How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

Absurdly, after the director’s corruption was revealed, the government seemed to be reconsidering whether to continue the project being conducted here.

They were only interested in the success of the project, not in the welfare of the mixed-blood orphans. As a result, the subsidies were drastically reduced.

And then…

“A gate expansion?”

To make matters worse, we heard news that a monster gate would soon appear near this town.

The fox asked, “Why do we always seem to find out about things like this?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed.

We leaned our backs against the director’s office door. Inside, the teacher was on the phone, her voice filled with frustration as she argued with someone.

“What? You’re saying relocation isn’t possible? Budget issues?”

The teacher, unusually agitated, was fighting fiercely with whoever was on the other end of the line.

“You’re planning to stop the project? You need to take responsibility until the end! What, only worry about Nahyun? Are you out of your mind?”

I poked the fox’s cheek as it stared off into the distance. The fox pouted and slapped my arm with its tail. Then it asked me,

“Got any money?”

“Do I look like I do?”

“But it seems like you’re on good terms with that famous hunter.”

“Yeah. I’m planning to ask for some help on that end.”

I was still planning to tell Choi Garam, who hadn’t come to see me yet, to at least give me some money if she wasn’t going to show up.

“If I bother her enough, she’ll probably give me something. She’s busy but rich.”

Then, all the kids could be relocated elsewhere.

“Do you think we could buy citizenship IDs with money?” I asked.

The fox shook its head.

“You can’t just buy citizenship. If you get caught, you’ll be kicked out. You have to be granted citizenship.”

The fox mumbled, “I was staying here to try and get citizenship.”

“So even with money, the only place we could move to is still within the illegal settlements, huh.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Is there no way we can get citizenship?”

“Bribing someone high up and making a deal?”

“Ah, that’s a long shot. Got it.”

We continued leaning against the door, listening to the phone conversation inside. When the call was wrapping up, we headed back to the dormitory together. The fox seemed deep in thought again.

I asked the fox, “Are you going to leave?”

The fox replied, “No. I’ve come to like it here.”

“I see. Me too.”

And then silence followed. It was a long night.

The next day, I knocked on the director’s office door.

“Teacher, I’m coming in.”

“Nahyun! Come in!”

I opened the door and stepped inside. The director’s office looked somewhat empty compared to before.

The teacher hurriedly hid some papers with her body.

As soon as I entered, I said to her, “Teacher, the orphanage is out of money, right?”

“W-where did you hear that?” she stammered.

“I just kind of figured it out.”

At my words, the teacher began to babble incoherently.

“No, no! The government supports us, and there are donors too…”

I kept my mouth shut. As I remained silent, the teacher seemed to think I understood and smiled as she said, “So, um? Money? Don’t worry about that.”

Even as she hid the papers behind her back, pushing out a poster that had slipped out earlier.

“I’ll manage somehow.”

I was horrified by the words I saw on the poster she had just tried to hide.

Is she crazy?

Is she really crazy??

Is she out of her mind???

I spoke urgently, “I know someone who can help us get the money.”

“…Are you talking about that Choi Garam?”

“Yes.”

“That person is just someone you know; they’re not a donor for the orphanage. And… more importantly, they’re the one who left you here.”

The teacher shook her head, and I felt like I was going to explode inside.

Since I’m here, the chances of Choi Garam donating to the orphanage should increase, right?!

While I can’t forgive the fact that she left me, isn’t this really not the time to be picky about it? Why can’t she see how I could be useful right now?

Just as I was about to say something, the teacher opened her mouth.

“Nahyun.”

The teacher was looking at me with her gentle brown eyes. I hesitated. She smiled softly at me.

“I received a message from that Choi Garam, who claims to be your guardian. If you want to meet them, I can arrange it. But if you don’t want to, I will do whatever it takes to prevent that meeting.”

It was a firm yet kind smile.

“Even if they offer money to meet you, I won’t allow it.”

Only then did I understand why she made such a statement.

“Teachers are adults. They have the ability to resolve this situation without the help of that person.”

She wanted to protect me. To ensure I wouldn’t be pressured into meeting Choi Garam due to money or other conditions.

“So I hope you do what you want, Nahyun.”

Those words, wrapped in bravado, bubbled up in my throat.

You don’t have that capability. Just posturing.

But then, they sank down.

And those sharp words melted away into the warmth spreading somewhere in my chest.

In the end, I couldn’t say anything and opened my mouth only to close it again.

“Do you want to meet that person?”

No. In fact, I don’t even want to see someone who abandoned me in a place like this.

It was only after coming here that I realized how lonely I had been.

I hated the person who made me feel lonely. But I also liked them.

My complicated emotions tangled like threads. Until I sorted these feelings out, I didn’t want to meet her.

“Yes.”

But I wasn’t so childish as to only think of my feelings, and I didn’t want to see the teacher cutting herself off or the children getting hurt and suffering.

“I want to meet her.”

I decided to meet Choi Garam.

***

After I told the hunters that I was acquainted with Choi Garam, I don’t know how it was conveyed to higher-ups, but security personnel were suddenly deployed around the orphanage.

In truth, it was almost a stroke of luck that nothing serious had happened to the children when there had been no security at all prior to this.

Or perhaps it was thanks to the director, who had colluded with the tough guys in the illegal settlement.

“Let’s go.”

I was led by the people who had come to pick me up as we walked through the town.

The hunters seemed eager to move quickly once we got outside the town.

It was my first time walking through the village, so I looked around nervously.

This world was one I had read about in novels, but aside from elements like towers and gates, I hadn’t directly encountered many of the specifics mentioned in the original story.

As I absentmindedly moved my feet, I wondered if there were any elements from the original novel in the illegal settlement.

In the illegal settlement… there were the ‘Black Scales’ and ‘Gemini.’

The Black Scales were a systematic entity that exchanged something for a similar value in return.

I remembered a scene where the protagonist went to the illegal settlement and made a deal with the Black Scales.

That incident had a lot of foreshadowing, and I recalled reading it multiple times.

I vividly remembered the description of the symbol engraved in the place where the Black Scales resided. There was definitely a scale inside a circle…

Right. It seemed like the protagonist entered with a symbol that looked just like that, didn’t it?

“Hmm?”

I stopped in my tracks, noticing a symbol engraved on the wall.

The strange shape, a geometric design of scales within a large circle, was exactly as described in the novel.

Why is this here?

Isn’t it just graffiti?

I doubted my eyes.

Could it be that this is really one of the places where I can meet the Black Scales? I felt confused.

“What’s wrong?”

As I halted, one of the hunters walking with me asked. I turned to him with a question for confirmation.

“Um… when did that symbol appear?”

“Huh? Well, when did that kind of thing start appearing?”

The hunter seemed puzzled by my question.

“Can I touch it?”

“Sure.”

I walked up to the symbol of the Black Scales and slowly placed my hand on it. An icy, chilling energy began to swirl around my body, starting from my fingertips.

…This is real.

I felt the corners of my mouth lift into a smile.

“What’s wrong? Are you shaking?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head and pretended to be calm as I thought quickly.

Suddenly, a thought struck me like lightning.

‘Is there a way to obtain citizenship somehow?’

“Bribing someone in a high position and making a deal?”

If it’s the Black Scales, maybe…

…I should put this on hold for now.

I pretended to be indifferent as I brushed past the hunter and ran ahead.

***

“Busy, were you? It looks like you’ve just arrived.”

At my words, Choi Ga-ram lowered her head in embarrassment.

I considered whether to blame her but decided against it. That would just be a waste of time.

“I want to ask something, putting everything else aside.”

I decided to ask the questions that had been on my mind in order.

“I saw the filter my mom made at the orphanage before. The one she made during her experiments.”

“Prototype?”

“Yes. Why was it in the illegal settlement?”

Choi Ga-ram pondered for a moment before slowly responding.

“Ahyeon probably distributed it. At that time, we needed real-world data from ordinary people, and the illegal settlement was a place where conflicts between humans and monsters frequently occurred.”

My mom really didn’t care about anything, did she?

“I see. My mom really didn’t mind at all.”

She probably wouldn’t have cared if an uninformed ordinary person got seriously hurt while using an unstable prototype.

I was alive because of it, but it didn’t bring me any particular joy. I realized that my affection for my mom had surprisingly cooled.

Perhaps it had been that way since the day I smiled, relieved that the gate had opened.

I spoke weakly.

“I know that completing the development of the filter and commercializing it was my mom’s dream. But…”

I was fed up with anything related to the GAH filter now.

“I don’t want to see that filter being proudly showcased anymore.”

“…”

Choi Ga-ram silently pressed her wide-brimmed hat down. There were times when that look suited her well.

I continued speaking in a calm tone.

“Now for my next question. This is also a request. Can you grant citizenship to the children in our orphanage and the teachers?”

At that, Choi Ga-ram immediately replied.

“Impossible.”

She said granting citizenship was not possible.

“If it were just one or two people, I could vouch for them. But granting citizenship to so many children is difficult.”

I felt a chill in my heart. It was the sensation of hope flickering out.

Choi Ga-ram cautiously looked at me and said, “Nahyun, let’s go.”

“…”

“As you know… I’m busy and won’t be able to take care of you well. But I can make sure you’ll live in a better place than this.”

I smiled brightly.

Seeing my smiling face made Choi Ga-ram’s expression soften a bit.

“Auntie. Auntie…”