Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 16

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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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Episode 016

 

“Now, everyone from Ocean Kindergarten, focus~!”

 

Yu Jin-chae raised one arm high and shouted from the middle of the Research Department hallway.

 

“Focus!!”

 

The children responded with a spirited chorus to her call.

 

What absolutely adorable teamwork.

 

And naturally, it was only expected that the poor office workers’ gazes would be captured by this breathtaking cuteness.

 

“So cute.”

 

“There’s nothing to see here though…”

 

“Look, here we are. Trapped, working and eating, then working and eating again – how are we any different from zoo monkeys?”

 

“Cute things really are the best. I was worried I’d need to take blood pressure medication, but I think I can endure today…”

 

Um, excuse me, teachers.

 

If you listened casually, they seemed to be losing their minds over the children’s cuteness, but listening closely, they just seemed like people who had lost their minds in general.

 

“Wow, did you see people’s eyes?”

 

Park I-deun, who had been lightly looking around, also sensed something and asked me.

 

“Yes. The work here must be tough too.”

 

Obviously, the ‘eyes’ Park I-deun was referring to weren’t simply about their physical appearance.

 

Their gaze. She was asking if I had read something similar to herself in their eyes.

 

‘Their eyes all looked slightly unhinged.’

 

Are people in research labs originally all like that?

 

It reminded me of when one of my high school classmates went to graduate school and lived in the lab.

 

I found myself nodding unconsciously as I counted the number of cots visible beyond the partitions.

 

This place must be overtime hell too.

 

“The Research Department has many people suffering from nutritional deficiency and chronic sleep deprivation…”

 

“Wow, then their irritability must be no joke. No wonder they all looked like half-zombies or corpses.”

 

Aren’t zombies and corpses the same thing?

 

Park I-deun picked up a wet towel hanging on a partition with her finger and shook her head in disgust.

 

“Here we must be quiet…! You have to be quiet. Whispering is okay. Being noisy is not~”

 

Of course, whether the people around were zombies or jiangshi, there were bound to be some who just steadfastly did their own work.

 

‘Her expression doesn’t change at all.’

 

Yu Jin-chae freely controlled her voice volume and continued explaining at the children’s eye level.

 

‘Doing that isn’t easy.’

 

Being able to act so shamelessly in a place where everyone passes by is also a talent, to put it nicely.

 

“Now, whispering is?”

 

“Okay…!”

 

“Being noisy is?”

 

“Not okay!”

 

“That’s right~”

 

Yu Jin-chae smiled refreshingly and nodded as if satisfied.

 

“The first place we’ll visit is called the ‘Product Development Team’~”

 

Then she boldly opened the glass door with the [Product Development Team] sign and went in.

 

“Oh! T-Teacher!”

 

As soon as the door opened, a man sitting in the corner smiled brightly and greeted Yu Jin-chae.

 

The man with long brown hair and round glasses had a gentle appearance but looked tired somehow.

 

But I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.

 

“Won-gang’s father.”

 

…It seems the father’s genes won here.

 

“Wo-Won-gang!”

 

The man scooped up Won-gang and laughed heartily. At least while smiling, his tired face seemed to gain some life.

 

“Welcome to the Product Development Team…! I’ll give you a tour.”

 

I quickly read the name embroidered on the lab coat the man was wearing.

 

[ Product Development Team Section Chief, Lee Won-woo ]

 

Lee Won-woo skillfully led the children as he walked around inside the department.

 

This situation seemed quite familiar to him, and while his explanations lacked rules and order, his relaxed and calm guidance was pleasant to listen to.

 

“This is the Product Development Team Conference Room. It’s where we create virtual products on computers and test them out. The accuracy isn’t high, but the conceptual designs come out clean…”

 

Lee Won-woo said, pointing to a table with a large monitor embedded in the center.

 

This was the largest conference room within the Product Development Team, but honestly, it looked more like a break room than a conference room.

 

What’s with having a bed and sofa in a conference room?

 

Looking around, the walls were packed with all kinds of movie posters and sketches.

 

However, Lee Won-woo continued his explanation calmly as if such things didn’t bother him.

 

“We mainly use WVET, which is a method of extracting part of Awakeners’ frequencies and injecting them into products…”

 

He explained with all his might, but in the end, only the adults were listening.

 

‘It’s boring for kids to listen to.’

 

“Da-yeong, let’s hold hands and walk around together.”

 

“Okay!”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Looking at the picture, it seems like a grass-cutting robot.”

 

“Ugh, that’s ugly.”

 

Several idea sketches were hung on the conference room walls. The children who found the explanation boring and some adults with poor concentration were more interested in these sketches.

 

“Wow, Grow Grow Hair Growth Formula. If this gets properly released, it would make tons of money, right?”

 

“Pied Piper… It says it can forcibly gather 3 or more people.”

 

“Light Saber made with the help of an S-rank luminous Awakener. This one’s quite tempting.”

 

And I was also about to pick out and read one that caught my eye when something perfectly caught my attention.

 

“Painless Stylish Ability Control Device…”

 

Wait a minute.

 

This… might be useful?

 

***

 

Control Device.

 

Currently, it’s used on awakened criminals or only used in emergencies at some Awakener Education Centers or Hunter Training Schools.

 

Other than that, the principle is to refrain from using it as much as possible.

 

The reason is obviously…

 

‘Because it’s suffocating and scary.’

 

It sounds simple, but it’s different when you actually try wearing it.

 

Upon wearing it, it temporarily blocks the frequency that flows only through Awakeners’ bodies, which causes suffocating stuffiness and fear equivalent to a survival threat.

 

And all Awakeners try wearing this Control Device at least once.

 

Because it’s part of the mandatory requirements set by the government.

 

Except for Awakeners under 15, everyone must receive 4 weeks of education at an Awakener Education Center immediately upon manifestation.

 

There, rather than individual ability usage, they constantly listen only to criminal punishments and precautions for Awakeners.

 

‘Listen well and behave yourselves, that’s the idea.’

 

Then, the day before graduation, they experience it firsthand by wearing this Control Device for the last time.

 

Implicitly letting them know: if you’re in your right mind, would you want to wear this again?

 

Awakener criminals must wear Control Devices for 3 months regardless of the severity of their crime.

 

But the problem here is that children often end up using this terrifying thing.

 

Poor ability control.

 

The same reason why Kwon Hae-seong tried to put Control Devices on the twins on my first day of work.

 

I wondered why something like this hadn’t come out before and casually asked Section Chief Lee Won-woo.

 

“Um, Section Chief… has that product over there been released by any chance?”

 

Section Chief Lee Won-woo’s eyes widened at my sudden question.

 

Then he looked at the sketch in the direction my index finger was pointing… and became depressed?

 

Not stopping there, shadows began to fall across his face. His drooping eyebrows and forced smile contained embarrassment.

 

Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?

 

However, Lee Won-woo gave me an answer I never expected.

 

“Um… That’s my personal greed.”

 

“Greed?”

 

“Yes, those sketches over there are actually all scheduled for disposal. So in reality, there’s only a prototype and nothing has been officially produced. But… since I, I couldn’t give up, my team members hung them up there telling me to look at them until I got sick of them and put them away.”

 

“…Ah.”

 

All of that is scheduled for disposal… Then, that means they can’t release the product after all.

 

Seeing me and Manager Lee Won-woo instantly lose our energy, Yu Jin-chae looked puzzled and chimed in.

 

“Painless Stylish Ability Control Device? Hmm… But that seems like there would be demand for it, so they still won’t approve it?”

 

“Well, the thing is…”

 

Why are you getting depressed again?

 

“Those sketches are the initial design, but when we actually produced the product, the design turned out really bad. Plus, instead of being painless, other side effects were discovered…”

 

Wait, so you’re saying the design is crappy and we just need to endure some minor side effects?

 

“Could I see the prototype at least?”

 

I asked eagerly before thinking it through.

 

If it exists, let me see it first so I can give it to our kids.

 

“…Oh, yes, yes! I’ll show you. But even though I made it, the design is really bad…”

 

Just how crappy could it be?

 

I cheered inwardly. If they’re going to dispose of it anyway, wouldn’t they dispose of the prototype too? It would be great if I could buy it cheap.

 

‘It would be even better if I could just get it for free.’

 

Manager Lee Won-woo quickly brought over a box from the corner of the storage room, rummaged through it, and pulled out something heavy in one hand to show us.

 

…I was a little, no, actually quite shocked when I saw it.

 

“Wow, is that a dog collar or what?”

 

Park I-deun clapped her hands in amazement.

 

I shouldn’t curse.

 

“Lee Seo-ra, look at that.”

 

“Lee Seo-ro! We could give it to our Ttori!”

 

For reference, Ttori is the name of the twins’ family dog.

 

“Sir, this is meant for people to wear, right?”

 

As if he had expected this reaction, Lee Won-woo laughed helplessly and began a lengthy explanation.

 

Still holding the dog collar in his hand.

 

…So, that’s supposed to be the Painless Stylish Ability Control Device.

 

Where did they sell off the stylishness?

 

“We tried to make this usable in daily life, so we added various functions and it became quite heavy… We thought about putting it on wrists or ankles, but then we’d have to remove some components, and waist or torso seemed too cumbersome, so we decided on the neck…”

 

Don’t cry while talking.

 

Because I want to cry too.

 

“The design was done by our team’s Junior Member, and that guy was so confident that I entrusted it to him. But as you can see, the design score was also deducted. The human trials showed serious side effects, so it took less than an hour to decide on disposal…”

 

If it were me, I would have grabbed that Junior Member by the collar and suggested we beg together.

 

“…What are the side effects?”

 

At my question, Manager Lee Won-woo handed over the dog collar with a bitter smile.

 

The black choker-style dog collar in my hand was quite heavy.

 

“…It’s itchy. Severely so.”

 

“That’s all?”

 

As if finding it absurd, I could hear Park I-deun laughing “hahaha-“.

 

This guy is laughing too much.

 

“The itchiness is quite severe. The intensity varies depending on grade and frequency differences, but generally they were so itchy that they couldn’t stop laughing for even a second.”

 

“Wow…”

 

“It was the first time itchiness felt sc, scary… After seeing an Employee who had difficulty breathing from laughing get rushed to the emergency center, I gave up too. Haha.”

 

Everyone there fell silent at the more serious side effects than expected.

 

‘I can’t use this on the kids.’

 

Even Park I-deun was covering her mouth and groaning, but unexpectedly positive words came from an unexpected source.

 

“It seems like one of the good torture methods.”

 

Yu Jin-chae looked over the Dog Collar in my palm with interested eyes.

 

‘That kind of thinking is possible too.’

 

I quickly hid the Dog Collar behind my back with coldly hardened eyes.

 

‘Support me, support. You human.’

 

“Is that so…? Well, I’ll try approaching it that way once.”

 

However, whether he was impressed by Yu Jin-chae’s murderous advice, Manager Lee Won-woo’s eyes changed.

 

-There are many strange people in the Research Team too… Be careful.

 

Certainly, this proves that these are words that cannot be ignored.

 

“…Would you like to take it? It’s awkward to call it a gift, but please take that Control Device and all of these too. I think I’ll only be able to give up completely if they disappear from before my eyes.”

 

As if the Dog Collar wasn’t enough, Manager Lee Won-woo was now handing me even the Box he had salvaged from the Storage Room.

 

“Then should we throw it away…”

 

“Yes, thank you. I’ll use it preciously.”

 

Kwon Hae-seong, quiet.

 

I swallowed the rest of that tactless guy’s words.

 

‘Don’t forget that person is a parent.’

 

I carefully received the Box that was pushed toward me. Red stickers labeled “disposal” were stuck all over the pile of crude items.

 

“Still, if you use them well, they’ll probably be useful. Some of the things in there were disposed of simply because they weren’t profitable…”

 

I glanced around at my surroundings.

 

‘Anyone want to take it?’

 

…No one.

 

I thought while holding the gift that was too awkward to throw away.

 

‘I wonder if there will be an occasion to use this.’

 

 

However, who was it that said you can’t predict even an inch ahead in a person’s life. I had no choice but to completely change this thought before even a full day had passed.

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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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