Trainee! Answer with "Sir, Yes Sir!"
I was sitting in a hospital room. Not on a bed like usual, though—I was perched between two of them, watching Seol-hee and Ryu-yeong each tug on one of my arms.
Thankfully, neither of them was in any real danger. If anything, the doctor said Seol-hee was in worse shape than Ryu-yeong. It seemed the recovery magic I'd used on Ryu-yeong, brief as it had been, had actually worked. Both of them would need two or three days of rest in the hospital to fully recover.
Compared to the full month I'd spent in a hospital bed after being kidnapped and freed, the women of this original world really were tough.
The door slid open with a rattle, and Mother and Father walked in. Mother's expression grew complicated the moment she saw me. Of everyone in the family, she was the only one who had actually watched me cast magic with her own eyes.
Seol-hee had been unconscious at the time, and Father had been busy holding back Seol-hwa, who had tried to chase after Mother and me as we ran out. I'd explained to Mother again about everything I'd gone through in the other world, and how I'd somehow used the faint mana that existed there to cast magic—but she still didn't seem fully convinced.
I didn't understand why that lightning bolt had been carrying mana either, and I'd already used up every last scrap of the faint mana left in the air. Even if someone asked me to cast again, I couldn't.
After thinking it over, Mother suggested we keep it a secret. I nodded. I had no desire to go around talking about magic I might never be able to show again. Even so, something still seemed to bother her; every time her eyes met mine, that complicated look returned.
"Senior, I'm telling you Harang ran to me first!"
"No. He came to Mom and me first and just helped you too."
Ever since waking up, Ryu-yeong and Seol-hee had been arguing nonstop over who I'd actually come to save. The truth was I'd been trying to save both of them, and the residual mana had drawn me there in the first place—but I decided to keep quiet. Taking either side would only exhaust me further, so I simply gave up and let myself be pulled left and right, hoping they'd reach a conclusion before my shoulders tore off.
Still, deep down I felt a little relieved that the two of them seemed just a bit closer now. More accurately, Ryu-yeong had been the one unilaterally closing the distance.
The moment Ryu-yeong woke up in the hospital, the first thing she did was check her wrist. When she realized the bracelet I'd removed for treatment was gone, she tried to bolt upright and leave. I had to grab her wrist and fasten it back on before she finally calmed down. After that she pulled me into a hug and sobbed that she'd missed me so much. I'd expected Seol-hee—who had woken up first—to pry her off, but Seol-hee only pouted and left us alone.
Once Ryu-yeong had settled a little and started sniffling, Seol-hee handed her a tissue and grumbled that her already-ugly face would get even uglier if she didn't wipe it right away. Seol-hee called her face ugly, but honestly it wasn't. If anything, it was a strong, handsome face—the kind that would probably be more popular with women than men back in the other world.
I took the tissue and gently dabbed at Ryu-yeong's tears, telling her a little dragon looked better cool than pretty. That only made her hug me again and wail even harder. This time Seol-hee couldn't take it; she grabbed one of my arms and started yanking, which was how we ended up in the current situation. The two of them kept tugging me back and forth, trading cute insults about who was uglier and who was more clingy.
I wondered if this was what people meant when they said girls grow closer by fighting, and let my body sway helplessly between their pulls.
At this rate my arms really were going to—
Pop.
"Ah."
I was doing bodyweight exercises at home with a cast on my left arm. Luckily I could still focus on lower-body work that wouldn't strain the cast.
Beside me stood Ryu-yeong, somehow having acquired a red hat labeled [Instructor] and a pair of sunglasses, correcting my form. Next to her, Seol-hee held a damp towel with a faintly gloomy expression, while Seol-hwa giggled happily at the whole scene.
My left arm had been dislocated when Seol-hee yanked on it. Since it happened in the hospital, treatment came quickly. Superpower-based healing fixed the dislocation itself in no time, but once a shoulder has popped out, it can slip again easily for a while—hence the cast. When it happened, the pain in my shoulder surprised me less than Mother instantly scooping me up and sprinting for a doctor.
After I came home in the cast, Mother exploded at Seol-hee and Ryu-yeong. Father and I barely managed to calm her down. Seol-hwa, thoroughly entertained by the scolding, stood off to the side giggling the whole time.
Seol-hee, crushed with guilt over dislocating my shoulder, teared up and kept apologizing. I told her I'd forgive her if she granted me one wish. She nodded so hard I thought her head might fall off. Smiling, I made her promise not to complain whenever Ryu-yeong came over to play. A flicker of disappointment crossed Seol-hee's face at the nature of my wish, but Mother's firm reminder that a promise was a promise made her nod again, looking thoroughly sulky.
And so Ryu-yeong was once again allowed to visit our house. When I asked Seol-hwa if she was okay with it, she said she didn't mind as long as I stayed home and Ryu-yeong came to us instead of the other way around.
"Trainee! Answer with 'Sir, yes sir!' instead!"
"Little Dragon, where on earth did you even learn that…"
"I am not Little Dragon! Address me as Instructor!"
Ryu-yeong's lips twitched as she refused to drop the drill-instructor act. In the end I sighed and played along with her clumsy role-play.
Once the workout wound down and I was panting, Seol-hee gently wiped my face with the towel. Leaning into her touch, I asked Ryu-yeong again where she'd picked up the whole routine. She puffed out her chest proudly and declared she'd seen it on the internet. Since none of us three siblings had ever been allowed online, Seol-hee and Seol-hwa immediately swarmed her with envious chatter.
I wiped my face with the towel she'd tossed onto my head and chuckled under my breath. No matter how much they fought and sniped at each other, they were still just kids around ten years old. Kids fought easily, made up easily, and grew closer that way.
Ryu-yeong brought a laptop over to our house. Seol-hee and Seol-hwa treated it like some priceless treasure, shielding Ryu-yeong with their own bodies from the front door all the way to my room so Mother and Father wouldn't notice. I laughed quietly at the sight and volunteered to keep our parents' attention occupied, giving the three of them time to hang out and get closer.
That left me in Mother and Father's room, finally having the conversation I'd been putting off—about the other world and about magic.
"…So, son, you can really use that magic thing? Honey, is it true? You said you saw it."
At Father's worried question, Mother gave a small, stiff nod. Father still looked unconvinced as he stepped closer, gently wrapping me in a hug.
"I understand our boy spent twenty years struggling in another world. I've seen enough to know he doesn't act like a normal child."
I felt him patting my back. Whether the gesture was meant to soothe me or himself, I couldn't tell. I nuzzled my head against his chest to show him he didn't need to worry. His voice grew thick.
"Son… Mom and Dad didn't give birth to you. Maybe we just happened to fit the situation and became your parents."
"Honey, not in front of the child—"
"You've felt it too. Son… we're probably your third set of parents. Your birth parents, the Saintess who took care of you in that world, and now us… We'll be your third parents, but…"
Father held me tighter. My face was buried against him, so I couldn't see his expression, but I felt hot drops landing on my back one by one.
"Are you really okay with that…? Sometimes I'm scared. Scared that our son might not truly think of us as his parents…"
"Honey, he's only ten—what are you saying to him…"
"Harang said it was real, and you saw it yourself. Maybe we've been too slow to understand him… In that case, it's better to be a little more honest."
Father sniffled and spoke a bit sharply to Mother. Then his hands gently cupped my cheeks and lifted my face. When I looked up, he made no attempt to hide the tears and runny nose. His eyes held nothing but solid, unwavering trust.
I closed my eyes for a moment and thought. Even now, if someone asked me to picture my parents, the first faces that rose were the ones I could no longer remember—the ones who had given birth to me. Next came the Saintess who had cared for me in the other world. Only after that did my current parents appear. I knew how deeply they loved me, but from the perspective of someone mentally close to an adult, relying on them completely like a little child was still hard. That was why I still called them Mother and Father.
I had never imagined that distance might make them feel insecure. No matter how many years I'd spent in the other world, I was still just a child—a child who didn't yet understand a parent's heart.
I reached out from Father's arms and tugged on Mother's sleeve. She looked startled but let herself be pulled closer. I wrapped both of them in a hug and whispered, soft but clear enough for them to hear.
"Yeah. Mom, Dad… thank you. Don't worry… I… love you…"
The words were so embarrassing I felt my ears burn, but Father immediately hugged me tighter and started bawling. Mother's hand, a little awkward, stroked my back.
The warm atmosphere of accepting my new family all over again was shattered by twin screams from my room.
"Kyaaaaah!!!"
Mother, Father, and I bolted for my room—only to be met with:
"Ah—no!! Mom! Don't come in yet!!"
Bang!!
"Kyaaak!!"
"The unnies told me to look!"
"Hey, Seol-hwa!! You were the one who pressed it!!"
Despite Seol-hee's desperate plea to wait, Mother shoved the door open. Seol-hee's childish scream, Seol-hwa's excuse, and Ryu-yeong's slightly indignant shout all spilled out at once. Father cleared his throat, covered my eyes with one hand, and marched straight toward the kitchen. In an instant my vision was blocked; I had no idea what was happening and could only follow wherever he led.
Behind us came the solid thud of a door slamming shut, followed by the small, startled cries of Seol-hee, Seol-hwa, and Ryu-yeong.