Retire 289

289 To-Do (2)

In the end, I told Gamble what was needed after she’d stayed up several nights in a row. Gamble thought for a moment, then nodded.

“It shouldn’t take too long. You already gave me everything I need, anyway.”

“Is that so?”

“Are you going to make this public?”

“Eventually. Not right now.”

“All right, then. No need to prepare it for public release.”

Gamble waved her hand, shooing me out.

“Whoever it is, tell them to stop giving things in dribs and drabs and just hand it all over at once.”

“Excuse me?”

“Technology isn’t confined to just one field. A theory used here can be used there, too. The reason it’s taking me time to reinterpret is because there’s no intermediate process. The more references I have, the easier it is for me.”

She waved the file I’d given her—the blueprint extracted from the mana watch.

I hesitated, then nodded.

“I’ll pass that along. But don’t get your hopes up too much.”

“Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

“And really, get some sleep.”

“I said I will.”

This time, Gamble truly did chase me out of the lab.

But instead of lying down on the folding bed in her lab or going back to her dorm, she just sipped that awful coffee and read through the file I’d given her.

I considered going back to scold her, but just shook my head. She’s an adult, not a child.

And sometimes, being an adult means you need something to distract you. Even if it’s just to run away from things you don’t want to think about.

…Is that really so bad?

Not everyone can be like Hong Seok-young. I pretended not to see Gamble and slipped out of the lab.

---

“Teacher Woo!”

“Could you check this for a moment?”

“Teacher!!!”

“Sunbae!”

“Teacher Woo!”

“Teacher!”

I never wanted to be in a position of responsibility. When I worked at the regulatory agency… my rank was higher than I’d wanted, but that was fine. The agency was still a government office, and if anything went wrong, it was my father who got called in.

But look at how things are now.

Why is everyone coming to me?

If I’m generous, I can understand the kids wanting me.

“Teacher! Do you know what’s for lunch today?”

“……”

“We should make a menu board.”

“It’s not like we have anywhere else to eat but the cafeteria, so what does it matter if there’s a menu board or not?”

“Oh, Oh Hyun-wook! Don’t say that!”

Actually, I didn’t understand at all.

What does the menu board have to do with me? Are they worried about allergies? Lee Miseon already checked all that long ago—she’s thorough about those things.

If there’s something they want to eat or snack on, all they have to do is ask.

If they’re just curious about the menu, they should go ask… not me.

I don’t know why they’re asking me about the menu, but I let it slide. I am their teacher, after all. Kids always chatter to their teachers, regardless of age. It was the same in my day.

And it’s not like I’m the only one they do this to. Kim Chaemin gets called out just as often as I do.

“All right, just go eat.”

“Okay!”

“And Tae-woo?”

“…Yes?”

“Let’s talk after lunch.”

“…Okay.”

The kids fell silent in an instant.

Why do they get scared when I call them, when they call me out for the silliest things?

They’re really strange kids… Even Kang Tae-woo, who I thought wouldn’t be like that, has picked up bad habits from the others. This is all Lee Seung-yeon’s fault. That’s why you have to choose your friends carefully. There’s a reason for that old saying about bad company ruining you. So many people have lost everything because of the wrong friends.

…Not that Lee Seung-yeon is actually a bad influence. Just saying.

If this were before—back when we were staying at Lee Miseon’s pension—how would Kang Tae-woo have reacted if I’d asked to talk?

No matter what he was thinking inside, he wouldn’t have shown fear so openly. He would have nodded politely and answered, “Yes, I’ll come see you soon,” like the model student he was among the researchers.

On the other hand, it means that now, Kang Tae-woo has become that much more normal, free from his past. He could fit right in at any regular high school. He could hang out in the lounge, play games, and shout, “That’s cheating! No fair!” with the rest.

…Socialization really is important. Being able to play, joke, and even fight with peers is crucial for developing character.

Thinking of my own efforts, I nodded to myself. It felt like the satisfaction of seeing a bean sprout in an elementary school science project.

“Teacher Woo!”

But my pride was short-lived. As soon as the kids rushed off to the cafeteria, someone else came looking for me.

“Does our guild have any kind of communal funds?”

“Communal funds?”

Kim Chaemin suddenly poked her head in and got straight to the point.

“I need a big mana stone, but I’ve used up all the ones I had. I was going to get one myself, but then I thought, if it’s for guild business, shouldn’t I use guild funds?”

“Guild business?”

Her gaze shifted to the schoolyard. Of course…

Of course.

“Someone with so much money…”

“Still, it’s good to save when you can.”

She twirled her hair with a finger as she spoke.

“That’s true.”

“I could get one myself, but…”

“No, it’s not for personal use.”

“I mean, I am personally interested, but…?”

Not that it made much difference. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have invested in Gamble either.

“It doesn’t look good for you to keep paying out of pocket. What grade mana stone do you need?”

“Grade 7 or higher.”

“You need one that big? Well, it’s not my money, it’s Teacher Hong’s. If you need anything else, just let me know.”

“Okay!”

With the kids, and for slightly different reasons, I could understand why Kim Chaemin came to me.

Especially for guild business.

I had no say in it, but somehow I’d ended up as vice guild master of Guild Mimi. With Hong Seok-young away, I was the one in charge.

Even if she sometimes joked around, Kim Chaemin was top-tier talent. She did more than her share. I could put up with a few jokes, and when it really mattered, she never messed around.

Even now, she got straight to the point and left.

…Maybe she just found the monster’s corpse that interesting.

Anyway, my point is, I could understand the kids and Kim Chaemin. If I had to add one more, I could even understand Gamble, who hadn’t left her lab in days, coming to me.

But.

But still.

“Teacher Woo.”

“About this…”

“What do you think?”

“……”

“Teacher Woo?”

Why were even hunters—whose affiliation I couldn’t tell, Daseon or the Association—coming to me?

They weren’t my subordinates, or Hong Seok-young’s. Why should I be responsible for them?

I shouldn’t.

I looked incredulously at the three hunters lined up before me. They were the ones who always trailed after Lee Miseon, who’d been sent to Boston. They’d followed her from the demonstration school, to the Bangi-dong dungeon, even to the closed research institute. Even if they were just making coffee for the kids, they were her closest aides. It made sense to send them to Boston.

And the hunters before me now were their replacements. Why were they coming to me instead of their boss? I couldn’t just send them away, since they were helping supervise the kids’ classes.

I did feel… a certain sense of camaraderie. Not much, but a little.

But it was more like the feeling you have for someone in the next office. If that person suddenly came to you for approval, wouldn’t you be confused? Where’s your boss, and why are you bringing this to me?

“…Am I even supposed to look at this?”

I eyed the file stamped with the Association’s logo.

“Huh? Who else would look at it if not you, Teacher Woo?”

“……”

We weren’t speaking the same language.

“I’m not part of the Association. With Teacher Hong gone, bringing Association business to me…”

“Hunter Hong said that if he’s away, we should bring things to you.”

That man.

“He said any urgent matters should be left to your judgment…”

“Is it urgent?”

“I suppose it is.”

I opened the file.

Unlike the stiff Association logo, the first thing I saw was a photo of a smiling little girl.

…Her. Tae-woo’s little sister in Boston.

The girl who’d lived with us in the lab twenty years ago had completely faded from my memory since then. I’d been too busy just surviving… if that’s the right way to put it. But it’s not wrong.

The kids rescued from the lab with me had scattered. Some returned to their families, some, like me, ended up in orphanages.

It was only because of Kang Tae-woo that I thought of this girl again. But why now?

I looked at the next page. Her Korean name, a death certificate, various documents. There was even a photo from the orphanage—one with Tae-woo.

The next page was about her life in America. The new identity Sandra Gamble had arranged, the foster family, school life…

I already knew most of it. I’d heard about her life in America directly. She’d spoken in the video sent to Tae-woo.

I looked at the hunters in confusion.

“Why are you bringing this to me…?”

“She’s coming to Korea now.”

“That’s right?”

“Because of the dungeon break, there’s even more paperwork… Our boss said, since Alex Hope is dead, we might as well kill her off, too.”

I made a sour face.

“I get what you mean, but could you phrase it a bit better?”

“Ah, sorry. They’re still searching for missing persons in Boston. If we wait a bit longer, things will settle down…”

“Do you need my permission for that? You could just handle it yourselves.”

“Our boss said she’d take care of it quickly since it’s urgent.”

Then why bring it to me?

“Because the original plan changed.”

“I see.”

I had a bad feeling. Maybe it was because one of the hunters seemed hesitant to say more.

“Well, the thing is, if she comes… we’ll have to create a new identity.”

“…Yes.”

“We can’t send her to an orphanage, can we?”

“……”

“She’s not Awakened, so she can’t… Even if she were, she’s too young to enroll here like Tae-woo.”

“……”

I was starting to understand why they’d brought this to me.

“What should we do?”

“……”

I pressed my fingers to my temples.

“…I’ll talk to Kang Tae-woo.”

Hong Seok-young, that man is never around when you need him.