NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2 - Loser Outcast Baek Seolhwa
Chapter 2 – Loser Outcast Baek Seolhwa
One year… two years… three years… After three years passed, I went to daycare at age 5.
‘Sihyeon.’
‘Hm?’
‘Are you feeling sick today? Why aren’t you talking?’
‘Just because.’
‘Hmm… okay.’
‘But why am I going to daycare at 5 years old? Isn’t it usually around 4?’
I became curious and asked my aunt.
‘Aunt, don’t kids usually go to daycare earlier?’
‘It’s because of Hiyeon.’
‘I understand what you mean.’
‘Right…’
Mom kept not wanting to send me to daycare.
Two years ago, Mom took a vacation and every day she would hold me, kiss me, and cuddle me.
It’s not that I dislike it, but she does it too much.
‘Still, going at 5 years old isn’t so bad.’
‘That’s true… haha…’
‘Yes, please take good care of our Sihyeon.’
While chatting with my aunt, we arrived at the daycare.
[Dasarang Daycare]
‘Is this the right place?’
‘Yes.’
‘Let’s go, Sihyeon.’
‘Okay!’
‘Auntie will come back when daycare is over~’
‘Okay.’
As Sihyeon and I entered the daycare, a young-looking female teacher approached me.
‘Are you Sihyeon and Seolhwa who are enrolling today?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then come this way.’
The female teacher led us to the faculty office with a gentle tone.
‘Sit here, the teacher will be back soon.’
‘Okay.’
‘Seolhwa and Sihyeon seem to get along well.’
‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘Somehow Seolhwa seems like the older sister.’
‘Y-y-yes?’
The female teacher was patting my head but suddenly flinched and pulled her hand back.
‘Sorry, do you dislike having your head patted?’
‘If you think about it, it’s the one who likes the other first.’
‘Really? That’s a relief…’
‘Yes.’
It seemed like the female teacher had carelessly patted a child’s head and received a complaint, or the child appeared to have cried.
‘Sihyeon, Seolhwa, the children in our class don’t know that a new friend is coming. So later, we’ll surprise them with your sudden appearance.’
‘But why did you give us paper?’
‘In case you want to introduce yourself, you can write it down here and read it.’
‘Okay.’
‘Teacher Han! The children are fighting again!’
‘Yes! I’m coming! Kids, stay quiet.’
The female teacher made a gesture with her finger to be quiet and left.
‘Seolhwa… are you going to make other friends besides me?’
‘Hmm…no? Why?’
‘Just… I’m scared that if you have other friends, you might drift away from me…’
‘Sihyeon, don’t worry about that. You’re my only best friend.’
I patted Sihyeon’s shoulder to reassure her.
‘Really? Really? Really?’
‘Is that why you were so quiet today?’
‘Yes….’
‘Then let’s make a promise.’
‘What?’
‘Let’s promise not to drift apart from each other, pinky swear.’
‘Yes! Promise.’
Sihyeon and I linked our pinky fingers and even pressed our thumbprints when the female teacher approached.
‘Kids, let’s go now.’
We followed the female teacher’s guidance and arrived at the classroom door.
From inside the door, the noisy chatter of children could be heard, and the female teacher went in first.
‘Sihyeon, Seolhwa, wait here for a moment.’
The female teacher left us waiting at the door and went inside.
‘Everyone! I said I had a surprise event today, right?’
”’Yes!”’
‘Let’s see if you can guess what it is?’
”’Yes!!!”’
‘I’ll give you only three chances, and the friend who guesses correctly will get delicious chocolate biscuits.’
”’Wow!!!!!”’
‘Me..me too!!’
‘Huh?….’
‘Uh…..’
‘Seolhwa?’
The female teacher began to look at me with an extremely surprised face.
‘To think I’ve fallen for such chocolate biscuits…’
Recently, mom wouldn’t give me biscuits saying I eat too many, but I didn’t know withdrawal symptoms would appear like this.
‘Uh… I’m sorry about that…’
I apologized to the female teacher with a voice that sounded like I might cry at any moment.
‘Everyone! Actually, today is the day a new friend is joining us.’
‘?’
The female teacher hid her flustered expression and immediately changed course to introduce me to the children.
‘So today, let’s take some time to get to know our new friends!’
Is this what being an adult is?
It wasn’t just me who had a grown body.
‘Then shall we introduce ourselves?’
The female teacher brought me and Sihyeon, who was holding onto me and following, to the front of the children.
But since relationships in daycare are shorter than a pig’s tail anyway, I just introduced myself simply and concisely.
‘My name is Baek Seolhwa and ask me if you’re curious about anything.’
‘I am Han Sihyeon, Seolhwa’s friend.’
After our brief introductions, the classroom was too quiet.
‘Teacher, did I do something wrong?’
‘No?’
‘Then why is it so quiet?’
The children I know are little devils who don’t listen even when told to be quiet… yes, imps, but right now it was as quiet as a parliamentary hearing.
‘Um… it’s okay to ask questions.’
As soon as I said it was okay to ask questions, a blonde-haired child raised their hand.
‘Are you two married?’
‘No.’
‘Then why do you stick together like my daddy and mommy?’
‘Just because we’re friends.’
‘Really?’
‘By the way, what’s your name?’
‘Huh?’
The reason I’m asking for their name now is because of this child’s appearance.
Star-shaped hairpin, blonde hair, and heterochromia with red and blue eyes.
‘My name is Irina, why?’
‘Thank you.’
‘That’s right, she’s one of the ROOA heroines, Saint Irina. Though still young, she’s a spitting image of the illustration.’
I took out a candy that mom gave me to share with friends and handed it to her.
‘Is this for me?’
‘Yes.’
‘Thank you!’
There was an explanation that Irina likes strawberries, so I specifically chose strawberry flavor for her.
‘Mmm! I really love strawberries!’
‘That’s a relief.’
As I was with Rina, Sihyeon grabbed my arm.
‘Sihyeon, what’s wrong?’
Sihyeon didn’t speak and just turned her head away.
‘Sihyeon, even if I have other friends, you’re still my one and only best friend. Are you feeling insecure?’
‘Yeah….’
‘We just made a promise earlier.’
‘I still feel a little anxious…’
‘Sigh…’
I patted Sihyeon’s head like I would a cute child’s.
‘Our Sihyeon, always so anxious~.’
‘….’
‘Our Sihyeon, still anxious even after making promises~.’
I held Sihyeon’s soft cheeks and continued speaking.
‘If you want, I won’t make any other friends.’
‘….’
‘But if I don’t have you, I’ll be all alone in this world. Is that okay?’
‘No…’
‘Right? Sihyeon, don’t worry. I’ll always be with you.’
‘Okay.’
‘Are you still anxious?’
‘No.’
‘That’s good then.’
I smiled at Sihyeon, and looking reassured, Sihyeon started to smile back at me.
‘Does anyone else have questions?’
‘Me!’
.
.
.
.
I shouldn’t have asked for questions.
Maybe because of my appearance or something, the kids kept asking questions.
For example:
Q: Why are you so pretty
A: Because of genetics
Q: You’re pretty
A: I know
Q: When did you meet Sihyeon
A: Since birth
And so on, they asked many questions, especially Irina who asked the most.
‘Seolhwa, Seolhwa.’
‘What is it, Rina?’
‘Can I ask you another question?’
‘Won’t you stop now?’
‘Okay….’
When I see her like this, I can’t help it….
‘Fine, this is the last one.’
‘Then, what kind of doll do you like?’
‘Not particularly…’
‘Then what kind of picture book do you like?’
‘Rina…’
‘Then perhaps…’
‘Rina.’
‘Yes?’
‘Stop.’
‘Okay.’
‘And you’re scaring Sihyeon.’
As Rina started clinging to me, Sihyeon followed us from a distance.
‘Sihyeon, come here.’
‘Okay.’
Perhaps excited that I called her, Sihyeon approached me with a smiling face.
‘Sihyeon.’
‘Yes!’
‘Are you afraid of Rina?’
‘Yes…’
‘Why?’
‘She looks scary.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know, her hair is yellow and her eyes are strange…’
‘Hey!’
I cut off Sihyeon’s words.
‘Seolhwa~ What are you doing without me?’
‘I’m asking her to play together.’
‘No! Seolhwa is mine!’
‘Hey. I don’t belong to anyone.’
While I felt good hearing that, I still had no intention of being subordinate to anyone.
In my previous life, I worked my ass off at the Hero Association.
‘So are you not going to play together? If not, don’t talk to me today.’
‘No way!’
‘Alright~.’
Rina seemed fine, but Sihyeon wasn’t.
‘I didn’t expect you to immediately shout that it’s not okay.’
It’s probably because of what I said about not talking to me today if she didn’t play with us.
‘So you don’t like it?’
‘I’m fine with it. Making new friends too.’
‘No… let’s play together.’
Sihyeon showed a somewhat negative reaction, but what can I do? Having many friends is a good thing.
You ask if I had many friends in my past life?
Shut up.
‘Then shall we play hide-and-seek?’
‘Let’s do that.’
‘Whatever you want.’
Rina suggested hide-and-seek, and with nothing else to do, we agreed.
‘Then rock-paper-scissors!’
‘I lost.’
It’s not like I tied a few times and then lost. I just lost.
‘This is annoying.’
‘Seolhwa is it!!!’
Rina ran away first, and Sihyeon stood around for a moment before following Rina to hide.
‘1..2…3…4…5..6….’
I counted to 60 seconds and started looking for the kids.
‘I’m starting…’
I reinforced my legs with mana to move quickly.
Sihyeon is on hold for now.
Sihyeon always hides under chairs or desks.
‘Since I know where Sihyeon is, I should find Rina first.’
My mental age may be 25, but I take things seriously whether my opponent is an elementary school kid or a woman.
‘Hehehe…’
It’s absolutely not because I lost at rock-paper-scissors on the first try.
Absolutely not.
#
#
#
I’ve been looking for Rina for 10 minutes, but I don’t know where she’s hiding.
‘Ugh, I didn’t want to use this because it’s unfair.’
I spread my mana widely to find Rina’s mana.
Because everyone has at least a small amount of mana, and mana shows different characteristics for each person, like fingerprints.
‘This is your fault.’
After spreading my mana for a little while, I could sense Rina’s mana.
‘There she is.’
I found Rina under the flowerbed in a small space.
‘Found. You.’
‘Aaaaaahhh!!!!!’
Rina screamed suddenly as if startled.
‘Surprised?’
‘Yeah….’
‘It’s okay.’
‘Huh?’
‘Let’s go find Sihyeon quickly.’
I grabbed Rina’s wrist and went to where Sihyeon might be.
‘Is Sihyeon here?’
‘Yes.’
‘I saw her when I used my mana earlier.’
Today she threw a curveball, hiding under the piano instead of under a chair or desk.
‘Hehehehehe.’
I quickly entered the classroom, pretending to look at other desks, then checked under the piano.
‘Found you!!!!’
‘Eek!’
Sihyeon was so startled she couldn’t hide her surprise.
‘Now one of you two has to be it. Play rock-paper-scissors.’
‘Okay.’
‘Got it!’
‘This is a bit concerning.’
Strangely, Sihyeon has high energy when she’s with me, but her energy drops significantly when she’s with others, except her parents.
‘I should fix this.’
We played hide-and-seek, tag, freeze tag, and other games until it was lunchtime.
‘Children, time to eat!’
We responded to the female teacher’s call to come eat.
‘Everyone knows good children wash their hands before eating, right?’
‘Yes!’
‘Then everyone go to the bathroom and wash your hands with soap!’
We washed our hands, grabbed our trays, and received our food.
The menu was typical food that children like: rice, grilled sausages, soybean paste soup, cabbage kimchi, and seasoned bean sprouts.
‘More kimchi, please.’
Since I’m someone who loves kimchi, I got an extra serving.
‘I can’t eat rice without this.’
‘Seolhwa, isn’t kimchi too spicy for you?’
‘No.’
‘That’s amazing!’
Rina looked at me as if she found it fascinating.
And I gave her some of my rice and a sausage.
‘Seolhwa… no, you eat it.’
‘You eat it. You haven’t finished your food yet. I’ve already eaten.’
I showed her my empty lunch tray.
‘Seolhwa, thank you…’
‘No, I’m full. Don’t thank me.’
I put down my tray and sat back in my seat, watching Sihyeon eat.
#
#
#
Time passed and daycare ended.
When we came out of the daycare, a mother with white hair was there.
‘Daughter~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!’
‘Huh? Huh? This isn’t right?’
Mom rushed toward me, picked me up, and was nuzzling her face against my stomach.
‘Abooooo… Abooooo.’
‘Mom! That tickles!’
‘Whose daughter is this cute?’
‘Listen to me!’
Only after nuzzling me for 3 minutes did Mom finally let me go.
‘Are you done now?’
‘Yes.’
‘Was it good?’
‘Yes!’
‘……’
I sighed as I took Sihyeon’s hand and headed home.