Your Mother's Genes Don't Go Anywhere
I became a second-year.
Assigned to Class 1 of the second year, I still arrived at the classroom wearing the girls' school uniform. There were a few faces I recognized from first year, but most of the kids were ones I was seeing for the first time. I smiled and returned the greetings of the girls who carefully approached me to say hello.
Bang!!
The classroom door, still quiet as everyone felt awkward around each other, burst open with a loud noise, and a girl with a face full of irritation walked in with both hands stuffed in her pants pockets, trudging along. It was that girl who had beaten five other girls in a fight at the park last time. She looked at me, lifted one corner of her mouth, and said,
"What? Aren't you that coward who just watched while I was beating those worthless bitches last time?"
Her rough speech and behavior, hard to believe for a nine-year-old, made me look at her with slightly surprised eyes. If you only looked at her words and actions, she was no different from the mercenaries I'd met in the other world. I put on a light smile again and said,
"Nice to meet you. I'm Han Harang. Looking forward to spending the year with you."
The girl who had been looking at me with a raised corner of her mouth snorted as if it was boring and walked over to the very back seat by the window. Then she kicked out the girl who was already sitting there and sat down herself. It seemed like I'd gotten a class friend with a somewhat tiring personality.
To keep a lie going, you had to pile on bigger and more numerous lies.
I was currently at the gymnasium wearing girls' gym clothes. In first year, only a year out of the hospital, I had been able to skip PE on health grounds. Now that I was a second-year, that excuse no longer worked. After discussions between my parents and the school, they added the claim that I possessed a knowledge-type superpower and that long-term hospitalization had left me unable to handle vigorous activity. So whenever PE period arrived, I had to dash to the bathroom, change clothes, and head to the gym. Fortunately I wasn't the only one changing into gym clothes in the bathroom, so the other kids didn't find it strange.
"You worthless bitches!!!"
And I was watching my rough-mouthed classmate with the messy dark-brown hair, Kang Ryu-yeong, grab another classmate by the collar and
Bang!!
hurl her across to the opposite side of the gymnasium. Kang Ryu-yeong had a rough personality and a mouth to match, and her skill was just as rough. Her superpower was called Imugi. It was a rare ability possessed by only 105 people worldwide, but since the number exceeded a hundred it had been made public. An Imugi that never became a dragon couldn't breathe brass like a dragon or command nature, but it granted overwhelming physical ability that made ordinary Physical Type superpowers look pathetic by comparison. Anyone with a Physical Type ability would envy it, yet Ryu-yeong herself was more dissatisfied with her power than anyone else. The reason, she told me, was that the name itself made the limits clear—she could never become a dragon—and that people who actually possessed dragon superpowers always looked down on her.
"Hey! Harang!! Was there a problem just now?!"
"Yeah. You put too much force into your right leg. Don't try to rotate your body using only the leg—use the momentum instead."
"Fuck!!"
Bang!!
The name of the superpower I had introduced to the class was Battle Coach. It was a fairly common ability that supposedly let you instinctively understand fighting techniques and methods, and know exactly what to teach when instructing someone else. In the other world I had been a mage who used magic, but I had also learned nearly every martial art I could—basic hand-to-hand, swordsmanship, staff techniques, and more. I couldn't reproduce those skills with this body in a real fight, but teaching from the knowledge was no problem. The moment Kang Ryu-yeong learned my ability was Battle Coach, she approached me and threatened me into teaching her. She had outstanding physical ability, but she had never received professional training and fought almost purely on instinct. I asked whether it wouldn't be more efficient for someone with her power to go to another academy or the Erosion Control Center to learn, but she refused, saying she hated the way those worthless bitches looked down on her.
"Hang in there, little dragon."
"Hey, fuck!! I told you not to call me a dragon!!!"
The instant I called Kang Ryu-yeong a dragon, she shot over, grabbed me by the collar, and shook me. She glared at me with eyes that looked ready to knock me flat on the spot, but after a month of deliberately calling her a dragon several times, I had learned that no matter how angry she got with me she never actually threw a punch. When I asked why, she gave the slightly terrifying answer that my body looked like it would die from a single hit and she didn't want to commit murder.
"Someone I met in a dream told me this. If you call an Imugi a dragon with all your heart ten thousand times, it can become a real dragon. I'll turn you into one."
"Shut the fuck up!! Once I learn from you I'm definitely going to plant my fist in that head of yours, so quit the bullshit and just teach me!!"
In the other world, Western dragons were more common than Eastern ones, but that didn't mean Eastern dragons didn't exist. A swordsman companion from my hero days who had come over from the East had looked at a dragon and told me stories about the dragons and Imugi of his homeland. Among them was the tale that if you sincerely called an Imugi a dragon ten thousand times, it could become one. Whether that was true or just a legend I didn't know, but in the other world species evolution was hard to observe yet happened often enough that the story was believable, and I figured it was worth trying in this world too.
When I simply kept smiling without another word, Kang Ryu-yeong clicked her tongue, carefully set me down, and started yelling at the girls around her to come at her, as if taking out her frustration. I gave advice not only to Ryu-yeong but also on the stances and techniques of the countless girls charging in to attack her. The ones who used Emission Type abilities—powers similar to magic—improved noticeably under my guidance. I found myself thinking that once I grew up, a career in this direction might not be so bad.
Three months had passed since I became a second-year.
I had only started coming to the gymnasium after becoming a second-year, so I hadn't realized how intense the girls' power struggles were. Especially on days when we had joint classes with other classes, the girls from each class kept fighting to decide which class was the strongest. In that context I also learned the hidden reason why PE period had been fixed as fourth period for a whole week back in first year. Se-ah had single-handedly wiped out the kids from the other classes, so they couldn't hold proper training or lessons. The schedule had been a kind of isolation measure to keep Se-ah from overlapping with other classes' PE time.
The moment Se-ah's name came up, Kang Ryu-yeong's hostility flared visibly; she hated her. It wasn't personal dislike—she was furious that Se-ah was the reason she was second place instead of first.
"Wait a second, thinking about it—fuck, it was you, wasn't it? The one who turned that Kang Se-ah into a monster."
"Probably not…? I was close with Se-ah, but she just grew stronger on her own."
"Shut up. Don't try to feed me that ridiculous lie. Do you really think Kang Se-ah's strength makes any sense?"
Kang Ryu-yeong started demanding even more from me than before, insisting I make her as strong as Kang Se-ah. Now she even followed me on the way home from school, still demanding I make her stronger. In the end I tried to shake her off by waiting for Seol-hee unnie's classes to finish so I could walk home with her, but Ryu-yeong kept following me even while watching Seol-hee unnie's reaction. When Father spotted that, he smiled brightly and said Seol-hee unnie would make a good sparring partner. So this weekend Seol-hee unnie, Seol-hwa, and even Kang Ryu-yeong would all go together to the Erosion Control Center for a mock match between Seol-hee unnie and Ryu-yeong. I told Father about Ryu-yeong's superpower and worried that Seol-hee unnie might get hurt, but Father just smiled, stroked my head, and said,
"Harang, your mother's genes don't go anywhere."
I didn't understand those words and looked at Seol-hee unnie with worry, but instead of her usual languid expression she wore a faintly excited look as she watched Kang Ryu-yeong, who was carefully gauging the mood beside us.
Bang!!!
"W-wait!!"
Boom!!!! Whoosh, thud!!!
"Guh!!!"
Overwhelming.
Even those two syllables couldn't explain the current situation. This was closer to violence. It was a simple, ordinary flow of power. Right up until she stepped into the sparring arena, Seol-hee unnie had worn her usual languid expression, stroking my head and telling me she was fine. The moment she entered the arena, her eyes changed. It was a side of Seol-hee unnie I had never seen before. As soon as the match began she formed a spear of lightning in her palm and hurled it at Kang Ryu-yeong. That much I had expected. Everything after that went beyond my understanding. Seol-hee unnie's form turned into a single flash of light, appeared atop the thrown lightning, and slammed Kang Ryu-yeong to the floor by the collar. From then on it was the same attack over and over. If Ryu-yeong didn't dodge the lightning spear her whole body was electrocuted; if she did dodge, Seol-hee unnie appeared right there and used her own body to throw Ryu-yeong and attack.
Leaving Seol-hwa behind as she watched Seol-hee unnie with sparkling eyes and tried to copy her, I looked at Father with eyes that said I had no idea what was going on. He gave a bitter smile and said,
"I told you… your mother's genes…"
The thought that I must never make Mother angry was burned deeply into my mind.