Chapter 199: Waving the License (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 199: Waving the License (1)
Like a dad, huh…
Being told by a woman that you’re like her dad probably isn’t an unpleasant thing to hear.
After all, daughters who grew up with good fathers often think about meeting a man like their dad.
But right now, I wasn’t so sure.
I didn’t know if I should feel good about this or not.
“When you say your dad… are you talking about Hunter Son Si-woo?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Hiding my complex emotions, I continued in a cheerful tone.
“That’s an honor. To think I resemble the people’s hero, haha!”
Any Hunter aspirant who didn’t know the complicated backstory would be thrilled to be compared to Son Si-woo.
At the same time, I was curious.
What had this girl seen just now that made her say such a thing to me?
“So, what part of me resembled him?”
Seo-yeon, looking quite drunk, staggered over to the steps and gently sat down.
She lifted her eyes, which held an emotion I found difficult to comprehend, and looked up at the black night sky before parting her lips.
“What you said a little while ago. You said you have to decide your own path.”
Ah.
“That’s something my dad used to tell me a lot.”
Right. I did.
Unlike Han Ju-hee, who had wanted Seo-yeon to follow the path she’d laid out step by step, I had wanted our daughter to find her own way.
That didn’t mean I wanted her to forge a path through uncharted territory. Whether it was the rails her mother laid for her or the path her father had walked…
I meant that she should at least choose the path she would walk herself.
Only then could she take full responsibility for her own life.
Because when you regret walking a path you were pushed onto, it’s all too easy to blame others instead of yourself.
Sounds plausible, but isn’t that just a hands-off approach?
No.
Whenever my daughter showed interest in something, I supported her in every way possible.
…At least, when she was young.
“I didn’t know what he meant when I was little… but I think I get it now.”
She thinks she gets it now…
I realized her tone toward me had become much more relaxed.
It felt like she was opening the door to her heart, little by little, on her own terms.
Perhaps.
Maybe now I could find out.
Why she had tried so hard to distance herself from her father as she got older.
“Sunbae… were you close with Hunter Son Si-woo… I mean… with my dad?”
“I think we were when I was young. But now… I don’t know.”
Then, Seo-yeon suddenly shook her head and corrected herself.
“Now… I don’t think we’re close.”
“That’s surprising.”
Her eyes, which had been staring intently at the sky, turned to me.
“What is?”
“I thought you were still close. Your swordsmanship is very similar to Hunter Son Si-woo’s.”
“That… I just taught myself. By watching my dad practice, little by little.”
“I see.”
Come to think of it, there were a few times I’d made eye contact with Seo-yeon while I was training.
At the time, I thought she was just passing by and our eyes happened to meet, but it seems that wasn’t the case.
But this didn’t make sense either.
I mean, if she had just asked her dad to teach her swordsmanship, he would have taught her anything. So why?
“Did you suddenly grow apart… for a specific reason? Or did it just happen naturally as you got older?”
“A reason…”
Seo-yeon’s expression grew fainter.
Her hands, which had been neatly placed on her knees, moved toward her chest, and she clutched her clothes as she shook her head.
“There’s… no particular reason. We just naturally grew distant after puberty. I couldn’t act the way I did when I was little, and I didn’t know how to act in front of my dad anymore.”
“I can see that happening.”
Her words didn’t seem like a lie.
However… it felt like something was missing.
As if she’d omitted the core of the issue and only talked about the periphery.
After she finished, Seo-yeon gave a slight smile.
“I guess I’ve gotten more comfortable with you. To think I’m just blurting all this out…”
“Well… a lot has happened over the past three months.”
Looking a bit more relieved, Seo-yeon stood up, brushed herself off, and held out her hand to me.
“I look forward to working with you.”
How long had it been since I’d faced Seo-yeon’s bright smile head-on?
Half longing, half regret.
“Yes, me too.”
With a hand full of complex emotions, I took hers.
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The second year’s classes began in earnest.
The courses I signed up for this time were all niche ones.
The reason, of course… was to further develop my talent.
Others might be limited to learning magic of their primary attribute and a supporting one, but not me.
Since my greatest weapon is the ability to convert my mana in any way, I have to learn and utilize a wide variety of skills to polish my talent and make it shine even brighter.
The first class I carefully selected was ‘Understanding Curse Magic.’
It was a course available starting from the second year, and true to its name, it primarily dealt with debuff-style magic that weakened an opponent’s abilities.
“Welcome. I am Professor Im Seong-han, and I will be teaching ‘Understanding Curse Magic.’”
The professor in charge was Im Seong-han.
He wasn’t a professor on the faculty at Korea University but an advanced mage dispatched from the Magic Tower who specialized in curse magic.
Curse magic, which weakens opponents, is surprisingly effective, but it’s considered a niche field with few students.
There are various reasons, but the two biggest are its lack of flashiness and the stigma attached to it.
Compared to mages who go around blowing up enemies with elemental magic, it’s less impactful, so the number of mages who specialize in curse magic is small enough to be counted on one hand.
If that were the only issue, there might be more curse mages than there are now.
But another reason has pushed them into the shadows.
The stigma.
If someone falls ill or becomes weak around a curse mage, people start to whisper.
Did that person cast a curse? Did their mana transfer and make them sick?
It was truly absurd speculation.
But a surprising number of ordinary people genuinely believe it.
To them, who cannot wield mana, Hunters are both protectors and objects of fear.
Furthermore, many curse spells are designed to be used on humans.
Spells that drain strength, induce sleep, or cause erectile dysfunction.
And didn’t fantasy novels, which were popular in the past, often feature curses as a basic skill for dark mages?
These perceptions piled on top of each other, turning curse magic into the most obscure of obscure fields.
To sum up curse magic in one sentence:
“Magic that’s great when others use it for you, but you’d rather not learn it yourself.”
Those were the first words out of Professor Im Seong-han’s mouth after taking attendance.
That was exactly what I wanted to say.
“That is the current perception of curse magic. However, let’s think about it the other way.”
He slowly made eye contact with each student in the lecture hall.
There were only seven of us, including me.
Thanks to that, his gaze lingered on each person for a considerable amount of time.
I could even feel an intensity, as if he were determined to size each of us up.
Finally, his eyes landed on me, capturing me clearly in his sight.
His expression was full of curiosity and, at the same time, brimming with anticipation.
“The number of people who learn curse magic is extremely small. However, the demand for curse magic increases sharply the higher the dungeon level.”
That was true.
As a dungeon’s rank increases, the physical abilities of the monsters that appear rise exponentially.
But what if you could chip away at their abilities with curse magic?
It would make them that much easier to deal with.
“In other words… all of you who have come to my lecture will become even more valuable resources in the future.”
He’s using the negative perception of curse magic to his advantage to motivate the students. Not bad.
“Of course, you might also grow more distant from your non-Hunter friends.”
“……”
He probably shouldn’t have said that.
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The first class ended without a hitch.
“Ah, I’m switching my major right now. I don’t think curse magic is for me.”
“……”
Let me correct myself.
The first class ended, leaving one drop-out in its wake.
I wasn’t sure if it was because of the last thing Professor Im Seong-han said.
It was hard to blame it entirely on that, given how esoteric curse magic itself was.
“It was harder than I thought, hmm.”
The way curse magic operated mana was vastly different from other elemental magics.
To be precise, the process of converting mana into the appropriate attribute for the spell was tricky.
Of course, that didn’t apply to me.
Once I figured out what form to convert it into just by looking, it became easy.
If I kept learning this, it seemed like it would be a great help in managing a party.
“Is everyone here?”
My team members, who had renewed their resolve at the orientation drinking party, had apparently made a pact while I was away.
Something about how we should always eat lunch together unless something special came up.
As I entered the school cafeteria, Shin Yu-jeong and Im Na-eun, who were sitting facing the door, waved at me.
“Hey, over here!”
“Do-jin, this way!”
I walked over to the table where the four of them were sitting and saw five meal trays.
“Hurry and sit! I already got your food for you, Do-jin.”
Im Na-eun said, beaming with her rabbit-like face.
Her service was getting better by the day.
It looked like I wouldn’t have to pay for the meal ticket… I’d just have to praise her a bit later.
Lunch was boisterous.
Perhaps because they had gotten quite close, they chatted about all sorts of things while they ate.
“Seo-yeon sunbae, what kind of makeup do you use?”
“Huh? Me…? I usually use Brand A.”
“Wow, isn’t that super expensive?”
“It is, but it works well.”
Of course, these were conversations from a world I knew nothing about.
I finished my meal quietly amidst their chatter and was waiting for the others to finish when Shin Yu-jeong asked everyone a question.
“Oh, by the way, what’s everyone doing about school clubs?”
Ah.
Right, there were clubs.
At Korea University, you could join a club starting in your second year.
Each club had a vastly different character, and I’d heard there were hundreds of them on campus.
Judging by their expressions, it seemed none of them had thought about joining a club yet.
Just then, Shin Yu-jeong made an unexpected suggestion.
“Why don’t we just start our own club?”