012 - Chief Researcher Jo Jeong-ah
Go-o-o… The third artificial mana core settled deep in her lower abdomen.
Positioned side by side with the existing cores, but spaced just enough to avoid interference.
Lee Jiyeon opened her eyes and checked the clock. It was already past 10 p.m.
When she sank into meditation and focused inward, time always slipped away in the blink of an eye like this.
A wave of hunger hit her all at once, one she hadn't noticed until now.
"This isn't easy…."
Contrary to her initial expectations, forming additional artificial mana cores wasn't straightforward.
She thought it would go faster since she had the knack from the first one, but there was another issue.
She had to balance the cores within the space of her lower dantian.
The first two hadn't caused major problems, but starting with the third, the sensory challenge spiked dramatically.
In the end, after forming the second core in an hour, she spent three more hours forming and tuning the third.
And intuitively, she knew. Four or more wouldn't be solved just by pouring in time.
Three was the limit for now. Lee Jiyeon felt a strange pang of regret.
The chicken had gone cold.
Jo Jeong-ah fidgeted anxiously beside her.
"Sorry. It was my fault for pushing to do it today… You must be starving, right?"
"I'm fine."
Lee Jiyeon brushed it off casually.
She could have stopped after the second core. But a surge of competitive spirit had made her decide to push through today.
Fortunately, there was a microwave in the corner of the room.
As Jo Jeong-ah popped the cold chicken into it, Lee Jiyeon asked,
"So, why'd you order this, anyway?"
"Well… Mind taking a look at this first?"
Click-clack.
Jo Jeong-ah activated the microwave and approached. The tablet screen she showed displayed a waveform graph, just like the one measured in the lab earlier.
Lee Jiyeon had zero knowledge in the field, but even she could tell something from the image.
The top one was the irregular waveform from her heart's mana core, shown a few hours ago. The rest were new—perfectly regular waves.
"What's this for?"
"Aren't you curious what happens if you combine these three regular waveforms?"
"Combine them?"
Lee Jiyeon tilted her head.
Jo Jeong-ah had been giving her meaningful looks for a while now. This must be the main point.
"Yes. Showing it visually should make it easier and more intuitive to grasp… Watch closely."
Jo Jeong-ah swiped on the tablet.
Hitting the 'synthesis' button launched some complex program. Soon, the three waveforms overlapped, forming a single composite one.
"Huh…?"
Lee Jiyeon's eyes widened.
The synthesized waveform was clearly different from each original. Not quite regular, not fully irregular either—an in-between shape.
But that ambiguity oddly resembled the heart's waveform at the top.
"What is this?"
"Simply put, you can mimic an irregular waveform by properly combining multiple regular ones. The more you have, the more precisely you can replicate it."
"…Huh?"
Lee Jiyeon's face was pure 'what?'.
Her education hadn't even made it past elementary school, let alone middle.
"Ah, let me rephrase…."
Jo Jeong-ah paused, switching tactics.
"Think of piano keys. Hit do, mi, sol together, and you get a chord. Each is a note on its own, but combined, it sounds totally different. Mana core waves are similar."
"Hmm…."
She kinda got it, kinda didn't. But it was way better than before.
Lee Jiyeon had never played piano, but she could follow the analogy.
"With just three now, it's still rough. More cores would allow finer tuning, but…."
"It's pretty taxing, honestly. Three seems like the limit for the time being."
Lee Jiyeon said, focusing on her lower abdomen.
"Still, this is worth a shot. I'll give it a try."
"Right now?"
"Of course."
"What about the chicken?"
"Oh."
Right, eat first.
Lee Jiyeon, about to sit on the cushion, hesitated and stood back up.
From 2020 to 2025 is called the Cataclysm Era.
The deadliest, most chaotic time when the most people died.
2025 to 2035 is the Reconstruction Era.
The scars left on the world from the Cataclysm kept threatening humanity endlessly, but at least it wasn't on the brink of extinction anymore.
If anything, as if to prove "rivers and mountains change every ten years," humanity rapidly rebuilt civilization using the new laws of mana.
Even with 30% of the world population wiped out and superhumans popping up everywhere, the world didn't regress to the Middle Ages—thanks largely to three powerhouse true awakeners.
Lee Chang didn't know the details. That was S-rank stuff and above.
From 2035 to the present in 2042 is the Stability Era.
Shockingly, many major nations that survived the apocalypse restored civilization to pre-2020 levels.
Proof? This chicken right here.
How much infrastructure does it take to fry this pinnacle of 21st-century civilization?
Highly standardized precision livestock farming and genetic engineering for managed broiler production.
Edible oil refining for frying, plus stable gas supply chains or high-power electricity to maintain temps.
And all the other etceteras.
Plus the distribution networks to get it in the middle of a city.
All that was back online now.
Unimaginable in Lee Chang's youth.
Pricey still—about a day's pay for an E-rank hunter—but the taste drove Lee Jiyeon wild.
Back when he was Lee Chang, and now.
If anything, her child's sensitive taste buds made it hit even harder.
Microwaved, and still this good?
Lee Jiyeon thought she'd get it fresh-fried next time as she wiped grease from her hands.
"Alright, let's start."
"Okay."
Lee Jiyeon sat on the cushion and closed her eyes.
Focus inward.
Heart's mana core. Irregular waves.
Three artificial mana cores in the lower abdomen. Regular waves.
With one core before, she'd strained to twist its regular waves into irregular ones.
Result: Barely-there resonance, basically a failure.
But now was different.
As Jo Jeong-ah said, she began manipulating the artificial cores.
Adjusting within their natural regularity was simple.
But all three at once? Another story.
For now, all three pulsed with identical waves.
She shaped each into the forms from those three waveforms earlier.
Lee Jiyeon drew on 20 years of mana-handling instinct.
Mana control was all about feel. Things the body remembered even if the head didn't get it.
Weave the three cores' vibrations into one flow.
First core jumps once, second three times, third five….
Thump.
She felt the composite waves inching toward the heart's.
'Now, spread the lower dantian mana throughout the body….'
Repeat of the morning. Paths from lower dantian to reinforcement circuits were already open.
Just like naturally handling them from the middle dantian before—instant.
Lower dantian mana flooded her body.
Final step: Initiate resonance.
Would it work? Tense moment.
Lee Jiyeon swallowed and triggered it.
- Keeeen.
Amplification hit like it was waiting.
Worlds apart from the morning's weak version.
She sensed her body's mana cores merging into one massive flow.
Reinforcement circuits activated body-wide.
Mana surged through to limbs, overlaid by a layer of crimson aura.
Lee Jiyeon opened her eyes.
"…Whoa."
She looked down at her hands.
Not a thin film like before.
A thick, vivid crimson haze rippled over her knuckles like heat shimmer.
This was aura.
And it didn't fade quickly this time.
Lee Jiyeon rose slowly. The aura cloaking her body moved naturally with her.
Controlling three cores at once took focus, but maintaining resonance was easier than starting.
"So this is aura. Incredible."
Jo Jeong-ah, watching from the side, gawked in admiration—while furiously noting on her tablet.
"…."
Since becoming this child's body, Lee Jiyeon had felt pathetic helplessness these past few days, though she never showed it.
She had a trait now, but in a frail little girl's flesh.
Couldn't even use her power properly; might not fight at all, they said.
Plus, a kid's brain was fragile to emotions—tears came easy.
She hadn't shed a drop thanks to Lee Chang's innate pride and iron will blocking it.
Well, her eyes had gotten a bit wet from shame convincing Yoo Hayeon a few days back—no count.
Anyway, all that anxiety ended now. A solid lead to getting strong again.
Jo Jeong-ah, pivotal in this turning point, stirred new feelings in her.
Warm, choked-up, flood-like.
Before it burst, Lee Jiyeon needed to leave.
She bowed to Jo Jeong-ah.
Deep enough to hide her face.
"Thank you for your help, Chief Researcher. I'm tired—may I head back now?"
"Oh? Ah, of course. Sorry for keeping you so late. See you tomorrow, Jiyeon."
Lee Jiyeon turned, opened the door, and left.
She knew the Experiment Building layout from wandering these past days.
On the way to her room, the held-back emotions erupted automatically.
No one watching, so she couldn't rein it in.
If Jo Jeong-ah were there, she might've just hugged her.
Letting this brain take over.
'No way in hell.'
Another trial to overcome, she thought rationally.
Forget not: She was A-rank hunter Lee Chang.
Awakened young as a semi-awakener; picked up guns and blades before middle school books; comrades over classmates.
20 years on the front lines, slaying gate beasts inside and out—became one of the world's handful of semi-awakener A-ranks.
That was the man Lee Chang.
And he didn't get swept by emotions over trifles.
Lucky break, end of story.
Even as Lee Jiyeon, she must never forget who she was.
The girl vowed it over and over.
Even back in her room, changed into soft pajamas, burrowing under the covers.
Posting thanks on the gallery… tomorrow.