Chapter 28 – Save Me There’s a Person Here

The Black Dawn.

Before I knew it, my time living with them had passed, and there was one day left until the promised day.

I spent my days reading books and teaching words to Ban Hana, and occasionally giving blood to Han Yoowol.

One thing I found out during that time was the fact that she had a high capacity for learning. Maybe it was because there was nothing in her brain, she absorbed the information more easily than I thought.

”Mer…maid…living in the sea…”

Although she was slow, the result of our continuous training drills had made her at least able to read the words.

She couldn’t read anything on day 1, which contradicted how bright and happy she was about fairy tale stories. However, there were many moments when Hana gave up while reading.

“…It’s hard. Read it for me, Sijoon.”

“You can read now. Do it on your own.”

“I said it’s hard! Read it for me!”

I assumed that if she learned to read the words that brought a smile to her face, that she’d read by herself. But unlike my expectations, she demanded I read to her.

But reading fairy tale books was tiresome, so I didn’t want to do it. It was a bit of a hassle too.

I should dump it onto somebody else.

I asked the person sitting on a chair in the library for a favor.

One such person frequented the library. 

Andale.

A dark green bobbed hair.

A quiet voice.

With the exception of mealtime, I never actually saw her open her mouth.

“Excuse me, Ms. Andale? Could you read a book to Hana? I’m busy.”

“…?”

Andale looked up from the book she was reading, and stared at me blankly.

She was the villain who put a blade up my neck on the first day.

The reason why I could fearlessly speak to such a scary person like that was because I knew she couldn’t kill me and due to Han Yoowol protecting me.

Is protecting right…?

I had some doubts about that, but nothing else really came to mind other than that word.

Andale, who had raised her head to my voicr, silently dropped it again.

I tapped Hana who was sitting on my lap.

“Hey Hana, ask that quiet Unni over there to read it to you. Since I’m tired.”

“No! I told you I don’t like it since I can’t hear her voice… You, read it to me!”

No matter how much I talked to her and crammed the knowledge into her, her tantrums could not be fixed.

Hana absolutely wanted me to read to her.

“Read it to me! Read it to me!”

She stamped her legs as she started to express her discontentment.

Must you do this to me when it’s our last day together?

Today was the last day I’ll spend time with her like this.

Yeah, it’s the last day. I can at least do this much as a goodbye.

“I’m letting this slide since today is the last day…”

I was going to read the Little Mermaid that Hana opened in front of me, had it not been for her blocking me from turning the page.

She looked up at me from my lap, and asked, “Why is today the last?”

“Is there anything you even know?”

It seemed she didn’t know I was living there for a short time.

I know she must’ve heard about it the first day.

My guess was that since Hana was playing with her rabbit, she hadn’t heard it.

I patted her pink hair and decided to tell her that today was my last day there.

“When the promised day ends tomorrow, I’ll be returning to the Academy.”

“…!”

Hana wore a surprised expression when she heard that.

When one comes, one must go.

She then immediately came off my lap and began to bombard me with questions.

“Do you have to go to the Academy? Why tomorrow? Can’t you just stay here? You can do so much here!”

Maybe she was attached to me, but she looked shaken up from hearing it was the last day.

No matter what I say to her now, she won’t accept it.

“It just sort of happened.”

The only thing I could do was pat her head.

Hana realized that nothing she did would change my mind. She wore a gloomy expression as her head lowered.

At that moment, my playful side stirred.  

“Crying? Are you crying?”

“I-I’m…not crying! A…dust just got in my eye…”

About six days. 

It appeared that Hana had gotten quite attached to me during that time.

The people she had been around had all been abnormal villains.

I was the first stranger she encountered.

The memories she shared with me must feel so new to her, one which I cannot imagine.

Just as Hana has her time, so do I.

Because time was fair to everyone, I had to return to the academy now.

“You can’t go kidnapping people like the others here did, okay? The people who have to go through that will be really mad.”

“The kidnapping that appeared in Rapunzel! Is that kidnapping?”

“No, that’s not it.”

Her hair was so damn long, but in Rapunzel’s case, I don’t know if kidnapping was the right word.

A prince saving a trapped princess in a tower.

The two fall in love, and flee from the high tower.

Also, that act is not kidnapping..

“Hm… They’re love on the run.”

“What’s love on the run?’

“They run off and go away somewhere. For love’s sake.”

“What’s lov…”

“No. What would you know? Just study hard.”

What can a child know about love?

When Hana blinked at me with her pink eyes which asked, “What’s that,” I patted her.

How many times have I patted her today?

But because she liked me doing it again and again, it seemed that it became a habit for me.

I gave her a last farewell.

“We’ll be able to see each other later. Probably. By then study hard, put many different things in your head. Not the rabbit encyclopedia, but things that’ll be useful in your life.”

“I don’t want to! I won’t study if you leave, Sijoon!”

Here we go again.

Just as Hana was about to protest because she didn’t like it, she must have realized something since her eyes widened as she tugged my clothes.

“T-Then…this would do it! I wanna go to the academy too! If I go, we can study together! I’ll study!”

An “Oh…” came out of me in response to Hana’s grizzling.

Does this kid not even realize she’s a villain?

She didn’t watch any news channels on TV, it didn’t seem that she knew how society perceived the Black Dawn that she belonged to.

More than 60,000 people had lost their lives to the Black Dawn alone.

Those were the deaths that they had directly been involved in. It was much more if you added the people who’d been hurt indirectly.

But as far as what Hana said, it didn’t sound like a bad thing.

“Then, you wanna go to the academy with me?”

“…!”

It was a probing question.

Hana’s smile blossomed in response.

A sign of affirmation.

…Should I seriously take her with me?

But her smile immediately drooped.

“No. I… I can’t leave.”

“…Why not?”

“I never went outside except for missions, and Grampa Haeil won’t allow it…”

…Is this not confinement?

It looked like Hana had already given up on going outside.

She then tried hard to talk about the Black Dawn’s good points.

“B-But still, he does allow me to go up to the rooftop…sometimes!”

As soon as she was born, Hana lived on the top floor of this tall building. She had never been outside, and the thought of running away had never occurred to her despite her having the most exceptional ability for “running away”.

Hana wanted to explore outside, but couldn’t because of the Black Dawn.

If I could help her open her mind, I could probably pull her out of the villain’s den.

…If it weren’t for that woman, I would’ve told her.

Andale.

If I utter any words to coax her out, she would hear it. Even if I whispered it very low.

Her senses were much keener than anyone else, so I couldn’t say anything more about bringing her with me.

“I’m kidding. Idiot. There’s no way you can attend the academy.”

“Y-Yes…I can! Hana is smart!!”

“Enough, just go to sleep. You won’t grow tall.”

“I-I’m…going to grow later! I’m saving it so I can grow tall all at once!!”

Hana shouted at me, her voice sounding like she had been wronged.

I got up from the sofa and left her behind.

“…”

At the same time of me getting up, Andale’s eyes turned to my sound.

As she had no innate ability, she possessed explosive magic power and physical abilities.

Her five senses were more sensitive than others.

I brushed past her and headed to my room.

That was the last night before the promised day.

A still hideout.

The Black Dawn was making preparations for that day.

 ***

“…The last?”

Ban Hana repeated to herself as she laid in bed, covered with a pink flower blanket.

She didn’t quite grasp what the word “last” meant. However, a vague memory explained the meaning to her.

…I’m sorry, my baby. I’m sorry… I have no other choice… I’m sorry…

On a rainy summer night… Whether it was tears, blood, or the rain, it trickled down the cheeks of the pink-haired woman who was crying out she was sorry.

That woman put the little baby under an opened small umbrella and disappeared into the rain.

“The last day must mean something like that, right…?”

Disappear, then never to be seen again.

Although they remained a faint memory, it made her want to meet them again.

To Bana Hana, that was what “the last” meant to her.

“Sijoon. Sijoon. Sijoon.”

Hana laid on the bed and called out Sijoon’s name.

He was the first person she met from the outside world. Unlike her fellow colleagues here, he told her about new things and brightened her lonely life by himself.

Yet…

Sijoon had to go back, and Hana had to continue living there.

Her heart ached at that fact. 

Holding the rabbit doll in her arms, Hana curled up like a baby.

“What kind of place is the outside like…?

If Sijoon left, Hana would become a loner again. Her colleagues were like family, but they could abandon her anytime.

She could feel that in her bones.

“I don’t want to be left alone…”

Hana got up from the bed, and hugging her rabbit doll, she peered out the window.

It was the top floor of the tall building.

She saw the asphalt pavement of the sidewalk block, which she couldn’t recall the last time she stepped on.

In the distance, they were busily walking about on the ground.

“…I envy them.”

Only the child who lost her freedom watched them from afar.