chapter 98
It didn’t take long for all the events surrounding Katie Hunt’s visit to Korea to come to a close.
In a normal trial, there would likely have been delays due to insufficient evidence or the defendant denying the charges, but none of that happened.
A major reason was that the defendant, Katie Hunt, didn’t deny her guilt.
Another factor was that the trial in the UK carried more weight than the one in Korea.
Still, that wasn’t something we needed to worry about, so we let it go.
“Separate from that, the video of Lee Ha-eun went viral.”
To be precise, it was a video of Lee Ha-eun and her familiar, Sarang.
It was the footage from when Lee Ha-eun, furious, told Sarang to attack Katie Hunt while we were in front of the Iron Blood Guild.
…Thanks to that, it became widely known that Sarang, Lee Ha-eun’s familiar, wasn’t just a cute dog but a wolf with incredible power.
“Someone saw Katie Hunt and us together, filmed it, and the video spread online.”
I had no intention of blaming the person who filmed it.
If there was any fault, it would lie with Lee Ha-eun, who revealed Sarang’s true form even in front of the Iron Blood Guild. You can’t stop every bystander from talking, so the eyewitness accounts were inevitable.
Honestly, it was better to settle it neatly with one video than let rumors exaggerate the story.
Thanks to that video, Lee Ha-eun became famous as a great mage who commands a massive wolf as her familiar.
“…At the same time, some people started criticizing Yeon Mi-rae.”
Some might wonder why Lee Ha-eun becoming famous led to criticism of Yeon Mi-rae.
The reason was that people thought she had let a young child command a dangerous familiar like a massive wolf.
More specifically, critics claimed, at least online, that Yeon Mi-rae had abused Lee Ha-eun because a child’s magical power wasn’t sufficient to summon and maintain such a powerful familiar.
Of course, nobody would say that openly in front of Yeon Mi-rae in Korea.
“Oh? They even went for a personal attack? Let’s see… I’ll need our lawyer’s number…”
“……”
Even behind the anonymity of the internet, it wasn’t entirely safe.
Yeon Mi-rae used the internet frequently. Her lawyer could hire hackers to track down those posting criticisms and make them pay for it.
“Hmm? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Ah… I just feel a little sorry.”
In truth, I was the one who arranged the contract between Lee Ha-eun and Sarang, yet it was Yeon Mi-rae who was getting flak online. That made me feel slightly guilty.
“Why are you apologizing, Master? After all, being known as both of your masters benefits me, doesn’t it?”
True enough.
Anyway, lately, there’s been a lot of discussion online about Lee Ha-eun’s familiar, Sarang.
It hasn’t made the news. Familiars that look strong have appeared occasionally, so Sarang’s appearance alone isn’t shocking.
Of course, if people realized Sarang wasn’t just a wolf but Fenrir from Norse mythology, that would change things.
“Still, nobody’s going to figure that out.”
There are few mages who raise familiars, and even fewer who summon them for combat.
Research on familiars is therefore limited.
“And if the familiar were overwhelmingly powerful compared to Sarang, they might be able to gauge her strength…”
Even now, Sarang is stronger than most Aura Masters.
Very few could assess her true power. Honestly, I don’t think anyone besides me could.
Even the so-called strongest Awakened at this point would be weaker than me.
Thus, there’s no risk of Sarang’s true identity as Fenrir being discovered.
“Besides Sarang, there’s something else I’m concerned about.”
While Sarang wasn’t reported in the news, other matters continued to be mentioned for a while—specifically, Oracle and her terrorist organization.
[The identity of the terrorist organization that released chimeras worldwide, abducted people for experiments, and secretly supported other terrorist groups has been revealed.]
News about Oracle’s organization spread worldwide.
The source of this information was Katie Hunt during her UK trial. She had partial information about Oracle and publicly exposed Oracle’s existence in court, arguing that she couldn’t die alone and revealing the mastermind behind previous instructions.
“Naturally, Oracle’s organization went on high alert.”
As a result, Oracle and her terrorist group halted their activities. They didn’t just stop operations in Korea and the UK—they stopped spreading chimeras worldwide.
With their identities exposed, continuing in the same manner would be impossible. There might have been other reasons too, but I didn’t need to concern myself with those.
Time passed, and Ha-eun and I were now second-year middle school students.
Thanks to Oracle’s inactivity after the Katie Hunt incident, our everyday life had become peaceful.
Ah, of course…
“I don’t know why criminals still keep appearing at night.”
I continued hunting criminals at night as an artist.
I still made periodic contact with the Iron Blood Guild and the special investigation team at the police headquarters.
However, I rarely faced large organizations anymore. Most of the criminals I dealt with were individuals or small groups with only a handful of members.
…Technically, even these small groups shouldn’t exist.
“Ugh… I hate math…”
As I thought this, Ha-eun muttered from her desk, lying face down.
“…Isn’t that something you shouldn’t say? You always get perfect scores.”
Lee Doo-min asked, finding Ha-eun’s words annoying.
“…I don’t think it’s something you should complain about.”
“You usually get perfect scores too, or at most miss one question.”
The siblings Ryu Ah-young and Ryu Ah-min said this to Doo-min, who looked like a gangster at first glance. Indeed, Doo-min gave the impression of a delinquent who might hang around alleys and smoke at a young age.
If I hadn’t set him straight in first grade, who knows what he’d be doing. Despite that, he was good at studying.
For the record, Ah-young and Ah-min were also top students, which allowed them to attend the Seoul Awakened Academy before my regression.
“Still, Geon-woo’s the most annoying.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“You’re always first in school,” Ah-min said, narrowing his eyes.
“…Of course.”
Before regression, I had already taken high school courses at the academy. I was a top student at the Seoul High Academy.
Moreover, after mastering martial arts, my internal energy began circulating from the lower danjeon to the upper danjeon, enhancing my cognitive speed and memory, making it normal for me to excel in middle school lessons.
“Following school lessons is easier than becoming an Aura Master.”
I said this without revealing that I had regressed.
“Ugh…”
Ryu Ah-young looked at me like I was a monster.
I didn’t expect all five of us to be in the same class. But we’d stuck together since first grade.
Since we weren’t causing trouble, it made sense to place the five top students in one class for mutual influence.
“What’s the next class?”
“English.”
“Oh, then I’ll sleep.”
Hearing it was English, the kids immediately prepared to sleep. Reason being simple: all of them were Awakened.
‘Awakened can learn other languages easily thanks to the Awakened system.’
This was a benefit I gained by strengthening the Awakened system. It hadn’t existed before my regression.
The curriculum hadn’t changed significantly, so English class proceeded normally. The students liked it because it was easy and they could get high scores effortlessly.
‘Of course, some studied while others didn’t.’
Some students even brought blankets and pillows to nap during class.
‘Still, that’s not polite to the teacher…’
The English teacher didn’t mind, likely allowing only those who wanted to attend to participate.
As I sighed at this, I sensed two people walking toward our classroom. One was the English teacher.
‘Who’s the other?’
I didn’t recognize the second person. They seemed to be conversing with the English teacher, so perhaps not suspicious. I decided to eavesdrop.
“(By the way, why did you come to Korea, Alex?)”
“(To see Fenrir.)”
“(…Shouldn’t you go to Northern Europe to see Fenrir?)”
That caught my attention.
‘…Fenrir?’
Why mention Fenrir? It was the true form of Lee Ha-eun’s familiar, Sarang. This wasn’t an ordinary person.
‘Alex is a common name… could be a nickname.’
I couldn’t guess who he was from just the name. The voice seemed familiar, but I’d need to see his face to know.
Dr-r-r.
The opportunity came as the English teacher and the man entered our classroom together.
“Sigh… as expected, some of you are sleeping.”
The teacher pounded the board, sighing.
“Everyone, stand up. We have someone to introduce.”
The kids lifted their heads and looked at the foreigner beside the teacher with curiosity.
“This is Alex, our new native English teacher. Everyone, say hello.”
At that moment, I widened my eyes. I recognized him. A familiar face.
Now he was just an ordinary mage, but before regression, he was known as an eccentric mage.
“(Hi, friends! I’m Alex from America. By the way, my favorite thing is…)”
Dragons.
“…Excuse me?”
“Dragons?”
“You mean the kinds that appear in dungeons?”
The students reacted with surprise.
‘…Of course.’
He was a dragon enthusiast. Even before regression, he had openly wanted to summon dragons as familiars.
[That mage… he once modified a familiar contract circle just to summon dragons…]
[He succeeded and became famous as a mage who commanded dragons as familiars.]
Before regression, he improved the familiar contract circle to summon a dragon and became renowned for it.
