Chapter 107: Change of Heart (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 107: Change of Heart (3)
I quite liked her attitude.
It could have just been a junior making a casual remark, but for her to show this much enthusiasm meant she had a strong will to learn and a good mindset.
“Hmm…”
But that didn't mean I could just teach her.
First of all, I had no justification.
The swordsmanship Seo-yeon used was created by Son Si-woo, and only he used it.
It was absurd for a third party like me to teach it.
And, how should I put it… I also felt a little resentful.
When I offered to teach her swordsmanship before, she was so lukewarm about it. Why the sudden change?
In the end, it's true I couldn't teach her because Han Ju-hee stopped me.
But what if Seo-yeon's attitude back then had been like it is now?
Even she wouldn't have been able to stand in the way of her daughter's passion.
Anyway.
I had no idea what had gotten into her to make her so passionate about the sword, but there was no way I could teach her.
“As you know, Sunbae, I'm a mage, so I don't know much about swordsmanship. But.”
However, it wasn't easy to just turn her down cold.
So I decided to set aside the father-daughter connection and just give her advice as a fellow team member.
“I'm also a fan of Hunter Son Si-woo, so I've watched a lot of his videos, and the feeling you give off is completely different from his.”
“The feeling… is different?”
Her eyes showed she didn't understand at all.
Of course, she wouldn't.
She probably thought she was perfectly mimicking her father's swordsmanship.
She was gravely mistaken about something.
She was under the illusion that a sword could only cut down an opponent by being fast and sharp.
When that wasn't the case at all.
“Compared to Hunter Son Si-woo, your sword feels… how should I put it… stiff and rigid.”
“Stiff…?”
“Yes.”
Seo-yeon's expression turned serious.
Did she understand, even a little, what ‘stiff’ implied?
Then, she asked me again.
“Then… what do I do?”
She was something else.
“Why are you asking me?”
“Ah…”
“Like I said, I'm a layman when it comes to swordsmanship, so all I can do is share my impression. Solving the underlying problem… is entirely up to you, Sunbae.”
This was as far as I could go.
It was entirely up to her to find the problem based on my vague impression and solve it.
And whether she could solve it or not would determine if her skills would rise or fall dramatically.
“Sorry, you're right. Solving it… is something I have to do myself.”
Her tone was quite peculiar.
She spoke as if she'd been left all alone in the world.
“…You could just ask Hunter Son Si-woo to take a look.”
At that, she gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
“No. This much… I have to figure it out on my own.”
I wonder.
Despite her words sounding independent, her tone was nothing but bitter.
I couldn't help but wonder why she was making that face.
It was enough to make me doubt if the girl before me was the same one who was always so cold whenever her father tried to talk to her.
“Anyway… thanks for the advice. I'll get going.”
“Okay.”
After composing her dark expression, she walked past me.
Shin Yu-jeong, who had been listening to our conversation from the side, was looking at me with a surprised expression.
“You know that, right?”
“Know what?”
“That you're particularly cold to Seo-yeon Sunbae compared to the other team members.”
“Have I been…?”
She was more or less right.
Right now, I was trying to find the right line.
How to treat her appropriately.
It was strange to be cold for no reason, but it was also strange to be too friendly.
In any case, since we'd become involved, we weren't strangers, but I was trying to build a relationship that couldn't be considered close, either.
“Heehee.”
And it seemed she liked my efforts, but for a different reason.
Judging by the way she was draping her arm over my shoulder and smiling contentedly.
She really is easy to read.
* * *
“Why don't I go home, you ask…?”
As he began to speak, his tongue slightly slurring from who knows how much he'd been drinking.
Sitting behind him, holding her breath, Seo Jeong-hee's heart was pounding.
Just as she was straining to hear what he would say next, the waitress approached her table.
“Enjoy your meal.”
“Ah, yes.”
The beer and spicy sea snails she had ordered were placed on her table.
Seo Jeong-hee couldn't bring herself to touch anything.
The only thing that mattered were the words about to come out of Shin Hyo-seop's mouth.
But her curiosity had to wait.
The waitress who had just served her table now approached theirs.
“What are you three talking about that's so interesting?”
Her tone was coquettish, completely different from when she had spoken to her.
The three men greeted her with melted expressions.
The one who reacted most enthusiastically was none other than Shin Hyo-seop.
“Oh, Miss Kim! If you have time, sit down and have a drink with us. Huh?”
“Hehe… Well, I'll just stay for a little while then.”
“Our star is here, we can't serve her cold snacks. Miss Kim, order whatever you want. It's on me tonight!”
“Wow, really?”
“Of course!”
Shin Hyo-seop, tipping back his glass with his hand on another woman's shoulder.
Seeing this, Seo Jeong-hee couldn't believe her eyes and ears.
She struggled to process this new side of her husband, one she had never seen before in her entire life.
Led by the ecstatic Shin Hyo-seop, the table was soon filled with more dishes.
The alcohol changed, too. From soju to expensive whiskey.
The reason being that he couldn't let the woman called Miss Kim drink cheap liquor.
“Ha.”
A single, hollow laugh escaped Seo Jeong-hee's lips.
She gulped down the beer on her table.
But the heat that had risen within her did not easily subside.
Her hand, clutching the beer mug, trembled.
‘And I had no idea he was living like this…’
When her husband was first assigned to work in Haenam.
She had been worried sick every day.
It was a simple job of monitoring the sea, but it wasn't entirely without accidents.
If a surveillance team member was negligent, or if a massive rift appeared unexpectedly, they would be the first to be swept away.
That feeling had continued to this day.
Not as much as before, but she always ended their phone calls by telling him to be careful.
And yet.
“Oh, what were you guys talking about earlier?”
“Ah, that? Hyo-seop Hyung-nim never goes home, so we were asking him why.”
“Come to think of it, you still haven't answered, Hyung-nim.”
“Ah… did I?”
Her husband, already dead drunk, couldn't even remember what had happened just moments ago.
“My wife… she's a really good person. She's pretty, a great cook, even owns a building in Seoul…”
Shin Hyo-seop continued, folding his fingers one by one.
If you only heard that much, it would have sounded like the bragging of a doting husband praising his wife.
But his true feelings were only just beginning to surface.
“She's really… a perfect woman. So perfect she's more than I deserve. That's why… when I'm next to her, I feel so… small.”
Back when they were a college couple, sweetly nurturing their love.
They had a child after a single mistake.
They were scared, but it didn't matter.
Back then, they were so in love, and their youthful passion made them believe they could build a life together with love alone.
And so, the two of them became husband and wife with no savings and no decent jobs.
“I… I really worked my ass off back then to feed my family, you know? But… life doesn't always go the way you think it will.”
Back then, he was young and full of motivation.
With the sole determination to feed his family, he worked all sorts of jobs to earn money.
But no matter how hard he worked, money was always tight.
A life of barely making enough one month to survive the next.
Then, around the time Yu-jeong turned five.
Seo Jeong-hee's grandmother passed away.
As per the will her grandmother left behind, she became the owner of a villa.
An old, shabby building.
But the monthly rent it generated was enough for their family of three to live comfortably.
He was overjoyed that they no longer had to worry about rent or food… but for some reason, he felt himself shrinking.
The thought that no matter how hard he tried, the rent from the villa would solve everything began to eat away at him.
He grew weaker, and his motivation faded.
He fell into self-loathing and came to see himself as a worthless person.
Despite all this, his wife didn't change one bit.
She took care of him just as she always had, beautiful and devoted.
It was comfortable and peaceful, but… he felt an emptiness, as if something important to him as a man had been castrated.
While living like an empty shell, a blessing came to him.
He became an Awakened Being late in life.
Although he was old and his traits weren't suited for combat, preventing him from becoming a Hunter, he was lucky enough to get a chance to become a civil servant.
A life as a member of the Haenam Surveillance Team.
“Do you know what I thought then?”
“Hmm… I wonder. What could our dear Shin have been thinking?”
Shin Hyo-seop laughed helplessly at Miss Kim's sweet attitude, which added the perfect spice to his words.
“Hehe… I was happy.”
Becoming a member of the Haenam Surveillance Team meant he would have to live far away from his family.
It was certainly a sad and heartbreaking thing, but… his happiness was greater.
The things he thought had vanished while living in indolence began to fill him up again.
And so, with a carefree and happy heart, he grew distant from his family.
At first, he worried about the wife and daughter he'd left in Seoul and visited home often, but that didn't last long.
“My amazing wife was raising our kid just fine and living well without me.”
His wife always welcomed him home with a happy heart, but his own thoughts began to change.
The thought that he wasn't needed anymore came to dominate his mind.
From then on, he started to slowly increase the time between his visits home.
Even when he visited after a long time, there were no problems.
He was certain.
That he was someone this family could do without.