The opening ceremony was over.
I slung my bag over my shoulder, rose from my seat, and looked for Yeon Haneul.
She was organizing her locker.
The sight of her with her head stuck inside the locker, her small, round tail peeking out, was rather striking.
‘Should I wait until she finishes sorting her things, then ask if she wants to go home together?’
I stared intently at her rabbit tail, pondered for a moment, then gave up.
‘No. I’ll ask her to go home with me after we’ve gotten a little closer.’
The more you rush, the easier it is to ruin things.
If I put unnecessary pressure on Yeon Haneul, she might start finding me difficult to deal with.
For today, I decided to be satisfied with having become her seatmate.
Still, I should at least say goodbye.
“I’m going. See you tomorrow.”
“…”
I said it as I passed by Yeon Haneul.
Then she flinched.
She pulled her head out of the locker and turned toward me.
The red eyes looking up at me seemed to hold wariness.
“Why…”
Did she have something to say?
Yeon Haneul kept parting her lips.
At last, she asked hesitantly.
“Why did you sit next to me?”
“…”
So that was what she wanted to ask.
I didn’t see why she needed to hesitate over it.
I let out a laugh without thinking, then decided to answer Yeon Haneul’s question.
It wasn’t as if I couldn’t.
“Because I want to get close to you.”
“…What?”
Because that’s the only way I’ll be able to recruit you.
I answered while hiding the intention behind my words.
Yeon Haneul must have been surprised by what I said, because she stood there blankly with her mouth open.
“What does that…”
“It means exactly what it sounds like.”
“…”
“I sat there because I want to get close to you. What, do you have a problem with that?”
“No, not exactly… but why do you want to get close to me? It’s not like that would ever happen, but you don’t possibly…”
Unable to finish her sentence, Yeon Haneul groaned and mumbled.
“Like m…”
“I just want to get close to you, so if you ask me for a reason… Mm, if I had to say, it’s because you remind me of Mongsili?”
“Huh? Mongsili?”
“Yeah, I’m raising a rabbit at home. His name is Mongsili. He’s male.”
“…”
“So I like rabbits.”
“So, the reason you want to get close to me is…”
“Right. Because you’re like Mongsili.”
“…You said he’s male. Am I male?”
“But you have rabbit ears.”
“I’m not a rabbit, you know!?”
“I know that. When did I ever say you were a rabbit?”
“That’s not… Ugh, seriously…”
Startled, puzzled, dumbfounded, then pouting…
Her expression changed from moment to moment.
Her reactions were incredibly amusing.
Having said whatever came to mind to conceal my true thoughts, I chuckled lightly.
“Anyway, I’m going. See you tomorrow.”
“…Get home safe. See you tomorrow.”
Though she looked reluctant, this time she properly returned my farewell.
I waved at her and only then left the classroom.
“Mm…”
Soon, I decided to calmly organize the memories of my previous life.
Things had been so hectic that I hadn’t had the chance until now.
‘Even so, it’s hard to believe. I reincarnated, and of all places, into the world of a game…’
Nevertheless, I had no choice but to accept it.
That aside.
‘Is there no way to check my status?’
My thoughts turned elsewhere.
In the game, players could check a character’s information through the status window.
But in this world, there was no such thing as a status window.
So it was impossible to objectively grasp one’s own condition, and it wasn’t easy to confirm one’s own Gift, either.
“…”
Still, you never knew.
Quietly enough that no one else could hear, I murmured, “Status window.”
[Personal Information]
Name: Do Gyeonu (Male · 12 years old)
Alias: Rabbit
Affiliation: Raon Elementary School
[Owned Gifts]
Evasion Instinct
[Physical Abilities]
Stamina: 37
Strength: 34
Durability: 32
Agility: 43
Magic Power: 30
Luck: 25
Remaining Points: 0
It was a message like the ones I’d only ever seen in the game.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the status window floating in the air.
Then I quickly skimmed through its contents.
‘It’s fairly decent. Not bad.’
Members of the Divine Sword Do Clan began learning the sword once they were old enough to toddle.
As a member of the clan, I was no exception.
From as far back as I could remember, I had held a sword and learned how to swing it.
Perhaps because of that influence.
The status window, which reflected my current condition, displayed fairly respectable numbers.
They were so high it was hard to believe they belonged to a fifth grader.
In. Other. Words…
‘I’ve been living like a pathetic weakling all this time with these stats?’
Cowering in front of the clan members, constantly watching their moods for no reason.
Letting myself be bullied like an idiot.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.
‘Why did I live like that?’
Seriously, seriously, seriously…
I can’t live like that anymore.
* * *
In my previous life, my family circumstances had been miserable.
The woman who had given birth to me because of a one-night mistake would get drunk at every opportunity and lament her life, while the man called my father was often out and about elsewhere.
In the end, divorce had been inevitable.
I was placed in my mother’s care.
—I’ll come back for you when I make a lot of money someday. You can wait here quietly until then, right?
—…
One day, when snow was pouring down.
I was abandoned.
I became an orphan.
—If you were going to do this, why did you even give birth to me? Liar…
To me in my previous life, parents were nothing more than objects of resentment.
But to me after reincarnating, it was different.
“I’m back from school!”
“Gyeonu, you’re home? You’re early.”
“Today was the opening ceremony.”
“How was your homeroom teacher? What do the kids in your class seem like?”
My mother warmly welcomed me home from school.
Her benevolent smile made my heart feel cozy.
My mother in my previous life had never smiled at me like that.
‘If anything, she wouldn’t even look at me, saying my face reminded her of someone she hated.’
Nothing good came from remembering my previous life.
It would have been enough to remember information about the game, but useless memories I wanted to forget surfaced along with it.
Maybe that was why I became sentimental.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“…No. I’m just grateful.”
I hugged my mother tightly.
She seemed flustered for a moment, then held me as I was.
“Did you miss Mom that much?”
“I just really wanted to see you today.”
“Nothing happened, right?”
“Nothing happened.”
“If something does, you have to tell me, okay?”
“Yes, I will.”
“You must be hungry since you haven’t had lunch. I’ll set the table for you soon. Wait just a little.”
“Then I’ll play with Mongsili.”
“All right, do that.”
It was a little embarrassing and awkward.
Still, feeling my mother’s warmth made me feel as if my body and mind were settling down.
The chaotic memories also grew quiet.
‘I am not who I was in my previous life.’
And I’m not Do Gyeonu from the game, either.
I am simply Do Gyeonu.
I must not let myself be buried in the memories of my previous life.
Letting go of my mother, I steeled my heart like that.
Then I went to see Mongsili.
“Mongsili, hyung is here.”
Sniff!
My pet, the white rabbit Mongsili.
I took Mongsili out of his cage and handed him some hay.
Crunch, crunch.
Mongsili quietly enjoyed my touch and ate the hay I gave him.
“It was hard getting close to you, too.”
Sniff?
Rabbits were sensitive animals.
It took a long time to get close to them.
Mongsili had been especially so.
Since he was a rabbit prepared for hunting practice by the Divine Sword Do Clan, he couldn’t help being highly wary of people.
At the time, I had pitied Mongsili too much to kill him, so I decided to raise him instead, and that was how we had ended up here.
‘And because of that, the clan started mocking me as Rabbit.’
A coward who couldn’t even hunt a single rabbit, one who failed to become a lion.
That was the meaning contained in the nickname Rabbit.
I smiled bitterly.
In any case.
“It’ll probably be hard getting close to her, too, won’t it?”
Yeon Haneul was a rabbit-type demi-human.
She likely had habits similar to a rabbit’s.
…Probably, right?
From what I saw earlier, it seemed that way.
Thinking about it like that, I felt I would need to be careful if I wanted to become close to her.
“It’s not like I have anything else to do at school anyway, so I’ll invest some time.”
Delicately, as if taming a rabbit.
With that mindset, I decided to approach her.
That way, I would hunt the rabbit.
No, recruit her.
* * *
The Divine Sword Do Clan, known as a prestigious swordsmanship family, had a sword art that symbolized the clan.
Beast King Style.
Named after the lion that reigns above all beasts, the sword art pursued the pinnacle of the sword by combining various qualities such as swiftness, variation, strength, sharpness, and domination with speed as its foundation.
It was also the sword art that allowed Do Gyeonu, who awakened late in the game, to be reborn as the greatest swordsman.
Knowing that…
“Mom! I’m going to the swordsmanship academy!”
“Already? Isn’t it too early?”
“I want to go early and practice first.”
I couldn’t neglect training.
After eating lunch, I headed straight for the swordsmanship academy.
The Divine Sword Do Clan operated swordsmanship academies wherever there were large populations.
Anyone who wanted to learn the sword and become a hunter could pay tuition at the academy and receive instruction.
‘Of course, if you’re not a member of the Divine Sword Do Clan, you can’t learn the complete Beast King Style.’
At the academy, they taught the general form.
But even that was popular enough that every branch was bustling with visitors.
“Maybe because I came early, there aren’t many people.”
On days when I learned the complete form, I had individual lessons with a dedicated instructor, and on days when I didn’t, I took lessons together with others.
Today belonged to the latter.
Because of that, there were already a few people in the training hall when I entered.
“…”
They saw me and lowered their heads in silent greeting.
I returned their greeting, set down my things, and picked up a wooden sword.
“Whew…”
The moment I caught my breath and exhaled, I moved and brought the wooden sword down.
Then I returned to my original stance and once again waited for the right moment.
The Hunting Stance.
Imagine that prey is standing before your eyes.
To hunt its prey, the lion watches for the moment its target lets its guard down.
After holding its breath and waiting calmly, the instant the prey finally grows careless.
At that moment, it drives in at once.
I swiftly stepped forward and, putting strength into it, swung my sword down.
Once I grasped the sensation I wanted to some degree, I began reducing the time between movements.
Once, twice, three times…
Whoosh!
The wooden sword made a sound as it cut through the wind.
Focusing on that sound, I brought down the sword in my hand again and again.
I struck downward, struck downward, and kept striking downward, trying to make my muscles remember the movement.
‘Good.’
Had swinging down always been this fun?
Had sweating always felt this good?
An inexplicable sense of fulfillment filled me.
For some reason, my concentration was exceptionally good today.
So I was about to keep swinging when—
“What the hell? Why are you here so early?”
“Right? What’s gotten into the coward?”
“He actually came and is practicing for once?”
“…”
Identical triplets.
Their words shattered the mood.
Stopping my wooden sword, I quietly stared at the bastards approaching with smirks on their faces.
‘I’m getting angry.’
I had finally been concentrating well.
I had been immersed in the world inside my head.
Being interrupted made my blood boil.
No, that wasn’t the only reason.
There was a more fundamental reason.
‘I was really letting myself get pushed around by things like these all this time?’
The triplets before me were the main culprits who had bullied me until now.
Bastards acting on my cousin’s orders.
Just seeing their faces brought back the pathetic version of myself from those days.
The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became.
“What’s going to change just because you practice alone?”
“Should we be your sparring partners?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Want us to help you?”
The triplets provoked me.
There was only one answer I could give.
“Then shall we do a light match? Like a real fight.”
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss