In the future, knowing how things would turn out, I also knew the day would come when I’d have to part ways with this little kid.
Since parting is inevitable, from the moment I met the kid, I had already decided not to get emotionally attached, whether it was about the training hall pass or anything else.
But human emotions don’t work that way, and the energy and warmth the kid gave me made me open my heart wide.
In this house, where people don’t see others as human just because they were born male, the kid was the only one who treated me as a person, Yang Woobin.
That was my only source of vitality.
Maybe that’s why.
When the kid, with a voice full of tears, told me about the day we’d have to part, I was suddenly struck with an overwhelming emptiness, and I couldn’t speak.
I hadn’t felt this shocked since the day I was born, when my relatives asked, “Is there something wrong with him?”
“Ugh, ugh… I don’t want to go. I don’t want to part with you, Woobin…”
But even though I stayed silent, all I could do was see the kid getting even sadder, so I finally spoke.
“Sigh. Hey, kid.”
“Huh?”
“Well, I mean… um…”
There were things I wanted to say when the day to part with the kid came, but since the news came so suddenly, I couldn’t find the right words.
I didn’t know where to start or how to comfort the kid, and my thoughts got so jumbled that my mind went completely blank.
“Woobin…?”
The kid called my name with a pitiful look on his face, since I wasn’t saying anything.
This was the first time I’d shown such clumsiness, acting so childish like a thirteen-year-old.
Feeling embarrassed to show this clumsy side, I turned my eyes away from the kid, and that’s when I noticed the clock on the wall.
“Ah, right.”
At that moment, a good way to comfort the kid and say what I had prepared came to mind.
I looked back at the kid, locking eyes with her, and spoke.
“Later tonight, let’s meet at the training hall, like we always do.”
“Huh?”
“Then let’s go. We still have to work hard today, just like always.”
“Woobin… Uah!? Don’t pull me…”
“First off, your face is a mess right now. Go wash up in the bathroom.”
I grabbed the kid’s wrist, pulling her out of the room, and forced her into the bathroom to wash her tear-streaked face.
Then I headed to the study room where the others were.
Night suited us better than morning.
What’s going on…
Today’s supposed to be my last day with him.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll have to go home, but isn’t Woobin sad about parting?
I don’t want to part with him.
I want to stay with him forever…
Jin Sejeong pouted her lower lip as she looked at the handprint left on her wrist from where Yang Woobin had pulled her.
She knew well from the curriculum of the Yang family that he couldn’t take time off, but knowing something with her head was different from accepting it with her heart.
As a pre-adolescent who followed her emotions more than reason, Jin Sejeong spent the day feeling upset by Woobin’s actions.
I cried so much because I didn’t want to part with him…
But Woobin didn’t cry…
Does he not think of me as a friend?
The feeling of being hurt, which was heavier than other emotions, quickly grew bigger as she left it unchecked, pulling in all her negative feelings.
We spent every day together for three years.
We laughed, talked, and sweated together.
I thought we had become close.
Was I the only one who thought that?
Due to the shock of hearing that she had to go home the next morning, Jin Sejeong’s rational thoughts were completely disrupted.
Does Woobin not enjoy being with me?
Did he just think of me as some kind of training pass for the training hall?
Her feelings of hurt grew rapidly.
Is this really the end?
By the time night came, Jin Sejeong’s eyes were as dark as the depths of the ocean, devoid of any light.
“Did you come? Let’s go in.”
Once her eyes darkened, they didn’t return to normal even when she saw Yang Woobin.
Knowing she couldn’t avoid the coming separation, she had given up on trying to avoid further pain.
“I thought a lot about what to say, how to say goodbye.
From the moment I met you, I knew this day would come.”
Once inside the training hall, Yang Woobin, with his back to her, walked to the weapons storage, just as he always did.
When he took out a wooden sword, that’s when the training would begin.
Having trained every single day for three years, Jin Sejeong knew exactly how he would move.
But today was different.
“I didn’t expect to part so suddenly, and when I heard your words this morning, I was completely caught off guard.
I even forgot everything I wanted to say.”
Instead of a wooden sword, Yang Woobin took out two real swords.
Real, true weapons.
Why is he taking out real swords instead of the wooden ones?
And two of them?
Jin Sejeong couldn’t hear what Yang Woobin was saying, her heart closed off to avoid further hurt.
But her eyes were clear, and she could see perfectly well when he took out the two real swords.
“So, after thinking about it, I decided this is the best way for us.”
The confusion that arose from his unusual behavior was cleared up when he held one sword in his hand and offered the other one.
“I’ll convey everything I want to say, everything I have to say, with this sword.”
Yang Woobin was now challenging Jin Sejeong to a real sword duel.
“What?”
A sword fight, of all things, at a time when I was trying to get my last words out, feeling regretful that this was the end…
To think we were going to point dangerous weapons at each other, capable of hurting one another.
Jin Sejeong, who had closed off her heart in resignation, was now deeply affected by Yang Woobin’s actions.
Despite her hardened heart, what he was doing was so reckless that it managed to shake her.
A real sword duel when a friend is leaving?
It was practically the same as saying, “I’m cutting ties.”
Jin Sejeong clenched her teeth.
“Let’s fight first. Then we can talk.”
Thud!
Jin Sejeong snatched the sword hilt from Yang Woobin, glaring at him with a cold, sharp look.
Her expression reminded him of the first day they met, and Yang Woobin smiled faintly, feeling nostalgic.
But to Jin Sejeong, his smile seemed like mockery.
She had already given up on the world and resigned herself to the situation.
Without saying a word, she tightly gripped the sword and took her stance.
So this is how it ends, huh?
I get it, Woobin…
No, Yang Woobin, if that’s how it is, I’ll close my heart too.
Thirteen years old.
The age of emotional turmoil.
At this age, you could make your closest friend in a single day, or turn your closest friend into an enemy in a single day.
Because of this, Jin Sejeong had decided to shut her heart to Yang Woobin’s actions.
“Alright, then.”
…Huh?
But when he first took the sword and got into his stance, she completely forgot her earlier decision and stood there in shock, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.
“C-Changryong Twelve Swords?”
The stance Yang Woobin had taken was the basic stance of the Changryong Twelve Swords, the swordsmanship technique of the Jin family.
She had thought he would use the Yang family’s Taeyang Jinmu Sword after picking up the sword for the first time in three years.
But he suddenly went straight into the Changryong Twelve Swords, leaving her so flustered that her stance almost fell apart.
But there was no time for her to be surprised.
“I’m coming.”
Bang!
With a sound like a gunshot, Yang Woobin rushed toward her, his black hair flowing behind him.
The first strike of the Changryong Twelve Swords — Changryong Iljin.
The technique Jin Sejeong had used on the day they first met, which was easily countered.
With the overwhelming force of his charge, Yang Woobin’s sword tip came at her, and instinctively, Jin Sejeong twisted her body slightly and took a step forward.
Just like Yang Woobin had done before.
“Good. Well done.”
Even though his technique was easily countered, Yang Woobin didn’t flinch at all.
Without a hint of hesitation, he pushed off the ground, increasing the distance between them.
“Now, next…”
With that, he extended his sword forward with a speed that made it look like an explosion.
It wasn’t just one thrust, but a series of thrusts, a barrage of attacks.
The Changryong Twelve Swords’s second technique — Changryong Cheonchung.
Chwa-choo-choo-choo-choo!
The sword strikes came at her in such a flurry that they filled her vision, making it feel impossible to even attempt a counterattack.
But Jin Sejeong wasn’t flustered by the countless thrusts filling her sight.
In fact, she knew there was only one sword coming at her.
She also knew this technique required a fully developed body to use effectively, so she calmly twisted her body slightly and stepped forward, grabbing his wrist.
Thud.
“Well done.”
Yang Woobin’s voice rang out.
Even though his technique had been countered, he sincerely complimented her without a hint of regret.
Only then did Jin Sejeong begin to understand his intentions, realizing why he had chosen to do something like a real sword duel.
“W-Woobin…”
Her heart felt heavy, and she couldn’t speak properly.
Yang Woobin, however, smiled and said,
“This is your farewell gift. You have to survive.
Survive, and we’ll meet again at the academy.”
What came out of Yang Woobin’s mouth wasn’t a farewell, but a promise to reunite.