Peerless Dad - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prologue (1) 

At that time… 

Gajang… 

The head of a family… 

Noh Gajang. 

It’s my name. 

In a time where it’s hard to make ends meet. In a world where it’s hard to pursue ordinary happiness, my parents named me Gajang in hopes that I would live up to be just that. No more. No less.  

When I learned martial arts, I thought that men should move forward in life while harboring sky-high dreams.
 

Unrivaled in the world. 

Can’t I become that? 

Since they said that heroes like to indulge themselves, I thought that when I became unrivaled in the world, I would keep 3 wives and 7 concubines and have 3 meals a day with white rice and everything in the land, sea, and air. 

But I was a babe in the woods. 

Despite not sleeping more than four hours a day, and training all day except for the time I spent eating and shitting, I never once beat my father, who was an old man at the time. 

What’s even more upsetting is the fact that my father was not even skilled enough to make a name for himself in the world of martial arts and was just a vagabond. 

“Well, you still have enough skill to make a living out of. If you’re careful enough, you can live like this until you die of old age.” 

That’s how father valued his ability humbly and hoped for me to end up just like that. 

Of course, he hadn’t noticed the high standards I had for myself then. 

There’s an old saying that states effort never betrays you.
 

I firmly believed those words, and stupidly tried hard nonstop. 

If I’ve made this much effort, shouldn’t I have already become an unrivaled existence known to the masses by the first syllable of my name alone? 

But then I realized that effort does betray you. Otherwise, I should have been able to beat my old man, who has become a skeleton. 

Later, when father died, when I was making a name for myself as a top problem solver, I consoled myself saying that father was extremely strong and no one could win against him. Because he was the only person I’ve ever lost to. 

Maybe that’s why? 

The world of martial arts.  

The world that father said never to step in. 

I wanted to step inside the world that others did not dare to look at. 

I thought that I’d succeed with my current skill. No, I was sure that I could beat any of them.  

Until I met him, right at that moment when my greed was growing day by day. I don’t want to talk about this. Maybe I can tell this story another time. 

And I met her. 

She was way out of the league of a wanderer like me. She was my other half whom I’m never going to forget.  

Seomunmira. 

She was a rich woman. No, that’s what she seemed to be. 

When we first met, she wore silk, which seemed to be worth two gold nyang. 

It was obvious that she was carefully educated and chose her words elegantly, unlike me, who spouted whatever ignorant thing that crossed y mine. It’s amazing how words and sentences can differ so much even as we say the same things. 

And when we married and lived together afterwards, the people around her were strangely trying to look good in front of her. 

Was it the aura she exuded? Or was it the dignity that oozed from her? 

She certainly had had something about her. I felt like she’s been treated like that by people ever since she was born. 

I still don’t understand why she chose me. 

Ever since we started our married life together, I’ve completely renounced the world of martial arts. 

She was a woman of noble character and a treasure. 

She was my woman, and I didn’t want to make her ever regret choosing me. 

I worked. 

I worked hard and earned money. 

I wanted to only have her eat delicious things with her pretty mouth, only make her wear fine clothes, and give her beautiful jewelry. 

The money earned by a top problem solver was less than the money made by a vagabond fighter, so I always felt that I earned a shabby amount. 

When I lived alone, I felt like I had no regrets, but now that I’m living with, I feel like I’m not good enough anymore. Even though I bring her all the money I earn without saving any for myself, I still felt my incompetence. 

“Thank you, honey.” 

“Well done making money outside.” 

“That’s so much… Take it easy.” 

Even when I gave her a small sum of money, she would bow down and receive the pouch with both hands and speak that way. Even if I told her not to, she still did. 

But I couldn’t deny that my shoulders pumped up whenever she did that. 

Was it because of that? 

“You’re a henpecked husband.” 

“You’re just a puppet that does nothing but makes money.” 

I couldn’t even pay heed to my colleagues’ words. It was rather funny.  

They couldn’t have known how it felt. 

They were all looking for giraffes on the floor, and only knew women who ripped them off never knowing someone as precious as my gem. 

It was a time when I had nothing to envy in the world. 

When she was pregnant and her soft belly began to swell up, I really was not envious of even the emperor himself. I was tearfully happy just to know that she had my baby, my blood, and wished for nothing else in the world. 

I, who was the last of my bloodline since my parents died, was happy just to have her with me, but she’s having my son! Now I’m really going to be the head of a family and live up to my name! 

I will never forget the moments when I became a husband and when I knew I was becoming a father. 

But… 

But… 

But… 

This damned fate. This cruel creator.