After greeting Kim Hyun-soo, who was looking at him with concern with a fist-sized bump on the back of his head, Yeon-woo quickly escaped the room. Only after taking a breath of cold air did his head start to work again.
‘…Did I perhaps go back to the past?’
It wasn’t like he had never read that kind of novel. When he was fifteen, that is. They were probably still installed on his smartphone.
But experiencing ‘regression’ firsthand was truly bewildering. First, he needed to organize his thoughts.
In his last life…? Anyway, he hadn’t been able to enter the academy then, but fortunately, while working as a hunter, he had been inside the academy before. He had been in charge of security for the festival.
Heading to the ‘great place to beat someone up’ that the teacher he had been on guard duty with had recommended, a faint memory surfaced. He didn’t know for sure, but he didn’t think anyone would be there at this time. It was before the entrance ceremony, after all.
‘I need to contact the nun too… and Shar, I need to find Shar. I got magic power thanks to the dragon contract, and the dragon contract said it had to be close by, so it doesn’t seem like it’s far away, but….’
And what was it again, something big happened around this time, he thought……. The protagonists in novels recalled it so easily.
Perhaps it was because he had treated his body roughly at twenty-five, but important memories didn’t come to mind easily.
While he was thinking such thoughts, he had already arrived at his destination.
The back mountain of the academy grounds. There was a public park halfway up the mountain. It had become a wide-open space after being included in the academy grounds, with all the exercise equipment removed, but the benches remained.
Yeon-woo sat on a bench and put his hand in his inner jacket pocket out of habit.
Come to think of it, he had learned to smoke while he was actively working as a hunter. The clean ashtray next to him felt strangely resentful.
“How do I find Shar…?”
A sigh escaped his lips. At the same time, there had always been slight changes in location even when holding hands and jumping into the gate, so he could understand that.
But this was the past. He was here, and there was no way Shar had fallen alone near the gate. He even doubted whether the contract would be valid with that kind of distance.
However, as if to contradict Yeon-woo’s thoughts, a voice echoed in his head. He instinctively thought it was similar to the way Alkinea had read his thoughts. Oh, how amazing.
[Dad! I’m here!]
The voice came directly to his mind, and it was strange that there was a direction from which it came, but that’s how it was. Yeon-woo turned his head towards the direction the voice came from.
What is it? Can dragon eggs move around on their own?
He imagined an egg with legs popping out and walking around. Where had he seen that before? Was it a card game?
But fortunately, Shar wasn’t in such a strange state. It would be hard to argue that a golden egg floating in mid-air wasn’t a strange state, though.
“Shar! Where did you go! But… haven’t you gotten a little smaller?”
Yeon-woo asked, hugging Shar as she flew over. He was sure she had filled his arms just a moment ago, but now he could wrap his arms around Shar and still have room to spare.
Shar, who had been larger than an ostrich egg, had now shrunk considerably. In fact, since she had been a bit too big, it felt just right now.
[Hehe…. I think I used a bit too much power.]
“Power? What power? Did someone bully you? Tell me right now, who was it?”
Yeon-woo reacted a little exaggeratedly.
In fact, even he thought he would probably tap, touch, and do all sorts of things if there was a flying egg. Shar then spun around as if twisting her body and said,
[Mom was being a pain.]
“……Huh?”
Alkinea? Why is Alkinea coming up here?
[Trying to die with a daughter like me? How dare she? I can’t stand that kind of thing. You get it, Dad?]
“Oh… oh.”
What is she talking about? And can an egg even talk this well? He was worried about how to raise a child who only said ‘goo goo ga ga,’ but it seemed like he didn’t need to worry that much.
[I interfered with Mom’s magic and sent Dad back to the past. I only had my lifespan to pay, so about half of it is gone.]
“No, what do you mean it’s okay?”
No matter how you slice it, it’s not okay.
[It’s over a thousand anyway?]
“I don’t know how to react as a father.”
Hearing the exact number made him think it might be okay, so what should he do about himself? Dragon lifespans are way too transcendental, aren’t they? As a human, how was he supposed to respond?
Saying it’s okay because he came to the past in exchange for half of her lifespan wasn’t something a person, let alone a father, should say.
[I can see exactly what you’re thinking. I did it because I wanted to, so it’s fine. The important thing isn’t that.]
“……I know what you’re trying to say.”
So, Yeon-woo’s daughter, Shar, the Gold Dragon, was telling him to find a way to get Alkinea out of that place.
And to do that, she had given him ten years in exchange for half of her lifespan.
“…Can I do it?”
[Hmph, Mom talked you up so much, I’m a little disappointed. Mom was full of praise, saying you were the seed of a hero and all….]
Oh ho, trying to provoke me?
Unfortunately, Yeon-woo wasn’t one to fall for such provocations. It was only natural considering how much contempt and insults he had endured from hunters.
But if it was a provocation from his cute daughter, he couldn’t help but give in.
“Yeah, let’s give it a shot.”
The reason he thought that was simply… if he thought about it carefully, it didn’t seem impossible. Wasn’t he the Yeon-woo who had reached the top 100,000 with that talentless body?
If that Yeon-woo had gained magic power, it was like adding wind to his sails. Moreover, if that Kim Hyun-soo acknowledged that the quality was overwhelming, even if the quantity was small…
“What can’t I do?”
Life is always about confidence. There’s no point in being depressed. It’s more productive to move even a little bit more during that time.
[Hehe, I knew you could do it, Dad!]
Shar chuckled and shook her body as if she was happy. Yeon-woo whispered softly to her,
“If Shar helps Dad, it’s definitely possible.”
You know, but I’ve never used magic before, so I don’t really know….
[…….]
