Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 122

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 122

 

Taking Kwon Hae-seong who had returned from the company, I crossed the courtyard and entered the kindergarten.

 

Oh, by the way, Park I-deun is currently harvesting vegetables in the garden.

 

‘Other things can be obtained somehow, but vegetables are hard to come by.’

 

And what is Park I-deun’s ability in the first place?

 

“Heave-ho!”

 

Even though it’s a vegetable garden that was planted and then abandoned halfway through care, it comes back to life like magic when it goes through Park I-deun’s hands.

 

I caught a glimpse of her holding fresh bundles of lettuce and zucchini in both hands, cheerfully putting them into a basket.

 

‘She seems more suited to being a farmer than a kindergarten teacher.’

 

I smiled briefly at that sight, then looked forward again and opened my mouth.

 

“Moon-su has placed a curse on the kindergarten. But this curse is a bit different from usual.”

 

“…What? …Yes, yes.”

 

“He said that anyone who leaves the kindergarten today, whoever it may be, will definitely result in one person dying randomly.”

 

“Gasp.”

 

“Since a day is 24 hours, we’re setting the curse activation time as 5 PM and planning not to leave the kindergarten until 5 PM the next day.”

 

“…Ah.”

 

“To avoid being cursed, we have no choice but to avoid the curse.”

 

“…That.”

 

“Fortunately, Teacher, you left before the curse was activated so it didn’t apply to you… But by returning to the kindergarten, you’ve entered the curse’s range.”

 

I briefly glanced back at Kwon Hae-seong.

 

‘You are listening properly, right?’

 

…Hmm, I’m not sure. He seems both spaced out and like he’s listening seriously.

 

“But in this situation, the kitchen ladies have gone home for the day, and we’ve run out of food supplies too.”

 

“…Ugh, ah.”

 

“To prepare at least three meals – tonight’s dinner, tomorrow’s breakfast, and lunch – for everyone, we need more food supplies than I thought. As you know, children’s meals need to have balanced nutrition with almost no seasoning… So we can’t order delivery and have to cook for them ourselves.”

 

So I pulled a trick here.

 

Which was… getting help from headquarters!

 

First, my plan was to get help from the company cafeteria using the internal phone connected to the kindergarten…

 

-Oh my, what should we do…? Our food supplies just ran out today too…

 

-Sister! The food supplies mart suddenly isn’t answering their phone! Did they take the money and run??

 

…They were at war in a different sense over there too.

 

-Thank you for your hard work.

 

In the end, I could only leave those words and hang up.

 

But soon, another method came to mind.

 

While calling the guardians to inform them about the children’s surprise overnight stay, I made this request to Lee Seo-hyeok, the twins’ guardian.

 

-If it’s not too much trouble, would it be okay to use Seo-hyeok’s company intranet ID?

 

-Yes, I’ll send it right away!

 

He was ready to give it without even asking why, which caught me off guard and made me give a lengthy explanation.

 

‘In the end, this was the biggest help.’

 

I recalled the anonymous post I had uploaded to the company intranet using Lee Seo-hyeok’s ID.

 

-Hello, I’m one of the teachers at Ocean Kindergarten. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to make a small request to the busy employees.

 

For the busy office workers, I organized it with just the facts.

 

And to summarize it very briefly, it went like this.

 

-We’re trapped in our kindergarten.

 

-The reason is roughly this, but we’re safe so don’t worry.

 

-But we don’t have any food to eat, if you have something to eat, please throw some over.

 

Just in case the blame might fall on Moon-su regarding responsibility, I described the causes of the current situation as indirectly as possible.

 

“So… earlier.”

 

A look of realization flashed across Kwon Hae-seong’s face.

 

“Yes, like a little while ago, they pass food through the holes in the wire fence or wrap it in cushioning material and toss it over. We’re grateful even though they’re busy.”

 

I was so busy with the suddenly decided overnight stay that I couldn’t check the intranet reactions before coming out.

 

‘Well, the reaction… I could tell enough from the employees who gathered in front of the kindergarten wall less than 10 minutes after I posted.’

 

Thanks to that, haven’t I properly secured carbohydrates among the carbs, protein, and fat I need right now?

 

I shrugged my shoulders and continued speaking.

 

“For these reasons… we’re a bit busy right now. Teacher Park I-deun and I decided to handle securing food supplies and meal preparation, Teacher Yu Jin-chae is preparing bedding, and the Principal is busy on phone calls to inform headquarters about the current situation. So Teacher Kang Sa-gwa had no choice but to…”

 

I arrived at the 3rd Floor Dolphin Class and opened the door.

 

A total of 11 children from the 3-Year-Old Class to the 7-Year-Old Class are packed together in one space.

 

And among them, I can see Kang Sa-gwa who’s almost half-enlightened.

 

“Puhahaha! Try to catch me!”

 

“Teacher, why aren’t you moving?”

 

I patted the shoulder of Kwon Hae-seong, who couldn’t easily go in and was standing there dazed, and said.

 

“She was watching all these children by herself. Still, it’s fortunate that Teacher Hae-seong came quickly, so… fighting.”

 

Given the situation, I ended up speaking seriously without realizing it, but that should be okay, right?

 

“Teacher Hae-seong…”

 

“Sa-gwa…”

 

Yes, cry if you want to cry.

 

I don’t even have the strength to cry.

 

***

 

Thanks to the Food Supplies we received from the BOND Employees over the Wall and the vegetable harvest from putting Park I-deun’s Ability to full use, our dinner was able to pass by without any issues.

 

‘Of course, it was more shabby than what the ladies usually make for us…’

 

I’m grateful, but most of the Food Supplies the Employees gave us were just things that could be obtained immediately from the company…

 

Still, among them having Instant Rice, Roasted Sweet Potato, Seaweed, and Ramen that could be cooked right away was pretty good.

 

So, the Children had a meal centered around lightly seasoned Stir-fried Vegetables, Rice, and Seaweed, while we… secretly cooked and ate Ramen in the back.

 

“It’s delicious…”

 

“Right, eating at the Kindergarten makes it feel like we’re camping.”

 

Funny enough, both the other teachers and I were extremely satisfied with this simple meal.

 

And finally, the Children who were full of energy from the Rice and the Adults who came back to life through the power of sodium reached 8 PM, one hour before bedtime.

 

And what to do during this restless time…

 

“Now, let me explain the rules of hide-and-seek.”

 

Pre-bedtime, final hide-and-seek!

 

Also known as the ‘drain all the Kids’ energy and make them fall asleep immediately’ operation.

 

Of course, the 3 and 4-year-olds who have limited mobility were excluded and would go to bed early with the Principal.

 

The participants would be the Children from the 5-Year-Old Class, 6-year-old, and 7-Year-Old Class, along with the teachers excluding the Principal.

 

For reference, the teachers were deployed to act as bodyguards disguised as runners for the Children’s safety.

 

And lastly, the key role in hide-and-seek who had to show flexibility while dealing with the Children and provide appropriate thrills – the seeker… was me.

 

‘I lost at rock-paper-scissors.’

 

I looked down at my cruelly clenched fist and let out a sigh.

 

‘Sigh.’

 

I silently cracked my neck with a sound.

 

I turned my body to look at the wall, watching the children and teachers who had been given 10 minutes and started hiding.

 

‘Hmm… The teachers will stick close to the children and mark them individually, so they’ll have to hide well even if they don’t want to, right?’

 

Then… I should probably use a little bit of my power too.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, at the same time, in BOND’s PR Team Office where several employees could be seen staying for overtime work as usual.

 

That silent space where only the occasional sounds of keyboard typing and sighing could be heard.

 

Their concentration had hit rock bottom, all of them having dead fish eyes.

 

They were just busy clicking the mouse and typing on the keyboard out of habit.

 

While continuing their work in such a zombie-like state for quite some time.

 

“Do you think the people trapped in Ocean Kindergarten will be okay…?”

 

Someone couldn’t hold back and burst out with the biggest interest and worry they had been trying to suppress in silence until now.

 

The employees, whose concentration had died quite some time ago, seized this opportunity and started popping up one by one from behind the partitions.

 

“Me too! I was… curious about that too.”

 

“Oh my, that employee from the next team who’s a guardian of one of the students left work comfortably, didn’t they?”

 

“That’s right… They seemed to have considerable trust in the teachers. They heard all the explanations and just went home saying it would probably be fine.”

 

A brief silence swept over them.

 

They all had the thought: ‘Is it right for us to worry when even the student’s guardian isn’t worried?’

 

Na Hwi-yeon, who had disappeared after just posting on the intranet without even checking the responses due to the overwhelming workload, probably didn’t know…

 

But that post had been so hot all day that it was like a sauna’s fire chamber.

 

-Um… Teacher? You just posted and then disappeared somewhere? No, how did this happen, no, how should we bring food to them?

 

↳ Wrap it in bubble wrap and throw it into the kindergarten yard

 

↳ Won’t we get in trouble for that?

 

↳ From who? You don’t mean from Teacher, do you?

 

↳ Yeah…

 

↳ Are you a student or what. Just throw it. I already threw instant rice and my chocolate bar and came back.

 

-What on earth is happening at Ocean Kindergarten?

 

-I rushed over thinking it would be super entertaining content… I’m reflecting on myself.

 

↳ You should at least go raid a convenience store and bring something back

 

-Someone should raid the Field Team Office, there are tons of people there who live with food stockpiled

 

The employees who read through all those reactions every minute eventually shook their heads.

 

“No, it’s natural for humans to be curious about this.”

 

“Right. We can’t help but worry… But there’s no proper way to check.”

 

Moreover, the hero who had rescued them from overtime hell just a few days ago due to the confidential data breach incident was currently at that kindergarten.

 

“…That Teacher Na Hwi-yeon? Do you think he’ll be okay?”

 

“I don’t know. He’ll probably have quite a hard time though. It seems like only the guardians and staff members know exactly what’s causing all this.”

 

“Are you that worried? Hmm… There is a way to check inside the kindergarten though.”

 

“???”

 

At that moment, someone squeezed their way between them.

 

It was an employee from the Product Development Team who had approached out of pure curiosity after hearing the commotion while leaving work.

 

“…H-how…?”

 

“Our team has a drone-type item. There’s one unit we set aside for trial operations.”

 

“…!!”

 

A drone-type item.

 

It was capable of real-time recording and filming, and could be easily controlled with a watch.

 

However, befitting an item manufactured by a hunter company, it had its peculiarities.

 

“It was made by extracting the frequency of Hunter Bae Je-il who awakened clairvoyance abilities, so aside from the occasional problem where objects or people appear strangely on screen, its performance has already been verified. Originally it was made to clearly film inaccessible areas from a distance, but…”

 

“C-could we try using it?!”

 

One of the PR Team employees couldn’t hold back and asked while listening to the explanation.

 

They had been dying of curiosity all day long.

 

“Sure, why not.”

 

A refreshing permission was granted in response.

 

And so, suddenly, they had gathered in the PR Team Office, interrupting their overtime work or leaving work.

 

A short while later.

 

The Product Development Team Employee who had displayed the real-time drone recording on the Computer Screen brought his finger to the Watch on his wrist.

 

Then… the drone smoothly soared through the sky and slowly entered Ocean Kindergarten, the footage streaming seamlessly on the screen.

 

The drone that entered the Kindergarten Yard easily passed through the only slightly open window on the 3rd Floor.

 

But then.

 

“Huh? Why is it so dark?”

 

“Are they already asleep? All the lights seem to be off.”

 

Everything around was pitch black.

 

As if a sudden power outage had occurred.

 

-Whirr.

 

The drone flew silently, yet with some tension, close to the Hallway ceiling.

 

Just as it finished scanning the 3rd Floor and was about to descend to the 2nd Floor.

 

Urgent voices and footsteps could be heard from the distance.

 

-Tap tap tap.

 

-Hide!

 

-Run away! If you get caught, it’s over!

 

A conversation whose meaning was unclear.

 

Rough breathing and running sounds pierce through the screen.

 

“What is this….”

 

“What, what’s going on?”

 

-Over here, let’s hide. Hurry up and get in.

 

-Yes yes! Nabi, come this way!

 

-Okay! But… do we die if we get caught?

 

“What????”

 

“Huh?”

 

The wandering drone finally spotted the backs of heads of those who seemed to be running away somewhere.

 

However, at this moment, due to the inexperience of the Employee who hadn’t yet mastered the controls, the drone slightly dropped as if falling downward.

 

With a crackling sound, the screen soon went dark….

 

“What? Is it broken?”

 

“Uh…. No, it definitely didn’t hit the floor completely!”

 

-Thud.

 

-Crackle.

 

Confusion and screams came and went briefly before the screen suddenly turned back on.

 

The Employees stopped being flustered and watched the screen as if entranced.

 

Then came voices again and someone’s silhouette.

 

-What’s this? It has a Camera attached?

 

-Wow.

 

A round face shrouded in darkness fills the entire screen.

 

To those who were also gaping and watching the screen, the person outside the Camera spoke.

 

-Hello. We’re being chased by a monster right now. They say it’s over if we get caught by the tagger.

 

-But it’s okay. Our grandmother said that ghosts who died after eating have good color.

 

Those were the words of a child engulfed in darkness in an isolated kindergarten in the middle of the night.

 

‘What is this! What the hell is going on!’

 

From that moment, the employees’ silent screams began.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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