I’ll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

There’s one advantage to being a guardian of a ten-year-old child.

No one calls me out at night.

Thanks to that, I was able to put off everything until tomorrow and rest comfortably.

“Hyung, I’m bored.”

“……”

I didn’t get to rest that comfortably. A guardian has to take care of their child, after all.

“It’s bedtime.”

“Already?”

Mini-me widened his eyes, then climbed onto the bed without fuss.

Sometimes… No, not sometimes. Quite often, I could see habits from the research lab days in Mini-me. If he were an ordinary child, he’d have thrown a tantrum about not wanting to sleep at least once. But look at him quietly getting into bed without a single complaint.

This kind of lifestyle pattern is different from how I used to get under the Director's skin. Asking for snacks or new toys belonged to the category where the director, annoyed as he was, had no choice but to comply. But there were some things no amount of tantrums could change, wake-up time, bedtime, daily medication, injections. Stuff like that.

By the time I was adopted by my father, those habits had largely disappeared. Unlike Mini-me, I didn’t stay in the orphanage under the Ark’s supervision. To survive among kids my age at school, I had to grow stronger in a different sense than in the research lab. I was strong, and I survived.

It will take about that much time for those habits to disappear in Mini-me. With some guidance, they might vanish more quickly. But then again, I’d have to deal with the nuisance of a premature rebellious phase, so maybe I should just leave him alone…

“Hyung, good night.”

Seeing him lying there and calmly saying good night drained my energy.

Seeing his face sleeping with steady breathing so quickly, he really is just a child. The unconditional trust directed at me. The eyes that believe without a doubt that I’m his hyung.

Enough.

There’s no point thinking about things I can’t resolve.

I fiddled with the mana watch. When I lightly rubbed the watch panel, the screen lit up. Since it looked like a watch, naturally, it functioned as one too.

Even after twenty years, it’s not like watch designs would change drastically. At this point, it just looks like an ordinary, clunky watch. Not an analog watch, so I suppose it’s closer to a smartwatch.

The difference? Well, instead of electricity, it runs on the user’s mana.

It’s technology that doesn’t exist in 2021. A semi-permanent mana battery. It’s impressive. After my vacation, we were set to start mass production. I was planning to make so many things. But it all went up in smoke.

Hmm.

Just in case, I searched for Alex Hope’s name on the mana watch again.

I already knew the result.

[Search Results – 0 Items]

There’s nothing I can do. This only has domestic data.

Staring at it won’t change the 0 search results.

“……”

Fine. Since Mini-me’s asleep, I might as well do something else.

I grabbed the phone I’d left on the bedside table. Thanks to Mini-me, there were no disturbances, so it was easier to work.

Calling this “work” makes it sound too grand. It’s nothing special. I was simply pulling up the current list of active dungeons on my phone and comparing it to the past dungeon records saved on my mana watch. The Siren’s Nest that Hong Seok-young and Kim Chae-min raided last time was originally supposed to break. Since the kids came out of Myeong-dong alive, Hong Seok-young probably raided far more dungeons than he was supposed to. I feel better keeping track of these things ahead of time.

It’d be much easier with a laptop… But internet history can always be traced. Now that I know Lee Mi-seon is part of the International Ability Association, it’s better to just do this manually.

The charger disconnected from the phone. The pitiful necessity of humans living in 2021.

...It was also something that wasn't in Lee Seung-yeon's room.

My thoughts drifted back to Lee Seung-yeon.

If I were Lee Seung-yeon, I would’ve used a more complicated method to evade my aunt’s pursuit. Buying multiple bus tickets to cause confusion, for instance.

But Lee Seung-yeon isn’t a criminal, he’s just a regular runaway teenager. There was no need to overthink it that much.

Look at that. A kid who threw away his phone to avoid being tracked still took his charger with him.

Making Kang Tae-woo leave his phone behind was just a smokescreen. After all, there’s someone here who would do almost anything for a request from Lee Seung-yeon.

Lee Seung-yeon’s childhood friend, Sun Sun-jin.

*

“Hey! Have you seen my socks?”

“Why are you asking me about your socks? Didn’t you just not wash them?”

“They’re new, okay?!”

The kids were lively from the morning, completely unaware of what had happened last night. They were so noisy that my head started to ache.

Lee Mi-seon was nowhere to be seen, and neither were the Hunters from Daseon. At least Ji Yoo-geon had come out with a tired face and was preparing breakfast for the kids.

"Good morning, Teacher."

“Did you find anything?”

There was no subject, but Ji Yoo-geon understood and nodded.

“Thanks to you, I have a general direction to look in… But maybe because the bus terminal is old, the management is a mess. The CCTV quality is terrible, too.”

Ji Yoo-geon yawned widely.

“As I said yesterday, this isn’t really… our job.”

“Why? You were able to find Alex Hope just fine.”

“Well, his features were too distinct, weren’t they?”

Right. That's true.

His face had stood out far too much. Ji Yoo-geon kept yawning as he continued.

“We still ran the data, just in case, and we didn’t expect it to turn up so easily, to be honest.”

“Shouldn’t it be easier to find a runaway teenager than a mysterious crazy Hunter?”

“Seung-yeon….”

Ji Yoo-geon laughed vacantly.

“That kid’s going to be something great one day. Master insists he’s not, but in my opinion, he’s the spitting image of the Master. We did manage to figure out which bus he took, though.”

“Yeah? And?”

“He took a bus heading to Daejeon. So we checked the CCTV for the drop-off time, but….”

“But?”

“There’s nothing.”

“…What do you mean, there’s nothing?”

With half-vacant eyes, Ji Yoo-geon chopped carrots. Still, he was a Hunter, so even with that disheveled look, he managed not to cut his fingers. The shape of the carrots couldn’t be guaranteed, though.

Rather than being “chopped”, the carrots were more like shattered into pieces. Well, it all looks the same once it’s in your mouth.

“He definitely got on the bus, but there’s no record of him getting off. We were running around at dawn trying to figure out what was going on….”

Ji Yoo-geon yawned and sighed at the same time. A mushroom in his hand was now meeting the same fate as the carrots.

“That route drops off passengers once before arriving at the terminal.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. Ah.”

Ji Yoo-geon began stir-frying the prepared ingredients in a large frying pan. Well, given his state, making fried rice for ten people was probably the simplest option.

“We confirmed that he got off and took a taxi from there. I came back out here to make the kids’ breakfast. Uh… Do you want a separate meal for the kid?”

Mini-me…. Never mind.

“No, my little brother’s still sleeping.”

“At that age, they need to sleep a lot to grow. Look at me. I didn’t sleep enough back then, and now I’m like this.”

Though he said that, it didn’t seem like he was particularly short.

“I didn’t sleep much either, but I still grew fine.”

“…I envy you. I hope the kid takes after you.”

Not only will he take after me, but our genes are 100% identical, so he should end up as tall as I am, at the very least.

I shrugged and helped him pull out the bowls. Ji Yoo-geon nodded in thanks as he scooped the fried rice into them.

“I’ll go call the kids.”

“That’d be a big help.”

By now, the kids were probably all awake and huddled together in front of the TV. I never understood why they gathered there when they were too busy fighting over the remote to actually watch anything.

A few impatient ones were already peeking into the kitchen, noticing from the smell that breakfast was almost ready.

“Teacher!”

"Are you happy to see me, or happy to see food?"

“Uh, both?”

Choi Jin-woo scratched his head and laughed. I snorted and gestured toward the kitchen with my chin.

“Go eat your breakfast.”

"Yes!"

“And Sun Sun-jin?”

“…Yes?”

“Come here for a moment.”

Sun Sun-jin, who had been sprawled on the couch, raised herself up with a suspicious look.

Only after making sure all the kids had gone into the kitchen did I hold out my hand to her.

“What?”

“Hand it over.”

“Hand what…?”

“Your phone.”

Sun Sun-jin blinked. She was trying hard to make her expression look as innocent as her name suggested, but her effort wasn’t paying off.

“Well, um, my phone…”

“Hmm.”

“The… the screen is broken.”

“That’s fine. I just want to check if you have it.”

"Ac, ac, actually, I lost it..."

"Really? That's serious. Should I tell Hunter Lee? It’ll be inconvenient without it?”

"Uh, uhh..."

Sun Sun-jin fidgeted with her fingers, clearly flustered.

I smirked.

“Lee Seung-yeon took it, didn’t he?”

“…That’s…”

“I’m not trying to scold you. I just need to figure out where he went, so I’m asking.”

“I-I’m sorry….”

“I told you I’m not trying to scold you.”

Although I didn’t think Alex Hope would attack a third time, I could still understand Lee Mi-seon’s concerns.

But dragging back a kid who ran away so deliberately wasn’t going to solve anything. It’d be cleaner to coax him back gently. And once I knew where he was, I could just monitor him from a distance.

"I won't tell Hunter Lee, so don't worry."

“…Okay.”

“Now go eat.”

“…Okay.”

Sun Sun-jin walked into the kitchen, looking somehow defeated.

“Oh? Teacher Woo, aren’t you eating?”

Ji Yoo-geon popped his head out and asked.

“I’ll eat when my little brother wakes up.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I prepared a portion for him, too, so just let me know.”

After giving Ji Yoo-geon a casual nod, I pulled out my phone. Let’s see, Sun Sun-jin’s number….

What should I write?

‘Call me once you see this. Before I tell your aunt.’

The response was quick.

I smirked at the phone vibrating in my hand. He’d been moving all night, yet he was still so diligent. Or maybe he was still on the move?

What a waste, using an Awakened’s strong stamina like this.

The moment I answered, I got straight to the point.

“Where are you?”

-Um.... Ah, hello?

“Hello, my foot. I asked where you are.”

- Do I have to tell you…?

"Your aunt is really angry."

-Ah, really?

Lee Seung-yeon replied in a calm voice.

- I figured, so I was planning to stay out a bit longer before going back.

Hearing that deflated voice made Lee Mi-seon’s worrying seem pointless.

This is why raising a nephew is a waste. Not that I have a nephew.

“One week.”

- …What?

“I’ll give you one week. For exactly one week, I’ll hold your aunt back.”

- Th-thank you?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“But.”

I heard him gulp. The sound quality was surprisingly good.

“Tell me where you are right now. And where you’re staying. If you move, report to me immediately. Actually, call me every night.”

- ……

“After what happened, you think it’s okay to just leave? Even you know you acted thoughtlessly, right?”

Lee Seung-yeon didn’t answer. I didn’t say anything more and just waited until he finally spoke up.

- …Yes.

"I don't know what you were thinking. But I'm giving you a week because you put so much effort into running away. Make a decision after that.”

This time, he replied a bit quicker.

- Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry.

Hearing his voice sounding so deflated, I didn’t have the heart to scold him anymore.

I sighed.

“What about Kang Tae-woo?”

- He’s right here next to me.

“Good. Stay together. Where are you now?”

- Right now? We’re in Yeosu.

“…Yeosu?”

- Yeah. We wanted to see the ocean.

“...The ocean?”

- Yep. It’s nice.

"Right... see the ocean.... You know there's an ocean in front of the villa too, right?"

- Oh, come on. That ocean and this ocean are completely different. This one’s much more romantic.

Romantic, my ass.

The momentary pity I’d felt disappeared, and I had to bite back the stream of curses that rose to my throat. My self-control was the only thing keeping me from saying them out loud.

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