152) Interlude. Parents and Children

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As the nuance of the word itself suggests, a place called a hideout is rarely a very good facility.

Very occasionally, there are exceptions. If it's a place secretly sponsored by someone with an enormous amount of money, then that hideout will be spacious and clean.

They'd generously provide things to pass the time with and delicious food as well.

In that sense, the hideout supporting them was about half-and-half between those two extremes.

“So, you failed?”

“Yep, I failed. The kid grew up really well. She doesn't just get blindly swayed by whatever adults tell her.”

“...You didn't never intend to succeed in the first place, did you?”

“Maybe? Hmm, but wasn't I the wrong person to ask from the beginning? I told you already, didn't I? I have no talent for persuading people with words. I only said I'd try. When did I ever say I'd stake my life on succeeding?”

One woman answered another woman's words.

Shaking her head as if dumbfounded, she blew on the nail she had been grooming.

She was dressed in a business suit.

Contrary to the image commonly known to the public, there was no official uniform designated by the Korean Superhuman Association. Most misunderstandings about uniforms came from the heroes affiliated with the Association. Heroes often worked while wearing uniforms.

As for those heroes' uniforms, they were usually designed to match each individual hero's personality rather than following a unified style, so the Association employees themselves didn't really understand why that misunderstanding existed.

“More importantly, why are you talking to me like you're giving orders? Weren't you a failure too? No, before that, who thinks their child is just going to come running to them when they've never even acted like a mother? You said you've never even raised her.”

“That's all because of that woman. If that woman hadn't taken her away, I could've gone and brought her back openly.”

“Wow, talking about Meteor like that when you were always desperate to run away every time you fought her. Shouldn't you be grateful instead? If it weren't for ‘that woman,’ your daughter would've died a long, long time ago.”

At the younger woman's words, the less-young woman glared at her.

Her expression looked as though she wanted to snap her neck immediately, but the younger woman remained completely unfazed by the stare.

That made sense.

Receiving looks like that was part of her regular job.

Though usually she dealt with that sort of thing in the prison beneath the Association headquarters rather than in a spacious apartment like this.

Still, aside from the fact that security was looser here, the work wasn't all that different.

You could call it an occupational hazard.

Because even if the younger woman was a superhuman, her strength was inferior to that of the people living in this hideout.

The less-young woman—namely, the Witch—quietly studied the younger woman's face.

She couldn't kill her right now.

After all, one of the people sponsoring this place was the one who had freed the Witch. She needed this location for the time being, and for that to continue, it would be troublesome if an Association employee suddenly died.

But later.

If the opportunity arose.

The Witch swallowed the thought and relaxed her body.

Then she slumped across the sofa.

“You said you had a younger brother, didn't you?”

The Witch spoke casually.

The younger woman, who had been examining her nails, abruptly stopped moving.

Slowly, her gaze turned toward the Witch.

“I heard he goes to the same academy as my daughter.”

“Why are we talking about that all of a sudden?”

“Just saying. It means I know about him.”

“...And what are you going to do about it?”

The woman asked sharply.

“You can't even get near him anyway.”

“I got near him twice already, though. Well, I failed both times, but I got pretty close. It's a place I could visit whenever I wanted.”

Seeing the woman's reaction, the Witch relaxed.

Right.

I didn't even expect anything in the first place. As if a woman like this could even bring her back just because she was near her? Even I couldn't do it.

For someone who called herself a superhuman and prided herself on having surpassed humanity, her ability wasn't particularly transcendent.

She just became a little tougher.

If something becomes tougher, you just apply proportionally more force.

If I tear off her arms and legs and then pull out her joints one by one while she's still reeling from pain she's never experienced before, would she still look this relaxed?

“Hey.”

The woman stood up.

Then she walked toward the Witch.

“Why? What are you going to do about it?”

The Witch threw back the same words she'd heard moments ago.

“What can you do if you're angry?”

“...Why did you bring up my younger brother?”

“Nothing. You said the same thing, didn't you? That my daughter seems to have grown up well. So I thought I'd talk about your younger brother too. How is he? Did he grow up well? Is he bigger than other boys his age? Smaller? I don't know. I've never actually seen him. Well? Did he grow up better than my daughter? Or does he think exactly like you?”

“If you mention my family one more time—”

“That's what I'm asking. If I do mention them, what exactly can you do about it?”

The Witch stared straight at the woman as she asked.

“......”

“Seo Arin.”

Just as the Witch was about to throw out another remark toward the woman glaring at her, a voice interrupted her.

Turning her head, she saw an ordinary-looking middle-aged man standing there.

He wore a suit without a tie, and the top button of his shirt was undone.

His forehead glistened with sweat, making it look as though he had just come home.

“That's enough.”

“What, are you taking her side because she's from the Association too? That's harsh. Are you discriminating against me because I'm from prison?”

“......”

When the man looked at the younger woman, she frowned and turned away, leaving the room.

“Aw, I was finally having some fun.”

“Hoo...”

The man let out a deep sigh.

“If you came in here to blame me, then all I'm going to say is that this is entirely your fault. Isn't it? You make plans, then tell me to do this and do that. But when I actually get there, nothing's prepared. Then you complain because I disciplined the kid a little so she'd listen better.”

“Weren't you the one who came up with the plan? Besides, you spent a long time acting on your own. I only arranged this place for you after that—”

But the Witch's expression remained firm.

Not the face of someone strengthened by conviction, but the face of someone who simply couldn't be reasoned with.

So the man sighed again.

“Aren't I helping with your plan?”

“......”

The man closed his mouth.

“If you superior humans are really so great, shouldn't you be able to accomplish everything without my help? Though personally, I'm happy enough to have gained such a comfortable place to stay.”

“Your daughter.”

At the man's words, Seo Arin's gaze fixed on his eyes.

“Why are you so obsessed with your daughter? You already abandoned her at an orphanage once.”

“I told you, I didn't abandon her. I left her there temporarily. I was planning to come back for her.”

“......”

“And besides, she grew up amazingly well, just like me. Have you seen that ability of hers? If I bring her back and raise her properly, she'll achieve great things. A child with an ability that magnificent is my daughter. Of course I should be the one raising her.”

“......”

The man thought to himself.

Then if her ability had been nothing special, would you have simply abandoned her?

The reason he didn't say it aloud was because he was, more or less, a normal person compared to the Witch.

Saying something like that about a child in front of their parent wasn't a particularly good thing to do.

But the Witch wasn't the type of person who would get angry about something like that.

Because to her, it was perfectly natural.

Even if he had spoken those thoughts aloud, the Witch would probably have simply tilted her head and said,

“Well, then that wouldn't be my daughter. I abandoned her, after all. Why? People always say that if you abandon your child, you're no longer their parent.”

And that would have been her answer.

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The exams ended safely.

I spent the weekend just playing around, but I'd studied incredibly hard normally.

Besides, it only came back to me after entering high school, but studying really is easier when several people do it together. If there was something I didn't know, I could ask immediately without hesitation, and I'd get an answer right away.

When we all gathered and compared our estimated scores, my results came out about the same as before, which was a relief.

Of course, Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun aren't the kind of people who'd scold us just because our grades dropped.

Still, I'd feel guilty.

They're the people who accepted someone like me—a girl with nothing particularly good going for her—as their daughter.

......

Hmm.

Maybe it's about time I really made a decision.

It's something I've been thinking about ever since I talked with Auntie Yujin that evening.

Even if I can't do anything else, maybe it's finally time to start calling them Mom and Dad for real.

Honestly, it's something I've been thinking about for a long time and just kept putting off.

But just because I've been thinking about it doesn't mean I can actually bring myself to say it out loud.

I mean, once finals are over, summer vacation is right around the corner.

Which means I'll be at home all the time.

So, um.

Since we'll finally be together again after such a long time, maybe I should seize an opportunity?

Maybe I should just go for it and call them that?

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“Hehueh!? U-uh, n-no, it's nothing.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when someone suddenly spoke to me while I was absentmindedly staring out the window.

When I turned around, it was Soi.

Those pure, clear eyes were looking at me.

Ever since she was very little, those eyes had never changed.

Soi genuinely thinks of me as her younger sister.

So, um.

Yeah.

I can't keep dragging this out forever.

Courage. I need courage.

If possible, before vacation ends.

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Pub: 31 May 2026 09:01 UTC

Edit: 31 May 2026 09:06 UTC

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