Chapter 121 - Don't Abandon Me (3)

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"... Then, then..."

SNIFF

Hyeonyul's brow furrowed slightly as Serin began to cry. He couldn't understand why she was crying. He couldn't tell her she could do something when she couldn't, could he? Did she feel wronged?

"If your face changes again, mister, what am I supposed to do?"

"I can simply tell you again."

"But I won't know. What if you pretend you don't know me?"

"Why would I pretend not to know you? I even kept my promise. If you have doubts, I'll make another promise."

"That's not what I mean..."

Serin looked at him dejectedly, then buried her face in her knees.

"Yes?"

"... Because I'm a troublemaker."

"I heard you can control your power now."

"But it's still, um, only a little. I have to do much, much better. Then everyone won't hate me."

He heard her sniffle. Yet when she lifted her head, she was smiling brightly. Her reddened eyes didn't match her smile. Was she forcing herself to smile?

"Have your teachers been treating you differently lately?"

"Yes. The Squirrel Class teacher and the Elephant Class teacher are really nice to me."

"Which class are you in, Lee Serin?"

"I'm in Rabbit Class. Hop, hop."

Serin raised both hands above her head.

"Is your Rabbit Class teacher the same as before?"

"She praises me a little more. I want this much, this much, thiiis much praise!"

Serin suddenly stepped out of the bushes and swung her arms around, then swung them again. But no matter how much she swung them, the circles they traced stayed the same size, didn't they?

'Anyway, the Squirrel Class teacher and the Elephant Class teacher, for now.'

Hyeonyul thought for a moment. Was there any reason for them to praise a child from another class so much?

Serin possessed a fire power so immense that even she couldn't control it. Wasn't that why she'd fallen for the Poison King's scheme when he offered to help her control her power? In that case, it was only natural that she would be a target again.

"How much can you control now?"

At Hyeonyul's question, Serin rubbed her tear-filled eyes, then put on a proud expression.

"Watch. Watch me."

"Yes."

Serin suddenly threw both arms up and began hopping excitedly.

"Waaaaah!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Did you see? Did you see me?"

"Yes. No flames are coming out."

Hyeonyul nodded. They certainly had before.

"That's right! Now no flames come out even when I smile!"

Serin beamed so broadly that her eyes squeezed shut. He'd noticed right away. That was her mister, all right.

"I listened to what you said, mister, and I kept talking to myself at bedtime and in the morning."

["You may hate that fire right now, but you just need to make friends with it. If you look at it and touch it often, you'll surely be able to control it."]

When she'd heard those words, she'd felt strangely at peace.

"This is my power. This is the power that protects me. It's my friend!"

"Well done."

Hyeonyul smiled.

Serin held her breath for a moment, then asked with all her might,

"Did I... do well?"

"Yes. You did well."

"I tried hard. I tried really, really hard!"

"I know. Controlling your power is extremely difficult. I had trouble controlling mine, too."

Serin clenched both hands. Strangely, she felt as though she was about to cry, even though she was so very happy.

"... I wanted you to praise me first. Before anyone else."

"Did you?"

"You didn't come..., so I thought... you were abandoning me like my mom and dad."

Tears suddenly began streaming down Serin's face as she approached him. Not knowing what to do, Hyeonyul hugged her for now. Would it be all right to say the usual things people said in these situations?

Serin clutched his clothes in her small hands and buried her face against him.

"You don't have to come often. You're busy, too. I know. But, but, you can't forget me! Please don't forget me!"

A tiny flame sprang from Serin's back. Hyeonyul extinguished it with darkness.

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"Because I like you!"

Hyeonyul's brow furrowed slightly at the unexpected answer. What had he done to make her say she liked him?

'Did someone put her up to this?'

Suspicion welled up, but he didn't voice it. This was something he needed to approach carefully, and he was dealing with a child—an age at which both intellectual ability and judgment were comparatively very limited.

"I like you, mister...! I loved the festival we saw together so, so much! So, sooo..."

With pleading eyes, Serin gripped his clothes even tighter. Her movements brimming with emotion, she repeated her plea.

"Don't abandon me...!"

Everything about her felt sincere, which only made him more wary and made it harder to accept. Hyeonyul briefly closed his eyes, then opened them. Where should he begin?

"There is something wrong with my head, so I can't clearly recognize even proper words or emotions. That means the things I say may hurt you."

Serin shook her head at his words.

"You talk better than I do, mister."

"That's only how it looks on the outside. I don't understand why you like me, Lee Serin. In fact, I'm suspicious."

"... Why? Why are you suspicious of me?"

"I don't think I've done anything to deserve that."

They'd only met twice. That was far too little time to build anything.

"That's not true! I know!"

"More importantly, those words don't fit someone like me."

Serin looked up, apparently startled. Her tear-filled eyes gazed at him. Was that a look of shock?

"... That's what I thought every day."

"Is that so?"

"It sounds so sad. I didn't know I was saying something so sad."

"Is that so?"

"Are you sad, too, mister...?"

"I don't know."

He genuinely didn't know, but Serin only grew sadder. What should he do? Hyeonyul thought for a moment.

'Serin has become attached to me. I don't know why, but that's how things stand.'

He'd been told that once an attachment formed, separation from the other person caused anxiety. Considering the child's emotional well-being, that was not a good outcome. One of the cautions for this mission had been, 'Do not forget that the people you are protecting are children.'

'To ease this, I'll have to give her some sort of reassurance. But do I have any to offer?'

Hyeonyul stopped thinking and surveyed his surroundings. He heard nothing. After confirming that no one was there, he looked at Serin.

"I'm not sure how to stop your tears. So I'll share a secret with you as a sign of trust."

"A secret...?"

"Yes. My secret."

At the word 'secret,' Serin wiped away her tears and took two steps back.

"I'm good at keeping secrets."

The chances of a child keeping a secret were very low. A child wasn't someone he could place his trust in to begin with. Even so, remembering the little finger that had hooked around his own, Hyeonyul fiddled with his smartwatch.

Serin's eyes widened. When her gaze met his calm gray eyes, her mouth fell open, too. He'd suddenly begun to sparkle like the moon.

"This is my real face. I covered it up because I can't let bad people recognize me."

Seeing Hyeonyul smile, Serin began smiling along with him, then reached out. He leaned his face toward her, and she stroked his cheek.

"... Does it hurt?"

There were so many scars.

"It doesn't hurt."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then did it hurt before?"

"It did."

At those words, Serin pressed her clenched hands tightly to her chest.

"I feel sad."

"I don't understand why you're sad, Lee Serin."

"I don't know, either."

"I'll tell you the answer the next time we meet. I'll have to ask someone myself. In any case, Lee Serin, will you keep this a secret?"

Serin nodded repeatedly at his question and opened her mouth. Hyeonyul began operating his smartwatch again, then stopped and looked at the little hand reaching toward him.

"What is it?"

"You weren't... a mister. I called you the wrong thing."

"You can still call me mister."

Only then did Serin begin to grin. They'd shared a secret. At that thought, she felt all her anxiety melt away.

Hyeonyul reactivated his disguise magic. Serin clapped her hands at his transformed appearance. It was so amazing.

"I won't be able to visit often."

"I know. I'm smart."

"But I'll come again."

At his words, Serin held out her little finger. Hyeonyul extended his own and hooked it around hers. A beautiful rainbow curved across Serin's lips.

* * *

After taking Serin back, Hyeonyul glanced at Nayun. The moment he saw her surrounded by children and teachers, his feet refused to move any farther. The mere thought of being in that crowd made him deeply uncomfortable. Wouldn't it be better to spend even longer riding the eagle? Every time he saw Nayun, he marveled at how naturally she could mingle with people.

When Nayun messaged him to meet her outside the staff restroom, he headed there ahead of her.

"... Oh, Mr. Black Eagle."

He'd heard footsteps, but hadn't expected anyone to speak to him. Hyeonyul turned his head. He saw a name tag.

Elephant Class.

Teacher Lee Jihae.

"Yes. Hello."

Hyeonyul greeted her, confirming that she was from Elephant Class.

"You're not the one who came last time, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I don't know who came, either."

"I thought you were the same person. I heard you change your faces regularly."

"You know quite a lot about the Black Eagles, don't you?"

Jihae smiled awkwardly at his question.

"I'm personally very interested. I suppose I've been on edge lately because of the kindergarten's relocation."

Jihae rested her chin on her hand and shared her worries. He found it difficult to understand why she was going out of her way to tell him this.

"It must be because of your home. How many years have you worked here?"

"... Oh, not very long. A few months or so. I only recently moved, so I'm worried about how to move house again."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Aren't housing prices rather high these days?"

Jihae spoke as though she was still troubled.

Homes had always been expensive, so he wondered why she was stating the obvious.

'Why is she telling me this?'

She had to move. Housing prices were high. Still, he decided to play along for now. He couldn't possibly let her discover his mission to investigate the teachers.

"They are expensive. It takes a long time, even if you pour your salary into it."

"... Really? But you're a Black Eagle. Excuse me for saying so, but I hear you're paid quite well."

Why was she reacting as though she hadn't known, when she'd just been asking him to agree with her? Was she trying to accomplish something by exploiting that contradiction?

"What does that have to do with homes being expensive?"

"I'm sorry if that sounded offensive. That's not what I meant. I, um, thought you were a little special. I mean, of course you are special, but with such a high salary, I thought you could buy something like a house in no time."

Sensing that she was deliberately provoking him, Hyeonyul glanced upward. She was standing with her back to the security camera. He also heard something being switched on.

'A voice recorder?'

It was roughly the size of a pen. Hyeonyul shifted his gaze to Jihae's apron. It was most likely in there.

"Hand it over."

"... Pardon?"

"I know you have a voice recorder running. Whatever you're trying to do, video and audio recordings of Black Eagles are prohibited by law, regardless of my consent."

Hyeonyul immediately pointed at the security camera.

"I'll be deleting that footage before I leave, too. So you need to hand it over."

"What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly acting like this?"

She abruptly raised her voice. It felt highly deliberate.

Ah. Hyeonyul realized what she was up to.

"Very well. I'll leave, then."

Hyeonyul turned and walked away. But he didn't simply let her get away with it. There was darkness inside her pocket. After secretly extracting the recorder, he casually activated his wireless earbud.

<Elephant Class, teacher Lee Jihae. She seems to be a definite suspect.>

<Not only did she deliberately provoke me just now, she appears to have been trying to doctor a video using a voice recorder along with the security footage.>

Hyeonyul continued.

<Lee Serin says that since she became able to control her power, the Elephant Class and Squirrel Class teachers have been praising her a great deal. I suspect the two of them...>

Hearing hurried footsteps, Hyeonyul briefly turned his head.

"Give it back!"

It was Jihae.

Hyeonyul blinked at her sudden shout. Why did she seem so desperate? Was there something on the recorder?

"What do you mean?"

"Hand over what you stole. Right now!"

"Please calm down. You seem to have dropped something. Could you tell me what it was?"

Hyeonyul's expression remained unchanged. He merely asked the question calmly, giving her an opportunity to say 'voice recorder' herself.