NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
Chapter 4
‘Did I faint again?’
I’ve never lost consciousness while crossing the Gate in ten years, but to do it twice in just two days? Maybe it really is time to retire.
As I thought this, I lifted my head and was greeted by a familiar face.
The man in front of me wasn’t the main concern; it was the egg I had been holding just moments ago that was now nowhere to be seen.
What happened to Shar?
Yeon-woo quickly looked around. There was Kim Hyun-soo sitting across from him, and a neatly organized room as well.
Considering the Gate I had met Alkeinea at was deep in the mountains, this was clearly a strange situation.
‘And Shar… wait a minute, is that Kim Hyun-soo the “Starbreaker”?!’
Upon closer inspection, I was certain. Kim Hyun-soo, the unmatched genius who was bestowed the name of a star at a young age.
It made sense since I had taken the entrance exam at the Academy where he was a teacher ten years ago.
‘But he looks strangely young. He should be nearing forty now… but he looks no older than twenty!’
Is this due to mana? That’s entirely possible.
After all, there were examples of elderly aura users who reached extreme realms and stabilized their vitality. It wouldn’t be impossible for Hyun-soo to do the same.
Maybe this was all a dream. It made sense as I was missing an egg and the day I received a terrible omen could be seen as a nightmare.
I had dreamed about it often enough to not even call it that.
But soon, I realized that was a misconception.
It didn’t make sense to simply dismiss everything as a dream; everything felt far too different from any dream I’d ever had.
The scorching energy that slipped from Kim Hyun-soo’s fingertips, which he had placed on my wrist, began circulating throughout my body as if saying, “This is how your veins look.”
Such a foreign energy. Yet it was so easy to guess what it was.
‘Mana…!!’
How hungry must I have been to dream of feeling mana? But the sensations that followed assured me I was awake.
It was as though my own heart was trying to resist the mana, squeezing out something against it.
The pure mana flowing from my heart clashed head-on with Kim Hyun-soo’s mana. I let out an involuntary groan of pain, a kind I had never experienced in my life.
“Ugh….”
“Ah, no!”
Startled, Kim Hyun-soo hurriedly withdrew his mana. Although it was minimal, clashing it with his just-awakened mana could lead to danger.
If the mana were to reverse, his hard-won future would be at risk.
However, the purity of this newly awakened hunter’s mana was quite considerable. While it wasn’t abundant, it had resisted for a moment against his mana. It was a robust mana, much like that of a seeker in the mountains.
This thought reminded me of the records I had written in my admission application.
“They said I swung a sword, dreaming of becoming a hunter from a young age.”
Indeed, the calluses on my palm didn’t belong to an average fifteen-year-old.
While amazed at that determination, Kim Hyun-soo was secretly pleased.
Results don’t always follow effort, but he hoped this boy’s dedication would shine through.
Kim Hyun-soo, having hurriedly contained his mana, now wore a genuinely joyful expression, unlike his dark demeanor moments earlier.
“Congratulations, Choi Yeon-woo. The amount of mana… honestly falls short, but in terms of quality, it would hold up anywhere. It’s enough to enter the Academy. If you continue to work hard, you’ll surely see results.”
Yeon-woo was still feeling a bit confused.
Could this really not be a dream? He thought.
As he stood up at the unexpected chance, the pain from hitting the back of his head reminded him of reality.
*
After Yeon-woo greeted Kim Hyun-soo, who looked worriedly at the bump on his head, he quickly exited the room. Taking a deep breath of the cold air helped clear his mind.
‘…Did I perhaps return to the past?’
I wasn’t unfamiliar with stories like this; I had read them when I was fifteen. It would undoubtedly still be saved on my smartphone.
But experiencing ‘regression’ myself was quite bewildering. I needed to organize my thoughts first.
In my last life…? I didn’t get to enroll back then, but thankfully, during my time as a hunter, I had gone inside the Academy. I was in charge of security during a festival.
In hazy memories, I headed toward a location recommended by a teacher I had worked with during security. It couldn’t be that anyone would be there at this hour, especially before the entrance ceremony.
‘I need to contact the nun… and find Shar. My mana appeared thanks to the dragon contract, and since the contract needs to be close, it shouldn’t be too far away…’
And what was it? I feel like something monumental happened around this time… The protagonists in novels always seem to remember effortlessly.
Perhaps it was because I had abused my body at twenty-five; important memories didn’t come to me easily.
Lost in thoughts, I realized I had arrived at my destination.
Behind the Academy grounds, there was a park halfway up the mountains. It had been incorporated into the Academy grounds, and although the exercise equipment had been removed, the benches remained.
Yeon-woo sat on a bench and instinctively reached into the inner pocket of his jacket.
Thinking back, he had learned to smoke during his time as a hunter. The clean ashtray sitting beside him felt almost accusatory.
“How should I find Shar…?”
A sigh escaped him. At the same time, he understood that even when jumping into a Gate, slight positional changes always occurred.
But this was the past. He was here, and Shar wouldn’t simply have fallen near the Gate. Even with such distance, it was questionable whether the contract would hold.
Yet, as if completely dismissing his thoughts, a voice rang in his head. It felt akin to Alkeinea reading his thoughts instinctively. Oh, how fascinating.
[Daddy! I’m here!]
It was strange enough to hear a voice directly in his mind, but he turned toward the direction of the sound.
What was that? Can a dragon egg move on its own?
He imagined the egg sprouting legs and walking around. Had he seen something like that before? Maybe in a card game?
Thankfully, Shar didn’t look any like that. The golden egg was floating gently in the air. Calling it a bizarre sight would be an understatement, but still…
“Shar! Where have you been? But… have you shrunk a bit?”
Yeon-woo expressed his question as he embraced Shar who zipped toward him. It had filled his arms just moments ago, but now he could easily wrap his shoulder around Shar while holding him.
The enormous egg, which was larger than an ostrich egg, had shrunk quite significantly. In fact, it seemed a perfect size now.
[Hehe… I think I used a bit too much strength.]
“Strength? What strength? Did someone bully you? Tell me immediately, who was it?”
Yeon-woo responded somewhat exaggeratedly.
It just seemed natural that if there was an egg flying around, he’d want to poke and touch it. Shar then spiraled as if curling in on himself.
[Mom keeps getting on my nerves.]
“…Huh?”
Alkeinea? Why is she coming up now?
[How dare she try to die leaving a daughter like me? I won’t stand for it, understand?]
“Uh… oh.”
What on Earth is she talking about? More importantly, is it okay for an egg to be so eloquent? I had been concerned about how to raise a baby dragon, but it seemed I didn’t need to worry that much after all.
[I interfered with Mom’s magic to send you back to the past. I could only pay with my lifespan, so half of it is gone now.]
“Wait, how can that be okay?”
There’s no way any of that could be fine.
[Still, it’s over a thousand years!]
“As a father, I have no idea how to react.”
Hearing that exact number made me think maybe it’s okay, but how do I feel about the lifespan of a dragon being so overwhelmingly transcendent? As a human, what should I even say?
For my lifespan to be halved so that I could return to the past… It wasn’t something one should easily say as a father.
[I can see everything that’s in your head. I did this because I wanted to, so it’s fine. What’s important is not that.]
“…What do you mean?”
So, my daughter Shar, the gold dragon, was telling me to find a way to get Alkeinea out from that place.
She had given me ten years by reducing her lifespan in half.
“…Is that possible?”
[Hmph, Mom thinks highly of you, so I’m a bit disappointed. She praised you as the seed of a hero… and so on.]
Oh, you’re trying to provoke me?
Unfortunately, I was not someone who would fall for such taunts. Considering how much contempt and humiliation I had endured from hunters, it was only natural.
However, when it came to a cute little girl’s provocation, I might not let it slide.
“Alright, let’s give it a shot.”
I thought about it and figured it would be worth attempting. After all, wasn’t I the one who ranked among the top tens despite lacking talent?
If I had now gained mana, it would be like catching a favorable wind in my sails. Furthermore, if Kim Hyun-soo had acknowledged that while the amount might be small, its quality was certainly overwhelming…
“Why should I think I can’t do it?”
Life is always about confidence. If I’m downtrodden, then I won’t succeed. It’s more productive to move a little more during that time.
[Hehe, I believed in you, Dad!]
Shar giggled and happily swayed around. Yeon-woo then whispered to her softly.
“If Shar helps Dad, it will definitely be possible.”
Although she probably knew this, I, having never used mana, felt quite unsure about it…
[…….]
(To Be Continued)