Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 41

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

Episode 041

 

I completely wasted Saturday like that, and rested on Sunday as if there was no tomorrow.

 

Munching on leftover snacks while putting on children’s educational programs for Nabi, and killing time watching variety shows on my mobile phone… I guess you could call it sweet relaxation time.

 

Moreover, I kept my mobile phone on all Sunday, but no particular contact came, which made it even better.

 

‘I was worried my face might appear huge on camera and end up on the news.’

 

Now that I think about it, I must have caught celebrity syndrome.

 

Anyway, the conclusion is that I spent a peaceful weekend without anyone’s interference.

 

Because of that, even though I’m a teacher, I really didn’t want to go to work.

 

[ What’s going to work? ]

 

“Hell.”

 

[ Hell? You don’t like that? ]

 

“Well, it’s somewhat like that, isn’t it?”

 

No matter how many cute and good children are waiting for me, I’m still human, so I dislike going to work just the same.

 

[ Then, shall we go to Rest? It’s nice there. ]

 

Whoa, that really woke me up.

 

“No, now that I think about it, going to work doesn’t seem that bad. Let’s go to Rest later.”

 

Thank you. Thanks to that, I even feel motivated.

 

I’ll work hard and live healthily for a long time to delay going to that Rest as much as possible.

 

 

However, despite going to work with renewed motivation, a terrifying epidemic was waiting for me at the kindergarten.

 

***

 

“Wow, this is killing me. Who started this trend?”

 

“Our kids are still young, so we’re so lucky~ This is why epidemics are scary.”

 

“Won-gang and Da-yeong too… They keep saying the same thing all day today.”

 

“The culprit is obvious.”

 

Exhausted adults sprawled here and there in the teachers’ lounge, each muttering a word.

 

I took a sip of coffee and smiled awkwardly at Kang Sa-gwa’s gaze.

 

“Haha, Noah definitely has that kind of talent. You could say he’s sensitive to trends.”

 

Immediately, fierce glares shot my way.

 

Geez, can’t I even joke around?

 

If even Park I-deun, who usually shows a gentle attitude, is looking at me like that…

 

‘It must really be tough.’

 

But it can’t be helped.

 

Because this is a chronic disease with no cure or prevention method.

 

I guess only time is the medicine.

 

“If we endure it, it’ll all end someday. Come on, let’s stay strong for the remaining afternoon too.”

 

I clenched my fist to show determination and quickly escaped from there.

 

I tried to smooth things over with a forced smile, but my situation wasn’t different from theirs.

 

‘I’m also finding today quite overwhelming myself.’

 

I went up to the 3rd floor and opened the door to the Dolphin Class classroom.

 

“Now, everyone, have you finished putting away all the toys?”

 

When I drew attention with a gentle voice, gazes gathered one by one.

 

Mischievous eye smiles.

 

Welcoming smiles.

 

Surprised faces.

 

Hurried hand movements cleaning up.

 

However, the sentences they all say in unison are somehow similar.

 

“No! We weren’t doing that!”

 

“Me neither! Lee Seo-ra wasn’t either!”

 

“Making a mess is more fun.”

 

“Teacher, Noah told me to say it wasn’t him.”

 

“No… Is this how I’m supposed to say it?”

 

…Yes, that epidemic is exactly.

 

The ‘No’ disease.

 

Also known as the upgraded version of the ‘I don’t like it’ disease.

 

The trendsetter would be our very own Kim Noah.

 

‘Noah, we were getting along so well until the weekend.’

 

We survived a life-or-death situation together and came back alive! Though you didn’t seem to understand what was happening when we returned…!

 

It’s good that you don’t know though…!

 

‘Still, this somehow feels like betrayal.’

 

Finding some kind of amusement in it, Noah spread the ‘No’ disease to his friends as soon as he came to the center.

 

Not only that, but during the brief group activity time in the morning, the kids in our class spread this disease to all the other children at the center.

 

It was truly an incredible infection rate.

 

Only the children in the 3-Year-Old Class managed to barely escape thanks to their young age.

 

 

The 3-year-olds can’t even pronounce it properly.

 

…Because of this, all the teachers except Yu Jin-chae, who’s in charge of the 3-Year-Old Class, are dying.

 

Whatever you ask them to do gets a ‘No!’ and from age 5 and up, countless variations have been created.

 

Look at that, this is the dignity of a 7-year-old.

 

“What’s the point of cleaning everything up and then saying you didn’t do it?”

 

“I’m going to make a mess from now on.”

 

“Lee Seo-ro too? Then me too!”

 

“No~ No~ No~”

 

“Noah, you’re going to get spanked if you keep that up.”

 

“…Hey.”

 

I put my hands on my hips and quietly looked down at them.

 

Three children who were not just absorbed in but completely obsessed with ‘No,’ one child who could take it or leave it, and…

 

One child who seemed to have difficulty even saying ‘No’ itself.

 

Cheonji?

 

“…N… o.”

 

When our eyes met, he drew out the ending and his voice got smaller.

 

I quietly turned my eyes away from Cheonji, who felt different from usual.

 

Hmm?

 

The ‘No’ disease continued for quite a while after that.

 

Naturally, my workload doubled as well… but some pretty funny things happened as a result.

 

In the afternoon, we went out to the outdoor playground to play.

 

I joined in among the children playing house with sand and naturally participated in their game.

 

“Teacher, please eat this.”

 

I took what Tae-jae politely offered with both hands.

 

“Wow~ This looks really delicious.”

 

…A sand rice ball with stone fragments stuck in it.

 

But I’m a professional.

 

Pretending to actually eat it isn’t difficult for me.

 

Noah, who was watching the sand rice ball gradually disappear, clapped beside me and handed me something else.

 

“Wow! Teacher, did you really eat that? Then try this too!”

 

…Are you messing with me?

 

I smiled at Noah, who handed me a piece of wood from nearby, calling it greens.

 

“Oh my. Our Noah… brought some really delicious vegetable side dishes.”

 

“Yes! Stir-fried spinach! My mom made it!”

 

So you’re going to use the mother card here.

 

I chuckled and pretended to chew on the hard tree branch.

 

While pretending to put it in my mouth, I slightly turned away from the children’s line of sight and gradually broke the tree branch with my shoulder…

 

“Wowwwww! He really ate it? Teacher really is an alien…!”

 

So perfectly that they thought I actually ate it.

 

“Alien?”

 

At that moment, Tae-jae tilted his head and asked back at Noah’s muttering. Then, Noah, who made eye contact with me, flinched greatly and instead shouted loudly.

 

“Puhahaha…ha! Teacher is totally a pig! Eating all of that!”

 

…I think it would hurt less if you just exposed me as an alien, Noah.

 

As I was pretending to eat the harmful substances disguised as food that they handed me several times.

 

I heard a voice I didn’t want to hear.

 

“Hehe, there’s really no hard work at all. Thanks to the Director looking after us well, the kindergarten is running even better than before…”

 

“Oh, you say such things… Huh? Haha, look over there. It makes me feel really good to see the children playing outside like that.”

 

“…Yes? Ah, yes… I guess they came out to play because the weather is nice.”

 

When I turned my head, I saw a middle-aged man dressed in a business suit and the Principal.

 

The two, who had been standing side by side looking this way, slowly opened the kindergarten’s main gate and entered.

 

‘What’s that about now.’

 

I’m seriously worried they might interfere with the kids playing and ruin the atmosphere…

 

But the Principal’s demeanor as he approached was different from usual.

 

‘He’s really watching that guy’s mood?’

 

From the conversation I overheard, this man seems to be a Director from BOND too.

 

But it felt quite different from how the Principal treated the various Board of Directors during the field trip photo time last time.

 

How should I put it, both then and now he’s desperately trying to please them, but… this time it feels more like he’s trying to appear as a good person.

 

It felt even more so when I listened to their conversation becoming clearer.

 

“Last time during the field trip, I had something come up so I couldn’t see you off personally, and you don’t know how sorry I was about that.”

 

“Oh my, absolutely not. Just your donation was more than enough. You donated five million won that time too.”

 

“What’s so hard about donating? You just give money.”

 

“That’s the hardest part. Of course. Of course.”

 

Wait a minute.

 

Five million won?

 

I heard that the money the Board of Directors who came during the field trip gave for snack provision was only 150,000 won total.

 

‘Five million won my ass, I haven’t even heard of a 50,000 won donation per person.’

 

If what he said is true, then the Director coming right now donated a huge sum of five million won and is even apologizing instead of showing off… Could he really be someone who purely cares about our kindergarten?

 

If this is the case, I’ll need to look into the exact situation, but… one thing becomes certain.

 

‘The Principal has no choice but to watch this person’s mood.’

 

Sure enough, I hear the Principal’s bright greeting from behind.

 

“Teacher Na Hwi-yeon! Were you playing with the kids?”

 

In a polite tone he would never normally use.

 

I got up from my spot and answered while brushing off the sand.

 

A gentle smile was a bonus.

 

“Yes, because it’s such a nice day.”

 

And I also slightly bowed my head toward the middle-aged man. Then, with a warm smile, the man spoke.

 

“Nice to meet you. I’m just an ordinary mister? who works at this company. Haha!”

 

Yes, Director. If that’s more comfortable for you, let’s go with that.

 

“Hello.”

 

“You work so hard. Oh my, the children are so cute.”

 

The man smiled warmly looking at our kids who were half-buried in sand.

 

The Principal was restless watching such a man and seemed to want to get away from here quickly.

 

“Rather than that, um, instead of doing this here…”

 

“Teacher!”

 

However, with Noah’s sudden appearance, the Principal had no choice but to close his mouth again.

 

“Tell us which one of the things we made tastes the best!”

 

Noah pointed to the outdoor table with the plastic plate on it.

 

At that moment, a good idea came to mind.

 

I smiled.

 

…Our Principal, whose job consists of getting drunk and taking afternoon naps.

 

Let’s see if I can get him to play along.

 

“Sounds good, Noah. But can we give some to the Principal too? We should share delicious things.”

 

 

And thus, the Dolphin Class Challenge Gourmet Club was born.

 

 

“Haha, I’m Just Mister, your host. Oh my, it’s been so long since I’ve done something like this, I’m embarrassed.”

 

The Director, who wore a kind smile well, became the host at my suggestion.

 

And then, five young chefs were introduced in turn.

 

Finally, the long-awaited tasting panel would be… myself and the Principal, who was smiling with difficulty beside me.

 

“Now, first up is Lee Seo-ra’s chocolate muffin.”

 

 

Thud.

 

 

A mud clump piled on tree leaves was placed on the table on a plate. The pebbles embedded like chocolate chips added a touch of realism to the appearance.

 

I nodded like a true gourmet and took a bite of it.

 

Of course, it was just pretend.

 

‘At a glance, it would look like I really ate it.’

 

“Uh, uh Teacher Hwi… yeon. Did you really eat that?!”

 

The flustered Principal asked me directly, but I responded shamelessly.

 

“Yes, it tastes very good. I’ll give Chef Lee Seo-ra 10 points.”

 

Clap clap clap. A round of applause passed and all eyes focused on one spot.

 

The Principal, still holding the chocolate muffin in his hand.

 

The Principal pretended to bite the chocolate muffin halfheartedly as if making a decision, then quickly opened his mouth.

 

“Wo, wow. It’s really delicious!”

 

However, there was something the Principal overlooked here…

 

The children in our class had already been conditioned to my realistic eating show acting for quite some time.

 

At the very least, that mud clump called a chocolate muffin would need to disappear a little for them to buy it…

 

“You didn’t eat it.”

 

See?

 

Seo-ra said with suspicious eyes.

 

“I, I ate it.”

 

“No. You didn’t eat it.”

 

Moreover, today with the effect of the ‘No’ disease, it would be difficult to get positive responses from the children under most circumstances.

 

“Look, see. Ahm- It’s delicious!”

 

The Principal opened his mouth wide and brushed off the dirt with his fingers holding the mud clump.

 

Tsk tsk, I shook my head slightly.

 

If he does that… there will be strong backlash.

 

“Principal, you can’t waste food!”

 

“…No, no, I ate it.”

 

“You didn’t eat it! You didn’t eat it! Why are you lying!!”

 

“…”

 

The Principal looked at me in confusion, but I watched the situation with innocent eyes.

 

And the Director serving as host was just smiling contentedly as if watching an entertaining comedy skit.

 

Here, if the Principal didn’t want to get on the Director’s bad side, he needed to get through this situation as smoothly as possible.

 

“Principal, please eat it quickly and give us your evaluation.”

 

Tae-jae politely brought the muffin in the Principal’s hand to his mouth. Dry dirt touched the Principal’s lips and fell away.

 

At the same time, his pupils shook left and right.

 

Pure, curiosity-filled eyes all sparkled in unison.

 

In the end.

 

Under the suffocating pressure, the Principal opened her mouth slightly.

 

And then….

 

-Crunch.

 

She bit into it.

 

The Mud Clump that was imitating a Chocolate Muffin.

 

For real.

 

‘Oh?’

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