"Han Seol, pull any more nonsense and you’ll regret it."
"..."
The evening after the social gathering, I nodded at the director’s words after she called me in privately.
A warning... I suppose.
There was no way they would let it slide after both Yu Hyein and I came out of the story room bleeding.
I had provoked it in the first place, and I had been prepared for this much.
—I gave him permission, so don’t lay a hand on him.
I’m so grateful I could cry.
Thanks to Yu Hyein casually telling the director not to use violence, it seemed I had avoided getting beaten.
Instead, I would have to do every kind of menial chore and prepare for next month’s “performance.”
Well, that was the point from the beginning.
I had practically injured myself in order to be punished.
I had no intention of putting on some conventional performance, either.
"If you understand, get out. Starting tomorrow, report to my office."
"Yes."
I gave a suitably deferential bow before leaving the director’s office.
Creak...
"...What is it?"
"Han Seol, are you okay? Nothing happened, right?"
"Yeah."
"I heard you did something wrong..."
"It’s nothing."
I blinked at the sight of Park Dojun standing outside the door for some reason.
I was sure the other kids had heard, more or less, that I would be performing next month too.
"You don’t need to worry. More importantly, let’s talk for a minute."
"Ah, yeah. Okay."
At this point in time, I had no acquaintances whatsoever aside from Park Dojun.
To rescue the other children and get even a little cooperation from them, I needed Park Dojun’s influence.
...It’s not just at this point in my life that I don’t have friends, is it?
Hah. I hadn’t realized that.
*
"Fuck, not here either..."
Another two weeks passed as I went around cleaning every corner of the orphanage under the guise of punishment.
It was a vague memory, but I had seen the director smoking cigars before.
I had seen children wounded by cigarettes, and I had cleaned up story rooms that still reeked of smoke.
There had to be at least one lighter somewhere.
This place had been running for years. There was no way it didn’t have even one lost lighter.
Especially since I remembered finding one myself when I was even younger and handing it over to the director.
I can’t do it the way I did before.
When I set the fire in the past, I had swiped one while pretending to straighten out a drunken adult’s clothes.
The person who always smelled of cigarettes did not visit the orphanage at this point in time.
They would not set foot here for another year or two at least.
If I can’t find one by the end, I’ll have to find a smoker somehow on the day itself...
For now, finding one ahead of time was the wisest course.
"...Guess I’m out of luck today."
During free time this evening, I would have to make a huge mess near the storage room or something, so I could steer tomorrow’s cleaning assignment over there.
The orphanage director did not suspect me.
Since she could not administer direct corporal punishment, the only thing she could make me do was physical labor like this.
Of course, she would never imagine that a twelve-year-old was planning to commit arson.
Because all of them have been gaslit.
Step—
"Ah... Han Seol...!"
"How’s it going? Are they talking to you?"
"Yeah. None of them say it out loud, but they all want to run away."
I ran into Park Dojun on my way back after finishing my cleaning.
He looked around us before whispering softly, and I nodded.
There was no way anyone wanted to stay here.
They remained only because escape was realistically impossible—because they had been brainwashed to believe it was impossible, because they could not think of anything except that they had to stay here.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"I’ll tell you the details as late as possible. If someone can’t keep their mouth shut, it could go very badly."
"Ah... yeah, you’re right."
The oldest child here was fifteen.
Once they were around high school age, they were sold off outside the orphanage.
In a place full of nothing but young children, leaking information beforehand might only get in our way.
"What I can tell you now is... right. Could you pair everyone up?"
"Pair them up?"
"Pair the older kids with the younger ones. Have each older kid take about two younger children, and make the pairings."
"Why?"
"That way, we’ll save time when we have to run or move. It’s going to get really chaotic, and the little kids especially will panic. It’ll be cleaner if the older ones lead them directly."
"Ah, okay. I’ll match them up based on their ages...!"
Two weeks remained.
I only needed to find the lighter. After that, nothing would be particularly difficult.
I had already planned out both the fuel and the escape route in my head.
Since I had done it once before, even though circumstances had changed, I could immediately see the way forward.
"Park Dojun."
"Yeah?"
"Are you excited?"
"...Yeah. Ever since you changed, I guess you’ve become really dependable."
"Ever since I changed..."
I gave a bitter smile at Park Dojun’s broad grin.
In truth, this whole situation was practically nothing more than self-satisfaction on my part.
Whenever I was reminded like this that it was not reality, a bitter feeling welled up inside me.
"Han Seol?"
"Do you study at all?"
"Study?"
"You need to be smart to fly a plane."
"...Really?"
"I’ll teach you some things."
"You?"
Yeah, well, I was probably better than him at least.
I had lived over ten years longer than he had, after all.
"Let’s go."
"...Yeah!"
*
Found the lighter, and finished checking the escape route.
There were two places with landline telephones: the director’s office and the administration office.
Combining my past experience with the information I had gathered while cleaning all over the place during the last month, I created a perfect map.
Perhaps Yu Hyein’s influence really was that tremendous. I had suffered none of the things I had worried about and could comfortably search around for various things.
Because I made the place so clean she couldn’t say a word about it.
Every day, I left it in a state impressive enough that anyone would marvel at it, so she could not find fault with me.
I may have been an orphan, but I had enlisted voluntarily and served in the military.
I had cleaned perfectly every time the brass came around. This was nothing.
"Han Seol, we’re ready."
"...Okay."
The day before the social gathering.
Late at night, after we had finished preparing the banquet hall and the story room, I spoke quietly with Park Dojun.
"But is this really going to be okay? What if we get caught...?"
"Even if we do, it’ll work out somehow. Don’t worry."
"..."
He looked uneasy at the expensive bottle of liquor in my hand.
An expensive vodka that looked like it cost at least several hundred thousand won.
I found it in the director’s private storeroom and swiped it. That was also where I found the lighter she used for her cigars.
It was the strongest liquor among the things I had found.
It was not the most expensive, so it would be hard for the director to notice it right away.
Thank god I’m twelve.
Apparently, she liked how perfectly I had cleaned, because under the pretext of punishment, she even entrusted all of her private spaces to me.
If I had been even a little older, she would not have let me into places like that.
"How’s the banquet hall setup?"
"I did it the way you said. Not everyone agreed, but... they said they won’t interfere."
"That’s enough."
Of the twenty children, including Park Dojun and me, two had refused to cooperate.
Because they were scared. Because they were afraid.
Because they did not know what might happen to them.
I had told them I would take all responsibility, but that probably was not enough.
Still, they said they would not interfere, so I had no choice but to trust that.
"Everyone knows their partners too, right?"
"Yeah. I considered their ages and grouped together people who were close whenever possible."
"And the older kids know when and where they have to move?"
"Message delivered perfectly."
"Good job."
"It feels like we’re carrying out a secret operation. It’s kind of making my heart race."
"Heh. Does it?"
I had not entrusted the other children at the orphanage with any particularly major role.
Only a few preparations beforehand, and an explanation of when and where they needed to run.
Park Dojun and I were going to handle all the real operation ourselves.
I can’t let them be left with trauma for no reason.
What I could do was take all the blame upon myself and grant everyone freedom.
"...Can we really get out of here?"
"Without question."
"...How can you be so sure?"
"I’ve done it before."
"...You’ve done it before?"
I snickered at Park Dojun blinking at me.
I had no intention of explaining in detail. He would not believe me anyway.
I had only said it vaguely to mean that he did not need to know, that he did not need to worry about it.
He noticed right away that I had changed, after all.
A few weeks ago, he openly said that I had changed.
He seemed to think I had merely gone through some change of heart, but true to being my only friend, he was the kind of kid who noticed it right away.
"It’s a little late to ask this, but don’t you feel guilty?"
"Guilty?"
"You won’t see it firsthand, but... you know what I’m planning to do, don’t you?"
"Yeah. Not at all."
"...Is that so."
I smiled bitterly at how calmly he spoke, his face utterly devoid of emotion.
Right. He might not say it or show it, but inside, he had surely screamed for them to die over and over again.
The other kids who were too nervous to sleep, and those who were already deep in dreamland.
All of them resented the breed known as adults, and everyone who set foot in this place.
That was a pointless question.
Maybe because I had returned after so long, my feelings had dulled for no reason.
"Park Dojun."
"Yeah?"
Tap.
"I’m counting on you tomorrow."
"Leave it to me."
We bumped fists lightly and smiled.
Tomorrow, darkness would descend from the sky, and its end would blaze red.
And when the blue sky came to us again...
You and all the other children would regain your freedom.
I would make sure of it, no matter what.
*
Click-clack—
"How long has it been since our Seol came out to greet me like this?"
"..."
The day of the social gathering.
Early evening, when guests were beginning to arrive one by one.
I stood before Yu Hyein as she was about to enter the banquet hall and gave her a light bow.
People passing by glanced at her mask. Gritting my teeth, I took one step closer to her.
Squeeze.
"You told me to look forward to it, but I didn’t expect you to be this bold from the very start?"
"...Go tell the director you’ll skip the banquet hall and wait in the room."
I wrapped my arms around her waist like a child and spoke in a voice only she could hear.
"Hmm... why would that be? Is there something you don’t want me to see?"
"You don’t care about anyone but me anyway."
"But I want to see our Seol perform too."
So she knew.
The director must have told Yu Hyein in advance.
Rather, she likely got Yu Hyein’s permission before she got mine.
Whether it was all right for me to perform, whether it was all right to make me perform.
Since I was practically treated as Yu Hyein’s property, she must have asked for her opinion first.
And just as I told her to do, she gave the okay.
Slide.
"I told you I’d make it fun, didn’t I? It’s Seol’s performance. Wouldn’t it be a little unfair if I’m the only one who doesn’t get to see it?"
"..."
"Just thinking about showing Seol to other people already makes me angry, but I’m holding it in for Seol’s sake."
I squeezed my eyes shut as her hand crawled like a snake from the back of my neck down to my lower back.
Her strong perfume filled my nose. Fighting back the nausea, I gripped the hem of her clothes and spoke.
"...I’ll put on a special performance just for you, so go wait."
"You know you’re hard to trust, right? That you suddenly became like this... that I have no idea what you’re hiding... I truly don’t know any of it..."
Squeeze.
"But because I truly love you, Seol, I’ll trust you just this once. Okay?"
"..."
"Then go on. Make me happy today."
She pulled me tightly into an embrace and kissed the top of my head before stepping back.
She swept her gaze around lightly, then headed toward the director, who had been looking this way. I clenched my teeth hard.
It would be boring if you died the same way too.
This was the second chance I had managed to obtain.
Saving Park Dojun and the other children was my first priority, but completely erasing what was left of you was one of my goals as well.
"..."
Yu Hyein approached the director, said something to her while pointing at me, and I quietly turned my gaze away.
She would handle it herself. There was no need for me to interfere.
I only needed her to give me a reason to act at the right time.
Step—
"Han Seol."
"...Yeah."
"We’re ready."
"...All right."
When I entered the “dressing room” for the children, Park Dojun spoke to me quietly.
I glanced at the children dressed up in ways inappropriate for their age. Swallowing, they cautiously met my eyes.
I’ll save every one of you, so don’t worry.
After steadily meeting each of their gazes, I slowly spoke to Park Dojun.
"I’m going to finish the final preparations, so wait here."
"...Okay."
"If I’m late, can you stall for time?"
"Leave it to me."
Though his tension was obvious, he forced a smile. I lightly punched him in the chest and turned away.
*
"...Director."
"What are you doing here right now? Have you finished preparing for the performance—"
"The person I need to thank says she doesn’t like the liquor."
"That can’t be... I set everything up one by one to suit her tastes. Don’t tell me you brought something different from what I told you to bring?!"
"No, I did exactly as you instructed. She only said she was in a different mood than usual."
"..."
"That crazy bitch Yu Hyein..."
I swallowed softly at the director’s frown.
The director would go for it. She could not defy Yu Hyein.
She knew full well how much Yu Hyein cherished me, and Yu Hyein must really have told her earlier that she would go wait in the room.
She would be suspicious, but she would not dare question her directly.
She would not want to offend her. And even if she tried to check, it would not matter.
That woman would assume I was planning something and smile as she agreed.
"Director, it has been a while. I brought you a gift."
"Ah... yes! Yes! It certainly has been a long time. Thank you sincerely for gracing our Love Orphanage with your honored presence."
At the voice from behind us, the director hurriedly turned around and spoke brightly.
Following her broad grin at a shopping bag from a famous luxury brand, I bowed slightly at the waist beside her.
"It’s only a small token, but please accept it. I’ll be waiting inside, then."
"Yes, yes, of course. I hope you enjoy your day."
The director kept bowing until the middle-aged man passed us, then she whirled back around with a deeply creased face.
She bit her lip at the sight of more guests continually arriving, then leaned discreetly toward my ear and spoke.
"...Do you remember the place you cleaned before?"
"Which place?"
"The second basement level. The place you enter by punching in a password."
"You mean the place you opened for me, Director?"
"That’s right... Haah... I don’t have time right now, so go alone and bring the liquor I’m about to tell you about."
Nod.
"Don’t you dare upset that bitch, understood? If you cause trouble like last time, I don’t care what she ordered—I’ll fucking kill you."
Okay.
Just as I expected, I concealed my expression and nodded.
The director was busy attending to the other VIPs. Going to get it herself would probably feel like a waste of precious time.
"Director! Good to see you. Everything well?"
"Chairman Kim...! It’s been so long!!"
To the director, everyone who visited this place was nothing but a source of money. There was no way she could leave those VIPs waiting behind her unattended.
I came here at this time on purpose, too.
"The password is—"
Awkwardly turning to smile at the guest, she quickly whispered into my ear. I grinned.
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