READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 337. The Old Man and the Horse (2)
He looked around the building once more. However, no matter how many times he checked, it was clear this was a government facility caring for children without parents.
‘The name and location are different from where my body’s owner attended, though.’
But paradoxically, do you know what the Great Mage thought as soon as he saw such a selfless institution?
‘Indeed… it’d be better to wipe out at least half of the Earthlings.’
A dangerous thought invaded his mind in an instant.
Of course, in this era where monsters have been born, unfortunate incidents often lead to guardians being lost. But before the magic shock hit this planet, the paths for child protection certainly looked like this: 20% abuse, 20% abandoned illegitimate children, and another 20% children unnoticed during divorce proceedings. Additionally, there was a few percent for infant abandonment. Almost half was due to trash.
‘Oh my, wow.’
Moreover, even if they entered such a child care facility, would their lives be safely protected? Not at all. There was a certain degree of luck involved. Without luck, they might be trapped in ridiculous facilities that even swindle meal support money, unable to escape due to being young and having nowhere to lean.
‘Why are there so many mammal kids in this low building?’
Although his facial expressions didn’t change much, the blond man pondered whether he should deduct points simply because there were a lot of people here.
But then.
“Hey, kids! Look! That scary uncle is standing by the door!”
“Where? Which door?”
“Move aside. Let me see too.”
“Whoa, it’s true? His face is amazing.”
“Who is he?”
Perhaps due to the dilemma in front of the wide-open front door, Kim Gi-ryeo was soon spotted by the residents of this place.
“Hey sister, there’s a thief in front!”
“A thief! He’s trying to steal the new padding I got!”
“Uh, kids, I don’t think you should just throw around words like that…”
According to the magic information that followed him, there was a certain B-Class Awakened at the playground of this building.
“That person isn’t a thief…”
At that moment, a woman with black long hair stopped. Seonwoo-yeon was loaded down with dirty and heavy building materials that didn’t match her tidy face and looked surprised like a startled rabbit when she caught sight of someone.
*
Well then, it’s time for clarification.
“Kim Gi-ryeo Hunter.”
This place was one that should be strictly protected like an elementary or kindergarten school. So why hadn’t he thought sooner that he shouldn’t be suspiciously poking around?
“Hello, Ms. Seonwoo-yeon.”
“Yes, hello. What brings you here all of a sudden?”
“I just happened to pass by and caught a familiar magic power.”
“That’s the only reason you’re here?”
“Yes.”
“I figured as much. But if you keep doing this with others besides me, you might find yourself in legal trouble soon…”
Inside an unknown building’s lounge, I held onto a paper cup of barley tea they had given me and received a sort-of scolding.
From Seonwoo-yeon’s perspective, she was suddenly visited on a weekend she intended to spend normally.
Moreover, she wasn’t one to welcome unexpected events that deviated from her planned day.
“Wow… a real S-Class Hunter.”
“Why did you come to our orphanage?”
But thankfully, besides her, the others showed me hospitality.
I briefly averted my gaze and checked the door’s gap.
‘So nimble.’
At that, those whose eyes met mine dashed away like wild beasts in embarrassment, and soon a quiet conversation began.
The first to break the silence was my voice.
“By the way, I hope it’s okay to ask, but I’m actually curious about why you, Seonwoo-yeon, are here.”
Slurp.
Seonwoo-yeon took a sip of the barley tea and said a word.
“It’s the weekend.”
But that alone didn’t count as an answer.
“The weekend?”
Since I was blinking, Seonwoo-yeon soon explained.
“To put it simply… just like most office workers, today is a holiday from Association work, so I’m spending the day on my hobby.”
“A hobby?”
“Why do you keep asking?”
“So your hobby is visiting orphanages?”
“More precisely, it’s volunteer work.”
Goodness.
“I originally used to organize books at the cultural center near my home every weekend. But this year, the system changed, so I’ve now moved my volunteer area here.”
Who knew such things could be someone’s hobby.
“I used to like donating blood before awakening, but now it’s a special situation just to get poked with needles, so that’s kind of disappointing…”
While quietly listening to the story, I asked,
“Why?”
Why would you offer your labor for something that doesn’t even pay?
As I presented my question that arose from my core, Seonwoo-yeon seemed even more flustered.
“W-well, just because I’m bored…”
“What?!”
But before long, she strongly rebutted.
“I get it. When I say this outside, some people tend to look at me like I’m unnecessarily great or mockingly odd.”
“Hmm.”
“But honestly, this hobby isn’t a big deal. I’m an Awakened civil servant, and compared to guild members, I just earn a salary comparable to a large company from the beginning.”
“Wow.”
“Moreover, there are hardly any cases where I directly enter high-level gates in my job, so usually, I just live helping real Hunters.”
“What’s the point?”
“If I earned more money, I’d just have nowhere to spend it. I can choose safe jobs all I want, so why would I risk my life for equipment?”
“…!”
“Most Awakened civil servants would be like that. If you think money is a priority, then you wouldn’t enter here in the first place.”
I opened my mouth slightly.
“So as long as I have enough salary… being at home every holiday feels too dull… it just happened that helping others became my hobby.”
Indeed, the reasoning she provided was plausible.
But I absolutely did not feel inclined to follow suit.
‘What is this, like an old man retiring.’
Could it really be that one could become a volunteer simply out of boredom?
Nobody was grading it. It’s not like anyone was watching as they did it consistently in a place where nobody could see.
“Wow. You’re really a good person.”
I now mixed in pure admiration as I praised her.
However, as soon as those words came out, Seonwoo-yeon’s expression became ambiguous. She raised one side of her mouth slightly, looking like someone who accidentally chewed on a bug.
“Thank you for the compliment, but honestly, I don’t think that at all.”
How could someone voluntarily working unpaid consider themselves not a good person? Could it be that she interpreted this from the perspective of the Ministry of Employment and Labor right now?
“Don’t be too shocked. To be honest, that’s just how I feel.”
“Eh?”
“It may not be true for others, but at least for me, I don’t necessarily have a strong sense of duty toward this.”
“…”
“If I help others, it makes me feel good. Somehow it makes me feel like I won’t go to hell. It’s like, jokingly earning points for reincarnation. And of course, I feel proud when someone thanks me…”
“…”
“Just not based on money. I always hope for a return.”
Hearing that, I was quick to state the first thing that came to mind.
“There’s no reincarnation system like you think in this world.”
It was a kind of gentle warning not to waste efforts unnecessarily.
But when I got Seonwoo-yeon’s reply later, I was left speechless.
“I know.”
Seon (鮮) Woo-yeon.
From the start, she bothered me with a different family name structure.
Her academic background, fur color, and even when evaluated as an S-Class Hunter, her awakening levels might just be ordinary, yet this Earthling always seems to deviate from expectations.
“I suddenly have a question.”
As I pondered various thoughts in my head, I mentioned it without thinking.
“Ms. Seonwoo-yeon Hunter. Since we’re talking about things like the afterlife, it’s a fantasy I’m throwing out there. What do you think would happen if all selfish people disappeared from this world?”
I made sure to clarify that this case included only severe levels of egoists, meaning those who would kill or harm others.
But I never anticipated the answer I would receive.
“Well, it would be nice, but…”
“Oh.”
“Even if they all vanished immediately, selfish people would come to be again in the future. What’s the point?”
Seonwoo-yeon continued her thoughts lightly, as if discussing a movie review.
“Even the good people right now could turn bad depending on their environment.”
In just a few exchanges, who knew what fate was tied to this conversation?
The involved party would remain unaware until death.
“But there’s also the opposite example, so thinking about eliminating all serious criminals again gives me pause…”
“Ugh.”
“I believe in the darkness of humanity. Kids were never particularly good or bad. Did you hear how the kids in the ‘Wishing Class’ talked about you earlier?”
“Yeah.”
“Right? Kids can be pretty mischievous these days. So though it’s a bit uncomfortable for me personally, eventually, among them, some will grow up to be really good people. That’s how it is for now.”
The woman, who was dressed casually today, seemed to be wrapping up the conversation.
[North-South Barley Tea]
She gathered the used tea bags to discard them. For some reason, she put on the work gloves I had briefly seen when we first met.
“Work gloves?”
When I asked, Seonwoo-yeon replied as if it were nothing special.
In fact, this orphanage’s building was significantly damaged due to a monster that had leaked out from a certain dungeon.
The budget was too tight to call in a bunch of laborers, so they were looking for Awakened volunteers who could help during emergencies. So, in a sense, she was there as a porter and put on gloves to avoid dirtying her hands too much.
Considering she was a B-Class Hunter, she could easily move most heavy loads.
Seonwoo-yeon finished her explanation and returned to work.
No matter how good volunteering was, she seemed eager to go back before dinner time.
“…”
Well then. Since that Earthling has left, I have nothing else to do here. I originally planned to head back to my hospital room.
But before that, let’s finish up this task first.
Swoosh.
I took out the spring notebook I had kept in my right pants pocket.
Then, I added a sentence at the bottom of the page and wrapped up my day.
==================
‘Earth exists as long as Seonwoo-yeon is here……. +123
-|100| Completing Session-
==================
Anyway, in a planet where such genes prominently exist, what kind of management is an Alphauri even doing?
‘Let’s indefinitely postpone this plan.’
These kids are a thousandfold better than an alien being like me.
*
And so another day passed.
On this Sunday morning, it hardly felt real that Homo sapiens was kept safe by just one word someone spoke.
I returned to my hospital room, took a nap, and completed my preparations.
By preparation here, I mean simply packing my things for discharge.
‘I also checked to ensure there were no critical health issues. The nurse informed me roughly what time I would be leaving today as well.’
However, since I still had time before I must vacate the room, I decided to take care of one last task in this spacious VIP ward before heading back to the temporary studio I had secured for research purposes.
Though my Earth-style ‘pruning’ fell through, everything else I planned since the first day of hospitalization was proceeding normally.
So I needed to wrap up the situation with the fake beasts cleanly. Now that I think about it, wasn’t there a useful informant regarding this?
‘Moreover, I just remembered. They had asked me to call them as soon as I got better.’
Using the marvelous invention of Earthlings known as a mobile phone, I summoned someone.
And now at the moment before that person started talking, they were seated solo on a three-seater couch across from me.
I looked over the hefty Earthling who had settled into their position, ultimately unable to hold back my question.
“What’s with the sunglasses indoors?”
My brain’s sense kicked in; the person’s outfit simply seemed off.
As I opened the floor for conversation, Kang Chang-ho adjusted his dark accessory and began speaking.