Chapter 19: I Got Beat Up Four Times and Still Had to Make Small Talk
Some people say training builds character. I say it builds bruises.
By the time 6 P.M. rolled around, I looked like a slightly roasted dumpling and felt like someone had stuffed my brain with ancient history, clan politics, and exactly zero mercy. In other words: I was cooked.
Compared to yesterday's gentle "intro" session, today was a whole new beast. Meditation, sparring, memorization drills, more sparring, and an hour-long lecture about which families I should never offend unless I wanted to wake up missing my eyebrows. Oh, and four losses to Lee Na.
Four. As in one every hour. I'd like to say she was being fair and professional. But I'm not that delusional. I think she was just getting revenge for something I didn't even know I did.
She stood outside the training hall looking like she just finished a light jog, not like she'd spent four hours launching me into walls.
"Good work, Junior," she said, tossing me a water bottle.
I caught it with the reflexes of someone whose soul had left his body around hour three. It was laced with pills—energy boosters, healing aids, maybe something that helps me forget how much today hurt. In the cultivation world, we didn't have protein shakes. We had medicated potions disguised as hydration.
"Thank you, Miss Lee Na," I said automatically.
She tilted her head. "Call me Senior. We're colleagues now."
Oh. So she wasn't entirely made of stone. Good to know.
I nodded. "Alright, Senior."
That little shift made her feel more like Kurenai-sensei back home. You know—serious on the outside, warm and maybe even secretly motherly on the inside. Just… less into genjutsu and more into kicking me across the dojo.
Poor Kurenai. She lost her lover back in Konoha and was never the same. One day, she was the most beautiful woman in the village. The next, she looked like the world drained all the color from her. I didn't want to think about that too long. Not now.
Trying to shake off the weight in my chest (and the ache in my ribs), I stretched. "How was today's training, Senior?"
She barely blinked. "It was adequate."
Not exactly a raving review.
"How about you?" she asked.
"Mine was very fun," I said with forced enthusiasm. "I love training and getting my body going."
Her response: a single hn. I wasn't even sure if that was approval or indigestion.
Still, I wasn't giving up. Not when we were going to be stuck together for who knows how long.
"Senior," I asked, "do you like fighting?"
"I have no particular feeling about it."
Okay, cool. I'll just go talk to this wall now. It probably has stronger opinions.
"Well then, what do you do for fun?" I pushed on. "I train, play with my family, tell stories, spar, talk to friends... you have something like that?"
She looked at me as if I just asked for her bank password. "That is personal information."
Oh come on. Even Kakashi reads romance novels in public. Why do the cool ones always gotta be mysterious?
"Senior, you should loosen up a little bit," I said, grinning through the pain. "Taking everything seriously will make things boring. A positive outlook makes life colorful."
She paused. Actually paused.
Then nodded, slowly. "I will consider your advice."
Victory! …Kind of.
"Good," I said, smiling. It was hard to keep the smile on when my body felt like a post-battle ramen cart. But hey—Shikamaru would've called this whole conversation "too troublesome." I call it a breakthrough.
One inch at a time, right?
Besides, even if she never laughs at my jokes or tells me what she does for fun…
She passed me water.
She called me "colleague."
And she didn't kill me, which, in this world, is practically a hug.
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"Senior," I said, wiping sweat from my forehead and still nursing my pride after our latest sparring session, "is there a person you look up to?"
I didn't really expect an answer.
Lee Na, in case you haven't figured it out yet, is the kind of woman who probably considers emotions a security threat. You know the type: perfect hair, perfect posture, and a glare sharp enough to slice titanium.
But then… something flickered in her eyes.
She looked at me—not like I was a kid anymore, but like I was someone real. Like maybe she'd stopped seeing my messy hair and wide-eyed optimism as childish, and instead saw the man who stood toe-to-toe with fate, ki storms, and overachieving sparring partners named her.
After a long pause, she said, "Leona Hiedern. From Germany. The strongest female of my generation and the role model for any strong fighter."
I blinked.
Leona Hiedern.
That was not a casual name drop. That was like saying, "Oh, yeah, I want to be like Wonder Woman, but grimmer and with more military-grade weaponry."
Leona was the Leona. Cold. Tactical. A mercenary goddess with the emotional range of a stone statue and the combat skills of a one-woman army. Honestly, it explained a lot.
Lee Na = Ice Queen 2.0.
"Wow," I said. "I'll cheer you on, Senior. You can definitely beat Leona."
Okay, maybe that was a little much. But I meant it. Even the deadliest walls can be climbed, right?
She tilted her head like she wasn't sure whether I was joking or just tragically optimistic. "Is that so? Miss Leona lives constantly in battle. She is already a True Master. She participated in the last World's Strongest Tournament and defeated the Korean team captain."
Ouch. That stung a little.
Still, I wasn't letting the past drag the future down. "Just because some old guys lost," I said, smirking, "doesn't mean we can't win."
She didn't reply.
Of course she didn't reply.
Instead, she just turned and started walking out of the training facility like some silent martial arts anime character. I jogged after her, trying not to look like a kicked puppy. I knew better than to expect a gold star sticker on the first real conversation.
But I didn't mind.
Because this was how it started—with little moments. A shared memory. A name dropped. A stare that lasted one second longer than usual. She might be colder than a mountaintop monastery, but I wasn't the kind of guy who gave up after a single blizzard.
We'd get there.
Eventually.
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Driving back home, my body felt like it had been through a blender, but my brain? That thing was buzzing.
I had a date.
Yes. A real date. With Moon Young.
And no, I wasn't mentally prepared in the slightest.
Thirty years. That's how long it had been. Technically, yeah, most of that was in another world where romance took a back seat to survival, training, and not being blown up by interdimensional beasts.
This was my first real shot at being… well, not just a fighter. A guy. A person.
My hands gripped the wheel tighter. I could face down a wyvern with a toothpick, but this? This was terrifying.
"Just act natural," I muttered to myself. "There's no need to change what I am."
Which, for the record, is: hopelessly sincere, occasionally oblivious, and built entirely out of stubborn optimism.
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"Big brother!"
Before I could even get my shoes off, the door exploded open and two pint-sized missiles named Jae Min and Jae Hee launched at me. I caught them like a pro, scooped them both up in a one-arm power move, and spun us into the living room like I was auditioning for Dancing with the Fighters.
"How was your day, my little warriors?" I asked as we spiraled onto the sofa like we were crash-landing a spaceship made of laughter and bad ideas.
"It was awesome!" Jae Min shouted.
"There were so many cool cars and pretty ladies!" Jae Hee chimed in, which gave me a brief existential crisis because… she's seven.
"The teacher was so nice, and we did different stuff from the old school."
"There was a martial arts teacher—but you're definitely better, big bro."
"We saw a movie in a huge cinema hall. Like, HUGE. And the kids were super smart!"
"I made soooo many friends today."
"Okay, okay, pause the info tsunami!" came Sun Mi's voice from the kitchen, laughing as she walked in with a dish towel and the smug grin of someone who knew dinner was going to be a show.
"I swear," I said, dropping onto the couch like a war veteran returning from battle. "You guys could give the NSA a run for their money with how fast you drop data."
The twins giggled, clinging to my arms like koalas. I couldn't help it—I wrapped them both up in a hug so tight it probably rewired their atoms.
"Don't worry," I said. "Your brother's system can handle anything."
"Even girls?" Jae Min asked innocently.
Sun Mi nearly choked from the kitchen.
The kids dragged me into the dining room like I was a noble sacrifice to the gossip gods. We sat down. I ate. They stared at me like I was a zoo exhibit labeled "Big Brother and His Mysterious Romantic Life."
"You haven't told us about these girl friends of yours," Sun Mi said as she set down a bowl of soup and raised a knowing eyebrow. It was the kind of eyebrow that said, You better spill or I'll interrogate you with baby photos.
"Hn hn," both kids nodded in synchronized mischief.
Honestly, if I hadn't mentioned girls, these two might've tried to recruit one for me. Probably by setting up an interview and giving her a list of qualities I deserve. "Must love martial arts, be cool with hyperactive twins, and feed our brother rice crackers when he forgets to eat."
"I didn't think it was an interesting topic," I said, sipping soup.
"Interesting."
"Interesting!"
Ugh. Fine. I caved.
"I made friends with five girls. You know most of them already. There's Queen, Moon Young, Dal Dal Choi, and Lee Na from the Wild's League. The fifth is Lee Go Seul, a new student. She's a sword master—light green hair, great form, and yeah, she's beautiful. Strong too."
"Mo~re!" the twins chanted like tiny cultists.
"We want to know about them outside of fights!"
Sun Mi smirked. "Do you like any of them?"
Cue emotional ambush.
I paused, chewing slowly while my brain tried to calculate the emotional damage of saying the wrong name in front of my siblings.
"…I like Lee Na the most," I finally said. "Her fighting style is beautiful."
Sun Mi's hand hit the table with a thud. "Not like that, genius!"
"Ah. Right," I chuckled, washing it down with juice. "I get it. Well, I don't really like any of them like that. I guess Moon Young and Lee Go are more my type if you're pushing me to pick. But honestly, they're just friends."
"But you confessed to Moon Young, didn't you?" Sun Mi said, narrowing her eyes like a lie detector machine with perfect intuition.
"Sure, but that was… kinda childish. I didn't think she'd actually say yes."
The table went silent.
Even the twins tilted their heads, waiting for a deeper explanation like they were on some teen drama show.
"I just… I remembered something from my past," I said softly. "There was someone named Sakura. I used to have a crush on her, and I wanted to see… if that kind of thing still existed in me. I didn't expect it to go anywhere."
Sun Mi didn't speak right away. Then she said, "Moon Young ticks your fancy though, doesn't she?"
I shrugged. "She does. But… I'm not the old Jae Gu anymore. I don't chase people just because they look pretty. I want something real."
The kids looked at each other, then back at me.
"…Do you want us to help?" Jae Hee asked solemnly, like she was about to set up a full-on matchmaking operation with color-coded charts.
"No," I laughed. "You just be yourselves. That's all I need."