Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 47

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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 047

 

I tapped the White Dog Doll’s nose with my index finger and whispered.

 

“Excellent.”

 

[ Hehe! I did well, right? ]

 

I shielded it with my back so Yu Jin-chae couldn’t see, then asked Nabi to open the door.

 

Then, the doll’s back split open and a black hand emerged, tugging at the tightly closed door handle several times…

 

-Crack.

 

-Creak.

 

-Clatter.

 

[ Ta-da! ]

 

The door opened.

 

…Though it would be more accurate to say it was torn off.

 

But that’s not what’s important right now.

 

“Teacher, the door is open.”

 

I quickly delivered this joyful news to Yu Jin-chae!

 

Then Yu Jin-chae pointed back and forth between the half-torn door and me with trembling hands and said.

 

“…How did you open the door? It should have been locked?”

 

I was puzzled by what seemed like a frightened look in her eyes, then nodded as realization struck me like a blow to the head.

 

Ah… She must be so shocked by the thought that we can finally escape.

 

‘Right, Teacher has been trapped here longer than me… That’s understandable.’

 

I looked at her with sympathetic eyes and slightly lifted the door handle that Nabi had torn off.

 

“It opened when I applied a little force.”

 

‘Technically it’s not a lie. I didn’t do it, Nabi did.’

 

I brought the stiffly frozen Yu Jin-chae over and stood right in front of the door.

 

When I stuck just my face out to look outside, I could see a dark hallway stretching out. The only light came from the occasional sensor lights turning on.

 

‘I don’t see anyone.’

 

I stepped boldly into the hallway while muffling my footsteps. I didn’t feel any fear.

 

‘Kidnapping someone on their way home from work crosses the line.’

 

No, maybe my brain had given up on proper thinking due to anger.

 

“Should we keep going straight ahead like this?”

 

“…What? Oh, yes?!”

 

“I think it would be best for us to move as quickly as possible.”

 

I’ve never learned how to handle kidnapping situations, so I don’t know what to do right now.

 

“Uh~ But… How should I put it. Since it’s too dangerous, maybe we should go back the way we came and discuss it a bit before moving? Or… wait for rescue? What do you think about that…”

 

I shook my head at Yu Jin-chae’s words as she rolled her eyes around.

 

“No. If they find out later that we broke free from the restraints and opened the locked door to escape, we might face even worse confinement or retaliation. And…”

 

I hesitated while trying to organize my words, then gave up and blurted out.

 

“If we’re going to die either way, I want to make those kidnapping bastards feel even a little bit shitty before I die. It’s obvious they’ll suffer like hell searching for us when they discover we’re missing later.”

 

Of course, regardless of these feelings boiling over like a flood… I’ll move as carefully as possible.

 

‘After all, escape is the priority.’

 

After saying it out loud, I quickly regretted it, thinking my speech was somewhat more crude than usual due to anger…

 

Yu Jin-chae looked stunned by my words for a moment, then swallowed once before answering.

 

“…Actually, me too.”

 

…What?

 

“These bastards didn’t turn on the air conditioning when they moved us by car! I mean, I was dying from the heat! But then the smell of their sweat was so bad that just thinking about it makes me go ugh-“

 

Rat-a-tat-tat. Yu Jin-chae spewed out words like firing a machine gun, recreating that difficult situation with an expression somewhere between nausea and mockery.

 

Turns out she was a comrade.

 

“And, and! When I was thrown into that moldy, dusty place, I was seriously annoyed about why my profession wasn’t a killer!”

 

“Would things have been very different if Teacher’s profession was a killer?”

 

“…Maybe very much so.”

 

“That’s a shame.”

 

I calmed down Yu Jin-chae, who seemed to be spouting nonsense in her excitement, and looked ahead.

 

‘They’re not coming out even with this much noise.’

 

The hallway was still as quiet as a tomb.

 

“Well then, let’s think of a good way to both mess with the kidnappers and escape from this place safely. While moving our legs quickly.”

 

Making all this noise in the middle of the hallway was dangerous. It would be safer to find somewhere to hide or at least keep moving around.

 

“Fine… Though I feel like I’m going to regret this choice for a long time.”

 

Yu Jin-chae agreed with a wicked smile.

 

We immediately started moving quickly while checking front and back.

 

Only the sound of our two pairs of shoes echoed in the silent hallway.

 

Along with extreme tension, I could feel our steps naturally becoming more urgent.

 

As we moved at almost alarm-like speed, when we reached the middle of the hallway.

 

I witnessed an emergency exit door a little distance away suddenly swing open.

 

Both of us stopped walking at the same time.

 

Inside the open emergency exit door was darker than the hallway, as if there wasn’t even a sensor light.

 

The moment I narrowed my eyes to assess the situation.

 

-Whoosh!

 

“…!”

 

Something shot out from the darkness.

 

 

My vision narrowed as it suddenly approached right in front of my eyes.

 

A ball about the size of a child’s fist stayed suspended in the air for about 5 seconds before falling to the floor. Then it rolled around… until it touched the tip of my shoe and stopped.

 

“What the… wh, who’s there?”

 

A voice from the darkness asked toward us. It was the youthful voice of a male who seemed to have just gone through puberty.

 

I bent down and picked up what had touched my shoe tip.

 

I felt a hard texture and stitched seams running in two directions…

 

When the sensor light flickered again and I held it up slightly, I could see the logo of a famous sports brand.

 

‘A baseball?’

 

Meanwhile, I could see a silhouette buried in the darkness gradually walking out into the hallway.

 

Yu Jin-chae lowered her stance as if tense, but holding the baseball in my hand, I just stared straight ahead in bewilderment.

 

“…”

 

Flicker flicker.

 

The sensor light flickered above the head of the opponent who had completely emerged into the hallway. Finally grasping the opponent’s appearance, a deflated voice flowed from Yu Jin-chae’s mouth.

 

“…A high schooler?”

 

The person standing under the dim sensor light was a male… kid.

 

A male student who looked like he had just entered high school.

 

He was about my height, but had a face that showed no traces of society’s influence at all.

 

The male student in a black sports jersey looked at us with a flustered expression.

 

“…”

 

A moment of silence fell. I carefully looked the opponent over from head to toe.

 

He had quite long bangs and small ring earrings in both ears. Music was flowing from earphones casually draped over his shoulders.

 

‘This kid… is listening to K-pop.’

 

It was a song by a male idol group that had made a comeback with a refreshing concept a week ago.

 

A baseball and K-pop…

 

‘But he looks like a total delinquent.’

 

That cognitive dissonance made my wariness completely die down.

 

Yu Jin-chae looked him up and down as if gauging his combat ability, then slowly crossed her arms and asked.

 

I guess she judged him to be beneath her.

 

“You look like a high school student, but how did you end up in a place like this?”

 

At that question, the male student just rolled his eyes in circles, then pursed his lips and said.

 

“I came by bus.”

 

“….”

 

Yu Jin-chae took a deep breath as if pulling up patience from the floor and asked again.

 

“That’s not what I asked. What reason brought you here?”

 

I looked at the male student and tilted my head sideways. Looking at him, he doesn’t seem to recognize our faces at all…

 

‘Is it possible not to know who you kidnapped?’

 

Ah, maybe he’s the one who ordered the kidnapping? But then shouldn’t he know even more details?

 

“Jae-hong hyung called me here… Why? Why do you keep asking? Lady, do you know Jae-hong hyung?”

 

Following Yu Jin-chae’s lead, the male student crossed his arms. Hey student, I understand you don’t want to lose but…

 

I could see Yu Jin-chae’s fists trembling beside me. Though I have no proof, shouldn’t you avoid messing with someone trained in Close-Range Combat?

 

To ease the atmosphere, I handed the baseball to the male student and casually asked.

 

“Don’t you feel anything looking at our faces?”

 

“…Ah, I threw the baseball because I was startled. I’m sorry about that. But I was also surprised because of you guys, so let’s just let it slide?”

 

The male student put the baseball in his pocket and replied with his lips pouted.

 

‘He really doesn’t know.’

 

At that moment, my eyes met Yu Jin-chae’s. The question ‘What the heck is with this kid?’ appeared on her face.

 

I was about to open my mouth to dig for more information when the male student’s question stopped me cold.

 

“But when are we doing the Summoning Ritual? I need to get home quickly. I skipped cram school today so I have to go back home before going to school… Ah, this is seriously fucking annoying. Really.”

 

Summoning Ritual?

 

What kind of bullshit is this now.

 

Let me try playing along for now.

 

“We’ll do it soon. If you wait… we’ll do the Summoning Ritual. Didn’t Jae-hong tell you anything?”

 

“Ah, I don’t know. Phones don’t work inside this building, and he just said he’d call me later and left.”

 

“Do you know where the other people are right now? I have something to ask but I don’t know where they are.”

 

“They’re underground. Everyone’s gathered there saying they’re summoning the demon lord. They told me the preparations aren’t ready yet and to come down when they call…”

 

Demon? Summoning?

 

“…What is all this bullshit.”

 

Yu Jin-chae, who had been listening beside me, couldn’t hold back and blurted out her thoughts. I didn’t think differently from her either.

 

‘There are really people in this world who believe in this stuff.’

 

I sighed deeply inside, but there was nothing I could do. Iron Fist Abraham (Kwon Hye-seong’s baptismal name) isn’t here.

 

With Abraham’s faith and warm physical dialogue, this friend would convert to Catholic Church in 5 minutes and then some.

 

While swallowing my regret, I suddenly felt weight on my right shoulder and turned my head. Yu Jin-chae placed her hand on my shoulder with a determined face and whispered quietly enough for only me to hear.

 

“I’ll just interrogate him myself. I’ve interrogated civilians before. I remember it being very effective. I want to find out what this crazy den is for and get out of here right now.”

 

I strongly agree with the latter part. But…

 

“Would that interrogation be conducted non-violently and ethically?”

 

“…I don’t think I was able to do that due to the circumstances back then.”

 

Then that won’t do. I shook my head slightly. I could see Yu Jin-chae’s eyebrows droop in disappointment.

 

“Interrogation is a bit much, so let’s just ask casually. Either way, we need to know what kind of place this is to safely get out.”

 

Only then did Yu Jin-chae nod with a much brighter expression.

 

“Ah, yes! Then first, let me try.”

 

Perhaps gaining some motivation, she turned her head with renewed energy. I decided to trust Yu Jin-chae for now.

 

But… what does she mean she’s done interrogation before?

 

“Student, I’m going to ask you a few questions from now on, and I’d appreciate it if you could answer them properly.”

 

“Why should I? But lady and mister, you’re not from the ‘Demon Lord’s Exclusive Channel’ cafe, right? They said only cafe members were coming today, so how did you get here? Is this like trespassing?”

 

“…That’s not important, first what’s this demon and what’s the Summoning Ritual? And what’s the address of this building?”

 

“Why should I tell that to people who aren’t even cafe members? Huh? Huh? Lady, you just tried to hit me, didn’t you? Your fist went up and down?”

 

Yu Jin-chae seemed to have exhausted all her patience in just two conversation attempts. I raised both arms in guard and sighed looking at the male student who was cunningly provoking Yu Jin-chae.

 

Why is a decent-looking kid acting like that?

 

I inconspicuously looked at the male student’s legs. At some point, the leg he was standing on had started trembling.

 

‘Teacher Jin-chae is so angry she can’t see this.’

 

Besides the leg trembling, there were several other noticeable behaviors. Like constantly looking behind him, biting his lips, or trying to maintain a certain distance from us…

 

‘He says that, but is he scared of us?’

 

I glanced once at Yu Jin-chae, who was on the verge of exploding, then spoke to the Male Student.

 

“Do you like demons?”

 

When I threw out that topic of interest….

 

“It’s not that I like them, I believe in them.”

 

The fish took the bait eagerly. Right, of course he’d like them. That’s why when his hyung he knows said he’d show him a demon, he came running to this smelly place of unknown identity.

 

“Any demon will do? If I said I’d show you a demon, would you be willing to listen to everything I say from now on?”

 

“…How the hell would you show me a demon, Mister? Aaagh….! Seriously! Fucking annoying! Are you doing this because I look like a pushover?”

 

“Teacher Hwiyeon, surely our instructor wouldn’t become a demon depending on what students do, this kind of cheap trick is….”

 

“No.”

 

I cut off Yu Jin-chae’s worried words sharply, feeling absurd. But she didn’t seem to believe me much.

 

“So are you going to look or not?”

 

The Male Student scratched his hair roughly, expressing his irritation, then looked at me and snickered. It was clearly a mocking laugh.

 

‘His legs are still shaking though.’

 

Pick one thing, just one.

 

Either mock me or be scared.

 

“Yes, well…. If you just show me a demon, I’ll follow you like your devotee! No, I’ll become a dog! A dog!”

 

That’s not really necessary, but sure. Fine by me.

 

I gestured to the Male Student with one hand, then turned around and said.

 

“Follow me. Ah, Teacher, please wait here for a moment.”

 

“…Teacher.”

 

“It’s really okay. He wants to see a demon, so I’ll just show him briefly. Whatever.”

 

Yu Jin-chae still seems to think the demon I’m talking about is some disciplinary act involving possessing the retreat instructor….

 

I took the Male Student far down the hallway, out of Yu Jin-chae’s sight. Conveniently, I spotted a Sensor Light nearby that seemed broken, turning on and off every 5 seconds.

 

The Male Student and I faced each other under that Sensor Light.

 

The Sensor Light went off.

 

When it turned back on.

 

I Called the Butterfly.

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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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