Chapter 4

My body wouldn’t budge, stuck in the hole as it was.

Why is this happening?

I definitely passed through earlier…

‘Don’t tell me it’s because I went in legs first?’

I groaned belatedly and tried to pull myself out, but my body wouldn’t budge an inch.

‘What do I do?’

It hurt and it was scary.

Because my head was sticking out into the pitch-black hallway of all things, my fear was doubled.

‘No. I think the side sticking my butt out would have been scarier.’

Things you can’t see are always scarier, after all.

Boo-hoo.

I sniffled back rising tears and agonized over my situation.

‘Should I wake up Ricky?’

If I woke him up in this state, I’d be teased about it until the day I left this prison, but…

Still, it couldn’t be helped.

I had to survive first and foremost, didn’t I?

It was just when I was about to open my mouth.

Thud.

The sound of footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.

Even when I glanced toward the sound, all I could see was pitch-black darkness.

No way…

Haha. It can’t be. What do you mean a monster or whatever…

‘I’m scared. I’m really scared!’

What do I do, what do I do.

Now, even if I wanted to wake up Ricky, I was so scared my voice wouldn’t come out.

Sniffle, sniffle.

Sniffling with tears and a runny nose, I squeezed my eyes shut. Even while I did, the footsteps grew closer and closer.

And then, the moment the footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

“…What is this?”

“Huuuup!”

At the voice that suddenly came from above my head, I swallowed my breath instead of screaming.

Just like that, one second, two seconds, three seconds passed.

After exactly three seconds passed, I flailed around like an overturned rhinoceros beetle and pleaded.

“Pwease save me! I don’t taste good…!”

Boohoo. Save Melony!

* * *

A moment later.

I bit my lip tightly.

‘I’m dying of embarrassment.’

I didn’t have the confidence to look at the face of the person standing in front of me.

“Thank you fow hewping me…”

So much for a good impression!

I only left a foolish impression.

“Ahem, right. You definitely don’t taste good… Kuff, I can see that.”

Opening my eyes at the voice full of laughter, I saw Mr. Oliver’s face.

Huh. Huhhh?

He popped me out with a ‘pop’ as I stood there dazed, blinking my eyes.

My body that wouldn’t budge an inch slid out with infuriating ease.

After pulling me out like a radish and setting me upright, he covered his mouth with his hand and turned his head away.

‘Excuse me. Your eyes are laughing.’

Your eyes are laughing way too much…!

I stood there pitifully and waited until Mr. Oliver’s laughter subsided.

“Ahem. Sorry. It’s my first time seeing something like this.”

I suppose so.

It’s my first time too.

“Anyway, do you live here too?”

“…Yes, that’s wight. I’m Melony. A child who wivs in Bwamchois.”

I nodded sullenly and held up four fingers.

Because my pronunciation is bad, he might not understand.

‘Huh? But his expression…’

Is it just my imagination that his expression seems a bit stiff?

“I see. So you’re four years old.”

He muttered quietly and added something.

“Strange. You look like you’re barely three.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Then did you come in with your parents? Is the man in that room your parent?”

He pointed to Ricky’s room with his thumb.

“No. I don’t have pawents.”

“You don’t?”

“Yes. Because I was abandoned…”

After saying it, I felt a bit gloomy.

A little, just a tiny bit.

“…My pawents must have weally hated me. Enough to wock me up somewhere no one could weave the moment I was bown…”

Oops, what am I saying right now.

I lifted my head and went ‘hehe’. I can’t go creating a needlessly gloomy atmosphere.

‘Besides, I really am fine.’

There was a time in my childhood when I missed my parents.

How ridiculous.

To miss something I’ve never even had.

But now, I was indifferent. The longing and resentment faded away, and I felt nothing.

Even the sudden surge of sorrow was forgotten after rubbing my nose a few times.

That was enough.

In life and survival, resenting and longing for parents who don’t even exist is of no help at all.

I smiled once more and puffed out my chest.

“Anyways, Mewony is the Bwamchois seniow. It’s okay to ask if you don’t know something! If you can’t sweep, I can even sing you a wullaby…”

“No need, go inside and sleep.”

“Yes.”

He has a surprisingly firm side to him.

‘I should retreat for today.’

It’s not good to be clingy from the first day. Above all, I was sleepy.

A child’s body needs more sleep than an adult’s.

Yawn.

I let out a small yawn and bowed my head.

“Goodnight. See you tomowwow, new uncwe.”

“Uncle…?”

Ignoring his dazed mutter, I staggered toward my room.

Oh dear. I need to sleep quickly.

Because tomorrow’s sun will rise tomorrow.

* * *

After the child entered her room.

The man, who had likewise returned to his own room, clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Pfft.”

Even so, he couldn’t hold back the laughter that escaped.

“Hahaha.”

A short laugh rumbled in his throat.

The image of a little child with hair as white as cotton candy floated around in his head.

‘What kind of kid is that?’

He couldn’t believe his eyes when he found that head poking out of the room.

“Pwease save me! I don’t taste good…!”

And how about when she begged saying she didn’t taste good.

‘She’s so skinny that even a monster wouldn’t want to eat her.’

As the image of her thin limbs and sunken cheeks came to mind, the smile vanished from Oliver’s face.

His face without a smile was utterly cold.

It even felt ruthless at a glance.

‘Four years old, an orphan abandoned the moment she was born.’

The child spoke indifferently about being abandoned.

Her voice did tremble, but she didn’t cry like she did when begging not to be eaten.

It was peculiar.

Don’t normal children cry when talking about such things?

“…A unique little brat.”

Come to think of it, she was unusual from the start.

Thinking about how she smiled brightly when their eyes met in the cafeteria.

‘That shouldn’t be possible.’

No matter how much he wore a smile, most children were too busy crying when their eyes met his.

Prey and predator.

The overwhelming difference in power.

It was due to the instinctive fear that came from it.

There were even adults who shook their legs in fear sometimes.

Yet the child smiled.

Far from crying or avoiding his gaze, she flashed a grinning smile.

Since it was his first time experiencing that, it was quite refreshing-.

‘…No. If you think about it, it’s not the first time.’

The smile vanished from the man’s face.

His sunken eyes rummaged through past memories.

‘There was someone before.’

Someone who flashed a bright smile the moment their eyes first met.

“…Ha.”

The man let out a light, hollow laugh and wiped his face with a dry hand.

The face revealed again maintained its usual calm.

“Anyway, I’m suddenly curious about their faces.”

The parents of that unique little brat, that is.

He wanted to see what kind of faces they had.

Should I look into it?

‘Well, I’ll think about that later.’

Crack.

Oliver lightly twisted his tired neck and reached his hand out to the wall.

“First, let’s take care of something else.”

Behind his smiling murmur, a line was drawn smoothly on the wall.

The line gradually widened to become a hole.

Oliver thrust his arm inside.

And then.

“Ugh?!”

He pulled someone out from within.

Crash, bang, boom.

The other person rolled on the floor with a loud clatter.

The one who made an entrance rolling on the floor was Ricky.

‘What is this. What’s going on!’

Just woken up, Ricky hurriedly looked around at the sudden disaster that had befallen him.

Then, spotting Oliver standing before him, he froze with a start.

“Oh my. I threw you down politely, though.”

Hasn’t politeness gone out the window the moment you threw someone?

But instead of saying that, Ricky shut his mouth.

Because this wasn’t someone he dared to say such things to.

Oliver approached Ricky with a languid smile.

With every step he took, Ricky’s shoulders flinched repeatedly.

He repeated inwardly over and over for him to please not come any closer, but-.

“You, you know me, right?”

In the end, a long hand grasped the trembling shoulder.