86 – meaning of family

-Don’t try to awaken the nature of Mana. Instinct will wake you up before reason.

– Yes, Master.

-… Instructor.

-I want to take you as a teacher?

-This is not a place for private lessons. Make sure you have a proper title and posture.

-Yep. Master.

-… salty.

-Hi-Hi.

Her white hair with pure whiteness extends down to her shoulders, and her bangs look straight as if she had been cut with a ruler.

The blue pupils, which really matched the white hair, radiated a straight light that inherited the spirit of the bangs.

A woman who has a freshness that has just entered adulthood and a sharpness that is inversely proportional to it.

It was Kim Hye-seo, a senior graduate of the Seoul National Academy.

Upon graduating, she joined the Monster Management Bureau and was diligently receiving training and education under Han Chang-ho, an instructor for new investigators.

Monster Management Bureau.

It was an abbreviated MMO, a place that Awakeners avoided.

Among them, the [Villain Investigation Agency] was the number one place to avoid.

Unlike hunters who run raids in a certain standardized frame, the villain investigation with many variables and risks is a place that everyone avoids because of the work and the pay that does not correspond to it.

So, Kim Hye-seo’s entry into the Monster Management Bureau was unusual.

It was a principle that all top-ranked players in the academy joined the large guild.

However, Hye-seo, who is also a top graduate, refused all sorts of flattering words from large guilds and joined the Monster Management Bureau.

To her, who had lived her entire life with hatred and anger towards illusions, there was something more valuable in the Monster Management Bureau than huge treasures of gold and silver.

[revenge]

Gold, silver and treasure did not matter to her, who had lost her father and mother in an illusion attack when she was young.

Furthermore, since being an assistant shooter of Han Chang-ho holder, whom he always respected and envied, was a condition for joining, how could he refuse?

She worked hard for revenge, and eventually joined the Monster Management Bureau and became Chang-ho Han’s assistant shooter, and she was training accordingly every day.

And finally, it was she who started working in a week.

It was like being able to erupt hatred and resentment toward the villains, and starting revenge against the illusion.

Another week passed like that.

Hye-seo approaches Chang-ho Han, who was sitting on a bench at the training ground the day before the actual work begins.

Wiping the sweat that flowed like rain with a towel around his neck.

and even fluff.

He sat down on the bench as if he were going to fall to the ground.

“Huh- it’s hard, it’s hard.”

Hye-seo speaks so loudly as if she wants her teacher and senior to listen.

At that voice, Han Chang-ho just laughed.

Then.

“by the way. Hye-seo.”

With a thoughtful expression, he called Hye-seo.

“Yep. Master.”

“… phew. Are you going to call me that when you go out to work?”

“At that time, they called me senior, well.”

Fortunately, Han Chang-ho sighed and looked at Hye-seo from a distance.

“By the way, is there any other reason for applying to the Villain Investigation Team, which has a reputation for being difficult even in the Monster Management Bureau?”

The first question that emerges.

Hye-seo leaned on the bench along the window and looked into the distance.

At the end of that long gaze, the name of Gad Rachel, the leader of the illusion, was visible.

vengeance and longing.

Hye-seo, who had been quiet for a while with two emotions in her eyes, opened her mouth soon.

It was a past that no one could see.

However, it was a past that could now be seen.

“It was December 25, 2222.”

“… That was the day the Yongnam village massacre took place.”

As Han Chang-ho answered at the same time as telling the date, Hye-seo looked at him with a surprised face.

Han Chang-ho answers again with a somewhat subdued look.

The horrors of that day were still etched in his mind.

“Already 15 years ago… . Back then, I was just like you. His first dispatch to the scene was the village where the massacre occurred, so his memory is bound to be clear.”

“… Maybe we met then.”

“Maybe. Of course, I don’t remember. If you’re a poisonous breed like you, you might have memories.”

Han Chang-ho continues by naturally releasing the heavy atmosphere.

After looking at him for a moment, Hye-seo walked away feeling depressed and turned her head with a smile.

“Master’s fate was also instrumental. The first dispatch was there.”

“Since it was the first large-scale massacre, almost all the Holders must have been mobilized.”

“I guess so. 300 people died.”

“Did you lose it there? parents.”

“yes. Did you know?”

“Well, it’s okay if the guy who’s going to be an assistant shooter hits the back of the head.”

“Chit. Cowardly looking behind you.”

He said it so sarcastically, but Hye-seo’s lips drew a soft semicircle.

He was a blunt and cold teacher on the outside, but he knew very well that he was a warm person on the inside.

It was Hye-seo who followed her more closely because her cold heart resembled her father.

“… .”

Because he heard the answer he wanted to hear, Han Chang-ho kept his mouth shut.

This time, Hye-seo asked a question.

“But.”

“why.”

“Isn’t Master married?”

“… .”

Han Chang-ho is silent for a moment.

He seemed to be thinking about something.

Hye-seo scratched her cheek as if in trouble.

“Well, if it’s difficult to answer, I’ll pretend there wasn’t a question… .”

“For us, things like family are just stumbling blocks. They only endanger each other. Since ancient times, mean servants have been known to seek detours before subduing their opponents.”

“Pit.”

Hye-seo stuck her tongue out in pain at his words.

She didn’t know anything else, but she couldn’t understand the formula [family = stumbling block].

Because he knows better than anyone else that beings who become stronger when there is something to protect are human beings.

Thanks to that, my parents were able to save me.

However, he did not object.

For some reason, I felt a strange story even to the teacher who spat out the word family is an obstacle.

The teacher who was hiding the story was regretful and savage, but he didn’t bother scratching it.

Only by acknowledging that each other’s values are different can a strong camaraderie develop.

Therefore, Hye-seo did not ask about her family any more, and from the next day, she and Han Chang-ho began the great task of defeating the illusion.

#

-widely.

Back at the penthouse, Hye-seo took out the photo frame taken with Han Chang-ho from the box that [Villain Investigation Team Leader] had brought while leaving, and looked at it for a while before putting it down.

Things from the first job until now pass by like a kaleidoscope, and Hye-seo, who has returned to reality, sees Han Chang-ho with her arms folded with a solemn expression in the frame.

It was a look of resentment, and a heartbreaking expression.

And as always.

“It’s like a mean teacher… .”

scolded him

He revealed his true feelings, but he hid them until the end.

Having a family, and willing to die for it.

Hiding everything, he left coldly.

Hye-seo looked at him in the frame and opened her mouth again.

In her deeply locked eyes, her parents who were fighting against the villains to save themselves were drawn.

“But senior, you know what?”

“That the senior was wrong.”

“Family is not an obstacle.”

Instead of hoping for an answer, Hye-seo pours out what she’s been wanting to say.

“Family is not an obstacle, it is ‘courage’.”

“Father and mother fought to the end to save me because I was their courage.”

“Because I have to protect it, because I have to save it. Even when the villains broke into the house and aimed at the demons, my father and mother did not run away and fought back with all their might.”

“Thanks to that, I was able to save my life. And the back of my father and mother fighting against the villains remained as courage to me and led me to this point.”

“Because you gave me the courage to fight like that.”

A slightly exasperated voice.

The voice that expressed resentment and rebuke was somewhat heated, but there was no sadness in it.

Rather, there was a subtle anger.

“So, the senior was wrong this time.”

“No, it was wrong from the start.”

“Since you thought of your family as an obstacle, you probably chose to commit suicide because you didn’t want to become an obstacle to Han Tae-jin, right? But you wouldn’t know that. Even if the seniors sacrificed, nothing was resolved in the end.”

“I am different. What the seniors couldn’t solve, what the seniors couldn’t protect. Everyone will prove that you are wrong by gritting your teeth and swallowing blood to prove that you are wrong, so stay tuned.”

Hye-seo frowned and looked at Han Chang-ho.

He even clenched his fist.

“… Because someday, if I go next to my senior, I will stick this disciple’s nuclear fist into his side.”

Somewhat affectionate yet radical remarks.

It was her unique condolences and promise to her beloved disciple and junior, who was like family.

“Lie down there and watch.”

“Han Taejin, I will definitely protect you.”

And finally.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

It was Hye-seo sending greetings as a respected colleague.

In her eyes, only Han Tae-jin’s face was drawn.

As a being to be protected.

– Took.

A photo falls to the floor from a file being organized. Hye-seo picked it up and looked at the photo.

It was a picture of Han Tae-jin and Reina captured.

Hye-seo’s eyes are fixed on Tae-jin.

“Han Tae-jin… .”

With dark black hair like my senior’s, red eyes definitely stood out and had a classy look.

If you look at it, I think it’s more luxurious than my seniors.

Maybe it’s because the mother’s genes are mixed properly.

Then all of a sudden

Curiosity about the ‘wife’ that he had not heard about in the end rose.

‘Come to think of it… .’

My senior, Han Chang-ho’s mana-gyeol, was Hye-seo, who knew better than anyone else.

It was obviously the same. In particular, the texture Taejin emits in a berserk state at the gym is the same as Han Chang-ho’s, which emits in an emergency.

But.

Looking back, there was something different ‘tradition’ in it.

If Han Chang-ho’s is fierce like a storm, fierce and tenacious like a beast’s jaw.

Other traits, on the other hand, were as docile as the wind and flexible as a flowing stream. And it was upright.

In other words, if your intuition is correct, it means that there is a high probability that Han Tae-jin’s mother is also an awakened person.

Didn’t even my seniors talk about it?

-The nature of Mana is to instinctively dig into that depth. If you want to enlighten, you can only dig a shallow depth.

Called.

Of course, it is not possible to make hasty judgments because mana grains can change a posteriori, but anyway, it was enough to stimulate curiosity and curiosity as an investigator.

The current state of Han Tae-jin, who even overwhelms himself as a senior graduate, must have been possible because he embraced something different from that of my senior.

“Hmm… .”

Hye-seo drools while looking down at Han Tae-jin’s picture.

Those blue pupils shone as an [investigator] after a long time.