Hunter Kindergarten, Dolphin Class! - Chapter 58

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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 058

 

 

What the hell is this supposed to mean.

 

And the Status Window stacked above it like a list of missed calls was equally incomprehensible.

 

 

‘Right eye and right arm?’

 

Here’s what I know for certain.

 

The fact that the ‘friend’ mentioned in that Status Window refers to Nabi, and that Nabi’s main body is shaped like a right hand when compared to a human body.

 

So.

 

If I apply what that message says to the facts I know… Nabi acquired a ‘right eye’ without me even knowing.

 

‘And it says I helped find it?’

 

When? Where? How?

 

‘Besides, I never even thought Nabi had anything more beyond its current form?’

 

…As I quickly began retracing what I ate this morning, my memories gradually drew closer to that day.

 

‘Could it be… when I was kidnapped?’

 

Suddenly I recalled the scene of Nabi putting its hand into the washbasin set on the altar while I was setting fire to the platform that day.

 

The black hand in the flames, taking something out and examining it under the light, is still vivid in my memory.

 

‘Though it has no expression, I think I saw it.’

 

Nabi’s face looking excited like a child.

 

‘Back then?’

 

There was Nabi’s eyeball in that washbasin? I thought they were just compiling random demon-related nonsense to use as doctrine…

 

‘Those cult bastards actually had something real they could present as authentic.’

 

Of course, Nabi isn’t a demon.

 

Probably… it isn’t. A child who talks about itself while cheerfully searching for candy can’t be a demon.

 

Anyway, as a gift for accidentally helping find its eye, Nabi shared its skill with me.

 

But…

 

I couldn’t quite figure out what the skill called ‘Arrival’ was.

 

However, whether I was confused or not, the skill was being realized through the Status Window in mid-air.

 

 

The Status Window keeps getting bigger.

 

When it had grown to about the size of a large TV screen.

 

A video with the color tone of old film began playing in the Status Window.

 

The composition was like secretly watching from inside a corner wardrobe.

 

The dark Annex Audiovisual Room.

 

In that place completely submerged in water, Seo-ra was curled up, sinking deep underwater.

 

There was no one beside the child.

 

She just clasped her hands together alone, closed her eyes tightly, and held her breath.

 

Then, a few air bubbles rose above her head and I could see the strength leaving the child’s body.

 

With Seo-ra sinking to the bottom…

 

The video ended.

 

After confirming the video had ended, I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. And at the same time, I realized.

 

What I had just seen in that video was…

 

The future of Seo-ra dying in 5 minutes.

 

“…”

 

[ Seo-ra is my friend too. ]

 

[ They said to get along well with friends. ]

 

[ Of course, even if Seo-ra goes to Rest, I’ll stay with her and get along! ]

 

The video ended far too quickly. Though the time it took my brain to accept reality was actually only dozens of seconds, it felt like dozens of minutes.

 

“…”

 

My body was reacting before I could even think. I jumped up from the sofa and opened the door leading to the faculty room.

 

However, I couldn’t move any further.

 

‘…Kwon Hae-seong?’

 

Because Kwon Hae-seong was grabbing my arm with surprised eyes.

 

“Teacher…. What’s wrong?”

 

Only then did my brain, which had stopped functioning from shock, begin to work again.

 

I looked at Kwon Hae-seong’s hand gripping my arm.

 

“….”

 

Right.

 

Damn it.

 

In times like this, I needed to proceed step by step. It was too reckless to move alone when there were children from other classes in the audio-visual room too.

 

I first took out my mobile phone while standing.

 

First, this Second Awakening thing.

 

When I immediately typed ‘Awakener Second Awakening’ into the internet portal search bar, various posts appeared.

 

I put strength into my fingers that felt like they might slip and quickly scrolled down. Then I clicked on the post with the highest views and most ‘likes.’

 

《Second Awakening Straight Punch Day 289, Everything About Second Awakening (+Precautions)》

 

After a short video of a man in white martial arts uniform throwing straight punches…. The text began in a casual tone typical of unofficial internet posts.

 

However, the content was neatly organized and even included referenced papers in between, making it seem reliable.

 

‘What I need to see here is this part.’

 

-Precautions: With extremely rare probability, sometimes during Second Awakening there’s ‘rampage’ where they fail to control their ability simultaneously with awakening.

-In this case, absolutely! Absolutely! You must not let the Awakener lose consciousness! Whether you slap them or shake them, they must stay conscious. If they lose consciousness? What you should do next is….

-Hit and run. Just flee. If you try to help, you who are reading this might get caught up and die. ヽ(￣д￣;)ノ=3=3=3

 

As expected.

 

I had heard this at the Awakener Education Center, so I wasn’t completely sure.

 

According to the information written in the manual…. Seo-ra was known as a Natural Element Ability user with only ‘fire’ confirmed among the four elements.

 

Then is the element manifested this time ‘water’?

 

That makes sense.

 

The water filling the audio-visual room couldn’t have just fallen from the sky, right?

 

At that moment, I remembered the various water play equipment we had stored in the storage room for the overnight camp.

 

I opened the door and ran out, shouting to my colleague teachers.

 

“Everyone follow me! We need to get to the audio-visual room right now! The children are in danger!”

 

***

 

Rewinding time a little further back….

 

Lee Seo-ra was wide-eyed, listening attentively to the Paper Folding Teacher’s words on the platform.

 

“Hello friends~ Today we’re going to do very special paper folding.”

 

From the Paper Folding Teacher’s bag came papers she had never seen before in her life!

 

Water drop patterns, gold and silver colored paper, and even fluorescent colored paper….

 

Lee Seo-ra gulped.

 

‘Wow…. So sparkly….’

 

Inspiration was already beginning to emerge in her mind one by one.

 

“But wait! It would be boring if we just made things~ We’re going to fold colored paper and do a colored paper puppet show with the friends next to you.”

 

Today’s class was to neatly fold colored paper, attach tree branches behind it, come up to the platform and even perform a puppet show!

 

‘Coming up to the platform to perform a puppet show.’

 

This ignited the fire of ambition in the hearts of children who were at the peak of their stage desires.

 

“What story should we do for the puppet show?”

 

Cheonji, holding a basket full of scissors, glue, and colored paper, said.

 

Cheonji, Noah, and Seo-ra.

 

These three became one team for the puppet show.

 

“I’m~ an alien! Let’s do a story about moving to an alien planet! How about a sad story where this Earth is completely ruined so we pack our bags and cry while becoming neighbors with aliens?”

 

“Hmm…. But spaceships and aliens would probably be hard to fold.”

 

“Oh? Is that so?”

 

“Seo-ra, what do you want to do?”

 

Cheonji asked Seo-ra, who was standing quietly with an excited face.

 

Lee Seo-ra was so excited. In fact, the moment she saw the blue colored paper that resembled the ocean and the silver colored paper, she had already decided what to fold.

 

“I want to make a fisherman story! Going on a trip while fishing in the ocean!”

 

Although just a few days ago, she had dreamed of struggling for three days and nights in the vast ocean…

 

‘An ocean trip with friends will be different.’

 

“Good. Boats are easy to fold. Noah, how about an ocean trip story?”

 

“Ocean? Ah~ That’s great! I was actually born in Yeosu? Mom said I’m a man of the sea!”

 

“Really? Then I want to be a woman of the sea!”

 

“Were you also born in Yeosu, Seo-ra?”

 

“No! I’m from Seoul!”

 

“I was also born in Seoul. Then I guess it’s fine for me to be a man of the sea too.”

 

After that, the three of them sat on the floor and concentrated on folding colored paper.

 

Cheonji crumpled blue colored paper like waves to express the ocean.

 

Noah drew a fisherman on a boat on colored paper and cut it out with scissors.

 

And Lee Seo-ra beautifully folded a small silver sailboat.

 

‘Will it be visible from far away?’

 

In her dream, the boat she rode was dark brown, so passing people couldn’t spot it.

 

Each time that happened, Lee Seo-ra felt very sad.

 

‘But this boat will be clearly visible!’

 

I should decorate it more beautifully. If I decorate it more with colored pencils, it’ll stand out even more.

 

Thinking that, she was about to get up from her seat… At that moment, her heart felt cold.

 

‘Why is my heart cold?’

 

It felt like her heart was wrapped in ice that was giving off cold air.

 

…Gasp! Could I have caught a cold?

 

“Seo-ra, did you finish making the boat?”

 

But at Cheonji’s question, she quickly forgot about her body’s strangeness again.

 

It’s okay, since being healthy is my greatest strength, I’ll be fine.

 

‘Right now, the puppet show is the most important thing!’

 

“Now, I’ll turn off the lights.”

 

-Click.

 

With the teacher’s signal, all the lights in the audio-visual room went out. And only a sunset-colored round light turned on above the small desk on the platform.

 

All eyes focused.

 

Shortly after, blue colored paper shaped like the ocean began to ripple on the desk.

 

“Whoooosh…”

 

“That day was the day we went fishing in the night sea.”

 

Cheonji’s gentle narration continued.

 

Meanwhile, Lee Seo-ra held her breath and waited for her timing to appear.

 

“Today I’m going to catch the biggest squid in the world!”

 

It was time for the boat and person to appear.

 

A person wearing a straw hat appeared on the beach.

 

But for some reason, the silver boat that was supposed to appear boldly didn’t show up.

 

“…Ugh…”

 

Lee Seo-ra collapsed to the floor due to the nauseating pain.

 

‘I feel like I’m going to throw up.’

 

“Lee Seo-ra? Why aren’t you coming out?”

 

“Seo-ra, you need to come out now.”

 

She couldn’t hear their urging. Her fingers and toes were cold and her whole body was shivering.

 

“Seo-ra? What’s wrong with you?”

 

“Lee Seo-ra, are you hurt somewhere?”

 

…Thud.

 

Lee Seo-ra collapsed and fainted just like that.

 

Still clutching the Small Silver Sailboat in one hand.

 

Then when she opened her eyes again.

 

She was floating on the water.

 

‘What is this?’

 

Everything around her was dark. It was cold, scary, and lonely.

 

“Older Brotherrrrr…Lee Seo-rooooo….”

 

Tears streamed down her face. She couldn’t move her body at all.

 

‘Why is this happening?’

 

I was just doing a role-play, wasn’t I?

 

Why did it turn out like this? My body has been strange for a few days now, but did keeping it secret from Older Brother cause this?

 

‘What if no one can find me?’

 

What had been a droplet of worry instantly swelled like an ocean. The anxious child unconsciously began flailing her arms and legs that had been floating still.

 

“Ah!”

 

Splash.

 

“Cough! Cough!”

 

Water entered her mouth and nose.

 

Her insides felt like they were burning and her throat was choking. Her body lost balance and began sinking underwater.

 

She instinctively stretched her arms and legs upward, but it was useless.

 

Water kept entering her nose and mouth.

 

‘I’m scared!’

 

Then at some point, she realized her entire body was submerged in water.

 

…The dark water surface was visible to her eyes.

 

As her hand lost strength and the sailboat tried to float upward, Lee Seo-ra instinctively gripped it tightly with both hands.

 

Then she curled her body into a ball. Instead of reaching toward the invisible water surface, it was an action driven by the instinct to hold onto what was immediately in her grasp.

 

Lee Seo-ra could feel her painful eyes and chest gradually becoming more comfortable.

 

Her eyes kept closing and opening, but when she unknowingly opened her closed eyes again.

 

Above the water surface…. She could see a sparkling light.

 

When she had sailed the ocean in her dream, she hadn’t cried even once despite suffering for three days and nights.

 

Because even though she was scared and sad, she wasn’t lonely.

 

‘I could see a light.’

 

In the Dream Sea, bright beams of light were always shining toward her from somewhere. If she remembered what Lee Seo-ro had told her, such lights were called lighthouses….

 

Beacons of hope and safety created to comfort humans adrift at sea.

 

And finally, just before completely losing consciousness, a hand reached down below the water surface.

 

“Seo-ra!”

 

A bright light in the darkness.

 

‘A lighthouse?’

 

Before she knew it, she had been pulled out of the water.

 

As she blinked her water-soaked eyes, the voice of the person holding her could be heard faintly.

 

“Old… Brother?”

 

Lee Seo-ra opened her closed eyes again. Then with her clearer vision, she could see the person in front of her.

 

Behind Teacher’s wet hair, bright light was pouring down.

 

 

He was a human lighthouse….

—————
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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