Suchan and Do-Hyeok finished their conversation with the director. She didn't leave with much, all she said was that she would bring the clothes she left to dry.
But as they got up,
TUG-!
Suchan felt a tug at his side, he turned to see who it was.
"Draw with me!"
It was a little girl. Short in stature, and a beaming smile left on her face. Despite being in an orphanage, she seemed far from sad.
Her name was Yerim. The same little girl who had come and brought the three college students downstairs previously.
"It seems Yerim has taken a liking to you. It'll be rather hard to pry her off now." The director spoke to Suchan before she departed.
To his side Do-Hyeok spoke over Suchan's shoulder, "I don't mind drawing with you kid. Dare I say you'll be amazed at my great talent!"
Suchan was dumbfounded, since when was Do-Hyeok so good with kids?! The same 'couldn't care less' or 'ill do what i want' type of person turned out to be much more than what Suchan had first assumed.
Since they first met, Suchan had pinned him as the type to do whatever seemed fun to him, which wasn't a particularly bad thing, Suchan envied that lifestyle on the contrary, however Do-Hyeok also only seemed like the type who only does the bare minimum.
In conclusion, a lazy genius!
Needless to say, Suchan clearly had mixed feelings about Do-Hyeok. But regardless of that, he knew Do-Hyeok wasn't a bad person so in the end he shrugged it off as 'learning something new about a friend'.
At Do-Hyeok's response, the little Yerim was grinning ear to ear and responded with a big, "YAY!!!"
Then Suchan said, "I don't mind at all. Just… let us get our clothes back from the director first Yerim." Couldn't exactly draw half naked could you?
—
The three sat, the two young men now fully clothed, and began to draw with Yerim. To which she suddenly lifted up her little sketchbook, smiling, and said…
"It's done!"
And then Do-Hyeok also lifted up his sketchbook Yerim lended him and smirked,
"Oho? No way it's better than my masterpiece!"
Yerim's drawing was simple, just a little doodle of her in a flower field and two blue butterfly wings on her back. It was clearly drawn with the prowess of a child her age.
Do-Hyeok's on the other hand was the complete opposite, it was a drawing of him on top of a hill of ants, sitting in a rather grandiose throne, of course he had a crown on too. This drawing looked like a professional did it, it could go in a museum and no one would know some random college student did it.
"Woooooaaaaah!" Yerim was in awe.
"How the hell are you so good?" Suchan on the other hand was learning more about this guy by the second.
Then Do-Hyeok looked at Yerim's drawing, then his own.
"Sigh~ you win." He drooped with mock dejectedness, "Never in my days have I encountered such a next level artist. You, young lady, are destined to be an artist that shakes the world…!" He was acting rather melodramatic.
Yerim was a little confused at first, his drawing was obviously the better one, even a child would know that.
"What makes mine so much better, mister?" she asked with curious eyes. Her question caught Do-Hyeok off guard slightly, he jolted and then turned to her with a rather solemn smile,
He pointed at her, "Heart. That might not make a lot of sense right now, but it will when you're older."
"?"
Suchan stared for a moment, 'he looks… Nostalgic of something.'
"Anyway," Do-Hyeok tried to change the topic, "I like the butterfly wings." Then thought internally, 'Though they bring up bad memories…' he then remembered all the times Nanami mopped the floor with him.
And shuddered.
"Isnt it pretty? They're the wings of a morpho butterfly and they're in the Nymphalidae family and they're ugly caterpillars that turn into butterflies!"
'She knows a lot about bugs…'
"I wish I had bug wings like these! Wouldn't that be so cool?"
Then Suchan froze, what was he supposed to say to that? He wasn't exactly the best fan of his own wings, in fact they almost ruined his life.
"Dunno… wings might gross people out and they might not want to play with you. People don't really like bugs."
Then Yerim showed the back of her arm and puffed, "Yeah, I don't like bugs like mosquitoes either. They drink people's blood and spread diseases everywhere. They're evil!"
Her arm was riddled with big red patches, like mosquito bites, but they were slightly bigger than what was the norm.
'Do they have jumbo mosquitoes here in the mountains or something?' This place was getting weirder to Do-Hyeok by the minute.
"But I like dragonflies."
"...!"
"Did you know that dragonflies eat more than 200 evil mosquitoes a day? They're like superheroes because they're so helpful!"
Then Do-Hyeok chimed in, "I wouldn't be so sure. Ants are way cooler! They're the strongest, and most loyal insect on the planet."
Yerim turned, "Eh? No way! Ants are only interested in food, war, and their queen! That's nowhere near as cool as a dragonfly!"
"Wha-" but just as Do-Hyeok was about to retort with some awesome bug facts, one of the caretakers called Yerim from the side,
"Yerim, we should get you ready to leave tomorrow."
"Okay!"
Suchan asked, "you're leaving?"
Yerim began to stand and closed her sketchbook, "yeah, im moving to another orphanage tomorrow! I'm sad to leave my friends, but I'm excited about having a new home."
Then Yerim walked over to Do-Hyeok and handed him her sketchbook, "Here! You can have it."
"Hm? Oh, thank you…" Do-Hyeok took the book.
As Yerim walked over to the caretaker she waved back at the two and said, "Let's play again next time! Bye-Bye!"
The two boys waved back at her with a smile.
And like that, she left with the caretaker.
But suddenly, Suchan nudged Do-Hyeok on the shoulder and asked, "since when were you so good at drawing?"
To which Do-Hyeok replied, "well when i was about 17 i studied art for a while, i got good enough to draw just about anything to an okay standard. But now it serves as complex training."
"Complex training?" Suchan asked.
"Well, desert ants, one of my complexes, have a near photographic memory, so I draw to train it. It's more of a mental training if that makes sense. Art is more to do with how much your brain can remember to an extent anyway."
'This guy… is diligent?!' Suchan was heavily shocked. It was like someone poured cold water on his head!
—
Orphanage, second level basement.
The director and one of the caretakers were walking down the starkly darker hallway, it looked nothing like the bright and nurturing orphanage it was upstairs.
"Are the preparations underway for Yerim's departure?" the director asked.
"Yes ma'am, she's waiting patiently in her room." The caretaker responded.
Creak-!
The door opened, the smell of medicine and antiseptic filled the air. The room, dark and malicious, had a medical bed in the middle. Of which a sleeping Yerim was tied.
"My goodness," the director spoke, "congratulations on your happy departure, my sweet child."
The room was filled with the orphanages caretakers, about 5 or 6 of them, all wearing hazmat type suits.
The director also changed into one of these and asked, "I trust you administered the anesthetics, and no one saw?"
"Of course not ma'm, this isn't our first rodeo." a caretaker responded.
The director prepared her equipment and asked, "what did they send over this time?"
"Ugh… the box says 'giant millipede' and it's absolutely disgusting." One of the caretakers spoke, picking up the millipede with tweezers.
The caretaker lifted the millipede toward Yerim's face to which the director, holding a can of jungle juice, aimed it at the millipede.
"Dont let it creep you out or you might just drop it. We don't want any damage to lessen the value of the product."
And as she was about to spray…
KNOCK-!
KNOCK-!
KNOCK-!
The door began to creak open,
"Excuse…"
Slam-!
The director rushed to the door, slammed it shut and opened it again slightly, putting on a face to greet whoever was outside.
"Oh… you're still here?"
It was Suchan and Do-Hyeok. Suchan had a clearly fake smile on his face while Do-Hyeok looked much more neutral.
Suchan spoke first, "sorry, we were looking for the bathroom and got lost."
"The both of you at once? That's odd considering this is the second basement level and visitors are off limits."
Then Suchan stared at her, the same 'calm' smile on his face.
"...I know."
CLANG-!
Do-Hyeok suddenly kicked down the door with such force that it flew off the latches and launched the director across the room.
"On our way out," he began, "I saw what Yerim drew…" Do-Hyeok lifted the sketchbook to a page with a drawing of the director holding jungle juice and money in each hand with a carton full of jungle juice in the back. "and kids know the truth. 'I was so shocked', yeah right. You lied"
Then Suchan cut in, "just so you know, I always respect the elderly, but only when it comes to humans…"
Wings sprouted out of his back,
"Not vermin like you."
—
END OF CHAPTER
A/N: sorry there wasn't a chapter last week.
A lot of stuff happened so I was busy planning a new fic and my wife got a major case of writer's block so I was trying to cheer her up.
She actually has a few fics on this platform, her most famous one being mha: Blink.
Please support her :D
On another note, thank you all so much for reading my fic. I'm not the most experienced or the best in any means but I'm happy you're reading.(this sounds like a closing statement… i promise its not im just really happy people actually read this)
Im actively trying to improve and ill try my best! This is my first fic after all, i'll make it one that you'll never forget.