What was really the big deal? Rose definitely couldn't tell.
They were all snickering like she couldn't read their thoughts. Tsk. After passing that weird test her new family had given her, Rose filled the form, leaving only the space where they asked for skills and of course, parents.
The rest, Uncle Tails, had forged them since Rose said she couldn't remember anything anyway.
"So, are you telling me, my coming here was a waste of time?" The Dokkaebi asked, his tone hallowed. These people had made him wear a suit, hoping to fill out that part of parents with his name but in brackets: Guardian. And now, they dared tell him the girl didn't exist?! Not in the heavens, not on earth.
The man behind the desk adjusted his glasses, clearing his throat for what must have been the fiftieth time.
"Lord Everett—"
"It's Dokkaebi to you," the Dokkaebi shunned.
Does he prefer being called 'goblin' rather than his own very eloquent name? Apparently, yes.
The man's Adam's apple bobbed. He tried again. "L-Lord… Do—err—Dokkaebi," he corrected quickly, like the title itself could strike him down. "We've checked her records with the Goemul Registry at the Birth Bureau. She's not one of us. You say she's human, but there's no record of her coming from the heavens or being born of man and woman."
Rose noticed something odd. Every word the man said came with a nod. Unlike most human people when they spoke, they moved their hands. But this man…. just the constant, bobbing head. Like a lizard. A very nervous, over-boiled one.
The Dokkaebi frowned. "And who dictates that all human babies come from the heavens?"
The man: "...."
Rose almost smiled. Almost. She couldn't feel more cared for.
Normally in moments like this—moments of confusion and conflict, she was always the one being cursed at and never the one who was defended. But look now… look how fully she was being defended by a man who everyone in this monster realm called Lord. And he didn't even need to raise his voice. Just talk casually, flatly.
The man cleared his throat. Again. Of course, he wanted to talk again.
Rose swore the sound of it was starting to haunt her imagination—but this time, she beat him to it. "Uncle, are you a lizard goemul?"
"I beg your pardon, little human girl? You should watch how you speak to me."
Rose just had to ask. He either kept nodding or clearing his throat or swallowing real deep. So she thought it was either anxiety or scales under that collar.
Of course, if her powers weren't being strangled by the sulphur-soaked limits of the Goemul Realm, she'd have solved this hours ago.
She would have somehow changed the minds of two humans, a family, into making them claim she was their daughter who they no longer need. Or, form some birth certificate and place it in the human realm's registry, making it seem she was orphaned. Easy.
But instead….
The Dokkaebi stood.
"Aren't you?" he asked, voice laced with sarcasm. "I mean, it's quite obvious with the way you move your head. And she…" he nodded toward Rose, "...she's clever, for a human girl her age already. As an academician, shouldn't you be marveling at such brilliance? That she noticed you were a lizard so sharply, and she's not even one of us?"
Rose smirked. Oh, that feeling. That warm, fuzzy yes-I-instigated-that kind of joy.
It must've been what the holies and heavenlies felt when they made teachers scold her. Divine!
The lizard man—yes, lizard man—bowed his head in deep apology. He thought:
~True to it, this little human girl is sharp. She didn't just manage to survive in the Goemul Realm for 17 days, but also somehow found favour in the Lord Dokkaebi's sight. I should show how much I appreciate her too~
That was it…
"L-Lo…. D-Dokkaebi, I may have a solution for her then," he offered.
The Dokkaebi folded his arms. "Spit it out."
*
O.M.A was the solution?
Rose blinked. She couldn't believe it.
Omnia Mythren Academia, the school of myths. A place whispered about in every realm. Where spirits, supernaturals, immortals, and even special humans with odd minds, just a sprinkle of them, like psychics, sat in classrooms together.
There wasn't a creature you couldn't find there.
And now she was going to attend there as a student?
To her—whether she was Rose or Seraphina—that school had always been a legend. Even the holies and heavenlies couldn't casually qualify for it.
She slumped on the bed, dazed.
The Dokkaebi shrugged off his jacket and tossed it beside her, already unbuttoning his shirt. He stopped when he noticed her big, bright and unblinking deep blue eyes on him. Attentively.
He squinted.
~Does she know I'm about to get butt naked?~
Despite hearing his thought and seeing that look of suspicion on his face, Rose didn't move. After all, she was just six. And uh, she lost her memory too, so how would she know when a man was about to get, well, 'butt naked'? Right?
He rolled his eyes. "You should go get dressed already," he said, then gestured lazily. "Tell Aunt Isla to put you in the finest of fabrics and shoes."
She didn't budge.
Everett turned back to his cupboard and pulled out the most underwhelming combo: a khaki shirt, matching shorts, and some desert-looking sandals that belonged in a wasteland. Definitely not an elite academy.
Nyyahh! Where would he go with those?!
~Omnia Academia is no where to look special. It's the worst of places for me.~
"Rose!" he snapped, and pointed to the door.
"Green uncle," she asked sweetly, pouting, "Can we wear matching clothes today?" She clasped her hands together dramatically. There was no way he was going to follow her to such a place looking like that!
He clicked his tongue.
~How could I say no to those eyes?~
"Whatever," he sighed, tossing the sandals aside and digging for something less tragic.
Good.
She slid off the bed, but her hand brushed the inside pocket of his jacket. By accident. That was when she felt the hairpin. Elias' hair pin. And flooding into her head without permission was Elias' thoughts.
'Ah, Elias Nore, you have to do this. Among the ten heavenlies chosen, plus myself, I must emerge top and get the admission to fully enter Omnia Mythren Academia as one of their students. I have to. I've come too far. Passed forty-three of seventy-seven tests. I've planned this for a decade. I must enter Omnia Mythren Academia.'
Rose recoiled from the jacket, a wicked smirk blooming on her lips.
Really, brother? All those years, all that planning… and you're still not in?
Meanwhile, she—just a six-year-old kid—got in without even lifting a finger. The irony was delicious. His brilliancy, his light, and still… she beat him to it.
She hated schools, yes. Hated her brother now, yes. But this school? And with her brother coming for the last screening? Nah, she couldn't wait to get there.
She looked up at the tall, long-eared green man. He was the one who had made it all happen. He had deliciously moved mountains she didn't even see. She was really, truly grateful to him but maybe she hadn't shown it enough.
So she ran to him, or rather, hotfooted around the giant bed, her tiny feet quick but clumsy, like a little race. She reached him and hugged him tight. He was too tall, so she clung to his legs, her head just barely brushing his knee.
The Dokkaebi: "...."
The Dokkaebi froze.