Chapter 8

After eating ice cream and returning home, they headed to the mountain range near their house.

While the weapon was being manufactured, Seo-jun was thinking of using the test weapon he received from Kang Chul.

It’s been a while since he held a proper spear, so his hands were itching.

Since there was no other person to entrust Seol-ah to, she had also joined them.

“There was a place like this. I didn’t know.”

“It’s a little different from what I remembered.”

If you enter the small road inside the mountain, you will see a hidden vacant lot.

Before his return, it was a place he had used because there was no other space for him to train properly.

Come to think of it, this was the first time he had came here with someone else.

“Seol-ah, please sit here quietly.”

“Yes!”

“Oh, good.”

“Hehe!”

Fortunately, Seol-ah listened well. But just in case she got bored, he gave her a smartphone with children cartoons stored in it.

Seol-ah, who sat on a mat in the corner of the vacant lot, focused on the screen with bright eyes.

He looked at Seol-ah and then approached Eun-hye, who was relaxing in the middle of the vacant lot.

“Have you been working out?”

“No. I think my body is stiff.”

Eun-hye, dressed in sportswear, was stretching her sides. She gathered all her hair together and tied it up, it looked better than she expected.

With her hands crossed, Eun-hye also bent down enough to touch the floor. She said she was stiff, but she seemed quite flexible.

‘I wish I had exercised a little more when I was younger.’

He was not like that now.

Not to mention, his physical strength was incredibly weak at the moment.

It was to the point where he would gasp for breath while climbing the mountain as he was once able to come up without being exhausted.

It was a natural result because he lived by building a wall with exercise after serving in the military.

‘It’s enough to start all over again.’

This time, compared to before the return, it started a few years earlier.

Maybe he can reach higher than before. Thinking positively made him feel a bit refreshed.

He relaxed and grabbed the spear.

‘About two meters and twenty centimeters. A little long?’

The spear was a bit longer than what he was used to. The weight and balance, however, was just right.

To be honest, it was surprisingly well-made for something that Kang chul was willing to give away as a test weapon.

It was made of ordinary wood and iron, but it seemed to cost quite a bit.

‘Great. Let’s use it.’

Although his physical abilities, including strength and stamina, were greatly reduced.

The knowledge of wielding a spear that was in his head remained the same.

Twist your body diagonally, with your left leg forward. Similarly, hold the front of the handle with your left hand. Put your right hand close to your waist whilst holding the end of the handle.

‘The spear’s blade is shaking.’

His posture stayed the same, but he could see the spear’s blade wavering. It must have been due to his lack of power.

Instead of finishing the basic posture, he changed his posture by moving his feet.

Eun-hye was looking at him as she stretched.

“Seo-jun, you seem to have good form?”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Where did you learn it?”

“On the Internet.”

He didn’t really have the talent to merely look at the Internet and hone his skills.

[PR: he isn’t able to immediately perfect his spear skills by only listening to the internet.]

To put it bluntly, it was closer to the fact that he was dull-witted, and it took him years to stabilize his spear technique like this.

Even then, his body couldn’t keep up, so it became unstable again. However, in the eyes of Eun-hye, an aspiring hunter, it seemed rather plausible.

“I’ll try it, too. Watch me from the side.”

“Okay. I got it.”

Eun-hye grabbed the bow. It was a slightly different type of bow from the custom-made compound bow being built.

A recurve bow with the tip of the bow pointing in the opposite direction of the shooter.

“Ah……”

“Go sideways.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Unsure of what to do, Eun-hye turned her body sideways in accordance with his words. The way she drew the arrows on the protest was also awkward.

He thought that Eun-hye could do just about anything, but her posture came out differently than he had expected.

Her posture of pulling the bow string was unusual.

‘Was it also like this in the first life?’

She stretched her hand whilst holding the bow forward. She brought the bow to her exact shoulder height and pulled the string at the same time.

It was even seen that the pulled hand was fixed to her chin so that it would not shake.

Her target seemed to be a tree about 50 metres away.

With her gaze fixed on the target, Hye-hye carefully aimed and released the demonstration.

Pak!

The arrow that shot out was stuck in the base of the tree.

It was incredibly good skill, so much so that it was hard to believe it was her first time.

“How did you know about the pose?”

“I watched people do archery when I was young.”

“Watching people doesn’t explain anything about archery.……”

“Internet.”

[PR: she’s repeating Seo-jun’s word which was he said that he learned spear postures through the internet]

He closed his mouth.

In his case, it was a lie to say that he listened to the Internet. It was a stable posture that presented itself as a result of years of training.

However, she is probably the result of truly browsing the internet.

‘She’s an actual genius.’

It finally hit him that Eun-hye was truly a genius. And so was Seol-ah, Seo-jun didn’t know why there were so many geniuses around him.

[PR: I feel u Seo-jun TT]

Eun-hye held the bow that had no arrow with a serious face. She bounced back a few times like that, then nodded and drew an arrow.

“It’s difficult.”

With her head tilted slightly, Eun-hye stood in the same position.

Once she shot it, it became a lot faster than before. The bow went up slightly and slowly came down.

And at some point, it was fixed, and the string was released.

Pak!

She aimed it slightly upwards this time.

An arrow was pierced in the center of the tree.

He stared at the scene mesmerized.

“Aren’t you shooting too well?”

“The distance is short.”

Eun-hye accepted it without consideration.

But compliments make even whales dance. The corners of Eun-hye’s lips were lifted up in a pleasant state.

“I don’t think you need my guidance.”

“You have previously corrected my posture though. Any more tips?”

“Well. After shooting, keep tugging the arm you were holding the string with.”

“Isn’t that similar to swinging the ball while playing golf? Got it.”

There wasn’t much advice he could give. He was a hunter who had never held a bow.

He’s heard stories from hunters who used bows, though.

He didn’t know how effective it would be for Eun-hye, who has the talent to chew on such advice.

“Change your posture. It will probably be difficult to maintain a straight posture in practice.”

“Alright. Will do.”

Eun-hye kindly accepted his words. She immediately put it into action.

Bend down and shoot, change hands and shoot, hold the bow horizontally and shoot.

The problem was that the arrow was hitting the tree. Even if there was a slight difference in accuracy, she unconditionally hit the goal.

‘Crazy.’

He felt like he was facing a level of talent that he couldn’t encounter.

Even Eun-hye was enjoying it with a smile that was quite interesting. Somehow he felt excited by the sight of it.

He grabbed the spear once again.

‘Let’s come back to your senses too.’

*         *         *

Eun-hye felt pain in her fingers and stopped practicing for a while.

The more she practiced, the higher her hit rate will get, and she will be able to hit a target at a further range.

She thought it was going to be hard because it was training, but it felt like a fun workout.

Meanwhile, Seol-ah stopped watching something on her smartphone. She followed Seol-ah’s gaze and saw Lee Seo-jun.

Fwoosh.

The spear cut through the air and he turned elegantly. With the tip of the hilt, he pushed the invisible opponent away to widen the distance.

Fixing the back of the hilt with the hand that was holding the middle of the spear.

Using the difference in range, he pierced the enemy deeply and pulled out the spear.

“Fuuh.”

Lee Seo-jun let out a rough breath.

His hair was clinging to his forehead with sweat. It must have been difficult, but he showed no sign of stopping.

He fought against his imaginary opponent by constantly moving his legs and spear.

“Mommy.”

“Yes?”

As she stared blankly at Seo-jun, Seol-ah had come to Eun-hye’s side.

Seol-ah looked at Eun-hye intently, then turned her head to Seo-jun.

“Dad, he’s great. Right?”

Eun-hye didn’t answer.

Seo-jun seemed to be absorbed in using the spear.

Originally, Lee Seo-Jun was a person who was far from a hard worker. Eun-hye thought he was going to whine to go home after trying this.

‘The difference after years is really scary.’

Eun-hye believed that although he was Seol-ah’s father, he wasn’t a responsible person.

But that perception has been completely reversed in the past few days. She now wondered if there was anyone as responsible as Lee Seo-jun.

He risked his life for Seol-ah, as it was a matter of course, he was confident in himself.

Eun-hye was not good at expressing herself, but she was very grateful.

“Mom, you nodded!”

“Huh? I did?”

“Yes. You did!”

Eun-hye genuinely nodded her head involuntarily. But as if that was not possible, she shook her head in denial.

“I never did.”

“Hey. It’s true.”

“What are you talking about?”

Suddenly, Seo-jun came forward.

Eun-hye, startled, struggled to hide her expression and answered.

“No, I didn’t say anything?”

“What? Is there a secret I don’t know? Seol-ah, tell daddy secretly.”

“Huh. What…….”

Seol-ah naively brought her mouth closer to Seo-jun’s ear. Eun-hye, who sensed the crisis, hurriedly stopped Seol-ah.

“Seo-Seol-ah. One ice cream.”

“Ice cream? Yay!”

“I can’t believe you bribed a kid, Eun-hye.”

“Shut up.”

Seo-jun grumbled, “Ice cream made Seol-ah turn over.”

Eun-hye let out a sigh as she swept her chest.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t such a big deal.

Oddly enough, her heart was pounding.

“How’s the bow?”

“I think it suits me.”

Seo-jun nodded as if he already knew that.

In fact, after shooting the bow a few times, Eun-hye got the feeling, ‘this is it’.

The bow seemed to suit her well enough that the expression ‘her hands are perfectly suited to hold it’ would be appropriate.

“Then, let’s get started.”

“What?”

“Mana-sensitized training.”

*         *         *

During the rift, the mana that flowed from the crack got mixed with the atmosphere.

Hunter was a term referring to people who could accept, adapt, and use that mana. If you’re a hunter, you should at least be able to transfer mana to your weapon.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to penetrate the monster’s skin that’s surrounded by mana.

“Hunters are stronger than ordinary people, and it is thanks to mana that they recover quickly even if they are injured.”

“I see.”

He gave Eun-hye a private lecture about mana. Even though he hadn’t felt mana for a long time, he was still knowledgeable in its theory.

His knowledge was of the future, so it was more accurate than the current clumsy theory.

He didn’t know if she understood, but Seol-ah, sitting on the lap of Eun-hye, was also listening to his talk.

“You have to feel the mana to deal with it, yes or no?”

“Huh? Yes.”

“So what you need is sensitivity training. Close your eyes.”

“Okay.”

Eun-eun sat cross-legged and closed her eyes. For some reason, Seol-ah followed Eun-hye and closed her eyes.

“Relax your body and focus.”

“Um.”

“Mana is everywhere. You need a difference in consciousness to acknowledge it……”

He told her exactly how she should feel mana. Surprisingly, she rarely got a sense of it.

Eun-hye frowned as if she didn’t know.

“Can’t you feel it?”

“Uh. I don’t know.”

“It’s okay. It usually takes a while.”

Being able to sense mana wouldn’t happen overnight. It was usually as short as a few weeks or as long as several months.

In Seo-jun’s case, he didn’t feel mana for almost half a year.

However, Seol-ah, who had her eyes closed quietly, opened her eyes.

“Daddy. Seol-ah can feel it.”

“……What?”

“Mana!”