“Really!? Gyeon-woo brought a girl home?”
Family dinner.
Father was very interested after hearing mother’s story.
“When I was home, she brought it… I wonder what kind of girl she is.”
“Gyeon-woo seemed to like it.”
“What does she look like?”
“She was a girl with pretty blue rabbit ears.”
“Rabbit ears? Was she Ain?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s something that Gyeonwoo would like.”
“Right?”
“… .”
It’s true that I like rabbits, but that’s not why I became close with Yeonha-neul.
I looked at my parents with a dumbfounded expression.
My parents seemed to interpret my face differently.
“Why, are you embarrassed?”
“You can bring a friend to the house, so why are you embarrassed?”
I decided to just say nothing.
No matter what I said, my parents would just joke around and tease me.
If it was before I remembered my past life, I wouldn’t have known, but now I wasn’t the type of kid who would get swayed by my parents’ pranks.
“But if it’s Ain… Where does she live?”
“She lives in a nearby daycare center.”
“Hmm, that’s what I thought. Treat her well. Ain said… .”
“Do you really need to say that? In fact, such consideration between friends can be detrimental.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“Don’t worry about what Dad says.”
“Yes, I know that too.”
I nodded.
Even if my father didn’t necessarily advise me, I knew how Ain was treated in society.
But I didn’t intend to sympathize with her.
‘I’m just treating her like a friend, what is that?’
I intended to treat her as an equal and comfortable human being like me.
Of course, there was a bit of selfishness in recruiting Yeon Ha-neul as a colleague.
That was when my younger sister joined the conversation.
“I wanted to see Rabbit Sister too… . It’s fatal. You brought her when I wasn’t there.”
Our troublemaker, Do Ye-eun.
Ye-eun looked displeased that Yeon Ha-neul came to our house while she was at the swordsmanship center.
She frowned with a pouty face.
Meanwhile, we couldn’t help but notice her subtle maneuvers.
In particular, Mother’s eyes were sharp.
“That doesn’t seem to have anything to do with taking out the carrots in the curry?”
“… Chew.”
“You have to eat all the carrots without leaving any behind. Carrots are so delicious. Don’t you know that the rabbits can’t eat them even if they want to?”
“Then these carrots are for the rabbits…”
“Bam.”
“Mom was bad.”
“Haha…”
Today, too, the fight between Mother and Ye-eun never went quietly.
Ye-eun, who lost to Mother, had to chew the mushy carrots with a sad face.
Father smiled bitterly.
“Ugh, carrots don’t taste good…”
“Things that are good for you don’t taste good.”
“I hate Mom.”
“Really? I prepared some chocolate for you to eat as a snack later, but you don’t need it…”
“Wow! Our mom is the best!”
When Ye-eun heard the word chocolate, she cheered with a look of surprise.
We burst into laughter at Ye-eun’s quick change of stance.
Soon, I called my father.
“Dad.”
“Huh? Why are you doing that?”
“After eating, please look at my sword. It’s been a while since we’ve sparred.”
“Sparring? What’s going on?”
I can’t just practice basic postures every day.
Sometimes, I needed to directly fight with my opponent and figure out what I lacked.
‘I have something to ask of you.’
I waited for my father’s answer.
Soon, my father, who had been puzzled by the unexpected suggestion, opened his mouth.
“Then should we do that? If you exercise right after eating, your stomach will hurt, so how about taking a short break?”
“That would be good. Let’s do that.”
“Where, let’s see how much you’ve gained?”
My father readily agreed to the suggestion.
Meanwhile, Ye-eun couldn’t have just sat there and listened to our conversation.
“I want to spar with Dad and Oppa too!”
“Ye-eun, you’re still too young. You both need to wear protective gear when sparring so you don’t get hurt.”
Unable to resist our mother’s urging, we had to wear protective gear every time we sparred and use wooden swords instead of real swords.
“What’s wrong with you, Gyeon-woo? You asked me to finish sparring first.”
“I wanted to see how much my skills had improved. I also wanted to show it to Dad.”
My father put on his protective gear and spoke as if he was surprised.
Well, it was understandable to think that way.
‘It was Dad who always suggested we spar, not me.’
I thought I would tire out my father who worked hard at the clan.
I thought I would get hurt or get hurt while sparring.
Before I recalled my past life, I had never asked my father to spar for that reason.
But judging from my father’s reaction, it seemed like I didn’t need to be careful.
“I wondered when you would play with me, but now that you’re in fifth grade, you’re finally playing with me?”
“Is this playing with me?”
“Of course. What else would I find enjoyable when I come home from work late? Being sweet with your mom, playing with Ye-eun, and sparring with you like this.”
“… .”
If I had known this would happen, I would have asked Dad to spar with me more often.
I never thought he would like it this much.
“So what on earth are you asking me to do?”
“How did you know I was asking Dad to do something?”
“I thought there must be another reason for a kid who never asked me to spar with him before to suddenly do this.”
“… .”
“Why are you asking me to do something without telling Mom? Dad is on Mom’s side, so he can’t do everything you ask him.”
“I was going to ask Dad because I thought Mom would say it was dangerous… .”
“What is it? Let me hear it out.”
I had originally planned to wait for the opportunity to tell him.
Since Dad had figured out my intentions, I felt like I should tell him now.
I pointed my wooden sword at Dad while wearing protective gear over my head and said.
“I want to experience some real combat.”
“Real combat?”
“Yes. I want to kill a monster.”
“… .”
“Other cousins have already experienced it, but I haven’t yet. But I’m not a hunter, so I can’t just fight monsters… I wanted Dad to help me out a bit.”
“What’s the sudden wind blowing? Don’t be impatient just because you haven’t experienced actual combat yet.”
“Still. I thought that I couldn’t continue like this. I don’t want to be ridiculed as a rabbit anymore.”
“Huh… .”
“I’m going to change now.”
It’s been five years.
Five years later, I entered Academy City and faced countless crises with the main character, Kang Hanbyeol.
In order to do that, I had to fight monsters and get used to the feeling of actual combat.
People in my family who were similar in age to me had already experienced actual combat.
Compared to them, I was far behind.
‘So I have to catch up somehow.’
That’s why I asked my father.
It was something I couldn’t do alone without getting help from my father.
“Is it because of what happened at the swordsmanship school this time that you started thinking that way?”
“Yes?”
“I heard that you fought with the swordsmanship school kids. That they got hurt a lot and that you said you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“… .”
“Did that change your mind?”
… Did the swordsmanship school instructor tease you?
He might have been upset with me for using the family name to threaten him.
However, regardless of the instructor’s intentions, judging from my father’s attitude, he didn’t seem to want to scold me for that.
Rather, he was asking for my true intentions.
‘Do you trust me? I couldn’t have done that for no reason.’
He didn’t say it out loud, but I somehow felt that way.
Then I thought that I should respond to that trust and honestly tell him how I felt.
What should I start with?
I took a moment to think about my words.
“I’ve been taught since long ago that the sword of the Taoist priests is a sword that protects and saves people. I should never forget that.”
“Yes, that’s right. The reason we are praised by people as a noble family is because we never neglect that role.”
“That’s why I thought I should swing my sword according to my family’s teachings. Even if others are harassing me, I shouldn’t swing it simply to relieve my emotions. Those other people are people I have to protect, too.”
“… .”
“But.”
If I hadn’t thought about my past life, I probably wouldn’t have thought like this.
The life I experienced in my past life.
Also, the future I would experience greatly changed my thoughts.
“Before protecting others, shouldn’t I protect myself first?”
“… .”
“How can someone who can’t even protect himself protect others? That’s what suddenly occurred to me.”
“So that’s why you fought with those kids?”
“Yes, that’s why I fought. I didn’t want to be treated like an idiot, but to protect myself. I’m going to live like that from now on.”
“… .”
“To do that, I have to become strong. To the point where I can protect myself without being ignored by others anymore, and to the point where I can protect others. That’s why I want to experience real combat.”
I have to put myself first at all times.
I had no intention of changing that thought, which could be seen as selfish.
That’s how I expressed my thoughts.
My father was silent for a while.
Then, after a while, his shoulders shook once from top to bottom.
It seemed like he was laughing.
“Yeah, your thoughts aren’t wrong. It’s not a bad thing to have a reason to want to become strong. You’ve changed a lot without me knowing.”
“Then will you help me?”
“Of course I should help you as a father. But there’s a condition.”
“What condition?”
“Prove that you’ve built up enough skills to experience real combat. That’s why I asked you to train, right?”
“… Dad, you’re right.”
Before I knew it, my father was taking a break and preparing to start sparring.
I also quickly straightened my posture.
As my father had said, I was going to get my skills recognized through sparring.
If that didn’t happen, I would just focus on training again to build up my skills.
If I didn’t get my father’s recognition, it would mean that I wasn’t ready for real combat.
“Just one.”
“… .”
“I won’t use mana, and I won’t move more than five steps, so feel free to attack me.”
“You won’t use the water king style, either?”
“… I’ll only use the basics.”
“Okay.”
It was a similar sparring style to my usual.
However, I had never successfully attacked my father until now.
Even when I had the chance to attack him, I hesitated to attack him because I thought I might hurt him.
I was afraid. I was scared.
How stupid.
“Okay. Come here.”
In that sense, there was a hidden meaning behind my father’s condition.
If you really plan on fighting monsters, don’t hesitate to harm someone with your sword.
“Hoo….”
I took a deep breath.
If it was before, I wouldn’t have hesitated.
Now, I won’t hesitate.
Hunting Stance
To prove that to my father.
I ran straight ahead.
I gathered my strength and swung down my wooden sword.
Of course, my father blocked it while simultaneously using his strength to strike my wooden sword.
Thump!
I didn’t fight back against that strength.
Instead, I used that strength to take a step back and twist my body to the side.
And then I swung my arm widely.
Ferocious Strike Stance
From the inside of the left shoulder to the outside.
The horizontal trajectory cut through the air.
Thump!
My father blocked it again this time.
It was within the expected range.
I just stepped forward and narrowed the remaining distance from my father.
At that time, I was ready to swing my arm that had been pushed behind my right shoulder again.
Swinging Stance
I put strength into the foot that came forward.
I twisted my waist to the left.
I added strength to swing my wooden sword.
From the outside of my right shoulder to the inside.
The sword that bounced off drew a horizontal line again and aimed for my father’s sword.
Thump!
Now.
Since I narrowed the distance, the distance my father could swing his sword at naturally decreased.
I had to widen the distance.
Then, what my father should do now was to take a step back.
I didn’t miss that moment.
“…!”
Not giving him room to swing.
As my father stepped back, I stepped forward in one breath.
Meanwhile, I brought the wooden sword, which had been sharpened in the swinging stance, up from below.
The swords clashed.
“Huh!”
This time, it wasn’t my sword that was pushed back, but my father’s sword.
For a moment, my father’s posture was disturbed.
A gap was revealed on the right side.
Lion Iron Whip
Heavy as if swinging a hammer.
Fast as if swinging a whip.
I infused mana into my wooden sword and struck my father’s right pelvis.
Thud!
That was the end of the sparring.
I quickly widened the distance.
When my father, who had been hit with a thud, turned around, I was already gone.
“This, this guy… If you hit me, you should have hit me gently. Did you really have to hit me this hard?”
“I’m trying to get my father’s approval.”
“Oh. Now, you’re big enough that even my father can hit me without hesitation.”
Even though I was wearing protective gear, my father kept rubbing my lower back as if telling me to look at it.
I giggled at the sight.
Then he patted my lower back.
“So now you acknowledge me?”
“Yes, you unfilial son.”
My father pouted.
Leave a Reply