mix of sweet and salty.
During meal time, Kaeul who had always been submissively giving up, stole the piece of braised pork that Yeorum was about to pick up.
“…?”
Yeorum’s chopsticks froze in mid-air as Kaeul joyously chewed on the meat.
“Hmm it’s so nicee.”
It was her way of showing her displeasure. Yeorum had a slightly dumbfounded look on her face but soon, she picked up the plate of braised pork belly which was located in front of Kaeul and placed it in front of her own seat.
“Huhh? What are you doing!”
“What.”
“I’m eating the braised pork as well!!”
“Is anyone stopping you? Just eat it, you gold pig.”
But because of the distance, she was at a disadvantage. Whenever Kaeul tried to pick up a piece of braised pork belly, Yeorum intercepted it and constantly brought it to her mouth.
“Seriously, what are you doing unni!?”
Kaeul shouted in anger.
“Oh wow, this is freaking great. The meat’s melting inside my mouth.”
“I want it too!”
“Yes yes. Kaeul. Come on and have some, alright?”
Kaeul moved her chopsticks again but to no avail. For three more times, Yeorum moved her chopsticks first and snatched the meat away from her. She picked up three whole pieces and crammed her mouth with all the meat.
“Anng ♥. It’s just melting inside my mouth ♥. Why aren’t you having them, my dear sister?”
“U, uuiiii! Are you an actual devil unni? What’s wrong with your personality?!”
Yu Jitae couldn’t watch them fight any longer and took the plate of braised pork belly before placing it in the middle. With a flick, the two of them turned towards him.
“Ahjussi!” shouted Kaeul.
“Dear. Aht… I mean, sir!”
Yeorum threw a furtive glance at Bom before changing her words.
“This little brat is trying to get on my level all the time. What should I do?” Yeorum asked.
“What do you mean! Ahjussi! Look here! Unni is constantly harassing me!”
“That’s funny. She was the one that interfered with my food first and now she’s acting like the victim.”
“You harassed me first just then!”
Yeorum glared at her but this time, Kaeul did not look away from her gaze.
“Hoh. Now you’re glaring back at me even?”
“D, d, don’t you know the saying, ‘You shouldn’t even touch dogs when they’re eating’?!”
“Hah. F*ck. Alright. Let’s make this straight. Ahjussi. If she and I fought, who would win?”
After slight hesitation, Yu Jitae asked back.
“…What?”
“Right, ahjussi! To be honest! Aren’t I, in a more variety of ways than unni, you know? More useful than her?!”
“Are you freaking shameless or what?”
“What!”
“You stay on your bum all day, and you dare think you can contest against me!”
“But unni, you only know how to fight!”
“We’re here to fight. That’s more than enough you retard!”
“Superhumans exist to protect! Right? Right, ahjussi!?”
They were this close to biting at each other’s necks.
Was the braised pork belly at fault? Yu Jitae had no idea why the two of them were suddenly so eager to fight.
He was planning to let them compete, but wasn’t this too over the top now? Thinking that, he turned towards Bom but Yu Bom, the chairman of the anti-excessive competition committee, shook her head. It meant that there weren’t any problems for the time being.
“Yeorum would probably win.”
In response to Yu Jitae’s words, Kaeul’s expression changed as if the whole world was crumbling before her while Yeorum gazed down with an indifferent look on her face. Meanwhile, she stealthily intersected her thumb and her index finger into the shape of a heart and showed him under the table, so that Kaeul wouldn’t be able to see it.
But suddenly, the situation changed.
“Why? I think Kaeul would win.”
“Ehng? Oi. Yu Bom.”
“Nn?”
“How can you do this to me?”
I’m helping you keep your secret hidden and I’m always on your side, so shouldn’t you be on my side?
That was what Yeorum implied with her question but Bom smiled as if it was funny.
“Competition should be done by your head not by your heart. Thinking logically, I think Kaeul would win.”
“…”
It made sense but Yeorum still had a frown on her face.
On the other hand, Kaeul gave repeated nods towards Bom and showered her with a gaze filled with love.
There happened to be five people at the dining table, so the gazes of the two of them soon landed on Gyeoul.
Gyeoul on the side was diligently trying to carefully fold the white part and the green part of the bok choy into a clean half. During that, she blankly raised her head but suddenly found four pairs of eyes looking at her.
“…Unn? Why?”
Yeorum moved her chopsticks. She then placed a meat on top of the bok choy Gyeoul had opened.
“Awh, our cute little Gyeoul.”
“……?”
“You heard what unni said just then right? Who do you think will win?”
Gyeoul felt goosebumps popping up on her skin. Yeorum was smiling warmly as if she was staring at something precious. Gyeoul had originally been thinking that Yeorum would definitely be the winner but Yeorum’s expression dissuaded her from saying that.
“…Kaeul-unni.”
“Ah, you freaking brat.”
“Kyahahaha! You know babies don’t lie right, unni!?”
Patty cake, patty cake~. Kaeul grabbed onto Gyeoul’s hands and shook them up and down. Gyeoul also wore a bright smile on her face.
It was now 2:1. There were more people that believed in Kaeul’s victory!
Suddenly, Yeorum shot out of her seat and brought the protector who was watching and following the morning yoga show in front of the living room’s TV.
“You know, Cleaner Ahjussi.”
“Gururuk…?”
“Me or Yu Kaeul. Choose one.”
“…”
The protector flickered its red eyes.
“C’mon choose. Hurry up.”
“Hmm hmm. Based on which is it? Beauty? Or is it the one who has been nicer to me?”
“What kind of question is that? The first one would be me of course!”
The protector’s eyes became little dots. It blinked its dotted eyes in confusion as silence covered the house.
Being one to hold grudges, the protector still remembered how Yeorum had kicked the rubbish bin that it had gathered and was about to choose Kaeul.
“No no no. I mean who do you think will be stronger.”
Ah, based on that, huh?
However, even the protector couldn’t guess that so standing still, it pondered on the spot. The following words that left its mouth made the kids burst into laughter.
“Please show your sincerity.”
When Yeorum was about to run up and break the cleaning tools, the protector stopped joking and gave a judgement fairer than that of Solomon’s.
It was now 2:2.
***
That evening,
With the kids inside the car, Yu Jitae drove to the ground. From the passenger’s seat, Bom glanced at the rear mirror, at Yeorum and Kaeul who were sitting at the back seats without saying a single word to each other.
Stuck in the middle of the two, Gyeoul seemed amused by the situation and giggled, ‘Uhihi’ staring at the two of them.
“Right right. By the way, where are we going to right now?”
“I told you already. We’re heading to the Korean branch of the International Superhuman Association.”
“But why are we going there??”
“Actually this morning, I applied for this semester to be your ‘Self-regulated Class Participation Semester’ at the education department.”
In response to his words, both Kaeul and Yeorum looked at the back of his head.
“Ehng?”
Self-regulated Class Participation Semester.
Starting from the 3rd grade, cadets were allowed to start working outside despite several restrictions being in place. Of course, their grades had to be decent as well.
Yeorum and Kaeul naturally had more than enough grades, and from now on, Yu Jitae was going to start leading the kids outside.
“Why?”
“Because the Association’s official superhuman world rankings get updated at the end of the year.”
“Huh, wait what?”
His words caught her off guard and Yeorum leaned forward with only her bum on the chair.
“What? World ranking?!”
Inside Lair, there were no longer any cadets that could fight against the two of them, and the gap between them and other cadets was already starting to increase exponentially.
Yeorum was just that desperate.
While Kaeul was just that much of a genius.
To the kids that were frozen from the unexpected turn of events, Yu Jitae added more words.
“It’s time for you guys to get yourselves a world ranking as well.”