Ch 52
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 52
"I'll go in first then. Have a good time at the retreat."
"Sure. Enjoy your weekend."
If the original work doesn't change, Se-jin will have her relationship with her father completely fall apart.
The triggering event will be the WHCU tournament in January next year.
Se-jin will be the winner of this year's martial arts tournament, but she won't achieve good results at the WHCU tournament in January next year.
I'm not sure if she'll be eliminated in the first match like she was last January, but it's certain that she'll be eliminated without even getting close to winning.
But instead of consoling her, Se-jin's father will pour out terrible verbal abuse and reproach her.
Even Se-jin, who has lived as a good daughter without ever rebelling, won't be able to endure and will explode.
That's how her relationship with her father deteriorates, and she chooses to join a guild other than the Ares Guild after graduation.
Normal parents would reflect and try to appease their daughter for relationship improvement, but Se-jin's father, Kim Dae-chan, doesn't do that.
Instead, he even uses his connections to pressure the guild she joined, preventing her from properly carrying out activities, claiming she dared to rebel against him.
Eventually, Se-jin gets kicked out of her team and, just like Kang Shin-hyeok did, ends up working solo, manning portals with little nutritional value.
Even afterward, her father's interference persists tenaciously, but Se-jin doesn't give in.
She endures and endures until she finally becomes an A-rank hunter, the condition required to establish a guild, and creates her own.
Though she despises her father, I think in the novel she mentioned that she kept the name he gave her because she disliked the idea of changing it.
Of course, later Kim Do-hyun, who becomes her lover, challenges Kim Dae-chan to an honor duel for a lesson after hearing about this situation.
Although it's not the main story, I remember it more distinctly than other episodes.
Even though the situations are different, I was quite immersed in this part because I felt a sense of kinship in how parents make their children suffer.
It all ends well with her father being defeated, apologizing, and reconciling, but honestly, I didn't like this story much.
No matter if it's a parent, forgiving a father who made your life difficult for years seemed quite frustrating to me.
Come to think of it, it's not even years.
Just looking at now, he's trying to make her hunt on weekends, breaking school regulations, saying she needs to increase her magic capacity—I don't need to see it to know how much pressure he must have put on her.
Now that I think about it, the supplementary class schedule must be quite tight for Se-jin, who's a third-year student with lots of assignments and also the student council president.
If she goes hunting for two days on the weekend as well... That kid probably won't have any time to rest.
Should I intervene?
Even if I don't step in, it will be resolved well later, but thinking about how much she'll suffer for a long time bothers me.
It's only been six days since I started the supplementary classes, but it seems I've grown attached already.
Actually, my first impression of Se-jin wasn't very good.
She asked for a match at our first meeting without prior agreement.
Being a third-year, she wasn't originally under my charge either.
But Se-jin is the most enthusiastic and actively participates in class.
She seemed a bit dissatisfied on the first day, but from the second class onward, she's been following along well without showing any dislike.
Even the medicine I started giving them from the first day—while the other kids try to avoid taking it with excuses and tricks—Se-jin takes it well without complaint, even if she doesn't look happy about it.
But even if I step in, I'm not sure what I should do.
The WHCU tournament is next year, so her relationship with her father hasn't deteriorated yet.
She hasn't asked for my help either, and if I awkwardly intervene, it might just make my position difficult...
I should think about this a bit more.
***
"Why are you boiling water?"
"I want to boil some noodles."
"You're putting noodles in here?"
"Charcoal grilled chicken tastes good with added noodles."
I had told my master in advance that I'd come on Saturday evening last week, but I felt somewhat sorry, so I brought two packaged chickens on my way.
I could use ramen for the added noodles, but I bought udon noodles instead.
I boiled the noodles and added them to the charcoal grilled chicken.
"Try mixing it well and eating it."
At first, he had a half-doubtful expression, but after one bite, his eyes widened.
"Oh, this is better than I expected."
"Right? It tastes good with ramen too."
"Aren't you eating?"
"I ate something on the way here. Master, please eat a lot."
Actually, I haven't eaten since lunch, but I don't have an appetite because I'm tired.
I taught classes in the morning, went shopping in the afternoon, and drove for over two hours.
"Want to have a match after eating?"
"I'll pass. My condition isn't good, and I need to leave earlier than usual tomorrow."
"What time are you leaving?"
"I'm planning to leave a little after 10."
The retreat starts on Monday, but teachers who are assigned as instructors need to go to the retreat center by noon on Sunday.
We're going early to inspect the facilities and decide which tasks to take charge of, but I think this arrangement is also meant for the instructors to get to know each other and become familiar.
The instructor roles would have been assigned to teachers who are hunters.
Except for me, they'll all be practical skills teachers, so... Ugh, I already don't want to go.
"Then you're coming again next week?"
"No, I have something next week, so I don't think I can come at all. Instead, I'll drop by briefly tomorrow evening, so write down anything you need. Let's have a match tomorrow."
The retreat center is quite close to the portal, and it won't take all day, so I plan to return to the portal tomorrow after finishing my work.
Next Sunday, I need to take the A-rank promotion test.
After the test, I should treat Teacher Kim and Teacher Hong to dinner in the evening.
"You seem quite busy these days."
"Don't even mention it. Thanks to that, I haven't been able to train lately."
"But you're still teaching the children, right? Don't be too impatient. Enlightenment can suddenly come not only during training but also in daily life."
He speaks with a serious tone, but with sauce all over his mouth, it doesn't look cool at all.
"Yeah, yeah. I understand. I'm going to sleep for a bit, so please wipe what's on your mouth."
"Tsk, tsk, you always..."
"Hmm, I might not be able to come tomorrow if the work finishes late."
"This guy is threatening me again.... Sigh, alright, go and rest."
I went into the cave and lay down, but now that I'm trying to sleep, I can't.
Maybe I should have had a match when he offered?
If I ask again now, I don't think he'll agree... I should go to the lake for a bit.
"Where are you going? I thought you were resting?"
"Now that I'm lying down, I can't sleep. I'm going to the lake for a bit."
I answered my master, who asked where I was going at this hour, to enjoy the chicken, and after walking for about 10 minutes in the opposite direction from the portal entrance, I arrived at my destination.
It's not large enough to be called a lake, and there are no fish or anything, but it's quite deep—deep enough that your feet don't touch the bottom if you go in just a little.
I used to come here every day to cool off when I was training hard before, but lately, I haven't been coming much because I hardly sweat even when I move a lot.
I thought about taking off my clothes to go in, but it was bothersome, so I just took off my shoes and socks and dipped my feet in.
I hadn't realized it before because I usually came in the morning or afternoon, but it's quite charming at night.
Maybe because it's by the water, the breeze is cool, so I started internal energy training.
My master said my internal energy is sufficient, but among my busy schedule, the only thing I could make time for was internal energy training, so I've been doing it whenever I could.
As I told my master earlier, I've been too busy since taking on supplementary classes.
I have to go to the retreat center tomorrow for my instructor role.
In my previous life, I was also pressed with deadlines as a writer, but somehow it seems I've been living an even tighter schedule in this second life.
As soon as I arrived, I went to the mountain to find Giyeon, then started teaching, and when I was just getting used to teaching, I met my master and began martial arts training.
Even during vacation, though I skipped the training, I was constantly hunting, training, and at the end, explaining myself because of rumors, without proper rest, and then school started again...
It seems not all teachers have good work-life balance.
When I was reborn, I definitely resolved to live this life enjoying things I couldn't do before, having fun as a popular person...
Looking back, I've had too little leisure time.
It's been almost a year, and I haven't even made a proper friend, let alone dated anyone.
In my previous life, although they weren't many, I had guys I could meet anytime and have a drink with without burden...
Of course, I have close colleagues like regular subject teachers and Teacher Kim and Teacher Hong, but I can't be completely comfortable with them like friends.
Looking at it this way, I seem more like a loner now.
Of course, that's natural since I didn't experience childhood and became the twenty-five-year-old Kang Shin-hyeok right away, but...
Honestly, I don't even know what kind of life would be that of a popular person.
At first, I vaguely thought that being extroverted and getting along with everyone while enjoying life would be enough.
The dictionary definition of a popular person is someone who gets along well and has good social skills within an organization or group.
But things went wrong from the start because of Kang Shin-hyeok's background.
Come to think of it, the problem wasn't Kang Shin-hyeok's background, but the practical skills teachers who discriminated against non-hunter school graduates...
But that doesn't mean I dislike my current life.
I chose to live busy, and my life so far hasn't been meaningless.
Starting from meeting my master instead of finding martial arts secrets written on a wall, going around with Seo-ra to reveal the truth about Antas was fun in its own way, and the match with the vice principal, though I lost, I gained something and it was quite enjoyable.
Going out with the kids during summer vacation was good too.
Even now, I'm moved thinking about how the students stood up to protect me when I was misunderstood and treated like trash.
What's so special about being popular?
It's enough if there are more people who like me than dislike me.
Usually, I don't think much during internal energy training, but maybe because of the atmosphere, I'm having a lot of thoughts today.
There could be side effects like falling into madness during training as seen in novels, but honestly, I've done internal energy training so much that it's become as natural as breathing, so I don't think that will happen.
If my master knew, he would scold me for training while having idle thoughts.
Though it's still a bit far, when winter vacation comes, I should travel, meet many people, and have personal time, not just hunt like in summer.
The same goes for martial arts.
Since I decided not to stick to the original work, I've been obsessed with getting stronger because I don't know how the future will change.
If I couldn't train, I would feel anxious as if I had done something wrong.
Even though there's no big change when I actually do it...
Maybe my master also implicitly knew I had this obsession and told me to let go of my impatience... Huh?
Suddenly, my internal energy started going out of control.
I tried to control it by concentrating, but it wouldn't move as I wanted.
Damn, they say words become reality, is this really madness setting in?
The internal energy in my lower abdomen keeps expanding, and it feels like it might tear or burst.
A pain greater than what my master described during my previous breakthrough surged. For some reason, I felt I shouldn't lose consciousness, so I gritted my teeth and endured, and the internal energy that had been expanding escaped from my lower abdomen.
I thought I had succeeded in controlling it, but the internal energy that escaped from my lower abdomen started slowly rising up my spine instead of through the meridians.
This is not the route it usually moves during training.
Through the forehead area to where the heart is.
As the pain gradually subsided, the internal energy continued to rise up my spine.
From the heart to the neck.
When it reached the Yintang point between the eyebrows after passing through the neck, the pain completely disappeared.
The internal energy passed the Yintang point and finally reached the Baihui point at the crown of the head.
As an exalted feeling filled my entire body, the internal energy that had been boiling up like an explosion disappeared as if it had evaporated.
This sensation, which I had never felt before, was so ecstatic that I wished time would stop, but the feeling gradually faded.
I opened my eyes with regret, but the regret was only momentary.
"You've broken through the wall. Congratulations."
I don't know when he came, but my master congratulated me with a bright expression.