Side Story 7: Woo Yeon-Hee’s First Greeting (2)
“I didn’t expect you would remember all that.”
“She was pa.s.sionate. It’s rare for a teacher to visit home because of a student’s career.”
Images of Woo Yeon-Hee back then emerged one by one in Jeon-Il’s mind.
“It was the end of your grade seven in middle school. It was around that winter. She came to ask for our opinion as a school known for basketball had reached out to you. We were very grateful and appreciated her for her hard work then. But, Ms. Yeon-Hee… She looks just as I remember. Does that mean…?”
“Yes, both Yeon-Hee and I were pre-Awakened. That is one of the stories I have not told you, Father.”
It was a story he had from his parents long before the Day of Advent. Seon-Hu’s face darkened as he revealed it. Jeon-Il’s expression hardened as well. They both fell silent for a bit.
Seon-Hu… You were a pre-Awakened…
Jeon-Il patted Seon-Hu’s back and opened his mouth first after hesitation.
“I heard the Stage of Advent spanned decades, right? You might not remember what happened before that. It was hard to contact you, son. I could only guess how hard it must have been for you, but you were doing much more than that. You managed societal tasks and the responsibilities of a pre-Awakened. You have been through a lot.”
Before the Stage of Advent, it was well known that the pre-Awakened were honing their skills under Osiris’s Revolucion. People also knew that these individuals fought monsters from other dimensions, staking their lives in places referred to as dungeons.
Jeon-Il thought there was nothing more surprising after hearing that his son now had omnipotent power. However, he was wrong. His son had actually spent dangerous times as a pre-Awakened. As a father, this was even more shocking.
Jeon-Il had a lot to say, but swallowed his words. Then, he found a good topic to divert the conversation.
Jeon-Il asked while pointing to the tattoo on his chest, “Did you give this mark to me? Hey, why is your face stiffening again?”
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Perhaps it was around the time when Seon-Hu became a pre-Awakened. When the Jeonil Group was founded by the old Jeonil Investment, a weird scar appeared on his chest out of nowhere. After learning about the existence of insignias, Jeon-Il once seriously pondered if he was also pre-Awakened or not.
Jeon-Il was confident he already knew the answer, so continued, “I knew it was an insignia. So, what power does this have?”
“It is the insignia of resurrection.”
“Reviving from death? Is that what you mean?”
Jeon-Il had never heard of such an insignia in the Awakened world. Nonetheless, the miracle of resurrection was obviously very precious even without knowing about it.
Jeon-Il murmured as if he could not understand, “But why would you give such a precious thing to me…”
When Jeon-Il heard his son’s reply, it felt like something deep in his mind would burst. He then realized the reason why Seon-Hu’s grateful partner was continuously swallowing her saliva. If she had not, then she might have embarra.s.sed herself in front of his son.
Jeon-Il deliberately looked towards the cold wind to cool down, but his warm tears did not stop. His son simply replied, “Because you are my father.”
***
“Please let me do it.”
Woo Yeon-Hee swiftly pulled the tray towards her before anyone could object. The knife fit perfectly in her small hand. She skillfully peeled the apple, leaving the flesh untouched.
Slice. Slice-
The apple was then cut into eight pieces, each of the same size. Seon-Hu’s parents watched in amazement, unable to take their eyes off the dish. Yeon-Hee realized what she had just done. In their eyes, the apple seemed to have been magically cut in a blink.
Why am I acting like this today? Keep it together, Woo Yeon-Hee. You are in front of Seon-Hu’s parents.
Seon-Hu’s father looked genuinely impressed. There was only one person in the room who could see how Woo Yeon-Hee cut the apple. He was the first to take a piece. Seon-Hu picked up the pieces with a fork and handed them to his parents.
“It is from your future daughter-in-law. Father and Mother.”
The vibe was good. The television had been replaced with an LP record, adding to the warmth.
Seon-Hu’s father was the ideal dad Woo Yeon-Hee had always imagined. The ambiance of the home, centered around him, was perfect. However, to be honest, this situation was embarra.s.sing for Woo Yeon-Hee. She had to care about her expression to hide the feeling of belittlement, and she clearly felt that way because of her own parents. She wondered how much Seon-Hu and his parents would be disappointed when facing her parents…
“You have to have a drink on a day like today. Ms. Yeon-Hee, would you like to have a gla.s.s?”
Jeon-Il stood up from his seat. When even Seon-Hu’s mother got up to prepare the drinks and food, Woo Yeon-Hee also stood up.
“It’s okay. Stay seated.”
Woo Yeon-Hee felt bad. The connections she had experienced at the Stage of Advent were of no help now. Soon, Seon-Hu signaled her to follow him to the balcony where he had a private conversation with his father.
- Seon-Hu: I am sorry. I was impulsive. It seems I only thought of my feelings.
He was the only one who was not tired. Including Yeon-Hee, all his close aides had not gotten proper sleep for his sake. They had just finished the tiresome war. Seeing Yeon-Hee’s downcast expression, Seon-Hu guessed it was due to exhaustion.
- Seon-Hu: Do you want to go to bed today? I can remove your fatigue if you want, but the comfort from a good sleep will be lost as well.
Woo Yeon-Hee decided to be honest with him after contemplating.
- Yeon-Hee: …It’s because of my parents.
Woo Yeon-Hee said that as if she was performing a malicious ritual.
- Yeon-Hee: You know what kind of people my parents are. Especially my mother.
Seon-Hu, of course, knew about that. The person who caused a scene in the teachers’ office, questioning how crazy Yeon-Hee could be a teacher, was none other than her mother. As a result, she had to resign from the school.
Seon-Hu recalled the old memories.
“People must have gossiped, given the noise. But Seon-Hu… I am… I?am not?like those rumors.”
After resigning due to her parents’ actions, Yeon-Hee looked genuinely sad. That sadness was evident again in her face right now. In other words, Yeon-Hee was aware of her current situation in reality after the war ended.
Seon-Hu shook off the old memory and looked far off. He saw Yeon-Hee’s mother, Lee Soon-Ja, who could not take her eyes off the breaking news on television. She was not far from them. Although she was living in a luxury house in an upscale residential area known as an affluent neighborhood, she was definitely lonely. It was too big for one person. The money Yeon-Hee had given her was more than enough to afford such luxury.
Seon-Hu s.h.i.+fted his gaze again, this time to Yeon-Hee’s father Woo Hyun-Seok. He was driving towards the World Awakened a.s.sociation’s Korean branch. Despite a child’s grat.i.tude for being birthed, the parents’ duty to nurture a child was equally crucial. To Seon-Hu, it appeared the only real parent for Yeon-Hee was her father.
He remembered past events, including the day Yeon-Hee’s mother made a mess in the office. It was the day she found out Yeon-Hee had been giving money only to her father. Given that Yeon-Hee grew up mostly on her father’s support, her choice was evident.
Seon-Hu held Yeon-Hee’s hand.
- Seon-Hu: I will do whatever you want. So there is no need to force yourself to do anything you do not want.
He did not specifically mention the debt of grat.i.tude she had already paid. However, her heavy heart was unavoidable. If every mother vividly remembered the pain of childbirth…what Yeon-Hee had experienced would not have occurred. In that case, Yeon-Hee would not have had the dilemma she was facing now.
Anyway, although Yeon-Hee was wors.h.i.+ped as a deity by the Lunea clans, she was just a person here. Seon-Hu was relieved by that fact. Seeing Yeon-Hee troubled by human concerns because of her mother made her even more lovable. Thus, her cute lips caught his eye even more.
This is the first and the last time.
Seon-Hu was determined that he would suppress the power of divinity at least on Earth. Looking back, his fierce battle with Doom Kaos was consistently colorless. He did not want such a life anymore. If one knew everything and could do everything as they thought, then they would never find happiness.
Seon-Hu put his hands around Yeon-Hee’s cheeks.
Tik!
The second hand of a moving clock stopped. Raindrops falling somewhere were frozen in mid-air. There was no wind and waves anywhere. Only two people were alive and breathing in the whole world at the moment: Seon-Hu and Woo Yeon-Hee.
“Seon-Hu?”
“We have been apart for so long. Come here. I cannot resist any longer.”
“But this is your parents’ house!”
“Here?”
When Seon-Hu responded, the Mediterranean coastline spread out in front of them.
“Right now, it’s just the two of us.”
***
Seon-Hu was gazing at the sleeping Yeon-Hee. He felt the presence of a being sneaking in during the gap when time seemed to stand still.
There was a beautiful woman with short hair, her body concealed by bandages. The wings that sprouted from her back were large enough to cover her entire body. As she folded her wings, she landed in front of Seon-Hu.
She said, “Please forgive me.”
Seon-Hu’s eyebrows twitched. An incident he was trying to avoid during a reunion with his parents suddenly came before him. Woo Yeon-Hee also felt the woman’s presence and opened her eyes.
Valkyrie?
However, she was different from the typical summoned ent.i.ties. She was speaking and seemed to possess a sense of self. The way she knelt with her head bowed in front of Seon-Hu did not appear threatening, so Woo Yeon-Hee decided to observe the situation.
The discomfort displayed by Seon-Hu affected the being as well. It spoke in a trembling voice.
“The reason we possess a sense of self…it was not our intention.”
From Woo Yeon-Hee’s perspective, the woman was begging Seon-Hu for her life.
“That would be the case.”
Right after he defeated Doom Kaos and became the sole deity, four of the Valkyries that remained on the weighty battlefield not only gained self-awareness but also an increase in usable power. This naturally happened only to those who had consistently survived on the eternal-seeming battlefield.
There were four. One was restoring the spiritual realm. Another was capturing the escaped evil spirits. Another had gone to monitor other dimensional beings that might challenge Odin. And the last one, as you can see, had come here to represent all of them to beg for their lives.
“Please… Please… Please be our witness… Lord Odin.”