The Stowaway in the Backpack

"We're back."

And so, utterly wrung out, we made it safely back to the kindergarten. Taejae had fallen asleep in my arms somewhere along the way.

The moment I opened the door, the teachers came rushing out to meet us.

"Oh my…. Wow."

"A-are you okay?!"

It wasn't strange that those were their reactions. Anyone looking at the state of me right now would think the same thing. There wasn't a single spot on me from head to toe that wasn't caked in dirt, and I probably looked like I'd aged a good ten years overnight.

"At this point, I'd say it's a talent, you know that? How is it that trouble finds you the second you step through a Gate?…… Don't tell me this hostage situation was something *you* stirred up too?"

Hostage situation?

……Ah, so word had spread on the outside that Elumis trapping people inside the dungeon counted as a hostage crisis, apparently.

Still, Teacher Jinchae, what on earth do you actually think of me?

"Do you…. need a lawyer?"

What I need ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is an apology.

I shook my head side to side and laughed helplessly.

"Haha…. Just think of it as me barely crawling back alive, that's all."

I figured everyone would let it slide if I put it that way….

"……Right, well. I suppose you handled it fine, as you always do."

"As long as n-nobody got hurt!. Really…. thank goodness."

"What did I tell you? I *said* the odds of things going wrong are low when it's Hwiyeon, given his whole character."

"Oppa, quit reading so many manga."

And just like that, they let it go.

I'd brushed past it with a simple answer, but the process of getting out hadn't exactly been smooth sailing. Jooshin and the frizzy-haired researcher explained the situation, and only after everyone had fully understood what happened. On top of that, we filed the reports for the survivors and the injured, and only after the field team confirmed there were no outstanding problems….

That's when we finally managed to walk out.

I was a little sorry not to see Team Leader Lee Gyeon on the way out, but he looked swamped handling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠things on-site, so it couldn't be helped.

Either way, it was absolutely true that I'd come back alive the hard way.

"Well then, once Taejae's picked up, that's the day done, right?"

"Yes, then that's a wrap on today."

And a short while later, the final event of the day — the one I had been wishing for, and wishing for, and wishing for — finally arrived.

Taejae's pick-up time.

Taejae sprang up briskly and gathered his bag. Spotting his grandmother waiting by the shoe lockers, he gave me a deep, polite bow.

"Goodbye, Teacher."

"Bye-bye, Taejae. You did wonderfully today — great work."

As I held him in our usual warm parting hug, a whisper reached my ear.

"Teacher."

"Yes?"

"You know, right? About my friend Gudari."

A small, murmured voice, like he was sharing a secret.

"Of course I do. You only told *me*, after all."

An imaginary friend who, according to Taejae, was only pretending to be sick so he could stay by his side forever. The image floated up in my mind — the bandage wrapped over the left eye, the big and small wounds and patches, and that bright, beaming smile despite it all.

Intimidating visuals aside, he'd been a huge help this time.

Thank you, Gudari.

I was thinking exactly that when….

"Actually, today I saw a whole lot of Gudaris. But I know. The Gudaris I saw today weren't really my friend Gudari."

The answer came out of nowhere.

I stood there blankly, still holding him. The boy's voice, calm as ever, continued.

"I'm only telling you, Teacher. Because you were the first person who ever asked me."

"Taejae, do you not want to?"

I knew those were the words I'd said to him — Do you not want to heal people?

"……."

"I still don't know if I like healing people. I just…. for now, I want to play with my friends and Gudari. Is it still okay, if that's what I do?"

Of course it is. Of course it is.

But somehow, the words wouldn't come out right away. They caught in my throat, sticking there thick and heavy.

A wistful ache and some wordless emotion swelling up in my chest turned the rims of my eyes red.

I patted the back of the boy in my arms, firmly.

Pat, pat.

As if to comfort a heart I could never even begin to fathom.

Then, scraping the words out one by one, I answered.

"Of course it's okay. There's no way it wouldn't be, when it's what you want to do."

Pat, pat.

A short while later, the boy pulled back out of my arms, swept his tousled hair out of his face, and grinned.

A smile too refreshing and hearty for a seven-year-old. And yet it was the face of someone who had grown more than ever before.

I smiled back at him.

"Goodbye, Teacher."

Ever-mannerly Taejae bowed deep once more, then ran off toward his grandmother.

I watched him go from behind.

Taejae's changed Status Window.

Taejae's status abnormality was gone.

The walk home.

I stopped by the convenience store near the BOND office. The part-timer, used to me by now, gave a slight bow of the head in greeting.

"Welcome."

[ Hello! ]

I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come to make good on my promise: stay quietly for one whole day, and you get a brand-new snack.

-The kids…. said they play with it all the time, so I let them…. w-was that wrong of me?

-Ah…. I kept watching in case it would tear, but thankfully I don't think anything ripped…. Don't tell me…. did I scratch it somewhere I didn't notice?!

From what Kwon Haeseong had diligently observed, Nabi really had been on his best behavior the entire time I was gone.

"By the way, why didn't you come with us, for real? It would've been fun if you'd come to the underground dungeon with us."

Granted, that was purely judging by *your* tastes….

There was a newly released snack on the shelf, so I grabbed it right away. It was Nabi's favorite flavor.

[ I was in a bad mood, so I didn't go. I could tell the place was gonna put me in a bad mood. ]

"You didn't like the underground dungeon?"

[ No. I didn't like *that* dungeon. ]

"How would you even know which dungeon we were going to…."

Ah.

Now that I think about it….

The skill Nabi had shared with me back during Seora's Secondary Awakening.

Advent (Arrival)

Don't tell me — did he use that skill?

So he'd known in advance which dungeon Taejae and I would enter, and refused to go in because of it?

But it was too early to be shocked.

Because the next words out of Nabi's mouth were pure chaos.

[ By the way, why did something nasty come out of it? ]

[ It was inside Taejae's backpack. ]

[ I don't like it. The smell of a winged bug is coming off it. ]

"……!"

The smell of a winged bug?

Chills shot straight up to the crown of my head.

Come to think of it…. did I ever actually release the Elumis that Taejae caught?

I couldn't remember. And of course I couldn't — I'd been too busy wrangling a child and following the field team's instructions to keep track of anything else.

I don't think I heard any Elumis chittering, though.

I hurried through checkout right then and there and bolted out the door. My steps home picked up speed.

"Anything else? You didn't sense anything else?"

[ Dunno. It just smelled bad and put me in a bad mood. ]

No way…. it can't be.

There's no way that's it.

No, no, no!

I shoved the creeping guess as far into the back of my mind as it would go.

Nabi must be imagining things.

I quickly pulled out my phone and called Taejae's grandmother. Before long, the ringing cut off and the call connected.

-Click.

Monday morning, back again after the weekend.

I dragged myself to work carrying completely drained stamina and a face like a walking corpse.

"Good morning."

"……Are you feeling unwell?"

Was I really in such a state that Park Edeun would lead with *that* as his morning greeting?

"I guess I barely slept over the weekend."

"Did something happen?"

"No…. nothing yet."

Just the worry that something *is* about to happen.

I thought back to the phone call I'd shared with Taejae's grandmother on my way home that Friday.

-Hello, ma'am~ It's me. I think I accidentally slipped some important documents into Taejae's backpack. Would you mind checking it for me, just once?

Thankfully, Taejae's grandmother had checked the bag without a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment's hesitation. But — and here was the problem.

-I don't see anything that looks like documents, Teacher? Taejae sweetie~ did you see any papers in your bag? Something the teacher….

The only answer I got was that there was nothing there.

Then why can't I shake this unease….

Even after that, I handed the phone over to Taejae and probed around a bit, but he didn't show the slightest hint of guilt.

"I suppose I've just gotten in the habit of worrying about pointless things lately."

Maybe after going through every kind of ordeal imaginable, my body had started reacting automatically at the first sign of anything even slightly off.

And thanks to that, I'd spent the whole weekend losing sleep over one damned what if after another.

But…. it was fine.

Because today was a weekday. I hadn't been able to check anything over the weekend, but today was different.

This was probably the first time since my two years of job hunting that I'd waited for a workday to arrive this badly.

The moment Taejae shows up, that backpack is getting opened first thing.

And when the time came and Taejae arrived, I fished his backpack up like a catch of the day.

[ It's still in there! ]

-Squeak-! Again you're taking me to this --- reeking ---?!

And I took hold of the zipper and opened the bag.

-Die! Tiny human! Return me to my sanctuary at once! Go play with Gudal or Gudek or whatever its name is! You psychotic little human brat!

There it was.

The anxious imaginings that had been gnawing at my sanity all weekend had, in the end…. become reality.

An Elumis wearing a pearl crown was shrieking with pure, undiluted contempt.

Oh, please.

……Our kid went and caused trouble again.