< In Front of Kids >
This time too, Kim Sunghan doubled as a driver and followed us. It was because Yerim obviously didn’t and I also didn’t have a driver’s license. To be precise, this time period’s me didn’t. I got my license and bought a car when I managed to become a Hunter somehow, despite being F-Rank.
My baby[1] wouldn’t be born yet. Should I buy the same type of car this time too?
As soon as we reached the apartment entrance, Yerim had a nervous appearance. Well, she was still only a young fifteen-year-old girl. Even if the relationship was bad, cutting off adult relatives who were taking care of you wouldn’t be a comfortable thing to do.
Still, maybe thanks to the S-Rank Mental[2] stat, she pressed the elevator button without wavering. There also was no hesitation in selecting the floor.
It seemed like there wasn’t much to worry over.
“It’s here.”
Yerim said, getting off at the 14th floor and then turning around after moving toward the righthand door.
“Even if that uncle of yours becomes unpleasant, you absolutely cannot deal with him. It becomes troublesome if a high-ranking Awakened Person touches a normal person. Even if you get mad, hold it in.”
But I was stat F, which wasn’t much different from a normal person, so it was okay. Yerim looked discontent but nodded her head.
After a last inspection, I stood in front of her and rung the doorbell. Shortly, we heard a middle-aged woman’s voice asking who it was.
“I am Bak Yerim-yang’s new guardian[3].”
[...What was that?]
Over the intercom, a small mumbling was heard. Well, it would be flustering. Soon after, the door opened.
A large man in his fifties, wearing loose shorts and a running outfit, stared at me with a frown.
“This is our first time meeting. You are Bak Yerim-yang’s previous guardian, correct?”
I greeted him, smiling with a friendly voice. The man, Bak Yerim’s uncle Bak Sungtae, saw Yerim standing slightly behind and frowned even harder.
“What did this bitch do![4]”
My ears stung at the sudden shout. What a lovely voice.
“You should calm down.”
“Calm down, what calm down, where the hell did you come from, bastard!”
“I definitely just told you. I am Bak Yerim-yang’s new guardian.”
“...Guardian?”
At the word ‘guardian’, Bak Sungtae stopped. He was probably thinking of his hyung’s inheritance that he had snatched away.
“I’m that kid’s guardian, so guardian what guardian! Trying to scam someone!”
“It is not a scam. Please take a look.”
I took out the guardian contract for Awakened minors out of the purposefully prepared document bag and politely held it out. I had it officially filled out and authenticated when we went to the legal department.
Yerim hadn’t registered at the Association yet but was measured with Haeyeon Guild’s measuring instruments, and was guaranteed as an Awakened Person and even contracted as a Hunter, so legally, there was no problem.
You have to do these things properly.
“......Awakened Person? That bitch?”
What came over the face of the man who roughly scanned over the contract was no other than greed. It was good that he was easy to understand.
He goggled at Yerim.
“Awakened Person, I heard that they earn a lot of money.”
“It differs according to rank. However, that’s not what is important. Hunter minors have the same rights as adults so they can choose their guardians themselves. In other words, Bak Sungtae-ssi no longer has any responsibility or right as her guardian.”
Bak Sungtae didn’t understand right away and frowned.
“What are you talking about? I’m her guardian!”
“Not anymore.”
Understand already. How many times do I have to explain?
“What nonsense is that![5] That bitch is sixteen years old!”
“She is fifteen years old. By the special Hunter law, one has the same rights as an adult Hunter starting from fully[6] 14 years old. As Bak Yerim-yang’s birthday has passed, she is fully 14 years old.”
“Special law, what nonsense is that now? Anyways stop babbling crap and buzz off[7]! Yerim, come here!”
He shoved me and tried to approach Yerim. But I didn’t budge one inch.
I knew this would happen and came wearing the leather gloves even though it was hot. If you’re going to come at me, then come on, now I’m Strength 24!
“This asshole...!”
When I, who was relatively smaller, wasn’t pushed even a bit, Bak Sungtae was shocked and stepped back. I blocked the door that was closing on its own with my foot, and lowered the doorstop.
“How could you suddenly hit someone? Please speak nicely.”
“H-hit, who hit someone! You asshole, so you’re an Awakened Person too! That, don’t you know that Awakened People can’t hit a normal citizen?!”
“I am indeed an Awakened Person, but I’m stat F, with not much difference from a normal person. And I have no intention of using anything like violence. In the first place, wasn’t it Bak Sungtae-ssi who hit me first?”
Right now, at this moment, I was a pacifist who emphasized ethics and morals. Look at this virtuous smile of mine. Don’t I seem good-natured?
“Since I have said this much, I trust that you understand that I am Bak Yerim-yang’s guardian and Bak Sungtae-ssi is not.”
I said, taking back the contract that Bak Sungtae was holding in his hand. Then, I took out the documents related to Yerim’s inheritance.
“When I checked, it seems you have sold off all of the real estate from the inheritance that should be returned to Bak Yerim-yang.”
When the talk of inheritance came up, Bak Sungtae’s complexion became vicious.
“That was because it’s too hard to manage... Yerim also agreeed to it!”
He babbled well with a loose mouth.
“That would’ve been when she was a fifteen-year-old, no, a thirteen-year-old elementary school student.”
“At any rate, agreement is agreement.”
That guy said shamelessly. It was a little irritating.
“I am not convinced, but we are not here today for inheritance-related disputes, so I’ll return to the subject.”
I put away the inheritance documents that Bak Sungtae didn’t even cast a glance at, and this time, held out one memorandum.
“This is a memorandum saying that from now on, you will not approach or contract Bak Yerim-yang at all. Will you sign it?”
There probably wouldn’t be a legal effect but it would be enough to handle the media. Bak Sungtae scowled and spit out a curse.
“I sincerely raised her and now that she’s become an Awakened Person, you’re trying to take her away, this dick bastard[8]!”
The memo he smacked away fell to the floor. Behind me, I heard the sound of teeth grinding. Hang on for a little longer, Yerim.
“You seem like a very earnest caregiver, by your words at least. Even though that girl you raised sincerely is going around wearing worn out sneakers that don’t even fit her.”
I spoke, showing as much as possible that I was restraining my anger. Actually, I really was slowly getting angry so I didn’t need to deliberately act it out.
“Th-that’s! While we were raising the kids in poor circumstances, we let her wear handed down things like shoes...”
“So these days there are circumstances where you pocket several thousands of millions in inheritance and can’t even buy one pair of shoes. Did the price rise a lot when I wasn’t looking?”
New sneakers seemed to be 1 hundred million per pair. Did I come to the future instead of the past?
At my sarcasm, Bak Sungtae’s face flushed blue and red.
“Still if you have a conscience, you should repay me for raising her! Is it right to just leave saying you’ll live well by yourself!”
Wow, look at him making unreasonable demands. The thickness of his face must be about 1 meter.[9]
I deliberately sighed a deep breath. Then took out my wallet.
“In the end, put out some money, that’s what you’re saying.”
“No, that’s not exactly it...”
“This is a check for 1 hundred million.”
As soon as I took out the check, that guy’s eyes flickered up and down.
“That’s quite, with that small sum......”
“This small sum, please remember that there is no reason to give it to you in the first place. In the end, this is my investment for my guardee.”
Bak Sungtae, who was hesitating, picked up the memo that had fallen to the ground. His financial situation most likely should not be good. Just by briefly checking the copy of his register, I could see he had mortgage in units of hundred million.
After taking several thousands of millions and then ending up like that several years later, that 1 hundred million in front of his eyes must be lacking.
“...Give me a pen.”
“Here you go.”
We signed the memo and each took a copy.
“Then I hope there will be no reason for us to meet again.”
After saying so, I turned off the recording device. With just the conversation in the recorder, it was enough to feel like I had bowed my head and given money to a scoundrel.
That he pocketed the inheritance was recorded, that he was inhospitable to Yerim was recorded, and that he took money was all recorded. And I was very courteous.
It was perfect.
“What was that just now?”
Seeing me turn off the recorder, Bak Sungtae frowned. What do you mean, what.
“It’s a recording that I’ll use to bury you pull any crap.[10]”
“......What?”
“There’s no way a bastard like you would shut his mouth with just 1 hundred million?”
“This bastard is craz-!”
Bam!
I pushed my palm again the face of the guy lunging at me and slammed him to the doorframe. As I kicked the falling body inside the entrance,
“Soochun’s dad[11]!”
A middle-aged woman peeking from the inner gate cried in a shrill voice.
“I don’t want to get rid of corpses so please be quiet. Isn’t it a nuisance to the neighborhood?”
Maybe the nextdoor neighbor had gone out for the weekend because it was quiet, but just in case. The middle-aged woman trembled and automatically nodded her head.
I was just going to finish with a warning but she was so afraid that I was a little embarrassed.
I bent down and tapped Bak Sungtae’s cheek. I might have hurt his head because there was a slight smell of blood. The guy grunted and opened his eyes.
“You should be careful, what would you do if your foot slips? If you hit your head wrong, you’ll die straight away.”
“What, what...”
“The apartment entrance is metal so it’s dangerous in various ways. Like see here.”
I pulled the arm of the sagging man and made him put his fingers on the doorframe. I lightly stepped on the hand that squirmed away, trying to evade.
“If you close the door wrong like this it gets cut off? It would be an unfortunate accident.”
“W-wait a minute! I was wrong! I’ll even give back the money!”
The eyes looking up at me were full of fear. He was still a normal person so did I go a little too far? Even just a little while ago, I must have seemed like a half-crazed bastard, hmm.
It won’t do. I have to live well-behaved this time.
I straightened up and smiled widely.
“Ah, I apologize. I was too harsh, right? I won’t bother you anymore so don’t worry. Same in the future. As long as you don’t put yourself forward, there definitely won’t be any reason for us to meet. Don’t be concerned and just live well like this.”
1 hundred million unexpectedly appeared, how great is that.
“But if you get pointlessly greedy, I won’t stop at a warning. I’ll tweak the recording, and give some money to the press to socially ostracize you, and then force the inheritance you pocketed out of you. Oh right, you’ll probably be short on money you owe. Then, I’ll more or less force you to Awaken and give you over to work as a dungeon porter. Do you know? If you die in a dungeon, no one would know what happened.”
When a dungeon was cleared, as it was reset, the corpses also vanished. If you just pretended that they were killed by monsters, it would be cleanly handled.
Whew, another unpleasant memory was about to surface. It became things that didn’t happen so let’s quickly forget.
“I-I’ll live quietly! I’ll keep quiet!”
“If you do that much, then thank you. Now please stand up.”
Stop bowing your head, making someone embarrassed.
Considering it more or less finished, I turned to Yerim. But the kid staring at me had a strange expression.
......Maybe it really was excessive. He was still the uncle she lived with, and I hurt his head and threatened to cut off his fingers, so it was enough for her to look at me weirdly. It wouldn’t do for our relationship break down.
“Hey, Yerim.”
“Ahjussi, are you okay?”
“...Huh?”
Yerim spoke, coming towards me.
“You’re not hurt anywhere?”
......I think you’ve got the wrong person. The one beating someone up was me, so what was she saying?
[1] this is a word that means ‘favorite horse’ but obviously we’re beyond horse-riding days as normal transportation, so people use it to refer to their favorite/beloved car, the way ppl might call their car their ‘baby’ or other such endearments
[2] the word used for this stat means ‘mental power’ or ‘willpower’
[3] again, the word used is different from the ‘guardian’ in the next dialogue sentence, where the one YJ uses for himself is more of a ‘financial backer’ and the one for the uncle is the general word you use when talking about a kid/minor’s guardian. I’m starting to the think maybe I should’ve used different words for these I don’t think this issue will be dragged out so just keep in mind that YJ is always the first type of guardian and the uncle is the second type
[4] lit. ‘where did this girl do what [nonsense]’ where [nonsense] is implied because the actual word used is ‘act’ but it’s only used in a negative connotation, and the word for ‘that girl’ (which I’m tl-ing as ‘brat in this ch) has a negative/derogatory connotation, but I don’t think it’s the point to ‘bitch’ or ‘cunt’ or any other female-targeted swears in eng. EDIT: apparently the word for girl IS a v bad word so i’ve changed all instances of it to ‘bitch’
[5] lit. ‘where is that kind of thing’. The uncle doesn’t really say ‘nonsense’ either here or in his next dialogue line but it was the best way to express what he was saying, since tl-ing word for word doesn’t really make sense for a lot of the exclamations he’s using
[6] again, this means 14yo in western age. For details, see footnote [17] of ch. 12
[7] it feels kinda weird using this phrase bc it’s not really something ppl actually say irl (in my experience) but using ‘fuck off’ sounded too harsh, and ‘beat it’ was equally weird, so...
[8] swear words don’t really tl literally but this time it matches up since the raws said ‘dick-like [word I’ve been tl-ing as bastard]’
[9] referencing the idea of being ‘thick skinned’/‘having a thick face’, i.e. shameless, brazen
[10] YJ stops speaking politely and starts using casual speech, as well as using 네놈 in this sentence, which is a rude way of saying ‘you’
[11] it’s normal for middle-aged ppl to call each other ‘[eldest child]’s mom/dad’, including ppl who are married to each other
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