Chapter 472 – 472. Savior Of The Academy
472. Savior of the Academy
My body, flung through the spirit gate, tumbled across the floor several times.
“Yujin!”
Seong Myeong-saeng and Seong Han-gu rushed to me, helping me to my feet immediately.
Looking around, the spirit gate had vanished, and the mana density had dropped. The drawing on the floor no longer reacted.
『Skill, Spirit Contract (C-) has increased to rank (B).』
I could feel the connection between me and Mocha becoming stronger and more efficient. But I didn’t have time to relax and think about Spirit Contract (B).
“Seong Yujin! Do you know what you’ve just done?! Didn’t I tell you to stay still and not move?”
Seong Myeong-saeng’s booming voice made my ears ring. I didn’t know where an old man got that kind of power.
“I-I’m sorry.”
I said, whimpering like a child.
Seong Myeong-saeng took a moment to catch his breath, then softened his expression and tone, beginning to nag.
“Yujin, you must always listen to this old man, or you could get hurt. Do you know how dangerous that was just now? If you had made a mistake, you could have become lost in the spirit realm, or your mind could have collapsed.”
“…Father. Didn’t I tell you? Yujin is too young.”
“Quiet. I’m talking to Yujin right now. You be quiet. …No, go get us something to drink. I need to teach Yujin how important an adult’s words are.”
“Please, be reasonable. What if Yujin refuses to come to the main house again because of this?”
“……Wasn’t Yujin staying at the main house?”
“Do you think Hari will let that happen? Yujin has to go back in the evening. Otherwise… Hari will storm the main house and turn it into a wasteland. I’m telling you in advance, even if Hari is weakened, we can’t stop her. The compatibility is the worst.”
Seong Hari’s Spirit Devourer (S) trait was the natural enemy of spirit users.
“Tsk. It would be better for Yujin’s future if he stayed at the main house….”
“This is something I absolutely cannot concede… Huh!”
Seong Han-gu’s face turned dark.
“What’s wrong?”
“Yujin is hurt!”
My elbow had been scraped when I tumbled on the floor earlier. There was even some blood. About a drop.
“Why are you so surprised over something like that? Children, especially boys, are supposed to get hurt while growing up. You used to fall and get hurt all the time when you were young.”
“It’s not that… If Hari finds out, she won’t let it go.”
“Did we hit Yujin? It’s just a scraped elbow.”
“……Father, you don’t know what Hari is like now. Hari’s obsession with Yujin is immense. I’ll go get a potion to treat it.”
“Hmph. There won’t be any problems. You’re just overreacting. Just put some ointment on it. Why would you use such an expensive potion for a scraped elbow?”
“Father. Please.”
“A potion is too much. Our family’s ointment is good enough. The wound will disappear without a trace in a day.”
“……”
Seong Han-gu sighed in resignation. Even so, he must be hoping that Seong Hari would just let it go. Even I could see that it was just a minor scrape on my elbow, a common injury.
But Seong Han-gu didn’t know how extreme Seong Hari was.
To act more like a real child, I sometimes fell in front of Seong Hari on purpose. It was a self-inflicted injury, knowing I might scrape my knees or arms.
Every time, Seong Hari would use top-grade potions on me without hesitation, potions that cost a fortune.
And that wasn’t all. If there were fruits or medicines that were good for the body, she would buy them for me, no matter the cost. That was why an SS-class hero was always short on money. Seong Hari raised me with too much care.
“Yujin, as the first step to becoming a strong spirit user, there is something you must do.”
Seong Myeong-saeng said to me. It seemed like I was finally going to start some real training.
“Okay!”
So, I was finally going to learn spirit magic. I wondered what I would do.
“From now on, come to the main house every day and have fun playing with the spirits.”
“…Huh?”
***
Logically speaking, making a four-year-old child do hard training was nothing short of abuse.
In martial arts novels, it’s common to see people training from a very young age, but in this era, human rights exist.
And there was a good reason for playing with the spirits.
For a spirit user, the most important thing was the spirit, not mana.
‘If the spirits don’t listen, you can’t control them no matter how much mana you have.’
Playing with the spirits was meant to build spirit affinity and get used to them. Spirit affinity was partly innate, but it also developed by spending time with spirits.
“Haa…. I have to play with spirits at this age…. I’d rather play computer games.”
I squatted down in the garden.
It was annoying.
To skip this time with auto-play, I had to do it first. That way, next time, the avatar would play with the spirits the same way I did.
“Koo.”
“Hey. Hey. What’s your name?”
“Charrruk charrruk.”
“Let’s play! Let’s play! Let’s play!”
The spirits gathered around me. They had shown interest in me when I first came to the main house, but now it was even more intense. It must have been because I had been halfway into the spirit realm earlier.
“Ah, it’s so noisy…. But I can’t not play….”
If I skipped it, the adults would think it was strange.
“Well, fine. Shall we play house?”
“Play house? What’s that?”
“Flap flap! Flurp!”
Some spirits could speak human language, while others couldn’t. But communication between spirits was no problem. Spirits communicated through their minds, not through sound.
“Hey, you.”
I pointed at the turtle that could speak human language.
“Huh? Me? Why?”
“We’re going to play house now. It’s like role-playing.”
“Okay. Okay. I think I saw human children do that a long time ago. I’m the wife, right?”
“No. You’re a private. I’m a sergeant.”
“Private… what’s that?”
“You’ll learn as you go. Let’s start now.”
I cleared my throat.
As a hunter, I had never been in the military, but I had seen and heard things.
“Hey.”
“Huh?”
“…Ha. Crazy. Where did you sell your rank and name? Huh?”
I put on a serious face. The atmosphere changed drastically, and the turtle was flustered. It seemed to be a mid-level spirit, but it had some sense, as it could speak human language.
“…Uh. Uhh…?”
“Oh, you’re not answering? Ha, damn. I have to deal with a private like this after becoming a sergeant….”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? You little shit! Hey, is this your friend? Why are you talking informally!”
“I’m sorry.”
“…Yo? I’m going crazy. Seriously. Hey, Corporal Mocha.”
“Koo!”
Mocha answered immediately. He even saluted with one wing.
Mocha had been with me for over a year, so he was used to this. I would scold Mocha whenever I was bored. The reason Mocha listened to me so well was because he didn’t want to get scolded.
‘Whether it’s a human, a spirit, or a dwarf, if you scold them, they’ll do what you want.’
That was the truth of life.
“I’m going to the bathroom for a bit, so train this newbie properly. If he’s still a screw-up when I get back? You and I are going to have a go at it today. Got it?”
“Koo!”
And so, I spent several hours playing military house with the spirits.
***
4:30 PM.
Seong Han-gu came out of his room and headed towards the garden. It was time to send Seong Yujin back to Seong Hari. He wanted to have dinner with him before sending him off, but his promise with Seong Hari was to send Seong Yujin home by 5 PM. He didn’t know what would happen if he broke that promise.
“Hmm…?”
It was quiet. Usually, spirits would be wandering around outside, but strangely, they were nowhere to be seen. This was unusual.
‘Are all the spirits engrossed in playing with Yujin?’
As Seong Han-gu went to the garden to find Yujin, he was shocked.
All the spirits were lined up in rows. In front of the spirits, the turtle that could speak human language was yelling with a vein popping out of its neck.
“Is that all the voice you have?!”
“Cawwwwww!”
“Krrrrrrrr!”
“Nooooo!”
The spirits in line shouted in their own ways. The sounds were different, but the rhythm was perfectly synchronized.
“Do ten jumping jacks. How many?”
“Caw!”
“Ten!”
“Hooong!”
“Fifteen! Without the final shout! Start!”
Seong Han-gu’s mouth fell open. He had never seen spirits doing jumping jacks in his life.
‘…This is… the military?’
He looked around, bewildered by the strange situation, and searched for Seong Yujin. It wasn’t hard to find him. He was lying on the porch a little ways away, watching the spirits and sucking on a juice box straw. Next to Seong Yujin was a thunder owl named Mocha, glaring fiercely at the spirits.
‘It’s like… a general and his adjutant.’
Seong Han-gu chuckled and approached Yujin.
“Yujin, can you tell this old man why the spirits are suddenly acting like this?”
“Ah, Grandpa. We were playing house.”
“Play… house? It’s very different from the play house I know.”
“I just taught them what I saw on TV. I’m the boss.”
“O-oh, I see.”
There shouldn’t be any problems… Spirits were free beings. They wouldn’t do anything they didn’t want to do.
“Yujin, it’s time to go back.”
“Okay. I miss Mama.”
Seong Yujin jumped down from the porch. And at that moment, a shout erupted from where the spirits were.
“Didn’t I tell you not to add the final shout!!! Do it again! Thirty times! How many?!”
“Hooaaak!”
“Look at your voice! Is that all you have?! Get down!!!”
Seong Han-gu, trying to ignore the spirits, broke out in a cold sweat. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.
***
After dropping off Seong Yujin and returning, Seong Han-gu shook his head at the sight of the spirits still playing house… no, military games.
He had tried to stop the spirits once, but they didn’t even pretend to listen to Seong Han-gu.
Seong Han-gu entered Seong Myeong-saeng’s room.
“Father, I’ve taken Yujin back.”
“Yes. The spirits outside were acting strange.”
“Yes. It seems Yujin taught the spirits what he saw on TV. The spirits are just caught up in a new game. They’ll be back to normal soon. …Probably.”
“Hmm. Spirits are fickle. More importantly, I’ve been thinking, shouldn’t Yujin grow up in the main house?”
“……Father. That’s already been decided.”
“Don’t think so simply. It’s for Yujin’s future.”
“Then you should persuade Hari. I can’t… I don’t have the confidence to persuade Hari.”
“……I’ll think about it some more.”
Seong Myeong-saeng’s face hardened slightly. He also had a bad relationship with Seong Hari.
“Father, how do you plan to educate Yujin?”
“……Before that, is Yujin alright? His head was in the spirit realm for a short time, not even 30 seconds. Has he been possessed by a spirit?”
The spirit realm was not a place humans could handle. Humans would suffer mental shock just by looking at the spirit realm. Even spirit users who had reached a high level had a high chance of being possessed by a spirit in the spirit realm and having their minds destroyed.
“That’s a relief. Yujin’s mental strength is beyond imagination. We can move up the education schedule a little.”
“Father!”
“I know. Don’t shout. Even if we move up the schedule, I don’t plan to push him too hard. I plan to let him play with the spirits for the next few months. After that, we’ll slowly teach him the basics of spirit magic.”
“Father. We have to proceed carefully. Carefully. If Yujin loses interest in spirit magic… we can’t force him to do it. Spirit magic is all about one’s own will. And most importantly… Hari won’t stay still.”
“I know. …You’re too worried about that child. You have no fatherly authority. No authority.”
“…I couldn’t even be a proper father to Hari… how can I have authority as a father?”
“Tsk.”
Just as Seong Myeong-saeng clicked his tongue,
Kwaaaang!
A huge shockwave shook the main house’s barrier.
Startled, Seong Myeong-saeng and Seong Han-gu rushed towards the entrance where the sound came from.
The front gate was smashed by a tree that had been uprooted and thrown from somewhere.
“……An attack? Who is the attacker! How dare they attack the Jinryeong Seong family…!!”
“Father, calm down. There’s lightning energy left on the tree. It’s Hari’s doing.”
“That child?! Why, all of a sudden?! Is this a declaration of war?!”
“No. It’s probably… because she found out about Yujin’s injury.”
“……She threw a tree just because of a scraped elbow?”
“I told you. Hari’s obsession with Yujin is immense….”
“Haa….”
