I’ll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

Not long after I ended the call with Lee Seung-yeon, he sent me a photo.

In the picture, a few white clouds were floating across the clear blue sky, and beneath it, the sea was just as blue as the sky.

I didn’t understand why he was sending this to me, so I just stared at it. Then, another photo arrived.

It was Lee Seung-yeon smiling and making a V-sign against the same ocean backdrop as in the first photo.

…Was this because I told him to report where he was?

Just as I thought about it, another picture came in.

This time, it was indoors. Kang Tae-woo was eating a hamburger. He wasn’t wearing the school uniform or gym clothes I was used to seeing but a lettering t-shirt, which made him look even younger. Of course, he was young, but… how should I say this? Since my impression of Kang Tae-woo was so strongly tied to his image as No. 3, it was hard to see him as anything else.

Still, who would believe that the boy with his mouth wide open, chomping on a hamburger, was a victim of an illegal research lab?

A message arrived this time.

[I'm feeding him well.]

Below that, there was a hamster emoji with bright eyes giving a thumbs up.

[Ah, Sun Sun-jin’s emoticons. Why do she only have stuff like this?]

Even as he said that, Lee Seung-yeon seemed to like the hamster quite a bit because he kept sending more hamster emoticons, a dancing hamster, then one eating sunflower seeds.

…What is he trying to do with me right now?

But in the end, he spoke properly.

[Thank you, teacher.]

*

Around lunchtime, Lee Seung-yeon sent a new photo.

This time, the background was indoors. I could see an old menu board hanging on the wall, it was a restaurant. More precisely, a seafood restaurant.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Lee Seung-yeon sent a picture of a table filled with sashimi, along with another picture of himself. The third photo, as expected, was Kang Tae-woo. He looked awkward and conscious of the camera. It seemed like he didn’t know he was being photographed earlier in the morning.

A message came with it.

[Enjoy lunch.]

I looked at my table. There was fried rice on the plate, its ingredients all smashed to bits. Mini-me had woken up late and was just now having a very late breakfast or an early lunch.

“…….”

Once again, Lee Seung-yeon sent a hamster emoticon. He blamed Sun Sun-jin, but wasn’t he just using it because he wanted to?

The hamster, with its sparkling eyes and frantic movements, was annoyingly adorable.

“…Hyung?”

“Hmm?”

“What are you looking at?”

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

“…….”

Mini-me glared at me with a sullen face. As if that look could scare me.

“Just hurry up and finish eating.”

“…….”

There was no sign of the tension in his eyes fading. I sighed and put down my phone. I needed to tell Lee Mi-seon about this soon. If it were Hong Seok-young, he’d probably just laugh it off and say, “Kids will be kids”, but Lee Mi-seon was different. The longer I wait to tell her, the more I fear the consequences.

Besides, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing when I wasn’t even sure the kids were safe. There were ways to monitor them from afar without them knowing.

“Hyung.”

“…Hmm?”

“You should eat too.”

“…Alright.”

Ever since I brought Mini-me here, I had been missing almost all of my classes. Physically, I wasn’t tired at all, but mentally, it was a different story. I’d rather be teaching class. Spending all day with Mini-me was exhausting in its own way.

But I didn’t even know what to have him do.

He’d probably start seeing mana soon anyway… Should I start training him in advance?

But taking a kid who had just escaped from the research lab and making him do something intense didn’t feel right either. For now, I was just letting him watch TV, but that had its limits. Watching TV all day long wouldn’t help with socialization either.

“I-rok.”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you bored here?”

Even if there was a spacious garden, it wasn’t much different from the research lab lifestyle.

“Do you want to go say hi to the hyungs and noonas? They all said they wanted to meet you.”

Mini-me's face, which had softened a bit, hardened again. I could already predict his answer.

“I don’t want to.”

Of course.

“But hyung can’t stay next to you all the time.”

“Why?!”

“Because hyung has to work too.”

“…I don’t want that.”

“Should I stop working?”

“Yes.”

Is this kid trying to starve me to death?

I shook my head.

"You'll be going to school soon too, what are you going to do if you only want to stay by hyung's side?"

“School?”

“Yeah. School. Not right now, but…”

It was summer vacation season anyway. Even without Ark, it would’ve been hard for Mini-me to start attending school immediately.

Pilot High School ran without breaks, so I’d almost forgotten the concept of summer vacation. Yoo Ji-eun was on vacation right now too. I didn’t know exactly how long elementary school breaks were in this era, but it would probably be longer than Yoo Ji-eun’s.

At the mention of school, Mini-me finally pretended to listen.

“September…”

Wait, no. I shouldn’t confirm a specific time. If he can’t go by then, I already know he’ll throw a fit. I know this better than anyone.

“If we’re lucky, you might be able to go this year.”

“This year? But you said September.”

Did he already catch that? His hearing is sharp.

If you think about it, it’s not like there weren’t signs of Awakening. Improved vision and hearing, those kinds of things. In the lab, even if those senses improved, the restricted environment made it hard to notice. But outside, it was much more obvious.

“I hope you can go in September, but…”

Mini-me’s gaze sharpened.

Who does he take after…? Oh right, there’s no one he takes after. I keep forgetting that.

Who was it that first told me about school?

Hyung never really mentioned those things because he didn’t want me to get too curious about the outside world. The only glimpses I got were brief views during car rides.

But hyung couldn’t stop the other kids from talking. I got information about the outside world from the other kids in the lab, not hyung.

The same was true for the topic of school. There were some children like me who were born in the research lab, but most were like Kang Tae-woo, who had lived outside before joining the experiments because of their parents. Those kids had experienced life outside. They were children who had attended school. Like children of that age group, school held an important place in their lives.

'I learned this at school.'

'My teacher said...'

I envied those casual remarks.

Kang Tae-woo was one of those kids. He used to tell us that he had lived abroad with his mother, who was a prominent pharmaceutical researcher. Because of that, Kang Tae-woo often talked about life in America. He told me about American elementary schools, the toys they had there, and so on.

Many of the things I requested from the Director, toys, books, movies, came from Kang Tae-woo’s stories.

At the time, I was young, so it hurt my pride a little.

Anyway, before Mini-me gets even more annoyed, I should calm him down.

“You need to prepare a lot of things to go to school.”

“…Is it because the Director is looking for me?”

Since Hong Seok-young hadn’t destroyed the lab or rescued the kids, the Director still hadn’t been arrested.

Mini-me scraped his empty bowl with his spoon.

I slowly shook my head. Even if that were true, a real hyung would give a different excuse to lift his younger sibling’s spirits.

“It’s not that…”

Just in time, I thought of a good excuse.

More importantly, it would give Mini-me something to do.

“You need to study.”

“Study?”

See that? His eyes lit up immediately.

I wasn’t stupid. I had lived with the other kids in the lab and knew how things worked.

But the lab was the lab, and school was school.

After being rescued, I was moved from the hospital to the orphanage, and that’s when I started going to school.

What do you think was the hardest thing for me to adjust to?

The 40-minute elementary school class periods.

At the time, it was impossible for me to sit still at my desk for that long.

Of course, it made sense. In the lab, they never forced us to sit still like that. Snacks were provided at set times, there were nap hours, and even if there weren’t, we could sleep whenever we wanted. There were always toys to play with. Aside from the fact that we couldn’t go outside, we could do whatever we wanted.

Sitting still for 40 minutes was one thing, but following the lessons was another problem. I was decent at reading and writing, but I didn’t know anything beyond that. In math, I could barely manage basic arithmetic, and I didn’t know any of the fundamental social norms taught in elementary school.

Well, the only sources I had to learn about life outside were movies or the stories from other kids.

It didn’t take long for the orphanage to label me as a troublemaker. Things improved slightly after Father adopted me, but… why else would he have dragged me to so many counseling sessions?

I looked at Mini-me and smiled softly.

“Yes, studying.”

“Studying…?”

“You’ve never been to school before, right? But for your age, you’d be in 3rd grade. So you need to know what kids learn in 1st and 2nd grade.”

“Do I have to know that?”

“Otherwise, you’ll have to attend school with kids younger than you.”

Back then, hearing something like that would have bruised my pride deeply.

Sure enough, Mini-me clenched his fists, his expression brimming with indignation.

“I don’t want that!”

“Exactly. That’s why you need to study.”

“…….”

Perhaps because the word studying felt unfamiliar, Mini-me’s face showed no sign of relaxing.

Thinking back, hadn’t that been his expression ever since I first brought him here? Not exactly the most endearing face. Then again, even with my face, trying to look cute would probably just come off creepy, so maybe this suited him better.

“I’ll need to get some textbooks.”

Coincidentally, I already had to tell Lee Mi-seon regarding Lee Seung-yeon. I started clearing away the empty dishes in front of Mini-me. He began aggressively eating the yogurt I had brought him as a palate cleanser.

What’s got him sulking now?

I considered pretending not to notice, but a kind hyung wouldn’t do that. Reluctantly, I reached out and patted Mini-me’s head.

“What’s got you so worried?”

“…….”

No response. Still, it wasn’t hard to guess what was going through that little head of his.

“You’ll catch up quickly, I-rok.”

Mini-me stirred his yogurt with a small spoon before opening his mouth.

“…What if I don’t?”

“Then you don’t.”

“…….”

“So what if you can’t?”

There’s no way he wouldn’t be able to. He’s already proven capable.

But I… well, I have a lazy personality. If I gave him too much confidence, it might backfire. Mini-me would benefit, but it would cause me trouble. The confident, younger version of myself was a handful. Let’s just say Father went through a lot back then.

“I’ll help you.”

“…Really?”

“You thought I wouldn’t?”

“…You said you’re busy.”

“I’ll still have time to help I-rok.”

If he were really my younger brother, would I find him cute?

I pressed my hand down gently on his head. Mini-me grabbed my hand, thinking I was teasing him, and started giggling.

It was a good thing there wasn’t a mirror in the kitchen. I didn’t want to see my own face right now.

*

[We came for dessert.]

Lee Seung-yeon sent another photo. It was a picture of a colorful and extravagant bingsu that I couldn't figure out how to eat. After a brief moment, another photo came in, this time, Lee Seung-yeon and Kang Tae-woo posing together with the fruit bingsu in the background.

[Teacher, come have bingsu with us.]

Of course, there was yet another Sun Sun-jin hamster emoticon wriggling underneath the message. …He’s really gotten into these.

It seemed like he had decided to use me as some kind of travel diary. But that was fine. I’d been thinking that seeing them just once a day wasn’t enough anyway. If he kept sending me these mundane updates, it would be easier to confirm that the kids were safe and doing well.

Knock knock.

"Hunter Lee?"

I knocked on the door to the study where Lee Mi-seon and the Daseon Hunters were. Since I hadn’t seen Hong Seok-young today, I figured he might be here too.

I felt too lazy to wait for a response, so I got straight to the point before anyone inside could answer.

“I’ve made contact with Lee Seung-yeon.”

BANG!!!

There was a loud commotion from inside. Nice. That got their attention.