Only I Level Up Recollections/After Stories
Part 2: Until we meet again
"Thank you for coming in, Miss Cha."
"Ah, yes. Hello."
Hae-In stepped across the doorway of the kindergarten headmistress's office with a tense expression on her face.
Soo-Hoh hadn't had any contact with kids of his own age until he turned five years old. And today was exactly a week after the worried parents decided to send their son to the nearest kindergarten.
The preschool educational institution suddenly called her up, asking her to come for a meeting today. Hae-In was really worried that maybe something happened to Soo-Hoh, or her son did something wrong.
The headmistress guided her to the couch on the opposite side and Hae-In settled down on the cushion as her complexion became even gloomier than before.
The middle-aged headmistress could fully understand what Hae-In was going through right now. That was why she worked hard to find the gentlest voice she could come up with in order to not worsen the other party's anxiety.
"It's not something to be that anxious over, Miss Cha. It's just that.... We have a few questions we'd like to ask you."
"Ah, yes. Please."
Hae-In nodded her head repeatedly with a hardened expression. The headmistress cautiously pushed forward a sketchbook.
"Here.... Would you take a look at this, please?"
Hae-In picked the book up as the headmistress continued on.
"It contains drawings by your son, Soo-Hoh."
The white paper within said book featured a rather-cute looking 'ant' as drawn by a little child's hands.
But, why was she being shown this? Hae-In couldn't immediately understand where this conversation was going and asked back with a puzzled expression.
"What's the matter with this drawing....?"
The headmistress hesitated slightly before letting a soft sigh escape from her lips. She then began explaining herself.
"The class teacher-nim asked the children to draw their close 'friends', you see."
"....Ah."
Now that she looked at the drawing again, the 'ant' was standing on two feet. Only then did Hae-In realise that this was not a drawing of an ordinary ant, but Marshal Beru, instead.
"There are others after that page. When the class teacher-nim asked Soo-Hoh if he had any other friends, he drew those next."
Hae-In flipped one more page.
There was a drawing of a humanoid figure with a strip of red plumage attached to his head while holding what was clearly a sword, no matter who saw it.
'Igrit....'
Hae-In instantly recognised the protagonist of the drawing and slowly held her forehead with one hand. He might look like a trustworthy knight to those who knew him, but how would this situation look like in the eyes of strangers?
Her head began aching just from thinking about that.
After that page came the drawings of Bellion and his extending magic sword, as well as Fangs, busily putting on a magic show. Inevitably, Hae-In's head began developing a stronger migraine.
'.....'
The headmistress interpreted Hae-In's speechless expression the wrong way and spoke in a worried voice.
"The next drawing is what Soo-Hoh drew as his family portrait."
Flip.
The page of the sketchbook flipped again. What greeted her next was a drawing of herself, a man that seemed to be her husband, Jin-Woo, and innumerable black figures standing behind them.
Soo-Hoh grew up from his toddler days surrounded by the Shadow Soldiers and he must've thought of them as his extended family now.
'This is how we look like in Soo-Hoh's eyes.'
Hae-In thought that this drawing contained her son's innocent but warm gaze, and her nose stung with emotions.
The class teachers couldn't understand the meaning behind these drawings and fell into a rather considerable amount of panic and came to the conclusion that there must've been some sort of a problem with Soo-Hoh.
And of course, that included the headmistress herself, the person responsible for asking Hae-In to stop by at the kindergarten today.
The middle-aged lady formed a pretty grave expression as she spoke.
"The final page contains Soo-Hoh's drawing of his 'home'. And the reason why I requested you for today's meeting, as well."
What kind of a drawing would it be this time? With a pair of nervous eyes, Cha Hae-In flipped to the last page.
There was a cosy little house.
A normal-looking house was standing erect in the middle of some land.
The problem with this depiction was that the ground below was completely painted black.
Over 70 percent of the sketchbook's real estate was dominated by the black colour.
"We've been caring for many children over the years, but never have we encountered such depictions of friends and family by a child until now."
The headmistress pointed to the black portion of the drawing and spoke in a calm voice.
"The homeroom teacher-nim asked Soo-Hoh why he drew the lower half of the house like this, and the boy replied that that's where his friends, his family, as well as his giant father, are staying."
'.....Giant father?'
That explanation was puzzling enough to make Hae-In tilt her head this way and that, but still, she could more or less guess how this drawing came about.
However....
"By any chance, do you know why Soo-Hoh is drawing these sorts of images?"
....It was really unfortunate that Hae-In couldn't reveal what she knew to other people. She could only shake her head.
"....As I feared."
The headmistress nodded her head as if she understood the situation.
Initially, the kindergarten was fearful that Soo-Hoh was being mistreated at home, but they couldn't find any evidence of abuse from the boy's jovial, good-natured behaviour he displayed every day.
Although rare, things like this did happen occasionally – young kids drawing the world as they see it through their eyes.
"Maybe... It's possible that Soo-Hoh possesses a great talent for art."