Reunion With The Dragon Father And Child

“Lee Ro-un. Who’s this kid? You, d-don’t tell me?”
“Don’t tell you what.”
“The rumor that you had a kid was real?”

Ro-un looked at Joo Hee-jun in disbelief.
Instead of doing the research he was supposed to, this was what he was doing.
This was exactly why his skills kept going off in ridiculous directions.
If Yu-jeong hadn’t been clinging tightly to his side, Ro-un would have snapped right back at him.

“Ro-uung!”
“Yeah. Have you been well?”
“Hello!”
“Right, right. I’m glad to see you too.”
“Don’t ignore me…!”

Joo Hee-jun bristled, then lowered his voice when he remembered they were in the exam hall.
The way he kept glancing at the child made it seem as though he was worried about frightening him.

“So who is he, really?”
“Hello?”
“Uh, hi. I’m Joo Hee-jun. What’s your name?”
“Ro-uung!”
“Ro-uung? Lee Ro-un, don’t tell me you gave your own name to your chi—”
“Would I? You idiot.”
“R-right? I knew that too.”

Like hell you did. You were seriously wondering just now whether he was my kid.
Ro-un’s eyes narrowed.
Joo Hee-jun avoided Ro-un’s narrowed gaze.
Just then, the second test began.

“Th-there, it’s starting!”

At last, Ro-un’s gaze, which looked as if it might carve through Joo Hee-jun’s skull with nothing but its sharpness, shifted away.

“Begin.”
“Doddy!”

At the sound of Yong Chang-jin’s voice, Yu-jeong began stamping his feet.
Ro-un sat Yu-jeong on his lap so he could watch more comfortably.

“Heehee!”

The child’s laughter rang in Ro-un’s ears, and the corners of Ro-un’s mouth lifted with the child’s mood.
As everyone watched, the first examinee finished preparing for the test.

“I am examinee number one, Jo Hyeon-yeong.”
“Please cast all of your combat skills.”

Yong Chang-jin spoke in a businesslike tone.
The examinee seemed extremely nervous.
He took a deep breath, then clenched his fist with a stiff expression.

“Begin.”
“[Giant’s Blow]!”

The moment the examinee named the skill he was using, power gathered in his fist.
[Giant’s Blow] was a skill that multiplied the caster’s strength several times over when striking.
The exact increase depended on the skill’s level.

“Huaaah!”

Thung!

When the examinee drove his fist into the shock-absorbing test wall, the wall rippled once.
Examinee number one continued with another skill.

“[Straight Fist Thrust]”

As the name suggested, it was a straight-fist thrusting attack.
It was a simple combat skill, but one that further boosted attack power specifically for the motion of driving a straight punch.
It was weaker than [Giant’s Blow], but [Straight Fist Thrust] shook the wall in a similar way.

‘That examinee is too focused on fist-based attacks. He’d have a hard time against long-range attacks or opponents with strong durability.’

Ro-un grasped the first examinee’s limits at a glance.
The same was probably true for Yong Chang-jin.
But the second test was purely for checking the examinee’s combat skills.
A single word came from Yong Chang-jin’s mouth.

“Pass.”
“Kyaht! Ah! Thank you!”

Overjoyed, the examinee bowed deeply to Yong Chang-jin and left the test area.
Ro-un didn’t know who would be handling the third test, but if that examinee could not properly apply his own skills, the third stage would be a major hurdle.
Ro-un’s gaze shifted to the next examinee.
Once examinee number one left, examinee number two entered the test area with the shock-absorbing wall as if taking a baton handoff.

“Next.”
“I’m examinee number two, Lee Min-woo!”
“Begin.”
“Huaaah! [Lightning Thrust]!”

Bzzzz!

That examinee had a loud battle cry, but his skill level was unimpressive.
The lightning wrapped around his spear looked far too weak to be called A-rank, and Ro-un lost interest.
His other skills also used lightning, but the impact was minimal.

‘He’ll fail.’

Sure enough, Yong Chang-jin’s judgment matched Ro-un’s expectation exactly.

“Fail.”
“P-please, give me a chance!”
“Fail.”
“Just once more.”
“Challenge it again next time.”

At Yong Chang-jin’s ironclad response, examinee number two left the test area looking as if he was wronged.
What did he have to feel wronged about?
He should blame himself for not raising his skill levels.
Ro-un glanced once at the back of the second examinee as he trudged out with slumped shoulders, then went back to playing finger games with Yu-jeong.

“Wow. Baekdu’s chairman really doesn’t cut anyone any slack.”
“Baekdu’s chairman is a razor-sharp kind of person. Baekdu Academy didn’t get its high ranking for nothing. I heard even their own internal training is brutally strict.”
“Doddy!”
“Yeah. Yu-jeong’s father is impressive.”
“Doddy!”
“Right. Right.”

Ro-un patted the wriggling Yu-jeong.
Even though Yong Chang-jin had done nothing over there except repeat pass and fail judgments without using any real power, Yu-jeong acted as though he had done something amazing.

‘It’s not exactly amazing, but he is doing his job.’

Ro-un understood Yu-jeong’s excitement at seeing his father at work.
He too remembered his heart beating faster when he was younger, watching his own parents at work.
Ro-un ran his fingers through the child’s soft hair, the same color as his own.

“Hey, Lee Ro-un. Then does that dra— I mean, that chairman personally train them?”

Joo Hee-jun dragged the sentimental Ro-un back to reality.
Lost in a pleasant memory, Ro-un glared sharply at Joo Hee-jun for pulling him back.
What an utterly tactless brat.

“What kind of nonsense are you thinking? Of course it’s the teachers who train them.”
“Ah. Haha. Right, right? Yeah. It’s not like they’re dragon soldiers, so there’s no way a dragon would train them personally. But are they seriously not making a dragon knight order or something?”

Just what on earth goes on inside this guy’s head?
Why had dragon knights suddenly entered the conversation?

‘This is exactly why his skills keep veering off in bizarre directions. He fills his head with this kind of thing all day.’

A mage ought to be armored in cold reason, not this easily swayed.

‘Even if I help him fix his trait, I might not be able to fix this part of him.’

Ro-un looked at Joo Hee-jun, who was still muttering about dragon knights, with pure disbelief.
Even if he couldn’t fix that, it wasn’t Ro-un’s problem.
All he had to do was tell Joo Hee-jun how to remove the ‘unstable’ modifier in exchange for his labor.
Whether or not Joo Hee-jun actually used that method to fix his trait was up to him.

“Ro-uung?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Doddy.”
“Yeah. That’s Yu-jeong’s father.”
“Ro-uung, wit Doddy!”
“You want to do something with your father?”
“Ung!”
“Okay. I’ll think about it.”
“Ung!”

Yu-jeong swung his legs and bounced in place.
At the sight of Yu-jeong so excited he looked as if he were on a picnic, Joo Hee-jun’s ridiculous behavior vanished from Ro-un’s mind.

“I went to the night market with the princess yesterday, and it was so beautiful that I wanted to show it to you too, Yu-jeong.”
“Ro-uung?”
“Have you ever been to the night market, Yu-jeong?”
“Uuung.”

Yu-jeong shook his head firmly.
Since he had been called away by Proprietress Gu So-ye and the princess had not been able to enjoy the night market for long either, it might be nice for them all to visit together on the next full moon.
While Ro-un was mentally checking next month’s schedule, Joo Hee-jun suddenly tugged at his arm.

“Ah, what is it all of a sudden?”
“Hey, hey! It’s Cheon Su-ho’s turn!”

Ro-un, who had been playing with Yu-jeong, looked down.

“Number 68. Cheon Su-ho.”

Cheon Su-ho, having overcome , entered the test area.

‘Cheon Su-ho.’

As chairman overseeing an academy, Yong Chang-jin had heard Cheon Su-ho’s name before.
During the Awakener evaluation all citizens had to undergo at the age of fourteen, Cheon Su-ho had drawn the attention of officials with unprecedented stats.
At awakening, all-B stats, trait 【Hero (B)】
With extraordinary reflexes on top of that, Cheon Su-ho had been considered a promising talent both by guilds and by the Association.

…Until one fact came to light.

Status effect .

Cheon Su-ho was an Awakener who possessed not even a handful of mana, something no Awakener could do without.
An Awakener who couldn’t use mana at all.
That was an inborn limitation no degree of talent or excellent stats could overcome.

‘Lee Ro-un shattered that limitation for him.’

Yong Chang-jin’s gaze moved to Lee Ro-un on the second floor.
To Yong Chang-jin, whose hearing was exceptionally sharp, the conversation on the second floor came through as clearly as if it were being spoken right beside him.

“Why do you keep making such a fuss?”
“It’s not making a fuss, it’s cheering him on.”
“He’s not a child. Even if you don’t make such a fuss, Cheon Su-ho will pass on his own, so stop making a scene. Aren’t you embarrassed doing this in front of the kid?”
“No, how can you be so sure he’ll pass, and are you saying you’re not cheering for Cheon Su-ho?”
“Yeah. I’m not. He’ll pass even if I don’t.”
“…If you’re not even going to cheer him on, then why did you come?”

The hooded boy asked in a dejected voice.
At the dejected tone, Lee Ro-un hesitated slightly.
It was only for an instant, but to Yong Chang-jin’s eyes, which could clearly see even at a distance of hundreds of steps, it was obvious that Lee Ro-un had gone briefly rigid at Joo Hee-jun’s words.

“Good question.”

Lee Ro-un paused for a moment, then continued.

“…It’s all because that bastard Cheon Su-ho made a face like some abandoned dog.”

It was a very small voice.
But it gave Yong Chang-jin much to infer.

‘Lee Ro-un lost his family young and has been used by humans ever since. Did he empathize with the idea of being left alone or abandoned?’

Or had there been some reason he needed Cheon Su-ho to overcome ?
Whatever the reason, Cheon Su-ho’s fate had changed thanks to Lee Ro-un.

“Lee Ro-un?”
“…If I didn’t come, he’d just keep pestering me.”
“No, I mean, sure, he’d be a little hurt, but calling it pestering is a bit much. Wait, now that I think about it, this is weird. Are we a bother to you?!”
“Haa.”
“Why aren’t you answering? A-are we really that annoying?”
“Yu-jeong. Aren’t you bored? Are you okay?”
“Lee Ro-un…!”
“Ro-uung!”
“Calm down a little in front of the kid.”
“You just wait….”

Watching his son sitting on Ro-un’s lap and playing with his fingers, the line of Yong Chang-jin’s mouth, which had gone hard for a moment, softened. But it soon returned to its usual firm expression.
Yong Chang-jin had come here because he wanted to see the Cheon Su-ho that Lee Ro-un had chosen.
Yong Chang-jin parted his lips.

“Begin.”
“[Body Enhancement].”

Cheon Su-ho called out the skill’s name and drove a straight punch, using the skill [Martial Arts], into the shock-absorbing wall.

Tuuung!

The test shock-absorbing wall rippled more violently than ever before.
A great wave spread outward from the point where Cheon Su-ho’s fist struck.
Then Cheon Su-ho picked up the equipment issued for the exam.