Seoul Dragon - Chapter 73

I didn't brush away all the hands that clung to my tail.

As a result, eventually even more class of 2016 juniors joined in.

Seeing Nayeon, Sihyun, Suyeon, and Heejin touching my tail with sparkling eyes, it seemed their curiosity had been piqued.

"Um, excuse me..."

The end of the sentence trailed off, but I could immediately tell what they wanted. They probably wanted to touch my tail too.

It seemed awkward to refuse, so I just gave permission.

"It's okay."

Even though I didn't think much of them at first, there was a strange innocence in their eyes as they looked at my tail... they might just find it fascinating.

Exclamations of amazement could be heard from all around.

The reactions weren't much different from the four who had just touched my tail.

Well, sure.

I can provide this much fan service.

Of course, I wouldn't tolerate male students touching it.

And then I noticed one person hesitating.

Seong Yunhwan.

The very gentleman who dumped the group project PowerPoint work on me and ran.

I used to get quite angry when I saw him, but... well.

Now that I've mutated, I don't really feel much of anything.

Maybe it's because I've seen so many bizarre monsters.

Well, it's not fair to completely villainize someone just because they did something bad in a group project once.

Above all, I didn't want to harass juniors like those strict seniors used to do.

I gestured to the guy who was standing there blankly to come over.

"Ah, me."

He seemed like he wanted to say something, but I sent him a telepathic message.

-I'll let that incident go. I'll just think of it as a mistake from an unknowing junior and move on, so just enjoy yourself for now. Oh, this is telepathy, so it would be awkward if you mentioned it out loud.

He stood there blankly looking at me, and then slightly nodded his head.

Yes, it's better to wrap things up this way.

Rather than creating more opportunities for tension, it's right to end it like this.

Even without this, I have enough to worry about these days, so there's no need to get hung up on such trivial matters.

I let the other hands touch me for a while, then swung my tail to shake off the juniors' hands.

"Alright, that's it. I think this is enough, don't you?"

"Yes..."

The juniors seemed somewhat disappointed, repeatedly rubbing their hands together. Hmm, that's as far as we go.

"Okay, if you're done drinking, let's go inside and sleep now, everyone. Those who want to drink more can do so in another room."

"Yes!"

Seemingly understanding my intention, Nayeon began to tidy up the room.

The juniors also moved to other rooms.

However, it took Yunhwan a little longer to leave the room, and he looked at me and said:

"Um, sunbae. Do you have a moment?"

I had intended to end it there, but he seemed to have something to say.

"What is it?"

"Well, that..."

"Ah, okay. Girls, I'll be right back."

"Yes... take your time."

The girls knew that I had a bit of trouble with Seong Yunhwan, so they just nodded.

I immediately followed him outside for a moment.

"Umm... I'm sorry."

"For that time?"

"Yes. I think I was disrespectful during the group project."

He bent his waist at a 90-degree angle to apologize.

When someone goes this far, it's a bit awkward to say anything more.

I had planned to just end it earlier, but he must have felt uneasy about it.

"It's fine. I was a bit angry at first, but now that I'm like this, I don't really think much of it. But don't do it again in the future. I understand that making PowerPoints is annoying... but you're still dumping your burden on someone else. Let's end this conversation here."

"Yes. I'm really sorry."

"I said it's fine. If I keep talking about it, I'll just sound like a nag."

"Not at all. I'm the one who did wrong. I should have apologized earlier... I'm sorry."

He kept his head bowed the entire way back.

Well, he didn't seem like a fundamentally bad person.

When I returned to the room, the girls were waiting for me.

"What did you talk about?"

"Just that he apologized and I said it was okay."

"Ah."

"Ah, Yunhwan..."

"You all seem to know about it?"

"That was talked about among the seniors, and he's been on edge since then."

"I see."

I nodded at Heejin's words.

So that's what it was; it seems my classmates had been gossiping about it a lot.

People tend to become intimidated when they hear gossip about themselves.

Even so, some people just ignore it... but at least he doesn't completely lack a sense of decency.

"Aren't you going to drink more?"

"We don't really like alcohol."

"That's strange because Kim Nayeon seems to have gone to another room."

"Nayeon unnie is... well, she's quite the drinker."

That's true.

"Then let's just sleep. I don't really have anything else I want to do either."

"Okay."

"Do you want to use my tail as a pillow?"

"Yes!"

"C-can I do that too?"

At that moment, Heejin spoke to me with sparkling eyes.

"Sure."

"Hehe, thank you!"

Since my tail itself was quite long, it was sufficient for three people to use as a pillow.

It wasn't uncomfortable either. I didn't really feel much of anything.

Thanks to the strange texture, they fell asleep while fiddling with my tail and chatting about various things.

In particular, I heard stories about Harin from Heejin.

So that kid is still wearing a mask. That's good to know.

I'll tease her when I go to work at the Bureau.

The next day, we returned without any incidents.

Now all that's left related to the academic field trip is to write the report.

After returning from the academic field trip, time began to flow insanely fast.

When I came to my senses, it was the day of the group project presentation, and when I came to my senses again, the final exams were right in front of me.

After safely completing the final exams, the semester was over.

I let out a sigh.

It was long. Now, just one more year until graduation.

That's what I was thinking at that moment.

Starting from the day the final exams ended, a strange feeling kept circling around me.

It seemed I wasn't the only one experiencing this feeling; even Sia, along with the Bureau agents, told me:

"Don't you feel something strange these days? Like... something big is about to happen."

"You too, Harin?"

"Yes. Yeonhwa unnie also said she's been feeling odd lately... that she has a bad feeling. She said she doesn't want to leave her room."

"But she still comes to work diligently, that unnie. Ah, here she comes."

"Urghhhh..."

Yeonhwa unnie came to work looking like a zombie.

"Want to drink some blood?"

"No, I'm fine... It's just, something feels weird these days."

"That's right. I wonder why... Sia unnie said the same."

Not knowing the identity of this inexplicable foreboding, we tilted our heads.

...It doesn't feel good.

As if something is about to happen.

A few days later, I couldn't sleep and was looking at my smartphone in the living room with Seoa, who was also tossing and turning despite it being dawn. Suddenly, I felt an intense energy and unconsciously looked out the window.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't come out!"

I shouted at her and used magic to block the light flowing in from outside the window.

"Why?"

"When I say don't come out, don't come out!"

Even as I said that, I felt cold sweat running down my back.

...This seems bad.

"It suddenly got bright... what is it?"

She found my urgent shouting strange and asked me.

"That's mutation."

"What?"

"That light just now was exactly the same as the light I encountered when I mutated."

"...Huh?"

Seoa asked me in bewilderment.

And I felt the same way.

Wasn't mutation supposed to happen only once?

Sia looked at the World Tree with emotional eyes.

Finally, finally, the World Tree had completely taken root in this world.

Just that alone gave her an indescribable sense of fulfillment, and she hugged the World Tree tightly.

At first, she wondered what kind of tree this was.

But... sure enough, while taking care of the World Tree continuously, she must have developed affection for it without realizing.

She suddenly recalled the post she had written in the community. The one that began with "The tree god is angry."

Remembering it, she giggled. Up until then, she had no idea it would turn out like this.

The completed World Tree, true to its name, covered the entire piece of land she had acquired.

The California Governor was also moved by the news of the World Tree's completion and praised her for her hard work.

Now, under the guidance of this World Tree, many mutants would be able to build their own foundations.

Of course, there's also income from that.

The number of mutants moving to the mutant village was continuously increasing. Knowing how threatening the root giant Sia had summoned was, they obediently followed Sia's will.

Of course, there were a few who tried to cause chaos without doing so, but each time the World Tree moved and bound such beings tightly, so they had no choice but to follow Sia's will.

Anyway, it's finally complete.

The framework of the mutant village was also somewhat complete, and her grand aspiration to create a paradise exclusively for mutants was about to be realized.

However... at that moment, light shot from the completed World Tree to the edge of the sky.

And the emitted light opened the sky and showered a massive beam of light onto the world.

Sia knew that light all too well.

That was the light she had encountered when she mutated into a High Elf.

"...What?"

Sia let out a dumbfounded exclamation, wondering what on earth was happening.

Some massive change had arrived.

And it started from the World Tree.

The world turned upside down when I woke up.

It was inevitable.

The unexpected second mutation had begun.

If there was any consolation, it might be that, like the previous mutation, this one also occurred at dawn, so not many people were hit by the mutation beam.

Probably it was the same not only in our country but also in other countries.

And among them were my classmates.

Yoo Hangyeol, Han Taehoon.

These two suddenly became subjects of mutation.

Watching the signs of mutation occurring in their bodies, I felt my head becoming complicated.

But unfortunately, I wasn't even given time to think deeply about such a situation.

From that day on, work poured in like crazy.

This is crazy, this is the Mutant Crime Management Bureau.

It's not an institution meant to handle mutation itself...!