Chapter 67 – Don’t think about it

Hajin quietly watched Nayun's fight. Due to his Gift, Master Sharpshooter, he could clearly see Nayun's actions. And because it made Hajin a master with long-ranged weapons, it also showed him Nayun's faults.

...At least, it should have.

'...I really didn't know anything about archery, did I?'

It was a strange sensation.

The closest way that Hajin could describe it was like his mind literally expanding while watching how Nayun fought, his intuition being forcibly corrected in real-time as Nayun acted contradictory to his thoughts.

The first difference was in the fact that she charged at the horse.

An archer should maintain distance since arrows couldn't be fired at close range. And even then, the arrow should be used like a dagger to stab the horse when she got close.

But Nayun completely rejected that notion.

Instead of reaching back to draw the bowstring, Nayun loaded arrows into her right hand like a revolver and then tilted the bow up to pull the drawstring back and fire in the same motion, skipping the draw step.

Because of that, it allowed her to fire at a closer range without any wasted prep time.

'But wouldn't that mean the arrow is weaker-'

As if his Gift itself wanted to scold him, Hajin found his eyes drawn towards Nayun's arms, which were being reinforced with magic power, letting her pull off a maneuver that should be impossible to the archers that Hajin knew from his world.

'Right. Magic power can make up for a lack of physical strength and shift the physics of an attack.'

Hajin had experienced it himself from when he fought Lee with how that guy threw his sword around at crazy impossible angles.

It was just like the Force... but it was basically just an application of Sword Ki in a way.

Nayun was doing something similar. But instead of wrapping her arrow in magic power like he had written archers to do in The Returnee Hero, Nayun was reinforcing her bow and bowstring instead.

Hajin kept watching and noticed how the Thousand-Mile Horse dodged Nayun's arrows, causing them to just cause grazing wounds along its blue coat.

Seeing that made Hajin want to affirm that his thoughts were right about disabling the horse's legs first.

But then he watched Nayun continue charging with arrows pointed right at the Thousand-Mile Horse, and act that made the horse panic and veer off course.

"...That's right." Hajin murmured. "A psychological effect."

An animal wouldn't fear a gun barrel being pointed at its head. In a similar vein, a monster wouldn't care either.

That was Hajin's advantage to using the (relatively) modern weaponry of guns and similar weapons.

But bows were ancient human weapons. And they persisted to the modern era for a reason.

Seeing a pointed stick aimed right at your head... no creature would take that lightly. Even if you knew it wouldn't pierce through you, there was always the nagging doubt that it might.

And Nayun took advantage of that.

The moment the horse tried to veer off, Nayun punched through its now wide-open side with a flurry of arrows. And then, to finish it off, she jumped onto it and fired an arrow straight into the back of its head.

With that, the Thousand-Mile Horse crumpled, sliding across the ground as its body went limp.

Nayun jumped off the moment its body slowed to a halt. Then she laughed and ran a trembling hand through her hair.

Staring at her... Hajin couldn't help but recall the notes he had written about Nayun's character.

[Chae Nayun only wants to shoot her bow in upright positions. In other words, she lacks adaptability and situational awareness as an archer.]

...That was wrong now. Nayun had completely thrown away her archery forms for an instinctive shooting style. One that Hajin couldn't follow because it played to her strong intuition for combat.

[In a one-on-one fight, sharpshooters require detailed analysis and background knowledge of their target. However, Chae Nayun lacks knowledge about monsters.]

Nayun still lacked knowledge about monsters. But instead of fixing that weakness, she had focused on her strength: overwhelming power and speed.

After all, when in close range, all monsters were just targets. And if you dared to stay ready to fire until the point the monster couldn't dodge... then you didn't need to know any weaknesses.

[Her ability to predict her opponent’s movements is superb, but she lacks the ability to take her arrows’ speed into account.]

...Yes. Hajin had written Nayun with a high intuition and ability to predict her opponent's movements. That was why he planned for her to have a sword since he assumed that monsters would always dodge an arrow due to the time it took to reach them.

But.

If you closed distance on purpose, if you waited until they couldn't dodge to attack...

'...I see why Lee keeps calling me stupid.'

Hajin couldn't help but admit it.

The concept of an archer in The Returnee Hero was too rigid.

No, it wasn't too rigid. It was incomplete.

Hajin had only ever seen Olympic archers and traditional archery. It had never crossed his mind that archery could be anything more than sniping.

...But of course it could be more.

A bow and a quiver of arrows were weapons that humanity had used almost as long as the spear.

Not only that, but they had been used in wartime as well as in battles.

And seeing how Nayun had just taken down the Thousand-Mile Horse, a monster that Hajin had deliberately designed to be the bane of archers...

'Is this the difference in perspective?'

Hajin still didn't know if Lee was someone from his Earth, the Co-author trolling, or a revised Lee Wei that the Co-author had put into the story to shake things up.

But he did know that Lee lived and breathed martial arts.

In Hajin's head, Nayun's true Gift of overwhelming magic power was best utilized by a sword because she could emit it and create a giant wave of destruction.

But he had seen firsthand another path: pure, overwhelming firepower.

Hajin could imagine it.

With the way Nayun used her bow and arrows, it was basically like a perfect spearman continuously launching spearthrusts. Except, it wasn't just one spear, but multiple. And not only that, deflecting one spear wouldn't stop the next.

Approaching required being faster than the archer, but if the archer already had an arrow primed to fire... or six, like Nayun did, then that was just suicide. You would have to be at least ten times faster to be able to dodge it... and at that point, you would have won anyway.

Lateral movements to evade was pointless too. The Thousand-Mile Horse had tried that only to be riddled with holes.

And retreating just allowed the archer to shift back into traditional archery to snipe you down.

In short...

'...It's complete.'

Hajin realized it.

Modern archery was halved. Because of the fact that it had slowly fallen into a past-time... and because of the advent of firearms, people had discarded the notion of how to use bows and arrows in close combat.

But Nayun... No, it was probably Lee since she mentioned she was inspired by him.

That guy had rederived it. A means to turn a bow and arrow into something just as deadly in close quarters as a sword or a spear. No, something deadlier, since no range was safe.

Hajin reflexively glanced over at Lee.

There was already a filled out evaluation sheet on the table in front of him with Nayun's name on it. And he had pointed out everything Hajin noticed too, with the only differences being that he suggested Nayun vary the timing of her shots as well as... deliberately shouting to disorient the enemy?

Hajin shifted his gaze back and shook his head, letting out a soft chuckle. "Well. I guess I don't have to worry about future battles..."

The note that the Co-author sent about increasing the difficulties of the enemies had concerned him.

But...

'That guy is probably just working with the same framework I am, right?'

Hajin didn't know who the Co-author was. But he had the sense that the Co-author was a 'writer' like Hajin and not a real fighter.

Which meant...

'It should be interesting.'

...That guy's definition of 'increased difficulty' was probably just stronger weapons or raw power. More magic, more destructive Gifts, the descent of devils and demons...

Something along those lines.

But there was a big wrench that Hajin hadn't seen coming and the Co-author didn't either.

Hajin glanced at Lee again and murmured, "A writer can only write as much as he knows. And neither I nor the co-author know as much about taking apart people in combat as that guy there."

It was a mystery. As huge a question mark as the one that Hajin had on his face before he was synchronized to the body he had now.

Who 'Lee Shin' really was still wasn't clear... and probably would never be clear considering that Lee himself was just living his best life.

But one thing WAS clear.

And that was the fact that Lee Shin knew the flow of combat itself as well as an author knew how to put words on the page-

"Hajiiiin!"

Hajin blinked and noticed Yeonha running towards him. "Y-Yeonha? What are you-"

Before he could react, Yeonha threw herself into his arms and hugged him. "This is your fault! Comfort me!"

"W-What?!"

Yeonha leaned back and stared into Hajin's eyes, pouting. "How does everyone know we're married?! They keep teasing me! It's not fair!"

"...Oh. Uh..."

"See! It's your fault!" Yeonha lightly headbutted Hajin and said, "Comfort me! Properly!"

"U-Um..." Hajin coughed, feeling VERY interested gazes on him. Then he awkwardly pulled Yeonha in for a hug.

Yeonha froze, clearly not thinking this far.

Hajin froze too.

For a split second, mixed emotions and thoughts filled his mind.

...Mostly the fact that Yeonha was only 17 years old and Hajin mentally was definitely older.

But at the same time...

Yeonha stared into Hajin's eyes, hesitation and shyness on her face. "H-Hajin... you're a bit close..."

'...Fuck it.'

Hajin adjusted his arms around Yeonha and slowly pulled her closer...

"UNCLE HAJI AND RICH AUNTIE KISSY?!"

Nayun laughed. "Eva! You can't just say that!"

"Wooow. So when are the kids?" Lee's amused words echoed after.

Rachel giggled and said, "Should I have some barristers prepare citizenship for you, Hajin? So that you can have somewhere to run after Yeonha's father chases you down?"

And then...

A loud facepalm as well as an audible groan.

Hajin glanced over to see Shin Jonghak covering his face.

Suho walked over to bump Shin Jonghak's arm and said, "What's the matter?"

"...Shut up. I'm... processing the fact that I'm the arrogant rich guy in a drama who crashes out in public and ruins his reputation."

Hajin slowly turned his gaze back to look at Yeonha.

Yeonha stared back at Hajin, her face a bright red.

Hajin cleared his throat and said, "Maybe-"

"Oh, to hell with it!" Yeonha threw her arms around Hajin's neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss.

"I WIN EVERYTHING!" Lee's triumphant voice filled the air. "HAH! I *TOLD* YOU IT'D BE RIGHT AFTER THE THIRD EXAM DAY!"

Hajin flipped Lee off while doing his best not to think too hard about how sweet Yeonha tasted or how warm she was against him.

...But it was hard to ignore the entirety of Cube's first year cadets were in an uproar.

And maybe Yeonha thought that too since she doubled down on the kissing.

Since that was the case, Hajin decided to just shut his brain off and enjoy the moment.