Seoul Dragon

The Orc boxer, Liang Wei, was quietly deported back to China.
Judging by the death glares from the Chinese security officials, he seemed to be more than just someone who killed a few people.
Maybe I should have hit him a bit harder?
Anyway, contrary to my expectation that it would take quite a while, this incident was resolved surprisingly quickly.
It was to the point where Agent Choi Jeongho thanked me for preventing a waste of time and manpower…
Thanks to that, the reward money was quite substantial.
I’m not sure how they calculate the reward amounts. Well… I guess I can think of it as receiving incentives proportional to the costs they saved.
In any case, the job finished earlier than expected and I got paid well, so I was in a good mood. Perhaps the biggest gain was exchanging contact information with the adorably cute Choi Sia.
Somehow, it wasn’t from a romantic perspective but more like watching a cute small animal.
Sia said she was returning to California. She mentioned something about needing to take care of trees there.
Apparently, her Giant Sequoia finally broke through the 100-meter mark.
…Wasn’t the maximum height supposed to be 85 meters?
According to her, she was planning to plant the seed of the World Tree in that 100-meter Giant Sequoia.
When I asked what the World Tree was, she said it was literally the World Tree.
She explained that once the tree fully grows with the World Tree seed inside it, it would become a massive tree reaching nearly 500 meters.
The scale of 100 meters already seems daunting, but 500 meters…?
Is she planning to build an entire Elf village or something?
‘Actually, I’m going to create a village for mutants living in America. Of course, I’ll only allow mutants with good intentions to move in.’
‘Don’t you need permission from the governor for that?’
‘They said they’d allow it.’
‘What?’
‘They said yes. I think they’re interested in the tourism industry and specialty products that can be grown from the World Tree. Since it would probably be the rarest village in the world in terms of scarcity, they readily agreed.’
‘But where did you get the seed?’
‘About two months after my mutation, a sprout appeared on top of my head. It grew for about a week and then suddenly bore fruit. That fruit turned out to contain the seed of the World Tree.’
‘…That sounds even more dramatic than my experience.’
‘At least I don’t have wings or a tail, and I can’t control fire or lightning.’
‘No matter how I look at it, what you have seems much more impressive than controlling fire and lightning.’
‘…You think so? By the way, haven’t you been touching my cheeks for too long?’
‘Sorry. It’s just so addictive…’
‘I guess that means my cheeks are charming! Hmm… is that a good thing?’
‘Of course. Being able to easily win others’ favor is a tremendous weapon.’
‘Well, that’s true.’
‘What did you look like before your mutation?’
‘Uh… at least bigger than now. Quite a bit bigger.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘Yes. I was about 170cm tall, and had quite a nice figure. But then I changed to this overnight…’
She seemed somewhat depressed.
Her formerly womanly body had completely transformed into a girlish figure.
‘That’s why I envy you.’
‘Well, I changed from male to female… so I don’t really feel much about it.’
‘Oh right. I guess I was being inconsiderate.’
‘No, it’s fine. I’m used to it now. Anyway, are you heading to California now?’
‘Yes. I need to take care of the World Tree. Somehow it keeps demanding fertile soil… I never thought it would have the potential to become a World Tree.’
‘Hahaha! I really enjoyed reading your posts on the community.’
‘Oh, then can I post about meeting you this time too?’
‘Sure, go ahead. I’ve already done an interview with a reporter… so my personal information has already been sold to the internet.’
‘Oh? What kind of interview?’
‘Just about what happened when I became a mutant, my personal thoughts, stories like that… It’ll be up on The Korea Daily soon.’
‘I’ll have to check it out. Well, I should get going now. If you ever come visit America, I’ll come pick you up!’
‘Thank you. And take care.’
‘It was fun!’
We parted ways after exchanging such trivial conversations.
Ah, I miss her. I want to squeeze those soft, squishy cheeks.
Since becoming a dragon, I haven’t felt many desires strongly, but that was quite tempting.
I hope we meet again.

During a precious weekend, I was reading Choi Sia’s post on the community.
[Just met the famous Dragon from our community!]
I had to make a quick trip to Korea and happened to meet the dragon-type mutant!
When I first saw her, I was soooooo scared, but thankfully she treated me well so I could relax a bit…
But hey guys.
Did you know?
Elves tremble uncontrollably in front of dragons
I’ve never been so scared meeting anyone before—I didn’t feel any pressure even when facing the California governor, but standing in front of her made my body tremble like a mouse before a cat
It feels like there’s some kind of fear engraved in our species itself…?
-You met that dragon-type mutant?
-Yes!!! She was a really kind person!
-What did a High Elf and a dragon even do together?
-Just chatted at a cafe! Oh, and something interesting will happen in California soon!
-Something interesting? What’s that?
-You’ll find out when the time comes lol. Everyone can look forward to it
-When she laughs like that, something seems suspicious… What happened to that Giant Sequoia? That tree?
-It’s grown over 100 meters now…
-Whoa…
Indeed, there’s quite a difference between seeing someone online versus meeting them in person.
On the community, she talks like a playful younger friend, but in reality, she’s completely different, creating quite a gap.
Next up were posts about my interview.
[Has the dragon-type mutant interview been released????]
It’s out so I’m posting it lol
She’s just a diligent college student, but somehow seems to have a species trait for mental stability?
-I’m so jealous damn;; It seems like mental traits are the most important thing for mutants no matter how you look at it;;
-But understandably, if she didn’t have that mindset, Seoul might have become a sea of fire, right?
-For real lol
-That actually seems likely
-Think about it, mutants strong enough to cause disasters all seem to have mental compensations, don’t they?
-Seems that way? And it also seems like pre-mutation personality traits get amplified
-Really?
-Look at the minotaur lol. While it’s hard to judge based on one case, they revealed he had 7 prior convictions before mutation? He was a vicious criminal. The prosecutors just revealed it
-Oh, that’s interesting;;
-Just look at the High Elf mentioned above who seems to control vegetation at will—that ability itself is practically a disaster lol. She could make mountains move around
-That gives me chills when you put it that way;;
Reading someone’s post about my interview on the community, some plausible speculations were being made. I had been thinking along the same lines myself.
Perhaps the reason I didn’t become confused despite gaining such strong power was to minimize social disruption.
Or maybe it was my civic-minded thinking that saved the day.
I’m not sure exactly, but… if this attention-seeking part of me had manifested in a negative way, it could have been quite disastrous.
Just then, my younger sister nudged me.
“So your interview was published?”
“Did you see it?”
“Yes. Surprisingly, you gave normal answers unlike your usual self. Did you bribe the reporter?”
“Where would I get money for bribes?”
“You just got more money recently. Something about turning a mutant into a rice cake?”
“That was after the interview… I just answered sincerely with my honest thoughts.”
“Hmm. I shouldn’t reveal that I’m your sister to my department for a while.”
“Why?”
“Why? The business students will keep trying to see you. Do you want to deal with that?”
“…No.”
“That’s why I’m not saying anything. How’s that for sisterly consideration?”
“How very thoughtful of you. You’re just saying that because you don’t want the hassle.”
“That’s true. Being a celebrity’s family is such a pain.”
“If you know that, behave properly. Don’t get involved in troublesome situations.”
“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”
“…I guess so?”
“The scale of what you’ve already done is no joke. You should exercise some restraint. You were never like this before your mutation, why the sudden change?”
I wonder about that too. I really wish I knew.
I let out a sigh.

“…This is Choi Jeongho.”
“Ah, yes. Agent. This is Jin-ha, Seo Jin-ha.”
“What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you could arrange a meeting with the dragon-type mutant?”
“Please tell me your purpose. I can’t casually introduce you to her.”
“My, aren’t you being too cold?”
“Even for you, Jin-ha, I can’t make decisions about Seohyun at my own discretion.”
“Ahaha. I understand. One wrong move could cause a disaster. Don’t worry. I just want to make clothes for her. As you know, I’m an Arachne-type mutant. When I saw photos of the dragon-type mutant—Seohyun, is it?—with her wings spread, inspiration just poured in. I think she’d make a great model for my shop.”
“I’ll ask her. But don’t take a forceful attitude. If Seohyun gets angry, Seoul might disappear.”
“Come on, I don’t have a death wish. Anyway, I’ll be waiting for a positive answer?”
“…And I’ll report this to the Assemblyman.”
“Go ahead. Am I doing something wrong? My dad won’t mind.”
“I know that already, but that’s the procedure.”
“My, our agent is so by-the-book. Loosen up a bit.”
“You know better than anyone what happens when we do that. You should know best.”
“…Hmph. That’s true. Anyway, keep up the good work.”
Jin-ha pressed the end call button. Dragon-type mutant, Yoon Seohyun.
“This will be fun. I wonder what kind of clothes I should make for her…”
Jin-ha still held on to the excitement she felt when she first saw the photo of Seohyun with her wings spread.