There were two types of cadets that remained at Lair during holidays.
One of them was the type that had no money.
Using portal stations required a tremendous amount of money. There were cadets who found it difficult to manage the price it took to go back and forth, and such cadets remained at Lair. Examples of such cases were Soujiro and Kim Ji-in.
“Soujiro, are you alright?’
“Uuhh… Yeah! Aigo, my head.”
The other type were the cadets that desired to use Lair’s facilities during the holiday period. Lair’s training system was renowned worldwide to have gathered the essence of magic engineering to one place. Cadets who were dying to get stronger would remain during the holidays to train themselves.
“Hey, look at them though.”
“Huh? Aahh.”
“Aren’t they really intense…?”
While having a drink of water, Kim Ji-in gave a frown.
Cadets of Level 5 societies were training on the other side of the physical training room. They were the most promising members of Lair and would become the top ranking superhumans of their nations once they returned after their graduations.
“Must feel good to be talented.”
“L, let’s not compare ourselves to them! We can try harder ourselves!”
“…You’re right, tch.”
It was then.
“No! That’s not it, Cadet Yeorum.”
The head instructor of the Combat Skill Training Room, Barack, shouted. Kim Ji-in and Soujiro turned their gazes towards the sound.
“Are you only going to wake up after you get injured?”
Barack, a bald man with a ‘十’-shaped scar, crumpled his vicious face into a frown. He was a world ranker with the shocking rank of 5813th, who was also a former veteran soldier before becoming an instructor.
Yeorum stood crookedly and looked up at Barack.
“Why.”
“That’s not how you do Shock Adaptation Training. You need to start with something that can be handled easily. It’s like a jab, and a jab followed by a hook. How many times do I have to say this?”
“I know. But I’m doing this because I can.”
“You idiot. Your stomach will be ruined! All your organs will be damaged!”
Yeorum scratched her ears as if she couldn’t be bothered to explain it.
What she was doing right now was the Shock Adaptation Training. The machine would shoot out a ball made of an alloy and cadets would receive it with their bodies. They would repeat the process and get used to the shock, while learning how to move the mana to certain places to strengthen their body, by for example protecting the stomach from a flying ball.
“Ah, I’m fine, so stop minding my business please.”
“No. I’ve been watching for several days but I can’t do that anymore. The Combat Skill Training Room is under my supervision during the holidays. I don’t know if Instructor Carlin let this be, but not me! I can’t let anyone get hurt while I’m on duty here!”
“…”
“So just obediently listen to what I say. If you’re into getting hurt, then you can enjoy it outside after graduation. Claws of monsters that are several times stronger than this machine would be aiming for you.”
“Like I said… it doesn’t really hurt okay? I wasn’t injured.”
“Just listen to what I say–!”
Giving a frown from the scream, Yeorum heaved out a sigh.
“Then what should I do, should I show you? Hnn?”
“What?’
“I just have to show my stomach and see if it’s bruised or not, right?”
“No that’s…”
Yeorum suddenly began taking off her protective equipment. Her casual clothes – the t-shirt and her tight leggings were revealed but perhaps thinking that that wasn’t enough, she raised her cotton shirt and opened her stomach up.
“Oi!”
“Look. Look at my stomach!”
A white stomach was on full display.
There was a clear six pack with not a single excess of fat. Let alone a bruise, there was not a single blemish.
Immediately afterwards, Barack turned his eyes away in surprise.
“You, what do you think you’re doing right now.”
“Aigo! What should I do? It’s bruised, isn’t it? It’s full of bruises and wounds everywheree. It must hurt, this cute belly fat of little Yeorum~.”
“Yu Yeorum…!”
The gazes of the surrounding cadets and guardians were all on him. Thinking that she was insulting him, Barack scowled.
“The stomach is being protected by the protective equipment. The issue will be in the organs, so there obviously won’t be any bruises left behind. So stop! If you try to tease me anymore than this…”
“Oh, okay?”
Yeorum smiled.
“So you want to see my legs since they get bruised easily?”
“…What?”
“Ah, just stay here! Don’t go anywhere.”
Her hands went down to her waist.
“Oi, oi!”
She was about to take her leggings off.
“Uaaaat, Y, Yeorum!”
“Hey! Calm down!’
Startled, Soujiro and Kim Ji-in ran up and held onto Yeorum’s hands to stop her.
“Why’re you holding me back? What are you guys doing?’
“C, calm down!”
“Like I said, my legs aren’t bruised okay?’
“I get it so please calm down…!”
The two of them desperately tried to stop her. Barack shook his head as if he found it ridiculous but was pressured by her aura as he therefore turned around.
“Where are you going? I can show you my leg right now.”
It was early, during breakfast.
Today’s menu was a simple udon. Bom boiled the noodles herself and heated up some frozen tempura. They were ready-made and thus tasted completely fine despite having gone through her hands.
Thinking back, Bom’s recent dishes didn’t seem that strange either. But it might be because humans were adapting animals or because a few of his taste buds had died from eating them.
He pondered about that for a second.
During the meal, Kaeul was boasting to Bom, Yeorum and Yu Jitae about how she had completed the puzzle and Bom praised her for her success. Gyeoul also appeared rather content, as she repeatedly glanced at the picture frame of the puzzle that was hanging in the living room.
Yeorum remained silent and appeared to be in a bad mood today. Her legs were crossed and her chin was resting on her hand, while she stirred the noodles with chopsticks in her other hand without eating them.
“…”
Gyeoul carefully dug into the noodles with a spork.
She was eating very diligently.
It shouldn’t be that hot, but she didn’t forget to imitate her unnis by blowing ‘hoo hoo’ on it several times. These days, she almost never dropped her food either. Thinking back on how she had spilled half the noodles she ate back when she went sledding with Yu Jitae, it was a great improvement.
“…”
However, she appeared slightly discontent for some reason.
Gyeoul blankly stared at her own spork before looking at Yu Jitae’s chopsticks. Then, she threw a glance across the chopsticks in Bom, Yeorum and Kaeul’s hands before turning back to her spork.
“…”
Gaze: Displeased.
She pulled on the sleeves of Yu Jitae, who was sitting next to her.
“Why.”
“…Me too. Chopsticks.”
Yu Jitae quietly took out a pair of chopsticks from the container and handed it over to her. She then began using the chopsticks awkwardly with her tiny hand.
Her first goal was to grab a strand of noodle.
She focused intently but the chopsticks failed to meet one another as the noodle slipped in mid-air and fell down.
Unknowingly, Gyeoul even sneaked her tongue out as she concentrated even more. However, there was no way it would be easy considering that it was her first time using chopsticks and after struggling for a long time, she turned to Yu Jitae with a frown.
“…”
Her current gaze meant she was asking for help.
“Why don’t you just use a fork.”
…Shake… shake.
“Why.”
Gyeoul merely shook her head in repeat. When she was stubborn for an unknown reason like this, it was usually better to just listen to her request.
“…Hold onto it.”
Throughout the entire breakfast, Yu Jitae taught her how to use chopsticks.
Towards the end of the meal, Gyeoul carefully raised a soggy strand of noodle with her chopsticks and succeeded in dropping it into her mouth before it snapped.
“…!”
Slurrp. After slowly pulling the noodles into her mouth, Gyeoul looked back at Yu Jitae with a beaming smile.
“Well done.”
She was apparently in a good mood as her ‘nod nod’s were more energetic than usual.
“You know what.”
It was then. Yeorum, who had remained seated on the table even after finishing her meal, called him.
“Is it fun? Teaching her how to use chopsticks?”
Hearing her voice which seemed to contain a thorny edge to it, the Regressor turned his head. Gyeoul likewise looked at Yeorum with circular eyes.
“Why.”
“It’s nothing. Is it fun, doing that.”
He had no idea whether it was fun or not. He had just taught her because she asked for it, but the joy she revealed after finally succeeding in using her chopsticks, wasn’t too bad to look at.
Right when he was about to reply, Yeorum raised her body.
“Whatever. Who cares whether it’s fun or not…”
She then went into her room so Yu Jitae asked Gyeoul.
“What’s wrong with her.”
“…!”
Gyeoul who was clueless, merely waved her chopsticks with a smile. That was when Bom’s voice was heard from behind.
“Ahjussi. Weren’t you going to do something with Yeorum once the holidays began?”
“Yeah. I was.”
Teaching how to fight.
In other words, he was thinking of making her stronger, but it was pushed back by several days due to the issue with Kaeul’s video. Maybe she was upset because of that.
“Hmm…”
Even Bom who always knew the answer when it was related to dragons, appeared to have no idea. It seemed that he had to look into it himself.
***
She wore a cotton t-shirt and leggings, with a cap and a padded jacket on top – this was how Yeorum looked like whenever she was out to train by herself.
“…”
She glanced at Yu Jitae before starting to walk without saying anything else. The two remained quiet for some time.
Soon, she whispered a complaint.
“Thanks for starting so early.”
“Sorry for being late.”
“…You know how to say something like that?’
“I learned it.”
“Doesn’t suit you.”
Silence covered the two once again.
The two of them walked for a long time without saying a word and before long, Lair Central Training Centre revealed itself. The large building with a dome-shaped roof was a building with all sorts of training facilities installed inside.
Yeorum stopped her feet.
“You know what, I don’t think I really have to learn from you.”
“What?”
Now what was this about. He couldn’t see a single light of mischief on Yeorum’s face.
“It’s just… I’m not saying this because you were late. I thought about it myself and that was the answer I came up with. And I’m a dragon so what do I really have to learn? It might be okay to do it myself.”
“…”
“So just go back.”
After finishing her words, she walked into the training centre. She roughly tied her hair and the red tail leaving the gap at the back of her cap gently swung across.
It was a situation he hadn’t been expecting. Nonetheless, he couldn’t just disregard everything and go back so Yu Jitae also entered the training centre.
Yeorum used several machines by herself or trained with just her body. Yu Jitae quietly watched over her.
Even when their eyes occasionally met, she would only frown slightly without even speaking up to him. Thus, he decided to ask her.
“You, did something happen?”
“No?”
On the way back from training, Yeorum did not say much.
“…”
There was nothing he could do.
“Why not just go back? Well, it doesn’t matter even if you follow though.”
Should I go back.
For him, it didn’t really matter even if he didn’t train Yeorum.
In the end, she was a dragon and would become stronger even if she did nothing. Besides, his objective was to protect her so that she wouldn’t get hurt so there was no need to bother forcing himself to teach her.
He was just slightly curious, about the reason she suddenly changed her attitude.
*
The Regressor who wasn’t good with words, decided to just follow her for the time being.
On the second day, Yeorum once again travelled between training rooms every 2 hours and exercised. There were a few cadets who greeted her but she was alone throughout. Besides that, he didn’t spot anything strange.
Thus, the Regressor followed her for three more days and watched her train.
*
But on the third day of him following her, someone called Yu Jitae from the Combat Skill Training Room.
She was a short female and her blue name badge read ‘Interpersonal Combat Skill Adjunct Professor Ha Yoon’. He remembered hearing her name somewhere.
“Are you by any chance the guardian of Cadet Yu Yeorum?”
“Yes. I’m Yu Jitae.”
“Nice to meet you. It’s just that I had something to say to you.”
Just like how former soldiers were all like, Professor Ha Yoon went straight to the topic.
“I think you need to manage Cadet Yeorum.”
“…Yes?”
“I’ve been watching from 2 months ago, but Cadet Yeorum’s training method is extremely wrong. And she is too stubborn to listen to the words of the professors or the instructors.”
“…”
“She is abusing her joints and muscles excessively. Her body still shouldn’t be used to mana so training like that for a long time will lead to an injury. Don’t you know that yourself?”
Yu Jitae slowly raised his hand and touched his lower lips.
“…And?”
“Honestly, it makes me think that sir guardian might be neglecting her too much. It might be presumptuous of me to say this, but I would like you to manage her a bit more in the future. For the correct growth of Cadet Yeorum.”
After saying that, the professor turned around and walked away.
“…”
Left alone, Yu Jitae glanced across the training room one last time. There were all sorts of complex machines as well as cadets using those to train themselves. However, not a single one of them was alone.
Yeorum, who was training alone, exercised without following the safety regulations and the staff members with blue name badges would click their tongues whenever they walked past Yeorum. They all appeared to have given up.
Finally Yu Jitae realised it.
He realised why Yeorum suddenly said that she didn’t need to learn from him, as well as the reason for that change in her attitude.