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Chapter 8
Klein was a serious idiot.
A fool who couldn’t even tell left from right.
“Why are you in Class 1 if you can’t even tell left from right?”
“Lo-Lopez…?”
Still, at least he wasn’t hurt yet. Thank goodness.
“Come over here slowly.”
“M-my legs…”
Klein’s legs trembled pathetically.
Letting out a small sigh, I carefully approached him while keeping my distance so I wouldn’t provoke the dog.
Once I cautiously reached him, I unwrapped the cloth I had been carrying.
Inside was a chicken drumstick.
The dog lunged excitedly at the sight of food, and right before it reached me, I threw the drumstick as far away as possible.
Woof! Woof!
The dog instantly dashed after the food.
Taking advantage of the opening, I spun around and quickly slipped my arms under Klein’s shoulders as he sat collapsed on the ground.
I tried lifting him to carry him out of the forest…
…and failed spectacularly.
“Pffft!”
H-he’s heavy.
Without thinking, I assumed I could carry him because mentally I was an adult.
The recoil from straining so hard caused me to fall over, leaving me sprawled against Klein instead.
Klein looked horrified.
“Hey, are you insane?! What are you doing?!”
“You looked like your legs gave out, so I was trying to carry you and run…”
“You idiot! Who do you think you’re carrying?!”
Forcing himself up on trembling legs, Klein took a deep breath and suddenly scooped me up instead.
“Huh?”
This kid is that strong?
“If we were going to do this, we should’ve run away sooner.”
“…B-back then, I was alone.”
Ah, so my being there calmed his fear a little.
“I don’t know! Stop asking!”
Even while snapping irritably, he obediently carried me and ran.
Like that, cradled in Klein’s arms, I safely arrived at the playground in front of the orphanage.
The moment Anna saw the state we were in, she seemed to realize something was wrong and hurried toward us.
“You two, why—”
“Damn it! There really was a dog!”
Klein shouted furiously at Anna.
He’d always been arrogant, but never to this extent.
It seemed the terror of seeing the dog had made him lose all restraint.
“What if we’d gotten bitten?! What if it left scars?!”
At the word scars, Anna visibly flinched.
Hearing Klein’s furious voice, the children still in the forest slowly began emerging one by one.
“T-there really was a dog…?”
As Anna hesitated, Klein snapped again.
“The left forest! Why aren’t you catching it already?!”
Anna bit her nails before jolting at his shout and hurrying into the forest.
Why would she just run in there?
At least prepare first.
What if she got bitten?
“Klein, what happened?”
Medina came running over from afar in alarm.
Her eyes moved back and forth between Klein and me, confusion written all over her face.
“Lopez? Why are you two…?”
Still breathing hard, Klein finally seemed to realize he was carrying me.
In the awkward silence, I spoke first.
“Now that you’ve noticed, can you put me down already?”
Klein’s face instantly turned bright red, and he threw me aside.
“Ack!”
Klein flinched at my scream.
“N-no, I—”
“Noona!”
Bill rushed over and struggled with his tiny hands to help me back up.
“What happened? Why are you with hyung…?”
“A dog appeared in the forest…”
Klein bit down hard on his lip.
He trembled violently, clearly too ashamed to admit his weakness out loud.
It was obvious he didn’t want Medina seeing him like this.
As if I’d ever reveal it…
I had absolutely no intention of exposing something he desperately wanted hidden.
“Klein saved me when I almost got bitten.”
“…Huh?”
Klein blinked at me.
“Thank you.”
After thanking him simply, I dusted off my clothes and headed into the orphanage.
Anna had gone into the forest completely unprepared, so she was definitely in danger.
And while saving her, it was also time to get her kicked out of the orphanage.
Bill looked back and forth between Klein and Lopez as she walked inside.
Medina approached the still-frozen Klein.
“That’s amazing! You saved Lopez!”
“Ah…”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“…No.”
Klein felt dazed.
Honestly, considering how he’d treated her until now, Lopez would’ve been completely justified in using this to exploit his weakness.
But instead, she had not only kept his secret—she had thanked him.
‘…Why?’
She had every reason to hate him.
Wasn’t now the perfect time to corner him?
Klein glared at Lopez’s disappearing back.
‘What exactly are you scheming?’
“Klein!”
“Ah.”
“What’s wrong? You must’ve been really scared.”
Medina’s worried face filled his vision.
As he looked at her, Klein unconsciously rubbed his own arm.
When he’d been carrying Lopez, she’d felt warm.
Now that the warmth was gone, he strangely felt cold.
“Still, Lopez was right. It could’ve turned really dangerous.”
At Medina’s words, the children began whispering among themselves.
The misunderstanding that Lopez had just been causing trouble had been cleared up, but nobody wanted to admit it openly.
Placing her hands on her hips, Medina firmly scolded them.
“You should admit when you were wrong! That’s what Teacher Megan taught us!”
“…”
“Let’s go apologize to Lopez.”
After hesitating, the children finally followed Medina into the orphanage.
“Damn it! Where is that stupid dog…?!”
Anna ran around frantically.
She had to get rid of the evidence before the director saw anything…!
Grinding her teeth, she pulled out a switch.
Target acquired: Megan.
I deliberately messed up my hair before running straight toward Megan and crashing into her legs as if by accident.
“Ahh!”
“Oh my, Lopez! Are you alright?”
“T-teacher…?”
Seeing me on the verge of tears, Megan startled and quickly helped me up.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
As she gently wiped away the tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, I shouted,
“T-Teacher Anna is in danger!”
At the mention of Anna’s name, Megan’s expression stiffened for a moment before relaxing.
“Tell me slowly.”
“W-we were playing treasure hunt… and a dog appeared outside! A really huge dog! I-it almost bit me, but Klein helped me escape…”
“Wait… it almost bit you? Were you hurt? Let me see!”
Megan immediately turned pale and anxiously inspected me from head to toe.
I calmed her down and shook my head.
“N-no, thankfully I’m okay. The other children are safe too.”
“That’s good. Thank goodness.”
Only after sighing in relief did Megan ask about Anna.
“Did you tell Teacher Anna there was a dog?”
“Yes. I-I definitely told her before treasure hunt that I heard barking, but she didn’t believe me…”
“Are you saying she didn’t even check?”
I nodded while sniffling, then suddenly shouted as though remembering the important part belatedly.
“B-but that’s not what matters right now! Teacher Anna went into the forest alone…!”
Megan stroked my head, looking utterly appalled.
“Instead of getting the children somewhere safe, she rushed into the forest to destroy evidence first…”
Biting her lip in disgust, she continued,
“For now, Lopez, tell the nurse what happened and stay in the classroom with the Class 1 children. Can you do that?”
“Yes, teacher!”
After hearing my answer, Megan hurried upstairs to the fourth floor, likely to report everything to the director first.
Only then did I roughly wipe away my tears.
What happened next depended entirely on how Megan acted.
She was the kind of teacher who truly cherished children—the type who asked if I was safe before anything else.
She couldn’t simply stand by and watch abused children suffer, but at the same time, she lacked the power to stop it outright.
So whenever the children caused trouble, if Anna hadn’t found out yet, Megan would quietly handle things herself to keep them out of the punishment room.
Still, Megan wasn’t simply a kind person.
She was gentle with children, but endlessly cold toward rotten people like Anna.
She had merely been waiting for the right opportunity.
And I had just shown her that the time to move was now.
In the original novel, Megan was eventually driven out because she never got her chance.
But this time, things would go differently.
Not long after, I saw the director and several teachers heading into the forest carrying nets and weapons.
My role here was finished.
“Lopez noona… where are you?”
Ah, the green-haired kid appeared.
I hurriedly hid.
‘That’s Lopez’s hair!’
Even if she hides, I can see her.
Lopez really is an idiot!
Bill grinned excitedly.
