CH 84

Yongno woke up at 7 AM and ate a quick breakfast before reading a few novels he’d bought, waiting for lunchtime. He tried watching some television, which he didn’t usually do, and he also attempted to take a nap. Yet, since he was well-rested, he couldn’t fall asleep.

“There’s nothing to do….”

Right, there was nothing to do. Previously, when he’d feel like this, Yongno would play some online games, but after DIO, none of them seemed fun or interesting.

“Ah, when is January 1st going to roll around?”

Thinking that there were too many hours in a day, Yongno rolled around in his bed. When he was preparing for the university entrance exam, he had made a long list of things to do afterward, but now that he had time to review and use the list, nothing seemed to catch his eye.

“Should I try and theory craft hand skills and magic skills?”

Once he thought this, Yongno no longer felt bored. Studying martial arts and magic was more enjoyable than anything he could learn in real life, and while martial arts and magic studies were tedious and difficult, Yongno felt that the challenge added to his enjoyment. By training in the martial arts, Yongno could move in ways he never would’ve imagined, and magic allowed him to create miracles that defied modern common sense. These two achievements not only gave him joy but an immense sense of happiness.

Whoosh.

While in bed, Yongno started moving his hands in the formations he’d learned in-game. First, he practiced the hand motions for the skill Mari taught him, Great Strength Vajra Hand, swiftly followed by the skills he’d learned from the library books, Great Tantra Hand and Formless Blade. Yongno even tried to convert the sword art that the orc hero Sungmuk used into a hand skill: Plum Blossom Hand.

Though the hand skills were already perfected, they weren’t created to work together, so Yongno worked on trying to link them seamlessly so that he could make combos or use different hand skills interchangeably. In addition, the Plum Blossom Hand was something Yongno created after reviewing Sungmuk’s Plum Blossom Sword Art, so this specific derivative hand skill wasn’t flawless.

Sss.

Despite being on his back, his hands and arms were moving at a fairly quick pace. Of course, Yongno couldn’t utilize internal energy as he would have if he were in DIO, so he was essentially just moving his hands around in the air. However, Yongno wasn’t focusing on his hands.

‘Even if I rush, I can’t complete another Howling Spell in less than two weeks. I can use the Training Room to create the spell, so time isn’t an issue, but if I continue concentrating on only one spell, I’m going to get bored.’

It took a tremendous amount of mental fortitude to create a Howling Spell. For someone who hated rote learning and repeated motions, Yongno felt stressed at the idea of making a spell that he’d already created. His efforts would result in a tremendously powerful spell, but Yongno’s life motto was to avoid doing what he disliked, so no matter how large the payoff, Yongno most likely wouldn’t pursue something that he disliked or did before.

Ding Dong~ Ding Dong~

“Huh? Who could that be at the door?”

Yongno got out of bed and headed down the short hallway to his front door. Since he wasn’t wearing too much, Yongno snagged a pair of training pants that were on the floor and put them on.

“Who is it?”

“Me.”

“Oh, you surprised me, Eunhye.”

Once Yongno opened the door, Eunhye walked in with an expressionless face, as if it was natural for her to be in Yongno’s place. Since it was cold outside, Eunhye had a white parka and a scarf on. In this outfit, combined with her height of 175 centimeters tall or more, she looked like a model.

“It seems like you don’t have much to do.”

“Well, there’s nothing pressing at the moment.”

As Yongno responded, he took a popsicle from his freezer and handed it to Eunhye, who took it without skipping a beat. Though her facial expression didn’t change when she started eating the popsicle, Yongno knew she was happy, as he’d seen and interacted with her for over ten years.

“Where's your clothing hangers?”

“I don’t have anything like that. I place any clothes that need to be hung on my sofa.”

“You really don’t know how to organize, do you? To not even have clothing hangers….”

“It’s because I just throw everything in my closet.”

While responding, Yongno couldn’t help but be surprised. Whenever Eunhye stopped by, she didn’t remove her jacket. Although his house wasn’t too chilly for her to take off her coat, this was still abnormal for Eunhye. Moreover, she never stayed for too long.

“You have a lot of books.”

This was also a first. She never started a conversation in this way. If she didn’t have something specific to tell him, she never visited. Additionally, due to her personality, Eunhye went straight to the main point whenever she spoke. She didn’t get sidetracked with idle chatter, and she actually disliked it.

“I’ve recently started collecting some books. Most of them are novels or comic books- huh?”

As she spoke absentmindedly, Eunhye grabbed one of Yongno’s books at random and plopped herself onto his sofa. Yongno couldn’t help but stare in disbelief at what he was witnessing. Eunhye had chosen a mystery novel, and she didn’t care that Yongno was staring at her with a dumbfounded expression.

Flip.

The sound of Eunhye flipping the novel’s pages spread throughout the quiet house. Not knowing how he should react, Yongno stood there astonished for about five minutes.

‘… What’s going on?’

Yongno glanced at Eunhye’s face. She seemed to be focused on what she was reading.

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.’

In the end, Yongno shrugged, picked up a book, and sat next to Eunhye. Despite their close proximity, they had known each other for a long time, so there was no awkwardness in the air.

Flip.

Silence dominated the inside of Yongno’s home. The sole sound was the occasional page turn. While this quietness may have been awkward or stressful for Yongno at any other time, he found it oddly relaxing right now. Eunhye didn’t even raise her head once, entirely focused on the book that she’d picked at random. Yongno also focused on reading his book. He felt relaxed and calm, which differed from how bored he was when he tried reading earlier.

‘This book itself isn’t all that interesting, though.’

He had already finished reading his book, but he continued re-reading it. Yongno felt that it wasn’t appropriate to broach a conversation with Eunhye in this type of atmosphere.

‘I’m getting sleepy….’

It was a relaxing environment, muted as well. Yongno wasn’t tired, but he felt his eyelids becoming heavy.

‘Should I catch a few winks…’

With this thought, Yongno’s eyes closed.

***

Whoosh.

In a vast blue ocean, a boy was swimming. If anyone were to see this scene, they would’ve yelled at the boy to get out, as he wasn’t swimming in a pool but near an artificial seawall with three-meter-deep water. Forget a ten-year-old boy; even an adult shouldn’t swim in such dangerous waters. However, the young boy didn’t seem to mind as he gently glided around on his back, his tummy above the surface. He tapped his feet against the water to move here and there.

“Try not to swim near the area where I cast my rod. You’ll chase away all the fish.”

There were two people near the seawall. One was the young boy swimming, and the other was a man in his mid-thirties who was fishing from atop the seawall.

“Hehehe, aren’t you angry with me?”

“Angry with you? About what?”

“All the adults who see me swimming here get angry at me. They say it’s too dangerous to swim, especially for someone as young as me.”

Hearing the young boy complain as if he didn’t like adults, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s cute behavior.

“Hahaha. I guess they’re all just concerned, but I feel like they should be more worried about a fish drowning than you swimming.”

“Right? That’s what I think as well.”

The boy readily agreed with the man’s assessment and swam toward him. He was happy. The middle-aged man was the only person who had complimented his swimming ability.

“Oh, no. Hey, can you not chase away the fish?”

“You need fish? Shall I catch some for you?”

Depending on how the boy’s words were interpreted, they might be seen as weird and delusional. After all, a ten-year-old boy swimming in the ocean was saying that he could catch fish with his bare hands. Yet, seemingly unbothered with this, the middle-aged man shook his head.

“If I merely wanted some fish, I would have gone to the local market instead of bringing my fishing pole here. Similar to your swimming, the act of fishing itself is the goal.”

“Oh, then is fishing fun?”

“Fun? Fun… I’m not sure. I’ve been doing it for so long that I’ve forgotten what that’s like.”

The man smiled good-naturedly as he looked at the swimming boy. Waves constantly disrupted the peaceful seawater, but the boy moved naturally with the water’s undulations. Instead of swimming, it looked as though the boy was naturally lying on a bed.

“Uh… dang it… I guess I’ll head back home.”

“Why?”

“I think there’ll be a storm between 2:10 to 2:15 PM. If I don’t start heading back now, I might not be able to make it back home before it gets dark. I live quite far from here.”

As he spoke, the young boy glanced at the middle-aged man to see his response. If he said this to any other adult, they would surely ask what the young boy was on about, but the middle-aged man only nodded.

“I see. Since it seems the storm will bring a lot of rain with it, I should head back a little earlier as well.”

“Huh? You’re able to [Know] as well?”

The boy feigned a surprised expression, but the middle-aged man smiled. Yet, for whatever reason, it seemed that there was a sense of sorrow and pity in the man’s eyes.

“You’re a surprising young boy. I’ve lived a long life, but I don’t think I’ve met a boy like you.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Yeah. You’re an exceptional child.”

“Hehehe.”

The young boy embarrassingly chuckled after judging that the man wasn’t stating empty words. Since he was constantly yelled at or spoken down to, this was the first time he received such praise.

“But kiddo, adults may see your exceptionalism as something to dislike.”

“Eh? Isn’t it good to be exceptional?”

The man looked at him with an expressionless face. And then…

“It’s time for you to return, teacher.”

“Uh? When did he get here?”

The boy was surprised when he saw a young man suddenly appear next to the middle-aged man. The seawall was level and allowed excellent visibility, so if anyone approached, they could be seen from a distance. However, the boy had not seen nor sensed the young man.

“Always in such a rush.”

“Teacher.”

As the young man continued to implore him, the middle-aged man eventually sighed and started putting his fishing gear away. He actually didn’t have much with him, not even a bucket to store anything he caught. Essentially, his only possession was the fishing pole.

“It’d be nice to see you again.”

“Me, too. Ah, but what’s your name?”

“My real name or my username?”

With that weird response, the young boy frowned. “What would I do with your username? Your real name, of course.”

“Hahaha. Come to think of it, you’re right. My real name… oh yeah, my real name is….”

The middle-aged man seemed to be recalling something deep within his past.

“My name is Kang Sang.”