Hero Returns as a Rookie Dad

Kang Haon felt some injustice.

Isn’t there a saying that the first child resembles their father?

But Narae was the exact copy of her mother, Han Binna.

The only thing Narae had in common with him were her light brown eyes.

Nevertheless, his sense of injustice quickly dissipated. He was even grateful.

‘Yes, I should be thankful that Narae takes after her mother. If she had taken after me even a little bit…’

Thinking of his previous self resembling Narae, Kang Haon shuddered.

He had experienced bodily changes and miraculous transformations usually depicted in novels.

That’s why he was now a handsome man enough to be called a “flower boy,” so his appearance wasn’t what it used to be in the past.

“What are you saying?” Narae looked at him suspiciously, but Kang Haon couldn’t think of anything to say in response, so he repeated his words.

“I’m your dad.”

“Stay away from me! You do not look like my dad!”

Narae took a step back, sensing that something was wrong, but for Kang Haon, it felt like the distance between them was growing.

‘Should I say I got plastic surgery? I now look like a different person… However, Narae wouldn’t understand that. Ah, what should I do?’

No matter how much he thought about it, Kang Haon couldn’t come up with any explanation to make the young Narae understand why he looked different.

He couldn’t just use magic in order to get out of this uncomfortable situation. Not only would it create problems, but it would be too extreme.

“Hey, who are you and why are you here?”

A blonde, pale woman in a nun’s outfit ran towards Kang Haon, shouting and pointing a stick at him.

Her name is Yuria.

She is from the Hope Orphanage, and she reacted like this because criminals who kidnap children from orphanages have been rampant nationwide.

A month ago, there was even a record of a child abductor breaking into the Hope Orphanage. Fortunately, he was caught, and they prevented the child from being abducted.

However, to Kang Haon, who was unaware of this situation, the nun was being rude towards him.

“An attack out of nowhere…”

Kang Haon frowned slightly.

If this was Gea, Yuria would have already returned to the embrace of God.

He was invincible in the other world, and his other nickname was “The Omnipotent” because there was no enemy who could survive his hostility.

But this was Earth, and this is the orphanage that protected Narae.

Reflexively, Kang Haon raised his hand and dodged to the side.

“Oh, a follow-up in that situation?”

Kang Haon was quite surprised. The nun tried to stab him with a stick, but he dodged and immediately swung the stick to the side.

It was an action that could not be done without Kang Haon’s strong muscular strength and agility.

This nun’s action made Kang Haon suspicious.

“Is this really Earth? Did Silvy send me somewhere else?”

The action of the nun would have been an attack that only a mid-level knight or higher could demonstrate in Gea.

“For now, let’s not set it aside.”

Kang Haon put off his thoughts for later and stepped aside to give way to the nun.

“Are you okay, Narae?”

The nun confirmed that Kang Haon had distanced himself from Narae and ran towards her immediately.

“Sister Yuria!”

“Yes, Narae. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Narae ran toward her with a bright smile.

Yuria hugged her, looking worriedly around her.

“Phew… I did well to avoid it.”

Seeing Narae’s behavior, Kang Haon thought it was better to avoid confrontation with the nun than overpower her.

If Narae smiled that brightly within the embrace of someone, it must have been someone she liked, and using force to overpower that person could have earned him his daughter’s hatred.

“Yeah! I’m fine, sister!”

“Really! Thank goodness.”
Yuria sighed in relief after Narae assured her that she wasn’t hurt.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing here?”
Yuria asked Kang Haon with an angry tone.

“Me? Who am I? I’m Narae’s dad.”

“What did you say?”

Yuria was taken aback. She didn’t expect that answer.

“Narae’s dad, that’s me.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Yuria shook her head firmly, as if not believing him at all.

“I’m really her dad.”

Kang Haon was starting to get annoyed.

Although he knew that this was an orphanage that took care of Narae, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated in this situation where his words weren’t believed.

But his annoyance turned into injustice after hearing Yuria’s next words.

“I have seen a picture of Narae’s father before.”

“Well, that’s… sigh.”

Kang Haon couldn’t argue. Even he himself found it hard to believe that the past him and the present him were the same person.

Kang Haon felt frustrated and unjust.
Narae was undoubtedly his daughter, but he had no way to prove it immediately.

The him of the past and the present were completely different in terms of physical appearance, so it was difficult to convince anyone.

Moreover, he had come to the orphanage secretly without saying anything else in advance, which made him even more suspicious.

“It’s difficult…”

Kang Haon realized that this place was not Gea but Earth.

Gea, where he had lived for fifty years and where everything was resolved through power, was a world exercising the law of the jungle.

But that shouldn’t be the case here on Earth.

‘Should I just forcibly take Narae with me?’ Kang Haon pondered for a moment before dismissing the idea.

It was an easier method than any other option, but Narae would probably hate it.

Kang Haon was afraid of being hated by Narae. So he couldn’t behave impolitely towards the nun, even though she was rude.

“Sigh, this is scary…” Kang Haon let out a sigh as he thought about it.

He found it ridiculous that he was afraid of being hated by a young girl when he wasn’t even afraid of the fearsome Demon Helldiak. It was ridiculous that he was afraid of being disliked by someone. However, that someone wasn’t just any stranger. It was his daughter.

“Not bad.”

Nevertheless, Kang Haon didn’t dislike this feeling; in fact, he liked it. It had only been less than an hour, but Narae had already established herself as someone important to him.

“Be prepared for everything! It’s an awakened hunter! We don’t know what he’ll do.”

At that moment, the nun Yuria, who was protecting Narae, shouted.

“By the way, awakened, hunter… was hunter mentioned earlier by the children the same? Why is she calling me an awakened hunter?”

Kang Haon didn’t understand why she was calling him an awakened hunter.

“Is this a code word for kidnapper? No, that can’t be right.”

But he soon changed his mind. Narae had looked at him with wonder when she saw the magic he had shown her earlier.

Narae wouldn’t have looked at the kidnapper with wonder.

“Things have really changed a lot.”

Although it had only been five years since he disappeared, Kang Haon felt that the world had changed a lot more than he thought.

‘I don’t know how to handle this… It doesn’t seem like we can just let it go though.’

After considering the situation, Kang Haon made a decision.

“I won’t resist; look at me without prejudice; I don’t want to come across as a bad guy.”

He chose to go quietly because he didn’t want to cause a commotion where Narae was staying.

He wanted to show Narae his best side, especially since this was a place where he could inquire about some information related to Han Binna.

‘Oh, I still look very suspicious. Well, maybe this will do the trick.’

Kang Haon raised his arms to show the nuns that he had no intention of fighting.

Finally, the nun began to approach him with a little more trust. She still had her weapons out, but she slowly lowered them.

That’s when someone jumped out from the nun and blocked Kang Haon’s path.

“No! He’s not a bad guy!”

It was Narae who had blocked his path.

“Narae, what are you doing? It’s dangerous. Come over here quickly.” Yuria was surprised by Narae’s sudden action and shouted.

“But… he’s not a bad guy.”

Narae was slightly trembling with fear at Yuria’s voice, but she stood steadfastly in front of Kang Haon.

Kang Haon was impressed and found Narae cute for being like that. And all the slight bitterness and annoyance he had felt up until now disappeared completely.

“I thought she only looked like her, but her personality is also the same…” Kang Haon gazed tenderly at Narae’s back. It was because he thought he was looking at his wife, Han Binna.

“Binna used to be like that too…”

Han Binna had been in a similar situation before, where she stood in front of people who were attempting to harm him.

Binna showed no signs of weakness at the time, but her body was trembling.
Despite seeing Han Binna in that situation, he hid behind and did nothing.

Fortunately, nothing bad had happened because the teacher had arrived, but not being able to do anything while hiding behind her was Kang Haon’s lifelong regret.

‘I can’t just stand here like a scarecrow this time, either.’

Kang Haon, on the other hand, had no intention of doing so this time.

He approached Narae and faced her.

“Wow, you’re really brave.”

Narae’s eyes were already watering, and her lips trembled as if she was trying to hold back tears.

“Thank you for worrying about me, Narae. But your dad is fine, so just eat some candy and wait for me.”

Kang Haon hugged Narae lightly and took out some candy from the empty space in between his pockets.

“I guess you really like candies,” he said.

Narae put the candy into her small mouth while her hands trembled.

‘Don’t laugh self, you’ll anger your daughter.’

Despite knowing that he shouldn’t laugh at her, Kang Haon couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle.

“Ahem.”

He coughed to stop himself from chuckling. He quickly stood up and turned around so that Narae wouldn’t hate him for no reason.

“I understand that it’s hard to believe, but I am really Narae’s father.”

Kang Haon spoke seriously, even using an awkward formal language. He thought it was better to appeal sincerely at this moment.

“We can’t prove it right now, but…”

“You can do it now.”

As Kang Haon spoke, an old woman’s voice was heard from behind. Everyone’s attention was focused on her.

She was a nun who appeared to be quite elderly.

“Uhm, well…”

Kang Haon nodded hesitantly.

He finds it strange to be treated kindly, given that he appeared out of nowhere and claimed to be Narae’s father without any proof.

“No, I mean, you can prove Narae is your daughter right now.”

But the old nun’s response was unexpected.

“Huh?”

Kang Haon was taken aback. It was an answer he had never considered before.

“To be honest, it’s difficult to believe you after abruptly claiming to be Narae’s father, but I can see that you’re not a bad person, and Narae is not the type of child who would act kind to anyone.”

With a warm smile on her face, the old nun approached Kang Haon slowly.

“So, what do you say, Narae?”

“Yeah! Sister Margaret!”

Narae ran to the arms of Margaret, the head of the orphanage.

“You must have been scared, Narae, but you did very well.”

Margaret hugged Narae, and she seemed to finally calm down.

“I’m not sure if you’re her father, but I believe you; you wouldn’t look at the child with such beautiful eyes if you weren’t.”

Margaret spoke to Kang Haon, and he was genuinely grateful to her.

“Thank you!”

Kang Haon, who had never bowed his head before, did so in gratitude to the nun.