Not a Runt
Not a Runt
Lee Ji-ah, the eleventh head of Taesan, was extraordinary.
No one who rose to lead a Great Family could be called ordinary, but even among those singular figures, Lee Ji-ah shone especially bright.
Remarkable intuition that let her forge new paths the instant she learned a single thing. Immense mana capacity. A unique ability that manifested at an unprecedented level.
From childhood, she had displayed an absurd brilliance.
Even that was merely the surface. She had grown explosively, stormlike, and ascended to family head at a relatively young age without a single concern.
Despite what should have been a lack of experience, Lee Ji-ah handled the duties of her position flawlessly and produced results that exceeded every expectation.
Among the heads of the Three Great Families of her generation, Lee Ji-ah was acknowledged as the foremost. The heads of Changhae and Calamity Flame did not dispute it.
- Did you hear? The family head is returning from the expedition.
- Already? Wasn't it a massive chain rampage? It's only been a few days...
- She's already suppressed it all. The family head's necromancy is renown, after all.
From the moment she was born, Lee Ji-yeon had heard the accomplishments of her mother—the family head—until her ears bled.
She could not help but hear them, even when she did not want to.
The family members and attendants around her were forever whispering about the family head's greatness, and studying history meant naturally witnessing the path Lee Ji-ah had walked.
And naturally, she compared herself to that.
It was not only Lee Ji-yeon herself. Everyone around her did the same.
Because the previous head, the mother who gave birth to Lee Ji-yeon, happened to be Lee Ji-ah, she had no choice but to stand beside her in every comparison.
The children of superhumans do inherit a measure of talent. Inherited-type unique abilities are the prime example.
As if meeting those expectations, Lee Ji-yeon was born with clear gifts.
But she was not as talented as Lee Ji-ah.
'How could I ever become like my mother?'
Lee Ji-yeon had long since given up. It was simply a difference in innate talent.
Some might condemn that as rotten thinking, but Lee Ji-yeon, who had spent her entire life measured against Lee Ji-ah and experienced the gulf firsthand, knew it to be true.
She herself was a genius far removed from the ordinary, yet there was heaven beyond heaven. She believed she could never become a being like her mother.
It could not be helped. In the end, they were born different. Some things cannot be overcome by effort.
- You, do not try to become like me.
Even her mother had always said so.
With those unchanging, emotionless eyes—eyes that held not a shred of affection no matter how closely you looked—she had plainly stated, "You cannot."
Eyes that never seemed to be looking at her own child.
No, Lee Ji-yeon had never once seen any emotion in Lee Ji-ah's eyes. There were only those dull, lifeless pupils, as if preference itself did not exist within her. Even when regarding the two husbands she had taken, Lee Ji-ah's gaze had always been indifferent.
Those eyes were more terrifying than the eyes of a corpse raised by necromancy.
Whenever she faced Lee Ji-ah, she always bowed her head deeply. Her body stiffened involuntarily before her.
Her half-baked talent perceived the presence Lee Ji-ah kept partially suppressed.
A difference too painful to even speak of.
Lee Ji-ah's Taesan was a mountain surging upward with the force to pierce the heavens. Lee Ji-yeon's Taesan was no different from a small hill in the neighborhood.
Taesan does not carry side effects as harsh as Calamity Flame or Azure Sea.
But side effects do exist.
If one firmly establishes self-assurance and self-worth, one gains a sturdy body and mind that will not waver through any crisis.
If one doubts and diminishes oneself, one comes to possess a fragile body and spirit that crumbles helplessly.
Lee Ji-yeon, who compared herself to Lee Ji-ah at every turn, fell squarely into the latter category.
Even after leaving the family and enrolling in Siyoram, it was the same. Though physically apart, Lee Ji-ah's shadow clung to Lee Ji-yeon and did not easily fade.
'...What did I just do?'
The seat Lee Ha-yul had left. Lee Ji-yeon stared down at the coffee cup, her eyes trembling faintly.
A cup that still held a fair amount moments ago was now empty. She had just downed it in one go to soothe her dry mouth and the heat inside her.
Why was she burning up? Why was her mouth parched?
She had been furious. She had run her mouth.
Lee Ji-yeon recalled the memory with a dizzy head.
She had been angry at the family head—at her mother—and had shot back plainly.
She had wrapped it in various tones, but simplified, it amounted to this:
- Why do you run your mouth at others with no manners? Are you running your mouth after forgetting what you yourself taught?
'Oh, I'm insane...'
Her mind went faint. Thinking about it with a clear head, it was an expression of utter madness.
'How dare I, to that mother...? To raise my voice and talk back to the mother who can beat a 3rd-Rank monster to death...?'
It was unbelievable. Lee Ji-yeon clenched her fist. She still didn't want to die...
"Have you confirmed the manifestation of Taesan?"
It was then that Lee Ji-ah spoke. At the voice from across the table, Lee Ji-yeon's shoulders flinched, unlike before.
"...I did not witness a direct manifestation, but I confirmed that he handled vitality energy. In addition, observing his attempts to detect a Taesan manifestation suggests that if he truly possesses it, his usage is still clumsy."
Whether Lee Ha-yul possessed Taesan. That was the order Lee Ji-ah had given after the incident in China.
"Is that so."
Lee Ji-ah nodded calmly, as if she had expected as much. Lee Ji-yeon felt a question rise but kept her mouth firmly shut.
"...It is not absolute, so it can be avoided, and with effort, it can be overcome."
Lee Ji-ah, gazing down at the still crowded street beyond the terrace, murmured.
"Yes, I taught you that as well."
The manifestor of Taesan wields earth and life-and-death. By perceiving vitality energy and the shifts in the vessel that holds it, one may also perceive the death that approaches.
This is a passage passed down from the predecessors for manifestors of Taesan who feel confusion over it.
"Those words are true. No matter how bleak, the principle of the world is that at least a sliver of possibility exists. However..."
Lee Ji-ah turned her gaze. Lee Ji-yeon could feel the eyes looking at her.
"It is never easy. Even by your standards, or ours, it may be an adversity so great that merely avoiding it—let alone overcoming it—is difficult. It could be a threat so unimaginable it feels as though the sky itself is falling."
The surroundings had darkened at some point. Stars twinkled in the night sky, but they were grievously insufficient to illuminate the whole world.
For some reason, no lamplight reached here, and Lee Ji-ah's face was not clearly visible.
"Even so, can you face it, not run away, fight back, and overcome it?"
Lee Ji-ah's eyes, dimmer than the shadows around her, studied Lee Ji-yeon.
"You?"
A calm tone devoid of any emotion. But to Lee Ji-yeon, it sounded as though it meant, "As if the likes of you could."
"Yes."
Nevertheless, Lee Ji-yeon lifted her head confidently and met her mother's fearsome eyes squarely.
"I don't know about charging in and breaking apart, but now, I don't want to be a fool who sits down first without even trying."
It had not actually been long since Lee Ji-yeon had formed any kind of connection with Lee Ha-yul.
The first time she saw him in person was at the first semester tournament.
She had been shocked that a child who had not even been a superhuman for a full year had already grown that strong, and inwardly she had even felt jealousy.
The Lee Ha-yul she saw there shone like a star in a sky too high to reach. Perhaps she had assumed he was the type who had no flaws at all, just like Lee Ji-ah.
But meeting him directly showed that he was different.
He shone even brighter than Lee Ji-ah, and he was just as full of fear as Lee Ji-yeon.
But he did not back down like Lee Ji-yeon. Thinking of innocent people, he had rushed at the Undead Two-Headed Poison Dragon first and finally brought it down.
She had not felt any certainty from him—the certainty that he would absolutely overcome it.
He doubted himself, just like Lee Ji-yeon, but he still fought back. He did not compromise, saying it could not be helped. He did not simply pull back by citing reason.
...Of course, the Lee Ha-yul she encountered in everyday life was a bit vague, innocent... suddenly turning into a little child, sucking someone's fingers, weirdly and roughly messing with... there had been things like that too, but.
He was definitely a good person. Not someone who could just be allowed to die in vain.
Lee Ji-yeon could not save everyone in this world, but she did not want to ignore the crisis of a child whose situation had worsened due to her own fault, a child within arm's reach.
"......"
Lee Ji-yeon, replying confidently in a calm tone.
She was different from the figure who used to be completely overwhelmed, shoulders narrowed, eyes fixed on the floor, unable to meet anyone's gaze.
"...Yes. You are better than me."
- You, do not try to become like me.
Feeling the command of the heart from which contact had recently been lost, Lee Ji-ah ever so faintly raised the corners of her lips.
* * *
"Ughaaahhh..."
Liana's personal lab.
Liana, who had been peering at documents, groaned as she stretched.
The strain of her shirt pulling tight and pressing on her chest was one thing, but her head and eyes, abused for hours, throbbed far worse...
"Uuuuuugh, when is all this going to end..."
She let out a deep sigh and scanned her desk. Mountains of paper documents, and virtual files piled up on the hologram...
Of course, the staff had already processed the details and Liana only had to confirm and approve, but even that amount was overwhelmingly burdensome...
On top of that, she was also tasked with supervising the Ipchun Class cadets and managing the stalls during the Birth Festival. Her eyes were truly about to fall out.
"Ugh, my shoulders hurt..."
She kneaded her heavily knotted shoulders. Relief was brief; the ache surged back. A heavy weight pressed on her shoulders again.
"Haaah..."
After releasing what must have been yet another in a countless series of sighs, Liana picked up a document and cast a sidelong glance toward the window.
Beyond the curtainless window, the pitch-black sky and the festival lights glittering beneath it were visible.
The Birth Festival.
Siyoram's year-end festival, a grand event that drew worldwide attention...
...but honestly, Liana had no particular thoughts about the Birth Festival.
Part of it was that she had experienced the Birth Festival four times during her cadet years, but mainly, Liana simply had never enjoyed festivals in the first place.
Through all four Birth Festivals, aside from the public schedule, Liana had spent her time finding deserted places, playing with spirits, and training...
'Is it almost time for the fireworks?'
Yet even for that Liana, the grand fireworks that painted the sky had been quite a spectacle.
Not just finished with simple gunpowder or ordinary additives—Siyoram's special fireworks, created by dozens of mages working with cutting-edge technology and special materials.
Moreover, they resonated in their own way with the barrier enclosing Siyoram, literally engraving fireworks into the sky.
The Birth Festival holds fireworks on the nights of Days 1, 2, 4, and 5, excluding Day 3.
Each display themes itself after one of the four seasons; it was the first day today, so a fireworks display expressing spring would appear.
'I hope he has fun...'
Thinking of Lee Ha-yul, Liana let out a soft smile.
She did not know how adorable it was when he heard she was too busy to play together and hung his head with a gloomy expression.
'Still, he has plenty of other people around him, so he'll go enjoy himself... But I wonder if he can perceive fireworks with his detection ability?'
Unlike the past, Liana swallowed a small regret at not being able to enjoy the festival together.
Probably the reason her feelings were different from the past was that the child who used to fit right into her arms was absent.
And that was also why the silence of this lab felt oddly uncomfortable.
"It's okay~ It's not like the festival ends today or anything."
Though they had not been summoned, at the worries of the spirits directed toward her, Liana shrugged her shoulders.
With that, she picked up the documents to really resume work.
- Knock knock...
And at that exact moment, someone knocked on the door.
"Hm...? Come in."
Liana blinked.
She did not find the visit itself strange, since many people had visited due to the Birth Festival. But why knock on the door instead of using the communication magic tool?
And there were several presences. Maybe a group question or...
'Huh?'
Feeling them again, the presences were familiar.
The moment Liana's eyes rounded, the door opened softly and a head of pure white hair peeked out.
[Hello...]
"Hello..."
It was Lee Ha-yul, wearing an awkward smile. Beneath him, Lee Seo-yul, still smaller than Lee Ha-yul, amiably poked her head out as well.
[The fireworks are about to start. Would you like to watch them together...?]
"Let's watch together..."
Lee Ha-yul gently shook the bag in his hand. Judging by the delicious smell, he had packed it full of food from the stalls.
"Is this the right place? It's my first time coming here."
"You've never been to your homeroom professor's lab...? Yeon-hwa, do you seriously half-ass school that much?"
"How does it always end up there, you bitch."
Aside from Lee Ha-yul, several presences could be heard beyond the doorway. They were familiar as well.
"Ahaha...! I told you I don't have time... Come in, first."
Liana, who had been blinking blankly for a moment, let out a giggling laugh.
Thankfully, it seemed the silence would not be quite so total.