Round 29

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Last time when I briefly went out, I bought various clothes that Ara might like. Among them, Ara liked a children’s dungaree outfit designed like work clothes the most, so I dressed her in it and we went outside.

“Wow!!”

Ara, seeing the outside of the dungeon for the first time, looked around and exclaimed in awe. But could a monster really come out of the dungeon this easily?

‘I still have a lot to learn.’

Although I came out without worries, several questions popped up once I actually did. Of course, there had been instances where monsters burst out if a dungeon was neglected for too long…

“Look, look! There are so many trees!”

Ara, dressed in the dungarees, pointed at the trees and shouted. Seon-ah, watching this scene, somehow smiled slyly.

“Shall we start?”

Might as well be positive about it. First, I should contact Young-seong.

* * *

After parting with my younger siblings, I headed towards the Ara Hongryeon Guild. Ara’s exclamations didn’t stop along the way, but it wasn’t a problem.

‘She’s attracting more attention than I thought.’

Whenever Ara spoke or moved briskly, people’s eyes followed her. However, these glances, contrary to my worries, were natural reactions to spotting a cute child.

“Oh, look at that child.”

“Blonde hair. Is she a foreigner?”

Ara seemed to notice these stares and asked with a puzzled tilt of her head.

“Look, look! Why is everyone staring at me?”

“Because Ara is cute?”

“Hmm! I am indeed cute!”

After that, she strutted around with a rather haughty face, which didn’t last long as her neck soon got tired and she reverted to her normal self.

Taking the subway, we arrived in Seocho District and headed to our destination, the Ara Hongryeon Guild.

“Wow…”

Ara gaped at the huge building, tilting her head back to see the top. She slowly started counting from the bottom up.

“One, two, three, four…”

“Ara?”

“Look, look! How tall is this thing! It feels like my neck will snap!”

“Well, I haven’t checked yet. We’ll find out soon since we’re about to go up.”

I had contacted Young-seong, and he suggested meeting at the Ara Hongryeon Guild. It was just what I was about to bring up, so I happily agreed.

‘I haven’t yet talked about Ara…’

Giggling, Ara tightly held my hand as she looked around. As we entered the building, the tall, handsome bodyguard I had seen before was standing there.

“Welcome to the Ara Hongryeon Guild. May I ask where you are from… Ah! Awakener Lee Kyu-seong, nice to see you again.”

“Hello.”

As I bowed in greeting, Ara mimicked me.

“Hello?”

“Hello?”

It turned into a somewhat strange greeting, but the young man smiled and bowed at Ara.

“This time, I have received prior instructions. I will personally guide you.”

“Thank you.”

This time, no mistakes.

Following the man’s lead, we took the elevator to the top floor.

“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong! I feel like I’m being pulled down!”

Ara, experiencing the elevator for the first time, made a fuss. I whispered to her gently,

“This is called an elevator, and we are going up to the top. Remember the tall building you were counting? We’re going to the top of that building.”

“Really?! Wow!”

Since there were no signs indicating the floor numbers, I casually asked the man,

“By any chance, how many floors does the Ara Hongryeon building have?”

“It has 140 floors. And what a cute young lady she is.”

“Ha ha. Thank you.”

Ara, unaware that the compliment was directed at her, continued to fuss about feeling like she was being pulled downward. When the elevator signaled our arrival, she burst into a wide grin.

“We’re at the top!”

As soon as the ors opened, Ara dashed out but was quickly grabbed by a large hand.

“Uh?!”

“Ha ha ha! What’s this cute little thing?”

It was Kang Hanul.

Seeing him after a long time, he still had a robust appearance and he put Ara on his shoulders as if they had always known each other.

“I’ve brought a guest.”

“Great job, Jeong-gil. Hey, Lee Kyu-seong! Long time no see!”

I smiled back warmly at Kang Hanul’s cheerful greeting.

“It’s been a while.”

“Young-seong will arrive soon. By the way, who is this kid? Your daughter?”

“Not my daughter, actually…”

Realizing that Kang Hanul was an acquaintance of mine, Ara comfortably enjoyed being on his shoulders, chattering away happily. I thought to myself that I might have to give her a ride like that later.

“Actually, I came to the Ara Hongryeon Guild to seek advice about this child, as Awakener Hanul kindly advised last time.”

“Just call me brother.”

“Yes, Brother Hanul.”

At that moment, someone walked out from the side.

Actually, two people did.

“You’re here, Kyu-seong. I received a heads-up that you were coming to meet Team Leader Kang Hanul.”

“Nice to see you again, Guild Leader.”

It was the calm-looking Guild Leader Han Seok-jun, and the other person was…

‘Ah! It’s Haesol the Awakener!’

I believe he’s the Deputy Leader of Team 2, though I’m not sure.

As I bowed to greet them, Haesol approached and offered a handshake. His narrow eyes were memorable.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Haesol, the Deputy Leader of Ara Hongryeon’s Team 2.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kyu-seong.”

While we were exchanging greetings, on the other side, Ara and Kang Hanul were creating a boisterous scene.

“This is my first time seeing this child? Did you bring her, Mr. Kyu-seong?”

“Yes, actually, I came to consult about her. Is it possible to talk a bit?”

Han Seok-jun and Haesol tilted their heads, possibly not fully understanding my request. Given Ara’s appearance as just a young child, they might have wondered what kind of consultation could be necessary.

“It’s about awakening.”

“Ah! I see. Since we have some time, shall we talk?”

* * *

Until Young-seong arrived, I set aside time to speak with Guild Leader Han Seok-jun and Kang Hanul. Haesol had to leave early due to other duties.

Sitting in a room similar to a conference room, I briefly relayed the story, and Han Seok-jun and Kang Hanul looked at Ara with serious expressions.

“This cute child is a monster…”

They were clearly shocked by the unexpected revelation.

Admittedly, even though there are humanoid monsters, none had been discovered that resembled a human as closely as Ara did.

“So, Mr. Kyu-seong, you’re saying Ara is your familiar?”

“Yes.”

“You must have been quite surprised.”

As if he hadn’t just been serious, Han Seok-jun gave me a reassuring look. It seemed not so much for me, but rather out of concern that Ara might feel uneasy.

“Ara, would it be alright if this uncle touched your ear?”

Kang Hanul’s tough demeanor softened as he carefully handled Ara. I was grateful that he still treated her like a child, without any prejudice against her being a monster.

“You can touch it!”

“Ha ha, thank you.”

Even though there was no need to take off her hat, Ara briskly ran up to Kang Hanul and lifted his hat.

“Oh?”

Kang Hanul and Han Seok-jun’s eyes sparkled at the sight of real tiger ears on her head.

Kang Hanul carefully touched the ears.

“They’re really ears. Fascinating.”

“Hee hee! It tickles!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

Han Seok-jun, who had been watching closely, asked,

“Is she a girl?”

“She has no gender.”

“No gender…?”

“…No.”

“Hmm, that’s surprising.”

It seemed they vaguely understood my implication that there was nothing to distinguish her gender.

“Is it impossible to identify exactly what kind of monster she is?”

“Well… I know, but it’s difficult to provide a lot of information.”

“I understand.”

Han Seok-jun kept his gaze on Ara even as he talked with me. Ara seemed to really like Kang Hanul, as she was busy playing around with him.

“Is she capable of combat?”

“She might be when she grows more, but I’m not sure. And I wonder if there would even be a need for her to fight.”

At first, I thought of using Ara to complete quests, but now I’m not so sure…

“Does she have any skills or abilities?”

“There is one skill.”

I didn’t mention Devour. It was too specific and unique an ability to talk about.

“Oh, what skill is that?”

“Breath.”

“…Breath?”

Their eyes, which had been looking at Ara, returned to me filled with incredulity. The idea of a child-like Ara using Breath seemed preposterous.

Indeed, I felt the same.

“That’s quite an unexpected skill.”

“But I’ve only checked it in the status window; I’ve never actually seen it used.”

“How about we test it here?”

“Here?”

“There’s a training ground for awakeners. I can assure you, it’s the best facility in the country.”

It seemed like a good idea to test out Breath since Devour was a basic ability and couldn’t be confirmed otherwise.

“And if you’d like, we can also test Ara’s overall physical abilities. It won’t be too hard, and Ara might enjoy it like a game.”

“Shall we?”

I wasn’t very hopeful.

Given Ara’s child-like appearance, I assumed her stats would be slightly better than an average human’s at best.

Of course, my agreement was partly due to curiosity.

‘Ara is faster than me.’

Sometimes when we played tag, I was amazed at her speed. Initially, I let her win, but after she ate some crops and her stats increased, I couldn’t catch her even when I tried seriously.

Considering just her speed, perhaps the results might be quite surprising?

“Strike while the iron is hot; let’s go right now.”

* * *

We started with the physical ability test.

Han Seok-jun decided to measure only to the extent that Ara wouldn’t find it too difficult and tried to estimate her limits from there.

As a result of testing her dynamic vision, strength, speed, endurance, reaction speed, spatial perception, and more…

“That’s quite surprising.”

Ara was assessed to have physical capabilities similar to those of a Level 3 Awakener. Of course, we didn’t push her to her limits, so this was merely an estimate, but it was indeed an impressive result.

“Look, look! This is fun! I want to do it again!”

Especially during the reaction speed test, which showed results indicative of a Level 4 or higher, Ara seemed to think of the test as a game, as she ran towards me with a bright smile.

“We can do it again.”

“Wow! That’s great!”

Han Seok-jun chuckled and nodded, and Ara went back to do another reaction speed test.

“Considering her small physique, the stats are definitely impressive. We didn’t do the endurance test, but even so, she’s already at a Level 3 Awakener’s standard.”

“I’m surprised too.”

Seeing her run so fast, I thought she was not ordinary, but now I see why I couldn’t catch her.

After playing so vigorously, Ara soon scampered back to me.

“It was fun!”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Look, look! Playing made me hungry!”

I had brought plenty of food, so there was no worry about that. But before that…

“Shall we try shooting a Breath and then have something to eat?”

“Oh! Breath! That sounds good!”

Ara nodded her head eagerly, smiling broadly.

So far, everything was within the expected range, so I wasn’t too worried about the Breath.

At most, it might have the destructive power of a Level 3 or 4 Awakener.

“This is the power machine. It’s where Awakeners test their skills.”

When we reached the measuring device, Ara tilted her head.

“Breath?”

“Yes. Just use Breath towards that.”

“Got it! It’s my first Breath!”

Ara seemed excited about using a power she was trying for the first time, her eyes sparkling.

In the testing room, it was just Han Seok-jun, Ara, and myself. Even Kang Hanul had been politely sent away by Han Seok-jun.

“Hoooooo…”

Ara took a deep breath.

Even that looked adorably unfair.

In that moment.

“Phaaaaa——!!”

Kwaaaaaang———!!!

Suddenly, there was a flash before us, and then something like a beam of light was emitted a short distance in front of Ara’s mouth.

“……”

“……”

Han Seok-jun and I watched in silence, speechless.

Sizzle sizzle-

The floor of the testing room, which would normally withstand any attack, was deeply grooved and melting away. We could feel the heat even from a distance.

After releasing the Breath powerfully, Ara turned to us with a slight smile.

“I’m hungry!”

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