Chapter 19
Chapter 19
“Who are you?”
Jiyoon was a bit guarded as she asked the question . She had let her guard down, because she recognized the voice . However, a complete stranger was suddenly standing in front of her . This man knew her name too . As someone that had suffered under the attention from men, she flinched back like a baby deer .
“Who the f.u.c.k are you?”
The president and the other members of the club, who had been pursuing Jiyoon, gathered around her . A young and handsome man had spoken Jiyoon’s name . In their eyes, this man was their number one compet.i.tion that they had to be vigilant against . Fortunately, it seemed Jiyoon didn’t know this man . This meant that this stranger was being rude by speaking her name . Above all else, all the men thought this was a great opportunity to gain points by protecting her . They were quite calculated in their thoughts .
The man watched as the club members formed a semicircle around her . There was no anger or wariness in his att.i.tude . He looked apathetic as if he was watching a dog cross the street .
He was barely able to see Jiyoon through the wall of men as he spoke .
“We’ve met before . I am s.h.i.+nhae’s father . ”
He spoke in a bit of an outdated fas.h.i.+on . A man of his age usually didn’t talk like this . However, the thing that interested Jiyoon the most was the content of his words .
“…what?”
She asked the question before she could process it . She turned to look at s.h.i.+nhae . s.h.i.+nhae looked slightly troubled as she nodded . She once again looked at the man .
‘I can see a bit of a resemblance . . . ’
She thought about the man she had seen before . He had been a shabby and poor middle aged man . However, she also remembered that the man had been quite handsome . She wondered if the act of switching out his shabby clothes for normal clothes could shave 10 years off his appearance .
Above all else, it was his eyes . Jiyoon believed this man was s.h.i.+nhae’s father, because he wasn’t looking at her with interest or l.u.s.t . His eyes were cold, and he was being a bit guarded towards her . In her memories, the only man that had looked at her with such eyes was s.h.i.+nhae’s father .
“Jeez . You became so handsome that everyone is misunderstanding the situation . ”
She heard a voice from a distance away . The words were spoken slowly and softly . However, there was strength behind her voice, and it drew everyone’s attention to her .
“Director . ”
Jiyoon looked at the director, who was coming towards her at a leisurely pace .
“The atmosphere here is not good . Why don’t we all calm down?”
“Y . . . yes . The children will be affected by it . ”
The daycare teacher had been surprised by the sudden development . She hadn’t known what to do, but the director’s words had given her a direction . She spoke out in support of the director . It caused the men, who were half surrounding Sungyoon, to back off by a step . However, they weren’t looking at Sungyoon with kind eyes . It was as if Sungyoon was a fly that had landed on their food . Sungyoon knew why they were acting like this, but he had no desire to confront any of them .
“I heard my daughter is greatly indebted to you . ”
Sungyoon slightly lowered his head towards Jiyoon . Jiyoon was taken aback, so she started waving .
“No . No way . She doesn’t owe me anything . ”
Jiyoon didn’t think what she had done was remarkable at all, so she felt a bit awkward when Sungyoon thanked her .
“Are you really s.h.i.+nhae’s father?”
Her doe-like eyes blinked as she looked Sungyoon up and down . She became startled when she realized that she was being rude .
“Ah . I . . . I’m sorry . You look really young . ”
Her own actions had surprised her, and now she was apologizing . It was an entertaining sight .
“I awakened as a Connector not too long ago . I guess you could call it a side effect? Or is it a benefit? It’s something like that . ”
Suddenly, their audiences stirred . The men, who had giving Sungyoon the stink eye, became surprised . Jiyoon was also very surprised . However, the reaction greatly differed between the two parties . The men looked jealous since Sungyoon would be making a lot of money in the near future . Unlike the men, Jiyoon gave a heartfelt congratulations towards Sungyoon .
“Congratulations . ”
She spoke without an ounce of ulterior motive behind her words . Above all else, she was relieved that her little friend would be able to live a good life now .
“That is why you are here to pick up s.h.i.+nhae . ”
“Yes . I have the ability to raise my child now, so I have no need to put her in the orphanage"s care . ”
As he spoke these words, Sungyoon extended his hand towards s.h.i.+nhae . A smile blossomed on his face . Sungyoon"s expression greatly differed from the one he put on towards Jiyoon and other strangers . When Jiyoon saw this, she threw away all her suspicions . His expression epitomized a father’s love for his daughter .
s.h.i.+nhae escaped Jiyoon’s arms, and she approached Sungyoon . However, s.h.i.+nhae continued to steal glances at Sungyoon’s face . Even when she got close, her body language looked awkward .
“It seems s.h.i.+nhae is unfamiliar with this version of me . ”
s.h.i.+nhae looked startled, yet she held tightly to his hand . Sungyoon stroked her head as he lamented .
Jiyoon couldn’t help but let out a bitter laughter . If her father suddenly came back younger one day, she would have a hard time getting used to it . Additionally, s.h.i.+nhae was a young child . Sungyoon should consider it fortunate that s.h.i.+nhae wasn’t crying, while claiming he wasn’t her father .
“We should start getting back to work . ”
The president had been pushed to the side like a bag of barley . When he saw Jiyoon speak in a friendly manner with another man, he spoke up . It seemed he felt threatened . In reality, Jiyoon and Sungyoon weren’t interested in each other . If they didn’t have a common medium called s.h.i.+nhae, they wouldn’t have paid attention to each other . However, the president wasn’t aware of this fact .
“You are right . I have to see off our guest, so could you a.s.sign tasks to them?”
The director ordered the teacher, who stood next to her . There was something irresistible about her voice . No one could say no to her requests . The daycare teacher was like a fox that had the backing of a tiger . She began to take charge of the club members . However, Jiyoon was excluded from the work .
“Jiyoon is one of our club members . . . ”
The club president had spoken up, so he could extract Jiyoon to his side . Unfortunately for him, he might be sent farther away from Jiyoon now .
“Ms . Jiyoon has to say goodbye to this child . I’ll send her back later . ”
The director pointed towards s.h.i.+nhae . When s.h.i.+nhae heard this, she firmly grasped Jiyoon’s hand . The club president had to take the L, and he retreated .
After everyone dispersed, only four people were left . They were Sungyoon, s.h.i.+nhae, Jiyoon and the director .
“You are still very popular . ”
The director made a small joke at Jiyoon’s expense . Jiyoon couldn’t help but let out a bitter laughter .
However, she let go of all her negative emotions . She squatted down to get on s.h.i.+nhae’s eye level . Then she gave s.h.i.+nhae a tight hug .
“Please live happily with your father, s.h.i.+nhae . Alright?”
“Yes . ”
Tears started to form in s.h.i.+nhae’s eyes . They had to say goodbye, but s.h.i.+nhae hugged harder when she felt Jiyoon’s warmth .
Sungyoon watched from the side .
They looked like mother and daughter parting from each other . s.h.i.+nhae had already been hurt by her so-called mother . It was possible that s.h.i.+nhae was feeling an emotion similar to being separated from one’s mother right now .
Sungyoon decided not to bother them, so he handed his name-card to the director .
“This is my card . I don’t know how things will turn out in the future, but I am a Connector . If you run into trouble, please contact me . ”
“I won’t turn it down . ”
If she wanted to run her orphanage well, she needed help from outside sources . Of course, she needed thick skin . The director put on a benevolent smile as she took the card .
After some time had pa.s.sed, Sungyoon saw that s.h.i.+nhae was showing signs of calming down . He walked towards her . When Jiyoon saw Sungyoon, she stood up . Sungyoon did the same thing as he did with the director . He handed over his card to Jiyoon .
“I understand Ms Jiyoon was really good to my s.h.i.+nhae . If you need any help, please contact me . ”
Jiyoon stared at the card, which was pushed towards her .
If it was anyone else, she wouldn’t have taken it . Ninety nine percent of the males would have ulterior motives towards her . However . . .
Jiyoon raised her head to look at Sungyoon’s face . His face was emotionless . In some ways, she wondered how a person’s face could be so cold . His current face was congruent with the love he showed his daughter .
‘This person really isn’t interested in me . ’
When she had this thought, she realized she was being an idiot by being so guarded against this man . She also didn’t want to be completely cut off from s.h.i.+nhae like this .
“Thank you . . ”
After Jiyoon took the card, she took out her planner and pen from her bag . She ripped one page out, and she wrote something on it . Then she gave it to s.h.i.+nhae .
“This is my contact information . If you are bored, you can call me . ”
s.h.i.+nhae’s red eyes stared at the paper given to her by Jiyoon . Then she nodded and tightly gripped the paper in her hand .
When everything was somewhat settled, Sungyoon grabbed s.h.i.+nhae’s hand, and they started walking towards the front gate of the orphanage .
Sungyoon turned around before they left the facility . He could see the director and Jiyoon watching them from the front door . Sungyoon bowed towards them, and his body almost made a 90 degrees angle . These two women had done their best to look out for his daughter . He paid his respects towards his benefactors . When the two women saw this, they returned the gesture . The director had a small smile on her face as she gave an elegant bow . Jiyoon was fl.u.s.tered, but she quickly lowered her head .
After Sungyoon gave his last respects, he left the orphanage with his daughter . He didn’t look back . On the other hand, s.h.i.+nhae kept looking backwards as she kept waving . The director and Jiyoon quietly smiled as they waved in return . This scene continued until Sungyoon and s.h.i.+nhae completely disappeared from their sight .
* * *
As a Connector, Sungyoon’s days had started to get busy . Since he had to put his life on the line for his job, he had to go through many preparations .
Sungyoon was working hard at a facility that gave basic training to Connectors .
Hoohng!
A terrifying sound wave rang out . It was a sound formed when an axe split the empty air . If a person had been in the arc of the axe, a terrible tragedy would have occured .
“Whew!”
Sungyoon put down the axe as he tried to calm his breathing .
Of course, he was doing something useless as a Connector . His body didn’t need to breathe . He didn’t get tired from moving this much . The problem remained that Sungyoon felt like he should be tired . He breathed hard out of habit .
“You are getting used to it . ”
A man had his arms crossed as he watched Sungyoon . The training instructor clapped as he approached Sungyoon .
“What should we work on next?”
The instructor took the axe from Sungyoon, then he walked towards the wall . All kinds of weapons were hung up on the wall .
“Have you handled a two handed sword before?”
The training instructor took down a sword that was clearly larger than the other swords . After taking the sword from the instructor, Sungyoon swung it a couple times . It felt awkward . It was to be expected since it was his first time using this weapon .
“What do you think?”
The instructor rubbed his hand like an unscrupulous merchant who was about to sell Sungyoon a very expensive item .
“It is long . ”
That was all the answer Sungyoon could give .
“It is long . That is the special characteristic of a two handed sword . Well, should I teach you the basic movements of a two handed sword?”
The instructor brought down a different two handed sword as he took his stance .
“Mmm? What’s wrong?”
Sungyoon didn’t get into his stance . Sungyoon just stared at him, so the instructor tilted his head in confusion .
“Will this really benefit me?”
Sungyoon’s voice expressed the feeling of trepidation he felt . It seemed Sungyoon was suspicious of something .
“I have only one month to learn everything . Wouldn’t it be better if I studied one weapon?”
He was supposed to be trained in combat, but up until this point, he had only swung multiple weapons until he had gotten used to wielding them . When he got used to a weapon, the instructor moved on to the next weapon . Sungyoon had been doing this for two weeks now .
The instructor blinked his eyes . He let out a sigh as he got out of his stance .
“Didn’t they go over it at the front desk?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…!”
It seemed his fellow employees had either forgotten or s.h.i.+rked their duties . The instructor cussed them out . However, he quickly pressed down on his anger and decided to show some professionalism .
“Mmm . I’m not good at explaining things to others . To be precise, I’m blunt . I tell it as it is, so I can’t package my words to make you feel better . Even if I offend you with my words, please excuse me . ”
The instructor gave a short bow, then he continued to speak .
“I’ll put it all out there . Mr Sungyoon is learning only the basics of wielding each weapon, because your company is small . ”