Hello! Have You Been Kidnapped Too? (2)
Hare was taking her very first test in life. It was the most basic kind of exam, simply writing down words. After a full week of waiting and desperate studying, Lee Junwoo announced the start.
“You have thirty minutes from now to solve fifteen questions. Get them all right, and just like I promised last time, I’ll answer every single question you have.”
“Y-yes! Uncle! I’m confident!”
Hare clenched her fists and shouted, brimming with assurance. She had barely slept, pouring every waking hour into study, so her confidence was practically ready to explode.
The moment Junwoo handed her the paper, her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Begin!”
Hare focused harder than she ever had in her life and attacked the questions. Her red eyes glared at the page as if they might burst into flame. Watching her, Junwoo thought with a touch of cynicism, ‘A perfect score… that’s probably impossible.’
The questions were difficult. To begin with, a girl who had never even learned to write was supposed to master vocabulary and comprehension in a single week? By any reasonable standard, it was absurd.
But then—
“Uncle! I’m done!”
“What? Only three minutes have passed.”
“I finished everything! Please grade it right now!”
Hare bounced on her toes, urging him to hurry. This can’t be right. There was no way she could have finished in that time. Half-doubting, Junwoo checked her answers.
Where the picture showed a lion, she had written “lion.” For the sentence “I □ this object,” she had filled in “use.” Not a single mistake. A perfect score. An undeniably perfect score.
“…Hare. How on earth did you study?”
“I wanted to know more about you, Uncle… so I worked really hard. Hehe.”
“I see. You did well, Hare…”
She had studied because she wanted to understand him better. The motive might not have been entirely wholesome, but the result was excellent. Still slightly dazed, Junwoo reached out and stroked her hair. Hare beamed as if she had conquered the world.
“I like that… Please keep stroking me…”
“…”
It was the strange feeling of a parent whose child had scored perfectly yet still left them uneasy. Even as he praised her, Junwoo sensed something off. Hare looked up at him with shining eyes.
“Oh, Uncle… there’s still time left, right?”
“About twenty-five minutes.”
“Then… can I have the next test?”
“I already prepared next month’s in advance—”
“Give it to me right now! I can solve them all! Time’s wasting! Hurry!”
Hare slammed back into her seat and pounded the desk. Though the new questions were far more difficult, Junwoo decided to hand them over anyway.
“Solve as many as you can.”
“Okay!”
His worries proved pointless. Hare filled in the answers without hesitation, her small hand flying across the page with eerie confidence. Just how much did she study?
Dark circles had formed under her eyes. Blood began dripping from her nose as she worked.
This is the moment I show him my effort!
Over the past week, Hare had memorized every single word in the basic dictionary. All for one simple promise: that he would answer her questions.
When she finished, she thrust the paper at him and cried out.
“Next test!”
“I finished! Next one!”
“J-just one more!”
I want to know Uncle. With nothing but that single obsession driving her, Hare scored perfectly on six tests in a row.
Once the thirty minutes finally ended, she smiled brightly.
“Now I get to know so much about you! Hehe! I worked really hard for you, Uncle!”
So… praise me. Praise me a lot. Praise only me.
Her red eyes watched him like security cameras, refusing to miss even a single movement. Only then did Junwoo realize the truth.
I made a mistake. When I told her greed was fine, she wasn’t talking about knowledge.
Jealousy. Possession. Obsession. Hare was becoming fixated on me—the very kidnapper who had taken her. For a girl who would one day have to leave, these were emotions she should never have developed.
Pay the price for Sicilia Saten. If the amount is too small, I will kill your daughter.
***
In the Sicilia family office, Sicilia Lennon sat in his leather chair reading the letter that had arrived from the kidnapper.
“How ridiculous. To think someone would dare threaten the Sicilia family. What did the post office worker say?”
“…It was a hooded man wearing a mask who delivered it, sir.”
“A kidnapper with a brain. How pathetic.”
The letter was stained with blood. The examination confirmed it belonged to Saten. Lennon mulled it over.
“…Saten. Since that girl was taken, what has happened to our Black Crow Knights’ reputation?”
“Because the kidnapping occurred during an event hosted by the order, our stock has dropped over thirty percent. Escort requests are flowing to the Sylvester Knights instead.”
“…Worthless bitch. She’s been nothing but a burden since the day she was born.”
BANG!
Lennon slammed his fist on the desk, body shaking with rage. The knight delivering the report flinched.
“…How far has the search progressed?”
“According to Sylvester Knight Commander Irina, they found no trace of the masked man. She suspects he may be a mage.”
“…And the budget?”
“We have up to ten million peri available.”
Ten million peri. Was that girl’s worth only ten million peri?
Lennon crossed out the “1000” on the paper and wrote a new number.
“Five million peri. That should be enough to make the kidnapper release Saten without complaint.”
“I-isn’t that too little—”
“Are you saying that girl is actually worth more than five million peri?”
Lennon’s pitch-black eyes bored into the knight like twin voids. Saten’s very existence was a reverse scale. In the family and the knight order, she was to be belittled, never praised. Only the occasional magic tutors ever spoke well of her.
The knight had no choice but to nod.
“…No, sir. Though her magical talent is outstanding, she is not worth that much. I will send five million peri to the post office.”
“Good. Do exactly as I say, and there will be no problems.”
Blinded by hatred, Lennon had made a terrible mistake. He would not realize it until he saw what arrived with the next letter.
It was Saten’s slender finger, cut clean and still dripping blood. It looked exactly like the hand of his late wife—the last hand he had ever held. For the first time, Lennon felt a flicker of worry for the daughter he had always despised.
***
“Hmm. So my value to the family is five million peri. I don’t like that at all. Please send them this.”
Saten handed Junwoo a fake finger. When he asked how she had made it, she answered in her usual deadpan tone.
“It’s simple. I used my blood to reconstruct the tissue. There is no difference between this and my real hand.”
Blood Magic. A forbidden art that used blood instead of mana. More powerful than ordinary spells, and usually vicious in nature.
“Then the blood you used…”
“It is mine. Do not worry. I have already stopped the bleeding.”
Self-inflicted scars marked her wrist. Junwoo said nothing, simply wrapping the wounds in clean bandages.
Now, he had delivered both the letter and the finger through a third party so he would not be traced. He gave a street beggar a hundred thousand peri to act as courier.
“The delivery should have gone smoothly.”
“Th-then… the money?”
“Here.”
Jingle. One hundred thousand peri.
Junwoo moved with extreme caution. If the hero party’s hiding place was discovered, the consequences would be catastrophic. Those mentally fragile girls, suddenly thrown into the world alone… they would wander, lose their way, and likely fall into the hands of the Grimoire. That was why he was being so careful.
“Still, five million peri wasn’t enough for her either. I wonder what number would actually satisfy Saten.”
He needed to know her standard. Only then could he prevent her from hurting herself again.
The letter’s been sent. Before heading home, maybe I should buy groceries.
Feeding four people meant money and supplies vanished quickly. Still, five million peri from the Sicilia family would help. It was almost funny.
“So this is what being a kidnapper feels like… Money just falls into my lap.”
He would use it to buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, loud voices echoed from the distant park. It sounded like someone was preaching.
“Everyone! You must believe in the Goddess! She is the one who will lead us to salvation! Only by believing in her can you find happiness in the next life as well!”
What is this?
A group from the church was proselytizing to the citizens. Curious, Junwoo walked closer. A girl was passionately preaching while paladins stood guard behind her.
“We have sinned! The Goddess will forgive our sins and guide us to infinite happiness! If you desire happiness, come to the church and receive Holy Water!”
The girl held a speaker, her white bobbed hair and church uniform standing out. Her brilliant golden eyes met Junwoo’s.
…Isn’t that the Saintess?
No matter how he looked at her, she had to be the Saintess. A halo seemed to glow behind her, and her gentle expression as she preached was radiant. The solemn presence of the sturdy paladins only confirmed it.
The probability that she was not the Saintess was…
There is no such probability? A church group proselytizing in the park! Of course the future Saintess is among them! Junwoo’s choice is?
1. Wear a mask, conceal your identity, and kidnap the Saintess.
2. Betray Minerva and devote yourself to another goddess’s church.
Even Minerva had rated the second option at zero percent. Junwoo stared at the girl and thought with dark satisfaction:
Found her. The final piece of the hero party.
The girl who looked like a Saintess was, without any twist, the real Saintess. The moment the kidnapper’s radar locked onto the hero party’s last member had arrived.