Seoul Dragon - Chapter 38

Yeonhwa's messages were so different that they made me forget what she was like in person.

In other words... she was surprisingly lively.

[Ha Yeonhwa: Seohyun, thank you so much. I'm not good at face-to-face conversations, but you were so considerate... I was really happy!]

[Ha Yeonhwa: If it's not too presumptuous, would it be okay to contact you often like this?]

[Yoon Seohyun: Of course. Feel free to contact me. I'm just a mascot-like figurehead director anyway.]

[Ha Yeonhwa: Hehe, I'll do that!!]

But this wasn't particularly surprising.

I had already seen what kind of posts Yeonhwa made on the community.

And... sure enough.

Today too, she was posting numerous random thoughts.

[Today I drank really delicious blood]

I didn't know such delicious blood existed in this world;;

I don't think I can drink other blood anymore?

Goodbye, cow blood...

From now on, every day I'll be receiving luxurious, premium-grade blood...!

-? Why is she acting like this?

-No idea lol

-Must be something good happening

-But she's not eating cow blood anymore? She was always talking about eating cow blood?

-No need to eat it anymore... hahahaha

-If it's good news then fine

As expected, I knew she would brag about it right away.

Somehow, that too seemed cute. Even though she's three years older than me.

Well, I should gradually lower the psychological barrier as I meet with Yeonhwa more often. Then maybe she'll feel more comfortable around me.

People like her feel more uncomfortable when you explicitly tell them to be comfortable.

Let's take it naturally, naturally.

And I was thinking it might be time for me to break down some walls with my juniors too.

For instance, Lee Sihyun.

Well... since we'll have the academic field trip soon, I should tell the juniors who know me to be comfortable around me.

They're social butterflies, so they'll understand right away.

By the way... what class do I have tomorrow?

I checked my class schedule and assignments. Fortunately, group projects hadn't started yet.

Of course, that's just "not yet."

Probably after a little more time passes, countless group project bombs will drop.

I heard that in the Understanding Modern Literature class taught by the department head, there are no group projects, but in other courses, group projects are still prevalent... I suspect I'll be experiencing another tragedy soon.

Well, I'm not sure how many people would still try to take advantage of me now that I've changed.

Honestly, this time I had no intention of quietly taking on all the work.

While I would probably take the lead, I would make sure to clearly divide roles so that I wouldn't be stuck doing everything alone.

In the past, I would just do it all, thinking "whatever, I'll just bear with the unpleasantness," but now there's no need for that.

I've gotten to know some juniors, so they probably won't disrespect me.

It's kind of funny that I'm worrying about this after becoming a dragon.

The director of a government agency is worried about university assignments rather than mutant crimes.

Someone might criticize me for neglecting my duties, but... what can I do?

It was the government that made me director while knowing I wanted to focus on university life.

And it's not really neglect of duty.

There aren't many mutants to begin with, and crimes committed by mutants are extremely rare.

One might ask if this isn't a waste of tax money...

But the tax money wasted on those few rare crimes is enormous, so me living off tax money isn't really a problem.

When a mutant engages in destructive behavior, the cost of restoration skyrockets astronomically.

Just the repair costs for the asphalt flipped by the Minotaur-type mutant were enormous, so what about damage from an even more severe mutant?

If someone is crazy enough to commit such acts despite my threats, they clearly have guts and would cause damage on a large scale.

I'm just preventing unnecessary tax waste while taking a small portion of what would have been wasted.

In short, my mere existence saves tax money.

So there's no problem with me focusing on university life like this.

Anyway, I hope the group members for this project will be normal.

How nice would it be if everyone just did their part and finished?

No need for awkward situations.

As I finished preparing for class and completed small assignments,

I received a message from Jin-ha.

-Ah, Seohyun? This is Seo Jin-ha.

"Oh, yes. Jin-ha, what's up?"

-The magazine is completed? It will probably be in bookstores tomorrow.

"Huh, are fashion magazines usually completed that quickly?"

-Hehe, how could that be? It's because everyone rushed to meet the deadline to capitalize on this issue.

"What issue?"

-A dragon appearing in the heart of Seoul.

"Ah."

As soon as I heard Jin-ha's words, I immediately understood why the magazine was published so quickly.

I would have set a tight deadline too.

I'm already at the center of attention, so how much interest would people have when they hear that this dragon is modeling for a magazine?

Not to mention becoming the youngest director of a government agency... public interest would be immense.

It would be foolish for the magazine not to capitalize on this interest.

-What idiot wouldn't take advantage of such an issue? It's about that dragon appearing as a magazine model.

"That's certainly true..."

-So everyone worked night after night, and finished getting my approval. It was an amazing speed, in many ways. I've rarely experienced something like this before in my work.

Jin-ha sounded quite pleased as she said this.

"You seem happy?"

-Of course. The clothes Seohyun wore are among my masterpieces, even more so. Above all... it's not just Seohyun who appeared, right?

"Ah, Seoa too."

-Yes, that's right. With Seoa, who shows a presence that's hard to believe for a newcomer, I'm looking forward to the response to this issue of Ella.

...I suspected that this might be a bigger deal for Seoa than for me.

After all, Seoa didn't even reveal that I was her sister to her department because she didn't want the hassle.

After finishing my call with Jin-ha, I immediately called Seoa.

"Hey, Yoon Seoa!"

"What?"

"The magazine comes out tomorrow."

"What magazine?"

"You know, the one where we modeled."

"Oh, Ella?"

"Yeah, that one."

"It's out already?"

"That's what they're saying. They seem to be aiming for when interest surges by capitalizing on my issue."

"Ah... that makes sense. But why are you telling me this?"

"What do you mean 'why'? Obviously, you'll be bothered a lot starting tomorrow, so be careful."

"Why would I be bothered... Oh, right. I appear with you in it, don't I?"

"They'll probably mention that we're sisters too."

A faint look of embarrassment appeared on Seoa's face at my words.

"I didn't consider that... Tsk, it's going to be really annoying at school starting tomorrow."

She clicked her tongue, lamenting how her department life would become quite bothersome from tomorrow.

"Well... what can we do now? Just accept it. Oh, and take this."

Next, I handed her the brooch made by Yeonhwa.

"What's this?"

"Something that will protect you in case of emergency."

"Huh?"

"I'm the director of the Eradication Agency, right? I got this from a mutant who'll be working with me there. If a dangerous situation arises, this will protect you."

"This? How?"

"When you're in danger, blood droplet bats will emerge from it and temporarily put anyone trying to harm you into cardiac arrest."

My sister was shocked at my words.

"Temporary cardiac arrest...? Isn't that just killing them?"

"No, it's 'temporary' cardiac arrest. It doesn't kill them, just makes them unconscious."

"That still sounds dangerous... You want me to wear this?"

"You never know what might happen. So always keep it attached to your body. Maybe attach it to one of the clothes you got from Jin-ha."

"...Alright."

Having successfully passed the brooch to my sister... now I just need to give them to my friends and parents.

Anyway... I was curious about people's reactions when I go to school tomorrow.

But it might just be unnecessary fuss. How many people actually read fashion magazines?

And the next day.

I couldn't help but stop when I casually turned on the TV news and saw the Ella magazine suddenly appear.

"...Huh?"

At that moment, Seoa, who was watching me wondering what was going on, also froze when she saw the cover of Ella appearing on television.

You know how news sometimes covers internet issues, like netizen reactions and such.

But why on earth was the Ella magazine appearing there?

-This is... amazing. I'm not sure when Ella pulled off such a feat. Here we have the most talked-about Dragon-type mutant and her sister appearing as models.

One might wonder why the news is covering this... but I finally realized that Ella must have engaged in aggressive marketing.

Of course, they wouldn't release something like this without promoting it online and elsewhere.

Seeing that, I said to Seoa:

"You can forget about having a quiet department life now."

"Ah."

Only then did a soft exclamation born of annoyance escape from Seoa's lips.

The light in her eyes dimmed slightly.

Well, she should have been prepared for this from the moment she agreed to the photoshoot.

"Well, it's not all bad, right? You'll become popular in your department."

"Sis, want me to hit you?"

"Why are you blaming me? You're the one who agreed to the photoshoot."

"...I must have been crazy."

"Since things turned out this way, just enjoy it. Okay? There will probably be people asking for your autograph, so give them some."

Seoa sighed at my words.

"I'd rather die than suffer through this. Haah, fine. It can't be helped. If it was going to be like this, I should have just brought my classmates when you did that fire show at the park last time."

"Want me to do it again sometime?"

"...Please spare me that."