Father’s Ordeal

“What—why are you looking at me with such a surprised face?”

Im Hye-ja, a travel bag slung over her back, smiled broadly. Judging by her casual clothes, she hadn’t encountered any serious fighting on the way here.

Yu Seha and Ma Hana stared, stunned by Hye-ja’s sudden appearance. They hadn’t expected to run into her in a place like this—especially Ma Hana, who widened her eyes and stammered.

“M-muaa…? Uh—unnie?”
“Yeah~ our Meowi, it’s been a while.”

Hye-ja stepped forward, laid a hand on Ma Hana’s crown, and ruffled her hair without restraint. Tiny, adorable cries—“mua-mua” and “Meowi!”—popped up all around them.

“M-muaa! It’s all messy!”
“Meowi, you rascal! I heard from Cha Yeo-joo. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“M-muaa? Oh, unnie, you knew about this place too?”
“Of course I did. After all, I’m the one who sealed off the ground you two are standing on in the first place.”
“Muaa?!”

The revelation hit harder than they’d expected. Yu Seha reacted with a quiet, incredulous look.

“Um, Hye-ja noona, then is there perhaps around here…”
“Yeah, I engraved warp coordinates here and there.”
“Ah, so then…”
“If you’d just come to me and said the word, you wouldn’t have had to go through the trouble—I would’ve come with you.”

Yu Seha clicked his tongue. Ma Hana faltered, then bowed her head.

“M-muaa, Seha, I’m sorry… I should have asked sooner.”
“No, no. It was a good experience for me too, and it felt nice to travel together after so long.”

Yu Seha smiled warmly and smoothed Ma Hana’s head. Her cat ears perked up as she giggled bashfully.

The atmosphere was painfully pink and lovey-dovey. Hye-ja watched them fondly, a nostalgic expression crossing her face as memories of her past with senior Ma Tae-han surfaced.

‘…’

A smile full of longing—she remembered being like that once. Clinging to that memory, Hye-ja walked away.

Soon her body shrank and assumed a pudgy form that qualified as a .

“Could you step back?”

Hye-ja gathered flames and lava-like force in both hands and unleashed an outrageous backup skill.

“I’ll open a path downward for you.”

Moments later, the ground demolished by <Vulcanus’s Judgment> collapsed, revealing stairs that descended into the underground.

Hye-ja, having returned, met Ma Hana’s approaching gaze.

“Mua, unnie…”

Ma Hana was about to ask something, but Hye-ja spread her hands and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Meowi. There’s nothing I can say to help. From here on, this is a path you have to walk on your own.”
“……”
“But don’t worry.”
“Mua?”
“The way you are now will do fine. And…”

Hye-ja glanced at Yu Seha and smiled warmly as she looked at him.

“…Isn’t someone more reliable than anyone else with you?”
“Mua, yeah!”

Nodding, Hye-ja addressed Yu Seha casually.

“Seha, please take good care of our Peng Jin-ah.”
“Of course.”
“By the way, it’s been a while—how many months has it been since she stopped being a baby? A few months ago?”
“…Ahem.”
“Can’t she go back to being a baby again? She was so cute~”

Yu Seha made a displeased face at the teasing; Hye-ja chuckled softly and turned serious.

“Oh right, you left something with me. Something like the <Gaijin’s Anvil> or whatever.”
“…! Ah, yes.”
“I told the Dragon Sword Mir—the young lady—and looked around the Ironblood Field here and there.”

Hye-ja formed a circle with her thumb and forefinger.

“It’s possible—if you melt all the surrounding signals together you can make it one. Tell me when the time comes.”
“Thank you.”

The three agreed to meet again later. Hye-ja watched silently as they walked down and murmured to herself.

“…Is this enough?”

Senior Ma Tae-han.

“…I held back even though I wanted to follow too…”

Later, when they meet again…

“…Please at least pat my head once and say I did well?”

Yu Seha and Ma Hana continued along the path that had opened for them. The moment they stepped inside, they noticed something.

“Meowi.”
“Mua, yes.”

There was no entry phrase or notification, but they had entered the . Since the place seemed artificially created, it didn’t give entrants the courtesy of a typical ’s announcements.

Magic surged everywhere, set to repel intruders. The trial’s challenges revealed themselves quickly.

Click.

“Mua?”

Ma Hana accidentally stepped on a protruding tread. A faint click sounded from the walls and a sharp light flashed.

“Muaang!”

She didn’t panic—she drew the shield from her back and swung it like a fan. A gust of wind, charged with high-quality mana, knocked back a volley of perfectly aimed arrows.

Yu Seha watched but didn’t move.

Ting, ting, ting—

His body had long since surpassed mere human limits; any sharp weapon was a laughable toy to him. He picked up one of the fallen arrows, inspected the mechanisms that had deployed, and thought it showed high craftsmanship.

He wondered how someone could build such traps—and why they were arrow traps of all things. The traps that followed were classical but expertly rendered.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Huge log swings blocked every passage. Ma Hana twisted and contorted with feline agility, dodging them midair. Occasional pours of hot oil from above were handled with equal skill.

Yu Seha followed and pieced things together. He suspected an intention behind the trial’s design, and that gave him confidence about the nature of the enemy ahead.

Kugugu—!

A small vibration rippled toward them; something heavy was approaching.

Ma Hana raised her shield and stepped forward as if to protect Yu Seha. He was clearly stronger, but her reflex was still to be the shield.

“Muaang, Seha!”
“Yeah, enemies.”

Golems a little over two meters tall appeared. Unlike ordinary golems, geometric patterns were etched across their bodies, emitting a peculiar wavelength.

“Mua? What’s that? It’s a monster I’ve never seen before…”
“It’s a . A B+ grade special-type monster.”
“Rune… Armor?”
“Yep.”

Yu Seha explained the essentials quickly.

“They’re not that strong, but they have a tricky gimmick. They have an innate trait called that reduces all received damage by up to 80% except in a pure test of strength.”
“A test of strength…?”
“Not strikes—it has to be a direct contest of strength. Then full damage goes through. Their HP is low, so if you handle the gimmick properly, they’re not hard to beat.”

These were the kinds of creatures Mages hated: event-dungeon fare.

‘Of course that doesn’t matter to me…’

Yu Seha watched as Ma Hana charged forward, trusting his explanation. A shadow fell behind him—three had sneaked up and attacked.

He clenched his fist and, without looking back, lightly struck as if flicking.

A strange wind sound spread. The first golem hit dropped to one knee with a thud as a clean circular mark carved into its torso.

The blow ignored the ludicrous 80% damage reduction as if the trait didn’t exist. It was a perfectly compressed expression of force.

The remaining golems rushed him and met the same fate. Surprisingly, no sound came from the process—not even the dull impact of a collapsing golem. Yu Seha had employed perfect mana control to suppress the noise.

He couldn’t let it disturb Meowi.

In one breath he dispatched more than six golems. From start to finish, he looked only at Ma Hana.

Three lay scattered around her. Only one particularly large one remained—an alpha.

“M-muaa…!”
“……”

Ma Hana thrust out her shield and engaged in a test of strength without using any skills, relying solely on her trained body and the mana that enhanced it.

A twenty-second contest of strength creaked through the cavern. The golem’s body trembled, announcing the outcome.

“Muuuaaang!!!”

Ma Hana poured every ounce of her strength into the blow and toppled the golem in a single strike.

Bang—!

A huge roar echoed, and the alpha’s head split with a sick crack.

Yu Seha grinned and approached the panting Ma Hana, smoothing her hair.

“Peng Jin-ah, you did very well!”
“Mua~”

They handled a few minor obstacles and then took a short break.

Yu Seha watched Ma Hana nibble a sandwich he’d prepared, making “muaang, muaang” noises.

“Meowi.”
“Mua?”
“Did you notice?”
“Yeah.”

Ma Hana wiped sauce from her mouth and smiled sheepishly.

“…This entire trial… was prepared for me, right?”
“That’s right.”

Yu Seha had suspected it: the trial’s structure was too orthodox. Rather than punishing intruders, it felt like training designed to test and temper someone.

that forcibly returned failures were embedded in the walls everywhere, which implied a simple truth.

“…All of this must have been prepared by Dad for me.”

The trial rewarded progress: succeed at one thing, get stronger, move forward. It was undeniably a father’s love made into a challenge.

Ma Hana smiled apologetically.

“…Now I’ve become so strong… most of the trial doesn’t have meaning anymore…”
“That just means our Peng Jin-ah worked hard. I’m sure Senior Ma Tae-han would be proud if he saw you.”
“Mua~ thanks for saying that.”

They finished their break and pressed on.

“Hmm? Meowi, something’s different here.”
“Mua? Yeah?”

A gigantic cavern opened before them. Two door-shaped stone slabs—like cookie cutters sized for a person—stood side by side instead of regular doors.

A small inscription sat in the center of each doorway. Ma Hana read it with a surprised expression.

“M-mua?! This is Dad’s handwriting…”
“What does it say?”
“Let’s see… eh, mua? U-uh, ‘If our beloved Meowi has come this far, surely she must have many friends? Dad believes there might be kids who would come here too…’ something like that?”
“Huh? Ah, so that’s why there are two doors.”

They grasped the intent, loosely at least. But the conditions etched on the slabs were explicit.

“Meowi. It seems Senior Ma Tae-han assumed someone of the same gender and cat-people race would be the obvious friend.”
“M-mua…”

The stone slabs specified a height not exceeding 160 cm and distinct cat ears and a tail.

Of course Ma Hana passed through without issue. When Yu Seha tried, the blue mana flared and blocked him.

After failing three times, Yu Seha rested his chin on his hand and frowned.

“Hm…”

This was troublesome. Ignoring it and forcing the door might not break the trial, but it could cause problems later. They couldn’t risk it.

Ma Hana, who had gone through first, blushed.

“S-sorry… Ah, I didn’t think Dad would set up such a strange device.”

It was unexpected, but not a problem.

“It’s fine.”
“Mua?”
“In short, shrink your body to roughly Peng Jin-ah’s size and become a cat-person, right?”
“…M-mua?”

Yu Seha twisted his neck, activated [Complete Devour], and shifted into his familiar form. He closed his eyes briefly and recalled the feeling of holding Peng Jin-ah in his arms—the softness of her, the sweet scent at her crown, the ears and tail he’d touched so many times. Reproducing those details wasn’t difficult.

Puff—!

Smoke cleared to reveal Yu Seha’s startling new appearance. Ma Hana gaped. His neck and face flushed bright red, two tails spun like propellers, and white steam rose from the crown of his head.

“M-muaa, muaa, muaaa…”
“Hmm, I think this will do.”
“M-muaa…”

Ma Hana, struck by an electrifying sensation she’d never felt before, began to drool for the first time in her life.