5
# My Daughter Is the Final Boss
## Chapter 5
—A father has become the center of attention after single-handedly stopping a monster that emerged from an unpredicted
rift.
A familiar story was playing on the television in the hospital room.
I had expected the incident to be reported because an unpredicted rift was an unusual occurrence.
But I never expected the news to focus so heavily on me.
—A civilian fleeing with his child after hearing the siren encountered a monster.
Along with the report, footage of rather poor quality began playing.
It seemed to have been recorded by a CCTV camera.
On the screen, I could be seen setting down Seol-ah, whom I had been carrying.
The footage was too blurry for my face to be properly visible.
—He hid the child in a gap between the walls before drawing the monster's attention to himself.
I could be seen holding a crude broomstick spear and confronting the Cretan Bull.
The entire thing had lasted only a few minutes, and it could hardly even be called a battle.
The Cretan Bull rammed into me, briefly carrying both of us outside the CCTV camera's field of view.
Whoa.
The scene where I stabbed it with the spear had either been edited out or simply hadn't been captured.
Then I came flying into view from outside the frame and landed on the asphalt road, rolling several times.
Eun-hye and Seol-ah watched the footage intently before both gasping and holding their breath.
—Afterward, hunters from the Goryeo Sword Family arrived and defeated the monster……
The screen changed, showing an interview with someone believed to be a hunter from the Goryeo Sword Family.
The interview basically explained that they hadn't really done anything.
I was secretly pleased that they were praising me, but Seol-ah's eyes sparkled.
“Daddy was on TV!”
At Seol-ah's words, everyone's attention in the hospital room turned toward us.
A middle-aged man who appeared to have injured his leg stared at me.
“Hey, kid. The person on there……?”
“Yes! That's my daddy!”
Seol-ah puffed out her chest proudly.
The people in the hospital room let out small exclamations as they looked me over.
“Wow, that's impressive. I was wondering how you ended up so badly injured.”
“You did well, young man.”
“Haha……”
I responded with an embarrassed laugh and scratched the back of my head.
I wasn't used to receiving this much attention.
Some people gave me a small round of applause, while others raised their thumbs at me.
The elderly woman in the neighboring bed smiled warmly at Eun-hye.
“You found yourself a good husband.”
“Huh? Ah, no.”
“Hm? Isn't she the child's mother?”
“She looks too young.”
The middle-aged man butted into the conversation.
The elderly woman looked back and forth between Eun-hye and me with a puzzled expression.
Perhaps she was flustered, because Eun-hye rolled her eyes around before eventually giving in.
“No, you're right. He's my husband.”
“I knew it. I thought you two looked about the same age.”
“R-right? Ahem. I shouldn't have acted like I knew everything.”
Eun-hye covered her face with both hands.
She had no choice but to admit it, but apparently she really didn't like it.
Seol-ah, meanwhile, was smiling brightly as though she were enjoying herself.
“Mommy's embarrassed!”
---
“Where's Seol-ah?”
“She fell asleep. The elderly lady in the next bed said she'd look after her, so she'll be fine. Here.”
In front of the hospital.
Eun-hye handed me a cup of vending-machine coffee.
I took a sip of the hot coffee.
Drinking coffee while sitting in a wheelchair felt strangely different.
“She must've been frightened. Looks like she's calmed down a little. That's a relief.”
“……Are you really Lee Seo-jun?”
“Then who do I look like?”
“No, it's just…… Never mind.”
Eun-hye looked like she had a lot to say, but she seemed to swallow the words.
She had seen me joking around several times, so she still didn't seem completely convinced.
Still, her instincts really were good.
Eun-hye sat down on the bench right beside me.
She didn't even touch her coffee, merely fidgeting before muttering,
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For protecting Seol-ah.”
“She’s my daughter.”
I shrugged.
It wasn't something I deserved thanks for.
Eun-hye still looked confused.
She had probably come looking for the twenty-year-old me she remembered.
After hesitating, Eun-hye muttered,
“You really don't make any sense to me. It's difficult.”
“What is?”
“Didn't you ever think that she might not be your child?”
Eun-hye carefully brought up the subject.
It was only natural.
An ex-girlfriend suddenly showed up and presented you with a child, claiming the child was yours.
It would have been difficult to believe.
Yet I had accepted it far too readily.
I carefully chose my words.
“Even if that's the case, I can't say that in front of the child.”
“Huh?”
“How could I do that? I'm supposed to be her father.”
It was self-reproach aimed at the person I had been before my regression.
As the bare minimum form of atonement, I had to treat the two of them well.
I felt like only then would my heart become a little lighter.
Eun-hye shook her head.
“Let's get a genetic test.”
“You don't have to.”
“Wouldn't it be better to make sure?”
Whether we made sure or not, Seol-ah was my daughter.
I had already confirmed the results of the genetic test before my regression.
Eun-hye looked at me with an expression of gratitude.
“What happened with the guild?”
“You were right. There were too many loopholes in the contract.”
“I knew it.”
“How on earth did you know so much about it?”
“I told you. I have a close friend who went through exactly the same thing.”
That close friend was me before my regression.
I couldn't let her sign something that was practically a slave contract.
“So what are you going to do?”
“……I don't know. I said I'd do it, but it's not like another guild has contacted me.”
“I told you I'd raise you up. Just trust me once.”
“How exactly are you planning to raise me?”
“Good grief, you're so suspicious. It's top secret. Try it first, then we'll talk.”
“Without signing a contract?”
“What kind of relationship do we have?”
“What kind of relationship do we have?”
At Eun-hye's question, I was left speechless.
The relationship between Eun-hye and me was extremely ambiguous.
Eun-hye didn't seem to have any feelings left for me.
Even before my regression, she had treated me like a stranger she didn't want to see.
“……Seol-ah's mom and dad?”
“I suppose so.”
The sun set, and dusk descended over the land.
Eun-hye turned her gaze toward the sunset and smiled.
It was a smile I hadn't seen in a very long time.
Huh?
I was startled.
Suddenly, my heart began pounding wildly.
Eun-hye suddenly looked incredibly beautiful.
Lee Seo-jun, have you lost your mind?
Before my regression, I had been over forty.
Eun-hye was twenty-six now.
She was practically twelve years younger than me.
Get a grip.
Either I had gone crazy, or my mind had become younger along with my regression.
Either way, I felt guilty on an ethical level.
I closed my eyes.
You don't have the right.
At those words I repeated to myself, my head immediately became cold.
When I opened my eyes, Eun-hye was looking at me with concern.
“Are you in pain?”
“No, I'm fine. More importantly……”
I wanted to change the subject.
What suddenly flashed through my mind was what had happened when I fought the Cretan Bull.
“When I encountered that Cretan Bull…… that monster.”
“Yeah.”
“Something strange happened.”
“Something strange? What?”
I explained what had happened as I remembered it.
The Cretan Bull had been charging toward me when its leg suddenly bent sideways, as though something had struck it.
Eun-hye listened quietly, then reacted as though she couldn't understand what I was talking about.
But she couldn't hide it from me.
I clearly saw her eyes tremble slightly.
“I thought about it, and……”
“Yeah.”
“I think it was magic.”
“M-magic?”
Eun-hye looked flustered.
The term "magic" had only recently become commonly used.
Among hunters, there were some who possessed abilities that allowed them to specifically utilize mana.
They could do more than simply infuse weapons with mana.
They could use mana to accomplish all kinds of things.
The collective term for those abilities was magic.
“If there had been a hunter in that alley, they would've stepped in immediately.”
“Of course. Yeah.”
“And there was no one there except me and Seol-ah.”
“……There could've been someone else.”
“The siren had already sounded. No ordinary person would've come near the area.”
You'd have to be insane to willingly walk into a monster's mouth.
So I was able to reach a logical conclusion.
“That magic…… Could Seol-ah have used it?”
“Come on. You have to say something that makes sense.”
Eun-hye immediately dismissed my words as though she had been waiting for me to say them.
The way she avoided my gaze only made her seem more suspicious.
There was one reason above all others why I could make such a statement.
I knew that Seol-ah would eventually become the Witch.
“Eun-hye. Look over here.”
“……Why?”
“Really, it wasn't her?”
Eun-hye met my eyes and slowly closed hers.
Her lips moved several times, but an answer didn't come easily.
She sighed and looked around to see whether anyone was nearby.
Then she moved closer to me.
My heart skipped a beat.
“Can you keep a secret?”
“She’s my daughter. I'd never do anything that could harm her.”
“I'll trust you.”
Eun-hye readily believed me.
I had expected her to resist a little more, so her response was unexpected.
Eun-hye gave me a faint smile.
“You trusted me too.”
“Yeah. Tell me.”
“It's probably…… Seol-ah who did it.”
I couldn't hide my surprise.
No matter how much of a genius she was, magic wasn't something that could be used so easily.
Controlling mana required an innate sense for it.
More importantly, it required complicated calculations.
Even if the power were insignificant, it wasn't an ability a mere five-year-old should have been capable of using.
“How?”
“She’s a little smart.”
“I guess she takes after you.”
“We're having a serious conversation. Listen.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Under her sharp glare, I shut my mouth.
I was serious.
Eun-hye looked at me as though she were dealing with a child before continuing.
“Do you remember why I came to your house?”
“You said your house collapsed.”
“That's right. Seol-ah did it.”
“……She collapsed the house?”
My mouth fell open.
It was already astonishing that she could use magic at the age of five.
But she possessed enough power to collapse an entire house.
This was the first time I had learned about it.
The Final Boss had been different from the very beginning.
“It happened because she couldn't control her emotions.”
“What about normally?”
“There's nothing wrong with her. You know from seeing her yourself that she's just an ordinary child.”
“She isn't ordinary.”
“Not ordinary? Is there something wrong with her?”
“She's the cutest girl in the world.”
Eun-hye's palm smacked my back.
Smack!
Startled, I straightened my back and frowned.
“Geez. Your palm has quite the spicy flavor, doesn't it?”
“Shut up. You don't understand how I feel.”
Eun-hye sighed.
Her expression was complicated.
There was relief from finally being able to confess something she had been worrying about alone.
But there was also concern and anxiety over Seol-ah.
“If this fact becomes known……”
“There'll be chaos.”
“I'm worried she'll be taken away to some strange research facility or something.”
“……It's okay.”
I had no choice but to look at Eun-hye's worried expression.
Hugging her or holding her hand wasn't something I could do.
Besides, my entire body was a mess, and I couldn't even stand up.
“I'll figure something out.”
Eun-hye raised her head and looked at me suspiciously.
But I wasn't the kind of person who made bold claims without having something to back them up.
I had information about the future and the knowledge of a fifteen-year veteran hunter.
“You trust Oppa, right?”
“Who are you calling Oppa? Who?”