III

Chapter 3: The Unexpected Teacher

Yuna jogged as she passed the many alleys to get back to her dorm before curfew locked her out. She looked at the sun and how much of her shadow she can see to determine the time. It was late.

"So how old are you?" She can interrogate him while she is on the run so nobody finds it weird when she talks to herself. She tried to keep as many mental notes about this man as possible to maybe get him captured. That is, if he wasn't a delusion because she still finds the whole situation unbelievable.

"Why are you curious about that?" Ryu asked, he could tell she was digging for information but he didn't care for what. Even if she knew everything about him, there is nothing she can do about it.

"You are going to be stuck with me for a while, it's better to be on good terms than bad." She came up with a lie on the spot.

"Are you not afraid I will harm you?" He had a feeling she thought of him as a petty criminal which was a first for him. He is going through a lot of firsts with her.

"You can't do anything right now. You are at my mercy." Yuna cockily responded, almost out of breath by now and he remained amused. She was self aware of the power she holds over him although if he wasn't trapped, she would be kneeling at him, begging for mercy.

"Well, if you insist, I'm...twenty four." At least he was when he was captured.

"I'm twenty!" She shared as well as if they are friends introducing to each other.

"Hmm, do you have a husband?" He threw a question back.

She wobbled and almost tripped from the shock. That explained everything if he was honest.

"Why would I have a husband." She stopped, trying catch her breath before she started walking instead. She was almost near, she quickly dug into her pockets for her pendant.

"I figured as much but I just wanted to make sure since you are old enough to be married." He didn't want to get a jumpscare if she did have a husband... in case of intimacy.

"What?" Yuna whispered, confused as she caught the front gate where two guards where keeping watch. To assume she was old enough to marry must means he is already married.

"Are you married?" She covered her mouth with her hand. She might need to use a scarf as her shield so she won't look crazy to the onlookers.

"Yes? I got married at the age of sixteen… and I have a daughter," He replied nonchalantly, a bit uncomfortable since he never talked about himself. Usually, everyone knew this information about him.

On the other hand, Yuna had the heart attack of the century. This girl felt so much emotions, it was truly impressive.

"I'm not a pervert. My mother forced me to get married because I reached the age of marriage." He shook his imaginary head. He can tell so much time has passed from the way the fashion changed but how much of it did change if such important practice is seen as weird now?

He noticed she stopped talking and observed where they are. A brick wall, about two metres tall with patches of rocky surface, with roof tiles stacked on them. The gate entrance was only a metre taller than that fence, and had an umbrella shaped roof tiles to shade the guards. A large building, way further back, can be seen from this angle, a tiger shaped roof, standing tall and proud.

Yuna pulled out a pendant as a proof of identification and the guards let her in, already familiar with her face.

"Where are we?" Ryu looked up within her vision in wonder. Is this the royal Palace? It has changed a lot since he last was here.

"It's my academy." Now that nobody was around, Yuna proudly proclaimed, hands on each hip as she raised her head. "I go to the best academy in the world."

"You?" He resisted the urge to laugh again. This girl was a comedian. She was unintentionally hilarious, it was killing him. Is this what humor is like?

Yuna clicked her tongue in annoyance at his shade but kept quiet as she got further inside, passing by maids. It was a restricted land, shaped in a square, surrounded by walls to keep out intruders. It was divided into sections so she had to go through certain gates to get where she wanted to go.

"I don't think there is any academy better than mine," he arrogantly announced.

"Oh really? What academy do you go too?"

"I don't go to an academy anymore. I made the academy," he corrected. "It's Baek-Ho (White Tiger) academy."

She laughed out loud, slapping her knee as if he said the biggest joke. "Right. I'm sure you did."

He was confused. Did she not believe him? He was young but he was also the most gifted of his generation. "You don't believe me?"

"No, I do." Her sarcasm was clear. "I'm suuuuuure you made my academy a thousand years ago."

He stared up shocked. This was his academy? The place looked vastly different. He saw the golden tiger roof but he never made it that way? Although if it was a thousand years ago then it made sense. "So I am the founder of this academy?"

She snorted. How long was he going to keep up with this lie. "I heard there is only one founder and it's Jungmin."

He and Jungmin were co-founder. They created the academy to help mages control their powers and improve their refinements to make more capable warriors. People crowded it when the news dropped because they wanted to learn from the best mages in the country. It used to be so small, only able to take a dozen but now.

"Hm... I see." He knew this girl wasn't bright but he wondered if it was a coincidence she forgot his name? His king has hated him for so, so long…in fact, he reached a point where he longed for death because of them. He wishes they were still alive so he can give it back to them tenfold but… they are dead? For what was he supposed to live for? He suddenly didn't feel like making conversation with Yuna and just ended it.

Yuna hummed in delight when she shut him up and bobbed up and down with her steps. She slid open a paper door and entered a massive building this time. It was so wide, spacious but also full. It emphasised on the importance of education from the many shelves and seats littered around. She skidded, heaving up the stairs to the top. Even though he was distracted, he paid enough to make an interesting observation. All women?

She went straight to one of the multiple rooms in the library and waited behind a closed door.

"Master Taehyun, it's me, Yuna. Can I meet you for a moment?" It took a few seconds before a male voice cut through. Maybe his observations was wrong.

She slid the door sheepishly, taking small steps and then bowed before she got close, not sitting on the avaliable chairs without permission. Hesitating to speak.

"What?" The middle aged male had short brown, shaggy hair, bangs covering the middle of his forhead and thin, sliver squared glasses. "What question do you want to ask now? You know I'm too busy to reteach you everything. It's not my fault that you didn't pay attention in class. If-"

"No, no, I'm not here about that." Yuna waved her hand. He side glanced at her, papers banging on the table to rearrange the positions of them for him.

"I wanted to ask you question about the existence of spells." She fidgeted, not looking at him in the eye. "Is there any spells about souls?"

"Souls?" He seemed mildly interested now in what she had to say. Dropping the papers and focusing on her fully. "Why do you want to know that? How do you even know about that?"

She cautiously looked at him. "I'm just curious? I heard some random guy... talking about it?"

At her uncertainty, he rose a brow, suspicious. "Soul spells.. yes, they exist."

"Can I read about them? What are they like?"

"No, you can't. It's forbidden. "

At the mention of that, Ryu focused.

As if he knew she was going to follow up with that. "I heard only a Master or higher can access this information."

"Why?"

"Because if misused, it will cause a lot of damage so they limited who can access it. Not even I know about it."

Ryu scoffed. As if masters will not misuse it. The irony. He was a prime example here.

"So I can't have a loo-"

"No, you can't." His stare was dead and Ryu felt a shift in his personality that Yuna didn't catch. "Now tell where did you hear that from?"

As Yuna opened her mouth, Ryu interjected immediately. "Tell a lie."

Yuna mistook his intentions and thought he thought she was going to tell the truth. In reality, she was going to lie from the start. Ryu again interjected, as if knowing she will not catch his drift. "Say, I met two people at lunch talking about how cool it would be if there was a soul spell."

Yuna blinked, a bit confused but retold it back and added her own comments to it. "-and I thought, how cool that would be!"

"Ah." He turned back to his papers and folded it, bored with her answer. Taehyun stood up to give these papers away to the administration when he remembered she was still here. "I guess that's your only question?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll go now and leave you to it. Thanks for the help master."

Her lips twisted since he wasn't much help but at least he told her it exist so now she knows she wasn't crazy. She ran out, putting hands on her pockets. Now what? She re-remembered she should study and grabbed a couple of books, picking a table that is in the corner, without anyone near it.

"So why did you tell me what to lie about." Yuna questioned as she flipped a page, keep the book high to cover her lips so no one would lip read.

"Knowing how slow you are, you would have gotten arrested and I can't afford having you in prison." Ryu yawned, not interested in reading.

Yuna let out a breath of disbelief. "No, I wouldn't! Why would they arrest me for asking a question? He is my teacher! He would never do that to me."

If he had eyes in this form, it would have rolled to the back of his head. That's when he knew, she never made any intelligent decision in her life. "It's not because of the question, it's because you mentioned you heard this 'forbidden' spell from someone which means they will have to track him and the only person who saw him is you."

"And that's a problem why?"

"Which means they need you to help them find him. Now the problem is, this person doesn't exist so what do you think would happen to you? I'm sure you understand now."

Yuna iris wildly went around, trying to think what he means. She wasn't sure what it implied but her gut feeling understood it somehow. She felt it would bring her trouble, not sure how bad it would be, just bad enough to be an inconvenience at minimum. "Whatever."

Ryu let out a sigh.

"Don't disturb me. I'm here to study."

He barely did anything! God was she annoying. Have some patience, have some patience. "I never planned too."

XOXOXOXOOXOXOOXOXOXOXOOXX

A loud bang resounded all over the place, the vibration can be felt from how close you are to the big drums. He watched as Yuna closed the books, putting them back to their place quickly before running down the stairs, outside, to a different destination.

"What's this noise?" It kept banging over and over again.

"That's the signal to go to bed."

"But it's dawn? The sun is about to set?" Ryu was confused. They sleep this early?

"That's because-" She yawned, clearly being physically and emotionally trained to associate that sound with sleep. "-it helps during war if anyone attacks us. While we sleep, the Moon side of the academy wakes up and they deal with it."

He figured she meant there are two sets of students, those who wake up during the day and those who wake up during the night. He didn't expect the rules to be the same but rather it rekindled his curiosity in this generation. "Interesting. So they made this system to allow students to use their magical capacity to their full potential without worrying about the consequences."

"Yes… you're kinda smart." Ryu would have facepalmed if his face existed.

Yuna reached the dorms section, it was also another squared space barricaded within the facility to separate students from teachers and classroom.

"This is my dorm..." Yuna stood in front of a really narrow door that was around twenty inches long (fifty centimetres) and when slide, the room length was questionable too. There was only a sleeping mat and a small table drawer with a bag wrapped in the corner.

Ryu cursed out loud, making her flinch. Yuna tried to take a step but he yelled again. "What is this? You can't seriously tell me you live here? This is almost the size from my RIGHT SHOULDER to MY LEFT?"

That was how tight it was. Enough to get in but not enough space. This is the school dorm? This big luxury, fancy place is now looking beyond poor? He didn't get it.

"About that... I'm the last place student."

"And?"

"And... we get room based on our performance and since I've placed last more than three times already, I get the worst room."

"... how bad are you? No, nvermind that. How do they expect you to live here? Even if you are in last place, this is unacceptable." He would never put a student in a place like this even if she was a failure. It was his duty, as a teacher, to make sure his students excelled. This would never happen if he was the teacher. What did his academy change into?

"They said if I don't want to be here, I'll work harder to jump up the rankings to beat my classmates but they are also trying hard to not be in my position." Yuna explained as she set herself down on her futon, bringing the rectangular pillow closer. "But I don't mind living here."

"I DO! I have no words. I can't allow you to live like this... at least not with me in you! I need the best treatment!" Ryu scoffed. He never slept in such a tight place in his life!

"Yes, yes, your highness. Anything for you." Yuna rolled her eyes, laying her head down. She knew from the way he speaks and the comments he made, he had never been poor in his whole life. He probably was a noble man.

"Wait a minute. You are not going to bed already?"

"I am. I'm tired."

"What about getting me out?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm not allowed to-" she was dozing off, rubbing her eyes."-to-to to read because it's forbidden."

Ryu snapped his finger several times, even without a form, he can still do actions. "Wake up, I know how to get out! I don't need that quack teacher to tell me how."

"You do?" Yuna, as usual, doubted him. He called her teacher Quack? As if that man wasn't one spot away from the highest rank.

"Yes!" He sounded so frustrated it was almost comical. Yuna grinned, resisting to laugh. "I just need your magical power to cast a spell so-" Give it to me! "Please give it to me."

She furrowed her brows, suspicious. "Are you trying to steal my magical power?"

"You can't steal magical powers, that's impossible." Although he wondered if he could create a spell like that? If he puts his mind to it… He stopped his musing to focus on what's important, which is getting out. "It will decrease your reserves and you will have to wait twelve hours to get them back full but I don't think you are in need of it right now?"

She felt like he was lying to her but it was true, it will replenish once she is done sleeping and today she had no training, just studying. "Fine! As long as it means I don't have to deal with you anymore."

Ryu blinked. He thought he would get more of a resistance but he's not missing his chance, his soul creeped on her reserves as he managed to touch it. She let out a grunt of discomfort.

"Don't worry, I won't take it all."

However, she had very, very low capacity. Only able to do six advanced spells... he never met someone with such limited powers.

"I'll take this." At that moment, he grabbed enough to do one; to gain her trust but also to test it out.

"So you can get out?" Yuna switched position from lying down to sitting up Indian style, her elbow on her knee, cheeks on knuckles.

"I think I need more." Ryu attempted it but his soul didn't even get out of the human barrier. He deflected, falling down. He hated being vulnerable enough to ask for permission but he hated the idea of breaching her trust more. "Can I take more this time?"

"Okay," Yuna genuinely was helping him and for a moment, he wondered if she was this dumb everyday. Where is her sense of danger? But beggars can't be choosers so he didn't say anything about how gullible she is.

He grabbed enough for two. As he attempted again, this time, he got out of her body halfway through before he snapped back.

"Damn it. I was almost out."

"Are you sure you know how to do this?" Yuna teased, hands on her back to give her support to lean. "Are you competent enough for this?"

A vein popped out of his soul.

"I am. I think I have to use everything you have right now?" Ryu tread lightly because a stranger asking for your everything is dangerous territory and he knows she doesn't trust him.

"If you took everything, I'll be knocked out soon." Yuna went quiet after that, as if thinking. Ryu knew she wouldn't allow him to have it-

"Okay, do it."

He knew-

Was she okay? Should he be concerned? This is the first time anyone trusted him. "You sure?"

"Yes."

Ryu attempted it for the last time and his soul actually got out of the body this time. He was out! He turned to look at her. She was a brunette with two low braids and her eyes were as green as an apple. He finally knows what she looks like. It was nice knowing her (not really).

He didn't miss his chance to get out of her door, near the walkway, her magical power that he held started to seep away little by little until nothing remained. His soul accidently passed by a young girl, dressed in silk, peach dress. Her soul was purple and black but she walked away from him before he snapped back into Yuna's body.

"Well, this one worked but-"

"I didn't hear your voice for a while so I figured you did." Yuna scratched her head and slid back down to her bed, putting the covers over her, exhausted. "What's the plan now?"

"Congratulations, you got the best teacher in the world." The plan was very clear. He can't get back to his body because it's way too far now. He needs to possess another body or search for a dead one to temporarily hop around in. "From today onwards, I'm training you to become stronger and increase that shameful capacity of yours to a level that you've never seen before in three months."

She closed her eyes in defeat, her voice lowering and slowing. "You sure like bragging… about yourself without substance. I heard… it takes years to increase… magic capacity."

"That's because you got so used to bad teachers but I'll change everything for you my dear weakling," he threw a jab back. It seems like this generation restricted a lot of information. He needed to do a deep dive on why they are keeping it locked away.

She giggled a little at these comments. "You are going to be the worst teacher I've ever had."

"You don't have an eye for talent," he humorlessly humored her. "You never did."

Yuna smiled, chest heaving in and out as she finally felt darkness closing in. "Good night Ryu."

"..."

"Good night."