3rd POV
"Let's get straight to the point than." A domineering voice echoed in the sealed room. The voice came from Hajin, or at least, it came from someone who looked like Hajin. It was clearly Hajin's body, but the eyes and the aura emanating from Hajin's body didn't give that feeling, unlike the aura of awkwardness that Hajin gave, this aura was giving the feeling of true despair, fear and hoplessness.
It was like comparing a new-born baby to the King of the Jungle.
"I want to adopt a pet."
"... what?" Instructor Park asked. It was just something way too unexpected. He thought that Hajin would ask them something big, something that wasn't allowed in Cube or at least something that couldn't be done by a cadet alone. However, adopting a pet was something completely normal.
It was to the point that cube actually encouraged Cadets to adopt pets because the pets could help with one's mental health and bordom.
"I want to adopt a pet." The voice said again.
"That's not a problem. I don't see why you would need to-"
"It's not an animal, or anything like that in this regard."
"... I'm sorry but adopting a child is not allowed in Cube, for obvious reasons of course."
"But it's not a Human either."
"... Is it a monster?" Seung-Ah asked instead this time. That was the only thing one could think of if it's not a Human child nor an animal of sort.
"Well, depends on how you define it. But if you meant to ask if it has bad intentions or is Evil according to Human thought, than no." Hajin replied with a calm face.
"Than--"
"It's a fairy."
"..."
"..."
Fairies. It's a term used for spirits of natures. They are akin to dryads, however, a fairy is not bound to nature itself unlike a dryad. Instead, its bound to a certain concept. Thus, unlike dryads who cannot survive in areas with no life, faries can survive anywhere as long as it doesn't negate the fairy's concept.
They are elemental beings who have near-perfect control over various elements of nature like water, fire, space, time, mist etc. However, the famous ones are faries of fire, water, earth and wind.
When assuming a fairy, one would think of tiny humanoid creatures that have different features on their body, according to their respective elements. However, so far, there's no "child face" for a fairy as it is born with all the knowledge required to survive.
"... How did you even get something like that?" Seung-Ah asked with a knowing gaze. Clearly, fairries, even if famous, were actually rare. So rare in fact that aside from the normal lesser spirits called elementals, only a handful fairries have been recorded in history. And it's definitely not something a cadet should be able to find or have.
"That doesn't matter. I'm asking if you will allow me to adopt a fairy." he said. And after a bit of silence, the boy leaned on the back of his chair and added,
"Honestly, I don't even need your permission since I could hide her perfectly, but I didn't want to imprison her. And hiding her everything I went outside of cube would be a hassle, therefore this request."
"... Can you at least show me how it looks? And from how you mention 'her', it seems as if you're describing a child, but as far as we know, farries don't have 'child phase' or something like that."
"Well, I guess you're right. it's better if I just show you..." Hajin paused for a second, and a dense black ball formed beside him. He reached his hands inside the ball and pulled out a seed after searching for a few seconds.
"Hmm, what is this?" Seung-Ah asked.
"This is the fairy I was talking about."
""..."" They both stared at it for a few seconds as if trying to figure out something or as if trying to see through an illusion or trick of some sort.
"No matter how I look at it, it's just a... seed?" Seung-Ah asked again after thinking of a word to describe this "thing".
The seed was as big as an average person's hand. It also had engravings on both sides, one side was engraved with golden symbols and runes, while the other side was engraved with purple symbols.
The golden runes gave the feeling of power, but also love and happiness. Maybe it was because the seed was satisfied? But the purple engravings, in contrast, gave the feeling of despair and destruction. It was similar to the Aura Hajin's body was giving off right now.
"Exactly. This is a seed from which the fairy will hatch. Although, it hasn't hatched currently as you can see, but there's only a little amount of time left before it does."
"And... you want to adopt the thing that will hatch from this seed?"
"Precisely."
"But how does this thing even hatch? I don't see any place from where it can get the required neutrients, and I don't think that human heat is enough to hatch it."
"Well, it requires blood and magic power. To be specific, it absorbs the magic power and the blood from a person or people. The magic will determine its nature while the blood will define its personality and appearance."
"But you can't use mana if I remember correctly from the military training school. That's why you honed your physical stats instead and chose a sword."
"Oh, I can use it actually. It's just that I couldn't use it previously, you can say that my, or specifically, Hajin's gift got unlocked, the one that is the owner of this body."
"Ah right, I almost forgot that you were not Hajin."
"That's normal. After all, even if my presence has changed, the appearance is still the same."
"Yeah. Oh, and is the hatchling going to be a male or female? And you said it takes the personality traits from the blood doner, so who's that?"
"It's a girl. And as for the blood doner, it's--"
'Hey hey! Don't reveal that yet! That fact doesn't need to be revealed, there's no real need for it, so keep your mouth shut!' Hajin said internally.
"It's?" The instructor asked.
"... It's something that I, or rather, Hajin, would rather not talk about."
"Well, that's okay. We have already asked you enough questions. As for the fairy, you can adopt it. The cube administration will registor it as a familiar. Although, after it hatches, I recommend you make it stay in its fairy form, if it takes the form of a completele human, people could misunderstand.""Sure, and thanks. I thought I would have to do a lot more to make you agree to it."
"... More as in?" Seung-Ah asked hesitantly.
"As in threatening."
"Wha?! Are you so confident in being able to threaten the cube, or more likely, the entire world?" She asked. It clearly left her baffled that a mere cadet spoke those words. Even most of the powerful villains didn't try to do that, and yet this cadet said it so nonchalantly.
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I can just threaten you by spamming that previous attack on the island, but in this case, I'll use in on the country instead while targetting a planet, not a monster.""... But you said you couldn't spam that attack! Why would you lie?!""Oh missy, I think you misunderstood. I am not Hajin, "I" can spam attack that energy for all I want without suffering a single draw-back. I could even destroy this planet without even trying, but of course, that would be boring."
"..." Sweats began to drop from Seung-Ah's and Instructor Park's face. Destroying the world was clearly NOT something to be taken lightly off. And unlike with the villains who would bluff any random stuff out of their mouth, they felt that the being infront of them, or specifically, the being inside Hajin could actually do it. But how was that possible?! Even the world's top rankers couldn't do something so absurb.
"Well, it's time for me to go. Let's not meet each other again, hopefully. At least not under similar conditions to this time." the being said and at the same time, Hajin's eyes closed.
After a few seconds, his eyes opened, and they had returned to normal, the usual dark silver. The domineering aura had also completely vanished, the atmosphere had gone back to normal.
"So, that's about it guys. That's all he wanted to say, and please forgive me if "he" said something offensive during our talk. That's just... his personality... But I promise that he didn't meant it!"
"So you're saying he can't destroy the planet?" Seung-Ah asked immediately.
"That's... something completely different."
"..." -- "Well, *Sigh* Cadet Kim Hajin, please ask if you need anything else. We will try our best to provide it to you." Insturctor Park said. It was clear that he was bribing Hajin as he didn't want to face that being again, or most likely, no one wants to actually.
'I guess this is what its like when you have power against the opponent? I never thought I'll see myself being treated like this.'
"Oh, I don't particularly have anything that I want to ask for. Though, there is one thing. But..." He said.
"... But?"
"But that's something that will happen once Evandel hatches."
"Evandel? I'm assuming that's the name of the fairy." Instructor Park said.
"Indeed."
"Very well than, now, if you can just go back to your dorm room, we have to report what we heard to the higher ups. I'm sure they're thirsty to receive this information." Seung-Ah said.
"And Cadet Kim Hajin, the new dorm rooms according to the new ranking in the final exam would be assigned in a day or two. As the top position holder in both Academics and Physical aspect, please tell us if you want anything added to your dorm room, or should I now say, pent house."
"Sure. I'll call you if I need anything. Now, bye."
"Bye. Have a safe way back to the dorm, although, I don't think I was needed to say that." He laughed at his own remark and left along with Seung-Ah.
"*Sigh*, finally, now that that's taken care of, I can finally take care of other things. And honestly, I didn't think they'd accept so easily, you're something for sure."
[Huaahahaha, no need to thank me~]
He heard in his head.
"... what was that? What kind of laught is that? Are you a ki--"
[Don't you dare finish that line. It's for your own good. And no, I'm an adult, body, mind and soul. And that's just the way I laugh when I am happy at something.]
"Oh, okay." Hajin said.
'Oh, also, now that I remember, in the original, Suho was supposed to have the golden butterfly dust, but I got it this time. What should I do with it now? I don't think I need to get any more powerful, but I can't just give it to Suho either without having a reason for it. And now that I think of it, Rachel was also supposed to awaken her potential through it.'
[Oh, you can just give it to Rachel. Suho probably won't need it since you'll be participating in the future events as well, not just him. As for what to do with the leftover, you can just use it on Evandel.]
'Hmm... that's a good idea... oh wait, I remember something. Wasn't my gift supposed to be sealed or something. Maybe I can use it to unlock that seal?'
[Not a good idea, and personally, I won't buy that. That gift is too powerful. I actually gave it to you in a hurry to prevent certain events and make certain things possible. It also acts as a medium for you to communicate with me. However, your physical body still has limits, and it won't be able to withstand the full power of the gift.]
[Furthermore, if you unseal the gift, there's a very high chance that the nothingness stored inside will overload your body and leak into the outer world. Which can cause some serious damage. So I recommend that you don't try that, at least not until the last parts of the story or until you don't reach a stat average of 20.]
'... that's dangerous indeed. And also, how am I supposed to reach a stat average of 20?! Even Suho in the original canon could only reach an average of 15 while using everything he had. 20 is just too powerful and impossible!'
[Actually, it's not impossible. And you are the last one who should be saying that. If we just convert your overall power to only stats, it'll be around 18~21. But that's your overall power, your physical stats, without including strenghening magic or using your gift, is only around 7. So the only way for you to reach 20 in stats is to train like crazy]
'Saying that is easy... you know? And damn, I didn't thought my overall stats would be that high. Doesn't that mean I can basically go toe to toe with most of the top strongest people in the world? I mean, an average of 15 is considered to be at least top 100 so...?]
[Well, yes. But it's too risky. Your current physical body is extremely weak, and without my gift, you can't even win against the current Suho, who currently has an average of 9. You need to train!]
'yes yes, but let's leave these things to later. For now, we have to give the dust to Rachel.
[And don't forget, this is the best time to reveal Evandel to Rachel as well. Evandel will probably hatch tomorrow. You should probably give Rachel the dust at the same time as well.]
'Yea, you're right. Let's do that. But what do we do now? I can't think of anything...'
'Wait, nevermind. I just got an idea...'
[Hmm?]
'What do you say we go and get myself a ride? The event at England is just around the corner, and if my memory serves correctly, we'll need to chase the chameleon troupe if we want to get hte crystal and get the English Royal Court and Rachel's parents to our side.'
'There's also the chance that Rachel will tell her parents about Evandel, I mean, that's the most logical thing I would think of if I was in her place, so I need to do at least something big and gain fame if I want Rachel to freely act as Evandel's mother.'
[Oho~ Already planning that far I see, looks like you already have your mind dead set on that idea. Well, good. I can't wait to see yours' and Evandel's interactions with your 'family'.]
'Ugh, we already talked about this, and thanks I guess.
Hajin opens his smart watch and searches for someone's number.
"Here it is."
-- Park Soohyuk - SH Agency --
-Hello? Is this sir Kim Hajin speaking?
"Yes, long time no see, Soohyuk-ssi. How is your agency doing?"
-Very good actually. Business has been going smooth, and thanks to your investments, we have been able to purchase new equipment, and [Essence of the Straight] has also started investing in our agency now thanks to you. Is there a reason why you contacted me at this time?
"I'm glad everything is going okay than. And yes, it's just that I wanted to purchase something through your agency."
-Oh, but wouldn't purchasing it directly be better, I mean, sir, you could just go to the shop and buy it yourself, that way, you wouldn't have problems like it being not according to what you thought or things like that.
"Well, yes. But unfortunately, I can't do that. I'm still a cadet, and actually, my Cube's ID still has a debt on it. And I don't think they would let a minor do big transactions, and if I use my cube ID, the cube administration will know of it, and they can add interests and what not to my account. I don't want that, therefor, you are my best option."
-Sure, it'll be an honor, Sir. Please send me the item details and specs that you want to purchase.
"Okay. You'll receive it via email any minute now." Hajin said.
"Oh, and on that note, when will it be done?" he was curious as to how fast the agency had gotten compared to before.
"Two to three days would be enough. You can come to our office to pick up your order."
"Okay, and thanks."
"No need to thank me, Sir. I should be the one the one thanking you, it's because of you introducing my agency to Miss Yeonha that we are able to to perform so well."
"You flatter me Soohyuk-ssi, well than, bye."
"Good bye. Hope you have a great day, Sir~"
Hajin than hung up the call and went inside his room.
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Word Count : 2743