I Will Save the World and Retire Chapter 317

A younger brother’s duty (2)

Life is not fair.

The children at the lab, including Wooirok, learned it quickly.

So you were angry about that fact?

Well, if you ask me that, I can’t help but say no.

Because anger is also unfair.

Children don’t know the world well enough to know that feeling.

The numbers before Wooirok, the older brothers and sisters, would have been in different situations. They were people who came from outside like Kang Taewoo. But the children didn’t understand. They only knew that the world was made up of concrete walls, so what more could they ask for?

So, I was able to understand a little bit of the words that my brother Wooirok had been saying…

Funnily enough, it was after my brother disappeared.

‘mom!!!’

‘I miss my mom… .’

‘My dad will come looking for me.’

Children from ‘outside’, crying while looking for their mother and father.

I hated the sight of it.

A slightly older Wooirok, in his late teens, realizes that the emotion he had felt back then was jealousy.

But since this Wooirok was only eleven years old, he regarded that feeling as a mockery directed at children who were not yet fully grown.

Now, look.

Life is not fair.

So, didn’t the children who ate well and grew up well ‘outside’ end up here?

As expected, Wooirok, who is a bit older, would be embarrassed and say something strange as he is still a child.

Anyway, that Uirok and this Uirok walk different paths. Their paths will never overlap again. Because once they diverge, there is no chance that they will become the same path.

This eleven-year-old Woo I-rok has found the older brother that Woo I-rok could not find. Putting aside the question of whether that older brother is really his older brother, Woo Hee-jae has decided to become Woo I-rok’s older brother, so there should be no problem in that regard.

If so, we need to consider another problem.

Does Woo I-rok think of Woo Hee-jae as his older brother?

“Irok, you have an older brother too, right?”

“Brother Lee Rok said he was a hunter!”

“Hunter? Really?”

“huh.”

Before Yi-rok could answer, testimony about Woo-irok’s older brother poured out from the side.

“I saw it last time when Irok came to pick me up.”

“That’s right! He’s really tall too.”

“Irok-ah, then you’re going to become a hunter too?”

“That’s fine… .”

“Hey, you don’t think you can become a hunter just because you want to! You have to awaken first!”

Wooirok left his friends alone as they began to chatter among themselves.

I didn’t want to get involved in stories about hunters, even if it was just about anything else. Not only my brother, but that old man was a hunter too, and the old men who came to take care of me when my brother was busy were also hunters… .

Despite being friendly with Hunters, Uirok did not like Hunters. To be exact, he did not like Awakeners.

After all, wasn’t that lab trying to create an Awakened?

I never told my brother, but Wooirok didn’t want to become an Awakened One… .

‘Irock-ah.’

But my brother,

‘If you see anything strange, you should tell me, hyung.’

‘Something strange?’

‘If it looks like there’s some kind of blue dust floating in the air… . Got it?’

‘Blue dust? What’s that?’

‘There is something like that. I’ll explain it to you later.’

‘Explain it to me now! I need to know what it is so I can avoid it or not. Is it bad? Is it weird?’

‘No, that’s not it… Don’t try to touch it by yourself.’

‘Just tell your brother?’

‘Yeah. Because you might have awakened.’

My brother was waiting as if he was going to wake up at any moment.

‘… There must be a lot of things you haven’t told me.’

Know.

Life isn’t fair to my brother either.

In an unfair life, Wooirok was able to imitate adults faster than others.

I didn’t ask questions about things my brother didn’t want to talk about, and I pretended not to know things he didn’t want me to know.

It was okay though. He’s my brother.

Because my brother kept his promise.

In this unfair world, Wooirok was enough.

“But you guys want to wake up? I don’t want to.”

“Why? Hunters are so cool.”

“Ugh, I don’t like it. I have to fight monsters. Didn’t you see that monster news from Busan last time?”

“What? What kind of thing?”

“Rat! If you ask me to catch a rat that big, I can’t do it.”

“With just a rat?”

“That rat is as bad as my dad’s car!!”

Even friends who thought that being a hunter was cool started to hesitate when it came to hunting monsters.

“I’m okay with rats….”

The child who had first spoken also had a dark expression on his face.

“I… hate that I was there.”

“Which one?”

“That mosquito dungeon that came from Japan… .”

“Oh, I really hate it!!”

“Absolutely horrible!!!”

In any country, insect-like monsters are unpopular.

Wooirok shook his head, seeing that the topic was completely off topic with his brother. It was annoying when his friends asked him about his brother. Besides, when they did, they would talk about his family, and when they talked about his mom and dad, he had nothing to say.

“… But still, some monsters look like dogs.”

“It’s not like they eat people because they look cute, right?”

“Of course, since you’re a monster!”

“I told you, being a hunter is no good.”

“But that’s cool! And you make a lot of money!”

“You only have one life!”

Wooirok listened to his friends’ chatter with one ear and let it go. Today is the day he doesn’t go to the Taekwondo gym. Since his brother said he couldn’t come in the morning, one of the hunter uncles will probably come pick him up.

If I go to the convenience store and buy a snack, it’ll be just the right time. There’s only one convenience store around here, across the street…

“… … .”

A faint blue light is caught in Wooirok’s eyes as he turns his head.

At first, I didn’t notice it because it was hidden in the shadows of the alley. But it was a similar color to the light from my cell phone that I used to see under the blanket before going to bed without telling my brother. An artificial blue color.

Wooirok narrowed his eyes.

I feel like I saw something that looked like a person through the shaded alley beyond the blue light.

Even if you concentrate to look closely between the alleys, the cars running in the distance are in your way. Wooirok saw the crosswalk. Since you’re going to the convenience store anyway, you can cross the street and check… .

‘If you see anything strange, tell me or the other Hunters right away. Okay?’

hmm.

My brother’s request comes to mind.

Unlike other friends, I don’t take everything my brother or sister says as nagging. It’s true that my brother worries a lot and nags me a lot, but I know that he says everything out of consideration for me.

Especially if a suspicious person calling himself Jeongmin has appeared recently.

‘But what would you do in broad daylight, in the middle of the street?’

If there was really someone suspicious, those hunters would have taken care of it a long time ago.

You’re pretending not to know because your brother doesn’t tell you, but there’s no way you wouldn’t know about the hunters hanging around. It’s not that those hunters were foolish and got caught by an eleven-year-old kid… Just think about it with common sense.

A man runs towards you shouting the name of his dead mother, and you let him go to school?

The brother that Wooirok knows is not such an indifferent person.

If you know that there is someone watching you from somewhere and you are clear about what you are looking for, then the rest is easy.

Wooirok shrugged.

If you look at those old men sitting still, they probably aren’t anything special. They’re probably just convenience store workers at best.

I should take a look on my way to the convenience store.

Woo I-rok joined his friends’ conversation, thinking that Woo Hee-jae would be upset if he found out.

Now the topic of conversation had changed beyond hunters and monsters to games that were popular among kids these days.

“That wasn’t very good.”

At the sound of grumbling, Wooirok snickered and responded.

“It’s not because you can’t do it, right?”

“no!”

“All the kids who can’t do it say that.”

“No!!”

“I might not be able to play the game.”

“Oh, seriously!!”

If we keep talking like that, we’ll soon arrive at the convenience store.

Just before entering the convenience store, Wooirok pretended to be coincidental and looked into the alley. A small gap between buildings. Usually, it was a space where empty boxes of bottles from convenience stores were piled up.

There was a faint blue light floating in the space. At first glance, the round shapes that were gathered together looked like people.

‘I guess I saw it wrong.’

Wooirok, who was chasing the blue light that slowly floated in the air like dust, tilted his head.

Blue dust… .

‘Is this what you said?’

When my brother told me to tell him when I saw blue dust, I laughed inside, saying that there was no such thing… What was in front of me was really blue dust, nothing more, nothing less.

Rather, there was something else that concerned me more.

Is this evidence of awakening?

When you say awakening, doesn’t it usually mean becoming stronger or something?

Wooirok tilted his head. The older brothers and sisters he played with when he stayed at the pension had said the same thing.

I think I lightly broke one or two things.

Wooirok looked at his hand. It didn’t seem like anything special.

Ssssss….

“Irok-ah? What are you doing standing there?”

“Huh? Wait a minute.”

But since my brother asked me to tell him right away, I should tell him. Wooirok, who was taking out his cell phone, raised his head as he felt something strange.

Ss …

Blue dust is gathering. The light is brighter than before. Each grain is extremely faint, but they are gathering together… .

It’s become more human.

The head and torso are distinct. Arms are visible extending from the shoulders, and blunt fingers are seen growing out.

If there was only blue dust, then that would be another matter. But this? What is this?

Anyone who sees this will know that this is not an ordinary thing.

Wooirok quickly stepped back. He approached his friends waiting at the entrance of the convenience store and pressed the call button.

The person on the other end picked up the phone before it could even ring a few times.

-Irok-ah? What’s going on?

“brother!!”

Wooirok called his brother in an urgent voice.

At the same time, a human figure made of blue dust emerged from the alley. With every step and every footstep, the figure shook and collapsed. However, the dust clung together again and somehow managed to maintain its shape.

In broad daylight. In the middle of the road. I thought nothing would happen, but now the only one watching was Wooirok. His friends were still busy joking and laughing, and the people passing by didn’t even notice that Wooirok was watching.

The trembling doll is getting closer. Its hand, which looks like it will collapse but doesn’t, is stretched out towards you.

Wooirok took a step back. His friends stopped talking when they saw his pale face.

“why are you like this?”

Wooirok didn’t know what to do.

-Irok-ah? Are you okay?

So, whenever I heard my brother’s voice that always warmly embraced me, I just hung on to it.

Wooirok held his cell phone tightly as if it were his lifeline.

“brother!!!”

-Irok-ah! What’s going on!!

“Hey, I see this weird, weird blue color! It looks like a person!”

Fantasy, contemporary,