Yong Taeha

Yong Taeha is an adopted son of Yong Jungkook, the head of the renowned Yong swordsmanship household, and one of the most prominent cadets of his year at Lair. His precise longsword technique makes him a benchmark for Yeorum during the campus competition, while his later service in Team Lair places that talent under the harsher demands of real rescue and subjugation work.

Biography

Rivalry among Lair's leading cadets

Taeha enters Lair alongside many cadets sponsored by the Yong household, but he and his adopted sister Yong Danbi are singled out as the family head's strongest representatives. He presents himself as a composed mediator among the volatile top cadets, restraining Danbi when insults threaten to become a fight and asking Yeorum not to provoke people for entertainment. That restraint coexists with strong competitive pride: his polished conduct protects both his own reputation and the public standing of the household behind him. (Chapters 104–106)

His skill quickly justifies the attention. In a recorded spar against Sophia Vorkova, Taeha takes control through economical parries, accumulates tiny delays in her guard, adapts to her blessing after seeing it once, and drives her from the arena. He then remains one of Yeorum's closest ranking rivals: she finishes the first quarter only eight points ahead of him, later loses first place to him after a penalty, and continues trading a narrow lead with him without the two ever receiving a direct match. Taeha's use of the cadet group chat to avoid an unnecessary pairing shows that his competition is strategic as well as martial. (Chapters 113, 124, 152–158)

Team Lair and life in the field

After leaving the school-centered competition, Taeha joins Tyr Brzenk and Ling Ling in Team Lair, which later accepts Kaeul. Although he wants to become a superhuman "with no equal," his ideal is not constant combat: he hopes to build such a commanding public presence that threats can be stopped before a fight begins. His dignity is partly deliberate image-making, yet his admiration for Yu Jitae is openly youthful, and he greets the older superhuman with sparkling eyes and repeated expressions of respect. (Chapters 253–254)

Field work tests that ideal against pain and dependence on others. During an A−ranked golem operation, Taeha rises after six ribs break through his skin, draws the monster's attention away from his teammates, and crawls into its damaged body to disrupt its mana despite the resulting explosion. Kaeul's finishing spell saves the team, and Taeha answers with gratitude rather than wounded pride, crediting her as being in a different league. The ordeal leaves him with burns, fractures, mana poisoning, and a high fever, while public accusations that Team Lair is lazy make the sacrifice feel invisible and push his frustration into open anger. (Chapter 267)

Taeha's concern with reputation becomes a weakness when an online quarrel with Zhou Luxun ends in a permanent account ban and an order from his father to stay away from social media. Unable to defend Team Lair publicly, he eagerly accepts Yu Jitae's evidence that Team White bought false mission records, briefly proposes retaliating in kind, then retreats from the idea when his teammates reject it. He supports the less destructive response proposed by Kaeul and later returns to ordinary field duty, where he directs her toward an injured child during a fissure response. These episodes leave him competitive and outspoken, but increasingly situated within a team whose survival and rescue work matter more than the immaculate heroic image he first imagined. (Chapters 268–272, 307)

Appearance and personality

Taeha is a clean-cut, handsome boy with black hair and black eyes. His face is described as carrying dignity and ease, and fashion magazines regard his appearance as especially suited to the image of a hero. He cultivates that impression through formal manners and presentation, even wearing a suit to meet Yu Jitae while his body is covered in bandages. (Chapters 106, 253–254, 269)

His composure is real but incomplete. Taeha tries to stop pointless disputes, can recognize a teammate's greater contribution without resentment, and is willing to continue fighting through extreme pain for his group. He is also intensely proud, easily frustrated by perceived unfairness, and far less restrained online than in person. Beneath the heroic presentation he can be candidly emotional: months of attacks on Team Lair reduce him to tears in private, and the prospect of clearing the team's name brings visible relief. (Chapters 106, 267–270)

Powers and abilities

Longsword technique and control of tempo

Taeha's principal strength is highly refined longsword technique. Rather than relying only on force, he uses small angles, efficient counters, distance control, and continuous pressure to dictate an exchange. Against Sophia, he turns each oversized defensive movement into a fractional delay, repeatedly adds those delays together, and keeps the initiative. After her blessing, Refraction, bends a rapier thrust into an unnatural trajectory, he adapts by trapping the weapon between his blade and crossguard, preventing it from refracting during the next exchange. The feat depends on precise timing and judgment, not a named blessing of his own. (Chapter 113)

Observers consider his offensive output unusually high for a cadet: a professional analyst identifies him as one of the few students capable of quickly damaging a B+ dungeon boss. That assessment is a claim about his potential rather than a complete demonstration, and his later battle with the A−ranked golem exposes a clear matchup limitation. Sword aura can strengthen a cold weapon, but the blade remains poorly suited to destroying a huge stone body, forcing Taeha to abandon straightforward attacks and interfere with the monster's internal mana instead. (Chapters 122, 267)

Mana use, endurance, and teamwork

Taeha can envelop his sword with aura and send his own mana into a target, applications that increase his cutting power and let him disrupt the golem after entering through an existing wound. Mixing his mana with the construct's internal flow produces an explosion and briefly interrupts it, but the recoil burns and fractures him; the maneuver is therefore a desperate tactical application, not a safe or repeatable finishing technique. No chapter assigns him a named personal blessing or explains a separate power source beyond ordinary superhuman mana use. (Chapter 267)

His endurance is exceptional but not limitless. He remains mobile after a thirty-metre impact and multiple exposed rib fractures, makes himself bait to protect the team, and continues acting until the golem's retaliation incapacitates him. He survives because Tyr diverts the monster and Kaeul destroys its core, then requires extended recovery from burns, fractures, mana poisoning, and fever. By his latest appearance, he is again conducting fissure operations and coordinating casualty care, showing recovery and continued field competence rather than a new formal rank or transformation. (Chapters 267, 307)

Relationships

Yeorum

Yeorum treats Taeha as one of the standards she must surpass to prove herself at Lair. Their scores repeatedly approach or overtake each other, but scheduling and Taeha's avoidance of a direct pairing keep the rivalry from becoming an on-page duel. Their relationship is therefore primarily competitive and reputational rather than personal. (Chapters 104, 124, 152–158, 225)

Kaeul

As members of Team Lair, Taeha and Kaeul rely on complementary strengths. He trusts her to finish the golem while he draws its attention and disrupts its mana, then openly credits her with saving everyone. Later, during a fissure response, he calls her to treat an injured child while he moves toward other casualties, showing that their partnership continues beyond the ranking controversy. (Chapters 253, 267, 307)

Tyr Brzenk and Ling Ling

Tyr Brzenk leads Team Lair and tempers Taeha's more impulsive reactions, especially when Taeha proposes copying Team White's dishonest methods. Ling Ling shares Taeha's anger at public attacks and Team White's cheating; the two often react in unison, while Taeha also quietly stops her from challenging Yu Jitae when the older man's proposed punishment frightens them. (Chapters 253–254, 267–272)

Yu Jitae

Taeha admires Yu Jitae as a superior superhuman and greets him with conspicuous respect. That admiration deepens when Yu Jitae investigates Team White's false missions and supplies evidence that relieves Team Lair's helplessness. Taeha's gratitude is sincere, although his careful silence when Yu Jitae discusses severe retaliation also shows the fear mixed into that respect. (Chapters 253, 269–270)

Yong household

Taeha and Yong Danbi are both adopted children of Yong Jungkook and leading cadets of the Yong household. Taeha restrains Danbi during a confrontation with rival institutions and remains conscious that his conduct reflects on the family. His father's concern for a dignified public image later contributes to Taeha withdrawing from social media after his quarrel with Zhou Luxun. (Chapters 104–106, 268)

Items

Taeha regularly fights with a longsword, including wooden training versions in Lair's controlled sparring system and an ordinary combat blade in field operations. The story does not give his swords a unique name, established ownership history, or persistent artifact ability, so none is treated as a separate notable item. (Chapters 113, 267)