Dawn Traveler

The Stories of the Fathers

Earth, 12 years earlier.

“Soon the second child will be born. Huhu.”

The salaryman Yeon Chol grinned.

Although the first child was growing well, the birth of the second child would add warmth to the family.

Yeon Chol told the child in his wife’s womb.

“When you are born, don’t be sick and grow well.”

40 weeks were spent in the mother’s womb.

You would not know how much the mother or father cared about the baby during that time and wished for it to be born safely.

The mother could not eat food and sleep properly because she was nauseous at night.

Though her strength was decreased due to her physical difficulty, she could not resist the thought of having a healthy baby.

“Don’t overly trouble your mother……. Rather it would be good if I was sick instead.”

Yeon Chol thought of many things he could do with the baby once he was born, and he decided to teach him well as a father.

And then the child was born!

The baby was delivered at the ob/gyn.

It was the happiest moment in the world for him as a father.

However, a few days later the baby’s expression looked somewhat strange.

“The child looks frightened…….”

“What do you mean?”

“He made a similar face last time. As if he knew that today’s shot was coming.”

“No way.”

His wife said that wasn’t possible.

In fact, it would be normal for her to be right because a baby would always be in its mother’s arms.

However, it was possible that she could not see it properly because she was his mother.

It was in a mother’s nature to think that her baby was normal even if he was a little bit strange, and that he was a genius if he was just a little bit remarkable.

“I think the child knows what we’re saying.”

“Can’t be……. No, maybe it could. Since he’s a baby, he may be more sensitive and alert.”

The baby did not have anything special except for the fact that he was highly sensitive.

He would not cry, even if his diaper was changed late as if that was his nature, nor would he complain about the commonplace dishes.

Is it because the first one was overly fussy? It is said that there are some children who are hard to raise, but I am worried that he is too easy to raise.

Yeon Chol was frequently busy with work, so he couldn’t give much thought to his children.

After the birth of his third and fourth child, he could not pay attention even more.

Like other children, he soon grew up without any mishaps, so they forgot about how he was a little special as a baby.

And when Yeon Woo was about seven years old, he found that he frequently sighed to himself. Sometimes when he tried to talk to him he would be surprised and act evasive. 

Is this a new game that is popular among kids?

When raising children it was sometimes difficult for adults to understand their world.

When Yeon Woo was about 10 years old, he felt that he had matured a lot despite being the second child.

His behavior and attitude was more mature than his eldest son, Yeon Jung-soo. He just appeared a little childlike but he thought much more deeply.

“Oh, Yeon Woo. About your pocket money, you now won’t be able to spend as much money anymore.”

“It’s hard for mother and father to raise four children these days. Please take care of it.”

“O-okay.”

When going on a trip.

“Do you have any place you want to go to this holiday?”

When Yeon Chol asked the children, they were all in a hurry to tell him where they wanted to go.

“Let’s go eat pizza.”

“Sea, sea, sea!”

Yeon Woo sighed.

“Wherever you go in Korea, you can see it from there. Especially Yul. The sea isn’t good. It’s an utter rip-off.”

“Oppa-nim. But I still want to go.”

“Yeon Yul. What did I say you should be most vigilant about in life?”

“B-being a pushover?”

“Yes. If you go to the sea now, you will be pushed out. It’s going to be packed from the entrance, and it’ll be hard to park.”

“Anything delicious?”

“At this time you should be careful of seafood. The sea is half people and half pee.”

He had his younger siblings firmly under control.

About the time he became 12 years old, there was a huge change in Yeon Woo’s TV preferences.

They watched the news at 8 together in the living room, and he enjoyed the program that looked into the lives of people.

One day, a story of a family living in a rural area came out on television.

“If you go to the countryside, the air will be clear. And I don’t think they get stressed, since they live out in nature.”

“By working diligently, growing flowers and trees, and farming it helps the body become healthy.”

This was what Yeon Woo said at that time.

“Farming is hard labor. You have to sit down and work long hours, and carry heavy things with a bent back. It’s not something that city people can do easily. When your bones start to painfully ache you won’t be able to endure it for long. You’ll suffer from arthritis.”

“…….”

Although that was true, it was not something an elementary school student would think of.

[I guess the teacher talked to him about farming.]

When miners in a foreign documentary appeared, Yeon-Woo carelessly spoke.

“You can perfectly see that it’s not over there. You need to find the right place where the vein flows. Whew. Well, one month is wasted.”

There was also a story about a man who made a kitchen knife using traditional forging techniques in a smithy.

“Look at that hammering. A newbie. Such a newbie. He must have broke off his learning.”

“…….” 

“The strikes are about strength, position, and rhythm. If you don’t familiarize your body with it, anything you make will be amateurish. The heat treatment is also poor. Because it’s like that, with a few strong hits it will just shatter.”

As Yeon Chol raised four children, all sorts of things had happened when he got home from work.

Yeon Jung-soo romped around, Yeon Tae-jin frequently ran away, and Yeon Yul left her dolls lying about the house after playing with them.

In comparison, Yeon Woo just loafed around and ate food. He was worried about his eating habits, in particular, his craving for meat.

“Mom. What’s for dinner today?”

“It will be the bulgogi that Yeon Woo likes.” (DarkNari: bulgogi is basically beef marinated in a soy sauce mixture. Here is a recipe.)

“Yes! Bulgogi after 3 months. It’s been so long since I had meat.”

“You ate some last week, didn’t you?”

“Eh…oh right.”

His wife looked at Yeon Woo in concern. There were times where he was strange in some places.

“What child has memory so poor?”

“Time goes by so fast.”

It was fortunate that he was clever and growing up so well, except that he told weird stories sometimes.

However, his joy in life was seeing his children when he came home.

“Section chief Yeon! What kind of work is this!”

“I’m sorry. Executive director-nim. I’ll go and submit it again.”

“If you don’t get the results of this export right, there will be a personnel readjustment in team 3. Don’t regret it later and do it well now.”

Yeon Chol had the position of a section chief in a trading firm.

Under the pressure of performance in the company, he had to take care of his team members as well as his family.

After getting home and working until he nearly collapsed from fatigue, he thought that the only one who could understand the hardship he suffered was his wife, who also worked.

-:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:-

Marca continent, 13 years earlier.

Rendall was overjoyed to hear that his wife was pregnant.

“I’m finally becoming a father.”

There were already many things he wanted to do when his child came.

“I’ll teach them the sword. So that they can cut down even those knights with one stroke……!”

He wasn’t able to give any aid during her time of pregnancy.

As Laeli was a priestess, she was able to bless herself if her body ever felt odd.

She even had the might to repel some goblins with a knife when she had morning sickness.

Jess was born in the course of tomb raiding.

“It’s a boy.”

If it was a daughter, she would have been married to a nobleman or a merchant, but since it was a son, he could teach him the sword.

“Grow up quickly.”

Jess grew up well.

Rendall and Laeli weren’t very familiar with infant care.

[I know that the child will grow up if left be.]

Rendall devoted himself to training his swordsmanship.

He was fortunate since in other villages they raise their children by tying a rope to their necks.

He had a feeling that Jess was bright when he was 3 years old. He was good at talking as well as being good at handling the division of the goods.

[He won’t be a simple ignorant warrior like me.]

He could personally teach him swordsmanship, but other subjects would be difficult, fortunately he was able to learn magic and archery.

Herz and Lisianthus were good teachers.

[If I had an opportunity like this as a child……I could have been a much stronger warrior than I am now. Well, I am not envious. I have Laeli.]