A Courtesy Call and a Familiar Face
And with that.
Leaving behind a Jung Pilyeon who seemed all the lighter of heart for it, we made our way out of the dojo.
Of course, that didn't mean we were headed straight home.
Pilyeon's homeroom teacher, is it. Park Woochan, they call him.
And so, once I'd more or less wrapped up the matter at hand, I set my feet toward the main house.
The courtyard, empty of a single soul when I'd first arrived, now had Pilyeon's father seated in it — I hadn't noticed when he'd appeared.
It was a somewhat strange feeling.
To me, the middle-aged man before my eyes was more familiar by the name Jung Ilhyun, retired hunter, than as the father of my student.
……Jung Ilhyun. B-rank, retired.
The life of a young man set to inherit his parents' dojo and while away his days in leisurely comfort had come crashing down the moment a monster crawling out of a gate crushed his parents' skulls between its jaws.
Fortunately, talent hadn't been in short supply. Perhaps the swordsmanship he'd learned from his parents simply suited him.
And so the young man became a hunter.
Days spent cleaving through monster necks with the skills beaten into his body — like raising a memorial tower to the dead, one kill at a time.
But one day, he yielded to the passionate advances of a female college student he'd rescued from a monster, and married.
After that, the aggression he'd always worn on his sleeve softened considerably, and he resolved to retire.
Thanks to that, at some point the name Jung Ilhyun vanished entirely from the front lines.
Unlike most hunters, a bladesman who had awakened on his own to the movement of mana and become a hunter for it.
Watching a hunter even I — hardly one for gossip — had heard of, now clumsily preparing tea, made me feel the cruelty of how time slips by.
Well, I did hear he was running a dojo.
It was an inheritance passed down from his parents, and I'd heard he also meant to pass on his own hard-won know-how to the younger generation of hunters.
Business didn't seem to be booming, mind you…….
But then, he hadn't started it for the money in the first place, and there was no sign of any hardship in his daily life.
Ah, yes. I did hear. You've had a rough time of it on account of that inadequate boy of yours.
Haha, no, not at all. Pilyeon is doing wonderfully. Honestly, if the others performed half as well, I'd have no worries at all.
The way he couldn't quite hide his embarrassed smile at my words was no different.
Less a retired hunter than simply the father of a household — that description suited him far better.
He'd been sitting awkwardly in the garden waiting for me just moments ago, and watching him scramble to his feet only drove the impression home.
Oh, look at my manners. I haven't even offered you anything to drink, Teacher. Just a moment, please!
Sir, please, there's no need!
But at the sight of him dashing straight to the kitchen to fetch a beverage, I found myself at a loss for words and could only manage an awkward smile.
Thankfully, it didn't seem he'd been waiting here to deliver some lecture.
Teacher, thank you. Truly.
I'm sorry?
For our Pilyeon.
No, if anything, I should be the one saying that.
As I carefully moistened my lips with the drink, the man bowed his head deeply toward me.
Oh, please, there's really no need for this. You put me in a difficult spot.
Not at all — if anything, we're the ones falling short.
Frankly, his posture was deeply uncomfortable for me.
It wasn't as though I'd done anything worth hearing thanks for…….
All I'd done was demonstrate a single technique moments ago, but he paid that no mind and launched into the story of recent events.
As a matter of fact, before the Academy opened, my boy and I had a bit of a falling-out.
Oh?
He'd put down the sword, you see. Said there was no place for swordsmanship when it came to hunting monsters.
At those words, my gaze drifted naturally toward the kendo hall.
I caught the wistful smile that crossed the man's face at my rather unsubtle look, and it lingered in my mind.
Of course, I understand why the young ones think that way. Monsters are all like that, aren't they?
Some of them won't take so much as a single blade, while others topple over if you so much as splash water on them.
Precisely! So I tried to be understanding too, but — well, when it's your own son, that's easier said than done.
Watching him smile sheepishly once more, I could roughly piece together what had happened.
And then, out of nowhere, that boy of mine picked the sword back up a little while ago.
Oh?
So I asked him about it in passing, and the very first name out of his mouth was yours, Teacher.
Now it was my turn for my face to heat up.
He said that only after getting a proper scolding from you did he understand how much practice even a single sword stroke demands.
H-, haha. Well, it was less a scolding than…….
No, no, it's quite all right. Children that age all grow up getting chewed out. If anything, I was the astonished one — wondering what on earth it took to crack that stubborn skull of his. Haha!
Technically speaking, it hadn't been a scolding so much as a single light sparring match, but dredging up every detail now felt a touch gratuitous, so I quietly kept my mouth shut.
His exclamations of admiration carried on endlessly after that. But in the end, what he'd truly wanted to say must have been the words he saved for last.
Frankly, I opposed it quite a bit at first.
You opposed it?
Haha, at Pilyeon's level, he's more than capable.
No — he's my own son, but he's hardly that remarkable. Which is all the more reason I can rest easy.
I'm sorry?
I did oppose it, you see. But if there are teachers as fine as you, Teacher, then I suppose the fault lay with me.
It was praise so generous it bordered on mortifying.
Before I knew it, I was coughing repeatedly to hide the flush creeping up my face. But utterly indifferent to my fidgeting, the man bowed deep once more.
Teacher, please continue to look after our Pilyeon.
And so, the impromptu home visit came to an end.
Frankly, I'd wanted to die of embarrassment. I had no idea what on earth Pilyeon had been saying about me at home, but the man's expectations bordered on excessive, and it weighed on me no small amount.
If I'd known this was coming, I'd have at least brought some fruit.
The schedule had been sudden, sure, but the sheer absurdity of a man who hadn't thought to buy so much as a single pear wrung a sigh out of me before I could stop it.
As a hunter it might slide, but as a teacher — as a working adult — this was the kind of blunder that screamed rookie.
Never mind that I'd ended up on the receiving end of such gratitude, of all things.
Well, it wasn't bad, though.
Still, my mood wasn't bad at all.
No — scratch that. I was pleased. Show me one person on this earth who feels sour about receiving a compliment.
And above all, I'd found common ground.
I'd been showered with all manner of praise, but in truth, this whole affair had happened entirely because of my own inexperience.
Even now, I didn't think my educational approach itself was wrong. But the plain fact remained that barely two months in — just two months — both Yoonha and Jung Pilyeon had very nearly slipped through my fingers.
Which meant that, regardless of its actual results, my classes could well look thoroughly unsatisfying to my students.
No flash, no dazzle — plain and unadorned from start to finish.
Worse, the students in the next class over, honing themselves around some flashy technique or other, would soon be blowing right past them. No wonder the feeling festered.
So I needed to prepare, as much as possible, to keep something like this from happening again.
Just as I'd asked Choi Seungjun to hire health trainers after hearing Yoonha out.
Say, for instance, some basic weapons instruction ahead of time?
Learning proper weapon arts could come later, but it would help them when the time came to choose what they'd actually wield.
Personally, I'd have preferred they watch and wait, choosing with patience — but my students, apparently, had no such intentions.
And since we'd need to expand the faculty starting next year anyway, securing weapons specialists in advance wouldn't be a bad idea.
What about asking Pilyeon's father to serve as the Academy's dedicated instructor for weapon arts?
Business was slow, true, but by the industry's standards his reputation was decent enough. And there wasn't a whiff of bad press around his dojo, which meant his track record held up.
The sword would naturally be his mainstay, but he could hardly be incapable with other weapons — a light introductory course, at least, would be manageable. No, more than manageable. He'd have material to spare.
We'd need experts in the other weapons too, of course, but for now there was no better talent to be had.
The problem is, it never works out that neatly.
Ordinarily I'd have been dialing Choi Seungjun before the thought even finished forming, but right now, something was nagging at me.
Namely: hadn't this problem already cropped up twice because I'd failed to consider the other students' perspectives?
Say I invited Pilyeon's father to the school tomorrow. The students interested in weapon arts would be delighted — but the ones who fought without weapons?
Like as not, they'd feel they were being discriminated against.
Which meant, to settle this cleanly and without a whisper of grumbling, I needed at minimum three people.
One: Pilyeon's father, to teach weapon arts for close-quarters combat.
Two: a specialist to help the students develop their abilities.
That side's fine.
I could cobble that much together on my own authority.
Truth be told, I already had someone in mind for it.
The problem was the next one.
In short: I was short on anyone who could teach serious ranged combat.
As it happened, among my narrow, cramped little network of contacts, not a single hunter specialized in ranged combat. It wasn't as though I was assembling a professional party or anything, so I'd figured I was better off trading techniques with the other melee specialists in the meantime.
A crime committed by the past Park Woochan, who never once imagined he'd end up a teacher.
Haaah, nothing's coming to me.
At the groan that escaped me unbidden, Hayeon glanced over.
Is something the matter?
By now the night was deep enough that two figures — student and teacher walking side by side — no longer felt strange at all. Late night, walking a student home. That was all the explanation anyone needed.
And yet…….
I stole a sidelong glance at Hayeon's face.
Even though, from dismissal until now, she'd effectively had her time wasted because of me, her expression remained utterly serene.
It was hard to believe this was the same girl who'd been left waiting at the fence with no word of when I'd return. Frankly, it went past composure into something almost unnerving.
No, hmm.
Maybe nothing showed on the surface, but inside she might have been thoroughly irritated by the whole thing.
Me? I'd have been fuming at a hundred percent.
Which was why I had no choice but to say it first.
Sorry about this, Hayeon. I should've been more considerate.
No, it's fine. Honestly, having me wait there would've been awkward for me too.
She wasn't wrong.
Even I would have wondered what the hell kind of teacher drags another student along to a home visit.
So — what's troubling you?
Her expression as she asked again stayed as placid as ever, but what was turning over inside her head remained as unreadable as always.
Avoiding those pearl-luster eyes, I swallowed my complaints for a moment.
Well, it's no secret or anything.
Hiring teachers for next year.
Yes? ……Oppa, you want to be cut?
No — why is that the first place your mind goes?
Is that really the image I give off?
At my aggrieved protest, Hayeon laughed it off with a light chuckle, as if she'd only been joking.
……Anyway. I was thinking — could we maybe move that up a little?
Move it up?
Yeah. It'd help you all out, too.
Hmm, put that way, it does sound like a decent idea.
Right? The problem is, finding the people is anything but easy.
Put bluntly — how exactly do you chain a bunch of eccentrics who gamble their lives monster-hunting to a teaching post?
The pay aside, Choi Seungjun's sheer cunning in luring people accustomed to living on that razor's edge into a faculty was something I couldn't even begin to fathom.
And could I — who couldn't offer anything close to that kind of compensation — possibly sit other hunters down in a classroom?
That's what's got me worried. Hayeon, you don't happen to know any hunters, do you?
You're joking, right?
Of course I'm joking, kiddo. Relax, I wasn't about to ask you anyway.
Where would she have pulled connections like that — a girl who'd only become a hunter a few months ago?
But at my words, Hayeon's face stiffened for the first time that day.
The sight of it stopped me mid-step —
Oh, talking about someone other than me, are we?
when suddenly, a voice rang out.
At the question, thrown from the edge of the road home, Hayeon's head snapped up. But I, instead of drawing my weapon as I normally would, simply turned my head slowly.
Because I knew the voice.
That crisp, breezy lilt. That flippant manner laced with mischief.
And sure enough, standing there was exactly the person I'd been thinking of.
Green hair grown out through sheer stubbornness — utterly useless for hunting, but per its owner, a matter of a woman's pride.
The last traces of baby fat that had clung to her only recently now fully melted away, her face beginning to carry the composure of an adult.
And above all, those amber eyes that gleamed brilliantly even under the night sky.
Huh? What — when did you get back?
That's what I should be asking! What kind of mouth is that to greet a disciple you haven't seen in ages?!
Though the way she came stomping over, platform boots clacking against the pavement, was still exactly the same as ever.
The familiar sight wrung a laugh out of me before I could stop it — and then, suddenly, I felt Hayeon's hand tugging at my sleeve.
Hm? Hayeon? What is it?
Um, Oppa. ……Do you know her?
Well, yeah. Honestly, you know her too.
I'm sorry — what?
Leaving Hayeon to drown in her confusion, the girl who'd closed the distance to me broke into a wide, artless grin.
She never used to be like this.
Swallowing that thought, I raised a hand and pushed back the face that had drifted far too close.
Aagh, Sabu!! You've really gone and gotten mean, you know that?!
That's my line — you're off work already? Or did you just skip out early?
I quit!
This girl's name was Shin Seoa.
The only daughter of the landlady of the boarding house where we all stayed, and——
Hayeon, cut her some slack. She's a noisy one, but believe it or not, she's family.
——at the same time, my first disciple.