Ch.524Chapter 20. American Doblin (14)

Cheon Ju-yeon came back to life.

She became human after inhabiting the body of the clone created by Ymir.

The expression is a bit ambiguous, but since I didn’t experience it directly, I’ll borrow her own words.

“It feels like being trapped in a VR game and then returning to reality?”

I still don’t quite understand.

“It’s complicated to explain, but it feels like my senses are about three times more sensitive.”

Since even Cheon Ju-yeon herself has difficulty explaining her current situation, it’s hard for me to describe something I haven’t experienced.

“Manager Do, have you ever had a lucid dream?”

“You mean being aware in a dream?”

“Yes. It’s similar to that.”

“So being a ghost was like being aware of yourself in a dream, and now you’re awake in reality?”

“Something like that.”

I don’t deliberately try to have lucid dreams, but I’ve experienced them a few times.

Based on that experience, the vivacity Cheon Ju-yeon is feeling now must be quite profound in many ways.

“Ms. Cheon Ju-yeon. Are there any side effects?”

“Well, there are a few visible ones, Chairman.”

Using her magical power to create a white robe, she pointed to her hair.

“These highlights aren’t really my style, but I guess I’m stuck with them.”

Pointing to the golden highlights scattered among the blue strands, Cheon Ju-yeon shuddered.

“Ugh, this looks worse than those boys with highlights back at the academy. Manager Do, what do you think?”

“It’s a different look, but after seeing it a few times, I think it suits you.”

It’s somewhat familiar to me.

‘Reminds me of VTuber hair.’

When you look at modern virtual YouTubers, though not all of them, you often see those with two-tone colored hair.

Even among VTubers, most have single-colored hair, but it’s fairly common to see different colors inside the hair or just a few strands with different colors.

Not in this era, but in my time, K-POP idols often showed two-tone colors like black mixed with gold…

“…Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Nothing, Chairman.”

I looked at the Chairman’s hair with a fleeting thought, but decided to bury it deep in my mind since it wasn’t an important suspicion.

What matters is that Cheon Ju-yeon in front of me now has blue hair with golden highlights.

And one more thing.

“Hair, ooh, this feels so good…! It’s been years since I’ve had it this long…!”

Her hair has grown longer.

More precisely, she now has Ymir’s hair.

“Ymir, your hair quality is really good. Hmm… You don’t have goblins playing with your hair or anything, right?”

“With my hair…?”

“Oh, you don’t know? I’ll tell you something good later…”

“Don’t think about teaching her strange things.”

“Hehehe.”

Though she doesn’t like the color of her hair, Cheon Ju-yeon’s face flushed red as she repeatedly touched her long straight hair that reached down to her waist.

“Hmmm, now I can style my hair however I want… Oh, Chairman. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. You know that, right?”

“Of course. I’m actually happy to see Taotie so delighted.”

“Thank you for understanding…”

Cheon Ju-yeon’s eyes turned somewhere else.

“…Sister Ji-eun?”

“You succeeded. Congratulations.”

Clap, clap, clap.

Seong Ji-eun applauded with a bright smile.

“I’m really grateful that you jumped into the clone first for my sake.”

“R-right? But why are you looking at me like that, sis?”

“Since you succeeded, shouldn’t I try it too?”

“……”

As Seong Ji-eun took a step forward, Cheon Ju-yeon took two steps back.

“U-um, sis. Wait a minute. I still don’t know what other side effects there might be. Y-yeah. What happens when I eat food? Will I burn up all the food like ability users? Or…”

“If it worked, come out. We can figure out the side effects later, so come out of there. We also need to see if another person can possess a clone that’s already been possessed.”

“That’s true, but we don’t have to do it right now!”

“If not now, when else can we do it?”

Under Seong Ji-eun’s pressure, Cheon Ju-yeon sent a pleading look toward Ymir.

“Hey, Mir?”

Her voice calling Ymir was so affectionate that it gave me goosebumps.

“Our Mir, we had fun talking about all sorts of things in Japan, didn’t we?”

“Where did the person who was snapping at Ymir before possession go?”

“Hey, old man, shut up for a bit. Mir, I’ll tell you something good, so could you calm down that scary big sister?”

“He’s not an old man, he’s my teacher.”

“…Huh?”

Ymir pushed aside Cheon Ju-yeon who was trying to link arms with her.

“Teacher isn’t an old man. He’s oppa.”

“That’s right, Ymir. Thank you.”

“Uh, um, hmm… Are you upset because I was being sharp earlier, or because I called the Goblin an old man?”

“I’m fine with you doubting me, but calling my teacher an old man doesn’t sit right with me.”

“No.”

Cheon Ju-yeon looked at Ymir with an expression of indescribable fear.

“That’s the bigger issue…?”

“For me, yes.”

“T-then.”

Cheon Ju-yeon glanced at Seong Ji-eun and whispered in Ymir’s ear.

“I’ll teach you reverse ride…AACK!!”

“This is ridiculous.”

I immediately grabbed Cheon Ju-yeon’s head and pulled her aside.

“I told you not to teach Ymir strange things. Do you think she’d be tempted by that?”

“I can make a clone for Sister Ji-eun too, right?”

“…Hot!”

Cheon Ju-yeon, who was caught in my headlock, immediately broke free and backed away from me.

“That’s my Ymir! You get it!”

“…Well.”

“Sister Ji-eun?”

Ymir approached Seong Ji-eun first.

“I’ll make you a clone, so serve the country with me. Okay?”

“Hmm…”

“If you don’t serve the country, I can’t make you a clone. The reason I make clones is for patriotism.”

“Hmm…”

Seong Ji-eun glanced at me quietly, then nodded very subtly.

“…Will you help me, just once?”

“Of course! Helping people in trouble is a hero’s role.”

“…A hero, huh.”

Seong Ji-eun smiled bitterly as she took Ymir’s outstretched hand.

“I’ll be counting on you.”

“Hmm, so are we done sorting things out now?”

The Chairman, who had been quietly smiling, clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Then Ymir, please make a clone for Hundun. Making one clone after another might be a bit difficult, but let’s give it a try.”

“Hmm…”

“W-wait a minute. Can’t you make multiple clones?”

Cheon Ju-yeon grabbed Ymir with a pale face.

“N-no, right? It’s not like you can only make one, or that I have to leave this clone to give Sister Ji-eun her turn, right?”

“W-well, so far I’ve only been able to make one perfect clone at a time.”

“Oh no.”

Cheon Ju-yeon began to look tearful, while Seong Ji-eun just twisted the corner of her mouth nonchalantly.

“Taotie. Stop bothering Ymir and step aside.”

“Ah, yes. Understood, Chairman.”

At the Chairman’s instruction, Cheon Ju-yeon immediately distanced herself from Ymir.

“Ymir? If you’re short on magical power, just let me know. I can help you with that much.”

“I don’t think I’ll be short on magical power…”

“Then what’s the issue?”

“…It’s just, difficult to create.”

Ymir brought her hands together in front of her and raised her magical power.

“There’s a ‘core’ for creating clones, but so far I’ve only had one. For a clone that can truly house a soul.”

“So you can make multiple regular clones, but it’s difficult to create a vessel for a soul?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm…”

The Chairman put a hand to her face and tilted her head.

She’s probably searching through the database of abilities in her mind.

In terms of abilities and terminology, you could say she’s searching for abilities stored in the ‘Akashic Records.’

‘That must be burdensome.’

I wonder if her brain is getting overloaded.

She must already have a lot on her mind, and thinking about abilities that fit the situation will surely cause overheating.

“Chairman.”

“…Yes?”

“Let me think about this.”

“You?”

“Surely I can come up with something. Better than giving you a headache.”

“Hmm…”

The Chairman lowered her hand and straightened her posture.

“Well, do you have any ideas?”

“…I have one.”

The mark of an excellent company employee:

When stopping a meeting or expressing opposition, always present a solution.

“What is it?”

“Instead of using Ymir’s pure mana as the core of the clone, we use something else.”

“…Ah. So we overlay mana on top of a different core, and use that as the basis for constructing the body?”

The Chairman immediately snapped her fingers, understanding my meaning.

“Excuse me, what are you talking about?”

“It’s simple. Instead of creating a clone from nothing, we create it based on some foundation. Um, do you know Journey to the West?”

The Chairman pulled a strand of her hair.

“In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong plucks a hair and blows on it, and it becomes his clone, right?”

“……”

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to cause hair loss or anything like that.”

“…Can you really read minds?”

“I can tell just by looking at your expression. Hehehe.”

The Chairman smiled brightly at the serious-faced Ymir and lightly flicked her hand.

Whoosh.

A hologram-like mist of magical power appeared in the air before us.

It drew a skeleton from a single circle, formed a human body, and created a person.

“If you think of the core roughly as a heart, the ethereal body is constructed from there. That becomes the clone. Instead of continuously infusing magical power, you use a medium that already contains magical power.”

“A medium…ah!”

Ymir turned her gaze toward me.

“That!”

“Yes.”

I stepped aside and then.

“I wasn’t planning to bring this out yet.”

I reached into my pants.

“It’s the Golden Soul Orb.”