041 – Wolf Among the Sheep #3
Everyone at the Sapling Orphanage was happy.
Because it was sponsored by corporate capital, the children lived without want, and celebrity brothers and sisters often came to volunteer, making every day feel like a festival.
Although they occasionally had to receive painful injections or participate in strange experiments, at least they were never hungry, so all the children were joyful.
One day, while living like this, the children discovered a cat dying of starvation in the backyard of the orphanage.
Summer, who was popular among the sisters, brothers, and younger children, strongly advocated for taking care of it.
“It was an unusual cat. It had three tails.”
It wasn’t just a cat; it was a monster cat.
Perhaps it had a concept of “tails.”
The cat followed the people and the children well.
It reminded me of my friend Yining.
While “monster beasts” generally tend to hate surrounding life forms, occasionally there are kind ones like Yining.
Everyone seemed like they would continue to live happily like this on some days.
The injections, drug administrations, and bl**d draws for the kids gradually became more frequent. The adults’ faces lost their ease, and they grew more irritable.
“It’s only now that I’ve learned, but the parent corporation intended to close the orphanage. Since it didn’t have any results, it planned to shut down the facility that was only eating up the budget.”
Fearing they might lose their jobs, the orphanage teachers had no choice but to urgently push various activities. The food given to the children was reduced, they were punished for no reason, and there were even cases where they weren’t allowed to sleep for several days.
“Awakening stems from a strong desire in children, you see. Those people tried to force awakenings by putting us in a state of deprivation and poverty.”
It’s a familiar method. It’s not much different from the training I’m currently giving Seugal.
“Something went wrong that day.”
A car they’d never seen before supposedly slid into the orphanage. Because it was dark and shiny, it drew everyone’s attention.
What surprised everyone even more was the child who got out of the vehicle.
“She looked like a princess. Even though she was around my age, she seemed to live in a completely different world. Even to my young eyes, if there were a main character in this world, she might’ve been it.”
That princess-like girl supposedly played well with the orphanage children. The children grew fond of her and also told her about their secret, the “cat.”
But that day, the cat fiercely clawed the princess-like girl, causing the orphanage to be thrown into chaos.
Everyone at the orphanage was punished.
They were locked in a dark, damp basement, with no idea when they would be released.
“At first, everyone sobbed and cried, but as time went by, no sound could be heard. We didn’t even have the energy to cry. That’s when the problem arose – the cat…”
The monster cat, trapped in the dark dungeon together with them, caused trouble. Unable to endure the stress of hunger, it began attacking the humans.
That’s the nature of monster beasts.
Just as awakened ones burn through calories faster than normal humans, monster beasts also easily feel hunger, which is why they attack humans.
It wasn’t difficult for me to imagine how the monster cat, locked away in the pitch-black dungeon, attacked the humans and what then unfolded.
“That day, Summer saved us. She emitted light like a beacon… If it weren’t for Summer, I’d either have been eaten by the cat or died.”
Sapling Orphanage was eventually closed, and this incident was covered up under great pressure.
Someone with extraordinary power had buried it.
“Do you know who that someone is?”
“No.”
“How about the force behind the orders given to your ‘Billions’?”
“…Is there such a thing?”
These guys don’t know since they’re at the bottom rungs. I should’ve captured that Pinocchio guy earlier. Still, I have a feeling I’ll meet him again someday, so I’m not too anxious.
Kweeeeng.
When I got home, Yining was already there.
Does this little one also have a homing instinct? No matter what, it’s clear that Yining recognizes this place as “home.”
“Cute little thing!”
I hugged Yining’s soft body and rubbed my face against it. Yining smelled like fresh grapes.
Inadvertently, I licked it, and the puff of cotton candy-like grape flavor from Yining’s fluffy body surprised me.
“Delicious! So this is what you taste like, Yining? This is very addictive!”
-Krrrr…!
Of course, Yining, annoyed that I licked it, made an angry sound and struggled.
This reminded me that Yining was my emergency rations.
If I ever run out of food and am on the brink of d*ath, I’ve decided to eat Yining.
What about the opposite, though?
“Yining, will you try to eat me when you’re hungry?”
Yining-yaa.
“So, we’re each other’s emergency rations, huh.”
Isn’t that kind of friendship meaningful?
As I entered the basement to let Yining go, Seugal was sleeping soundly on the mattress.
She’s endlessly bratty and rude when awake, but seeing her like this makes her an angel without a doubt.
I quietly held my hand up and covered Seugal’s nose.
She woke up right away, finding it hard to breathe.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
“I heard a story about the orphanage. There’s definitely a ‘weakness’ in Yu Yeorum, but I don’t intend to use this ‘weakness’ you mentioned. I’ll go my way.”
“…”
Seugal opened her thin eyes.
Was she tired, or did she not find interest in my story? She grabbed Yining from me and hugged it like a cushion.
“What’s your way?”
“Yu Yeorum will still be abducted by my adult DVDs.”
“That’ll work wonderfully, huh? Do as you please. You’ll probably end up dying to her in the end. You should know by now that she’s merciless. A ruthless kid.”
“Seugal, the reason you told me about the orphanage was because you wanted me to know what happened there, wasn’t it?”
“Well, but I think you’ve figured it out by now, right? Consider how many people suffered because someone got scratched by a cat. When you kidnapped me, I won’t go down easily.”
The “princess” scratched by the cat’s claw was Seugal. And it seemed like Seugal thought all those things happened because she got scratched by the cat.
Were those things really caused by Seugal?
Going even further back, what about if no one had suggested keeping the monster cat? Or if adults hadn’t abandoned the kids in the orphanage?
If they hadn’t been conducting those secret experiments in the first place?
No, I think such assumptions are useless.
No matter what choices were made back then, the world is set to collapse unreasonably and irrationally anyway.
Destruction is fair to everyone. Meaning no one can escape.
Thus, small choices we make don’t matter.
What matters is how we can solve the big problems we’ll face in the future.
In the future, Seugal had confidently claimed that she could fix everything, and I had completely trusted her without a doubt.
On that rainy day, Seugal said this to me:
“Have you ever regretted anything in your life? If you could go back in time, what would you do?”
Maybe this question was Seugal talking to herself.
She probably wanted to add this:
“If you could go back in time to prevent or fix the things you regretted?”
“What? If that were possible, would I be standing here talking nonsense? I’m gonna sleep.”
Seugal pulled up the old blanket over her face as if I were annoying and started snoring away softly.
“Didn’t you sleep well last night?”
Kook!
Someone poked my side, and I came to. A red-eyed Bangdaengi was staring at me. Apparently, Bangdaengi didn’t sleep well either.
“Did you not sleep either?”
“Because I was throwing chopsticks.”
“Chopsticks?”
“Yeah, they exist! But isn’t there more important stuff? Captain said this morning that we were going to be deployed in an actual combat situation from this afternoon, right? Would we have to fight someone like Yeomhun again? Hmm?”
Bangdaengi’s bloodshot eyes shimmered strangely. It was a mix of determination and madness. This little one had the expression of a Viking warrior hungry for battle.
As Bangdaengi spoke, I recalled the class content that I’d been partly paying attention to.
Hadn’t it been said that due to our group, “No Leftovers Day,” defeating “Yeomra,” public support for the students of Yeonsha High had increased?
Thus, they planned to assign a few carefully selected teams to patrol outside the school, conducting performances to enforce and arrest unregistered awakened ones.
“Though the curriculum has been hastily arranged, I hope everyone gives their best. The instructors will reward points based on your actions, and the team with the most points will get a real kiss from me.”
An older sister in the police was supervising our patrol and maintenance of law and order. The prospect of receiving a prize from the older sister had the boys’ motivation skyrocketing.
“Friend! Let’s all try hard this time!”
“I want to get an artifact if this goes well!”
“I will show you my chopstick throwing!”
“…I don’t want to fight…”
The members of “No Leftovers Day” were also brimming with anticipation for the practical lessons.
Just as we were about to leave for our mission outside, the older sister grabbed my collar.
“Wait, you’ll be part of the special team for this mission.”
“Me?”
Instead of “No Leftovers Day?”
What’s going on when I’m still pondering, someone placed their hand on my shoulder.
“Nam Jin-a, it’s been a while since we worked together, hasn’t it?”
It was Jeong Yi-seon, the class representative of Class D.
“Jin-a, good day.”
Yu Yeo-reum from Class F also waved at me, looking relatively cheerful.
And next to her stood King Juhyun, who scowled at me.
“What’s the meaning of this right now? It’s annoying.”
Yu Yeo-reum from Class F and King Juhyun, Jeong Yi-seon from Class D, and me, formed an awkward team. Everyone’s attention was on us when the sister chuckled.
“Since you’re a special team, you’ll be given a different mission. Your task from now on will be to search for Seugal and eliminate “The Judge.”
To put the perpetrator of Seugal’s kidnapping (me) on the search team for Seugal.
Was it a coincidence or fate?
Just as we were leaving the school, Yi-seon said:
“This time, as we find Seugal, we might encounter that so-called “Judge.” The “Judge” is the one allegedly responsible for kidnapping Seugal.”
“Is this “Judge” really a student of Yeonsha High? If that’s true, it’s spine-chilling. It means there’s a murderer among the students, like a wolf among the sheep.”
I responded with the following:
“I think I know who it is. The “Judge” is you, representative.”
“Me?”
Yi-seon was surprised. The laugh that followed sounded like he’d heard something amusing.
“Nam Jin, you’re so funny.”
“Jin, just plain hilarious.”
Yu Yeo-reum burst into laughter. Only Wang Jahun complained, “What kind of nonsense joke is that?”
I wasn’t joking, though.
I had my doubts earlier, but the recent conversation has confirmed everything.
