NOVEL NEXT C2
Chapter 2
The school opening ceremony ended.
I stood up from my seat with my bag and looked for Yeon Ha-neul.
She was organizing her locker.
With her small, round tail peeking out, she was bending over inside her locker, which was quite an impressive sight.
‘Should I wait until she finishes organizing her things and then ask if she wants to go home with me?’
I looked at her rabbit tail thoughtfully for a moment, then decided against it.
‘No, I should wait until we get closer before asking to go home together.’
The more hurried you are, the more likely you’ll make a mistake.
If I rushed, I might end up giving her a burden and make her treat me awkwardly.
For today, I decided to be content with just being paired up with Yeon Ha-neul.
Still, I should at least say goodbye.
“I’m going now. See you tomorrow.”
“….”
I passed by Yeon Ha-neul as I spoke.
She flinched in response.
She pulled her head out of the locker and turned it toward me.
Her red eyes, looking up at me, seemed to carry some suspicion.
“Why…?”
Was there something she wanted to say?
Yeon Ha-neul kept twitching her lips.
After a moment of hesitation, she asked carefully.
“Why did you sit next to me?”
“….”
Was that what she wanted to ask?
I wondered if there was any need to hesitate.
I casually chuckled and decided to answer her question.
There was no reason not to answer.
“I wanted to get closer to you.”
“…What?”
So I could recruit her, of course.
I hid my true intentions and answered.
Yeon Ha-neul seemed surprised by my words, staring blankly with her mouth slightly open.
“What’s….”
“It’s just as I said.”
“….”
“I sat next to you because I wanted to get closer to you. What, is that a problem?”
“No, it’s not that… but why do you want to get closer to me? That won’t happen, but do you….”
Yeon Ha-neul, unable to finish her sentence, stammered and mumbled.
“Do you like….”
“I just want to get closer. If you ask me why…hmm, if I had to give a reason, it’s because you remind me of Mongshil?”
“Hmm? Mongshil?”
“Yeah, I have a rabbit at home. Its name is Mongshil, and it’s a male.”
“….”
“So I like rabbits.”
“So the reason you want to get closer to me is because….”
“Yeah, because you remind me of Mongshil.”
“…You said it’s a male. Am I male?”
“Still, you have rabbit ears.”
“I’m not a rabbit, you know!?”
“I know that! When did I ever say you were a rabbit?”
“It’s not that…ugh, really….”
She went from being shocked, to confused, to disheartened, to sulking….
Her expressions changed constantly.
It was really fun to watch.
I tried to hide my true feelings and spoke offhandedly, laughing lightly.
“Anyway, I’m going now. See you tomorrow.”
“…Goodbye, see you tomorrow.”
She accepted my goodbye this time, though still with a little reluctance.
I waved my hand to her and finally left the classroom.
“Hmm….”
I decided to calmly organize my past memories.
I hadn’t had the chance to do so until now because I had been so out of it.
‘Still, it’s hard to believe. I’ve reincarnated, and the world I’ve reincarnated into happens to be the world of a game….’
Even so, I had to accept it.
By the way,
‘Can’t I check my status?’
My thoughts wandered elsewhere.
In the game, players could check a character’s information through the status window but in this world, there was no such thing as a status window.
So, I couldn’t objectively assess my own status, nor was it easy to check my gift.
“….”
But you never know.
I quietly muttered “status window” under my breath, so no one else could hear.
[Personal Information]
Name: Do Gyeon-woo (Male, 12 years old)
Alias: Rabbit
Affiliation: Raon Elementary School
[Possessed Gifts]
Instinctive Evasion
[Physical Abilities]
Stamina: 37
Strength: 34
Durability: 32
Agility: 43
Mana: 30
Luck: 25
Remaining Points: 0
It was a message I had only seen in games.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the status window floating in front of me so I quickly skimmed through the details.
‘Not bad. It’s decent.’
People from the Shingeom Do family begin learning swordsmanship as soon as they can walk.
I, too, was raised in the family.
From a very young age, I held a sword and learned how to wield it.
Perhaps because of that influence the status window reflecting my current state displayed fairly decent numbers.
It was hard to believe they were the stats of a 5th-grade elementary school student.
So….
‘I’ve been living with these abilities, crouching like a coward until now?’
In front of my family, I was always intimidated, being overly cautious and I had been bullied like a fool.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.
‘Why did I live like that?’
Really, really, really….
I can’t live like that anymore.
***
My past life had a troubled family environment.
Due to a one-night mistake, the woman who gave birth to me, my mother, was often drunk, lamenting her life, and the man who was my father frequently wandered outside.
Eventually, divorce became inevitable.
I was left to my mother.
“If I earn a lot of money in the future, I’ll come get you. Can you wait here quietly until then?”
“…”
One snowy day, I was abandoned.
I became an orphan.
“Why did you give birth to me if it was going to be like this? Liar…”
In my past life, parents were nothing but objects of resentment but for the reincarnated me, it was different.
“I’m back from school!”
“Did you come, Gyeon-woo? You came back quickly.”
“Today was the school opening ceremony.”
“How was the homeroom teacher? How do you think the class is?”
My mother warmly welcomed me when I came back from school.
Her kind smile made me feel warm inside.
My mother in my past life never smiled like that.
‘Rather, when she saw my face, she’d make a face that showed she didn’t like me and wouldn’t even try to look at me.’
It’s not good to think of the past life.
Only memories of the game would come to mind, along with unwanted, forgotten memories.
Maybe that’s why I was feeling sentimental.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“…No. I’m just thankful.”
I hugged my mother tightly.
She seemed a little taken aback for a moment, but then she embraced me.
“Did you miss me that much?”
“I missed you a lot today.”
“Did something happen?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Then make sure to tell me if something happens.”
“Yes, I will.”
“You haven’t eaten lunch, so you must be hungry. I’ll make you something to eat. Just wait a little.”
“Then I’ll play with Mongshil.”
“Okay, do that.”
It was a little embarrassing and a bit awkward but feeling my mother’s warmth, I felt calm and at ease.
The chaotic memories also quieted down.
‘I am not the person I was in my past life.’
And I am not the Do Gyeon-woo from the game.
I am simply Do Gyeon-woo.
I shouldn’t get lost in the memories of my past life.
I let go of my mother and took a deep breath to clear my mind.
Then I went to see Mongshil.
“Mongshil, hyung is here.”
Sniff!
My pet rabbit, Mongshil.
I gave Mongshil some hay that I had taken out from the cage.
-Crunch, crunch.
Mongshil enjoyed my touch, eating the hay I gave it.
“It was hard to get close to you too.”
Sniff?
Rabbits are sensitive creatures.
It takes a long time to get close to them.
Especially Mongshil, who was a rabbit prepared for hunting in the Shingeom Do family, so naturally, it had a high level of wariness toward humans.
At that time, I couldn’t bear to kill Mongshil, feeling sorry for it, so I decided to raise it, and that’s how we ended up like this.
‘And because of that, I was mocked by the family as “Rabbit”.’
I was a coward who couldn’t even hunt a single rabbit, someone who couldn’t become a lion.
That’s the meaning behind the nickname “Rabbit.”
I made a bitter smile.
Anyway,
“It must have been hard to get close to her too, right?”
Yeon Ha-neul is a rabbit-like person.
She must have similar traits to a rabbit.
…Maybe, I thought so when I saw her earlier.
Thinking like that, it seemed like I would need to put some effort into getting close to her.
“Well, since I have nothing to do at school anyway, I might as well invest some time.”
Like training a rabbit, carefully.
With that mindset, I decided to approach her.
That’s how I’d hunt the rabbit.
No, recruit her.
In the famous swordsmanship family, the Shingeom Do family, there is a sword style that symbolizes the family.
Su-wang-ryu (Beast King Style).
The swordsmanship, named after the lion who reigns over all beasts, sought the end of the sword by combining various qualities such as speed (快), change (變), strength (强), sharpness (尖), and dominance (覇).
It was the sword style that would eventually make Do Gyeon-woo, who awakened late in the game, into the greatest swordsman.
Knowing that….
“Mom! I’m going to the swordsmanship hall!”
“So early? Isn’t it too soon?”
“I want to go ahead and practice.”
I couldn’t afford to slack off on training.
After lunch, I headed straight for the swordsmanship hall.
The Shingeom Do family operated swordsmanship halls in any region with a large population.
Anyone who wanted to learn swordsmanship and become a hunter could pay tuition and receive training at these halls.
‘Of course, if you’re not from the Shingeom Do family, you can’t learn the complete Su-wang-ryu.’
The swordsmanship hall taught a more general style.
But it was still very popular, so every hall was packed with people.
“Since I came early, there’s not many people here.”
On the days when I was scheduled to learn the complete style, I would have private lessons with the dedicated instructor. On other days, I would take classes with other people.
Today was the latter.
So, when I entered the dojo, there were a few people who had arrived before me.
“…”
They nodded and greeted me as I entered.
I returned their greetings, unpacked my things, and picked up a wooden sword.
“Ha…”
I took a breath and exhaled before swiftly bringing the wooden sword down.
Returning to my original stance, I waited again.
I took a hunting posture and imagined prey right in front of me.
A lion waits for an opening in its prey’s guard in order to hunt it.
After holding my breath and patiently waiting, when my prey finally let down its guard—
I would strike in an instant.
I quickly took a step forward, putting strength into my limbs and swinging my sword down.
Once I started feeling the right sensation, I shortened the time between each move.
Once, twice, three times….
Swish!
The sound of the wooden sword cutting through the air echoed.
I focused on that sound and continued to swing the sword again and again, memorizing the movements of my muscles.
‘Good.’
Was it this fun to swing a sword?
Was it this enjoyable to sweat?
A feeling of fulfillment washed over me.
Today, my concentration was on point.
So I kept swinging—
“What? Why are you here so early?”
“Yeah, what’s the coward doing here?”
“What’s he doing practicing here?”
“…”
The identical triplets’ words broke my concentration.
I stopped swinging the wooden sword and glared at them as they approached, snickering.
‘I’m pissed.’
I had been concentrating so well for once.
I was immersing myself in the world of my mind but now they were ruining it, and I was angry.
No, that wasn’t the only reason.
There was a more fundamental reason.
‘So, I’ve been cowering in front of guys like this all this time?’
These triplets in front of me were the main culprits who had tormented me, the ones who were instigated by my cousin.
Just seeing their faces reminded me of the pathetic version of me back then.
The more I thought about it, the more irritated I got.
“What good is practicing alone?”
“Should we spar with you?”
“Want us to help?”
The triplets provoked me.
I had only one response.
“Then shall we take it easy? Like a real fight?”