A considerable amount of time had passed since the Geumgang Academy entrance examination ended.
The clone she had created by splitting her soul had not returned.
If it were still in this world, she should have been able to share its sight, memories, sensations, and location through the pass inherent to their souls. Yet even that was impossible.
Unless the clone had entered a gate, there was no choice but to realize the truth by now.
Lee Ga-hyeon had to accept reality.
“It’s dead.”
She did not know what had happened, but her clone must have had its identity discovered.
And then it had met its death.
The reason she could not sense the soul stone was probably that someone was concealing it so she could not detect it.
Naturally, there was a high probability that this someone was affiliated with Geumgang Academy.
“How did they find out…?”
Somewhere in a slum district of the Academy City.
Sitting on the stairs with her bottom planted firmly on the step, she gazed sorrowfully up at the night sky.
She propped one hand against the ground and swung her legs, her red shoe bobbing as though it might slip off at any moment.
Unlike the mainland, the night sky over the Academy City was densely studded with stars.
“I don’t think I made any mistakes….”
Just how had she been discovered?
Who had noticed?
More importantly, who had killed her?
Lee Ga-hyeon lost herself in thought, paying no attention to the gazes of the people feeling their way toward her through the darkness.
But with limited information and no way of knowing how Geumgang Academy’s entrance examination had proceeded, there was nothing she could determine.
In the end, her insides burned.
“Ugh….”
Lee Ga-hyeon hugged herself and drew her legs tightly together.
She buried her face between her knees and shook her shoulders as though sobbing.
Even though she knew her flowing tears would smear her makeup and make her look ugly, she cried and laughed.
Beauty was perfection.
But she had lost a part of her soul and was now an incomplete being.
Therefore, she was not beautiful.
She could not endure that fact.
From now on, there would forever be an emptiness within her soul that nothing could fill.
No matter how beautifully she adorned herself, and even if she entered a beautiful doll, that fact would not change.
She could only resent whoever had done this to her.
She wanted nothing more than to find them and kill them on the spot.
But she did not know who her opponent was, and Geumgang Academy had kept its mouth firmly shut without making any announcement. There was nothing she could do.
She had to keep silent as well.
She could not let the world know that she was no longer beautiful.
If she wanted to keep it a secret, she could not tell anyone.
Least of all the ones who were revered alongside her as the Six Demons.
The moment her imperfection was exposed, they would surely look down on her and laugh.
“Who was it? Who was it…?”
She felt as though she was going insane.
She clenched her teeth hard.
Unable to suppress her sorrow and hatred, she felt her uncontrollable emotions trying to burst outward.
Those emotions led to self-harm.
Lee Ga-hyeon realized that she had been digging her nails into her own arm.
Nail marks appeared on the skin not covered by the red dress.
“No. I can’t do this.”
No matter how overwhelming her emotions became, she could not hurt herself.
It was an unbeautiful thing to do.
She had nearly left a wound.
Lee Ga-hyeon barely came to her senses and rubbed the spot marked by her nails.
Yet she could not collect herself. Her emotions were still threatening to spill over.
“…”
The emotions heated her body.
She suddenly wanted to destroy, smash, and kill whatever she could see.
Lee Ga-hyeon was swept up in the impulse.
That was when the people who had been watching her from the darkness appeared.
“Pretty sis, why are you crying there? Did some guy dump you?”
“What a bad guy, making someone like you cry. I wouldn’t do that if I were him.”
“If you’re hurting because you met the wrong man, you should get over it by meeting a good one! How about it? Why don’t you come over there with us and have some fun to take your mind off things?”
“…”
The men emerged from the secluded area and gathered around the stairs where Lee Ga-hyeon sat. None of them looked particularly well-behaved.
Looking down at her, each of them revealed his own lecherous intentions.
She stared at them for a while, then put a smile on her face as though responding to them.
“Sure. I suppose I should take my mind off things.”
“Oh, really? What a fiery one. I knew it the moment I saw you wearing those clothes….”
There was nothing more horrifying than being courted by men who were not beautiful.
And to think she had to show them her ugly face with her makeup smeared—it was so shameful and humiliating that she wanted to kill them.
Even if that were not the case, she had wanted to vent the uncontrollable impulse within her, so this worked out well.
Lee Ga-hyeon rose, harboring thoughts entirely different from what they expected.
The neck of the man who tried to touch her body was severed.
“…Huh?”
“…”
Even after his head had been cut off, the man remained alive for a very brief moment.
His head spun around with a short sound, his eyes widening.
Then it rolled down the stairs below the step Lee Ga-hyeon stood on.
Fwoosh!
Only afterward did blood gush like a fountain from the cross-section of his neck.
The men, frozen by the sudden turn of events, finally sensed the danger.
“R-Run…!”
“…!”
“You said you wanted to play with me. Where are you running off to?”
They were facing an opponent they could not possibly handle.
Overwhelmed by the gap in their abilities, the men had no time to rage over their companion’s death and hurriedly tried to flee.
But they could not escape death.
Invisible threads had already encircled the entire area.
Fwoosh!
The men’s bodies touched those threads and were cleanly sliced apart, killing them instantly.
Those who realized the threads’ presence at the last moment were granted death by Lee Ga-hyeon herself, who manipulated the threads.
Their corpses fell to the ground or rolled down the stairs, turning the area into a sea of blood.
“Tastes awful. So fishy.”
Lee Ga-hyeon wiped the blood splashed across her face with a finger and licked it.
She could not tell whose blood it was, but the mana contained within it was pathetic.
She gently furrowed her brow and looked back at the stairs, where dark-red blood flowed like a carpet.
“Still, I feel a little better.”
Click, click.
Stepping on the dark-red blood with her red shoes, she descended the low stairs.
“Who could have killed me? I’m curious. Was it the Disciple of the Battle Demon? An academy instructor? Or else….”
Could it have been another student?
Muttering to herself,
she continued walking to the ringing sound of her heels, before disappearing into the darkness of the slum district.
* * *
Do Gyeon-u had left for the Academy City to take the practical portion of his entrance examination.
They had thought that, since he would only be gone for two weeks, they would be fine. But as time passed, his family felt his absence more and more.
“At this rate, I don’t know how much we’ll miss him once he enrolls in the academy.”
Do Gyeon-u’s father, Do Sang-jun, could only give a bitter smile.
He had anticipated that the day would come when his son would grow up and leave his arms, and had been preparing himself mentally. But apparently, he still was not ready.
Then again, perhaps it was only natural.
For seventeen years, he had watched the tiny bloodied infant grow at his side, and had even raised him with his own hands. There was no way he could send him off without difficulty.
To him and his wife, Han Ji-ae, Gyeon-u was the culmination of seventeen years.
He was the embodiment of their memories.
Now that he had gone out into the world to stand on his own, they could not help but feel both proud of him and a sense of loss.
If he felt that way, Han Ji-ae missed their son every single day.
“I wonder if he’s doing well on the test…. I’m so worried that he might get hurt somewhere.”
“You know Gyeon-u’s abilities by now. Do you really think he’s the type to get hurt somewhere? He’s more likely to go around causing accidents. And Haneul’s with him, too, so there’s no need to worry.”
“That’s true…. I can at least feel reassured because Haneul is by his side. If we’d sent Gyeon-u alone….”
Since five years ago,
Han Ji-ae had kept her hair in a bob and would occasionally receive swordsmanship lessons from him.
On this day as well, she had been learning swordsmanship from him while voicing her concerns about Do Gyeon-u.
As he always did, Do Sang-jun comforted her in her worry.
Even so, there was no overcoming the heart of a parent concerned for their child.
Neither he nor she could completely let go of their worries about their son.
Fortunately, they were not completely unable to contact him.
They exchanged messages with him through social media.
[Our Son]: I arrived in the Academy City.
:
[Our Son]: Perfect score on the qualification exam!
[Our Son]: (Photo of black examination pass)
After leaving for the Academy City, Do Gyeon-u sent them an update about once a day.
He seemed to be taking the examinations safely and advancing smoothly.
But after sending them a message saying he was going to take the third test, all contact suddenly ceased.
That was because the practical examinations from the third through the fifth were conducted consecutively in a gate where smartphones could not be used.
“Nothing’s happened to Gyeon-u, right?”
“We should take no news as good news.”
Hoping the examinations would end soon,
Han Ji-ae and Do Sang-jun had no choice but to wait anxiously for the day their son contacted them.
Then, at last, a message came from their son.
[Our Son]: I did well on the test. The results haven’t been announced yet, but it looks like I definitely passed. The evaluators even said I’d probably place first in the fifth test.
[Me]: Is that so? You must have worked really hard taking the exams. Nothing happened, did it?
[♥My Lady♥]: You didn’t get hurt anywhere, did you? Are you coming home on Sunday?
[Our Son]: Yes, everything was resolved safely.
[Our Son]: There’s still time left on my permit to stay in the Academy City, so I’m going to rest here a little longer and return on Sunday.
[Our Son]: I’m not hurt anywhere!
[Our Daughter]: Big bro!!! Bring something delicious when you come!!! And great job on the test!
After receiving contact from Do Gyeon-u for the first time in several days,
Do Sang-jun and Han Ji-ae were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
They were relieved that he had done well on the exams and, above all, that he was healthy.
It seemed he had made several friends during the examinations, as he even sent them photographs of himself having fun with them.
[Our Son]: (Photo of the after-party)
[Our Son]: I came to an after-party with the others to celebrate finishing the exams.
[Me]: Oh, are all the kids there new friends you made this time?
[♥My Lady♥]: They’re all pretty and handsome^^ But our son is still the best!
[Our Son]: Not all of them… There’s a girl named Go Eun-bi who has a tremendous number of friends. She’s the one who brought them all.
They had thought that Do Gyeon-u, who showed little interest in anyone except a few people, would not make many friends.
But apparently, their concerns had been unfounded.
Do Sang-jun and Han Ji-ae looked over the friends their son had supposedly made during the examinations and felt satisfied.
They were about to prepare to welcome their son home from the Academy City when—
“Yes, hello?”
[Hello. Are you Do Gyeon-u’s father?]
“Yes, I am. Who is this?”
Do Sang-jun received a phone call.
He was puzzled when the person on the other end suddenly addressed him as Do Gyeon-u’s father.
Before long, that puzzlement turned to astonishment.
[I’m So Hye-yul, the chairwoman of Geumgang Academy, which Do Gyeon-u will be attending from now on.]
“…”
So Hye-yul, the Witch of the Stars.
Why was someone with such tremendous influence not only in the Academy City but throughout the entire world calling him?
Do Sang-jun wondered if he had heard correctly.
At the same time, he could not shake off a sense of unease.
“Are you really… the chairwoman?”
[Yes, that’s right.]
“Why would the chairwoman be calling…?”
Five years of accumulated experience was telling him forcefully.
His son must have caused some kind of major incident.
His suspicion proved correct.
[The reason I’m calling is that, during this examination, Do Gyeon-u…]
“…”
To summarize So Hye-yul’s explanation, it was more or less this:
Lee Ga-hyeon, infamous as the Doll-Eared Demoness, had stolen an examinee’s body and secretly infiltrated the examination.
During the fifth test, his son, Do Gyeon-u, had realized her identity and subdued her.
Geumgang Academy had decided to offer him a modest reward for his achievement.
However, they did not intend to publicly announce the fact that he had subdued Lee Ga-hyeon.
There was also the matter of preventing the academy’s honor from being tarnished, but more importantly, I had to keep his existence hidden so it would not be revealed to Lee Ga-hyeon’s true body.
However, I felt I needed to explain the situation to his parents, who were his guardians, and ask for their understanding at the same time, so I called them.
“Ha-ha…. Gyeon-u… did that…?”
[Yes, your son is quite remarkable.]
“Ha-ha-ha….”
Do Sang-jun was practically dumbfounded.
Even when Do Gyeon-u caused trouble, he did it on a grand scale.
Who would have thought he would commit an act worthy of making him the Doll Ghost Woman’s target?
It was so astonishing and absurd that all he could do was let out a hollow laugh.
“My son, didn’t you say there hadn’t been any problems…?”
Could the message saying everything had been resolved really have meant this?
Do Sang-jun’s shoulders drooped.
As the one who would have to clean up whatever mess this troublemaking son of his caused after entering the academy, all he could do was sigh.
“Did you really have to make things so difficult for me?”
He truly was a problem child of a son.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Academy’s Mid-Boss
(84) [Illustration]
A considerable amount of time had passed since the Geumgang Academy entrance examination ended.
When returning home from the academy city, we used the warp gate the triplets had sung the praises of so enthusiastically.
Simply by passing through the blue dimension, we were able to arrive at Express Bus Terminal Station in an instant.
“Wow…. We really got here right away, huh?”
“Using the money was worth it after all.”
“Yeah. I don’t regret spending it.”
“What are you talking about? You’re acting like you paid for it yourselves. When I said I was going to use the warp gate, my family sponsored you too, you know?”
“As expected of Do Gyeon-u!”
“Truly the rising star of the Divine Sword Do clan!”
“Loyalty! Loyalty! I’ll be loyal forever!”
“By the way, Haneul, are you all right? You’re not feeling nauseous or anything?”
“I think I’m fine. What about you, Gyeon-u?”
It was hard to believe that we had been in the academy city just moments ago.
Yeon Haneul and the triplets were just as amazed as I was.
Some people who passed through the warp gate said that the unfamiliar sensation of dimensional travel made them feel nauseous, as though they were suffering from motion sickness, but none of us experienced anything like that.
Afterward, we took the subway and got off at the station near our homes.
Since we all lived in the same neighborhood, our routes home were the same.
However, our paths eventually diverged, and we had to part ways with the triplets.
“Gyeon-u! Haneul! See you next time!”
“Go home and get plenty of rest!”
“Good work on the exam!”
“Yeah, get home safely.”
“Bye, guys.”
The triplets moved away, dragging their large suitcases and waving their hands.
Yeon Haneul and I watched them go before continuing along the road home.
“It’s an uphill road. Isn’t your suitcase heavy? Give it to me. I’ll carry it.”
“I lightened it with magic, so it’s fine…. But if you’re offering, I’ll let you take it. Thanks. Your mother’s home, right? And Ye-eun too?”
“I heard Dad came home early from work because I was coming today.”
“Your father must have missed you a lot too. Could you tell him I’ll visit soon to give him the souvenirs I bought in the academy city?”
“Or how about coming to my house like this and having dinner before you go?”
“The teachers are waiting for me at the orphanage too. I was planning to have dinner with them.”
“Right, you are. All right. Your family must have missed you too, so come by and show them your face. Are you free tomorrow? Or over the weekend?”
“I’m free tomorrow, and on the weekend too.”
“Then come tomorrow, and come again on the weekend.”
“What? At that point, I might as well just live at your house.”
“Really? Do you want to live at our house? We have plenty of spare rooms.”
“….”
“Mom, Dad, and Ye-eun would all be happy. Everyone likes you.”
“…What about you?”
“Do I really need to say?”
“I-I see….”
“Or do you want to live in my room?”
“What?”
“The rabbit cage in my room was burned along with Mongsil when she died last year, but I can just buy a new one.”
“You really are…. Is teasing me that much fun?”
“Yep! If you become my pet rabbit, I’ll provide you with a bed and food free of charge all 365 days of the year. I’ll take care of your bathroom, wash you when you get dirty, take you to the salon once a month, and occasionally give you fresh carrots too. How about it? Doesn’t that tempt you? I’ll even have you spayed….”
“Yeah, just raise another rabbit.”
Yeon Haneul fired back with a bright smile.
I chuckled at her reaction and continued dragging the suitcases in both hands.
Then she suddenly opened her mouth as though she had remembered something.
“Oh, right.”
“What?”
“We didn’t tell your parents that we stayed in the same room, did we?”
“You kept begging me not to, so I didn’t.”
“When we get there, don’t mention it even by accident. It’s our secret, okay? I don’t want your parents to misunderstand or think I’m some kind of loose girl.”
“What misunderstanding? It was the hotel’s fault that we ended up staying in the same room. Besides, do you really think my mom and dad would see you that way?”
“Still. It’s embarrassing.”
“Even though you hugged me in the same bed at the Hotel of Dreams and….”
“Don’t ever mention that either! Got it? Don’t, don’t, don’t! If I tell you not to, then don’t, seriously!”
Yeon Haneul straightened her drooping rabbit ears until they stood straight up.
Her face flushed as she glared at me and repeatedly warned me not to say anything.
She even pinched me.
Since I was in no condition to move my hands, I had no choice but to endure it.
Before long, it was time for us to part ways too.
“Here, your suitcase.”
“Thanks. I ended up making you carry it all the way here.”
“So the person who pinched the one who carried it for her is a bad person, right?”
“Jeez, I only did it because you were being naughty. And I barely pinched you.”
“If it hurt me, then it hurt me.”
“Yes, yes, Do Gyeon-u. I’m sorry. So don’t sulk. Your teacher was wrong, all right?”
“Oh, please.”
“Anyway, I’ll be going now. See you next—no, tomorrow. Go home and get plenty of rest. Good work.”
“Yeah, you rest well too. See you tomorrow.”
Even though we had spent nearly every moment together for two weeks, and, if one considered the matter carefully, had been spending time together for five years—
I still hated parting with Yeon Haneul.
Leaving that regret behind, I turned away from her and soon arrived at the house where my family was waiting.
‘It feels like I haven’t seen it in a long time.’
I had only been away in the academy city for two weeks.
Even so, perhaps because the time I had spent there had been so dense, it felt as though I had been away from home for a long while.
I wanted to catch up with my family as soon as possible.
I opened the front door.
At that exact moment—
“I’m ho—!”
“Welcome home, Oppa! I missed you!”
“…I missed you too.”
My younger sister, Do Ye-eun, who had turned twelve this year.
The moment Ye-eun, who had been waiting in the entryway, saw me, she rushed over and threw herself at me.
I couldn’t help but chuckle as she hugged me tightly and rubbed her face against my stomach.
I patted Ye-eun on the head.
“How was the academy city? What about the academy? Were there lots of interesting things? Was the exam fun? How was the food? Oh, and what did you get me!?”
“Ye-eun, your brother must be tired. You shouldn’t cling to him like that. And ask him one question at a time. You’re putting your brother in a difficult position. Gyeon-u, welcome home.”
“You’re back, son! You seem to have grown even more in the short time we haven’t seen you.”
“Mom, Dad. I’m home.”
My mother and father approached from behind Ye-eun, who was firing off her questions like a machine gun.
The welcome written plainly across my parents’ faces was unmistakable.
I felt much the same way.
“You must be hungry, right? I prepared all your favorite dishes. Go wash up and come out. We’ll talk while we eat. But Haneul isn’t with you? She should have come and eaten with us….”
“She said she was going to eat with the teachers at the orphanage today. She said she’d come tomorrow to give you the souvenirs.”
“They must have missed Haneul at the orphanage too. Then it’ll just be the four of us today.”
“Haneul really didn’t need to buy us souvenirs….”
“More importantly, are you going to keep making the boy stand there? Come on, everyone, let’s go inside. We should get ready to eat. I’m hungry too.”
“Oppa! Give me your luggage! I’ll carry it!”
Ye-eun snatched my suitcase and headed down the hallway ahead of us.
Mom followed after her, scolding her not to run so recklessly.
Dad gave the sight of the two of them a wry smile before turning around.
I was about to follow him inside.
That was when Dad called out to me.
Somehow, I had a bad feeling.
“By the way, Gyeon-u.”
“Yes? Why?”
“The chairman called.”
“….”
“I think I know what the call was about. Didn’t you tell me there hadn’t been any problems?”
“Well… it was… resolved properly….”
Dad gave a low chuckle, his shoulders bobbing.
I hadn’t expected So Hye-yul to explain the situation to my father.
I spoke awkwardly.
“I thought you’d worry if I told you over text…. So I was planning to tell you in person. Ha-ha…. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you earlier.”
“Is that really true?”
“Of course. But… does Mom know too?”
“Would I do anything to make your mother worry? It seems to have been resolved somehow, and I was planning to talk to you once you came home.”
“Thank you. I’ll tell her later.”
“Good. That would be best. Even so, try not to cause quite so many incidents, you rascal.”
“Yes, ha-ha….”
“…You have the face of someone who plans to keep causing them.”
“Dad, you never know what might happen, so I don’t think I can give you a definite answer.”
“Oh, really?”
“Certainly.”
“Even if you cause trouble, just don’t get hurt.”
“Yes, of course I should.”
“Son, ‘of course I should’ isn’t the right expression there.”
Fortunately, Dad merely gave me a moderate scolding instead of getting seriously angry.
I had been secretly worried, so only then could I breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the reason Dad hadn’t scolded me more severely was because there was someone else besides him who would do so.
I realized that fact belatedly over dinner.
“So what exactly did you say?”
“Well, you see…. It turned out that the examinee was a demonkin….”
“Which demonkin?”
“….”
“Wow! Then does that mean Oppa is strong enough to fight the Six Fiends of the Demon Society? That’s amazing!”
“That’s not it. It was only a clone….”
“Gyeon. U?”
I couldn’t escape my mother’s reprimand.
It was my first home-cooked meal in a long time, but I could barely eat properly because I was too busy watching my mother’s expression.
Some time passed.
Two weeks later, I was accepted into Geumgang Academy.
* * *
Geumgang High Academy, 145th Class
Entrance Examination Results
※ Admission results are calculated by adding together the scores from the written examination, qualification examination, first through fifth practical examinations, and the holistic evaluation.
* * *
Taebaeksan Mountain, Gangwon Province.
Deep in the mountains, where people rarely ventured because of the frequent appearance of monsters, stood a wooden house.
Despite the spacious interior, the house contained only the bare minimum of tools necessary for human habitation.
Inside, two men in martial arts uniforms sat facing each other.
Their postures, however, were different.
An old man who looked to be over seventy sat cross-legged, while a young man who seemed old enough to be his grandson knelt respectfully before him.
“How long has it been since you became my disciple?”
“Five years, as of this year, Master.”
The old man’s face, as well as various other parts of his body, was covered in scars, as though he had lived through a harsh life.
The young man was not short either, but even while seated, the old man towered over him like a mountain.
His voice was not light; it carried a deep, weighty resonance.
If someone were seeing him for the first time, they would have been startled once by his bandit-like appearance and twice by his tiger-like voice.
But to the young man who had received his teachings all this time, it was nothing unusual.
The young man answered calmly.
“Five years…. Neither a long time, nor all that short.”
As though reminiscing about the days he had spent with the young man, the old man muttered quietly in a thoughtful tone.
Before long, he opened his mouth as though he had made a decision.
“There is nothing more I can teach you. From here on, you will have no choice but to leave for the world and learn the rest for yourself.”
“Didn’t you say last time that I still had a lot to learn, Master?”
“There is indeed much for you to learn. However, you have yet to fully digest what you’ve already learned and make it your own, so I decided there would be no benefit in having you blindly learn even more. What you lack right now is practical experience and the ability to see the world.”
“If it’s practical experience, the monsters living in the mountains should be enough….”
“I’m not talking about practical experience against monsters, but practical experience dealing with people. Have you ever dealt with anyone besides me? Now you need to experience dealing with people other than me as well. At your age, you should go out into the world, meet all kinds of people, and learn how to accumulate experience. So, Hanbyeol.”
“Yes, Master.”
The old man, Seo Jeongjin, known to the world as the Battle Ghost, called for his disciple.
His disciple, Gang Hanbyeol, answered the call.
“Go to Academy City.”
“...”
“There will be children your age there who aspire to become Hunters, just like you. Spend time with them, feel what you can feel at your age, experience what you can experience, and broaden your horizons.”
“...Are you telling me to go to an academy?”
“Yes.”
“But you said I missed the timing and couldn’t apply for the entrance exams. That’s why you told me to wait until next year….”
“Ahem! I went to all the trouble of setting the mood, and you had to put it like that?”
“Were there still academies accepting applications for their entrance exams?”
“No, that’s not it. The entrance exams for every academy have already ended.”
“Then….”
“I have one friend I knew while I was active as a Hunter. He’s currently the chairman of one of the academies. I asked him to make arrangements so you could attend an academy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I’ll write you a letter of recommendation, so take it with you when you go see him.”
“Which academy is it?”
“Geumgang Academy.”
After losing his family in an accident at a young age and entering an orphanage, Gang Hanbyeol had remained ignorant of the world.
That was why his curiosity was so strong, and why he took such a deep interest in the world below the mountain.
Seo Jeongjin could see his eyes sparkling.
“So pack your belongings right now and come down the mountain.”
“Today? Right now? Master, there’s no need to leave so suddenly….”
“Once you’ve made up your mind, you should leave at once. Besides, I’m planning to leave as well.”
“You too, Master?”
“I built this house to teach you. If you’re no longer here, shouldn’t I go somewhere else as well? I was never the sort to stay tied to one place. I only ended up spending five years here because I was teaching you.”
“...I see. Then where are you planning to go, Master?”
“I don’t know yet. I plan to wander around and see the world, without any particular destination. Now! Enough talking. Hurry up and go pack your things.”
After finishing their conversation, the two rose from their seats.
They packed their belongings in preparation for leaving the house where they had lived for five years.
Since they had lived almost like hermits, there was not much to take.
Before long, they came outside with the bags they had carried when they first arrived at the house.
“Geumgang Academy is known as the finest academy in Academy City. There will probably be plenty of strong children there as well. It will certainly be a good experience.”
“There will be lots of kids stronger than me, right?”
“The world is a vast place, so perhaps there will be. If they’re children of the Ten Families, they may even catch your interest.”
“If they’re from the Ten Families… then they’re the grandchildren of your old comrades. I’ll be competing against them from now on.”
“Why? Are you worried?”
“No! I’m really looking forward to it!”
“That’s a good attitude. Then go on and come down the mountain.”
“You’re not coming down with me, Master?”
“I plan to watch you leave, then go down by another route. Descending the mountain together with my disciple wouldn’t be quite as stylish.”
“...I suppose that’s true.”
Though it was difficult to make his feet move as he prepared to leave the place where he had lived for five years, sadly, it was time to say goodbye.
When there is a meeting, there must also be a parting.
After hearing Seo Jeongjin’s teachings, Gang Hanbyeol steeled his heart and bowed his head to bid him farewell one last time.
“I offer my thanks to you, Master. I will do my utmost so that I won’t be ashamed to call myself your disciple, and so that I can let the people of the world know what a great Hunter you were!”
“Good. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Then I’ll be going!”
At Gang Hanbyeol’s bold declaration.
Seo Jeongjin watched his departing disciple with a bitter smile.
He had not forgotten what Seo Jeongjin had told him one day.
―My talent as a Hunter was mediocre.
―You, Master? Why are you saying that?
―Because although I was skilled with all kinds of weapons, I never achieved greatness in any one field.
―….
―Swordsmanship, archery, magic, martial arts, and every other field—I could become second-rate, or at best first-rate, but I could never become the best. There were people with greater talent than me in a particular field, like that bastard Do Ye-ik of the Divine Sword Do Family. That’s why the people of the world consider me a step below the heads of the Ten Families.
―There’s no way you could be weak, Master! You’re strong!
―When it comes to a battle where one’s life is on the line, there’s no knowing who will be stronger. Of course, as the people of the world say, if we simply competed in a single field, I would be inferior to them. But you’re different, Hanbyeol.
―….
―You have talent, Hanbyeol. The talent to learn everything I have achieved and then go beyond it. You have the talent to become the best in every field you desire. In a way, perhaps I met you so that I could pass all my skills on to you.
―Master….
―So I have a favor to ask of you. Someday, when you go out into the world and make a name for yourself, I want you to tell the people of the world. Tell them that you are my disciple. I was never able to become the best, no matter how hard I tried, but I want to hear that I raised the best disciple. I also want to hear people say that my skills were not inferior to those of the Ten Families.
―...Yes. I’ll definitely do that. Once I become a Hunter, I’ll go around telling everyone that I’m your disciple, Master!
―Yes. I’m counting on you.
It seemed to have been not long after Seo Jeongjin had taken Gang Hanbyeol in from the orphanage, when the boy had been living only because he was afraid to die.
Five years had passed since then.
The disciple who had been trapped in the past was now preparing to move toward the future.
Pleased with his growth, Seo Jeongjin was about to descend the mountain himself.
That was when Gang Hanbyeol shouted from far away.
“Master!”
Seo Jeongjin stopped walking.
When he turned around, Gang Hanbyeol was already prostrating himself on the ground.
He shouted.
“Thank you for raising me all this time! Father!”
“...”
Father.
Seo Jeongjin had no children.
Hearing a title he had never once heard in his life stirred something deep within his heart.
“You little rascal.”
Gang Hanbyeol rose to his feet.
Then he bowed his head once more.
Without realizing it, Seo Jeongjin looked at him and lifted the corners of his mouth.
He gently waved his hand.
“Let’s meet again someday, my son.”
He infused his voice with mana and sent it flying.
It must have reached Gang Hanbyeol’s ears.
Seo Jeongjin felt he would become embarrassed if he looked at the boy’s face for no reason, so he turned around.
Then, without looking back, he descended the mountain in the opposite direction.
“Thank you so much.”
Gang Hanbyeol kept his head bowed until Seo Jeongjin disappeared from sight.
At last, he straightened his shoulders with a determined expression and set off along the path he had to take.
And so, Seo Jeongjin’s disciple, Gang Hanbyeol—the Battle Ghost who had drawn the attention of the entire world—finally descended the mountain.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss