A young child, such a young child
A young child, such a young child
Anyone can be betrayed. By a close friend, by family, or even by someone you believed was closer than anyone else. But back in the past, I didn't know that.
"Hello? What's your name?"
A quiet and slightly small girl in the corner. At first, I just went over out of curiosity.
"....."
There was no answer, but I asked again.
"Hello? What's your name? Can you tell me?"
"......"
She stared straight at me, but that was it; there was no answer.
"Everyone, it's lunchtime. You all brought your lunchboxes, right?"
I opened the lunchbox the butler had packed for me and looked at her. She looked at her own bag and then made a hopeless expression. It was probably because she didn't have a lunchbox.
"Hey, do you want to eat with me?"
"......"
I made the offer to eat together and looked at her.
After some time passed, just as I was raising my hand to eat, she nodded her head.
"Uh... but I only have one set of utensils... what should I do?"
At my words, she looked at the teacher, and I could tell what that meant.
"Teacher."
"Why, Do-hyun-ah?"
"Do you have any disposable utensils?"
"Of course I do. But why?"
"Oh, this kid here doesn't have any utensils."
"Alright, I'll bring them right away."
The teacher brought the utensils quickly, and I was contemplating what to eat while looking at the lunchbox the butler had packed.
But beside me, she was staring at the seaweed with incredibly sparkling eyes.
"Do you want to eat this?"
'Nod nod'
She nodded her head vigorously.
And so, our lunchtime came to an end.
"Alright, everyone, it's time to go home."
It was time to go home, and I walked by myself. Even if it looked strange to others for a kindergartner to walk home alone, I was used to it.
That evening
I thought about her from kindergarten.
'She liked the seaweed.'
A few days passed like that.
One day, I returned home after telling her stories at kindergarten just like any other day.
At that moment, I came out of my room at the sound of the door opening. And before my eyes was a letter containing the news that my father and mother had passed away, and a bankbook from the Hunter Management Bureau filled with a large amount of money.
I stared down at them quietly and rubbed my eyes, looking again.
"Young Master, has Father returned?"
"Butler Choi."
"Yes."
"What is this?"
The butler approached me, and his eyes widened when he saw the letter in my hand.
"It's an accidental death. A fluctuating S-class Gate... Young Master, are you alright?"
"Yes."
"Young Master, are you serious?"
"I said yes!"
I felt a surge of anger and went back to my room.
I didn't have much affection for my parents. In reality, it was Butler Choi who raised me. Because they were S-class Hunters, they had neglected me. So, I started brainwashing myself that I was fine.
'It's okay, it's just the same day after day anyway...'
And so, I fell asleep without even knowing that tears were flowing.
The next day, I packed my lunch in the morning and left the house.
The time it took to get to kindergarten was about 5 minutes, a short distance, so I was taking my steps slowly. Before long, I reached the traffic light, and while I was turning my head to see if any cars were coming, two figures caught my eye.
It was her and someone who looked like her mother. I kept watching them, and then I made eye contact with her. She turned her head away in an instant, and I started on my way again. Just then, a woman behind me called me.
"Kid."
"Yes?"
"Are you friends with our daughter by any chance?"
"Uh... yes."
"Oh my, oh my, our daughter is so shy that she didn't have any friends. Please take care of her."
"Yes."
"Alright, daughter, go ahead with that kid. Mom is going now."
She stood still, watching her mother with a hopeless expression, then turned her head toward me.
"Let's go. We're not late, but the faster, the better, right?"
'Nod'
She still didn't say a word and just nodded her head.
"So, what is your name?"
"I am... Yoo Se-ra, I'm called Se-ra..."
Finally, she spoke for the first time and told me her name.
"Okay, Se-ra, do you want to play together at our kindergarten today?"
"Okay."
We arrived at the kindergarten without another word after that. Even after arriving at the kindergarten, we stayed together.
"Se-ra."
"Yeah?"
"What is your dream?"
"Dream?"
"Yeah, a dream."
"I don't have one."
"You don't?"
"Yeah."
"Then do you want to be a Hunter with me?"
"Hunter?"
"Yeah."
"What's that?"
"It's a job where you catch monsters that come out of places called Gates! It's cool, right? My parents were Hunters too."
"Hmm... isn't it dangerous?"
"It is dangerous."
"Then I don't know about that..."
"Then I'll protect you when that happens."
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay."
We continued to stick together and spend time together after that, and before we knew it, it was time to enter elementary school.
"Se-ra, what class are you in?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, who else is here besides you?"
"That's true."
Se-ra's speech had improved a little compared to the past, although she was still very weak with other people.
"I'm in Class 6."
"Oh! I'm in Class 6 too!"
"That's great!"
"Yeah."
Se-ra and I went into Class 6 like that. After sitting in our respective seats, Se-ra and I were sitting a bit far apart. Just then, the girl sitting next to Se-ra talked to her.
"Hi! Who are you?"
"Hic!"
'Pitter-patter'
Se-ra ran away and came to me, hiding behind my back and trembling. The girl then talked to me.
"Hi? Who are you?"
"Ah, I'm Do-hyun, and this is Se-ra. She's very shy, so please understand."
"Really? But why is she hiding behind you?"
"We've known each other for a long time."
"Then are you two dating?"
"Huh?"
I was stunned for a moment, and she was laughing. Se-ra, who was behind me, was making a similar expression to me.
"No, it's not like that, but what's your name?"
"Me?"
"Yeah."
"I'm A-rang."
"A-rang."
"Yeah?"
"Please take good care of our Se-ra."
"Are you Se-ra's mom or something?"
A-rang started laughing, and Se-ra blushed.
Ding-dong-dang-dong
The bell rang, and we sat in our seats. And the class began.
"Hello, everyone."
The homeroom teacher came in.
"Today, we are going to do self-introductions."
"Alright, let's start from number 1 and come up to introduce yourselves."
After some time passed like that, it became my turn.
"Hello, my name is Kim Do-hyun. My dream is to be a Hunter. And my hobby is board games."
And after I introduced myself, time passed again, and it became Se-ra's turn.
"......"
"Alright, Se-ra, shall we introduce yourself?"
Even though the teacher urged her, Se-ra showed no signs of opening her mouth.
"Teacher, why isn't that kid talking?"
"Is she unable to speak?"
I could hear some kids whispering, and eventually,
"Waaaaaah!"
Se-ra burst into tears.
"Se-ra!"
I approached Se-ra, took her hand, and left the classroom.
"Se-ra, are you okay?"
'Shake shake'
Se-ra shook her head quickly.
I asked the teacher to move Se-ra's seat to next to mine, and in the end, Se-ra and I stuck together.
And so, another 3 years passed.
Now, Se-ra can talk to people quite well. And she even has a few friends besides me.
"Se-ra, do you know what day it is today?"
"No?"
"Today is the day for the Trait inspection!"
"Trait?"
"Yeah, the Trait you need to become a Hunter!"
Today is May 12th, the inspection day set by the government. Usually, the inspection is conducted in the 4th grade of elementary school.
"Kids, today we will conduct the Trait inspection. People from the government are in the auditorium now, so let's move one by one."
Under the teacher's direction, the students started moving one by one. The students in front started disappearing one by one, and my turn approached.
"Student name."
"Kim Do-hyun."
"Alright, we are going to inspect your Trait."
"Yes."
"Traits are largely classified into 2 types and 3 types. First, there are Growth-type and Fixed-type, and there are Internal-type, Emitter-type, and Special-type."
"Understood. Then how do I get inspected?"
"Alright, come in here and wait, and the inspection will proceed. Step 1 is just to check for the presence of a Trait, and in Step 2, you can find out what type of Trait it is."
I went into some strange machine and waited for a while, and some result came out.
"Hmm... first of all, a Trait exists, so let's check the type."
"Yes."
"Then come in here now."
I went into a different machine. After entering, I looked out through the glass tube and saw other students, and I also saw Se-ra. Perhaps the fact that she was doing this inspection meant that a Trait already existed.
"Alright, the inspection result is Special-type. Congratulations. It's a newly appeared ability. It's an ability called Space Manipulation, and it's a Growth-type."
"What are the growth conditions?"
"Ah, you have to find that out yourself. No one knows how a newly recorded ability grows."
"Yes."
I came outside and waited for Se-ra. After some time passed, Se-ra came out, and I called her.
"Se-ra!"
"Yeah?"
"How did yours come out?"
"I have an Ice ability."
"Oh, that's cool!"
"What about you?"
"I have an ability called Space Manipulation. They say it's newly discovered?"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
Se-ra and I went back to the classroom while chatting happily.
"Everyone, thank you for your hard work on the Trait inspection. Even if you don't have a Trait, it won't hinder your life, so don't worry."
"Yes!"
"Alright, you've worked very hard today, so everyone can go home now."
"Yay!!!!!!"
The reason the kids were excited was that it was only 3rd period, and they were going home.
"Se-ra, do you want to go play before going home?"
"Okay!"
Se-ra and I walked side by side to the school gate like that, and I was searching on my phone for where to go.
"How about here?"
"Where is this?"
"Karaoke."
"Karaoke?"
"Yeah, you've never been, right?"
"You have?"
"That's true."
We were walking side by side toward the karaoke. Just then,
"Danger!!!!"
I instinctively threw Se-ra, and she had her eyes wide open and was reaching out her hand toward me.
Screeeech! Bang!!!!
And so, I was hit by the car, and my eyes closed with Se-ra as the last thing I saw.
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