The Returnee Is Having a Hard Time With His Younger Sister

61 – Ulrike (2)

* * *

Somewhere on Earth.

A forest where lush green grass grows abundantly.

Underneath a large tree that is so large that it casts shades within a few hundred meters.

There were old elves sitting around a wooden table, having a conversation.

“So, can we handle it this way?”

“I agree.”

“No objections.”

“Alright. Next item on the agenda, please. Oh, this one is about a friend who has been causing a lot of talk in the mortal world lately.”

“Who was it again? Ah, it was Martin’s grandson, right? What was his name…”

“Ulrike.”

“Ah, yes, Ulrike! But why is there so much talk about him lately?”

“He recently went out into the mortal world.”

“Oh right, I remember clearly. It was to set up a company, right? To showcase the greatness of the elves to the mortal world, he went to a small country called Korea.”

“Yes, that’s right. I heard that he has been doing well. The company grew to a considerable size in Korea. He even sent us some gifts.”

“But why is there talk about him now?”

“It seems that running the company hasn’t been easy lately. The performance hasn’t been the same as before, and he is constantly busy running around.”

“Is that all? Is it just because of that?”

“It’s not just that. There was a magician we assigned to him before.”

“Was it Klaus?”

“Yes, even though he was carefully chosen as the daughter of an esteemed family.”

“But it’s been months since we received a report from him.”

“Was it just because of that only?”

“We used to receive reports regularly, every other week. But it has been several months since we last heard from him.”

“We can’t live with the sense of time like we used to. This is Earth. We need to adjust to Earth’s fast-paced time as well.”

“You’re right. Anyway, that’s why we dispatched an investigator to Korea, and this is the report that has arrived.”

The person chairing the meeting places a piece of paper in the center of the table.

All the elves in the room turn their gaze towards him.

The contents are written as follows:

“Presumed to be deceased.”

“That’s right. It is also said that he was presumed to have died several months ago.”

“hehehe…. But this report didn’t mention a word about it and just submitted it….”

“Does that mean intentional omissions in the report?”

“What else could it be? Klaus, there’s no way he wouldn’t know that the guy is dead.”

“Although he wasn’t of noble blood, he was quite a powerful guy. I wonder how he died, then….”

Klaus’s death seemed quite shocking to them.

Various stories circulated about his death. However, even with that, there was no clear conclusion. The report also stated that the cause of death could not be determined.

Putting an end to the worthless discussion, the story moves elsewhere.

It was about Ulrike’s intentional omissions in such an important report.

“Well, I suppose people make that sort of mistake sometimes. He’s still a young friend, it’s too cruel to punish him.”

“Originally, we would have overlooked it. But the current situation doesn’t allow that.”

That was the problem.

Lately, the condition of the World Tree, the guardian of them all, towering high in the sky, wasn’t normal.

The amount of falling leaves had increased, and the color had a slightly more yellowish tint than before. Reports were coming in daily stating that even the power of the natural barrier provided by the World Tree had weakened considerably.

“We needed someone to manage the World Tree, but there was no suitable person.”

“That’s right. But it’s not a task to be given to just anyone.”

“This kind of situation, let’s just close down the company and leave it.”

“Exactly. It’s not about living well and prospering in the mortal world. Ultimately, we should stay here, as that is the proper duty of an elf.”

“And taking care of the World Tree is such a blessed task. How fortunate it is. If I were younger, I would have said that I wanted to do it.”

“These days, the younger ones don’t seem to dislike that kind of thing.”

“All because they’ve come to the human world. When they lived over there, they got along well without any military talk. They have become corrupted.”

“Eh…. Tsk, tsk.”

“Well then, let’s decide to do that.”

Everyone agreed with the Chair’s words.

It was a moment that felt quite impromptu, the decision about Ulrike’s actions.

* * *

Korean Supernatural Specialized High School.

Although it was newly established as an institution specialized in nurturing talented individuals in line with the changing times, fundamentally, it was still a school.

The most dreaded period for students, the exam period, had suddenly arrived.

This time, it was the midterms.

If it were a typical school, they would simply have written exams, but this was a school for talented individuals. Naturally, practical exams were also scheduled.

Furthermore, the practical exams held even greater weight in terms of grades compared to the written exams.

So, how were the exams conducted?

Different branches and grades had different exam formats. The format for Yeo-ul, who was in charge of the proximity branch 1st grade, was as follows:

The sports field where Yeo-ul had taken her teaching qualification exam.

Numerous training dummies were placed there.

They targeted the dummies that Yeo-ul had easily cut down.

Since it was only the midterms of the 1st semester of the 1st grade, the exam format was relatively simple.

Simply, based on what they had learned, they would enhance their bodies using magic power, then strike the dummies and evaluate the resulting striking power.

Getting good grades didn’t change the way they were treated at school, but they were all talented individuals.

Because they were all competitive people when it came to their respective strengths, there was a tense atmosphere among them to strive for good grades.

Standing in the middle of the sports field were Yeo-ul, Su-yeong, and other teachers.

In front of them, the students belonging to Ryowoon’s class were standing in line in front of each dummy.

“The exam format is simple. Simply enhance your bodies using magic power and strike the dummies.”

As if demonstrating, Su-yeong enhanced her body with magic power and lightly jabbed the dummy. As a result, the score was displayed on the tablet held by the teachers.

1251 points.

Showing the score to the students, Su-yeong continued speaking.

“This is how the scores are calculated. Since this process is evaluating using the power of machines rather than humans, please refrain from saying that the score is low.”

With that, the exam began.

The students couldn’t grasp their feelings about the score even after seeing 1251. It was because there were not enough samples.

Therefore, when they heard the scores of the students who struck the dummies first, a mocking atmosphere pervaded.

“A legendary 61 points.”

“Is that even human?”

“I think I could do better just by poking it.”

“At least it’s better than the written exam score.”

However, as the exam progressed and the samples of scores accumulated, they realized that a score of around 61 points would still be considered average.

“I can’t even get 100 points doing it like this?”

“You got that score when the teacher barely touched you.”

“How did you do it?”

Only occasionally did students who barely reached three digits appear, while everyone else maintained mediocre grades.

The most noticeable was, of course, Ryu-won.

In the dimension gate where they went for the experiential activity.

Although it did not have the same impact as showing it against a demon, it was still a success to receive a considerably high score.

“It’s 215 points.”

“Wow, over 200 points.”

“I could only manage to get in the low 100s.”

“You didn’t see him last time? He just punched the demon with his fist….”

“He looks weak, but surprisingly, he’s really strong….”

With that atmosphere, Ryu-won’s class finished the exam.

Next, Han-i’s class came to take the exam.

Amidst a suitable tension.

Just like before, after showing examples, Su-yeong added a few words.

“By the way, among the students who just took the exam, the highest score was 215.”

“Just 215 points?”

“It’s a piece of cake.”

“That’s good enough.”

“Piece of cake.”

Those words stimulated the students’ competitive spirit, and they approached the exam with even more enthusiasm than the previous time.

However, even though the exam had progressed quite a bit, no one even came close to reaching 200 points, so they realized just how high the number 215 was.

And it was Han-i’s turn.

The fact that she was strong had already spread among the students.

But along with that, there was also a rumor that she had no manners.

Still, they hoped that she would uphold the reputation of their class and also hoped that she would make a mistake.

And then, the next blow.

“The score is…. 230 points.”

Surprisingly, she was able to achieve a higher score.

An exclamation of amazement.

With her nose held high and a haughty expression on her face, she immediately took on a humble posture when her eyes met Yeo-ul, who was standing in front of her.

Although it was relatively brief, the test that had been conducted over the course of several days came to an end on that day.

Yeo-ul.

After exchanging greetings with the other teachers, she began her journey home.

“Ryeowoon.”

“Did you do well on the exam?”

As she had promised before, she had sent a casual message to Ryeowoon.

As always, she got into the car that Ullike had arranged for her and headed home.

Upon opening the door and entering, she saw Seon-gaek, who had arrived earlier, inside the car.

“Yeo-ul-nim….”

“Ullike?”

Yeo-ul asked her what was wrong.

And in response, she returned with these words,

“Could you possibly help me with something…?”