Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 130

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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 130

The pitch-black pupils of the White Dog Doll hanging from the bag stare intensely at one spot.

‘It seems to be looking at those photographs.’

Among the various documents placed on the table, several photographs presumed to be from inside the Abandoned Research Facility that Team Na mentioned were visible.

It seems to be looking at what appears to be photographs of dismembered body parts of something…

‘Wait a minute, isn’t that a monster corpse?’

-“What’s crazy is that this research is a follow-up study and they were trying to create that ‘god’ thing through the corpses of dead monsters.”

Looking at the photographs without any blur processing, I couldn’t help but frown at their horrific and graphic nature.

‘These crazy bastards.’

[ They’re bad people. Let’s punish them. People like this need to be punished. ]

‘Why is this kid being so proactive today?’

Of course, the humans who did such things with monster corpses didn’t seem to be in their right minds.

‘But how exactly are we supposed to punish these bastards… unless you do it alone.’

Besides, the scale seems to be no joke, and if we get wrongly involved in this, it doesn’t seem like we’ll have a good time.

Being conscious of the Team Na members in front of me, I casually covered the White Dog Doll’s eyes with my hand.

‘Hey… Jiji.’

For now, whether it’s your eyes or implementing justice, let’s talk about it again later. Okay?

[ What? I can’t see. ]

After that, I thoroughly ignored what Nabi was saying while breaking out in cold sweat. Then at some point, it seemed to calm down as if deflated.

‘Nabi, just a little bit, just a little bit… please bear with me.’

Taking advantage of that gap, I finished my conversation with Team Na and was able to get up from my seat.

‘Phew…’

Of course, aside from snacks and Eternal Rest, this was the first time Nabi showed this much interest and emotion, so I did let it slip by.

-“You said you’d dig deeper into this research, right? Then, please include me too. From the atmosphere, it seems like you’ll proceed without Seo-hyeok knowing, so just think of it as one person being replaced.”

Even I thought it was quite a shameless proposal.

From listening to the conversation, it seemed they were planning to conduct the investigation secretly from Lee Seo-hyeok. It was probably because they were worried about Lee Seo-hyeok’s trauma.

Moon Chae-yeong seemed rarely flustered after hearing my words, but Kang Ho-won, who was beside her, jumped in like a reliable supporter.

-“Yes, yes! Let’s do that. It would be an honor if Teacher joined us. Right? Team Leader?”

Though it was somewhat contrived, Moon Chae-yeong and Choi Un-seong went along with it, so I guess it worked.

-“I suppose… But if you change your mind in the middle, you can quit anytime.”

-“So my temporary team member period gets extended again? Please take care of me, Teacher!”

Thanks to Kang Ho-won, I got permission without much resistance, but it still feels unsettling.

‘That guy seems to have some ulterior motive.’

…Sigh, but what does that matter anyway.

Anyway, I just said that just in case, but there’s no way I’d actually be deployed directly into Team Na’s research investigation.

‘The Field Team folks aren’t thoughtless either, so why would they take a civilian like me to dangerous places?’

At most, they’ll probably just have me do data research.

With such complacent thoughts, I left Headquarters and headed home.

Before I knew it, I was walking while holding hands with Nabi, who had returned to human form.

‘But look at this guy… his lips are sticking out like a duck’s bill.’

He’s sulking, isn’t he?

I chuckled and let out a nasal sound as I opened my mouth.

“Why is our Nabi sulking~?”

“I don’t know. Guess.”

Oh my, he’s really angry.

“Ah, I understand.”

Still with her lips pouted out, only her eyes quickly rolled upward.

I quickly lowered the corners of my eyes and put on an apologetic expression.

“I kept ignoring what Nabi was saying, said I couldn’t see you, and kept blocking you with my hand, so you must have gotten annoyed. Right?”

“…That’s right. Why did you do that? I was annoyed!”

…Well, it’s because you kept demanding answers when it wasn’t a situation where I could respond.

Besides, every single word you said was spine-chillingly menacing.

‘But I’ll never say these thoughts out loud…’

Still, since I’d become quite skilled at appeasing Nabi by now, my mouth moved rather shamelessly.

“Weren’t you trying to tell me a secret…? Everyone else was listening, so it would be awkward to do it there. When Nabi suddenly tried to tell me a secret that only friends share, I was surprised and gave you a signal to stop… I’m sorry if it hurt your feelings.”

But she must have been really angry today, as her steps were forceful and her puffed cheeks weren’t deflating easily.

‘Hmm… Should I use my ultimate technique?’

“As an apology, should we stop by the convenience store on the way home?”

“…!”

Lately I haven’t been buying her any since she needs to finish all the snacks piled up at home, so it must be time for her to miss the new snacks.

“…Fine, I’ll specially forgive you.”

There we go.

As expected, I knew that would work.

‘Easy, so easy.’

Suppressing the laughter that was about to burst out, I naturally turned my steps toward a nearby convenience store.

“Oh, right. Nabi, you said you wanted to go look for your ‘eyes,’ didn’t you?”

-[ I guess it’s okay to go look for my eyes now. ]

I can’t tell you how surprised I was when she suddenly brought up resuming the search for her body parts out of nowhere.

“Ah~ That’s right! I found my eye! I know where it is, now I just need to go get it! Hehe!”

The ‘eye’ she found last time was the right one, so this time it must be the left one?

“Where is it?”

I glanced over and noticed the convenience store stairs looked quite high. I put strength into my arms and gently lifted Nabi up a bit as I asked.

“With those bad humans!”

Don’t tell me… she’s talking about where the researchers from the abandoned research facility are now.

I heard that almost half of those people are in some detention center in a foreign country.

…Suddenly, it looks like I’ll have to go abroad just to find one of Nabi’s eyes.

I hurriedly pointed to the display stand with snacks arranged on it in the convenience store we had just entered and said.

“Wow~ There are so many new snacks! Should we think about finding your eye again later?”

“Yeah yeah! Can I buy all the snacks?”

“Of course~ Pick them all!”

…Did that work?

I breathed a sigh of relief watching Nabi sweep snacks into the basket from the bottom shelf.

‘Successfully changed the subject.’

I can’t suddenly decide to go abroad just because Nabi wants to find her ‘eye’.

If I’m going to go, I need to take time off work and book a flight… And what if the place where her eye is located happens to be some detention center in a foreign country.

‘Can’t go.’

How am I supposed to get there?

For now, I decided to postpone this topic as much as possible.

Sorry. Please forgive me with snacks for now.

It seemed like everything was going well.

***

“You seem to be in a good mood today?”

Back to the weekday commute.

During the weekend, the one who had been unintentionally tied to these siblings (Lee Seo-hyeok and the twins) bid farewell to the weekend so refreshingly and came to work today as well.

I shrugged my shoulders while greeting Park I-deun, who would bring Moon-su up to Our Class whenever she was bored.

Work is work, but my mood is good.

“It’s good. Noah came back too.”

Of course it was natural to feel good. Anyway, Lee Seo-hyeok had fully recovered without any lingering worries to fret about…

This morning, Noah, whom I had been waiting for, finally returned to Ocean Kindergarten!

‘Really, I almost teared up a little…’

When I turned my head, I could see Noah playing excitedly with his friends.

“Nam Tae-jae, shall we compete to see who can make Potions faster?”

“Noah, only you can make Potions. Then, I want to compete in Healing injured people quickly.”

“Lee Seo-ra will be the judge!”

…Yeah, Our Kids should play in such ridiculous ways.

I smiled, feeling like my heart, which had been strangely empty due to Noah’s absence, was being perfectly healed.

“Indeed, it’s more lively when Noah is here. By the way, you didn’t forget about today’s dinner gathering, right?”

Park I-deun asked while putting Moon-su down on the floor.

“6 o’clock, right? The Gamjatang Restaurant across the street.”

“Yes, since we need to bring Nabi too, I thought it would be better to go somewhere with a separate Playroom.”

“Hmm… That’s good. Thank you.”

That’s right, today we decided to have our first teachers-only dinner gathering since I started working here.

The teachers who know Nabi as my younger brother suggested we have dinner together and leave work together.

‘I’m grateful they’re taking care of such detailed things.’

So, after spending the remaining afternoon time well and sending the children home.

We gathered at the gamjatang restaurant across from the kindergarten.

“BOND employees often come here too…”

Maybe because it’s after work hours, it seems quieter than I expected.

Though we called it a dinner gathering, not a single person ordered alcohol.

“Ah, I don’t drink~ There’s a family history of alcohol dependency.”

“I don’t drink either… People say I talk too much when I drink.”

“I don’t drink because it tastes bad.”

“Me too.”

Hmm… Since everyone says they don’t drink.

And I wasn’t any different.

“Then, let’s order drinks. I don’t really drink alcohol outside either.”

This was even more so because I had some bad memories about excessive drinking.

‘Let’s not think about it… It just makes me feel bad.’

In the end, instead of green bottles, several bottles of carbonated drinks with colorful hues were placed in front of us.

Still, for a gathering without alcohol, the atmosphere wasn’t bad. No, rather, I wonder if this atmosphere is possible precisely because there’s no alcohol…

“Heeh~ So you really had a physical job? Wow… I actually thought Jin-chae worked in back alleys and recently got out of that business.”

“I’m an Awakener, so if I did that kind of work, I’d get aggravated punishment. And working on the Field Team is all in the past. Now I can’t even kill a single ant~”

Yu Jin-chae shamelessly lied. I’m pretty sure I saw Teacher knock someone unconscious in under 10 seconds.

In the highly excited atmosphere, they ended up comfortably sharing their personal struggles and even private matters with each other.

And surprisingly, during this process, Yu Jin-chae and Kwon Hae-seong completely trashed their own backgrounds.

‘At least now I don’t need to pretend I don’t know they were hunters.’

“I was the one who first… suggested that Jin-chae noona work at the kindergarten. She was living like a complete shut-in after quitting her job.”

“Hey, that’s… Well, what’s someone supposed to do after quitting? Is it such a crime to just eat and play games?”

“Where else would you find someone who games for 20 hours out of 24…”

“Why not? I’m right here.”

Before I joined, no matter how they divided the work, it was double the workload, so they apparently had no time for company dinners.

‘I guess they haven’t been able to have these kinds of personal conversations properly until now. No wonder… Park I-deun was making strange deductions about Yu Jin-chae’s past.’

While focusing on the conversation, I checked to see that Nabi was playing well in the playroom in the corner of the gamjatang restaurant.

It was oddly fascinating how she was getting along well with the friends she met for the first time at the gamjatang restaurant… Well, as long as she’s having fun, that’s what matters.

“Come to think of it, what about Teacher I-deun? Besides liking dramas and anime, we don’t know anything about you~! If it’s not too personal, can we ask what you did before coming to the kindergarten?”

Now it was Park I-deun’s turn to talk.

When Park I-deun was suddenly mentioned, she rolled her eyes as if startled and scratched her head.

Then she began speaking as if embarrassed.

“Um… Mine’s probably the most pathetic among us. I was the family disappointment… Hmm.”

The family disappointment?

…Someone that cheerful?

“You know? Like in dramas, wealthy families always have that one slightly dim-witted son… Something like that? Haha, I used to live just killing time because I had money but nothing to do. Then my insomnia got really bad, and I remembered my younger sister saying that if I worked my body hard, I’d be able to sleep. So I was looking for work when I happened to see the Ocean Kindergarten job posting that said no experience required.”

It was an ambiguous family situation that seemed like bragging but wasn’t really bragging. Having a lot of money at home, how enviable. Ah, but anyway…

Hey, let’s give her some applause.

“Good for you. So did your insomnia get better?”

How admirable, you did your best to cure your insomnia on your own and found quite a healthy method, didn’t you.

And that method is getting a job.

If I were Park I-deun’s Mother, I would have been so proud that I would have patted her head until it went bald.

“Uh… Yes. Completely cured.”

What are you doing? Clap your hands.

When I suddenly started clapping, my colleagues beside me looked puzzled but followed along with the applause.

I could see Park I-deun nodding her head awkwardly.

“Well, my past isn’t anything special. How about we listen to our Teacher Sa-gwa’s story, who’s the youngest generation here?”

So she’s deflecting like this.

It was obvious that Park I-deun was embarrassed and hurriedly changing the subject.

Kang Sa-gwa glared at Park I-deun but still opened her mouth to speak.

“I don’t have anything special either. I graduated high school and entered university, but my major didn’t suit my aptitude and I couldn’t get close to my classmates.”

“Hmm… That’s, Sa-gwa.”

Since Kang Sa-gwa’s story was different from what she expected, Park I-deun, who had directed the conversation that way, felt awkward.

I had times when I worried about things like that too.

“No, not having friends didn’t really matter to me. Since it was comfortable, I even pushed away people who approached me. It’s just, I just started wanting to earn money quickly… And it happened that no experience was needed, and Jin-chae unnie said there was an opening for a kindergarten teacher position at Ocean Kindergarten, so I came. Oh, I have many younger siblings, so I was confident about childcare… I came here as if running away, but I like it.”

“Ah.”

Kids, what are you doing? Let’s clap.

“If Teacher likes it, that’s what matters. You did well. If you think something doesn’t suit your aptitude, quickly changing your path is also a method. Um… It’s a bit cliché, but still, since you’re young, it wouldn’t be bad to explore various possibilities while focusing more on this work going forward.”

Did they say Kang Sa-gwa is 22 years old?

She’s the same age as Lee Seo-hyeok.

‘Both of them are admirable, unlike typical kids these days.’

Kang Sa-gwa was bewildered by my old-fashioned comment that I blurted out unconsciously, unable to contain my proud feelings.

But… both Park I-deun and Kang Sa-gwa seem to think poorly of themselves, but I don’t think that way at all.

They recognized they had problems and solved them on their own.

‘What more could they have done better than this?’

And, having wandered quite a bit myself, their past doesn’t seem problematic to me at all.

“What about Teacher Hwiyeon? You’re a teacher, so you probably were a model student. At least tell us how you ended up choosing the Early Childhood Education Department. I’ve honestly been really curious.”

“That’s right… Actually, I was curious too.”

“Oh right. I was curious too.”

Right, it’s come full circle back to asking me.

Looking around, they all have faces that don’t expect a model student to have some incredible past, but are just curious because my department choice seems unexpected.

I casually picked up my chopsticks again and opened my mouth.

“It’s kind of funny to tell… When I was in middle school, there was a time I didn’t go home for a month.”

“…What?”

Why are you surprised?

I haven’t even explained the turbulent period I went through before deciding on my dream yet.

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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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