The next morning, Doctor Yoon took YooJin on a tour of the area.

They started off in an incredibly large traditional dining room, where the dark mahogany tables were low to the ground and the seats were beautifully embroidered cushions. Each table was sectioned off into small, partially open rooms with gorgeous decorative folding screens that sat behind them.

The large windows of the dining hall were made of the same wooden lattice frames backed by mulberry paper, allowing sunlight to shine a soft yellow glow into every corner of the hall.

The doctor led them to the section at the corner of the hall. He sat down on a cushion and folded his legs beneath the table as he looked around the dining room once more.

Several young alphas passed by, shooting them curious glances as they did so before settling themselves down in their own sections. They all wore different colored robes though the overall style of the robes were exactly the same, traditional court robes with white long sleeved satin garments and flowy loose pants underneath a long robe that closed in the front, embroidered with symmetrical patterns of gold or silver thread.

“The colors symbolize their class,” explained Yoon.

YooJin gazed at the young alphas more closely, two of them wore green robes similar but far less elaborate than the ones Nao wore, two others wore blue, and the one female alpha wore red. Just then a student in orange robes and sat down beside the female.

“Green indicates a range hunter, blue, blade, orange, fighter, and the red is part of the assassin class,” the doctor explained. “Normally, you would not see an assassin here but since it is still early and she is still in training, you were able to see the robes.”

“What happens to them when their training period is over?” asked YooJin, glancing again at the woman in red.

“Once they fully become a member of the assassin guild, all public records of their identity disappear. They will live and eat in separate quarters and while they may be assigned to a particular party, the party members almost never see them. They’re jobs are stealth tasks and thus maintaining their privacy is of utmost importance for them.”

The doctor peered briefly around the dining hall once again. YooJin did as well but saw that only they and the young alphas were still the only ones there.

“The only other class missing would be the magic class, who wear the yellow robes, but they are fairly notorious for eating in their own tower, I’m afraid.”

At the question in YooJin’s face, Yoon elaborated, “Hunters who rely on magic as their weapon do not require the same rigorous exercises the other classes must endure, instead their training is heavily focused on their studies. It’s caused issues, sometimes leading to full blown fights. That isn’t to say though that they are fully free from each other. Magic classes must participate in basic training so they are not liabilities to their teams and physical classes must also study strategies, history, form etc.

“If a particular individual is assigned a party leader then they are required to take even more classes as they are required to learn about how each member of their team fights and their skills.”

“Ah!” The doctor’s face suddenly brightened and YooJin turned to see what he was looking at. Funny little stubby goblin-like creatures with stubby fangs and stubby horns on top of their head wearing tiny hats that covered only a fifth of their crown and colorful traditional gowns under pastel pink aprons with white frills on its edges made their way toward them with heaps of food on silver trays.

“What are they?” asked YooJin, surprise making his voice hoarse.

The doctor grinned, his eyes still on the trays of food. “You’ve likely heard of them in your stories, dokkaebis. Perfectly harmless, well… most of the time.”

“Ah, perfect!” said the doctor in delight as a dozen or so small side dishes were placed before them. The aromatic scent of sesame oil drifted through YooJin’s nose and his mouth began to salivate.

A large steaming ceramic pot of dumpling soup was placed in the center of the table.

The doctor rubbed his hands together. “I hope you don’t mind, I ordered the chicken and prawn dumplings. I feel it’s better to eat a bit lighter in the morning.”

YooJin’s stomach loudly growled as he peered down at the table before him. He realized then that he hadn’t had any food since the previous morning and even that had been a meager meal of convenience store bread and coffee.

Though still wary of the strange creatures, he found his hand suddenly reaching for the spoon only to pause when a small fist tapped his shoulder.

He looked up and jumped slightly in his seat when he came face to face with the goblin, who stood only an inch or two away from him, his grinning fanged face looking at him expectedly.

“Ah, he’s waiting for a tip,” said Yoon as he grabbed a large dumpling with the spoon in his right hand and reached for a soy sauce marinated boiled egg with a pair of chopsticks in his other.

“Um.” YooJin felt around in his pockets of the plain gray robes the doctor had brought to him earlier that day. His hand came into contact with several small objects in his pocket. He pulled one out and stared at one of the pearls Nao had given him in the tree market.

“Here,” said YooJin, placing the item on the goblin’s open palm.

The goblin’s eyes widened as his fingers closed over the pearl. It then said some unintelligible words and rushed the two other servers back toward the kitchen.

“What just happened?” asked YooJin.

The doctor took another large bite of a massive dumpling before answering. “Dokkaebis love treasure and since the item you gave him is high in value, he will likely bring you back something to show his appreciation.”

Then, as if on cue, the goblins returned, carrying a large, covered plate in their hands.

YooJin’s eyes widened as they set the dish in front of him, moving some of the smaller dishes to the ground to make room. The goblin he had given the pearl to removed the lid and YooJin peered down at the dish.

It was… a single feather.

“Ah now, that is something,” said Yoon as he too looked down at the plate, his chopsticks hovering over the side dish of stir fried potatoes drizzled with sweet and salty soy sauce. “It seems they have given you a bonghwang feather.” He picked up a particularly large piece. “Bonghwang, or fenghuang in the original Chinese, is a bird that has become a large part of Eastern mythology. For the longest time there has been speculation but no proof that it was a dungeon creature until about five decades ago when several Mongolian hunters found what looked like what could be its nest in a part of their country untouched by human activity. From the nest, they documented some of the highest levels of mana ever recorded from a monster.”

He popped the potato into his mouth and chewed quickly before his chopsticks began their venture to the soybean sprouts dish seasoned with red peppers and sesame oil. “The nest had been long abandoned but several of the creature’s feathers were taken in for analysis. The entire country experienced a significant bout of good luck that year. Of course–” said the doctor, stopping briefly to take another quick bite of a dumpling “– there was no proof their good fortune was due to the feathers. But now it is believed that anyone who is in possession of any part of the bonghwang will experience unimaginable good fortune.”

YooJin reached out and grabbed the end of the feather with his finger tips, twirling it about as he looked at it. From one angle the colors shone orange and the other, blue. Much like the mermaid pearls, they seemed to have a mystical quality to it.

“Thank you,” he said to the goblin whose already amused looking face broke out into a bigger grin, its eyes closing into little crescent moon shapes. The goblin again said something in a language that YooJin could not understand before making their way back to the kitchens.

“How did they get it?” YooJin asked as he watched their retreating forms.

“The workings of the dokkaebis are still mysterious. They are only here because they wish to.”

“What do you mean?”

The doctor took a sip of his tea. “Simply, they go where the treasures are. The only reason they work here is because the tips hunters give them are sometimes valuable to them.”

“But aren’t they monsters?” YooJin asked cautiously, peering at the door the goblins had disappeared into. “The Academy is okay with them moving about freely?”

The doctor chuckled. “Not quite but they can’t do anything about it. Despite their rather silly appearances, dokkaebis are incredibly powerful though they rarely do anything with that power except to find treasures or play pranks. They are the only dungeon monsters we know of that can go in and out of a dungeon without a dungeon gate or through a break.”

YooJin took a large bite of the particularly large, juicy dumpling. His eyes widened as soon as it touched his tongue and he nearly moaned.

“It is delicious, isn’t it?” said Yoon with an amused expression. “They are also fantastic cooks. We have no idea what they do to the food but the taste is immaculate and not only that, they provide additional boosts to health and mana. Our human chefs are learning what they can from them but apparently, dokkaebis grow rather short tempered when teaching.”

The door to the kitchen opened again and YooJin watched the goblin run over to him, the ruffles on his apron flapping against his short legs.

The goblin took his hand and pressed into it a small sack, tied closed with a string.

YooJin briefly looked at the goblin before opening the bag and peering into it. Inside were three cookies with bright honey colored flowers at each of its centers.

He pulled one out and showed it to the doctor.

“Honey bloom cookies,” Yoon replied in delight. “It seems these goblins have already determined that you are an omega.”

His brow rose in question.

“You can eat it to temporarily strengthen omega pheromones.”

His mouth fell open. “What?”

“For intercourse. It can also act like a sexual enhancement drug for your alpha. Our studies show that they work far better than our human-made ones. You are lucky, the dokkaebis don’t give these out to just anyone.”

“Ah–” he turned back to the goblin in alarm and tried to hand the cookie and bag back to him. “I don’t– I don’t need this.”

But the goblin simply stared at him before reaching into the pocket of his apron and producing another handful of cookies and stuffed them into the small bag until it was full and brimming to the top.

YooJin’s eyes widened as he frantically tried to return them but by then the goblin had returned back into the kitchen.

Just then the door to the dining hall opened up and several students walked in. YooJin frantically tried to hide the cookies into the pockets of his robes.

Unlike the others, these students, all still obviously within their teenage years, wore simple gray robes like the one YooJin had on.

One of the boys turned just then and met YooJin’s gaze. YooJin sent a small nod his way but the boy’s eyes simply narrowed into a glare before turning away haughtily.

“The gray robes indicate that they are unmanifested, meaning their classes have not been determined yet,” the doctor explained as he stood. “The hall will soon be busy. Finish your meal while I go pay for the food.”

YooJin nodded, sending a brief glance at the students before turning back to the table.

Several minutes later, a cold voice emerged from above him. “What is a weak, old guy like you doing in our hall?”

YooJin looked up, his mouth completely stuffed with food.

The boy whose gaze he had met earlier was standing before him. The others, two boys and two girls stood next to him, all staring at him derisively.

“You’re too old to be a student and the mana I can sense from you is pitiful. What – were you a thirty year old virgin or something? That’s why you're at this Academy now, old man?”

YooJin swallowed his food in one big gulp before opening his mouth. “What?”

“You’re wearing the student robes but you’re what– thirty? Old. So that means you must have just had sex for the first time recently.” The young alpha’s friends snickered behind him. “Figures, you’re a puny looking alpha and ugly too. What– did you pay for your first time? Bet your balls burst as soon as you touched your first omega, am I right?”

YooJin’s brow rose. “Care to explain what your problem with me is?”

But just then the door to the hall opened again and they could hear Yoon make his way back toward the table.

“Just be careful, old man,” said the young alpha in a low voice. “If you so much as put a stain on the reputation of this school, I will personally see to your end.” He then stuck out a foot and, while maintaining YooJin’s gaze, deliberately stepped on the hem of his robe before turning and making his way back to his table, his little entourage closely following behind him.