Chapter 5 (2/2)

I found the lamps and tossed it all down to the ground. The oil from the crackling lamp started to douse up the floor. They were also flowing gradually into my room. I closed the small door so they could not see my room, and I even filled the locks that the nursery staff had put in the past to prepare for the circumstances I might not have known.

‘Because it has to look like I wasn’t able to get out of here.’

I hope that when this building burns and the fire goes out, everyone will realize that I’m dead.

‘Spread it out, please. It’ll be easier if I’m rumored to be dead.’

I moved my hands, trembling in the cold, to light the match. Looking at a burning little match, I threw it up on the floor. A small fire slowly started to built up big with oil.

The big-coming fire gave me an unfamiliar feeling of heat than it did a while back. Soon after, there was a smoky smell of all the stuff being burned within the warehouse. The sudden spread of the burnt smell seemed to cause the flames to rise faster than I expected.

‘There was a lot of stuff within the warehouse, but literally, it’s just a warehouse, and the kids won’t starve if there’s food provided to them.’

At least they won’t have to skip meals like me.

However, the director of the nursery will have to take responsibility for the fire, and the children will receive the benefit of the damage.

‘There’s no such thing as guilt.’

The flames, which rose as fast as my anger, rapidly spread to my room connected to the warehouse. I turned my back and quickly escaped from the warehouse, hoping that this large-spreading fire would burn everything. As soon as I got out, the fire began to spread through the door of the warehouse. Finally, for the last time, I saw the small warehouse room I lived in.

‘You’ve really blocked it.’

I couldn’t see it well in the dark, but I could see something firmly blocking the door. I swallowed a bitter smile, looking at an obstacle I didn’t clear, in case I would secretly sneak out.

T/n: her first plan was to escape secretly, but she changed it later and she didn’t really clear it perfectly.

‘You should feel guilty that I died because of you all. Feel guilty and sympathize with the fact that I was a miserable dead child. And after you’ve forgotten about me in your memory, I will appear perfectly.’

I’m going to make this place a mess like my life so far, putting that guilt aside. The reddish-red flame, blooming with oil, swallowed my room before I knew it, and held the warehouse in itself. The sound of the people seemed to be heard little by little, so I hurried out of the nursery through the back door. There was no such thing as looking back on the road.

* * *

I hastened my body in the dark, exhaling white breaths. The cold breeze of early winter permeated my thin clothes, but there was no sign of cold weather.

‘The novel said the office of Benedito merchant’s group is in the capital. First, go to the fountain in the center of the capital….’

I’m glad there’s no one walking around. I sneaked out secretly moving quickly along the path I had taken and arrived at the fountain. Since I came running, I calmed my rough breath in front of the fountain.

‘Turn your head to the right here….’

If you turn your head to the right and walk into the streets for about five minutes, you’ll find a three-pronged road. Then turn right again and look forward and go straight ahead. Then comes the dead end, and there is a wall surrounded by the vines. As I looked at the vines wrapped around the high wall, it filled my back with pressure.

‘It’s just beginning.’

I knocked on the door of the wall three times as I remembered reading in the novel.

At regular intervals, knock, knock, knock.

And three seconds later, knock, knock, knock.

And three seconds later, knock, knock, knock.

I’ve knocked nine times in three turns. This was a hidden secret door of the merchant’s group. Nine knock-offs, as they were now, were a secret request to make a deal with the merchant’s group.

If, my memory is not wrong. The front door will open.

Fluttering ~

About five seconds after looking at the wall with tension, the wall went into the sky, and space for people to enter appeared.

“… opened.”

Really, it’s open.

I took a deep breath, feeling a little overwhelmed, and then stepped inside. When I came in, the wall behind me closed again with a sound. As soon as I took a step forward, candles lit on both sides of the corridor at the same time. The brightened corridor was guiding me to only one place, turning nowhere. I felt the warmth right away when I came inside. I tried to warm myself up by slowly stroking my cold stiff arms.

“I’m glad I didn’t freeze to death.”

I heard my heart beating so loudly. I was a little pleased to think that I was ahead of the success of my plan. I moved forward, feeling the warm air with just a few candles.

‘Staircase?’

Walking along the corridor with the bright light, I found a staircase that went down. There was no other way as if it were telling me to come down, so I went down the stairs. As soon as I went down there came a bright light and I frowned.

“A kid?”

The softest voice I’ve ever heard called me. I flinched at the voice and raised my head up. In front of me was a boy about a seventeen or eighteen-year-old who looked down upon me. I stepped back, unwittingly seeing the surprise in his light green eyes. He backed away, as surprised as I did.

“Why the little kid? No, how could you know this place more than that….”

“Oh, I’m here to see the head of the merchant’s group.”

“Head of the merchant’s group?”

His forehead was crumpled as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have heard. I guess the feeling of being surprised at me has already ended. The boy shook his head with a stiff face as if it was his original expression.

“Not anyone can easily meet. You can’t meet.”

“I’m here to make a deal. Please, Let me meet!”

“I don’t know how you got in here, but get out of here.”

If not, he seemed to have hidden deliberately the words that he would kick me out. His ferocious eyes, however, seemed to drive me out at once. I told him clearly in a loud voice because I was angry for no reason.

“I want to make a deal! Let me meet the head of the merchant’s group!”