AEPOB 05

Chapter 05

I almost went straight into the medicinal herb dealer.

But since it involved someone connected to Abeli, I couldn’t just ignore it.

If I saw what they were doing, I might be able to get at least a little more information about Abeli.

There’s a reason you investigate someone’s social circle when looking into them.

First, I needed to assess the situation.

Charging in recklessly and ending up in danger twice in one day was out of the question.

I cautiously poked just my face out toward the alley and perked up my ears.

“Hey, I told you I don’t want to see your face, so stop hanging around this area!”

“…….”

The big boys I’d just met were bullying a child.

Their attitude was completely different from how they’d treated me.

The alley was already narrow, and the big boys were surrounding someone, so I couldn’t tell who the victim was, but judging by the sound I’d heard earlier, they must have been hit by something.

The upper bodies of the big boys were tightly packed together, making it hard to find a gap.

I crouched down. Since the upper part was blocked, I decided to target the gaps between their legs.

Oh, I can see a little bit now.

“Your face looks unlucky too, and you always keep your mouth shut. Hey! Say something!”

The boss boy crouched down and pushed the fallen child’s forehead with his finger.

And right next to him, lying discarded on the ground… was a wooden sword…?

‘That wasn’t there earlier. Where did he even get that from, tch.’

Now I could piece together the situation. It seemed the boss boy had threatened him with the wooden sword, and the child had been hit.

The silhouette of the victim I glimpsed was slender enough to collapse from a light tap.

Why does this same pattern apply everywhere?

I frowned at the frustratingly thorough reflection of reality.

There were quite a few adults glancing into the alley, but they all passed by as if they hadn’t seen anything.

Just like when I was almost kidnapped in the market earlier.

The security here is a complete mess.

Back in Korea, I could have called the police to break up the group.

‘Isn’t there a good way?’

I paced around restlessly, my head growing more complicated.

Wait, I’ve seen this scene a lot in romance fantasy novels. What if helping out goes wrong and I end up ruining my own fate?

And if that kid is the original male lead, it’s game over.

Then my goal of preserving the original story would go poof—and fly away.

My goal is to live quietly and return to my original world.

Yeah, I have no choice.

‘I’ll just pretend I didn’t see and walk away.’

Having made my decision, I tried to look away from the alley.

Just then, the formation of the big boys wavered, and the victim’s face came into view.

Oh no, it was a face I knew.

‘Why is Kiki there…?’

I recalled Kiki’s words earlier, telling me to pretend not to know him.

Was this why he said that?

Even blood was streaming down Kiki’s cheek, hidden by his black hair.

At this point, it was hard to just pretend I hadn’t seen.

I was about to unfold the meddlesome nature I had folded away. After all, I’m the type who repays favors one way or another.

At that moment.

*Ding—*

The dialogue window that had been ignoring me all this time reappeared.

—

**[Mission!]**

**’Save the person in crisis.’**

There is someone who needs your help right now. Will you save them and obtain a small hint about the original story?

[Y/N]

—

Moreover, this time it displayed the next line without me even pressing anything.

It had to show up at such a critical time, making a fuss.

‘I was going to save him anyway. Yes!’

The moment I quickly pressed the option, the dialogue window disappeared.

I lowered my head to assess the situation. My hands were adorably small.

And in contrast, the big boys’ large hands.

‘…If I get hit by those hands, I’ll probably fly across the street.’

But at this point, there was no turning back.

I strode into the alley. In a fight, momentum is key.

Equipping myself with a sharp glare, I counted the opponents. From a distance, the group had been tangled together, making it hard to see clearly.

Two, four, six, eight.

Including the boss boy, there were eight of them surrounding Kiki.

Why do you need eight people just to handle one kid!

‘No matter how I look at it, it seems unreasonable to fight them with force.’

I thought about trying to persuade them as usual, but then I recalled a TV program about dealing with children’s behavioral issues and decided against it.

If so… there was only one way!

“Help! Someone is dying here!”

I pulled the voice from my core and screamed like a madwoman.

My plan was to draw attention and prevent further violence by making everyone look.

Without a siren to gather attention, I had to draw eyes this way.

“Abeli?”

The boss boy, who had spotted me, quickly approached and covered my mouth with his hand.

“Abeli, what are you doing! Can’t you be quiet?”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

His hand was so large that it covered my nose too, making it hard to breathe.

I struggled to escape from him and ended up biting the thick hand that was blocking my breath.

“Argh!”

“Phew! Are you crazy?”

“Abeli, you were the one who yelled first!”

Holding his hand with the neat teeth marks, the boss boy kept protesting as if he was the one wronged.

But I wasn’t very sympathetic.

If he hadn’t been bullying Kiki, I wouldn’t have had to bite his finger.

By then, tears had welled up, and I roughly wiped them away with my hand.

Only after taking several deep breaths did I manage to regain my composure.

I turned my gaze to check on Kiki.

Wondering where he was hurt, I saw his forehead was split open, and his hair around it was soaked with blood, sticking to his skin.

A question suddenly occurred to me.

Judging by the strength he showed when saving me and the way he threw the apple and baguette, he didn’t seem like the type to be bullied by these kids.

Why were you just taking it?

“…….”

Kiki, who had been silent all this time, seemed like a different person than before.

It felt as if the boy was giving off the aura of someone who had given up on everything.

Anyway, that aside, for now I needed to get Kiki away from these big boys.

‘They’re just elementary school kids—if I push through with the energy of a twenty-something, I can manage somehow.’

I pushed through the big boys and walked forward. I shuffled along and stopped right in front of Kiki, who was collapsed in the dead-end alley.

I turned around and placed both hands on my hips. Then I started laying into them.

With a fierce glare as a bonus.

“Hey! Can’t you see he’s bleeding from his forehead? You’re the one who’s crazy!”

“Ah, no, but…”

Seeing them all flinch slightly, I could see a chance.

Yet even in the midst of this, the boss boy raised his voice, as if he was the one wronged.

“I only meant to scare him with the wooden sword, but this crazy bastard suddenly jumped out and that’s how it happened!”

“Anyway, Kiki got hit by your wooden sword. If he gets seriously hurt because of it, are you going to take responsibility?”

As I pointed out each issue one by one, the kids began to murmur.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

‘I need another device to push the situation to the extreme.’

I turned around and crouched down. To meet Kiki at eye level.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Even though it was sudden, I asked for prior consent, then gently parted Kiki’s blood-soaked hair to see his wound.

Blood was still gushing from the injury.

I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and quickly pressed it against the wound on his forehead to stop the bleeding.

“…Ugh.”

Even just lightly pressing the handkerchief against the wound seemed to hurt, as Kiki flinched.

You’re not immune to pain, so why did you just take it?

‘You can protect your own body at least.’

My heart stirred.

I thought of a million other things I wanted to say, but considering cause and effect, the bullies were the bigger problem, weren’t they?

I closed my eyes and counted to three to regain my composure. The rising dizziness settled.

Opening my eyes again, I turned my head back to look at the big boys.

They were still pouting, clearly dissatisfied. There wasn’t a trace of remorse on their faces.

‘They’re already picking on the weak at such a young age.’

And threatening with weapons—that should never happen again.

I was going to teach them a good lesson this time.

Looking at Kiki’s forehead wound, I made a big fuss.

“Oh no, there’s so much blood! Isn’t this serious? With this much bleeding, it’s dangerous. What should we do…”

In this world, my identity was the daughter of an apothecary.

Others might not know, but at least in this area, I had credibility.

Whether that title carried weight here or not, the big boys’ faces gradually turned pale.

Good. Everything is going according to plan.