“Would you like to order, miss?”
In a cafe at Lair, a green-haired female cadet was ordering drinks.
“I would like a strawberry smoothie. What about you, ahjussi?”
“I’m fine.”
“And one green grape ade as well please.”
“…”
While they were waiting for the two drinks, people stole glances at them. The bright sunlight of the dazzling sun entered through the window and made the cadet’s hair shine like polished emerald.
Resting her chin on her hand, she gently leaned her head onto the window. Her face – her eyes and her nose were so beautiful that it made people wonder whether they would be able to see something similar ever again.
As always, people either blankly stared at her face or stole glances.
“…”
One of the onlooking cadets had his ear pinched,
“Ah, ahh, ahhhkk…!”
By his girlfriend.
“Wh, why…?”
“What are you looking at.”
“Uh? I, it’s nothing. It’s just…”
“Whatever. Don’t say it. I thought your eyes were on fire.”
His girlfriend turned back to the coffee after letting go of his ear.
“Honey. You’re misunderstanding something. I wasn’t looking at her.”
“I see.”
“I’m serious.”
“Of course.”
“…Are you angry?”
“No, I’m not.”
She was 100% angry, thought the cadet as he sweated. He then whispered with a softer voice.
“No, I seriously wasn’t looking at Yu Bom. Did you not hear that yet?”
“…”
“The thing about how Yu Bom’s guardian smacked the director of the sentries.”
“…Nn?”
Only then did the shadow disappear faintly from his girlfriend’s expression.
Lair was a military academy, and the cadets were all reserve soldiers that had been sent from various countries for being talented superhumans. Due to that, almost every cadet was interested in the topic of the ‘strong’, regardless of age and gender.
“Apparently the sentry director was bashed up by that guardian over there near the education department yesterday. You see that person? He looks super scary.”
“…Does that make sense? Leo is in the top 50’s worldwide.”
“He’s 53rd. It’s not fake. My friend’s actually seen it and there’s quite a lot of guys that saw it as well. It should be pretty well-known by now.”
Strife between cadets sometimes correlated to conflicts between guardians, and feuds between households.
There were tons of current and previous rankers amongst the guardians. Whenever small conflicts escalated beyond control, their fights tended to leave immense aftereffects.
Whenever things escalated, the sentries always oppressed them with brute force. They crushed the arms of those who held swords and drove the heads of the violent to the ground. Some pointed fingers at them saying that they were too over the top, but that was the regulation and no-one complained about their existence itself.
“The sentries are all about physical power,” said the ‘Final Wall’, Sillardo Leo, as a joke during an interview. It had become a meme among the cadets.
And yet a giant like that had been bashed up by that man? Was it true? Or was it a gossip created by her boyfriend in hopes of explaining the lack of control he had over his eyes?
After glaring at her boyfriend from the side of her eyes, the cadet opened a messenger app with her watch and entered a group chat.
She was just in time for a conversation that was about the mentioned topic.
– Guys, look at this.
It was an image of a road in the middle of a city where the ground had crumbled. Around the crater were yellow police-lines and mages were using earth elemental magic to fill up the hole.
– They’re fixing it lol.
– Is that human shape in the middle Sillardo?
– Ye loool
– Ah, kekek, I was wondering what that was lol.
At the very centre of the crater was a hole shaped like a human with their arms and legs wide-open. It was the trace of a gigantic human taller than 3 metres.
– The Director was alive even after that?
– Lmao yeah.
– That’s insane lol.
– Use him as a cannon ball if we run out of them.
– Lololololol
– Cannon ball (Physical Power)
– Kekekek
– Lololololol
– ‘Final Cannon Ball’
– Ahkkkekekek crazy.
– Lolololol wtf
“…”
Blankly, the cadet stared at the group chat before raising her head back up. That famous ‘Yu Bom’ was handing a drink with a straw inside over to her guardian.
“Why? Do you not like green grapes? Green grape ades here are very nice.”
“I don’t like sweet stuff.”
“Still, just try it. Come on.”
Now that she looked around, the cadet realised that others were also throwing glances at the two of them. There were always such gazes wherever Yu Bom was, but there were more eyes staring at the guardian today.
“How is it?”
“…It’s not bad.”
“See? I knew it.”
With a hazy gaze and a slow body, the man slurped the drink and took Yu Bom out of the cafe. The cadet stared at their backs vacantly before asking her boyfriend.
“That person punched the director of the sentries, right.”
“Nn, yeah.”
“Then how is he just walking around like that…?”
*
“That’s also what I want to ask.”
Guardians of Level 4 society cadets had gathered.
After finishing the routine for the day, the guardians gathered at one place and chugged shots of alcohol. There were always various incidents and happenings at Lair, but the story that had spread today was about a slightly bigger incident than usual.
“10 hours of campus community service and 500 thousand dollars of fine, was it?”
“It was.”
“The community service thing is just for show… it’s always around 30 hours even if it’s just a fight between cadets. At least the fine is pretty high though.”
“No. That’s also close to nothing considering all the damage done to property.”
“Seriously. There’s not a single sign of equity…”
“That’s just how Lair is, I guess. Well, they are the big boss in this place after all.”
“But even Erfan and the Yong household wouldn’t be favoured like this…”
“Right? The Association wouldn’t stand still unless it’s the Brzenk Family or something.”
It was possible for the Brzenk Family, because they were the direct family members of the official Rank 1 worldwide. In other words, it was impossible unless one was at their level.
“Then what in the world is the Yu household? Mister Huangbo, do you know something about them?”
The guardian from the Huangbo household downed a shot of alcohol.
Yu household. Yu household…
Nothing rang a bell. Although he had a connection with most of the well-known households and guilds, it was the first time hearing such a name.
It was also hard to think of them as a secret organisation under the Korean government. The two cadets apart from Yu Yeorum didn’t even appear like soldiers.
As they became more and more intoxicated, the topic of their conversation gradually changed. They began putting subjective imaginations into the equation as they tried to backtrack the unidentified household.
“…Maybe it’s an organisation that’s being grown by the Association?”
“Whatt?”
“You know, the previous Rank 1 before Oscar Brzenk was a Korean right? He was from the Association as well.”
“Aye, it’s been confirmed that he died already…”
“Ah, I think he’s a returnee.”
“A returnee?”
“Yes. Like a brother of BM. Then doesn’t everything make sense, how he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and how BM stood up for him?”
“Hmm, not sure… it’s not like they’re returning from a convenience store run or something… it doesn’t happen that often.”
For the rest of their imaginative session, the Yu household was repeatedly being compared to something great.
*
Lair’s education department controlled the reporters and the media so that news of the incident did not spread outside the academy. The public and the national broadcasting platforms did not talk of these events.
But due to the nature of the incident, stories about the incident continued spreading across behind the scenes.
“We will now look into the Yu household which everyone was curious about.”
A cadet who was also a streamer, got up on his two feet saying that he would ask about the Yu household in person.
He was successful at gathering the attention of others. There were 30 times the average audience on the live stream, as curious cadets and citizens waited for the answer.
The cadet looked for Bom and Kaeul in their classrooms and requested for an interview but the two of them refused without any room for negotiation. Bom simply shook her head while Kaeul stuttered, “Uhh…! I, I don’t know!” and ran away.
Though he wanted to physically stop them from walking away, he was just unable to do so for some reason.
– Ah what the fk.
– No fun…
– All bark and no nothing.
When most of the audience rapidly left, the cadet became dejected and ended up making a decision that shouldn’t be made. That night, he pressed on the record button and carefully sneaked after Kaeul.
The blonde girl was on her way back to her house after playing with her friends. He jumped over the outer walls of the dormitory and followed Kaeul as she climbed the stairs.
“Excuse me, cadet. What are you doing?”
It was then.
A superhuman from the sentries appeared out of nowhere and held onto his arm. The camera dropped from his hand and rolled on the floor.
“A camera?”
Startled, the cadet gave a serious look and shook his hand.
“What are you doing?”
“What’s this camera. Was this with consent?”
“What consent. I was just taking a picture of the landscape.”
“Just the landscape?”
“Yes. This is near my dormitory. I was just taking a picture on my way back. Why are you doing this to me right now?”
The cadet thought the sentry would be flustered if he was confident. That’s what he heard from his drunk friend before, but it didn’t work.
He sneered and said, “Where do you live then.”
“Sorry?”
“Where do you live, cadet.”
“Like I said, I live just around this place.”
“Show me your ID card please. Let me confirm it.”
When his lie was about to be discovered, the cadet quickly changed his expression in a fluster.
“Umm… sir. Actually, I… think I’m a bit lost…”
“Lost?”
“I, it was just an accident. I’m a bit bad with directions so…”
The sentry once again snickered as if he had heard something absurd.
“Cadet. You don’t know how long I’ve been following you for, right?”
Hearing that, the cadet felt a turmoil in his heart.
“Ah, umm…”
“A little friend is trying to play with an adult, I see. Do you think the sentries are your friends, cadet?”
“Umm, uhh…”
“Let’s go.”
The next day, his live streaming account was deleted.
*
Word travels fast and a rumour travels across the world in one day.
Yu Jitae was also able to feel the change in the surroundings after three days.
“Welcome, Jitae. People are talking about you everywhere I go these days. How does it feel.”
“Nothing much.”
Gyeoul, who was being hugged by Yu Jitae, became tense.
“Hmm? Was there a child like this in the household as well?”
“She’s the youngest.”
“I see. The child really is cute. Are you well, little child?”
Mihailov smiled. His face with a scar running across it floated a vicious smile.
“…”
Gyeoul shook her head. She wasn’t well after seeing his face.
Mihailov appeared doubtful about the events that had happened recently, but being a true man, he did not ask anything unnecessary.
Five white cadets were behind him today. They looked nervous after seeing Yu Jitae from a distance and now that they were close, they awkwardly greeted him with their eyes.
“Who are these kids.”
“They are cadets from our RIL. Don’t know where they heard some rumours from, but they were creating a fuss about how they wanted to see you at least once. I’ve given them a lesson all morning but they still wanted to follow.”
RIL considered power to be the sole determining factor of a superhuman. The cadets there received a strict education that rivaled that of the Erfan Guild of China.
Mihailov frowned.
“You bunch. If you bother Mister Guardian, say goodbye to your legs after we go back.”
““Yes!””
“My apologies. Please pretend you didn’t see it.”
Yu Jitae therefore pretended that he didn’t see it.
They were in an auditorium inside the education department. The reason they gathered here was because today was the last day of the B+ Underground Fissure Raid.
It was the same as the briefing day a few days ago, but there were more people. In order to cheer for the cadets that were already inside, guardians were accompanied by related personnel and other cadets.
Yong Chuljun, the guardian of the Yong household and Professor Ha Yoon of the Moonlight study group were also present.
It was bustling.
“Ahjussi! We’re here!”
Soon, Bom and Kaeul walked into the auditorium once their lectures were finished. “Uwaah! So many people!” she shouted. Since Kaeul created so much of a fuss as she ran up to him, the gazes of other guardians all turned and they stared at Yu Jitae.
[Eyes of Equilibrium (SS)]
Yu Jitae was staring at Kaeul, but he was watching the entirety of the auditorium. Due to the Eyes of Equilibrium which was constantly on these days, their nature, favourability and authenticity were all revealed at once.
The emotions and attitudes prevalent across the area were in full display.
“…”
The results were different from a few days ago.
Back then, except for the few who had been interested in him, most had hated him, were true and evil. In other words, they detested and carried sincerely evil thoughts against him.
In a competitive environment, this revealed ‘jealousy’ and ‘envy’. It was the thing wriggling in the depths of a human heart, and was the most bothersome thing to deal with for the Regressor, who tried to live a normal daily life.
But now, it was different.
Their favorability showed hatred.
Authenticity, false.
And a nature of good.
They hated Yu Jitae, but despite carrying such thoughts, they tried to deceive themselves by trying to think of good things. This represented ‘reverence’ in a competitive situation. While respecting Yu Jitae, they were now thinking of him as an uncomfortable and fearful existence.
While feeling those stealthy gazes, Yu Jitae relaxedly leaned his back onto the chair.
It was a familiar situation for the Regressor.
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