Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: What on Earth is an Elf?
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“If you could start your life over, what kind of life would you want to live?”
A young man posed the question.
The orphanage kids chimed in one after another with enthusiastic replies.
“A cool police officer!”
“I want to be a teacher!”
They were around elementary school age.
The children interpreted the young man’s question as asking how they wanted to live after being adopted.
He nodded and smiled warmly, as if cheering on their dreams.
Then, his gaze suddenly drifted to the corner of the room.
A boy sat there quietly, absorbed in a book. He was the only one in the place who hadn’t paid the man any attention.
He turned the page with deliberate slowness.
“I want to be a researcher!”
A girl about middle school age spoke up.
The young man turned back with curious eyes.
“If I could, I’d awaken and analyze the energy in mana stones.”
“And after analyzing them?”
“Uh, well... I’d figure out the principles behind the power...?”
She stumbled over her words, clearly not having thought it through deeply.
The young man listened patiently without rushing her.
Soon, the other kids started sharing their dreams one by one.
The last one was a high school boy who was about to age out of the orphanage.
“I awakened recently. I’m thinking of joining a guild first.”
“Congrats on the awakening. Got a guild in mind?”
“Not yet.”
The boy stared intently at the young man’s face.
Just from the vibe, he could tell the man exuded the aura of someone powerful.
He had to be a high-rank hunter.
Desperation shone in the boy’s eyes as he hoped for a scout offer.
But the young man just smiled gently and said nothing.
Finally, the boy couldn’t hold back.
“...I’m planning to apply to Cheongnim Guild and the Knight Order for now.”
“Good guilds. But they’re strict on discipline, so steel yourself.”
He patted the boy’s shoulder encouragingly.
As the young man moved on to another child, the boy’s head drooped.
Heading to the corner, the young man said,
“Kid, if you could start your life over, what kind of life would you want?”
“...Dunno.”
Flip—
The boy looked up from his book.
His face was pale, and exhaustion tinged his languid expression.
“Just an easy, comfortable one.”
“Easy and comfortable?”
“Yeah. Orphanages are kinda noisy.”
“Don’t like the commotion?”
“It’s not that I hate it—it’s just too much. And the oppression’s intense.”
His tone was soft and measured.
The young man stroked his chin, silently studying the boy.
The boy waited calmly for him to speak.
The only sounds were the chatter of the kids around them.
Soon, the young man smiled faintly.
“I’m Min Hyeong. What’s your name?”
“...Lee Si-an.”
The boy blinked a few times before answering.
This was their first meeting.
A world where gates had opened on Earth, monsters poured out, and chaos reigned.
Common sense had flipped, and all sorts of freaks ran wild.
Lee Si-an thought to himself: His adoptive father, Min Hyeong, had to be one of the top-tier freaks.
“You’re saying you remember your past lives?”
“Yeah! A world totally different from Earth. I went through all kinds of crap there.”
And with that, he launched into his tales.
The most frequent ones were about some fantasy world that felt vaguely medieval or modern.
“The elves said it back then. ‘Lady Silvern! You’re the Knight of Knights!’”
“Knight of Knights...?”
Si-an muttered in disbelief.
And who could blame him?
It was the total opposite of how his adoptive father acted.
His dad was a free spirit.
Like someone finally released from long oppression, reveling in freedom, poking his nose into every corner.
Not tied to any group, so Si-an, who tagged along for cleanup, ended up experiencing all sorts of wild stuff.
‘He seems to enjoy the chaos itself.’
His father sucked at everything proper. Everything he did felt awkward.
Except one thing.
He was insanely good at fighting.
Even Si-an, who dismissed the past-life nonsense, started trusting him because of it.
Not that he truly believed it.
“The elves in my world? Total muscleheads.”
“Muscleheads?”
“Put it nicely: fearless warriors. Put it bluntly: dumb brutes.”
Well, that fit the era, maybe.
“And that’s not all. They didn’t live in forests—they dwelled in cities like humans, indulging in luxury and revelry.”
“Uh, um...”
Were those really elves?
Same name, different species?
Si-an tilted his head in doubt.
Right on cue, Min Hyeong said,
“And yet they were all stunningly beautiful, blessed with magic power. Weird race, right?”
Guess they were elves after all.
Si-an decided to mentally translate his dad’s fantastical elves as “glamf”—glamorous muscleheads.
Different, but it kinda clicked.
After rambling about elves for a while, Min Hyeong grinned mischievously.
“Son, you said you wanted an easy, comfortable life, right?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Then elf sounds perfect.”
“...Pardon?”
Si-an recoiled in horror.
“I didn’t mean I want to live brainless.”
His vivid reaction cracked Min Hyeong up.
Time flew by.
The years Si-an spent with Min Hyeong had grown too many to count on one hand.
The boy became a young man, quietly absorbing his father’s teachings.
He’d once asked why his father adopted him.
Min Hyeong’s answer was simple:
“You reminded me of myself. Living alone got lonely.”
Si-an wasn’t thrilled.
Even years later, his dad was still a walking disaster.
He lived life so carelessly it was concerning.
Plus, he always chose the hard path over easy ones.
He never avoided dangerous zones that others shunned.
Thanks to that, Si-an got strong enough to survive anywhere. Pretty much forced into it.
One unremarkable day like any other.
After finishing his daily training, Si-an busied himself around the house.
Watered his favorite potted plant, tidied up, then settled into quiet reading.
That’s when the door opened, and Min Hyeong returned from his outing.
He shrugged off his coat and flopped onto the sofa.
After watching Si-an for a bit, he blurted out,
“Son. Like I’ve said before, your eyes are something else.”
“...Yeah?”
“Across all my past lives, I’ve never seen dynamic vision like yours. You read magic flows perfectly too.”
“What good’s that when my body’s frail?”
Si-an shrugged and looked up from his book.
He’d been sickly since childhood, always under the weather. Even at the orphanage, he was known as the weak kid.
His father’s help had improved things, but his poor stamina hadn’t budged.
“So what’re you getting at? You’re not one for compliments, so this feels suspicious.”
“Oops, caught on already?”
Min Hyeong scratched his cheek awkwardly.
Then he grabbed the remote, flicked on the TV, and flipped channels until he stopped on the news.
“That big lizard baby. Looks like it’s heading for Korea, huh?”
“...High chance.”
Si-an nodded slightly, squinting at the screen.
“We taking it down?”
“Mm.”
“It wiped out foreign S-Rank Hunters. You sure?”
The disaster had been spotted in the north, no longer human territory.
It veered toward China, scorching everything in its path.
Then it suddenly flew over the sea.
By trajectory, destinations were Korea or Japan.
“Truth is...”
Min Hyeong’s expression soured.
“I’ve been slacking too much this life. Might be tough.”
Another past-life fantasy unfolding. Si-an cut in quick to shorten it.
“That’s what you get for living like those elves you ragged on.”
“...Ahem!”
“You’ll go anyway, even if I try stopping you. I’ll come too.”
“You could just chill at home.”
“Gotta pick the time and place. And I’m a good son.”
Min Hyeong bit back a laugh at Si-an’s words.
“Might die.”
“I’d be dead already without you.”
“...Cheeky brat.”
Min Hyeong straightened up.
“Let’s save the world from that arrogant lizard, son.”
Thud. Boom!
The colossal being dubbed a disaster crashed to the ground.
Its head, severed by a blade, rolled across the dirt.
Around it lay countless human corpses.
Some still clung to life.
Lee Si-an and Min Hyeong.
But neither was unscathed.
“Cough! We got it in the end.”
Bloody all over, Min Hyeong slumped and grinned.
“Saved another world... Guess it’s my calling.”
He muttered self-mockingly.
Si-an, equally drenched in blood and slumped nearby, grumbled back.
“Calling my ass. Cough! I always thought... you wouldn’t live to a ripe old age...”
“Heh... Knight of Knights, y’know. Gotta... stick to my convictions...”
Again with that.
Amid the pain, Si-an couldn’t help chuckling at his father’s consistency.
Then Min Hyeong stroked Si-an’s hand with trembling fingers.
Even dying, he smiled purely, without a hint of regret.
“Son... Thanks for the fun times.”
“...Me too.”
“If you start a new life... Cough! Hope you get the one you want.”
“Sniff... Remembering past lives and all?”
Si-an said with a faint smile.
No reply came.
Staring at his father a moment, Si-an painfully lifted his head to the sky.
Damn blue sky hung there peacefully, like nothing happened.
Feeling the lingering warmth on his hand, Si-an closed his eyes.
With that warmth, his consciousness sank into deep darkness.
……Deep in some mountain forest.
Far from civilization, a wooden cabin blended into the woods like part of the forest itself.
Step step—
A girl of four or five toddled toward the well.
She struggled to fill a ladle as big as her torso. Splashing water echoed in the quiet woods.
She hurried back inside on short legs.
Once washing prep was done,
Her father, back from outside, patted her head approvingly.
Her dazzling golden hair shook like it held the sunlight itself. Long, slender ears poked through.
The girl smiled faintly, docile under his touch.
“Time to wash up?”
Her father started prepping too.
She noticed his body differed from hers.
Right then!
‘Wha—what?!’
Memories surged through her mind like a tidal wave.
Orphanage. Adoptive father. Past lives. Nonsense. Lizard...
“...!”
Eyes wide, the girl whipped her head around, scanning.
Then she rushed to the ladle, peering at her reflection.
‘...An, an elf?’
The girl, once Lee Si-an, wore a mask of shock and confusion.