Retire 558
by Cristae558 (Extra Story 25) Choice_1
The sweltering summer had come to an end.
Just as the pleasantly cool breeze began to carry a chill, and the morning and evening air started to feel sharply cold.
After discovering the business card, Han Taekyung and Alex had been busily traveling back and forth between the U.S. and Korea. They seemed to stay in Korea for a while, but then left for America once again. This time, no one knew when they would return.
‘You mustn’t cry just because I’m gone, sunbae.’
As always, Han Taekyung made a fuss. The more the kids grew up, the more Han Taekyung seemed to shrink—at least, in mental age.
‘Don’t talk nonsense.’
‘Oh my. Is it really okay to treat such a valuable guild asset this way?’
‘Alex. Have you ever thought about getting a promotion?’
‘Huh? If I do, does that mean I get to be your sunbae?’
‘Not quite, but something similar.’
‘Wasn’t our guild supposed to be flat-structured?! Where’s this promotion coming from!’
‘That can always be changed. Surely we can make up some suitable position. Slap a “team leader” title on you and that’s a promotion.’
‘Sunbae!!!’
During the entire autumn in Korea—well, to be exact, while Han Taekyung stayed in Korea, Alex, bored with nothing to do, went back to Australia. He said that if he didn’t show his face to his parents now and then, his mother would pester him.
I still remember how moved Sandra was when Alex said that. She said something like, “You’ve finally grown up, becoming independent from your mother.” He had been immature, but was he really so attached to his mother to warrant such words? Only then did I realize Alex had been making an effort not to talk about his mother in front of us.
He must have cherished his family. Contrary to Sandra’s constant worries, he seemed to be adapting to human life better than expected. Then again, maybe Alex’s environment had simply been too extreme all this time. It was either family affection or Noah Michel—nothing in between.
Anyway, after returning home, Alex seemed… more like a boy his age for the first time. Maybe it was the sullen look on his face as he handed over honey and cookies, saying his mother told him to bring them. Comparing the boy I first met to the one now, I couldn’t help but feel deeply moved. Not that I’d ever raised him, or ever wanted to.
‘Well then, I’ll be off. Please take good care of Eunyeong for me.’
I never felt confident leaving Han Taekyung alone, but strangely, when Han Eunyeong or Alex were around, a strange sense of trust emerged. Was it like having a much younger sibling? Having only had a younger sibling for a few years, it was still a kind of relationship I struggled to understand.
Perhaps that was why Han Taekyung and Alex, who hadn’t liked each other at first, eventually became close. Han Taekyung was used to having a younger sibling, and Alex was used to having an older one.
They claimed to dislike each other, but in truth, they got along remarkably well. After spending time together in America, they had definitely grown closer.
‘She’s finally found something she wants to do, but how should I put it…’
Han Taekyung shook his head from side to side in that distractingly energetic way of his, talking about Han Eunyeong.
‘She likes to ask around and get confirmation that she’s done well. If you ask me, she just wants to be praised.’
Han Taekyung’s assessment of Han Eunyeong was quite accurate.
‘She already asked me, and she’s done asking Mom and Dad… so now it’s your turn, sunbae. When she comes, just praise her and send her off.’
‘Are you fully supportive?’
‘People should do what they want. If she can’t handle it, then I’ll just tease her.’
‘…….’
I wasn’t sure if that made him a good brother or not, but remembering what the now-grown Yu Ji-eun had done to me, I figured that was probably normal.
Come to think of it, I also worried about what would become of Woo I-rok, so maybe that was just an older sibling thing.
With that final request regarding his sister, Han Taekyung left with Alex.
And exactly two days later.
I got a call from Han Eunyeong.
“Hello, teacher! Wow, nothing has changed here at all!”
“Indeed. Good to see you.”
Han Eunyeong burst into laughter.
“How’s Taewoo doing? I still see Ji-eun from time to time, but Taewoo is so hard to catch these days.”
“Didn’t you see him on your way in? He should be out on the field.”
“He was sitting on a bench, frowning at some book, so I thought I’d say hi later. Is it an assignment?”
“Do you remember the French Hunter who came last year?”
“Oh, you mean the Okinawa incident that made all the teachers furious?”
Why Okinawa came up first, I had no idea. Well, it had been memorable. I’d only heard stories about the atmosphere at school, since I was in Okinawa at the time.
It probably hadn’t been pleasant….
“Not that. I mean when we talked about forming a sisterhood with the French guild.”
“Oh, that! I heard one of the first-years is French…? The pianist! Right?”
“Go meet him later.”
Han Eunyeong laughed cheerfully and headed for the cafeteria. Ji Yu-geon, who managed the cafeteria, greeted her warmly and made her favorite drink.
I wondered if the first-year students even knew that the person working in the cafeteria was a Hunter.
“Taewoo said he’d go to France after graduating, so I gave him a report assignment analyzing European dungeons.”
“Oh! So he really might go to France?”
“…What did you all take my words for?”
“Well, you see!”
Han Eunyeong laughed awkwardly.
“When I heard the school was just three containers, I thought, ‘Han Taekyung finally got me good….’”
“…….”
It was a hard assessment to deny.
Even as she glanced at me, Han Eunyeong didn’t stop talking.
“I mean… the buildings are decent now, but with the number of students, it’s hard to say if the school will last…. The principal and Teacher Chae-min are here, so it probably won’t go under… but no, I shouldn’t be overconfident. It could still fail.”
“Don’t go erasing my workplace so easily.”
“Come on. I bet you’ll be the most well-off, teacher.”
“Thanks for the faith, really.”
Han Eunyeong burst out laughing again.
“There are still so many empty classrooms, right? The dorms are huge. Do you really think you can fill them all?”
“For a few more years, we’ll have to be selective about admissions. But the reason we built the school so big from the start wasn’t just so you all could run around.”
At my words, Han Eunyeong looked around. She saw a spacious area, meticulously maintained. During her years at the school, only three or four tables in the cafeteria were ever in use. The unused space was even larger. It was built to accommodate far more students.
Han Taekyung had repeatedly mentioned that I should praise her, so I had been a little worried. Back in her days at the academy, Han Eunyeong… to be honest, wasn’t a student who required much attention. She never burst into tears like the others, and though she could be aloof, she kept up with training. Assignments were a given, and she, together with Yoo Hye-eun, got the highest scores on the college entrance exam.
I couldn’t picture Han Eunyeong entering dungeons like Oh Hyun-wook and the others. But whatever she did, I felt certain she’d manage just fine.
So I was surprised when Han Taekyung told me his sister had been worrying about what to do with her life lately.
“…If the number of students increases, won’t we need more facilities? The school’s amenities won’t be enough.”
“Probably so.”
The area around here had been fully developed before. Han Eunyeong frowned slightly.
“I should buy some land.”
“What?”
“Hmm? Did I say something?”
“…….”
“Haha, investing in the future is always good, right?”
I shook my head. She really would take care of herself.
Indeed, despite saying she wanted advice, her words were filled with the certainty of someone who had already wrestled with her options and reached a conclusion.
“Teacher, have you seen Seungyeon’s future plan?”
“The one about forming your own guild?”
“It starts with a guild, but that’s not the end.”
“If it starts as a guild, it’s a guild.”
Han Eunyeong pouted her lips, then nodded, apparently out of things to say.
“Honestly, reading that made me think a lot.”
“Why?”
“I just… I didn’t expect Seungyeon to be so serious. I figured she’d stop at the guild, but I never thought she’d want to go further.”
That probably had something to do with Kang Taewoo. I didn’t know how much Kang Taewoo had told the kids. Not that he shouldn’t have—after all, it was his choice.
Fiddling with her sleeve, Han Eunyeong continued.
“Hearing her talk, I started to wonder if I could really just drift along with this half-hearted attitude.”
“…….”
“I told my brother, and he laughed at me.”
Han Eunyeong ground her teeth in frustration.
“He said, ‘Even if you get serious, what amazing thing do you think you’ll accomplish?’”
“Han Taekyung really is a bit immature as a human being.”
“Right? But then, listening to him, I realized what he meant.”
Han Eunyeong’s shoulders slumped.
“He said it’s rare to find someone who lives as earnestly as Seungyeon. If you have a friend like that, and what she says makes sense to you, then just going along with her is one way to do it.”
“That’s a perfectly good way.”
“…I figured you’d say that, teacher.”
“Why? It’s true. Honestly, I didn’t expect Lee Seungyeon to be thinking so seriously either.”
Han Eunyeong looked at me in surprise.
“Not everyone has a clear hope for their future. Most people just go with the flow.”
“…….”
“You can only hope that the choices you make at each moment turn out well. But you can’t know that right away.”
“Teacher…”
Sometimes, kids could be frighteningly perceptive.
“Have you ever regretted your choices, teacher?”
“Many times.”
“…….”
“I always wonder—if only I’d made a better choice back then. If only I’d acted differently. If only I hadn’t done that.”
It was a question that would never end, as long as I was alive.
But it wasn’t just me. Who in this world could always be certain of their choices?
Even monsters couldn’t. If they could, they wouldn’t bother turning back time to undo their defeats.
“But I don’t regret the person I’ve become, shaped by all those choices.”
“…….”
“Han Eunyeong.”
“…Yes, teacher.”
“You want to help your friends, don’t you?”
“……”
Han Eunyeong rolled her eyes.
It was just like her brother, minus the sunglasses. She could talk circles around anyone, but when someone hit the mark, she clammed up.
And when she realized she couldn’t escape, she would just laugh.
“So I’m going to try something they could never do, even if they were reborn.”
“Really? What field?”
“Hmm.”
Han Eunyeong drew out the sound, squinting playfully.
Suddenly, I was curious. How had a girl who loved her friends so much managed to endure losing them? That Han Eunyeong had never graduated from the academy.
“Actually, it wasn’t my idea. My brother gave me a hint….”
“Han Taekyung did?”
“Yes. I told him what Seungyeon was trying to do, and he said that if she wanted to do that, she’d need someone who really understood the law. And when I thought about it, he was right, wasn’t he?”
Han Eunyeong smiled shyly, her face a little flushed.
I would never know the answer now, but somehow, I felt as if I did.