Hero Hunt (1)
Beep, beep.
An irritating electronic tone blared from beside my head. I groped under the pillow and grabbed my vibrating phone. Squinting at the screen, it was 6:17 a.m. I'd been sleeping soundly, so waking up like this pissed me off. I immediately swiped it off.
Silence returned. Just as I was about to drift back to sleep—
Beep, beep-beep— bzzzzzz!
An even more insistent noise jolted me fully awake.
"Shit..."
Only then did I remember setting alarms every minute last night. There was a reason I had to wake up early today.
"Seriously, there's no brother like me in the world..."
Muttering to myself, I dragged myself out of bed. After a shower, it was 6:40 a.m. I'd woken up on time, so I had plenty of leeway. I rinsed some rice and put it in the cooker, then whipped up bean sprout soup and side dishes for a hearty breakfast. Around then, my sister's door creaked open.
I was already washing dishes and called out without looking back at her standing there.
"Go wash up. It's opening ceremony today—you should eat before you go."
"..."
No reply, just the sound of footsteps, then the bathroom door slammed shut.
Her attitude was beyond frosty. A deep sigh escaped from the bottom of my heart.
"That ill-mannered brat."
She wasn't like this before. Lately, she treats her big brother's words like dog shit. It was infuriating... but also familiar by now.
I covered the dishes with plastic wrap and set them on the table, then headed back to my room. Soon, I heard her getting ready for school outside. Timing it just as she was about to leave, I stepped out and asked,
"Not eating?"
"Not hungry."
An obvious excuse, but I let it slide. 'Like hell I'd eat the breakfast you made.' Not hearing that was progress enough.
As she slipped on her shoes at the entrance, I called out,
"I'll be late tonight, so don't wait up."
"...Out drinking again?"
"Nah, just hanging with friends."
She shot me a cold glare, then spun on her heel. No "I'm off" or anything—just out the door. Left alone, I hummed a tune on my way to the kitchen.
The breakfast sat untouched on the table. I'd put extra effort into it today. Would've been nice if she'd eaten even a spoonful.
I polished off the still-warm food myself and gave it a self-review.
"...Tastes good."
After eating, I killed time until noon doing nothing. My schedule was packed today, but everything was in the afternoon.
First up: lunch with an old acquaintance of my late parents. In other words, a character from the novel I wrote.
Right on cue, a message popped up in the messenger app.
I wrapped up the chat and got dressed. Not heading straight there—I had a stop first. Driving would be a hassle today, so I grabbed a taxi and told the driver,
"Namsan Memorial Plaza, please?"
A place I'd visited at least once or twice a month for the past ten years. That's where the memorial plaza for my parents was.
There's a fantasy novel I wrote a while back called World Guardian. It's about demons invading from another world, and heroes from around the globe banding together under the protagonist to repel them and restore peace.
The key characters were, of course, the protagonist Lee Si-hyeok and the heroine Jeong Se-bin.
Lee Si-hyeok, who grew up without ever knowing his parents. Jeong Se-bin, daughter of a prestigious magic family, burning with cold vengeance after her clan was wiped out. They first met at National Academy 1—the school I attended, and now my sister does.
Their first impressions weren't great. Both top of their fields in martial arts and magic, competing fiercely for scholarships since neither was well-off.
But gradually, they acknowledged each other's skills—"This guy's pretty good"—and overcame crises together, forging a deep bond. By the end, they bickered on the surface but actually cared deeply for one another. Mid-novel, comments were all like, "These two are killing me—when do they get together?"
They did find happiness. Confirmed their feelings, became lovers, and saved the world. That was at twenty-five...
The same age I am now.
It really hits home how great parents are. Here I am at twenty-five, a total mess, while they were top heroes with a happy family.
...If only.
If only they'd stayed happy forever after that. All four of us together—me, my sister, and them.
[Leader of the Thirty-Six Heroes, Hero Among Heroes. In honor of 'Guardian' Lee Si-hyeok and 'Great Archmage' Jeong Se-bin]
I read the inscription on the stone and looked up. There stood a massive statue of the couple. The man pointing his sword—held with both hands—toward the ground, the woman beside him gripping her staff. Handsome and beautiful. The coolest, most admirable people in the world.
And above all... people I missed so, so much.
My parents, gone ten years now. I spoke words they couldn't hear.
"Mom, Dad. It's me."
Their graves were at the National Cemetery, but that was just symbolic. They hadn't even left bodies behind.
That's why I preferred this plaza over the cemetery. Too gloomy there. This place had people coming and going, a brighter vibe—I liked it much better.
Sometimes, hanging out here, it didn't feel real that they were gone. The statues seemed like them for real. Like they'd just moved here, accepting people's gratitude, smiling and welcoming me when I visited.
"...Not like me, huh."
As I muttered, I felt eyes on my back. Whispers mentioning me.
"That's him, right? Lee Dojin. Still comes here a lot."
"Can't get over it... kinda pathetic."
Rude to gossip with the guy right there, but this was tame. At least no outright insults.
Online communities openly mocked me. A pathetic bum living off his parents' legacy, boozing it up. A coward from National Academy 1 who won't fight monsters. The sole stain on a hero's name...
Objectively, not wrong.
Before they died, up to fifteen, I was hailed as inheriting both their talents. By middle school end, evaluations dipped to "half the class average," blamed on grief-induced slump. Still top-tier for my age.
High school? Bottom of the rankings—counting from the back was faster. No more excuses. College graduation was a miracle.
So I humbly accepted the criticism. But separately, I had zero intention of changing.
Talk shit all you want. I'll live like this till I die. And hey, I hustle plenty out of sight.
Ding, ding—
Clear bells rang across the plaza. The clock now read exactly two.
"...I'll come again."
Busy lately, visits sporadic, but things would ease up after today. Final goodbyes to my parents, then I left the memorial plaza.
Time to meet Yeom Ui-jun.