“Ha Nam-jjin! Look at this! A collapsed house!”
Whoosh-
Bangdeng-i Baek Yeo-ul went inside a dilapidated, nearly collapsed abandoned house.
“Where are the bad guys! Are they here? Here? Where are they!”
Rustle- Rustle-
She giggled as she opened the cupboard and pulled out an old cup. She didn't seem to be in her right mind.
Fearlessly squeezing herself inside without knowing what might pop out, she looked like a raccoon scavenging a field after days of starvation.
Lately, watching Bangdeng-i, I get a slightly floaty feeling, so to speak?
Kids like her are bound to cause trouble someday.
In times like this, I should step up.
“Bangdeng-i, when I was in elementary school, a high schooler suddenly tried to extort money from me. It was in an alley between empty houses like this.”
“What are you talking about out of the blue?”
“That guy said to me, ─Hey, you got any money?─ So I said yes. Then he said, ─Give it all to me─. I obediently replied, ─Yes─.”
Then, rummaging through my bag, I pulled out a carrot peeler instead of money.
A folding carrot peeler.
“The name I gave the knife was 「Nanatsu-yoru」. I swung it at the high schooler.”[TL](Nanatsu-yoru) Name of what seems to be Shiki's knife in Tsukihime. I really need to get on that eventually[/TL]
“...A carrot peeler?”
“I was crazy back then. And now I'm a high school student. Now, no elementary school kid dares to approach me.”
“No, what are you suddenly talking about while we’re checking empty houses?”
“The point is, to beat a high school student, an elementary school student needs to have something like 「Nanatsu-yoru」. You, Bangdeng-i, are an elementary school student, and the bad guys you're looking for are high school students.”
“...So, you’re saying it’s reckless for me to confront the bad guys, so this time, it's not a ‘raid’ but an ‘investigation’? You were worried about me.”
Bangdeng-i scratched the back of her pink head as if she understood what I meant. But that wasn't what I meant. Bangdeng-i didn't understand the lesson of the story I just told her at all.
“The point is, we need to find our 「Nanatsu-yoru」 to beat those high school students. Look at this table leg. Doesn't it seem like we could use it as a weapon like a baseball bat if we break it?”
Crack-!
I kicked the table and broke it. And I ripped off the leg like tearing off a chicken leg from samgyetang. The rusty nails sticking out menacingly looked perfect for a weapon.
Whoosh- Whoosh-
It feels good to swing.
“If you get hit by this, even Buddha’s grandma would get tetanus for sure. If we’re going to search anyway, look for useful things like this. Remember, humans are animals that use tools.”
“...T-Tools! I see! I understand, Ha Nam-jjin!”
Only then, as if she finally understood what I meant, Bangdeng-i’s eyes lit up with a clear determination.
She was still far from becoming a decent scavenger, but I could see some potential.
However, something that had been bothering me since earlier remained unresolved.
“Bangdeng-i, I’ve been wondering about this, but what’s with the sudden ‘Ha Nam-jjin’?”
“Th...that?”
Bangdeng-i Baek Yeo-ul blushed and stammered. She squirmed her whole body, looking more restless than larvae trying to become pupae.
Probably because she realized that her actions were embarrassing.
“Changing people's names without permission. I have a name given to me by my parents, Ha Nam-jin. Bangdeng-i, it's rude to change that.”
Crumple-.
Baek Yeo-ul frowned.
“Hey, you're right, but you shouldn't be saying that! You cancel calling me Bangdeng-i first! You call other people by whatever names you want too!”
“But you’re Bangdeng-i.”
“I’m not Bangdeng-i! I’m Baek Yeo-ul!”
“What ‘Yeo’ and what ‘Ul’? Or is it pure Korean ‘Yeoul’ without Hanja?”
“...Uh? That’s... what was it...”
“See, you’re Bangdeng-i.”
“No! Then you’re Ha Nam-jjin! That's enough! Got it? And I’ll carry this investigation, so you just shut up, Ha Nam-jjin! Just follow me!”
Clang-
Baek Yeo-ul babbled on and then picked up a frying pan nearby. It was wide and sturdy, looking quite useful.
“Oh, that frying pan looks good.”
“Right? This is my 「Unlucky Stick」 from now on! My weapon!”
“「Unlucky Stick」? Sounds like the name of a trot singer good at night events.”
“A stick that brings misfortune when it hits! That’s why it’s the 「Unlucky Stick」!”
No, it’s not a stick, it’s a frying pan.
Shouldn't it be the Unlucky Frying Pan?
Bangdeng-i was getting weirder by the minute.
Anyway, the morning investigation ended like that.
The only gain was Bangdeng-i getting the 「Unlucky Stick」?
Honestly, even I coveted the 「Unlucky Stick」.
The more useful tools, the better.
That’s why I got interested in the 「Treasures」 they said were in the Hero-mili School’s Treasure Hall.
Concept-imbued 「Treasures」! Just having one would be incredibly convenient and reassuring.
Thinking about that, I figured it was time for lunch, so I contacted everyone on my phone when a certain man called out to us.
“Students, wait a minute!”
It was a man wearing a very old denim jacket and jeans. There were paint splatters everywhere, and he had a scruffy beard. He looked like a homeless person, or maybe a suspicious person.
# # #
“Students, wait a minute!”
Slide-
At the man’s call, Baek Yeo-ul held out the 「Unlucky Stick」 and started to be wary.
Soon, the man laughed, “Haha-”.
“You’re Hero-mili School students, right? My son goes there too. When I see you guys, you look like my son and daughter, so I'm telling you, you shouldn't be looting these empty houses.”
Now that I looked closely, the man had a cart full of scrap metal.
My kind of person? I smell a master.
Maybe he was trying to tell us that this area was his turf, so rookie students shouldn't mess around here.
“I've seen suspicious people roaming around this neighborhood lately. So, I thought you might get hurt if you rummage through empty houses carelessly.”
He saw suspicious people?
My interest was instantly piqued.
“Elder, where did you see those suspicious people? How were they suspicious, specifically?”
“Elder? I'm not that old. Anyway, they were suspicious at first glance. They had flashy dyed hair and roamed around in the middle of the night. I can tell at a glance they're not from this neighborhood.”
Since he was pulling that huge cart around, I figured I could trust the old man’s judgment. If he said they were suspicious, they must be really suspicious.
“Could you guide us to where you saw them exactly?”
“That’s...”
The man seemed hesitant.
Then, from afar, Chang-sik and Deok-sun approached us.
“......”
“......”
Deok-sun and Chang-sik seemed quite surprised by the scruffy man's appearance.
The man, too, seemed about to say something to us, but then he advised, “Be careful not to get hurt, kids. Get out of here before sunset,” and pulled his cart, laboriously climbing the uphill road.
Creak- Creak-
Pulling a heavy cart full of scrap up a steep incline was hard work even for an adult male. Oh Deok-soon lamented softly upon seeing that.
“He looks really tired... Should we help him?”
The man soon lowered his head at a nearby garbage dump and started picking out usable items.
He didn’t seem to care that his body was getting dirty, his eyes sparkling as if the junk was treasure. Only Chang-sik looked away from that sight.
I asked Chang-sik quietly, just loud enough for him to hear.
“Chang-sik, is that your father?”
“...!”
Chang-sik seemed greatly startled.
Baek Yeo-ul and Oh Deok-soon were also surprised and kept their mouths shut, just observing the situation.
Then, Chang-sik finally let out a deep sigh.
“As my friend said. Honestly... I was too embarrassed to say. He does such dirty and messy work. To think I’d run into him here of all places... He didn't say anything strange to you, did he...?”
“Chang-sik, do you know what a hero is?”
“...Hero? Are you talking about the Hero-mili School graduates?”
“I think a hero is someone who steps up and does what others hate to do the most. In that sense, your father is worthy of being called a hero.”
“......”
“Moreover, he’s giving a new chance to resources that would have been thrown away and died meaninglessly. Your father is truly magnanimous. We should be like that.”
The old man’s magnanimity was on par with the future Seo Ga-eul.
No, honestly, it’s slightly below Seo Ga-eul’s─.
Still, to be compared to Seo Ga-eul in my heart, his magnanimity is truly remarkable.
A silver medal is still amazing.
“......”
Deep in thought at my words, Chang-sik’s eyes darted around for a while. Then, as if he’d made a big decision, he clenched his fists and shouted,
“...Father!”
Tada-
Chang-sik ran up the steep hill in one go.
He lightly pushed his father’s heavy cart and helped him to the top.
“━─.”
“─.”
They seemed to be talking about something after that, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.
“Sorry! Did you all wait long?”
Chang-sik, who came back down the hill, had dust all over his face. But his expression was bright, as if the anxieties and worries he had earlier had been completely washed away.
“My father gave me money for dinner. I’ll buy tonight. And he also told me not to go near the abandoned factory in the 3rd district.”
He gave you money for dinner? Awesome, dinner's on him!
And he told us not to go near the 3rd district?
There must be a reason why he told us not to go. His concern for his son must be that reason.
The old man would know that Chang-sik is an Awakened, and if he’s still worried, that means...
“There’s something in the 3rd district near the abandoned factory─.”
“Could it be the villains...!?”
Bangdeng-i Baek Yeo-ul showed quick and accurate understanding this time.
The information we’d been looking for came from Chang-sik’s father.
“We’re in luck.”
“It's all thanks to me, isn't it?”
Bangdeng-i Baek Yeo-ul puffed out her chest.
Honestly, Bangdeng-i didn't do anything.
We headed to the 3rd district where the abandoned factory was located before sunset.
As the grandeur and desolation of the rusty buildings made me think of Ozymandias's poem, I noticed a strange guy loitering outside the abandoned factory complex.
“Isn’t that Mantis?”
“Sa Ma-jun. Wang Ja-hyun's lackey!”
As Baek Yeo-ul said, it was Sa Ma-jun, Wang Ja-hyun’s lackey.
Why was he here?
As I was racking my brain over this strange situation, a man with long, bright red hair like an outdated rocker emerged from the factory, put his arm around Sa Ma-jun’s shoulder, and dragged him somewhere.
Everyone seemed to have no idea who the man was and kept their mouths shut.
Then, a long-forgotten memory flashed through my mind like lightning.
“That’s 「King of Hell」.”
“My friend, by 「King of Hell」, do you mean Yeom-hun, the N-Mart arsonist? That means...”
The enemy who caused my parents’ death.
The A-class wanted criminal, Yeom-hun! To think I’d meet him here today!
“Guys, I think we’ll have to cancel the search mission.”
Raid! It’s definitely a raid!
I'll crush that bastard’s marbles!