28) Chapter 6. Let’s Go Home. (1)
My body stiffened.
Had she met my eyes? Was she really looking at me?
I couldn’t tell. It sounded like she was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it from here.
The woman tilted her head, then began walking with light steps.
She hopped right over the circle drawn on the ground.
The man who had tried to stop her struggled to get up, then collapsed again. Even from far away, I could see him twitching.
“Ah… over there.”
One of the kids pointed somewhere with a terrified expression, as if only now realizing it.
The red circle drawn in the middle of the field was bright and obvious, but outside the field was different. Red paint on black asphalt or old cement didn’t stand out as much.
And it was far.
There were people collapsed near the school gate too. Staff members? Or maybe people sent by the Association to protect us, like the man on the field?
The first person who came to mind was Auntie Yujin. I wished she would hurry. I wished she would arrive before that woman did.
But my phone vibrated again.
Another alert about the ongoing incident. Stay indoors, follow police instructions if outside.
If Auntie Yujin had already left before the woman arrived…
“……”
The kids looked anxiously at the teacher.
In a situation like this, the teacher’s job was to keep the students from going outside.
But what if someone was breaking into the school?
What if locking the doors wasn’t enough?
Had the police been called? Could they arrive in time? And even if they did, wouldn’t there just be more victims?
The teacher’s phone rang. She answered, her expression darkening, then looked at us.
“Everyone, stay calm. Don’t panic. We’re going out through the back door, okay?”
I looked out the window again.
Maybe a hundred meters away? The woman wasn’t rushing. The teachers were probably trying to get as many students out as possible before she reached the building. If she came inside while we were still here—
I didn’t want to think about it.
“……”
Soi squeezed my hand tightly. Even as we stood and followed the teacher into the hallway, she didn’t let go.
Outside, I could see the backs of students already lined up and going down the stairs. They must have started with the classes closest to the stairwell.
We had gone down about one floor when—
A loud crash echoed from the first floor.
The students froze.
Then another crash. Something being struck hard. A creaking sound like something about to break. A scream. A shout.
Someone started crying. Some called for their parents, others just sobbed—
“Shh. Quickly.”
The teacher pressed a finger to her lips and whispered.
The students moved carefully downward.
The lower we went, the louder the sounds became. It was coming from the central doors of the building.
The creaking grew louder. Whatever was blocking the door sounded like it would break any moment.
The kids’ breathing and whimpers grew louder too.
By the time our class reached the side exit on the first floor—
A deafening crash rang out.
I wasn’t sure who screamed first. Probably a girl.
That scream pushed the kids forward. No one knew if someone had entered the building, but the entire group surged, and I was shoved from behind.
Even then, Soi held onto my hand. Making sure I didn’t fall.
Were we the last class? First-years were on the third floor, so if our class was moving, that meant we were among the last to leave.
Teachers were in the hallway, shouting, trying to keep kids from falling, trying to get them out even in this chaos.
I turned back without thinking, even as Soi pulled me forward.
Far down the hallway, a woman was walking in. Slowly. I couldn’t tell if she was young or old, but her hair was glossy and beautiful.
She looked… dressed up. Like she was going to an interview. Or meeting someone important.
Maybe she wasn’t targeting anyone specific. Maybe she saw the alert about the incident and decided to vent her frustrations.
Like what happened at my orphanage.
“…Huh?”
Like at the orphanage? A normal orphanage suddenly attacked by a superhuman? Someone strong enough to kill a competent hero if things went wrong?
…No.
Maybe that assumption was wrong.
Like my orphanage.
What if she hadn’t chosen randomly? What if she had chosen me? What if she had attacked because she wanted to get to me, and the hero got hurt trying to stop her?
Auntie Yujin was a very good person. Even good people can break if they lose someone they love.
But would she really abandon a child she took in—unless there was a specific reason?
Unless Seo Rua’s downfall wasn’t coincidence but inevitability?
No. No. That’s just delusion. That can’t be it.
Even if she lost someone she loved, that doesn’t mean—
My steps stopped.
“Rua!?”
Soi turned back, startled.
Ahead of us, a girl with pink hair—pushed along by the crowd—turned toward us at the sound.
My body wouldn’t move.
My other arm was floating in the air.
No—being held. A hand gripping mine gently but firmly.
An invisible hand.
The woman turned toward me.
The kids around me noticed something was wrong and scrambled away, pressing themselves against the wall, trembling.
Soi tried to pull me harder, but my body wouldn’t budge.
“Hmm.”
Tap, tap. Her heels echoed down the hallway.
The teachers stood frozen, pale as ghosts.
“Is this how this school greets parents?”
She smiled as she spoke.
I thought she was beautiful.
Yes. In terms of pure sensation—
It was like the feeling I had when I first became aware of myself in this world.
When I saw my reflection in the mirror.
“I dressed up for this, you know. How rude.”
Brushing off the blood on her clothes as if it were spilled coffee—nothing about her was normal.
Not that breaking into a school was normal to begin with.
“Y-you are…?”
My homeroom teacher began, then fell silent.
“Oh, yes. I’m Seo Arin. I’m Rua’s mother.”
She bowed politely, as if she really were a parent.
Then she straightened, cupping her cheeks with sparkling eyes, as if overwhelmed with emotion.
“Wow, I really wanted to do this someday. I can’t believe the day finally came.”
Were those tears?
It looked like something was welling in her eyes.
“……”
Everyone stared at her, mouths open.
Then their gazes shifted to me. One hand held by Soi, the other held by the woman.
Their stares hurt.
I couldn’t lift my head.
I didn’t want to believe it. I wanted it to be a misunderstanding. I wanted her to have the wrong person.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
Everyone heard. The teachers, the students. They all heard that she came here for me. That she called me her daughter.
The people collapsed on the field, the ones at the gate—they were all down because of me. The red circle on the field too.
How many teachers had tried to hold the door? How badly were they hurt?
The kids who hadn’t escaped yet? The ones trembling against the walls?
Soi, holding my hand so tightly.
Chae‑yi, trying desperately to push through the crowd to reach me.
If anyone died or got hurt, it would all be because of me. Because I was here.
“W-wait! Please wait!”
As the woman stepped toward me, my teacher jumped in front of her.
She blocked the woman’s path. She flinched, but she didn’t move aside.
“You can’t take the child!”
Her voice was almost a scream.
Someone burst into tears. Others sobbed loudly, unable to hold it in.
Those sounds crushed me.
“Why not?”
Seo Arin asked calmly.
“B-because… I’m Rua’s homeroom teacher.”
“And a parent came to pick her up.”
“T-that’s not enough reason…”
“You can tell by the ability. It’s inherited.”
“N-no, superpowers don’t always work like that…”
She was stalling. Even if it didn’t fix anything, she had to buy time. The kids couldn’t stay here.
“Oh please, this isn’t a common ability. And I remember the orphanage I left her at. Do you think I’m stupid? I went to pick her up and someone stole her.”
“…What?”
The teacher’s voice cracked.
“So, could you move? I don’t have much time. If a meteor falls from the sky, even I can’t survive that. Still, I guess it wasn’t the worst thing that woman raised her. At least she didn’t starve.”
The teacher began to rise.
Her heels lifted, then she stood on tiptoe, then even the tips of her shoes left the ground.
Her feet kicked helplessly. One shoe fell off.
A choking sound escaped her.
She clawed at her neck, but her throat was being crushed by invisible fingers—
“No!”
I screamed.
“Rua, no!”
Soi screamed as I struggled to pull away from her.
“Oh, right.”
Seo Arin said, still choking the teacher.
“I remember something about parenting. Children should learn to make their own choices.”
As if nothing happening was serious, she tilted her head and looked at me.
Peeking around the teacher she was strangling.
“So? Should Mommy come get you, or will you come to Mommy yourself?”
The teacher’s legs thrashed harder. She lifted her head desperately, her face turning blue.
“I-I’ll go. I’ll go!”
“Rua!”
Soi cried out, almost sobbing.
I looked at her.
Her face was covered in tears. I’d seen that face once before—when I fainted after meeting a villain. She looked the same then.
I could live comfortably at home because of Soi. And yet I kept hurting her.
I didn’t want to go. Who would willingly give up happiness?
But—
If I didn’t move?
The teacher would die. And after that?
Soi, holding my hand…
No. Never.
Soi’s fingers slipped from mine one by one. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fight telekinesis.
“Rua! Rua!”
She cried desperately, trying to hold on, but her strength gave out.
She fell backward with a thud.
And my body—
Fell toward Seo Arin.
“Good girl. Children should listen well. You’ve become such a good girl.”
“A… good girl…?”
The teacher dropped to the floor.
She barely managed to roll over, crawling, gasping for breath.
But I couldn’t look away from the woman approaching me.
Her face—so much like mine—was saying something strange.
“Yes. Little Rua was so noisy. Always crying. That’s why I left you. Orphanage teachers are professionals, right? I was going to take you back once the noisy phase was over, but I guess I’m late.”
What?
What kind of reason was that?
“Honestly, people act like it’s weird. Isn’t that weird? I paid taxes until I was twenty-five. I have rights too, don’t I? The orphanage runs on government money anyway.”
Grumbling, Seo Arin leaned down and held out her hand.
“So, let’s go home. Really, if you’d come when Mommy called, none of this would’ve happened. Mommy knows everything. I’ve been watching to see when you’d come back, but you took too long. Our Rua needs a scolding at home.”