Bahyun was transported through the air in a cage, with Bahryn following along after transforming into Earth Dragon. He looked at the teenage boy flying beside him with mixed feelings, “When did you become such a cunning brat?”
“I’m smart, not cunning, bro. In fact, this proves how great you are in educating me, isn’t it? After all, you’re the one who looked after me the most when I was a kid.”
Though he knew the boy in front of him was his sister, the feeling of a boy calling him “bro” still sounded strange, as he never heard it before.
Bahyun was nine years older than his sister. When he graduated and began working, she was still a teenage girl in middle school. Their parents were busy with farm work when Bahryn was about two years old, as they were expanding their farm business. consequently, Bahyun took over most of the babysitting role, feeling like he was raising a daughter since he considering himself an adult spiritually.
He had always feared that his sister will grow up to become a Chūnibyō or Mary Sue, thinking she was the center of the world, or becoming naive and trusting like a baby in the woods, believing everything a stranger (possibly a handsome stranger) told her. So he used scamming news from his previous life as bedtime stories to warn her about the dark side of the world and how to protect herself if she encountered danger. He taught her a lot: not to judge a book by its cover, as a pretty cover might conceal dangerous content; one should never intend to harm others, but always guard against the harm others might do to them; there is no knowing what is in a man's heart...in fact, so much that when Bahryn got her part-time job and found the world to be much safer than her brother had described, she suspected he was experiencing paranoia.
Okay, he wasn’t entirely wrong to be cautious, considering this is a world with magic, and cases of mad scientist have occurred in the past during wartime, though such occurrence were not common. He knew he might be overthinking, but he had seen to many tragedies in his previous life and wished not to see them happen to his family. So, he lived a low-profile life and advised Bahryn to do the same. Bahryn obeyed to ease her brother’s worry, and she did pretty well until none of the public paid attention to Earth Dragon. But in fact, she ranked third in combat ability in the department, whereas Morganite only ranked seventh; Bahyun knew he had made a wrong guess when he found out there is such a ranking leaderboard in the department. Only then did he realize that his sister may be a weak human, but she was definitely not a weak Mage.
The Mages brought along the cage containing Bahyun and ran into a teleportation circle. After the magic took effect, he found himself being brought into a huge building with a very high ceiling, and he was placed onto a platform in midair, which served as a place for flight landings. Then, they took him via elevator downstairs into a room that resembled an interrogation room he had seen in detective TV shows. He was released into the room together with Morganite, with the door locked.
He thought Morganite was the one interrogate him, but she just stared at him and remained silent, seeming more like a guard to prevent his escape. After a while, probably half and hour later, a woman entered whom he found familiar in appearance, though he was confident he had never seen her before.
“Looks familiar?” The woman smiled, “I’m Otsan’s sister, Otmeen. I heard he got a lot of backup from a reliable senior, which I guess would be you, Mister Qen Bahyun? I’m surprised that this is the place for our first meeting too.”
“Otsan’s sister?” Bahyun couldn’t shake off the that this was not his lucky day. He tried to capture a Mage, only to find out it was his sister. Now, being arrested, and the investigator was his colleague’s sister...The world felt vast, yet so small at the same time.
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Otmeen began reviewing the details in her tablet, “Qen Bahyun, twenty-six years old, Chief Programming Executive of The Star Corporation, current living at B-409, Emerald Leisure Apartment, Paradise Bird Street, Triblossom City. No bad habits, no criminal record found. A hardworking indoor person, single, and likes to walk around with tinted glasses. Every detail we had proves that you’re a normal citizen, and an elite, considering you work in the best IT company with the title of Chief Programming Executive...What a surprise to see you brought here as a wizard who could utilized dark energy.”
Bahyun remained silent, keeping his eyes for Otmeen, waiting for her next words.
“A normal person who would use dark energy in secret. May I ask what your purpose is?”
“Personal interest, I like to do some small testing and experiments,” Bahyun replied calmly, “I’ve been capable of using magic since the age of five, began manipulating runes for enhancement during middle school, and started creating my own runes and magic since high school. I consider myself advanced in self-taught magic. I started feeling bored and found that there are tons of dark energy-polluted wastelands that haven’t been cleared, so I decided to try to find a solution.”
“According to our records, there has been an increase in wasteland self-purification incidents since ten years ago, reaching a peak in the last few months. I suppose this is your doing?” Otmeen clicked through a few links on her tablet and searched through their database. She found records of this phenomenon, nothing that while scientist hadn’t yet found an effective way to purify the wasteland as Bahyun did, they continued to observe the situation and documented the abnormality. They’ve made various assumptions to explain the changes, one of which is the existence of an individual or group studying how to purify the wasteland, with the recorded abnormality being the result. Other theories include the idea that magical beasts in Chro Forest evolved to adapt to the dark energy and consume it, or that mythical creatures awakened to solve the problem...With Bahyun’s explanation, those scientist may finally have an answer to their doubts.
Bahyun nodded as Otmeen continued her questioning, “Why did you stop since two months ago?”
Bahyun shrugged, “I finished my research on purification, so I thought I repurpose the stored dark energy for other uses. You may recall a news report about the clearing of a dumpsite - that was me, using dark energy. However, it’s too powerful and difficult to control. I’m injured, so I had to halt the purification process.”
“And this is related to the halved FayOra?”
“Yes. Though it’s only half of the stone, it’s still the stone feared by dark beast and is the only weapon capable of defeating creatures from the dark realm. I believe it could aid in my recovery. I need the FayOra.”
Otmeen raised her eyebrows, “Mr. Qen, I’ll need to verify your statements. So, we’ll keep you under arrest for 24 hours to assist with our investigation. I’ll have my brother arrange for your time off. If you need anything - food, drinks, or restroom facilities - simply ask Morganite, and she’ll assist you.”
Bahyun couldn’t do much about being arrested for attacking a Mage. Keeping silent might be the best course of action. However, a pressing concern arose: Almandine didn’t know he had snuck out today! She likely assumed he had gone to work as usual, and any deviation from his routine would raise her suspicion...
“Can I make a call?” He asked. Otmeen’s response was firm: “No.”
Given his circumstances, there was no reason to reach out to anyone now: his sister could inform their parents; his boss would be noticed by Otsan; as a single man living alone in an apartment, he had no other immediate contacts; plus, after he had welcomed Almandine into his apartment, he had her images systematically erased from public surveillance cameras...
Bahyun’s mind raced with worry about Almandine. His colleague had interacted with her; it was only a matter of time before she was discovered...He needed to find a way to inform her to leave!
“Just for your information, magic is forbidden in the room, so no one could use magic other than FayOra magic. I would advise not to use magic here, Mr. Qen, or else I can’t guarantee what is the effect of the backfired magic.”
With these words, Otmeen left the room, leaving Bahyun and a disgruntled Morganite in a tense silence. The urgency of the situation weighed heavily on Bahyun’s mind.