Legend of Legends

Wednesday.

Junhyuk was the only employee in the Administrative Department. He was given access to the online applications for the Guardians program. Without Zaira’s help, they would’ve been unable to sift through them. That many people had applied.

After Junhyuk handed in his resignation letter, they began accepting applications that previous Friday, so only four days. However, since Guardians was already known throughout the world, a surprising number of people had applied.

The Administrative Department had five employee openings, but ten thousand people had applied. That was one spot for every two thousand applicants.

Junhyuk was able to judge the applications with Zaira’s help. He wanted to at least glance over all of them, and looked through a condensed version of the pictures and qualifications. He was left completely surprised.

"Three languages is the minimum."

He quickly went through the pages. His eyesight was really good, so he spent about one second in each page with Zaira’s help, looking at pictures and qualifications.

He was going through the images when he said, "Stop."

The screen stopped, and Junhyuk added, "Go back three people."

The screen went back three applications, and he smiled.

"Is this a coincidence?"

It was Soyeon Shin’s picture. Her qualifications were certainly lower than the other applicants. She had good grades, but she didn’t graduate from the best university or was fluent in three languages like the others.

Her English score was really good, but not as good as the others. Junhyuk laughed hard and set her application as qualified. Eunseo had told him to pick only one hundred applicants out of all of them. They were looking for his replacement, and had given him a big responsibility.

He included Soyeon Shin on the list and murmured, "Qualifications aren’t everything."

After he told himself that, he got up.

"I told her I would take her out and I didn’t. I hope she gets this job."

Guardians was a part of ST Capsule, but the annual salary was very high. If she got hired, he would forgive himself for not taking her out and breaking their promise.

He laughed and murmured, "Knowing the right people is important."

Junhyuk went over all ten thousand applications and selected the hundred he liked. They all had similar qualifications, so he picked out from the pictures he liked.

He made the list with all one hundred people and asked Zaira, "Can you send them emails and messages and make phone calls?"

[Yes. When would the interviews take place?]

"Interviews will be next Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Divide them in two groups of fifty for the interviews. Can you make calls?"

[Certainly.]

Zaira answered and simultaneously sent out emails concerning the interviews and the online applications and called them individually. She spoke with the one hundred people and recorded the conversations. Junhyuk listened to the one with Soyeon.

She sounded really happy, and Junhyuk smiled while he listened. He thought of her jumping with joy. Zaira finished all of the phone calls.

[What is your relation with Soyeon Shin?] she asked him.

Junhyuk fake-coughed and said,

"What are you talking about?

[You were listening to the phone call, which is why I’m asking you.]

"Don’t bother. I just know her a little."

After that exchange with Zaira, he was reminded one more time that she was not simply a super computer. She sounded like she was twisting the facts.

He sighed.

"Send the list."

The printer lit up, and the list came out. He picked it up.

"I will go talk to the CEO. Meanwhile, send notifications to the people who didn’t make the list."

[I will do it.]

He finished judging the applications with Zaira’s help and took the list to Eunseo. Dohee guided him to her office, and when Eunseo saw him holding the documents, she extended her hand. He handed them to her, and she looked them over.

"The list of the people who passed?"

"Yes. I selected a hundred people and sent them the interview date."

Eunseo nodded.

"The interviewers will be me, you and Dohee."

"Me?"

"We are looking for your replacement, so certainly," she said and continued. "If you want somebody, you may hire that person. I will give you a free pass."

"What?"

"I can do that at least that much," she added.

"Thank you."

He underestimated her power.

"There are only three interviewers, and we are only hiring five people. I’m giving you the right."

Because he knew it was Eunseo, he smiled. She saw him smiling at her, looked down at the documents and said, "You may leave."

"Then, I’ll be going."

He bowed to her and left. Eunseo raised her head. She was smiling ever so slightly.

She shook her head and got up from her wheelchair, walking around lightly and kicking suddenly.

Woosh!

She shook her head again.

"I need more time to get used to it."

---

He had judged ten thousand applications, and that wasn’t easy. With Zaira’s help, however, Junhyuk had finished before noon. Now, he was getting ready to be succeeded by his replacement.

"Since I got here, I only did translations and interpretations and picked up the phone."

Guardians kept the world safe and peaceful, and he was one of its only employees, but he didn’t have anything to do. He smiled bitterly and, with Zaira’s help, he made a list of phone numbers he had to give to the replacement.

The replacement would do his own translations, so he didn’t spend a lot of time in preparation to leave his post.

He didn’t get online. If he did, Zaira would know what he was up to. Instead, he looked at dual swordsmanship on his smartphone and looked around. He felt like someone was watching him, and suddenly he got a response.

[Do you want materials on dual swordsmanship?]

"Are you watching me?"

[I just want to help you.]

Junhyuk knew Zaira was connected to Elise. If he gave Zaira an order, Elise would know of it too, so he thought about it.

He was already looking for things on dual swordsmanship, and Zaira knew it. He couldn’t hide it from her.

"Give me materials on dual swordsmanship."

Quickly, Zaira showed him all kinds of materials from pictures to videos of ancient dual swordsmanship techniques revived in the modern era. He couldn’t find those on the internet on his own.

He had made the right decision and he moved his hands lightly while watching the videos. So far, Junhyuk had learned by watching Artlan’s saber techniques. Artlan was a hard teacher to find, and his swordsmanship focused around slashing.

Longsword dual swordsmanship was totally different from dual swordsmanship with sabers. Junhyuk realized that from watching the videos.

"Show me something on dual swordsmanship with sabers."

Many screens came up, and Junhyuk learned the difference between the two styles of swordsmanship. He could improve.

"Can you send me these by email?"

[I will do it right now.]

He compared and contrasted the styles of swordsmanship while moving his arms. He was definitely learning more about dual swords.

---

Zaira was displaying the screens to Elise, and she laughed while watching.

"He is using you. He must know something."

Elise controlled Zaira completely, and Junhyuk was using her anyway. He was revealing something about himself.

She looked at the other screen and saw Eunseo moving around lightly.

Eunseo didn’t know it yet, but Zaira controlled everything at Guardians. Elise looked at her and smiled.

"She is better than I thought."

The trained agents took a long time to get accustomed to their new bodies, but Eunseo was getting used to it faster than them. She was still using her wheelchair just in case, but she would soon get used to it completely.

"It’s easier to use a fully automatic wheelchair."

Elise also wanted that wheelchair. She laughed hard and looked at the screen with Sora Shin.

"Novices use two-handed swords?"

Sora was training with a two-handed sword, but it would take her more than a few days. It would be better for her to just run away from conflict.

Elise had heard about heroes. Sora should just run away from them to keep herself alive, she thought. She turned off all screen, pulled out some documents on the monsters species and murmured, "I must make new weapons."

---

Junhyuk watched the monitor until it was five o’clock and got up. It was nice he was able to go over the materials on the computer, but it would be even better to practice at home.

He went out and saw Eunseo and Dohee.

"Are you getting off work?"

"The superiors must get off first, so that the employees will feel less pressure."

Junhyuk smiled. If Eunseo got off work first, he would be more at ease. In any event, he didn’t even care. She nodded at him and operated her wheelchair, moving forward. She wanted to get out of the door first, and Junhyuk laughed and slowly walked toward the door.

Eunseo took the lead, and the security team members got in her car. Junhyuk bowed to them and got in his own car. He downloaded his emails and watched the videos on dual swordsmanship as he started driving home.

Once he got out of Guardians HQ and reached the crossroads, he saw shadows loom over him. He turned to to look, and there were container trucks to his left and right. There were four of them, and he inspected them. Junhyuk saw Eunseo’s car in front of him and looked at his phone.

While he was watching the videos, the light changed. The trucks started off, and one of them sped up. The trucks positioned themselves to the left and right of Eunseo’s car while one stayed behind the car. Junhyuk felt something sinister was happening.

He didn’t head home. Instead, he got on highway and called Eunseo on her cellphone.

It rang, and he heard her voice.

"CEO."

"What is the matter?"

"Right now, container trucks are surrounding your car. Is anything the matter?"

"Get down!"

He heard Dohee’s voice, and loud noises coming from the container truck.

Rat-a-tat-tat!