Chapter 122: Self-Esteem 2
Chapter 122: Self-Esteem 2
The Retriever slipped in right past the guards' eyes.
Its distinctive pale yellowish-brown tail swayed lazily from side to side.
At its feet lay a single bamboo sword.
A scruffy, split thing blackened with grime.
No matter how you looked at it, it had no place in a Constellation's Sanctum.
"What the—why is there a bamboo sword in here?"
The two Incarnations barely had time to bow their heads and reach for it
before the young swordswoman, who had been meekly trailing along, slipped between them.
Not a shove or a push—a movement that read like martial footwork.
Rope-bound wrists and all, she glided through the narrow gap without snagging either woman,
sending nothing but the hems of our clothes fluttering.
The two Incarnations flinched and started channeling their magic—
"Huh?!"
"What the—!"
The young swordswoman clutched the bamboo sword to her chest with her bound arms
and wedged herself into the corner beside the sofa, curling up tight.
"That's not age regression...."
Kim Ha-eun, who had been muttering under her breath, shut her mouth firmly.
She looked like she wanted to call it bestial, animal-like,
but the girl was a patient, so she held her tongue.
The young swordswoman huddled in the corner, the worn bamboo sword cradled against her chest.
The Retriever sprawled belly-down on the carpet.
And before anyone had noticed, the cat had sneaked its way in too.
One Constellation, two Incarnations, a qi-deviated swordswoman, and two animals.
An odd little six-way cohabitation had begun.
The daily routine now included one extra: the young swordswoman.
Look after the patient, check on the Incarnations' unconscious minds, step into the young swordswoman's dreams and spread my magic through them.
Whether the Academy invited some renowned psychological counselor or not, she needed to be free inside her dreams first.
I was gradually eroding my way in with Dream Demon magic.
What surprised me was that the most docile one of us all turned out to be the qi-deviated swordswoman.
Was it instinct that told her The Sword That Severs the Yoke would never come here?
Aside from mealtimes, when she left with the two who pushed her wheelchair,
she showed no inclination to leave the corner.
She stayed tucked away as placidly as a bear in hibernation.
'Makes it easy to get into her dreams, though.'
Lee Ha-rin had claimed a whole table and stacked it with scrolls, launching into her research.
The young swordswoman remained curled in the empty space beside the sofa, only the top of her head poking out.
The Retriever ignored the locks entirely and bounded outside to play.
Something about this fantasy-like domestic scene felt strangely novel.
Especially thanks to Kim Ha-eun and the cat.
"Could you move over a little...."
Kim Ha-eun, in the middle of processing some paperwork, practically begged.
I'd been fiddling with the smartphone I'd gotten as a bonus when we requested a psychological counselor from the Academy,
but the sound of her voice piqued my curiosity, and I drifted quietly toward her.
Patient-related work? Academy paperwork?
Kim Ha-eun had been working on documents on her laptop.
And the cat was using that laptop as a heating pad for its belly.
It was big enough that it completely covered the screen—not a sliver visible.
"Mraaow."
"No, seriously, why are you doing this?"
Despite Kim Ha-eun's pleading, the cat simply licked its front paw and played oblivious.
Still, the creature wasn't the type to act up without reason.
Kim Ha-eun seemed to know that too; she was pleading for an explanation, not just complaining.
Or maybe she was just scared of a supersonic nyang-nyang punch.
"Hm...?"
The moment I met the cat's gaze as it glared at me from the desk,
my nape seized up—and my line of sight shot upward.
Was the cat responsible for that flailing-paw swipe?
'Been a while since I've been in this body.'
Thick knuckles and brawny muscle.
The body my three Incarnations had built together before I'd met the Unfading Giant Tree.
'But why?'
The cat might be a fickle animal,
but that one had been chosen by a Constellation—its intelligence was on par with a human's.
Even if it instinctively crushed the laptop,
what reason could it have to swap my body for no reason?
While I was still puzzling over it, someone behind me tugged lightly at my clothes.
"Huh...?"
"What the?!"
For a split second I thought Lee Ha-rin was calling me,
but if it were her, she'd have come around to face me and spoken respectfully,
or used the leash for telepathy—she wouldn't pull at my clothes like this.
Which left one possibility.
"Krrrr...."
It was The Sword That Severs the Yoke's disciple.
"It's fine—calm your magic."
The two Incarnations started toward me in alarm.
But neither animal had sensed any bloodlust or threat; they just watched.
The young swordswoman ignored the two Incarnations' glares and kept tugging insistently at my clothes.
My height had shot up so much that looking down at her felt unfamiliar.
Or maybe I'd just grown too accustomed to the elf boy's body by now?
When I took a closer look, the body was different from the old one too.
'The hands are thicker, and more muscular besides.'
My old body had been like a well-sculpted statue with lean, defined muscle.
This one looked more like a barbarian warrior out of a movie.
The fingers were thicker, the grip larger—my whole frame seemed bulkier.
The Sword That Severs the Yoke's disciple
either took a liking to my newly massive hands
or had some other reason, because she clung to me and refused to let go.
Then, like a dog bringing a ball, she placed her bamboo sword into my hand.
Why was she suddenly handing me the thing she'd been cradling so preciously—
Before the thought could finish, my vision spun.
'I'm used to this by now.'
Although I hadn't expected to be pulled into an Incarnation's memories instead of a Constellation's.
Judging by the long yoooowl echoing in my ears,
that black cat must have done something.
"All right, all right! Time for practice!"
What appeared before my eyes wasn't the wall of an Eastern-style mansion but what looked like a school gymnasium.
A male teacher with a whistle between his lips clapped his hands sharply and yelled at the students.
'It's a little different, but that's kendo, isn't it?'
Not quite what I'd seen as a kid in Haedong Kumdo class,
but still: small students with their faces covered, wearing black uniforms and raising bamboo swords.
At nearly 190 centimeters, I must have shot up so much that middle-schoolers looked even tinier than usual.
She'd picked up a bamboo sword in middle school,
and The Sword That Severs the Yoke had brought her straight over—wasn't that the story?
Then this must be the young swordswoman's old memory.
"Mutual respect—bow!"
"Thank you for your hard work!"
Or so I thought—
"Ha-eun?"
When she pulled off her face guard, light purple hair spilled out.
In other words, the face of my Incarnation, Kim Ha-eun.
And not even the body she'd had before Dream Demon magic changed her;
she'd appeared younger, but with those violet eyes and that light purple hair.
I'd received the young swordswoman's bamboo sword from her and made physical contact—
so why was Kim Ha-eun the one appearing now instead of the swordswoman?
Did dreams and memories just blend themselves together however they pleased?
No matter how much I'd adjusted to the life of a Dream Demon,
if I looked at my own skills objectively, I was barely a cut above the bottom of the barrel.
To borrow The Incinerating Tyrant's phrasing, I'd just learned to crawl.
Hold up my magic and presto—!
There was no convenient way to instantly grasp the situation.
In the end, all I could do was observe.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
"Thank you so much!"
The scene before my eyes was utterly peaceful.
Girls so tiny they wouldn't even reach my chest
were swinging bamboo swords with tight-lipped, serious expressions.
The most energetic among them was Kim Ha-eun.
I had my doubts about whether this was really her,
but the faint trace of Dream Demon magic I could sense confirmed it.
'Did the young swordswoman's memories mix together with Kim Ha-eun's unconscious mind?'
As far as I knew, Kim Ha-eun had never done this kind of athletic activity.
Until her parents died in an accident, she'd done nothing but study—a model student through and through.
In middle school and high school alike, she'd attended academies instead of joining clubs.
So this situation was the young swordswoman's memory,
but the people inside it came from Kim Ha-eun's unconscious mind—
that was as far as my speculation could stretch.
To be honest, I couldn't do much beyond that.
I wasn't trapped here.
Like escaping from the mansion in the young swordswoman's memories,
if I used my magic to create a door, I could wake up.
The trouble was, that wouldn't satisfy my curiosity.
Was this tied to the swordswoman's qi deviation?
Was it Kim Ha-eun's issue? Or was it just that black cat playing tricks?
I didn't know a single thing for certain, so there was no reason to bolt in a panic.
If my life were on the line, that'd be different.
"Hey, you see that?"
"See what."
"Oh come on, I beat Park Hye-rim. You said I couldn't."
"Fine, fine, I buy you one drink, done?"
"That's right, quit playing dumb."
When I followed them into the classroom, the top of my head nearly brushed the sliding door—I had to be at least 190 centimeters.
Not just my fingers and forearms; my thighs and shoulders looked massively thicker too.
Even the gym teacher, who was pretty solidly built, stood a head and a half shorter than me.
A body like this, you could hand it an axe and call it a barbarian.
Was I supposed to feel threatened by a middle-school girl barely 140 centimeters tall and her bamboo sword?
Light purple hair swayed gently as she moved through the school halls.
The students all had black hair; the occasional glimpse of blond was quickly hauled off by a teacher.
All the teachers had black hair too—only the elderly showed white.
She was clearly out of place, yet nobody made a comment about her skin color, her eye color, her hair.