Kim Yeon-woo, the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Grade 3 at Starlight Elementary School, was sitting in a chair, watching the children play. A staff member stood beside her.
The two adults were thoroughly monitoring the kids, just in case one of them fell into the water and got into an accident. To others, it might have seemed like overkill.
It wasn’t like the water was deep enough to drown a child. At most, it would reach just below their stomachs. They’d probably just stand up and solve the problem before they even started flailing.
But the kids didn’t know what accidents could happen. It was all about preventing the “what ifs.” Every year, people drowned for no reason. Most of them got careless during water play and then—gone.
People who were afraid of water didn’t go in, so they didn’t get into accidents. Most drowning victims were actually confident swimmers. That’s what made water play so dangerous.
The pool here was wide open and easy to see. Kim Yeon-woo yawned loudly as she watched the kids playing hard. She was tired because she’d woken up early to prepare for today’s swimming lesson.
Just then, the staff member spoke to her.
“Um… one of the students is trying to go outside the pool area?”
There was no reason to go outside since the pool area had restrooms and other facilities. The kid trying to leave was Hana, a troublemaker with green hair. Not knowing what kind of mischief she might pull, Kim Yeon-woo got up from her chair.
“Please watch the other kids. I’ll go after Hana. Just in case something happens.”
Hana might have been going to the nurse’s office because she wasn’t feeling well. Kim Yeon-woo hurriedly got up and followed Hana. She had to walk a bit faster because of the distance, but she didn’t run. The pool floor was slippery, and if she tripped, she might end up in the hospital herself.
As she followed Hana, the girl predictably went somewhere strange—the area where the older kids practiced swimming. Kim Yeon-woo opened the door and followed Hana in as soon as she entered. With solid evidence, Hana wouldn’t be able to argue. But Hana’s diving speed was much faster than Kim Yeon-woo expected.
“Help me!”
Hana was flailing in the empty pool. Without even thinking about taking off her clothes, Kim Yeon-woo jumped in. There was no time to hesitate when her student was in trouble. The water was deep, reaching just below Kim Yeon-woo’s chest—too deep for Hana to touch the bottom.
Hana instinctively flailed and clung tightly to Kim Yeon-woo, who shouted at her.
“Hana! Hold onto me tight!”
“Ahhh!”
Hana screamed and clung to Kim Yeon-woo like a lifeline. The strength of children, especially when survival instincts kicked in, was no joke. Hana held on so tightly that Kim Yeon-woo almost lost her balance.
If Kim Yeon-woo hadn’t been able to touch the bottom, both of them could have been in danger. Luckily, it was an elementary school pool, so the depth wasn’t too extreme.
They managed to get out of the pool. Hana coughed, having swallowed a lot of water. Kim Yeon-woo patted her back to help her recover. Hana coughed for a long time.
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“So, Hana, you know you’re in trouble, right?”
“Teacher…”
Hana looked at Kim Yeon-woo with sparkling eyes, but Kim Yeon-woo remained firm. If Hana kept causing accidents like this, who knew what would happen later? She had to nip this in the bud.
Hana was sent back to the pool area, where she stood next to the teacher’s chair with her hand raised. The other kids occasionally glanced her way. They knew Hana had done something wrong and was being punished. Even Jiyu and Yumi didn’t come to her side.
Hana looked at Jiyu and Yumi with pleading eyes, hoping for rescue, but there was nothing they could do. And so, the swimming lesson ended like that.
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“Alright! Spread out and look for Tangle! Don’t go too far, and don’t forget to come back on time!”
Kim Chun-bae and the villagers’ bold plan was in full swing. They scattered around, picking fruits as if they worked at the Tangle farm. It was the third day since the fruits had ripened, so there weren’t many left.
Kim Chun-bae had targeted the third day because security was at its weakest. On the first day…
Wow, day 2 was super strict because the fruits were the most abundant. So, even after searching for an hour, I barely collected any. Half the village came to pick fruits, but we only managed to gather about 50.
Of course, even that was a huge achievement. There’s no farming job that earns over 100 million won in just an hour. The money I’ve made from farming so far probably amounts to that much. The villagers only did small-scale farming.
“Hehehe… Who knew making money could be this easy?”
They say a needle thief becomes a cow thief, and Kim Chunbae was getting bolder by the day. At his old age, he finally tasted the sweetness of money.
“Chunbae, sir, are you planning to start a Tangle farm? Didn’t you only grow rice before?”
“Ah, don’t ask too many details. Just know I’ve found a way to grow Tangle. And all you need to do is buy Tangle, right?”
“That’s true. As long as I can buy Tangle, I don’t mind.”
Since it was an employee who had been dealing with Kim Chunbae for a long time, they didn’t make a big deal out of it. The employee didn’t ask too many questions as long as Chunbae brought genuine Tangle.
As long as the Tangle was intact, that was enough. The rest didn’t matter. It’s like how banks accept money no matter how it’s earned—whether it’s blood money or money earned through scams, it’s all the same to them.
From the employee’s perspective, it was the same. As long as they could buy Tangle cheaply, they didn’t care how it was obtained. As long as they could keep buying it, that was enough. No need to ruin a good business relationship by prying too much.
—
Kim Sehee wasn’t sitting idle either. Building a barrier was the first line of defense. Once the barrier around the Tangle farm was complete, there would be no more worries about theft from outsiders.
It was rare for anyone to climb over a 5-meter-high barrier with no footholds. Once the barrier was up, only internal personnel would need to be checked.
However, during that period, they decided to use drones to catch thieves. The area outside the Tangle farm was mostly flat with no hiding spots or obstacles. So, launching a drone for surveillance could cover a massive area.
One drone could cover almost 1 km in radius. With drone technology improving these days, it could stay airborne for a long time, and Kim Sehee even equipped it with a high-quality camera and night vision capabilities.
Luckily, outside the Tangle farm’s boundary, there were no other houses except for the village where Kim Chunbae lived. Choosing this remote, uninhabited countryside was paying off.
“These people are getting bolder by the day.”
Kim Sehee was watching the evidence footage captured by the employee. The drone was filming from Kim Chunbae’s village. The drone was so precise and quiet that even in modern warfare, people wouldn’t realize they were being watched, let alone ordinary elderly folks.
Right now, Kim Chunbae and the villagers were chatting and walking toward the Tangle farm as if they were on an outing. The drone captured it all, including them illegally entering the farm and picking the fruits.
To make sure they couldn’t deny it, the drone zoomed in and captured each of their faces. With this high-quality footage, even the court wouldn’t have much to say. The evidence was perfect, starting from the footage taken in the village.
“Still, just to be safe, let’s catch them red-handed during the next harvest season.”
Kim Sehee said. It didn’t make sense to let these criminals roam free. She planned to catch them during the next harvest.
And Kim Sehee had an even bigger goal in mind.
