Episode 93. Dragon

“Hu-bae-nim! I heard you finally have a private lab!? Congratulations!”

“Thank you, Professor Dana. It hasn’t been cleaned up yet, would you like to come in?”

“Five… . Maybe it’s because you’ve been studying the Bible, it’s more like a real counseling room than a laboratory. It looks like a prayer room… . Oh, I brought you a present. This is a tangerine, and I thought it would be nice to have a potted plant, so I brought it, and this is a moving picture of me-”

“That’s fine.”

“Do you want to get mad? uh, what was this? Oh, this is a bookmark that adds a word search function to a paper book, and this is a magnifying glass that predicts and shows the damaged original document. I have long since stopped reading the Bible, so I don’t need it anymore.”

A week has passed since I received an invitation from Rocks for a Kiruna research presentation.

The writing of the joint research paper with Karl was now coming to an end, but the academic society was also interested in the Bible interpretation, which I conducted whenever I had a chance, so there was still a pile of work to be done.

Because of this, I couldn’t even bother to care about how the school was running.

After Rox and Elsie’s visit, I could feel that the attitude towards me at the school headquarters had changed drastically these days.

“They gave me funding for research that I hadn’t even applied for, and this time, they assigned me a private lab. It seems that the Imperial Academy has a considerable influence on Kiruna.”

“That’s why professors here use Kiruna as a stepping stone to advance to the Imperial Academy. The principal is like that too, Won.”

Even if they came and gave me some kind of benefit, the school headquarters, which had secretly discriminated against me until now, didn’t look nice.

However, as the number of students visiting me has increased, the office has felt cramped these days… .

It felt good to have a private laboratory several times larger than the office.

‘Now, the stigma of being a professor from the military is almost gone.’

When I had not been possessed by this place for a while, I thought that even if I received the support of many students, it would be difficult for me to be treated properly as a professor by the school.

But, I never thought that my hard work would pay off like this… . As expected, life seems to be the new Ongjima.

‘By the way… .’

Even while I was soaked in emotion, Dana’s bundle of presents did not stop.

“This is my last gift, a red dress to wear at the performance presentation with my juniors! how about it? Imagine me wearing this and sticking around. Do you think it would be sexy?”

“I think you should put that back in.”

“why!? I even prepared myself to become a rose to bring my juniors back!”

“… You are already tired.”

Maybe Charlotte was in a good mood because she was adjusting well to school life after the consultation, but Dana’s tension seemed to be higher than usual these days.

“how about it? The presentation, are you really looking forward to it?”

“I won’t be bored for a week.”

but… . I really couldn’t help but wonder if the thing in front of me was really a being that had lived for over 300 years.

* * *

“Did you say ‘of’ meant ‘observation’?”

“Yes.”

“Then the phrase must mean, ‘These are my first children, and my most beautiful observers.’ When was this sentence written?”

“… When making dragons. Most of what the Bible says is the story of the creation of the world.”

The sun was about to set as I deciphered the Bible with Elma’s help in the lab.

“Sir, it is dangerous to publish too much of the study of the Bible in public. It seemed that the children of the heretic inquisitors didn’t really like mages studying the Bible too deeply.”

“really? Why?”

“They said there was no faith in the quests of the wizards, and they accused me of treating the Bible with such an attitude as blasphemy. These days, mages are much stronger than theologians, so there won’t be many assassinations for heretics like in the past, but there’s nothing good about noticing them, right?”

“Then this would be enough. Oh, I have something to talk to you about before I leave for work.”

I got up and closed the window and drew the curtains.

The lab door is locked. The only thing that lit up the dark lab was Elma’s small light.

“Did I think about it today? I think the time has come to keep the promise I made with you.”

“Are you preventing the end of the world?”

“uh. It’s a pity for a goddess, but it’s true that you helped me many times. I have to work as much as I received. And-“

There are two things I felt through this midterm episode.

The first is that I am no longer an extra or a supporting character in the world of this novel.

“Until I met Yuri, I was aiming for a position of a helper who hides in the shadow of the main character and helps solve the case. I can’t do that anymore I have no intention of doing that.”

Could I have predicted last winter that I would affect so many students?

What I felt while facing the children was that they were still young students before becoming characters leading the story.

On the other side of the manuscript, which only showed their flat appearance, there were students struggling with concerns that they could not solve on their own.

The possibility for them to grow as more mature personalities was also open.

As a result of helping a struggling student, if that student’s combat power is lower than the original… .

That’s what I’ll have to jump in and fill it up.

“You mean you won’t let Yuri solve all the cases.”

“right. As a teacher, I am trying to intervene more actively in the case than now so that I can take responsibility for the students. I think I need to grow more to do that.”

“Is that why you accepted the invitation to the Kiruna research presentation?”

“that’s right.”

The higher you go, the more enemies you have, so showing interest in me at the Imperial Academy isn’t necessarily a good thing.

“However, the teacher cannot hide behind the students forever. The greater my influence, the less pressure the children will have.”

second is.

As I examine the darker sides of this novel… . It was a strong intuition that I would be able to get a clue to go back to reality.

There was so much I didn’t know about this novel.

Mina, who did not even appear in the novel, was a student who struggled with education discrimination.

Sepia was a victim of school violence.

The Student Council, which was thought to be an organization representing students, was the perpetrator of bullying.

And I know a student who wrote this story.

“This is the world of Ah-yeong’s imagination. It’s not clear yet, but the other side of this novel… . It may be that Ah-yeong’s experiences and thoughts have been melted into it.”

Assuming that Ah-yeong’s melancholy, which she hadn’t told me about, is melted in the cracks of this bright and flat story.

I can interpret events and phenomena in this world in a new way.

“I don’t think the pond was something I just imagined. It will be the same for many events that will happen in the future.”

Ah-young told me that she was writing to escape reality, but as I thought, if she had given various meanings to the settings and events in her novels… . The only person in this world who can recognize that is me who knows her.

To sum it up, whatever. In the end, I have to play an active role as one of the main axes leading the flow of this novel.

My position has risen to that extent, and only I can read and respond to the meaning behind this novel.

In order to bring students, schools, and furthermore the world back to normal, it has become a situation where we can no longer passively be dragged along by the events in the novel.

“… So, Elma. What do you think is the most threatening sign of destruction right now?”

A mysterious pond that suddenly opened up near Kiruna, a monster whose number seemed infinite.

Other than that, strange phenomena that threaten the existence of this world still exist in the world.

“I can’t solve it right now, but I think I can deal with it later if I know what it is.”

“Well, it is still too difficult a task to solve… .”

“It’s okay, tell me.”

“Dragon.”

“… ?”

“Right now, the most threatening sign of destruction is dragons.”

Among the dragons, mutants were born who rejected the destiny they were given to live as observers of the world.

They formed an organization and rebelled against the goddess.

“… Their name is Laplace. It is the most powerful organization in the world, with seven dragons gathered.”

So now. The creature the goddess created with the most care came to the point where it tried to destroy the world.

* * *

The ultimate goal that dragons pursue is omniscience.

Literally grasping all the truths in the world and not knowing anything was their ideal.

In order to predict the future of all things and rise to the point where they do not feel any anxiety or worry, they devoted their entire lives to recording and exploring all phenomena in the world.

‘That’s normal dragons. By the way… .’

It was an unexpected variable that the dragons who turned their eyes away from the truth search gathered and tried to rule the world.

According to Elma’s explanation, they are threatening the existence of the world by carrying out experiments that break the order, such as research on how to manipulate time or reject death.

“No, there shouldn’t be less than 50 dragons in the world. There are seven mutants among them?”

“So it’s a manslaughter. Originally, there was no case like this, but 30 years ago, 7 of them changed like that at the same time.”

“You don’t know what caused it?”

“… Yes. ah! Also, what’s unusual is that they’re all polymorphs, mingling with humans. I usually try not to use polymorph unless I’m an anthropological researcher.”

“Polymorph… .”

Anthropology has always remained a challenge for dragons who seek unchanging truth.

Unlike other races that serve guardian spirits. This is because humans constantly change their culture and way of thinking according to regions and times.

In order to break that wall, some dragons went beyond observing humanity from a distance and tried to experience human society firsthand.

What was developed like that was Polymorph, a magic that hides the magical power of a dragon and transforms into a human form.

“Is there any reason for Laplace guys to hide among humans?”

“Isn’t it just because it’s less noticeable? There is a saying that if you want to hide a tree, hide it in the forest.”

Of course, it could be. I also thought that there might be some connection between Laplace and humans.

Come to think of it, Dana was also living as a professor in human form… .

‘Dragon and human… .’

“… I don’t know. It’s not like you’re thinking about it right now.”

“Let’s watch first.”