Yeon-hwa’s messages were so unlike her usual self.
I mean… she was surprisingly cheerful.
[Ha Yeon-hwa: Seo-hyun, thank you so much. I’m usually not good at talking face-to-face, but you were so considerate… I was really happy!]
[Ha Yeon-hwa: Um, if it’s not a bother, would it be okay if I messaged you like this more often?]
[Yoon Seo-hyun: Of course. Feel free to reach out. Honestly, being the head of the agency is more like being a mascot anyway.]
[Ha Yeon-hwa: Hehe, then I’ll do that!!]
But really, it wasn’t all that surprising.
I had already seen plenty of the posts Yeon-hwa made in the community.
And… sure enough.
Today again, she was writing all sorts of nonsense posts.
[Had some seriously delicious blood today]
I didn’t know blood could taste this good;;
I don’t think I can drink any other kind anymore?
Goodbye, sundae…
From now on, every day is going to be filled with luxurious, top-quality blood……………!
-Why is she like this?
-No idea lol
-Maybe something good happened
-Wait, she’s giving up sundae? She used to always talk about eating sundae?
-She doesn’t need it anymore… lololol
-Well, good for her then
As expected, I knew she’d brag right away.
But for some reason, it just seemed cute.
Even though she’s three years older than me.
Well, I’ll slowly work on lowering the emotional barrier between us as we keep meeting.
That way, maybe she’ll start to feel more at ease with me.
People like her tend to feel more uncomfortable the moment you tell them to relax.
Let’s keep it natural. Natural.
And maybe… it’s time I let down the wall with some of the juniors too.
Like, say, Lee Si-hyun.
We’ll be going on the academic field trip soon anyway.
So I should tell the juniors I’m familiar with to just be comfortable around me.
They’re all pretty social, so if I give them a hint, they’ll pick up on it quickly.
Anyway… what class do I have tomorrow again?
I checked my class schedule and looked over the assignments.
Thankfully, the group projects hadn’t started yet.
Of course, that was only for now.
Give it a little more time and the bomb of endless group projects will start dropping.
At least for Understanding Modern Literature, the department head’s class, there are no group projects.
But rumors say the other classes still have them…
So I have a feeling another tragic saga will begin soon.
Well, considering how I’ve changed, I wonder how many people will actually try to dump everything on me again.
Honestly, this time, I have no intention of silently taking on all the work like before.
Sure, I’ll take the lead, but I’ll make sure the roles are clearly divided.
I’m not going to end up doing everything by myself again.
Back then, I’d just sigh and do the dirty work, but now there’s no reason to do that.
There are juniors who know me now, so they won’t just ignore me.
Though, it is kind of funny that I turned into a dragon and this is what I’m worrying about.
I’m the head of a government agency, and all I can think about is university assignments instead of mutant crimes.
Someone could say I’m slacking off… and maybe they’d be right.
But hey, I didn’t appoint myself to this role.
It was the government that made me agency head while I’m still committed to university life.
And really, it’s not even slacking.
There aren’t many mutants, and crimes involving them are even rarer.
People might ask, “Isn’t that just a waste of taxes…?”
But the cost of just one of those rare mutant crimes is astronomical, so me living off a bit of that tax money isn’t exactly unjustified.
If a single mutant goes on a rampage, the cost to repair the damage skyrockets.
Even with the Minotaur-type mutant flipping asphalt, a ton of tax money was wasted, so imagine how much worse it would be with a stronger mutant.
If someone still causes mayhem after all the threats I’ve made.
Then their guts must be spilling out of their chest, and they’re bound to cause damage on a whole different scale.
All I’m doing is taking a small cut from the taxes that would’ve been wasted anyway.
In short, I’m saving tax money just by existing.
So there’s no problem with me focusing on college life like this.
Anyway, I really hope the group members for this project are actually normal.
How great would it be if everyone just did their part and it ended smoothly?
No arguments, no drama.
As I finished prepping for class and wrapped up the smaller assignments.
I got a message from Jin-ha.
-Ah, Seo-hyun? It’s me, Seo Jin-ha.
“Ah, yes. Jin-ha, what’s going on?”
—The magazine is finished, you know? It’ll probably hit bookstores tomorrow.
“Oh, fashion magazines get finished that fast?”
—Haha, as if that’s normally the case? Everyone rushed to meet the deadline because of this issue.
“What issue?”
—A dragon appearing in the middle of Seoul.
“Oh.”
The moment I heard Jin-ha’s words, I instantly understood why the magazine came out so quickly.
If it were me, I’d have set a tight deadline too.
I’m already at the center of public attention, and if a dragon like me appears as a fashion model, of course people would go wild over it.
Not to mention I became the youngest ever to head a government agency… the public interest must be through the roof.
A magazine company not taking advantage of that would be foolish.
—Who wouldn’t want to jump on a trending issue? That dragon is coming out as a magazine model.
“That’s true…”
So everyone pulled all-nighters one after another and even got final confirmation from me.
It was an incredible speed, really.
This almost never happens when we’re working on something.
Jin-ha sounded like she was in a really good mood.
“You sound happy?”
—Of course. The clothes you wore were some of my finest pieces ever, truly worthy of being called masterpieces.
More than anything… you weren’t the only one featured, were you?
“Oh, Seo-ah too.”
—Exactly.
I’m really looking forward to it.
That’s right. Since Seo-ah shows a presence that’s hard to believe from a new face, this issue of Ella is going to blow up.
……Honestly, I started to think maybe Seo-ah was going to cause even more of a stir than I was.
I mean, she didn’t even tell anyone in our department that I’m her older sister because she didn’t want the hassle.
After wrapping up the call with Jin-ha, I called out to Seo-ah right away.
“Hey, Yoon Seo-ah!”
“Why?”
“The magazine’s coming out tomorrow.”
“What magazine?”
“You know, the one where we did that model shoot.”
“Oh, Ella?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“It’s coming out already?”
“Apparently. Sounds like they’re trying to ride the wave of interest while it’s still hot.”
“Ah… yeah, makes sense. But why?”
“What do you mean, why? I’m telling you to be careful because starting tomorrow, things are gonna get super annoying for you.”
“Why would it be annoying for m— oh, right. I’m in it with you, aren’t I?”
“They’ll probably put some kind of ‘sisters’ angle in the captions too.”
At my words, a faint look of discomfort crossed Seo-ah’s face.
“Didn’t think about that… tch, looks like things are gonna get really annoying starting tomorrow.”
She clicked her tongue, muttering that life in the department was about to get way more bothersome.
“…Well, it is what it is at this point, right? I’ll just deal with it. Oh, and what’s this?”
I handed her the brooch Yeon-hwa made.
“What is it?”
“Something to protect you in an emergency.”
“Huh?”
“I’m the head of the Eradication Agency, remember? I got that from a mutant who’s going to be working with me. If I ever end up in danger, that thing will protect you.”
“This will?”
“Yeah. So always keep it on you. Better yet, just attach it to the outfit you got from Jin-ha.”
“Got it.”
She nodded, looking like she kind of understood.
But honestly, I doubt she really got it.
If she knew what was hidden inside that brooch, she’d probably faint on the spot.
But I couldn’t exactly explain it to her clearly.
What was I supposed to say—that a Jinjo’s servant is sealed inside it and will put any threat into cardiac arrest in an instant?
Anyway… I was curious how people would react when I went to school tomorrow.
Then again, it might all just be overblown.
How many people even bother to keep up with fashion magazines these days?
And the next day.
I turned on the TV without much thought.
And froze when I saw the Ella magazine cover suddenly appear on the news.
“…Huh?”
Seo-ah, who had been watching me to see what was going on.
Also stiffened the moment she saw Ella’s cover appear on the screen.
You know those segments on the news where they talk about online buzz and trending topics?
Yeah, one of those.
But… why was Ella magazine showing up in something like that?
—This is… quite the surprise.
I didn’t know Ella had this kind of media savvy.
It features the dragon-type mutant who’s the current talk of the town.
Along with her sister, both appearing as models.
You could ask, “Why is this being covered on the news?”
But… that’s when I realized Ella had gone all-in on aggressive marketing.
Of course.
There’s no way they wouldn’t have posted that kind of thing all over the internet.
The moment I saw that, I turned to Seo-ah and said.
“Well, forget about living quietly in the department from now on.”
“Ah.”
A low sigh of annoyance slipped out of Seo-ah’s mouth.
Her eyes looked a little dead inside.
Yeah, she should’ve been ready for this the moment we agreed to that photoshoot.
“I mean, it’s not all bad, right? You’re basically becoming the department’s most popular student.”
“Unnie, do you want to get hit?”
“What, you blaming me now? You’re the one who agreed when I asked if you wanted to take the photos.”
“…I must’ve been out of my mind.”
“Well, now that it’s happened, just enjoy it. Okay? You’ll probably have people asking for your autograph too, So just go ahead and sign a few.”
Seo-ah let out a long sigh at my words.
“I’d rather die than deal with all that. Sigh… Fine. Can’t be helped, I guess. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve brought my classmates to the park when you did that fire show the other day.”
“Should I do another one sometime?”
“…Please spare me from that.”