How to Get on the Main Character’s Flower Path

 

“Right. I achieve moderate results, earn money, receive a citizenship card as a project reward, and then go to a safe zone and live a happy life. Gosh, aren’t I a genius?”

 

The director’s conversation wandered here and there at will, but then focused on the new teacher.

 

“Huh? newcomer? Are they he also from an illegal settlement? Then I guess it makes sense. Ah, okay, okay. Hanging up~”

 

And the phone hung up with a loud beep.

 

The director made a rustling noise as if he was slowly falling asleep. I heard the sound of something large being placed on the matrix.

 

I was frozen in shock, then realized that this wasn’t the time.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

I whispered to Fox. But he didn’t move a single inch.

 

When I shook him roughly, he looked at me.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

He nodded slowly, as if he was possessed.

 

I helped Fox and returned to the bedroom. I laid him down and I lay down too, yet I couldn’t sleep.

 

How much time had passed, I wonder, I heard his small voice from the bedside.

 

“…What should we do…?”

 

It was a different voice from before, like a truly lost child.

 

Only after hearing that voice did I realize once again that Fox was a child, just like other children.

 

I answered in a low voice.

 

“Let’s find a solution together.”

 

Yet he didn’t answer what I said.

 

A silent night passed.

 

***

 

The next day. Fox avoided me.

 

I stopped trying to catch and ask him. I could guess the reason.

 

Because as a human, I will be sent to the middle zone.

 

“So the Queen asked the mirror. Mirror, mirror, who is the most beautiful person in the world?”

 

Because I’m safe if I keep my mouth shut. If he does anything, it will get in the director’s way.

 

“And the mirror answered. It’s Snow White.”

 

And I need the director to maintain it the way he does it right now to benefit myself.

 

Fox seemed to think that I might stop him from interfering with the director in order to get to the middle zone quickly.

 

“The Queen was jealous of Snow White. Thus , she decided to banish Snow White.”

 

It’s a rational and good decision. Realistically, this is also the attitude I should take.

 

“After being exiled, Snow White was sad.”

 

Even as I thought that, a part of my heart tingled somewhere.

 

***

 

A few days later. The ‘new teacher’ that the director mentioned on the phone came.

 

She, who looked like a round-faced person, quickly melted into the children. The story telling I was doing was also quickly taken over by her.

 

“So they lived happily ever after!”

 

“Whoaaa!”

 

The children didn’t know anything and chased after the teacher, yet Fox and I kept our distance from the teacher.

 

Whether or not the teacher knew that we knew the secrets of this orphanage, she was trying everything to get to know us.

 

“Nahyun! Does Nahyun want to play tagger too? Now Nayu is the tagger!”

 

And I said with a sad expression.

 

“Freeze.”

 

“Ding!”

 

“Freeze.”

 

“…? Ding!”

 

“Freeze.”

 

“…Ding!”

 

“Freeze.”

 

“Nahyun…?”

 

“Freeze.”

 

Of course, there was only a little success, but I did my best anyway.

 

I was more focused on the other side than on that side. This is because the frequency of the director going out was increasing.

 

The director used to stay in his office all day, but these days, he would come back after spending a few hours outside. He clearly was up to something.

 

And the fact that he was outside regularly for a few hours was actually an opportunity for me. Shall we go into the room?

 

The problem is that teacher who keeps coming towards me with a smile on her face. Is she trying to spy on me?

 

I can’t. I approached the teacher.

 

“Teacher.”

 

“Huh! Nahyun! Why?”

 

The teacher who was wiping Kanghoon’s mouth was smiling brightly with joy that I spoke to her first.

 

“Play hide and seek with me.”

 

“Great! Who will be the ‘it’?”

 

“Teacher. But you have to wait a long time. I’m not good at hiding.”

 

“Alright! But Nahyun, how about doing it with everyone? Everyone likes you, you know!”

 

“Yeah, well. Let’s do that.”

 

And so the game of hide and seek began.

 

After lunch, the teacher excitedly stood outside in a large tree and counted with her eyes closed. Meanwhile, I quickly ran into the building.

 

The children were busy running around looking for a place to hide, but they didn’t even come near the director’s office, as if the director’s office seemed to be uncomfortable.

 

I stood in front of the director’s office with the door locked. And then I took off the hairpin on my head.

 

[Nahyun, all of this~ will be useful later, you know.]

 

I didn’t know that I would be grateful to Choi Garam, who taught me useless things.

 

Fortunately, everything in this place was old, even the locks. Suddenly, something clicked and the lock was immediately unlocked.

 

I quietly opened the door to the director’s office and entered.

 

Creak.

 

The old door made a sound.

 

I looked around the room, feeling eerie for no reason.

 

In the room, I saw a printer, computer, and paper that weren’t that old by the standards of my past life, but were junk by the standards of my current life.

 

First of all, the desk. I approached the desk.

 

The director seemed not to have assumed that someone would open the door and break into his room, there was no lock on the drawer under the desk.

 

I took out the notebook from the first drawer. The notebook seemed to be used to write down various passwords so as not to forget them. I started up the computer on my desk.

 

Whiiing—

there was a small noise.

 

The computer was locked, but one of the numbers written in the notebook under the desk was the password.

 

I looked through the library. While quickly looking through the files, I came across a ledger record.

 

I collected them all and sent them to ‘Choi Garam’s’ account.

 

[Kang Nahyun is well. So please deal with that first.]

 

If they have the internet, how can I not contact Choi Garam? I calmly disclosed all the circumstances and evidence so far. And I also reported it to the police.

 

Though I don’t know how much the police will care about this illegal residence…

 

Next, I printed the files on the printer and crumpled the papers in my pocket. Just in case.

 

Lastly, I looked around to see if the director was hiding anything. Only dust came out, and then something came out from the bottom of the bed. The way he hid it so needlessly is a mess.

 

“Ugh…”

 

I took out the box and dusted it off. The box was full of dust, as if it had been left unattended for a long time.

 

And the moment I opened the box, I stopped breathing.

 

“…This, why is this here?”

 

Inside the dusty old box, there was something that resembled a filter my mother had made, and a gun that looked like a cannon.

 

The moment I unconsciously crumpled the box out of confusion, someone’s hand touched my shoulder.

 

“Nahyun?”

 

It was the teacher.

 

Gosh…! I’m doomed!

 

I felt the color drain from my face.

 

“How did you get in here? No, rather, you must not enter the director’s office without permission.”

 

However, the teacher’s reaction was more moderate than expected. Is it because I haven’t been caught gathering evidence yet?

 

“What did you crumple up in your pocket?”

 

“Don’t touch me!”

 

I slapped the teacher’s hand away and held the box in my arms.

 

As the confrontation between the teacher and I continued, I heard a thumping sound outside. Someone shouted loudly.

 

“It’s a monster!”

 

The teacher ran to the window.

 

“Flying type monster…!”

 

It seemed that the monster that had crossed the fortress had discovered a village within an illegal settlement. The teacher looked back at me urgently and said.

 

“Nahyun, go to the basement! Understood! I will take the other kids with me!”

 

Then she held my hand tightly and came inside.

 

“Guys! Let’s go underground!”

 

The children were confused and began to move to the basement while crying at the teacher’s words. I said bluntly.

 

“Let go of this hand. I’ll go on my own.”

 

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

 

I checked in the basement to see if all the children had come in. However…

 

“…Teacher.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Kangyoo and Fox aren’t here.”

 

“What!”

 

When I told her so, the teacher looked at the children and stood there in shock.

 

Soon, as if she had decided on something, she looked towards the door and spoke to us.

 

“I’ll bring Kangyoo and Fox!”

 

Then she bravely opened the door and went out. Left alone, I opened my mouth in bewilderment. Are you just leaving without a weapon?

 

Looking around, fortunately, the children were being comforted by the cooks, albeit in a clumsy manner.

 

“Right, right,, don’t cry.”

 

The children gradually calmed down despite the noise they heard outside.

 

I looked down at the box I was holding. I know what this is. It’s one of the prototypes of the Kang Ahyeon filter, commonly known as GAH filter.

 

And…

 

[Hm? Does Nahyun want to shoot too? You can use it even if you don’t have mana!]

[What are you going to do about the reaction?]

[It’s fine. This is a version with almost no recoil. Because we need experimental data from the general public…]

 

I pretty much know how to handle this kind of stuff.