Chapter 29

Chapter 29

[Kindergarten Hero (4)]

Rewinding the clock to the time of the incident.

This is a story that only Noeun-ha knows.

I didnt know why I was running. I just felt like if I didnt, I would never be able to run forward again.

Why are those kids so precious?

You didnt save us even though you could have

Its not fair. What did we do wrong?

The sound of resentment hit me in the head. It was a sound I hadnt 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 couldnt 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 couldnt 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.

Its only good for you, isnt it?

Help us too.

So what?

I asked guiltily.

Even now, when he was in a daze.

The weight of the happiness hed trampled underfoot added to his own, pushing him to the bottom of a dark pit.

So what? Despite the guilt, he didnt 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 didnt need to hesitate.

My mother had told me.

Live the way you want to live. Live your life.

Right. Thats 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 hasnt changed. He was the same selfish bastard he was before the regression.

I couldnt help but smile, and it felt like coming out of a tunnel with no end in sight and seeing the light.

I cant believe Ive been worrying about this.

My body felt lighter.

Maybe it was because I admitted it. Ive always been a selfish bastard.

Maybe it was because I found it.The purpose of living not to die but to live.

The axe must have been stolen from somewhere. Turning to mana, Eunha grabbed the axe that hadnt 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 didnt 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 couldnt let Eunhyuk get away with it. I threw the axe in my hand at the goblin, who was distracted by Eunhyuk.

The goblin, who didnt 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, youre a real man.

Ill 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 wasnt 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.

Dont be afraid.

The goblin leapt and Eunha ducked.

The blade scraped across the floor and drew up from below, severing the goblins 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 goblins 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 hed 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! Youre getting snot on my clothes! Come on!

And youre crazy too!

Like it or not, Eunhyuk didnt pull away from Eunha and rubbed his snotty face this way and that.

Aaaaahhh! I was scared!

Hey, even you! Ha, I dont 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 couldnt 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.