[Kindergarten Hero (4)]
Rewinding the clock to the time of the incident.
This is a story that only Noeun-ha knows.
☆
I didn’t know why I was running. I just felt like if I didn’t, I would never be able to run forward again.
Why are those kids so precious?
You didn’t save us even though you could have
It’s not fair. What did we do wrong?
The sound of resentment hit me in the head. It was a sound I hadn’t heard since the day I decided to save my family.
Eunha knows. This is the guilt he feels.
Before his regression, Eunha was a player who couldn’t die. Having lost his reason to live, he wielded his sword relentlessly against anyone, monster or human.
To him, life was the most insignificant thing in the world.
In his quest to destroy the monsters, he pushed those who followed him to lay down their lives.
And in return for their sacrifice, he advanced to the front, slaying monster after monster.
As the battle raged, the blood on the ground grew darker and darker. He couldn’t tell if it was human or monster blood. Maybe it was one, maybe it was the other, maybe it was both.
When I flipped the switch, I just killed and killed and killed.
When the battle was over, he was always alone. The people who had risked their lives for him, the people who had entrusted him with their hatred and their future, were gone.
Eunha took it for granted.
It was a world where only the strong survive. There are no good and bad in the world, only the strong.
He survived because he was strong. Because he was strong, he forced someone to sacrifice themselves; because he was strong, he kept his hatred of monsters to himself; because he was strong, he moved forward into the future; and because he was strong, he waited for someone stronger to come along and die for him.
So there was no need to mourn the dead.
The end was obvious for those who lived to die.
Eunha, too, thought that one day someone stronger would come along and take his place and die.
It was ridiculous.
To feel guilty about it now.
But at the moment of his death, he was given a second life in the form of regression. It was an unexpected salvation for a man who had vowed to follow the path of sura. (1)
In his second life, he regained a little of what he had lost.
He recalled memories of his family.
He realized how comfortable he was with the uneventful passage of time.
He realized how much he enjoyed every day.
And I was afraid of losing it again. That this happiness would become a grain of sand that would slip through his fingers in an instant.
So he chose the life of his family over the lives of others.
I realize how selfish this is. He knows that choosing his family means betraying the people who died for him before his regression.
So Eunha was racked with guilt. Realizing the weight of his unseen happiness, he realized how heavy the happiness of others must be.
You are too much.
It’s only good for you, isn’t it?
Help us too.
«So what?»
I asked guiltily.
Even now, when he was in a daze.
The weight of the happiness he’d trampled underfoot added to his own, pushing him to the bottom of a dark pit.
So what? Despite the guilt, he didn’t regret his choice.
Rather, I realized.
I realized that in the future, I would not hesitate to trample on the happiness of others in order to be happy myself.
There was no need to hesitate. I didn’t need to hesitate.
My mother had told me.
Live the way you want to live. Live your life.
«…Right. That’s it.»
Only then did he realize why he was running.
He was getting unnecessarily anxious. He was afraid that the happiness he wanted to have forever would be compromised by these two children.
There was no sense of justice in saving them. The world is an unequal place, even for children. Only the strongest can live.
There was nothing but selfishness in him, that he would stop at nothing to be happy.
This one thing hasn’t changed. He was the same selfish bastard he was before the regression.
I couldn’t help but smile, and it felt like coming out of a tunnel with no end in sight and seeing the light.
I can’t believe I’ve been worrying about this.
My body felt lighter.
Maybe it was because I admitted it. I’ve always been a selfish bastard.
Maybe it was because I found it.The purpose of living not to die but to live.
To want to be happy.
«So shut up.»
Huh?
???
Huh?
«If you catch my eye, you won’t be able to stay still either.»
His voice cracked.
The silence didn’t last long.
Ahahahahaha!
Oh, tears! Tears are coming out!
It’s been a while since I burst out laughing like this!
That’s how you become a berserker!
He was insane! He was crazy!
The sound of memorable laughter echoed in my head. It was a light, pleasant sound.
Okay, I’ll wait.
I have to step on his toes.
A selfish son of a bitch.
That’s right. What a selfish bastard.
He’s going to make everyone else in sight happy so he can be happy himself.
I don’t swear to help everyone. I’m not a hero and I’m not a giving tree.
I’m just a selfish person. I just want to eliminate the possibility of anything threatening my own happiness.
Right now, in this moment, in this place, I swear.
I will continue to trample on the happiness of others in order to be happy myself.
I will feel guilty every time.
But I will never stop making selfish choices.
«Whoa….»
Rounding the corner, Eunha ran into the staff room. He rummaged through the drawers, looking for a knife he could use as a weapon, then ran outside.
«Come to think of it, I think I’ve seen this on the news before….»
Eunha frowned at the sudden memory.
Come to think of it, he did. Hayang’s mana in her body was so great that it was comparable to Euna’s. She had the potential to become a player who could match or even surpass the Twelve Lords.
But Eunha had never heard anything about Hayang. Even if she lived as a civilian, she couldn’t have hidden her prowess in a world where mana became a strength.
Maybe Hayang wasn’t alive before regression.
He suddenly thought of that.
There was a good reason for that. Eunha learned about the damage and impact caused by the Kraken at the Higher Academy. Not long after, he heard about a monster attacking a kindergarten in Seongbuk-gu and killing children.
«I can’t believe I’m remembering this now.»
If he had known earlier, it would have been better. If he had heard more detailed stories back then, he could have been better prepared.
«I’ll have to make a backup plan….»
Something like this happened at the kindergarten he attended.
At this point, fate was a scary thing.
«This guy….»
Deploying his mana detection network, Eunha saw the goblin moving toward the flowerbeds, and that Eunhyuk and Haeyang were where he was headed.
It was urgent. There was no way the kids could take on the goblin.
The problem was that the other goblin was coming towards him.
It was a priority to take down the goblin chasing him by smelling.
Eunha aimed at the tiny figure that appeared on the other side of the hallway with a cutter knife filled with mana.
Kieeeeeekkk!
The goblin let out a high-pitched shriek as soon as it saw him. The axe-wielder leaped toward him, trying to close the remaining distance.
Unfazed by the goblin’s charge, Eunha laid down and slid across the floor.
Once past the goblin, he braked with the bottom of his sneakers. With his hands on the floor, he spun around and cut a swath at the creature as it landed on the ground.
The goblin, who was stabbed in the back in an unarmed state, screamed. The guy who pulled out the cutter knife stuck in the goblin’s back glared at him, dripping with saliva.
It was a goblin, after all.
Slamming into the wall and moving behind the goblin, Eunha clung to its body. He choked it with his arms and pinned its back to the floor with his weight. He wrapped his legs around him to keep it from moving its arms.
Krukhk…
«What are you looking for? You’re not looking for this, are you?»
Ironically, it was the axe in his hand that cut off the goblin’s breathing. Unable to escape from Eunha, it was running out of energy, and after snatching the axe from its grasp, he frantically took a swing at the goblin.
«If you get caught by me, your skull will be shattered. Don’t ever set foot in a kindergarten again.»
The goblin has axe marks all over its body. Blue blood and mana leaked from where the axe had passed.
With a final blow to the head, the shambling goblin vanished. The mana that made up its body dissolved into the air.
I paid no attention to the goblin’s dropped gemstones.
The axe must have been stolen from somewhere. Turning to mana, Eunha grabbed the axe that hadn’t disappeared and drew on the mana in his body.
The children… thank goodness.
The children were safe. He sensed mana in the playground, where they were running from the goblins.
Eunha opened the window and jumped out. He opened the window and jumped out. He could see Hayang on the jungle gym beyond. And Eunhyeok trying to protect her.
Even from a distance, he could tell they were both terrified. Hayang was crying thick tears from her big eyes.
And Eunhyuk, with his arms outstretched, blocked the goblin from jumping at him.
Eunhyuk was terrified, but he didn’t back down from the goblin.
«Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!»
He even ran towards the goblin.
Hmm?
It was crazy that he jumped in even though he knew he was going to die, but he had the courage to stand his ground.
Of course, he couldn’t let Eunhyuk get away with it. I threw the axe in my hand at the goblin, who was distracted by Eunhyuk.
The goblin, who didn’t expect the axe to come flying out of nowhere, was hit in the head and fell out.
«Uh….»
Eunhyuk was dumbfounded by what had happened in front of him.
He looked at Eunha, and he seemed to relax.
Too much, yes, too much.
His pants were soaked. Something was dripping down his leg and onto the floor.
«Good job, you’re a real man.»
I’ll keep it to myself.
«Leave the rest to me….»
The goblin picks himself up off the floor.
He picks up the axe that Eunha threw at him, his eyes glowing with life.
Grabbing his own axe from his belt, the goblin lunges at Eunha with an axe in each hand.
He was no match for a goblin with a weapon in each hand.
What could be a weapon?
Eunha quickly scanned his surroundings.
It wasn’t hard to find a weapon. There was just the a thing.
There was a toy knife lying right next to him.
He leapt to pick it up and energized the blade with mana.
It all happened in a flash.
«Don’t be afraid.»
The goblin leapt and Eunha ducked.
The blade scraped across the floor and drew up from below, severing the goblin’s two arms as it slashed down from above.
The goblin stared at him in disbelief as his arms flew off.
Re-positioning himself, Eunha brought the toy knife down before the goblin’s feet touched the ground.
The corpse, split left and right, scattered into mana, leaving no trace in its wake.
It was over.
A single gemstone lay where the goblin had been.
He swung his toy sword across the line of fire and let out the breath he’d been holding. He was about to tell the children behind him that they could breathe easy,
«Uh…. Whoa, whoa, whoa…. Yo, you-u a warrior. There was a real warrior…!»
«What the hell, get off me!»
Whether he said it or not, Eunhyuk clung to Eunha, his wet face dripping with tears and snot.
«Uhhhhhhhh…! Warrior, Warrior…!»
«Get off me! You’re getting snot on my clothes! Come on!»
And you’re crazy too!
Like it or not, Eunhyuk didn’t pull away from Eunha and rubbed his snotty face this way and that.
«Aaaaahhh…! I was scared…!»
«Hey, even you…! …Ha, I don’t know anymore.»
Even Ha Yang, who had come down from the jungle gym, clung to Eunha.
As the two children cried and clung to each other, Eunha became exhausted.
Tired of being angry, he could only stand there like a stone until Mr. Tayo came running.
Naturally, his clothes were covered in tears and snot.
─After this, Eunha got a new name.
He was called the Kindergarten Hero.
He was featured in the local newspaper and couldn’t show his face for a while.
Notes!
(1) The phrase «walk the path of Sura» is a reference to a concept in the popular Korean webtoon «The God of High School.» (I LOVE THIS WEBTOON BTW and it has an anime!!) In the webtoon, Sura is a type of divine being that possesses immense power and can be summoned by humans.
To «walk the path of Sura» means to follow a path of strength and power, much like the Sura themselves. In the context of the webtoon, characters who pledge to walk the path of Sura are usually determined to become stronger and more powerful in order to achieve their goals. It does not necessarily imply killing people or walking alone, but rather a dedication to personal growth and strength.
[Kindergarten Hero (4)]
Rewinding the clock to the time of the incident.
This is a story that only Noeun-ha knows.
☆
I didn’t know why I was running. I just felt like if I didn’t, I would never be able to run forward again.
Why are those kids so precious?
You didn’t save us even though you could have
It’s not fair. What did we do wrong?
The sound of resentment hit me in the head. It was a sound I hadn’t heard since the day I decided to save my family.
Eunha knows. This is the guilt he feels.
Before his regression, Eunha was a player who couldn’t die. Having lost his reason to live, he wielded his sword relentlessly against anyone, monster or human.
To him, life was the most insignificant thing in the world.
In his quest to destroy the monsters, he pushed those who followed him to lay down their lives.
And in return for their sacrifice, he advanced to the front, slaying monster after monster.
As the battle raged, the blood on the ground grew darker and darker. He couldn’t tell if it was human or monster blood. Maybe it was one, maybe it was the other, maybe it was both.
When I flipped the switch, I just killed and killed and killed.
When the battle was over, he was always alone. The people who had risked their lives for him, the people who had entrusted him with their hatred and their future, were gone.
Eunha took it for granted.
It was a world where only the strong survive. There are no good and bad in the world, only the strong.
He survived because he was strong. Because he was strong, he forced someone to sacrifice themselves; because he was strong, he kept his hatred of monsters to himself; because he was strong, he moved forward into the future; and because he was strong, he waited for someone stronger to come along and die for him.
So there was no need to mourn the dead.
The end was obvious for those who lived to die.
Eunha, too, thought that one day someone stronger would come along and take his place and die.
It was ridiculous.
To feel guilty about it now.
But at the moment of his death, he was given a second life in the form of regression. It was an unexpected salvation for a man who had vowed to follow the path of sura. (1)
In his second life, he regained a little of what he had lost.
He recalled memories of his family.
He realized how comfortable he was with the uneventful passage of time.
He realized how much he enjoyed every day.
And I was afraid of losing it again. That this happiness would become a grain of sand that would slip through his fingers in an instant.
So he chose the life of his family over the lives of others.
I realize how selfish this is. He knows that choosing his family means betraying the people who died for him before his regression.
So Eunha was racked with guilt. Realizing the weight of his unseen happiness, he realized how heavy the happiness of others must be.
You are too much.
It’s only good for you, isn’t it?
Help us too.
«So what?»
I asked guiltily.
Even now, when he was in a daze.
The weight of the happiness he’d trampled underfoot added to his own, pushing him to the bottom of a dark pit.
So what? Despite the guilt, he didn’t regret his choice.
Rather, I realized.
I realized that in the future, I would not hesitate to trample on the happiness of others in order to be happy myself.
There was no need to hesitate. I didn’t need to hesitate.
My mother had told me.
Live the way you want to live. Live your life.
«…Right. That’s it.»
Only then did he realize why he was running.
He was getting unnecessarily anxious. He was afraid that the happiness he wanted to have forever would be compromised by these two children.
There was no sense of justice in saving them. The world is an unequal place, even for children. Only the strongest can live.
There was nothing but selfishness in him, that he would stop at nothing to be happy.
This one thing hasn’t changed. He was the same selfish bastard he was before the regression.
I couldn’t help but smile, and it felt like coming out of a tunnel with no end in sight and seeing the light.
I can’t believe I’ve been worrying about this.
My body felt lighter.
Maybe it was because I admitted it. I’ve always been a selfish bastard.
Maybe it was because I found it.The purpose of living not to die but to live.
To want to be happy.
«So shut up.»
Huh?
???
Huh?
«If you catch my eye, you won’t be able to stay still either.»
His voice cracked.
The silence didn’t last long.
Ahahahahaha!
Oh, tears! Tears are coming out!
It’s been a while since I burst out laughing like this!
That’s how you become a berserker!
He was insane! He was crazy!
The sound of memorable laughter echoed in my head. It was a light, pleasant sound.
Okay, I’ll wait.
I have to step on his toes.
A selfish son of a bitch.
That’s right. What a selfish bastard.
He’s going to make everyone else in sight happy so he can be happy himself.
I don’t swear to help everyone. I’m not a hero and I’m not a giving tree.
I’m just a selfish person. I just want to eliminate the possibility of anything threatening my own happiness.
Right now, in this moment, in this place, I swear.
I will continue to trample on the happiness of others in order to be happy myself.
I will feel guilty every time.
But I will never stop making selfish choices.
«Whoa….»
Rounding the corner, Eunha ran into the staff room. He rummaged through the drawers, looking for a knife he could use as a weapon, then ran outside.
«Come to think of it, I think I’ve seen this on the news before….»
Eunha frowned at the sudden memory.
Come to think of it, he did. Hayang’s mana in her body was so great that it was comparable to Euna’s. She had the potential to become a player who could match or even surpass the Twelve Lords.
But Eunha had never heard anything about Hayang. Even if she lived as a civilian, she couldn’t have hidden her prowess in a world where mana became a strength.
Maybe Hayang wasn’t alive before regression.
He suddenly thought of that.
There was a good reason for that. Eunha learned about the damage and impact caused by the Kraken at the Higher Academy. Not long after, he heard about a monster attacking a kindergarten in Seongbuk-gu and killing children.
«I can’t believe I’m remembering this now.»
If he had known earlier, it would have been better. If he had heard more detailed stories back then, he could have been better prepared.
«I’ll have to make a backup plan….»
Something like this happened at the kindergarten he attended.
At this point, fate was a scary thing.
«This guy….»
Deploying his mana detection network, Eunha saw the goblin moving toward the flowerbeds, and that Eunhyuk and Haeyang were where he was headed.
It was urgent. There was no way the kids could take on the goblin.
The problem was that the other goblin was coming towards him.
It was a priority to take down the goblin chasing him by smelling.
Eunha aimed at the tiny figure that appeared on the other side of the hallway with a cutter knife filled with mana.
Kieeeeeekkk!
The goblin let out a high-pitched shriek as soon as it saw him. The axe-wielder leaped toward him, trying to close the remaining distance.
Unfazed by the goblin’s charge, Eunha laid down and slid across the floor.
Once past the goblin, he braked with the bottom of his sneakers. With his hands on the floor, he spun around and cut a swath at the creature as it landed on the ground.
The goblin, who was stabbed in the back in an unarmed state, screamed. The guy who pulled out the cutter knife stuck in the goblin’s back glared at him, dripping with saliva.
It was a goblin, after all.
Slamming into the wall and moving behind the goblin, Eunha clung to its body. He choked it with his arms and pinned its back to the floor with his weight. He wrapped his legs around him to keep it from moving its arms.
Krukhk…
«What are you looking for? You’re not looking for this, are you?»
Ironically, it was the axe in his hand that cut off the goblin’s breathing. Unable to escape from Eunha, it was running out of energy, and after snatching the axe from its grasp, he frantically took a swing at the goblin.
«If you get caught by me, your skull will be shattered. Don’t ever set foot in a kindergarten again.»
The goblin has axe marks all over its body. Blue blood and mana leaked from where the axe had passed.
With a final blow to the head, the shambling goblin vanished. The mana that made up its body dissolved into the air.
I paid no attention to the goblin’s dropped gemstones.
The axe must have been stolen from somewhere. Turning to mana, Eunha grabbed the axe that hadn’t disappeared and drew on the mana in his body.
The children… thank goodness.
The children were safe. He sensed mana in the playground, where they were running from the goblins.
Eunha opened the window and jumped out. He opened the window and jumped out. He could see Hayang on the jungle gym beyond. And Eunhyeok trying to protect her.
Even from a distance, he could tell they were both terrified. Hayang was crying thick tears from her big eyes.
And Eunhyuk, with his arms outstretched, blocked the goblin from jumping at him.
Eunhyuk was terrified, but he didn’t back down from the goblin.
«Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!»
He even ran towards the goblin.
Hmm?
It was crazy that he jumped in even though he knew he was going to die, but he had the courage to stand his ground.
Of course, he couldn’t let Eunhyuk get away with it. I threw the axe in my hand at the goblin, who was distracted by Eunhyuk.
The goblin, who didn’t expect the axe to come flying out of nowhere, was hit in the head and fell out.
«Uh….»
Eunhyuk was dumbfounded by what had happened in front of him.
He looked at Eunha, and he seemed to relax.
Too much, yes, too much.
His pants were soaked. Something was dripping down his leg and onto the floor.
«Good job, you’re a real man.»
I’ll keep it to myself.
«Leave the rest to me….»
The goblin picks himself up off the floor.
He picks up the axe that Eunha threw at him, his eyes glowing with life.
Grabbing his own axe from his belt, the goblin lunges at Eunha with an axe in each hand.
He was no match for a goblin with a weapon in each hand.
What could be a weapon?
Eunha quickly scanned his surroundings.
It wasn’t hard to find a weapon. There was just the a thing.
There was a toy knife lying right next to him.
He leapt to pick it up and energized the blade with mana.
It all happened in a flash.
«Don’t be afraid.»
The goblin leapt and Eunha ducked.
The blade scraped across the floor and drew up from below, severing the goblin’s two arms as it slashed down from above.
The goblin stared at him in disbelief as his arms flew off.
Re-positioning himself, Eunha brought the toy knife down before the goblin’s feet touched the ground.
The corpse, split left and right, scattered into mana, leaving no trace in its wake.
It was over.
A single gemstone lay where the goblin had been.
He swung his toy sword across the line of fire and let out the breath he’d been holding. He was about to tell the children behind him that they could breathe easy,
«Uh…. Whoa, whoa, whoa…. Yo, you-u a warrior. There was a real warrior…!»
«What the hell, get off me!»
Whether he said it or not, Eunhyuk clung to Eunha, his wet face dripping with tears and snot.
«Uhhhhhhhh…! Warrior, Warrior…!»
«Get off me! You’re getting snot on my clothes! Come on!»
And you’re crazy too!
Like it or not, Eunhyuk didn’t pull away from Eunha and rubbed his snotty face this way and that.
«Aaaaahhh…! I was scared…!»
«Hey, even you…! …Ha, I don’t know anymore.»
Even Ha Yang, who had come down from the jungle gym, clung to Eunha.
As the two children cried and clung to each other, Eunha became exhausted.
Tired of being angry, he could only stand there like a stone until Mr. Tayo came running.
Naturally, his clothes were covered in tears and snot.
─After this, Eunha got a new name.
He was called the Kindergarten Hero.
He was featured in the local newspaper and couldn’t show his face for a while.
Notes!
(1) The phrase «walk the path of Sura» is a reference to a concept in the popular Korean webtoon «The God of High School.» (I LOVE THIS WEBTOON BTW and it has an anime!!) In the webtoon, Sura is a type of divine being that possesses immense power and can be summoned by humans.
To «walk the path of Sura» means to follow a path of strength and power, much like the Sura themselves. In the context of the webtoon, characters who pledge to walk the path of Sura are usually determined to become stronger and more powerful in order to achieve their goals. It does not necessarily imply killing people or walking alone, but rather a dedication to personal growth and strength.
