I’ll Retire After Saving the World

Chapter 69: Fishing (2)

TL: SHW

“This is… Kang Tae-woo.”

Silence.

“As I mentioned earlier, he’s a year younger than you all… and starting today, he’ll be attending the pilot high school. Tae-woo, would you like to introduce yourself?”

“Huh? Uh, um….”

Kang Tae-woo awkwardly bowed his head.

“I’m Kang Tae-woo…. Nice to meet you.”

“…….”

“…….”

Kang Tae-woo’s introduction ended quietly, without even a single customary applause.

* * *

“One iced Americano, is that correct?”

“…….”

I silently looked at the Hunter affiliated with Daseon. He was the young Hunter who had been following Lee Mi-seon around in the hospital.

He was brewing coffee so naturally that I thought I had seen wrong.

“I’ll have a strawberry smoothie!”

“Alright, one strawberry smoothie. What would you like, Teacher Woo? Should I give you the menu?”

“There’s a menu?”

“The students have various tastes. So we just stocked up on various items.”

“…You don’t have to cater to everything the kids say.”

“I do it because I enjoy it.”

The Hunter smiled with a naive expression.

The Hunters assigned to Lee Mi-seon are usually dressed in suits. If a stranger saw them, they’d think they were secretaries, not Hunters.

On his chest was a makeshift nametag, hastily made from a torn notebook page and fixed with a safety pin.

Ji Yoo-geon.

The Hunter chuckled when he noticed where my gaze landed.

“Sun Sun-jin made it for me. She said a barista needs a name tag.”

“Ah, I see….”

Since he’s with Daseon, he probably knows Sun Sun-jin and Lee Seung-yeon.

I nodded reluctantly. His job satisfaction seemed high, so I couldn’t really say anything.

“Just… give me an iced Americano. Do the kids eat a lot?”

“They drink a lot of smoothies. It’s hot out, after all. Some students do drink coffee, but the strawberry smoothie that Teacher Kim ordered is the most popular.”

“Teacher Woo, you should try it too. It’s delicious.”

Kim Chae-min said with a bright smile, holding a smoothie garnished with fresh strawberries.

“…One iced Americano and one strawberry smoothie, please.”

It’s the only perk at this job. Although it’s technically provided from Lee Mi-seon’s pocket. Hong Seok-young only ever gave me instant coffee.

I took the coffee and smoothie Ji Yoo-geon made and headed to a table in the corner of the playground. Now that it’s July, the weather is definitely getting hot. I wonder if Lee Mi-seon will take care of the air conditioning too.

Honestly, at this point, shouldn’t Lee Mi-seon be the principal? What does Hong Seok-young even do?

That guy, he’s gone again to raid another Dungeon.

Since being discharged, he’s only shown his face at the school once.

He kept complaining that he had to clear a Dungeon that he had put on hold for a while. He said the government was making such a fuss that he had no choice.

But maybe, secretly, he’s raiding Ark behind everyone’s back? Well, it’s not like I’m in a position to interfere right now.

Still, I’m covering for Hong Seok-young while he’s gone. I think that entitles me to at least say a thing or two.

Besides, didn’t he tease me about being the homeroom teacher for the magic class? Look at me now. How does this look anything like being the homeroom teacher for a magic class? At this point, they should just give me the principal’s position.

Seriously…. What would he have done if I were the type to mess around with the kids?

Is he that confident that no one would dare to pull something on him? As I always tell that old man, once something happens, it’s too late. Sometimes, there are crazy bastards who think it’s fine if the other party goes down with them, even if they themselves are ruined.

This is probably all happening because that old man is too strong. This is why people shouldn’t be too strong. To function properly as a human being… you need to be just strong enough.

Let’s stop thinking about that inhuman human. Instead, let’s look at a more human guy. Far from being strong enough, there’s No. 3, Kang Tae-woo, who’s still clueless about what mana even is.

“How is it?”

“Huh?”

I approached Kang Tae-woo, who was avoiding the sunlight under the table’s parasol. When I handed him the strawberry smoothie, his previously gloomy face briefly brightened.

“How’s school? How do you feel about it?”

“What do you mean, how do I feel….”

Kang Tae-woo downed half of the strawberry smoothie in one gulp. The straw made a loud slurping sound.

“It’s just… okay.”

“Just okay?”

“…….”

Kang Tae-woo lowered his head. Following his gaze, I noticed a red blob. It was the liquid monster for the Awakened that he had received from a district office official when he registered as an Awakened.

At first, he had destroyed its shape as soon as he touched it. But now, he was able to roll it in his hand without breaking it apart.

“I’m not sure.”

Kang Tae-woo answered quietly.

“I never imagined things would turn out like this.”

“You mean your Awakening?”

“That’s part of it…. I’ve always considered myself lucky, you know?”

Lucky, huh?

If he wants to consider not being discarded by the research lab and graduating as lucky, I won’t stop him. He needs to find comfort in something.

It was as if Kang Tae-woo had read my thoughts when he spoke again.

“I mean, if you ask if it was lucky to be living in an orphanage, I don’t really have an answer. But how should I put it? I was always in a position to take care of children who were in worse situations than me.”

“children in worse situations?”

“There were a lot of kids who came in after losing their families overnight.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Because of Dungeon Breaks. You know?”

There were probably orphans from Dungeon Breaks. Those kids actually adjusted quickly. Either they adapted fast, or they were in shock and dazed.

The ones who cried the loudest were the kidnapped kids. As Kang Tae-woo said, it was always the older No. 3 who took care of such kids.

“The orphanage I used to stay at… the director there had a son. He was a year younger than So-hee, and he used to play with us a lot.”

He paused briefly before continuing in a voice so low it was almost inaudible.

“Honestly, I didn’t like him much.”

Kang Tae-woo quietly rolled the liquid monster in his hand.

“He was really annoying. Whenever other kids were playing, he’d always go over and interfere, steal their snacks, and if someone was taking a nap, he’d always wake them up. And not gently either. He’d always bother them until they cried. Then, he’d call me over to calm them down.”

“Hm….”

“I was really annoyed. But I couldn’t hit him.”

“Of course not.”

“And since he was the director’s son, everyone just let him get away with it.”

The frown on Kang Tae-woo’s face looked oddly familiar. No. 3 from my memories always had that expression.

…Wait. The story he’s telling now, could it be about me?

“But then the director suddenly passed away.”

It is about me!

“He… I don’t know. He didn’t seem to be affected at all.”

“…….”

“If anything, it was the people around who were more upset.”

I silently sipped my coffee.

“He probably didn’t expect to become an orphan overnight either. He always had such a confident attitude.”

“…….”

“So, watching that made me realize… you never know how life is going to turn out.”

Kang Tae-woo said with a strangely enlightened expression.

I have no idea what kind of thought process led him to that conclusion from that story. What is it? What is he trying to say? Learning life wisdom from others’ misfortunes?

It wasn’t even a misfortune. Whether those parents lived or died didn’t matter to me. I just remember being displeased with the fact that I was stuck in a situation where I had no choice but to be affected by it.

After all, I only had one parent to begin with.

I erased the face that momentarily appeared in my mind. It’s a face I wouldn’t see for another twenty years.

“When I think about it like that, I’ve lived a relatively peaceful life. My parents too… Ah, but that’s not really relevant.”

Kang Tae-woo’s mother is a researcher. I don’t know about his father. At least, I’ve never heard about him.

Still, his situation was better than mine. At least he wasn’t born in the research lab.

“Anyway, that’s why I never thought I’d Awaken. They say you never know how life will turn out, and they’re right. I never imagined my life would turn out like this.”

“Do you not like being Awakened?”

“Well….”

Kang Tae-woo pursed his lips.

If he’s talking like this, it seems he didn’t hide his Awakening in the past… he really did Awaken just recently?

“If I was going to awaken, I wish I had awakened a long time ago. Or not awakened at all.”

“…….”

By ‘a long time ago,’ he probably means when he was in the research lab.

“If I had Awakened while I was there… things might have been different.”

“How would they be different?”

“I’d be able to speak up like he did.”

Kang Tae-woo stopped himself after almost answering my question.

He quickly changed the subject.

“So-hee… It’s been a long time since I looked after So-hee. She’s not my real sister, but she’s like a sister to me. No, that’s not right. She is my sister, my little sister.”

I played along, pretending not to notice the shift in his words.

“You’ve known her since she was little?”

“Yes. I had plans to live with So-hee after leaving the orphanage. They said Hunters make good money. If I had Awakened back then, I would have tried my best to become a Hunter.”

“You can still become a Hunter.”

“But So-hee….”

The sister he wanted to live with is gone.

In the past, I would have shuddered, telling him to look at No. 3’s despicable face.

But now, I couldn’t bring myself to think that way.

It would be easy to manipulate Kang Tae-woo’s emotions here. Look at how he’s recalling his sister with such a pained expression. With just a slight push, that pain could turn into anger.

‘Don’t you want to catch the person who killed your sister?’

I have the magic words.

There’s nothing easier to control than someone blinded by revenge.

If Kang Tae-woo were twenty-seven instead of seventeen, I might seriously consider it.

But to suggest that path to a seventeen-year-old kid…

I do have a conscience.

So, how should I comfort him?

‘The living must go on.’

It’s too cold-hearted to say when a ten-year-old child has died.

‘Would So-hee have wanted that?’

Remember, Woo Hwijae. You’ve never met Kim So-hee…

I ran through a few cliché lines in my head and discarded them.

Kang Tae-woo had been at the research lab for a long time. But unlike me, who was born in the lab and never saw the outside until that old man rescued me, he wasn’t like that.

He was born outside and grew up like any other child until just before starting elementary school. Then, his mother’s beliefs and job led him to the research lab.

In the lab, No. 3 used to tell the other kids stories about the outside world. Stories about going to the movies, playing at the playground….

Out of pride, I never went close to listen, but I still dreamed while overhearing No. 3’s stories. Dreamed of going to the movies, sliding down a big slide at the playground, and going to a place called school.

Dreamed of escaping those damned parents and doing whatever I wanted.

If Kang Tae-woo, who had experienced a normal life, were like me, he probably yearned for it even more. It’s always crueler to have something and then lose it. Even after graduating from the lab, it’s clear that the faint freedom he had tasted in childhood would linger in his mind. After all, even after graduating, he had to obediently follow whatever Ark told him to do.

“You should do what you want.”

This is my fishing line. It’s different from the bait Hong Seok-young cast.

“The most important thing is your will. Do you want to become a Hunter? If so, I’ll help you become one.”

“…….”

“If you don’t want to, that’s okay too. What I’m saying is, find what you want to do.”

“Something I want to do.”

“Yes. What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“…….”

“Even if it’s just a simple hobby, think about it. Maybe you want to read books or learn to play an instrument.”

“…….”

“You can do anything here.”

Kang Tae-woo nodded absentmindedly. I decided not to push further and changed the subject.

“How’s the smoothie? If you go over there, the Hunter from Daseon will make whatever you want, so feel free to ask.”

“Yeah….”

“By the way, do you know what happened to that director’s son you said you didn’t like?”

“I don’t really know since I moved to a different orphanage after that. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, it’s just that you mentioned he suddenly became an orphan, so I was curious. I hope he’s doing okay too.”

*****

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