Ch.220220 – The Little Prince and the Roses 1

# 220 – The Little Prince and the Roses # 1

September, the season of new beginnings.

The sweltering weather gradually settled into a cool feeling under the blue sky, and it was a time when students’ hearts were excited and unsettled in many ways.

“Did you see Jeong Sujeong’s new song?”

“You mean ‘Phantom’ that came out last week? It was really good.”

“I think she’s trying to prove herself as a skilled solo artist now, not just an idol.”

“Have you seen the squirrels running around near our school?”

“Yeah, I saw a really cute squirrel. It was barking.”

“Isn’t the barking one that hair salon’s spider? Kengkeng. I got my hair cut there. Pretty, isn’t it?”

On a day when the events of the hot summer brought subtle changes to our daily lives.

I was spending time in my private office at school when I noticed something strange.

It was such a small change that it would have been difficult to notice if I hadn’t been paying attention.

“…It’s open?”

In the corner of this office was a “box” I had received as a gift from my father and mother when they traveled to Egypt.

It was a box with gold-plated patterns engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphics, and although it was just gold-plated, it looked like an antique that would be quite valuable.

The problem was that the box was tightly locked and wouldn’t open. It was fun to imagine what might be inside. A box that doesn’t open usually has its reasons. I had no intention of forcing it open.

That’s how it should have been.

“Why is the box open?”

But today, after the second semester started and some time had passed, the box was naturally open as if it had been that way from the beginning.

Inside the box was something like a red, plush carpet, as if it had been used to wrap something precious, but nothing else existed.

“There are traces of something having been there. I wonder if it was empty from the beginning, or if someone took it. Or maybe the box opened by itself and whatever was inside escaped on its own…?”

Several hypotheses came to mind, but there was no way to prove them. I was a busy person, after all.

Unlike students who were living with a fresh feeling at the start of the second semester, being an adult meant having too many things to do to enjoy the new season.

Above all, I had a lot to process and do for my upcoming wedding preparations. I needed to sort out the people to send invitations to, arrange the venue, set up…

As I was racking my brain, I looked at my phone to clear my head.

I saw news headlines all over the internet saying “Polygamy Amendment Deemed Constitutional! Implementation Starts Next Week!”

I could almost see how hard Jeongseok must have worked in the National Assembly these past few days, busier than even me.

—Dorang-dorang dorangmul, small stream—.

“Jeongseok”

“This guy isn’t a gentleman either. He calls at just the right time, thinking of me. Hello.”

—Did you see the news?

“I did.”

—I’ve done all I could. Now no one knows how the world will change. With this, the final piece to solve the “low birth rate anomaly” that has troubled Korea for a long time has come together.

“Right. To solve the ‘low birth rate anomaly,’ polygamy is the only option.”

Korea had been suffering from an unprecedented low birth rate at some point, putting the country itself in danger of extinction. It was a very sudden disaster or calamity, but in fact, it was a kind of ‘anomaly.’

A national-level anomaly.

A disaster of national extinction.

Jeongseok and I had been working to implement polygamy to combat this anomaly. This also meant that we weren’t being greedy, wanting to marry multiple women.

—Women have a desire to be a concubine to a rich man rather than the legal wife of a poor man. It’s a manifestation of survival instinct. And men want to meet multiple women.

“Right.”

—If we allow polygamy for men who pay more than a certain amount in taxes, we can legally collect more taxes and increase the number of children.

In this world, the wealthy like me, Ha Yeongwon, monopolized most of the wealth.

If polygamy is allowed, rich people like me would have many children, and the inheritance would be equally distributed to those children.

And if those children take multiple wives, they would have many children, and if those children have lots of children too, the wealth that was monopolized by a single person would eventually be distributed.

“It’s the only way to eliminate both the ‘low birth rate anomaly’ and the polarization of the wealth gap. The single tax that might be imposed on unmarried men and women would also be resolved by rich men who take more wives paying more taxes.”

It was truly the completion of a world where everyone would be happy.

Of course, there was fierce debate online about this legal amendment.

—Change always comes with conflict. The bowstring has already left our hands. No matter where the arrow hits, it means it has left our hands.

“An arrow, huh.”

Click-.

After hanging up, I stretched out in my unusually plush office chair, feeling languid. I wanted to take a nap because I felt like my head was overheating with too many things to think about.

# # #

“Please find me.”

“……”

Something like a clear image was drawn in my mind.

A feeling beyond someone talking in my head—like directly injecting thoughts.

Is this an attack from a mental ghost story?

I snapped to attention and opened my eyes.

It was already past five in the afternoon.

That meant it was time to go home.

“So I’ve ended another day’s work inconclusively.”

After gathering my things, I went outside the school. Despite the late hour, many students remained at school in this everyday life where there were no high school girl kidnappings or beheading murders by religious fanatics.

‘Maybe I should patrol a bit just in case.’

Perhaps because of the strange dream I had, I felt like I needed to find something, so I wandered around the school without any particular purpose.

Then I discovered some female students gathered in a classroom, giggling.

“What are you all doing there?”

“Ah, teacher.”

“Th-this is—.”

The female students quickly hid something behind their backs.

They were first-year students, and their attitude was very suspicious.

“What are you hiding behind your backs?”

“That’s sexual harassment!”

“We’re not hiding anything!”

“Oh really.”

Look at these kids.

Do you think you can fool an adult by covering your eyes like that? I’m the adult who grew up telling lies just like you.

As I narrowed my eyes, wondering what to do, the female students, perhaps intimidated by my presence, slowly brought their hands out from behind their backs.

“Actually, it’s this. Would you like to try it too, teacher? Looking at this flame relieves all stress…”

“An alcohol lamp?”

It was an alcohol lamp that looked like something from a very long time ago. Female students staying after school to light an alcohol lamp. It didn’t seem like it came from a scientific achievement.

Whoosh-.

The students soon lit the flame on the lamp placed on the desk. The flame flickered with a red light, then soon changed to a golden color.

The golden flame was very beautiful and bewitched the hearts of those who saw it. Looking into that flame made you feel like all the worries and anxieties of the world disappeared.

“How is it? Cool, right?”

“It really relieves stress. I used to have insomnia, but I’ve been sleeping well since seeing this flame.”

It was indeed a mysterious lamp.

This must be an object related to the supernatural. Where did the students get such a thing? It doesn’t seem like they just picked it up on the street.

“Where did you get this?”

“This? We bought it at a new store downtown.”

“It’s called a shop that grants wishes!”

A shop that grants wishes?

The name itself sounded suspicious.

“But you might not be able to go there, teacher.”

“Only invited people can go.”

The female students started giggling. Shadows began to fall on their faces illuminated by the flickering flame. I casually looked at their feet.

In autumn, in a dark classroom with drawn curtains, the female students illuminated by the lamp’s flame had no shadows.

These beings could hardly be called students from the beginning.

“Teacher, shall we invite you?”

“Come with us!”

Giggle-.

The high school ghost girls started pulling on my arm while laughing. Just as I was clicking my tongue, thinking this was truly a troublesome situation, the classroom door slid open.

And a familiar male and female student entered.

“Teacher! It’s dangerous!”

“I’ll help you!”

It was the boy and girl I had met before the vacation. Human and ghost. A young couple who chose to be together despite living in different times.

When the ghost girl entered and caused a commotion, the ghost students clicked their tongues and disappeared into the distance with the lamp.

The boy, who looked more mature now, asked me:

“Are you okay, teacher?”

“Yes, I’m fine. What brings you two here?”

“There’s been a rumor about ghosts inviting people to a strange shop at school lately. We were patrolling after school just in case. I guess it was them.”

There was such a rumor?

I didn’t know.

Is it a rumor that only circulates among students? Students always like to gossip about various things. At times like this, I feel that I’ve become an adult.

“So, do you two happen to know where this strange shop is?”

“Well, I…”

The boy’s eyes looked at the girl.

The girl seemed to ponder for a while before nodding.

“I know. I’ve actually been to that shop. It was strange and creepy, so I left right away… It’s a weird shop. Teacher, it would be better not to go.”

A strange shop, huh.

I recalled what happened recently. The incident between Jeong Sujeong and her older brother.

Gubeulnoi had said this about the “mask” I acquired then:

“Is there another shop?”

I thought it would be good to investigate.