Chapter 303: Anxiety (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 303: Anxiety (2)
Reason told me to refuse her outright, but my heart wouldn't let me.
She had learned Son Si-woo's swordsmanship.
On the surface, one might think she had simply mastered the essence of a man who became an S-rank Hunter with just a single sword. But looking closer, the situation was endlessly complex.
My swordsmanship is a small tower built solely on my own experience and knowledge.
Since I never learned swordsmanship systematically from a young age, many of its aspects deviate from conventional wisdom.
It was a tower built by grabbing and stacking whatever was at hand.
This meant that the only person who could perfectly dismantle and analyze it was the man who built it: Son Si-woo.
And what did that mean?
It meant I was the only master who could show her the path that was perfect for her.
It also meant that if I turned away, it would be that much harder for her to find the answer.
"Learning from videos is fine, but you should approach it systematically."
"Systematically... you say?"
"Yes. Instead of just randomly watching whatever the algorithm suggests, you should create categories—by year, or by opponent."
"Categories..."
She didn't look like she quite understood. It was more of a resolve to try what I had suggested.
"This is the last hint. If you can't figure it out after all this... then there's nothing to be done."
My tone was a bit cold.
Feeling a surge of anxiety, she looked up at me with drooping eyes and asked.
"Nothing to be done... Does that mean I have to leave the team?"
"I don't know."
I couldn't say what the final decision would be, but that was certainly one possible outcome.
"In the worst-case scenario, that might happen. If you don't want that..."
"If I don't want that...?"
"You might have to give up on Hunter Son Si-woo's swordsmanship and start over from scratch with a different style."
With the dawn of the Hunter society, one of the businesses that began to flourish again was the dojo.
Taekwondo, martial arts, kendo, and so on.
Of course, the old dojos filled with sportsmanship still existed, but the majority were places with well-structured programs for Awakened Beings who wanted practical, real-world instruction.
Mainstream, common.
These words might seem somewhat cliché, but in another sense, they could also mean that a style was excellent enough for everyone to learn.
Another advantage was that masters who could teach her were a dime a dozen.
Her face hardening, she seemed to ponder for a moment before shaking her head.
"I don't want to."
"Don't want what?"
"To leave the team, or to abandon my dad's swordsmanship."
Her eyes shone fiercely.
Within them, a fiery, unquenchable passion burned brightly.
"I'll definitely succeed, so I won't have to accept either of those outcomes."
"...Do as you wish."
What a stubborn girl.
She takes after her mother in that respect.
* * *
The atmosphere at the dinner table was considerably heavy.
Only four people sat at the spacious table, which could have easily seated ten.
"The side dishes are so delicious today, too!"
Han Ju-yeon.
"They are."
Han Ju-hee.
"......"
Son Si-woo.
"...Yeah."
And Son Seo-yeon.
The glamorous assembly was reminiscent of a royal family from some TV drama.
It had already been three months since they had started gathering for dinner like this.
It all began, naturally, with Han Ju-yeon.
"Isn't it nice to get together and eat like this, even if it's only sometimes, sis?"
"...It's not bad."
"Right, brother-in-law?!"
"Uh, yeah..."
"Don't you think so, Seo-yeon!?"
"Yeah."
As soon as she returned to Korea, Han Ju-yeon had made herself at home in her sister's house and proposed to the family.
Let's eat together a few times a month, even if it's just occasionally.
Everyone was lukewarm at first, but after she somehow sweet-talked Son Si-woo into agreeing, her relentless pushing finally made it happen.
Of course, they only shared the table; Han Ju-yeon was the only one who did any talking.
But it wasn't as if there was no conversation at all.
Occasionally, a few words were exchanged between the couple, and between the parents and their child.
"Honey."
"...Huh?"
"How long are you planning to take a break?"
"Oh, that. I haven't decided yet... Why?" Son Si-woo asked back, a look of anxiety on his face.
Han Ju-hee looked as if she was about to say something, but she closed her mouth and shook her head.
"No... it's nothing."
The conversation died again.
Amidst the silence, Son Seo-yeon pretended to be focused on her food, sneaking glances at her father from the corner of her eye.
The man who had built his life with a single sword.
She had always respected her father, but now, that respect had changed slightly.
'He's amazing.'
Now that she had been on the receiving end, she understood.
She knew how despairing, how devastating it was to have an opponent read your every move.
The foundation of battle is to know your enemy and know yourself (知彼知己).
Hide your own hand, and expose your opponent's completely.
A Hunter's overwhelming power and heroic image inherently put people's minds at ease.
That's why it was a disadvantage.
Because it wasn't just ordinary people watching, but also villains who were trying to figure him out.
Over his decades as a Hunter, how many times had he been analyzed, and how many times had he overcome it?
Thinking about it, she finally realized.
The people's Hunter, Son Si-woo.
The greatness of her father, who had firmly held his position without ever wavering once.
'I want to ask him.'
How was it possible?
Whenever he was figured out, what kind of mindset, what kind of thoughts did he use to overcome it?
But she couldn't bring herself to ask, merely chewing on the food in her mouth. Just then...
"Um... Seo-yeon?"
Her father, who hadn't even glanced her way throughout the entire meal, was the one to speak first.
"Ye-Yehh?!"
So startled she was, Son Seo-yeon answered in a strange voice.
Son Si-woo asked her.
"That... friend named Kim Do-jin, you know him, right? I heard he's on the same team as you."
"...Yes, that's right."
"What do you think of him?"
She tilted her head at the follow-up question.
It was strange.
That the topic of their first real conversation in a long time was Kim Do-jin.
Why was he interested?
Did he recognize his talent and was planning to recruit him?
Whatever the reason, it was a question from her father, something she hadn't heard in a long time.
Son Seo-yeon thought deeply.
'Kim Do-jin...'
He had caught her eye from the moment they first met.
He possessed an ability whose depths were impossible to fathom.
On top of that, his teaching was better than most professors.
"I think he's an amazing person."
The most amazing person she knew, after her mother, father, and aunt.
A junior who, for some reason, made her want his approval, yet didn't feel like a junior at all.
She answered as such, her voice filled with the pure admiration, goodwill, and awe that stemmed from these thoughts.
"I see..."
For some reason, her father's face grew even darker.
* * *
Even if he was resting from his duties as a Hunter, his work as a Guild Leader remained.
And so, Son Si-woo once again commuted to his office in a tall building in the heart of Gangnam.
He didn't really do anything.
He just passed the time by carelessly delegating tasks to the 'trustworthy person' ingrained in his mind.
If there was one new addition to his daily routine, it was this.
"Here is the information you requested on Hunter Kim Do-jin."
"Ah, good work."
It was investigating Kim Do-jin, his former body.
The investigation wasn't very difficult.
Even for someone like Son Si-woo, wasn't there at least one person to handle his dirty work?
Just in time, such a person had surfaced from his blank memories, and he had commissioned him to dig up information.
This happened several times.
And Son Si-woo began to feel a growing sense of unease.
"It can't be... It's not possible. No... there's no way."
When he first got this body, he felt like the world was his.
Wasn't swapping a body in its 20s for one in its 40s a loss?
Wasn't youth something that money couldn't buy?
'What a joke.'
The status he held, the assets he owned, and the wife he adored.
Did they think those things could be bought with money?
Besides, so what if he was in his 40s?
A severely obese body over 120kg versus the perfect physique of an S-rank Hunter.
Regardless of age, wasn't it obvious which one was overwhelmingly more attractive?
So he had laughed.
'A foolish trait.'
SSS-rank Equivalent Exchange.
He had genuinely thought the trait was idiotic, and he was grateful to it for letting him take everything just because Son Si-woo had mentioned he was envious of his youth.
But in the midst of his joy, he came face to face with despair.
The first was that Son Si-woo and Han Ju-hee were a show-window couple, their relationship only looking good on the surface.
"Ugh... No way."
He had coveted everything Son Si-woo possessed, but the biggest reason he chose him over anyone else was Han Ju-hee.
He wanted to touch her, whom he had only ever seen in photos and videos, and make her his.
"...Still, it's fine."
After wallowing in despair, he soon picked himself up.
He had sculpted his body magnificently.
And as he read through Son Si-woo's memories one by one, he realized something.
'That guy can never abandon his family.'
He doted on his daughter and his wife.
The term 'show-window couple' seemed meaningless; he loved those two more than his own life.
So, he would come for him.
The moment the non-aggression pact he'd set was broken, he would come to reclaim this body.
'When that time comes...!'
He would be a young, handsome, and capable single prospect in Korea, free to enjoy everything.
As he spent his boring days with that thought in mind, he inadvertently faced his second despair.
"Status Window."
The occasional unlocking of sealed memories.
Through this, he was finally able to open the sealed status window.
[Status Window]
Name: Son Si-woo
Gender: Male
Age: 46
Height/Weight: 183CM / 75KG
[Strength: 99↓] [Stamina: 103↓] [Agility: 101↓] [Mana: 90↓]
Trait: Constant Renewal (日新又日新)
[Mutual Non-aggression (2022.06.09.~2025.12.31)]
[Disclosure Prohibition (2022.06.09.~2025.12.31.)]
[Mana Circuit Damage]
And he saw it.
The stats, which at a glance seemed spectacular.
The ominous downward-pointing arrows looming next to them.
And the last line.
"Mana Circuit Damage...?"
A name that clearly didn't sound good.
His finger naturally brushed over it.
[The mana circuit has been permanently damaged due to excessive use of power.]
[Physical damage is continuously accumulating, causing a permanent decrease in stats.]
The moment he realized his body was helplessly falling apart.
"N-No..."
The faint anxiety that had taken root in his heart began to swell at a terrifying speed.
"Aaaaargh!"
He screamed in despair.