Before unnecessary misunderstandings grow, I spit out an excuse that doesn’t even seem like a proper excuse.
“Household account book?”
“Uh, it’s my mom’s.”
Now I’m selling out virtual parents without a blink. If a middle school or high school student were to hide a comic book under a textbook and say something like this, it would be plainly obvious and worthless.
However, I am currently an elementary school student who, under normal circumstances, can barely pull off a lie without it being obvious.
The smooth lie I casually throw out mixes with the incongruity of the existence of a household account book, creating an unnatural sense of ‘Did I really bring the wrong one from my real mom?’
“Right, you should only open textbooks during class. Put it in your bag.”
“Okay.”
Phew.
With the response, I let out a huge sigh of relief internally as I stick the account book into my bag. Gaining attention for a calculation that anyone can do during this time is obvious, and my bluff will be exposed soon enough.
Even as I try to adjust the answer rate by intentionally getting obviously clear problems wrong while bending my pride, flaunting the obvious knowledge I have from memories of my previous life is nothing more than an illusion stemming from a disconnect between my age and my memories.
“I can’t help it.”
Resigned, I utilized the blank spaces in the corners of the textbook, sowing two-digit numbers here and there to continue my spending plan for this month.
In the third period of a rainy morning, physical education.
The rain tapping on the window is still drizzling down.
Without needing to take out my gym clothes from the locker, I simply yawn without moving from my seat.
There are no times in school that seem as meaningless as the theoretical lessons conducted in the classroom during PE.
In essence, it’s just a term that provides free time under the meaningless phrase of indoor physical education.
An hour starts to pass where students roam freely in the classroom.
Even the PE teacher, who had been chasing a soldier wasp during the field trip, now enjoys this pointless time while glancing at a smartphone at the teacher’s desk.
“Hey, Kim Mari! What are you doing?”
“Don’t be a nuisance, Panda.”
A boy invading someone else’s free time while I’m in the middle of serious household account calculations.
“Ugh!”
Even though he said he would help, the damn kid squashes my account book as if waving it in his palm.
I quickly extend my foot out from beyond the desk and kick his shins right away.
“Ow!”
A proficient shin kick that can be replicated even in indoor slippers.
After kicking, I swiftly return my leg to its original position before eyes gather on me.
“Don’t blame me; I said I was just helping.”
“Teacher! Mari kicked me!”
“When did I? I just bumped into the desk!”
“Don’t lie!”
Shamelessly contesting his valid argument with lies.
The boy, typical of kids who think everything they see and feel is the truth, excitedly interrogates me.
Unable to endure the chaos, the PE teacher, who had been looking at his smartphone, slowly approaches.
“What’s going on?”
“He bumped into the desk and now says I kicked him.”
“Don’t lie!”
Even I think that’s a plausible excuse.
In debates among kids where a clear right and wrong are being separated, the side that remains calm and angry is generally taken more seriously.
The boy who screams only not to lie, is a typical troublemaker.
The girl who calmly produces a plausible falsehood without causing trouble.
As a teacher, which side would you choose to support?
The PE teacher’s mediation strayed far from the truth.
“Su-hyun was wrong; apologize to Mari quickly.”
“No, that’s not it… it’s true…! Ugh, no way—!”
They say it’s a curse to trust a reliable friend.
In the end, Su-hyun, the boy, ends up crying at the truth that doesn’t even reach the teacher.
Children’s tears are proof that they only come out when they truly feel wronged.
Thus, the truth lost, and the lie emerged victorious.
I’ve learned the distrust of adults and the bitterness of the world at an early age.
After the noisy PE class passed, the only meaningful time in school: lunch.
“Oh, galbi jjim.”
For Nana and Shiyeon, who are stuck with delivery food, meals that at least show a bit of a variety in colors.
Pieces of meat simmered in a sweet galbi sauce that will serve as the main side dish, along with jorangyi rice cakes.
Aside from that, there’s rice, egg soup, and side dishes like cubed radish kimchi or spinach, with yogurt as dessert.
Once I cleared my food tray, I rubbed my oddly satisfied stomach.
Now, I only worry about how to spend that last hour with some other thought.
Finally, the much-awaited school dismissal time! But…
“Is it really my turn to clean?”
Of all things, cleaning duty is what I got stuck with.
Shiyeon, who usually waits in front of our class when it’s not a day to play with friends.
“Go ahead first, I can go alone.”
“Okay!”
A bold answer to the question of whether I can go alone.
Unlike Gomtaengi, Shiyeon’s mascot tends to stick beside her, so even though she says she’s going alone, I can babysit her a bit more comfortably.
In truly dangerous situations, I made her promise to transform and not to reveal herself.
Today’s cleaning duty, made up of quiet girls, finished smoothly compared to when the boys are around.
There was just a little more time for cleaning duty, yet the school scenery was already eerily empty.
With a languid yawn, I carry my indoor slippers bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other, heading home.
Crossing through the alley towards home, even a bit of the kids who once walked the same path have now disappeared.
An unnecessary winding alley where cars don’t even need to pass through.
Occasionally, if someone passes by, it could be someone familiar, just about.
…It should’ve been like that.
“Hey, student.”
“Yes?”
A voice coming from behind, where clearly no one was.
As I turn around, a figure in a black cap and black mask seems to say, ‘I am not an innocent person.’
Dressed in a gray hoodie and roughly put together sweatpants.
As soon as our eyes meet, he suddenly lowers his pants.
Naturally, something that I don’t have now becomes visible.
It wasn’t even clearly visible in the thick rain.
“….”
“It isn’t even worth being exposed.”
A flashback to the legendary exposure patient.
Ignoring the brief impression of the object that had appeared, I just calmly turned away and slowly walked home.
“Whoa?!”
“Yeah.”
As soon as I arrived home, I heard Shiyeon’s cheerful voice.
The musty smell of the rain intrudes the house, emanating from the laundry basket.
“But I’m going to go out.”
Today’s schedule, which turned out suddenly, became a journey of catching a mad pervert instead of a monster.
Since I’ve stained my eyes, it’s also not good for Shiyeon emotionally.
With that thought in mind, I set my bag and indoor slippers, slightly damp from the rain, near the entrance and took my umbrella, heading outside.
After changing in a proper spot, I carefully took to the skies, making sure not to tear my umbrella.
Even in a transformed state, I dislike getting my body wet.
“There he is.”
From the sky, I identified eight black umbrellas.
Excluding a few walking their path, one umbrella remained still as if it had a target.
Even foolishly near the alley where I had just walked.
I wondered if another girl would pass by alone as I looked for something in the alley.
The small umbrella slowly entered the alley from a distance, while the black umbrella moved towards it as if it had found its target.
Like a predator spotting its prey, I too slowly approached beneath it.
“Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo—♪”
Plop, plop, the sound echoing as the puddles were stepped on was cheerful.
The torrential rain that could be dreadful to housewives might be part of the fun for innocent children.
That black umbrella slowly closed in on the child, ready to ruin their day.
“Hey, little one…”
Using a method that’s not much different from my own time, that black voice slowly…
“Yah?!”
With a suddenly raised voice, it couldn’t reach the child.
“What?”
The child turned around at the voice that seemed to be calling them, but all that was there was a lonely black umbrella rolling around in the wind.
And right above that black umbrella.
Sun, holding onto the hood of a black hoodie, grabbed the pervert where the clouds met.
At a height that would make buildings look like small beans.
Unbelievably, the pervert, who had just had a smile on his face, was now gripping his shirt as if it were his lifeline, with a terrified expression.
“Ugh, uhhhhh!”
“Don’t struggle or I’ll drop you.”
Surprisingly tamed, the pervert was held in one hand, and we arrived at the nearby police station.
Since I didn’t have hands, I tilted the umbrella and knocked on the glass door.
A few police officers, who were lazily sitting on a rainy day, rushed outside after confirming the familiar figure beyond the glass.
The sound that reached my ears through the glass went like this.
“What? Isn’t that Sun?”
“Wow, I’m seeing the real thing without a mask for the first time.”
From beyond the clattering glass door.
A police officer who seemed quite mature greeted us warmly, fiddling with the cap of his hat.
“Welcome. Um, what brings you here?”
“What should I do about a guy who only targets elementary school students and shows his genitals in front of them?”
“Th-that guy doesn’t only target elementary school students….”
As I quickly recounted the crimes of the pervert I held, he was left speechless in a situation where he couldn’t defend himself.
To that guy, I kicked his belly, which was floating in the air with my foot instead of my empty hands.
“Ugh!”
“Consider it a compliment, you bastard.”
My high-level shin-kicking skills had a lot of use after all.
