The Beginning of Change (3)
"So, Dad, guess what? Today in art class, the teacher praised me for making something better than all the other kids!"
"Really? Our Hana is amazing. And what else happened?"
Hana, who had been allowed to sleep in his dorm room tonight, told him about her day at kindergarten. When she mentioned that she'd been praised for doing better than the other children in both art class and gym time, Seong found himself smiling without meaning to.
She was so well-behaved, it was hard to believe she was his daughter.
Is this why fathers become daughters' fools?
"And when Mommy Bea came to pick me up instead of Dad today, I was so surprised!"
She said she'd been genuinely shocked when Beatrice came to pick her up instead of him, since he couldn't come to the academy himself.
[Cough, cough. I told you not to call me that, didn't I?]
Beatrice coughed awkwardly and looked away, embarrassed by the "Mommy Bea" title.
"Noona, why are you like that? Our daughter wants to call you that."
[W-well, I suppose that's true. You may call me that. It's fine.]
Seeing Beatrice nod in satisfaction, pleased with the title just as he was pleased when she called him "noona," Seong couldn't help but think that Beatrice was, in her own way, quite simple.
He'd found the "noona" title difficult at first, but calling someone that felt new and exciting, and now it no longer felt awkward. Besides, calling her "noona" felt closer than saying "Beatrice."
"Noona, do you really like it when I call you that?"
[...If I didn't like it, would I ask you to call me that?]
"I guess so. Noona."
Most of all, since Beatrice liked it, he was satisfied.
"Haa~~hm. So anyway, there was something else...like...um."
The joyful conversation passed quickly, and before long it was well past midnight. Hana, still young and used to sleeping early, had fallen asleep mid-conversation, her cute little snoring filling the dorm room.
Snore...
Hana's small, adorable snoring filled the room. She wriggled in her sleep, pressing close against Seong's body, and somewhere along the way, Beatrice had shrunk in size and flown over to land beside his head.
[Are you happy right now?]
Beatrice's question.
It was sudden, but Seong quietly reached out and gently wrapped his arms around Beatrice, who sat beside his head.
Swish.
His rough, calloused fingers stroked her beautiful white cheek as he answered.
"I'm happy. Happier than I've ever been. It feels like a dream."
Beatrice wrapped her fingers around his and spoke softly.
[Then I'm truly glad.]
So warm.
So quiet, so slowly enchanting.
Her voice was sweet.
.
.
.
.
.
[Then I'll be going.]
"Take care."
"Y-yes...I'll be going."
At Beatrice's voice, Seong realized he'd fallen asleep without noticing. He was seeing Hana and Beatrice off to kindergarten.
Hana knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with him for several days after this, and though she didn't want to part, she pretended to still be asleep, clinging close to his embrace. But she couldn't avoid Beatrice's gaze.
"Alright, I'll get ready too."
After Beatrice and Hana left, Seong prepared to go to the academy.
Today was the day he would start attending proper classes.
Of course, he doubted he'd get much use out of them, but he needed to study at least a little to avoid expulsion.
As he made his way to the classroom, a few students who had arrived early were already gathered in groups, chatting.
Just like yesterday, he headed to the corner by the window and looked outside.
"So anyway, I saw the Lucinus kids training yesterday, and they were seriously impressive."
"What? What was so impressive about them?"
As he quietly watched outside the window, he overheard someone talking about the Lucinus.
"Most of them are already Mid-Lower rank, right? And that top student...his sword was like...I'd say Upper rank or higher."
"Upper rank already? Are you sure you didn't missee it?"
"No way. I've seen an Upper rank hero before, and that top student's sword was faster. I don't know how to describe it, but it felt colder. That's the impression I got."
Not bad eyes.
The guy who'd seen Seol Si-yun's sword had talent.
At the entrance exam, Seong had seen Si-yun's strength — he was just below Upper rank.
But Si-yun's aura was so subtle that even Seong would have had trouble noticing it without looking closely.
For someone with barely more than Lower rank ability to pick up on Upper rank or higher just from watching...that meant he had exceptional talent for sensing.
"Seong-ah, hi~"
"Hi, Yuna. Good morning."
Just as he was sitting quietly, enhancing his hearing to eavesdrop, Yuna approached him.
As he nodded along with Yuna's excited talk about today's classes, the classroom gradually filled with students and grew noisy.
"Yo! Hi~! Good morning!"
"Welcome, Hwa-young."
"Come on in."
Yoo Hwa-young, now so familiar he'd grown used to seeing her, waved and came over, sitting next to Yuna.
"Tsk..!"
"Hi. Yumi, Seon-cheong-ah."
Cheon Yu-seong, clicking his tongue as he entered, sat in front of Yuna. Hae-sol, who'd eaten with him yesterday, sat next to Hwa-young, mispronouncing names again.
"Hi, Hae-sol. But I'm not Yumi, I'm Yuna."
"And it's Seong, not Seon-cheong."
Yuna smiled and corrected Hae-sol, who had forgotten their names again despite being told several times yesterday.
"What, when did you two get close?"
"When you weren't around."
"I didn't ask you. Bwah!!"
That bitch.
He'd answered her question, and instead of saying thank you, she stuck her tongue out at him like "Bwah!" and said she hadn't asked him. A deep, endless urge to punch her right in the face bubbled up from the bottom of his chest.
"Wow~! Yuna! Seong-ah is trying to hit me!"
He clenched his fist and shook his hand threateningly. Hwa-young, noticing, hid behind Yuna — but she'd apparently forgotten.
"Hwa-young, you're the one teasing Seong-ah. And Seong-ah, you shouldn't speak so bluntly. You need to talk properly."
"I know. I'm really sorry."
"Ah...ah! Wait a minute!"
Yuna was his lover first, before she was his friend.
Of course, he'd gotten scolded too, but compared to Hwa-young, he'd gotten off relatively easy.
"Eeek...this is why having friends is useless. Forget it..."
After Yuna lectured Hwa-young not to do that again, Hwa-young sighed about whether friends or boyfriends came first and flopped onto her desk.
Boop, boop-boop.
Hae-sol poked at Hwa-young, who didn't react at first.
But when Hae-sol kept poking her from the side, Hwa-young finally lifted her head.
"What? Do you have something to say?"
"Hi. Want to be friends with me?"
"???"
At Hae-sol's sudden request to be friends, a question mark appeared above Hwa-young's head.
"Uh...no?"
"Hing..."
Slump.
At the rejection, Hae-sol's ears drooped.
And her chest drooped along with them.
He hadn't misheard.
Hae-sol's chest had actually drooped.
What the hell? Why is her chest reacting like it has emotions?
"Uh, uh, no, I mean, let's be friends. Let's be friends."
"Really? We're friends now?"
Hae-sol's ears and chest perked up as she asked excitedly if it was really true. Hwa-young shot Seong a look that said, What's wrong with this girl?
Why are you asking me?
She's your friend! What's going on with her!
I don't know, you idiot.
Fuck!!
Hwa-young silently cursed Seong for not helping, then awkwardly smiled and nodded along as Hae-sol, thrilled about their new friendship, got excited.
Thump-thump!
"Everyone, quiet. I'll take attendance."
Ryu Se-rin entered and banged on the desk, and the noisy classroom fell silent.
Se-rin's gaze swept across the room, found Seong sitting in the corner just like yesterday, and she began taking attendance.
"Alright, looks like everyone's here. First period starts soon, so get ready for class. Dismissed."
After attendance, Se-rin left the classroom, and the room regained its liveliness. Students chatted more freely, and when the professor for first period entered, the academy's first class officially began.
"That's all for today's class. Everyone, please review what you learned today when you go back."
"Thank you for your hard work."
After first period ended, Seong chatted with Yuna during the break while preparing for the next class.
Hae-sol and Hwa-young, sitting nearby, naturally joined the conversation, and Seong glared at Cheon Yu-seong, who was eavesdropping.
Yu-seong flinched at his gaze but didn't stop listening. Just as Seong was about to shoot a killing intent at him, Ryu Se-rin entered the classroom.
"Student Lee Cheon-seong. Please come to my office for a moment."
At Se-rin's summons, the students around him began whispering.
They split into two camps: those who thought he'd done something wrong on the second day at the academy, and those who thought he'd caught the Sword Princess's attention.
"Yuna, I'll be right back."
"Okay. Take care."
"Hey, come back after getting properly scolded."
He sent a mountain instead of a mountain at Hwa-young's nonsense, then followed Se-rin to her office.
Once the door closed, Se-rin dropped the formal tone and spoke in her usual casual manner.
"Hey, isn't your life at the academy getting a little too lewd?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
He'd assumed she'd called him in about sparring, but what came out of Se-rin's mouth had nothing to do with that.
"How am I lewd? What's lewd about me? Besides, didn't you call me here about sparring?"
His face scrunched up at the thought that she'd wasted his time with Yuna for this useless conversation.
"I did call you here about sparring. But you — what's with you carrying around three girls? And how did you hook up with the vice-top student?"
"Why would I hook up with Hae-sol? That's not what's going on."
He'd admit Hae-sol was pretty.
If she smiled and clung to any male student, they'd probably fall for her.
But Yuna and Beatrice were prettier than Hae-sol.
So why was he supposedly hooking up with Hae-sol?
"Wait. If one is Yuna and the other is Hae-sol, who's the third?"
Se-rin had clearly said he was carrying around three girls.
The first was Yuna, whom he'd told her was his lover. The second was Hae-sol, whom she'd just mentioned. So who was the third?
Wait, could it be...
A bad feeling passed through his mind — and unfortunately, it wasn't wrong.
"Who's who? Obviously Student Yoo Hwa-young."
"You fucker, come to the sparring arena right now. Let's fight."
He could tolerate a lot of things, but linking him with Hwa-young was something he absolutely couldn't stand.
Click, click.
He cracked his knuckles, and Se-rin grinned.
"Anytime. But make it lunch break. Second period starts soon, Student Lee Cheon-seong."
She was smiling, which suggested this was the result she wanted — but he didn't care.
I'll show her hell.
He felt like he'd only find relief by surpassing his own limits by beating this woman today.
"Alright. See you later."
"Oh, student, go listen to your class."
Se-rin, still smiling.
Smile all you want. I'll make sure the only thing you can say later is screams.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Finally, the long-awaited lunch break arrived.
"Yuna, I have to go first. Professor Ryu Se-rin called me."
"Okay, Seong-ah. Take care."
"Hey, come back after getting properly scolded, puh."
Hwa-young laughed and teased Seong about getting scolded.
She knew he hadn't done anything that deserved scolding, but she found it fun to tease him.
"You should eat your snacks in moderation. You look a bit chubbier than before."
"Hey! How dare you say that forbidden thing to a woman?!"
Pointing at the mountain of sweet desserts piled up in front of her, Hwa-young erupted when Seong joked that she was getting fat.
If you're going to say that, clean up that sugar pile first.
"And I'm the type who doesn't get fat, so it's fine?!"
"Looks like you're also the type who doesn't grow taller."
Hwa-young was just over 170 centimeters tall.
That wasn't short for a woman at all, but to Seong, who was now over 187 centimeters, she was quite small.
"Ugh. You hit twice for one tease. Seriously."
"Then don't tease first. Anyway, I'm really going now."
"Take care."
"Bye."
Hae-sol, cheeks puffed out like a squirrel storing food, said goodbye with a mumbled pronunciation.
After eating a mountain of steak at lunch, it was amazing that she could still fit all those snacks in.
"Eat everything in your mouth. Anyway, I'm really going now."
Though he'd been delayed a bit, Seong said he was really leaving this time and walked out of the classroom.
He headed to the private sparring arena Se-rin had told him about.
Knock, knock.
"Professor Ryu Se-rin. This is Student Lee Cheon-seong."
—The door's open, come in.
After knocking, Se-rin's permission to enter came a moment later.
He opened the door and stepped inside. The room had white walls and various wooden weapons lined up.
The walls and floor appeared to be made of a special alloy, and the wooden weapons looked like top-quality items.
This was a sparring arena that showed the academy had gone to great lengths to keep the Sword Princess here.
"You came. Why so late?"
Se-rin, who had been swinging a sword until just moments ago, approached him, sweating.
"Something came up. But more importantly — are you okay? You're already holding back that much?"
At his question, Se-rin leaned on her sword and said with an exasperated look.
"This is nothing to me. And this much sparring is enough for now."
Looking at Se-rin, who smiled and said it was enough, Seong reflected on his past self.
"I guess I've been holding back too much. If you say it's enough, that's what it means."
He'd been holding back in his sparring with Se-rin.
Whoosh!!
Thick demonic energy erupted from Seong.
It was like painting black ink across the sky.
The oppressive pressure of demonic energy that rivaled anything he'd shown before.
"You weren't going all out before, were you?"
"No, I was serious back then."
He had never held back in his sparring with Se-rin.
Se-rin was strong.
She had reached the Highest rank and could now adjust her power accordingly, so holding back like before would actually put him at a disadvantage.
"I'm just stronger than before."
At Seong's words that he'd grown this much stronger in such a short time, Se-rin laughed bitterly and looked at him like he was a monster.
"Then what do you mean by 'holding back'? You said you were serious this whole time."
Seong's statement that he'd been going all out this whole time, yet was also holding back, didn't add up.
And to her question, Seong answered:
"Come at me. I'll show you myself."
Seong's provocation — he stood defenseless, waiting for Se-rin's attack.
"Ha. Alright. Show me what you've got."
Taken in by the provocation, Se-rin drew her sword.
At the same time, Seong's oppressive presence grew even stronger.
Even defenseless, he showed no openings — his stance was solid.
The demonic energy made the mana in her entire body tremble.
Shing.
The Sword Princess slowly drew her sword from its scabbard.
She stepped back, extending her legs, and faced Seong.
A bead of sweat rolled down and clung to her chin, trembling precariously.
Drip.
"Then, here I come."
The sweatdrop fell to the ground, and the Sword Princess charged at Seong.
And watching her, Seong released even more demonic energy and said:
"Come at me."