Chapter 74 - Old-timers (1)

Chapter 74: Old-timers (1)TL: SHW

“Let’s make firecrackers.”

Sun Sun-jin said in a bright voice.

“Firecrackers?”

“We don’t need anything else, just something loud. Oh, and it has to move. There aren’t any other obstacles in the passage the goblins are running through, right? So, we release a bunch of moving firecrackers into the passage to mess with the goblins’ senses. It’d be great if we timed some explosions intermittently, too.”

“How do we make firecrackers?”

“We have two mages here, don’t we? Why can’t we make them?”

“……”

“……”

Sun Sun-jin raised her head proudly. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Ah, well… I like her confidence. This is exactly what I wanted.

Right now, the kids are getting their assignments checked—getting out of the goblin tunnels safely, that is.

I told them to come up with plans, excluding Yoo Hye-eun and Kang Tae-woo. I had said to come up with seven ideas after discussing it together, but the kids ended up each filling their own quota.

It seemed like a weird sense of competition had sparked among them… Well, they recover quickly at this age. Their gloom only lasted for that one day. It didn’t even take half a day, as it was in the afternoon class.

It’s better than sitting around with sullen faces. Look at Oh Hyun-wook. There’s a gloomy aura all around him. Even Park Seo-hyun has stepped back a few paces from him.

“Is it alright?”

Sun Sun-jin lifted her chin confidently.

Some kids had already passed their assignments over the past few days. Sun Sun-jin was among the later ones.

The methods the kids proposed weren’t perfect. There were many flaws I could point out, but I pretended not to notice.

In the end, I couldn’t even finish all the feedback for the raid guides. I’m not the kind of person to give them a bunch of wrong answer notes when they don’t even know what they did wrong.

There’s only one thing I care about.

How confident are they in their strategy?

In that sense, Sun Sun-jin’s response now is a pass.

But if I let it slide just like that, they might think they tricked me. I can’t let that happen.

I’m a competent teacher, after all.

“Who?”

“…What?”

The confident look on her face wavered slightly.

“Who did you ask? Hunter Ji?”

“……Hee.”

Sun Sun-jin giggled awkwardly. Seeing this small girl acting that way didn’t make me feel like getting mad. Not that I was planning to get angry in the first place.

“Well, fine. You pass.”

“…Why are you letting it go just like that?!”

It was Lee Seung-yeon, standing beside Sun Sun-jin, who raised his voice instead.

“Was it okay to ask?”

“I never said you couldn’t ask.”

“You told us not to ask the Hunters for help!”

“That was when you were writing the raid guides.”

Lee Seung-yeon protested, still not understanding.

“Then can I go and ask too?!”

“Sure.”

I pressed down on Lee Seung-yeon’s shoulder as he tried to jump up.

“Sit down.”

“But you said we can ask!”

“Sure, but at least have the decency to ask secretly without me knowing. And since Sun Sun-jin already used the method of asking the Daeseon Hunters, you can’t use it again.”

Lee Seung-yeon’s face scrunched up in frustration.

“How is that fair?!”

“First come, first served.”

“If I ask the hyungs, they’ll tell me other methods too!”

Hyungs, huh?

What did Lee Seung-yeon call me in Myeong-dong? An old man? I tried to understand that a thirty-year-old might seem like an old man to an eighteen-year-old, but it still irked me.

In the Hunter world, being thirty is just when you start getting active! It’s way too early to be called an old man.

…Come to think of it, I started calling Yoo Ji-eun an ahjumma when I was about that age. Is this what she felt like back then? Guess I’m paying for my past.

Ignoring Lee Seung-yeon, I continued speaking.

“Asking the Daeseon Hunters is one method. You guys are still learning, so don’t be ashamed to ask the pros. Pride won’t feed you.”

“……”

“It’s the same inside a dungeon. The leader doesn’t have to carry everything on their own. If you put your heads together, you’ll come up with at least one decent solution.”

Lee Seung-yeon still had his lips sticking out in a pout. This is why he’s not getting anywhere.

Seeing Choi Jin-woo raise his hand like he’d had a sudden revelation, I could more or less guess what he was going to say from the way his body was twitching.

Being quick-witted is a skill, after all.

“Choi Jin-woo?”

Without hesitation, Choi Jin-woo answered immediately.

“Let’s make firecrackers!!!”

“What?”

Next to him, Lee Seung-yeon let out a dumbfounded sound. Like me, Choi Jin-woo ignored his friend’s flailing hands.

“Make firecrackers and… Do I really need to explain this?”

“No need. You pass.”

“Yes!”

“Why does that count as passing?!!”

Now, the only ones who hadn’t figured out how to escape the goblin tunnels were Lee Seung-yeon and Oh Hyun-wook.

Lee Seung-yeon shouted in a voice full of frustration.

“Firecrackers were what Sun Sun-jin said earlier!”

“Nope.”

Choi Jin-woo taunted him smugly from the side.

“Teacher Woo said that Sun Sun-jin used the method of asking the Daeseon Hunters. So, firecrackers themselves haven’t been used yet.”

“What do you mean… this is cheating, Teacher!”

“In dungeons, even small clues you might overlook can become the key to a raid. Always pay attention.”

I checked the time.

“That’s all for today. Lee Seung-yeon and Oh Hyun-wook, make sure you pass tomorrow.”

It wouldn’t be good to put too much pressure on them.

Lately, I’ve been looking up various books. Since Hong Seok-young wouldn’t be of any help, I’ve been reading books on child psychology and education instead.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, a lecture I once heard at the National New Heart and Spirit Association turned out to be unexpectedly useful. At least the guest lecturer they invited back then seemed like a competent person. Though I only attended that one time and never went back.

I had gone hoping to lure in Ark, and I managed to bring No. 3 back with me, so in a way, it was a successful outcome. Now, rather than us going to Ark, we’re waiting for them to come to us.

Anyway, one of the things I read in a book said that you shouldn’t make children fear failure.

“If you don’t pass….”

That doesn’t mean you should just shower them with praise for no reason either.

…Parenting is hard. Growing kidney beans was much easier.

“If you can’t pass, then that’s fine. The easier ideas have already been used by the others, so it’s going to be a bit more of a headache for you guys. It’s okay if it takes longer, just think it through on your own.”

But it’s important to have clear rewards.

“If you two pass, I’ll give each of you a sticker.”

* * *

“At 2 p.m. today, Hunter Hong Seok-young and a group of nine hunters succeeded in raiding a dungeon near Cheorwon, Gangwon Province….”

I turned off the news playing on my phone. I didn’t feel like looking at the footage of Hong Seok-young’s face that they used for the news.

I looked up.

“……”

“……”

Hong Seok-young was right there. I sighed.

“Hey, what’s with the sighing? It’s not every day the principal comes to school.”

“You rarely come here.”

“Did you miss me because I was gone?”

“No. Actually, I was hoping you’d never come back.”

“What would you do without me?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“People always find a way to survive somehow.”

“Hah. I like your confidence.”

Hong Seok-young casually set the kettle to boil. Despite the increasingly nice-looking café that had sprung up outside, thanks to Lee Mi-seon’s help, he still preferred his instant coffee.

Out of courtesy, I asked anyway.

“Hunter Ji is making coffee outside. Should I bring you a cup?”

“Hmm? No, I’m good.”

Hong Seok-young poured a packet of instant coffee into a paper cup.

“I prefer this.”

A moment of silence.

After a brief peaceful pause, Hong Seok-young poured hot water into his paper cup and sat down across from me. He had even made a cup of coffee for me during that short break.

“What about the kids’ classes?”

“They’re hopeless.”

“That bad?”

“You should know this better than anyone, shouldn’t you?”

“You’re starting to sound rougher these days….”

“You’re imagining things.”

“Imagining things?”

“Yeah. Imagining things. It’s a sign of getting old. When you start hearing things, that means….”

“Ahem.”

Hong Seok-young playfully cleared his throat.

I drank the coffee. The thick sweetness that clung to my tongue was unpleasant but oddly comforting.

“I heard from Hunter Lee that the classes are going smoothly? You’ve mainly been teaching dungeon raid strategies while I was gone.”

“As for the kids fighting, well….”

Hong Seok-young pulled the strings, and I did too. After the incident at the Pixie Dungeon, it seemed like something clicked for them. Despite neither Kim Chae-min nor I paying them much attention, I heard they trained on their own.

Having the Daeseon Hunters around helped. Though they weren’t officially hired by the school, the employer’s nephew is a student here, so the Daeseon Hunters contributed to combat training. While they couldn’t teach actual classes, they still helped with training. Whether you’re a mage or a hunter, finding your own way is part of the job. You don’t need an extraordinary teacher to learn how to use your body. All you need is someone skilled who can show you more efficient methods.

“…Honestly, Oh Hyun-wook could probably be a B-rank hunter right now.”

Originally, the Oh Hyun-wook I knew became an A-rank hunter a year after graduating from this school. He was twenty-one. That might have been the peak period in his life when he was raiding dungeons the most.

I’m not sure if the current “little pig” is progressing faster or slower compared to back then. But his remarkable talent is still shining. Unless the “pig” Oh Hyun-wook was hiding his abilities before, this “little pig” will likely be able to handle A-rank dungeons without much issue by next year.

“But this…”

I tapped my temple.

Hong Seok-young, for once, had a calm expression. He looked like an old man on his way to meet his elementary school homeroom teacher.

“Ji-eun told me.”

Why’s Yoo Ji-eun being brought up all of a sudden?

“She said that no one acknowledges you for risking your life to clear a dungeon, and that all you get is more suffering. So, you should take care of your own life above all else.”

“…….”

Was that too presumptuous of a lesson?

No, but they’re still minors. In the dungeon, they’ve seen things no one their age should see, but they haven’t yet felt jaded by the world or found anything they value more than their own life.

You have to teach them while their minds are still soft. That’s how they survive and make it back alive.

…How many of them do you think will still be alive three years after they graduate from the academy?

As if sensing my unease, Hong Seok-young shook his head.

“You did well.”

“…….”

“Keep teaching them with that mindset.”

“…Pardon?”

Why does it sound like he’s saying he won’t be teaching them anymore?

“That’s the most fundamental lesson.”

“…….”

“Sometimes, there are kids who mistakenly think they’re the only ones who can clear a particular dungeon.”

Hong Seok-young clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“There was one of those guys recently. I don’t normally take on rescue missions, but he begged so much I had no choice.”

His face contorted in a rare show of displeasure. It’s not often he shows such clear distaste. He must have really hated it.

“I can’t let my students turn into idiots like that.”

“Ah, yes….”

“That’s why you’re doing a good job.”

“…….”

“…….”

I studied Hong Seok-young’s face. He still looked calm.

“Should I make you another cup of coffee?”

“No, that’s okay…. But you didn’t call me here just to say that, did you?”

“Why not? From what I hear, you’ve been passing a lot of work to the Daeseon Hunters these past few days.”

“‘Passing work’? That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

I pictured the Daeseon Hunters giving monster lectures to the kids in the classroom.

“It’s called sharing responsibilities.”

I mean, it’s not like I need to teach every little thing myself.

“And don’t you have the dungeon exploration manual you made? It’s not like we’re teaching something new, we’re just sharing what’s already been prepared….”

“How do you know about the dungeon exploration manual?”

Crap.

“I heard the Hunters talking about it. They were saying you should teach the kids some of that stuff. Why did you only give it to Daeseon?”

“I was going to teach them later.”

It wasn’t a very convincing statement. I looked at Hong Seok-young’s face. He subtly avoided my gaze, turning his head to the side as he sipped his coffee.

…It made me trust him even less.

“Uh, anyway. Take a look at this.”

As the silence dragged on, Hong Seok-young quickly downed the rest of his coffee and pulled out a thin booklet from inside his jacket. It looked pretty worn, probably from being shoved inside his clothes.

“What’s this?”

The cover was plain, with no design—just a title printed on it.

[A Modern Reinterpretation of Runes and Various Runes Helpful for Dungeon Raids and Monster Hunting]

“I’m planning to present the runes soon.”

*****

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