Retire 359
by Cristae359 New Employee (1)
Kim Chaemin arrived at the school before noon that day. Unlike usual, her yellow sports car tore across the field and screeched to a halt right at the building’s entrance. That was as much as I could see from the infirmary window.
There was no way Kim Chaemin hadn’t sensed the flow of magic that Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo had also felt.
After the problematic mass of magic—after Hope’s wings were cut off, just as he’d said, the influx of magic stopped. The pulsing movement soon quieted as well. The size… hadn’t changed, but at least it wasn’t absorbing any more magic, so it should be fine. Left alone, it would eventually dissipate, but with Kim Chaemin here, it would be resolved much faster. This is why you need to stay on good terms with a competent mage.
Tap tap tap.
I heard the sound of footsteps running down the hallway in the distance.
“…?”
It wasn’t just one set of footsteps.
What’s this? Who did Kim Chaemin bring with her?
I frowned, glancing at the spear I still had out, just in case. But instead of picking it up, I shook my head.
Kim Chaemin knew what was in the infirmary. She wouldn’t bring someone who didn’t understand the situation. At most, maybe Im Miseon…
“Mr. Woo?!”
Kim Chaemin burst into the infirmary, breathless. Behind her was Han Taekyung, wearing his trademark orange sunglasses.
Hmm. Gamble must have explained about the magic. In that case, Han Taekyung was a good choice.
“Did the mana grass collection go well?”
I uncrossed my arms and greeted the two of them.
Kim Chaemin looked at me, bewildered. Han Taekyung lifted his sunglasses and surveyed the room.
To be precise, Han Taekyung didn’t see exactly what I saw. Remember when he got caught up in Park Seohyun’s magic? Like the other kids, I lost my vision then. It was Han Taekyung who found the way and gathered the scattered children.
I wondered how this scene looked through Han Taekyung’s eyes.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but when he saw the figure writhing on the bed, he closed it again.
“What… what happened here?”
“As you can see.”
“As I can see? What’s that supposed to mean?!”
I pointed to the bed Han Taekyung was staring at. Kim Chaemin’s gaze followed. She knew who was using that bed in the corner. A tuft of hair stuck out from under the curled blanket.
Kim Chaemin’s eyes kept wandering—from the bed, to the mop in the corner, to the mass of magic, to me, and back to the bed.
Her lips twisted. I knew that expression.
I looked away. A hot, muggy breeze blew in through the window I’d opened for ventilation.
“What is going on!!!”
Kim Chaemin shouted.
“Zzz…”
No matter how much of a fuss Kim Chaemin made, Alex Hope didn’t wake up. Maybe his nerves were just that thick, or maybe cutting off his wings had been that much of a shock.
“Crossing the Pacific must have taken quite a toll. This whole mess started because of an item.”
Kim Chaemin’s face grew even more complicated as I finished my explanation. It was an expression hard to describe.
I planned to explain the details to her later, but she already knew enough to guess at the parts I left unsaid.
“…The item went berserk? And that’s what became of it?”
So she’d wondered whether that mass of magic was tangible or not. Now she had her answer.
Kim Chaemin pointed directly at the mass. If magic clumps together that much, maybe it becomes visible.
“Yes. I thought it might explode if I left it alone, so I destroyed it. It was a valuable item, but safety comes first.”
“Right… And that’s why he was unconscious?”
“Probably? He went through a lot dealing with that. Now he’s just exhausted and sleeping.”
“Hm. Well… okay, I get the gist.”
She looked a little less troubled, but her expression was still ambiguous.
Before Kim Chaemin arrived, I’d worn a similar expression myself. I understood how she felt.
Han Taekyung, on the other hand, was easier to read.
Surprisingly, he looked uncomfortable, shifting from foot to foot.
“Um, that story just now. Am I supposed to know about this?”
Hmm.
That was an unexpected reaction.
I’d thought he’d be curious or surprised…
I frowned. Honestly, I’d never really considered how Han Taekyung would react.
He was one of the few people I could trust. I didn’t plan to tell him everything, as I had with Kim Chaemin, but I didn’t intend to hide everything either. If I had, I wouldn’t have dragged him to Jirisan or made him do all sorts of errands.
But… how should I put it? I’d vaguely expected that if Han Taekyung ever learned more of the truth, he’d react in his usual, noisy way. That was the Han Taekyung I knew.
But the Han Taekyung before me now was acting far more mature than I expected.
…Well. If he really was just a childish guy who chased after cats, my father wouldn’t have kept him around for so long. Even though he scolded him every time he got into trouble, he always found a way to keep Han Taekyung at the Administration Bureau.
“…What? Why?”
“What?”
“You’re looking at me like you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have…”
“It’s your imagination.”
I raised my estimation of Han Taekyung a little.
“It’s about time you knew, too.”
“Ugh.”
But he was still, in many ways, the childish person I expected.
He openly grimaced at my words, making no effort to hide his dislike.
“Why?”
“I really hate complicated stuff like this.”
A childish person.
“I just want to live without thinking about anything.”
Han Taekyung didn’t disappoint.
“If you need me to do something, just say so. I’m good at that!”
And yet this is the guy who always ends up fighting with civilians and getting suspended?
I snorted.
Maybe my father would have indulged this kind of stubbornness. He hated thinking, too. With his own strength, it was always faster to handle things himself than to boss others around.
But unfortunately, Han Taekyung’s dealing with me, not my father. I still don’t fully understand him, but like with Park Seohyun’s answer key, I had a pretty good idea of what bait to use to get Han Taekyung to move.
“You’re about to get an assistant yourself, so you should set an example.”
“Huh?”
Han Taekyung, who had just proudly declared his intention to slack off intellectually, froze.
I pointed to the bed, at the person sleeping there without a clue about his own future.
“An assistant.”
“…Assistant?”
“You could call him your junior.”
“Junior…”
See? It’s easy.
Han Taekyung’s eyes went unfocused.
“Of course, I don’t plan to have him teach the kids.”
Actually, I’d rather keep him as far away from them as possible. Above all, I didn’t want him anywhere near Kang Taewoo.
“At most, he’ll just follow Ms. Kim around and help manage the greenhouse…”
“What?!”
Kim Chaemin jumped. I ignored her.
“Or help Dr. Gamble in the lab.”
Would Gamble like that? Could Hope actually help with research?
Gamble would figure it out.
I pointed at Han Taekyung.
“Or run dungeon errands with you…”
“……”
“That’s about it. Do I have to manage all that myself?”
“…You’re busy, senior.”
“Exactly. So as the earlier hire, you should set an example as a senior.”
“……”
Anyone could see Han Taekyung was tempted by that.
He likes children’s cartoons, just said he hates thinking, and yet he loves titles like this. Even though he’s often suspended, he’s always been great at looking after his team. Whether his teammates appreciated it is another question.
Is it because he has a younger sibling? I’m not sure. Han Eunyoung doesn’t seem to be the type to follow him around.
“Huh…”
Han Taekyung let out a sigh.
He still looked like his brain wasn’t working, but the way he glanced at Hope suggested he’d made up his mind. With a little coaxing, he’d make a decent employee.
…Whether or not I liked the idea of Hope and Han Taekyung together was another matter.
Now it was Kim Chaemin’s turn.
“How much did you hear?”
“Uh, just that something happened in the infirmary and the magic got weird. There were too many people listening, so I couldn’t get the details.”
“Still, Dasun called you back quickly. I thought it would take longer.”
“Sandra came into the dungeon.”
Unexpected things just keep happening.
Kim Chaemin looked at my face and burst out laughing.
“It was a low-ranked dungeon, so it was possible. Sandra isn’t the kind of Awakened who can pay a lot in tolls.”
“Still… how did she get in? I doubt the Dasun Hunters let her through easily.”
“I didn’t hear how. I’ll have to ask her later.”
Anyway, thanks to that, Kim Chaemin had left the dungeon with Han Taekyung in a hurry and come straight to the school.
“The magic was a mess, but… it’s eased up a bit now. The flow is strange, but it’s not unstable.”
“How long until things go back to normal?”
“Hmm…”
Kim Chaemin tilted her head.
“To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this before. I think we’ll have to watch it for a few days.”
“Do we need to go back into the dungeon?”
“This Hunter will handle the cleanup. And we’re just gathering mana grass anyway—how long could that take? When Sandra came into the dungeon, we were already finishing up.”
“That’s good, then.”
“Hmm… It’d be best to just keep an eye on things for about a week. I need to figure out how to deal with this, too.”
Kim Chaemin looked at the mass of magic, her eyes sparkling like a child who’d found a fascinating new toy.
Why is everyone around me like this? I’d bet my salary that Gamble would make the same face if she saw this.
“Sandra should come see it, too.”
“…I’ll bring her over.”
“What about the kids?”
“They’ll be going into the dungeon in a few days anyway. They can just do their training and come back to school.”
“Oh! The kids’ training! I wanted to go too.”
“You’re not going?”
Kim Chaemin answered without taking her eyes off the mass of magic.
“How could I leave this behind?!”
“……”
Strange. I could have sworn she wasn’t like this when we first met.
…Or maybe not? I remembered the mage who grabbed Hong Seok-young by the collar, shouting about runes.
“Well… fine. I’ll bring Gamble over as soon as possible. Not that she won’t come here on her own.”
I looked at Han Taekyung.
“You can help me supervise the kids’ training.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And you, Ms. Kim, keep an eye on that one for a while.”
“What?”
Kim Chaemin jumped at my words.
“No way!”
“You have to.”
“Why?!”
“Because that’s what adults and working people do.”
“I’m not a working person!”
“It’s your boss’s order.”
“Boss?!”
“Your teacher’s instruction.”
“Ugh. That’s so unfair…”
I shook my head.
“It’ll be fine with Gamble here. Besides, she’ll want to see him too.”
Kim Chaemin looked even more aggrieved.
“You’re saying that because you know I can’t say no.”
“What do you mean?”
I shrugged.
“How could you refuse, after seeing how Gamble was at the funeral, right beside you?”
“……”
“Of course I’m saying it because I know you can’t refuse.”