episode_0017

March was the beginning of spring, a time when fresh emotions should cover the world and bring comfort and hope to the hearts of people who are tired of fighting against monsters.

In March of this year, a belated cold spell was rampant, making people tighten their collars even more.

Is even the Earth jealous of humans, or is the Earth jealous of humans and greeting them with a cold wind like the Gaia theory has already outlived?

Just like that day in December when everything began, forsythia and azalea, which celebrate the return of spring, did not visit the world.

Thin tree branches with fallen leaves and flower buds shivering from the cold and failing to fully bloom.

But beyond their appearance, humans still move.

No matter how tough the world is, no matter how safe tomorrow cannot be guaranteed, people continue to move, squirm, and resist reality.

In order to achieve a better tomorrow than today, to pass on a better future to their descendants, they constantly struggle and rise from the ashes.

The driving force behind it can be seen as something called hope.

And today, at a place near Seoul,

The huge site on the hill was filled with the greatest hope.

Numerous broadcasting vehicles flocked together, and luxury vehicles that are difficult to see in everyday life filled the stadium-like area.

Although it was located in a country in Northeast Asia, the majority were not only Asians, but rather people with more exotic appearances than Asians.

─Boo.

After crossing the line of numerous vehicles, a black luxury sedan eventually found an empty parking spot and entered the spot.

A man in a suit gets out of the driver’s seat and politely opens the back door.

Inside, a wrinkled middle-aged man and a young man who appears to have just passed his term of service get off.

However, their appearances were quite contrasting. The middle-aged man was proud and had his shoulders tense, while the young man who got off with him looked hesitant.

I bow to the man in a suit who opened the door.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man slaps the young man on the back with a loud sound.

“Evil!”

“Why is this guy so scared? Be more confident, man. Could you please put some pressure on your shoulders? A strong shoulder is the life of a man. ”

Han Sejun, the young man who had been smashed in the back, glared at his father as if glaring at him.

In fact, Han Sejun’s reaction is a typical reaction. Now, his father showing off like this is a bit strange.

It is normal for people to panic when they are placed in an environment that is different from usual and have difficulty maintaining their usual pace.

And what makes it possible is social experience accumulated over a long period of time. It’s called age.

We can’t expect him, who is just over 20 years old, to wear an experienced fox mask.

“Then, both of you, please come here. We will guide you to the auditorium where the entrance ceremony will be held. Please wear that badge on your chest.”

The man in a suit holding the steering wheel spoke politely and handed me two badges.

One was a square badge with “Parent” written on it and the other was a badge in the shape of a red dragon.

No matter how clumsy Han Sejun was, it wasn’t to the point where he didn’t know who the badge was depicting.

The moment he realized its meaning, the weight of reality pressed down on his shoulders.

ah. I really am going to enter this academy now.

“Okay, Sejun, follow me quickly. Am I going first?”

“Ah. Please go with your father.”

He was lost in emotion while looking at the badge for a moment, but a frivolous voice from next to him awoke him from his thoughts and hurriedly followed him.

Han Se-jun, who was following the black suit with his father while looking around here and there, felt himself becoming intimidated.

Do you have xenophobia? What was it called xenophobia?

From now on, I will have to live with many foreigners during my time at school. I’m already worried about this.

His father, who is walking in front, is showing off his pride. Han Sejun suddenly had a slightly unpleasant thought.

I’m the one entering Ellada, so why is my father showing off like this? This is the person who always drinks and falls asleep and just wants to sleep.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion around him, and Han Sejun turned his eyes, which had been glaring at his father, toward the source of the sound.

Over there, a woman who appeared to be around the same age as her was talking to an older man, and next to her, a middle-aged man was looking at the scene with a proud expression.

“Huh, where have I seen that old man before? Who are you and what is this, a talent seal that appears on TV?”

“This is Taesung Jang, Chairman of Taesung Group. The person next to him is Jang Yeon-ho, and the woman is his granddaughter, Jang A-hyeon. Jang A-hyeon is also a new student at Elada.”

“No, what is it? Are you saying that that girl is just like our Sejun?”

After chatting for a while, they started moving, following the man in a black suit like themselves.

As compared to Han Se-jun’s group, which consists of just him and his father, there are probably ten people following the black suit.

“Fighting little lady!”

“Cheer up! Ahyeon Jang, the awakened light! Cool!”

“Pride of Korea! Jang Ahyun fighting!”

Behind them, a group of people are chanting Jang A-hyeon’s name, each holding a pamphlet and a balloon stick in their hands.

Has Taesung Group mobilized an entire department?

In a situation where it seemed like she was shouting out the name of the team she was rooting for at a baseball stadium, Jang Ah-hyun seemed to be completely embarrassed and hurried forward with a slightly red face.

Foreigners around me burst out laughing when they saw the scene.

Han Se-jun looked at Jang A-hyeon.

A slightly red but small and slim face, skin as white as jade without any blemishes as if it had been taken care of, and a healthy body that was slim but did not give the impression of being thin.

As if she were someone who originally lived in this world, her steps were imbued with a firm and solid confidence.

At that moment, Han Sejun realized the cause of his discomfort.

It is not something like simple xenophobia or panic disorder.

In the background and space surrounding him, there is no one who looks as disadvantaged as him.

A huge, old-fashioned academy that only aristocrats would attend, and all of the students entering were wealthy and well-dressed.

Among them, is there room for someone who is desperately poor to fit in? That was worrying.

Han Sejun suddenly remembered something that happened not long ago.

He completely hid his abilities for nearly two years.

Now that I think about it, entering Ellada may have been a foolish thing to do, but I knew how people who stand out from the crowd were treated.

The cause may have been the content of a comic I borrowed from a friend who brought comics to school.

A future where the government is captured as an experimental subject and subjected to all kinds of torture-like experiments in order to uncover the cause of superpowers.

To avoid it, he kept his supernormal abilities hidden, but not long ago, through a strange coincidence, his abilities were discovered by his father.

The problem was that while I was eating dinner after setting the table with my father, my father accidentally knocked over his water cup.

Red energy was oozing from his hand as he unconsciously caught the rapidly falling cup of water.

“… Sejun, what is that?”

He was so embarrassed by his father’s question that he asked him as if he were dumbfounded, and was unable to answer.

After that… Well, it’s the same as now.

Han Se-jun’s father walked around the whole neighborhood shouting “Eureka!”, like Archimedes who realized the solution to King Hieron’s difficult problem.

Of course, the content of Eureka was about Han Sejun.

A few days later, people in black suits suddenly came and took Han Sejun somewhere.

I thought I was destined for a miserable life by becoming Experiment 1313, so I struggled, but they only did a simple test and sent me back.

On the contrary, Han Se-jun, who was screaming like crazy, was almost embarrassed.

Then, a while later, I received a letter of admission by registered mail, and when I came to my senses, I saw my father in a black suit following me.

‘ha… .’

Han Sejun raised his eyes and looked at the sky. I felt like I was dreaming.

Now, is this reality? Since all of this is a fantasy of spring, wouldn’t it all disappear if you close your eyes?

“Excuse me for a moment.”

At the moment when a voice was heard in front of him, Han Sejun reflexively looked at the owner of the voice.

It was a man wearing a dignified-looking suit that gave him a slightly sharp look.

Looking at his appearance, he looked somewhat young, but he seemed to be dressed in clothes that made him look older.

“Are you Han Sejun?”

“Nyushu? Who are you now, calling me our precious son? Do you know who he is now? Those who enter this school are truly awakened. I refuse to do an interview, so go away.”

The black suit that was leading the way stopped my father with a startled sound. By the looks of it, maybe that boss in the black suit? He seemed to be something like that.

However, the person who was treated as a rude reporter ignores him and looks directly at Han Se-jun, as if he is not very angry.

A sharp look in his eyes as if something was searching his mind. Han Sejun realized today that he can overwhelm people with just his gaze.

His eyes stare at him without the slightest movement.

“You look somewhat uneasy.”

I’m more anxious now because of you. Swallowing his heart, Han Sejun met his gaze.

Suddenly he felt that there was something different about the other person’s eyes. Like a cat’s eye, the pupil is slightly slit unlike a human’s.

For a moment, he became scared.

“There is nothing to be anxious about. Mana is so simple and ancient that it comes suddenly without any signs. Mana awakening does not discriminate against conditions.”

“What… What do you mean?”

Without answering those words, the man took out a pack of cigarettes from his inner pocket and put one in his mouth.

At the same time, the end of the cigarette burned and white smoke rose.

“It means that you are equal too. No matter what your previous life was like, from this moment on, everyone is on an equal starting point.”

He took a drag on his cigarette and exhaled white smoke.

“What. Even if I say it now, it probably doesn’t make much sense. Let’s continue the story later. Just remember this, you are talented.”

After saying that, he turned and started walking away.

What is that person? He just says what he wants to say in an incomprehensible voice and then disappears.

Moreover, it is rude to smoke in front of other people. A smoking bug and a road bug. It was a man who wore a comprehensive set of only the most disgusting things.

“What are you, a top with a strange mind? There is no such thing as a crazy person. Why are you speaking like that?”

“This… Look! Stop!”

The man in the black suit urgently waves his hand to stop his father.

Looking at the two, Han Sejun scratched the back of his head and thought back on what he said.

There is talent. You have talent.

… Maybe so. Even if you think about it objectively, don’t you think you tend to wake up pretty quickly?

The day Northmund bestowed mana on this Earth, he awakened this power in less than half a day.

I don’t know the situation of other awakeners, but wouldn’t this be very fast?

The way he spoke was a bit strange, but he knew that he was trying to cheer him up, so he braced himself and clenched his fists.

“Arrived. Just go inside here. Se-Jun Han can go straight to the auditorium, and guardians can go to the parents’ seats on the 2nd and 3rd floors.”

” Draw it. Sejun, your father will be watching from above, so have a good entrance ceremony?”

“Yes, okay.”

When I entered the auditorium, many people were already seated.

Han Sejun followed the instructions and showed his badge to the suits standing behind him, and following their guidance, he headed to where people were standing in several rows.

But now that I think about it… .

‘that person. ‘You’ve never lit a cigarette before, have you?’

I looked back in shock, but no one was there anymore.

*

I went to the executive table behind the podium and sat down in the empty seat.

There are about 15 minutes left before the entrance ceremony begins.

As I was crossing my arms and crossing my legs, a middle-aged man sitting in the professor’s chair greeted me.

“Hello, Northmund.”

“Yes. Good luck to you too.”

I think it was a professor called Brian O’Connor. Was he a professor in the humanities field?

Although this Elada was established primarily for gifted education, its basic structure corresponds to a real university.

Because it is a natural ability academy, education related to natural ability is the main focus, but there are also minor majors such as liberal arts.

‘Well, even in the original Sejong Academy, liberal arts subjects were a public sleeping time for students.’

After saying hello to Professor O’Connor, another professor pretended to know me and gave me a cursory greeting.

After saying hello to all the professors in the professor’s chair, I looked forward again.

There are so many professors. They are all probably top professors in their fields.

At the request of GDO, I was asked to stand at Elada’s teaching table, and I am now here.

They may be at the top of their respective fields, but how would they feel if they found out that the students taking their lectures were treating their lectures as a sleeping room?

I wanted to be in a position to educate students, and there may be some lectures that only I can teach, but I am the principal.

The position of principal is closer to a manager than a teacher or professor.

Of course, I will take charge of some of the lectures myself, but I cannot be their homeroom teacher or full-time professor.

Therefore, they were essential to Ellada.

I looked at the new students in the auditorium.

They just stand there, without any conversation or noise. The usual chatting with the friend sitting next to me at the entrance ceremony did not happen.

‘Of course.’

Of course, it’s natural. Because words don’t make sense.

The new students gathered at Ellada are awakened people found by GDO from all over the world.

Because they were not limited to students from one country, they could not talk to each other even if they wanted to.

When I looked on the internet, I found quite a few people questioning this. This is about how to lecture and provide education in a country where each language is different.

From the opinion that awakened people will be classified by country and lectures given for each country, to speculation that education may be taught in Grandis, Northmund’s native language.

Still, the most common opinion was that classes would be taught in English, the world’s common language.

So, I heard that prospective students who are weak in English hire professional interpreters.

But it was all wrong.

‘You’ll be so surprised.’

I can’t wait to see their reaction when they find out.

While looking at the freshmen gathered like chicks in the auditorium, I suddenly spotted one guy. The guy named Han Se-jun I was talking to earlier.

Perhaps because he was encouraged by the words “You have talent,” he stood in line a little more confidently than before.

‘He looked very shy.’

In the future, he was a just and courageous person who even became the president of the Korean Hunter Association, but now he was just a timid guy.

Now that I think about it, in the original 『Kisi.sen』, Jang Su-ri asked Jang A-hyeon. How on earth did mom and dad meet?

At that question, Han Se-jun’s face brightened and he cleared his throat loudly, and Jang A-hyeon laughed and brought up a story from the past.

According to Jang A-hyeon, he was a very shy and timid person who was very annoying. That’s why we fought often every time we saw each other.

They didn’t want to meet each other, but because they were awakened, they were often mobilized together to exorcise monsters, and eventually, as the saying goes, they became attached while fighting, and they ended up getting married.

So, I approached him and started talking to him, fearing that he would already be a waste of money due to his timid personality. As mentioned in the novel, I found out that he had a somewhat awkward personality.

When Han Se-jun and Jang A-hyeon in the original story awakened, there was no academy, so the two would have been sent into combat right away, so they would have fought and fought a lot due to their sharpened nerves.

To be exact, rather than a fight, I think it was probably a form of Jang Ah-hyun unilaterally pursuing Han Se-jun.

‘He has a timid personality, so I can correct him one by one.’

Elada’s class will be quite difficult. They don’t know yet.

─The first entrance ceremony for the Elm Talent Development Academy will be held. Those who are expected to enroll should stand in rows and rows, and parents should take their seats.

As I was thinking about that, the time came and an announcement was made in English announcing the start of the entrance ceremony.

It’s finally starting.

I got up from my seat and approached the microphone in front of the podium.

Elada is enormous. I feel like I’m repeating the word ‘big’ from earlier, but I can’t emphasize it too much. The site is large, the facilities are large, and this auditorium is also large.

And even though there were so many people filling this large auditorium, the auditorium was silent and quiet.

Everyone was holding their breath and paying attention to me who appeared in front of the podium.

They probably don’t know I’m Elm. Except for GDO personnel, ordinary citizens would only think of Elm Northmund as the body of a dragon.

I looked at Han Sejun. He seemed quite embarrassed.

He must be like that too. Some guy who suddenly appeared and said something strange was suddenly standing on the podium at the entrance ceremony.

I gave him a chuckle and opened my mouth.

“Then shall we start the ceremony? Do you guys know who I am?”

Questions crossed the faces of the people in the auditorium. This was not a question about my question, but a question about the language I did not understand.

I spoke in Korean. Except for some Koreans, they could not understand what I was saying, so they looked at each other’s faces and started talking.

“Ah. I made a mistake.”

I grinned and swung the cane in my hand widely.

Then, a bright cluster of light explodes from the wand, and like the explosion of a supernova, intense waves spread out like the ripples of a nebula and cover the auditorium.

─Ugh!

─Well. what!

In an instant, a feeling of confusion spread throughout the auditorium. People scream at the spreading chaos, like an indicator dropped into a litmus solution.

Some students were protecting themselves by displaying their supernatural abilities.

I see a girl calmly covering herself with a green protective shield. What’s the name? I’ll have to give it extra points later.

─Well. what! Is it terrorism? What is this at the entrance ceremony… .

─Uh… I don’t really have any pain or anything… . Huh? Do you speak Arabic?

─What? I’m Russian. You are speaking Russian… .

It seems like they are slowly realizing what has happened to them.

Voices of surprise erupt from not only the students in the auditorium but also the parents’ seats on the second and third floors.

I laughed out loud. The reaction was as expected.

“It is interpretation magic. Now that everyone understands what I’m saying, let’s begin the ceremony. ah. I should introduce myself first.”

Then I pointed at the girl from earlier.

“You there before that. What’s your name?”

“This is Tania Grayson.”

“Grayson. The calm response without panic was excellent. I’ll give you extra points.”

“… Thank you.”

I looked around the auditorium with dry eyes. Most people still seemed confused, and some seemed to have figured out who I was.

Looking down at the front row, I saw Li Jiyuan making an angry expression.

Is he resentful of not being able to show his serious side as the first awakened person and being pushed out by someone else?

I also felt this when I met him before, but he is a very competitive guy. Well then, shall we try to get on this guy’s nerves some more?

“Grayson. Unlike most of the frogs standing here, you seem to have recognized my identity. If so, please answer. Who am I?”

She looks at me for a moment, hesitates, then opens her mouth to express her thoughts.

“… Elm Northmund… ”

“The answer is correct. I’ll give you extra points.”

At her answer, the buzz in the auditorium grows even louder. The murmur among the entering students grows louder and all eyes are focused on me.

At that moment, the polymorph was lifted, and my body began to change into that of a dragon.

Its body grows larger and swells, scales appear all over its body, and a long, thick tail sprouts.

At the same time as a crackling sound, the suit is torn and the watch on my wrist breaks its strap and flies away.

Everyone stares at the sight, mesmerized by the sight of the being standing in front of them changing into something else in an instant.

I glanced at Tania and saw that she, too, was unable to hide her expression of surprise.

I shook my head slightly and ripped the tie around my neck, and the torn tie fluttered and fell to the bottom of the podium.

And then, I opened my mouth with mana in my voice.

“Yes. I am Elm Northmund, the principal of this academy.”