I PICKED UP A CHILD IN A DUMPSTER

Chapter 223: Mean Uncles — Shiori IV

I stayed in the doorway hugging both of them for longer than was strictly necessary, which I decided was fine because I had earned it.

When I finally let go I looked up at both their faces and found them doing the confused expression that adults did when they didn’t have enough information, which was most of the time in my experience... yes I’m smart smart... I sniff.

I pouted. "Don’t leave me again without telling me. Okay?"

Hon patted my head. "Yeah. We won’t. Of course we won’t."

"Promise?"

They both nodded.

Good. I nodded to myself, filed it under confirmed, and moved on.

The day went well after that. Their bags turned out to be full of things I hadn’t seen before— snacks in wrappers with different writing on them, drinks in small cans that fizzed, some dried fruit that I didn’t think I’d like and then ate most of by myself.

I liked it all so much. I didn’t say this out loud because I had a reputation to maintain, but I thought it very sincerely.

In the afternoon we went outside and walked the camp, and I showed them around the way I knew it— which building had the best roof access, which paths the patrol went down and when, where the supply room kept the good stuff versus the regular stuff.

But something was weird. They didn’t look lost the way new people usually looked. They look like they already knew where things were before I pointed it out, turning before I told them to turn, glancing at spots that I hadn’t mentioned yet.

I tapped my chin about this several times.

Magic, probably.

Though watching them actually do things cleared some of it up.

Hon could make fire appear in his hand, which I had witnessed once from the night before and decided was the correct amount of power for someone his size.

Actually... I didn’t even know magic or power is real, I’ve only read them in books.

Though, Jisoo was harder to understand— her power was strange and sort of impossible to watch directly, like trying to look at something that kept moving sideways.

She could stop things. She could grab a monster’s neck with something that wasn’t her hands and twist, and it would just— stop.

Only worked at night though. I had observed this carefully and hid it away for more evidence later.

Night Jisoo was terrifying... though, morning jisoo is scarier... yep yep.

Jisoo pressed her cheeks against mine and made high-pitched noises about cuteness.

I nodded to myself about both of these things.

We went back to the apartment as the light started going orange outside, and I settled onto the couch and leaned against Hon and pretended to be asleep, which was my second favorite position after actually being asleep in approximately the same spot.

Hon didn’t move or make me shift, which I appreciated.

Jisoo sat on his other side and the room was warm and quiet and I was planning to stay like this for a very long time.

Then came the knock.

Three of them, firm, the kind that didn’t ask so much as announced.

Knock, knock, knock.

I was off the couch before either of them could move, which took some effort since I’d been doing a convincing fake-sleep. "I’ll answer it! Don’t worry, okay? Stay here..."

"Okay okay????" I said, holding the panic in my voice.

They both looked confused. I ignored this and went to the kitchen first, because I already knew what this was.

5 water bottles. I counted them out fast. Then I looked at the tuna— 9 cans. I took 8, then put 1 back again, which means I took 7 and held them against my chest with the water bottles and walked toward the front door on my tiptoes, which didn’t actually make me quieter but felt right.

I already knew who it was before I opened it.

I took a deep breath, then opened it.

The 5 of them filled the doorway completely, broad and heavy-set, the kind of grown men who stood with their arms slightly out from their bodies because of how they were built.

They looked down at me with the specific expression of people who had decided that what they were doing was fine because it had worked several times before.

"You know how this works," the one in front said. "Hand it over."

I looked up at all 5 of them.

Took a breath.

Nodded.

I handed the first can over without saying anything.

Then the second. Then the third, one by one, the water bottles too, stacked into their arms while they stood in the doorway and let me do the work of giving them things they hadn’t asked for politely.

I kept my voice down the whole time, kept my movements small, kept checking over my shoulder at the living room like I could somehow make Hon and Jisoo stay put through sheer concentration.

When I’d handed everything over, they counted.

One of them laughed at something— I don’t know what, maybe nothing, maybe just a habit.

Another held a can up and checked the date on the bottom like I would give them something expired, like I had ever once given them anything that wasn’t exactly what they’d asked for.

And this time nobody said thank you again, well they never did.

"Only 6 this week?"

I flinched. Tiny, just the shoulders, but I felt it happen.

"Yes," I said, keeping my voice as quiet as I could manage. "The nice uncles in supply didn’t give me extra this time. Sorry."

"She’s hiding some," one of the others said, like I wasn’t standing right there.

"N-no." I shook my head fast. "I’m not, I promise, I—"

"Yeah, she’s hiding some."

I opened my mouth and closed it. My hands had nothing to hold now that all the cans were gone, so they just hung at my sides, and I pressed them flat against my legs so they wouldn’t shake visibly.

Then one of them stepped forward and put his hand on my head.

And patted it.

"Good girl."

I didn’t make a sound. I was very careful not to make a sound. But the tears came anyway, slow, one then another, sliding down without asking for my permission.

I stared at the floor and let it happen silently because making noise would make everything worse and I knew that from experience.

This pat didn’t feel like Hon’s.

It didn’t feel like anything good. I sobbed once, soft, and swallowed the rest of it.

They walked past me one by one, into the apartment, past the kitchen, down toward the living room.

I stood in the doorway they’d left behind, frozen, staring at the floor where they’d been standing. Then I looked down at my own feet, found my slippers, stepped into them, and followed.

I heard the thud before I saw what made it.

"H-HON!!!"

I ran.

And when I reached it. The living room had rearranged itself.

One of the uncles was on the floor with his face cracked in the wrong way, blood running from somewhere above his eyebrow, not moving.

Hon was standing over a second one with his hand around the man’s throat, lifting him effortlessly, feet barely on the ground, and Hon’s face was doing something I hadn’t seen it do before— he was angry, eyebrows frowned, grit teeth and he looked like he was gonna do something bad.

On the other hand, Jisoo had the 3rd one on the ground near the window, knee pressed down, one hand at his throat, and the mean uncle was making a sound that sounded like he’s in pain, his face looked a bit purplish too.

The remaining 2 were backed into the corner behind the couch, pressed flat against the wall, not moving, not speaking, eyes doing the thing eyes did when the brain was panicking... I already felt that so I understand them 2.

I stood in the doorway.

I looked at all of it.

Then I looked down at my slippers.

"Ah," I said quietly. I gripped the doorframe with one hand. "I was... supposed to be the one saving you two."

My voice came out smaller than I meant it to.