How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

I took the gun and filter out of the box and assembled them. Then, I opened the door and dashed outside.

“Nahyun!”

I heard someone urgently calling me from behind, but I didn’t look back. They probably wouldn’t be able to follow me. They value their own lives too much.

I thought about where Kang Yoo might have gone first.

When we played hide-and-seek, Kang Yoo would always hide near places with a lot of water. If it were indoors, he wouldn’t have missed evacuating…

I headed towards the outdoor pool, where shallow water had collected. In the distance, I saw a teacher carrying Kang Yoo.

“Kang Yoo!”

Kang Yoo had slipped and sprained his ankle, which was now swollen.

“Nahyun? Why are you here…?!”

“Never mind that, Kang Yoo comes first! Hand him over!”

I helped support Kang Yoo and handed my gun to the teacher.

“Have you handled a gun before?”

“Once or twice…”

“Turn this dial to adjust the magic attribute, then shoot. When the bullets run out, the light will go off. At that point, switch the dial to another setting. Got it?”

“Y-yes…”

I let out a deep sigh.

That’s right. I decided to trust this clueless teacher, who was looking at me in bewilderment.

Logically speaking, if this teacher were the same type as the principal, he would’ve left me behind and gone underground to lock the door. Even if a few kids had gone missing, he wouldn’t have recklessly come outside, unarmed, by himself.

Kiieeeek!

The monster’s cry echoed. It was very close. I gritted my teeth.

“Do you have any idea where the fox might have gone?”

“Uh, I’m not sure…”

At that moment, a shadow loomed over us.

A chill ran down my spine from a terrible premonition. The teacher was trembling.

Kiieeeek!

The monster shrieked.

I lifted my head toward the sky, and there was the fox, tattered and caught in the monster’s claws.

“The fox…!”

“K-kids! Get behind me!”

The teacher, trembling, stood in front of us. Even though she was scared, she aimed the gun toward the sky.

I hugged Kang Yoo tightly and glared at the monster. I recognized it—it was the same monster I’d seen in the reference book. That thing is…

“A harpy!”

It was a lower-tier wind-attribute monster, a harpy.

It looked like it had been separated from its group, its body covered in wounds. One wing was damaged, and blood was dripping from one of its eyes.

“Turn the dial to fire-attribute!”

It’s okay, in this state we have a chance.

I shouted.

“Shoot its eye!”

Bang!

The magic bullet shot by the teacher grazed the harpy.

The harpy seemed furious that a mere human had managed to harm it. It glared at us, circled in the air, and then dived straight toward the teacher.

“Teacher! Get out of the way!”

But the teacher, shocked by the sudden attack, was frozen in place, unable to think of dodging. I reached out my hand, but the distance was too great.

At that moment,

“Please, help…!”

Suddenly, a mass of water appeared in mid-air, blocking the path between the harpy and the teacher. The water collided with the monster and exploded with force.

It was Kang Yoo’s power!

I ran over to the teacher, who, fortunately, wasn’t seriously injured. However, it seemed that the shock had caused her to lose consciousness.

There’s no other choice.

I picked up the gun and propped Kang Yoo against the teacher’s side. He looked up at me. The harpy was still circling above, eyeing us.

However, it didn’t seem ready to dive again, perhaps wary of the cushion of water that still surrounded us.

I looked at the fox hanging from the harpy’s claws. It was too dangerous to leave things as they were.

“Kang Yoo, can you help me out?”

At my question, Kang Yoo hesitated.

“I-I’m not good at it…”

“What about poking a hole in the water? Can you do that?”

“That… I might be able to…”

“Can you support someone with water?”

“I can do that too…”

“Great, then I’m counting on you.”

I briefly explained the plan to Kang Yoo. He looked extremely nervous but also seemed determined.

I aimed the gun at the harpy and moved toward the edge of the water barrier.

“Kang Yoo.”

At my command, Kang Yoo punched a fist-sized hole in the water barrier.

I turned the dial on the gun. I needed to conserve the fire attribute for later. Any magic bullet that could wound the harpy would do.

I aimed at the harpy’s already injured spots and fired a rapid series of shots.

Kiieeek!

Luckily, some of the bullets hit its wounds.

The harpy, now more irritated by me, fixed its gaze on me and began circling overhead.

As it lowered its head slightly, I shouted.

“Now!”

At that moment, the water barrier surrounding me vanished, leaving me completely exposed.

The harpy’s eyes gleamed as it aimed its sharp beak directly at me. Its face rapidly approached.

I grinned. I had already switched the dial to the fire attribute.

Bang!

I fired the shot. The harpy lost its remaining eye.

Kiieee-!

The harpy thrashed in pain.

Without giving it a chance to escape, I aimed at its wings and fired again, damaging them. The harpy’s body tilted, and I shot at its claws. Its grip weakened.

The hostage, along with the harpy, began to fall.

I shouted again.

“Kang Yoo!”

Kang Yoo responded immediately, using water to safely catch and move the fox.

I dodged the falling harpy and threw myself toward my companions. Once again, a mass of water cushioned my fall.

Thud!

With the sound of the orphanage’s wall collapsing, the harpy finally fell completely.

“This way!”

Only after everything had ended did the hunters arrive. I get that this is an illegal settlement, but isn’t this a bit too late?

Although I knew I should be grateful that the hunters came at all, I couldn’t hold back a sharp comment.

“Why are you just getting here now?”

Of course, I almost died! And this orphanage is part of a government project, isn’t it? Aren’t they supposed to protect the test subjects?

The hunters looked sheepish and avoided my gaze.

Sure, no one would’ve expected the harpy to directly target this orphanage. I suppressed the urge to make a snide remark and asked what I was really curious about.

“Do you know Choi Garam? She’s my guardian.”

I didn’t really expect them to know her, but I mentioned her name as a precaution to make sure they couldn’t sweep under the rug any complaints I’d make later. I had already sent a message through the director’s computer, so Choi Garam would show up soon anyway.

As expected, the hunters’ eyes widened in surprise.

I continued, realizing the growing fame of Choi Garam after the Yongin Gate disaster.

I pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from my pocket and showed it to the hunters, exposing the true state of the orphanage.

Fortunately, the director’s office hadn’t been attacked by the harpy, so all the data was still intact. The hunters, shocked by the orphanage’s reality, ended up taking the entire computer with them.

Kang Yoo pointed at the hunters and asked, “Are they thieves?”

“They’re kind of like the police. Sometimes police take evidence like that.”

“Oh, I see.”

I sat with Kang Yoo on a tree stump, watching the teacher talk to the hunters, handling various matters.

The teacher, after waking up and hearing about the state of the orphanage, was utterly horrified.

“If I had known this place was like this, I would have reported it ages ago!”

“This is an illegal settlement. There’s no police here.”

“But it’s a government project…”

“…So you really didn’t know anything, did you?”

The teacher seemed genuinely angry at the director’s actions. She really hadn’t known a thing.

I felt a bit guilty for treating her coldly.

“Teacher.”

“Hm? What is it, Nahyun?”

“Wanna play together?”

“Sure!”

Once I let go of my initial judgment, I realized she was a good person. She was almost naively kind, always putting the children first without thinking about herself, which made me worry about her.

How did someone like her survive in an illegal settlement? I pondered seriously.

And then…

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

I started sticking with the fox again.

The fox had many wounds and was wrapped in bandages here and there, but luckily, nothing was broken. All I needed to do was regularly change the bandages, and we had grown close enough that the fox trusted me to take care of it.

After we became closer, the fox got cheekier.

“But why don’t you call me ‘noona’?” (older sister)

“Why? Do I have to?”

I really wished it would stop being so cheeky.

And so, things went on peacefully…