The First Taste of Simple Parenting
The room had never known a quiet moment since one joined our family.
"Ga."
"Gya."
"Na."
"Nya."
"Da."
Right now I was correcting Hana's pronunciation.
One was still very young, yet I could ask whether it was too early, but that question belonged only to ordinary children.
The growth speed of spirits was faster than that of ordinary children.
An ordinary child would grow properly over two years, but spirits could finish the same in just one year.
One's exact age was unknown, but if measured by human standards she appeared roughly four or five years old.
Considering the rapid growth of spirits, One's development was clearly behind schedule.
Of course, since she was a clever fox spirit, her pronunciation corrected itself at a swift pace, and she had learned to speak simply by listening to the conversations between me and Beatrice.
I hadn't needed to teach her at all, but I still wanted her to pick it up quickly.
The problem was that One was too smart for her age, and that had created a small... no, a very small problem.
"Jottta!"
"......"
One had repeated the curse I had taught her when I rescued her.
Beatrice's sharp glare from behind was fierce.
Of course, I had been entirely at fault. I had forgotten that a fox spirit like One might absorb my words and then wildly spouted curses.
If I hadn't known much about fox spirits, that might have been forgivable, but I had known, and still I had slipped up.
In the end I had to teach One letters while constantly under Beatrice's watchful eyes, and by the time her study time had reached two hours, her speech had noticeably improved.
"Na, candy eat want."
"No. You already ate three today."
"Uweong! Just one more please!"
Her pronunciation was still slightly clumsy, but it had grown far more fluent, and she frequently asked me for things.
Even while studying, she had begged for a tenth of a candy, and somehow eaten three in total.
"Hee... just one more... really?"
"...Only one. That's it. No more."
"Waaah! Daddy is the best!!"
Stunned.
Cheon Seong froze as he tried to pull out the ten-x candy he had placed a defense magic on to stop Hana from eating too much.
"You... where did you learn that word?"
I had clearly never taught her the word "dad."
Yet somehow she knew it, and had called me that.
"Uum? Mom taught me."
"...Mom?"
Swift.
At the word "mom," Cheon Seong's gaze instantly turned toward Beatrice.
"...No way?"
[......No.]
".....Then why are you avoiding my eyes?"
[......]
Beatrice's ears flushed pink, and she shrank her form to hide her appearance.
Cheon Seong, who had never imagined Beatrice would react this way, stared blankly at the spot where she had vanished, and One tugged on his sleeve.
"Daddy! Candy fast please."
"...Not Daddy, and don't call me that. And go to sleep here."
"Uwaaaa. Thank you very much!"
Completely oblivious to my stormy mood, One happily took another ten-x, stuffed it in her mouth, and smiled in delight.
For a moment I had been lost in thought while watching her enjoy the candy with both cheeks puffed out, then I had forgotten everything and was smiling at One.
"Uum...."
"...Hmph. Even if I look like this now, I really can't allow it anymore. Too many are bad."
"Uweong! Not that. Daddy!"
"....Not Daddy, as I said. Anyway, why did you call me?"
"This side! This way!"
One grabbed my arm and pulled downward, and following her lead I crouched so we were eye to eye.
"See? Now it's good?"
"Yes! Daddy!"
Smack.
With my knee bent to match her height, One approached, kissed my cheek, stepped back, and beamed with a big smile.
"Thank you for saving me!"
"...Yeah."
***
Hana loved ten-x.
It was the first taste she had ever had, sweet and addictive.
It was the same delicious dry snack she had noticed the first time she saw me buying clothes for her in a huge building as Daddy.
And it was the very first snack Daddy had ever given her.
Yet there was something even better to her than ten-x.
"Daddy."
One also knew the word "Daddy."
Of course she would know it. The word she had screamed while her parents were killed right in front of her.
She had been captured and taken to a dark place filled with strange, warm-scented rooms, where I had become her current Daddy.
And I had punished the people who had taken her.
That Daddy had felt no malice toward me. He had only worried about me.
That was why I had loved Daddy.
At first I had thought he was one of the bad people who had captured me, but he was not. He was simply a cool Daddy who had saved One.
That was why I had loved Daddy. I had loved the Daddy who cherished One, the Daddy who worried about One, and the Daddy who smiled while watching her.
Mom had been loved too.
When I was studying under Daddy, and he stepped away for a moment, Mom secretly gave me another ten-x and asked if I would call her Mom.
I said Mom, and Mom's face flushed red with happiness, then she gave me yet another ten-x.
And Mom also loved One.
She told One she loved her in a kind voice.
That was why One loved this place.
Daddy, who seemed not to react at all when I smiled and asked for things but still looked happy, and Mom, who treated One kindly too.
One loved the place where Mom and Daddy loved her, and she would love it even more in the future.
"Daddy! Mom! Love!"
"...Not Daddy, as I said. Really."
[I also love you.]
Daddy with flushed ears, and Mom smiling and saying she loved her.
'Mom, Daddy... One will be happy... I will definitely be happy just like you said.'
One, who had been told she must be happy no matter how bad people treated her, could now hear the words of Mom and Daddy who were no longer visible, and she simply loved and adored both of them.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
***
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!! Why is nothing going according to plan!!"
A boy lay sprawled on a luxurious bed, slamming it hard and shouting.
"Who the hell even raided the underground auction house!!"
Cheon Seong had turned the underground auction house into a battlefield, and while Beatrice had teleported us away, this boy had been there too.
The protagonist who had returned to the novel.
The boy believed he was the protagonist.
Like the protagonists in every novel, he had entered the story, obtained countless opportunities and heroines, grown strong, defeated the villains, and lived happily with his heroines.
He never doubted that for a second.
"But why is it like this!! I even managed to transmigrate into the sub-protagonist of the novel, and that was fine too, but why is it turning out like this right now!!"
Transmigrating into the body of Cheon Yu-seong, the sub-protagonist of the novel Sword God Survival Guide, had been good. Obtaining money, talent, and looks had been good.
Obtaining multiple opportunities had been good too.
But he had failed to obtain the Opportunity of the Holy Grail.
The opportunities he had already obtained were good, but compared to the Holy Grail they were only about half as effective.
As soon as he transmigrated, he had wanted to go after it, but the place was a cave inside the Forest of Devouring Flowers, an upper-rank dungeon, and he couldn't go immediately after transmigrating.
He had waited until he grew stronger through other opportunities before heading there, but the cave was completely empty when he arrived.
"Where the hell did it go!! In the story it only appeared in the mid-to-late stages!! Why did it vanish so early!!"
Tapping.
"Hah.... Annoyingly irritable."
While he was fuming, a knock sounded at the door.
Cheon Yu-seong, who had stopped fuming, relaxed his expression and released the barriers around him, then spoke in a polite voice.
"Come in."
Creak.
"Forgive the intrusion. Young Master Yoo."
"It's fine. What's the matter?"
"Yes. Guild Master has called for you."
"Father? Understood. I'll go now, so you may return."
"Very well."
Creak. Click.
The moment the door closed, Yu-seong's smiling face turned sour.
"Tsk. Why does that old man keep calling me over? Annoyingly irritable."
Cheon Yu-seong hid his irritation on the surface, stepped out of the room, and soon arrived at a certain door.
Tapping.
"Father. I heard you called."
"Come in."
Creak.
In the room sat the middle-aged man radiating overwhelming aura — the guild master of Cheon-gwan, one of Korea's four major guilds.
"Sit."
Creak.
With that order the chair moved, and Yu-seong sat down without surprise, knowing it was his transmigrated body that had caused it.
"You went into the dungeon recently. Why?"
If it had been a dungeon visit, it must have been to search for the Opportunity of the Holy Grail in the Forest of Devouring Flowers.
The old man had been waiting too long to hear it, and now his patience had run out.
"I simply entered to test my own abilities."
"...You could have said there was no need to enter a dungeon to test your abilities."
"As Father instructed, the guild members can be tested. But since I am Father's son, the guild members are unlikely to attack me properly, so I entered the dungeon."
"...I see. Fine. From now on, when you enter a dungeon, take one escort with you."
"Yes, I will."
Cheon Yu-seong answered with a smile, but his inner thoughts were far from pleasant.
'If I take an escort, I'll never get the opportunity. Damn old man.'
***
"Uum? Mom sleeping?"
[Shh. Come quietly this way.]
One, who had been taking a nap on the bed, looked at Beatrice kneeling on the floor and asked what she was doing.
Beatrice gestured with her hand for One to come closer quietly.
"Uum? Huh! Daddy is sleeping?"
[Yes. Since he was sleeping on the floor, I was making him a knee pillow.]
Where Beatrice's knee pillow was, Cheon Seong was sleeping peacefully, and One, who had never seen Daddy sleep before, her drowsiness vanished the instant she saw the sight, and she sat beside Beatrice to watch.
Co....
"It seems uncomfortable."
[That is because of a habit he inherited from his body.]
"A habit?"
[Yes. Cheon Seong... endured a difficult past.]
"Depressed... Daddy is suffering?"
[Now he is better. I made it that way.]
"Hmmm.... Beatrice?"
At that moment, while One and Beatrice were talking about Cheon Seong, his sleeping eyes opened, and seeing Beatrice's massive form he asked.
[Awake?]
"Why are you... on my knees..."
[Because you were sleeping on the floor. Was it comfortable?]
"...It was comfortable."
The house had only enough blankets for one person, so One had been allowed to sleep on the bed, and I had slept on the floor. Beatrice had seen that and offered her knee pillow.
Swift.
Cheon Seong sat up and asked Beatrice how many hours she had been doing this.
"...Did I sleep for that long?"
[About an hour.]
"I slept longer than I thought.... I'm sorry if it was hard."
[....I was fine.]
"Huh? What?"
[It's nothing.]
Cheon Seong, who had missed Beatrice's muttered words, asked what she had said, and Beatrice simply shook her head and said it was nothing.